Currently streaming on Tubi, I finally got the chance to see this movie that I'd heard good things about. It's a sci-fi / horror starring Nicholas Cage, based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft.
Nathan Gardner (Cage) is living on a remote farm with his wife Theresa, who recently had a mastectomy, and his children Lavinia, Benny and Jack. One night, a meteorite crashes into their yard. It eventually sinks deep into the ground, and ends up contaminating the water supply. Everyone on the farm, as well as the environment, slowly begins to change, displaying mood swings, lost time and illness. It becomes clear that some lifeform that was attached to the meteorite has infected the area, causing all sorts of increasingly bizarre phenomena. A hydrologist named Ward, who's taking water samples, attempts to get to the bottom of things and help Lavinia and her family as the odd occurrences continue to escalate.
This film is wild, creepy, bizarre and well done. It contains many elements of cosmic horror, including strange creatures and body mutations. Nicholas Cage gives another of his famous unhinged performances, but he's able to reel it in enough that it strikes the right balance, never veering too far in any direction. A less experienced actor would probably over do it and completely ruin the film. The rest of the cast are equally as good. There are some truly fucked up things that happen, and the direction and script also do a fine job of keeping things insane without veering into camp. If you enjoy films such as The Void, Annihilation, and In The Mouth of Madness, then you'll most likely enjoy this bizarre, wild ride.
The next one I watched was the latest film from the V/H/S franchise. Each of these flicks is a collection of shorts, found footage style, with a wraparound segment to tie them all together. I've seen the first two and enjoyed them, so having heard some good things about this one, decided to check it out.
The 4 short stories are A: a reporter and her camera man doing a story about sightings of an alleged creature living in the local sewers known as the Ratman, B: a funeral home worker is assigned to host the wake of a recently deceased man, and is puzzled as to why no one is showing up, C: a crazed scientist is kidnapping people so he can conduct his experiments in an attempt to create a hybrid being made of man and machine, and D: a group of white supremacist are plotting to blow up a government building in their effort to "take back America", and they have a secret weapon that they believe will help them achieve success. The wraparound segment involves a SWAT team who raid a warehouse in an attempted drug bust. Everything is filmed in grainy, old VHS quality (including a few funny TV ads) to give it that 90’s retro feel.
The film succeeds in being highly entertaining and sometimes downright hilarious (the climax of the Ratman story had me laughing hysterically). Despite a cast of unknowns, everyone does a decent job with their acting. There are some good moments of tension, a few decent jump scares, and lots of blood splatter and gore. The wraparound segment is probably the weakest of the bunch, but the rest of the stories are all satisfying. I particularly enjoyed the mad scientist short the best, with its over-the-top slice and dice gore that resembled a live action anime. This is one of those horror movies where the fun factor is dialed way up, so there's lots to love. If you're a fan of any of the previous V/H/S movies, or enjoy slightly campy and gory anthology series such as Tales From The Crypt or the Creepshow films (the first two, the 3rd is an abomination), then you'll have a good time with this one. It's available to stream on Tubi.
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