Seeking solace in his app-review video blog is the only part of Josh’s life that’s going well while the rest of his young life is a constant struggle. From the nasty breakup with his girlfriend, Genny, to a three month lapse in paying rent and all the while his mother battles a terminal condition, internally Josh desperately seeks help. As one part mobile application critique assignment and one part a way to help possibly boost his life situation, Josh accesses a new self-help app called “I-Lived” where inputting goals by the user are examined by the app that responds with step-by-step instructions on how to achieve the user’s goals. As Josh follows the app’s advice, his life begins to feel anew with his mother miraculously better, he obtains a new position at a major marketing firm, and he gains a gorgeous vixen girlfriend, but as Josh keeps using the app, the more the advice aggressively turns malicious and sticks him into a web of misconduct, pain, and murder that’s hard to break from, according to the app’s user contract agreement.
“I-Lived” is a 2015 technology horror film from “P2” and “Maniac” remake director Franck Khalfoun that rummages pieces and parts familiar to that of John Flynn’s 1994 film “Brainscan” and integrates them into the wish-gone-wrong films, the “Leprechaun” series, of the 1990s sans Warwick Davis’s mischief hellion. The comparisons aren’t intended to thwart “I-Lived’s” originality. To the contrary, Khalfoun has embarked on an eye-opening concept, ran with it alongside co-visionary Brian Breiter, and spun the Silicon Valley mobile applications into devilish, life ruining soul suckers. I know what I’m talking about it; I see apps, such as the Facebook app on my wife’s tablet, leave users mindless and obsessed everyday. We all want to believe technology was created to upscale our way of life for the better, but the vastness of possibilities stemmed from the engineered science can entomb, consume, and definitely doom us. Khalfoun slightly parodies the online reviewer (gee, thanks) with overzealousness and video editing creativity all the while dreaming of making the big bucks off internet, an infinite place where everybody’s opinion calls home.
This film also marks the first time Franck Khalfoun hasn’t collaborated with “High Tension” and “Horns” director Alexandre Aja on a horror film. Khalfoun proves he can stand alone, writing and directing a flashy, intensely disturbing and creative horror film sprinkled with moments of comedy cast forth by lead actor Jeremiah Watkins in an usual role. Watkins owns the turn on-off switch, laughing in the face of poverty and humility then, in an instant, being firm and cold once consumed with the “I-Lived” app that has a hand around his neck. With a solid storyline pace and on point performances by Watkins, Sarah Power, and Chris Mena, “I-Lived” clicks and drags obsolete modern day tech horror movies toward the trash bin icon.
Khalfoun and his crew perfectly edited scenes together to create a live streaming visual while also intentionally implementing story lined easter eggs that’ll be explained later in the film. Not all is peachy with “I-Lived” as I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming with a side of “eh.” The expectation to divulge more information was requisite to explain exactly what’s going inside the tormented mind of Josh; instead, the finale’s visceral image sears faintly into our mind’s eye. Also, quite a few characters are spent without development; examples lie with Josh’s former girlfriend, Genny, who makes brief interjecting initial appearance and with his best friend Bobby who takes a turn for the worse. Both characters came to a complete and sudden stop, hitting a wall after turning a pivotal corner and left lingering in limbo as to their fates.
To further immerse your movie experience, the “I-Lived” named app was actually created and is now available on Google Play and Itunes for download. The app is pure marketing genius, campaigning along with the movie as a video playback device. When you watch “I-Lived” through the app, it will send you timed messages and clues throughout the duration of the film, taking complete control over your phone’s speakers, vibration, and flashlight features. However, from the reviews I’ve read, the app sounds moderately successful, but the snazzy idea might be worth checking out. In all honesty, “I-Lived” doesn’t require marketing ploys to engage an audience; in fact, the thrill of seeing what the app will have Josh do next is well worth the price of admission. Who needs voices in their heads when an app on their phone can instruct them on who to kidnap or kill? GPS guides us into the middle of lakes or the center of gangland and, yet, still we follow. Same principal, only more contractually diabolic.
UK home entertainment distribution company Second Sight releases “I-Lived” on DVD July 11th or to catch the film early, “I-Lived” will be available for download on June 27th and on-demand July 4, just in time for the fireworks. I’m not able to properly critique the audio or video qualities as the disc delivered was a burned screener, but if the attributes are on par with the DVD, the video and audio appeared very sleek and clean, not being a rushed mess slapped together in a matter of days of post production, with an eclectic soundtrack from alternative artist Mathieu Carratier to hip-hop performer R.A. The Rugged Man. “I-Lived” epitomizes the phrase the ghost in the machine with reverberating terror that’ll make have you thinking twice about the next app downloaded.
