The Tomorrow War (2021) - High concept, but don't think about it too deeply

If I had to sum up the film, I'd say that I enjoyed it.  If you like sci-fi and action (oh, and Chris Pratt is the lead, so if you're a fan of him you'll get plenty for your money) this should fit the bill.  It starts with a portal opening up in the middle of a football match and people from the future returning to tell us that they're fighting a war with aliens - and they're losing.  Therefore, they need to conscript us into their ranks for one last big push to save our species.

First of all I liked the fact that it wasn't an established franchise, nor did it attempt to set up some sort of 'shared universe.' It was pretty much one and done.  The cast are all great - as I mentioned Chris Pratt is a suitable leading man, but - as with so many cases - J.K. Simmons steals every scene he's in and I really wish he was in it longer.

It starts quickly, but after a bit of slowdown we're finally thrust into the action (or should I say the future?) you get some pretty intense action set pieces and a few dramatic reveals.  In fact, it gets so good that, when it does take its foot off the pedal, you really feel it drop a gear and may get a bit restless waiting for it to pick up again.

So it does suffer from what so many modern movies get criticised for - being too long.  There are times which could have severely been trimmed down and it would have been a bit tighter.  But I do love the overall premise of people from the future needing our help.  However, if you sit down and think of many of the decisions made in the course of the story, you may well start to come across one or ten plot holes.  These can then annoy you and make you dislike the film as much as you'll let them.

Personally, I just shut the (small) rational part of my brain off and enjoyed it for what it was - a kind of cheesy, high budget sci-fi action flick with a rather sweet father/daughter message thrown in there for good measure.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that

Warlock: The Armageddon (1993) - Warlock the Infinity Saga

The first 'Warlock' film was a classic and I wish I could say the same about the sequel.  Okay, it's not bad, but it's not a patch on the original.

First, the good.  Julian Sands as the titular 'Warlock.' He's great and totally carries the film as he returns to our time in order to retrieve - what we'd probably call today - the 'Infinity-like Stones' in order to bring about the coming of a demon who will end our nice happy little planet.  He's on top form as a villain who doesn't care who he kills along the way in order to get what he wants.

The film's troubles start with the heroes of the piece.  A band of old druids know about the Warlock's arrival and have prepared a 'contingency plan.' This revolves around training up one of their young sons as the saviour of the world who will stop the evil at hand.  The problem is... they never bothered to tell him about his destiny and now he only has six days to learn how to kill a - seemingly immortal and unstoppable - evil being.

I should point out that the special effects aren't that special.  Any practical gore and make-up effects are actually quite good (as is the demon himself for his brief appearance), but anything filmed up against a green screen is truly awful.

Overall, I'd say the film is like if 'The Terminator' had the killer cyborg wandering around Los Angeles killing all the (wrong!) Sarah Conners and then finally tracking the right one down in the last fifteen minutes and facing off against Reece and Sarah.  Then the film is over.  It feels like the film is one long - very long, to be precise - setup for the final battle and, all along the way, the bad guy is a damn sight more interesting than any of those tasked with stopping him.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights

Hellblazers (2022) - Character is everything

I watch a lot of B-movie horror films and normally the characters are pretty forgettable.  They're all cliches or annoying, or both!  In 'Hellblazers' the plot is nothing new - basically a big monster is stalking a small-time American town.  However, what puts this head and shoulders over almost all others in its genre, is the writing and characters.

Most modern films seem to go on too long and feel like they're outstaying their welcome.  But this time I actually would have preferred 'Hellblazers' to be remade into some sort of ten-part Netflix series.  Every character is interesting and distinctive.  None of them are particularly unlikeable - even the one who is (and he instantly redeems himself by knowing he's not very nice and leaning into it!) and play off each other well.  The dialogue has a natural feel to it and characters chat to each other about things that have nothing to do with the overall story.  This kind of 'extra' dialogue almost gives the film a 'Tarrantino-esque' feel to it.

The movie clocks in a one hour twenty-four minutes.  I happened to pause it at forty-four minutes in.  That's basically over halfway through and I have to admit, not much had actually happened by that stage.  Normally, I'd say that's a drawback, but I'd enjoyed the characters so much, I really wasn't that bothered.

It's not beyond criticism though.  The film-makers managed to cast legendary Tony 'Candyman' Todd in it (you'll probably notice him in ALL the marketing!) yet his role is little more than an extended cameo, which is a shame as he would definitely have made the film - even - better being in it for longer.

For the first half I was impressed with how characters act sanely (not always common in a horror/slasher film!), but - unfortunately - some tend to make silly mistakes in the second half simply to move the plot to where it needs to go.  Plus the monster isn't on screen for very long, but it's a nicely gruesome masked man in a costume, so I guess it's forgivable due to budget.

Overall, I really enjoyed this.  I'd loved to have seen it as a 'Twin Peaks' style miniseries, but I'll take what I can get!

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that

Craving (2023) - Highs and lows

I'm a big fan of low-budget gorefest 'Feast' which is about a bar full of people who are under siege from some monsters.  Nope, it certainly won't win any Oscars and was definitely not written by Shakespeare, but it was damn good fun.  And, if that's what you're looking for at the time, 'Feast' would fit the bill.

