The Hole in the Ground isn’t the Only Hole in this Dull, Lackluster Irish Horror Movie [DVD Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of The Hole in the Ground isn’t the Only Hole in this Dull, Lackluster Irish Horror Movie [DVD Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Irish horror has a reputation for being kind of…rubbish, in spite of its insane popularity stateside, which continues to confound those of us on this side of the pond. From Shrooms to An Irish Exorcism, Grabbers to The Lodgers, and even the ghastly A Dark Song (“I’m only a man!”), actually British movie shot predominantly in Ireland, we just can’t seem to get it right. Extra annoying is the fact our history is loaded with all kinds of spooky stuff prime for exploitation. Last year’s clever little zombie movie The Cured tilted the scales ever so slightly, but it’s the very notable exception to a list that also includes The Canal and Wake Wood. To my mind, the only other decent Irish horror offering is, like A Dark Song, not technically an Irish movie. Corin Hardy’s rather brilliant The Hallow, a British-Irish co-production shot in the wilds of County Galway, utilizes some of that aforementioned creepy history to tell a creepy, Evil Dead-esque tale of fairies, stolen babies, changelings, and family strife. Also, the legendary Michael Smiley is in it, so you know it’s good. Unfortunately, for newcomer Lee Cronin, The Hole in the Ground has both too little and too much in common with Hardy’s barnstorming debut to really compete with it. A Date For Mad Mary‘s Seána Kerslake (it’s pronounced like Shauna, FYI) is struggling single mother Sarah who, with young son Chris (James Quinn Markey, Vikings) moves into a spacious, yet strangely dilapidated, country pile somewhere in County Wicklow to start afresh. She’s suffered some kind of abuse in her recent past, as evidenced by the bruise Sarah hides beneath her fringe. Chris, although a well-behaved and quiet child, has trouble fitting in at school and even wanders out into the forest against his mother’s wishes. After one of these ill-fated trips, Sarah discovers a massive sinkhole in the middle of the trees and warns Chris against going anywhere near it. Being the curious child that he is, Chris ignores his mother and ventures out anyway. When he returns, Chris isn’t the same child. He’s more social, he can’t remember the weird game they used to play together and, most concerning of all, Chris suddenly wants lashings of Parmesan cheese on his spaghetti bolognese(!) Sarah tries to warn everybody that her son has changed but, naturally, they all think she’s lost it. Also See: Aamis is Still a Better Love Story than Twilight [Tribeca Review] The Hole in the Ground, Cronin’s debut feature as writer-director following his well-received short Ghost Train, is a funny little film. The cinematography is bathed in earthy browns and greens, so you feel muddy watching it, almost like the action is taking place in the sinkhole itself. The atmosphere starts off relatively eerie as Sarah’s previously suffered abuse is slowly revealed, along with Chris’s ongoing social issues. But once the movie mutates from kitchen sink drama into fully-fledged horror, Cronin loses his grasp of the material. Part of the issue is with Markey’s Chris, who goes for Pet Sematary-style evil kid tones but settles somewhere around grumpy, or even bratty at times. The revelation that he can’t remember his mother’s bizarre, hide and seek game (something that should’ve been refined in the script, since it makes little sense as an actual game in the first place) should pack a real punch but instead it’s left to the reliably brilliant Kerslake to quiver her lip while the camera zooms in on her. Markey looks on, bored, almost as though he’s waiting for his cue. The kid can’t be criticized too harshly, of course, since he’s only working with what he’s given. But where Kerslake adds wrinkles to her desperate single mom, suggesting an inner life that absolutely did not exist on the page, Markey is left stranded without a life jacket. The moments when he acts properly weird, such as when Chris is caught eating bugs, are fleeting and glimpsed through peepholes or on shaky-cam footage. We know he’s an imposter, but only because his mother keeps reiterating that point and also because, well, there’s no story otherwise. The Hole in the Ground bears such a striking resemblance to The Hallow it’s borderline depressing. Where Hardy’s film trafficked in suspense, shocks, and well-built tension surrounding characters in whom we were heavily invested (as well as a super-cute, near constantly gurgling baby), Cronin’s lumbers Kerslake and her young charge with an old, crumbling house so creepy you wouldn’t be paid to live in it, the clichéd local crazy woman who rants and raves about who Chris “really” is even before he’s been taken(!?) — she’s also responsible for the only good scare in the movie — and a forest barely visited. The Hallow ventured into the trees often, the camera winding around to give us an idea of how isolated or lost the characters were. Its property sat right on the edge of the forest, so it seemed like trees were encroaching on it. Here, although the expansive woodlands are clearly visible, there’s no sense of where the house is located in relation to them. The sinkhole, meanwhile, is only visited a couple of times before Kerslake, naturally, finds herself venturing down it. The result of said trip isn’t as claustrophobic as it was in Hallow or even Blair Witch. There should be some sense of impending doom, but even a creepy kids’ chorus can’t make the threat seem real. Cronin’s pacing is way off, too, causing The Hole in the Ground to feel much longer than it actually is. Scenes stretch on interminably, characters appear and disappear for no discernible reason (a dinner party scene is excruciating, and adds absolutely nothing of value), Sarah has a job and then just…doesn’t. The focus should have been narrowed to take in just Sarah and Chris, even if it meant limiting their plight to the confines of the house, but the writer-director is intent on establishing the area itself as odd (it isn’t) rather than the situation. Annoyingly, aside from relying on the usual overdone horror tropes and dull exposition (one character quite literally tells Sarah exactly what’s going on, based on his wife’s experience), the thing never manages to be scary and wraps itself up so neatly it feels like a false ending at first, a nasty rug-pull about to be revealed. But sadly not. The Hole in the Ground is here and then it’s gone. The overwhelming feeling is of shrugged shoulders. What was the point of any of it? And why the obsession with Parmesan cheese? Steer clear and watch The Hallow instead. It may not be 100 per cent Irish, but it’s close enough. Wicked Rating: 2/10 Director(s): Lee Cronin Writer(s): Lee Cronin Stars: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, Simone Kirby, James Cosmo Release date: April 30, 2019 (DVD) Studio/Production Company: Savage Productions Language: English Run Time: 90 minutes

