SNAP REVIEWS – PART II

Continuing to play catchup with my reviews, here are some more snap reviews.  I’m almost done, I swear.

You can watch the trailers for all the films by clicking on the title.

Cash Only (Malik Bader)

The streets of Detroit haven’t been this dirty and gritty since 8 Mile (2002).  Cash Only takes us on wild and violent ride as one man tries to get back the only thing he cares about after he makes a poor life decision.

When cash-strapped landlord Elvis (Nickola Shreli) steals money from a woman that he evicted, his daughter is kidnapped by a local gangster named Dino (Stivi Paskoski), the dogfighting owner of the money.  Elvis must rapidly come up with the money before it is too late for him and his daughter.

Shreli gives a convincing performance as Elvis and Paskoski is terrifyingly great as Dino.  The movie is brutal and unsettling to watch, as some of the violence and scenes are pretty graphic.  It is directed with a kinetic energy that makes your heart race and your palms sweat.  The film, however, isn’t anything original and features one of the biggest unanswered plot holes I have ever seen, which ultimately hurts the film in the end.

MY RATING – 3/4

Ludo (Qaushiq Mukherjee, Nikon)

There is a scene in this movie where a woman eats a human heart like an apple.  Amazingly, this wasn’t the grossest or most shocking scene in Ludo, a vile, insane, disgusting, anti-Bollywood horror film.

When four teenagers go out on the town and look for a place to have sex with one another, they end up spending the night in a locked shopping mall.  While there, they find two homeless people who have a mysterious board game called Ludo.  They play the game, and what happens after is complete and utter chaos featuring the horrifying origin of the game, a number of people dying, gallons of blood, numerous organs, and a horrifying film-going experience.

Coming from India, this film is everything Bollywood isn’t.  It is a micro-budget, dirty, at times cringe worthy film to watch.  Ludo is like Jumanji (1995) on every sort of drug you can imagine.  The film is all over the place, and really acts like two movies in one.  We get the story about the teens in the first half and then we learn about the origin story, and while both stories are interesting, they do drag a bit.  Regardless, Ludo is a film that needs to be seen by horror fans, as it has an insanely interesting premise and does not hold back on the gore.

MY RATING – 3/4

A Monster with a Thousand Heads (Rodrigo Plá)

If you were in the mood for a mother/son hostage movie, this is the one for you.  A Monster with a Thousand Heads is one of the more unique hostage films I have ever seen.  From the way the story is told, to the way it was shot and edited, to our protagonist, this is captivating cinema.

When the insurance company refuses to approve care for her husband to survive, a seemingly innocent housewife Sonia (Jan Baluy) takes matters into her own hands by kidnapping one of the doctors who was helping her husband.  With her son by her side, Sonia uses the doctor and some unwanted force to save her husband.

Baluy gives a riveting performance and carries this movie.  We are rooting for Sonia the entire time, even though what she is doing is illegal.  Her inexperience in the situation comes out numerous times and sometimes, it’s rather funny to see her hold a gun for the first time and figure out situations on the fly.  At a compact 74 minutes long, this is an exhaustingly intense film and a film that makes you question how far you would go to save the one you love.

MY RATING – 3/4

They Look Like People (Perry Blackshear)

I am a big supporter and fan of micro-budget, mumblecore films and think they are great for the film industry.  However, I feel a film like They Look Like People could have benefited from a larger budget and better actors, as the film has a good premise, but suffers from rookie filmmaking, lack of effects, poor acting, and ambiguous story.

A troubled man named Wyatt (Macleod Andrews) suspects that people around him are turning into evil creatures and planning an invasion.  He then must figure out if it is all in his head or if the invasion is real and to save his friend Christian (Evan Dumouchel).

The movie starts off intriguing, but then doesn’t go anywhere.  Nothing ever is solved or answered.  I’m okay with ambiguous endings, but this entire movie is ambiguous and doesn’t even gives us enough to lean towards a certain side.  The acting is also stilted, which along with the story, makes for a very, very boring film that had a lot of promise.

MY RATING – 2/4

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