While we are given numerous films to review, some don't always fit with the type of content we normally provide here. However, in the interest of providing thoughts on them nonetheless, here are our thoughts on several of these that were watched over the last month that aren't worth producing a full review for but are still worth some of your time.
Leave (Alex Herron)-
On the whole, this was a pretty solid if also somewhat underwhelming genre effort. Among the film’s more likable features is the highly entertaining setup that manages to provide a generally effective means of instigating the terror to come with the quest for her lineage that takes her from the discovery at the cemetery to the Norwegian ancestors that are still living in the area. This is a solid enough feature offering up a great starting point involving the foreigner in a strange land trying to piece things together and makes for a pretty decent way to get this one going alongside the rather likable final half where everything comes together and gets resolved which has some decent scenes of the supernatural being getting involved to offer up the likable aspects. The main drawback here is that this one starts off with what could’ve been a solid genre setup but instead turns it into a bland and generally lifeless thriller about her running around the community trying to find out what’s going on and being tormented but not with any kind of malicious or macabre intent which is immensely disappointing. Even with a strange spirit wandering through the film causing her distress at points it's barely much of a factor here. These make it enjoyable but
Outpost (Joe Lo Truglio)-
This psychological genre effort, about an abused woman trying to start over in life who takes a job as a forest tower watchout in a remote section of the forest only to succumb to the trauma of her past, is generally likable for the most part. The emphasis on her mental state throughout the film, with the trauma of the past continuing to creep up on her with the visions of her husband violently beating her or the quirky nature of her interactions alone in the tower trying to deal with everyone around her as the incidents continue to haunt her makes this incredibly intriguing. The stress and emotional turmoil she faces for what's going on inside her brings about a really intriguing and dark twist as to what the actual truth going on is all about since that becomes genuinely psychological in how she becomes a more malicious and over-the-top persona during the final half of the film. However, that ends up taking the film out of the genre tag for a series of survivalist/thriller scenarios involving her using a series of faulty logic gaps to turn the tables on those around her she's confused about her abusers which is lively, energetic and gory but way also incredibly cliched and obvious about what happened and leaves it somewhat unsatisfying as a result.
The Fearway (Robert Gajic)-
Overall, this was a solid if somewhat flawed effort. One of the better elements here is the strong atmospheric build-up of the first half here, with the two being continuously freaked out by what's going on with them. The constant interactions out on the highway and the strangeness of being around the creepy rest stop diner workers who know more than they're letting on involving a big mystery surrounding the origin of the hunter. This works fine enough but doesn't really hold up the film over the big flaws here. The main issue with this one is the immensely cliched and predictable set up which feels very much that it's based around the couple coming to terms with their mortality. This is way too easy to see the end goal of the story and makes way too much of the film feel repetitive while they're going through the desert or in the diner. Since everyone is clearly aware of the grand scheme of everything and they're not willing to dole out answers it causes the middle section of the film to stretch itself out with them running around in circles regarding not only their failed escape attempts but also the how and why. By revealing everything in the final few minutes and ending without much resolution, the lack of information does make everything feel that much more underwhelming by not being more immersive with its central concept especially since it's so easy to spot from the start. These factors are all enough to bring this one down even with a couple of decent positives.
The Resurrection of Charles Manson (Remy Grillo)-
Overall, there’s not much to say about this one. About the only real likable factors here come from the rather tense final half featuring the cult getting involved and turning this into a genuine genre thriller featuring the group getting plenty of screentime to try to accomplish their mission. Featuring a somewhat chilling series of home invasion tactics and a couple of fine sequences involving the cult’s purpose for capturing everyone that helps to add a lot of life and energy to what’s going on, this section of the film goes off quite fun. This sets up the few likable factors for this one as there are plenty of flaws here that bring this one down. One of the main drawbacks is the lack of context for everything that goes on here, with just about everything here going by without any sort of context or proper presentation. The series of flashbacks that are supposed to give the couple their backstory doesn’t tell us anything as all we get is the basic bare-bones structure of how they met and not much else so their whole relationship is entirely underwhelming. Likewise, the lack of context for what the cult is really trying to do with Manson at the centerpiece as all we get is tangential evidence of it being about him so the cult can really be about anyone trying to resurrect a figure from the dead and it wouldn’t have made a difference. That leaves large sections of this one quite dull and underwhelming without much else happening until it gets to the cult actions which instead is quite confusing so a lot of the horror here is drained out of this and coming off as a different genre altogether. It’s not that detrimental but combined with the other factors leaves this sorely lacking overall.
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