Review: The Bone Box

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

The Bone Box

Directed by Luke Genton

LakeShore Productions; Terror Films

87 minutes, 2020

https://www.facebook.com/TheBoneBox/

There was a time when grave robbing was a profession, much like burglary. Sometimes they would steal the body (look up Burke and Hare), others it was the contents of the graves (such as jewelry). It doesn’t really happen much these days, but this film sheds a light on that very crime.

Gareth Koorzen and Maria Olsen

We are introduced to Tom (Gareth Koorzen). He is recently mourning his wife, but also he drinks too much, and gambles through his depression. What better reason to snatch some gems from the deceased as he is mad at death for taking his partner, Claire (Tess Bellomo). Currently he is living with his Aunt Florence (the wonderful Maria Olsen), who is also recently bereaving her husband – and just happens to live next door to the cemetery. As Dana Carvey might say, “How convenient!”

Working with Elodie (Michelle Krusiec, who was a semi-regular on shows like “Hawaii Five-O” and “General Hospital”), the daughter of the funeral parlor director to get the list of recent burials, Tom spends a night digging away to sell the bling to pawn shops. This is all to pay off a large gambling debt to a bookie named Benji (a cameo by Aaron Schwartz, who’s danced around the big leagues with credits including “Gossip Girl” and his first film, 1992’s The Mighty Ducks).

Tom comes across as cold-hearted and uncaring about his night activity, but other things are going on around him in the house that are starting to unnerve him. Florence has a long speech about how objects become more than what they are as they become memories, and this translates into Tom seeing glances of the deceased he stole from roaming around the house. Is it “real,” his deep-seated guilt, or Memorex? (Sorry…). If so, this could be seen as a direct descendant of Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” But is it?

We see the spirits (or imagined ones) popping in and out in shadows, backgrounds and eye corners. The way they just appear is well done, sliding through the viewer’s vision, and then poof. One of the ways this is indicated is by a changing painting, drawn by Tom’s late uncle (who’s grave he also pilfered). Each time he looks, a shadowy figure is slowly making it’s way to the front door, a theme also effectively used in a similar fashion in the pilot episode of the television show “Night Gallery” (1969), in a segment titled “The Cemetery” (with Ossie Davis and Roddy McDowell).

Michelle Krusiec

Most of the film takes place within the house (after the opening), but the director helps keep it from getting too claustrophobic by some really smart camera work by cinematographer Gonzalo Digenio. There is very little editing within the scenes, and by using a handheld, the camera moves around the actors as they talk, giving some feeling of the viewer’s own presence in the scene. It’s not overly shaky like found footage, so the motion sickness feeling is not present, but with the lack of editing, this gives the dialogue and the actors themselves a chance to carry the scenes rather than rely on editing for action (Sergei Eisenstein discussed this about 100 years ago).

This ain’t no Poltergeist (1982), where the ghosts are heavily interacting with the living, like shoving Carol Ann across the kitchen floor; this is more subtle, which is also a nice touch. The motive for the spirits’ actions, if they in fact exist, is also revenge, however. This is the first film for director Luke Genton, and he makes the most of it by keeping it small and tight, without making it feel too cramped. Really nice first effort.

Tom is a bit of a dick in that he has let his emotions and addictions get the better of him through his grief, and Koorzen plays him well, giving the viewer a chance to still care about him. His Afrikaner accent is a bit distracting for about a minute, but when you add in Olsen’s similar natural inflection, it actually works – though I would have liked some explanation about that, unless I missed it. Everyone bodes well in the acting area, managing sometimes large amounts of dialogue in particular scenes.

This is a kind of film that would be mostly okay to show to newbies to the genre, as there is very little blood, a small body count per se, and only one or two bits which could be considered squeamish. There is also no nudity or much in the way of cussin’, either. This is more of a personality-driven story, rather than shock, even with ghosts popping in and out here and there throughout. It is quite entertaining.

Review: Tony

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Tony (aka My Mentor the Serial Killer: Tony)

Directed by Vipul K. Rawal

eBiz India Entertainment Unlimited

124 minutes, 2019

https://www.facebook.com/TonyTheFilm/

http://ukfilmchannel.co.uk

While the American film market is arguably the most influential, it pales in comparison to the sheer volume that comes out of India, the most prolific cinema industry on the globe. Some Indian releases occasionally make it out to the world’s theaters and become hits, like Dil Se (1998; translated as “From the Heart”), but outside India, most are just shown on cable stations.

