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[SXSW Review] ‘Body at Brighton Rock’ Effectively Fun, Spooky Night in the Woods

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Brighton Rock

I’ve been lost in the woods. It’s a complete hoot let me tell ya. There is a firm grip of fear placed upon you and the spiraling thoughts of “hey I might die out here” combined with a heightened state of overall “Oh, fuck.” Roxanne Benjamin’s (Southbound, XX, VHS) latest film Body at Brighton Rock captures those elements succinctly making for a damned spooky night in the woods and a fun night at a midnight movie.

The story centers on Wendy (Karina Fontes) junior park ranger. When we first meet Wendy, who is stumbling in late for her shift, it’s clear that she isn’t the park ranger’s biggest asset. In a move to gain some respect from her fellow co-workers, Wendy switches duties with another ranger. This tasks her with hiking out quite a ways and switching some advisory signs.

Once she looses her direction and stumbles upon a dead body in the woods it becomes an all out fight for survival.

Wendy stepping into the woods is essentially our protagonist stepping into the old dark house. We all know this is going to go bad for her but are along for the ride. Fontes gives a memorable performance as Wendy. Her choices for the character make Wendy a totally lovable, relatable protagonist and one that we can all cheer for… even when she is prone to mistake after mistake.

The palettes and tone of the film are eclectic and change from entirely playful frames that are reminiscent of early John Hughes’ sensibilities complete with a new wave driven soundtrack, to the later dread inducing claustrophobic, dark confines of the woods.  

The sound design is incredible as well. Similar to 63’s The Haunting, Body at Brighton Rock’s sound becomes its own character. Unexpected strings shrieking adds to complete fluid and effective jump scares. It’s constantly evolving and experimental as heck and never allows the audience to rest.

Benjamin who writes and directs, plays with several components as well as possible and fully realized antagonists… or possible antagonist. It’s hard to know exactly what direction the film is going to take making it a treat for genre fans like myself, who tend to see the blueprint of films early on. It manages to keep you guessing by combining real corporeal fears with moments of psychosis and skewed dream logic.

Body at Brighton Rock is a tight, fun survival thriller with a lot of spookiness going on in its runtime. It’s a feast of shifting genre pieces that make for a terrifying night in the woods and an ending that effectively sticks with you. It is an entirely a two fisted approach to a lost in the woods Twilight Zone episode and I’m entirely here for it.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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