Robert Bosley

I felt like I was being punished.

Plodding and predictable, very short on special effects but long on histrionics by a cast weighted down by old actors past their career prime coming in for one more outburst for the camera. You can almost hear the director shout: “Next!” as we move from one emoting actor to the next. Karen Black as a bumbling female was almost unbearable to watch, but hearing the guys in the tower call her “honey” a hundred times was worse.

I was bored. I feel like I had seen this movie before in several different permutations. It is a redo.

Not what I was expecting. No hackneyed jump-and-scare techniques. No boring theoretical discussions. No formulaic progression. This film had incredible camerawork, direction, and musical scores. The audience was drawn in to care about the various characters and worry about them. Fast moving but not chaotic. Overlayering of scenes scenes, both visually and acoustically. Special effects that didn’t look like trickery. Best Film of 2023.