Filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg this week sat down and had a chat with Subculture about his brand new film Possessor.
Possessor is out now in Australian cinemas through Monster Pictures.
Category: Horror
Summary: A young man who is trying to leave the Jewish faith is asked for one final favor – to read prayers over the body of a recently deceased man. Things don’t go to plan and soon the man finds himself trapped by a horror at hand.
Year: 2020
Cinema Release Dates: 23rd July (Australia), 31st July (UK), 26th July 2021 (USA)
VOD Release Dates: TBA
Country: USA
Director: Keith Thomas
Screenwriter: Keith Thomas
Cast: Lynn Cohen (Mrs. Litvak), Ronald Cohen (Mr. Litvak), Dave Davis (Yakov Ronen), Les Gardonyi (Demon), Malky Goldman (Sarah), Lea Kalisch (Adinah), Dun Laskey (Young Rubin), Moshe Lobel (Lazer), Menashe Lustig (Reb Shulem), Fred Melamed (Dr. Kohlberg), Efraim Miller (Hersch), Nati Rabinowitz (Lane), Rob Tunstall (Mazzick), Spencer Zender (Eric)
Running Time: 99 mins
Classification: M (Australia), 15 (UK), Pg-13 (USA)
OUR THE VIGIL REVIEWS
David Griffiths’ The Vigil Review:
Dave’s Rating Out Of 5:
Kyle McGrath’s The Vigil Review:
Kyle’s Rating Out Of 5:
Average Subculture Rating:
IMDB Rating:
Other Subculture The Vigil Reviews:
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Trailer:
In this episode of The Popcorn Conspiracy Dave Griffiths and Kyle McGrath take a look at the brand new horror film The Vigil.
Summary: A cosmonaut returns to Earth with an alien creature attached to him that leaves the experts baffled.
Year: 2020
Cinema Release Dates: N/A
VOD Release Dates: 3rd November 2020 (Australia)
Country: Russia
Director: Egor Abramenko
Screenwriter: Oleg Malovichko, Andrey Zolotarev
Cast: Oksana Akinshina (Tatyana Klimova), Fedor Bondarchuk (Colonel Semiradov), Aleksy Demidov (Kirill Averchenko), Pyotr Fyodorov (Konstantin Veshnyakov),Alexander Marushev (Convict Ruben), Anton Vasilev (Yan Rigel), Albrecht Zander (Convict Seryj)
Running Time: 113 mins
Classification: MA15+ (Australia), 15 (UK)
OUR SPUTNIK REVIEWS
David Griffiths Sputnik Review:
There is a hidden gem inside the cinematic world that most film lovers have no idea even exists. It is the world of Russian cinema – or to be more accurate the world of Russian blockbuster films. I have had the privilege of exploring this world full of amazing films due to the Russian Film Festival that is held annually in Melbourne… and to be honest it is something that I look forward to ever year. Thanks to that festival I have had the joy of discovering Russian blockbusters like Metro and August. Eighth – blockbusters that I have to say could teach Hollywood a thing a two about how to make well-written, brilliant looking epics.
Now comes Sputnik – a Russian sci-fi horror with real bite. A film that I enjoyed from start to finish o much so that I am already looking forward to a second viewing. Directed by Egor Abramenko (The Passenger) Sputnik takes us back to the 80s with the space race still in full swing. Cosmonaut Konstantin Veshnyakov (Pyotr Fyodorov – The Blackout) is a national hero, but all that changes when he is the only survivor after an accident in space and he disappears from the public eye.
Now Konstantin finds himself being kept prisoner while a team led by Colonel Semiradov (Fedor Bondarchuk – Stalingrad) investigate the ‘alien being’ that has latched itself to him. With the team lost for answers they call unconventional psychiatrist Dr. Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina – The Bourne Supremacy) to work on Konstantin and see if she can ascertain exactly what has happened.
To me Sputnik is not only set in the 1980s it also takes me back to a time when directors like Ridley Scott were giving us decent sci-fi horrors rather than the films that are served up today that are light on horror and light on comprehensible or entertaining storylines. Plot-wise Sputnik is as basic as it comes, despite added storylines in there revolving around Konstantin abandoning his son etc, yet somehow it is still better than films like Prometheus that were so complicated it felt like they were trying to change human history. There is nothing convoluted about Sputnik and the result is an enjoyable sci-fi that also doesn’t hold back on the horror element. It has you on the edge of your seat and has a plot that you can really sink into it – at the end of the day you really can’t ask for much more from a genre film.
My biggest hope after watching Sputnik is that someone gives Abramenko a ticket to Hollywood and his pick of what film he would like to direct. His style of directing here shows that he has all the skills that made directors like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg so exciting when they were young and creating edgy sci-fi that didn’t hold back on gore and originality. Abramenko is an untapped talent in mainstream cinema and it is about time we got to see what he could do with an international cast and a budget with a few extra zeroes on the end of it.
