Hello? (2021) Starring: Emmy James, Brian McGuire, and Jules Nurrish Director: Tim Shechmeister
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A young actress (James) visiting Hollywood for a series of auditions rents a furnished apartment with a storied history. Unfortunately, she soon discovers there's one story the book isn't closed on.
"Hello?" is a creepy little film that goes in a different direction that its opening scenes led me to expect. It's a ghost story that features a character who tries to interact with the phantom menacing her on its terms as she tries to distract and appease it. I appreciated the fact the filmmakers presented us with a character who tries something other than hiding, fighting, or just screaming in response to the supernatural. I appreciated it even more, because it's also well-acted and well-filmed.
This element might have a stronger appeal for me than for many others, because I, too, have my fun with casting now-obscure but once-famous real-life Hollywood actresses in tales of the supernatural and horror. The main figure in such efforts on my part has been Bessie Love, but Joan Blondell has also been the subject of a flight of fancy or two.
Whether you like fictionalized versions of Old Hollywood or just well-crafted horror stories that don't go where you expect them to, I think you'll enjoy "Hello?"
Italian actress Jennifer Mischiati was born in 1986. Her early childhood was spent constantly on the move, living all over Italy and eventually in various places in the United States. The one constant for her wherever she lived was her interest in volleyball and studying dance.
The family eventually returned to Italy, and, while they were living in Rome, Mischiati developed an interest in performing. By the time she was 15, she had resolved that acting would be her life.
After initially studying acting at Italian universities, Mischiati secured a student visa to the United States and relocated to Hollywood at the age of 20 to continue her studies. While in the U.S., she became fluent in English and worked hard to gain a natural-sounding American accent so she could more easily gain parts in American productions. Her athleticism and grace served her well as she learned her craft, as she also came to master stage combat and sword fighting. Eventually, she graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) at the top of her class.
Mischiati returned to Italy in 2009 and launched into a busy international acting career that has spanned stage, television, and film. From working as a stuntwoman (including being a stand-in for Angelina Jolie); to leading roles in Shakespearean stage productions (such as Desdemona in "Othello"); supporting roles on several Italian television shows; appearing in short films and numerous music videos; and a number leading roles in independent films--mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and horror-- she gets busier with each passing year.
Among Mischiati's most notable horror film appearances are key supporting or starring roles in "Ex Inferis" (aka "Back From Hell") (2011), "Evil Things" (2012), "The Plan" (2017), "Curse of the Blind Dead" (2020), and "Fade Out" (aka "Succubus") (2021). Most recently, she played the lead role in "Dead Bride" (2022), and she is also starring in the soon-to-be released "The Follower".
Playground (2022) Starring: Wolfgang Fiegl and April Fiegl
Director: Jacob Arbittier
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
A young boy (Wolfgang Fiegl) is led away from a park playground and into darkness.
Burnt Mill Road has a thriving YouTube Channel that is full of the type of mini-horror films that have become Our Thing to cover in recent years here at Terror Titans. We've checked out their offerings on an infrequent basis, and we found them to be a bit erratic quality-wise, but there's been enough quality that we check out films when they show up in Recommended.
But this one is going to make us go back and take another look through their listings to see if we've missed any perfect, ghoulish gems.
"Playground" is one of the more terrifying films we've come across while selecting the line-up for this year's 31 Nights of Halloween. This film is so expertly done that the real terror hits when it ends. (I'll continue my comments below, so as to not spoil the film for those who check it out.)
Speaking of spoilers, I just realized the preview image for "Playground" is a bit of one. This goes double if you've been following the Burnt Mill Road channel, as it's actually part of a series featuring the same unseen camera operator, doing terrifying things.
Coming to this film cold (not having seen any of the previous entries in the series), I think it was a smart move on the part of Burnt Mill and Jacob Arbittier to so, because it hides where the story is going until the Big Reveal. I understand the benefit to letting audiences know that there's another bit of something they like through titles, but I think that can sometimes work against horror short-shorts like this one.