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Writer-director Josh Lobo Talks I Trapped The Devil [Interview]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Writer-director Josh Lobo Talks I Trapped The Devil [Interview]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The past few years have gifted us some notable debut features in the form of Robert Eggers’ The Witch, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out, to name just three. I Trapped The Devil, from writer-director (as well as editor, producer, and probably lots more) Josh Lobo, is unlike anything else we’ve seen. A singularly odd, intense, and very creepy first feature that gets in, does the job, and gets out in less than 90 minutes, it’s the kind of movie that defies easy categorization. I Trapped The Devil also marks Lobo out as an exciting and crucially very different new voice in horror. Wicked Horror sat down with writer-director Lobo to talk art-house horror, influences, what Wyoming is really famous for, and loads more. I Trapped the Devil is in select theaters and On Demand from April 26, 2019.  Wicked Horror: Usually, with first features, they’re pretty easy to categorize. I Trapped The Devil is a bit of weird one, so I’d like you to describe the movie for me, in your own words, if you’d be so kind. Josh Lobo: Well, it’s a horror movie, obviously, but the film sort of straddles the line between horror and art-house movies. This isn’t a body count, shaking-in-your-boots kind of movie, it’s definitely more of a paranoid thriller with a supernatural element to it. I think it’s a lot more contemplative than a lot of the regular genre stuff. WH: Where did the idea initially come from? JL: I had been reading a lot of Stephen King, and watching a lot of Twilight Zone, so I was looking for the kind of story where I could tell a morality tale with interesting characters where the horror comes from the drama itself. And where I don’t think this film is necessarily scary, it is very tense and it has this presiding feeling of dread. I think more than anything the film is a tone poem and I just wanted to make something that was sort of an exercise in atmosphere. WH: It’s pretty intense, but you’re right in that there aren’t really any big, out-and-out scares. Yet, still, that sense of impending dread is present pretty much from the outset. The other thing with I Trapped The Devil, of course, is that it isn’t a long movie. It’s not even 90 minutes but that sense of dread is there throughout and it never really lets up. JL: You know, it’s one of those things with slow burn movies, you have to get in and get out quickly. Even though the movie does burn its wick slowly, it’s not long. It’s only 82 minutes, but I feel like I can keep an audience’s attention for that time. Even though it’s very deliberately paced, I can’t play fast and loose with the audience’s time. If this movie was 110 minutes, I think I would hate it and I think everybody who watched it would hate it because it would just be too much. Here, it’s quick and slow and you can get into the mood of it but I just…I never wanted it to feel pretentious. WH: Was it a quick enough process getting the story from page to screen? JL: It took about a year overall. There had been a couple other things I tried to get made but, when you don’t even have a résumé people don’t want to take you seriously, and so it was about gathering all of my resources, getting my friends and my crew together, to just get this thing made. It was like, I want to make this film, I only have enough money for these many days, so what can I do for a feasible budget that I can produce myself? My family helped me, too, so it was just about making the best thing I can make for as reasonable an amount as possible, while focusing on the things that truly matter to me and that will make the film stand the test of time – good acting, good pacing, and good directing tend to stand the test of time better than movies that are like a quick flash, you know? – so I wanted to make something that people would think about a little bit longer but that was also rooted in character. Those dynamics that really mattered to me. Related: The Holidays Have Come Early with I Trapped The Devil [Review] WH: You have quite a small cast, but you’ve got these big names in horror like AJ Bowen and Jocelin Donahue within that group. Was casting a very crucial part of the process for you? JL: It was, absolutely. This movie operates like a stage play and both of my producers were of the same opinion as I was that, you know, this movie is all about the characters and if you don’t have those, you don’t have anything. I can shoot this like Spielberg, when it comes to camera movements and stuff, but if the acting isn’t good and if these characters aren’t believable as real people, then the story doesn’t work. So I’d reached out to AJ, who I’ve loved for a very long time, and we had no real jumping off point with him but he’s such a good guy and he told us that some of his best friends are also some of the most talented people in the world and what they could bring to the project is that they all know each other and they all have a chemistry with each other already. I could have cast any of these characters differently but I don’t think I would have got the inherent chemistry because all these people have worked together before, they’ve all known each other for a long time, and so it feels like they have a history together because they do have a history together. WH: It totally does. I didn’t know watching the movie but now that you’ve said it; that makes total sense they all knew each other already. JL: AJ and Scott [Poythress] have been working together for a while, between The Signal, Synchronicity, this, and then some other things down the pipeline. They really work together well and they’ve found a way to jump off each other’s performances really well. For this, I needed two characters who felt like brothers and with these two they know each other, they’re comfortable with each other, they’re not trying to get to know each other on the day of shooting. And then Susan Burke is an incredibly warm person and she brought this stillness to the film, it’s very coordinated, very thoughtful, so all of them – Jocelin was fantastic too, I love her in House of the Devil, so I reached out to her and she was willing to come on even though it’s not the biggest role in the world, but hers is still a standout performance – so all these people just worked in tandem to create this film that I’m incredibly happy with. WH: The other big thing is the location, which is just