Mahesh Jilowa

If you are into Bollywood on any level, there are some things you probably know. First, most films from there are also light musicals, even during some of the most intensive of stories (again, such as Dil Se  is a perfect example), though this one is not. That would have been a hoot. Secondly, releases from that part of the world tend to be really long, rarely being under two hours. This one does fall into that category, at 2 hours and 4 minutes.

When it comes to films about serial killers, most of the attention is on the police investigations, aligning with the likes of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” or “Criminal Minds.” This film is a little different in that the main focus is on the serial killer, here known as – duh – Tony. There’s definitely police action, but the locus is on the killer and his followers. While this does not fall under “horror,” it certainly aligns nicely with “thriller.”

Yashodhan Rana

Because of the filling of time, we don’t even get past the prologue and into the flashback, doing a reverse of most of the West’s genre flicks which start in the past and then switch to “now” (usually). Here, the beginning sets up the story that happened previously, and then switches back and forth between the past and the present until they catch up. Nice touch.

For the main story, we meet four college psychology students working together on a class project. They are the reluctant Ashish (Mahesh Jilowa) who we meet in the prologue, the bearded leader of the group, Martin (Dhruv Souran), Kartik (Kabir Chilwala) and the only woman of the quad, Kamya (Jinal Belani). Ashish is an orphan and poor, and Martin is the spoiled and privileged son of a rich local politician. Kartik and Kamya are also from the higher and monied end of the social strata.

As the assignment for the class, they are given to present a project about an occupation. Martin wants to do something different, so he hides a camera in a Catholic church confessional and winds up recording the declaration of a serial killer named Tony (Yashodhan Rana).

Before you can say Man Bites Dog (1992),  the group is aiding and abetting Tony on his murderous path, becoming part of the equation rather than merely being “objective” observers.

Dhruv Souran

As for Tony, he is not like most serial killers in Western films, who tend to be social rejects (what we now call InCels), or suave and charming (such as Christian Bale’s American Psycho). While he is handsome and self-assured, he is also cold, calculating, and smarter than our students in manipulation, even with egocentric and hubristic Martin’s high IQ. Other than Ashish, the other three are really into the excitement of killing, tempted by the dark side. Tony, however, does have a secret that I figured out far into the film, probably right where I was supposed to do so.

There is much more to the story, including corrupt cops and politicians, jealousy, persuasion, and a bit of mental illness thrown in to produce what ends up being an overly long but interesting film in total. Sure, there could have easily been about 30 minutes taken out; do we really need to see Sub-Inspector Vilas Mote (Manoj Chandila), our main police character, ride his scooter for as long as we do in a montage? No, but I would say the same about Easy Rider (1969).

Manoj Chandila

While a belief in a Christian power is prominent, a question I have about the tone of the story is whether it is anti-Catholic. These Protestant students basically call out Catholics for child abuse and the ambiance is quite dismissive. In the attached photo, Martin contemptuously says, “These Catholics go to church after making a mistake, not to the police station.“ Personally, I think all religions have issues – and I’m certainly not Christian nor Hindi – but it felt kind of like finger-pointing and preachy in that way. What I mean is, if you had substituted the Church for a Synagogue, the ADL would probably be protesting, rightfully.

Filmed in the city of Mumbai (India) and in the Hindi language with decent captions, this is a pretty nice thriller that is part police procedural and part reminiscent of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), especially with Tony’s kind of flat-yet-smirking personality that makes him all the creepier while also normalizing him at the same time. Speaking of smirking, Martin

reminds me so much of Trump Jr.; it’s the same sense of privilege and believing they are immutable because of a rich and powerful daddy, when they are just someone you want to get a very strong comeuppance.  

The film reminds me more of the crime shows that have been come out on cable from Europe recently, such as “Ultraviolet” and “The Valhalla Murders.” The moments of time stretching are definitely there, but overall, this is still a taut thriller, especially once you pass the 45-minute mark. While the ending I thought up was pretty good but not realized, this still passes the biting the fingernail test (figuratively, not literally). Isake lie jao!

