[EXPRESSO] The Music Box/The Carillon (2018) | Seeming Is Believing

The Carillon- The Music Box 2018 italian poster

It would be really easy to just dismiss this movie at first glance, just going by the cliched title and poster showing the stock “creepy lil’ ghost girl” and selling it (at least here in Italy) as “the horror movie that has frightened milions of spectators”.

And in this specific case, your assumptions would be 100 % correct.

The same trite story of a haunted object, a child coming in contact with the evil spirit contained within, and her foster mother fighting to save her from the entity. It really IS as predictable and clichè as it sound, and the execution is majestically bland, boring, not helped at all by acting that’s mediocre, at the very best, which isn’t often.

Even when the script basically gives up in the third act and events stop making any sense, it’s still so predictable you don’t even get mad or react at the stupid ass “scares”, the filler scenes where characters are told the same stuff they already know just so this can reach 90 minutes, or the forced (and undeserved) happy ending. It’s just that kind of pathetic, pitiful bad horror movie.

All of this is “crowned” by an odd italian dub (it’s an italian production, filmed in english language, not as rare as it sounds, though) that feels like a mix of a 90’s italian dub of brazilian telenovelas (not a compliment) and a sit-com, which is even odder for the italian actors in the cast, and makes the whole thing harder to take serious. Even more with the quality of production and cinematography, not notably worst than usual, but low enough that doesn’t feel exactly like a movie, or add to the atmosphere.

And no, still, none of this makes the movie unintentionally funny, just sadder and more pathetic, for everyone (me included). 😦

fondo-di-caffc3a8-icona1

A Star Is Born rapid thoughts and upcoming stuff

I don’t have the time to do even an Expresso review of A Star Is Born, so i’m just gonna say this: i didn’t knew it was a “remake” of an older movie (which i never heard about before), but i was favorably surprised, it’s really, really good. The last act was kinda slow, but still, i encourage you go see it in theathers (or catch it later on VOD, here in Italy premiered 3 days ago), even if you’re not big on this kind of story, because i sure as hell wasn’t.

That said, i have an Expresso review of something more proper for the month, and maybe something special, something extreme…

[EXPRESSO] Hereditary (2018) | Creepy Clutters

Hereditary 2018 poster.jpg

Some horrors movies don’t live up to their potential due to the director and/or screenwriter lack of ambition or simple awareness of what they can actually do.

Hereditary isn’t bound by such restraint, as it tries to be a bit The Exorcist, a bit The Wicker Man, a bit Poltergeist, all framed within a story about a family that is hit by misfortunes after the death of Ellen Leich, the grandmother and matriarch of sorts. And it almost succedees in doing that. Almost.

The main problem is that the movie is inconsistent in a way that’s almost clockwork, with tonal shifts all over the place, intense scenes with good atmosfere (and great horror movie lighting) followed by other that become inadvertly comical, since the director often just lets the actor go on, even if it means ruining an otherwise good segment with overacting and unvolontary goofiness.

Then, there’s the fact the script isn’t good, with most of the subplots that ultimately go nowhere (the twist in the first act is just for shock value, ultimately doesn’t add to anything), with rules about the supernatural hastly estabilished, incoherent and lacking, and a with a final act that throws any logic to the dogs, and tries to wow you with visuals that ….are not even that impressive.

It’s frustrating, because the movie works great when it focuses on what it does best, the family drama, the acting is quite good (enough to save otherwise laughable scenes), but it’s such a mess, and wastes opportunities, like using the handmade models about family events (created by the mother).

Even though this clearly ISN’T the case, Hereditary feels like a family drama that wasn’t intended to be a horror movie, and was rewritten to that end.

It’s not terrible or bad, it’s just disappointing. Sighs

NOTES: for total disclosure, i watched the movie with an italian dub (being Italian and having access to cinemas here, makes sense to me), a week later than the official release date here (25 july 2018).