incredible. Where did you find it, where is it, please tell me everything immediately. JL: I live in Wyoming, which is the one forgotten American state, like, nobody lives here, nobody knows about it, that’s the kind of place it is. And while I was writing the movie, I would drive through my town and past this house all the time. I would just think ‘wow, that’s a cool house, like it looks cool, it has cool dimensions,’ but I had no idea what it looked like inside. So I was writing how I thought the house looked, how it might be laid out, and when the script was finally done and we were finally about to make this thing, I went to the owners of the house, who were incredibly gracious, and when they gave me a tour of the house it was laid out almost exactly as I had laid it out in my mind, which is almost like fate. I didn’t have to change a whole lot, it was crazy. Then my production designer and my cinematographer came in and they brought it to life with a bunch of different texture and color. WH: It’s definitely a cool spot. Though, speaking of Wyoming, I have to tell you, one of my favorite bands is from Wyoming so I’m actually quite familiar with Wyoming. JL: Who? WH: Teenage Bottlerocket? JL: [pause] It’s absolutely insane you just said that because I love them. WH: They’re amazing. They’re so good. As soon as you said Wyoming I was thinking “no, I know Wyoming!” JL: Somebody I grew up with was one of their roadies, which was pretty cool. But yeah, they’re great; they’re probably one of the best punk bands, I think. WH: Totally agree. Sorry, off topic, back to your movie. Let’s talk about some of the influences on I Trapped The Devil. I mean,I presume you’re a horror fan yourself? Or are you just dipping your toe in? JL: I love horror films. But I love horror films in a non-pretentious way. I will take a splattery, exploitation flick just as many times as I’ll take a more art-house film. I think my sensibilities lie more on the art-house side; I love David Lynch, I love Ryan Gosling’s film Lost River, which is a f*****g masterpiece nobody talks about, I love Peter Weir’s films like Picnic at Hanging Rock. I like these kind of weird films that have elements of genre, and that maybe are even scary, but I don’t know whether they’d necessarily be classified as horror. But I also Night of the Creeps, John Carpenter, and Cronenberg, so it’s kind of a melding. So, with I Trapped The Devil, I was trying to meld my sensibilities, the two sides, together. WH: I can see that, definitely. What are your feelings on the state of horror right now? ‘Cause we’re seeing so much more variety at the moment than really ever before, at least not for a while. JL: Like everything, it comes in waves. Horror is a great genre because you can make something for not a lot of money that both thrills an audience and makes an audience think. Right now, we’re in the middle of this superhero-blockbuster phase, where we’re just seeing these huge movies, and on the other side of it are these smaller, character-driven horror movies. They’re both thrilling in their own ways and I think they also complement each other in a lot of ways. But I imagine, in a few years, horror is going to chill out a little bit, maybe even go dormant for a while, you know like how in the early 2000s it wasn’t that big, only really Saw was big but that was about it? So I think that’s going to happen again, and then in 20 years’ time horror will have a resurgence again, along with superhero movies. It all just comes in cycles. WH: Two of the biggest indie horror guys, James Wan and David F. Sandberg, both went on to do these massive superhero movies too, so it’s all connected. JL: Yeah, 100 per cent. As much as I love horror and spectacle films, I’m really interested in how both will mellow out. Horror is always big, but it can’t be big big, for 20 years straight, because people will just get exhausted with it. Same with superhero movies. So maybe not now, maybe five years from now, it’ll happen. But I do think it will all mellow out because it has to. But that’s a good thing, because you can get reacquainted with the genre, get excited for it, and then fall in love with all of these things again after missing them for a while. See Also: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Season Two is a Total Hell-send WH: For sure. Just on the title of your movie, which is very literal, I was wondering whether the wording was deliberate? You’re careful to refer to this character as ‘The Devil’ as opposed to ‘Satan.’ Was that a deliberate choice on your part? JL: The film was originally titled A Man in the Dark, which is more ambiguous. We made the conscious decision to change the title to I Trapped The Devil because it’s a more bold title. A Man in the Dark is more fluent, more ambiguous, but I Trapped The Devil makes a statement and that’s what I wanted for this film, I wanted it to make a statement. From an acting standpoint, too, it’s bold. Even though this is a very quiet, cerebral thriller, it has enough stuff in it that having a definitive title was the way to go. WH: Would you consider yourself to be a spiritual, or even religious, person? JL: I’m not the most religious person, so I didn’t come to the film with that in mind. I don’t think the film gets too caught up with religion, it’s more concerned with the question of “what is evil?” WH: It makes sense, especially because Satan is so hot right now, with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and whatnot. It was a wise choice on your part, to keep it more generalized. JL: It was a very conscious decision to have them not trap Satan. The movie is more about good and evil, and where the line is drawn, and what would you do to deter that, than it is with being a satanic thriller. It’s not about Satan, rather it’s a contemplation on good and evil. WH: Right, it’s more about an idea than an entity or a figurehead. JL: Exactly. WH: What’s on your radar next, then? Will you be returning to horror or branching out into something different? JL: I’m working right now on a horror adventure film that’s a little bit more cerebral. It has a lot of character work, again, but it has a little bit more of the genre elements, so a little bit more meat and potatoes to it. [pause] Hopefully that’s what we’re doing next! WH: Don’t tempt fate. JL: Right, knock on wood. There are so many of these projects that are kind of up in the air, but we’re really pursuing this one in a big way, and I think it’s idiosyncratic enough that it will work. WH: Can’t wait to check it out! Catch I Trapped The Devil in select theaters and On Demand from April 26, 2019

