B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - DEAD END (2003)

Made for less than a million dollars, the slightly obscure Dead End is a chilling little indie you don't want to miss. It might just be the best Christmas horror movie no one ever heard of and every dollar is up there on the screen. It's quirky, weird, funny, bizarre, and scary all at once. Black comedy for sure but much more, this would make a nice double feature with The Perfect Host, another movie we're big on around here. So, grab some eggnog and a snack or two and check out the inimitable Ray Wise with legendary Lin Shaye as they take their family down a wrong turn, what's up with this road? Why doesn't it end? After all, they're just trying to make it to Christmas Eve dessert at Frank's mother's house. Tubi, Plex, Freevee, enjoy! 2.75 stars/2.75

Sunday, May 22, 2022

SAMUEL L JACKSON IS A "CLEANER" (2007) - NOT THE KIND THAT WEARS AN APRON, THE KIND THAT CLEANS UP CRIME SCENES

 

From the director of Die Hard 2 comes this tidy little thriller about a crime scene cleaner who slowly starts to realize he's becoming part of a cover-up. The first portion of the movie sets up our characters showing Tom cleaning up at his various crime scenes, he's a single dad with a teenage daughter. One day he does a job at a mansion and leaves his key by accident. When he goes back the next day to retrieve it, the owner of the house (Eva Mendes) seems to know nothing about the clean-up job and claims nothing ever happened at the house. This puts the plot in motion which also involves, yep, a couple of corrupt cops. Played excellently by Ed Harris and Luis Guzman. 

The film has a very slight but tangible noir feeling about it and the production design is quite nice, the vibe of the film feeling like the clean-ups themselves - quick, precise, and wrapped up. I like Ed Harris a lot here. While he can certainly carry a whole film on his own he always seems to be better in those bit parts. Guzman has more lines than normal for him but is excellent as always. All in all, it's a good little thriller, in my opinion, deserving of higher ratings than most reviews. Cleaner streams on Netflix, Fubu and VOD. 3.0 stars/5

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