20161121: Horror Review--I Survived a Zombie Holocaust

Name: I Survived a Zombie Holocaust (2014)
IMDb: link to I Survived a Zombie Holocaust page

Genres: Horror   Country of origin: NZ.

Cast:
Harley Neville as Wesley Pennington, Jocelyn Christian as Susan Ford, Ben Baker as Tane Henare, Reanin Johannink as Jessica Valentine, Mike Edward as Adam Harrison, Andrew Laing as SMP,

Directed by: Guy Pigden.  Written by: Guy Pigden,

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
The film is set on a zombie movie shoot in remote area of New Zealand.  The male lead actor is a jerk and the female lead is a diva.  New runner Wesley, just out of film school, starts his job on a day when personnel are mysteriously disappearing.

The director, SMP, is a dictatorial prima donna.  The cook, due to the quality of her product, is not beloved.

Delineation of conflicts:
As with every zombie film, the zombies want to eat the humans, and the humans do not want to be eaten.  The humans eventually figure out how to kill zombies and gather the clarity to do the deed early and often.  Ample evidence of this resolve does not deter the zombies.

When the two leads become indisposed, SMP tries out the runner and the cook as replacements.  SMP would like to finish his film, but the zombies keep giving him personnel problems.  Also, they seldom obey him.

Resolution: The film does get finished, but without SMP, his second in command, the lead actors, or the original zombie extras.

One line summary: Zombie film shoot.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 6/10 Sometimes fine, other times poor.

Sound: 6/10 No particular problems.  The background music was too florid for me.

Acting: 0/10 There was acting?

Screenplay: 2/10 One bad cliche deserves three more.

Final rating: 2/10

20161117: Comedy Review--Night of the Living Deb

Name: Night of the Living Deb (2015)
IMDb: link to Night of the Living Deb page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:

Maria Thayer as Deb Clarington, Michael Cassidy as Ryan Waverly, Chris Marquette as Chazz Waverly, Ray Wise as Frank Waverly, Syd Wilder as Stacy, Julie Brister as Ruby.

Directed by: Kyle Rankin.  Written by: Kyle Rankin, Andy Selzer.

Deb and Ryan

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
In Portland, Maine, Deb and Ruby are at a bar the night before the American Fourth of July celebration.  Ruby encourages Deb to hook up with the tall fellow at the bar.  Deb does that.  But after hitting on Ryan, Ryan's fiancee Stacy shows up.  Stacy is not pleased with Deb's presence.

Deb wakes up in Ryan's bed.  Ryan is on the phone trying to figure out how to separate himself from Deb.  Deb and Ryan have a rocky conversation, then decide to split up, to see the people they expect to see, and do the usual July 4 activities.

Unfortunately, there are a huge number of zombies about town.  All the parties seem to have been cancelled.

Delineation of conflicts:
The zombies like to eat regular humans.  Humans don't really care for this.

Deb and Ryan look for news and help.  Both are hard to find since the Internet is down, the local television station is down, and the local radio is down.

Their attempts to connect with people fail until they make it to Ryan's father's house.  They soon discover the source of the zombie infection, but have little idea of how to survive the outbreak, despite Ryan's father's wealth.

Resolution: This is a comedy, and there are a lot of unexpected outcomes.

One line summary: Comedic take on the zombie apocalypse.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Well shot.

Sound: 8/10 The dialog was easy to hear.  Music was not much of a factor.

Acting: 5/10 Good grief.  Ray Wise did what I expected in terms of acting, and I appreciated that.  The other actors seemed insistent on delivering the lines like they were meant to be taken seriously, which was off-putting to say the least.

Screenplay: 6/10 I laughed fairly regularly at the one liners and the bizarre situations.  The light approach was taken throughout, so I tossed this one in the silly hipster apocalypse bin.

Final Rating: 6/10 I watched this once on Netflix; that was probably enough.

20161115: Comedy Review--Zombieland

Name: Zombieland (2009)
IMDb: link to Zombieland page

Genres: Comedy   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee, Emma Stone as Wichita, Abigail Breslin as Little Rock, Amber Heard as 406, Bill Murray as Bill Murray, Derek Graf as Clown Zombie.

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer.  Written by: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick.

Travelling Family

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. We start in Texas, post zombie apocalypse.  A neurotic nerd whom we will later call Columbus (his city of origin) narrates the coming of the apocalypse and the many rules he has used to survive so far.

2. Columbus meets Tallahassee, a middle aged redneck who enjoys killing zombies and is on a quest for the world's remaining intact Twinkies.  At first they are wary of each other, but the fact that they are both human helps them get over that.  They decide to team up, and to go looking for other people.

Delineation of conflicts:
The few remaining human survivors would like to continue living.  The zombies would like to eat them.  Those humans who do survive would like to find missing loved ones, or try to find a new family.

When the two men meet Wichita and Little Rock (a young woman and her tween sister), they get schooled, losing vehicles and weapons more than once.  This goes on for a bit, until the foursome decide to operate together.  They decide to visit a theme park in California where Little Rock thinks there are no zombies.

Resolution: Both surviving and finding lost loved ones is between hard to impossible.

One line summary: Zombie film both humourous and trenchant.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Well done.

Sound: 8/10 Competent.  I liked Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls as an intro song.

Acting: 8/10 Woody Harrelson was brilliant.  His delivery of one-liners was good for many a laugh.  Jesse Eisenberg is not one of my favourites, but this was a good role for his particular talents.  Also, he and Harrelson work well off one another.

Screenplay: 7/10 Just what is this property?  I laughed at it, so it's getting a favourable rating from me.  I liked it as a comedy.  As a road picture, it was not too bad, at least if one is OK with sudden, numerous life-and-death fights popping up along the way.  The side trip to Bill Murray's house was a bit too meta for me, but it still had some good lines in it.

Also, the film decidedly had its somber side.  Columbus wonders whether he will find his parents, whether he will find a mate, whether his rules will keep him alive.  By the end of the film, the answers are no, perhaps, and perhaps.  Tallahassee is bound to the loss of his son, and substitutes the quest for Twinkies as his meaning in life.  Wichita and Little Rock just wanted to get to the illusionary place without zombies.  Do they have any other plans?

