The Survivalist – Film Review

Posted on October 5, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Jon Keeyes

Writer: Matthew Rogers

Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Malkovich, Thaddeus Street, Jon Orsini and Ruby Modine

Rating: ★★½

In The Survivalist the world has been ravaged by a pandemic that is quickly wiping out the population. It’s a story that feels all too possible given what we’ve all lived through in recent times. Sarah (Ruby Modine) is on the run from a cult who believe she’s immune. The cult leader Aaron (John Malkovich) believes he’s the chosen one to save the human race. Sarah seeks shelter on Ben’s (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) farm, who reluctantly hides her from the cult.

While the story is about a world on the brink of ending and a cult who believes they can save humankind, the film is very insular. It focuses in on a small group of characters, with most of the film being a stand-off between Ben and Aaron’s cult. The film starts with Sarah and her brother being chased by the cult, with Sarah’s brother getting gunned down to save her. The reason he is so willing to die for her is explained much later in the film in a satisfying revelation.

John Malkovich is an excellent actor and he’s not phoning in his performance here. He’s sinister and overbearing. He also puts most of the other cast to shame. There is a lot of clunky dialogue in the beginning, with a exposition heavy radio broadcast and the cult members not feeling very natural. Malkovich is completely believable as the cult leader, right up to the final moments. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is also great as Ben, a former FBI agent who is tasked with protecting Sarah.

The majority of the film is centred around an attack on Ben’s farm. One of the best scenes is a shoot-out early on. The cult members are running low on ammo and their entire aim is to keep Ben from getting back to the house. Once the action moves to the house, it does start to feel very tame. The farm looks great, with dull and bleak colours, matching the mood. The action just isn’t exciting enough. The punches don’t look real and since it’s one man versus the cult members you know who’s going to win the one on one fights for the most part.

There are no real surprises in the story, most of it is predictable. Ben is reluctant to help, but it’s clear he’s not a bad person, so he helps Sarah. You’ll see most of the plot points coming before they actually happen, and while there is a revelation late in the film, it doesn’t really change the course of the plot. It’s still an enjoyable thriller and Ben is an interesting character. The film never has a moment where it starts to feel too long, at ninety minutes it’s the perfect length.

The Survivalist is obviously a response to the last two years. It takes the idea of a world-ending pandemic and focuses in on a very small group of characters. The story is tame, and it is entertaining while it lasts. It won’t stay with you for much longer, but it’s good escapism with some decent action.  

Signature Entertainment presents The Survivalist on Digital Platforms 11th October 

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Films That Could Become TV Shows.

Posted on October 5, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

After I put up my recent review of The Craft my good friend Reece got in touch to suggest an idea for a new post. Films that could come back as TV shows, using The Craft as a very good example. It would make a very good TV show and could expand on the original film in an interesting way. It’s already tried and tested with Charmed and Buffy, so there is evidence that something like it would work.

This really got me thinking because there have been a few films that I’ve seen over the years where I do wish there was more. Something like the recent Prisoners of the Ghostland builds an interesting world but we don’t get to spend enough time there. I think the recent Aretha Franklin biopic would work better as a TV series because you could spend more time with each moment, rather than jumping from important life moment to important life moment. I’ve chosen five films to talk about that I think would make great TV shows and why.

1 – Escape from New York

The Legacy of John Carpenter's Escape From New York - Den of Geek

This is a great film that has dated a little but is still entertaining to watch. I’m not sure who could replace Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, if that’s even possible. This would work great as a one season show since the plot is already kind of split up into episodes. There’s Snake getting to New York, going to the theatre, being captured, and having to fight, the great escape. Spending more time with each of these events would only be a good thing. The city of New York in the film is also interesting and I would love to see more of it. I also think this would work really well as an open world game. If you don’t know the story, New York is turned into a prison and Snake is given a plea deal to go in and save the president who was shot down in a plane. He has a time limit to get in and get him out, or he dies. If this did happen as a TV series, it would need to keep John Carpenter’s score – that’s my only request.

2 – Akira

Akira (1988) - IMDb

I absolutely love Akira, both the anime film and the manga it adapts. The film is incredible, but it does shorten the story and cut out some key moments. This would work so well as a TV series, again only one or two seasons. It’s an epic story that covers 6 volumes of manga, so it makes sense for the next adaptation to be a TV series, rather than another film. It’s a dystopian world and you could spend time exploring areas that are untouched in the source material. I would be very excited about this if they made it.

