Thursday, October 31, 2019

Sinister 2 (2015)


Released August 21st in the US.
Filmed in Illinois.
The story: Courtney has recently separated from her abusive husband.
She, along with her two young boys have taken up residency in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.
Next door to the farmhouse is a church where multiple murders had taken place.
This doesn't seem to bother Courtney very much but it is affecting both of her sons in different ways.
A man who has been burning down houses where the same kind of murder that happened in the church shows up at the house, unexpected.
He didn't know anyone was living in the house but his intentions are good, considering he showed up to burn the place down.
The house is hiding an evil secret and the longer Courtney and her sons stay there , the worse the danger becomes.
Stars John Beasley , James Ransone ,  Michael B Woods , Shannyn Sossamon , Robert Daniel Sloan , Dartanian Sloan , Lea Coco , Jaden Klein , Lucas Jade Zumann , Laila Haley , Nicholas King
Directed by Ciaran Foy
Rated R
SEQUEL/MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR

A.M.I. AKA Artificial Machine Intelligence (2019)


Released July 2nd in the US.
Filmed entirely in Canada.
The story: Cassie seemingly has everything.
She has her football player boyfriend, her two good girlfriends and it doesn't hurt that her dad is rich.
But Cassie has been battling some demons.
She was in a tragic accident where she lost her mom, who was her best friend.
In the accident, Cassie suffered a lot of head trauma, which now causes her to have bad headaches.
Cassie does her best to make each day a good one.
While hanging with her girlfriends one friend shows her a new personal assistant app that she's been using on her phone which Cassie thinks is neat.
When her boyfriend begins giving her the blow-off and she starts getting depressed about her mom, she decides to download the app.
Right away Cassie is excited to have someone to be close with and she even decides to call her app "mom".
But when Cassie realizes her boyfriend is a player and has been cheating with her friend among other people, Cassie gets ideas from "mom" about how to handle such things.
Stars Roxanne Fernandes, Debs Howard, Veronica Hampson, Havana Guppy, Sam Robert Muik , Philip Granger, Hannah the Cat, Michael Matic, Laura Mitchell, Lori Triolo, Andrew Coghlan
Directed by Rusty Nixon
Rated TVMA
HORROR/MYSTERY/THRILLER/SCIFI

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Breaking In (2018)


Released May 11th in the US.
Filmed in California.
The story: Isaac Paulson is a wealthy man who has recently been killed in a hit and run.
Now it is up to his only daughter Shawn to step in and get the house she grew up in ready to be sold off.
She takes her kids along with her for the weekend, even though none of them want to spend their weekend there it must be done.
Little do they realize, there is a group of guys who have been planning on getting in the house, looking for a safe full of cash.
But the guys expect the house will be empty.
This causes quite a night for all of them.
Stars Damien Leake, Gabrielle Union, Ajiona Alexus, Seth Carr, Richard Cabral, Billy Burke, Mark Furze, Levi Meaden, Christa Miller, Jason George
Directed by James McTeigue
Rated PG13
THRILLER/MYSTERY/HORROR

The Invitation (2015)


Released April 8, 2016, in the US.
Filmed entirely in California.
The story: Will is invited, along with his girlfriend, to his ex-wife Eden and her boyfriends' home for a dinner party.
The party will basically consist of all prior friends of Will and Eden from when they were still married and it will be at Will and Eden's previous home, where Eden and her new beau are now living.
It has been two years since Will has seen any of the people at the party and it's all a bit awkward for him, especially seeing how losing his only son with Eden is what broke up their marriage.
Will tries his best to be comfortable but things seem off to him.
He is continuously roaming around the house and seeing things that he finds strange.
Then the group plays an honesty game at Eden's boyfriend's request.
Will and the other guests that know each other get a bit freaked out to learn that Eden and her boyfriend have been attending a healing retreat.
Will believes the retreat is really just a cult and Eden has now lost all her marbles.
Then , after the honesty story Eden and her boyfriends' friend tells about accidentally but violently killing his wife, one of their guests decides to leave.
When Will finally gets some phone service and listens to a message from a friend who is supposed to be at the party, he loses his shit and his girlfriend wants them to leave.
But... they stay on, until... well, after dinner the wine is served...
Stars Logan Marshall-Green, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Michelle Krusiec, Mike Doyle, Jordi Vilasuso, Marieh Delfino, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, Lindsey Burdge, Jay Larson, John Carroll Lynch
Directed by Karyn Kusama
Not Rated
MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR

Eli (2019)


Made for Netflix, airing on instant streaming October 18th in the US.
Filming location(s) unknown.
The story: Eli is a young boy.
A couple years back he was attacked by an immune deficiency disorder.
Now Eli spends his life in a plastic bubble just so he can breathe.
Eli wants to live a normal life like before his disease struck him down and his parents are dedicated to finding a doctor who can cure him.
This time around they believe they found just the doctor.
Eli and his parents go and stay at a germ-free clean house operated by Dr. Horn.
Dr. Horn claims to have cured all of her patients, although at the moment Eli is the only one.
At first, things seem hopeful but after the first treatment, Eli seems to be hallucinating and seeing ghosts.
Eli is continuously attacked and visited by ghosts but no one in the house will believe him.
That's when he decides to look deeper into the hospital.
What he finds is exactly what he thought he would.
Instead of Dr. Horn trying to help him, Eli believes she is really trying to kill him.
Stars Charlie Shotwell, Kelly Reilly, Max Martini, Lou Beatty Jr, Jared Bankens, Nathaniel Woolsey, Lili Taylor, Deneen Tyler, Katia Gomez, Sadie Sink, Austin Foxx, Parker Lovein
Directed by Ciaran Foy
Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR/SCIFI

Monday, October 28, 2019

Us (2019)


Released March 22nd in the US.
Filmed in California.
The story: When Adelaide was little she had a pretty traumatizing experience in a funhouse on the beach of Santa Cruz one evening when wandering away from her parents.
Her parents were very worried about her , as the experience caused her to stay inside herself.
They were advised to get their young daughter involved in activities that would help bring her out of her shell.
Fast forward to the present day.
Adelaide is now married with two of her own children.
They are all going for a vacation to the beach house Adelaide grew up in , in Santa Cruz.
She is wary of going but doesn't show much concern to her family.
Ever since arriving, strange things happen and on their first night there, they are visited by a family who looks identical to them...
But this visiting family is the complete opposite of Adelaide and her family.
This family is dangerous.
Stars Madison Curry, Ashley McKoy, Lupita Nyong, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, Alan Frazier
Directed by (& story written) Jordan Peele
Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR/SCIFI

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Prodigy (2019)


Released February 8th in the US.
Filmed entirely in Canada.
The story: Young Miles has always been the apple of his parents Sarah and John's eye.
He is super smart and ever since he was a baby he has been very advanced in all of his learning.
Sarah has noticed though that Miles doesn't really get along well with other kids his age and never wants to be involved in any of the things the other kids do.
This confuses her but she is advised that sometimes progressed children have these types of quirks.
One evening Sarah witnesses Miles speaking clearly in a language she has never heard before and records it.
She later brings the recording to the specialist she's been working with who shows it to someone she knows.
When Sarah is called back in to talk about the recording she dismisses what she heard her son say as jibberish but is told it is not.
Sarah is explained that a deceased person has been reincarnated in her son...and the person who is now controlling him is not a nice one.
Stars Taylor Schilling, Peter Mooney, Jackson Robert Scott, Brittany Allen, Paul Fauteux, Paula Boudreau, Colm Feore, Elisa Moolecherry, Ashley Black, Tristan Vasquez 
Directed by Nicholas McCarthy
Rated R
HORROR/MYSTERY/THRILLER/SCIFI