College freshman Justine (Lorenza Izzo) decides to join the student activist group to help save the Amazon rainforest. Her roommate Kaycee (Sky Ferriera) disapproves of this and recommends against it, especially when Justine decides to join the group led by Alejandro (Ariel Levy) on a trip to stop the bulldozing. Justine believes she’s doing the right thing and everything will be fine. However, when the group’s plane crashes in the jungle, they soon learn about the tribe that lives there, and they soon find themselves entering into a nightmare.

Directed by Eli Roth, The Green Inferno is the latest cannibalistic horror film to grace the theater screen. When I saw the trailers for this, it looked like it could have had a strong Cannibal Holocaust vibe, and it did a decent job of building tension without really showing anything. Unfortunately, the outcome I received was not what I was expecting from the trailers. For the most part, the film had a really good build up until the main events took place. We got to know the characters and their mission (I can’t stand activists, so I will keep those feelings at bay), and for the most part, all except for two of the characters were likable and it does suck seeing them go. Along the way we have some genuinely funny moments that added even more likability to the characters. However, after the first kill (which was fantastic), that’s when it starts to go downhill. With how brutal and excellent the first kill was (which had fantastic effects by the way), I was expecting everything afterwards to be just as good, if not maybe even better. This was not the case. After the first kill, the deaths become very generic and boring and nothing I would deem very disturbing except for maybe one other kill towards the end, and quite a few missed opportunities to actually add more disturbing moments. To add to this, there ended up being a bunch of humor in it that took away what I was expecting from the film. I admit I did laugh at those moments, but essentially I was expecting a full-blown horror movie that was going to try and disturb its audience to the core. The laughs were effective, but for me it ruined the horror. Even if this was intentional on Eli Roth’s part, I felt it wasn’t necessary. Then there is the ending to tack onto that. The ending had me furious with how it played it out. I don’t know if the ending, along with the comedy was meant to make the film a satire of some sorts involving activism, but regardless it didn’t work for me at all. Though, despite that, and along with the well-done effects of the kills, the portrayal of tribe was genuinely unsettling, but then of course you have the black sheep that shows care towards our main character (bleh). There is also a mid credits bonus scene that I’m assuming was set up for a sequel, but in the end it was completely unnecessary.

The cast as a whole does a great job. Lorenza Izzo provides likability in our leading lady, but there were times when I found her kindness nauseating as well as her hissy fits. She also expresses some great fear in a lot of the scenes that require it. Ariel Levy is excellent as the head activist, and nails his role as the douchebag and easily becomes one of the most despicable characters in a horror film. But most of all, the person that stood out the most to me was Sky Ferreira as Justine’s best friend and roommate. In the limited screen time she had, she was extremely charismatic, funny, and came off as real and almost the voice of reason in the film (at least to me). As much as I wanted to see more of her, I am glad that she didn’t go too far into the story.

The Green Inferno was a film that had such promise to bring some genuine terror to audiences with how well the death effects were and the talent of Eli Roth, a great cast, and well developed characters. However, this is all brought down with missed opportunities, some eye-rolling cliches, the over-abundance of humor (intended or not), and one awful ending.

–Cody Landman

During the night of partying at the Kappa sorority house, the fun is cut short by the death of one of the sisters, leaving behind the child she just birthed. Flash forward to present time when it is time for Kappa to select new pledges. This time Kappa is ruled by the feisty and vicious Chanel (Emma Roberts). She, along with her henchwomen, Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande), Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd), and Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin). However, Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) is putting her foot down, disgusted by the behavior of the sorority, she enforces Chanel to accept ANY pledge. Enter our main girl Grace (Skyler Samuels), who plans to join the sorority in hopes gaining some closeness to the mother she never met. Grace, along with her roommate Zayday (Keke Palmer), plus other pledges begin their hell week. But someone is bringing a new meaning to the term. A killer dressed as the school mascot the Red Devil has a score to settle with the Kappa sorority, and everyone is a target.

Following the Scream tv series, we get the heavily promoted new show from Ryan Murphy. In its first night, we were treated to a two hour long premiere. And what a hell of a fun two hours it was. Scream Queens has the meta aspects of Scream, the parody of Scary Movie, and the teen flare of Heathers and Mean Girls. Both of the two episodes were very self aware of itself in the situation the characters find themselves in and how it fits into horror scenarios, but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it. The dialogue is extremely witty and entertaining, and features many horror feats that leave it pretty clear that Murphy has done his homework. Along with this we get very creative kills (let me just say we had just about the same amount of kills in this premiere that Scream had in the whole season). This doesn’t ruin things for it though since we are left we plenty of characters who can still bite it. It’s also a show that could easily get away with having an episode or two without a kill because it won’t focus on pointless drama. Let it be known that this is a straight up horror-comedy. Anything you may find “stupid” about it was there for a purpose. While the kills were very solid, it is the dialogue that really sells the show. The dialogue written for the characters fits them so well and the actors portraying them have their characters pegged. Given with how much we received in these first two episodes, it’s very clear we are in for a treat. I’m expecting even more great kills, some pretty good twists, and most of all, the fact that everyone at this point is fair game.

As far as the cast goes, they all do a tremendous job. The biggest shout outs go to Emma Roberts who (as displayed on American Horror Story: Coven), nails the role of the bitch. But this time around it is much more amped up compared to her character Madison on AHS. She encompasses the nastiness and snarkiness of Jessica in Sorority Row, and the over-the-top bitchiness and overreactions of Regina George in Mean Girls. There really isn’t anyone who could have done the part better than Roberts. Everything that comes out of her mouth had me laughing like a maniac. Next there is Niecy Nash as the campus security guard Denise. Nash gets the next amount of laughs following Roberts. While Nash does get her over-the-top moments, she really is the voice of reason of all the characters. She knows when someone is doing something stupid, calls them out on it, and knows when to haul ass. She gets just as many great one-liners as well.