3 – The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower (2017) — Contains Moderate Peril

The film adaptation of Stephen King’s epic 7/8 (depending on if you count The Wind Through the Keyhole) volume book series is a mess. It tries to shorten down around three thousand pages of plot into 90 minutes, while at the same time claiming to be a sequel to the original novels. It’s awful, badly paced and such a shame because Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are excellent. I would like to see the cast kept but the story completely rebooted as a 7 season TV show, akin to Game of Thrones in scale. It would be a hit, and everyone would be talking about it. I don’t understand why in the modern world we have so many connected universes across films and TV but no one has created a proper Stephen King universe. He did that himself in The Dark Tower. There’s a sequel to Salem’s Lot in there, a moment that touches on The Stand, IT and so many other classic books. Why doesn’t this already exist on TV?

4 – Mortal Engines

Review: 'Mortal Engines' is running on fumes - The Maroon

I quite liked the film for Mortal Engines. The effects were good, the story was nicely paced. It worked for me, but I know a lot of people hated it. A lot of the fans of the original books hated it, and that’s because again it tries to condense to much into a short film. The world is so interesting, this should be an epic TV series, that spans multiple years. The 100 exists and lasted. Mortal Engines could do the same, adapting the books at a slower pace while also expanding on what is already there. Whenever something I really like it adapted into something that fails, there’s a certain type of sadness, because I know it’s going to be years until someone tries again. There has to be someone out there that loves the original books and is willing to do the series justice.

5 – Clerks

Clerks (1994) - IMDb

I know we are getting a Clerks 3 very soon, but I think this would work great as a 20-minute sitcom. Every week could be a new day in the store with the adventures of Dante and Randall. The regulars the odd one-off customers the arguments and friendships. That’s what happens at work, every day is the same but slightly different and it’s the people around you that makes it like that, Clerks would work perfectly like this, and I would tune in every week. It would have to have a scene every episode with Jay and Silent Bob outside the store, it doesn’t need to be focused on them, but they need to play a part in it, however small. Kevin Smith also wrote and starred in Hollyweed, which was like Clerks as a TV show set in a weed store in L.A. but as far as I’m aware it never got off the ground properly, still an enjoyable first episode that was released online.

So, there’s my five films that I think would work well/even better as a TV series. Reece suggested The Craft, which is an excellent choice. Let me know in the comments below what your choices would be.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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What I’m Watching This Week – London Film Festival

Posted on October 4, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Hello again, it’s a new week and I should finally get internet again this week. Exciting times. This week there isn’t anything at the cinemas around me apart from stuff I’ve already seen. At home I’m going to be watching more horror films, hopefully some of the ones you’ve recommended to me if I can get the internet back in time. As it stands, mobile tethering isn’t good enough to stream Netflix on my TV, so I’m downloading films from Netflix and Amazon on my laptop at my mum’s and watching them at home as well as DVDs.

It’s also time for the London Film Festival, which I’m looking forward to massively. I’m going to be watching as many of the online screenings as possible. It starts Wednesday morning, so those will probably be watched at mum’s house before work. Then after work on Friday I’m going down to London for the weekend. Hotel is booked and I’ve got a few screenings booked in with Tabby on the Saturday. Sunday morning I’m going to be queuing up early for The French Dispatch, which if all things go well will be my first in-person press screening. I’ve been looking forward to this for so long so I really hope I manage to see it. Tickets are first come first serve, so fingers crossed it goes well.

I have tickets on the Saturday for The Velvet Underground, a documentary about the legendary band, Ron’s Gone Wrong and Last Night in Soho. It’s going to be a great weekend and next year I’m going to be going for longer. I don’t have any holiday at work this year to book more time off, but next year I’m hoping to go down for at least a week of the festival. I applied for the press accreditation thinking they would decline it, smaller festivals have, when I got accepted I was beyond shocked so I’m over the moon to see anything and it’s incredibly lucky that The French Dispatch lands on a day I can make it down there.

