Better Watch Out (2017)

Director: Chris Peckover
Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, Aleks Mikic, Dacre Montgomery, Patrick Warburton, Virginia Madsen
Running Time: 89 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

**PLOT SPOILERS FOLLOW**

The Chistmas-themed horror movie has long become an annual viewing fixture dating all the way back to 1974's Black Christmas, sometimes with mixed results. That originator of the sub-genre (which heavily inspired Carpenter's Halloween) has since been remade twice, speaking less to its effectiveness than Hollywood's penchant for beating a great idea into the ground. But luckily, the yuletide horror entries have been spread out enough through the decades that when a really good one does arrive, it can make an impact, feeling comfortably familiar enough to remind us how it's supposed to be done. Unfortunately, the same can't be as frequently said for home invasion thrillers, the other sub-genre with which it all too frequently overlaps. 

Relief comes in the form of Chris Peckover's Better Watch Out, which combines the two genres for a far better than expected psychological excursion that puts an intriguing spin on what could have been very standard material. In fact, we know that since it seems as if every other week brings the latest V.O.D. home invasion dissapointment this looked like it could have been from its trailers and commercials. Instead, we get a clever send-up that manages to flip the script and deliver what could potentially be re-watched and appreciated as one of the stronger holiday-themed thrillers in a while. 

With Christmas right around the corner, 17-year-old Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) is babysitting 12-year-old Luke Lerner (Levi Miller), who's looking forward to his parents (Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warbuton) leaving them for a night on the town since he's had a crush on her for years. Proudly announcing his intentions to make a move on her to departing best friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould), Ashley and Luke are left alone in the house when strange noises, broken windows and other mysterious goings on outside hint that an intruder got in. This is only partially true, as the masked man is actually a returning Garrett, revealed as part of Luke's outrageous scenario to impress a thoroughly unimpressed and disgusted Ashley. With his friend's very reluctant help, Luke must now abruptly change course, and in doing so, traps his babysitter in a diabolically twisted cat-and-mouse game that tests her mental and physical resiliance, while revealing the true depths of his depravity. 

Peckover cleverly sets our expectations for one very specific type of film all while building the foundation to give us an entirely different one. That starts with the two main characters who you could easily imagine in an '80's or 90's teen movie as the popular, promiscuous girl and the too clever, wisecracking nerdy tween she's babysitting who hopelessly pines after her. Ignoring the fact that this kid seems entirely too old to have a babysitter at all and the friends' interaction at the start hint that Luke's intentions may be less innocent than perceived, Zack Kahn's script does a commendable job challenging any other preconceptions. 

As the story and situation builds momentum, it's obvious Luke is far more messed up than either Ashley, Garrett or even a pair of Ashley's flawed boyfriends (played by Aleka Mikec and Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery) have given him credit for. Like a junior Patrick Batman in training, he oftens feigns remorse while concocting various tricks to dispose of any evidence of his escalating crimes, including people. Levi Miller really gets under your skin as Luke, partially due to us not being used to seeing a kid this age lead the charge as a sociopathic home invader and he's just irritatingly snide and arrogant enough that we can't wait to see him to get his comeuppance, assuming it ever comes. 

The instances Luke should clearly be overpowered by his victims are well handled by a script that emphasizes his intellect over physicality. Noticeably more concerned with his parents finding him out than being brought up on murder, assault or kidnapping charges, his simplistic explanation that he's an unloved only child hints at serious mental illness, though his actions do a better job at confirming it. The screenplay leans heavily into this notion with all the subtlty of a swinging paint can to the head. 

While Miller excels at playing this emotionally stunted monster, Australian actress Olivia DeJonge (most recently seen in Netflix's The Society) is definitely a future talent to watch as Ashley, excelling as the determined victim, believably transitioning from sheer outrage and disbelief at what this kid's doing to survival mode, proving he doesn't have the market cornered on playing head games. We get an immediate sense she's a fighter and that quality goes into overdrive when he uses her rejection of him as the ultimate fuel for his worst impulses. You have to wonder where he thinks this whole thing will go, but as his grip on the situation begins slipping, a power struggle ensues.   