Based on production quality and acting alone (Wolfgang Fiegl is a very talented child actor!) this is a Eight of Ten Stars effort on our 0-10 scale. When little touches like the dedication at the beginning of the film and the credits listings on the YouTube page are added in, it gets a Nine rating that is bordering on a Ten! Those little touches make this film scarier when it's over, because it feels all-too-real.
We hope we're not front-loading the great films too much, but "Playground" may well be one of the best horror shorts you'll see this Halloween Season!
Ping (2021) Starring: Becca Breitfeller Director: Josh Breitfeller Rating: Five of Ten Stars
After her cellphone goes missing, a young woman (Briefeller) tries to locate it by "pinging" it with her smart-watch.
Technically, this is a well-done film. The sound is good, the lighting is great, and the camerawork is excellent. The acting is good and the pacing is spot on. I really like what's here. Before the review continues, perhaps you should watch "Ping" so I don't taint your experience with the negativity (and minor spoilers) that are coming.
What is lacking in "Ping" is a proper set-up. I often comment on the slow-wittedness of horror movie characters, or their complete lack of survival instinct... but I don't recall encountering a character quite as dim as this one before. Or so she seems, because there isn't a proper set-up for why she behaves in such an inexplicably dumb fashion.
Maybe it's a generational thing, but I can assure you that if I was alone in my home and my cellphone mysteriously moved from one part of the house to one I hadn't been in for a while, I wouldn't go looking. No, I'd leave the house and to borrow a neighbor's phone to call the police or a gun-owning friend or two. For most of "Ping", I was swinging back and forth between thinking "this is really well done" and "they didn't think this one through, did then?"
This very technically competent film is undermined by a badly constructed story. It needed to establish why the main character is so calm about her phone seemingly migrating from in front of the TV to a closet in an upstairs bedroom. This could easily have been done with perhaps a bunch of beer cans and liquor bottles around the living room and on the kitchen counter, and the character remarking to herself that she must have blacked out again (or something similar). Or maybe there could have been a minute at the beginning to establish there might be someone else in the house who is an annoying prankster?
This could have been a great little movie with just a bit more story/character development. As it is, it's still worth seeing, but it's not what it could have been.
When us Gen Xers were kids, we were taught to never get into a cars driven by strangers. That admonition carried into adulthood, at least for young women. With the arrival of "ride-sharing apps" like Lyft and Uber, that warning has gone by the wayside... now EVERYONE gets in cars with strangers, and they're letting strangers get into their cars.
This can be a very, very bad idea. Especially during the 31 Nights of Halloween....
The Melodicka Bros. and Violet Orlandi return again for this year's 31 Nights of Halloween with cover tunes and videos that turn pop classics into horror film tributes!
First up, we have "Stayin' Alive" serving as the backdrop for a zombie saga on the scale of "Dawn of the Dead" or "Night of the Living Dead"!
Stayin' Alive (2021)
Starring: Dave Melodicka, Joe Melodicka, and Violet Orlandi
Dead Bride (2022) Starring: Jennifer Mischiati, Christopher Hulsen, Douglas Dean, David White, Sean James Sutton, and Luna Francavilla Director: Francesco Picone Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
After her biological father dies, Alyson (Mischiati), together with her newborn child and her husband (Hulson), moves back to the isolated mansion where she grew up. Here, as dark memories return, and her long struggle with sleep paralysis grows more intense, a supernatural evil stirs and a family curse returns in full force.
"Dead Bride" is a love letter to the classic horror films and ghost movies. It even runs slightly less than an hour-and-a-half, which, to me, remains the ideal length for a horror flick.
This is also a film that relies more on mood created by lighting and camera angles and performances by the actors than special effects. What practical effects are present all serve enhance the plot as well as creepiness, instead of the movement in recent years toward the effects being present for their own sake more than anything else. The film is also perfectly paced, from its mysterious and creepy pre-credit sequence through the literally out-of-this-world climactic sequence when Alyson undertakes a spiritual journey to save her son. The final half-hour of this picture is among the spookiest and trippiest I've seen in recent years.
I have very few complaints I can mount regarding this movie, and most of them are nitpicky. As is my habit, I'm not going to bother with those, but instead just deal with major issues.
