Matt Donato – Page 3 – All Things Ick

‘Funny Games’ vs. ‘Funny Games’ – One of the Most Curious Remake Experiments of Them All

May 4, 2023 Matt Donato Editorials, Funny Games, Michael Haneke, Movies, Revenge of the Remakes

Watching two Michael Haneke features back-to-back doesn’t sound all that outrageous, right? What if they’re Funny Games (1997) and Funny Games (2007)? You start with one of the more disturbing flicks in Criterion’s closet, then immediately follow it with an American shot-for-shot remake that relives the same nightmare. My inner masochist couldn’t skip on tackling […]

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‘Night of the Killer Bears’ Review – Thai Slasher Is a Highlight Reel of Gory Kills

April 10, 2023 Matt Donato Movies, Night of the Killer Bears, Reviews

The bizarre Thai slasher Night of the Killer Bears is a mixed bag filled to the brim with blood and guts, so storytelling miscues are easier to stomach. Kanphong Banjongphinij’s directorial debut comes with the tagline “Ted meets Terrifier,” which I want to get ahead of — there is no walking, talking Thunder Buddy that […]

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Why Fede Álvarez’s ‘Evil Dead’ Is a Gonzo and Gore-Soaked All-Timer

April 5, 2023 Matt Donato Editorials, Evil Dead, featured, Fede Alvarez, Jane Levy, Movies, Revenge of the Remakes, Sam Raimi, The Evil Dead, topnews

To credit Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead as the motivating force behind “Revenge of the Remakes” wouldn’t be an audacious claim. By golden template standards for reanimating beloved horror franchises, it remains a remarkable exemplification alongside titans like Maniac or The Blob. As an underworldly standalone feature, it’s one of the fiercest, scare-you-senseless releases since its […]

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‘#chadgetstheaxe’ Review – Screenlife Horror-Comedy Is a Fun Skewering of Social Media Stardom

March 28, 2023 Matt Donato #chadgetstheax, Movies, Reviews, Travis Bible, Unnamed Footage Festival 2023

Horror’s technological evolution into Screenlife nightmares like Spree or Deadstream continues with Travis Bible’s #chadgetstheaxe, the latest skewer-happy examination of dangerous social media obsessions. It’s becoming a more challenging subgenre that requires intense authenticity in performances and digital details, especially since actual YouTubers are starting to become parodies of themselves. Bible and co-writer Kemerton Hargrove […]

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‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Review – Epic Action Spectacle Stretches Itself Thin But Delivers the Goods

March 24, 2023 Matt Donato Chad Stahelski, John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 4, Keanu Reeves, Movies, Reviews

To dub John Wick: Chapter 4 one of the weaker sequels in franchise canon says more about the bulletproof exterior of Chapter 2 and Parabellum. Director Chad Stahelski abides by the country-hopping, Gun-Fu trademarks of Mr. Wick’s odyssey thus far, delivering everything longtime fans desire. Keanu Reeves headshots his way through nightlife bodyguards, action superstars […]

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‘Scream VI’ – We Sliced into the Stabby Meal and Walked Through the Film’s Immersive Experience

February 27, 2023 Matt Donato Editorials, Movies, Scream, Scream VI

It’s not every day you get to unbox a Scream-themed Happy Meal for adults. Pop-up dinner party brand Chain is celebrating Spyglass and Paramount’s newest slasher entry with a drive-thru classic and swankified fast-food restaurant vibes. All the decorations blend Scream with roadside-casual mascots, like Grimace dressed as Casey Becker or a Bob’s Big Boy […]

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‘The Strays’ Review – Netflix’s Social Thriller Feels Like an Incomplete Experience

February 23, 2023 Matt Donato Movies, Nathaniel Martello-White, Netflix, Reviews, The Strays

Nathaniel Martello-White’s feature debut The Strays is a social thriller that lacks bite, discipline, and a third act. When the film abruptly ended, I waited for Ashton Kutcher to pop from behind my sofa to announce a film critic Punk’d spin-off, where they cut to a movie’s credits twenty minutes too early. It’s an incomplete […]

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Animals Gone Wild: How 2015 Creature Feature ‘Stung’ Stands Out from the Swarm

