RAW REVIEW: CAGE

Longterm readers of Hickey's House of Horrors may well remember my coverage of Brit chiller, The Cutting Room, back in May 2015. I imagine quite of few of you will in fact, as that review is my second most popular post here of all time!

So when the talented director of that film, Warren Dudley, asked if I'd like to take a look at his latest movie, Cage, which reunited him with Cutting Room star Lucy-Jane Quinlan, I was very quick to agree!  

More of a psychological thriller than an out-and-out horror flick, would Cage build on the tremendous potential on display in The Cutting Room? Or would it leave me wanting to Dudley behind bars?

Read on...

CAGE (2017)

Dir: Warren Dudley
Stars: Lucy-Jane Quinlan, Patrick Bergin, Jake Unsworth, Sharon Drain, Andy Costello

SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: I'll try not to spoil too much here, but continue at your own risk...

Gracie (Quinlan) is a down on her luck mother, desperate to regain custody of her child. With little in the way of income, Gracie has taken a job on a chat line to raise funds.  
While this pays the bills, it isn't enough to help in her legal battle.
All seems lost, until one of her clients (Bergin) offers to pay her handsomely for a special, 'one-night only' personal visit. At her wits' end, Gracie reluctantly travels to the meeting point... only to later wake up trapped in a cage in a large industrial building. With only her phone for company (albeit with the warning that any attempt to notify the authorities to her predicament will result in severe punishment), Gracie is chained and incarcerated, without a clue as to location.
As her mother (Drain) and worried boyfriend Eddy (Unsworth) try to work out where she is, Gracie finds herself at the mercy of the whims of her abductor...

THE BEST BITS (mild spoiler warning): With just a single character onscreen, in what is essentially a single setting, Cage is a daring film. With what could be perceived as 'limited' scope, it would be very easy for an audience to lose patience and for attentions to drift if the film were to falter or stumble.
Thankfully, Dudley is more than up to the task. His story unfolds slowly and steadily, carefully deep-feeding the audience with its reveals and taking its time. That's not to say that it is dull, instead each revelation is given proper time to breathe and for the audience to process and feel its impact.
There are quiet moments in the film that have such emotional weight they hit far harder than any flashy big budget action sequences. I'll try to avoid spoiling them here (doing so really would rob the viewer of a lot of the enjoyment to be taken from the movie), but suffice to say one major reveal that was cleverly foreshadowed throughout the preceding scenes hits with a real gut-punch.
Of course, this story more than any other is VERY heavily reliant on its star delivering the goods. As the only face we see, Quinlan is asked to shoulder a massive responsibility to provide a compelling performance.
In my review of The Cutting Room, I wrote: She is quite the talent, handling some charged and challenging scenes with aplomb. She is definitely one to watch!
It seems that my words have been proven right. Quinlan is excellent in Cage, giving her character a natural likability and emoting impressively throughout the heavier scenes — no easy task when you remember that she has no other actor to hand with whom to bounce her performance off. She gives Gracie a flawed vulnerability, imbuing her with the quiet desperation that is so important to understanding some of the decidedly reckless acts she commits, and more importantly, she does a great job of getting the viewer to actually care what happens to her.
What's more, she even manages a pretty damn good American accent throughout the film too!
The voice talent also delivers the goods admirably, especially Drain's increasingly frantic mother and the cold, calculating kidnapper voiced by recognisable Hollywood talent, Bergin.
Drain provides emotional stimulus for Gracie's character, adding a more sympathetic, human counterpart for our lead to interact with. Voice acting is difficult to get right, often sounding somewhat stilted, but that's no problem here.
The impressive Unsworth is also very good, and gets the opportunity to deliver quite a range of emotions, a task with which he is more than up to the job.
Back to Bergin, we are given the villain of our movie, a character who is mysterious and clearly unhinged, even if he is able to remain deceptively calm and even charming. Exactly what this man's motives are is one of the puzzles of Dudley's clever puzzle box of a script, and Bergin is able to carry that across in subtle intonation and flawless timing. This is a talented, experienced actor and he shows that in spades with such simple but exceptionally smart delivery.
This focus on dialogue may make it sound like Cage is a static or listless visual spectacle. I'm pleased to say this is not the case.
Clever editing and camerawork ensure that the movie never feels stagnant, keeping the viewer's attention pinned to the screen. Dudley proved an accomplished filmmaker with The Cutting Room, but he was aided somewhat by the Found Footage style of that movie, a device that restricts ambition for the sake of authenticity. He has no such constraints here and, I'm very pleased to say, he more than matches the potential hinted at with his previous effort. Once again, Warren Dudley proves to be a director to watch out for.