First, there are many examples of clunky dialogue in the film. The actors do their best with it, but it is just too stilted to work, no matter how well they deliver their lines. At its worst, this weakness distracted from and undermined a couple otherwise well-filmed and well-acted scenes.
Further, there are three major story elements that I feel were not properly developed or resolved, and I'm in two minds about the way "Dead Bride" wraps up--I both love and hate the horror of it. It fits well enough with the rest of the film--although it only exists because of a couple completely dropped plot threads--but it's not quite the ending I excepted or wanted. (Well, it is, in part. It really suffers because of a key story element that seems to get forgotten once the climax starts. I am borderline harping on that now, but it had enough of an impact that I waffled between giving "Dead Bride" a Seven rather than the Eight rating I ultimately settled on.)
I can't really say more about those undeveloped/unresolved story elements, nor the ending, without spoiling the film. And, since this movie is being released on streaming platforms on October 4, 2022, roughly around the time I am posting this review, I would much rather have those of you out there who love classic ghost movies and haunted house films (and we can even throw flicks featuring demons and demonic cults into the mix) check out "Dead Bride" and then come back and give their take on what might be lacking in the comments section below.
Actually, I'd much rather have all of you reading this go watch "Dead Bride" on Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, XBox, and other streaming services including some local cable and satellite providers, and then tell us what you LIKED about it in the comments. I think you'll find it to be worthy of your time during this Halloween Season.
To further help in your decision-making, here's a preview of the film:
Films by Alex Magana were a cornerstone of last year's 31 Nights of Halloween, and his Smiling Woman series kept us spooked as we waited for darkness to settle across the land yet again. And, this year, we will be bringing out more tiny terror tidbits from Mr. Magana, and we hope you find them as effective as we did!
For Magana's first 2022 31 Nights entry, we bring you his second piece chronicling foolish young ladies testing Bloody Mary. (It goes as well for them as you might expect...)
We feel this is the perfect treat for our visitors on this, the second of the 31 Nights of Halloween. It's the tale of a man who has his peaceful evening alone at home interrupted by... himself!
The Doppelganger (2021)
Starring: Stuart Hamilton
Director: Stuart Hamilton
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
(We also felt it was okay to that a trick came along with the treat... we hope you agree!)
Shower scenes and big knives have been a horror movie mainstays since at least the 1960s. We're kicking off this year's 31 Nights of Halloween with a film that features both. It also happens to be pretty damn scary! That final 30 seconds or so... truly nightmare-inducing!
The old librarian asked Chelsea and Brittney to keep their laughter and cellphone chatter down. They didn't. So the librarian silenced them for good, with help from the spirits of previous young ladies who had disrupted the quiet of his domain of knowledge and learning.
Buried in the many reviews on this blog are ones covering all three of the Xtro films. I'm going to collect and recycle them in this post (with minor revisions). I still think the first one is well worth checking out... the others? Well...
Xtro (1983) Starring: Bernice Steger, Phillip Seyer, Maryam D'Abo, and Simon Nash Director: Harry Bromley Davenport Rating: Five of Ten Stars
Three years after being abducted by aliens, Sam (Seyer) returns a very different man, and he passes his gooey, gory alien powers onto his young son (Nash).
When I first saw this movie as a kid, it freaked the heck out of me. The father coming back and spreading alien corruption throughout the household, the way the son was transformed, and the way he in turn went after the horny au-paire (D'Abo)... even the creepy way he made deadly things appear with his mental powers. It all seemed very, very scary.
I suspect someone watching the film with less jaded eyes than mine could still find "Xtro" scary. At this point, I find still find some of the movie quite disturbing--Sam's method of returning to human form was not something I recalled, and it is definitely creepy; the alien egg-laying scene; and the final scene with the mother... well, up to a point with that one--but in general, I now view this film mostly with a sense of frustration because there are two fundamental things that spoil it for me.
First, there's the fact that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to what the characters do, alien or otherwise. In fact, some of the things that happen are pure "Stupid Character Syndrom"--a character does something just to make sure the plot doesn't come to screeching halt, even if a vaguely intelligent person would take any one of numerous different options.
