Weekly Favorites
Downrange
Skipped a week for weekly favorites because I had to have a procedure done and was high out of mind then felt like I’d been hit like a truck when the drugs wore off so it wasn’t the best time. But I’m here now!
So here’s what I watched over the past two weeks:
- It Follows
- Sinister
- Still/Born
- Downrange
- Suburban Gothic
- Hostel 2
A lot of re-watches because that’s usually what happens when I’m busy and just want to throw a movie on. It Follows gets a special mention this week because I watched it when it first came out and the hype was insane. I enjoyed it but I wasn’t understanding the hype about it. Re-watching it for the first time it’s like I finally GOT IT. What an incredible fucking movie. I still think it’s a little silly in the final battle when they’re throwing a sheet over an invisible creature. But overall hot damn that’s a great movie. And I think it’s even better the second time around because you fully understand the concept and are totally on edge the whole time. Some great terrifying moments and a flawless score. So, I recommend watching again if you didn’t really enjoy it the first time and if you’ve never seen it, please go watch this phenomenal flick!
You’ll also notice my new logos are up which are absolutely perfect and amazing and created by Ryan Kostel who you can check out here. He’ll be doing some more stuff for the site in the future and I’m thrilled to be able to collaborate with him. The site is finally coming together!
I’ve only chosen one stand out favorite of the past two weeks because as I mentioned before, it was a lot of re-watches, so let's jump right in:
Downrange, released in 2017, and now on Shudder, is a horror film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura who also directed The Midnight Meat Train (and many others). It’s a relatively simple concept – a tire blows out on a vehicle full of people car-pooling. They’re stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with very weak phone reception. But then it takes a crazy turn that takes survival horror in a great new direction.
There’s a lone gunman perched up in a tree down the road who blew up the tire with a bullet, and now he’s slowly picking off the group one by one. While the action does take quite a bit to get going, it builds this great sense of dread. There’s long uncut moments where characters are walking alone down the road, or standing in the front of the vehicle staring off into the distance, and you’re just like I WANT SOMETHING TO HAPPEN AND ALSO I DON’T WANT SOMETHING TO HAPPEN DEAR GOD WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN.
When the shooting finally begins it doesn’t catch you off guard because you’ve been waiting for so damn long. But it is effective. The drawn-out shots of each character getting hit and dying are pretty impressive, although they do drag on a liiiiittle. There’s one death with one of the women where I’m just sitting there like….no offence, but die already?
Once the action gets going though it’s a fast roller-coaster ride right up to the end. You get attached to a few of the characters and spend a lot of time yelling at the screen trying to help them. Your curiosity gets out of control about exactly who is doing the shooting and why.
It’s a pretty impressive film considering it’s set on one small piece of land and has about 7 characters. You’re hooked from the first bullet and on the edge of your seat until the last. Highly recommend and would be a great group watch!
4/5
I also watched Hostel 2 this week for Nightmare on Film Street which is a great horror site that I work for. You can check out my full retrospective piece over there by clicking this link.
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