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Kurtis David Harder’s ‘Spiral’ is Unnerving Psychological Horror at Its Best

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Spiral

There is something powerfully insidious about Kurtis David Harder’s new psychological horror film, Spiral. The film* which originally played FrightFest in the UK in 2019 received strong reviews from critics and audiences alike.

Written by Colin Minihan (It Stains the Sands Red) and John Poliquin (Grave Encounters 2), the film takes place in 1995 and centers on Aaron (Ari Cohen) and Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman), a couple who leave the city behind for a small town in hopes of creating a better life for their daughter, Kayla (Jennifer Laporte).

From almost the first moment they arrive, however, something just isn’t right.

The neighbors are a little too awkwardly friendly and supportive. The town eccentrics stare just a bit too long. It is unsettling, and it plants a seed of dread in your stomach that carefully and methodically grows throughout the duration of the film.

Harder and cinematographer Bradley Stuckel (Still/Born) prove themselves time and again throughout Spiral with a meticulous attention to space and character proving that you don’t need walls or bars to make a scene seem claustrophobic. In fact there are times in the film when even the horizon seems to crash down on the characters, and when they move that focus inside, it can be almost unbearable.

The director also seems to wring every last ounce of believable emotion from the central family in this tale.

Bowyer-Chapman in particular gives a stunning performance as Malik. The actor was previously criminally underused in American Horror Story: Apocalypse as Andre Stevens, son of voodoo queen talk show host Dinah Stevens (Adina Porter).

His carefully crafted backstory proves a solid foundation for why he is willing to fight for his family, but it’s the actor’s performance that draws you to the edge of your seat simultaneously rooting for him and covering your eyes as he’s forced to make impossible decisions while everyone, including himself, doubts his own sanity.

Lochlyn Munro (Riverdale) is also rather brilliant as one of the family’s neighbors serving as the equivalent of Bradley Whitford in Get Out. He says all the “right things” which somehow never feel quite right and he sells it completely throughout the film.

What stands out most, and is truly terrifying about this film, is the statement it makes about marginalized communities and the way they’re viewed by those in the majority. The film also explores the long-reaching effects of PTSD, not only on the person suffering from it but also the people around them.

In other hands, it might have become the equivalent of a PSA, but instead of a spotlight, Harder, Minihan, and Poliquin, chose a laser-pointer.

This precision adds to the overall tension of the film without detracting in the least from story and character, and makes the final shocking moments of Spiral a stomach-churning nightmare.

*This review of the film was written in September 2019.

Spiral is now streaming on Shudder.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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