Review: Grim Woods

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Grim Woods (aka The Book of Nightmares)

Directed by Ryan Byrne, Danial O’Brien

Ace Studios / Silver Spring Pictures / Cyfuno Ventures / Wild Eye Productions

85 minutes, 2017 / 2019

https://www.wildeyerelesing.com/

It seems like I have come across quite a few anthologies lately. Luckily, I love horror shorts, so bring it on! Amusingly, the credits play around with images for films like Human Centipede and IT. They know their audience.

Rather than being hobbled together, this film is three dedicated shorts, created just for this release. The wraparound has to do with campfire tales from a tome found tied up in Northern Ontario (where this was filmed) at Camp Elmwood by four camp counselors made of two couples who are totally devoid of personalities other than that Jody (Sarah McBain) is a smoker, nerdy Frank (Ryan Hatchy) stutters, leader and hipster Michael (Steven Skeggs) has a ponytail/potential man-bun, and Natalie (Shaylan Spurway) is horny. In this “Book of Nightmares,” as one of them calls it, is the stories that are read aloud, which of course make up the three tales of which we are presented.

The first is called “The Clown,” which follows a tired premise, but takes it in a different direction that I did not see coming. In a rural setting, Riley is babysitting two brats, one of which has a full sized creepy clown doll in the closet named “Freakshow.” It really is disturbing looking, and I’m not scared of clowns. It’s no surprise that Freakshow comes to life with knife in hand to do some mayhem and general slashing about.

Just when you think it’s merely another killer klown from terrifier regions of ITsville, it takes a sharp turn (I wrongly guessed the conclusion) that gives it a breath of originality with which I was truly impressed. In an age when the genre is neck deep in clowns (and zombies, as I’ve said before), it’s nice to see a slight twist of the knife.

We return to the wraparound campfire between tales, but turn back for number two, “The Gypsy’s Curse.” At a traveling fair, a gal with very white teeth and her douchey beau go to see the old gypsy fortune teller, who does not give a reading like the young woman is expecting about her future. As an aside, once in my life I dated the assistant to one of these psychics, and they will say just about anything to scare you to buying more “magic” because, well, that is the way these things work. “Oh, there is a curse on you; give me money and I will give you a potion to help.” Like modern computer SPAM, there is either a phishing threat or a promise of reward to have you bring out the wallet.

The why and how is left open. It’s more the why of the last scene, which again is supposed to be a surprise but is easy to see coming, yet the reasoning for this conclusion is unexplained and is annoying for that reason.

There are some interesting touches here and there, such as the red and green-focused lighting, and the editing is decent, but there are too many things left unanswered, such as school mates’ reactions, and just not going to the doctor right off the bat. I don’t want to give away too much, because this story didn’t say enough.

“Siren’s Call,” the final full tale, is loosely based on the Greek mythology (sans Odysseus), this time taking place in a Scandinavian forest (I missed if it was Norway or The Netherlands), with three (figuratively) ugly American backpackers – two male, one female – traveling the area on their way to Amsterdam after a rough college term. They don’t seem to get along very well, and are kind of obnoxious to the locals. They decide to get some excitement by walking through the forest in the middle of the night (saywhat?; there are wild boar in them-thar woods that will literally eat you alive after sundown). But they meet something so much worse (no, I won’t say).

While kind of obvious what is going to happen and by whom, it’s still a fun story though not necessarily scary or brilliant, despite the twist at the conclusion. Speaking of which, the wraparound story comes to a nice sum-up that was actually quite satisfying to me.

Let me be clear that the acting in this is generally terrible, though the players are quite attractive. This film is filled with many novice performers with this being their first IMDB listing. That’s easy to tell. The first story is clearly the best of the three, with the wraparound having a better ending than the build-up. But this is pretty much a first feature for the two directors, so hopefully this will be a positive learning experience for their next shoot.

Not fer nuthin’, the images are shockingly sharp and look great, with decent lighting throughout, which is a bonus. There are also some lovely drone shoots scattered throughout. The tales could have a bit more bite, with some stand-out dialogue to support the stories, which is missing. “The Clown” proves that there is potential here, and I’m holding the directors to that.

