Fall – Film Review

Posted on August 31, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Scott Mann

Writers: Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank

Starring: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Mason Gooding, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Rating: ★★½

Fall is a tense survival thriller directed by Scott Mann, who also co-wrote the film with Jonathan Frank. It’s mostly set at a dizzying height of two thousand feet, with two characters stuck on the top of a TV tower in the middle of nowhere. If you’re scared of heights, then this is definitely going to have you gripping the arms of your seat as you sit through the tense story.

Grace Caroline Currey stars as Becky, who is still grieving the loss of her husband Dan (Mason Gooding) almost a year after his death in a climbing accident. To try help her recover, Becky’s best friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner) asks Becky to join her in climbing a TV tower in the middle of the desert to spread Dan’s ashes.

This is one of those minimalist horror-adjacent films where the main characters are stuck/trapped somewhere, and the majority of the film is them trying to get out. Think something like 127 Hours or Buried. This time the two main characters are stuck on a platform close to the top of the tower, as the ladder gives way when they try to start climbing back down.

When the film is dealing with the height and the two characters doing insane stunts to survive, like climbing down to get a bag with much needed water, trying not to fall asleep so they don’t just fall to their deaths, it’s nail bitingly tense. It’s easy to imagine how horrific the situation would be. Just the simple climbing up the endless ladder is enough to start the fear bubbling, and when they’re trapped up there everything is ramped up. It’s a tense story, especially if you don’t like heights. 

The film has a run time of a little over ninety minutes, but really should be a lot shorter. The opening scene, where Dan dies, just straight up shouldn’t be there. It doesn’t add anything to the film, beyond a padded run time. All of it could have been revealed better and more subtly on the journey to and then up the tower. Similarly, a revelation half-way through about Hunter, that’s revealed by a tattoo on her foot, adds absolutely nothing overall, except a longer run time. The characters aren’t real enough for you to care about the twists and turns of their personal lives. The pointless scenes really feel tedious.

As the story progresses it gets a little silly, that’s if you haven’t already stopped caring about realism by that point. The pair use a drone to try and signal for help and charge it using one of the most ridiculous methods possible. At one point they signal out to a couple who are having a trip in the desert, who in turn just steal Hunter’s car and leave. The pair didn’t tell anywhere, beyond Hunter’s online fans, where they were going, and surely that’s the first rule of doing stuff like this. Then there’s the ending, which without spoiling anything is just ridiculous. There are enough silly moments here that it would probably be a better comedy than a thriller, if it leaned into it more.

Despite all of that though, the film is still incredibly tense. For the most part it really works, with the unbearable height and sense of doom having your eyes glued to the screen. The danger has your heart beating fast. Fall is decent, but has too many dumb things that stop it from being great.

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Dark Glasses – Film Review

Posted on August 30, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini, Carlo Lucarelli

Starring: Ilenia Pastorelli, Asia Argento, Xinyu Zhang

Rating: ★★½

It’s been ten years since Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D, was released and he’s finally back with Dark Glasses. His new film also marks Argento’s return to the giallo genre like his early films over half a century ago. The script for Dark Glasses was orginally written in 2002 but shelved when the production company went bust. It wasn’t until Dario’s daughter, Asia Argento, discovered the script in a drawer while writing her autobiography that the film was back on the cards. Dario then updated the script throughout lockdown and the film is due to be released on Shudder in October.

The story follows Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli), an escort who is being hunted by a killer. During his initial attack on her, she crashes her car into another car, killing the driver and front-seat passenger, leaving the child in the back, Chin (Xinyu Zhang), without parents. The accident also causes Diana to lose her sight. Despite her disability the killer is still hot on her trail and won’t stop until he’s killed her.   

Dark Glasses is simply not great, but it’s also not terrible. It has an absolutely bonkers plotline that makes less sense as it goes on and really should just be taken at face value, without much thought. Diana is given a guide dog from that has been taught how to attack, which comes in very handy. Chin, the now orphaned boy who has a thing for stealing business cards, doesn’t hold the accident against Diana for long, and just goes along for the ride and no one really tries to intervene. He leaves the home he’s been placed in and just decides to live with Diana, and apart from one brief police visit no one cares. There’s things like that all the way through the film. Even though the plot is stupid, it’s still entertaining to watch. There are a couple of funny bits as well, but nothing that memorable.