Do you have any plans on what you’ll be watching over the next week? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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Black as Night – Film Review

Posted on October 4, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Maritte Lee Go

Writer: Sherman Payne

Starring: Asjha Cooper, Fabrizio Guido, Abbie Gayle, Mason Beauchamp, Theodus Crane, Sammy Nagi Njuguna, Al Mitchell, Derek Roberts, and Keith David

Rating: ★★★

The second Welcome to the Blumhouse anthology film of 2021 is Black as Night, a story about a group of teenagers who take on vampires that are killing people in the neighbourhood. After a party one night, Shawna (Asjha Cooper) is attacked by a vampire when walking home. Her neck is bitten, and the wound won’t heal. It leads her to discover that vampires are very real, and her best friend Pedro (Fabrizio Guido) joins her to take them on.

While this is a vampire story, and it’s dark with a lot of death and violence, it’s not a horror film. There are no scares to be found. It’s more of an action film with the main characters planning on how to get into the lair of the vampires to kill their leader and turn the rest back into humans.

The characters are interesting enough, and much like Bingo Hell (the first entry to the anthology series this year) we get to spend a lot of time with the main characters before the action starts. They’re well written and fully developed, quickly side-stepping the flaw that most horror films fall into of having weak main characters. Asjha Cooper and Fabrizio Guido are both great as the two best friends at the centre of the story. From the first scene you get a good idea of who they are and get invested enough in their lives to want to watch more.

Black as Night is a fairly standard vampire story. There are no real surprises to be found, or twists that aren’t already cliches of the genre. What makes the film feel different is the social commentary that is added on top of it. This is a story about racism and wealth gap told as a vampire story. It’s not heavy handed with its themes, but they are present in the story, and it would be hard to miss.

Being under ninety minutes, the story moves quickly, hitting on familiar plot points in quick succession. Thanks to some interesting and likable characters the film never gets boring. Keith David as the activist who appears throughout the story is a great addition to the cast. He’s excellent in everything he’s in and his charisma is well placed in the character, especially when you get to the second half of the story.

Black as Night is entertaining and fun to watch, while also grappling with some heavy topics. It’s not originally in any sense but it’s enjoyable while it’s on. It feels right at home on Amazon Prime and is a perfect addition to any Halloween horror marathon.

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The Final Girls – Film Review

Posted on October 3, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson

Writers: M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller

Starring: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Åkerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig and Nina Dobrev

Rating: ★★★★

The 1980s were ripe with horror films, and specifically slashers. After the popularity of films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th it seems like everyone started making their own versions of them. The Final Girls is an homage to that era.

Max (Tassia Farmiga) lost her mum Amanda (Malin Åkerman) in a horrible car crash. Three years after the accident, Max goes to a screening of Camp Bloodbath a horror film that her mum starred in when she was a teenager. A fire breaks out in the cinema and to escape Max and her friends break through the screen and end up entering the film itself. They follow the plot, trying to escape the killer and looking for a way to escape the film-world and get back to reality.

The film starts with a trailer for Camp Bloodbath, the film that the main characters will eventually become a part of. The trailer tells you everything you need to know. It’s a parody of Friday the 13th mixed with other 80s horror films. The acting is over the top in the best way possible and it’s really funny. If you watch this and don’t enjoy the hammy trailer, then the film isn’t for you. It’s an homage to 80s horror and all the cliches and bad acting that filled the decade.

The whole thing is full of references to horror films from the era. It doesn’t just stop with the trailer once it gets going. There are familiar sound effects and music queues. You don’t need to know 80s horror well to like the film, but it does help. It’s still a great comedy without the references. There are so many great and funny moments especially the bloopers throughout the credits.

The cast are all excellent, with the 1980s horror film actors as over the top as expected. They are all funny and play off each other really well. Thomas Middleditch is perfect as Duncan the horror obsessed fan who helps organises the screening of Camp Bloodbath that goes so horribly wrong. Taissa Farmiga is excellent as Max, who is still grieving for her mother. Adam DeVine as Kurt is creepy and over the top in the best ways.

The music in the film is very reminiscent of the decade that inspired it. There’s a lot of synths and 80s songs that fill the soundtrack and score. It works really well. The effects are also decent enough. The camera is a little wonky at points, especially in the action sequences later in the film. It can be a little hard to make out everything that’s happening, but it’s only a small problem.

The Final Girls is an excellent tribute to one of the best decades of horror. After Friday the 13th there were tons of summer camp slashers, and this one fits nicely alongside it. It’s funny and smart and works really well. It feels like a more modern Scream with the references and cliches, but it’s not got the same horror that Scream has. It’s a comedy and a really good one at that.

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