Here, in 'Craving,' there's a similar set-up - a group of strangers are barricaded up in a bar and there's a creature going to wreck havoc.  Okay, there are bits that are different.  Here, the bar is under siege from a group of people who say that there's actually a monster inside and they're there to kill it (or everyone inside in the process!).

One of the major differences is that there are a lot of 'explanation' flashbacks which tell you the backstory for various characters.  It does add more 'story' to 'Craving,' but the downside is that it does feel a bit like 'filler' and it tends to slow the movie down a bit.

But the performances are good and there are people here who are slightly different to the average cast of monster films, i.e. teenagers (played by twenty-somethings) who just run around screaming, so that's something, plus the special effects deserve a mention.  There's a lot of gore and the film-makers really lean into the 'splatter' in general, giving the film a bit of an 'over-the-top' feel.

There's definitely good points in this movie and it's worth a watch if you can find it on a streaming platform for part of your package, but it does get a bit confusing sometimes with all the 'reasons' why people are doing what they're doing and who they're double-crossing.  It may have just been better leaving it to be just a bar under siege from a monster.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights

It Came From Below (2021) - The Descent did it better

Wow, there's really not that much to say about this low budget horror film - I guess you could sum it up with the phrase 'four teenagers run round in the dark.' I don't mind that a movie doesn't have a colossal special effects budget or no well-known actors, but the one thing a film has to be is entertaining.  And this isn't.

A girl's dad gets murdered while caving in England.  Before he dies in hospital he tells her that he saw monsters down there.  Now she's a teenager, she wants to go and see what killed him.  She takes three other 'friends' along for the ride, but one of them seems to hate her, so maybe I missed the bit about why the other girl came with the party (the dialogue was kind of muffled here and there!).

With such a small cast you won't see a major 'pile up' of bodies until the final act.  The film's short, but feels a damn sight longer.  The teens just run around in near darkness while something - probably - chases them.  Rinse and repeat.  When a nasty does finally off one of them any gore and special make-up effects are minimalised by the use of 'shaky-cam' to help disguise just how low budget everything really is.

'The Descent' was made years ago and yet still holds up to this day.  It may never be in line for any Oscars, but it's a classic of the genre, whereas this one should just be left buried wherever in England it's supposed to take place.  Avoid.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)

Defcon-4 (1985) - Unfocused, but interesting

'Defcon-4' is a pretty hard film to describe as it kind of flits between genres here and there and also wanders in terms of its narrative.  If you saw the opening quarter of an hour then you'd be forgiven for thinking it may be some sort of low budget '2001: A Space Odyssey' type clone, as we'd introduced to three astronauts who are orbiting the Earth in a space station, armed with nuclear warheads.  When they detect war is breaking out below, they're under orders to fire.

However, the story then switches to Earth, a couple of months later when they land and find what's left of the planet - spoilers - a post apocalyptic wasteland filled with 'Mad Max' type gangs of cannibals.

I won't go into too many details regarding what happens next, as, due to the winding narrative, it probably won't go where you think it might.  Characters you think are the main stars tend to disappear in one way or another.  Some return, others definitely don't.  New characters are brought in and then discarded again, while those you think behave one way will suddenly have a random change of heart and switch motivations.

Basically, the story is a bit of a mess.  This is certainly a drawback, but it doesn't actually make the film unwatchable, simply because of the overall tale and you'll be curious to see how it eventually pans out.

It may be a bit of a low budget B-movie, but the acting is certainly nothing to be sneered at - they all play their part well and the overall atmosphere is suitably bleak.  There's little in the way of music - a few scores here and there, but you'll probably go through the whole film without even really noticing it.  If you're interested in post apocalyptic thriller/action series that were set in the eighties then this one is worth a watch if you can find it cheaply (or, better still, free!).

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights

The Raking (2017) - Should have fast forwarded more of it

'The Raking' is a horror movie that, if you tuned in midway through, you'd probably think it looked pretty reasonable - for a general B-movie of its genre.  It has a high (again, for the genre) definition feel to it (although, was it me or did the camera slip out of focus here and there?) with reasonable acting talent.  And, because of this, I stuck with it until the end.

The story is about five college students who take a field trip out into the American wilderness in order to complete an assignment, but naturally fall foul of a local monster.  A decent enough premise, but there just isn't enough that's different to make it stand out.

Unfortunately, there's not really much here to recommend, as it's pretty run-of-the-mill.  The characters are quite unlikable and bland (although, as mentioned, the acting and script aren't as bad as others) and - naturally - played by actors about twice as old as the teenagers they're supposed to be.

It's kind of split into three 'acts.' The beginning has the students arrive at the desert (bumping into the obligatory 'wise man' who gives a vague warning as to what horrors they may face) then instantly get attacked.  The second part is the longest - and most forgettable - as it's all in one house where the characters just talk.  Then you have the final bit where the blood starts to flow - and is about the best (and shortest) section.

When you see the monster it's really nothing special.  It's a nice enough mask, but it's just a guy in a costume and reminded me of one of the 'extra' vampires you could see in the background of the classic 'From Dusk to Dawn.'

Like I say, I stuck with it because it always felt like someone was going to happen to make my investment worth it.  Yeah, the last ten minutes picked up the pace, but, apart from that, I could probably have fast forwarded a lot more and not missed out on anything.

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back