The ‘three is a crowd’ dictum is amply demonstrated in ‘Fantasy Island’… with as many as three writers collaborating on the story, including the director, the film turns out to be a mishmash, convoluted end-product. And the title, which seems to suggest an animated, children’s film, couldn’t have been more misleading. Five ‘lucky contest winners’ […]
It’s the sequel to the 2017 sleeper hit ’47 Meters Down’, where a couple of girls in a cage crash down into the ocean, with oxygen depleting. This one, for obvious reasons has a suffix: Uncaged. It involves four girls – twice the number, but with half the thrills and excitement. Mia (Sophie Nelisse) and […]
“Stories have the power to hurt or heal,” says a child’s voice at the beginning of the film. In this film, adapted from the series of stories by Alvin Schwartz, one wonder what power this film could have – to hurt, heal.. or horrify! Set in 1968 during Halloween (that’s a given), in the small […]
‘Collateral Damage’… “She wasn’t altogether there at the end,” says Annie Graham (Toni Collette) of her mother, Ellen, while delivering her eulogy. She also describes the departed woman, with whom Annie had a none-too-warm relationship, as ‘secretive’ and ‘private’. Among those attending the funeral are her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), teenaged son Peter (Alex Wolff) […]
Take an eerie-looking spacecraft (Covenant) hurtling through space towards planet Oregai–6, 15 crew aboard in hyper-sleep along with the 2000 passengers out to colonize a planet, add some of the ghastliest, bloodthirsty creatures — with bloodcurdling screams — designed by VFX specialists, and you have Alien: Covenant. Five years after the prequel Prometheus and almost […]
Two kinds of exploration have always intrigued and baffled humans: the mysteries of the deep (oceans) and the secrets of space. Director Daniel Espinosa has helmed this outer-space sci-fi horror thriller of six scientists and astronauts attempting to collect data from Mars. It’s a motley group consisting of hot-headed technician Roy Adams (Ryan Reynolds), the […]
Dr. Seth Ember (Aaron Eckhart) is an ‘exorcist’ of a different kind – he is a scientist who expels demons from people who are ‘possessed’, terming the entire process ‘evictions’. Wheelchair-bound due to a car accident in which his wife and son perished, Dr. Ember shows traces of his tragic past by sporting a shabby […]
Frankly, the initial half hour of the film set me wondering as to which gender and age segment of filmgoers it was targeted at. Even an hour later, I was clueless! Selena (Kate Beckinsale), the death-dealing vampire, is on the run from both the Lycans (werewolves) and their traditional rivals — her double-crossing vampire camp. […]
‘Haunting, A-haunting we go’ is the motto of the master of shocker flicks James Wan, in this sequel to the 2013 ‘Conjuring’. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise their earlier roles of wife–husband paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren. The film begins with the couple conducting a séance in Amityville. While on the job, the psychic […]