News
TIFF Review: ‘The Platform’ Takes it to a Whole Other Level
For Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s first feature film, he did not hold back. The Platform (El Hoyo) is a daring debut, melding political allegory and sci-fi drama with some serious bite. Beautifully paced, the film is told in three acts, each more revealing than the last.
In The Platform, a man wakes up in a dystopian vertical prison with a stranger as a cellmate. Each day, a platform of food descends from above, containing only whatever was not eaten by the upper levels. Every few weeks, the prisoners are switched to another level. As the level number increases, the chance of getting any form of sustenance is grimly diminished. No one knows how many levels there are, but there’s definitely not enough food for all of them.
The script was adapted from a stage play, and it certainly reads as such. The Platform follows two characters at a time as they unravel exposition, weaving it to create the world of the film. It’s a good, tight knit they’re using; the audience learns the rules of the platform at the same time as the lead character.
The first two acts are very self-contained, allowing us to develop an understanding of the prison. It’s not until the third act of the film that the writers carry the story beyond what had been written in the stage play, allowing full creative freedom to stretch their limbs and run.
The Platform is very well structured, setting up conflict that will circle back around, and explaining the intricacies of the system in a clear and concise way. Like a stage play, characters slip in and out, serving a very specific and precise purpose. By shifting the characters to different levels, we can explore the heavy consequences of the lower cells. This, in turn, gives our main character a reason to shift his expectations and ideals as he experiences the darker side of the prison.
Similar to Cube, Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 science fiction cult classic, The Platform really exists within one set. It’s very economical, both in design and function. Its brutalist, barren interior allows us to really focus on the performances and the plot. Each character is allowed to bring one item into the platform prison with them; these props are a perfect representation of their owner, communicating their empathy, ambition, and sinister intent.
Iván Massagué delivers a stunning and soulful performance that is utterly captivating. As the film progresses, his tortured stare pierces through you, communicating volumes of trauma. He has the broken and slowly mending soul of a man who was once full of vigor and hope, and it’s beautifully compelling to watch him traverse through the rocky terrain of these different emotions. He is utterly devastating, and it’s very effective.
The social commentary is not subtle at all — the upper levels eat a luxurious and meticulously prepared meal with no concern for the people underneath them. The lower levels starve, suffer, and fight for every opportunity they get. Those in the middle are able to scrape by, knowing that they could drop down to a lower spot at any moment while striving to reach a higher level.
Any attempt to create a system that ensures a reasonable portion for all is sabotaged by the selfish ill will of the other prisoners. The Platform shines a light on the inherent inequality of the system that we live in and does so in a way that makes it abundantly clear to the audience.
The Platform is set on this heat, bringing it to a slow boil. Throughout the film we’re given a taste of how vicious this prison can be. It all builds up to the explosive third act which jettisons the audience through a battle field of emotion and violence. It’s truly something to behold.
Any genre fan that appreciates a tight story with a sinister twist — think Saw, Cube, and The Raid — should absolutely check this one out. It’s a must see dive into the darkness of humanity that will leave you speechless. The film is enriched with shockingly brutal violence and a strong social message. When it comes to self-contained horror, The Platform takes things to a whole other level.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
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.
“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:
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
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.
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.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
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.
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.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
-
News5 days ago
Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film
-
Movies6 days ago
Spider-Man With a Cronenberg Twist in This Fan-Made Short
-
News3 days ago
Perhaps the Scariest, Most Disturbing Series of The Year
-
Movies4 days ago
New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie
-
News4 days ago
Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel
-
Lists3 days ago
Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody
-
Movies4 days ago
‘Founders Day’ Finally Getting a Digital Release
-
Movies4 days ago
New ‘The Watchers’ Trailer Adds More to the Mystery
You must be logged in to post a comment Login