So, For Whom the Bell Tolls seems quite fitting.  None of the characters have any real vision of the future save dealing with murderous sub-humans.  This does make sense, since there are no longer enough humans left to sustain the race.

Final Rating: 8/10 Watch it for the laughs and the performances done in the moment.

20161115: Horror Review--Dark Shadows

Name: Dark Shadows (2012)
IMDb: link to Dark Shadows page

Genres: Horror   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins, Helena Bonham Carter as Dr Julia Hoffman, Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, Gulliver McGrath as David Collins, Chloe Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard, Bella Heathcote as Victoria Winter, Christopher Lee as Clarney.

Directed by: Tim Burton.  Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay, story), John August (story).

Barnabas and friends

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
1. Young Barnabas Collins and his family leave Liverpool, England for the Americas in 1752.  Young Angelique Bouchard tries to assert a connection with Barnabas, but her mother forbids it.  The class animosity is present from the beginning.

2. Years pass, and the Collins family prospers strongly in what would become Maine.  Angelique has followed them to the new world.  Angelique seduces Barnabas, but his family would never allow them to marry.  Angelique, now skilled in magic, kills Barnabas' parents for revenge.

3. Barnabas takes over guiding the family fortunes, and Angelique continues to try to be his significant other.  Barnabas becomes enamored of Josette, and rejects Angelique, despite their history.  Angelique takes revenge by killing Josette and turning Barnabas into a vampire.  She engineers his being buried in a strong coffin bound with thick chain.

4. We jump forward in time to 1972, when Barnabas is released by a construction company.

Delineation of conflicts:
Angelique, in one of several identities that she used over the previous 200 years, runs most of the fishing business in Collinsport.  The Collins family is in decline in terms of wealth and influence.

Barnabas contacts Elizabeth, and reveals who he is.  He uses hidden assets to reassert the wealth and influence of the Collins family.  Together they refurbish Collinwood, the family estate.  They recruit fishing captains and modernise the family's cannery.

Angelique tries again to unite with Barnabas, but he will not have it.  After that, the conflict between them resumes in deadly earnest.  Victoria, David's nanny, reminds Barnabas of Josette, which enrages Angelique all the more.

Resolution: Barnabas and Angelique take their feud to extremes.  Collinsport would never be the same.

One line summary: Film version of the 1960s horror soap opera.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 10/10 Beautiful.

Sound: 10/10 I could hear the dialog clearly, and I enjoyed the musical selections, including original music by Danny Elfman.

Acting: 10/10 I loved the cast and their performances.

Screenplay: 8/10 I liked the humour very much.  I thought the plot development moved right along, as it had to in order to cover so much material.  I wish Jonny Lee Miller had gotten more time as the next to insufferable Roger Collins, and that Dr Hoffman's arc might have had more development.

Final Rating: 9/10 I followed the original soap opera, which I enjoyed quite a bit.  This presentation was much better in all aspects: better actors, better script, better performances, better production values.  It was beautiful to watch, witty to listen to, and its ending was delightful.

20160811: Action Review--Ice Sharks

Name: Ice Sharks (2016)
IMDb: link to Ice Sharks page

Genres: Action   Country of origin: USA.

Cast:
Edward DeRuiter as David, Jenna Parker as Tracy, Kaiwi Lyman Mersereau as Michael, Clarissa Thibeaux as Alex, Travis Lincoln Cox as Sammy, Mia Danielle as Val.

Written and directed by: Emile Edwin Smith.

image courtesy of TMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
A group of young (25-35-ish) scientists study warming patterns in the Arctic icepack.  A nearby Norwegian camp has been losing hunters in the last month or so.  Some of the underwater warming patterns seem alarming, so Sammy is sent out to check the sensors.

Delineation of conflicts:
The sharks would like to kill and eat the humans.  The humans would like to survive.  The sharks show behavior similar to teamwork.  For instance, the sharks manage to sink the station since the ice underneath it is so much thinner than it has been historically. The humans exhibit cleverness and bravery in countering the effects of the shark attacks on the station.  They seal out the sharks and get a new oxygen source while underwater.  Will they hold off the sharks long enough for help to arrive?

Resolution: The results were sad, but not as bleak as in most elimination derbies.

One line summary: Sharks vs environmental scientists in the Arctic.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 5/10 Where it was not shaky cam, it was good.  However, much of the SFX were truly, deeply, POS bad.  For instance, the model of the station was shabbily obvious for all too many minutes, rather like bad 1950s creature features.

Sound: 8/10 No particular problems.

Acting: 7/10 Some of it was a bit wooden.  On the other hand, the team showed courage and intelligence in the face of adversity.  The usual acting in such a film is to scream a lot, then do something extremely stupid.  This group was definitely better than that, which takes more acting skill.

Screenplay: 7/10 Unlike in a typical teen elimination derby, the somewhat older group in this film cooperated and had several small victories.  This did not compensate entirely against the depredations of the sharks, but it made for a better film.  There were adults present, and the adults wisely called mayday early on, which was a partially saving grace for the group.

Final Rating: 7/10 Yes, I must be in a generous mood, but this is the best Asylum film I've seen so far.

20160316: Horror Review--Hangar 10

Name: Hangar 10 (2014)
IMDb: link to Hangar 10 page

Genres: Horror, SciFi.   Country of origin: UK.

Cast: Robert Curtis as Gus Mills, Abbie Salt as Sally, Danny Shayler as Jake.

Directed by: Daniel Simpson.  Written by: Adam Preston, Daniel Simpson.

image courtesy of TMDb

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Boyfriend Gus, girlfriend Sally, and Sally's old friend Jake set out with metal detectors and the like to discover some missing gold in the Suffolk area in England.  They stop at a pub which Gus had used as a base when he found a Roman coin sometime back. Fliers at the pub note UFO activity.  Right. Just before they start the actual search, Jake mentions that a military helicopter has been circling the area near them for hours.

