"St. Agatha" Review by Anthony T

Darren Lynn Bousman has become one of my favorite horror directors over the years. Whether its films like “Saw II”, Repo: The Genetic Opera and “The Barrens”, I’ve always had a good time with watching them. Once I heard that “St. Agatha” was coming out, I knew I had to check it out because his film are usually good.

The film is about a pregnant woman in 1950s Georgia who moves into a Covent to have her child. What seems to be a nice place turns into a nightmare for her, when she finds out the dark secrets that lie within the Covent. Now she must try and find a way out and save herself and her child before she becomes trapped in the wall of the Covent forever.

Going to this I was really hoping that St Agatha would’ve been a good film since I’m a huge fan of Darren Lynn Bousman. So much so that I was very interested in seeing this film. Sadly, I was fooled. “St Agatha is a very boring film from start to finish and I might even go far and say that this is Brousman’s worst film even though he had no input on the film’s screenplay Bousman isn’t given much to work with as he wasn’t one of the shopping list of screenwriters credited on the film. Bousman does a good job with the way the film looks as it has a dark look and dark feel to it. That is the only good thing that I have say about this film as everything else in his direction sucked. He doesn’t do a good job with the way he directs his cast. Every performance in the film felt like they were hitting one note and that’s it. It tells me that either the cast wasn’t engaged in the material or the way the characters were written. You need both of those elements for a film like this to succeed. This film doesn’t have that and that’s why Bousman is partly responsible for this lifeless film.

When you have multiple screenwriters, sometimes it hurts the overall screenplay. The screenplay for this film was atrocious as I lay most of the blame to the screenwriters. One of the reasons that this screenplay fails was the fact that they are way too many flashback scenes. This film spends too much time going back and forth between the main story and backstory of the main character. When a story like this does that, it tends to make the length of the film feel even longer. This film felt like it was fifteen minutes too long as some scenes could’ve been shorten. The other thing that I didn’t like was the fact that this film moves very slowly. The screenwriters don’t do a good job making sure that the main character was interesting. I couldn’t get into the main character because the character felt bland. When you have a main character that is bland, it is hard to get into the story. This was the case with me as I didn’t care about the character here thus making this a boring film.

Please avoid this film as was boring from the opening minute to the end. If you want to something in similar tone that is good from Darren Lynn Brousman, rent “Abbatior” or “The Barrens’. Those are more effective films and more worth your time than “St Agatha”.

Review Rating: 1 Star

Official Trailer for Darren Lynn Brosuman's Latest Film "St Agatha"

Uncork'd Entertainment recently send the official trailer for Darren Lynn Brosuman's latest film "St Agatha". The film stars  Sabrina Kern ("Pretty Hurts"), Carolyn Hennesy ("General Hospital"), and Courtney Halverson (Unfriended).

"St Agatha" hits VOD and theaters in limited release on February 8th.

Press Release:

Uncork’d Entertainment will release the horror / thriller ST. AGATHA in theaters and On Demand / Digital HD on February 8, 2019.

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/mTo9MkH5NmI

"A horror film with brains and atmosphere" (Hollywood in Toto), ST. AGATHA was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III, Abattoir) and stars Sabrina Kern ("Pretty Hurts"), Carolyn Hennesy ("General Hospital"), and Courtney Halverson (Unfriended). The film premiered at The Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans.

It's the 1950's in small town Georgia, a pregnant con woman on the run seeks refuge in a convent hidden in deafening isolation. What first starts out as the perfect place to have a child turns into a dark layer where silence is forced, ghastly secrets are masked, and every bit of will power Agatha has is tested. She soon learns the sick and twisted truth of the convent and the Odd people that lurk inside its halls. Agatha must now find a way to discover the unyielding strength needed to escape and save her baby before she's caged behind these walls forever.

"St Agatha": Official Trailer

"Abattoir" Review by Anthony T

Darren Lynn Brosman has been one of my favorite horror directors within the last ten years. With films like “Repo: The Genetic Opera”, “The Barrens” and most recently “Alleluia: The Devil’s Carnival 2”, there’s a reason why he has been great for the horror genre. When I heard about his latest “Abattoir”, I knew that I had to see this one way or another because his films have been so good.