What I also enjoyed about the film was the fact that the screenplay allows for some interesting interactions between the characters without everything being an intense horror scene. Some of the moments where Tatyana is interviewing and treating Konstantin are just as intense as the ones where the creature is on the loose. This type of filmmaking should really be a staple in every film but sadly it is becoming a lost art so it is nice to see it resurface in films like this. Dark, foreboding and intense Sputnik is a welcome throwback to the films of the 80s and 90s that made me fall in love with genre films in the first place. This is a brilliant piece of cinema that hopefully a wide audience can discover.
Rating Out Of 5:
Average Subculture Rating:
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Other Subculture Sputnik Reviews: Nil
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It’s time to get kooky and spooky as Dave and Harley present a special Halloween edition of Subculture: The Podcast.
Not only do you get all your latest pop culture news but the boys look at how The Lone Gunmen could be brought back and then they cast their own new Resident Evil and Cut movies.
Oh… and they take a look at what is screening at this year’s Monster Fest.
Check out the latest episode right here:
29Oct
One of the most interesting films to screen at this year’s Monster Fest is the documentary Leap Of Faith: William Friedkin On The Exorcist.
This week on Subculture we caught up with the documentary’s director Alexandre O. Philippe about the film. You can check out the interview below.
Producer James Cullen Bressack chats to Subculture about his new horror thriller For Jennifer.
Summary: During World War II a group of soldiers are ask to take a ‘break’ at a mansion once taken over by the Nazis. The stay at the mansion is not exactly what they expected though.
Year: 2020
Australian Cinema Release Date: TBA
Thailand Cinema Release Date: TBA
Australian VOD Release Date: 5th August 2020
Country: UK
Director: Eric Bress
Screenwriter: Eric Bress
Cast: Skylar Astin (Eugene), Laila Banki (Mrs. Helwig), Kyle Gallner (Tappert), Vivian Gray (Ann), Shannon McKain (Lieutenant Morgan), Yanitsa Mihailova (Christina), Matthew Reese (Sergeant Elks/Echo 11), Alan Ritchson (Butchie), Theo Russi (Kirk), Brenton Thwaites (Chris), Shaun Toub (Mr. Helwig), Billy Zane (Dr. Engel)
Running Time: 94 mins
Classification: MA15+ (Australia)
OUR GHOSTS OF WAR REVIEWS & RATINGS:
Dave Griffiths’ Ghosts Of War Review:
While a lot has happened during 2020 it seems that this is the year where filmmakers realised that you can make a horror film set during World War II without it turning into something schlocky. Of course earlier this year we were delivered the sensational Blood Vessel and now director Eric Bress returns to the director’s chair for the first time in sixteen year with Ghosts Of War.
To me Bress has had one of the most unusual careers in Hollywood that you could imagine. He first amazed me as a filmmaker with the captivating The Butterfly Effect back in 2004 and then as a screenwriter kick-started one of highest grossing horror franchises ever with Final Destination. Despite the success of these films though Bress never returned to the director’s chair – not even with his hit TV series Kyle XY. Now Bress returns to a chair that probably should be considered his throne, and it makes you wonder what we have missed out on while this talented filmmaker has been locked away in the writer’s room.
Ghosts Of War sees five American soldiers including Chris (Brenton Thwaites – Maleficent), Eugene (Skylar Astin – Pitch Perfect) and the mysterious Tappert (Kyle Gallner – American Sniper) arrive at a French Chateau towards the end of World War II. While they see the posting as a cushy place to get some respite they are soon shocked to learn that the chateau was the site of a Nazi atrocity that has left some ghosts looking for retribution behind.
The real reason why I loved Ghosts Of War is something that can’t mention here as I hate reviewers who spoil films. All I will say is that this is a decent supernatural thriller that contains a twist that nobody will see coming win a million years. It is that twist that once again reminds me why Eric Bress is such a fascinating filmmaker.
I remember that there something amazing about The Butterfly Effect the first time I watched it. It was a film that too its audience on a journey of twists and turns and you never really knew where you were going to end up. It was a good strange, the kind of strange that makes Christopher Nolan (Inception) the cinematic God that he is. That same feeling is conjured up with Ghosts Of War – a film that sees the suspense level continue to rise throughout before leaving the audience with a finale that they could never predict.
Also making Ghosts Of War memorable is the fact that despite the supernatural element Bress doesn’t just simply let his characters be walking clichés. Many screenwriters would have taken the easy route here and made the five soldiers a blend of each other, that isn’t Bress’s style though and instead he gives each character a personality, strengths and weaknesses. That of course endears to the audience which again raises the suspense through the roof.
With great special effects, interesting characters and a sensational plot that ends with a bang there is a lot to love about Ghosts Of War. In a lot of ways the horror elements of the film are some old school ‘ghostly’ scares but it is the interesting plot points that Bress throws into the mix that makes this film so different to what we have seen in the past. There is no doubt about it this film shows why we need to see more cinematic magic from Eric Bress over the next few years.
Kyle McGrath’s Ghosts Of War Review:
Average Subculture Rating:
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Other Subculture Entertainment Ghosts Of War Reviews:
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