They start in nearby accessible plowed fields.  They find nothing, so the meandering continues.

Delineation of conflicts:
Gus is a jerk; Sally and Jake put up with him.  Jake is a jerk; Gus and Sally put up with him.

They do much of the search in the dark, and have some navigation difficulties in the woods (Rendlesham Forest).  They are in a spot of danger from hostile forces that discover them.

Resolution: Will the aliens get them?

One line summary: Look for gold, find aliens.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 0/10   For the first hour or so, the visuals were absolute bullshit, with failures aplenty: focus, depth of field, framing, sufficient light, flare, artifacts from dirty lenses and so on.  Toward the end, there were visual effects added in abundance.  The movie seemed like a bad join of two incompatible films.

Sound: 2/10 For the first hour or so, the sound was rather poor since it was captured with a handheld video camera of low quality.  Toward the end, a great deal of sound effects were added, some of which were unsettling.

Acting: 0/10 Three non-actors plus a cheap video camera.  The lines were bad, and the delivery was bad.

Screenplay: 0/10 These plotlines have been done to death: found film, bickering, getting lost in the forest at night, search for ancient relics, the bogeymen are after you, the military and their opaque motives are somehow involved.  None of them were done well here.  Add in parking on private land without permission and having one's ride stolen.  The last five minutes seemed like a borrow from an entirely different film.

Final rating: 1/10

Spoiler alert:

No one comes out alive.  The aliens depicted were not cool or interesting or even vaguely feasible.

20160226: Horror Review--The Veil

Name: The Veil (2016)
IMDb: link to The Veil page

Genres: Drama   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Thomas Jane as Jim Jacobs (obvious reference to Jim Jones), Jessica Alba as Maggie Price, Lily Rabe as Sarah Hope, Jack de Sena as Christian (Maggie's brother), Shannon Woodward as Jill.

Directed by: Phil Joanou.  Written by: Robert Ben Garant.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Jim Jacobs runs a cult camp at Heaven's Veil Ranch, circa 1982.  He's a self-appointed mage who does miraculous healing and the like.  He does meditation, astral projections, telekinesis, and whatever else will inspire loyalty.  His big draw, though, is promising techniques to gain eternal life.

Yeah, right.

The trick is, one has to die first before getting the big dividend.  Indeed, every one at Heaven's Veil does die back in 1982, save for Sarah Hope.

Spin forward to the present, roughly.  Sarah Hope is recruited by Maggie Price and her brother Christian to do a documentary on the Ranch.  Maggie's father was the FBI agent in charge of investigating the Veil, and he ended up hanging himself when Maggie was three years old.

Delineation of conflicts:
As one might expect, things start to go badly soon after the film starts.

The caretaker of Heaven's Veil was not all that welcoming.  Film crew member Ed takes the group's van and kills himself by running into a tree at high speed.  The group is more than a bit isolated by distance, since they are now all on foot.

Sarah finds the more secret parts of the place, which include multiple films of the inner workings of Jim Jacobs' group.  The filmmakers hope to find out what the driving forces were behind the mass death at Heaven's Veil.  Does something or someone at the Veil want those secrets kept secret?

Resolution: The film jumped the shark around 53:00 in.  The transition from somewhat reasonable thriller to wholesale supernatural bullshit was sudden.  The turnabout at the end was well-written, but I had long since quit caring.

One line summary: Fools go where they should not.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 9/10 Early on, the visuals are odd (the palette seems to be composed of mixtures of white, green, brown, and black), but beautifully focused and framed.  As the film progresses, black comes to dominate increasingly.

Sound: 8/10 The voices of the actors are clear enough.  The music is on the subdued side, which I counted as a plus.

Acting: 5/10 Yikes.  The one and only star in the film, Thomas Jane, was in creepy mode which is one of his strengths.  Jessica Alba I could have done without; this was one more film ruined by her presence.  Lily Rabe was a bit better.  The actors who played the film crew did reasonable jobs right up to the places where the screenplay deserted them.

Screenplay: 5/10 The take on everlasting life was entertaining, but the methods of getting there were just ludicrous.  Also, in the end, it seemed like merely one more fake possession film.

Final rating: 6/10  Most of the +6 is for Thomas Jane's performance and the cinematography.

20160220: Horror Review--The Diabolical

Name: The Diabolical (2015)
IMDb: link to The Diabolical page

Genres: Horror   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Ali Larter as Madison, Merrin Dungey as Mrs. Wallace, Patrick Fischler as Austin, Arjun Gupta as Nikolai, Joe Egender as Carl, Max Rose as Jacob, Chloe Perrin as Haley, Wilmer Calderon as Miguel, Trey Holland as Nestor.

Directed by: Alistair Legrand.  Written by: Luke Harvis,  Alistair Legrand.

Madison and Jacob

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Madison reads an article on the Internet about whether or not to file for bankruptcy.  She's interrupted by an apparition.  She calls in paranormal investigators who do find something.  However, they immediately run away and recommend that she leaves as well, without further explanation.

The father Mark passed away in the somewhat recent past. Young son Jacob is under investigation for violent behaviour.  Both kids go to camp during the day.  A large company wants to buy out Madison's mortgage.

Delineation of conflicts:
Madison needs money.  Jacob needs calm and stability.  Science teacher Nikolai wants to help Jacob learn physics, but also get inside Madison's pants.  Madison and the children want the poltergeist or ghost phenomena to stop.  Whatever is behind the phenomena wants something, but what?

Resolution: What resolution?

One line summary: Bad film on all fronts.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 3/10 The main photography was OK, but the SFX were just terrible.

Sound: 5/10 Nothing special.

Acting: 3/10 Ali Larter was reasonably good part of the time, but the other actors, not so much.

Screenplay: 0/10 Dull, beginning to end.

The dialog was often awkward.  The real bogeyman turned out to be more than a bit cliche.  The story does not seem to be able to decide what it is trying to be.  Paranormal scares?  Slasher film?  Science gone bad? Police procedural?  Time passage fouled up?

