Review: New horror feature ‘Abject’ throws everything at the wall. Does anything stick?

David R. Williams Newest Horror Feature Film 

ABJECT

A year after the death of their only child, a couple journey to an isolated retreat to try and work through their grief and save their disintegrating relationship. There however the Wife experiences strange visions and horrific dreams. The Husband sinks deeper into an alcoholic daze. Violence erupts, But death is only the beginning of their torment.


The film begins with the definitions of the words Psychotic, Psychosis, and Abject. What serves as both a jarring opening and inevitable title card is striking. After that, ABJECT is a painfully slow descent akin to watching bad theater. Performances feel forced. Close-ups of Joe Gallagher washing knives are overkill. Did they use an entire set of knives making dinner? Certainly not. Juxtapose that with Helena Simon in a red-lit bathroom hearing voices, losing her shit, and it all feels nonsensical, disjointed, and inconsistent in the end. Dreamlike sexual scenarios had me scratching my head. The tropes are unnecessary. Listen, props to Simon for going all in as the sheer absurdity ramps up. Unfortunately, it all lands as rather silly.

Helena Simon

Gallagher‘s character is described as an alcoholic, yet there is no consistent sign of this behavior other than offering his wife a drink, which she twice refuses. His character is a complete asshole. Most of his interactions with his wife feel unjustified. After an intense, albeit over-the-top, confrontation in the third act, there is an incredibly accosting moment. Let that serve as a trigger warning for viewers.

Here’s what works best in ABJECT. I could not have exclaimed WTF more times while shaking my head as I sat through the film. Those are the moments you count on and make you a genre fan. An unexpected twist in the form of a two-and-a-half-minute monologue blows everything sky high. The final reveal is undoubtedly intriguing. Unfortunately, the rest of the film’s shenanigans don’t add up. All said and done, as a feature film, it is a letdown. But, if you took a scalpal to the script, you’d have one genuinely slick short.

ABJECT is now available to rent NOW on Amazon Prime, VUDU, Flixfling, and Blu-Ray 

 

Release Date: July 28, 2002

Run Time: 1Hr 15 MIN

Produced by

David R. Williams for Razor Wire Alchemy

Directed by David R. Williams

Starring Helena Simon, Joe Gallagher, Andy Rich, Clementine Jane Simpson

Written by David R. Williams, Constanza Bongiorni, Music by Frederic Mauerhofer, Stephen Rosenthal, Special makeup effects by Roy Knyrim/SOTA FX


 

Review: ‘SMALLER AND SMALLER CIRCLES’

Two Jesuit priests perform forensic work to solve the mystery revolving around the murders of young boys in one of Metro Manila’s biggest slum areas. While dealing with the systematic corruption of the government, church and the elite, the two priests delve into criminal profiling, crime scene investigation and forensic analysis to solve the killings, and eventually, find the murderer.

Based on the award-winning novel by Filipino author F.H. Batacan, SMALLER AND SMALLER CIRCLES illustrates the best and worst of human nature: the antiseptic and dirty, the sublime and rotten, the hellish and divine.

With an unusual premise of having priests specialize in forensics, Smaller and Smaller Circles opens with haunting music and a disturbing image. Setting the stage for a mystery no one wants to delve further into. It addresses corruption in every corner of the church. Driven by greed and in the interest of reputation over the safety of the community’s young boys, we are witness to evil in many forms. A moody tone is set, eerily similar to the feeling Season 1 of True Detective gave us. The film could have easily been a mini-series. The final scene leads me to believe that this story isn’t over, in a sense. At the very least, our leading  characters have more work they can do. I, for one, would be invested in another film if not a redeveloped series, altogether. There are more details, I can only assume, the novel addresses. The story feels incomplete, only in the sense that I wanted more. Ultimately, this is a compliment to the intricacy of the storyline. The forensics aspects are intensely graphic but profoundly effective. The acting from ancillary characters is a bit spotty. It feels as if locals without experience were used to fill those roles. Though, I must give credit to each lead. Fully fleshed out backstories were felt even if we didn’t see them. This is yet another reason I would watch an expanded version. Smaller and Smaller Circles is undeniably engrossing.

SMALLER AND SMALLER CIRCLES was directed by Raya Martin and written by Raymond Lee and Ria Limjap.  The film features both English and Filipino language.  It has a running time of 111 minutes and will not be rated by the MPAA.

Uncork’d Entertainment will release the film in Los Angeles and additional select markets on March 1.  It will then be released digitally on March 19 (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, Fandango Now, Xbox and local Cable).

Review: ‘Agent’… Derek Ting Does It All, In This Action Packed Sci-Fi Flick!