As per usual in the genre there is a bit of gratuitous nudity that makes this feel like something very dated. Most of this is just in the beginning of the film, but it’s still just not needed. However, the biggest sin the film commits is just not utilising the premise that much. Diana isn’t used to being blind, the whole situation is completely new to her, and apart from a couple of moments that’s not really used to build tension or horror. It’s just a minor inconvenience that causes her not to be able to fight back at various points.

The gore, on the other hand, is really good. It’s extremely over the top, with blood pouring out everywhere. Things like the first victim being garrotted or when the guide dog does attack someone it rips out their neck, are really graphic scenes. There’s also an imposing score, that has two settings, mimicking a heartbeat and making you feel like you’re in the middle of a rave. I can’t say whether it’s a good score or not as I’m not completely decided, but it’s really present for the whole film, almost becoming a character itself.

Dark Glasses runs at around ninety minutes and is constantly on the move with a very quick pace that helps disguise just how ridiculous the story is. It races by and is definitely not boring, but you’re very aware that this isn’t great. Dark Glasses is not the best of Argento’s film, but it is a lot better than Dracula 3D and that’s really all we needed from this. Hopefully his next film, a newly announced remake of a very dark Mexican film from the 40s, continues the upwards trend.   

Dark Glasses will be available on Shudder from the 13th October 2022

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Walking, Walking, and Even More Walking

Posted on August 29, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

On Saturday, I headed down to London to see the UK premiere of the latest Dario Argento film, Dark Glasses, which was being shown at FrightFest. We booked tickets as soon as it was announced, and then they announced the man himself was going to be there to introduce the film as well as take part in a Q+A afterwards.

As we were heading down to London anyway, it made sense to make a full day out of it. I always enjoy walking around the capital. In the end I did around 29,000 steps/12 miles, according to my watch at least. We arrived at Euston at around half nine in the morning, and walked up to Camden. A couple of months ago we briefly went to Camden market, but wanted to explore it fully. It’s a really cool place, with lots of different stalls/shops to explore. It’s a little quirky, even if you see the same t-shirts hanging in every other store. After that we walked down Regent’s canal from Camden locks until the path disappeared, somewhere near Islington. It was the perfect day for the walk, it was a little busy, but besides some low bridges that I had to duck a little to walk under, it was nice. We walked past a pretty cool looking book shop that was in a canal boat, but didn’t stop to really look through it. As we were reaching the end we did stop for some of the nicest ice cream I’ve had in a while and it was getting pretty hot by this point, and I’d forgotten sun-cream which is becoming a bit of a trend for me this year. I did pop into Boots to get some, so I’m not as burnt as I could have been.

We then took a very long-winded way to the Thames, walking past St. Paul’s Cathedral and then across the Jubilee bridge. At this point it was early afternoon, and it was quite busy. Still a very beautiful day for walking. In the end it was all a very roundabout way of getting to Trafalgar Square, where we rested for quite a while as it was a long day by this point and I think all of our feet were tired. There’s so much to explore and things to find in London. We try not to get the underground each time we go, just to find more places to explore. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of walking around the city.

After our pit stop we made our way to the cinema to actually see the film, the whole reason we were there. It was incredibly busy inside, and a little overwhelming with not really knowing where to go, but eventually we made our way to our seats and waited for Argento’s arrival.

After watching Suspiria early last year and many of his other films in the months since, Argento has become one of my favourite writers/directors. I love Suspiria, and his ‘Animal’ trilogy, as well as Deep Red. Saying all of that, he’s a frustrating director for me as well, since I want to love everything he’s done, but there’s a lot of rubbish, especially in his more recent output. Thankfully, Dark Glasses was a lot better than his previous film, Dracula 3D (2012), but still not as good as his work from the 70s. It’s over-the-top, silly, and has a score that feels like you’re in a rave (I have a full review coming soon). He also announced a new film is in the works, which I was surprised by since there was a gap of ten years between Dracula and this one. This time around he’s remaking a 1940s Mexican film, but didn’t announce the title. I couldn’t name a single 1940s Mexican film, so it’ll be a surprise for me whatever it is.

