Dani Kind – Cut To The Chase

Written & Directed By: Veena Sud
Based On the Film “WIR MONSTER” Written By: Marcus Seibert & Sebastian Ko
Cinematography: Peter Wurstorf
Editor: Phil Fowler

Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Mireille Enos, Joey King, Cas Anvar, Patti Kim, Nicholas Lea, Devery Jacobs, Dani Kind

A father and daughter are on their way to dance camp when they spot the girl’s best friend on the side of the road. When they stop to offer the friend a ride, their good intentions soon result in terrible consequences.

I believe this is a sign that Blumhouse might produce too many movies.

Here they have a good cast and a decent filmmaker. What plays like a LAW & ORDER episode from the grieving parents of a suspect’s point of view. Which has been done before with great casts (BEFORE & AFTER with Liam Neeson & Meryl Streep)

That you know when you see the Blumhouse moniker you know what genre you are going to get but not necessarily the quality. As with this film and quite a few recently this film plays like Blumhouse’s version of a television movie. As there is nothing hardcore objectionable or hardcore.

This film at least tries to be more dramatic though with so many questionable decisions and repetitious arguments. Then when the ending comes Along it doesn’t feel earned.

It feels like a film that chooses filler to justify an ending that feels like a cheat code by the director. So that it feels more like a trick overall.

Some might say the audience feels this way because they never see the ending coming, but it would be one thing when you shock the audience and that moment has been earned. Here it feels like the beginning and end were thought of first and the rest was just to keep the film going.

As the film has many directions it could have gone. It lays out plenty of motives but then lets the audience get a hint of them before abandoning for its dull and ham-fisted determination of an ending that the feel will be a roundhouse but is more a sucker punch.

The film is competently composed and filmed and the performances are on point, but in the end, the film feels like a cheap trick

Grade: D+

Directed By: Danishka Esterhazy
Written By: Jed Blinoff & Scott Thomas
Cinematography: Trevor Calverlay
Editor: Michael P. Mason

Cast: Dani Kind, Steve Lund, Celina Martin, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, Sara Canning, Romeo Carrere, Maria Nash, Naledi Majola

A family attends a live taping of The Banana Splits television series, but are forced to survive as soon as the characters go haywire and start a killing spree around the studio.

You know what you are going to get from this type of film. Then again you might not of expecting this to be an exact big-screen version of the television show. Anyone going into this film can’t complain too much. As for how good or bad quality did you really think it would be?

As this is more a kind of reinvention. we have the characters more or less going on a murder spree. This is explained but seems a rather thin reason.

At first, the characters who are killed are generally unlikeable so you pretty much know they are going to be victims and the film doesn’t try to hide that fact, but then some rather likable and innocent characters start to get off.

The most enjoyable aspect of this film is the kills. The violence which like the show is very over the top and impressive in a ridiculous way. Keep in mind this Film was made to premiere in the Syfy network. Though bathes itself in gore.

The film plays like a dark comedy the only problem is that it really has no style. It just leaves the audience waiting for the kills. Then at first seems like a more demanding black comedy that at first is a revenge movie of sorts. Then just becomes a horror film. That flirts with killing children but then backs away from the edge that it tries to push us over.

There is an interesting part of the movie when a character cracks and becomes a totally different type. One that actually might relegate a sequel.

Though the film ends up being pretty predictable and comes off as a rushed Canadian horror feature. That is generic except for its pop-culture tie-in. That seems the best way to use the characters as we have already had a kind of animatronic live-action feature film in WILLY’S WONDERLAND

It doesn’t seem anyone including a studio was interested in trying to update it into a Family Comedy. So this seems an inventive way to go or at least a way to make a quick dollar for the franchise and bring them up to date maybe even be slightly subversive.

GRADE: D

Tag: Dani Kind

THE LIE (2018)

THE BANANA SPLITS MOVIE (2019)