Review – Killing Ground (2017) Edinburgh Film Festival

by Old King Clancy

I’m gonna take some cues from Walter White and tread lightly on this review, part of what makes Killing Ground so great is how it utilizes a unique narrative technique in order to tell its story. In doing so, allow itself to hit some really disturbing and sickening moments that other horror films wouldn’t go near. This is gonna be a must for genre fans, but go in blind to get the full effect of what the film wants to put you through.

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You’ll Float with IT in September!

by Kevin Muller

The road for Pennywise to have his day in the sun, or lurking around in the sewers, hasn’t been an easy one.   For years, the project had “floated” around with no hope of every gracing the silver screen.   After his success of the incredible 2014 “True Detective,” Cary Fukanaga soon boarded the project that he aimed for a 2016 release.   Cary and the studio constantly clashed over the tone of the Stephen King novel.   Cary wanted to do more of a slow burn film, while the studio wanted to, as Cary put it, make a typical jump scare horror film.   In a later article, I will review the screenplay that he originally wrote with Chase Palmer that was a dated 2014 script.   Soon after his departure, Andres (Andy) Muschetti, stepped into the director’s chair.   His 2013 film “Mama” wasn’t my favorite film but he seemed serious on bringing something good to this material.

Our first glimpse of Pennywise came back last summer with a facial shot of the character.  Then a few months later an official full body pose came out.  The one thing that stuck out about this interpretation of the murderous clown is that the wardrobe looked like it was from another century.  In actuality that is true of the novel’s presentation of him.   He has been here for hundreds of years and became a clown during the Victorian age.   Muschetti had already nailed the look of the character. Some people were and are still iffy about how the costume will look in motion.    Well, the poster and trailer have been released and I think we are in for one hell of a ride

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Review – Life (2017)

by Nile Fortner

Is This Sci-fi Film Recycling Other Sci-fi Films?

Life’ is science fiction thriller, starring Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Southpaw), Ryan Reynolds (Safe House, Deadpool), and Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, The Girl on the Train). No, this movie isn’t a remake or re-imagining of the 1999 Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence movie of the same name. So don’t expect to see Murphy fighting over some cornbread in space or anything like that.But you can expect to see six astronauts that aboard a space station, and they discover something we’ve all been wondering since the dawn of human history. They discover new life, they discover life in a galaxy far far away, they discover extraterrestrial life on Mars.

These members of the space station name this new life force, Calvin. As these astronauts conduct research on Calvin, gather data, and all that science mumbo jumbo. They realize Calvin is evolving rapidly, gaining strength, and learning at a very alarming rate. It turns out Calvin’s life may be more intelligent and terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.  If this movie feels familiar, it just might be. Many people saw this trailer, and said to themselves, “Why are you reenacting the script of ‘Aliens’?” While watching this movie, just from the trailer alone, you feel a vibe of other science fiction films you’ve seen before.

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