The Ritual Takes Cue From Past Horror Movie Staples To Create Something Intriguing

Don't go into the woods alone, that should be up there with not opening the door to discover where that creepy noise is coming from as go-to pieces of knowledge for horror movie protagonists looking to stay alive. That's what the lead characters of The Ritual decide to do as they head off on an extensive hike through Sweden and they want to take a shortcut to help ensure they can get proper medical help in a hurry for one of their injured friends. Part of the group is the film's protagonist, Luke (Rafe Spall), who is racked with guilt over not doing anything to help his friend during a robbery that ended up costing that friend his life.

One of Sam Rockwell's Best Performances Emerges In Duncan Jones Debut Project Moon

SPOILERS FOLLOW

Tomorrow night, Sam Rockwell will almost certainly take home his very first Academy Award for his role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a major victory for one of Hollywood's most entertaining yet oddly underappreciated character actor. For those who are looking at all the acclaim Rockwell has garnered in recent months and find themselves wanting to seek out other noteworthy performances from Mr. Rockwell, well, there's certainly plenty to choose from (he's a hoot in Galaxy Quest, for instance) but for my money, one of his very best dramatic turns came nearly a decade ago in the 2009 film Moon, which served as the directorial debut of Duncan Jones.

There's Just Not Enough Brains Or Good Scares In The Underwhelming Alien: Covenant

Ridley Scott is a master of his craft. Like fellow 1970's filmmaker trailblazer Steven Spielberg, it's awesome to see him still out there making large-scale movies and pushing boundaries in the modern age. The guys made his modern-day duds for sure (The Counselor has its notable fanbase for sure but I just couldn't get into and Exodus: Gods And Kings was a total snoozefest) but his most recent film, The Martian, demonstrated why we al fell in love with him in the first place. All of that praise having been said, I won't lie; Alien: Covenant, his newest directorial effort, does make me think it's time for some new creative (acid) blood to get injected into this franchise on some level.

You Can Thank Sanaa Lathan And Alien Carnage For Making Alien vs. Predator More Watchable Than Expected

Ever since a 1989 comic had created the idea of the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies and the Predators from the Predator movies meeting up and duking it out, 20th Century Fox had carried a hankering for creating an entire motion picture centered around that concept. Despite Sigourney Weaver, the face of the entire Alien franchise up to that point, feeling the idea was a bad idea and would kill the franchise, the studio plowed ahead on the concept, with the results of the fruit of their labors being Alien vs. Predator, a 2004 action horror movie that broke new ground by being the first entry in either the Alien or Predator franchises to be rated PG-13.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Be Disappointed By A Forgettable Sci-Fi Horror Film Like Alien: Resurrection

The Xenomorphs are back! And this time, they're trapped in a movie that harkens back to the 1960's sci-fi schlockfest's the original Alien was supposed to be an atmospheric and suspenseful counterbalance to. Now, there's nothing at all inherently wrong about the world of B-movie cinema, far from it! It's just interesting to me to see this franchise become the very yin it was supposed to be the yang to. More than a little bit of tragedy is added to that transformation considering Alien: Resurrection turns out to be the weakest Alien movie in the franchise yet.

The Downward Trend In Quality In The Alien Movies Began With Alien 3

How do you follow a one-two punch like Alien and Aliens? Well, really, you should just leave a good thing alone, especially if you haven't got a great idea for a third movie burning a hole in your pocket. But 20th Century Fox was determined to make more entries in the franchise after the big box office bucks generated by Aliens. From their determination to wring another Ellen Ripley adventure out of the franchise sprung Alien 3, which ended up being the feature-length directorial debut for one David Fincher. Yes, that David Fincher, the guy responsible for The Social Network, one of my favorite movies of all-time.

Ya Can't Help But Believe In Aliens

James Cameron is about to spend the next eight years immersed in the world of Pandora creating four Avatar sequels, which, considering they just cast Cliff Curtis in a major role in said sequels, means it looks like these Avatar follow-ups are actually finally happening after nearly a decade of development. Cameron himself is no stranger to sequels having started his entire directorial career with Pirhana 2: The Spawning, a cheapie 1981 horror movie he directed with Ovidio G. Assonitis. A decade later he would helm Terminator 2: Judgement Day which is widely considered to be one of the best blockbusters of the 1990's. In between those two sequels though came Aliens, a direct follow-up to Ridley Scott's earlier Alien film.

Get Trapped With Overly Familiar But Sometimes Chilling Thrills In Life

Jake Gyllenhaal has been on quite the roll lately. His exemplary lead turn in Nightcrawler was one of the peak moments of his entire career and even in something more middling like Southpaw Gyllenhaal managed to craft a solid performance out of a subpar script. Last years Nocturnal Animals continued his recent career choices of doing bold and daring projects by offering Gyllenhaal a chance to inhabit a tortured persona to fascinating results. So, of course, after all these challenging dramas, it's no shocker that the next big movie Jake Gyllenhaal is headlining is Life, a science-fiction horror film chock full of blood and mayhem, just like Nocturnal Animals. What I'm trying to say is that Life is the exact same movie as Nocturnal Animals.

Lights Out Has Some Bright Ideas When It Comes To Its Scares And Themes

I've been afraid of the dark my whole life and I doubt I'm alone in that feeling. A darkened room is full of uncertainty, an element human beings in general don't handle very well. What could be lurking around in the dark void? Imagining what kind of horrifying creations could be existing out there in the murky abyss that we can't see has consumed the imaginations of people for generations. And, Lights Out proposes that a monster may be out there in the darkness, one that will destroy any given person provided that the lights off.

Alien Review (Classic Write-Up)

In Space, No Can Hear You Scream, Or Make A Great Movie

Sci-fi and horror are two genres that are routinely mixed in storytelling, likely because the vastness and mysterious nature of outer space mixes well the inherent terror associated with horror. Because, really, few things scare human beings as much as being confronted with the unknown, and that's the kind of fear that's taken ahold of the crew of the spaceship Nostromo. The various men and women aboard this spacecraft have discovered an extraterrestrial is among them, and it's vicious attacks are picking off each crew member one by one.

Exodus: Gods And Kings Review

All About That Exodus, Exodus, No Treble

I went into Exodus: Gods And Kings with some skepticism. You see, I played Moses in a VBS sketch for my Church group this summer and I was dubious to say the least that Christian Bale could match my acting chops. Sure, he had a $140 million budget and director Ridley Scott at his disposal, but did he have a snake puppet to utilize like I did? As it turns out, Bale is missing more than just a snake toy in his performance, as he and the movie itself feel lacking as a whole.