THE WORST BITS (mild spoiler warning): Perhaps the most important point to stress is that Cage is very much a psychological thriller, not an out-and-out horror movie, per se. If you're expecting a substantial bodycount and gallons of gore, this slower, more intimate and personal story may not be for you.
Of course, one of the issues of any movie that presents you with a hypothetical conundrum (a 'what-if-that-happened-to-me?' scenario) is that it encourages you to put yourself in the lead's shoes and to formulate your own escape plan. It also encourages you to forensically nitpick that same lead's own efforts to free herself and, in Cage, there are a couple of moments when Gracie's behaviour may extract some weary sighs and eye-rolls. Very early on she starts to work her way through the potential padlock combinations on the chain that keeps her bound to the bed, but this is something she then regularly abandons, before coming back to it intermittently. As pretty much the ONLY way she could hope to free herself, this does beggar belief somewhat. I suppose this can be written away by the fact that Gracie, a woman who is already unravelling under the pressures and stresses of her life, is not thinking clearly. She has been abducted and has a number of fears relating to events on the outside of the cage, so perhaps she is struggling with rational thought? It's a strong enough reason to explain some of her less intelligent decisions, so perhaps we should just roll with that.
Furthermore, the titular cage itself is not as sturdy a structure as I imagine was envisioned during the writing of the movie. Sure, it's a decent size, but the bars do appear pretty breakable. Perhaps this is just a result of budget constraints, and I do need to remember that young Ms Quinlan is certainly not a 6ft 3, 15-stone lump like this humble reviewer, so she'd certainly struggle more to escape!
Back to those budget constraints. It's worth mentioning that Cage is clearly a lower budget movie than some of the big, shiny crowd-pleasers you're going to see at your local cinema. Dudley has very cleverly stretched his budget as far as it will go, utilising a stripped back cast and set to mask any shortfalls, but if you're more used to the likes of Jason Blumhouse's shiny horror flicks or glossy Hollywood thrillers, you may need to lower your expectations somewhat.

THE VERDICT: Cage is not a flawless thriller, but it is a very, very good one. Some minor grumbles aside, the intelligent plotting, skilled direction and a stand-out performance from a talented young lead make it a movie that is more than worth your time. 
Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give Cage is that it actually managed to raise the already high levels of esteem with which I already regarded its director and its star. I do hope these two continue to collaborate, because I cannot wait to see what they do next!

Cage is available to buy on DVD at Amazon here.
You can check out the movie's official Facebook page here

If you haven’t already, do please check out and like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House@HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

RAW REVIEW: GREEN ROOM

One of the biggest hits on the festival circuit so far this year is punk rock thriller, Green Room.
It blew audiences away and was quickly snapped up for international distribution, due to appear at UK cinemas from Friday 13 May.
I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview screening in London by the good folks at Fetch Publicity to help spread the word about a film that the studio is clearly pretty confident about. 
So, did it rock my socks off?
Or did it hit a bum note?
Read on...

GREEN ROOM (2015)

Dir: Jeremey Saulnier
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, David W. Thompson, Macon Blair, Imogen Poots, Brent Werner, Eric Edelstein, Mark Webber, Kai Lennox, Patrick Stewart

SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: I'll try not to spoil too much here but continue at your own risk.

Down on their luck indie punk band 'The Ain't Rights', are travelling across the United States on tour that is seeing them play a series of gigs for just a few dollars in front of apathetic crowds. After one last disastrous gig, band members shy Pat (Yelchin), sassy Sam (Shaukat), tough-guy Reece (Cole) and posturing frontman Tiger (Turner) decide that it's time to call it a day.
Local radio host Tad (Thompson), who feels guilty about the crap gig he organised, decides to arrange something a little better to help pay for their petrol to get home — a gig at an out of town roadhouse.
Upon arrival the band is escorted inside by bouncer Gabe (Blair) where they soon realise that the bar is the haunt of a hardcore group of neo-nazi skinheads. It seems a pretty rough establishment, but they need the money so the band performs, winning over the initially hostile crowd with their music.
After the gig they take their cash, but realise they've left a mobile phone in the green room and scoot back in to collect it — only to stumble across the body of a dead girl, her distraught friend Amber (Poots) and the clearly disturbed bar regular Werm (Werner).
Before things can get out of hand Gabe and fellow bouncer Big Justin (Edelstein) herd the band into the green room and take their phones.
Gabe, panicking, contacts the bars owner — skinhead gang leader Darcy (Stewart), who decides that the band have seen too much and must be taken care of accordingly.
However, the band and Amber, realising that something is wrong, are able to turn the tables on Big Justin, taking him hostage and locking the green room door.
What follows is a tense game of cat and mouse as The Ain't Rights try to work out how to get away from the confines of the green room before Darcy's thugs are able to make their own way in...

