WELCOME TO BLUMHOUSE: A REVIEW ROUND UP

The Lie

Director: Veena Sud
Writers: Veenda Sud, Based on “Wir Monster”written by Marcus Seibert & Sebastian Ko
Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Mireille Enos, Joey King

A father and daughter are on their way to dance camp when they spot the girl's best friend on the side of the road. When they stop to offer the friend a ride, their good intentions soon result in terrible consequences

Kyle:  The Lie is perhaps the strongest piece of suspense filmmaking I’ve seen in years.  It squeezes every ounce of tension from a simple yet universal premise: how far would you go to protect your child?  


Jay (Peter Sarsgaard) and Rebecca (Mireille Enos) are the divorced parents of teenaged Kayla (Joey King).  Rebecca is an upstanding lawyer and Jay is a hipster-y musician.  When Jay takes Kayla to a weekend retreat for her ballet school they encounter her best friend, Britney (Devery Jacobs) and give her a ride as well.  Then they make a pit stop in the dead of winter in the woods, so that Britney can go to the bathroom.  Jay waits and waits...and then finally goes to check on the girls, only to find Kayla sitting alone on the edge of a bridge saying that she pushed Britney and she accidentally fell into the icy river below.


From there Jay and Rebecca do everything in their power to protect their daughter from the consequences.  Sarsgaard and Enos give fraught performances, as does King, deepening and strengthening the storytelling at every turn.  That being said, there’s not a bad performance in the film.  Detective Kenji (Patti Kim) is a fresh twist on the detective cliche, lending a strong female presence, and Britney’s father, Sam (Cas Anvar) also adds diversity to the cast.


The film tops itself with a final twist that is deliciously revelatory.  It’s no surprise given the strength of the material to discover that this was based on a foreign film Wir Monster.  They knew they had a slam dunk here.  This was a pleasant surprise and demonstrates Blumhouse’s ability to produce strong work in other genres.  I’m excited to see the other films in this quartet and whatever else Blumhouse has up their sleeve.

Black Box

Director: Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour
Writers: Wade Allain-Marcus, Stephen Herman, Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour
Starring: Mamoudou Athie, Phylicia Rashad, Amanda Christine

After losing his wife and his memory in a car accident, a single father undergoes an agonizing experimental treatment that causes him to question who he really is.

Craig: If it was their original intention or not, Welcome to The Blumhouse felt like it was trying to capture the time of television movie/miniseries events, where these teleplays would play out over a couple nights that you just HAD to watch because it was the only time it’d air in the foreseeable future and we weren’t overloaded with an unlimited amount of content. It works, without going retro and being “in your face” about this four-movie event, Blumhouse was able to provide that feeling and the type of stories that would be used, and Black Box is a prime example of why it works. While many can (and have) made connections to Get Out thanks to some plot devices and themes within the movie, its Twilight Zone-approach to horror, and because it happens to be afrocentric, it’s undeniable that Black Box is its own tale that breaks away from the horror mountain that has become known as Get Out. 


The story is being told through the eyes of Nolan, who suffers from memory loss after a car accident that kills his wife. Finally after realizing he can’t get work and is on the verge of his daughter’s school calling CPS, he agrees to an experimental treatment that has the ability to go into his subconscious and make a virtual reality representation of his memory in some attempt to help the wheels turn. However, his memories seem slightly off based on what he’s been told by friends and family, and there’s a creepy figure that continuously attacks him within each simulation.


I don’t want to speak further on the plot to avoid spoilers but some of the genius within Black Box is by playing off of what has become Blumhouse-tropes (paranormal, jump scares, etc.) and then completely shifting the story with a reveal halfway through the movie. Normally this kind of “twist” would be used as an ending piece but instead setting it in the middle Nolan is forced to face the true horrors of the truth as the creepy figure takes a backseat. By doing this we don’t purely have a technically well-crafted movie but it allows for the acting and storytelling to shine through, giving the heart and substance needed to provide us with something memorable. Black Box offers some creepy scares associated with the Blumhouse brand but has a level of restraint to showcase the maturity of the company post-Get Out. ​

Nocturne

Writer/Director: Zu Quirke
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Jacques Colimon, Ji Eun Hwang

An incredibly gifted pianist makes a Faustian bargain to overtake her older sister at a prestigious institution for classical musicians.

​Kyle:  Nocturne is a unique update of the classic Faust tale.  Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) is a dedicated young pianist and misfit overachiever teenager with big dreams of a career as a classical musician, the only thing is her sister Vivian (Madison Iseman) got accepted to Juilliard and she didn’t.  But there is a showcase coming up at their school and it is Juliet’s chance to show her stuff.  Then she discovers the music book of a virtuoso violin student who leapt to her death and she must decide what she’s willing to do for success.


There’s a lot of familiar beats of sibling rivalry and teen drama, but there’s also a great deal of social commentary about the idolatry of success, its effects on our mental health and the definition of success as an artist.  The cinematography and sound design are incredibly specific and effective, particularly a stunning visual nod to Vertigo.  That combined with the additional themes of youthful angst, art and success, make this more than just a rehash of a classic story.  And the ending is to die for. 

Evil Eye

Directors: Elan Dassani, Rajeev Dassani
Writer: Madhuri Shekar
Starring: Sarita Choudhury, Sunita Mani, Bernard White

A superstitious mother is convinced that her daughter's new boyfriend is the reincarnation of a man who tried to kill her 30 years ago.

Craig: Evil Eye uses Hindu mysticism and modern-day parental relationships to create a new approach to the universal themes of domestic violence passed down through generations. While it’s accessible to all audiences, the subtle nuances connected to Indian-American culture is what allows this premise to stand on its own. As we follow Pallavi’s journey to escape from (what she considers) nagging from her more traditional-minded mother, Usha (Sarita Choudhury), the story shifts to Usha’s focus once Pallavi’s finds someone who seems like the perfect man. Is he the reincarnation of Usha’s abusive ex or does he just happen to have the same controlling traits? Or is he the perfect man and Usha has yet to overcome her own trauma? We know what the answer is going to be and it plays out exactly as expected. When you’re watching it you wonder how effective the story would be if it focused more on the realistic approach to untreated trauma instead of going into a full reincarnation plot. Maybe more memorable.


The movie is based on a radio play of the same name and as much as I personally enjoy horror audio drama, Evil Eye feels like it worked better as purely audio or even a stage play. Most of the story consists of phone conversations between mother and daughter, with the (potentially) villainous Sandeep and Usha’s husband, Krishnan popping in occasionally. I’ll admit there are plenty of films that can make phone calls, a single actor/location, or anything else of that nature dynamic…for the most part, this isn’t one. It looks nice, the acting is fine, Choudhury carries the movie but unfortunately the script doesn’t provide her with the depth that her character and the story deserve. It comes down to a script that should have been adjusted better to fit the cinematic storytelling needed to counteract the minimal cast, plot, and location by making it more interesting.


Overall, Evil Eye is watchable and can keep you engaged but like many movies lately, it falls into the cliched category of a product that technically looks great, has strong plot/thematic elements but is pretty forgettable by the following day.

Welcome to the Blumhouse’s average score: 4 1/2 out of 5

Bloodhound Pix is made up of: Craig Draheim, Josh Lee, and Kyle Hintz

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