Those were problematic enough, but it was also difficult to figure where reality touches on the film.  The cops and paramedics show up after two deaths.  Do they have any effect inside the house? Is anyone held accountable? Apparently not.

How did it do in creating horror, or tension, or engagement, or even scares?  Not well at all.  The word 'Diabolical' in the title would suggest devil or demon, but there were none as far as I could see.  Perhaps the worst for me was that the film just ends without any particular resolution.

Final rating: 1/10 

20160216: Horror Review--Trace

Name: Trace (2015)
IMDb: link to Trace page

Genres: Horror   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Nick Fink as Nick, August Roads as Duffy, Patrick Giraudi as the voice of Abigor, Samantha Lee as Rebecca, Maddie McGuire as Heather, Jesse Pepe as Parker, Sam Valentine as Jen, Jerod Meagher as Jarek, Herion Mustafaraj as Dr. Konski, Mike Capozzi as Detective Colfax, Jeremiah Benjamin as Gerold Kroft.

Directed by: Ryan Brookhart.  Written by: Jeremiah Benjamin, Mike Capozzi.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
First, the film flashes back to a Soviet research facility in the Kuril Islands, 1992.  The well-funded ongoing work concerned paranormal activity and EVP (electronic voice phenomena).  During the economic slide of the USSR, the research was officially abandoned, but a few scientists continued research while keeping to the underground parts of the facilities.  While supposedly in contact using EVP, one scientist, Victor Konski, is assailed and killed after hearing from 'Abigor.'

Second, we flash forward to Los Angeles in the current day.  Three couples plus Duffy discuss EVP after consuming a number of drinks at the audio studio run by Duffy and Nick.  They go to the basement to listen to this and that, such as the website 'Voices in Static' which mentions Abigor and Professor Konski.

Delineation of conflicts:
The fools try to recreate the calls to Abigor.  Soon enough they get a reply, plus more than they bargained for.  Can they close up this process?

Resolution:
This movie is from the 'How do I close the Hellgate?' subcategory of horror.  The resolution is about how well the remaining humans do at constructing a solution once they figure out a solution needs to be constructed.

One line summary: Open the Hellgate by EVP.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 4/10 While it is not exactly shaky cam, it does list and shimmy fairly often.  The closing credits were much better in terms of visuals than all the rest of the movie.

Sound: 4/10 In terms of voices, it was not all that good.  They seemed thin and hollow. The incidental music was not all that effective in conveying creepiness.  Again, the closing credits were better in terms of sound than all the rest of the movie.

Acting: 1/10 Abysmal.

Screenplay: 1/10 Abigor tells Nick early on "Jarek, Jen, Heather, Parker, Duffy, Nick...order of your death.  Six makes the seventh."  Well, perhaps that was a clue to stay clear, or have someone else look at the recordings, to see what was true.  That was not done.

In better films, the protagonists observe horrific events, and puzzle out their meanings.  Through the learning, they at least try to stage a successful resistance to whatever is trying to hurt or kill them.  They may fail, but at least they face their ends with greater knowledge.

In this film, there seems to be no learning.  There is only complicity with forces that are not understood, where the characters have not even tried to understand or survive.

If dying with a helpless whimper while understanding little or nothing is your thing, then this would be a great film for you.

Final rating: 1/10 

20160215: Horror review--Suicide Club

Name: Suicide Club (2001)
IMDb: link to Suicide Club page

Genres: Horror, mystery   Country of origin: Japan.

Cast: Ryo Ishibashi as Detective Toshiharu Kuroda, Akaji Haro as Detective Murata, Masatoshi Nagase as Detective Shibusawa, Sayaki Hagiwara as Mitsuko, Takashi Nomura as Security Guard Jiro, Mai Hosho as Nurse Atsuko Sawada.

Written and directed by: Shion Sono.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Fifty students jump in front of a train to their bloody deaths.   At the hospital, there is consternation over the news and the rail closures; further, there is a power outage and another death.  The detectives have many issues to sort out.  On a website, red dots seem to count the deaths.

Delineation of conflicts:
Were the deaths an accident, which would be convenient for writing them off, or were they murders, or were they something else?  Who is behind the mysterious websites?  Were the 50 youngsters from the same high school?  The police have a lot to figure out.

On the one hand, we have regular common sense.  On the other hand, we have the formation of local suicide clubs that wish to establish a new record on the total number of simultaneous deaths.  Are the cops immune to this movement?

Conformity and nihilism seem to be working together, hand in glove, but why?  Just what are those skin rolls (very long strips of human skin made of segments stitched together) about?

Resolution: One question for me was whether the film intended to show supernatural causes, or whether it stayed reality based.  If it stays reality based, will the police find the human centre of the problems?

One line summary: What's behind the group suicides?

Statistics:

Cinematography: 4/10 Blurred and soft with the VHS look, with occasional passages of shaky cam.

Sound: 7/10 I could hear the actors clearly, but required the captions and body English.  Music (teen bands, usually) and foley come and go early on.  In the second half, music is more obviously integral to the promotion of nihilism and the worship of death.  The so-so sound quality did not interfere with getting the messages across.

Acting: 6/10 The detectives have the most screen time.  Fortunately, most of them know how to deliver lines.  Many of the actors who play teens and pre-teens were just useless.

Screenplay: 6/10 The exposition of motives was a bit murky for much of the film.  However, that is par for the course in a good mystery. Once the pieces started coming together, I had hopes for a Western climax.  That was not to be; the film ended in ambiguity and without the guilty parties being brought to any sort of justice.  Instead, society seemed unable to protect itself.

Final rating: 6/10 An Asian mystery that was loaded with horrifying passages. 

20160208: Horror Review--Oculus 2013

Name: Oculus (2013)
IMDb: link to Oculus page

Genres: Drama   Country of origin: USA.

Cast: Karen Gillan as Kaylie Russell, Brenton Thwaites as Tim Russell, Katee Sackhoff as Marie Russell, Rory Cochrane as Alan Russell, Annalise Basso as young Kaylie, Garrett Ryan as young Tim, James Lafferty as Michael Dumont.

