What Josiah Saw – Film Review

Posted on August 1, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Vincent Grashaw

Writer: Robert Alan Dilts

Starring: Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Jake Weber, Tony Hale, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Dana Maerode, and Riley Kahn

Rating: ★★★★

What Josiah Saw is a horror thriller from director Vincent Grashaw and writer Robert Alan Dilts. It’s a slow-burn film about the past haunting a family who reconnect after two decades in order to decide the future of their property after a tempting offer is put forward to them. Josiah (Robert Patrick) is the father of three children, whose mother killer herself when they were still children.

The film is split into chapters, with time spent with each of the three children giving you an idea of who they are and then joining them together for the chilling finale. It feels almost like an anthology, with the stories almost seeming completely unrelated. Each chapter has its own arc, and it makes the whole film fly by at a quick pace. There’s never a moment that you’re waiting for it to end.

The first chapter introduces Tommy (Scott Haze) the youngest, and Josiah himself. They live in an isolated house, and Tommy is an outcast from society and also suffers verbal and mental abuse from his father. It’s a dark opening that sets the downbeat tone the rest of the film continues. The second chapter follows Eli (Nick Stahl) in a crime story that sees him at the centre of a story that feels like Stephen King meets Nightmare Alley. Then the third chapter follows Mary (Kelli Garner), who is living with her husband Ross (Tony Hale) and trying to adopt a child. All three of them are suffering with the trauma of their past, which is explored and revealed in the final sequence that brings them all together.

Robert Patrick is absolutely brilliant as Josiah, the father in the family. There are scenes between him and Thomas that are seriously disturbed and chilling. Josiah is a really sinister character, even before you know some of the family’s secrets, but he gets worse and worse as the story unfolds. The rest of the cast are fantastic as well with subtle and understated performances that add to the unsettling story.  

While the film is a horror with plenty of chilling moments and a few jumpy moments, it’s not all-out-horror, with instead a building atmosphere throughout the story. It’s never scary but it does get under your skin. It also moves through over genres, with the second chapter being a crime thriller, and the third chapter starting as a drama. The writing and the characters are so strong that it all works. The ending is also fantastic, with an excellent twist and revelation. Everything all comes together in the end.

Overall, What Josiah Saw is a really great film. It’s very character-driven, where you really feel like you know them and that makes the finale that much better. A carefully crafted and suspenseful horror.

WHAT JOSIAH SAW STREAMS EXCLUSIVELY ON SHUDDER THURSDAY, AUGUST 4

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Nightmare on Elm Street – Series Round-Up

Posted on July 31, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

So a few weeks ago I sat down and watched the first Nightmare on Elm Street film, after it came up in conversation with Tabby. We watched one a night until we’d seen all 7 of the original series. We’d both seen the films growing up, but this was the first I visited the series as an adult. I’m genuinely surprised that they hold up so well, a lot better than some of the other 1980s horror films.

Freddy is a great villain, and Robert Englund is fantastic in the role. He has a lot of personality that makes him stand out from other villains like Michael Myers and Jason. He brings a lot of humour to the series, the actual idea of being attacked in your dreams is chilling.

I do think as the series goes on they become sillier and sillier, with the 5th entry being the weakest. The way Freddy is brought back each time gets weaker and weaker. It becomes less about making sense and more about the kills and thrills.

Here’s my ranking from worst to best:

Series Ranking

7: The Dream Child (Film 5) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/24/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-5-the-dream-child/

6: The Dream Master (Film 4) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/22/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-4-the-dream-master-film-review/

5: Freddy’s Revenge (Film 2) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/18/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-2-freddys-revenge-film-review/

4: Freddy’s Dead (Film 6) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/26/freddys-dead-the-final-nightmare-film-review/

3: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (Film 7) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/30/wes-cravens-new-nightmare-film-review/

2: Dream Warriors (Film 3) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/20/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-3-dream-warriors-film-review/

1: The original A Nightmare on Elm Street (Film 1) – Review: https://ashleymanning.com/2022/07/16/a-nightmare-on-elm-street-film-review/

Honestly it’s hard to choose my favourite between 1 and 3. My favourite part of the series is when Freddy makes Phillip into a puppet, using his tendons to turn him into a marionette and lead him to fall from the roof top. It’s really gruesome and the effect is great. I chose the first film as my favourite as it’s the original and without that one the others wouldn’t exist.

