1. // Evil Dead Rise
The latest instalment in the Evil Dead franchise arrives ten years after Fede Alvarez’s 2013 reboot of Sam Raimi’s Horror classic. And Raimi along with the star of his first three movies Bruce Campbell, has once again produced Evil Dead Rise, with Lee Cronin (The Hole In The Ground) this time sitting in the directors chair. The film provides a fresh take on the story, moving the setting to that of an apartment in a high rise block (albeit the brutal intro pays homage to the traditional ‘cabin in the woods’ setting), where Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland – Vikings), a single mother of three children is visited by her estranged sister Beth (Lilly Sullivan – Monolith).
A small earthquake opens up a hole in the buildings car park, and Ellie’s three children discover what used to be an underground bank vault. Here they find one of the three mysterious Books Of The Dead, along with a number of dusty old records. When the records are played back in the apartment, in a thoroughly engaging scene, the demon resurrection spell is cast as words from the book are read aloud, and all hell inevitably breaks loose as Ellie becomes possessed by the evil spirit. From here the movie plays out in an absolute blood bath, as her family fight for survival as the earthquake has taken out both the power and stairs of the building, leaving them all trapped together. While the relatively swift runtime of 96 minutes absolutely zips by, as the carnage commences. KZ
2. // Renfield
Renfield became a highly anticipated release when photos of Nicholas Cage started to emerge in character as a larger than life version of Count Dracula, and it became clear that the latest Universal incantation of the worlds most famous vampire, was not going to be your run of the mill movie. The film, which is shot in a wonderfully bright colour palate and directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War), begins with Dracula’s familier Renfield (Nicholas Hoult – The Menu) recounting the tale of how he came to be under Dracula’s servitude. The movie pays homage to the original Bela Lugosi era films, before bringing the story into modern day New Orleans where the ghoulish pair are now holed up. The opening scene sets the tone perfectly. The dialogue is sharp and witty, while the gore is strong, providing the perfect combination for a good Horror-Comedy.
Hoult plays Renfield like he’s a character in a Guy Ritchie movie mixed with a bumbling English Hugh Grant kind of fellow, who initially cares for and tries to help his master every which way he can. But the gratitude and admiration he seeks in return, never comes from the completely self-centred vampire, in what the film quickly establishes is an abusive one way relationship. This is a role in which Nicholas Cage as the blood sucking immortal absolutely steals every scene he is in, putting in one of those great performances he is able to muster from time to time, creating a thoroughly sinister and despicably unlikeable character. There is a side plot involving a New Orleans mobster family and the cop looking to bring them down, with Renfield and Dracula each ultimately taking opposing sides in their narrative, as the movie plays out to a bloody and action packed climax. KZ
3. // Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
So as we all well know, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been patchy at best since its first three phases culminated in the climactic Avengers: Endgame in 2019. They’ve since provided just one significant high point, with Sam Raimi’s horror-tinged Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), but also managed to hit a real low with Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) totally dropping the ball with one of their key remaining players, and somehow completely messing up the follow on to 2017’s excellent Thor: Ragnarok. The rest of their movie / Tv projects have been largely forgettable, but hopes from fans of a solid finalè to the universally revered Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, have fortunately come to fruition.
This is, for now at least, a last Marvel hurrah from Writer and Director James Gunn before he rides off into a DC sunset, and it is a credit to the Guardians of the Galaxy journey, that he has been allowed to complete his vision for the series. Working well is the fact that GotG manages to both be a part of the wider Marvel Universe, while also sitting quite comfortably as its own standalone trilogy. And Vol. 3 focuses on telling its own story without any connection or set up to what might come next from Marvel, or even these characters in whatever capacity they may show up again in future films. Visually it is a stunning movie as you would expect, with some incredible space action set pieces. While tonally it is also the darkest of the three films, but with a hell of a lot of heart at the core of its story. KZ
4. // Scream VI
The latest instalment in the Scream franchise arrives a little over a year since director duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready Or Not / V/H/S) rebooted the classic series, introducing a new cast of characters including sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera – Keep Breathing) and Tara Carpenter (Jenny Ortega – Wednesday), while bringing the legend of the Ghostface killer fresh to a new generation. 2022’s fifth instalment also featured the now legacy cast from the original movies, to keep a familiarity for the fanbase, while taking the decision to finally kill one of them off with the murder of Dewey Riley (David Arquette). From that cast of significant original characters it is only reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) who returns for this reboot sequel, although we are also treated to the return of Kirby Read (Hayden Panettiere – Heroes), not seen since Scream 4 (2011).