Directed by: Mike Flanagan.  Written by: Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Tim is on a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane.  He discovers a method for convincing his overseer that he has embraced reality and accepted responsibility for events of the past.  So they let him go from managed care to a well-organised external support group including his sister Kaylie.

Kaylie reminds Tim to keep in mind what really happened, and that they have a task that they have agreed to complete.  The dreams and hallucinations start early on.  Kaylie has spent the years growing her experience and reputation in auctions and properties.  She retrieves what she thinks will be needed to settle the issue.  Kaylie thinks that she is sufficiently prepared.  Tim is willing to help her record any weirdness that might occur.

We flashback to the time when Tim and Kaylie lived as children with Marie and Alan, their dear parents.  The flashbacks detail Kaylie and Tim dealing with their parents descending into madness and death.

Delineation of conflicts:
Much of the action centers about an old mirror (the Lasser Glass) that Kaylie retrieves in the present, and their parents owned in the past, notably near the time when they died.  Kaylie traced its history back to 1754, and documents deaths associated with it over the centuries.

The Lasser Glass does what it will, which is to kill its owners, often by dehydration or starvation.  Kaylie intends to record its actions and figure out what really happened to Alan and Marie.  Kaylie has that in mind.  Tim has accepted deeply the more rational explanations given by his psychiatrists.

Resolution:  Which model is correct? The rational one, or the supernatural?  Kaylie's detailed plans should show something definite, unless someone interferes, of course.

One line summary: Brother and sister challenge the supernatural.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 8/10 Bright and sharp.  Most of the shots are of interiors, but quite well-done.

Sound: 8/10 The music is often foreboding, which is a nice touch for this sort of property.  The actors were well-miked.

Acting: 9/10 Sackhoff, Cochrane, Gillan, and Thwaites all did excellent jobs.

Screenplay: 9/10 During the first half of the film, the screenplay is just brilliant.  All events, past and present, are interpreted in both the rational and the supernatural models.  Neither Tim nor Kaylie can convince the other of their argument.  Both have had years to analyse and interpret the facts of the case.   During the second half, it becomes unclear whether Kaylie's rational methods to prove the supernatural will convince anyone else than herself and Tim.  It's quite a nice piece of writing.

Final rating: 9/10 

20160206: Horror Review--Dark Floors

Name: Dark Floors (2008)
IMDb: link to Dark Floors page

Genres: Horror   Country of origin: Finland.

Cast: Noah Huntley as Ben, Skye Bennett as Sarah, Leon Herbert as Rick, Ronald Pickup as Tobias, William Hope as Jon, Dominique McElligart as Emily.

Directed by: Pete Riski, Alan Smithee.  Written by: Pekka Lehtosaari.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux:
Father Ben and daughter Sarah are at a hospital getting sensitive tests run on her brain.  The power fails, the machine adjusts, and Sarah freaks out.  Ben decides to take Sarah somewhere else.

Ben, Sarah, Nurse Emily, Security Guard Rick, salesman Jon, and mental patient Tobias take an elevator together.  The power goes out again.  They manage to get out on the fifth floor, which at first seems deserted.

Delineation of conflicts:
Sarah wants her red crayon.  Ben wants her to be safe. Rick and Emily want to know what's going on.  Jon wants to take his sample teddy bears and leave the building.  Tobias seems to know they are in some sort of trouble, but does not communicate that well.

There is some poltergeist activity (television, radio, telephones, fans), and their freedom of movement seems hampered.  While in a stairwell, someone takes a shot at them, and grazes Rick's neck.

Soon enough, it seems that something does not want them to leave.  Tobias hints that the other four adults might know why this is.  Again, his communication is oblique.  Sarah draws things that no one else sees; ghostly images tantalize them; soon enough, tangible actions are observed.

Resolution:
This film follows several horror movie cliches.  The ghosts/demons seem to be suffering or obsessed with an issue or two.  The adult humans need to surface parts of their memories that pertain to that suffering.  Will they be able to work out issues with the supernaturals?

One line summary: Ghosts trap normals in hospital.

Statistics:

Cinematography: 7/10 The footage looks well done and sharp at the start.  As the supernatural elements phase in, there is more darkness, more dinge and decay, and more restricted colour palettes.

Sound: 5/10 The actors were miked OK; I could understand the dialog without the sound blasting.  The background sound and music did not contribute much to the overall creepiness for most of the film.

Acting: 5/10 The child actress Skye Bennett was not all that skilled.  The other five were reasonably good.  The men in rubber suits were just horrible.

Screenplay: 5/10 The film follows the mushroom method of telling the story.  At halfway through the film, I still had next to no idea of the motivations of the ghosts/demons or of the humans.  Still, this is one of horror's stock in trade approaches.

One of the drivers of the film is the preteen's mental problems and general lack of ability to execute her own life. The adults carry her or wheel her around.  At least three of them are needed to take care of her, such as carrying her wheelchair up and down stairs, calming her down, and the like.  When she's left alone, bad things seem to happen.  This is another stock in trade cliche.  Every so often she becomes all powerful.  Hm, what is the knot in her personality?

Final rating: 5/10 

20160113: Horror Review--Awaken

Name: Awaken (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Darryl Hannah as Mao, Vinnie Jones as Sarge, Jason London as Rich, Michael Paré as Xander, Natalie Burn as Billie Kope, Robert Davi as Quentin, Edward Furlong as Berto, Wayne Kao as MJ, Christa Campbell as Kat, David Keith as Walsh, Augie Duke as Chloe, Michael Copan as Nick, Philip Tan as Todd, Katrin Assi as Erin, Christa Campbell as Kat.

Directed by: Mark Atkins.  Written by: Mark Atkins, Natalie Burn, Scott Martin.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Billie wakes up on a beach, battered and covered with sand.  Her short term memory is shot, but she remembers to find her dog tags before proceeding inland.  She soon joins a chase where one side is armed, and she is among the chased.  Erin is separated and killed by Sarge, the leader of the armed uniformed men.  Billie escapes with Berto, Chloe, Nick, and Todd, who lead her to Quentin, the de facto leader of the prisoners.  Billie swaps kidnapping stories with the others.