February 22, 2023 Matt Donato Benni Diez, Editorials, Movies, Stung

We’ve all seen the hackneyed, poorly CG-ed, primetime Asylum special on SYFY version of Stung too many times before. Director Benni Diez, every producer, and each department head go the extra mile to avoid such a fate for their 80s throwback creature feature. That’s what’s so endearing about a 2015 “When Insects Attack” flick with […]

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‘The Unsettling’ Review – Strong Performances Can’t Save This Lackluster Feature Debut

February 10, 2023 Matt Donato Harry Owens, Movies, Reviews, The Unsettling

Let’s hold a moment of silence for the presence wasted in writer and director Harry Owens’ feature debut, The Unsettling. Leading performances are admirable, but the tediously sluggish narrative is an ambiguous slog that culminates with the impact of a handkerchief slap. Owens’ themes feel indebted to Remi Weekes’ His House and Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny […]

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‘She Came from the Woods’ Review – The ’80s Slasher Returns With a Nostalgic Trip Back to Camp

February 9, 2023 Matt Donato Erik Bloomquist, Movies, Reviews, She Came from the Woods

If you didn’t know Erik Bloomquist’s She Came from the Woods loves the 80s like Pac-Man loves Mrs. Pac-Man, the first few minutes should sell a tubular on-screen time warp. Hormonal camp counselors in short shorts prepare for summer’s end while Kim Wilde’s “Kids In America” blares over opening credits like any other Camp Crystal […]

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‘The Wizard of Gore’ – Only Crispin Glover Shines in 2007’s Herschell Gordon Lewis Update [Revenge of the Remakes]

February 3, 2023 Matt Donato Editorials, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Jeremy Kasten, Movies, Revenge of the Remakes, The Wizard of Gore

To say Herschell Gordon Lewis‘ and Jeremy Kasten‘s respective The Wizard of Gore releases pushed me to my limits is correct for all the wrong reasons. My choice to stack the 1970 original and 2007 remake back-to-back stands as one of my least favorite Revenge of the Remakes double-bills thus far. I’ve no objection to […]

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Level Up: Why Horror Titles Make for the Best Video Game Adaptations

January 31, 2023 Matt Donato dino crisis, Doom, Editorials, House of the Dead, Rampage, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Silent Hill, Sweet Home, the last of us, Video Games

Video game adaptations: one of cinema’s most hated-on subgenres. Whenever another beloved controllable franchise is announced for moviegoing treatment, eyes roll. Critics quiver. Visions of Mark Wahlberg as Max Payne or Uwe Boll’s crimes against both gamersphere credibility and audience standards montage a hard-fast argument for such scoffs. Fantastical play-alongs turned theatrical try-hards have long […]

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Cabinets of Curiosities: Why Horror Anthologies Are Such an Important Horror Staple

December 16, 2022 Matt Donato A Christmas Horror Story, Editorials, featured, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, Holidays, Horror anthologies, Movies, Nightmare Cinema, Satanic Hispanics, Scare Package, The ABCs of Death, topnews

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities — a marvelous compendium of streaming deadtime stories — emphasizes everything that lures me to horror anthologies. It feels like a reinvention of Showtime’s Masters of Horror, highlighting everything I appreciate about the format. One might balk at calling Cabinet of Curiosities an outright horror anthology, more a miniseries? […]

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‘Deadly Games’ and ‘Violent Night’ – The Christmas Movie Double Feature You Need to Experience

December 7, 2022 Matt Donato Deadly Games, Editorials, Movies, Violent Night

Tommy Wirkola‘s Violent Night is taking the holiday movie season by storm (and force). As you already know, David Harbour plays an action-hero version of Santa Claus who eliminates mercenaries during a hostage crisis on Christmas Eve. Commercials are everywhere, selling what’s now dubbed “Die Hard meets Home Alone.” That’s very much correct as a […]

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‘Willard’ – An Inferior Remake Despite the Dream Casting of Crispin Glover [Revenge of the Remakes]

December 2, 2022 Matt Donato Crispin Glover, Editorials, Movies, Revenge of the Remakes, Willard

The producers of 2003’s Willard chose to nix “remake” from the film’s marketing vocabulary, but 2003’s Willard adaptation is irrefutably a remake of 1971’s furry social outcast chiller. At the forefront of 2000s remake trends, Glen Morgan‘s Willard features altered themes and a deeper thirst for suspense, going the “darker and grittier” route displayed by […]

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