THE BEST BITS (mild spoiler warning): It's pretty tough to pick any one major strength for Green Room because, honestly, so much of it is absolutely great. Director Saulnier, who also helmed the cool as hell thriller Blue Ruin, just nails it. The film looks great, it oozes a kind of grungy punk coolness without ever feeling as if it's trying to be hip, while the pacing of his story ramps up the tension to almost unbearable levels.
It's almost a punk rock Assault on Precinct 13, but I think an argument can be made that this thriller may even top John Carpenter's siege masterpiece. I'm one of Carpenter's biggest fans, so trust me when I say that's an accolade that I'm not prepared to dispense freely!
The visuals have a striking, muted palette with bright neons that really pop from the dusty greens throughout. Cinematographer Sean Porter absolutely matches the tone of Saulnier's script making this a superb pairing.
This script is also one of the film's biggest strengths, with smart, sharp dialogue from our leads (with plenty of in-depth references to both punk rock and skinhead culture that may fly over the heads of some viewers) and some well-worked humour at times. However, this is not a story about laughs, it is one about tension and some quite visceral violence and horror.
The effects work when things gets bloody is absolutely topnotch and, while I don't want to spoil any of these moments, rest assured when the gore and violence does come it hits HARD. This is a film that is genuinely shocking at times, yet these moments never feel gratuitous, instead delivering intense payoffs to the mounting and often unbearable tension of the storyline. In truth, Green Room is not a horror film (not in the strictest sense), but the moments of gore in it are every bit as powerful, if not mores, then several so-called 'extreme' horror flicks.
Part of the reason that the violence hits so hard and that the dialogue resonates so well, is because Saulnier has assembled an absolutely topnotch cast. Yeltsin is wonderful and brings his character's arc to life superbly without it ever feeling forced or far-fetched.
Poots also delivers as the disturbed, tough survivor. The pair also have great chemistry and their interactions make for some of the finest scenes in the film.
Yeltsin's bandmates are also uniformly excellent, with each bringing a naturalistic delivery that totally had me buying into their performances.
On the other side of the green room door we have the national treasure that is the great Patrick Stewart, playing against type in role that exudes cold menace. While the burly, tattooed, jack-booted upstarts he has at his command are definitely intimidating (especially the seriously frightening Werner), it is his icy, no-nonsense control and ruthless, remorseless willingness to make terrible decisions that really chill the bones. He's excellent.
However, the skinheads aren't a simple gang of faceless stock villains — no, unlike the dangerous bikers in the aforementioned Assault of Precinct 13, these are actual characters with realistic motives. The likes of Blair and Webber effectively portray the confusion and doubt that comes with characters who are finally realising exactly what membership to organisations such as that run by Darcy REALLY means. There's some nuance to the plot, even if it is often difficult to pick up on thanks to the pulse-pounding thrills and action occurring onscreen.
If the intention of thriller is purely to thrill, then Green Room delivers tenfold.

THE WORST BITS (mild spoiler warning): As I said earlier Green Room is not a horror film. It seems to have been lumped in with the horror genre, thanks in no small part to its own marketing, but it is a THRILLER. If you want jump scares, sadistic torture and all the other trappings of the genre, be warned that Green Room is NOT that sort of film.
What it does deliver however, is plenty of gore and intensity. Perhaps that is why the film is struggling to be labelled, it's certainly far more intense and bloody than most thrillers, but never quite goes far enough to tip over into full-fledged horror.
A number of reviews have said that as visceral an experience as Green Room is, it doesn't have the emotional impact to match. I think this is true, as several characters don't really have enough to do before meeting their sudden and shockingly bloody ends, but then again, I don't think that was what Saulnier and his crew were aiming for.
It seems pretty clear that this film was meant to be a swift jolt of adrenaline, a rough, rocking slap around the face to get the heart thumping. This is absolutely what it achieves.
That's not to say that the film is soulless (far from it, there are some wonderful personal moments in among the stabbings, beatings and mutilations), but this is not Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Be warned.
Finally, I've heard some complaints about Stewart's role in the film. Sure, I can see how some people might be distracted by this larger, recognisable star among a sea of realistic performances, but I think that is doing a huge disservice to his performance. As a lot of skinhead culture originated here in Britain, I think taking an ageing Brit and making him the leader of the gang was a superb choice. This is no miscasting faux pas as I'm concerned.

THE VERDICT: When I write my 'best films of 2016' feature in December, I'm 100% sure that I'm going to be including Green Room. Cool, cruel and breathtakingly tense, THIS is what a thriller is meant to be. I wholeheartedly urge you to check it out when it's released next weekend.
In the meantime, you can visit the film's official Facebook page here.

If you haven’t already, do please check out and Like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House @HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

SHARP SHOCK SHORT: THE PACKAGE

I recently met talented young British film-maker Damon Rickard at a genre event thrown by the London Horror Society. It didn't take long for me to work out that this is a man who clearly knows the genre and I was delighted when he was kind enough to offer me access to not just his already released (and very successful) short film, The Tour (which will be reviewed here VERY soon), but also his brand-new short, The Package, which reunites Rickard with The Tour's leading man, Tom Gordon.
Is this film the gift that keeps giving? Or is it best kept under wraps?
Read on…

THE PACKAGE (2015)

Dir: Damon Rickard
Starring: Tom Gordon, Dan Palmer

SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: I'll try not to spoil too much here but continue at your own risk.

