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OBSERVANCE (2015) is Overwhelmingly Strange

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There are a lot of films that start off with loads of buildup and ambiguity, only to lose the mystery later on in the film when everything finally gets an explanation. Usually, this explanation comes in the form of some type of monolog. Some sort of spoken epiphany or realization. They try and explain things as well as they can because, you, the viewer, can’t figure out things on your own. At least, that’s the feeling I get from many movies.

Observance does not care whether or not you understand what’s going on.

Everything about this film is soaked in mystery; it’s deep, dark, brooding, and overwhelmingly strange. This Aussie horror flick stars Lindsay Farris as Parker, a private investigator who takes on a job keeping track on a woman across the street from him while he stays in a decrepit apartment. His life at home is a wreck. His son has passed away and his wife will not speak to him. To keep up with an insurmountable level of hospital bills, he takes on this seemingly innocent job. Only, there’s something strange about this apartment. Something that is clearly beyond any human’s comprehension.

Who is this mysterious employer? What is this strange black liquid in jars around the house? What the actual Hell is going on here?

Observance is comparable to the early works of David Lynch. It’s artful; every frame seems purposeful and full of direction, though what direction it’s actually going is open to interpretation. The sound editing on this film is phenomenal – it’s wholly unnerving and tense. Every single thing about Joseph Sims-Dennett’s micro-budget film (it was shot for about $11,000) sets out to make you feel uncomfortable and upset.

It succeeds.

Scenes of a dreary ocean permeate Parker’s memory, coupled with the sound of the waves mixed with what sounds like a train roaring by. Sims-Dennett understands the impact that the film’s sonic frequencies can have on the viewer and pays careful attention to assure it’s dominance over the bleak mood. And while most of the imagery is not particularly gory, the sickly-green palette of the grimy walls help to make the viewer feel just plain dirty. You may feel the need to take a shower after the movie and wipe the filth off. That’s a compliment, I promise.

While some fans of conventional horror cinema may find the lack of explanation for the occurrences in this film a disappointment, those looking for a showcase of the bizarre will find the film a viable option to satiate their strange cravings. It’ll leave you scratching your head and wording what in the world you were just a witness to, but you’ll undoubtedly be pondering over it hours after the final frame.

Observance is now available on BluRay, DVD, and On Demand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBAEeBEuIKs

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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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 Sébastien Vaniček 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.

Evil Dead Rise

“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.”

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:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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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.

Happy Sad Confused

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

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

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.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 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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