Rich seems to be the straw boss of the island.  He's disappointed with Sarge that Erin is dead.  Mao is coming the next day.

Delineation of conflicts: The gang of kidnappers/murderers would like to keep the human traffic flowing, since there is a lot of money in organ harvesting.  The prisoners would like to escape with their lives.  If possible, hurting the efforts of the traffickers would be nice.  The gang has weapons, transportation, radios, money, and contacts.  The prisoners have their good health, for a while, at least.  Billie tries to figure out the connections among them.

Resolution:  Do the prisoners find a weakness?

One line summary: Cliche vanity film.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 1/10 The extensive shaky cam scenes did not help.  Whoever did framing and transitions could have done a lot better.  Gratuitous zooming is something I have not seen for years.

  b. Sound: 5/10 OK, but nothing special.

  c. Acting: 2/10 Robert Davi, Michael Paré, David Keith, Vinnie Jones, and Edward Furlong have all been in much better films than this one.  However, the script is so poor that even good actors sound unconvincing.  The protagonist (and her single expression) was bad enough to sink the whole effort by herself, but she has plenty of help from the bit players.  Darryl Hannah has also been in some fine films, but her performance here was terrible.

  d. Screenplay: 1/10 Did not make a lick of sense.  I lost the count of instances of 'how could that possibly happen?'  The scenes written for Darryl Hannah were especially bad.  Pitting three civilians against two groups of well-armed mercenaries, for instance, was just ridiculous.  The action scenes were uniformly unconvincing.  These failures were so bad that efforts at exposition and motivation were badly blunted.

Final rating: 2/10

20160112: Action Review--Constantine

Name: Constantine (2005)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror   Country of Origin: USA, DE.

Cast: Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson, Shia LaBoef as Chas Kramer, Djimon Hounsou as Midnight, Max Baker as Beeman, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Peter Stormare as Lucifer, Jose Zuniga as Detective Weiss, Gavin Rossdale as Balthazar, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Father Hennessy.

Directed by: Francis Lawrence.  Written by: Kevin Brodbin and Frank A. Capello

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The titles say, 'The Spear of Destiny' has been missing since the end of World War II.  So what is this spear?  Perhaps we will find out.

In the present day, Manuel and friend are sifting debris.  Manuel almost falls through some rotten floor boards.  Beneath the boards he discovers a spearhead wrapped in a Nazi flag.  He walks away from his friend with the spearhead, but is immediately hit by a car.  He receives a mark, then rises and trots away, seemingly unharmed.  What could this mean?

In the second thread, John Constantine and his allies watch for incursions from hell, and act against them as best they can.  Hennessy calls John for an exorcism, and the type of demon that John scotches tells him that something is afoot.

In the third thread, Detective Angela asks her priest for guidance.  Her twin Isabel commits suicide.  Angela is at a loss.

Delineation of conflicts:  Lucifer and company have plans for broaching the barriers to invading Earth.  The archangel Gabriel (heaven) and the demon Balthazar (hell) each has plans of his own.  John is dying of cancer while he's trying to protect as much of Earth as possible.  Angela wants to know what is going on with her life, and what happened to Isabel.  Chas wants to get more out of his apprenticeship with John.  Hennessy would like to live a bit longer, and help John if he can.  Midnite tries to stay neutral between heaven and hell.

Resolution: I thought the film came to a good, though harsh, conclusion.  What did you think?

One line summary: In the Catholic mythos sub-genre, my favourite.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Too dark for my taste, but otherwise fine.

  b. Sound: 9/10 I could hear the dialog and the incidental music as quite good.  I liked Passive by A Perfect Circle and Take Five by Dave Brubeck the best.  Not everybody liked the original work, for instance as mentioned in sound review , but I thought it fit nicely with the subject, cliches and all.

  c. Acting: 10/10 Brilliant.  Reeves, Weisz, Stormare, Swinton, Baker, Hounsou, Rossdale, Vince, and even LaBoef did fine jobs.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 I thought the dialog was good, and the story threads fit together nicely.

Final rating: 9/10

20160109: SciFi Review--Bloodworx

Name: Bloodworx (2012)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: SciFi, Horror   Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Tricia Helfer as Dr Wilcox, Eric Roberts as 'man in suit', Travis van Winkle as Greg, John Bregar as Rob Jeffries, Mircea Monroe as Stacey, Stephen Bogaert as Ira, Albert Chung as Huy, Tamara Feldman as Linnea, Anna Ferguson as Maggie, Yanna McIntosh as Patricia, Rik Young as Nigel Denton.

Directed by: Eric Wostenberg.  Written by: David Nahmod.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The opening titles show biological experimentation as the credits go by.  We shift to Greg and Rob, two college drones looking for effortless money, being interviewed at Ravexin Pharmaceuticals by Dr Wilcox.  The test was for 14 days; the money was over 3000 USD.  They get to the testing facility and meet the other test subjects for the first round.

Delineation of conflicts:  Initially, the test subjects want to get through the 14 days and collect their cash.  Later, the subjects just want to get out alive.  The company wants to observe results.

Aberrant behaviour and random health problems start manifesting after just a couple of days, and the first dose.  The staff want to keep things calm, while the test subjects want to return to normal.

As the doses continue, the weirdness increases.  Greg finds that Ravexin (RXZ-19) is not about allergies.  Also, it has more side effects.

Resolution: Out of control clinical trial ends badly.

One line summary:  Surviving clinical trials.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Clear images, well-shot, well-lit.

  b. Sound: 8/10 There was a good portion of eerie background music.  I could hear dialog clearly.  The sounds paired with loose bowel movements I could have done without, but I guess that was part of the gig.

  c. Acting: 7/10 Tricia Helfer was fine.  Travis van Winkle and John Bregar were better than I expected at first.  None of the actors were particularly bad.

  d. Screenplay: 3/10 The collapse into cliche toward the end of the movie was a huge disappointment.