Review: Night Howl

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Night Howl

Directed by Michael Taylor Pritt

Fun Time Productions / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD Entertainment

75 minutes, 2017 / 2020

www.wildeyereleasing.com

www.mvdb2b.com

“It’s a family affair….” – Sly Stone

Zombies are everywhere these days. So are evil clowns and masked serial killers (both mortal and im-). Things go in cycles, like the moon. Which brings us to werewolves. While there have been some lycan films of late, like Bonehill Road (2017) and The Snarling (2018) – sorry, I’m not counting mainstream crossover tripe like the Twilight or Underworld franchises – this particular subgenre is generally ill represented, in my opinion, so I’m happy to see a new indie wolfie flick pop up.

Michael Taylor Pritt

Before even starting on the film proper, I believe it’s important to note that this truly is a family output, both in the story and behind and in front of the camera. So, let’s start with the latter. Fun time Productions is truly clan cinema. In front, there’s Michael Taylor Pritt, who stars in the film, wrote, edited and directed it; his mom Tracy Pritt who plays his mom; and Shandi Rae Pritt, who plays a receptionist. Between them they also handle multiple backstage tasks, including cinematography, make-up and script supervision, among many others. All three are also Executive Producers.

Right in the prologue, we are introduced to the hairy beast, who is costume rather than CGI, I’m happy to say. Considering the micro-budget this is built on, it looks surprisingly good. Mama is mauled and the little kid grows up to be our hero, photographer Kaci (the director), possibly suffering from PTSD, maybe lycanthropy, or is it all in his head? It’s fun to guess throughout the film, as I am sure you/we all do.

The thing that is consistent with werewolf films more than any other creature feature, is that the monster is represented by the Id, described on Wikipedia as “the part of the mind in which innate instinctive impulses and primary processes are manifest." This is also known as the animal brain, the deepest and darkest reaches that reacts with fear and violence, a refection of anger out of lack of control.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is a low budget, out-of-pocket kind of film, and not to expect something that has studio backers. It’s a completely different mindset to watch a film like this, and honestly, I had fun with it because of that. If you check out the IMDB reviews, they tend to be either over-the-top glowing (10/10) or completely dismal (1/10), with very little falling between. In the past, as with here, I have found this to indicate that neither one is accurate. Sure, this isn’t Kubrick, but it’s important to remember what early Cronenberg or Craven was like, with wooden acting and scripts that sometimes make you scratch your head in “what were they even thinking by doing that?” moments. But more on that later.

Alana Mullins

Kaci is set to do a model shoot with potential love interest, Ema (Alana Mullins), who generally seems more intelligent and motivated by life than Kaci. She’s a strong, smart woman and he is kind of roaming around in his own problems. When something needs to be done, guess which one gets the situation going? Meanwhile, people close to Kaci are turning up mutilated. There is not a huge body count, but it’s a nice number to keep the viewer satisfied (reminds me of a Paul Simon song…). It’s also not overly bloody (again, that pesky budget), but what physical SFX are used look pretty good.

Throughout the film, the camera tends to hug close, mostly showing chest and up of characters and action, giving a feeling of claustrophobia. There is also the use of a slight sepia tone here and there, to give it some umph of dread. The editing is a bit rough on occasion, but so what? There are some odd choices for minor moments, such as more than one character vaping, or having to watch Kaci brush his teeth (something that grosses me out more than most violent scenes).

As I said earlier, there is a bit of wooden acting, especially with secondary characters. Kaci, on the other hand, tends to go from really quiet to rageaholic pretty fast which made me think that perhaps he should switch to decaf (or is that a fate worse than lycanthropy?). Mullins comes across best on the acting front.

Some of the holes in consistency and plot are more distracting than tripping up the story, such as Kaci’s hair style changing in the middle of a scene around mid-film, and I wonder why they investigate an abandoned building during the night/in the dark, when the structure has no electricity.

The extras are a nice Gag Reel that is short and sweet at 2 minutes. Along with the Trailer and captions, the main one is the short film “Smile” (7 minutes) from 2018. It’s in the scary clown subgenre, but it has a decent jump scare in it.

While there are ways to “pretty” up the film, my one negative – and again, this is more personal choice on my part – is that the film could have used a bit of humor scattered throughout (The Howling did this, for example); not make it a comedy per se, but just a couple of things to juxtaposition the fear. In all though, a decent film.