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Seven Direct-to-Video Sequels That Are Better Than Expected

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Wicked Horror is the author of Seven Direct-to-Video Sequels That Are Better Than Expected. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

The purpose of a sequel is always in debate. There is a sense that a follow up is automatically inferior due to being derivative of another work. And, if that sequel is released direct-to-video then it must fall even lower on the proverbial totem pole. The horror genre is often a place where if a film does moderately well, an attempt at making that picture into a franchise will soon follow. This can lead to a watered down duplication of the original feature leading to outrage from fans and critics. Still, if the right people become involved, these sequels can actually be quite enjoyable. What is “good” can often be subjective depending on whether or not you enjoy the return of characters, ideas, or the possible answers to questions left behind. Sometimes, the fact that these follow up efforts are of poorer quality can be just as much fun. As follows is a list of direct-to-video sequels that may not be considered critically-acclaimed, but are certainly worth a look and turned out better than expected. Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return This franchise has generated lots of entries from one short story. When I was a child, myself, 1984’s adaptation of Stephen King’s work scared the hell out of me. I found both Linda Hamilton’s Vicky being almost crucified on a corn stalk and the performance of John Franklin as Isaac Chroner particularly terrifying. Therefore, when Franklin decided to return to the series I could not resist checking this entry out. Although Isaac’s Return is often a misfire, the movie attempts interesting links to the first film. The audience gets a glimpse into how the rituals of the children would have played out over time. Additional performances by horror staples Nancy Allen and Stacy Keach give this flick a much-needed boost. For those that enjoyed Franklin’s iconic performance as the child prophet Isaac, Isaac’s Return is worth a look and it’s certainly better than you might expect. Check Out This Retrospective on the Original 1984 Children of the Corn flick! Lost Boys: The Tribe 1987’s The Lost Boys is a cult-classic that marked a defined shift in bringing vampire lore to a younger demographic. Without the original film, it is highly unlikely that the teen heartthrob vampires to come would have had such an impact on mainstream audiences. So, it was inevitable that a follow-up would eventually occur albeit more than twenty years later and direct-to-video. The Tribe is certainly not a classic and should never ever be confused as such. Still, what one considers quality can directly conflict with what is enjoyable. And, the return of Corey Feldman as Edgar as well as the novelty casting of Angus Sutherland (younger brother to the iconic Kiefer Sutherland who played David in the original) is definitely appealing to fans of the 1987 flick. Also returning in a fun cameo appearance is the late Corey Haim as Sam Emerson. While it’s not classic cinema, The Tribe still surprised me by being entertaining and watchable. The Invoking 2 Anthologies are not easy to pull off in the horror genre. While not a hard-and-fast rule, story and character development play an important part in setting up a good scare. Out of the stories contained in this feature, two work surprisingly well. “Alone” and “Natal” both revolve around the idea of what happens when one loses his or her sanity and how nobody can know exactly what a person experiences when they die. To be fair, The Invoking 2 (a sequel in name only) is a mixed bag. For every story that works well, there is another that is nonsensical or derivative of better films. But, it’s still better than what one might expect from such a venture. The Descent Part 2 I think the enjoyment of the sequel to the very successful The Descent depends on which ending of the first film you watched. Personally, I find both endings to be well-made; however, I prefer the darker, ambiguous U.K. ending where one is not certain Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) made it out of the cave. Due to the original ending, I was prepared to have the sequel mess with my mind and be unreliable. Therefore, the logic maintained was pleasantly surprising. And this return to the cave did not let me down with the disturbingly shocking images contained within. It by no means has the same impact of the all-female cast of the original but The Descent Part 2 manages to find its own claustrophobic footing. In addition, seeing Juno (Natalie Mendoza) and Sarah’s relationship resolved was quite satisfying. Related: Noteworthy Heroines of Horror: Sarah from The Descent Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering The fourth entry in this franchise continues the tradition of deviating from the previous films’ setups. If you go into this franchise seeking a solid connection between the films then you will undoubtedly be disappointed; however, accepting each film as a standalone piece provides a more satisfying experience. The Gathering’s strongest asset is Naomi Watts as Grace. She is a medical student returning home to care for her mother (Karen Black). The main theme of this sequel is accepting and embracing one’s past. This is dealt with by both Grace as well as the sins of the town. Having a thematic foundation in which viewers can relate to makes The Gathering one of the better entries from the series. The audience can empathize with the well-rounded characterizations leading to a sense of the stakes being raised. When a Stranger Calls Back This sequel to 1979’s When a Stranger Calls was released by Showtime and ended up going direct-to-video. I wore out my local video store’s copy. I would argue that this sequel has one of the best openings from a horror film of all time. Carol Kane’s return is solid, but the rest of the movie requires way too much suspension of disbelief for its target audience. Regardless, horror-icon Jill Schoelen’s performance at the beginning is perfection. The timing and suspense of the first ten minutes of When a Stranger Calls Back are impeccable. Countless times have I shown this opening to friends and gleefully watched as they jumped out of their seats. For anyone that has ever had to babysit before, watch the first ten minutes of this film to be reminded of that chilling feeling of being in charge and alone is enough to give you a solid fright. Also See: Final Girl Returns that Made Us Cheer! Hellraiser: Hellseeker The Hellraiser series certainly has ebbs and flows in the quality of each subsequent film. But my personal favorite character from the series is Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence). While her appearance in Hellseeker is barely more than a cameo, she definitely makes her mark. With Kirsty’s addition to this entry, her struggles in the first two films are finally concluded in a more satisfactory way. Like Pinhead, Kirsty’s moral line has become blurred. The main narrative following Kirsty’s husband (Dean Winters) is compelling enough to carry the rest of the feature along. 