The Package is the story of two men, former colleagues who conduct shady business for an unnamed but shadowy organisation, who now find themselves on opposing sides.
One of them (Palmer) has taken an item (the titular 'Package') forcing the other (Gordon) to turn to increasingly desperate measures to discover its whereabouts.
After Gordon's character is able to subdue and capture his former partner, the men become embroiled in a brutal clash of wills.
Will the torturer convince his victim to spill the beans? What HAS the thief done with the package? And what could it contain that is important enough to warrant this bloodshed?

WHY IT WORKS: The Package is an extremely intelligent piece of film-making that walks the line between thriller and horror. I don't want to spoil the plot here, because a huge amount of the enjoyment of this film comes from the way in which it manages to shock and surprise. However, I am prepared to say that it cleverly plays with expectations and flips what the audience thinks it knows several times. It's an enthralling tale that is content to take its time revealing its mysteries. That it builds to a genuinely surprising conclusion is a testament to the skill involved in crafting the tale.
The story (by director Rickard) is surprisingly simple but told in such a way that it hints at much, much more.
Pretty much constrained to a single location for the vast majority of its 14 minute runtime, and focusing on the interaction between two leads, it's pared back and lean story-telling, but that doesn't mean it comes without depth.
The characters have their motives and the interaction between Gordon and Palmer is riveting. 

Of course it doesn't hurt that the two are both sterling actors. Gordon is a very handsome man and he has some serious acting chops to go with his good-looks. I liked his work in The Tour and he's just as good here. As the character who seems most desperate he should be the most sympathetic, but as he systematically and relentlessly tortures his victim he becomes utterly chilling.

On the other side of the coin we have Palmer, who will be recognisable to genre fans for his work in Stalled, Small Town Folk and Evil Aliens. Palmer is a great actor and he understands how to manipulate audience reactions with the simplest of gestures and changes in expression. As the subject of the stomach-churning violence in the film, Palmer is given plenty to work with and he remains utterly believable throughout. 

As Palmer's character grimly resists his former colleague's work, Rickard also toys with his audience, taking our sympathy and turning it on its head.

As I mentioned before, the film primarily takes place in a single location, but what a location it is. Shot in an abandoned Victorian fort just outside Portsmouth, it's a fantastically atmospheric setting and Rickard and his director of photography Richard Bell know exactly how to capture that gloomy atmosphere. Alternating between grim, stony walls and rich deep shadows, the fort reflects the look (and personality) of Rickard's characters.

Now, despite the praise I've already heaped on this extremely accomplished short, some of you may be wondering how this tough-guy thriller qualifies as a horror film?

Simply put, the gruelling and violent torture section of the film is every bit as horrifying as any slasher flick and feels as hard-hitting as the likes of Hostel. However, unlike a lot of torture-p0rn flicks on the market, the gore and violence serve a greater purpose than to simply titillate the more blood-thirsty genre fan — the depths to which the characters are prepared to sink and the trials they are prepared to endure are a vital part of the game of cat and mouse at the very heart of the film. Yes, there is blood — but there's also plenty of brains too.

SO WHERE'S IT AT? The Package is touring the festival circuit at the moment. Get yourself over to the film's official Facebook page for more information on when it may be coming to a screen near you. Give it a Like while you're there too, Rickard and his team deserve it.

10 WORD WRAP-UP: A bloody and brutal character-driven thriller with real bite

If you haven’t already, do please check out and Like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House @HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

RAW REVIEW: THE VISIT

There can be few directors who went from having the world at their feet to a subject of scorn as rapidly as M. Night Shyamalan. After his critically and commercially successful smash, the excellent Sixth Sense, he followed it up with a cult classic in the form of Unbreakable. Personally I loved Signs and I thought The Village was a good, but not great little movie. I even thought The Lady In The Water was a brilliant homage to the family friendly sci-fi/fantasy flicks of the Eighties, a combination of Batteries Not Included, Splash and The Neverending Story.
However, these films mark the point at which the backlash against Shyamalan's films began, and the less said about the spectacular misfires that were The Happening and The Last Airbender the better. 
After Earth marked a slight improvement in his fortunes (although the double team of Will and Jaden Smith probably had a significant part in that), before he abandoned feature films to handle the reins of cult TV smash, Wayward Pines.
Which brings us to Shyamalan's latest effort, The Visit, a return to the smaller scale dark thrillers with which he made his name. Early word of mouth has been pretty good, so could this be the return to form that we've all been waiting for?
Read on…

THE VISIT (2015)

Dir: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jorge Cordova, Benjamin Kanes, Ocean James, Seamus Moroney

SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: I'll try not to spoil too much here but continue at your own risk.

