paul_haakonsen
Joined Jan 2010
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paul_haakonsen's rating
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paul_haakonsen's rating
I had never even heard about the 1989 crime drama "Crack House" when I stumbled upon it here in 2025. And with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to check out what director had to offer.
The storyline in the movie was adequate, but nothing outstanding really. It was a somewhat forgettable and bland narrative, and I have to admit that I struggled to keep focus on the screen. So writers Blake Schaffer and Jack Silverman didn't exactly invent something grand here.
The acting performances in the movie were fair. There were two familiar faces on the cast list, and that was Richard Roundtree and Jim Brown.
While I did manage to sit through the entire movie, then I was only mildly entertained. It is not, however, a movie that I will ever watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend you to track down if you haven't already seen it.
My rating of director Michael Fischa's 1989 movie "Crack House" lands on a four out of ten stars.
The storyline in the movie was adequate, but nothing outstanding really. It was a somewhat forgettable and bland narrative, and I have to admit that I struggled to keep focus on the screen. So writers Blake Schaffer and Jack Silverman didn't exactly invent something grand here.
The acting performances in the movie were fair. There were two familiar faces on the cast list, and that was Richard Roundtree and Jim Brown.
While I did manage to sit through the entire movie, then I was only mildly entertained. It is not, however, a movie that I will ever watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend you to track down if you haven't already seen it.
My rating of director Michael Fischa's 1989 movie "Crack House" lands on a four out of ten stars.
The movie's cover was good enough to make me stop and take notice. And with it being a slasher horror that I had neither seen nor heard about, and given my love of all things horror, of course I had to check it out, even without knowing what I was getting into here.
Doing a little digging here on IMDb, I realized that the movie is written, directed and starring Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard. Usually a movie that is written, directed and starring the one and same person are questionable affairs, and I must admit that it was initially causing me to lower my expectations to the movie.
While the script and storyline was adequate, I have to say that writers Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard didn't exactly bring anything new to the slasher horror genre. In fact, the script was generic and formulaic, but still watchable and entertaining enough for what it was.
I was only familiar with Adam Pally, Fred Hechinger and Finn Wolfhard of the entire cast ensemble. The acting performances in "Hell of a Summer" were definitely good.
The movie doesn't really make use of special effects. There is a lot of things not being shown on the screen, but having sounds to indicate what is going on, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks themselves. That, in my opinion, is just lazy writing. Horror fans wants to see gory and grizzly special effects, have the mutilation and mayhem on the screen, so directors Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard not showing it on the screen didn't resonate well with me.
As a seasoned horror veteran, then "Hell of a Summer" was a mere walk in the park. There are far better, more enjoyable and scary slasher horror movies out there, particularly from the 1980s era. But if you are a newcomer to the horror genre, then I suppose you will enjoy "Hell of a Summer" way more than I did as a seasoned horror veteran.
While I did manage to sit through the entire movie and being adequately entertained, I have to admit that this is not a movie that will ever grace my screen a second time.
My rating of "Hell of a Summer" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.
Doing a little digging here on IMDb, I realized that the movie is written, directed and starring Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard. Usually a movie that is written, directed and starring the one and same person are questionable affairs, and I must admit that it was initially causing me to lower my expectations to the movie.
While the script and storyline was adequate, I have to say that writers Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard didn't exactly bring anything new to the slasher horror genre. In fact, the script was generic and formulaic, but still watchable and entertaining enough for what it was.
I was only familiar with Adam Pally, Fred Hechinger and Finn Wolfhard of the entire cast ensemble. The acting performances in "Hell of a Summer" were definitely good.
The movie doesn't really make use of special effects. There is a lot of things not being shown on the screen, but having sounds to indicate what is going on, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks themselves. That, in my opinion, is just lazy writing. Horror fans wants to see gory and grizzly special effects, have the mutilation and mayhem on the screen, so directors Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard not showing it on the screen didn't resonate well with me.
As a seasoned horror veteran, then "Hell of a Summer" was a mere walk in the park. There are far better, more enjoyable and scary slasher horror movies out there, particularly from the 1980s era. But if you are a newcomer to the horror genre, then I suppose you will enjoy "Hell of a Summer" way more than I did as a seasoned horror veteran.
While I did manage to sit through the entire movie and being adequately entertained, I have to admit that this is not a movie that will ever grace my screen a second time.
My rating of "Hell of a Summer" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.
Stumbling upon the 2025 sci-fi horror movie "Ash" by random luck, and never having heard about it, I have to say that the movie's cover immediately lured me in. It was an interesting cover and the movie's synopsis sounded interesting.
When I saw that the movie had Iko Uwais on the cast list, I must admit that my expectations went up a notch.
Writer Jonni Remmler's script and storyline sort of fell short of entertaining me. I literally didn't know what was going on, if it was the downward spiral into madness for Riya or if there was something alien events happening. It felt confusing and without a proper red thread throughout the course of the movie, it made for a less than enjoyable viewing experience.
The movie has a small cast ensemble, but I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair, despite of the script being what it was. There were some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Eiza González, Aaron Paul and Iko Uwais.
There are a lot of visually nice effects throughout the movie, which definitely helped to establish and set the mood and atmosphere of the movie. The props and sets were quite nice as well.
It made zero sense why the Medbot would be speaking heavily accented Japanese English, complete with incorrect pronunciation and stereotypical Japanese way of diluting the English language. It just made it seem less plausible that it was high tech gear aboard a space vessel. You would assume that whatever corporation funded this equipment would ensure that it used proper English.
As much as I wanted to like "Ash", then the script was just not overly entertaining or enjoyable to me, and that made for a bit of a strained viewing experience.
My rating of director Flying Lotus's 2025 movie "Ash" lands on a generous four out of ten stars, and not because of the script. At least a star was given for the fact that they tried to make a coherent movie.
When I saw that the movie had Iko Uwais on the cast list, I must admit that my expectations went up a notch.
Writer Jonni Remmler's script and storyline sort of fell short of entertaining me. I literally didn't know what was going on, if it was the downward spiral into madness for Riya or if there was something alien events happening. It felt confusing and without a proper red thread throughout the course of the movie, it made for a less than enjoyable viewing experience.
The movie has a small cast ensemble, but I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair, despite of the script being what it was. There were some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Eiza González, Aaron Paul and Iko Uwais.
There are a lot of visually nice effects throughout the movie, which definitely helped to establish and set the mood and atmosphere of the movie. The props and sets were quite nice as well.
It made zero sense why the Medbot would be speaking heavily accented Japanese English, complete with incorrect pronunciation and stereotypical Japanese way of diluting the English language. It just made it seem less plausible that it was high tech gear aboard a space vessel. You would assume that whatever corporation funded this equipment would ensure that it used proper English.
As much as I wanted to like "Ash", then the script was just not overly entertaining or enjoyable to me, and that made for a bit of a strained viewing experience.
My rating of director Flying Lotus's 2025 movie "Ash" lands on a generous four out of ten stars, and not because of the script. At least a star was given for the fact that they tried to make a coherent movie.