The setting and atmosphere are huge details that most other entires in the holiday horror genre tend to frequently fall short on. There's absolutely no question what time of the year it is here, nailing the music, cinematography, set and wardrobe design, likely increasing the rewatchability factor of a movie that may not have been revisited on the strength its plot alone. Though its worth noting its ending is pretty much perfect, at least within the context of this universe Peckover creates for these two characters over the course of an extremely tight 90 minutes. Besides it being what we want as viewers, it's called for in terms of the story, and delivered with a sarcastically satisfying final shot. No explanation needed, except the look of stunned silence on the antagonist's face that maybe everything didn't quite go exactly as planned.   

Slyly funny and subversive, with a pair of strong performances carrying it, you wonder how Bettter Watch Out managed to fly under the radar despite its relatively favorable notices. But with no hint this was going to be anything other than your creepy, run-of-the-mill holiday home invasion thriller, it's at least somewhat easier to see why. especially in an overcrowded market full of similar titles. This twisted tale doesn't really resemble them, standing out by crossing Home Alone-like hijinx with a nightmarish version of Adventures in Babysitting, made only that much stronger by fully exploiting its premise and setting right up to and including the final credits. 

Escape Room

Director: Adam Robitel
Starring: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Wohl, Jay Ellis, Tyler Labine, Nik Dodani, Yorick van Wageningen
Running Time: 100 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

The Game meets Saw meets Final Destination in director Adam Robitel's 2019 horror thriller, Escape Room, a mostly successful attempt to cinematically translate the growing cultural popularity of a craze where players must work their way out of an enclosed maze via puzzles and clues. It's ripe material for a movie and screenwriters Bragi F. Schut and Maria Melnik wisely realize such a premise exploits what audiences most want from their entertainment experience: Ordinary people being placed in dangerous and mysterious circumstances with seemingly no way out. Executing such an idea to its maximum potential is another matter entirely, but this is definitely the genre it always seems to work best in. 

Of those aformentioned titles, it most closely resembles the Saw series, or at least the first few films, before the producers lost interest in delivering anything resembling a coherent story in favor of escalating the graphic traps. Being that this is PG-13, there's very little in the way of "torture porn" here, which works to its favor, allowing it to channel some of the better psychologically suspenseful elements of that 2004 original, transporting us to a simpler time when two strangers being locked in a room was enough of a starting point. The only thing missing just may have been Tobin Bell, who you half-expect to show up, alerting us that this was in fact the reboot we hoped would eventually arrive.

Shy college physics student Zoey (Taylor Russell), wealthy stock trader Jason (Jay Ellis), grocery stockboy Mike (Logan Miller), truck driver Mike (Tyler Labine), Iraq war veteran Amanda (Deborah Ann Wohl) and nerdy escape room ethusiast Danny (Nik Dodani) are each gifted a mysterious puzzle cube containing an invitation to participate in an escape room with a $10,000 winning prize. After arriving at an unknown office building waiting room to receive instructions from the Gamesmaster, they're surprised to discover their game has already begun. And it's a deadly one. 

With a series of rooms containing few safeguards and seemingly constructed by someone with intimate knowledge of all the players' personal lives, it's set up to prey on their strengths and weaknesses. As they progress from room to the next, risking their lives in the face of increasing danger, it becomes a battle for survival with not only the unseen Gamesmaster, but the other strangers with whom they're competing. Hardly a random selection of participants, it soon becomes apparent that they're all there for a reason. But with only one winnner, the rest of them may not live to discover what that is. 

This is an admittedly cheesy premise, but a great one nonetheless. The early set-up scenes do come off  as a far less sophisticated take on David Fincher's The Game, as the eventual participants (all carrying a variety of personal baggage) receive this mysterious "gift" from an anonymous corporation. As we know, this is never good, but always fun to watch, as we're gradually introduced to their wildly different personalities and histories when the game begins. Everyone fits a certain type and while everyone in the cast does a better than serviceable job, it's tough to pin down a particular performance of note in a movie consisting entirely of functional roles, similar in that they're all constantly in a state of emotional and physical distress. 

