Horror

Fantasy Island

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island
  • IMDb: link

Fantasy Island reviewI’ll give some credit to Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island which kept me engaged longer than I expected. The film adapts the 70s television series of the same name into a modern horror film. Like on the show, guests are invited to the island to experience their deepest fantasies, only on this island there’s something far darker lurking under the surface.

The guests who Mr. Roarke (Michael Peña) invites to the island include a woman (Lucy Hale) craving revenge on a childhood bully (Portia Doubleday), a pair of step-brothers (Ryan Hansen and Jimmy O. Yang) looking to live the rich life, a cop (Austin Stowell) who wants to be a soldier, and Maggie Q as a woman looking to rectify her biggest regret.

While far from great, the first-two thirds of the film in which the guests arrive, begin their fantasies, and then see them take dark turns, kept my interest. Then comes the film’s first big twist which awkwardly reestablishes the guests’ connection to each other causing events to start spiraling out of control.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every Generation

/ / Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every Generation comic reviewSimilar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen Ones, the new one-shot anthology Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every Generation features a trio of stories on Slayers throughout history. “Where All Paths Lead” offers an alternative series of event to those of “Hellmouth, Part Five.” In this version Buffy enters the Hellmouth alone to face the Hellmother. As a result, events turn out less well for Buffy and the world.

Both of the other two stories take place well-before Buffy’s time. “The Hilot of 1910” offers a story featuring the Slayer Matay who searches out an Aswang her village believes is responsible for a series of gruesome murders. Despite being hunted by the Slayer, the monster professes her innocence and eventually leads Matay to the true villain.

The final story “The Sisters of Angelus” is the most interesting as it features a young Slayer named Una who searches for a missing friend sent to an asylum for troublesome girls which turns out to be cult of vampire nuns sired by Angelus (who it seems had a thing for nuns besides just Drusilla).

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Doctor Sleep

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Doctor Sleep
  • IMDb: link

Doctor Sleep DVD reviewSet decades after the events of The Shining, Doctor Sleep catches up with the troubled Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) years after his visit to the Overlook Hotel. Director Mike Flanagan is smart in letting the story stand on its own without feeling the need to offer too many flashbacks or recreations to the Stanley Kubrick film, at least until the film’s final act which is where Doctor Sleep begins to struggle a bit matching its own style to that of Kubrick.

Both movies were adapted from novels by Stephen King. Whether its simply the script treatments or the original source material, Doctor Sleep is much more straight-forward and linear in its plot progression (even while showcasing events from different group perspectives within the film).

After finally putting his life back together, Dan is made aware of a cult led by Rebecca Ferguson hunting down and stealing the “steam” of those with psychic abilities and the teenage girl (Kyliegh Curran) who is their next target. To save both their lives, Dan will be forced to confront the ghosts of his past.

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Extra Ordinary

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Extra Ordinary
  • IMDb: link

Extra Ordinary movie reviewExtra Ordinary has the advantages and disadvantages one would expect from a writing and directing team working on their first feature. There’s certainly style and out-of-box thinking on display here, although the film is still quite rough around the edges.

We’re offered two stories that will eventual intertwine. The first, and more successful, involves lonely Irish driving instructor Rose Dooley (Maeve Higgins) whose paranormal powers she has been afraid to use since childhood. Meeting a likable-enough bloke (Barry Ward), who has troubles both with a home haunted by his deceased wife and a daughter (Claudia O’Doherty) under possession, forces Rose to dig back into her childhood skills (and pull out the old VCR tapes of her father’s paranormal infomercials).

The movie’s other story ties into possessed Claudia (O’Doherty) whose current plight was caused by one-hit wonder Christian Winter (Will Forte) hoping that sacrificing a virgin to Satan will provide him with inspiration for another hit. It’s in Forte’s segments that the film veers closest to going off-course, but Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman keep things on track.

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Angel + Spike #9

/ / Comics

Angel + Spike #9 comic reviewFollowing the events of the Hellmouth crossover, a soulless Spike has taken up residence with Angel Investigations and proven himself a worthy ally (if not a trustworthy one). Angel‘s return leads to some conflict among the group who stands up for Spike against their boss’ reservations leading to Angel begrudging accepting Spike’s inclusion and a brand-new title for the comic.

Considering the original timeline didn’t pair up the two until both had their souls, it will be interesting to see what differences a soulless Spike has on Angel Investigations.

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