Agent

Now Available on Vimeo, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, Xbox, & Playstation

Available on Hulu & Amazon Prime: July 1, 2017

Guest review from Reel Reviews Over Brews

Agent starts out by looking into the life of Jim Yung (Derek Ting). We find that he is trying to adapt to a normal life after returning from service. Jim’s friends, Angela (Marikah Cunningham) and Seth (Eric Keitel) decide they are going to visit Jim and try getting him out of his funk. They bring along Kara (Olivia Hultgren) in hopes to spark a fling. When Seth and Angela arrive, they decide that they are going out into the desert to shoot some high powered guns. The group meets up with a former secret service agent, John (Terrance Christopher Jones), who is their shooting instructor. Upon their day of shooting, the group of friends accidentally awakens something so powerful that they must choose between saving each other or saving the world.

So, we came across the movie Agent in a sort of funny way. We noticed that the movie’s Instagram page (@agentthemovie) was following us. We reached out in hopes to learn more and upon getting to know actor/director/writer, Derek Ting, he sent us a screening. Long story short, here we are!

Now to the review… Agent grabs your attention right away with the characters. They are very real. Jim Yung (Derek Ting) and Angela Porter (Marikah Cunningham) steal the show. It’s hard not to get caught up in their stories. The camera angles were great, although a few minor corrections could have been made, we liked what they did. The setting was a nice fit too. What better spot to feel trapped and deserted than a desert where no one can hear you scream!? Action is what usually holds our attention the best and this film certainly wasn’t lacking. Probably one our our favorite parts about this movie was that it didn’t follow the typical “shoot them in the head to stop them” plot. They had a pretty ingenious spin on that. We can absolutely see Agent being a perfect movie to play on the Syfy channel, but until then, go check it out on any of the viewing platforms we listed above.

PS, in a few days we’ll be following up this review with a Q&A from actor/director/writer, Derek Ting. So keep an eye out!

Reel ROB Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post Credits Scene: Yes

We want to thank our friends at Reel News Daily for allowing us to do this guest review for them!

Review: ‘Even Lambs Have Teeth’ Has A Pretty Good Bite

Even Lambs Have Teeth

Available Now: iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, & VOD

Guest review from Reel Reviews Over Brews

Two best friends, Sloane (Kirsten Prout) and Katie (Tiera Skovbye), are trying to raise some extra cash for their shopping spree in New York by working at an eco-farm. While waiting for a bus to take them to the eco-farm, two brothers, Jed (Garrett Black) and Lucas (Jameson Parker) befriend the girls. The brothers offer to take Sloane and Katie to the farm, however, the girls instead are taken to the brother’s home where they are drugged. When they wake up they find themselves chained up in shipping containers and soon find out they are going to be used as sex slaves. Katie’s FBI uncle, Jason (Michael Karl Richards), gets a bad vibe about how the girls are making out and goes on the hunt to find them. Eventually the girls escape, but instead of running, they return to the crime scene to seek revenge… that’s when things get ugly!

First, we loved the title to this movie!! The first half of the movie felt like a straight forward horror flick. We quickly find that Sloane is more willing to toe the line of reckless, while Katie is more reserved and hesitant… at first. As the movie progressed it becomes apparent these girls would get their revenge and we became eager to see how they would pull it off. Sloane and Katie had our attention from the beginning and never lost it. We found it hard not to love them, especially when they started on their rampage, we couldn’t look away. Once the second half of the movie got going, we felt it became less of a horror movie and more of a thriller. The revenge scenes felt more fun than scary, as the girls got pretty creative with their torture techniques. Although the dialogue did get a bit stale at times and some of the plot was predictable, in the end this horror movie DOES have a pretty good bite! We highly enjoyed it.

Reel ROB Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Post Credits Scene: No

We want to thank our friends at Reel News Daily for allowing us to do this guest review for them!

Jeremy’s Review & Interview: ‘The Canal’ is an Especially Spooky and Visceral Haunt Perfect for Halloween & Star Rupert Evans Shares His Thoughts on Making the Film

the canalRare is it that I find the need to find a film to scare me. I usually only need to watch the evening news (Ebola anyone?) or watch any political coverage to get my scares in. However, every once in a while, a film comes along the piques my interest in this arena and Ivan Kavanagh‘s The Canal is one of those films. After seeing the trailer, I was hooked (something that is also quite a rarity). So I gave it a spin and these are my thoughts… Read More →

Jeremy’s Review of ‘Mutual Friends’, a Rom-Com Fit for NYC

Mutual Friends posterIn a city the size of New York, with so many different personalities and the possibility for literally any situation to arise, it’s no wonder it is the setting for so many romantic comedies. Matthew WattsMutual Friends hits a lot of familiar rom-com notes, but its mumblecore-like narrative without adhering to the tenets of mumblecore (i.e. meandering pseudo-plot with simple, often improvised mundane dialogue) help sets it apart from the many others like it out there commenting on the nature of romance in today’s world. Read More →