{"id":19016,"date":"2022-10-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=19016"},"modified":"2022-10-24T18:09:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T01:09:55","slug":"vodepths-what-to-see-and-avoid-on-demand-this-week-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/vodepths-what-to-see-and-avoid-on-demand-this-week-52\/","title":{"rendered":"VODepths: What to See (and Avoid) On Demand This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week\u2019s low-profile VOD releases feature horror movies about trains and skydiving and podcasting, plus a romance filled with awkward poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinphony: A Clubhouse Horror Anthology<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters October 21):<\/strong> Remember Clubhouse, the audio app that was briefly poised to become the next social media sensation? Probably not, but if nothing else it\u2019s responsible for this horror anthology, which was conceived and curated on the app. Clubhouse itself figures into one of the segments, but otherwise there isn\u2019t much to set Sinphony<\/em> apart from dozens of other horror anthologies; it has a higher hit percentage than some, with solid production values in most of the segments. The filmmakers make an effort to connect them via a song that\u2019s repeated in various genres and styles, which is more effective than the confusing wraparound story. There\u2019s more atmosphere than scares even in the best segments, but there are enough creepy moments and effective jolts to keep the audience on the hook. This movie is ambitiously labeled \u201cVolume 1,\u201d and at this rate it might outlast the app that spawned it. Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terror Train<\/em><\/strong> (Tubi October 21):<\/strong> As far as early Jamie Lee Curtis slasher movies go, 1980\u2019s Terror Train<\/em> is no Halloween<\/em>. It has its scuzzy charms, though, which is more than can be said for this made-for-Tubi remake, which remains largely faithful to the original story. Three years after a fraternity initiation gone wrong, the college students who perpetrated the cruel prank are stalked by a masked killer aboard a party train. The filmmakers move the setting from New Year\u2019s Eve to Halloween and add some Gen-Z buzzwords, but otherwise it\u2019s just a rote series of tame killings on sets that barely resemble the interior of a train. Robyn Alomar takes over for Curtis as Alana, who regrets her participation in the prank, and Canadian national treasure Tim Rozon brings some sleazeball energy to the magician role previously played by David Copperfield. The acting is passable, but the pacing is sluggish, and the final reveal is underwhelming whether you\u2019ve seen the original movie or not. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Murder Podcast<\/em><\/strong> (VOD October 26):<\/strong> At this point, self-important podcasters may be too easy a target for mockery, and writer-director William Bagley\u2019s debut feature hits all the obvious notes in its portrayal of underemployed slackers Chad (Andrew McDermott) and Eddie (Cooper Bucha), who produce a ramen review podcast that barely cracks 100 listeners per episode. When Chad hears about a mysterious death in their small town, he decides that the duo needs to switch to investigative podcasting in order to attract a bigger audience. They\u2019re better at getting stoned than they are at investigating, but they stumble into a supernatural conspiracy anyway, which also vindicates the theories put forth by Chad\u2019s late father. It\u2019s never particularly suspenseful or scary, but The Murder Podcast<\/em> is mostly likable as a buddy comedy and a belated coming-of-age story. McDermott balances Chad\u2019s earnestness and obnoxiousness, and Bagley delivers a handful of genuine laughs, especially in a final stinger that almost entirely justifies the tired podcasting angle. Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Chance Encounter<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters October 28):<\/strong> A half-hearted romance and a muddled rumination on creativity, director and co-writer Alexander Jeffery\u2019s drama is valuable mostly as a showcase for singer-songwriter Andrea von Kampen. She plays Josie Day, a folk singer who\u2019s struggling to create a follow-up to her one minor hit song. Josie has decamped to picturesque Taormina, Italy, for inspiration, and that\u2019s where she meets aspiring poet Hal Flynn (co-writer Paul Petersen), who\u2019s also doing some soul-searching, following the death of his mother. They have a meet-cute at the piazza and then spend a week together, ostensibly to fuel each other\u2019s artistic projects. Jeffery does himself no favors by inviting comparisons to Before Sunrise<\/em> and Once<\/em>, and the leads have minimal chemistry. Von Kampen\u2019s original songs are lovely, as are the images of Taormina, but Petersen\u2019s poems are dreadful, making Josie\u2019s encouragement of Hal\u2019s career ambitions seem almost cruel. Better to just listen to von Kampen\u2019s soundtrack instead. Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hex <\/em>(VOD and DVD November 1):<\/strong> Maybe horror filmmakers have run out of ideas for things that can be cursed. Even one of the characters in this ridiculous movie scoffs at the idea of a cursed skydiving maneuver, but that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s causing trouble for him and his friends. Six skydivers perform the so-called \u201chex\u201d formation, and one of them disappears into thin air immediately afterward. The rest of them suffer Final Destination<\/em>-style fates in the days that follow, as newcomer Sarah (Kayla Adams) attempts to discover the secrets of the hex, which may also be responsible for her father\u2019s death. Directors Chris Johnston and Andy Malchiodi capture some cool skydiving footage, but Hans Rodionoff\u2019s script is impossible to take seriously, and the actors have trouble conveying the characters\u2019 anguish and paranoia. Rodionoff piles on multiple clich\u00e9d horror twists, leading to an incoherent ending that hinges on a supernatural altimeter. Skydiving is scary enough on its own without having to add this laughable demonic nonsense. Grade: C-<\/strong> \"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our mini-reviews of \u201cA Chance Encounter,\u201d \u201cSinphony: A Clubhouse Horror Anthology,\u201d \u201cThe Murder Podcast,\u201d and more of this week\u2019s straight-to-VOD and straight-to-streaming movies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":19020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340,1426],"tags":[1436,1427],"class_list":["post-19016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-vodepths","tag-reviews","tag-vodepths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}