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Tyler Labine Talks Escape Room, The Art of Quipping, and His All-Time Favorite Psychological Thriller

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Wicked Horror is the author of Tyler Labine Talks Escape Room, The Art of Quipping, and His All-Time Favorite Psychological Thriller. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Tyler Labine rocketed to genre fame with the cult-following of the horror/comedy Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Alongside Alan Tudyk, Labine brought innocence, humor, and authenticity to a now beloved classic. His career as a character actor has much grander scope than many realize. He’s had parts in Flyboys, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Monsters University, and Super Troopers 2. He is also a series regular on NBC’s New Amsterdam. The actor let us pick his brain about the largest role he’s had in a mainstream feature and also opened up about working with a collaborative director like Adam Robitel, as well as bonding with cast mates like Deborah Ann Woll, Logan Miller, and Jay Ellis. Keep reading to find out which movie “scares the sh*t” out of the veteran actor. Escape Room is currently available of Blu-ray/DVD. Also See: Adam Robitel Dives Deep into Escape Room and its Upcoming Sequel! WH: I spoke to Adam (Robitel) just a few days ago and let him know how much I dug the film. He was great to talk to and I’m sure you will be as well. I wanted to start off with the cast; I know it’s a mainstream film, but just six main actors is a relatively small cast. How quickly did you guys click together and did Adam give you guys any sort of bonding experiences? Tyler Labine: I would say going to spend 11 weeks together in a vacuum in South Africa was a bonding experience. We were also there three weeks prior to shooting; rehearing a lot, going out to dinners, meetings, and just exploring South Africa together. It was an important element and I think that was all Adam’s doing. The script was good. What am I saying? The script was really good but having the six main players being people who were really into collaboration was huge. There was a lot of improv or editing on the fly and we’d all go home and rewrite scenes, which is not very–that’s not normal. Many directors make sure that actors don’t do that [chuckles], but it was a really cool, neat collaborative experience. It made us all feel a much more proprietary sense of being there and what our roles should be. WH: That leads me to my next question. The movie didn’t really have any weak links in the cast. Do you attribute this to excellent casting or were you able to help and play off each other? Tyler Labine: I would say that casting a movie like this is probably one of the most critical things that they did. They could have gone and cast it really hastily; cast it with people who had no experience or weren’t as collaborative as we. I don’t know how much they knew about our work ethic, but I know they knew we were very experienced. I think they sort of went for substance over aesthetic; not that anyone is unattractive in the cast, except for me. They just did an amazing job with the casting, and I can’t say enough about how Adam let us run with things. It made us feel like we could really give our input without the suits standing next to us with their axes drawn. WH: When I brought the cast up to him [Robitel], he couldn’t speak highly enough about you guys. Tyler Labine: We had fun. There was a lot of tension in and around the film, like any shoot, but I think we all left going, “That was neat. That was an amazing life experience.” WH: Which of the rooms really left you most in a state of awe when you first saw it? Which set really just made you appreciate the scope? Tyler Labine: Well, we shot on the lobby set, initially. You should have seen that set. We were in there for nine or ten days and it was just so well crafted. It’s like being a kid who grabs the first piece of candy set in front of them. You’re like, “I want that one,” but then each next set you go to you’re like, “Holy sh*t, look at that one!” By the time we got to the upside-down room I think all of us, unanimously, were like, “This is next level sh*t.” I’ve never seen a set with that attention to detail. I mean those floor panels really had to drop. We were elevated off the floor by about six feet. We were all in harnesses and the set was rigged with all these moving pieces! Even the bottles had the liquid floating to the top of them. I knew that production design alone, this movie was going to get some attention. WH: I think you just answered my next question as to which was the most physically demanding of the rooms. Tyler Labine: Oh, no, that one wasn’t. I’d say the winter room was the most challenging by a long shot. That space was about a third the size of what it looked like on screen. Also, despite what it looks like, it is not cold in there. We’re actually in a studio in South Africa during one of the hottest times of the year. We’re wearing parkas as we’re using every muscle in our body to try and it make it seem like we’re cold. What’s actually happening, is we’re sweating our as*’s off as people are getting headaches and dehydrated. Trying to pretend like you’re freezing for nearly three weeks gets you worn out. I actually ended up getting stitches because I busted open my hand trying to break the ice after Danny falls through. I decided, because I’m such a method actor, to punch the ice. I did it the first time and was like, “that’s rad,” so I kept doing it and by the fourth or fifth take my knuckle split open and there was blood all over the ice. WH: I think you now rival Leo DiCaprio breaking the skull and bleeding everywhere in Django Unchained. Tyler Labine: Yeah, I wouldn’t say it rivals that because that moment in the movie is cool as hell. He was bleeding like a motherf*cker; I just had this big bloody open knuckle. It never even made it in the movie, which is unfortunate. They had it in there for a long time, but then they realized it didn’t make sense for my character to do that [chuckle]. But, you know, it felt like a good idea at the time! That room was a brutal environment. By the time we were done with the ice room, everyone was like, “That’s it. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Then we moved to the upside-down room and everyone was like, “Yay, this is fun again!” WH: Another thing I brought up with Adam is how reserved your character is. Obviously in Tucker and Dale vs Evil you showed that you had comedic chops. In Escape Room you had a few one liners, but most of it was played relatively conservatively. Was this something you and Adam decided upon consciously? Tyler Labine: You have to keep in mind, I never want to play a character the same. I found out right before shooting that they wanted him to be southern, I didn’t know that. Adam was like, “I think this guy needs to be from like, Virginia. Can you do that?” and I was like, “Fine, I guess I’ll just do a gentle one.” I didn’t want to be too much ‘Dale’, you know. The character, Mike, on paper, really wasn’t too much there. In fact, it was talked about between Adam and I before I even got there that he was really banking on me sort of bring the character to life. He really wanted to encourage me that when we got there, if I thought of something, go for it. Of course, you have to kind of do that respectfully because there’s other actors in the scene, but once we got a feel for it, we were good; especially Nik Dodani and Logan Miller, they were always game to play. I’d say about 60% of what you see from me in the movie, was stuff I wrote or made up. All that, “Well, we just gotta do this five more times” most of what I said were things that I just come up with on the fly. Mostly, because I wanted to keep Mike alive. WH: I think the conservativeness of Mike really helped. Sometimes if all someone is doing is quipping, you don’t believe they’re a real person in a real perilous situation. Tyler Labine: Exactly. When I say I ad-libbed, I don’t mean always quipping, but more so adding to the character. I wasn’t always looking for the joke, because I’m like you, I hate that. If you’re quipping and not advancing the plot or the character, I think it’s super self-indulgent and wonky; I hate it. WH: I know it’s not necessarily horror, but Mike was often in pretty grave danger. Did you find it easy or difficult to play “scared?” Tyler Labine: You know, It’s funny. It starts out being really fun. It’s almost like being a kid, like playing pretend. Then you realize, “Sh*t. I’m about to do this for ten weeks.” I think it was about week three that everyone was finally like, “Well, guess I’m just having nightmares now.” I was falling asleep feeling tense. I was waking up feeling tense. I couldn’t’ shake that state; my brain was like, “We gotta just stay there. Just stay in that place so that it’s real enough.” WH: Well, we’re running out of time, so I want to ask one last question. Being a site that focuses so heavily on horror, I like to ask all the actors, directors, writers, and everyone we interview to give me one horror movie that is either your favorite or one that you think has been criminally overlooked as of late. Tyler Labine: Absolutely. My favorite psych-thriller/horror, which I think sort of kicked off this resurgence of psych-thrillers, is a movie called Session 9. WH: You’re kidding me. That’s the exact same movie Adam gave me when I asked him! Tyler Labine: Is it really! Well, it’s this crazy movie about these guys who need to go do construction on this old psych hospital. It’s just so well-crafted and scared the sh*t out of me; and it still does. It’s simple; there’s no big effects or anything. It’s really just a psychological f*ck you. I love movies like that, like Jacob’s Ladder, like movies that make you just feel weird afterwards. WH: It’s not horror, but Requiem for a Dream is always my go-to “f*ck you up” movie. Tyler Labine: Exactly. Requiem for a Dream is like a flashier version of that sort of, “We’re just going to tap dance on your brain for a while.” Maybe it’s because I saw Session 9 not knowing anything about it, but my wife and I left the theatre and we were both like, “We need to go do something fun right now or we may just end up dying.” WH: Well, Tyler. It’s been a joy talking to you and I appreciate you diving into the film with us! Tyler Labine: Of Course! Take care. Check out Tyler in Escape Room, currently available on Blu-ray/DVD.

