Monthly Archives: November 2024

Thanksgiving (2023)

by in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged | Leave a comment

THANKSGIVING (2023)

We all though it was silly throw away trailer thrown into the middle of the two features in the Rodriguez/ Tarantino two-for-one film Grindhouse from 2007, but in actual fact, Thanksgiving has been a simmering and festering idea hidden within the brain of Eli Roth and his friend from school, Jeff Rendell like a tasty walnut stuffing since they were kids.

Today, I am giving thanks to the fact that in 2023 it became a full feature, with the scenes from the trailer intact albeit refilmed with the new cast.

A year after a horrifying Black Friday sales that went horribly wrong that saw a local championship baseball hopeful, Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) having his pitching arm injured and the store manager’s wife, Amanda (Gina Gershon) brutally killed by shoppers rioting to get the best deals, a killer emerges.

Whilst the owner of the shop, Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman), got of scott-free due to the security cameras conveniently not working, a killer dressed as a pilgrim has decided to take out those who committed crimes on that night and didn’t pay, and via social media, is tagging his potential victims at a dinner table being set for a thanksgiving dinner that slowly is being filled with their victims.

This of course puts a group of young friends who were there that night on edge, mainly because they were already in the store due to one of them, Jessica (Nell Verlaque), being the daughter of the store owner, and this incensed the crowd out the front who saw them inside.

Local sheriff, Eric Newton (Patrick Dempsey) is on the case with his new deputy, but as the body count rises, so too does the suspect list… who is the pilgrim serial killer?

I’ve always been a fan of Eli Roth. I liked Cabin Fever and Hostel, even though I’m not one of those ‘horror bros’ that his fans are accused of being… well, I don’t think I am… and for me, this trailer was the best one of the Grindhouse ones.

The story of this film is as ridiculous as the 80s slashers it emulates, and there’s a couple of nice tidbits of homages that show some respect to the history of horror that Roth love throwing into his films.

The violence and gore is surprising as one would expect in a Roth film also, but occasionally its quite shocking and as much as I hate to admit it, it occasionally has a sense of fun and silliness which takes the edge of just how extreme it is.

The look of the serial killers outfit is iconic as well. Sure its a traditional pilgrim look but it has a stark look on it face that makes it terrifying. Also, the film takes the idea of a mass market Halloween mask, like Michael Myers for example, and puts it on everyone in the town so the killer can hide in plain site, and what is even better, during a thanksgiving parade scene, it completely turns that idea on its head which I can’t describe here without a massive spoiler.

The reveal at the end is fun and upon a second viewing, like a decent giallo even, it does show you on several occasions who is the killer with blatant hints, which is great.

The film also doesn’t not ignore the fact that mobile phones exist, and even plays on the gross trans of influencers and the dumb stuff done for clout and likes.

All in all i really enjoyed this film. The gore effects were silly and effective, the story was surprisingly engaging, some of the stars were surprising (Patrick Dempsey… really?!?) and it all made for an all over fun watch.

Disc: There is a great bunch of extras on this disc.

The first one is Behind the Screams, which is the usual blah blah blah self love masturbatory short where the cast and crew can rub each other’s rhubarbs. This is no different; its just a few brief comments from the gang that worked on the film squeezed together in a 4 minute MTV collection of sound bytes.

Gobble Gobble Gore Galore looks at special effects artist Adrian Morot’s work on the film… his sickeningly realistic work on the film!! It’s just another short piece but i like special effects so i like it.

Outtakes are what it says on the box. As usual, I am sure they are far more funny to the cast and crew in them rather than us.

There is a Commentary with Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell which is almost wholesome in the affection that these two lifelong friends have not just for the horror genre but also for each other. It is as much a commentary on their lives as it is on the film.

Deleted, extended and alternate scenes has about 35 minutes worth of footage that the film didnt need, and I probably didn’t need to watch.

Massachusetts Movies: Eli and Jeff’s Early Films can be watched with or without commentary by Roth and Rendell, and is some films they made at school which don’t have much for we, the viewer, in them, but there certainly are some fond memories with the commentary.

Film: 7/10

Disc: 7/10

Rewatch : 8/10

Imaginary (2024)

by in digital retribution review, Digital Retribution review, horror, To Watch Pile and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

IMAGINARY (2024)

The cover to the Australia DVD release.

I think most people had an imaginary friend when they were children. I know I had one, though apparently mine was a different experience to most. I had my imaginary friend from the ages of 13 to 16, and instead of being an elf or a teddy bear, mine was a 27 year old blonde Bulgarian single mother of two with a voracious sexual appetite.

