Netflix streaming tip: Karl Mueller's creepy (and timely) REBIRTH is worth a watch

Initially, REBIRTH looks like one of those would-be thrillers in which a character (often a male) is sucked into a cult-like organization that demands his body, soul and finances. And, yes, this movie turns out to be pretty much that. But how it sucks our guy in is very well done. Very.

That the guy is played by one of TrustMovies' favorite actors -- Fran Kranz -- helps inordinately, too. Mr. Kranz, shown below, as usual, gives himself over to the role wholeheartedly and turns in an excellent performance.

The film's writer/director -- Karl Mueller (shown below)-- proves as adept at pacing as he is at dialog and much else. For all the would-be clichés the movie offers, it must be said that Mueller is able to bring those clichés to resonating life.

The "cult," which of course denies it could ever be conceived as anything so awful as a cult, turns out to be something akin to a combo of Scientology and Amway -- and twice as toxic as either.

How it entraps our hero seems amazingly on-target and will be difficult for any intelligent viewer, I suspect, to easily discount -- using, as it does, everything from sexual longing to male entitlement and just-plain fear and confusion to pull the lead character into its web. Sure, this guy works for a bank and is involved in social media, but it is clear from the outset that he is also simply walking through his days -- as both worker and family man -- and so is ripe for the pickings.

As usual, I would prefer not to get into spoilers here, and there are plenty ahead for intrepid viewers to encounter. Leave it to say that Kyle (Mr. Kranz's character) is, from the beginning, a problemed fellow -- zombie-fied by everything from his job to his home life -- and that Rebirth, the company involved as well as the title of the movie, does indeed offer him a certain kind of seemingly necessary "outlet."

But at what cost? You will find out. That is, if you stick with this unusual and very necessary movie for our current times. The supporting cast -- which includes a fine array of actors, from Harry Hamlin and Nicky Whelan (above) to Andrew J. West (at bottom), Adam Goldberg (as Kyle's old friend and new nemesis) and Sheryl Lee (below) -- makes the movie even more enjoyable (in its uber-creepy way).

I suspect that Rebirth's receiving an only 5-point rating on IMDB has to do more with its (depending on how you look at it) negative outcome than with anything else. Audiences today want feel-good, and they get it from almost every outlet they view. They won't find it here, and righteous hosannas are due for that.

Available to stream now via Netflix, Rebirth runs just 100 minutes and is well worth your time and trouble -- if you are in the market for something thought-provoking and unsettling.                                             

Betrayal, trust, scares & death enliven Colin Minihan's thriller, WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE

What if the person closest to us -- our spouse, say -- turns out to be a raging-and-very-good-at-it psychopath bent on killing us? Not a pleasant thought, and in the new horror/slasher/ psychological minder-bender, WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE, writer/director Colin Minihan brings this concept to searing and most unpleasant life. Except, of course, that it will prove creepily diverting for those of us who enjoy an unusually good scare.

Much of the movie's power comes from the fact that one of its protagonists really does care for the other and, even as she tries to stay alive, keeps attempting to piece together why her spouse, suddenly deranged as hell, keeps insisting on her demise.

Mr. Minihan (shown at right), whose addition to the zombie genre, It Stains the Sands Red, I have not seen (being awfully tired of zombies), allows enough psychological material, along with some depth to enter the picture that, for a time, we keep hoping there will be more.

There is, but it turns out to come only via the character of the betrayed wife (and the full-bodied performance from Brittany Allen, below), who is not simply physically abused to the max but also seems to have had her entire persona beaten out of her. She's barely a shell who can no longer, perhaps does not even want to, fight back.
But of course she tries.

Her spouse -- played by Hannah Emily Anderson (below), an actress beautiful of both face and figure -- whether by the performer's choice or maybe having been directed to do this, plays her role much more by rote. Initially the couple seems happy and in love/lust, but as soon as the trouble begins, the need to kill comes barreling down the track like a runaway train, complete with our antagonist taking moments to rehearse her upcoming "grief" scene or turning on a dime from nasty to nice to coax our protagonist out of hiding.

