From Sweden, with love, The Conference.

I more or less picked this at random when I saw it recommended on my Netflix account. A straightforward horror movie that looked good, so I gave it a shot.

The Conference is about a group of co-workers from a local municipality on a team building retreat at a camp in the woods. They have just completed a major real estate project proposal to build a mall and construction is about to start. Lina has recently returned from a leave of absence and during a meeting to finalize the paperwork, she notices that the contract has changed since she last saw it and her signature is on it. She never signed this paperwork. She starts asking questions and the politics of the group swing into motion. Some don’t care, some want to know more, and some say everything is fine and it’s time to celebrate their latest success.

While Lina has questions, someone else shows up with an ax to grind and starts killing the attendees one by one. This leads to a deeper dive into what’s been going on behind the scenes as the group gets smaller and the goal to survive becomes harder to accomplish.

It’s a little bit like watching The Office merged with Friday the 13th which works surprisingly well. I can’t imagine a big budget for this, but every dime can be seen on screen. Nothing about the movie looks cheap. The cast is great, the cinematography is terrific, great sets and the horror gags are largely very good. The one makeup effect that I consider the highlight is when one of the men runs into a wire trap in the woods that gives him a huge gash across his forehead. It looks gross, realistic, and painful. The actor really sells it as he frantically runs around for the remainder of the movie.

This was a nice palate cleanser. Nothing complicated, just a straight-shot plot of corporate subterfuge and revenge. Yeah, it doesn’t do anything new for the genre, but it hits all of the right beats that make for a good horror movie.

No One Will Save You is an interesting alien invasion flick. The biggest element that sets it apart is that there is no dialog. It’s a heck of a goal that is hard to pull off, to say the least. Writer and director Brian Duffield largely pulls it off because lead actor Kaitlyn Dever who plays Brynn is so good.

Brynn is a young woman who lives alone in a rather rural area. The main town she lives near appears to be small, with one main street where all of the businesses are located. Her house is all alone in the woods. Going by the few shots of her road, you can’t see another mailbox or driveway. So when things pop off, she’s not running to the neighbors for help…not that they would welcome her with open arms.

At the start of the movie, it’s made clear that something happened in Brynn’s past that’s made her a loner. When she goes into town to do some errands, she’s anxious about being in public. All the side glances and murmurs aimed her way make for a rather uncomfortable experience. It’s hard to tell what this could be about. She looks like the girl next door who wouldn’t say or do anything bad to anybody. The way the scene is presented made me wonder if her anxiety was making her overreact. Maybe she was being paranoid, thus noticing unrelated things and attributing it to everyone being wary of her.

There is a lot of great foreshadowing done at the very beginning that quickly comes into focus before the second act starts. The aforementioned anxiety and then there’s the odd circular mark burned into her front lawn. It looks like it’s from the sun or animal urine. She puts some water on it when she notices and goes about her day. When she returns to the safety of her home, she gets a visitor at night.

And that visitor is an alien from another planet. I’m talking classic Grey. Humanoid with two arms and legs, a big head, two large black eyes, nostrils, and a mouth. Skinny too. One of the best parts of this movie is the phenomenal introduction to these creatures. I thought they’d be hidden from view for longer, but it works well. It’s an encounter, the alien isn’t trying to hide so the worry goes quickly from “What is that outside?” to “That’s not human and it is in the house, right by the stairs!”

The visitor is aggressively curious and Brynn wants nothing to do with that. It has wild telekinesis powers too, so there is a scary difference in strength despite Brynn being similar in height (my man clearly does not lift). So she manages the fight or flight response and survives the night, which is a wild time. In the morning, she makes it back into town to get help at the police station and that’s when the next layer of Brynn’s past is peeled back.

The movie deftly moves between and intertwines the mystery of her conflicted past and the mystery and danger of the alien invasion. Brynn is truly alone battling for her mind and body for the entire movie and it’s a harrowing experience. She’s constantly being chased, even when an alien isn’t around.

The action scenes are done well, I frequently found myself wide-eyed in anticipation. Brynn is a smart character who does logical things. She doesn’t get in trouble because of boneheaded decisions that were written to create inorganic danger and tension. While the CGI is mostly excellent, the lighting of the creatures frequently doesn’t match the scenery, so it’s obvious they’re digital. There are also mannerisms–the way the aliens communicate–that came off as really goofy to me. I definitely laughed when no laughs were intended, so that knocks down the spooky factor a few pegs. The sound design is 100% fantastic though, which helped suspend my disbelief when the visuals didn’t.

I’m on the fence about the ending. I thought I’d settle one way or the other, but days later from seeing the credits, I’m still not sure. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but I was hoping for more. I don’t think it reaches the highs of the rest of the movie.