Argento introducing Dark Glasses

Some more photos from the day:

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Illuminations by Alan Moore – Extract Review

Posted on August 28, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Thank you Bloomsbury for the advance extract of this collection

I’m a massive Alan Moore fan, having read most of his work, and was very excited when his short story collection was originally announced around 18 months ago. I pre-ordered it instantly, and am waiting for the publication day. As I’m sure you can imagine, I was also over the moon to be given the opportunity to read two of the short stories in advance. The extract I’ve read contains ‘Cold Reading’ and ‘The Improbably Complex High-Energy State’. Both stories are completely different and show the varied style of Moore’s work.

The first story is about a fake psychic, Ricky Sullivan, who is arranging an appointment with a potential client, or a ‘vessel of light’ as Ricky puts it. The story is from the first perspective, giving you an inner working of the con-man as he tries to justify to himself why he does the work he does, despite no belief in the supernatural. He explains one instance of a possible ghost sighting he had as a child, and dismisses it a reflection. There’s books on his table to impress clients, but he debunks the pictures inside. The story is quite short, but has a nice twist at the end. You know somethings coming, and everything builds throughout the story to the nice ending, even if the twist is a little obvious. The hints towards the twist are excellent.

The second story takes place in the first femtosecond (one millionth of one billionth of a second) of the universe, and is a bit more on the strange side. The story is an odd tale of the rise and fall of a brain dictator claiming to be a God, that takes place all within that first femtosecond. It’s funny and very strange, to say the least. The language is a lot more formal than with ‘Cold Reading’, and reads more like a history text book in places. Once you realise what the story is actually about it all comes together and I was completely on board by a quarter of the way through.

Together the two stories were just under sixty pages and I absolutely raced through both of them. They’re both completely different, and if this is anything to go by then the actual collection is going to cover all types of subjects and stories. Alan Moore’s short stories are just as great as his comics, and if you’ve been put off reading his prose after his mammoth of a novel, Jerusalem, then it’s still worth giving this collection a go. ‘Cold Reading’ is easy to read, with Ricky being a great character, and ‘The Improbably Complex High-Energy State’ is a great fun read as well once you get into it.

I immensely enjoyed the two stories, and can’t wait to read more of the collection in October. It’s always great to read new things from Moore. His stories are full of wonder, imagination and whimsy. After this there will also be the Long London quintet from Moore, starting in early 2024. That should be very exciting.

Illuminations is due to be published by Bloomsbury on 11th October 2022

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Me Time – Film Review

Posted on August 27, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: John Hamburg

Writer: John Hamburg

Starring: Kevin Hart, Mark Wahlberg, Regina Hall, Jimmy O. Yang, Luis Gerardo Méndez

Rating: ★★½

Me Time is the second Kevin Hart film to be released on Netflix so this year, following the surprisingly decent The Man from Toronto back in June. This time around Hart plays Sonny Fisher, a stay-at-home dad whose entire life revolves around his children and their school. He’s the president of the PTA, running their talent show, and micromanaging his children’s spare time. His life wasn’t always like this, as his wild-card friend Huck Dembo (Mark Wahlberg) used to get him into wild situations. He thinks that part of his life is behind him, until his wife takes the children to her parent’s house for a week, and he has some ‘me time’. Not wanting to turn into a sad crossing guard at his children’s school, when they eventually grow up, Sonny reconnects with Huck for his forty-fourth birthday party, where things go from bad to worse.

What follows is pretty much what you expect, with a plotline that feels ripped straight out of a mid-2000s Adam Sandler film. For the most part it’s a light-hearted fun story about friends reconnecting and growing a little along the way. They have their ups and downs, but you know they’re going to make up in the end and get a happy ending. There’s plenty of screwball jokes, from Sonny taking on a mountain lion, to the beyond excessive lifestyle that Huck leads. Huck’s party is essentially a small-time festival in the California dessert for five days, at least until Huck’s loan shark and his flamethrower wielding sidekick come and ruin the party. From there things get even more extreme and wild.

Kevin Hart does what he does best and works well with Mark Wahlberg. Their polar opposite characters are endearing and bounce off each other, with plenty of good jokes between them to make this an enjoyable watch. Sadly, the whole thing is let down by just how gross some of the film is. There are poop jokes, vomiting, and even one scene with a tortoise, that’s one of the most stomach churning, disgusting things ever. When it’s more family-friendly comedy it works, but when it goes to more crass humour, it’s just not funny.

For the most part Me Time is a pretty decent each-watch. It has jokes that are bad, but then it moves on to more funny bits. It’s not going to win any awards, or be something you watch more than once, but it’s fairly enjoyable.  

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