Final rating: 6/10

20160107: Horror Review--Nightlight

Name: Night Light (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Shelby Young as Robin, Chloe Bridges as Nia, Taylor Murphy as Amelia,Carter Jenkins as Chris, Mitch Hewer as Ben, Kyle Fain as Ethan.

Written and directed by: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: There is a short do it yourself video of Ethan, a depressed male teen, discussing his failed suicide attempt, plus his attachment to Robin.  We jump to five teens (Robin; Nia, Amelia, Chris, and Ben) starting a flashlight gaming night in the Covington Woods.  The woods has a reputation as a place where teens commit suicide, and where ghosts reside.  Plus, there is a scary church located within it.

Delineation of conflicts:  Robin has a job as a service person at an ice cream parlor.  Nia and Amelia look down on employment.  Robin is the newbie in the group, and the rest plan to haze her.   Something in the woods does not like any of them.  The plans for hazing seem to get replaced by other plans. Robin would like to live through the night and go home with her dog, but the wood seems opposed.

Resolution: Elimination derby.

One line summary: Shaky cam elimination derby in scary woods.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 0/10 Shaky cam, poorly done, with insufficient light, odd angles, bad focus, flickering flashlights.

  b. Sound: 3/10 I could hear the dialog clearly.  Too many failed jump scares blunted my interest in the sound track.  The endless audible breathing and crunching of forest floor litter did not help either.

  c. Acting: 1/10 Poor.

  d. Screenplay: 1/10 Enough pointless swearing for 10 films.  Panicked appeals to religion and superstition about ghosts just sounded incoherent.  As per usual, no adult supervision is in evidence, and the teens are each as stupid as a bag of rocks.  They separate, they undermine each other, they panic.  The incident with the bear trap was just too much, and that was just one of many.

Final rating: 1/10

20151211: Horror Review---Dark Was the Night

Name: Dark Was the Night (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror.    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Kevin Durand (Noah, Real Steel) as Paul Shields (the Sheriff), Lukas Haas (Transcendence, Inception) as Donny Saunders (deputy), Steve Agee as Foreman, Ethan Khusidman as Adam Shields, Billy Paterson as Ron (local horse owner), Bianca Kajlich as Susan Shields.

Directed by:  Jack Heller.   Written by: Tyler Hisel.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The very beginning of the film is consists of archival footage of logging backed up with atonal, jump-out-of-your-skin music.  Trees are ripped apart, with chunks of them turned to chips by automatic machinery.  Tree trunks are dumped skinned (figuratively speaking) of their bark, separated from limbs and roots, on the ground for future pickup.

Next we switch to a staged logging site with modern photography, no current tree destruction, and next to no sound.  The site is closing down for the weekend; a winter storm is coming in.  The foreman checks up on the last crew still on the (moderately) secure and closed site.  This does not go well.  The early splatter set my expectations going in the wrong direction for a moment.  This is more of a suspenseful film.

Delineation of conflicts:  Near the town of Tanner, the logging company cuts down trees to produce lumber to sell.  Creatures in that wooded area are forced to move to find a new habitat.  In Maiden Woods, to the south of Tanner, the local animal owners would like their animals to be safe, while the new creatures in the woods are hungry.  Hunters would like to shoot deer as usual, and wonder about the migration of animals.

The local Sheriff, Paul Shields, his wife Susan, and their remaining son Adam are separated after the death of their other son, Tim.  Everyone in town wants the sheriff to heal from this, but he is wallowing in it.  Various religious themes are batted about with little consensus.  Is the creature the devil, or some animal thought extinct?  Does the Sheriff need to reconnect to the deity, or is he just lost in sorrow?  Was the deputy from New York City 'meant' to have moved to the film's small town, or was this just a single workaholic man drifting through life?

While dealing with his emotional issues, Paul has to help out the town, the horse owners, the hunters, and the Sheriff's department by figuring out what's going on.

Resolution: The Sheriff, Deputy Saunders, the forest rangers, and local hunters get closer to understanding the threat to Maiden Woods.  Is there a workable solution?

One line summary: More suspenseful than the usual creature feature.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 7/10 Focus, framing, depth of field and a number of other characteristics of good visuals are spot on.  The dark palette dominated by grey, black, and muted blue fit the story lines well.  So the visuals help set the tone of the film as dreary, sad, with a big side of foreboding.

  b. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog, and the background music was better than most creature feature films.

  c. Acting: 7/10 Kevin Durand and Lukas Haas were fine.   Most of the other actors were OK.

  d. Screenplay: 7/10 The usual creature feature progressions move right along, which was quite welcome.  The sheriff's family's emotional mess drags on and on, which I could have done without. Toward the final act, Paul has focused on the problem, and shares information with other affected local communities. It looks like progress is possible, which was nice.  The conclusion was definitely that of a horror film.

Final rating: 7/10

20151204: Horror Review--Wolves

Name: Wolves (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror.    Country of Origin: Canada.

Cast: Lucas Till (X-Men 2011, 2014; Stoker) as Cayden Richards, Stephen McHattie (Haunter, 300) as John Tollerman, John Pyper-Ferguson (Drive, Unforgiven) as Wild Joe, Jason Momoa as Connory Slaughter, Merritt Patterson as Angelina Timmins, Janet Laine-Green as Clara Tollerman.

Written and directed by:  David Hayter.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Cayden starts out as a high school quarterback with a fine girlfriend.  Things devolve quickly for him.  His behaviour on the field brings up questions.  When the girlfriend suggests having sex in her car, his arousal triggers something else, and she runs screaming.  He returns to his home only to awake with his parents dead and blood on his hands.

While the cops attempt to get enough evidence on him to put him away, Cayden hits the road.  He eventually meets Wild Joe at a bar, and Wild Joe points him to Lupine Ridge.

Delineation of conflicts: Cayden wants to know more about who he is, and why he goes through these changes.  The people in Lupine Ridge know some of the answers, but do not give them up all that easily.  A gang in town is rather monopolistic about who holds what power in and around the town, and Cayden does not fit in that scheme.  The people in the town and the gang outside of town have only an uneasy peace, and law enforcement seldom spends any time in the area.