Finally, there is the incredible Jamie Lee Curtis. Every horror fan knows her as the innocent victim Laurie Strode, but on Scream Queens, Curtis is essentially the anti-Laurie Strode. She’s a hard core bitch who smokes pot and sleeps around with students. Overall it’s a side of Jamie Lee we haven’t seen in general. And of course she nails the role to the point where you can hardly believe this was once shy and virginal Laurie, but you can’t wait to see what the character and Curtis has left up her sleeve. Skyler Samuels is also worth noting as our main girl. Essentially she’s the basic heroine we expect. The kind-hearted, innocent, awkward girl. And that’s it. Not really anything special, just your cardboard cut out final girl. I personally didn’t care for her for that reason, if she had more of an edge to her, I’d like her more. But overall, she’s not unlikable either, and Samuel does bring some realism to the role and some likability despite my sentiments about the character overall. Keke Palmer provides some sass as Grace’s roommate. While Palmer does deliver some comical lines, you do get the stereotypical black girl behavior that is eye-roll worthy. We are also treated to Lea Michele as the backbraced Hester. Initially she’s the dork who more or less keeps to herself with occasional mumbling to herself as well. But then we see she knows a thing or two about murder. And how to hide a body. Unlike the annoying character she played on Glee, Michele has more to work with. She can go off on a crazy girl rant, but then switch into this childlike innocence in a flash. The rest of the cast does a good job, but nothing really stand out yet. However there is still time.

Scream Queens is the slasher show that the subgenre needed. It brings a breath of fresh air by trying to relive the days of Scream and classic teen hits. And it succeeds through and through. This is thanks to massively engaging characters and dialogue, an excellent mystery/whodunit, and very clever kills. Ryan Murphy has struck gold more than ever with this in his writing in the perfect blend of horror and comedy. And with the talented cast behind this with their excellent performances thus far, I can only imagine it getting better from here-on-out.

–Cody Landman

When Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her little brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) take the initiative to visit their grandparents, despite their mother (Kathryn Hahn) being estranged from them for years, they look forward to getting to know them. When the children arrive, things between them and their Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) are everything they hoped it would be. However, as their visit progresses, their grandparents begin to show some very unsettling behavior. At first they brush it off and blame old age, but the behavior begins to grow more and more disturbing.

In the newest film by M. Night Shyamalan, he returns to the horror genre ever since the not-so-favorable The Happening in 2008. This time he is taking the step of combining comedy with horror. The trailer portrayed the film as being a horror film, but featuring tidbits of comedy. It was an interesting approach and definitely caught my attention, but I was still going to go in with low expectations (despite enjoying certain disliked Shyamalan films). As the film began it did have some great promise to it by easing us into the world of the characters and going with as little knowledge of the grandparents as they did. It starts off light-hearted enough with quirky grandparents/grandchildren moments that bring laughs. When the events turn and things become dark, this also manages to keep your attention, while at first not thinking quite too much at first. Some of the creepier moments emit laughter that is purely out of unease (particularly the great hide and seek scene, which I was hoping the setting there would have come into play later). Then, as things escalate you begin to feel more nervous about this couple. It all leads to a very thrilling final act that leave you on edge as to what is just going to happen.

However, this is where the good things I have to say about the plot comes to an end. I knew going in that this wasn’t going to be a straight up horror film. and that it featuring a good amount of comedy. I am all for horror comedies or dark humor in horror films, but the comedy here just felt so out of place and confused the plot and flow of the story. I appreciated most of the comedic aspects, but there was a line that I thought should have been drawn where the comedy ends and the actual horror begins. Instead, it becomes an unbalanced mess that almost makes it seem as if Shyamalan had no idea what exactly he wanted the film to be. I would go so far as to say that the comedy ruined the horror elements. If this would have been more of a horror film with just small dashes of comedy, it would have been much more affective. The last two scenes I also want to add brought down the film a lot. If those would have been axed the ending would have better. The plot also drowns in too much family mellow drama that made me want to barf. The film would also have benefitted much more if it only had traces of the documentary style footage but was mostly a regular format production and would have faired better with a good and creepy score.

As far as the cast goes, they all do a fine job. Although I personally didn’t care for either of the children at all due to both of them being really annoying and often times stupid, the two young actors do a fine job with the roles when it comes to expressing the fears and other emotions that they are supposed to feel. Kathryn Hahn, while hardly present, provides a quirky mother performance that she easily sells, but also does a good job of the more emotional moments. She does come off a realistic mom more often than not. As for the grandparents, it is Deanna Dunagan that provides the best performance of the whole cast. She can play the sweet and innocent Nana one moments and instantly change

character into the terrifying old woman who creeps around at night and displays uneasy vacant expressions. Peter McRobbie does well with the role of Pop Pop, but he isn’t given as much to do as Dunagan, which is rather unfortunate because I feel he had the ability to do more. The Visit is a film that will divide people. I do not think it was horrible by any means, but I do feel that M. Night Shyamalan should have decided what he really wanted the film to be. And to me it would have worked better as a horror movie with just traces of horror. Instead it just becomes an awkward mess that left me unsure of just what I was supposed to feel. And despite the unlikability of the two children, they, and the rest of the cast, especially our two senior actors, do a standout job.

–Cody Landman