The movie is wisely and economically a two-hander -- save for the pair of husband/wife neighbors, whom you hope will survive the onslaught. As such it relies on its two leading ladies, who come through, one in OK form, the other pretty terrifically. You may be angry at our good girl for not fighting harder, but her performance is such that you will easily buy into her grief and then her diminution.

Minihan has tricks up his sleeve; some are the usual, others genuinely surprising. Pay attention to the small details; as ever with these genre movies, there is some reason for most of them.

The Canadian location is a humdinger: lake, forest, cabin in the woods, and of course a very high cliff -- with everything as real as you could ask for.

The pacing is fine, the dialog decent enough, and the payoff is oddly satisfying. Not perhaps quite what you might have wanted, but acceptable and even more important, given what we know, believable, too.

From IFC Midnight and running maybe just a tad too long at 98 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, August 24, in New York City at the IFC Center (midnight screening only!) and in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinelounge. Simultaneously, it becomes available nationwide via VOD.

America's Native American problem, circa 1814, in Ted Geoghegan's MOHAWK

The War of 1812 is not used as a backdrop for all that many movies -- America's Revolutionary War gets much more screen and cable-TV time -- so it's rather nice to see this nearly three-year war lend its muted history to MOHAWK, the new film from Ted Geoghegan, who both directed it and co-wrote it (with Grady Hendrix).

Mr Geoghegan's (the movie-maker is shown below) first film foray, We Are Still Here, was a genre piece (haunted-house horror) and so is his new one -- except in this case, his movie is a genre-jumper/masher.

Part western, part military vs the Indians, part guilt trip regarding America's horrendous treatment of Native Americans back in the day (it's little better now: we've wiped most of them out and stripped the rest of their lands, so we need only make their current lives as miserable as possible), and part (sort-of) supernatural goings-on, the movie manages to blend all these with a little history, too, and Geoghagen dishes this out with just enough flair to pass muster.

The director handles some of his action scenes quite well, but his forays into suspense and expectation drag too much and may have you muttering, "Get on with it!"  Still, as Native American guilt-trips go, this one is infinitely better than the recent molasses-slow, way-too-long and uber-pretentious Hostiles.

Geoghegan has cast his film well, too, with its three leads giving impressive performances and supporting players generally good, as well. Those leads would include Ezra Buzzington (above, left) and Kaniehtiio Horn (below, right) as, respectively, military and Indian adversaries, while Eamon Farren makes a handsome, sexy almost-hero, as the Britisher trying to engage the Indians into fighting the Americans.

The film takes place mostly in yet another naughty forest which seems to have maybe supernatural powers -- we've just seen two more of these in The Ritual and They Remain -- but the director mines the place for some beauty as well as for blood, gore and creepiness. (That's Jon Huber, wrestler-turned-actor, shown below.)

My biggest question about the film, however, lies in why this story needed any supernatural element attached to it at all? It could have worked quite nicely as just an action/western. yet the other worldliness begins early on and then is left at the starting gate and only seems to reappear very late in the game. Ms Horn does turn into something of a wonder woman, I guess, which is utterly unbelievable unless you grant her that supernatural overlay.

As with all these current super-hero movies, magical powers seem to be the only way we have of righting the world's many wrongs. Too bad. My other caveat has to do with the costume that our heroine wears throughout. While it may have been researched and found to be authentic, it still looks so "modern" (not only in the design but in the choice of fabrics) as to be faintly ridiculous.

From Dark Sky Films and running a little too long even at only 92 minutes, Mohawk opens today, Friday, March 2, in seven cities -- before unfurling in other parts of the country in the weeks to come. Click here and scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters. And if you're not near these particular cities, the film is also playing simultaneously via VOD and HD digital.

Yes, Jeremy Saulnier's GREEN ROOM is just as white-knuckle, scarily great as you've heard

Really now: can any film live up to those mostly rapturous reviews together with the enormous consumer approval that the new thriller, GREEN ROOM, has generated?  As a certain disappointing President might say, Yes, it can. This new and riveting thriller from Jeremy Saulnier takes its place as the best white-knuckle-inducing movie since the woefully underseen Not Safe For Work. In fact, Green Room is even more edge-of-your-seat friendly, and it's a lot creepier, too -- due to its backwoods, white-supremacist venue.