Young budding filmmaker Rebecca (DeJonge) and her little brother Tyler (Oxenbould) are about to meet their grandparents for the first time. After their mother Paula (Hahn) met their father there was a serious family argument — which she refuses to discuss with her children — and since then she has not spoken to them.
Now the siblings' father has left them and Paula's parents have since contacted her over the internet and asked if they can meet their grandchildren.
Paula is unconvinced but the two children, especially Becca, want to go, saying they'd like to spend a week with their estranged grandparents while their mum gets to enjoy a relaxing cruise with her new boyfriend.
Despite her initial misgivings, Paula agrees and Rebecca decides to document the whole thing, from packing their bags, to their mother waving them off at the train station and beyond.
When they finally reach their destination in rural Pennsylvania, they are met by the kind and elderly Nana (Dunagan) and Pop Pop (McRobbie).
However, as they spend more time with the pair, Becca and aspiring rapper Tyler start to suspect that something is wrong with their grandparents. From moments of confusion to unsettling outbursts, it soon becomes clear that they are almost certainly starting to suffer dementia and — after Pop Pop explains that Nana suffers with a condition called sundowning, whereby her mental state deteriorates as the day progresses, and his own incontinence is discovered — soon the children find themselves instructed to stay in their room after bedtime at 9.30pm.
What starts as an in-turn mildly amusing or desperately sad situation soon takes a dark turn when Pop Pop's aggressive paranoia and Nana's night-time rampages become even worse. What is going on at the house? Will the children ever discover the truth about the day their mother left? And will they even live long enough to?

THE BEST BITS (mild spoiler warning): This may sound like a strange thing for a self-confessed Shyama-fan to say, but arguably The Visit's biggest strength is how much it feels unlike a typical M. Night film.

First off, it's found-footage (I know, I know, bear with me), so that instantly flies in the face of the cold, meticulous, almost clinically lot and framed shots that is a trademark of the director's style. The fact that 15 year old Becca is clearly presented as a serious of student of film does give Shyamalan an out when he's unable to resist a particularly stunning shot, but for the most part, the film is considerably more frenetic than anything I've seen from him before.

What's more, while Shyamalan is well-known for taking pretty outlandish premises and presenting them in a restrained, low-key and very po-faced manner (well, the odd foil hat excluded) The Visit is actually very funny. It happily embraces its own wackiness, giving the young leads plenty of quips and running with the ridiculously sinister antics of the elderly antagonists with almost reckless abandon. It's a side of Shyamalan that I've never seen before, displaying a wry sense of humour that has been absent until now.

That's not to say that this is a weaker story than any of his previous works — far from it, once again Shyamalan is able to craft a delicately layered mystery and the characteristion, if a little heavy-handed at times, is once again a surprisingly moving look at people coping with life-altering events.

Now, I know what the vast majority of you are wondering — does this film have a big twist? I'm a little reticent to discuss the intricacies of the plot here but I will say that there is a quite shocking reveal late on in the movie that certainly ups the ante somewhat. However, this is far from the huge game-changer of The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable, instead feeling like an organic development that plunges the film into the final act rather than defining it. I didn't see it coming and I was pleasantly surprised by it.

Of course, a decent plot can be well and truly ham-strung by an inadequate cast. Thankfully that isn't the case here.

A couple of minor wobbles early on aside, both DeJonge and Oxenbould are excellent. They have great chemistry — their rapport feels natural and, with it, we are instantly given more reason to care about them as their relationship becomes all the more believable. Both are given some very emotional scenes and both deliver the goods when it counts.

On this showing I really do believe that young Miss DeJonge could well be a name to look out for in the future.
Elsewhere the excellent Hahn does a superb job during her limited screen time. She's a polished actress and does a great job of pulling her scenes together. It's just a shame she's not on the screen for longer.

However, THE actors to watch in The Visit are the frankly astonishing Dunagan and the equally spellbinding McRobbie. Both show fantastic range, taking their characters along arcs that see them as warm and likeable, then sad and sympathetic and finally legitimately frightening. What's more, both provide brave utterly committed performances, from Dunagan's nudity and McRobbie's feinted incontinence, to the physical way in which they hurl their whole bodies into key scenes, such as Pop Pops assault on a passerby and the way in which Nana gallops backwards and forwards during her moonlight sojourns. 
They are a vital part of the success of the film and without their tremendous performances it would be significantly weaker. Both really are that brilliant.
It's no coincidence that the work of Dunagan and McRobbie utterly encapsulates the very best of The Visit, a complex blend of laughs and scares. Shyamalan has said he produced three cuts of the film, one deathly serious, one a goofy comedy and this, the final cut, which falls somewhere in the middle. It is the blend of light and dark that really makes this film stand out, having audiences flinching, shrieking and giggling, often all at once. The laughs are well-deserved (the script has plenty of wit about it) and the scares exquisitely crafted. I never thought I'd find senior citizens creepy — between this and The Taking of Deborah Logan I've been well and truly proven wrong!
Despite the way in which many moviegoers feel about both Found Footage and Shyamalan, The Visit looks fantastic and it has a cheeky, quirky heart.

THE WORST BITS (mild spoiler warning): As much as I enjoyed The Visit, it isn't without its flaws.

Unfortunately, the biggest of those is a Shyamalan trademark — the serendipitous manner in which previously mentioned events play a major role in the finale (a lá Signs). I personally don't need every single element tied up in a bow at the end of a film, sometimes things can be said without EVERYTHING becoming a major part of the climax. 