Category Archives: Chilly Thrilly
The Unofficial and Evil Sequel! “2 Jennifer” review!
After the success of writer-director James Cullen Bressack’s “To Jennifer,” a sequel begins to shape from the mind of aspiring filmmaker Spencer. Spencer’s quest is to locate the perfect, the one-and-only, Jennifer actress, who must bare the birth name as well. With a trip to Los Angeles and the help from his former high school buddy Mac, Spencer has quickly lined up a handful of potential Jennifers in hopes of one of them becoming his leading lady. Spencer and Mac finally decide on Jennifer Pope, a young actress who has yet to see the original film. Everything seems to be on track, but a dark cloud lingers overhead, slowly developing upon a hidden secret that’ll take the sequel “2 Jennifer” to the next deranged level.
Hunter Johnson’s directorial debut hits the home entertainment market three years after Bressack’s iPhone shot suspenseful thriller “To Jennifer” in 2013 courteously from Psykik Junky and MVDVisual. Johnson, who also dons the role of the film’s star, Spencer, writes and directs the official sequel about the unofficial sequel to “To Jennifer.” You got that? Bressack tags along as executive producer with the Sector 5 distributed indie horror, which is also shot on cellphone cameras and small digital cameras, co-starring David Coupe as Mack and Lara Jean Mummert as the film’s namesake – Jennifer. To throw in a couple of familiar and iconic horror actresses to legitimize “2 Jennifer,” “Deadly Revision’s” Dawna Lee Heising and “Sleepaway Camp’s” Felissa Rose make cameo appearances that are strategically satirical.
Now, I haven’t yet sat down to view James Cullen Bressack’s “To Jennifer,” even though I do own a copy. However, the sequel can and does stand alone as a separate body of work, an entity that doesn’t need to crutch or leech itself from the original movie. “2 Jennifer” sets up the necessary information in the prologue with numerous faux interviews, one of them being Dawna Lee Heising, needed to convey to comprehend any sort of background in order for blind buy viewers who don’t know that “2 Jennifer” is a sequel (or viewers like me who haven’t yet watched the original, but is aware of it’s existence) to proceed with a voyeuristic tale of disturbing macabre.
The story starts off slow. With the artificial interviews designed to construct a clean and clear enough picture of Bressack’s original film, super fanatic Spencer then jumps into camera view to fulfill Bressack’s wish, as seen from the last interview segment, of a brand new filmmaker tackling a followup to his hit film. Spencer seems like a normal joe, cultivating crew, equipment, locations, and talent that sizes him up to be a gung-ho participant for his Jennifer horror story. While Spencer dedication is unwavering, his underlining intentions are hard to surface and, eventually, something isn’t quite right with Spencer. Mack senses turmoil, but doesn’t grasp the full picture either. As Spencer start to unravel is when the tale begins to pick up a dangerous and unpredictable amount of steam, energizing a massive, ominous train of horror and lunacy that funnels down a twisted tunnel of reality disconnecting tragedy.
The acting overshot the mark of realism by a hair over the margin. For a film that’s shot digitally on phones and handhelds, a more natural performance needs to be approached and all the acting conveyed nothing short of very staged. Staged in a good way as the acting wasn’t terrible, but far from it. The affect just didn’t fit the mold. Hunter Johnson performed troublingly naturalistic with his transmogrified character whereas David Coupe profusely oozed of trained actor. Even Bressack’s semi-small role of himself perceived overly rehearsed with the director portraying to be coked out of his mind and joyfully intoxicated in the midst of his small party of fraternizers and partakers of substances.
Sector 5 distributes the original LAHorror.com “2 Jennifer” film through local cable providers and pay-per-view services come this August. The 90-minute film sent to me was a burned screener disc copy and won’t have the audio or video qualities critiqued for obvious reasons. Bottom line is to give Hunter Johnson’s “2 Jennifer” a go, especially if you’re a fan of the first film. The characters develop nicely with their niceties getting their throats cuts in a jaw-dropping, gut-checking ending that’ll sure to please every gore fan.
Resident Evil 7 trailer breakdown and theories.
Last night Capcom surprised us with the new Resident Evil 7 reveal trailer. After watching it 100 times, I feel the urge to analyze the video and see if there are any clues relating to the past games.
