Tag Archives: artifact

Whistle

Posted on by

Vampire Owl: I have a doubt whether these people are fans of Chennai Super Kings.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that there are not talking about a normal whistle.

Vampire Owl: All whistles are normal enough for the undead.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that even dead whistling through life is normal?

Vampire Owl: Well, if death decides to do so, who am I to complain?

Vampire Bat: You should remember that it is still not normal behaviour.

Vampire Owl: If you include Chennai Super Kings, it will stay normal.

Vampire Bat: You should understand that we Chennai fans do not blow an Aztec Death Whistle.

Vampire Owl: Let there be death whistles to all the opponent teams.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that you will be banned from all IPL stadiums soon enough.

[Gets a paneer pakoda and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Mason Raymore (Stephen Kalyn) leads his basketball team to victory despite having visions of burning man, but after the celebrations, finds himself caught by the same man, and the teammates find him burning to death in a shower, to the surprise of everyone. A few months later, a new transfer student Chrys Willet (Dafne Keen) gets to use Mason’s old locker and finds a strange skull-shaped whistle. After a fight over the locker, Chrys is sent to detention by their teacher Mr. Craven (Nick Frost), along with her cousin Rel Taylor (Sky Yang), Mason’s old teammate Dean Jackson (Jhaleil Swaby), Dean’s girlfriend Grace Browning (Ali Skovbye) and the smart girl of the particular institution Ellie Gains (Sophie Nélisse) who also has diabetes. Mr. Craven who finds and confiscates the whistle after discovering that there is some Meso-American, probably Mayan antique value about it, just blows the whistle out of curiosity post the feeling that the writing is Mayan. Soon, as a chain smoker, he finds a strange apparition that somewhat looks like him which gets on to him and crushes his lungs.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Later, the detained students who meet at a pool also has Grace blow the whistle, whose sound causes everyone who listens to the same to be haunted by apparitions which are revealed to be themselves in a brutal, tormented form which looks very less like themselves. The next day, as they go back to the educational institution, they realize that Craven’s death is reported as extreme stage lung cancer, but they realize that there was no sign of any illness on him when they last met. Chrys and Ellie later meet Mason’s antique-collecting grandmother Ivy Raymore (Michelle Fairley) to return the whistle, but she gives it back to them while saying that it is a centuries old Aztec death whistle carved with the phrase “summon your death” instead of “summon the dead” which they had thought. She adds that anyone who hears the whistle becomes stalked by death and is soon killed by a manifestation of their own body just before dying. As they understand that Mason was to die by burning at some stage of his life and Craven by lung cancer caused by excessive smoking, Grace dies after rapidly aging into an old woman, and Dean is later killed in a manner resembling a motor accident. Now, can they stop it in time before anyone else dies?

The defence of Whistle :: When you take horror our of some Aztec whistle, there is the feeling that not much can be known about it, and therefore escape is to be near impossible. The early coming of death in the exact same way as destiny has planned is something innovative, and a twist on death coming to us in multiple brutal ways. The atmosphere created by the movie is really good, and we see some nice spooky thing coming out of nowhere every time, as being visually engaging seems to be a skill around here. The death sequences remain creative, with the addition of old-age apparition as much as the other brutal death modes. The mystery elements of the movie continue to stand strong, and we see the power of death not being a gentleman, thus not making Emily Dickinson with her poetry not that agreeable. There is no complication with the basic idea and with the characters and the quick pace, will be appealing to the new generation from the beginning itself. They mystery remains mysterious and sets tone for an even bigger sequel, if there is a chance.

The claws of flaw :: There are moments which make one feel that there are missed opportunities which could have easily been taken to elevate the movie. There was always the chance for more, with the scares as much as with the imagery. The supernatural elements taking the form of a future death could strike terror like no other. The appearance of apparitions could be scarier with some extra blood and gore, with more frequent appearance also possible. The middle part feels like a little deviating as the characters do make some strange decisions, yet it is not something we have not seen in other horror movies where the some characters die early, some others refuse to listen and often make the dumbest decisions; these have become a regular part of the genre, but this movie could have deviated from that formula as it had already taken some divergence with the premise and a myth that goes a different way. The idea also seems to move on and on, and the possible solution also seems a little too predictable.

