Weekly visions - week 23, 2025

Sinister, directed by Scott Derrickson, co-written with C. Robert Cargill, US, 2012 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

When people asked me what horror film scared me the most, this movie was my answer (the lawn mowing scene… oh dear). On my second watch, I admit that maybe the plot is not the tightest it could be, and the video calls to an uncredited ‘Professor Exposition’ Vincent D’Onofrio are a bit clunky, but I still like this film a lot. I really felt for Juliet Rylance’s character having to put up with her husband’s fixations and deceptions, Ethan Hawke hits the right balance of sympathetic and unpleasant and I liked how the depiction of James Ransone’s deputy changes during the film. And I loved the hide-and-seek scene with the ghost girl.

Sinister 2, directed by Ciarán Foy, written by C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson, US, 2015 - ⭐⭐

Despite owning the Blu-ray, I had previously avoided this sequel, but then I decided to trust Derrickson and Cargill, who both returned to write the script. The idea of looking at the story from the children’s point of view is intriguing, but it never developed into something interesting or compelling.
I also disliked the fact that the home videos, short, mysterious and ’to the point’ in the first film, started to verge a bit on the ’torture porn’ side. The final act is also annoying for bending the rules the two films had established, just for plot reasons.

The Black Phone, directed by Scott Derrickson, co-written with C. Robert Cargill, based on Joe Hill’s short story, US, 2021 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

But maybe we needed a Sinister 2 for Derrickson and Cargill to practice the depiction of ghost children and abusive parents. Again, on this second watch, some flaws were more evident. One could say that Jeremy Davies’ character is more terrifying than Ethan Hawke’s Grabber, who never felt menacing nor smart enough to prevail on kids used to being bullied.
Mason Thames as the lead young actor is good, but I felt that the whole film rests on the shoulder of Madeleine McGraw’s Gwen, who brings at the same time the emotional weight and the fun (’Jesus, what the f..?!’)

The Hallow, directed by Corin Hardy, co-written with Felipe Marino and Tom de Ville, United Kingdom/Ireland, 2015 - ⭐⭐

[Mike Flanagan’s Favourite Horror Movies list] on Letterboxd reminded me about this film, which I’ve heard about and wanted to watch for some time. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations.
For my taste, it doesn’t present enough lore to work as an effective folk horror; instead, it behaves more like a home invasion story, but it doesn’t take the time to make us care for the lead character: an irresponsible father who, honestly, pretty much deserves what he’s getting (probably that’s the point: we’re in Ireland, he’s English and not respectful…).
Also the framing (lots of close-ups) and the fast editing, in my view, are more appropriate for an action film than a horror. No surprise then that Hardy went on to direct and show-run Gangs of London.

Contracted, written and directed by Eric England, US, 2013 - ⭐½

Another film from Mike Flanagan’s list, that taught me maybe not to trust Mike Flanagan’s list. The low budget may be a factor, but not a justification for a movie where no character makes any sense, the plot is thin and predictable, and a lot of the acting is not satisfying.
Now, there is a second episode, created by a different writer and director, that has even lower ratings than this one but it includes a cameo from Benson & Moorhead… would this be a good enough reason to watch it?

Ballerina, directed by Len Wiseman, written by Shay Hatten, US, 2025 - ⭐⭐⭐

Ballerina took a long time to get to the screens, and one can still sense the difficult path that led to completing the film. Nothing wrong with wanting to have a John Wick-ish film without John Wick (see Atomic Blonde), but actually setting it in the same universe ends up being more a burden than a strength: the film spends a long time in prologues and connections with its main series, and at times it feels like the whole point of it is to have an excuse to bring Keanu Reeves back (if it was an excuse to bring Lance Reddick back, I’m fine with it!). We all loved Ana De Armas in No Time To Die, and nomen omen, but this film reminded me (consciously or not, I don’t know) of the absolute bore that was the Total Recall remake.
There are some fun sequences, and some fun in general, but absolutely no need for it to last more than two hours.
I am the weird guy that watches John Wicks for its intricate mythology, and, in that sense, there is almost nothing new here.

Stopmotion, directed by Robert Morgan, co-written with Robin King, United Kingdom, 2023 - ⭐⭐½

Sort of a mildly interesting premise and not a very subtle central theme, it didn’t hold my interest for longer than half of the running time. This is the second body horror of the week (after Contracted), although the body here is not necessarily that of the lead character.
Aisling Franciosi, from The Last Voyage of the Demeter and the anglophone Speak No Evil clearly doesn’t like easy roles (and I haven’t dared watch The Nightingale yet!).