Amityville: No Escape (2016)

(out of 5)

Amityville:  No Escape (2016)
d:  Henrique Couto
s:  Julia Gomez, Joni Durian, Josh Miller, Allison Egan, Alia Gabrielle Eckhardt, Ira Gansler, Duane West, Michael William Ralston
format:  online screener

     Say hello to Henrique Couto's scariest film!  Henrique in my humble opinion is a master of the craft of independent filmmaking.  His comedies are his best for sure but I fell in love with his horror films first and this definitely falls under that category.

     What can be said about the Amityville franchise?  Good?  Bad?  Yeah I'd say a little of both.  I myself have a thing for the Amityville movies.  So when Henrique told me he was making an Amityville film I was more than intrigued.  Most especially since I had no idea he had made another movie so secretly.  I have to admit when I first saw the poster I was unsure of it.  Not a fan of cgi for the most part unless it's perfect and needed.  The face on the poster made me think of a cgi ghost woman running around so I was still excited but apprehensive.  Then the movie started and I saw Josh Miller, Joni Durian, and Allison Egan which made me forget all that.  Two Couto regulars and Ms. Egan who has starred in Eric Widing's Primordial and is a regular for Dustin Mills' films.  All favorites of mine and all very skilled at their craft.  Josh Miller seems to play a completely different character in almost every movie I see him in.  Alia Gabrielle Eckhardt put on one hell of a performance as well.  This wasn't the first I have seen her, she also had a small but memorable performance in Couto's film Making Out.  There really was no serious acting flubs at all in this but then again what can you expect from that cast listing.  Probably the shining star for me was Julia Gomez.  Her performance just seemed natural and authentic to a "T".

     The dark woods shooting and found footage style of the whole film really made it great for me.  It definitely had the Blair Witch thing going for it.  However I think the one thing that made me love this movie the most was the go back and forth routine of two different Amityville stories.  We first have a small group of young people out on a quest to finish a thesis on fear.  Their story begins with the five of them driving to the haunted town of Amityville for a night in the sticks.  Then we have a vhs tape from 1997 chronicling one of the inhabitants of the haunted Amityville house named Lina.  Lina just moved into the house alone.  Her husband was away in the service and she was left alone to unpack and organize the house.  Both stories are essential for Henrique telling the complete story here.  Very well edited.  Not once did the story-line get confusing or repetitive, kudos Mr. Widing. 
     FX wise this movie did have some good kills and all of them had simple but effective traditional fx.  As mentioned previously the original poster made me think it had a bunch of bad cgi but no this was not the case.  Never judge a book by it's cover.  I can't really say the film is gory but it defitely has implied gore and enough blood to satisfy this style of filmmaking.
     There was not a whole lot not to like about this movie.  There was one point where two of the characters decide to split up in the dark woods and for me that was just a long stretch of reality.   Other than that though the movie set a certain tone and did not deviate from that tone once in the whole movie.  So many movies have no idea what their tone is.  Especially indie movies.  This movie was serious and scary from the get go and did not let up once the kids were in the woods.  There were no silly out of place characters, no dumb jokes to lighten the mood/take the viewer out of the movie, and there was no change of shooting style.  Even the switch back and forth technique had a flow and a tone to it. 
     Highly recommended to any Couto fans out there and most especially fans of a good scary ghost story because that's exactly what this is.  5 out of 5 Bloody Hands!
    
    

Bigfoot Vs. The Zombies (2016)

Bigfoot Vs the Zombies (2016)
directed by:  Mark Polonia
starring:  James Carolus, Todd Carpenter, Bob Dennis                 
format:  Amazon Prime

The Movie:  Not gonna waste a lot of time here.  I've been told to do more reviews of movies I don't love so here we go.  The poster caught my eye and won my money...case in point why a good poster is necessary for indie movies especially, your film title and a few cut out pics of your film or floating heads of actors don't always have that creative eye catcher.  Plus I love a good cheap bigfoot movie.  Maybe I've been spoiled by Exists and Bigfoot The Movie and really, really wanted something maybe a third as good as those.  Nope.

The Acting:  Absolutely atrocious.  Not even funny overacting. 

The Gore/Fx:  Straight rubber masks and some Halloween make-up don't cut it.

The Shots:  LOL

The Score/Music:  Was there any?

The Script:  Well it certainly is an excellent idea and if there is ever a remake with a lot more money or more innovative ways to spend the said money, and they use completely different actors I'm all in. 
Does need a rewrite on the dialogue, could have been the acting.  Some actors can deliver cheesy dialogue well.