The ending also suffers from some unnecessary schmaltziness, plus it seems to actually have about three consecutive endings tacked on one after the other. I won't spoil them but the last one at the very least could have been easily excised.

Which, in a round-about way, brings us to the next major flaw. As likeable as DeJonge and Oxenbould are, both characters are prone to moments of irritating precociousness. Both occasionally spout lines far more mature than the typical language of a 15- and 13-year-old. What's more, while it's clearly played for laughs and meant to make for a loveable personality quirk, Tyler's rapping is very annoying. Each time he started I found my fists and jaw clenching involuntarily — it really is that bad.

Another misstep in the otherwise great script was the rather unnecessary use of poop gags. It works in the likes of South Park, but when we're talking about senility it would perhaps have been better to leave these moments (not least THAT scene late on) on the cutting room floor.

On a storyline note, while the big reveal is wonderfully executed, it is quite easy to pick some holes in the story afterwards, many of which are to do with exactly how awful a mother Paula must be for this exact scenario to have unfolded. It can just about be explained away but even so, it does hit the film somewhat.

Finally, while we're on the subject of Hahn's Paula, it really is a shame that she's so criminally under-utilised. She's a really very excellent actress and it's a crying shame that she wasn't given more to do with the role.

THE VERDICT: The Visit is a really, really good, fun film. Is it a return to the form of Shyamalan's career highs of The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable? No, it isn't, but it is a massive improvement on the likes of The Happening and The Last Airbender. It's something of a departure for Shyamalan, an experiment outside his comfort zone, one that he actually shot and produced with his own money, away from the influences of studio backers, and while there are a couple of slips here and there, it's a risk that pays off. 

Strangely this is a film I can recommend to both fans of Shyamalan's work AND those who dislike his typical output.

The Visit is still playing in cinemas so do give it a shot.

If you haven’t already, do please check out and Like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House @HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

RAW REVIEWS: AT GRANNY'S HOUSE

In an entirely unsurprising revelation, I'm a big fan of Hitchcock. This may be the film equivalent of saying: 'I quite enjoy pizza' or: 'I prefer sunny days to cold, damp ones', but it's a point worth reiterating. I'd argue that Hitchcock is quite possibly the greatest filmmaker of all time and even today, 35 years after his death, his influence can be seen in the movie industry.
One director who has openly professed his love of Hitch's work is Les Mahoney, the man behind At Granny's House. So is the great man's work reflected in Mahoney's? Read on...

PS Bill Oberst Jr is in this flick. Yes, THAT Bill Oberst Jr, the man that would easily be the first inductee in the Hickey's House of Horrors' Hall of Fame, should such a thing exist. Is this another hit?

AT GRANNY'S HOUSE (2015)

Dir: Les Mahoney
Starring: Glenda Morgan Brown, Rachel Alig, Les Mahoney, Laura Lee, Bill Oberst Jr.

SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: I'll try not to spoil too much here but continue at your own risk.

Elderly Marion Rogers (Glenda Morgan Brown) has recently experienced ill health and, following her husband's death, her impatient and loutish son decides to hire some live-in home-help so he can wash his hands of her. Eventually he settles on hiring the attractive but definitely rather creepy Rebecca (Alig).
At first Marion is mistrusting of the new guest in her home, but eventually the two warm to one another and Rebecca takes over the spacious cellar. In time Rebecca comes up with an idea to fully utilise the large and mostly empty house in which the two ladies are living — offering up the spare room via a website to people travelling through the small Midwest town. Marion is initially a little reluctant but, encouraged by her youthful and charming new friend, finally agrees and looks forward to meeting some interesting characters.
When the travellers start to arrive they prove a mixed lot, some are pleasant enough but others prove to be little more than rude, unpleasant ingrates. Rebecca is not the most stable of people and, when provoked, flies into a murderous rage to exact revenge on those who have offended her. Things continue in this way until the pair find their lives turned upside down when a couple, Linda (Lee) and Ted (Mahoney) arrive at the house. 
Instantly drawn to Ted, Rebecca sets about seducing the object of her affection... but there's an obstacle in the lovers' way and she talks Ted into helping her clear their path to happiness together.
But the new dynamic causes serious problems in the house. Marion feels pushed to one side by the presence of the boorish Ted who treats the house like his own. 
How will these tensions play out? How long can Rebecca's lethal games continue when tough and intelligent private detective Boarstag (Oberst) starts sniffing around? And just whose side is the dangerously deranged femme fatale really on?

THE BEST BITS (mild spoiler warning): More thriller than horror movie, At Granny's House has plenty of positives going for it. Not least among these is the compelling story (written by director and star Mahoney) which is actually driven by interesting and complex characters. The storyline is decidedly Hitchcockian, boasting some tense and shockingly nasty moments, yet also offering a blacker than black vein of humour throughout. The plot has some cool twists and turns that certainly keep the audience's attention, but it is the fascinating central triangle (plus a couple of cool side characters) that really grip the viewer.
First let's talk about Alig's Rebecca. She's a wonderful cinematic creation, a black widow, sensuous and attractive (which is certainly not hindered by Alig's stunning looks) but also deeply unsettling and very creepy. She's certainly the most interesting character in the film and a lot of the plot's mystery comes from how this unpredictable force will react to the events around her.