Totally Killer is another Blumhouse production with a wacky concept to send you off on a wild ride. 17-year-old Julia Hughes is the daughter of Pam and Blake, who were part of a group of friends in high school that survived the rampage of the “Sweet Sixteen Killer.” 35 years later, the killer comes back, killing Pam the same way as the previous victims, with 16 stab wounds with a knife. Julia is then attacked by the masked killer and is accidentally sent back in time to 1987 where she tries to stop the killer to save her mother’s life.

This movie wisely doesn’t take itself too seriously. It feels a lot like the original Scream as it references a lot of horror movies and it balances out the mayhem with the culture shock of a Gen Z girl being thrown into 1980s society. Since the crux of the movie is time travel and saving people in the future, there are a lot of Back to the Future vibes as well (which is referenced by Julia). The conceit of getting Julia back in time works well enough, but it is a scenario that you just need to go along with.

Julia is played by Kiernan Shipka, who I know best from Mad Men (Don Draper’s daughter). She’s terrific, playing the character just right as she goes from ordinary girl to heartbroken daughter, to fish-out-of-water heroine. She puts some serious work in as she tries to figure things out to keep everyone alive while often running for her life.

The killer is in the Ghostface archetype who more or less only hides in closets to ambush their victims. The deaths are very straightforward and simple, so nothing on the intensity scale of the Halloween or Friday the 13th franchises. It’s just above PG-13 in terms of gore content. The Sweet Sixteen Killer has a stupid costume and the amount of comedy far outweighs the horror, so I didn’t find this scary at all. Scream does that more effectively. That said, Totally Killer still does the genre justice. It works well as a who-is-it, like Scream, and the killer is a menacing and intimidating presence. The deaths are effective when they happen. The cast is great and I did get attached to a few of them. I think that comes from Julia interacting with all of these people she knows as adults as kids her age, so the character building is done much better here compared to many slasher movies.

I’ve mentioned Scream a lot, but this movie’s tone and presentation are most similar to Happy Death Day (which I’m a fan of. The sequel, not so much). The main characters even look so similar they could be confused as sisters. Totally Killer actually feels like alt-Happy Death Day, which was also produced by Blumhouse. I don’t mean that as a slight in any way, in fact, you could watch them as a double feature and have a great time.

Can we talk about how good of an actor Dave Bautista is? For me, he’s the biggest highlight of Knock at the Cabin. The guy has tremendous range, he can do comedy and drama, and despite how recognizable he is (like how you could pick Dwayne Johnson out of a crowd) I forget his real name and personality and only see the character on screen.

This movie is an adaptation of the book The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. It gives you a rather mind bending scenario to chew on and make a decision about: What would it take for you, with only a few hours., to believe that you could save mankind from impending doom?

A young girl named Wen is on vacation with her adopted dads, Eric and Andrew. The ride to the cabin was fun, and the cabin and surrounding environment are beautiful. Not long after they arrive, Wen is sitting outside in front of the cabin when a large man walks up to her and starts talking to her. She’s wary at first but the man is friendly and speaks kindly. He seems okay but then he starts talking about things–scary stuff about threats to the world that make her run inside to her parents. She immediately tells them about the big weird guy and before Eric and Andrew can process the torrent of information she yells out, there’s a knock at the cabin door. A man calmly introduces himself through the door, asking to be let in so they can talk. Taking a look through the window, the parents see 4 adults with very big, melee weapons.

As you can guess, the drama starts from here. The strangers tell their story that the apocalypse is only moments away and Eric and Andrew are the only people who can stop it…with one of their lives. That conversation goes the way you’d likely react. These people are nuts, go away and leave us alone. The strangers break into the cabin to better sell their ideas. There are some negative reactions to that, as you can imagine.

I found Knock to be a compelling movie. This is an M. Night Shyamalan joint and he’s been putting out some good projects in recent years (I like Old, the movie he made just before this one) and this thankfully continues the trend. It’s a wild concept that lives or dies on the dialogue. Casting is integral too, which is why I brought up Dave Bautista at the top. If the actors can’t sell the premise, you’ll never buy into it. Bautista plays the leader, Leonard, and he is totally committed to this role. I came to believe that he completely believes everything he says. It’s crazy stuff to imagine happening to you. He’s asking you to either kill yourself or your spouse right now with outlandish claims. But he says the proof will start coming if they continue to wait. All four of them have come to this cabin through ordained faith and are ready to prove it. They aren’t important, the rest of humanity is.

When the “proof” starts appearing every bit of rightful skepticism comes out. It’s easy to dismiss. Eric and Andrew work every angle they can think of to keep Wen safe and get the hell out of there. And then the horror escalates and more “proof” is given. It starts to become compelling and makes you start thinking…what if…?

I’m leaving out a lot of stuff because I think it’s best for viewers to go in as blind as possible so the premises can pick you up the way it’s designed to. It may or may not, but that’s the challenge this movie sets out to do. It worked on me. I think this was a great ride that has some fantastic character work. It goes pretty deep on belief and the human condition. Fight or flight, rationalization, love, anger, purpose, sacrifice, the stages of grief. It’s a rather intense journey that I was happy to go on in the end.