It's plainly evident from the opening scenes that introverted bookworm Zoey is being established as the heroine, or "final girl," which isn't to say she necessarily makes it to the end since the script actually does subvert expectations considerably. As the brainiac, she's the voice of reason, always coming through at the right moment with valuable information to get them to the next stage. Of course, the plot wouldn't be complete without that one guy. You know the one. The wealthy, entitled, ultra-competitive alpha who believes this is survival of the fittest and isn't about to lose under any circumstances. He's played by Jay Ellis with a little more restrant than we're used to. If there's a guilty pleasure performance in the bunch, it's Logan Miller's dazed, strung-out store clerk who delivers a seemingly endless supply of wide-eyed craziness with each interaction he has with the various players. 

The action rarely takes a breather as they traverse the rooms, some of which are more inventive than others, but all equally dangerous, whether resulting in potential death by fire, hypothermia or poisoning. And from a production design standpoint, more than a few of them are really visually impressive, such as an upside-down billiards bar and a trippy, hallucinogenically inspired setting complete with some warped-out optical illusions.

The inventively different ways in which the characters are eliminated, their backstories, and the revelation as to why they were selected is definitely reminiscent of The Final Destination series. But at least when the eventual explanation is given, it's relatively simple and logically delivered. Too often movies like this make their reveals too complicated, so it was a relief to see this one deliver that information in a single, unfussy sequence that doesn't overstay its welcome or get bogged down with too many details. At least until the very end.

Leaving little to the imagination in terms of how this mysterious corporation operates, the writers do seem determined to pull back the curtain as far as possible when less would be more. We even get a somewhat underwhelming appearance from someone who actually makes the organization seem slightly less threatening than we had built up in our minds. The last act of a high concept thriller like this is crucial since it's tough to name many that have gotten it completely right, but Robitel does deserve a pat on the back for making it all the way through without botching it as badly as others.

A lot of what goes down is smart, until it goes a little deeper than it should in emphasizing that this project has legs that go beyond the credits. We already know it does, so the final minutes are slightly worrisome in terms of how they're planning to move forward with this prospective mini-franchise. It takes skill to craft an effective popcorn-style thriller just once, so even if there's good reason to be optimistic, churning out inferior follow-ups can easily land it on the list of failed horror franchises best appreciated for their first entry. Despite the closing minutes oversharing exactly how much potential the idea has, I'd still gladly watch an Escape Room sequel that promised to be as fun as this.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Director: Jason Woliner
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova
Running Time: 96 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

When Borat was released in 2006 the general consensus was that it couldn't possibly be sequeled since the its entire premise was built upon the foul-mouthed, offensive, mustachioed title character's anonymity when fooling his unsuspecting targets. The movie became so big that star Sacha Baron Cohen was and is still is too recognizable as him, making the persona's return especially problematic. But now after fourteen years, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime For Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is his way back in and the solution to this dilemma was so simple, yet ingenious. Much like Baron Cohen disguised himself, so will Borat, partially doing away with the documentary-style improvisation that defined the original while retaining much of the first film's form and style. In its place is a more tightly scripted adventure that finds him as dumb and outrageous as ever, returning to a far different America than the one he left over a decade ago. 

Both horrifying and unbearably hilarious, it's the rare comedy sequel that surpasses the original, mainly because the stakes seem so much higher and the material far more controversial.  In a brutal skewering of the country's division that focuses almost entirely on the past eight months of Donald Trump's presidency, a perfect satirical storm converges, allowing Baron Cohen, to hit the material out of the park. But what's most astonishing about it is how the more heavily scripted format ideally fits this premise while sacrificing none of the unpredictable atmosphere that defined the character. Complete with the addition of a sidekick who basically steals the movie out from under him, that this boasts no less than eight credited writers makes it all the more shocking how spontaneous everything comes across, even when it isn't. Or when it is. Just look no further than what's become the infamous scene, as former New York City Mayor and Trump personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, finds himself in the most compromising of positions.

