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You May Also Like: ‘American Conjuring’
Greetings iHorrorĀ fans and welcome to a new review series we call “You May Also Like” that takes advantage of your streaming services algorithm.
That feature points you in the direction of films that contain flavors of something you recently viewed.
Since my Amazon Fire is never without a horror movie in its queue I get plenty of two-star options in the underlying menu bar and it’s about time I paid attention.
For instance, I viewed The Conjuring 2 on Prime and in the sub-scroll, it was recommended that I watch American Conjuring (2016). It’s not my first instinct to click on these films because of my elitist tastes. And that’s not really fair.
So I’ve decided to soldier through and watch some of these low-budget rhinestones and tell you what I think and if they deserve the low star rating attached to them.
The first film as I stated before is, in fact, American Conjuring which is already a problem; it’s neither filmed in America nor does it contain a conjuring. Listen if you’re going to try and profit off a movieĀ whose title is now a part of the horror handbook, be prepared to defend it.
Here’s the set up: an orphanage with a bloody past has been repurposed as a single family home. In 2004 another tragedy strikes and is later sold to another family — with a cute dog.
Soon after the move-in strange things begin to happen including spontaneousĀ vomiting, phantomĀ rubber balls and slamming doors. The hodge-podge of a plot branches out into other tropes including the dis-believingĀ dad, a creepy little girl who draws prophetic pictures and a murderous possessiveĀ hag.
The film shares more similaritiesĀ withĀ The Amityville Horror and The Grudge than the Wan classic it hopes to capitalize on in titular fashion.
Here’s what’s not-so-good
Uneven storytelling (even the purpose of the monster gets lost) muddles an otherwise good initial plot however copied it may be. There is so much going on that the narrative moves along nicely in the beginning as a so-so haunter but then compounds things with several ideas that don’t blend well.
This all culminates into a mediocre twist ending.
Darren Matheson, the male lead, has to carry most of the movie as it gets going, but the constant switch of motivations may be too exhausting for him and his performance suffers in the process.
Lynn Csontos as momĀ has little more to do than react to each situation so her abilities are limited and exasperating.
Here’s what is good
The creature and special effects department headed by Matt Lutz is one of the best parts of this film. The effects are creepy. His monster hag is very effective from head to toe and saves this production from feeling as inexpensive as it is. He gets some help from lighting and Gabriel Medina, the cinematographer.
Medina knows how to get the most out of a dimly lit space and frames a pretty effective over the shoulder sight gag. Not sure whose idea it was to shift the color palettes and filters throughout the film, but some work, some don’t.
Morgan Lindsay Lane is the standout actress in the film, but her presence is all too brief.
It’s obvious directorsĀ Dan Walton and Dan Zachary had a vision for American ConjuringĀ and to their credit, they have given their audience a watchable horror film that plays a little with what people love about the genre, but then ups the ante into a gift basket of threadbare ideas.
Does the film deserve its streaming star rating?
American Conjuring gets a two-star rating on Amazon, and that’s not fair. I’m giving it an extra one because of the detailed creature effects and talented cinematography. Had it been tightened up a bit, the film would have succeeded as a haunted house chiller, but as it stands the foundation collapses underneath the weight of its collected ideas.
You can watch American Conjuring on Prime.
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the SĆ©bastien VaniÄek upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.ā
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abramsā Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turowās 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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