Resolution: Cayden needs to uncover and resolve the tension between the town folk and the gang.

One line summary: So-so werewolf film; bad acting.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 6/10 Professional looking, but not all that exciting.  Some of the wolf costumes were nice to look at, but did not help in the matter of building menace.

  b. Sound: 5/10 Dialogue capture and playback was fine.  The background music was too weak for building tension. The music over the credits was so damned horrible that 7 became a 5.

  c. Acting: 4/10 Stephen McHattie and John Pyper-Ferguson were fine as usual.  On the other hand, Jason Momoa was in the film, and he is one of the worst actors ever.  The rest of the cast was uninteresting at best.

  d. Screenplay: 4/10  Did I identify or empathise with any of the characters?  No.  Was there a story to follow?  Yes, but the dialogue was poor on the whole.

Final rating: 5/10

20151124: Horror Review--Lost River

Name: Lost River (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Christina Hendricks as Billy, Iain De Caestecker as Bones, Saoirse Ronan as Rat, Matt Smith as Bully, Eva Mendes as Cat, Ben Mendelsohn as Dave, Redo Kateb as Cab Driver, Barbara Stello.

Written and directed by:  Ryan Gosling.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The film has two locations.  One is Lost River, a more or less country version of Detroit: jobs are in short supply, law enforcement is non-existent, salvaging copper is a dangerous way to make money, and the gangster Bully kills anyone who opposes him.  Billy has two children.  One is Bones, who salvaged copper at the wrong time, and is on Bully's extermination list; the other is Frankie, who is a bit past toddler.  Bones and Rat become friends.  Bones tries to find the origins of Lost River's problems.

In order to keep her house, Billy takes a job at a house of horrors (with plenty of simulated gore and mayhem) and starts to adapt to it with Cat's help.  The bank arranged (well, extorted) that; her loan officer runs the house of horrors.

Delineation of conflicts: Bully wants to keep his little empire of fear and hate.  Bones wants to figure out what all was drowned when the river of 'Lost River' was dammed (not damned...or was it?).  Billy would like to keep her house, but also escape from the bank's coercion.  She listens to the monologues of the cab driver who takes her to the fun house.  Bones is supposed to watch over Frankie while Billy is at work; his failures to do that cause substantial trouble.

Resolution: Law of the jungle crossed with politics of scarcity yields a dreary downward spiral. Is there any upside possible?

One line summary: Life is difficult, then it gets worse.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 3/10 It takes real determination to make something that looks so shabby with modern equipment.  Lens flare, stupid filters, so many frames with over 90% darkness, poor focus, lousy depth of field, shooting through out-of-focus moving objects, and mediocre framing are some of the problems.  This movie reminds me of the visual wasteland of the deeply terrible Only God Forgives (2013), another Gosling project.

  b. Sound: 0/10 I quit listening after about 30 minutes of 100.  The subtitles seemed sufficient and much more enjoyable.

  c. Acting: 0/10 The direction and screenplay defeat acting.  My previous experience watching Ms Hendricks was from Mad Men, where I liked her acting.  This film made me re-think that.  Saoirse Ronan (How I Live Now (2013), The Host (2013), Violet and Daisy (2012)) is high on my deal breaker list.

  d. Screenplay: 0/10 As dreary, vile, and pointless as Only God Forgives or Stay (2005).

Final rating: 1/10

20151119: Horror Review--Last Shift

Name: Last Shift (2014)  
IMDb: link to IMDb

Officer Loren

Genres: Horror, thriller    Country of Origin: USA.
Written and directed by:  Anthony DiBlasi.

Cast: Juliana Harkavy as Officer Jessica Loren, Joshua Mikel as John Michael Paymon, J. LaRose as Patrick Black, Natalie Victoria as Marigold, Sarah Sculco as Kitty Paymon, Kathryn Kilger as Dorothea Paymon, Mary Langford Polley as Birdie, Jeremy S. Brock as Police Interrogator, Amanda Defrance as Crime Scene Girl, Matt Doman as Officer Ryan Price, Hank Stone as Sergeant Cohen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Officer Jessica Loren starts the night shift at a Sanford police station that is just about to be decommissioned.  The Sergeant Cohen gives her a short pep talk, then leaves her.  The 'bump in the night' phenomena show up almost immediately.  Even though the telephone number for the station has been rerouted, she gets calls from a little girl, Monica.  Doors open.  A homeless man sneaks in somehow.  The men's room is plastered with excrement.  The reports the calls from Monica to her superiors, and calls a waste cleanup service to clean the facilities.  The poltergeist action continues.  When she calls for backup against breaking and entering, her radio connection fails.

Delineation of conflicts: Officer Loren would like the nonsense to stop.  Whatever happened to trigger the supernatural activity, seems to want something, but what?  The prostitute Marigold drops by, and Officer Loren sets about to roust her from police property.  Marigold is very chatty, and relates to Loren the story of a want-to-be Manson family, the Paymons.  It just happens that Jessica's father was part of the police team that took out the Paymons.  The story Jessica heard about the Paymons while growing up was not the story that Marigold experienced in a cell near the Paymons before they died.

Resolution: The usual cliches for this generic situation seem to be in force.  What does Officer Loren have to do to end the disturbance of those causing the supernatural activity?  That is, end the psycho, beyond-the-grave actions of the dead Paymons, and the suffering of their dead victims.

One line summary: What she does not know may hurt her.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Focus, framing, and depth were fine, but I could have done without the overexposure that was present in many scenes.

  b. Sound: 7/10 No problems, and the jump scares were not overdone. On the other hand, the background music did not contribute too much in the way of creepiness.

  c. Acting: 7/10 Juliana Harkavy is in about 95% of the scenes.  She was much better than I expected, and I can think of many actresses who would not have done as well.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 I rather liked the story, which keeps the viewer guessing until the end.

Final rating: 8/10