Philip Lozano – Cut To The Chase

Directed By: Sebastien Vanicek

Written By: Sebastian Vanicek and Florent Bernard

Cinematography: Philip Lozano

Editor: Maxine Caro

Cast: Souhelia Yocoub, Hunter Doohan, Lucinae Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Tandi Wright, Maude Davey, George Pullar, Greta Van Den Brink

After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws. As one by one they transform into deadites, she comes to discover that the vows she took in life – survive even in death.

I watched this in 4DX, and what a ride. It definitely added to the experience. You don’t just watch the movie. you feel like you’re trapped inside it. The seats throw you around so much that by the end you feel as beaten up as one of the Deadites. If there was ever a movie made for 4DX, this is probably it.

As an addition to the EVIL DEAD franchise, it’s a solid one.

What’s always been interesting about EVIL DEAD is that every era has its own personality. Sam Raimi’s films were horror, but they were also goofy, funny, and wildly inventive. The newer films have taken a very different path. They’re less interested in laughs and much more focused on brutal endurance. The gore is nastier, the violence is crueler, and the scares rarely let up. It still feels like EVIL DEAD, but it’s evolved into something much darker for a new generation.

The franchise has also shifted from following a lone hero to centering on survivors and final girls, with each story built around family trauma, buried emotions, and painful secrets.

This time, the horror comes wrapped inside a family gathering where the in-laws may be carrying more baggage than anyone expected. What starts as awkward family dynamics slowly turns into something much worse, as old tensions, resentments, and dark secrets erupt in the bloodiest way imaginable. It’s a fun twist on the usual family drama, your relatives might actually be cursed.

I have to admit, I preferred the previous film a little more. It established this new direction and felt fresher and more personal. EVIL DEAD BURN has stylish direction, especially during a couple of standout sequences that are visually unforgettable, but overall it feels more like a continuation than a reinvention. It’s bigger, bloodier, and slicker, but it doesn’t hit quite as hard emotionally.

At times, it almost feels like a French Extremity horror film that just happens to exist in the EVIL DEAD universe. For some viewers, that relentless brutality will be thrilling. For others, it may start to feel more like an endurance test that brushes up against torture-porn territory.

The good news is that this entry brings back a little more humor than Evil Dead Rise. It’s still incredibly dark, but those twisted moments of comedy help balance out the nonstop carnage.

For all of its memorable kills, shocking set pieces, and energetic direction, I also walked away feeling like it was a little disposable. I had a good time. I liked it. I just didn’t love it the way I was hoping to.

Grade: B-

Directed By: Samuel Bodin

Written By: Chris Thomas Devlin

Cinematography: Philip Lozano

Editor: Kevin Greutert and Richard Riffaud

Cast: Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, Anthony Starr, Lizzy Caplan

An eight-year-old boy tries to investigate the mysterious knocking sounds that are coming from inside the walls of his house, unveiling a dark secret that his sinister parents have kept hidden from him.

This film feels like Stephen King because it takes place in what looks like a small town suburb and its primary location for most of the movie is the boy’s house now of course adventures outside of it but yeah, that’s a little rare in the film

That is also the reason why I might be a little bit M night Shymalan as again set in a small town but there by choice. Not to mention the secrets you can hide in plain sight.

The film has a bit of the vibe of the movie PARENTS, a movie that I don’t think gets enough love. It’s a movie that scared me a lot as a child with the possibility of an overactive imagination and horrors not even contemplated. While through the eyes of a child.

There is a reason it is being called the 2023 version of BARBARIAN, as it reminds you of that film and the others I have previously named this far.

I’m not going to lie here and say that it’s one of the greatest films, but it’s one of those that for me well remembered because it gave you a child’s point of you. It scared the heck out of me as a kid it builds tension slowly, and while it was more of a dark comedy, it did add that element of you’re supposed to trust your parents, but can you in certain times or what is with these mysterious things that they do that might to the world be perfectly innocent but you seem like there’s a deep, dark secret or something wrong is happening. A lot of those same aspects are on display here only stronger and a lot more obvious.

Dealing with parents who are supposed to guide you, but at turns seem evil or even way too mean. Though they say it’s for your own good. Yet keep obvious secrets from you. Then tell you it’s all in your head whatever conspiracy. While your friends not ally is a nice teacher. Who can only help you so much, without l getting in trouble themselves. Though like your parents they are supposed to be your guiding light. Thought at times can be one of the major problems.

As it goes along, you think oh, this is the worst that could happen, then raise the stakes as that it’s like oh another scenario where you think oh now this is the worst that can happen. Then it gets worse again, and so on, and so on.

It manages a lot in under 90 minutes and that is including the fact that it starts off slow.

This is one of those films you think about more after you watch the film as it stays on your mind. As while you are watching you are busy reacting.

The film works best the less you know and is scarier when they hint at things instead of completely revealing them.

Grade: B-

Tag: Philip Lozano

EVIL DEAD BURN (2026)

COBWEB (2023)