Film review: ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN (2007) *** out of *****

(c) Dimension

Rob Zombie's remake of John Carpenter's classic slasher film, is a strange beast. It tries to distance itself from the original's aesthetics, yet generously borrows from that film's plot devices, especially in the third act. Add to that a mediocre first act, a trashy second, and liberal doses of gratuitous violence and nudity, and you get a mostly uneven film.

That is, until the climax.

Zombie takes the ending of the original, combines it with a plot element from the sequel to Carpenter's original (also penned by Carpenter), and delivers a whopper of an ending.

Also, Zombie's take on Sam Loomis' character (the Van Helsing-type character that was Michael Myers' psychiatrist and, later, the one who hunts him down) is interesting and inventive, and is bolstered by Michael McDowell's charismatic portrayal of the character.

So, is it better or worse than the original? The answer is: it is a stylish, effective, shocking addition to the Michael Myers mythos, and it's way better than most of the sequels to the original.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

Quick Review: DEAD OF WINTER (1987) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

Compelling, atmospheric Gothic mystery, dripping with mood and menace, about a young, struggling actress getting embroiled with a couple of disturbed elderly men in an isolated old house during a winter storm. Roddy McDowell is terrific as a servile but unhinged assistant to Jan Rubes' charming - and over-the-top - psychopath. Arthur Penn directs with a steady hand, with lots of sly nods to Hitchcock, and Mary Steenburgen gives one of her better performances. The climax goes all-out Gothic shocker, and devolves into silliness, but, overall, this is a timeless suspense piece that is good for a chilly winter's night.

* A loose remake of Joseph H. Lewis's My Name Is Julia Ross (1945).

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Watch/Listen to review here:

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

Movie Review: THE BLACK PHONE (2022) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

(c) Universal/Blumhouse.

Scott Derrickson co-wrote and directed Sinister (2012) one of the scariest movies ever made. But he also co-wrote Sinister 2 (2015), a deeply disappointing sequel, and co-wrote and directed Doctor Strange (2016), a bland and forgettable Marvel extravaganza. The Black Phone (2022), Derrickson's seventh feature film, is one of his better efforts. It's compelling, hits plenty of emotional notes, and features a disturbing villain.

Loosely based on a short story by Joe Hill, the movie revolves around Finney Shaw, a shy 13-year-old boy living with an abusive, alcoholic father. When he's abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement, he feels helpless and close to death. Then, suddenly, a disconnected phone on the wall rings, and Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. It's a helluva hook, and Derrickson milks it for all its worth, delivering a number of tense and disturbing sequences, as Finney tries to find a way out before his abductor strikes.

But a strong hook aside, The Black Phone has its share of problems. With the exception of Finney, wonderfully played by Mason Thames, and Robin, memorably portrayed by Miguel Cazarez Mora, the rest of the characters are little more than the sum of their parts, with each character seeming to be there to catalyze a plot point or fulfill an emotional beat, while the villain, The Grabber, played by a game Ethan Hawke, comes off as two-dimensional and unoriginal. The plotting is also creaky, with storylines coming and going, as if there are three different movies taking place at the same time, resulting in a story that never really gels. And for a film about survival and overcoming, the tone is relentlessly dour. And even when a light finally shines at the end of the tunnel, it isn't as uplifting or moving as it should be, with the ending leaving somewhat of a sour aftertaste.

But, for the most part, The Black Phone hits more than it misses, and is an affecting and heartfelt movie in many ways. And its depiction of the role of faith at times of crisis is a breath of fresh air, especially coming from an industry that seems to export misery and nihilism by the truckload. One just wishes the movie was twenty minutes shorter and packed more of a punch.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

Film Review: THE BATMAN (2022) *** out of *****

Listen to the review:

Listen to "Movie Review: The Batman (2022)" on Spreaker.

(C) WB.

The history of the Batman on the big screen is a tale of ups and downs. And depending on who’s watching, the perception of the character itself is as diverse as the many versions portrayed in comic books and on screen. From the terrible campiness of Batman and Robin, released in 1997, to the haunting final scenes of The Dark Night Returns, released in 2008, Batman has gone through it all.

Then there is 2022’s The Batman, a triumph to some, an epic failure to others.

Following on the heels of Christopher Nolan’s superb The Dark Knight trilogy, any filmmaker would have struggled to find an angle, an attitude with which to deal with the character of Batman that would feel stylish and fresh. Co-writer/director Matt Reeves, a master of visual style and big canvass cinematic storytelling, tries to do just that, choosing to start his version in year two of the Batman’s adventures. It’s a risky but potentially rewarding move, giving the film an urgency and a freshness that could pat off.

But the problem with The Batman is apparent from the get-go. It is the film’s tone. From the first few minutes, the ominous music and Robert Pattinson’s heavy-handed voice over, there’s something off about this approach. And it becomes clear as the story progresses and the minutes, and then the hours, pile up, the filmmakers behind this tale take more wrong steps than right ones.