However, this is far from a one-woman show. The classy Glenda Morgan Brown is a superb actress and offers a wonderfully nuanced performance. Her character takes quite the journey and delivers her fair share of standout moments. In fact, perhaps the only fault I could find is that she looks too youthful to require a live-in carer, but she utterly owns her role and is entirely believable. Bravo, ma'am.

The final part of the deadly triangle at the film's core is Mahoney. He's written a tight script, but can he deliver in front of the camera? The answer is a resounding yes. Channeling Josh Brolin at times, he makes for an exceptional leading man. At times unwitting victim at others cold and merciless sociopath, he is fascinating (if never even remotely sympathetic). His is a deplorable character and fits perfectly within the Hitchcockian structure of the story. He delivers his lines with aplomb and never lets the talented side around him down. This is excellent work.

However, the leads aren't the only ones to impress. Lee makes the most of her screentime as the maligned Mrs Steiner while the always fantastic Bill Oberst Jr shows his tough, heroic side as the hard-nosed detective. Boarstag's name is an anagram of Arbogast, the name of the PI in Hitchcock's Psycho, and the latter's influence is all too apparent. It was a joy to see Oberst in a badass role minus the usual psychosis that plays a part in his other toughguys. Scratched record time: 'Another hit, sir!'

So there's a good story and a superb cast, but how does the movie look? For the most part, it is pretty great. There are some wonderful camera angles deployed and the limited locations (the vast majority of the film takes place in an around the titular Granny's House) are used in such a way as to never feel samey or repetitive. Instead Mahoney cleverly uses this tight set to reinforce a sense of claustrophobia, especially when the home becomes even more crowded due to Ted's arrival.

That isn't to say that Mahoney's work is without flare — there is a jaw-dropping murder montage that shows plenty of pizzazz too. 

This touches on a key point — yes, At Granny's House is undoubtedly more thriller than horror flick, but much like classics such as The Birds, Frenzy and the aforementioned Psycho, this has some very strong horror elements. The murder scenes can be decidedly bloody, while the nightmarish conclusion brings Takashi Miike's shocking Audition (albeit somewhat toned down) to mind and is sure to linger in the mind long after the movie's end credits roll.

THE WORST BITS (mild spoiler warning): Despite my comments regarding the horror moments, if you are picking up At Granny's House for an out-and-out fright fest, you could be disappointed.

This is something of a throwback, a more cerebral offering than the regular, visceral slasher-splatter genre offerings. It takes its time to tell a story and while we do get some flesh and blood on display, that certainly isn't the point of this flick. Gorehounds would do well to seek their grue fix elsewhere.
As is so often the case with the titles I review here at Hickey's House of Horrors, this is a comparatively low budgeted indie flick. Unlike a lot of genre flicks that suffer when they attempt to overreach beyond their humble means, At Granny's House manages to keep itself grounded and never falls short. However, as fine an example of a low-budgeter as it is, it is still a little less-polished than the high-budget, big studio offerings you're likely to catch at your local cinema. If you're used to the gloss of Michael Bay blockbusters, lower your expectations and accept the lower production values on display here. Look past the surface, you'll be doing yourself an injustice if you don't.
Finally, I had a small problem with the story — in particular, the wraparound story. The film opens with a flash forward, then reveals exactly how the characters in question reached that point. I can sort of understand the reasoning, it opens the movie with a jolt that will then carry the audience through the quieter, slower-paced opening scenes until the shit hits the fan.
However, much as a similar story-telling device did with Matthew A. Brown's Julia, I can't help but feel that it robs the tale of a little of its punch, essentially revealing a shocking finale that could maybe have hit a little harder without the foreshadowing. Of course, this is very much a matter of personal preference, I can think of very few films in which spoiling the climax at the beginning boosted my enjoyment, and it certainly is not a deal-breaker. The ending still hits the spot, I just can't help but wonder whether it could have added tension to some other scenes and cranked up the shock finale if that opening sequence had been altered or axed all together.

THE VERDICT: I'll cut straight to the chase —I had a blast with At Granny's House! Mahoney and his team are clearly skilled filmmakers and, while this doesn't hit the heady heights of Hitchcock's masterpieces (but then again, what does?), as an homage to the work of the greatest thriller director of all time it is admirable. However, it is also so much more than that — it's a fabulous thriller in its own right. With a clever script, some fantastic camerawork and a top-notch cast, At Granny's House is a hit. Check it out.

For news on how you can do this, head over to the film's Facebook page here. Give it a Like while you're there too, these guys deserve it!