The performers of the soul :: Dafne Keen who has been known for Logan, The New Mutants and Deadpool & Wolverine, has the lead in this particular horror flick, and we already know the kind of intensity she has displayed as a mutant and therefore would have no doubt about her possibilities in a horror movie. Her performance remains the highlight of the movie. Then there is Sophie Nélisse of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged which had its own sharks to bring the horror underwater – this time, she does an even better job. The two becomes a fine team together, and keeps on moving the story with defiance against death and its methods. Ali Skovbye is another lovely addition here, and becomes the person who set things in motion for friends, scoring more in a run against death than anyone else. Sky Yang plays another interesting character well, while Jhaleil Swaby comes next with some fine moments. Percy Hynes White plays a negative character with further shades of evil later revealed, and that surely works. Michelle Fairley nicely adds to the mystery of the movie, while one would feel that Nick Frost and Stephen Kalyn are missed too early.

How it finishes :: Bringing variety in horror has been one of the most difficult tasks of these times, and the movie has managed to do so, seemingly taking an extended inspiration out of something which is not that well-known or followed. After all, there is a lot of scope with different kinds of horror as part of separate myths and legends, like the franchise having Stree, Munjya, Thamma and others had in India, and remains relevant throughout the world, as just the vampire legends would do the job. This movie takes itself beyond the usual world of The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Nun, Sinister, Insidious, Evil Dead and similar flicks to create innovative horror from an idea from the past. The full effectiveness of the same might not be there to be taken at all times, but this one remains something to be remembered for going through that divergent route, and make the whole thing work well enough. Well, we never have enough of horror in a world of chaos which can have nothing more than hopelessness and death – if death comes in many forms beyond Final Destination, we also take them into our hearts and hope for the human suffering to end.

Release date: 13th February 2026
Running time: 100 minutes
Directed by: Corin Hardy
Starring: Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang, Jhaleil Swaby, Ali Skovbye, Percy Hynes White, Michelle Fairley, Nick Frost, Stephen Kalyn, Conrad Coates, Mikayla Kong, Lanette Ware, Christine Sahely, Dina Pino, Izaak Smith, Vicki Kim

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

<<< Click here to go to the biggest movie of last year.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Red Notice

Posted on by

Vampire Owl: I am also sending a bloody notice.

Vampire Bat: A red notice doesn’t really mean that it is bloody.

Vampire Owl: A thing of red colour can always have blood added to it.

Vampire Bat: It is supposed to be an international alert circulated by Interpol.

Vampire Owl: I am talking about any notice, which is red in colour.

Vampire Bat: It is still with information about crimes, criminals and threats.

Vampire Owl: The vampire blood moon event also has a red notice.

Vampire Bat: It is not a red notice. It is pasted with red colour directed on it.

Vampire Owl: That still makes it a notice in red.

Vampire Bat: Now, you are clearly talking like a zombie without brain.

[Gets a vegetable puffs and three cups of ginger tea].

What is the movie about? :: The tale of the Roman general Mark Antony, who fell in love with the enchanting Egyptian queen, Cleopatra is well known, as the two had taken their own lives instead of being defeated and captured, thus forced to live without each other and their world. gifts He had gifted Cleopatra three jeweled eggs as a wedding gift symbolizing their love. The eggs are lost until two are found by a farmer near Cairo in 1907, but there is still no information about the last egg. In the present, Special Agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson), is working as a criminal profiler for the FBI. He is assigned to help Interpol agent Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya) in investigating the possible theft of one of the eggs at Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. The head of the security in the museum feels that the concern is useless, as the security there is too heavy for anyone to make an impact. But John proves the egg there is not real, and it has been forged. The security seals all doors, but Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) manages to get out of the room.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Despite all the chasing which follows, Nolan is finally captured by John in Bali, with clues from another art thief. But soon, it turns out that the other thief had other plans – the original egg has been replaced once again, and has John presented as the one who is behind all of these, with an eight million transferred to his account, and disguising as FBI office. Urvashi who considers herself to be too smart, is easily fooled by this, and has him taken to the Russian prison where Nolan was already imprisoned. In the prison, the other art thief Sarah Black, known to most people as The Bishop (Gal Gadot) meets them, and her offer to steal the second egg and find the third egg is declined by Nolan. The two becomes determined to get to the second egg before she does, and plans an escape, which is successful, more due to luck than anything else. When the two of them reach the location of the second egg, which is the home of an arms dealer, they also find Sarah there. Now how will the race to the eggs of Cleopatra go, and who will have the final laugh?

