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Netflix’s ‘Locke & Key’ is a Dark Fantasy with Tons of Potential

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Locke & Key

Locke & Key is out on Netflix today! The series, based on the comics by Joe Hill, is a dark fantasy that will keep you guessing until the final episode.

After Rendell Locke (Bill Heck) is murdered, his family moves into his childhood home. Key House is a sprawling mansion that has been in the family for generations. The mansion is filled with secrets, of course, and soon mother Nina (Darby Stanchfield) and her three children Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) find themselves in the middle of a mystery that will test them to their core.

As in the source material, there are a series of mystical keys hidden inside the home, each with its own magical purpose. The Anywhere Key, inserted into any door, allows you to travel anywhere in the world that you can visualize in your mind. The Head Key, inserted into the back of someone’s neck, will allow you to step into their mind with them and experience memories, gain knowledge, etc. The Music Box Key, inserted into a magical music box, allows whoever turns the key to control the actions of another person.

What at first seems like a whimsical idea, however, soon turns dark as they realize a mysterious woman named Dodge (Laysla De Oliveira) is also after the keys and she’ll stop at nothing to obtain them.

Laysla De Oliveira as Dodge in Locke & Key, out on Netflix today!

Adaptation is always an interesting process, and the showrunners on the series seem to have mostly made the right decisions in the case of Locke & Key.

They give us just enough information to drive one episode to the next while holding just enough back to make us question where the path is leading. It’s a great balance except for multiple moments in the center of some episodes when the pacing seriously slows down. Exposition is key to this story, but it seems to come in a jerky fashion that I hope smooths out in a second season of the show.

The central cast is excellent and the characters themselves are fleshed out quite well. We understand their motivations and even their bad decisions and it’s hard not to root for the Locke family, in general.

It’s a bit of a cliche to say that Key House, itself, is a character, but it’s almost unavoidable in talking about the series. It whispers, tempts, and actively hides secrets from its residents. There are moments when it seems to almost breathe, and in those moments, it truly feels alive.

Unfortunately, most of the secondary characters within the series are not given the same treatment.

Aaron Ashmore (The Thaw) turns in a decent performance as Rendell’s brother, Duncan, but he’s given so little to do throughout most of the series that it is easy to forget he even exists until he shows up once again.

Tyler and Kinsey’s classmates are reduced to flimsy two-dimensional stereotypes–the smart brunette, the cute boy with a crush, the mean blonde–when they could have been so much more and actually contributed to the storytelling of the series. Again, hopefully, we will see more from them should the series be renewed for a second season.

Despite these minor setbacks, however, Locke & Key is a fun watch with genuine chilling moments mixed with just the right amount of family drama and trauma to keep the viewer engaged.

The showrunners also include a few Easter eggs and special appearances by a couple of horror legends…but I’ll let you watch to find them yourselves.

All ten episodes of Locke & Key are available on Netflix today. Check out the series trailer below and let us know if you’ll be watching in the comments!

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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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