forward ike The film was screened at the 2024 Fantastic Fest Film Festival, and co-writer and director Joseph Kahn had two points to make to the audience. First, he explained that the movie is rated PG-13. He did it because he wanted to serve a teenage audience that he felt was underserved. Secondly, understand that the audience of the film festival is no The film compensates for this, he says, by making heavy use of 2000s pop-punk stitch music.
I mentioned this at the top of the review because these two points fit the context perfectly ikea fun and energetic horror movie that can be viewed through the prism of the past or present. On the one hand, it’s a not-too-scary, not-too-gory entry-level horror movie with a pacing aimed at YouTube viewers. On the other hand, it’s also an allegorical film about your neglect and ignorance of the world around you, underpinned by all the nostalgia you can handle. ike It’s not the slam it wanted to be, it’s still a great time to watch a movie with a lot going on.
ike Brandon Routh plays Hank, a high school science teacher and former star quarterback at the same school. He was expected to achieve great things in football, but injuries ruined his dreams. So Hank has been through a lot in the 20 years since he became the most popular kid in school. The reason Hank was injured was because his town was, and still is, infected by a disease everyone calls “nausea.” It’s basically a weird black mold that grows randomly all over town. No one knows what it is, no one knows what to do with it, so they just ignore it.
As you’d expect, the once-dormant disease begins to become an issue, and Hank, having previously had a relationship with it, finds himself one of the only people frightened by it. The teacher in him puts his students first, but mostly Grace (Marlena Weisman); the daughter of Hank’s high school sweetheart (Mina Suvari), who Hank left after being injured.
So, for most people ikethe disease began to spread through the town, devouring some people, infecting others, and also manifesting itself in a variety of huge and strange creatures. The lack of any logical rhyme or reason to this movie is one of the problems with this movie. It’s hard to worry or be afraid of something when you don’t know how it works or what it can do. But one thing we did learn is that icks only move at night and are destroyed by UV rays. Therefore, light becomes a weapon and all the action takes place at night.
This is another question ike. Half the time you can’t tell what the monster is doing or who it’s killing because everything is dark. Thankfully, most of the time, this uncertainty is bolstered by the popular punk slayer of the 2000s. We’re talking Blink-182, Yellowcard, Hoobastank, Creed – basically, if you think of a band from that era and style, it might be in a movie. Kahn said he rallied everyone in his music video career who could help for the soundtrack, and it delivered. Plot-wise, it works because it’s the music of Hank’s youth and the theme for the student dance. From a non-narrative perspective, this is a very specific era of music that can take you back to a time and place that you may or may not like. I belong to the former. But if that era and those bands aren’t your thing, this is a great opportunity ike It won’t work either.
Music is very important, but movies have other things that come into play. For example, it’s ugly ike Failure to recognize Kahn’s not-so-subtle mirror to modern society manifests itself through townspeople ignoring disease and blaming it on “false flags” and fake news. This movie is both a horror movie and an interesting way to illustrate modern science, politics, etc. Of course, it’s also fun to see a pool full of teenagers completely overwhelmed by disease or a football field-sized demon growing out of the ground. The film sets up the disgusting ones as impossible enemies, and by the end, that may still be the case.
ike It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it has its goals, it achieves them, and it has a great time along the way. This is a movie for almost everyone. If you’re someone who loves horror, 2000s rock, political satire, cool animals, etc., then this might become a must-have for a night out.
ike Recently I attended the Fantastic Fest music festival in Austin, Texas. There is no release date yet.
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