The Foxy Film Fan

I, like so many others, was skeptical when I heard news of the new M. Night Shyamalan film. For years he’s been disappointing film goers of all kinds, and with the release of the likes of The Last Airbender it became questionable who his target audience even was anymore. It almost began to seem as though he had lost sight of who he was, as though he wasn’t even the same director responsible for classics like The Sixth Sense . The announcement of Split failed to excite me, and though the premise seemed fascinating I refused to get my hopes up, especially with a trailer that provided enough room for one to imagine the film hastily devolving into another laughably bad mess like The Visit did. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. In fact, Split was so good that there were many instances in which I had to remind myself that I was in fact watching a film by the same man who made After Earth and The Happening . The premise to Split is simple and not unlike that of an episode of...

Would You Rather (2012) Often times the most effective method of writing a story is to keep it simple, and Would You Rather  is perhaps the most simple yet effective horror movie I have seen in quite some time. As explained from the title, Would You Rather  centers around a group of people playing the popular game, in which they are made to choose between two unpleasant and difficult decisions in a brutal and horrific competition to win the fortune that will help them out of their own individual struggles. The film balances our sympathies between its protagonist, who is struggling to raise her younger brother who is dying of cancer, and the other competitors in the game who all have their own heartache and challenges which the money would help them overcome. Of course, only one person can win the game, and as it carries on it becomes doubtful that many people will leave the home in one piece. Typically when one imagines a horror movie centered around a game which can be...

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) In case you've forgotten, or like me have the habit of purposefully neglecting any and all films in the found-footage genre, in 2008 there was a film called Cloverfield . Cloverfield  was a mediocre found-footage film which focused on a party in New York city that is interrupted by an enormous monster destroying the city. It wasn't anything special, though it wasn't particularly bad either. Naturally, it fell victim to the traditional flaws that are inherent in the found-footage genre: shaky camera bad enough to cause nausea, sounds obviously added in post-production, awkward acting, and the implied spoiler that every character within the movie is probably going to die because that's why the footage was found  and not willingly released by the imagined filmmaker. It's been quite some time since I watched Cloverfield , because it isn't really the sort of movie that warrants a second watch due to the fact that its popularity stemm...

Green Room (2015) Starring the late great Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, and Patrick Stewart, Green Room  is a thriller which puts a unique spin on the genre and twists it into something which will surely keep audience members on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. The film is set around the premise of a punk rock band playing a show at a venue occupied by neo-Nazi skinheads where, after a cover of Dead Kennedy's "Nazi Punks F*** Off" as protest to their audience member's racist beliefs and the unintentional witness of something they weren't meant to see, the band finds themselves locked in the green room of the venue with a group of angry skinheads doing whatever they can to kill them - all with Patrick Stewart leading them. Admittedly, as someone with a deep love for punk music and the subculture as a whole, I am a bit biased and probably being a bit too easy on this film. It is deeply flawed, it has instances where characters make decisions whi...

Don't Breathe (2016) It's rare for psychological horror to be pulled off in a manner which leaves audience members on the edge of their seat from start to finish, but Don't Breathe  is a diamond in the rough that is the horror genre. As the title implies, the audience is left little to no room to catch their breath as the film throws its three protagonists into darker and darker situations as it progresses. The plot is simple; three young people in desperate need of money decide to rob an elderly man after hearing of his secret wealth, only to find themselves in a bigger mess than anyone might have anticipated. Many aspects of Don't Breathe  echo elements of classic slashers and thrillers from the late seventies and early eighties, but the more outdated tropes are updated in a way that makes the film feel haunting and realistic. The antagonist who torments our heroes (if "hero" is a word you would apply to the three protagonists, given the fact that t...

The Handmaiden (2016) As you may already know, Park Chan-wook has been a long-time favorite director of mine, and when I heard he was directing a new film called The Handmaiden  I had high hopes for what I was about to see. So, a friend and I attended a screening in an art gallery, and found ourselves surrounded by elderly people while watching some of the most explicit and graphic sexual scenes either of us had ever seen in a movie. Bearing that in mind, I highly recommend that you watch this one at home, or in the company of people who are very comfortable with extremely graphic scenes of that nature, otherwise you'll find it hard to enjoy this beautiful and sweeping film. The Handmaiden  is based on a novel titled Fingersmith , with the setting shifted from the Victorian era to Korea under Japanese rule - the setting alone is captivating and provides added depth to an already intriguing plot. Its plot, without giving too much away, tells the story of a pickpocket n...