Review: Nécrologies

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Nécrologies (aka Obituaries)

Directed by Fabien Chombart, Guillaume Defare, Nathalie Epoque, Francois Message, Alexis Wawerka

Les Films d’à Côté / Sticky Notes Films / SRS Cinema

75 minutes, 2017 / 2019

http://necrologies-lefilm.com/

www.facebook.com/necrologieslefilm/

http://ukfilmchannel.co.uk

When one thinks of French cinema, the obvious go-tos are romances or silly comedies (Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie, 2001, was both), emotional dramas such as those by Goddard and Truffaut, or cinema of the fantastique, like The City of Lost Children (1995, also by Jeunet).

They do not, however, produce too many films of the horror genre, so when I had the opportunity to get a glance at this anthology, my bouche began arroser.

Alexis Wawerka

For the wrap-around story, a guy with a horror blog (why does that sound familiar…) is taking selfies of himself in a late-night, closed cemetery. He is stopped by the gargle-voiced cimetiére watchman (Jean-Clause Dreyfus, lead actor of the 1991 post-Apocalyptic film, Delicatessen). He presents our blogger with a book, from which springs our tales. We return between each of the stories to the office of the caretaker as the blogger becomes more and more intrigued by these tales, requesting more. Googly-eyed Dreyfus is more than happy to comply, putting off calling the cops on the trespasser to tell just one more…

Sophie Jarmouni

First up is Nathalie Epoque’s "Appel Mortel" (“The Call of Death”). It’s kind of a silly story in the long run, but on the other hand, there is a level of imagination that went into this very simple tale that made it enjoyable when the punchline hit. In it, Elsa (Sophie Jarmouni) returns home after a rendezvous, and starts getting phone calls on her outdated flip phone from a stalker, threating to tell her boyfriend about her little tryst. Essentially, this is mostly a one-person story with most other voices coming over the phone. Luckily, Jarmouni, who has a bit of a Liza feel to her appearance, can totally handle it. Again, it had me saying, “really?” at the end, but I was smiling at the time.

Fabien Chombart, "La Bête" (“The Beast”) is up next (there is a bit of a “Belle” here, as well). As an everyman type guy (David Faure) is driving through the woods, he spots a woman (Sabine Rosoli) along the road who appears to be wounded. Following her deep into the forest, he learns the secret that at first scares him. While I thought of a number of ways the story could go, it didn’t follow any of them, so all the better. While there is some dialogue, honestly it wouldn’t matter if the sound was on or off for this one, as the story about the connection between the two of them crosses the language requirement. So far, the collection is impressive.

For the third story, Ludovic (Alexis Wawerka), the trespasser passes one along, namely François Message’s "Le Retour des Hommes-Lézards" (“The Return of the Lizardmen”). While the other shorts so far deal somewhat with technology, this one relies heavily on the paranoia conspiracy theories that are rampant on the internet. An indie filmmaker investigates a ritual by the Duckpeople (who believe in a Christ-like figure) who claim there are Lizardpeople trying to control of the Earth (what, no mention of “V”?), even though there is no proof of any of it on either side. It’s easy to see where it’s going, but this one is actually very funny in a dark tone that never really gets too heavy. Again, I smiled all the way through it for its reliance on conspiracies in this era of Internet loonies who will believe just about anything that is outside the norm (flat earthers, “Killary,” the moon landing, Trump followers believing the ContraVirus is a hoax, etc.). The ending is predictable, yet still kept my interest.

Linnea Quigley

Wawerka (who also plays the blogger of the wraparound), directs the next one, “Une affaire d'enfer" (“A Hell of a Bargain”). A real estate agent is heavy handedly pressuring an old woman and her pet to sell her house at a bargain rate. When she refuses, the result is shocking. But not as much so as when her pet, Puzo, takes it personally. There is a bit of puppetry involved here, and a nice appearance by our own Scream Cameo Queen, Linnea Quigley. It’s not brilliant, but it is bloody and relies on a bunch of previous work such as Trilogy of Terror, yet there is still some originality in it, a bit of body parts, and a satisfying ending, even if you see it coming.

Up last is "L'oeil de Taal" (“The Eye of Taal’”), by Guillaume Defare. This is definitely the most fantastique or surreal of the collection. Taal is the embodiment of death, a leather-wearing cowboy (yes, in France) with a skull-like face. An artist tells some tales about people who have met him (oui, this is an anthology within an anthology; perhaps a meta-anthology?); those who come face to face with our soul rustler tend not have long endings. This one is a bit heavier than the other tales, and is still enjoyable, but I also found it the weakest of the batch, even though it looks beautiful, is well edited and the execution of mixing color with black & white work well. That probably is because most of these are pretty light tales of fluff and fun, and this one is deeper, and some ways doesn’t fit it. Perhaps it should have been in a different collection where it would have been cozier, or started this one off. Again, good tale and I’m not complaining about it overall, it’s more the juxtaposition with the others.