So first lets start with this image. This to me is a throwback to the first game, when it showed the ”Raccoon Times” news paper with a headline about strange murders taking place around Arklay. Now it seems the residents of this new location cannot explain what kind of creatures they are seeing and they refer to them as ”ghosts”. Many people are complaining that maybe the new enemies will be paranormal. I for one do not believe that and still believe that the new enemies are the outcome of a biological weapon.
This shot I found interesting. To me it looks like someone holding a rifle with a flashlight and wearing tactical gear. Could this be Umbrella security trying to protect a testing site? Maybe a BSAA operative or it could be Hunk? I would be very excited if it is Hunk, a guy can dream.
Now could this be one of our protagonists? Many people are thinking this is Rebecca Chambers, which could be true since she is supposedly returning in the new Resident Evil: Vendetta movie. I have money on either being Rebecca or Moira Burton.
This I believe is more of symbolizing what has happened. A virus or whatever it is spreading over this couples photo, with the glass being smashed over the husbands face. Maybe the husband is behind what is happening in this house? From the demo one of the characters says something about their son ”Lucas” being a ”bad seed”. maybe this couple’s son had ties to Umbrella and therefore had his hands on some very nasty biological shit and came back home to spread it. Who knows, but this shot is interesting.
Here is the part in the trailer I’m sure had Resident Evil fans going crazy. This is obviously Oswell E. Spencer, founder of the Umbrella Corporation. I mean who else could this be? An old, balding guy in a wheel chair inside in the famous Spencer mansion. Does this mean Spencer is back even though Wesker killed him in Resident Evil 5? I don’t think so, I think this might be a flash back or who knows maybe he did survive and he himself is infected with a new virus.
This isn’t from the trailer but I had to throw in. This is a screenshot I took while playing through the demo. While in the attic of the house I found this old photograph of what appears to be an Umbrella Corporation helicopter. Before picking up the photo there was a phone beside it ringing. I answered it and heard a mysterious female character telling me that ”Memories hold the truth. Do not let appearances mislead you”. I have an interesting theory about that and have written it below. Please skip ahead to the next picture if you do not want spoilers.
I am entering SPOILER territory now. So if you have NOT played Resident Evil Revelations 2, please skip down to the next picture. In Resident Evil Revelations 2, Albert Wesker’s sister was introduced as the main antagonist. She, like her brother dealt with viruses and all sorts of biological weaponry. She was obsessed with living forever and wanted to find a suitable person to transfer her mind into. Nearing the end of the game Alex was in the process of moving her mind into Natalia, a little girl who Alex picked as her new ”vessel”. During that process Alex then kills herself, to be free from her aging body. The very end of Revelations 2 it is shown that Natalia is slowly turning into Alex, showing that Alex’s experiment was a success. So could it be that Natalia’s mind has now completely transformed into Alex Wesker and she is behind this new viral outbreak? From what we are told on the phone, it does make sense but we’ll have to wait and see.
Another screenshot from the demo that I wanted to add. I took this one to show that no, we are not dealing with ghosts. This is one of the enemies that shows up in the cinematic cut scene at the end of the demo, judging from her face it looks like she has some vein inflammation (possibly from an infection?) and her eyes being blacked out. Who knows what the hell is going on, I know there are plenty of theories being thrown around and I honestly can not wait for this game. I am going to see if there are anymore secrets hidden in this demo.
Pre-order RE7 for PS4 on Amazon!
”Fear comes home again” Resident Evil 7 reveal trailer.
Well the Sony E3 conference just ended and all I have to say is wow. Just wow. Yes you read the title right, Resident Evil 7 was revealed with a very interesting trailer. When the trailer started I had absolutely no idea what it was about, then when it picked up and threw that awesome Resident Evil logo on the screen I couldn’t help but to jump and cheer.
Resident Evil 7 is the seventh installment in the main Resident Evil franchise. It is of course being developed by Capcom and will be released on PS4, XBOX ONE, and PC on January 24, 2017. This trailer is very interesting and I have to admit that I probably watched it about 50 times. I’ve noticed many people complaining about how different it looks from the others and I have to agree that it does, but so did Resident evil 4. Which ended up being one of the best in the series, so I would say that everyone should relax and wait until we get more information about the game. But as for me, I am incredibly excited and I salute you Capcom for going back to horror.
Exorcising Evil Takes a Toll. “Accidental Exorcist” review!
