Radio Silence’s 2019 film Ready or Not is fun movie. It is darkly hilarious, and was was just gross enough that I could sit through it ( because I’m a wimp). However, what is really seems to be is a complete movie. We meet our characters, the plot happens, then almost everyone is dead at the end. Again, fun movie. Surprisingly for me, this week it was announced we are getting Ready or Not 2. While it’s not a shock the studio wanted a sequel, the movie itself doesn’t seem to allow one. Samara Weaving and Radio Silence are coming pack, and that is awesome, but where do they go? Does Grace find herself in another situation with Satanists? Do the rest of the Le Domas family come after her for revenge? The sequel could be great, and I have no reason to doubt Radio Silence, but couldn’t they have just created something new for Weaving to deal with and not use Ready or Not? I was looking forward to their remake of Escape from New York, but that isn’t happening now. Oh well.
This week, I stay at home to conserve my energy for Chicago next week. That means I catch up on the streaming options. I saw one each on Hulu, Paramount, Max, and Netflix. Will I find a gem in the usual rough? It also means no Smile 2 because I’m a wimp. On to the reviews!
I think I got dumber watching this. This is about a haunted kids show that is one vhs that houses a demonic spirit that punishes bad parents in gory ways, and kidnaps the kids. Elvis Nolasco does his best to add some kind of fun to the movie as the titular Mr Crocket, but he fails. Our main character is played by Jerrika Hinton. Her Summer has a son named Major, and they just lost her husband and Major’s father. The way they had the kid play Major is a big problem here. The reason Crocket comes to do his thing is because the parents are awful. Summer is a good Mom, but Major is a nightmare. After Summer finally snaps one day, Crocket comes and takes Major. This breaks whatever is left of the film, as it breaks the rule for him to come. That is me putting more thought into the story than the writers it appears. Add in a twist in the third act that goes nowhere, and a ending leaving things open for a sequel I pray never comes, and you have a film I wouldn’t wish on my enemies. It isn’t the worst I have seen this year because I do have to give the film a hat tip for some of the creativity, but even that is fleeting.
A horror film in the loosest of terms, this film on Amazon Prime is about a chef who opens her first restaurant, but said restaurant seems to be cursed but spirits. Ariana DeBose plays the I believe unnamed Chef, and the plot summary is so simple and bare, I’m going to be vague on this. I’m not sure if this film ended on a good or bad note. It makes you want to think the Chef won, but when you stop and think about it, she really didn’t. One other thought I had is does Arian Moayed ever play a character who isn’t partly an antagonist? The circumstances the Chef sees herself through the movie seem a little unreal, like an impromptu dinner she tried to reschedule and is lackluster being enough to get her fired. You would think a start up restaurant with a highly regarded chef would handle things better, but this is a movie, so yeah. I don’t see how this is a horror movie, or a thriller, but I don’t know what I genre I would classify it as. Things just happen, and it’s weird, but it isn’t very interesting. I’m not sure what you could do to make interesting either.
When you watched Rosemary’s Baby, did you ever wonder what Terry’s back story was, and the reason she fell to her doom from the 7th floor? Take heart in knowing now that there was a movie to explain how she reached her fate. Was it needed? No. Was it kind of a waste of time? Yes. Julia Garner checks in as Terry in this prequel of the 1968 classic. In this one, we see how she found herself in the orbit of the Castevets, and the reason for her accident. We learn she was a dancer who has a terrible ankle injury, and is given an apartment in the Castevet’s by the couple after they see her having a bad episode from the pain killers in the apartment lobby. She has a night of drinks with a playwright she has an attraction to, and becomes pregnant. You can guess who the father really is. Unlike the original, they aren’t that subtle about the father in this. Having such an iconic film you are telling a story from makes it almost impossible for the audience to not think Satanists from the start, especially when we are dealing with characters we already know. What we are left with is a film that really has no point other than giving a reason to a question from a film 56 years ago.
Don’t let the title of the film fool you. The focus of the film isn’t really Cheryl Bradshaw, the titular Woman, played by Anna Kendrick. Her character is only really there to serve a specific point in the life of the real main character, Rodney Acala. Acala was a serial killer in the late 1970s who was often referred as the Dating Game Killer. That dating game was The Dating Game that Bradshaw was a contestant on. That show is what one of the film is framed around. The other side is showing Acala stalking his victims. The one we spend the most time with is a teen runaway that Acala does awful things to do. Her character isn’t named, but her character is based on the teen that got him caught. This was a good directorial debut for Kendrick, but the focus is kind of off. Bradshaw is the most flashy part of the Acala story, but it isn’t interesting enough to carry a film. That is why we have so much Acala backstory. This just feels like telling the side of someone’s experience with a serial killer, but that person was one of the people who were never in true danger in the first place. The Acala parts are the interesting parts, and I don’t think that was the point of the film.
Looks like another easy week to pick the winner. The Venom movies seem to be the only thing Sony can make money on without using Spidey, and this final entry in that series should do the same.
- Venom: The Last Dance
- Smile 2
- The Wild Robot
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- Terrifier 3
It’s Chicago week, and it’s a full one. As of now, I have 11 films starting Monday, 10 in Chicago, and I think at this point I am going to spread reviews from the weekend over a few weeks. I don’t need these posts to have 10,000 words. Before that, Finals voting for the Horror Movie Tournament starts tomorrow!
Mitten Film Nerd 
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