Totally Killer: Jason Blum has backed a lot of winners in the horror movie space over the past decade. Totally Killer is not among them. This direct-to-streaming slasher comedy poses the question of what if somebody made a riff on a Christopher Landon movie without the irreverent humor, inventive kills and deceptively big heart that made Happy Death Day and Freaky-which ironically were also Blumhouse productions-work so well. There's some intermittent fun to be had courtesy of its Back to the Future-esque plot of 17-year old Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka-who makes for a likable final girl) accidently traveling back to 1987 when a serial killer dubbed the "Sweet 16 Killer" was terrorizing her small town and is forced to team up with the teenage version of her mother Pam (Olivia Holt) to stop the killer from butchering Pam's friends (Liana Liberato, Stephi Chin-Salvo, Anna Diaz) who famously found themselves on the ends of the killer's blade while also figuring out a way to make it back to the present day and some amusing culture shock gags that come from a young girl from 2022 suddenly being exposed to the culture of 1987, but otherwise it's a largely disposable affair that is light on laughs and even lighter on the red stuff.
Grade: C
Fair Play: Fair Play generated a whole lot of buzz following its premiere at Sundance in January and after finally getting the chance to see it upon its release on Netflix-who won a frenzied bidding war with roughly a half dozen other studios for its distribution rights-10 days ago, I completely understand why. Chloe Domont's psychological thriller tells the story of a newly-engaged couple (Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich) who both work as analysts at a high-profile New York hedge fund and have successfully kept their relationship a secret as its a violation of company policy for co-workers to be involved romantically. After she surprisingly beats him out for a major promotion, their relationship is turned on its head and the viability of their relationship along with their ability to continue hiding it from their employers are suddenly put to the test.
While some of the dialogue is awkward and the ending doesn't land with the intended force, Fair Play is still a deeply assured, ballsy movie that announces Domont as a gifted filmmaker on the rise. It's the sadly all-too-rare kind of thriller that isn't afraid to operate in moral gray areas that forces the audience to constantly challenge their feelings towards the main characters, its examination of how something as simple as a promotion at work can completely change the DNA of a relationship is fascinating and Dynevor and Ehrenreich are both dynamite at portraying every act of love, joy, self-preservation and rage that their characters engage in as their relationship goes through a constant, often unpredictable evolution throughout the film.
Grade: B
The Royal Hotel: There's a great claustrophobic psychological thriller at the root of The Royal Hotel that's begging to come out, co-writer/director Kitty Green just never allows to ever come to the surface. The hook here is terrific: Two Canadian backpackers (Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick) traveling through Australia reluctantly seek out a work travel program after running of money in Sydney and get assigned to a bar located in a rural mining town run by a surly drunk (Hugo Weaving) and his wife (Ursula Yovich)-where they are met with hostility and/or harassment from the male locals that frequent the establishment. Despite its strong lead performances and natural, frequently unsettling interactions that shine a light on how awful the behavior of men can be towards women-especially in a desolate environment where they don't frequently interact with them, all of the crippling isolation and increasing threat of violent and/or predatory behavior don't amount to much tension due to Green's subdued direction. Even as shit starts to really hit the fan in the final 15 minutes, it never goes pedal to the medal with building tension and ultimately ends on a bafflingly even-keeled note. Green had the right idea and the right actors to bring it to the life, she just wasn't a good directorial fit for something that would've been greatly improved if it was more incendiary and pulse-pounding.
Grade: B-
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