After humiliating his homeland of Kazakhstan fourteen years ago, journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Baron Cohen) is released from a gulag prison with the condition that he deliver his nation's prized Kazakh Minister of Culture Johnny The Monkey to President Donald Trump (or "McDonald" Trump as he calls him) as an attempt at redemption. But barred from going near the President, Borat instead makes plans to gift the monkey to Vice President Mike Pence (referred to as "Vice Premiere Mikael Pence"), at least until his surprise fifteen-year-old daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova) ruins that plan after joining him on the trip in a cargo crate. 

Parroting his nation's sexist, dismissive views of women with a handbook he lends Tutar, and adopting a variety of disguises, Borat must now present his own daughter as the gift to renowned "ladies man" Pence or face execution. And that's when the real craziness starts, as he begins remaking his daughter for this big moment, all while offensively awkward encounters with various strangers appalled at their behavior. With Borat inching ever closer to completing his mission, he's forced to examine the affect this will have on Tutar, while attempting to process America's heightened political climate amidst the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.  

It's pretty obvious early on that Baron-Cohen and first-time feature director Jason Woliner have no plans to pull any punches when early scenes feature Tutar watching an animated Disney-like fairy tale titled Melania, inspiring her to leave the country to be kept as property in a gilded cage just like the First Lady. Or when Borat, decked in full Trump costume, crashes Pence's CPAC speech as the VP touts that there only fifteen coronavirus cases while declaring the administration "ready for anything." But as pointed as these shots are, nothing really compares to the interactions Borat and his aspiring journalist daughter have with "regular" folks floored by their unpredictable antics.

The best, or maybe worst, of the pair's grotesque displays occur when under the guises of Professor Phillip Drummond III (what a reference) and Sandra Jessica Parker Drummond, they simultaneously surprise and horrify the guests of a debutante ball with a father-daughter dance that concludes in a widly inappropriate fashion. They also encounter a plastic surgeon ready to physically transform Tutar before she's given away, a babysitter who tries to open her eyes to her nation's misogynistic lies, a Jewish woman attempting to convince Borat that the Holocaust actually happened and, most memorably, a pair of QAnon conspiracy believers with whom Borat stays with when the pandemic takes hold. And wait until you see the song he performs at their right-wing March for Our Rights anti-lockdown rally, to an overenthusiastic response. 

While Baron Cohen's funniest and timeliest thrashing yet only reinforces the longstanding belief in his comic genius, almost equal credit should go to Maria Bakalova, who dives into the role of Tutar with fearless abandon from the moment she appears on screen. It's their scenes together that make this whole experience work, perfectly playing off each other as they move from one embarrassing situation to the next oblivious of their behavior, much of which revolves around her shock that women are allowed to drive and hold down jobs. The amount of visual gags and one-liners that land are abnormally high, not only because of their timing, but the pitch-perfect reactions of anyone who happens to be within their orbit. Couple that with the fact there's a compelling plot so closely tied to current events and it's hard to argue that this strikes a nerve its preceding film couldn't, even concluding with a Usual Suspects-like third act twist that cleverly blurs the lines of this fictionalized reality.  

What's actually been overlooked about Rudy Guiliani's hotel room moment is how much of a centerpiece it is, as if all roads of the plot lead us there, to that scene, literally the main event of all this. And that it probably ranks on the lower end of the film's jaw-dropping sequences tells you everything you need to know about what to expect. In Rudy's defense, what he believes to be a real interview with a legitimate journalist starts for him as professionally as possible until Tutar's advances begin and things start deteriorating in a hurry. The most disturbing thing about it is how he casually behaves as if this is business as usual, resulting in a noticeable jolt when the truth's revealed.

Caught with his pants down in the most literal sense, it's difficult for even the most skilled spinsters put a positive shine on what ends up being the worst look possible for this formerly respected public figure, now a very long way from his "Time Person of the Year" status. Though to be fair, he had already done a pretty good job sullying that reputation well before this. Set-up or not, this scene of him is now on permanent record for audiences and the media to endlessly dissect, regardless of its context. 