I haven’t included the remake as I haven’t seen it since it came out. I have the DVD somewhere in one of the cupboards filled with old DVDs, but haven’t fished it out. I’m sure at some point I will re-watch it. From what I remember it was pretty good, but this re-watching was just the originals.

What’s your favourite entry to the series?

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

Posted in film reviews, Franchise Catch Up | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare – Film Review

Posted on July 30, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Wes Craven

Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Miko Hughes, John Saxon, Tracy Middendorf, David Newsom, Fran Bennett, and Wes Craven

Rating: ★★★★

Ten years after the original A Nightmare on Elm Street Wes Craven returned to the horror franchise he created, writing and directing Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. This time around the film is set in the real world with the Heather Langenkamp (Nancy from the first film) playing fictionalised versions of herself with Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) breaking out into real life. The film manages to both be a celebration of the series, while also a good horror film in its own right.

As the anniversary of the original film being released Heather Langenkamp is receiving phone calls from a stalker, that seem to reference Freddy Krueger. At the same time, she finds out that her husband is secretly designing a new glove for Freddy for a new sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street. She’s contacted by New Line Cinema and asked to join the cast of the sequel, and at the same time it seems like Wes Craven’s new script is being mimicked in real life.

Freddy Krueger is made out to be a much darker and scarier villain here, after being turned more comical in the later sequels. He’s not telling jokes when killing, there’s no silly costume changes like the wicked witch in part six. It’s back to the original with an actual monster. Wes Craven took this film seriously, and even the reason why Freddy is in the real world makes more sense than why he appears in the later films. The big difference this time with his costume is a trench coat, that makes him look darker, and a more animalistic glove, with what looks like muscles on it.  

This time around there’s a lot more focus on building terror than outright shocks and jump-scares. Freddy doesn’t really appear until right at the end, and for a small part you’re not even sure if Heather is making things up in her mind, or it’s really happening. It builds up to a tense and great finale that outdoes most of the previous entries to the series, despite arguably being the most over the top.

The film was ahead of its time with its meta references to the previous films in the series.  Much more recent films from the last 12 months like The Matrix Resurrections and even The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, follow in the footsteps of Wes Craven. It’s seamlessly done in New Nightmare, blending the real world and film world perfectly. Wes Craven would also go on to create Scream in 1996, which has some similar metatextual references to slasher films.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is one of the stronger entries to the Nightmare series. There’s a great sense of growing tension and fear. It doesn’t linger too much on nostalgia and successfully makes Freddy scary again.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Slashers and Updates

Posted on July 30, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Hello again, and thank you for stopping by. I thought it was a good time to give an update on how everything’s been over the last couple of weeks. I’m still making good progress on writing my new story ‘Blossoms of the Apocalypse’. I don’t want to give any details away just yet, but there’s plenty of gore. As of right now I’m 18,200 words into it, which is over a third of the way through my aim of 50,000. It might actually be longer than that at this rate as I keep on adding scenes in my head.

I normally have an idea of where the ending will be when I start writing a story, but just find my way there organically. This time around I have pretty much every scene plotted out in my head and I just need to get it written down. Every day I sit down to write 1000 words and it just pours out. This is the easiest writing has ever been for me, and it’s all thanks to a dream.

I went to bed a couple weeks back without anything, woke up with a start and a middle and had the ending finalised before noon. I can’t wait to share more and I’m looking forward to finishing it. I already have an idea for a short story prequel that will explain the backstory of one of the main characters. There’s a part of me that wants to join that into the main story and tell it from a dual perspective, but I’m just sticking to the plan for now. Things can be changed later.

Later today I will be publishing my review for Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, meaning I’ve reviewed all 7 of the original Elm Street films, and that will be followed tomorrow by an overview of the original series. I watched the films a long time ago as a kid, but it was good to revisit and see them as an adult. They’re a lot better than I remember.