… but enough about me and teenage fantastical and onto the fantasies of writer and director of Imaginary, Jeff Wadlow, the director who also gave us the perfectly average but forgettable Truth or Dare from 2018 and a slasher from 2005 called cry_wolf, mostly forgotten except for the fact it starred Jon Bon Jovi as an educator.

It also had my then-horror movie crush Lindy Booth.

DeWanda Wise as Jessica

Imaginary starts with children’s author Jessica Barnes (DeWanda Wise) having a nightmare about a giant spider perusing her through a house, ironically in a scene similar to a children’s book she has written called Molly Millipede and the Blue Door.

She awakes with her partner, Max (Tom Payne) and they make the decision to move a few days early back to her childhood house, with his two daughters, Taylor (Taegan Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun), the house now vacated after her father was admitted to an aged care facility.

Chauncey

Max’s life has had some tragedy as well as his former partner has been removed from society for some mental issues, including hurting the younger daughter.

Of course, being a new parent to the girls, Jessica has trouble connecting with teenage Taylor, who also won’t let her break down the walls with the her little sister, try though she might.

Soon after moving in, Alice and Jessica engage in a game of hide and seek, during which, Alice finds a teddy bear abandoned in a hidden room in the basement, which she quickly adopts.

Jess’s Dad, Ben (Samuel Salary)

Alice and the bear, who according to Alice calls himself ‘Chauncey’, become fast friends, as any child with a plush toy would, but very soon Chauncey gives Alice a list of things to do, a list of very specific things that have to be done… but why? What are these tasks in aid of… and why are some of them destructive, even self-destructive?

Unfortunately Imaginary is a great name for this film, as its entertainment value, its acting quality, its character’s likability… all imaginary. I love a film that has an imaginary friend cause some kind of terror to the family, even though each of these films has the same stuff in it like childhood trauma, a blended family, a new house, a young child who feels disenfranchised for what ever reason, and this film just sat down with a checklist and marked them off, one by one.

I will credit it with it taking the murderous demon/ ghost/ imaginary friend, and tweaking it a little to make the payoff somewhat different, though it does feel like it’s riffing a little on Steven King’s It, but because the rest of it is so mediocre, the payoff doesn’t feel like a reward, and instead feels just like a relief that it’s all over.

The menu to the DVD

Disc: Nothing

Film: 2/10

Extras: N/A

Re-Watchability: 0/10

Now THAT’s a spider.

This review was done with the Australian release DVD purchased from JB Hifi

The SCORES are BACK

by in To Watch Pile | Leave a comment

For the past few years I have committed an experiment to the site in removing a ‘score’ from the reviews, hoping that the content would be enough to explain what the final opinion was… but after much deliberation I have decided that maybe it doesn’t work.

I think that we as consumers of any form of pop culture or artistic endeavour have become attuned to the idea that a numerical result is important in the advice given by a review, so from now on, the numbers are back.

I thought long and hard about what the score should represent, and have decided that each review will have three scores positioned at the foot of each review, will be out of ten (as I discovered I give a lot of ‘1/2’s’ so I should just do whole numbers but double the limit) and they shall represent the following:

Film: xx/10 – this will refer to my opinion of the film, in its story, effects, acting, execution and just entertainment value.

Extra: xx/10 – this score will take the release I reviewed into account, looking at the extras (if any) and any bonus stuff packed with the release, like a poster, or post cards or a book or whatever.

Rewatchability: xx/10 – it’s basically the return of my old WISIA – Would I See It Again score. Sometime a bad movie may have rewatchability value for its ridiculousness, or maybe just because it was an enjoyable watch. Also, some films are an amazing first watch, but lose something upon their second viewing. This score will represent how rewatchable a film is.

Now I am it going to return to all the old reviews rejigger their scores, but that is not to say I won’t do it later, however, I would like to give a few examples of this type of scoring I would give films that I HAVE reviewed as an explanation of this new scoring process.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

Film: 8/10

Extras: 6/10

Rewatch: 10/10

The Beekeeper

Film: 3/10

Extras: 5/10

Rewatch: 2/10

I don’t see there to be any real reason to comment on the quality of the disc, especially if it is a 4k or newer release as in my personal experience, most releases I get my hands on now have a decent image and sound, and I’m more interested in the entertainment value of a product rather than the tech specs that honestly, with my eyesight, I couldn’t notice anyway. I will however, make mention of an issue if it is a glaring fault, or an edited release when it claims not to be.

I hope you continue to read these reviews. I understand my output has been lacking in the past few years but I’ve had personal reasons for the reduction of output. I can’t guarantee I’ll get back to a weekly review, but I do hope for a greater frequency regardless.

Thanks for your continuing support.