The post Tyler Labine Talks Escape Room, The Art of Quipping, and His All-Time Favorite Psychological Thriller appeared first on Wicked Horror.

Tyler Labine Talks Escape Room, The Art of Quipping, and His All-Time Favorite Psychological Thriller

Original Source via Wicked Horror

Wicked Horror is the author of Tyler Labine Talks Escape Room, The Art of Quipping, and His All-Time Favorite Psychological Thriller. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Tyler Labine rocketed to genre fame with the cult-following of the horror/comedy Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Alongside Alan Tudyk, Labine brought innocence, humor, and authenticity to a now beloved classic. His career as a character actor has much grander scope than many realize. He’s had parts in Flyboys, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Monsters University, and Super Troopers 2. He is also a series regular on NBC’s New Amsterdam. Labine let us pick his brain about the largest role he’s had in a mainstream feature and also opened up about working with a collaborative director like Adam Robitel, as well as bonding with cast mates like Deborah Ann Woll, Logan Miller, and Jay Ellis. Keep reading to find out which movie “scares the sh*t” out of the veteran actor. Escape Room is currently available of Blu-ray/DVD. Also See: Adam Robitel Dives Deep into Escape Room and its Upcoming Sequel! WH: I spoke to Adam (Robitel) just a few days ago and let him know how much I dug the film. He was great to talk to and I’m sure you will be as well. I wanted to start off with the cast; I know it’s a mainstream film, but just six main actors is a relatively small cast. How quickly did you guys click together and did Adam give you guys any sort of bonding experiences? Tyler Labine: I would say going to spend 11 weeks together in a vacuum in South Africa was a bonding experience. We were also there three weeks prior to shooting; rehearing a lot, going out to dinners, meetings, and just exploring South Africa together. It was an important element and I think that was all Adam’s doing. The script was good. What am I saying? The script was really good but having the six main players being people who were really into collaboration was huge. There was a lot of improv or editing on the fly and we’d all go home and rewrite scenes, which is not very–that’s not normal. Many directors make sure that actors don’t do that [chuckles], but it was a really cool, neat collaborative experience. It made us all feel a much more proprietary sense of being there and what our roles should be. WH: That leads me to my next question. The movie didn’t really have any weak links in the cast. Do you attribute this to excellent casting or were you able to help and play off each other? Tyler Labine: I would say that casting a movie like this is probably one of the most critical things that they did. They could have gone and cast it really hastily; cast it with people who had no experience or weren’t as collaborative as we. I don’t know how much they knew about our work ethic, but I know they knew we were very experienced. I think they sort of went for substance over aesthetic; not that anyone is unattractive in the cast, except for me. They just did an amazing job with the casting, and I can’t say enough about how Adam let us run with things. It made us feel like we could really give our input without the suits standing next to us with their axes drawn. WH: When I brought the cast up to him [Robitel], he couldn’t speak highly enough about you guys. Tyler Labine: We had fun. There was a lot of tension in and around the film, like any shoot, but I think we all left going, “That was neat. That was an amazing life experience.” WH: Which of the rooms really left you most in a state of awe when you first saw it? Which set really just made you appreciate the scope? Tyler Labine: Well, we shot on the lobby set, initially. You should have seen that set. We were in there for nine or ten days and it was just so well crafted. It’s like being a kid who grabs the first piece of candy set in front of them. You’re like, “I want that one,” but then each next set you go to you’re like, “Holy sh*t, look at that one!” By the time we got to the upside-down room I think all of us, unanimously, were like, “This is next level sh*t.” I’ve never seen a set with that attention to detail. I mean those floor panels really had to drop. We were elevated off the floor by about six feet. We were all in harnesses and the set was rigged with all these moving pieces! Even the bottles had the liquid floating to the top of them. I knew that production design alone, this movie was going to get some attention. WH: I think you just answered my next question as to which was the most physically demanding of the rooms. Tyler Labine: Oh, no, that one wasn’t. I’d say the winter room was the most challenging by a long shot. That space was about a third the size of what it looked like on screen. Also, despite what it looks like, it is not cold in there. We’re actually in a studio in South Africa during one of the hottest times of the year. We’re wearing parkas as we’re using every muscle in our body to try and it make it seem like we’re cold. What’s actually happening, is we’re sweating our as*’s off as people are getting headaches