The film is about an investigator reporter who has to come to grips with a tragedy when her son in law mysterious kills her sister and niece. She is aided by a detective who’s trying to find out what happened and would make her son in law commit those murders. Their investigation takes them to a haunted house has been built out of various tragedies. Soon, they come across a mysterious man who has all the answers and how the house is linked to the murders. Can they find out what happened before the both of them become a part of the house’s tragic history?

I’ve personally have seen just about everyone one of Bousman’s films since he burst on to the scene with “Saw 2”. It’s amazing how he grown as a filmmaker, as he is one of the best horror directors out there period. With that said, I thought his latest film “Abattoir” is his best directing that he has done to date.

One of the things that makes Brousman’s direction great was that he’s able to make everything have this consistent dark look to all of his films. Whether its “Repo” to his lessen known films like this, he’s able to bring a level of dread and darkness that makes the images feel like you’re watching a gothic film noir. It’s what makes this film look very well from a visual standpoint and enhances the screenplay that you see it on screen. The other thing that Brousman does very well is the way that he directs his cast. He makes sure the performances are interesting enough that it gels very well with the gothic and dark tone that this film is going for. It’s always been one of the reason why his films have been entertaining.

Speaking of the performances, I thought the star of the film was Dayton Callie. He does a very good job making sure that he gives the character a villainous Jim Jones type tone to it. It helped make his character frightening to watch every time he appears. The film also has a strong lead performance from Jessica Lowndes as the reporter trying to investigate her sister and nephew’s deaths. She really does a good job making her character very dark which makes her quest to find out the truth engaging. It kept me interested even though the end result felt predictable.

The screenplay was good for the most part. What I liked about Christopher Monfette’s screenplay was it was able create a level of dread and had a gothic feel throughout the film. Whether it was the intense action to how some of these characters were created, everything added so well to the film’s tone. It made it very dark and gloomy. The other thing that his screenplay does very well is that he’s able to develop the story. Whether it’s the way that it goes into the film’s antagonist to the way it follows its main character, everything is done in a way that makes the story interesting to watch.

If there was one that I didn’t like about the screenplay was the fact that it was predictable. I hate that when you get the feeling how a film is going to end before it goes into the third act. It takes the fun out of it. Still, I enjoyed this film, as that’s the only grip I have with it.

With its very good directing and its excellent performances from Jessica Lowndes and Dayton Callie, this is worth your time. “Abattoir” is a very creepy and gothic film that will leave you with chills.

Review Rating: Four Stars

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Fantasia 2016: Official Trailer and Still for Darren Lynn Brousman's "Abattoir"

Versatile Films recently released a still and trailer for Darren Lynn Brousman's (Repo!: The Genetic Opera, The Devil's Carnival) latest film "Abattoir". The film stars Jessica Lowndes (The Devil's Carnival), Lin Shaye (Insidious), Joe Anderson (The Grey) and Dayton Calles (Alleluia: The Devil's Carnival 2, Sons of Anarchy).

"Abattoir" will be making its International Premiere at the 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The film will be screening on July 25th at the Concordia Hall Theatre in Montreal, QC.

Plot Synopsis:

“How do you build a haunted house?” The job of real-estate reporter Julia Talben (90210’s Jessica Lowndes) is set on a hellish new path when her family is savagely murdered. In freakishly short time, the house — the crime scene — has gone up for sale, and when Julia goes by for a final look, she’s horrified to discover that the entire “murder room” where her family was slaughtered has been torn out of the building. Using the investigatory tools of her trade, she discovers that this has been happening a number of times — random killings, home purchased, kill room torn out of the structure. The common thread? A mysterious buyer by the name of Jebediah Crone (SON OF ANARCHY’s Dayton Callie).

