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Ark3456
Reviews
Night of the Hunted (2023)
A simple and effective thriller
I always enjoy these simple one location thrillers. Like Phone Booth, Identity, REC, Devil etc. I believe the last one like this was No Exit back in 2022. It is a basic story about a woman held up at a gas station by a sniper and that is all it really needs to be, I would almost say that movies like this lose points for me when they try to make it more than it is. As the saying goes its stupid simple.
I felt the lead actress did an amazing job, I started out absolutely hating her feeling she was an entitled brat but as the movie went along I couldn't help but feel as I saw her character arch changing throughout which is the sign of a good actor, script and director.
Reasons I would score it a 7 and no higher are I felt the sniper's voice could have been better cast, it didn't feel truly threatening or taunting to me, even when he had some great lines. Roger L. Jackson is still working right, that would have been a great option.
I hope to see a comeback of more movies like this. At the end of a long day I just want to sit down, kick back and be entertained. This movie does that and in 2023 for some reason this is hard to come by.
Halloween Kills (2021)
From good to bad and back again
Before I begin, I am a big Halloween fan. Seen and own all the movies. Liked Halloween, Halloween 2, Halloween 4, H20 and Halloween 2018. All of those I enjoyed.
And I really enjoyed the opening hour of this one aside from one scene regarding firefighters. Let's be honest 20 vs 1 you wouldn't individually attack one at a time, you would dog pile them all at once they wouldn't stand a chance. Funny enough a similar scene plays out later and it gets it right with how it should be and then 60 seconds later they undo it and go back to the illogical nonsense. What they should have done for the third group attack is have them all assualt him at once but he just no reacts to their shots and just bosses through any strikes that would have actually fit with the dialogue that came moments before it and honestly what I was expecting to happen. Yeah this really bothered me because it was just so illogical and poorly executed and ended with one of my favourite characters death, which felt really cheap.
Anyway this is the movie in a nutshell, really good moments followed by absolute garbage. Repeat for 1 hour and.45 mins. When I first heard the synopsis for this movie I thought it sounded like a really good idea and expected to have some underlying themes for the original characters like survivors guilt, PTSD, etc. However it didn't ever really go anywhere like that beyond "Evil dies tonight" (count how many times someone says that) and their obsession with Michael.
I did enjoy the original characters performances I just wish they were given more. We ended up wasting time on several weird random characters who just felt out of place and just canon fodder. I would rather have had time with Tommy, certainly wanted more time with Lindsey and Karen.
At least they didn't mess with the lore beyond some character deaths. Michael still felt like The Shape and I loved that they brought his speed back in some scenes, especially the flashback. He comes in like a bullet loved that aspect that he isn't always some lumbering slow killer.
It was really nice to get a classic slasher movie again with our 80's/90's villain. Got a sense of nostalgia at times especially with the original characters. Shame they didn't execute it better though. If you are a fan of Halloween you are going to watch it anyway and you should. I don't think it is the worst in the series, probably somewhere in the middle for me. Certainly not for you if this is your first Halloween film, Watch the original first and then 2018 Halloween at the very least.