The film's very title is oh-so-nicely ironic. When TrustMovies first heard it bandied about, he immediately thought of the "green rooms" he'd known when he worked at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, Further, the movie's star, Patrick Stewart, (below) conjured images of the actor's recent film, Match, which takes place in Manhattan's Upper West Side, in which Stewart plays a famous choreographer and teacher. Hardly.

Instead, Mr. Saulnier (shown two photos above: such a kindly-looking fellow to create all this mayhem) uses that green room -- as scuzzy an example of the venue as we've seen -- initially for its little quartet of punk rockers to relax pre-performance, and then as a place for sudden shock, imprisonment, escape and much, much worse.

Saulnier starts very slowly -- we meet the band mid-trip and note their very hand-to-mouth existence. When their next gig goes south, the fellow who set it up provides a quickly planned new one in those aforementioned backwoods, and our group is off to the races.

Once the moment of reckoning arrives, there's no turning back, and the film simply goes from overdrive to warp speed, so fast and furiously that if there are a couple of questionable moments (and I think there may be), so completely breathless are we in the audience that there's no time to quibble while we're viewing.

Along the way there are plenty of moments of black humor and little ironies abound, never more so than a scene between a dog and his master at the conclusion. But none of these seem like the usual generic fodder that mainstream Hollywood is so fond of churning out. Everything in this movie is geared to character, location and ambience. Green Room, in fact, is the genre film raised to the level of art.

The cast is beautifully chosen and each member delivers -- from star Stewart on down. Band members are essayed by Anton Yelchin (above, right: this is his second excellent "music" movie in the last year or so, after Rudderless), Alia Shawkat (above, center), Callum Turner (star of the wonderful and still not available on home video Queen and Country) and Joe Cole (below)

On the other side, though some positions do change, are actors like Mr. Stewart (giving one of his most chilling performances), Imogen Poots (below), Mark Webber (at bottom) and Macon Blair (of Blue Ruin, Saulnier's excellent earlier movie). Each character comes through tellingly, thanks to the performer and the on-point screenplay, also by Saulnier -- who has made his villian exceedingly bright and vicious and his protagonists so frightened and crazed that they will try just about anything.

By film's end, I suspect you'll feel hugely satisfied, and not simply because you're been taken on a breathless, horrifying adventure, but also because the filmmaker appears to play so very fairly with both his tale and his audience. He rarely relies on coincidence or happenstance, and he lets the chips fall where they may. This is not what we're used to, and if it's sometimes difficult to watch, the result is a movie you'll stayed glued to and will not easily forget.

Green Room -- from A24 and running a sleek 95 minutes -- after opening in New York and Los Angeles two weeks back, opens nationwide today. Here in South Florida, it plays Boca Raton at the Cinemark Palace 20, in Sunrise at the Regal Sawgrass Stadium 23, in Aventura at the AMC Aventura 24, in Miami Beach at the Regal South Beach Stadium 18, in Hollywood at the Regal Oakwood Stadium 18, in Fort Lauderdale at the Regal Cypress Creek Stadium 16, in Davie at the Cinemark Paradise 24 and in South Miami at the AMC Sunset Place 24. If you're elsewhere, to learn the theater nearest you, simply click here and enter your zip code or city/state.

On Blu-ray/DVD/VOD/Dig: Gavin O'Connor's (very) slow-burn western, JANE GOT A GUN

Better than you may have heard (only 40% positive from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes), but nothing to get excited about, either, the would-be-home-invasion-cum-revenge western, JANE GOT A GUN, proves pretty to look at (via the scenery and the faces of its stars Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton) as well as decently acted by its ensemble and adequately directed by Gavin O'Connor.

Mr. O'Connor, shown at right, came to the project very late, when the original director suddenly withdrew, and the screenplay he was saddled with (credited to Brian Duffield, Anthony Tambakis and Mr. Edgerton), while laconic enough to pass muster in the western genre, does contain a couple of roll-your-eye howlers along the way. Ms Portman (above and below) is most definitely the star, but her supporting cast is good enough to keep viewers on their toes.

