The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)

September 24, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

Set in a small town called New Zebedee, in Michigan during the mid 1950s, we follow the adventures of a ten-year-old orphan named Lewis Barnavelt, mourning the recent loss of his parents to a fatal car accident, staying in the rickety and seemingly haunted Victorian mansion of his uncle, Jonathan. Jonathan is an eccentric warlock often visited by his neighbor, a witch named Mrs. Zimmerman, and the mansion he resides in is anything but mundane. A new home also means a new school for Lewis, who is immediately labeled as a square by his peers and subsequently picked on as he tries in vain to make a friend. School isn’t the only place of learning for the boy, as Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman begin to teach him the ways of the warlocks, whose acts are spurred on by visions of his dead mother, while they mysteriously spend their time looking for a fabled clock hidden within the walls of the mansion. Jack Black and Cate Blanchett co-star in this PG-rated film by Eli Roth.

The Predator (2018)

September 22, 2018September 22, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

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Shane Black tries to do what no one has done thus far, and that’s to make a good follow-up to John McTiernan’s 1997 action classic, PREDATOR. Here, the Predators are back searching for their old technology, and possibly taking over the Earth, having to confront a rag-tag group of disgrace military vets in their way. Boyd Holdbrook, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes and Jacob Tremblay also appear.

Summer of 84 (2018) – A Podcast Film Review

August 26, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

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RKSS return after their Turbo Kid to deliver yet another throwback to the 1980s in the mystery-suspense-horror flick, SUMMER OF 84. A quartet of boys go out in search of a serial killer of teenage boys (just like them) that they feel could be the cop that lives in their very own neighborhood, and seek to find the evidence needed to bring him to justice. The further they go out, however, the more exposed they are to becoming the next victim in their manhunt.

The Meg (2018) – A Podcast Film Review

August 11, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

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A big shark and Jason Statham are the big draws to THE MEG, in which a rescue team of humans must try to survive, and eventually take on, a prehistoric shark of gargantuan proportions that threatens everyone off of the coast of China. Jon Turteltaub directs this PG-13 action-horror hybrid that some compare to the JAWS and JURASSIC PARK series, or, at least, its low-aiming sequels.

The First Purge (2018) – A Podcast Movie Review

July 23, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

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The fourth film in the Purge series is a prequel to the other three, as The First Purge shifts directors to Gerard McMurray, though retaining James DeMonaco’s services as screenwriter. This one showcases the trial run’ experiment that led to the Purge, as the alt-right government seeks to cure societal ills by finding a way to eradicate crime throughout most of the year, mostly by sweeping house and trying to get rid of the nation’s poor. Social commentary abounds in this franchise that is sometimes marketed, and perhaps mis-marketed, as a horror series.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) – A Podcast Film Review

June 20, 2018June 20, 2018 ~ Vince Leo ~ 1 Comment

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Acclaimed director J.A. Bayona takes over the reins of this lucrative franchise with JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, the follow-up to 2015’s biggest box-office smash. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles, this time having to figure out if the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar should be saved, or if the active volcano that’s in full flow should course correct their existence back to extinction. A wealthy benefactor wants to put them into sanctuary, but someone in his organization sees a bigger opportunity to keep these dinos alive by selling them to the highest bidders around the world.

Hereditary (2018) – A Podcast Film Review

June 18, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

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First-time feature film director Ari Aster makes a splash in this thoughtful and well-acted blend of family melodrama and supernatural horror. Toni Collette’s performance anchors this tale of a mother trying to cope with the loss of her own manipulative mother, and a couple of teenage kids who seem to be losing their way in the death’s wake.

Unfriended (2014)

April 26, 2015April 4, 2019 ~ Vince Leo

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The entirety of the film is the view from the laptop screen of teenager Blaire Lily,whose very private Skype conversation with boyfriend Mitch is rudely interrupted by a trio of friends looking to chat up the clique. It’s the first anniversary of the suicide of their classmate, Laura, who offed herself after being cyberbullied following the posting of a dreadfully embarrassing video of her on YouTube. When a sixth participant in the group chat appears, and Blaire begins to get private messages on Facebook from Laura’s dormant account, she immediately suspects one of them is playing some sort of very sick joke. Or, perhaps it is a malicious hacker. Or, perhaps worst of all, could it truly be Laura contacting them from beyond? If so, they’re all in trouble, as they’re told they will die if they leave the chat, and “Laura” has a lot of information to expose about them all they wouldn’t want anyone to know, especially within that very clique of friends.