The defence of Red Notice :: If looked close, Red Notice is the kind of fun-packed entertainer that you watch on the big screen without thinking much about it. The film does maintain the whole thing where it should be, and mostly manages not to overdo the same. It focuses on the major things, and doesn’t make things complicated at any point, making sure that anyone can watch this film at any point of time, without the stress, and without having to think too much. The straight-forward action remains strong at all times. You get to see some big fights on many occasions, and the Gal Gadot action sequences are among the best of them. Everyone seems to get an equal dose of action scenes to perform too. The heist scene is also interesting, even though there could have been more of similar moments. The visuals of different places at different parts of the world are also stunning. We get to see different cities of different countries with all the charm that they have, and the visual beauty has been maintained until the very last scene of the movie.

The claws of flaw :: Red Notice is surely not a movie which tries hard enough to go out of the usual, and nothing innovative or special can be seen here. We have the usual action going on as the main character go on the heist. The major characters could have also been established better – maybe except for the Ryan Reynolds’ character, which seems to be there for one purpose, and the backstory is also somewhat rightly told. It could have also had more heist sequences with some smarter moments added to it, as well as more outdoor fighting sequences to get better pictures of the cities where the protagonist go. The humour is only somewhat working, and it is unlike the usual works featuring the main characters. It seems that Hollywood is also somewhat running out of ideas as far as innovation is concerned, and holding itself very high over the highly talentless and brainless list in Bollywood is not really an achievement. There is surely the need to try harder, get rid of the silly jokes and fights, to keep the good ones, and add better creative imagination.

The performers of the soul :: Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock gets things going strong and entertaining as usual. There is almost no movie where you don’t expect him to do what he has been doing the best in style – we remember what he has been doing with WWE too, and he never lags with entertaining the viewers. Whether it is Jumanji, Hercules, Journey to the Mysterious Island, Central Intelligence, Hobbs and Shaw or the whole of the later Fast and Furious franchise, we know what he is capable of, and how well he has been doing the same. There is no doubt about him achieving the same here too. Yet, one has the feeling that this had to be more focused on him rather than dividing this between all of them. Ryan Reynolds do a similar thing like he has been doing in Deadpool and its sequel – even though the humour is not that dark here, there is nothing that divergent in this character either, which he seems to have no problem playing. Gal Gadot is once again the wonder woman here, and she has a spear in one battle here too. She does a great job in a character which required more of a backstory. Then there is Ritu Arya who plays the cop who always losses, but she does that really well.

How it finishes :: The fact that Red Notice works with its entertainment is something to be happy about, but at the same time, one has to remember that Hollywood cannot go on with movies like these, without using more cerebral activity with innovative ideas. The regional movie industries are thinking more these days, and Red Notice is not of that much power to be standing tall against some original ideas which are not short of entertainment either. When you are looking for this kind of fun which takes over everything else, this is the movie for you – it doesn’t come up with the overdose of the same at any point, and hesitates to go the completely mindless Bollywood way. Red Notice is the kind of movie which will keep you interested and engaged, even without having that much of a new story to provide. You can watch it, be entertained, and then leave it behind. After all, you know that whenever the Rock is around, you cannot be disappointed – ask the WWE fans, and they will tell you the rest, whether your favourite wrestler is the Undertaker, Randy Orton, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, or anyone around.

Release date: 5th November 2021 (Netflix)
Running time: 118 minutes
Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds, Ritu Arya, Chris Diamantopoulos, Ivan Mbakop, Vincenzo Amato, Rafael Petardi, Daniel Bernhardt

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Snake Eyes

Posted on by

Vampire Owl: I remember a time when all vampires played with GI Joe toys.

Vampire Bat: Well, that was a very short period of time.

Vampire Owl: Yet, those were some wonderful days.

Vampire Bat: If I remember correctly, those were nights. When we were awake.

Vampire Owl: Both days and nights belonged to games.

Vampire Bat: You mean to include computer games too.

Vampire Owl: Yes, that would make this a very long list.

Vampire Bat: I would start with Age of Empires and Age of Wonders for that.

Vampire Owl: Yet, there was no game like Unreal Tournament 99.

Vampire Bat: Only to be permanently addicted to Mass Effect later.

[Gets a milk peda and three cups of cardamom tea].