Abattoir": Official Trailer

Anthony T's #TBT: Repo!: The Genetic Opera

Welcome to another edition of Anthony T’s #TBT. This week I decided to revist an old DVD review of a cult classic. When I think what are my favorite musically. One will always be “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” after loving since seeing it in 2012, but my number two favorite musical is “Repo: The Genetic Opera”. I remember back in 2008 when I first heard about the film. I couldn’t wait to see it in theaters. But that never happened, as it had a very limited theatrical release. I finally got my chance to watch and review the film in the beginning of 2009 when the DVD release of the film came out. After watching it, I felt like I just watched a film that felt something special. Fast forward six years later, I still love and enjoy this film to this day as I have the same love for this film, as I do for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. Without further ado, here is my 2009 review of “Repo” The Genetic Opera”.

Please note: This is film review portion of the DVD review. Repost from 1/24/09 DVD review with minor changes.

Repo! The Genetic Opera" is a film that have I’ve been personally been looking forward to as a fan of the horror genre. But what made me more curious about the film, when Lionsgate decided to release this film on a few screens back in November. I couldn’t understand why because it’s received the kind of positive buzz on the Internet from a lot of major horror sites like Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting. The film was also gaining a cult following online before the movie is even released.

The film takes place in the future where there is a worldwide epidemic of organ failure, until a biotech company finds a cure. But it’s comes at a price and if you don’t pay, your body parts and organ can be reposed by the repo man.

The film follows Shilo Wallace (Alexis Vega), a young girl who is forced to stay at her father in a gothic house after inheriting a genetic disease at childbirth. Her father Nathan Wallace (Anthony Steward Head) is very protective and is hiding a dark and murderous secret from her. She then begins to discover something from her mother’s past when Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) offers her the chance to be cured from her disease. She will then journey out of the house to find her cure. During that journey, she runs into formerly blind opera singer (Sarah Brightman) that wants out of her contract with Genco after signing her life away to see again. While Shilo is away, Nathan is struggling with demons of his own while doing the bidding of his boss Rotti Largo. Largo is also having problems as he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer and can’t find a worth heir to his throne, as all of his three children are failures to him, because one is a murderer (Bill Moseley), the other is a rapist (Ogre from “Skinny Puppies"), and their sister (Paris Hilton) is hooked on a drug known as Zydrate and is addicted to surgery. Soon all of these characters will collide at Genco’s opera, where every secret and power struggled will be revealed as it’s sure to be one fun and bloody time at the opera tonight.

There are some films that you get a sense that you’ve just seen something special after seeing it for the first time. The last time that I’ve felt this way was back in early 2007, when I saw “Pan's Labyrinth" for the first time on the big screen. On that occasion, it was the fairy tale like atmosphere that made me coming out of theater thinking that was special. Fast forward to today after watching “Repo!: The Genetic Opera”, I felt that same way after watching it. The reason that I felt that way after seeing it was the vision and the originality the film has and it was a shame that it didn’t get a proper theatrical release that it deserves.

Darren Lynn Bousman’s direction was great. He achieves in making the direction good, by making the film feel frightening and its dark visionary look at the future. The atmosphere fits with the dark subject matter that this film tackles. Another thing that Bousman does very well was the way he tackles the back stories by using comic bookish storyboards and various types of film to give background on the main characters. It makes it very stylish and makes you pay attention to the character’s background. It’s very acceptable here, as this is a rock opera not a movie. Bousman also directs the musical sequences very well. I liked how the music sequences were non-stop as the film never slows down, which makes this very entertaining. The acting was great, as he makes sure that the performances fit the tone to what song each actor is singing. This is usually a hard thing, as the actors are singing the songs before and having to match the same intensity when lip-sync it on camera. Bousman achieves that very well, as it has the energy that cult-classics are made off.

The screenplay written by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich was very good. One of things that the screenwriters did very well was to make the music non-stop. They did that because they wanted the viewer to come out of the film and say that they saw an event, not a movie. The songs were also great. I liked how all the songs made sense with the film’s main plotline. It makes you very invested with the story. Their character development was very good, as they took their time and develop them in a way that you become interested with the characters. This helps makes these characters so loved by fans and devotees of this film.

“Repo! The Genetic Opera” blends elements of such classical films like “Blade Runner” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” into a dark and gothic rock opera that is sure to be talked about for years to come. Please support this film on DVD or Blu-Ray, so we can get the special edition and director’s cut that lovers of the film truly deserved.

Film Rating: Five Stars