FIVE FILMS - THE SAND, THE FINAL GIRLS, TALES OF HALLOWEEN, KNOCK KNOCK, THE GREEN INFERNO

THE SAND

BLOOD BEACH is one of my favorite all time B horror movies with the main reason the inventive monster that lives under the sand and kills and eats people. THE SAND has a different location and plot but mines much of the same territory. This is pretty good thriller with a bunch of hungover college students stuck on a beach with a hungry something that will eat them the moment they touch the sand. Well directed, well paced, excellent set-up of suspenseful scenes. Only complaint cheap CGI effects but they don't get in the way too much

THE FINAL GIRLS

Clever, funny, and meta to the bone. Teenagers find themselves trapped in a famous slasher film starring one of the main teen's mothers who has died in real life. Knows the in and outs of slasher mythology enough that this feels like a primer on the genre. My only criticism is spends so much time talking and on set-up, I wish there were more scary scenes and action. Love the faux trailer at the beginning and the twist at the ends. A movie made by people who really know slasher films. 

 

TALES OF HALLOWEEN

The set-up here is ten short horror stories by ten different directors about Halloween. Most of them don't have much in the way of surprise endings which should be a given for horror anthologies. My two favorites were Trick and The Night Billy Raised Hell both of which balance humor, gore, and shocks into ten minutes or so. The rest of the stories had some thrilling moments but either had a flat premise or were not very artfully told or both. 

 

KNOCK, KNOCK

What was the point of this film exactly? There is no explanation at the end and what the two female antagonists do to home alone married Keanu Reeves isn't particularly sadistic or creative. The most entertaining part of this Eli Roth film is where Reaves finally loses it and tells the girls what he thinks of them. Reaves is such a bad actor, the lack of conviction in that scene is very amusing. This is apparently a remake of an obscure 1970's film and also has echoes of FUNNY GAMES but it is all forgettable and meaningless. Two positives - The glossy look suits the subject matter and Ana De Armas and Lorenza Izzo are both suitably convincing as the menacing young females.

THE GREEN INFERNO

It's a twofer for Eli Roth. Combining a semi-remake of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST with a weird take on environmental activism might have looked good non paper but it is a bloody mess (literally). No tension, not much story, only gross man eating man violence. Lorenza Izzo, who was also in KNOCK KNOCK and is Roth's wife in real life, is a decent enough heroine which is the only good thing I can say about this film.