and dehydrated. Trying to pretend like you’re freezing for nearly three weeks gets you worn out. I actually ended up getting stitches because I busted open my hand trying to break the ice after Danny falls through. I decided, because I’m such a method actor, to punch the ice. I did it the first time and was like, “that’s rad,” so I kept doing it and by the fourth or fifth take my knuckle split open and there was blood all over the ice. WH: I think you now rival Leo DiCaprio breaking the skull and bleeding everywhere in Django Unchained. Tyler Labine: Yeah, I wouldn’t say it rivals that because that moment in the movie is cool as hell. He was bleeding like a motherf*cker; I just had this big bloody open knuckle. It never even made it in the movie, which is unfortunate. They had it in there for a long time, but then they realized it didn’t make sense for my character to do that [chuckle]. But, you know, it felt like a good idea at the time! That room was a brutal environment. By the time we were done with the ice room, everyone was like, “That’s it. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Then we moved to the upside-down room and everyone was like, “Yay, this is fun again!” WH: Another thing I brought up with Adam is how reserved your character is. Obviously in Tucker and Dale vs Evil you showed that you had comedic chops. In Escape Room you had a few one liners, but most of it was played relatively conservatively. Was this something you and Adam decided upon consciously? Tyler Labine: You have to keep in mind, I never want to play a character the same. I found out right before shooting that they wanted him to be southern, I didn’t know that. Adam was like, “I think this guy needs to be from like, Virginia. Can you do that?” and I was like, “Fine, I guess I’ll just do a gentle one.” I didn’t want to be too much ‘Dale’, you know. The character, Mike, on paper, really wasn’t too much there. In fact, it was talked about between Adam and I before I even got there that he was really banking on me sort of bring the character to life. He really wanted to encourage me that when we got there, if I thought of something, go for it. Of course, you have to kind of do that respectfully because there’s other actors in the scene, but once we got a feel for it, we were good; especially Nik Dodani and Logan Miller, they were always game to play. I’d say about 60% of what you see from me in the movie, was stuff I wrote or made up. All that, “Well, we just gotta do this five more times” most of what I said were things that I just come up with on the fly. Mostly, because I wanted to keep Mike alive. WH: I think the conservativeness of Mike really helped. Sometimes if all someone is doing is quipping, you don’t believe they’re a real person in a real perilous situation. Tyler Labine: Exactly. When I say I ad-libbed, I don’t mean always quipping, but more so adding to the character. I wasn’t always looking for the joke, because I’m like you, I hate that. If you’re quipping and not advancing the plot or the character, I think it’s super self-indulgent and wonky; I hate it. WH: I know it’s not necessarily horror, but Mike was often in pretty grave danger. Did you find it easy or difficult to play “scared?” Tyler Labine: You know, It’s funny. It starts out being really fun. It’s almost like being a kid, like playing pretend. Then you realize, “Sh*t. I’m about to do this for ten weeks.” I think it was about week three that everyone was finally like, “Well, guess I’m just having nightmares now.” I was falling asleep feeling tense. I was waking up feeling tense. I couldn’t’ shake that state; my brain was like, “We gotta just stay there. Just stay in that place so that it’s real enough.” WH: Well, we’re running out of time, so I want to ask one last question. Being a site that focuses so heavily on horror, I like to ask all the actors, directors, writers, and everyone we interview to give me one horror movie that is either your favorite or one that you think has been criminally overlooked as of late. Tyler Labine: Absolutely. My favorite psych-thriller/horror, which I think sort of kicked off this resurgence of psych-thrillers, is a movie called Session 9. WH: You’re kidding me. That’s the exact same movie Adam gave me when I asked him! Tyler Labine: Is it really! Well, it’s this crazy movie about these guys who need to go do construction on this old psych hospital. It’s just so well-crafted and scared the sh*t out of me; and it still does. It’s simple; there’s no big effects or anything. It’s really just a psychological f*ck you. I love movies like that, like Jacob’s Ladder, like movies that make you just feel weird afterwards. WH: It’s not horror, but Requiem for a Dream is always my go-to “f*ck you up” movie. Tyler Labine: Exactly. Requiem for a Dream is like a flashier version of that sort of, “We’re just going to tap dance on your brain for a while.” Maybe it’s because I saw Session 9 not knowing anything about it, but my wife and I left the theatre and we were both like, “We need to go do something fun right now or we may just end up dying.” WH: Well, Tyler. It’s been a joy talking to you and I appreciate you diving into the film with us! Tyler Labine: Of Course! Take care. Check out Tyler in Escape Room, currently available on Blu-ray/DVD.

