This week\u2019s minor VOD releases struggle to make the most of stars like J.K. Simmons and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who are outshone by a midlevel scream queen and a Mongolian sex-shop clerk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You Can\u2019t Run Forever<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters May 17):<\/strong> J.K. Simmons must be a loving husband and father, because it\u2019s hard to come up with any other reason he\u2019d star in this clumsily shot, poorly paced thriller. It\u2019s a Simmons family affair, directed and co-written by his wife Michelle Schumacher, co-starring his daughter Olivia Simmons, scored by his son Joe Simmons, and produced by his brother-in-law Randle Schumacher. Only one member of the family delivers, though, and even Simmons himself isn\u2019t doing his best work as a confusingly motivated spree killer. Wade (Simmons) pursues teenager Miranda (Isabelle Anaya) into the Montana woods after killing her stepdad (Allen Leech), but Schumacher isn\u2019t satisfied with a simple chase between two characters. She throws in extraneous victims, excessive yet rote traumatic back story, and meandering subplots for Miranda\u2019s other family members. Simmons has moments of chilling menace, but most of the time he\u2019s curiously subdued, as if Schumacher didn\u2019t want her husband to seem too scary. That\u2019s just one of the many ways this awkward, amateurish movie misuses its resources. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Faceless After Dark<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and select theaters May 17):<\/strong> A horror-movie actress is stalked by a blade-wielding fan who breaks into her house while wearing the villain\u2019s mask from her most famous film. It seems obvious where things will go next for C-list star Bowie Davidson (Jenna Kanell), but co-writer Kanell and director Raymond Wood subvert expectations, making the incident into a catalyst for Bowie\u2019s descent into full-on psychopathy. That transition doesn\u2019t entirely work, which makes the rest of Faceless After Dark<\/em> tough to buy into, as Bowie abruptly shifts from mild career frustration into homicidal rage. Kanell is a veteran of cult horror movies including Terrifier<\/em> and The Bye Bye Man<\/em>, and the movie\u2019s takedown of toxic online fandom is specific and honest. It\u2019s also repetitive and obvious, and Wood\u2019s stylized touches don\u2019t make up for the thin plotting and nonexistent characterization. Recent festival-favorite indie films I Blame Society<\/em> and The Columnist <\/em>have taken on similar material with more humor and creativity. Kanell shares their righteous fury, but she channels it less effectively. Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Darkness of Man<\/em><\/strong> (VOD May 21):<\/strong> Unlike his onetime action-star peer Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme has maintained an admirable level of integrity and dedication in his late-career projects. One thing that Seagal and Van Damme now have in common, though, is starring in a film from direct-to-video workhorse James Cullen Bressack, who has previously turned out \u201cgeezer teasers\u201d featuring Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson. At least Van Damme is no tease here \u2014 there may even be too much of him, as Bressack saddles him with constant hard-boiled narration that he\u2019s not quite equipped to deliver. He fares better when he\u2019s called on for brooding and punching as ex-Interpol agent Russell Hatch, who\u2019s sworn to protect the teenage son of his late informant\/lover. That puts Russell in the crossfire of a war between Russian and Korean gangsters, which plays out as lumbering and dull, with mediocre action, murky visuals, and shaky supporting performances. Van Damme immerses himself in his world-weary character, but the rest of the movie is just another assembly-line DTV product from Bressack. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n