Asjha Cooper – Movies of the Soul

***Full title: There’s Someone Inside Your House

Vampire Owl: Is there someone inside the castle?

Vampire Bat: Yes, Uncle Dracula is inside the castle.

Vampire Owl: He is always inside the castle. I am talking about others.

Vampire Bat: You are trying to say that there is a serial killer inside?

Vampire Owl: I am saying that there could be someone inside that we don’t want.

Vampire Bat: Everyone is welcome in the Dracula Castle.

Vampire Owl: Except werewolves, zombies and the northern witches.

Vampire Bat: They don’t really visit us anyway.

Vampire Owl: The war has been the reason for that.

Vampire Bat: War was not forever. Hostility is. They remain hostile to us.

[Gets a paneer puffs and three cups of iced tea].

What is the movie about? :: Jackson Pace (Markian Tarasiuk) who is alone at his home, as his parents and sister have gone to watch a game of American football. He senses that there is someone in the house, and almost calls the emergency number. There are photos of him beating up another student named Caleb Greeley (Burkely Duffield), and someone wearing a mask like Caleb’s face turns up and murders him. People have their doubts that it was Caleb who murdered Jackson due to that incident, as things were not that great between them. As Caleb was at the football game, they feel that he might have hired a killer. Makani Young (Sydney Park) is a mostly unhappy girl from the same educational institution, bothered about the past, and is someone who has a small circle of friends. Alexandra (Asjha Cooper), Zachariah (Dale Whibley), Darby (Jesse LaTourette) and Rodrigo (Diego Josef) are her best friends, who have their own speculation about the murder which happened, with more than one suspect on the line.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Oliver Larsson (Theodore Pellerin) is Makani’s ex-boyfriend, but she want nothing to do with him, not even replying to his chats anymore. Zachariah is hated by almost everyone for his rich land developer father. Katie Koons (Sarah Dugdale) is the next one to be murdered though, as she was preparing the space inside the church for Jackson’s funeral programme. The whole school is interviewed by the police department, but it seems that the cops still have no clue about the murderer. Makani has some secrets from her past, which comes in her dreams. She continues to evade Oliver because she doesn’t want anybody to know that she has been in love with someone whom most of the college considered to be a sociopath. Zachariah is holding a party at the same time, where the students end up telling each other, their secrets. But it only makes a fine place of interest for the killer who has everyone at the same place, including the person who could be his next target.

The defence of There’s Someone Inside Your House :: There is the fine slasher feeling that There’s Someone Inside the House provides from the beginning stages itself. It doesn’t waste much of time getting into action, and we have the killings begin early enough, as there is no wasted time during these one and half hours of action. The first murder sets things going, and then there are others which follow nicely. The message goes like one’s past coming back to haunt the person, those terrible things which were directed at different human beings – quite a natural thing when we consider the inherent evil of humanity, which is hugged by the killer in this case. The twists are created in an interesting manner, and with red herrings being thrown here and there, we don’t guess the final killer, after doubting the other characters well enough. There’s Someone Inside the House is certainly a good step towards reviving this genre which required some good movies all the time, and rarely did it get them as strong as required.

Positives and negatives :: There is a little bit of deviation that does happen here and there, as far as the movie’s totality is concerned. The title is also divergent from what actually happens within the movie, for this is more than a few murders happening inside a house. The movie does talk about people who have everything in life, and still are not satisfied, as well as those who judge, for no appropriate reason – all of these are cases of inherent evil being present at all times. The story does feel a little bit deviating at times, but you know that as a horror slasher flick, this will come back to its strengths. Some characters could have also been better used, even though you are always focusing on the blood and gore with a slasher. You know how far such horror can go, and with tight focus on the story, more can always make an impact. This proves to be engaging with the content, reminding you of the need for this kind of horror as much as the usual things with ghosts, demons and others. It is the kind of movie that one can watch over a box of popcorn, and enjoy without thinking too much about it.