What is the movie about? :: A young boy witnesses his father being murdered by a group of armed people, after their leader determines his fate by rolling a dice. Many years later, he has grown up to a skilled martial arts fighter Snake Eyes (Henry Golding). As he keeps winning all the fights and changing cities, a rich Yakuza boss named Kenta Takamura (Takehiro Hira) disovers him in a fighting arena in Los Angeles. Even though he doesn’t like the offer in the beginning, the idea of being able to find the people who killed his father makes him interested. But when he is asked to murder Tommy (Andrew Koji), who despite being Kenta’s cousin, had broken trust, he refuses, and even helps him to escape. Both Tommy and Kenta were next line to become leader of their clan, and the latter tried to have the former killed. Kenta’s plan was discovered before it could materialize, and Tommy had him banished. As Snake Eyes cannot go back to Los Angeles as he would be hunted by the Yakuza, he is taken to Tokyo instead.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Tommy who feels that he owes a blood debt to Snake Eyes, takes him to his ninja world. Sen (Eri Ishida), Tommy’s grandmother who leads the ninja clan agrees to let him join the group under some conditions, even though the head of secutiy, Akiko (Haruka Abe) is not fond of anyone from outside joining them, as it would be an unusual practice. He is supposed to go through three challenges, first two challenges to cleanse him of ego, anger and fear, and get him ready for the third one. Tommy also lets him know that failure means death. He will only has a few days to train for the same. With no recorded history about him and being known only by a strange alias, Akiko continues to doubt him. But she is still confident that Snake Eyes will fail the first test itself, as at least eighty percent of them fail every time. Tommy feels confident that Snake Eyes will be among the passing twenty percent, but there is certainly more than one twist to it.

The defence of Snake Eyes :: There is a lot of fighting going on in this tale inspired from a toy line, and the reboot has started off pretty well with hope for something big to be seen in a sequel with so many characters to come. Four of the most interesting characters, Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Scarlett and Baroness have been introduced, and we can keep hoping for more. The sword fights show a certain amount of quality here, and it is not all that we see here, as we have something more in an year which provided us with Mortal Kombat. The final battle is a big one, and it has everyone going after one another. The location of the ninjas is nicely chosen too. Well, one always feel happy about watching Japan on the screen – Tokyo is nothing less than a dream city. When you look at origin stories, starting with the tale of the two ninjas seem to be the right choice, especially as the earlier movies didn’t focus enough on the two. From this beginning, the movie seems to assert that it won’t go the Transformers way, bringing more confusion as the film franchise progresses.

The claws of flaw :: Even with its twists, there is a certain amount of predictability associated with it. The hero here is the one whom we wish to have on the side of the Cobra though, as Storm Shadow is hundred percent a better person of quality than Snake Eyes by any means – it is how things are shown here. We would have wished for Snake Eyes to stay in the Cobra even as the toy storyline states otherwise. Well, just one person is responsible for all these, and he seems to be the good guy in the end. A better introduction for the characters of GI Joe and Cobra would have been better – just having Scarlett and Baroness is not good enough, and the two ninja brothers have only started. Cobra could have actually had a better job to do here too. The idea of vengeance could have been portrayed better, and instead this one seems to go here and there, not sticking to a particular plan, just like the main character himself who seems to be the most clueless one. Maybe, he intends to set things right with a sequel if there is one.

The performers of the soul :: The two leading actors, Henry Golding and Andred Koji seems to be perfectly suited for the roles, and they seem to go on with the action sequences with relative ease, especially the latter who seems to blend in from the beginning itself. Rachel Nichols who played Scarlett has been replaced by Samara Weaving, and it does seem to be a nice change – there is still only a little to be done for her here, even though she gets some of the action. Sienna Miller has been replaced by Ursula Corbero, and let us hope that this time the story won’t have the dumn romance angle, and what was ridiculous about the character played by Sienna won’t be repeated here – Ursula does make a fine entry here, and there is some nice action for her too. Haruka Abe nicely blends into her role of the security in charge of the ninjas, while Takehiro Hira has his interesting moments as the antagonist. The two masters played by Iko Uwais and Peter Mensah remains interesting too. Along with the same, Eri Ishida as the grandmother comes as a surprise package in the action scenes too.

How it finishes :: It seems that this movie will serve as a new beginning, with the origins stories coming one’s way. The earlier movies of GI Joe were entertaining for sure, but it never really used the strengths to the best advantage, and there was even some strange romantic sides to them. This movie could serve as a better beginning for a franchise reminding us of all the toys that we had during our childhood – I still have them in the showcase of the house. Well, there are not many movies which can bring such a nostalgia from figures – actually, there is no other which I can remember. In that case, this film would serve nicely to bring more into the series. Let us hope that this new coming won’t be confused as the earlier journey with the toys. But as this is based on toys, we can only hope for the best, not for it to haunt us. Until then, let us be prepared by watching this movie on Amazon Prime Video in advance. You always have space for movies like these, at least as the big entertainers full of action and style.

Release date: 22nd July 2021
Running time: 121 minutes
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Ursula Corbero, Samara Weaving, Haruka Abe, Takehiro Hira, Iko Uwais

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.