CDJW

Other Mommy is genuinely dreadful. Not in a fun, so-bad-it’s-good kind of way either. Just a frustrating horror film that seems to think being confusing is the same as being clever. The story is a mess, the characters are difficult to care about, and the film throws so many bizarre moments at you without giving them any real meaning. I don’t need every little detail explained in a horror film, but I do need things to feel like they make some sort of sense. The main character doesn’t help matters either. She’s having an affair with her husband’s best friend while he’s raising a daughter who isn’t biologically his, seemingly because she wasn’t ready to give up her freedom when she became a mother. It’s difficult to sympathise with someone when the film gives you so little reason to. And the horror itself? Completely baffling. Someone gets cut in half in a play area, another character turns into confetti, a seven-year-old gets asked to choose a weapon to fight a demon, and apparently touching its nose is enough to defeat it. None of it felt particularly frightening, just increasingly ridiculous. Even the whole glasses thing seems absurdly simplistic. No glasses on = bad. Glasses on = good. And by the ending, I was still wondering whether the Other Mommy was actually the mommy we’d been watching all along. There’s nothing wrong with leaving things open to interpretation, but this felt more like a collection of strange ideas than a properly thought-out story. Instead of leaving me unsettled or thinking about its deeper meaning, it just left me wondering what I’d watched. A disappointing, muddled horror film that mistakes confusion for mystery. And I really hope somebody cleaned up all those plastic balls from the ocean.

Absolutely loved Whiplash. Brilliant performances all around, but Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons are phenomenal. Fletcher is one of those characters who completely dominates every scene he’s in. That first lesson. Fletcher singles someone out for being out of tune and throws him out, only to reveal that he was actually in tune, he was testing whether the guy knew it himself. He hurls a chair at Neiman, slaps him while making him count, screams abuse at him and deliberately humiliates him. Meanwhile, Neiman responds by practising until his hands blister, putting plasters over them and carrying on. That obsession just keeps escalating. Losing the music folder accidentally gives Neiman his opportunity, Fletcher uses Connolly to threaten his position, and Neiman’s own family barely seem to understand why his musical achievements mean so much to him. Eventually he’s drumming until the kit is covered in blood and, most insanely, crawling out of a fucking car crash and still trying to make it on stage. Then you discover Fletcher lied about Sean Casey dying in a car accident when he actually took his own life after suffering from Fletcher’s abuse. Suddenly Fletcher’s methods stop being something you can dismiss as simply an extreme teacher trying to create greatness. And then there’s that ending. Fletcher deliberately tries to destroy Neiman on stage after Neiman helped destroy his career, only for Neiman to come back out, take control and play the performance of his life. My first reaction was “YES! Neiman fucking beat him.” Then Fletcher starts conducting. Neiman follows him. They look at each other. Fletcher smiles. And I immediately thought, “Oh fuck… did Fletcher actually win?” That’s what I love about the ending. I genuinely don’t know how I feel about it. Neiman finally stood up to Fletcher and proved what he could do, which feels like a victory. But at the same time, Fletcher finally got the performance he’d been trying to force out of him all along. There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job.’

Resident Evil is a solid horror film. I’m just not convinced it’s a particularly good Resident Evil film. Taken on its own, there’s plenty to enjoy. It’s tense, grim and claustrophobic, with some great creature horror and a constant feeling that something horrible is lurking just out of sight. When it fully commits to the horror, it works really well. There are some nice touches for fans of the games too. The typewriter, the herb, constantly checking how much ammo is left that feel ripped straight out of actually playing Resident Evil. I liked that they weren’t constantly shoved in your face either. They’re just there for people who recognise them. The comedy didn’t always work for me, though. There were moments where the film had built up some genuinely good tension only for a joke to come along and completely break it. Some of the humour lands, but other times it feels strangely out of place considering how dark and nasty the rest of the film can be. And despite all the references, I still rarely felt like I was watching Resident Evil. Take away the name and a handful of familiar elements and this could quite easily be its own standalone horror film. More than anything, this convinced me that Zach Cregger needs to direct a remake of The Thing. The claustrophobia, paranoia, isolation and creature work feel absolutely made for it. Give him an Antarctic research station, a group of people who don’t trust each other and some disgusting body horror and let him loose. Good horror movie. Questionable Resident Evil movie.