 Universal Pictures, 2021. "The Forever Purge" is the fifth and supposedly final chapter in the Purge franchise, and it has a lot of big ideas it looks to tackle. The saga has expanded its world since the first 2013 film, which took place all at one house. In subsequent chapters, we got to see a wider perspective of the annual 12-hour killing holiday known as "The Purge," where all crime - including murder - is made legal, an outlet which has apparently made America a better place.
The scariest part about "The Forever Purge" is how it tackles some real-world issues, albeit clumsily, presenting a dystopian version of our country that - in the wake of the 1/6 insurrection - doesn't seem all that far-fetched. For the first time in the saga, the events depicted feel like something that could actually happen...it's too bad that the film didn't take a smarter overall approach.
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 IFC Films, 2021. Video games have not translated well into movies. Other than "Sonic the Hedgehog," very few have ever worked. In other words, a great video game doth not maketh a great movie.
The latest example of this is "Werewolves Within," a popular VR (Virtual-Reality) video game by Ubisoft that is being given the big-screen treatment. Caught somewhere between horror and comedy, it works as neither, with the only real scare being in how miserably unfunny it ends up being.  Paramount Pictures, 2021. There's no keeping this one quiet: "A Quiet Place Part II" is everything you would hope it would be.
 Lionsgate, 2021. The "Saw" franchise is one of the most successful horror franchises of all-time, having grossed over a billion - with a "b" - since the first film hit theaters back in 2004. "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" is now the ninth film in the series and the first since the 2017 release, "Jigsaw."
The first two films in the series were fresh, unique and clever despite being labeled, perhaps correctly, as "torture porn." But the further we get away from that original pair of films, the more pointless the movies have become. Consequently "Spiral," feels like a copy of of a copy of a copy...an inauthentic wanna-be, much like the new killer it features who is yet again out for some twisted form of vengeance.  Netflix, 2021. Zack Snyder has worked his way into the hearts of millions and is one of the most talked-about directors of the past year. The "Zack Snyder Cut" of "Justice League" that was recently released was well-received and dreamed into fruition by his fervent fan-base. But long before he ever took on The Caped Crusader and his Super-Friends, Snyder cut his teeth on a zombie movie...a George Romero zombie movie no less...the 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead." It was Snyder's first feature-film and he returns to world of the undead with his own original zombie tale, "Army of the Dead."
Yes, it's way too long (it is a Zack Snyder film after all), and it never quite lives up to its outstanding opening sequence. But sometimes it's nice to just rest one's brain, and that particular muscle is not at all needed to enjoy this one. "Army of the Dead" definitely pays tribute to the zombie genre, in that mindlessness is not only welcome, it's the main dish. If only it didn't take itself so seriously.  Universal Pictures, 2020. The "Freaky Friday" body-switch gimmick is given a gory, R-rated twist in "Freaky," a deliciously cheesy horror-comedy hitting theaters this Friday.
 Focus Features, 2020. "Come Play" continues a long-standing Hollywood tradition of releasing dumb, disposable (re: cheaply made) horror films on or around Halloween weekend. Even within a genre that often asks the viewer to suspend their disbelief near the point of exhaustion, "Come Play," stands out as a special kind of ridiculousness.
 It's a horror film, no doubt. The worst, most effective form of horror, in that it doesn't feature bogeymen or faceless, raging killers. The monsters in "Antebellum" are real. Disappointingly for a film tackling such important, timely issues such as racial inequality and injustice, its gimmicks undercut its efforts, leaving the viewers to pick up the messy, disconnected pieces where they fall. By the end, you realize the puzzle wasn't even worth putting together, and that the filmmakers - while well-intentioned - don't seem to know the most effective way to handle the material.
 Netflix, 2020. Charlie Kaufman may very well be better and smarter than us, but man is it annoying when he rubs our faces in his self-proclaimed brilliance. In adapting the 2016 novel by Ian Reed, his "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" is inaccessible, gloriously bland and shamefully pretentious at only a level that Kaufman could ever possibly reach.
 IFC Films, 2020. Other than the spooky background music, the first two-thirds of the new thriller, "The Rental," plays like a soap opera. But it's an intriguing film that will make you think twice before ever renting out your next AirBnB.
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the featured film critic appearing on WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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