Second, the director and/or scriptwriter simply doesn't know when enough is enough, and this spoils a number of what otherwise would have been excellent, very scary moments. The movie's ending is the ultimate example of this. I won't go into details, because I would spoil it, but suffice to say, the filmmakers ruin a perfectly good ending. If they had been smart, the film would be about 5-10 seconds shorter.
On the upside, we do get to see D'Abo prance around in absolutely nothing, and the acting is uniformly bland (not quite bad... just flat) so no one stands out as good or bad. Gorehounds might also be impressed with a number of scenes in film. The "Return of Sam" scene is a standout in that sense. "Xtro" also features a well-done electronic score, and those are few and far between.
Nonethless, this is a film that clocks in at the low end of average... although I admit my reaction may partially be due to it not living up to my memories of it. (Maybe I'll get the courage to watch "The Exorcist" again. It's the only movie I walked out because it scared me too badly.)
XTRO II: The Second Encounter (1991)
Starring: Jan-Michael Vincent, Tara Buckman, and Paul Koslo
Director: Harry Bromley Davenport
Rating: Three of Ten Stars
Deep underground, American scientists discover how to open a portal to another world...but, surprise-surprise, something goes wrong and murderous critters come across the dimensional void to run amuk. How will the best-and-brightest of the Mad Science Set stop the invasion and save themselves?!
Picture a bad "Aliens" rip-off and cross it with some of the lamest plot elements of a bad "Stargate SG-1" episode, and you have "XTRO: The Second Encounter."
Not only does this "sequel" have absolutely nothing in common with the first movie--the creatures don't even seem to be related--but it's also devoid of good acting, competent direction, and anything that even approaches originality.
For all its faults, the original XTRO at least delivered some genuine weirdness and horror, and it did so with a certain flair. This "sequel" brings absolutely nothing worthwhile to the table. It is a study in complete mediocity and unoriginality.
Xtro 3: Watch the Skies (1994)
Starring: Sal Landi, Andrew Divoff, Andrea Lauren Hertz, and Robert Kulp
Director: Director: Harry Bromley Davenport
Rating: Three of Ten Stars
A group of Marine demolitions experts are sent to a remote, deserted island to disarm explosives left over from WW2. As will happen, something goes wrong and they unleash an alien that has been trapped in a bunker for several decades. Gory mayhem ensues.
I've read in several places that director Harry Bromley Davenport says this is his favorite entry in the "Xtro" series. I can't for the life of me figure out why. As flawed as it was, the original "Xtro" is far more interesting on every level than this one... and far more competently made.
It's actually a shame that "Xtro 3" turned out as a textbook example of what happens when a low-budget film is made with a slip-shod attitude, because there was a lot of potential here.
The setting--a deserted jungle island that once housed interned Japanese and a secret research facility could have been a character unto itself and filled the movie with atmosphere if the cinematography and direction hadn't been as lifeless as an instructional video on how to navigate the Dewey Decimal System. The story of Marines stalked by a murderous alien creature could have been engaging if the script writer had taken time to research actual military protocols and behaviors, had spent some time making the characters interesting and distinct, and bothered to actually bothered to do more than one draft so the dialogue didn't sound like something written for a cheap voice-over of a Japanese sci-fi movie.
And speaking of characters, perhaps if the actors all didn't seem like they had been handed the script pages right before cameras started to roll but instead seemed like they were in character instead of simply delivering the bad lines, the audience could perhaps develop attachment to one or more of them. Although decent acting would not make up for the fact that illogical, plot-dictated behavior governs every action they take, because no one seems to have bothered to think scenes through.
Similarly, if someone had paid attention to costuming and continuity on the production, maybe generous-minded or entertainment-starved viewers would be able to suspend disbelief and engage with the film, despite the incompetent direction and script. However, the appearing and disappearing gear on characters and less effort put into costuming than you might put into getting dressed for lounging around the house on a Saturday when your friends are all out of town, make that impossible.
Finally, although the alien has possibilities to rival the creepy creature of the original "Xtro," it ends up more laughable than scary due to badly executed special effects and the aforementioned illogical, plot-dictated character behavior. Is there anyone reading this who has seen this film who didn't think like I did: "Why run when you can just kick it really hard?"
