Armin_Nikkhah_Shirazi

GEHENNA was funded via kickstarter, and as such looks more professional than I expected. The story concerns a group of real estate people who survey a property in the Northern Mariana Islands for tourist development, come across the entrance of a cave and incautiously decide to venture inside.

There are several positives here: The cinematography is quite decent and we are in the first act treated to gorgeous scenery shots of an exotic location I knew nothing about previously, the make-up effects are really good (perhaps not so surprising, given that the director is mainly a special effects/make-up guy), and the myth-making involving the bojobo dolls is at least loosely based on real-life folklore.

Unfortunately, the plot is pretty derivative, the set design has a stage quality to it, the ending can be predicted a mile away and the acting is hammy in places. Indeed, there were some scenes where I was not sure whether they were meant to be intentionally funny or not; if this was meant as comedic relief, there should have been more of that, otherwise the scenes in question should have been reshot.

GEHENNA is definitely not a bad movie, but there was a lot of potential left unexplored. For example, there is a subplot involving Japanese soldiers which could have been tied more closely to the present-day group, the story could have taken risks by going into more creative directions, and Lance Henriksen, whose entire screen presence adds to a little more than a minute, could have been utilized more by lending his gravitas.

So all in all, this is a movie which falls just short of being good, but if you like movies in which a group of people are stuck in a cave/bunker you might enjoy it.

WAR OF THE WORLDS tells an alien invasion story that was originally published in 1897 by H. G. Wells but adapted to the 21st century. One notable and infamous adaptation prior to this film was a 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles which caused a mass panic because people thought the invasion it described was real. I suspect the success of that version in convincing people of the reality of the story might have helped convince the filmmakers to tell this story here as a so-called screenlife movie.

For those who don't know, a screenlife movie usually plays out entirely on a computer or smartphone screen, depicting a protagonist as they interact remotely with other people. This format has been mainly applied to the horror and thriller genres, and some of the resulting movies are truly impressive. If you want to see how far this format can be pushed, I recommend the thriller SEARCHING (2018) and/or the horror movies THE DEN (2013) or HOST (2020).

Anyway, this newest adaptation of Wells' story turns out to be wildly uneven: on the plus side, it does contain interesting examples of how the government could in principle surveil and track you, and it has some suspenseful passages. On the minus side, Ice Cube is badly miscast as a senior domestic surveillance analyst, the story not only has a ton of plot holes, but is actually incoherent in some respects (For example, the protagonist is able to reroute cell phone call via satellite, but about 20 minutes later we are told that the entire satellite network had been taken down two days earlier). There are also a lot of cringy scenes, surprisingly crappy special effects, especially in the second half, and the nod-nod-wink-wink condemnation of consumerism, including of that offered by Amazon, of this Amazon-produced movie, rings hollow in light of blatant product placements.

Ice Cube is actually doubly miscast for the role: First, the way he acts is not at all like what one would expect from such an high-ranking government official. Second, it appears that many of this fans do not like (or are unfamiliar with)with screenlife movies, so the casting likely attracted the wrong crowd.

I like found footage and screenlife movies, so I could enjoy parts of the movie, but I realize that many others might not. But even my enjoyment has its limit because the flaws of this movie are so irritating. Overall, a mediocre effort at best, and unless you are a fan of the format, I'd recommend watching the much better Steven Spielberg version.

UNLUCKY CHARMS (or just "Charms" on Youtube) is a computer-animated short which follows the unfortunate fate of a bored night attendant at a gas station who decides to participate in a Lucky Charms-lookalike cereal sweepstakes and ends up summoning an Irish Demon instead.

The animation is first-rate: crisp, colorful, atmospheric and with just the right amount of whimsy. I was reminded of some of the Pixar works. The story is fun and leaves the audience eager with anticipation at what happens next. There is even something like a moral in there.

Overall, this is about as good as an animated comedic horror short can get. Kudos to the talented creator, who seems to be largely a one-man operation.