Day 302: House Of Dust (2013)

For today’s film for my 31 days of Halloween, I came across this film online so I couldn’t resist watching it because the synopsis is what drew me to the film in the first place. We’ve seen dozens of films already that deal with ghosts and beings as well as films dealing with possession so I was hoping that this one was going to be a little bit different than the rest. It’s the story of four college students whose school is near an insane asylum where some unsolved murders had occurred some years back. The murder as well some others were cremated and placed into jars where they would sit for decades until the college students stumbled upon them while breaking into the closed asylum. When the cans hit the ground they open and three out of the four don’t realize that after they had inhaled the dust, they soon become possessed by the spirits of the dead including the murderer. The fourth one named Emma (Inbar Lavi) has to figure out what to do before it’s too late. The film also stars Steven Grayhm (White Chicks) as Kolt, Eddie Hassell (Jobs) as Dylan, Holland Roden (Teen Wolf) as Gabby, John Lee Ames (Days Of Darkness) as Levius, Alesandra Assante (36 Saints) as Allyson, and Nicole Travolta (The Utah Murder Project) as Christine while the film was directed by A.D. Calvo (Nine Lives). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 31: The Gift (2015)

For today’s film, I chose a film that had a lot of buzz back in the time that it was released in 2015, but I never had the chance to see it then till now. Joel Edgerton (Warrior) pulls triple duty for The Gift which he wrote, directed, and starred in. Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) have just moved from Chicago to LA to try and start a new life in a new setting. One day the couple run into an old acquaintance of Simon’s named Gordo (Edgerton) who randomly starts bringing the couple gifts. One of those gifts is that he unwraps a secret from 20 years before that is going to affect Simon’s relationship with Robyn for the worst as details start to unravel. The film also stars Allison Tolman (Krampus) as Lucy, Tim Griffin (Star Trek) as Kevin, Busy Phillips (White Chicks) as Duffy, Adam Lazarre-White (War Of The Worlds) as Ron, Wendell Pierce (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2) as Det. Mills, Beau Knapp (Southpaw) as Det. Walker, Nash Edgerton (Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge Of The Sith) as Frank Dale, and Mirrah Foulkes (Sleeping Beauty) as Wendy Dale.

First of all I have to start this paragraph with how much I enjoyed Joel Edgerton’s performance as Gordo the Weirdo (That is what Bateman’s character calls him). At times, he seems as innocent as can be then there are times where he can start to look really weird. What I can tell you is that the twist in the end is something I should have seen coming, but I didn’t. I am obviously not going to give away what the twist is just in case you were looking to watch the film. Jason Bateman is as brilliant as usual as he delivers a serious performance as the manipulative Simon. Rebecca Hall does great as well as the woman who begins to put the pieces together when she cannot get the answers from the one source she needs. The film has suspense at times during the film, but it really starts to kick into overdrive in the last 10 minutes of the film. I however did enjoy the writing because the story was pretty solid in my opinion and the filmmaking aspect of the film was solid as well. Joel Edgerton did a pretty good job for someone who was directing his first feature length film and the overall aesthetic/tones of the film was dark. I am starting to see the maybe Hollywood is starting to go with more original ideas which gives me hope for filmmaking. I enjoyed the film, you know exactly what you’re getting when you watch it. That is why I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.