Scream VI picks right up where it’s predecessor left off, and provides another fine instalment in the consistently enjoyable franchise, where in which typical slasher fashion, suspending your disbelief of what’s plausible or not, and allowing yourself to once again engage in the trademark whodunnit aspect to the story, leading to the inevitable Scooby Doo style reveal of the killer/s, is no bad way to spend two hours. In addition to getting the basics of what we expect from a Scream film right, VI also features some of the goriest moments of the franchise, while also providing an unforgettable set piece on the New York subway, a cool utilisation of moving the movie out of the town of Woodsboro, and into the Big Apple. KZ
5. // Knock At The Cabin
Opening with a suspenseful Hitcockian score and based on the novel The Cabin At The End Of The World, M. Night Shyamalan’s (The Sixth Sense) latest movie is a return to form following the lack lustre Old released in 2021. It features a captivating performance from Dave Bautista (Army of the Dead) as Leonard, a mysterious man who’s intentions are entirely unclear when approaches Wen, a seven year old girl playing alone in the woods. This provides an initially uncomfortable premise as he tries to befriend her, playing the nice guy until his conversation takes on a slightly sinister tone as he tells her “My heart is broken, because of what I have to do today,” before three other strangers emerge from the trees. Wen runs to a cabin where she and her two Dads are taking a vacation, while Leonard and his associates follow, eventually knocking on the door, asking to be let in.
The four strangers then cut the cabin’s phone line, stranding the family before forcing their way in. This opening sequence is paced perfectly, with the thrilling score ideally complimenting the visuals, while typically for M. Night, the audience are brought straight into the story with no possible way of knowing, unless you’ve read the book of course, where this tale is headed. Wen’s fathers Eric (Jonathan Geoff – Mindhunter) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge – Spoiler Alert) are eventually tied to chairs after putting up a decent enough fight, and are told by their intruders that the family must choose to willingly sacrifice one of themselves, in order to stop the apocalypse. If they fail to do this, all three of them will live, but the rest of humanity will perish, leaving them to wander the planet alone. An intriguing character driven premise, which is played out nicely and keeps you engaged and curious through to the finalè. KZ
6. // Cocaine Bear
Set in 1985, the Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) directed Cocaine Bear, tells the story (loosely based on an actual event) of a black bear in a North American national park, who ingests a large quantity of cocaine after a giant haul of the narcotic falls from a plane in a botched smuggling. The tone is set in the opening scene as the film shows it is not going to take itself too seriously, and our antagonist bear jumps a pair of Scandinavian travellers, tearing the leg from its victim off camera, and launching it onto the shot in a moment of slapstick Horror-Comedy. The lost drugs and death of the drug smuggler who’s parachute didn’t open, are investigated as the criminals body is found, but not the cocaine. We follow detective Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr – The Wire) as he looks into the mystery, as well as others looking to find the lost ‘treasure’ for themselves, including the owner of the Columbian stash, played classy as ever by the late Ray Liotta (Goodfellas), in one of his final roles.
The bear itself largely plays second fiddle to the motley cast of characters that are introduced within the national park during the movies first act, but the threat of what’s to come does loom large throughout introductory overture, with the animal moving unseen in the bushes like a shark in the ocean during one scene, clearly aiming to recreate the magic of Jaws, with the cast resorting to climbing trees to escape. Although whose to say that a cocaine fuelled Bear isn’t capable of scaling a tree? Cocaine Bear is pure shlock from start to finish as the steaming vicious animal goes on the rampage. But it is a fast paced movie and an enjoyable guilty pleasure nonetheless. KZ
Words by : Mark Bates
kult-zilla.com 
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