What's so dumbfounding about the Giuliani situation could easily apply to the film as a whole, as Baron Cohen's methods as Borat always seem to land the biggest blows on those stubbornly entrenched in their own belief system, occupying self-contained bubbles with few moral limits. As far as the accusation that satire this timely won't age well, there's little chance it could ever hold up as poorly as the actual events inspiring it. If anything, this should be the go-to piece of entertainment for anyone yearning for the ultimate satirical reflection of the past year's insanity.

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Director: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alex Sharp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Noah Robbins, Daniel Flaherty, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Mark Rylance, Ben Shenkman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, J.C. MacKenzie, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton 
Running Time: 130 min.
Rating: R 

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

If it's become customary to refer to any controversial or contested trial that captivates the public's imagination as a "circus," 1969's trial of a group of seven anti-Vietnam protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting a riot at the Democratic National Convention feels like the starting point. That Netflix's The Trial of the Chicago 7 is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin pretty much insures that we won't be subjected to a dry, biographical history lesson recounting the timeline of events surrounding this pivotal event. But there's this feeling that even if he did take that more conventional approach, the material would still be inescapably compelling and entertaining enough on its own merits. But this is Sorkin we're talking about so it's not like anyone is expecting the writer behind The Social Network and The West Wing to phone it in. And sure enough, he doesn't.

Better recognized for having other filmmakers adapt his sometimes polarizing perspectives, there was a question mark surrounding how Sorkin's decisions behind the camera would affect this material given that this is only the Oscar-winning screenwriter's second directorial feature. So while we'll never know how his script could have turned out in other hands, it's tough to care when the version we do get leaves this much of an impression. With an all-star cast at his disposal, he manages to give this multi-faceted, politically and ethically complicated true story the dramatic heft it deserves while expertly balancing many of its comedic, absurdist moments. And there's no doubt that this trial is absurd on every possible level, made that much more remarkable by the fact that much of what we see did actually happen, if you give or take some details and grant the usual degree of creative license.

It's August 1968 when Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) president Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and community organizer Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), Youth International Party (Yippie) founders Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), along with Vietnam mobilization leader (MOBE) David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) and anti-war activists Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins) and John Froines (Daniel Flaherty) protest at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, kicking off a chain of events that results in violent rioting. Five months later, all of them, in addition to an eighth defendant, Black Panther party co-founder Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), are charged and eventually put on trial, with the Attorney General appointing young, idealstic lawyer Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and veteran litigator Tom Foran (J.C. MacKenzie) as prosecutors for the case. 

With the extremely prejudiced Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) on the bench, defense attorneys William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and Leonard Weinglass (Ben Shankman) attempt to represent their rather uncontrollable clients, most notably the disruptive Abbie Hoffman and self-professed non-client Seale, who forgoes legal counsel to instead receive advice from Illinois Black Panther chapter chairman Fred Hampton (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) in court. With the events of that summer coming into clearer view through key witness testimony, the proceedings soon careen out of control, with Judge Hoffman's controversial, biased rulings making it impossible for the defendants to receive a fair trial, exposing the flaws within the government, judicial system, and further opening the wounds of political and racial unrest throughout the country. 

As far as the nation's most ridiculous trials go, this one's right up there, as the film starts in an almost jarringly scattershot montage style, introducing us to the key principle players in court, while interspersing often uproariously comical legal scenes with the fateful events that took place in Chicago. Tonally, this isn't the easiest balancing act, but Sorkin masters it, establishing all of their out-sized personalities and motivations, with Cohen's Abbie Hoffman and Strong's Jerry Rubin being the most radicalized of the group, easily getting under the quick-tempered, frustratingly illogical judge's skin. An early highlight sees Judge Hoffman constantly interrupting Schultz's opening statement to reiterate that there's "no relation" between he and the defendant. If ever there was a mix-up no one would ever make, it's that. 

