Over the past few years, screenwriter Simon Barrett has risen to prominence among film fans in general and horror fans in particular, especially for his last two collaborations with director Adam Wingard. Both the duo’s 2013 feature You’re Next and their 2014 film The Guest have garnered acclaim, with Barrett’s work also appearing in the …
As soon as the title card interrupts an otherwise calm beginning, it’s clear that this film is going to be absolutely bonkers. More importantly, it’s going to be so much fun to watch. It delivers on that first impression and more, never letting up in its sense of genre-bending glee and always doubling down on its extremes while maintaining a level head aesthetic tension. This is a film that puts a wicked grin on the audience, similar to the wicked grin its mysterious central character sports.
Special Mention: Sightseers Directed by Ben Wheatley Written by Steve Oram and Alice Lowe UK, 2012 This bloody, satirical road trip comedy is by no means as great as Terrence Mallick’s Badlands, but it is truly unique, strange, disquieting, and uncomfortably funny. Ben Wheatley is one of the most exciting genre filmmakers working in the …
Like its predecessor, V/H/S 2 is shaped around a framing story. This time, the framing story involves two private investigators searching for a missing person. Turns out this particular missing person liked to collect videotapes which depict weird supernatural occurrences. The private eyes decide to watch some of his tapes, which are the four short stories at the film’s core. That framing story is a problem: it’s so boring and un-scary that at first it seems the entire movie may turn out to be a waste of time. It might have been better just to have five short horror tales, presented without the pretense of being part of a larger conspiracy, because having to end the film on the conclusion of the framing tale just isn’t worth it.
V/H/S Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and Radio Silence Written by Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Nicholas Tecosky, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, and Chad Villella USA, 2011 Imagine you went trick-or-treating. Knowing the area, you take a big empty bag. You go to …