The Rating:  0 out 5 or DUD as I call them.  I was angry 10 minutes in for wasting my time.  I love backyard indies so don't confusion my review with your typical amazon/imdb review from the perspective of a person who watches nothing but Hollywood films and then expects a backyard indie to live up to all of those economic and talent expectations but come on.

Making Out (2016)

(out of 5)

 

 

Making Out (2016)
directed by:  Henrique Couto
starring:  Titus Wolverton, Erin R. Ryan, Henrique Couto, Josh Miller, Jeff Burr, Joni Durian, Eric Widing, Marylee Osborne, Iabou Windimere, Joe Kidd, Geoff Burkman, Adam Scott Clevenger, Cassandra Engber, Hailey Elisa
format:  Online Review Screener

The Movie:  Henrique does it again.  Never was a a fan of anything non-horror indie film wise till Henrique Couto.  I love the Couto movie family and can't wait to see what else Henrique has in store for 2016 and on.  Comedy, horror, western, family, drama, holiday movie, each one attempted is another notch on the bed post of genres Couto has nailed.  The man cares about what he's doing, this isn't just boner boy boobs and gorehound gore thrown around in an attempt to make easy money.  Yes easy, that stuff is most certainly easy to do and make money from.  What's hard is to challenge yourself and explore other areas of filmmaking and writing.  Henrique shines at this.  No I haven't LOVED everything he has made but the hard work and dedication shows and Making Out is no exception.  This is one of Couto's best movies period.  Maybe it was the personal associations I have with the, "dating" scene and past relationship failures but either way awesome movie and here's why.

The Script:  Beginning to end had me in stiches.  Starting out with a quick silly scene with Joe Kidd and Iabou Windimere two of Couto's regulars and favorites of mine the movie quickly introduces you to Charlie played by Titus Wolverton who is a bit of screenwriter and filmmaker.  But Charlie is also a hopeless romantic who is kind of fed up with dating women who take selfies in bathrooms, even on the pot.  This whole thing made me smile because there is a lot of truth in it and I personally identified with Charlie immediately.  In comes Erin played by my all time favorite indie lady Erin R. Ryan who answered one of Charlie's ads for an actress to play a part for a shower scene he was shooting.  From there Charlie begins a sort of pretend relationship with Erin after the two compile a scheme to write and act out their biggest romantic desires with three very import rules.  "Don't break character, don't get weird, and making out only."   From dinner at a nice restaurant to a scary night in a tent the two of them play a tempting game of entanglement which of course gets weirder and weirder as it goes on.  Loved the dialogue, loved the little romantic scenes all of which are interrupted by one thing or another, and loved the whole dynamic between Charlie and Erin.  Spot on scriptwriting. 

The Acting:  Titus...kudos you wowed me in this one.  Erin well no need to further my respect for this young lady she nails the character every time.  Josh Miller has a small part in this and one of my favorite lines of the movie which I won't spoil here.  Joni Durian is in this another wonderful little part played by a Couto regular I love to see.   Also we have Eric Widing as well who while is one of the nicest guys I've ever chatted with also has the most evil look about him of anyone in the indie scene with the one exception of Fred Vogel.  And of course Henrique himself is in this which is always a plus because Henrique is a character to say the least.  Bradley Diehl is a bit of a new face who was introduced to me in Awkward Thanksgiving and I must point out that this man needs to be in more movies.  At first in Awkward Thanksgiving I didn't know what to think of him he was a bit crazy.  Now after playing a wrestler in this one and friend of Charlie's I just must see more of his lunacy.    Couto's family of actors and crew are a lot of the reason I love his movies.  Met almost all of them and their some of the best people in the biz.  Kudos to you all on this one. 

The Gore/Fx:  Yeah sorry not a horror film or a violent film of any kind but there is some bloody shotgun blasts!
The Shots:  Well done.  Couto has some really nice shots in Making Out.  The fountain scene, the place where Charlie goes to think, and the whole wedding shot was gorgeous.  But I'm an outdoor wedding guy so kind of bias.  Lots and lots of dialogue in this one and not one of the shots of the couple is out of place in anyway.  Watching a lot of movies in the indie scene sometimes for whatever reason people speaking to one another is lost with bad camera angles.  It can be frustrating.  Never with Henrique.  Can't think of one instance and I own all his films save Bulldog for Christmas. 

The Rating:  5 out of 5 Bloody Handprints.  Not a horror but I fully identified with the characters in this movie and loved every minute of it.  Thank you Henrique Couto.