Unorthodox exorcist and hobby writer Richard Vanuk lives a depressing and humble life full of endless booze and filthy altruism. Driven by the need for alcohol and an underline desire to help possessed strangers for a small fee, Vanuk barely maintains his own sustainability. With each challenging case of demonic inhabitance, the poor full time exorcist, and part time writer, expels demons from their misfortunate hosts into his own wretched soul, draining his self-respecting humanity out of him one demon-expulsion job at a time. The deeper Vanuk spirals downward into nihilism and the deeper he goes into severe debt, the choice to withdrawal from the toll of exorcising demons becomes no longer an option, but a fruitlessly fateful venture to just surviving in a world that’s scarce of good people.
My second undertaking into a Daniel Falicki horror film has the “Awaken The Devil” director batting a solid hundred percent on the ever honest critique block, going a strong two-for-two with his latest film, 2016’s “Accidental Exorcist,” that’s drenched with a despair atmosphere that swallows the intentionally pathetic character who is granted only a glimmer of unattainable hope for a good life. The writer-director has a keen eye for developing horror in various comedic, dramatic, and absurdly berserk formatted segments, delicately defining details to capture memorable moments. Falicki also stars as his own character, Richard Vanuk, and Falicki charms the audience by creating a likable anti-protagonist whose cavalier about demonic possessions and begrudged by a “corporate” employer who pays very little for the precision of demon banishment; this same company performs a stigmata on him after every exhausting job, discarding his limp, unconscious body in a different snow covered park afterwards.
Falicki drowns Vanuk in vices and addictions. Aside from the obvious alcohol and constant inebriation, Vanuk needs the pain of performing exorcisms as much as he loathes the process and the people who employs him. The character can’t reform, can’t function properly in normality, as witnessed when his successful brother offers Richard a once-in-a-lifetime position at his mundane company of pigmentation for sports equipment. When the exorcism well runs dry, Vanuk goes into full blown, borderline psychotic detox as he’s cut off from his, one and only, natural born skill and the ceasing of his per diem position sends him into frantically gulping down bottles of cold medicine to get a soothing fix. Falicki punishes the audience beloved, unconventional exorcist by having Vanuk fall to the bottom by not being unlucky or plotted against, but by simply self destruction and having God turn his back on his loyal servant when the promise, or a test, of a favorable outlook reveals itself.
The casting couldn’t be much more perfect with a cast of talented b-movie stars such as Jason Roth (“Awaken The Devil”), Chris Kotcher, and Jeffrey Goodrich to quickly name a few. Falicki owns Richard Vanuk, embodying the character so brilliantly that I would have a hard time relinquishing Richard Vanuk from Daniel Falicki’s face. Falicki pulls out all the stops by putting every once of degradation the director can muster into the downtrodden exorcist with a performance that sells his hapless nature and spew-filled gigs. Every client Vanuk attends to is portrayed honestly and earnestly from Sherryl Despress’s role of a desperate mother turned possessed super sewer to Patrick Hendren’s blind and levitating demonic being who goes on to have a heart-to-heart with Vanuk after an exorcism recovery.
“Accidental Exorcist” is unapologetic and shameless; a real nasty bitch to love unconditionally. The fun soars above the summit and the ingrained heart bursts beyond the restrictive seams of the reel. The film is nothing I’ve ever scene before; yet, still manages to homage legendary films that “Accidental Exorcist” built it’s bones upon. Similarities to, of course, the iconic William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” are apparent throughout with the almost beautifully grim and isolated atmospheric exterior scenes of foreboding destiny. Falicki’s film contains special effects so convincing by leaps and bounds when compared to other modern independent horror, portraying Vanuk so well within the confines of his dank and dejected existence that it’s as if he’s sharing his grime and his loneliness with us that’ll result with a quick shower when the credits roll.
Sector 5 Films and Rotomation Studios courtesy produces “Accidental Exorcist,” that’s not related to the Joshua Graham novel, but the audio and video will not be critically reviewed since I received and viewed a press screener and the film has yet to be released onto a home entertainment platform. However, make no mistake that “Accidental Exorcist” strides cockily into the first half of 2016 horror season, flying unnoticed, under the radar, as sleeper agent dangerous to demonic possession film competitors. Director Daniel Falicki is on the up and coming watch list like a high target terrorist, striking the heart of modern day horror and putting fear, and comedy, into a cynical cauldron.
It's Bloggin Evil! 