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Review: ‘Black Water: Abyss’ Flounders In The Dark

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There’s just something about predator animals and natural disasters that really strikes a nerve with the primal psyche. Asa species, we have advanced to the point where we don’t have to worry about something above us on the food chain taking a bite out of us. But yet, the fear remains. Which also explains why real life incidents of animal attacks are so newsworthy. Every time a bear or a shark attacks someone, that’s a headline. As was the case when in 2003 when a trio of young people went out into the Northern Australian wilderness and found themselves under siege by a voracious crocodile. This served as the basis for the 2007 movie, Black Water. Now, some 13 years later, a sequel arises from the outback with Black Water: Abyss.

 

Taking the setting back to Northern Australia, Jennifer (Jessica McNamee) spurred on by her daredevil boyfriend Eric (Luke Mitchell) and friends Yolanda, Viktor, and Cash (Amali Golden, Benjamin Hoetjes, Anthony J. Sharpe) decide to go spelunking in the wilderness. Descending into a newly formed and seemingly untouched cave system. As misfortune would have it, a storm hits, flooding the caves and sealing them in. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they have some very hungry reptile guests to deal with.

Image via IMDB

Director Andrew Traucki co-directed the original story of crocodile survival in Black Water and did work on the similar animal isolated danger of The Reef featuring swimmers vs sharks. Now, returning solo, he has gone back to his roots with this spiritual sequel. Unfortunately despite the potential of the setting and plot and the everlasting terror of crocodiles, the movie in’t that enthralling. In the wake of such movies as Crawl and 47 Meters Down that managed to up the stakes to as high of a level as they could go. So, while Black water: Abyss has an interesting premise that promises a lot of danger, the action and horror of the crocodile foes tends to slog on.

A major focus of the plot often falls to the characters many dysfunctions and in-fighting as they struggle to survive. Which is good to filling out their character’s depths more, but at the same time falls into soap opera like drama. Such as Viktor’s recovery from cancer and some rather overt twists and turns in the characters relationships and revelations. And let’s face facts, we’re here for the monsters, in this case, the crocs. With the way the movie is filmed we don’t get as much of them as we’d like and the scares aren’t wholly effective.

Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are actually at the beginning during the prologue of sorts. A couple of Japanese tourists (Louis Toshio Okada, Rumi Kikuchi) are bickering in the outback when they accidentally crash down into the croc cave systems below. It makes for a real burst of adrenaline despite being short. And the movie does make good use of the Jaws like credo of the less you see, the scarier it is. Some of the more tense moments are when characters have to wade through the occupied waters, unsure when one of those scaly beasts will attack.

It’s not really groundbreaking, but if you’re in the mood for a quick story of spelunkers vs crocodiles underground, this is for you.

Black Water: Abyss hits VOD on August 7th, 2020

Image via IMDB

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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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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