Category: Suspense/Thriller

Horror/Thriller Suspense/Thriller

“Blink Twice”

By Brett_G on

7.9

https://www.thehotline.org/

Unlike “It Ends With Us,” this one warns the audience that shit’s going to get dark.

… And holy crap does it ever get dark. I figured things would get weird, but not quite this deep into the worst of humanity. I can honestly say that I was caught as off guard as I’ve been in a long time by this one. But I can also say that not since “Promising Young Woman” and “Ready or Not” (or “Kill Bill) have I seen such an empowering tale of revenge on the silver screen.

I feel like he gets a lot of shit for “Magic Mike,” but Channing Tatum is one hell of an actor. He plays the villain perfectly in this one. Naomi Ackie on the screen and Zoe Kravitz behind the camera make for a hellacious one-two punch that really makes the film. I can’t imagine this coming together and being as balanced and impactful without their immense talents at play. Get ready to be befuddled for 2/3 of the runtime and sick to your stomach for the final act until the resolution right before the credits roll makes you want to laugh and cheer. It’s a WILD ride!

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Indie Rom-Com Suspense/Thriller

“Strange Darling”

By Brett_G on

8.5

I can honestly say that I had no idea what the hell was going to happen next this entire film… I was blown away with every twist and turn here. The film pulls the rug out from under you every time you make an assumption or feel assured you’re finally on steady footing. A mix of Tarantino and Nolan, the story unfolds in out of order chapters, slowly blossoming and colliding with the serendipity of a romance novel. Gird your loins… I guarantee that you’re not ready for this one.

Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner are ELECTRIC, and perfect for their roles. Not a second wasted, and not an emotion missed in a tight one and a half hour thriller/horror/romance that will leave you laughing(?) at the MOST inappropriate times. One of my top movies of the year. Booking it now.

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Action Suspense/Thriller

“Trap”

By Brett_G on

7.4

M. Night… buddy… SO MANY TWIST ENDINGS

Until they leave the arena and things go off the rails as there are seemingly endless attempts at a repeat of “The Sixth Sense” magic, this is a damn good thriller. Josh Hartnett is amazing in this role, and the story is so tightly wound that you’re on the edge of your seat the entire runtime.

The fact that M. Night basically made a movie as a big budget music video for his daughter Saleka Shyamalan is such a boss move, you have to respect it. She turns in a surprisingly great performance in the finale, as things take an unexpected turn… and then another unexpected turn… and then another unexpected turn. There are 3-4 solid endings to the film you get to watch and basically pick from to end things on.

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Suspense/Thriller

“Afraid”

By Brett_G on

7.2

This was a weird one… None of the ideas are necessarily “new,” but this movie actually puts them on the screen. I felt like every premise included in the tight hour and a half runtime has been haunting society for the past 5-10 years, but we’ve all just let it fester instead of talking about it head-on, ya know? Or, it may be that I just finished the audiobook of Jonathan Haidt’s “Anxious Generation”… who’s to say?

Technicality-wise, this is a tight thriller. They try to add some jump scares to make it a horror flick, but they do little to take away from the “this is hitting a little too close to home” factor at play here. Fantastic acting by all involved, and phenomenal execution.

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Horror/Thriller Suspense/Thriller

“Long Legs”

By Brett_G on

8.5

In a word – unsettling.

The whole damn thing. Front to back. The opening scene of this film is one of the best in recent memory and legitimately grabbed each and ever person in the theater and didn’t let them go until the credits rolled. The atmospheric dread that each and every scene is steeped in is a work of art in and of itself.

As expected, Nic Cage and Maika Monroe turn in fantastic performances that you lose yourself in as the story unfurls.

Definitely not your typical modern horror film. It’s a season’s worth of “Mindhunter” procedural married with the discomfort of “Silence of the Lambs,” all packaged neatly within the hour and forty minute runtime. Did the second to third act bridge get a little clunky? Sure. But it’s more than made up for by everything else here firing on all cylinders. I didn’t expect to be this terrorized by a film heading in. I’m still processing it 4 hours later.

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