This entire film really belongs to an award-worthy Langella, who just nails the staggering incompetence of a man who makes Judge Lance Ito look like RBG. Senile, racist and mind-blowingly ignorant, his actions are hilariously inept until it's obvious the stakes have gotten too high and, we're left to process the immense consequences of this eventual verdict, along with all the potential ramifications surrounding that. It's funny until it isn't, and that line's very visible once it's crossed. Much of the turmoil concerns the eighth defendent, Bobby Seals, who besides probably not even deserving of being there, is shut down in escalatingly humiliating ways by the judge, reaching a fever pitch toward the trial's end. You almost lose track of how many charges of contempt are laid down, especially on Mark Rylance's defense attorney, who eventually has enough. 

Everyone's had enough, with some faring better than others at hiding it. The two bedrocks who seem incapable of breaking are Redmayne's logically level-headed Tom Hayden and JGL's Schultz, the latter of whom isn't ignorant to the shenanigans unfolding while still retaining his loyalty to the law. A park encounter midway through with him and Hoffman and Rubin truly reveals what type of a person he is, conistent with his character in court and a reminder that boths sides are being professionally and personally victimized by this sham of a trial, regardless of how much weight the charges carry. There's also a brief, but great performance from Michael Keaton as former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who may or may not turn out to be the star witness the defense is banking on.

The flashbacks to the actual riots are powerfully filmed by Sorkin, especially revealing in terms of what it says about Hayden, who is intentionally portrayed as kind of a milquetoast character up to that point. This changes in a major way toward the end, leading into an over-the-top, but still immensely satisfying resolution that seems completely called for whether or not that's how things exactly unfolded in reality. It works for this film, which is really all that matters. 

The elephant in the room is that the timing couldn't be appropriate or strangely uncomfortable, reminding us just how little has actually changed in the decades since. It's no longer a question of whether something like this could happen again, or even worse. It has and is. That thought never really leaves you as these events unfold, holding up a mirror to a very specific time and place in our culture and political climate that still very much resonates. It's an unpredictably wild trip, and even if you know how it all pans out, it's difficult to still not become enraptured in the proceedings and eventual fallout for these characters. Of course, so much of that impact stems from the fact that it's wrestling with issues still haven't been fully resolved over half a century later.

We Summon the Darkness

Director: Marc Meyers

Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Maddie Hasson, Amy Forsyth, Logan Miller, Austin Swift, Johnny Knoxville, Allison McAtee 

Running Time: 91 min.

Rating: R

 

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

 

We Summon the Darkness joins movies like The Hunt as one of the horror-thrillers released in the past year that's gained unexpected relevance and attention for how its subject matter mirrors recent cultural events. The latest from My Friend Dahmer director Marc Meyers, it kind of landed with a thud on VOD in April before eventually catching steam on Netflix to become one of the more frequently streamed genre titles of the summer. It isn't hard to see how, as what starts as a standard horror entry pulls off a twist that really does elevate the story and delivers a certain degree of scathing social commentary that makes it a trip worth taking. You could also say its blessed, or maybe even cursed, with almost improbable timing that lends this to a deeper analysis than it would have otherwise gotten. 

All these circumstances could have made it even harder for a script centering around a particular group attempting to force their beliefs on society through violence and murder, to resonate. Who wants to watch that now? That it's not a depressing dirge, and at points a lot of fun, speaks to the control Myers has over the material's tone. It isn't perfect and doesn't completely swing for the fences, but there's a feeling that had he done that, the results may not have been as effective. And it certainly wouldn't have been the escape from reality it turns out to be despite its disturbingly timely themes. So with some good performances, excellent pacing, and a villainous motivation from the film's antagonists that heighten the remainder of its run time, you could say it overdelivers.