If you haven’t already, do please check out and Like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House@HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

SHARP SHOCK SHORT: I OWE YOU

Some of you may remember my April review of a bleak and grim crime thriller by the name of A Way Out. It was something of a departure for Hickey's House of Horrors, but I absolutely loved it.

Now that short's director, the very talented Jason Tostevin has co-written another short thriller that investigates the darkness within men's hearts and their relationships, Mike McNeese's I Owe You.

Much like A Way Out, I Owe You has been going down a storm at festivals and has scooped plenty of selections and awards. 

Interested? You should be!

I OWE YOU (2015)

Dir: Mike McNeese

Starring: Brian Spangler, Trista Caruso Sudy, Johnny DiLoretto, Elizabeth McPherson, Tiffany Arnold, Patrick Walters, Franklin Grace

SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: This is a short, so I'll try not to spoil too much here but read on at your own risk.

Father-to-be Cam (Spangler) is living a blissful suburban life with his doting wife Diane (Sudy). However, one fateful night he receives a phone call from an estranged friend he hasn't seen in five long years, Todd (DiLoretto). Sworn to secrecy by Todd, Cam slips out to meet him and discovers a nervous and desperate Todd waiting in the cold night.

After an awkward reunion, Todd reveals that he needs Cam's help. Having covered for Cam's infidelity in the past, Todd says that Cam owes him assistance with his own problem.

Then Todd reveals what he has stowed away in his car...

Faced with a terrible decision, Cam's guilt will weigh heavily on him either way: turn away a man who saved your skin and then lost the love of his life to you or commit an act that could well swallow your soul?

WHY IT WORKS: I Owe You does a lot with its 13 minute runtime. It packs a twisted plot in without ever feeling rushed, and tells a very compelling story. The themes of debt and guilt are ones that we will all be familiar with, while the slow reveal and almost clinical dissection of the damaged friendship at the film's heart hits on a surprisingly emotional level. 
Some of you may question my decision to review this short on a horror blog, after all this isn't a traditional horror tale by any stretch. There are no monsters, no chainsaw wielding masked slashers, no walking dead and very little in the way of death and destruction. But that isn't seeing the bigger picture — this is a film about the destruction of lives, both physically and emotionally. It's a story that is all the more horrifying precisely because it isn't one that takes place in the fantastical realms of vampires, ghost and ghouls — it is one that could happen today and tear real families apart. With that in mind, I can think of few horrors as frightening.
For these reasons, the story, written by Randall Greenland and Tostevin is one of I Owe You's strongest points. It has an interesting dilemma at its core and the film takes the time to fully explore this, devoting a hefty chunk of its narrative to exploring the consequences of Cam's decision. With a lot of dialogue to help tell a fairly rich backstory, it is a credit to both the writers and the cast that none of these often exposition-heavy lines ever feel forced or unnatural.
Speaking of the cast, they are all excellent. At the centre of the story we have our two male leads — Spangler as the guilt-ridden Cam and DiLoretto as the embittered Todd. These are two distinctly different characters but both are superb.
Spangler's performance positively resonates with a tortured self-reproach, it's truly impressive work from a very talented actor. He's a likeable guy and his everyman character works as a good lead for the audience to identify with. He is in every scene for the entirety of the short and he shoulders this burden admirably.
Spangler has already won several awards for his work here and they are well-deserved. I shall certainly be looking out for more from him in the future.
DiLoretto on the other hand has significantly less screentime than Spangler (with two of his key scenes coming as just a disembodied voice on the end of a phone) but he bristles with a seething resentment and desperation each time he does appear. Imbuing Todd with a furtive energy, DiLoretto is a real force to be reckoned with. He's given some of the best lines and he delivers them with aplomb. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the aforementioned telephone calls. Much like Brant Jones' Conway in A Way Out, his inflection, intonation and timing are impeccable. Kudos, sir!
Of the remaining characters, Sudy's Diane has the most to do. She's an assured, capable actress who handles her role excellently. She doesn't have much screen time to be honest, but she does a good job with what she has, which is all we can ask of her.
Of course a strong cast and decent story aren't always enough to ensure that a film hits the spot — no, for this to be the case the director absolutely has to deliver the goods. Thankfully, McNeese most certainly knows his way around a camera. Having served as cinematographer on A Way Out, I already suspected that McNeese would have a good eye for film and these suspicions were confirmed. 
From the pacing of the story to the framing of each shot, the film looks professional with some decent production values on display. Ably assisted by cinematographer Torin Scott and A Way Out editor Brant Jones, McNeese has created a film that doesn't just deliver a compelling and comprehendible story but one that looks fantastic while it does so. 
With the two titles I've reviewed thus far, Hands Off Productions have earned a fan here at the house — I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us.

SO WHERE'S IT AT? Like I said before, I Owe You is still doing extremely well on the festival circuit, both in the States and overseas. To find out when the short will be coming to a screen near you, check out the film's Facebook page here. Give it a Like while you're there too, show some support!

10 WORD WRAP UP: Hands Off Productions delivers another stellar crime thriller with heart

If you haven’t already, do please check out and like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House@HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.