In addition to Edgerton, shown below, that cast includes Noah Emmerich as Jane's wounded husband, whose initial appearance starts the ball rolling, and a nearly unrecognizable Ewan McGregor (two photos below) as the chief baddie and revenge-seeker (though this is the kind of movie in which almost everyone seems to want revenge for something or other).

It is also a very violent movie, in which torturous pain is inflicted prior to death. So this may turn off more than a few viewers. Those remaining (who probably enjoy the western genre or they wouldn't be here) can feed off the stark but lovely landscapes and the slow-burning plot, in which Jane must call upon her ex-boyfriend to help her hubby and herself survive the coming onslaught.

The plot is not all that unusual -- there's a set-up for a huge explosion that we can be sure is coming -- but there is a small surprise or two along the way (one of these is provided by a bird). By the shoot-em-up climax, we've been treated to enough of those why-the-fuck-didn't-he-pull-the-trigger-when-he-had-the-chance moments to render the film silly, which leaves (spoiler just ahead) its feel-good denouement something less than believable.

Budd Boetticher's fine B-movie westerns still remain the genre's high point. See Seven Men From Now or Comanche Station for proof -- and these are around a half-hour shorter, too. (That's Boyd Holbrook, above, as one of the current film's lesser bad guys.)

Meanwhile, Jane Got a Gun -- from The Weinstein Company and Anchor Bay Entertainment and running 98 minutes -- hits the street on Blu-ray (in a nice transfer), DVD and VOD this Tuesday, April 26, after being available on Digital HD since April 15 -- for either purchase or rental.

At last on Blu-ray and DVD -- Masuda/Ozawa's OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP: Complete Collection

TrustMovies had never heard of OUTLAW GANGSTER VIP -- a very popular series of late-1960 era Japanese Yakuza movies directed by Toshio Masuda (who evidently did only the first in this series) and then by Keiichi Ozawa and starring Tetsuya Watari, all three of whom now hold a firm place in TM's personal film canon -- until he read one of those lengthy articles in one of our better film magazines about the directors and the actor they helped make famous. (I've just spent more than an hour online, trying to look up which magazine this was -- either Cineaste, Film Comment or CinemaScope -- with no luck. So I can't give proper credit here, but I'd like to thank the unfortunately anonymous author of the article, anyway.)

The complete collection of OutLaw Gangster movies -- there are six of these -- feature the leading character, Goro, a guy who would dearly like to leave the world of the criminal Yakuza gangs, but is consistently drawn back in order to either seek revenge or help a desperately needy woman, relative or friend. This is not, shall we say, all that original a situation, but in the more-than-capable hands of the directors (Mr. Masuda is shown at left) and actor Watari (shown below and further below), the result is something quite beautiful and often moving -- due to its understanding of place, time and the social/economic concerns of the day that bring this particular genre very close to its zenith.

One could compare Tetsuya Watari to a kind of Japanese version of Clint Eastwood -- ultra-low-key, handsome, strong, and bent on doing the right thing. But so much better, acting-wise, is Watari than Eastwood that comparisons soon wobble and topple. This guy is the real thing, and directors Masuda and Ozawa, via their (and their several screenwriters') understanding of both film technique and the most important social concerns of the day (they're still the most important) turn their star into the kind of icon whose light shines and lasts. Watari does not simply embody cliches, as Eastwood has long done, he brings them to alternately roaring and moving life.

The films are so filled with iconic situations and visual compositions that, were it not for the social context that's always front and center here, the films might border on camp. We're in the period during which Yakuza clans began their move toward becoming large corporations, so loyalty, trust and anything else resembling fair play more easily goes by the wayside. Along with the chase scenes and hand-to-hand battles (mostly fabulously handled), there are some charming and quite moving scenes, as well. When characters die, you feel it down to your bones, and the scene in the first of the films in which the gangsters clean up their apartment to welcome the hero's new girl is simply dear. (The scene below of Goro making a particular bodily sacrifice is a humdinger, surely the first of its kind to have been shown in movies.)

