The Hive Review

 

 Home invasion horror movies seemed to be on the decline, but they have returned with several revisionist narratives, including hybrids combining other sub-genres with the formula. Given the allegorical parallels between both home invasion and alien invasion films, it is unsurprising the two sub-genres have been combined to create hybrid home invasion films. First Hulu distributed No One Will Save You this year, an alien home invasion hybrid with only a handful of lines of dialogue. Now the low budget release The Hive has been released with a body snatchers element added to the formula, though it may also have been better off without the dialogue given the effectiveness of the performances.

 

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas DVD Review

 

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• Director ‏ : ‎ Mark Cousins
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Jeremy Thomas, Mark Cousins, Tilda Swinton, Debra Winger
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Cohen Media Group
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ United Kingdom
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, DVD
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 32 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ October 10, 2023

 

         Jeremy Thomas is a producer who has worked with truly legendary filmmakers, undeniably leaving his mark on film history. The film follows Thomas as he prepares to see his latest film, Takashi Miike’s First Love (2019), debut at the Cannes Film Festival. Each year the producer takes a five-day road trip driving to the international film festival in France, and for this particularly journey he is joined by filmmaker Mark Cousins. In promotion for the film, Cousins is referred to as an “acclaimed filmmaker.” This may be true, but it is hard to see in the home movie road trip footage he filmed for this documentary. Everything feels thrown together, almost as an afterthought to the journey itself.

 

Slava Ukraini Review

 

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• Director ‏ : ‎ Bernard-Henri Lévy
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Bernard-Henri Lévy, Gilles Hertzog
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Cohen Media Group
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ France
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, DVD
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 34 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ July 4, 2023

 

         Journalism during times of war is truly invaluable, which is what makes reviewing the film Slava Ukraini so difficult. On one hand, it is easy to admire the efforts made by philosopher and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy to reveal the resistance by the people of Ukraine to the invasion of their country by Russian forces. On the other hand, admiration for the chosen subject and boldness in the filmmakers does not translate into good filmmaking. As far as documentaries go, Slava Ukraini makes the offense of being transparently biased, overly sentimental, and ultimately quite sloppy in its construction. In short, the intention is great, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

 

The Last Voyage of the Demeter Blu-ray Review

 

• Director ‏ : ‎ Andre Ovredal
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham
• Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ French, Spanish
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ Spanish, French
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Studio Distribution Services
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Subtitled
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 59 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 2023

         Dracula was one of the first big horror film successes to come out of Hollywood, preceding even the use of horror as a genre term. Released on Valentine’s Day, Dracula was originally sold as a gothic romance film, though it has since become an iconic staple in the horror genre. This year alone has seen both the release of Renfield and The Last Voyage of the Demeter in attempts to find a new angle to view the story. While Renfield focused on Dracula’s abused assistant, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is entirely about the portion of the story the original 1931 film skipped over. While this does mean the ending is somewhat predictable, there are still some well-executed sequences of suspense likely to satisfy horror fans.