My movie selections were all over the map for this streaming marathon, with some supernatural stuff, a slasher of sorts, a home invasion film, and a film that never quite lets us know what it is trying to be…
BODY CAM (2020)
An extremely timely social commentary film meets Ghost in this supernatural revenge film.
Mary J. Blige plays a cop back to work after being out on leave for a brief period of time. Following the death of her former partner, she drags her new rookie partner into investigating a woman seen in the inexplicable body cam footage.
While the themes here may seem pretty obvious—race and police corruption—and turn off those who hate “politics” in their horror, they are presented quite objectively if you pay attention. Scenes of cops on the beat truly make you feel how frightening it must be for a cop to suddenly be thrust into a potentially life-threatening situation. Not to mention, while ripping stories right out of the headlines about the way police interact with the Black community, the film also shows that the corruption isn’t just limited to white cops.
The supernatural sequences of a dark, ominous, form showing up at the scenes of crimes and wreaking violent, gory havoc deliver fantastic horror moments as they’re weaved into the mystery story.
Aside from some questionable details in the plot that I can easily let slide, the only real disappointment here is that the script fails in giving any layers or depth to Mary J.’s character, who has gone through some tough stuff but shows virtually no emotion throughout the film.
HANGMAN (2015)
Predominantly boring found footage films like this are no one’s fault but our own as horror fans. We watch them left and right, so they keep getting made.
Hangman feels to me like a combo of Sinister, Paranormal Activity, and The Strangers.
Jeremy Sisto (May, Wrong Turn) is the famous face here. He and his family come home from a trip to find their house has been ransacked. They go on with their lives, not knowing that a home invader is watching every move they make!
For a majority of this film’s runtime, multiple camera angles show us that the invader is always just a room away, or just around the corner as the family members go about their daily business. But don’t expect to find out a motivation at the end for why the invader chose this house and this family. Where have I heard that one before?
If there’s one thing good about this film, it’s the final scene, which is quite intense.
THE FINAL SCREAM (2019)
This one comes from director Scott Jeffrey, who makes basic, competent horror flicks and has a regular roster of likable actresses he uses as his final girls.
Sort of like Starry Eyes or 2 Jennifer, this film features an inspiring actress becoming the star of her own horror movie.
The main girl goes for a final call to an isolated location, where only a skeleton crew is around to work with the director, who quickly starts acting weird and pushing her for a better performance.
Naturally, when the camera finally begins to roll (45 minutes in), the main girl learns the director is nuts.
So she bands together with the few other girls forced into the film and they make a plan to escape.
There are chase scenes, plenty of good gore, and even some gruesome torture porn, just don’t expect anything you haven’t seen before. Although, there is a penis hacking scene that delivers an impressively large member.
INTERLACED (2018)
Interlaced has a lot of style and effective horror touches, with a washed out look, trippy sequences, and unnerving camera work. It also has so much going on it’s hard to tell what’s going on. Dare I say I feel like I actually might watch it again at some point to better make sense of it all, because there’s a lot of information to be extracted throughout the film that’s easy to overlook the first time.
A young boy’s sister strolled off into the woods during her birthday party two years ago and was never seen again, soooooo…he goes camping alone to get over his fears.
The film combines standard cinematic perspective with a POV from the boy’s camera. Once he sets up camp, he immediately starts to feel paranoid. There are noises and movements outside his tent at night, but he barely seems concerned. He catches glimpses and shadows of a figure, and he communicates with his sister through an electronic device.
Is there a monster? Are there ghosts? Is it aliens? Is there a killer lurking in the woods? None of the above? Anything and everything is on the table as the boy roams around brazenly capturing eerie footage that is never explained. There are also various hints of family issues interspersed that just muddy clarity even further. And the conclusion of the film uses one of the dirtiest tricks in the book as a twist—but it’s the very reason I want to watch it again.