Post-war Japan is brought to quite believable life, and the film's sub-plots are often as special as the main Goro story. In the first film, centering finally around vengeance, there's a  moving subplot involving two brothers in warring gangs. The second film in the series begins almost exactly where the former film left off, but this time Goro joins his girl and a dear friend in the hinterlands (below), and of course gets immediately involved in gang life due to his insistence on serving justice at any cost

Time constraints have meant that I've been able to view only two of the six films in the series. But these have been enough to ensure my return to Outlaw Gangster VIP until I make my way through them all. Released here in the USA via the fast-becoming-indispensable British distributor Arrow Video, this six-disc set -- in Blu-ray (as usual with Arrow, this is a stunningly produced transfer) and DVD -- hits the street this coming Tuesday, April 19,  for purchase and (one hopes) rental, from both the MVD Entertainment Group and Amazon. Click any/all of the above links for further information.

Back to the old haunted house: Ted Geoghegan's pretty nifty genre debut, WE ARE STILL HERE

Moviemakers never seem to tire of taking us for another visit to that haunted house -- these days most often with elements not just of the expected ghost story but of related genres like horror and slasher, too. The latest foray into this combina-tion comes from a fellow named Ted Geoghegan, whom many of us critics have worked with in his capacity as a movie PR person. It always good to discover someone you know so adeptly changing hats (it happened just last month, too, with John Stuart Wildman and his genre piece, The Ladies of the House), and now here we have Mr. Geoghegan's oddball, enticing, very well-cast and -acted, tart n' tasty horror, WE ARE STILL HERE.

The filmmaker, shown at right, does some unusual things within this fairly typical genre, most surprisingly leaving much of his exposition to be finally shared with his audience during the end credits! He also plays fast and loose with any ground rules concerning his "monsters," who appear to inhabit only the house -- in the cellar, of course, and Geoghegan, along with his production design (Marcella Brennan) and art director (Sean Hughes) have created quite a creepy version of same -- but then suddenly seem to be able roam a bit farther and wider.

The "we" of the title -- those monsters, 'natch -- are done quite effectively, too, for the low-budget efficiencies they are (one of which is shown above). They'll bring new meaning to that old wartime saw, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

The filmmaker, who both wrote and directed this little foray into fright, doesn't explain much of anything upfront, as his heroic couple, played by the lovely Barbara Crampton (fans will immediately recall Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator and From Beyond) and Andrew Sensenig (above, left and right, respectively). Why they have arrived at this, of all houses, is a big question. Just fate, I guess.

Once the movie gets started and the newcomers are paid a visit by their "neighbors," including a smart, nasty little performance from Monte Markham, above, you'll probably feel that glue binding your tush to the chair. This "house" evidently needs a crew of victims every so often, and these newcomers certainly seem to fill the bill.

They are soon joined by their good friends (and sometimes spiritualists) Jacob and May (Larry Fessenden, above left, and Lisa Marie, above right, both doing a bang-up job: He all loosy-goosy funny, she quite caring and serious). Soon after, that other couple's son and his girlfriend arrive. Naughtiness (accompanied by blood and guts) ensues. The "seance" Geoghegan has concocted is one of the better ones seen on film in awhile, in which Mr. Fessenden truly excels.

Geoghegan knows how to create both suspense and a smart sudden shock, and he gives these to us with enough frequency to make the movie worthwhile for genre fans. He also draws fine performances from his cast, with Fessenden and Ms Marie delivering surprisingly rich additions, while Ms Crampton, above, is even better here than she was in the better movie You're Next (a survival-thriller classic, by the way, which you must see if you somehow missed it). Her warmth and concern help hold the movie together and keep us rooting for her against what look like heavy odds.

The filmmaker also understands how to swivel on a dime, and so his movie often keeps us nicely off-balance as its twists and turns are spinning. He makes particularly good use of his "townspeople," above, who do not, shall we say, offer these newcomers much of a warm welcome. And his cinematography (by the fine Karim Hussain) knows its way around lighting, mood, and atmosphere.

As to "just desserts," it's difficult to say; we don't know enough, finally, to understand the "why" of much that has gone on. Overall, though, Geoghegan does an adequate job of piecing his story together without too heavy an explication, while doing a bang-up job of scaring our pants off.

We Are Still Here (indeed!) -- from Dark Sky Films and running just 84 minutes -- opens this Friday, June 5, here in New York at the Cinema Village and in L. A. at the Laemmle Music Hall 3. Simultaneously, it can be viewed via VOD.