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New on Netflix: April 26, 2019

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Wicked Horror is the author of New on Netflix: April 26, 2019. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Welcome to New on Netflix, a feature here at Wicked Horror in which we provide the latest updates on what’s coming to the streaming service for the week. In recent times, Netflix’s shift in content has been interesting. While many fan-favorite movies and TV shows have been Netflix staples for the better part of a decade, they’ve been taken off the service with more frequency. Some of them return, some of them don’t, and while these are all simply the result of licensing deals that were already in place before these properties even hit the service, they do shed some light on the content provider’s new focus. Netflix is continuing to shift gears away from movies and TV shows owned by other studios or companies and is producing their own content with staggering frequency. As we continue to provide updates on what’s been added to the service, it will always be interesting to note the balance between original and licensed content being added to the Netflix library. With that in mind, here are the latest Netflix additions for the week of April 26th, 2019. Black Summer The Netflix Original Series Black Summer has turned some heads since its premiere earlier this month. While it could easily have been dismissed as yet another entry in the oversaturated zombie genre, many have praised it with some kind words coming from one of the world’s foremost masters of horror, Stephen King. That alone makes Black Summer at least worth checking out.

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Aamis is Still a Better Love Story than Twilight [Tribeca Review]

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Wicked Horror is the author of Aamis is Still a Better Love Story than Twilight [Tribeca Review]. Wicked Horror is the internet's only horror fan site for free original horror movies, news, review & more.

Aamis (Ravening) opens with a meet cute and a Meat Club. PhD student studying meat-eating habits in Northeastern India Sumon (Arghadeep Baruah) needs a doctor for his friend. The neighborhood pediatrician Nirmali (Lima Das) agrees to help Sumon’s adult friend despite it being her day off, saying, “Perfect. Just what I needed Sunday morning.” She refuses traditional payment, but when Sumon tells her about his “Meat Club” that slaughters and cooks their own animals, she can’t resist trying some. He brings rabbit to her clinic. Soon they’re talking about all the different meats they want to try — dog, cat, bat, a bug that needs to have the hallucinogenic juices squeezed out before consumption — and finding the weirdest one they can. It’s oddly romantic, but it wouldn’t be a story without a catch: Nirmali is married. Nirmali’s sister Jumi (Neetali Das) is having a more illicit affair. She and Sumon’s best friend Elias (Sagar Saurabh) keep asking the lovers if they’re having sex but they aren’t. They’ve replaced carnal pleasures with carnivorous ones. Nirmali’s husband, Dilip (Manash K Das), has been away. He’s a doctor as well, but it calls him away for weeks at a time. Dilip makes a surprise return with a crop of yams to contrast with Sumon’s meats, gloating, “All these years and you still can’t predict me.” When Nirmali tells him that she’s been going out to eat with Sumon, Dilip says she’s got to bring him by the house. When Sumon arrives, Dilip brags that he once waded through chest deep water to put an end to a cholera outbreak on the other side of a river. Sumon replies that some would consider the leeches that swelled up on Dilip a delicacy. The movie functions as a realistic drama for the first hour. Nirmali is in a bad spot, caught between a self-aggrandizing husband who leaves for months at a time and a charming young man who brings culinary adventures into her life. Near the end of the second act, the movie shifts genres. The Meat Club, now with only two members, decide to eat exactly what you were worried they were going to eat. It’s gross as hell. Aamis director/writer Bhaskar Hazarika elects to keep the goriest moments off screen. It’s a good choice, because it would be impossible to film some of the later scenes as more disgusting than a viewer could imagine them. Implication can be more powerful than special effects. Hazarika slips in some dream sequences during the grossest moments instead. That choice focuses the audience’s attention on the character’s emotional states rather than what they’re chewing. It’s a good choice because, like the excellent Raw, Aamis is more interested in the symbolism than physical reality. RELATED: Raw Is The Cannibal Coming-Of-Age Story You Didn’t Realise You Wanted The subtitles have some minor technical problems. They’re white text placed over sometimes white backgrounds, rendering them difficult to read at times. Peel away the meat club and the sick things Nirmali and Sumon do to satisfy their cravings and what’s left of Aamis is the love story core. Das and Baruah have phenomenal chemistry, so much so that I couldn’t help rooting for their characters. I wanted them to find their way. I wanted them to escape. I wanted them to find their happily ever after. The only thing I didn’t want was to eat for the next few hours. Wicked Rating: 7/10 Director: Bhaskar Hazarika Writer: Bhaskar Hazarika Stars: Lima Das, Arghadeep Baruah, Neetali Das, Sagar Saurabh, Manash K Das Release: April 26 2019 (Tribeca Film Festival) Studio/Production Company: Metanormal Motion Pictures, Signum Productions, Wishberry Films Language: Assamese Length: 108 minutes Sub-Genre: Romance

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