We all know and love Ethan Hawke from his decades in the biz but watch out for him in The Black Phone. He is straight-up scary. I can’t remember him playing the bad guy before (I need to brush up on his filmography) but man is he good at it.

Ethan Hawke plays “The Grabber” in this horror/thriller movie that takes place in the late ’70s. As the nickname suggests, he grabs his victims off the street of the otherwise quiet suburban neighborhood. The town is on edge and the police aren’t close to finding who is doing it let alone finding where the kids are being taken.

Finney and Gwen live with their dad and things at home aren’t…great. Finn and his sister have to protect each other inside and outside of the home. Finn feels the personal threat of The Grabber first when one of his friends, Robin, disappears. One afternoon, when Finn is walking alone, he’s approached by a man wearing a black hat and a theatrical-looking face mask. He says he’s a magician and he drives the big van because it has all of his performance stuff in there. It’s a good cover to get a child close…

Finn then wakes up in a bare basement that’s been made soundproof. Just one door, a broken black phone on the wall, and a dirty old mattress on the floor. Now Finn has to fight for his life. He gets help from the outside and the inside of the house. Gwen doesn’t leave things up to the police and does everything in her power to find her brother. She rules. Inside the house, Finn’s other lifeline comes when the broken phone rings. The Grabber’s previous victims talk to Finn through the phone.

The Black Phone is a really cool mix of a grounded police and survival thriller with supernatural elements. I was wary of the ghost idea coming into this, and I’m surprised a how well it works. The way it’s introduced and how each victim reaches out and expands the story comes across as believable and a great way to push character development and the plot along. The spirits that visit Finn are angry, so they aren’t really pleasant experiences for him or the audience. The suspense is great from the start with the setup that The Grabber is active, nearby, and very dangerous. Once Finn is captured, that suspense turns into tremendous tension.

Ethan Hawke has such a presence whenever he’s on screen. He has a weird, disturbing voice and has multiple masks that cover different parts of his face. It’s almost like he’s making a stage play out of his madness. I also liked that he doesn’t go over the top with The Grabber. He always feels like a real threat that could be preying on any town USA. The scenes with him and Finn (Mason Thames) are captivating. The threats and cat-and-mouse aspects create terrific action sequences.

The film also has older filmmaking aesthetics that go beyond the decades-old setting. Just about everything looks aged and worn out. It doesn’t really have that super sharp digital image that most movies have today. I think a lot of it comes from how the scenes are lit. The special effects all look real too which is another bonus.

The movie nails the landing too so this is a complete experience from start to finish. This is one of the best films Blumhouse Pictures has produced.

Let’s kick off the spooky season with a classic monster!

Werewolves Within is an adaptation of a multiplayer video game released a few years ago. In the game, all the players are sitting around a campfire and the goal is to figure out who the werewolf is. As the werewolf, you want to throw everyone’s suspicions onto anyone but you. The movie spins the gameplay into a more traditional whodunnit plot where a few residents in a small remote town get trapped together, and a monster starts picking them off one by one.

This was a lot of fun to watch with the slow build-up and ratcheting tension. Everything seems normal and then odd things start happening. Questions are asked, the first person is attacked and then the suspicions and paranoia move in full force. Everyone is a suspect and that makes the people just as dangerous as the werewolf. I liked the Jaws approach they took with the werewolf, keeping it basically hidden for the entire movie. Not very violent or gory, but the blood does flow a few times.

Simple premise, small environment, and smart production decisions make for an expensive-looking movie that actually had a very small budget. A lot of fun, and I highly recommend it.

Werewolf By Night is technically not a movie. It’s less than an hour long and is officially called by Marvel/Disney a TV Special. It doesn’t matter though because it’s totally rad and Marvel needs to make more adaptations like this.

I’ve never heard of this comic before, and I remember when this adaptation came out last year but I quickly forgot about it. I never hear anyone talking about it either which is a shame because it’s so much fun. Maybe now that it’s Halloween time this will get mentioned more.

With the death of Ulysses Bloodstone, his wife Verussa calls in the top monster hunters of their secret group for his memorial. Their daughter, Elsa, is one of them and tensions are high between mother and daughter from decisions Elsa has made. The memorial quickly becomes a deadly competition for a powerful relic that is stuck on the creature known as…Ted.

One in the order is more than they seem, hiding a secret that is exposed with deadly results.

The show goes on the road real quick with this one! Everyone is gathered together within minutes of the start and after everyone is introduced and Verussa lays out the competition, it’s a mad dash to the thrilling end. Much like Werewolves Within, this takes place in closed quarters with characters running around from room to room between intense standoffs. Well-directed and great production design with the black and white presentation that highlights the deep contrasts between shadow and light. A cool take on horror that goes a little farther than what you typically see in the consequences of violence in Marvel shows. The fight and weapon choreography is well done too. A pleasant surprise that’s perfect for October viewing.