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The Unlocking 2022 ★★★
A nice little short film about a man locking the door to keep out the bad guys.
At the behest of his therapist, he unlocks the door with catastrophic results.
The monster looks good and the bullying with the chopped off hand is kind of funny. But the hamburger phone keeps the fourth star at bay.
A Quiet Place Part II 2020 ★★★˝
The biggest quality of the Quiet Place movies is that they are horror movies for family people. If you rate family above anything else, this is the stuff for you.
Before really kicking off, part 2 takes a quick detour back to day 1. Not really sure why they had to do that, other than to introduce Cillian Murphy's character and give John Krasinski a bit of screen time. I did like the introduction of the monsters and the back and forth between the deaf daughter and the father. One second, you hear nothing and the next, you hear everything. Very off putting.
From there, we pick up where part 1 left us. The mother and the children leave their house and start travelling, only to end up scattered in different places. Not sure if Krasinski was actually inspired by The walking dead, but the island where they end up does give away a bit of an Alexandria-vibe as the safe haven. Or the people outside the island trying to keep them from crossing.
If there is one thing Krasinski can do, it's character writing. He really presens credible characters that suck you into the story and he shines when he gets to describe the relationships in a family. Also a special mention to the Emmett character, his carefullness and wearines of others, resulting in him at first mostly wanting to get rid of this family.
His second major quality is creating tension. The scene before they meet Emmett is probably the best example because you don't know what's going to happen (the scene at the end somehow felt less threatening because you felt the last minute saviour coming). Somebody has them in their vizer, ready to shoot. The threat of the monsters is still looming and then the boy gets caught in a bear trap and understandably screams in agony. Proving once again his mastery of “family horror”. Great performance by Emily Blunt there as well. You can tell all the mixed emotions she feels and the internal conflict between what she wants to do (comfort her child) and what she has to do (tell him to keep quiet). Another example is the moment when Emmett discovers the boat. After all, you had a sense of security about how the monsters could not get to the island and then... they're heee-eere! Good stuff, that.
That said, the movie felt a tad too much rinse and repeat from the first one. You can tell that Emmett was written as a replacement for John Krasinski. There is the self sacrifice element that comes back. Sometimes, it just felt a bit too repetitive.
Good nonetheless, though.
To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story 2017 ★★★★
A very touching portrait of a man who has come a long way.
From his childhood days being bullied (and badly too) to finding what would later become his love of horror movies.
How an honest mistake nearly resulted in his career almost being over before it full well began.
Or the story of how he landed the part that gave him his career (Jason Voorhees) and how he in turn gave new life to that character. Not in the least by his tireless efforts on the con circuit, giving thousands, if not millions of fans memories that will last them a lifetime. And let's not forget the whole Freddy vs Jason-hoopla. Not even an explanation.
It's a brutally honest story. Hodder portrays himself very openly, openly talking about the dark thoughts that haunted him after the near fatal accident or how his OCD drove his family away. A story that gave me goosebumps and brought me close to tears on more than one occasion.
A great documentary. Well worth checking out.
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