Neil James

Neil James

Favorite films

  • The Evil Dead
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Halloween
  • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Recent activity

All
  • The Exorcist: Believer

    ★★

  • Spiral: From the Book of Saw

    ★★

  • Jigsaw

    ½

  • Saw 3D

    ★★½

Recent reviews

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  • The Exorcist: Believer

    The Exorcist: Believer

    ★★

    A paint-by-numbers rehash, only instead of an outrageous. subversive critique of Catholicism, we get a half-assed treatise on the power of Live Laugh Love with the energy of a Lifetime original movie.

    Deconstructing this movie makes about as much sense as Pitchfork reviewing a cover band. Exorcist Believer has no interest in covering new ground or making statements. The powers that be cynically recognized there was some money to be wrung out of the brand name, and everyone involved got paid.

    There's not much more to say here. Like your friendly neighborhood Applebee's, this wasn't made to be criticized – it was made to be consumed.

  • Spiral: From the Book of Saw

    Spiral: From the Book of Saw

    ★★

    Something that has struck me about the Saw series as I've been binging it is that it's low-key the most unintentionally prolific piece of ACAB art that exists. If you've got a badge in this universe, you're evil, corrupt, dishonorable or grossly incompetent, and you're usually more than one.

    Once you've internalized this notion, it makes the mystery Spiral presents you instantly decodable. Simply recognizing there can be no such thing as a 'lawful good' police officer in the series…

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  • Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel

    Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel

    At the end of Hell House II, Satanic figurehead of The Abaddon Hotel Andrew Tully who "died" 30 years prior to the events of this film (1988) launches into an extended exposition dump. During his speech, he briefly sings "Be My Guest" from Disney's Beauty And The Beast, which is somewhat remarkable given that film was released three years after he died. It's a flagrant unforced error that serves as a microcosm for the sloppy filmmaking that defines Hell House…

  • When Evil Lurks

    When Evil Lurks

    ★★★★

    Cuckoo bananas Argentinian horror that's going to end up on most Best Of 2023 lists. Legally a possession movie, spiritually a zombie movie, and in actuality the horror movie equivalent of a Dillinger Escape Plan record.

    When Evil Lurks doesn't have twists and turns as much as it has a series of hairpin curves that it races through at full throttle. In a lot of ways this works against the final product - by the time you get to the…