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‘Killing Joan’ is Unpolished But Shows Strong Potential: Review

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Killing Joan

Uncork’d Entertainment’s Killing Joan combines the focused supernatural revenge of The Crow and the gritty feel of Death Wish, infusing it with the righteous power of an ass-kicking, take-no-shit alpha female.

Joan (Jamie Bernadette, All Girl’s Weekend, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu) is an enforcer known for her ruthless tactics and wild abandon. After she is double crossed by her boss and left for dead, she becomes a vengeful spirit and is doomed to wander the Earth until she is able to take down the men that attacked her.

via Uncork’d Entertainment

Joan works on a short fuse, dangerously blasting through her assigned shakedowns. She careens from one job to the next while entangling her personal affairs – including some unfinished business with her ex-boyfriend, Anthony (Teo Celigo), a good-natured youth counselor.

Even when Joan is kicking ass and taking names as an enforcer, she has a zero-tolerance policy for macho posturing. She is a protector at heart. This communicates the overall journey of the film; while her methods are fueled by anger, Joan’s desire to do the right thing is her strongest quality.

via Uncork’d Entertainment

As a modern exploitation film, it’s surprisingly bloodless. This doesn’t necessarily alter the affect of the movie – you don’t need buckets of blood for a revenge film – but it does lower the stakes for the dramatic scene in which Joan is attacked. It leaves her condition rather ambiguous in a time when we should genuinely fear for her life.

Bernadette as the titular Joan has intensity, but she lacks the bite to truly sell her character’s inherent violence. She seems more sardonic than aggressive, although she perfects that world-weary quality that the audience can completely relate to. Her reckless actions seem to come from a deep-seated apathy rather than a personal desire to cause harm.

via Uncork’d Entertainment

The source of Joan’s afterlife upgrade is unclear – she is imbued with powers of shadow manipulation, but we don’t get a clear sense of why, or how, or what the limitations are. Early on, it’s established that she can only move through darkness, but that rule isn’t strict in its execution. Perhaps as she grows stronger, she moves past that restriction? If so, we’re missing the step that directly addresses that.

Overall, Killing Joan is a clever and compelling concept, but it’s a bit unpolished. The editing is, at times, a tad choppy, and the fight scenes are missing the commitment to fully sell them. That being said, I am curious to see what comes next from writer/director Todd Bartoo. Killing Joan is an earnest effort that shows a lot of potential as Bartoo’s first feature.

With creatively incorporated visual effects by Paul Lada (Prometheus, Harry Potter, Pacific Rim Uprising), the cast includes Erik Aude, David Carey Foster, Katarina Leigh Waters, Erin O’Brien and Daniel Gardner. Killing Joan is available digitally on April 3rd and comes to DVD July 10th.

Check out the trailer and poster below!

via Uncork’d Entertainment

For more revenge films with a strong female lead, check out this trailer for the aptly titled Revenge.

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Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

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Horror Movies

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks. 

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story. 

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did. 

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD. 

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind. 

The Crow
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Lists

The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

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The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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News

Morticia & Wednesday Addams Join Monster High Skullector Series

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Believe it or not, Mattel’s Monster High doll brand has an immense following with both young and not-so-young collectors. 

In that same vein, the fan base for The Addams Family is also very large. Now, the two are collaborating to create a line of collectible dolls that celebrate both worlds and what they have created is a combination of fashion dolls and goth fantasy. Forget Barbie, these ladies know who they are.

The dolls are based on Morticia and Wednesday Addams from the 2019 Addams Family animated movie. 

As with any niche collectibles these aren’t cheap they bring with them a $90 price tag, but it’s an investment as a lot of these toys become more valuable over time. 

“There goes the neighborhood. Meet the Addams Family’s ghoulishly glamorous mother-daughter duo with a Monster High twist. Inspired by the animated movie and clad in spiderweb lace and skull prints, the Morticia and Wednesday Addams Skullector doll two-pack makes for a gift that’s so macabre, it’s downright pathological.”

If you want to pre-purchase this set check out The Monster High website.

Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Footwear for Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams doll shoes
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