I’ve also watched all the Friday the 13th films, where previously I’ve only seen the 1st one. I have very mixed feelings about the series, which you’ll see in my reviews. On one hand they are slasher classics, on the other some of them are so unbelievably bad I can’t believe they still made more.

I count Freddy vs. Jason as a Friday 13th film, due to Sean S. Cunningham being the driving force behind it, who also directed the first Friday film. So that review will be up last. I’ve currently got reviews for all 10 of the main films in the series sitting and ready to go. As it’s a lot, like with Elm Street, I’m going to break them up with other reviews in between. Dog Soldiers will be one, Heat will be another, and Playmobil the Movie will be a third. Don’t know what else I’ll be watching at the moment, but most likely Bullet Train as that’s out next Wednesday.

As a side note, Playmobil is on the list as Anya Taylor-Joy is Tabby’s ‘actor of the year’ and we’re watching everything she’s been in. Just have that, Radioactive, Barry, and Here are the Young Men to go.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

Posted in Uncategorized, Updates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Not Okay – Film Review

Posted on July 29, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Quinn Shephard

Writer: Quinn Shephard

Staring: Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, Mia Isaac, Embeth Davidtz

Rating: ★★★1/2

Not Okay is a comedy written and directed by Quinn Shephard. It deals with someone lying online to get attention and that crumbling down as people find out the truth. The film starts with a warning about some of the content, as the story deals with a terrorist attack as well as school shootings, and also warns that the main character is unlikable. It’s strange to be warned about that, especially since it’s not 100% clear if it’s a joke or not. Either way Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch) isn’t a likeable character, she’s selfish, attention seeking, and a liar and that’s just at the beginning where we find her trying to pitch an article to the website that she works for. Her idea is to justify why she feels sad, even though she doesn’t seem to have a reason to be.

Danni is an interesting character because she’s flawed in a realistic way. Her lies aren’t completely over the top, and it feels very authentic the way that she plays them up for sympathy. You get the impression that her mother has never been very caring or present in Danni’s life, and that she feels like an outcast. She has no friends at work and her closest companion is her pet Guinea pig. There are parts of Danni that are relatable, and you can understand why she lies, and how things snowball from there.

To impress someone a co-worker, Danni fakes being in Paris on a writer’s retreat. While supposedly in Paris, a co-ordinated terrorist attack happens, and people start to believe that Danni is a survivor. Before she knows it the lie has spun out of control and all of a sudden Danni is the centre of attention. She’s gone from being completely ignored to the centre of attention. She uses the lie to jumpstart her writing career and make a group of friends.

As the story progresses there are some predictable moments. The friends that Danni had coveted for such a long time aren’t really as amazing as she thinks they will be. A group of strangers she meets at a support group, that she joins while trying to find out how true survivors act to write an article, become better friends. She starts to see how her new-found fame and influencer status can be used for good and to change the world for a better place. Her secret is found out though which leads to everything being destroyed.

While the film deals with some dark topics, like depression, violence, and online bullying, it is still a comedy. It’s not the funniest film ever, but it has some good moments. The subject matter is hard hitting in places, but it has a nice balance between that and some more lighthearted moments. Most of the comedy comes from Danni raking in the attention, which is cringe-inducing at the same time and there are plenty of times you’ll want to look away, but can’t.

One of the better things about the film is the character Rowan (Mia Isaac), who did survive a school shooting, and ends up like a mentor for Danni as she starts to use her status to give a voice to others. Rowan should be the main character of the film, because she has more of a character arc, but Danni’s selfishness won’t let that happen. As someone else points out to Danni, she’s not willing to admit that she’s not the main character, and while Danni’s story drives the film, it’s Rowan’s story that gives it the emotional heart. The final scene, featuring Rowan reading out poetry, is perfectly poignant.

Not Okay is a pretty good look at the world of social media and influencers. It doesn’t say anything too bold, beyond the obvious like traumatic events last and you shouldn’t lie about them, but it’s well made. The central character is despicable and it’s refreshing that she doesn’t get a last minute redemption arc. The film starts with the ending, with everyone hating her, and with a small glimmer that anyone can grow and be a better person.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment