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[Review] Raw, Naughty, & Gritty – “Stirring” Delivers Bloody Holiday Joy!
Christmas has not entirely left, Troy Escamilla’s Stirring placed me right smack back into the Holiday Season. Back in 2017, I had the privilege of reviewing Escamilla’s slasher Party Night. I described Party Night as “A Throwback to old-school slasher films of the 1980’s.” “A straight bloodshed orgy and is an exceptionally fun flick that does not hold back.” Escamilla’s latest piece of Christmas pie, Stirring is no exception to the rule, and I found myself immersed in joy just three minutes into the first act.
The film opens at a sorority house with a group of girls in a bathroom forcing an initiation prank on a new pledge wanting to become a part of the elite sorority “Delta Sigma Sigma.” Not to give too much away, the joke has an inevitable conclusion, and we fast forward ten years later. Danielle, the sister of one of the sorority girls who met her demise ten years earlier, has sought refuge in the sorority to deal with her guilt of not grieving over the loss of her sister years ago. The group of girls at Delta Sigma Sigma are prepping for a Christmas party, but with the strange disappearance of local fraternity boys and fellow Sigma sisters, their little Christmas party ends faster than it began and someone or something is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move.
Escamilla has a particular taste in casting, and I dig it! It was pleasing to see a few familiar faces from Party Night in this film; I love when filmmakers “recycle” some of their talent. We see this executed in Rob Zombie films quite often. The problems that the characters face and the dialogue are very realistic and will appeal to today’s youth, very relatable. A smart casting move using Brinke Stevens (Slumber Party Massacre) in this film, pure genius!
Not wasting any time, the film delivers the first kill seven minutes in, this is something horror fans will appreciate. I was highly impressed with the cinematography and editing with Stirring, Derek Huey did a fantastic job, smooth transitions throughout, causing everything to flow seamlessly. Mark D’Errico’s score was implemented with a mix of Holiday cheer and horror.
Final Thoughts
With a Black Christmas meets Sorority House Massacre kind of feel, Stirring brought me back to a special place in life and did not waste any time in accomplishing this. Filled with mystery and several twists this has proven not to be a straightforward slasher flick; rather it will leave you guessing. The characters in the film will grow on you, and the practical effects are delightful along with the death count. Stirring I am sure will make everyone’s Christmas watch list in the years to come.
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Stirring Behind The Scenes Photos
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‘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 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.
“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:
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‘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. 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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