As for the wraparound, well that ends pretty predictably, again with a nod and a wink, but it was also nicely done. As anthologies go this one is a really fine gathering of material that generally works well together, which is just want you should want as a viewer.

Review: Shepard

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Shepard

Directed by Jourdan McClure

Dull Boy Films / Red Rover Movie

71 minutes, 2020

https://www.facebook.com/ShepardTheMovie/

President Obama said, ““Bullying can have destructive consequences for our young people. And it’s not something we have to accept. As parents and students; teachers and communities, we can take steps that will help prevent bullying and create a climate in our schools in which all of our children can feel safe.” Or, as Melania Trump phrased her bullying emphasis, “Be best.”

Ultimately, this film is about bullying and being bullied, mixed with a twisted version of My Bodyguard (1980) and perhaps a bit of Heathers (1989). For a genre film, you know it’s not going to end with just a few fists thrown and teasing.

Kurt Krause and Will Beinbrink

I know someone who works with kids in foster care, and knows that those teenagers in this type of care situation can be pretty damaged by the time they near the end term of being in “the system.” It can be brutal, heartless and unkind from the system that put them there, the foster families themselves, to those associated indirectly. That is part of the social end of the lessons of this film that focuses on the old expression, “enough is enough,” or as they say it here, “I just want it to stop.”

Ray (Kurt Krause) is just such a foster kid who is kind of a schlubby every-man, and filled with physical and mental scars. Now entering his ninth home, he’s at high school level and will sooner than later age out of the system. His new foster family is his aunt (Thia Gill) and cousin Kim (very cute Paulina Alvarez) are kind to him, but others are not, including Kim’s dick of a privileged boyfriend, Eric (Michael Reed Campbell), the newest bully in Ray’s life.

Though an intense moment in a store ignited by Eric, Ray accidentally meets the titular Shepard (Will Beinbrink), and older man who has had his own share of violent history and trust issues, and has lost his moral compass and sense of physical boundaries. This leads to a comparing scars scene that reminds me of a particular masculinist bonding one from Jaws (1975).

Paulina Alvarez

Of course, those who have come to care about Ray (i.e., the good guys) such as his new family and teacher (Kareem Grimes) don’t really get what it’s like to have a foster history, and want Ray to just tell the authorities; but Ray has trust issues of his own, and Shepard is the only strong person he knows that has some idea of what he’s gone through. This leads the sinister Shepard to influence Ray in unhealthy ways (hence, his name, with Ray being the “lamb”). When the violence of Eric and his crony escalates, even though they started it, Ray starts to become desperate, leading to his own obvious ramping up of testosterone.

While there is a relatively low body count in this film (and rightfully so), the confrontations are keen, and sharp in multiple ways. You can feel Ray’s emotional and physical pain as most of us have probably been there at the knuckle end of a fist at one time or another.

The acting is well done and fleshed out (no pun intended), with large, expressive, and appropriate burst of anger or worry. This gives the story a realistic tone that makes the violence all the more palpable. There is no cartoon level of John Wick-like ultraviolence that is relentless, but rather moments of flashing anger and desperation. This is almost as much a psychological study of Ray – and I would add Shepard – rather than a slam bang-em-up. It reminds me a little bit of the flip side of Jason Koch’s Pig Pen (2017), which also deals with bullying and revenge, but ramps down the emotion.

Though shot in the Malibu/Santa Monica area, the tone of the place is kept in an appropriate level, without the big houses and shoreline, but focusing on the suburban areas and Olympic High School, which feels right (although Eric’s car is of a higher caliber, indicating his privilege, ads I noted earlier). This was a smart move. There are no proverbial valley girl-types, and the two female student peers (and foster mom) are played for their characters, rather than their locale. Again, wise decision.

For a film that deals with this infrequent yet strong level of action, this is a good one to watch when you’re in the mood for some non-cartoon/superhero-like mega destructo where whole buildings or cities are destroyed; sometimes I just find that tiring. Instead it’s relatively small cast and the scale is perfect for the story.