With a convoluted and tired plot involving everything from a serial killer, to crime bosses The Penguin and Carmine Falcone, to a vengeful Catwoman, to Bruce Wayne’s struggles with his own past, nothing here feels new or compelling. Under layers of special make-up, Colin Farrell as The Penguin is little more than a rehash of Robert DeNiro’s Al Capone from 1987’s The Untouchables, and Paul Dano’s portrayal of The Riddler is a terrible miscalculation on every level, coming off as annoying, laughable, and deeply embarrassing to watch. Zoe Kravitz is serviceable as Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman, but the fault lies mostly with the writing, taking one of DC Comics’ most fascinating anti-heroines and turning her into a resentful, psychologically bland character who is basically little more than a victim.

Then there’s Robert Pattinson as The Batman. Pattinson, a charismatic and photogenic actor, isn’t really the right choice for Bruce Wayne/The Batman. He has the good looks, but lacks the physicality and the nuance needed for such a psychologically complex character. His performance is good but ultimately unremarkable, and again the confused script doesn’t help. Of the main cast, only Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone acquit themselves.

Which brings us to the main problem with The Batman. Matt Reeves. As co-writer and director, Reeves is wholly to blame for why the movie doesn’t work. It is obvious that Reeves tries to present Batman in a new light, one that is timely, politically correct, and, at the same time, admirable. It is a near-impossible task, and Reeves’s approach, an off-putting combination of po-faced seriousness and emotional manipulation, works against a story that needs all the help it can get.

Arguably, Reeves and company seem to be making some sort of statement against mob rule, violence, and sentiment overruling reason, but, at the same time, the approach is emotionally manipulative, and the script’s attempts at rationalizing victimhood, terrorism, and thievery as the last resort of the so-called oppressed, is problematic to say the least. Reeves also seems intent on deflating and demythologizing Batman, depicting him as a rash, occasionally violent vigilante who is in many ways responsible for inspiring violent, resentful, and mentally unbalanced individuals, an inversion of everything the character of Batman has ever stood for. This narrative choice might have come off much better if Bruce Wayne’s motives and psychology were delved into with any semblance of depth, which is not the case here. This seems to stem from Reeves himself not having much love for the character of Batman. In a Time magazine interview, he calls The Batman, “completely sheltered and has this moral superiority… He encounters Catwoman in the underworld and assumes she’s morally corrupt. And he’s entirely wrong about her because he didn’t have to struggle.”

The movie does end on a thought-provoking note, with a humbled and contemplative Batman rethinking his approach, and trying harder to set a better example. But it is a downbeat ending to a downbeat film, which commits the cardinal sin of being the least entertaining Batman film ever made, and one which fails where it really counts: presenting Batman as a hero who is flawed, but, in the end, an inspiration.

Overall, The Batman is a morose and bloated film. At its best, it is visually stylish. At its worst, it comes off as a mediocre crime drama which happens to feature Batman.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Review: I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) * out of *****

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), adapted for the screen and directed by Charlie Kaufman, is what happens when a filmmaker renowned for the wrong reasons is given carte blanche by a studio (Netflix) that has no fear.

Critics from The Guardian and The NY Times call it "one of the most daringly unexpected films of the year", and "Kaufman's most assured and daring work...as a director", so one goes in expecting something special.

Virtually plotless, with a theme of self-examination, and much navel-gazing, Kaufman, the epitome of hipster, pseudo-intellectual filmmaking, creates a grating, repellent, pretentious film, that is pure drivel masquerading as "high art". At over two hours, this is an excruciating experience, akin to watching a filmmaker talk to himself, and basically say nothing, for 134 minutes. Avoid.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2020.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon.

Quick Review: THE RAPTURE (1991)

Original Theatrical Poster

The Rapture (1991) is one of the most underrated, undeservedly obscure films ever made. It is a haunting, disturbing. moving, and occasionally frightening religious thriller, which deals with issues and subjects most filmmakers are terrified of broaching. Its tale of a depressed young woman who decides to leave her hedonistic lifestyle behind in order to find God, is a twisty, atmospheric, superbly written one, handled with care and intelligence by writer/director Michael Tolkin, and with a terrific central performance by Mimi Rogers. One never knows where exactly the story is going, right down to the disturbing final scene. Although it will probably offend, to some extent, believers and non-believers alike, this is a thought-provoking, challenging film that should not be missed.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2015.

Quick Review: THE EVIL (1978)

A near-forgotten "haunted house" picture from the late 70's, The Evil is a passable horror film with an intriguing premise: a group of psychiatry students led by their professor, rent an abandoned mansion to use as a drug rehabilitation center, only to discover that an evil force, maybe even the devil himself, dwells there. Although the script is good, the dialogue sharp, and the performances adequate, Gus Trikonis's pedestrian direction, and second-rate optical effects make this nothing more than a watchable hour and a half.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2015.

Quick Review: HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973)

Hugely underrated, High Plains Drifter is a terrific, confidently directed, occasionally eerie, ghost-story/Western, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. One of Eastwood's most audacious and stylish films, and a horror/weird Western masterpiece. Unmissable.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2015