It's July 1988 when Alexis (Alexandra Daddario) and her two friends, wild child Val (Maddie Hasson) and shy, reserved Bev (Amy Forsyth) are driving together to a heavy metal show in Indiana. On the way, they have a run-in with three guys who throw a milkshake on their windshield, discovering them at the venue's parking lot to be Ivan (Austin Swift--Taylor's brother), Kovacs (Logan Miller) and Mark (Keean Johnson), a fledgling metal band about to break-up as the latter prepares to move to Los Angeles. After some apologizing, the girls soon bond with them over their shared musical tastes, with the guys unsubtly letting it be known they're interested. Alexis takes the hint, inviting them to her father's empty mansion to drink and goads them all into playing a game of "Never Have I Ever."

This isn't a particularly wise time to be hanging around with complete strangers, as a string of Satanic killings are sweeping through the region, drawing the ire of pastor John Henry Butler (an almost unrecognizable Johnny Knoxville), an well-known evangelist preaching about the sins of heavy metal music all over local news programs. Early on, no secret is made of the fact that these girls are looking to lure the guys into a trap, as we're led to believe they're responsible for all the aforementioned carnage. That's only about half-true, as all parties prepare for a showdown, from which very few will walk out alive.  

Meyers takes the approach of pretty much making it an open secret that the girls are the predators right from the start, with Alexis serving as their ringleader. While they're the main characters and we're objectively following them from the first scene, it's clear something's amiss from the start. And when they meet the guys, that becomes painfully obvious, which is fine since the screenplay doesn't seem all too interested in suggesting otherwise. When the reveal does come about a quarter through, all the movie's adrenaline is generated from the "why" rather than "how," with these guys suddenly fighting for their lives against these female perpetrators with sick, if somewhat surprising, intentions. 

What Alan Trezza's script does best is give the girls three really distinctive personalities that are heavily showcased early on with their comedic banter, most of which really hits. As their mission escalates, this gradually gives way to this twisted power struggle that exists within the group, with Alexis establishing herself atop the food chain with loose canon Val as her sidekick. Both soon assert their control over a terrified, intimidated Bev, who quickly realizes this isn't her at all and she'll have to fake her way through the violence they're about to unleash, despite her obvious interest in one of their intended victims. 

With this dynamic in place, the film takes off with Alexandra Daddario's wildly unhinged performance as Alexis, which surpasses much of what she's done since first infamously breaking onto the scene with that memorable True Detective role that was supposed to put her on track to become a major star. While it's led to steady work since that's been hit-or-miss, that obviously didn't pan out. But this might be the first part since to at least fully exploit what's been her calling card. With giant, almost inhumanly blue eyes and distinctive look, someone finally decided to just go ahead and cast her as a raging psychopath, and she eats it up, stealing the movie along with Maddie Haddon, who's equally impressive as her out-of-control cohort, flipping a familar horror character on its head. Amy Forsyth has the least to do as Bev, mainly because she's just being dragged along for the ride until her inveitiable redemption, but she delivers what's needed nonetheless. 

As their motivations come to light along with some clever turns, what unfolds is a night of carnage that does eventually settle into a groove that resembles a more traditional horror entry, albeit a thoroughly entertaining one that explores some inriguing themes. Johnny Knoxville's small but somewhat pivotal role as a pastor is well-handled in that it's not only a reversal of expectations, but a chance to see him give a darker, more dramatic turn that veers heavily from his usual big screen schtick. That is once you get past the fact he's playing older than we're typically used to. Or rather, pushing 50, he actually is older, with this representing the kinds parts he should probably be taking more of. 

Despite being set in 1988, it may as well have been 1998 or 2008 or even present-day, since there aren't many period details in We Summon the Darkness that will invoke a ton of nostalgia, even for the most dedicated metalheads of the era, which is a debit. Even with a solid soundtrack and some witty dialogue centering around the music scene of the time that captures how these people would likely talk, it definitely isn't some kind of immersive 80's experience, with the only midly successful exploitation of the period coming in a late scene revolving around Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth." Stranger Things it's not, but luckily the story and action hold up well enough that this isn't a major issue that would detract from anyone's enjoyment or harm the experience. The only question is how many viewers will still be in the mood to watch this once they realize what it's actually about. It's definitely more fun than it looks, especially for a movie that seems superficially intended to just kill 90 minutes. This it does, and then some.