This week\u2019s lineup of marginal VOD releases includes two different types of deadly alligators, plus a teacher-student hook-up, a disturbingly Oedipal relationship, and artsy twenty-somethings trying to make it in New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Flood<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters July 14):<\/strong> A cast of B-movie regulars\u2014including Casper Van Dien, Louis Mandylor, and Nicky Whelan\u2014fend off fake-looking CGI alligators during a hurricane in this weak riff on Assault on Precinct 13<\/em>. As a storm rages in Louisiana, a prison transport bus is forced to stop at a rural police station until the weather clears. Taking advantage of the chaos, a group of criminals invade the station to retrieve their captive associate (Van Dien), but everyone is faced with bigger problems when rising waters bring hungry alligators inside. The actors try on a variety of questionable accents, and their tough-guy posturing is only slightly more convincing. The suspense is minimal, and the action is underwhelming, especially in the direct interactions between humans and alligators. Director Brandon Slagle told a similar siege story, with aliens instead of alligators, in 2020\u2019s clumsy Attack of the Unknown<\/em>, and his approach hasn\u2019t improved since then. Grade: C-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Amor Bandido<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and DVD July 18):<\/strong> What starts out as a drama about forbidden romance takes a hard turn into thriller territory about halfway through, with limited success. Teenager Joan (Renato Quattordio) is having a secret affair with his teacher Luciana (Romina Ricci), who quits her job and agrees to run away with him to her family\u2019s vacation home in the Argentinian countryside. Their seemingly idyllic tryst is interrupted by the arrival of an injured stranger, who reveals the sinister intentions underlying the supposed getaway. Director and co-writer Daniel Werner stages plenty of steamy, explicit sex scenes between Joan and Luciana, but he doesn\u2019t connect their primal passion to the larger crime story. Explaining the motivations behind the plan only invites annoying questions about logistics, and there\u2019s no emotional resonance to the complicated connection between the main characters. Werner raises potentially intriguing issues of class, gender, and the balance of sexual power, but he doesn\u2019t follow through in a meaningful way. Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mother, May I?<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters July 21):<\/strong> Horror-movie characters are always blithely moving into creepy, isolated houses they inherit from estranged relatives, and it never goes well. That\u2019s what happens for Emmett (Kyle Gallner) and his fianc\u00e9e Anya (Holland Roden) following the death of the mother Emmett hasn\u2019t seen since he was a child. After just a day in Emmett\u2019s spacious yet foreboding childhood home, Anya starts acting strangely, appearing to take on the persona of Emmett\u2019s late mother. Is she possessed? Is she mentally ill? Or is she playing some kind of sick mind game with Emmett? Writer-director Laurence Vannicelli isn\u2019t particularly interested in providing definitive answers, and once the initial unsettling surprise of Anya\u2019s change in behavior wears off, the movie doesn\u2019t have much else to offer. Roden shifts impressively between the two personalities, but the exploration of the Freudian dynamic between Emmett and Anya is wispy and repetitive, leading to a vague, dissatisfying resolution. Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n