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fantastica-daily · 1 year

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Movie Review Roundup – Horror for the Holidays: Smile / Nope / Fang

All ho-ho-hoed out? December brings award-bait movies, cinematic Christmas carols, and of course, a whole slate of feel-good Hallmark-style holiday romance flicks. But if you’re in the mood for spinechilling horror, I’ve got just the trio for you. Two are big screen hits that are new on disc this month, and the last one is an indie just now getting started on its festival run.

Smile (Blu-ray)

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing odd occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality. Trigger warning: dead cat.

I really enjoyed this movie; it’s well-acted, nicely shot, and the dread and suspense maintain throughout. And those wicked smiles… so creepy! The Blu-ray has director commentary from Parker Finn, deleted scenes, and more. Get Smile on Amazon.

Nope (Blu-ray)

OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) discover something sinister in the skies above their California horse ranch, while the owner of a nearby theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon. Trigger warning: dead horses.

Nope is a smorgasbord of half-baked ideas; mind you, they are cool, fun, and spooky ideas, but they’re not fully developed and the threads don’t quite come together. Despite the head-scratchers, Nope is an entertaining spectacle that I’ll watch again. The 50-minute behind-the-scenes featurette on the Blu-ray is sure to answer some questions, and the 4K image is beautiful. Get Nope on Amazon.

Fang (Festivals)

Aspiring comic book artist Billy (Dylan LaRay) struggles to care for his ailing mother Gina (Lynn Lowry) as his job at a meat packing plant barely pays the bills… and haunts his nightmares. One night, Billy gets an unexpected visitor: a rat that springs out of his bathroom and bites him. A Cronenbergian body-horror story unfolds as the young man fights the rodent within him, comes to grips with his mom’s dementia, and to maintain what’s left of his shattered soul. Trigger warning: dead rat.

Fang is an indie from a first-time writer director (Richard Burgin) but you’d never know it—the acting is aces (particularly from LaRay and Lowry, whose chemistry as family is wholly believable), plus the saturated cinematography, jangly score, and disconcerting jump-cut editing style are perfect for this surreal story. In fact, the look and feel reminded me of gritty, unadorned 70s and 80s indies like Shivers (starring Lynn Lowry) and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (but this is not nearly as brutal). Follow Fang’s festival run via Burgin’s Facebook.

Reviewed by S.L. Wilson

#fang movie review #richard burgin #lynn lowry #dylan larey #horror #smile blu-ray review #sosie bacon #nope blu-ray review #jordan peele

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