POMO

Terrified is a typical bizarre Argentine mix of well-made horror scenes and verbal humor that unnecessarily lightens up the serious ghost storyline. The distinctness of the Argentine mentality can also be seen in the creator’s/viewer’s perception of film entertainment. It’s as if the Argentines do not want or cannot take a horror film entirely seriously, although they are able to make almost perfect scary scenes. It’s a pity. The plot structure and the setting were fine. [Sitges FF]

Let’s not get stuck in the past. A classic will live forever, in “lonely perfection” as David would call its place in history. And now, after thirty years, it’s time to try a new take on the premise – simple but effective, fun at the level of a contemporary, not that of groundbreaking films in the sci-fi genre. I enjoyed Alien: Covenant because it’s a hardcore sci-fi horror flick with fantastic esthetics, breathtaking locations and music that (finally) references the atmospheric scores by Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. I enjoyed the escalating thrilling scenes (the first scene showing the return to Lander that takes as much as ten minutes ranks among the best in the whole series), and the nicely designed situations in which characters are killed off in accordance with the genre rules. Before the characters get out of one mess, the viewer already knows about another that will make everything even worse for them. Not to mention the healthy dose of blood and brutality. SPOILER ALERT: The script explains the origin of Giger’s creatures and I find this self-destructive notion that the ultimate evil is created by an android created by man rather compelling. Thematically, this is another version of Cameron’s Skynet. The android confrontation gives the Alien universe an interesting new dimension. And the pessimistic ending offers great possibilities for further development in future installments. I look forward to those!

The Babysitter is a conspicuously mishandled combination of subtle black comedy and fantastical splatter. McG completely mindlessly mixes modern visuals with the most stereotypical teen characters, unoriginal gore scenes, ineffective allusions to cult films and stiff humour, and tries to string it all together in the story of a 12-year-old boy, another outsider who gets bullied at school. It could have worked within certain boundaries (if he woke up from a bad dream at the end, for example), but it shouldn’t have been so moronic and divorced from reality.

A chaotically plotted story with a good casting and unfailingly attractive (at least on the screen) Scandinavian snowy atmosphere, The Snowman has a weak ending that knocks another half-star off my rating.

Beauty and the Beast is the kind of musical in which the songs do not enhance the already very simple story, but rather slow it down. And there are loads of them. Visually, however, it is a really beautiful movie, with a retro charm in the style of the original The Wizard of Oz, and with the prettiest princess, Emma Watson, who looks like she was born for this role. A small spoiler: what I will remember the most from this film is the moment of shock when Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson appeared on screen simultaneously, and I realized that instead of their voices, I had been listening to song dubbed in Czech for two hours. It is hard to refuse a Prague's IMAX ceremony premiere invitation, but that was really the last time I will ever go to see a dubbed film. Nevertheless, the movie has excellent 3D animation (that snow!) and its format is also perfectly suited to IMAX.

I expected the Saw series to evolve over time, but no such luck. Massacring little shits who deserve it is still the end in itself; the wannabe surprising climactic revelation bolstered by the crescendo of the soundtrack is supposed to leave us shocked. And the only interesting character, a perverted lab worker, disappears from the plot without a trace.

A Latvian psychological thriller about a relationship complicated by an unpleasant mishap with a violent psycho, Firstborn gets off to a promising start firmly anchored in the perception of a relationship at a certain stage. The plot development, however, brings a deluge of symbols at the expense of logic and a distinctive genre film becomes a bizarre affair for festival audiences only. Not everyone’s cup of tea. [Sitges FF]

Goosebumps. Every time.

OMG, the dialogue! And the characters! We missed you, Aki. Dry Scandinavian humor, intentional comical affectation, cartoonish characters and the ability to speak aptly and with heart about a global problem. America has Woody Allen, Scandinavia has Aki Kaurismäki. [Karlovy Vary IFF]

The point where The Shallows lost a lot of its appeal – the silly ending – is the point where 47 Meters Down wins the audience over thanks to a nice plot twist. I’ll give this solid genre flick a strong three stars.