Recent theatrical viewings

[Rev. Powell]

THE SHROUDS (2024): An entrepreneur who's obsessed with his dead wife invents a graveyard which allows the bereaved to watch their deceased love ones' bodies decompose in real time; when the graves are vandalized, he's led to investigate a mysterious conspiracy. Now in his 80s, David Cronenberg remains able to invent delicious perversities--sexy amputation nightmares, conspiracy theories as aphrodisiacs--even if he no longer seems very interested in putting together a semi-coherent narrative. 3/5.

[M.10rda]

UNTIL DAWN (2025):
This was the second feature on the drive-in bill w/ SINNERS, which at a glance seemed like ideal programming. Of course there was no way UNTIL DAWN was going to live up to SINNERS, and sadly it doesn't even try. It's based on a video game that seems interesting (I haven't played it) but it apparently jettisons most aspects of the source material except for one of the optional "win" states: you can't beat the game unless you can keep all the characters alive all night. This might be fun in a nonlinear and replayable video game, but as a linear narrative the film takes the path of least resistance and appropriates a classic 90s movie premise so hoary that of course this film's characters quip about how their situation is just like that movie...  Also, the characters are extremely bland and one of the guys is very annoying, so the idea that viewers would be invested in seeing all of them survive is shall we say aspirational.

The big issue w/ UNTIL DAWN isn't that it's no fun - there's a tiny bit of fun to be had here and there. It just always seems like it's on the verge of being a lot more fun and then said fun stalls out/doesn't materialize. It's also clearly inspired by CABIN IN THE WOODS in a couple ways, which one expects is a license to go absolutely nutty and throw every last horror movie idea imaginable into the soup. Yet that, too, fails to happen - we get a few different tropes thrown in, then we rinse and repeat for the duration. It was directed by the guy who made the two SHAZAM! movies and one of the many co-writers was the guy who made the latest SALEM'S LOT remake and wrote all the lesser CONJUURING-verse flicks. None of those credits are better than "pretty good" and the presence of a legion of anonymous screenwriters and producers make UNTIL DAWN stink of committee work in service of Sony corporate masters. A world of difference between this and SINNERS!

2.5/5 Still I've seen worse! As Madame and I agreed as we left the drive-in, At least it wasn't STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1!

[Rev. Powell]

THE SURFER (2024): A divorced father (Nicolas Cage) plans to buy the Australian beachside house he grew up in and teach his son to surf the waves like he did as a boy, but local "surf gangsters" torment him, insisting the beach is for locals only, and eventually strip him of everything. The middle-aged/middle class delusionalism is (coincidentally, or not?) reminiscent of the similarly titled THE SWIMMER (1968)---but the ending is more confusing, and will leave you puzzled as to what actually happened. Cage is actually rather restrained here. Great soundtrack. 3.5/5.