Review: Welcome to Willets

(imdb.com)

Despite multiple classics and a few big-budget sci-fi adventures, good alien movies are hard to come by. Over the years, the subgenre has taken a quieter route in the industry, with few, notable exceptions. Dark Skies - one of the more recent attempts wasn't overly terrifying and while plenty of interstellar films continue to get released, we've yet to see a permeating rebirth of families getting the heebie-jeebies at the hands of grey figures from the sky. So, for fans anxiously waiting for impact, Welcome to Willets should give a little peace.

Starring Chris Zylka (The Leftovers) as the film's lead, Jeremiah, and Anastasia Baranova (Z Nation) as townie Courtney, Welcome to Willets finds a group of friends fighting for their lives against aliens deep in the woods. The local pot farmer and Courtney's uncle who encounters the group and is worried about the aliens played by Bill Sage (We Are What We Are) and his significant other is played by Sabina Gadecki (Entourage). Jeremiah's group of friends is comprised of a cast of young stars, including Garrett Clayton (King Cobra), Thomas Dekker (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Keelin Woodell (The Bye Bye Man), Rory Culkin (Scream 4) and Harrueche Tran (3-Headed Shark Attack).

The youthful star power of these budding actors definitely works in favor of this movie. Each brings a certain determination surely brought on by each of their past experiences in horror films. In fact, Welcome to Willet is uplifted past other, weaker parts through this group of stars. Shakier plot points and some truly cheesy practical effects take away from the movie's quality and typically higher standard seen from IFC Midnight films. The dialogue could be improved and by the film's end some of the story feels muddled.

Welcome to Willets features a certain retro atmosphere. Like a throwback to the teen horror films of yore, this film is unabashedly simplistic and comedic. It's not a terrifying exercise of horror but it is an easily entertaining one. It's not nearly as polished as say, The Cabin in the Woods, but it is certainly an upbeat romp that's fun enough to sit through.

Overall, Welcome to Willits isn't some insane alien film. It's not Close Encounters or even The Fourth Kind, but in an age where the only existing options are crazed action/sci-fi films and an occasional offbeat alien film, it'll have to do. Welcome to Willets makes the most of its young stars and even it's more weathered veterans, and it’s got plenty to at least get viewers through the night. 5 out 10.

Review: Don't Hang Up



(imdb.com)

When a horror movie features realistic elements over more supernatural entities, the work necessary to be scary should be easier. Yeah, there's something particularly scary about a ghost, but there's something even more frightening about a movie featuring a plot that is at least slightly more likely to impact your life. For movies like The Strangers, the job of combining realism with culminated terror seemed easy. Even smaller budget movies should be able to overcome the barriers created by including supernatural elements if they choose to focus on real ones. Bad CGI, makeup and effects can all ruin horror movies. But, for smaller budget films that focus on a masked assailant or a stalker, the costs remain relatively low for the payout that should be granted.

Here we come across Don't Hang Up. Following two friends who revisit their prank calling, viral video days on a drunken night in,  things take a turn for the worst when a call actually comes to them instead. Turns out the caller wants to play a little game with the boys and soon sweeps them up into a cat-and-mouse match. Don't Hang Up stars Garrett Clayton (King Cobra) as Brady, Gregg Sulkin (Faking It) as Sam and Bella Dayne (Humans) as Peyton.

The three actors in their respective roles are fine, but nothing to write home about. For recently reoccurring horror actor Clayton, his efforts to come across as a destined frat boy come off more like a knockoff shell of Zach Efron rather than a fully-fledged character. Sulkin is equally hollow as the more empathetic and intelligent friend - his hang-ups over Peyton come across as immature and over the top. On top of this, Dayne's character is never developed enough to care about what happens to her or where her relationship with Sam will end up.

In terms of scares, viewers shouldn't hold their breath. While borderline entertaining because of its easy-to-follow story, Don't Hang Up never shocks or awes in fears. The moment when the twist is revealed is certainly shocking but more for the visual, and less for the actual twist, which is easily picked up on early. It's as if the horror-thriller seems readily prepared for consumption and then forgotten. The small moments of Don't Hang Up sometimes do border on something more intense, but they never surpass a level of mediocrity. Even the film's climax, where audiences are supposed to be terrified by the masked man approaching in the rain will feel somewhat empty after the placid journey thus far.

It’s a little hard to walk away from Don't Hang Up with much of an impression. For a film with such a clear-cut plot and easily predictable twist, it feels very much like a convoluted mess. There are many moments of unnecessary filler and back-and-forth arguments between the two leads as they attempt to work through the devilish man on the phone and for the majority of the film's runtime, viewers can expect to feel overcome with a sense of complacency, rather than disgust of the movie's quality or fear of the movie's scares. I give it 2 cell phones out of 5.