The performers of the soul :: Sydney Park leads the way among the performances, as a girl with a past, and as someone who has trouble with her world. She goes through the horror with ease, bringing to light the possibilities of her becoming a quality scream queen in the future. Theodore Pellerin provides some fine support as the misunderstood boy who is blamed for different things. He is also the person who becomes the red herring in comparison with the others, as most of them don’t even come to close to being suspected for the murders. Asjha Cooper provides some support, but makes not that much of an interesting character. Jesse LaTourette becomes more of someone of interest. Sarah Dugdale’s short presence before being killed is memorable, and one would have wanted to see more from her. Dale Whibley plays the rich boy who feels that he is blamed for being the son of a rich man, while Diego Josef has a shorter stay. Andrew Dunbar plays the rather clueless police officer who only gets more confused.

How it finishes :: There’s Someone Inside the House works as one interesting slasher horror film like Fear Street: 1994, Fear Street: 1978 and Fear Street: 1666. It is not always to go on and make a horror film in slasher mode well enough – a much more difficult job than creating the world of The Conjuring, The Nun, Annabelle, Sinister, Insidious and others, which are the cases of regular horror that everyone knows about. The slasher horror rarely gets the credit that it deserves, and they are often better suited for the purpose of fear, because they do feel more real with the killers around. It deals with the idea of inherent evil better, as you know that humans are capable of more evil than the demons and spirits at all times. Humanity’s love for evil and its justification has always let the demons to be disappointed that they couldn’t be that evil, not serving their life’s purpose well enough. These slasher horror movies are testimony to human evil, especially these movies which don’t have a supernatural killer on the hunt.

Release date: 6th October 2021 (Netflix)
Running time: 96 minutes
Directed by: Patrick Brice
Starring: Sydney Park, Theodore Pellerin, Asjha Cooper, Jesse LaTourette, Diego Josef, Sarah Dugdale, Burkely Duffield, Dale Whibley, Markian Tarasiuk, Zane Clifford, William Edward, Emilija Baranac, Ivy Matheson, Kayla Heller, Andrew Dunbar, Tedra Rogers, David Lewis, Jade Falco, William MacDonald, Tally Rodin, Anthony Timpano, Brittany Hobson

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: I thought this would be dark as night.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that they meant the exact same thing.

Vampire Owl: Yet, night is not black. It is just dark due to the absence of light.

Vampire Bat: I didn’t know that you were that interested in being exact.

Vampire Owl: Well, the are going to deal with the vampires. So they better be.

Vampire Bat: These are not really our type of vampires.

Vampire Owl: When they talk about real vampires, it has to be about us.

Vampire Bat: They are preferring variations these days.

Vampire Owl: Such a ridiculous human world. No wonder they have the virus.

Vampire Bat: Maybe they did create the virus. We cannot be sure.

[Gets a chicken puffs and three cups of iced tea].

What is the movie about? :: In the beginning, it is seen that a homeless man who is searching for cans is attacked by a group of three vampires who show no mercy. At the same time, in the same city of New Orleans, Shawna (Asjha Cooper), a teenage girl lives with her father Steven (Derek Roberts) and her big brother Jamal (Frankie Smith) as the mother Denise (Kenneisha Thompson) is living apart after becoming a drug addict. At the same time, there are many things going on the streets, including protests, with the distant possibility of riots too. Pedro (Frabizio Guido) who is her best friend forces her to be close to Chris (Mason Beauchamp) on whom she has a big crush, but that doesn’t seem to be a good idea, with her not being of his interest, and she also coming up against vampires who attacks her, but leaves when a car comes to the area. That leaves her scared as she feels that she would turn into a bat or a vampire. Along with the disappointment of not getting the attention of Chris after a talk, she is not afraid of noy being human anymore.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: In the morning, she sees that she is not affected by sunlight, unlike what she had read about. She feels that there is something vampiric about the place where her mother was staying, and when she reaches there with a doubting Pedro, they find out that Denise was bitten too. But unlike her, Denise is quick to transform into a vampire, leading to the curtains being taken off, only to have her burnt till death. As New Orleans is full of strange beliefs, and a lot of spiritual and magical stuff, she decides to get the help of some people who have some expertise in the same – the police have no idea about what has happened. Instead of going to the usual voodoo and hoodoo practitioners, they go to Granya (Abbie Gayle) who is supposed to be the great vampire expert. They still base their assumptions on vampire fiction, but they do feel that there is some idea about the same, and a sympathetic Chris also joins the team. But are they enough?

