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Review: ‘Feral’ Uses a Strong Female Focus to Fight Tired Tropes

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Feral

For horror fans that are tired of werewolves and fed up with zombies, but looking for that same enticing pull of an isolated panic induced by violent contagion, I encourage you to check outĀ Feral from writer/director Mark Young and IFC Midnight.

In Feral, a group of medical students go on a camping trip to celebrate the end of their studies. The three couples include our lead protagonists, Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton – Rob Zombie’s Halloween, Ghost House) and her girlfriend Jules (Olivia Luccardi –Ā It Follows, Channel Zero).

As one would expect with an “into the woods” horror, these kids are not alone out there. A vicious, feral, humanoid creature attacks one of the couples in the middle of the night (immediately following a marriage proposal, no less), leaving him dead and her mortally wounded.

The remaining campers find the bloody scene and escape with their injured friend to find shelter. They encounter Talbot (Lew Temple –Ā The Walking Dead, The Devil’s Rejects) – a local man of the woods – who provides a safe haven as the group splits up to get help.

via JoBlo

Now, I’m just going to take a quick moment to address one of the film’s shortfalls. The secondary characters are kind of cobbled together with slap-dash points of interest in an attempt to make the audience connect with them during their few minutes of screen time.

For example, the marriage proposal. It’s not entirely necessary, but it serves as an easy point to try and attach some kind of emotion to the following attack. The character proposes, then leaves the tent to relieve himself in the woods, and tragedy ensues.

Now, perhaps I’m just being nitpicky, but I feel like if you’re building up to a marriage proposal, you wouldn’t leave 5 seconds later to go to the bathroom. Maybe you’d do that beforehand?

Anyways, logistics of timing your proposal around your bathroom breaks aside, my point is that there are a few moments of haphazardly crammed-in character details. That being said, there are plenty of strong points toĀ Feral that outweigh this missed step.

via Horrorpedia

The concept behind these feral creatures feels fresh. They’re similar to some familiar monsters – zombies, werewolves, and vampires – but as fantastical as the creatures seem, the threat is not supernatural. It’s something new, unknown, and rooted in the very real danger of a mysterious contagion.

While the creatures only come at night, their prowess as hunters means that no one is truly safe after dark. With a mortally wounded friend and no help in sight, our heroines are fighting the clock to survive. As the sun goes down, a prickling tension leaves the viewer watching every shadow for that sinister flicker of movement.

The film itself is kind of likeĀ The Descent by way ofĀ Cabin Fever.Ā Steady action and building intensity keep the pace moving right along.

via YouTube

I recently spoke to Scout Taylor-Compton about FeralĀ and her role as the fiercely capable Alice. She’s a caregiver and a healer, but she’s got a killer instinct (courtesy of her rural upbringing).

Alice and Jules show solid LGBT representation – their relationship headlines in this “couples retreat gone horribly wrong” horror film. These women are a constant and healthy source of support for one another, openly discussing their fears of coming out to family members and providing crisis-mode backup in equal measure.

Alice keeps control and exhibits a great emotional strength, but her confidence falters. Because of this, she’s extraordinarily relatable. Alice is just moving through the crisis one step at a time – she doesn’t have the obnoxious swagger of someone who’s got it all figured out. She knows she’s vulnerable, but she doesn’t let that break her.

via Moviebeasts

Feral has an incredible female focus.Ā I absolutely loved the factĀ that it completely scrapped the male gaze. This film is about women and their relationships and their fight for survival, and a lesser film would have turned that into gratuitous T&A shots and “girl-on-girl action” straight out of a porn keyword search.

Now, a character’s sexuality can beĀ powerful when it’s used well. Take, for example, Wonder Woman’s balance of beauty, compassion, and unstoppable brawn. But, that being said, it’s no secret that horror films tend to use female sexuality to strip away their power. Horror movies are stereotypically known for their scenes of a scantily clad victim traipsing through the scene of the crime.

FeralĀ treated its female characters the same way that it treated the men – they weren’t eye candy; they didn’t use their sexuality as a power play, they were just women.

The film’s climactic finale is not buried in exposition – it opens a wound and lets it breathe.Ā It infects you with this nibbling curiosity; an itch you can’t quite scratch. FeralĀ gets under your skin in a delicious way.

You can watchĀ FeralĀ now in select theatres or VOD. Check out the trailer below.

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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/directorĀ SĆ©bastien VanicekĀ 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. “Heā€™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 theyā€™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 wouldnā€™t notice.Ā 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.Ā 

If youā€™re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing.Ā 

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.Ā 

ā€œUncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you donā€™t sign, thereā€™s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!ā€

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I canā€™t bear it any longer.ā€Ā 

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.

Ā ā€œShe attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,ā€Ā Police Chief FĆ”bio Luiz said in an interview withĀ TV Globo. ā€œOur priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.ā€

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

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