went on a bit of a movie binge over the weekend. i watched the following:
Trap (2024, M Night, thriller)
Incident in a Ghostland (2018, horror)
Hostel (2005, Eli Roth, horror)
Arlington Road (1999, domestic terrorism, thriller - Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins). this was a rewatch but after a 20 odd year gap.
i'll start with arlington road, an enjoyable film with strong performances from robbins and bridges. I tend to associate the latter so much with 'The Dude' that i forget he was a straghtforward hunk back in the day, even though this was released post lebowski. robbins is a solid performer, i had thought he had just quit acting but it seems he is a hollywood outcast due to political beliefs. well paced, keeps you engaged. 7.5/10.
incident was something i hadn't heard of before. quite scary, 2 girls and their mom being attacked by weirdos. strong texas chainsaw vibes. there is a big twist at a certain point in the movie which i won't get into and i think is ok to say without dipping into spoiler country. one maybe two jump scares but largely psychological horror with a dash of creepiness. another 7.5.
Trap - from another Hollywood outcast in M Night (he self funds all his movies) - probably the pick of the bunch. Because we expect M's movies to be guaranteed a twist I won't say too much about this one other than it's about the feds establishing there is a serial killer who is attending a concert (Lady Raven, played by m nights daughter - she's pretty good in it) and they figure they can track him down at the gig, even though it's a big stadium concert. Josh Hartnett is very good in this, haven't really seen much of him - black hawk down springs to mind - though he's been around a long old while. 8/10.
hostel was the most disappointing of the films. not scary at all, excepting maybe the gang of child criminals who were a bit jarring. a bit of gore and maybe 2 or 3 scenes i enjoyed but having known about it and the fact it was quite popular i expected a lot more. Saw (the original) is a much better movie with similar themes, despite a very shaky performance from cary elwes that almost derails it. 4/10.
