nicholasdupreez Reviews

Goosebumps (2023– )

The perks of being Riverdale/Goosebumps cash grab

[5/10 · 17 November 2023]

THIS DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS. If you like teenage fantasy dramas. The "will they, wont they" relationship type triangles. Then you should have fun with this. DO NOT EXPECT, anything more than the above. They lure you in with some classic Goosbumps stories in the first 3-4 episodes, Which really are great and super fun, to then completely toss that out the window for "How do I tell my childhood friend I love her" drama, the "ending" the writer searched for ironically sets up the franchise, IMO Mr. Bratt should have just been an analytical type writer who simply documents the extraordinary, making it seem like fiction. Then it would have been better to let Kuddoo win the battle in episode 10, then set up the series through the chaotic fallout from his one and only winning planned ritual, as the writer documents it all through helping out the kids, creating "R. L. Stein's" books series based on whats left of the the people in the town as they start piecing their lives back together, through multiple seasons, they discover all the monsters, mysteries and ultimately slappy/kuddoo weaknesses, get their families back and restore the world they once knew. For a split second I thought they would do it, but it was a fake out, for a basic "He's not really dead" type ending.

Dont expect too much.

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

The Haunting of Bla Manor

[5/10 · 10 November 2023]

If I was to sum it up it would be all the drama of a telenovela with a story of who cheated on who, who's in love with who, who's manipulating who and then they remember its a horror show in like the final 2 episodes. Essentially it is a group of people living in the shadow of their past, and thats what really haunts them, the fact that this will never be anything close to what hill house was.

I was happy to see that they are self aware enough to recognise that its not a horror with some of the final dialogue being, thats not a ghost story its a love story. Just because you can point it out doesn't make me love this any better. You sold me on hill house, and delivered Keeping up with ghosts of Bly Manor.

Totally Killer (2023)

Totally Predictable, But Popcorn Fun

[6/10 · 13 October 2023]

The slasher genre is is a difficult one to make compelling when its lazy. But one of the staples is a well written slasher, his/her motivation should be so well thought through that it can reasonably justify the murders, somewhat, throughout the film. Whether its pure chaos, revenge or anger it doesn't matter but that should be like a movie script on its own. Or Perhaps they could have just kept it a mystery or paradox, Like she went back and gave the murderer the Idea to murder them. The red herring that the loner might be the murderer was made so obvious that it was obvious he didn't do it, it made the film boring at the big reveal, along with the plot twist 2 killer ending that was totally not a twist. Also in terms of time Jamie/Collette's parents were 18 in 1987 and had her after college which is + 4 years, so she would have been born 1991 or maybe 1992 for the latest in the original timeline, so she was 31/32 years old in 2023 being a teen? And thats before she got her new brother to justify the time shift or some of the things these characters should/would know and not know. Some of the 2023 political correctness was a little funny to see in an 80s context, but could've been dialed back a bit. But timetravel is always kind of a fun time, not bad.

No One Will Save You (2023)

No one will read this

[8/10 · 24 September 2023]

I went into this film only knowing aliens are somehow involved, But was Kinda blown away with what could be described as a horror journey through the stages of grief towards acceptance. Those first few scenes of first contact was awesome, we can only see as much as the lead does while trying to hide, the Alien is obscured and I personally think they could've gotten away with showing a little less details on the aliens, especially in the red Alien sequences. I like that her world has 60s textures. It could maybe be seen as an allegory for "Change" in many forms, as her world constantly shifts out from under her she must grow and change from what her isolation has shielded her from. While facing her demons and trying not to be comforted with beautiful lies, She must learn to accept the truth of whats she has done and forgive her past and present self because no one else will. Its not a "Classic horror", but I personally think it could become "Horror Classic"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Really Awesome, and Fun

[8/10 · 8 September 2023]

Its a great movie, with a cool art style. The only thing that held it back in my eyes was the the end battle. What I think would have made it so much better would have been to include each turtles skill set into the finale battle, It seems like they were setting it up for that when they huddle together and Leo described what each turtle does best, but it was just a vanilla and fell flat in terms of the dimensional world building they had built throughout the movies runtime. The 3rd act "break up" between turtles and O'neal I don't think was truly necessary given they wouldn't feel the need to split up after trust was formed by O'neal getting help for the rescue. But over all the creators did an amazing job in writing these characters, The cheeky 90's throwbacks were good nostalgia for the age group who grew up with the turtles ,and what i can only assume was letting the turtle actors improv some of their interactions really it made them feel real and was really entertaining. If we can do this with Street Sharks and Biker Mice I will be whole. Great Job, I cant wait to see shredder.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Excellent art style and has the makings of a good movie, so far

[4/10 · 10 August 2023]

I gave it 4 stars, because it has potential to be fantastic, this could change in part 2, you will need to over look some subtle and not so subtle gender identity political gospels peppered throughout the film, but over all, I cant really tell if a story is good only given half the story, I dislike the "to be continued" cliff hanger style ending, even though it could be argued that it is comic related, a movie should be some what independent especially when asked to invest 2 hours, the first Spiderman INTO the spiderverse did it properly, it had closure, while setting up the movie as a "to be continued" continuation, but done improperly it destroys hype and just fizzles out the movies momentum it created, it needs some form of closure, "part one" should be added to the title, so I know to wait for both, so they will have to wait for a full review in part 2.