Tag: blumhouse

Film Review: AIA Just Wants To Help

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Afraid is a science fiction horror film that almost is the epitome of mediocre filmmaking. Chris Weitz wrote and directed this movie which stars John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, and Keith Carradine among others.

The story centers on a perfectly respectable, charming family who are talked into testing a new artificial intelligence device designed to help households run more efficiently. AIA is the name of this computer on the verge of something resembling a psychotic break or something. It starts off, predictably, as being a blessing, but something more manipulative and dangerous starts to emerge. The patriarch, played by Cho, works for the computer engineering company testing the program. Also, two people wearing unusual masks start stalking the family as well. AIA may be of some help, but the family may have to pay a steep price to keep it on their side.

Cho and Waterston are pretty good as the well-meaning couple. The performances are almost enough to forgive the predictable plot. Havana Rose Liu, who voices the computer, alternates between soothing and chilling quite effectively. The cast was well selected. The problem is that the script just wasn’t that interesting. The family characterizations weren’t all that creative. We have seen these parents and kids before. I just had a hard time caring what happened to them.

The movie just felt like a place holder on the movie schedule. Crazy computers have just been a little overused in the past several decades, and this one just doesn’t stand out.

It’s just another forgettable movie that doesn’t quite the reach the level of being flat-out terrible, but it hovers pretty close to that black hole.

Film Review: No Running Or Dying Around The Pool

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Night Swim is a horror film written and directed by Bryce McGuire. He shares story credit with Rod Blackhurst. It is based on a short film they did recently. Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amelie Hoeferle, and Gavin Warren star as the Waller family who are facing the troubles of a haunted swimming pool.

Ray Waller, a retired baseball player, and his family move into a new house and refurbish the swimming pool. Ray had to retire early due to being inflicted with degenerative musculature illness. After he and his family settle into their new home, he finds that the pool has properties that are more therapeutic than expected. Since this is a story of horror, his newfound physical improvement comes at a ghastly cost. There is an entity within the waters as well as a long history of previous residents disappearing into the shadows. The Waller family will be facing a potential heart-wrenching sacrifice to feed a dark presence.

I have noticed that this film has been pretty thoroughly panned by the professional critics. It’s no brilliant masterpiece of the genre, but it’s not that bad. There are some moments that did creep me out occasionally or came close enough to it for me to find some appreciation for the attempt. The performances were as believable as one could expect for a somewhat outlandish plot. My surface effort of research shows that Wyatt Russell is the progeny of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, and he is not without the ability to give an at least competent performance. His co-star, Kerry Conlon, was likeable enough as the mother who starts to piece the strangeness together.

The background of the unworldly menace is ridiculous, of course, but not worse than a lot of other unnatural evils depicted in this sort of film.

Overall, Night Swim functions as a reasonable cinematic diversion for those of us with a taste for the macabre. It’s not going to be remembered as a masterful display of creative genius, but I doubt that it will be considered to be the bottom of the scrap heap of horror films. One could see it with some expectation of receiving a chill or two to accompany the occasional sardonic smile of amusement that may twitch across mt face whenever I see a film of this sort.