Thriller

The Dutchman

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Dutchman
  • IMDb: link

An adaptation of the 1964 play (which was inspired by the myth of The Flying Dutchman), director Andre Gaines‘ The Dutchman is social commentary wrapped up in a messy metaphysical metaphor that, while it has something to say on both the subject of being a successful Black man in America and on marital infidelity and temptation, is far more opaque than it should be except, perhaps, in Clay’s long monologues that are meant to offer cultural critique to the audience more than the film’s antagonist.

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The Housemaid

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Housemaid
  • IMDb: link

For a thriller starring both Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, The Housemaid is surprisingly lacking in heat or anything resembling eroticism. Sure, we get one sex scene halfway through, but even that seems perfunctory more than adding life into the bewildering thriller that throws out its playbook halfway through, spends 20 minutes speaking directly to the audience setting up an alternative permise, and then finally delivers something more deverting in its final 20 minutes.

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We Bury the Dead

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: We Bury the Dead
  • IMDb: link

Following a United States military experiment gone wrong, a large section of Tasmania is dead and the city of Hobart is still in flames. Spurred on by the need to find her husband (Matt Whelan), who was on a corporate retreat near the southern coast, Ava (Daisy Ridley) signs up to help identify the dead. Adding to the flavor of the film is the fact that a small percentage of those killed by the blast come back to life as zombies.

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The Secret Agent

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Secret Agent
  • IMDb: link

Set during the two-decade Brazilian military dictatorship, Wagner Moura stars as a former professor in hiding who returns to his home town to reconnect with his son (Enzo Nunes) and father-in-law (Carlos Francisco) and get the help of the local resistance to eventually flee the country. Filmed in location in both Recife and São Paulo, cinematographer Evgenia Alexandrova used vintage cameras and equipment to help recreate the look of the 1970s in which the story unfolds.

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Meridian

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Meridian
  • IMDb: link

One of several B-movies Sherilyn Fenn made during during the late 1980s, Meridian was released originally on home video in 1990 (the first of many releases under a variety of titles over the years). Part sexploitation thriller and part fantasy horror, the script adapts ideas from the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, while also weaving in ghosts along with its curse. While problematic, for a number or reasons including our lead falling in love with her rapist, the film has impressive production values for a B-movie with the castle, and the various statues and gargoyles across its lawn, making for a visually interesting backdrop to the proceedings.

Fenn stars as Italian-American Catherine Bomarzini who returns to her family’s castle for the first time in years, also reuniting with her more adventurous college friend Gina (Charlie Spradling) working nearby as an art restorer. Talked into seeing a traveling carnival just outside the castle grounds by Gina, who also invites the performers to dine with them in the castle over Cathehrine’s reservations, the night ends with the twin brothers (who hide the fact that there are two of them) drugging and each raping one of the women.

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