The defence of Black as Night :: We do have another addition to the vampire tales, and this does add up when we look at it that way. The first scene does add some power, and that adds the scary feeling that something interesting is surely going to happen soon enough – the film’s strength seems to be the beginning rather than the rest. The setting of New Orleans is all very good, and it keeps us interested enough, with the feeling that something could happen at any particular point. It could be suitable for the teenage audience more, like Twilight was largely successful with them, even though not with those who have traditionally liked the vampires through great works of fiction brought to us as classics from history. The ending provides us with a chance to have another sequel, and the same can keep us hoping for a better film to come later, without the extra nonsense social commentary added in between. If you are looking for one more vampire film in a world which seems to have moved away from the earlier vampire interest, this one will be a reminder.

The claws of flaw :: The emotional side is rather too weak, and we often have nothing to care about here, not just the protagonist, but also the remaining ones. There is also a lot more to care about when you are making a vampire movie – it is not like coming up with a creature movie with demons or aliens. It doesn’t have that vampire power which a movie like this should have possessed. When vampire terror should have been effectively, it does struggle to do the same, and often holds back without any particular reason. The opportunity to make this a horror comedy is not used well enough either. The movie is indeed a master in making the opportunities go missing. The chance to add some message about inequality and race in there also goes missing, and the usual good use of history in vampire works also falls flat. You cannot use social commentary where it doesn’t fit, and this one keeps pouring that at all places without success. It is also very quick to have us tired of all these things repeating, and has no big action happen unlike expectations.

Performers of the soul :: Asjha Cooper leads the way here as the leading lady, and happens to be okay in her work. Then there is also Mason Beauchamp and Frabizio Guido who seems to be leading the film together. But the one who seems to be more suitable to this situation is Abbie Gayle, with a character who is very much into the vampires. The others do have more screen time, but she seems to play the role of more relevance in comparison. The one face which seems to be somewhat familiar might be that of Keith David, who plays one of the major character really well, and so does Craig Tate, both of them being memorable people of darkness in the film. Sammy Nagi Njuguna and Tunde Laleye also have some notable roles around here, even though they are of significance only in the last moments of the film. Frankie Smith and Derek Roberts adds on with some less utilized characters, all of them seemingly reduced as the movie lasts less than one and half hours, rather too less for a film which seems to try to look back into some turbulent history – it is a shame.

How it finishes :: Here we have another vampire tale, even though the focus here is not that strong, and it is not the regular vampire thing as we usually know it. If there was better innovation, this could have been one fine vampire movie. Throughout the film, you know that vampires deserve better – films like Interview with the Vampire and Byzantium has already gone through the vampire world with class, and the Underworld series had the right vampire action. This one never really gets strong enough. Black as Night, despite seemingly having something in store, doesn’t really have the same. As we are going through the Corona virus pandemic which never seems to end, and all the natural disasters which never seems to move way, we do need some movies to fill up, and this one might do just fine for some people. After all, theatres have not opened in this part of the world yet, and you know that all the things that we are to fear will stay long enough, we have the intuition.

Release date: 1st October 2021 (Amazon Prime Video)
Running time: 87 minutes
Directed by: Maritte Lee Go
Starring: Mason Beauchamp, Asjha Cooper, Theodus Crane, Keith David, Abbie Gayle, Frabizio Guido, Tunde Laleye, Al Mitchell, Sammy Nagi Njuguna, Andrew Penrow, Nicole Barre, Derek Roberts, Joseph Singletary, Frankie Smith, Tim J Smith, Craig Tate, Kenneisha Thompson