"Xtro 3" continues the decline of this series into crapitude. The only thing that keeps it from sinking to a Two Rating (and thus earning a place over at Movies You Should [Die Before You] See) is the alien's back story. It's a cool idea... and it's too bad that it is wasted in a movie like this one. (I won't give it away here, because it is one of the few decent story elements in the film.)
If your looking for something to round out a Bad Movie Night line-up, "Xtro 3: Watch the Skies" might be what you're looking for. You might, however, be better off actually watching the skies and identifying shapes in the clouds.
Alex Magana's "Smiling Woman" films have been getting more elaborate as time has gone on. The series began with two actresses at simple locations (a train station passenger platform at night, a closed public parking garage). With "Smiling Woman 4" and "Smiling Woman 5", the series featured more characters and several different sets, as the Smiling Woman grins her way through a hospital.
Smiling Woman 4 (2021) Starring: Anna Dahl, Felissa Rose, and Michelle Twarowska Director: Alex Magana Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A mysterious phantom--the Smiling Woman in Yellow--spreads death and terror in a hospital.
"Smiling Woman 4" (which is actually the fifth entry in the series, since the actual #4 was released out of order, something we've fixed with our presentation of the series here at Terror Titans) is step up for Alex Magana. First, the film features an honest-to-God horror movie semi-icon, Felissa Rose and several different sets/locations within a hospital. For the first, time, the Smiling Woman also goes through several victims in one film.
The film follows the same basic pattern as those that have gone before. In some ways, it feels like a small step backwards, because the Smiling Woman in Part Six (the actual Part Four) seemed more interactive than she had been up to this point. On the other hand, it captures the eeriness of what its like being in an building that is bustling with people and activity during the day, but which is empty at night.
Check out one of the most elaborate entry in the "Smiling Woman" series so far, by clicking below. It's another fine effort!
One thing that struck me for the first time while watching "Smiling Woman 4" is that the yellow dress changes with each "incarnation". Why is that? (And if you haven't noticed that the dress changes from victim to victim, just look at the stills used to illustrate the reviews in this post. Anna Dahl and Felissa Rose are wearing different dresses in their respective incarnations as the Smiling Woman.)
I know I shouldn't use the phrase "that makes no sense" about a series of short films where the unifying factor is a spirit that leaps from body to body, but why does the dress change? My first thought was that the dress was what was possessing the victims--in the second film of the series, it's shown that the victim leaves behind whatever clothes she was wearing when she becomes the next Smiling Woman,
so the dress must either morph into a different piece of clothing with each victim... or maybe the previous vessel of the Smiling Woman dissolves into a new yellow dress for the next victim to wear? (This seems to be the most sensible theory, since the detectives and crime scene technicians in "Smiling Woman 6" didn't make any reference to there being two dead bodies at the laundromat, and as you saw in "Smiling Woman 4", there was only one body delivered to the morgue.)
Smiling Woman 5 (2021) Starring: Katy Ford, Felissa Rose, and Jessi Sampogna Director: Alex Magana Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
The entity known as the Smiling Woman continues to claim victims within a hospital.
"Smiling Woman 5" is another excellent, supremely spooky entry in the series. Felissa Rose (as the most recent Smiling Woman) and Katy Ford (as the recuperating patient and next possible victim) both give fine performances--the first being creepy and crazed, and the other confused and frightened. This matches "Smiling Woman 4" in being one of the most horrifying entries in the series, because, like that one, the target of the Smiling Woman ends up in a completely hopeless situation as the end draws near.
This episode also brought another question to my mind: How is it that these films always begin at 1:01am? Up until this point, I thought maybe the Smiling Woman spent the day wandering the city and then settled on her next victim through some unknown (and perhaps even unknowable) means. But as of this entry that theory doesn't seem to work anymore.
Take a look and feel free to share any theories YOU may have about the Smiling Woman in the comments below!
Beginning on October 1--some two short weeks from now--Terror Titans will once again observe the 31 Nights of Halloween. There will be at least one post daily for the entire month of October, most of them featuring a short film along with writen commentary. Will the Smiling Woman make an appearance and claim more victims? As of this writing, that is one of the many unanswered questions that surround this terrifying creature!
