CineNiche

We were not expecting much from David Morlet's Home Sweet Home.   Due to Alexandra Aja's transition to western filmmaking and the overall tonal shift that has occurred in his films since working in Hollywood, we had it ingrained in our minds that the same fate would befall any other director of the French Extremeties.  Morlet's Mutants  is a suspenseful semi-zombie ride.  He uses his skill here to reinvent the home invasion film. Whether it's Ils, The Strangers, Straw Dogs, Funny Games, or even The Purge  all home invasion films begin with getting to know the family.  Most horror dictates that the audience should learn about its victims and gain a connection prior to their destruction.  It is believed that our caring of them and their lives before the disaster will make the impact of their situation even more dire. This is true, nearly all the greatest horror films follow this formula.  No one would feel for Reagon had they not seen her as a...

In screenwriting you are told to show, not tell; whereas in horror cinema the “rules” dictate you tell about the threat and restrict the audience's access to seeing the threat. The Battery succeeds at both. Even though the film debuted at the Telluride Horror Show last October, its recent VOD release correlates well with the upcoming World War Z debacle. In World War Z we will witness millions of dollars at waste in an attempt to find the balance between character and imminent doom, which The Battery does perfectly with a minuscule budget of $6,000. It is a film that instantly reminds you of Night Of The Living Dead , because at every moment you feel it was a labor of love. Like Night we have a story that focuses more on humanity than it does the zombie threat. The nihilism of Night is modernized in The Battery for the millennial generation as an overall sense of apathy in the face of hopelessness. There is no heavy-handed social commentary, nor are there ...