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[TV Review] “The Walking Dead” Episode 516, ‘Conquer’
The Walking Dead’s fifth season has been an effective blend of life on the road, tense character drama, and growing pains inside perceived sanctuary. After several hours of building some fantastic tension, ‘Conquer’ closes the season more with a wimper than a bang.
Beginning with Morgan was an effective way to build tension. We had no idea of his mental state since we last saw him and he’s been on Rick’s trail for some time now. Him meeting the new wolves characters was also great, thanks to a suitable tense conversation around the fire. It was a great way to introduce the next major threat for the fall and bring a sinister and foreboding tone right off the top of the hour. Morgan’s skills using the bow-staff were incredible and offered a fight scene unlike anything we’ve ever seen on the show.
Michonne and Rick’s conversation brought the circularity of the season to light, an effective way to show that Rick hasn’t really changed. He’s often pigheaded and a little troublesome but here he was the most wrong he’s ever been. A coup isn’t the answer. Although Carol perceives the residents of Alexandria as children and its hard to argue with her, Glenn questions about whether or not Rick really wanted to kill these people from the start sure seem a lot more grounded in reality. It seems to both Carol and Rick that killing them all was the only option from the start.
Maggie had a few scenes displaying that she has become quite the leader. Her talk with Deanna reminded me of Hershel’s best moments with Rick, and indeed she is taking after her father. She’s still a little too emotional to have full clarity, but hell she’s good at Rick a little more sympathetic even when he doesn’t really deserve to be anything but the bad guy.
The visual motif of the night has to go to Sash lying in the pile of bodies. She feels more comfortable here, to her the dead are less demanding than the living.
Carol’s maternal metaphors didn’t stop as the finale progressed. Her second scene with Rick had her guiding his hand in subtle ways, but showed that she was ready to finally take a back seat. She’s a little too manipulative for her own good, and hell that’s what got her kicked out not even a season ago, but somehow here and now Rick is less able to see it.
HOLY SHIT. Don’t trust Del Arno Cans. The scene with the trap trucks was the highlight of the night. Every moment Aaron and Darryl loomed closer to the latches on the trucks I could feel shivers in my spine. When the trap was triggered and the shit hit the fan. There was this rush of sensation for what these two men are doing, and how close they’ve become over such a short time. All of their scenes owned the night for me.
We had to be treated to a scene of Pete being his one note character self. He got real fired up in what seemed like an unnatural beat for his character. Pete ended up being a one note character played louder and louder each week without much dimension or real pain in his character. A wasted opportunity.
The rest of the episode felt really way too convenient and rushed. We have Morgan finding Darryl and Aaron. Something terribly convenient but ultimately believable thanks to the few visits we paid to Morgan over the season. Elsewhere though, things were a little harder to digest.
Gabriels attempted suicide and eventual mercy at the hands of Sasha would have been alright had Sasha been able to actually make a rational choice and overcome what she had been struggling with. Instead, we got Maggie magically appearing in the scene despite having just been part of the “Tribunal.” I don’t understand how she was able to slip away or why she was needed in the scene at all, but I digress.
Nicholas and Glenn’s showdown was tense and well motivated. I bought the entire fight on principle, although I struggle to see how these two men are allowed to venture outside the walls one after the other without anyone so much as asking a question.
The door being open was nothing more than a deus ex machina that ultimately pushed this finale into an incredibly sloppy few final minutes. Rick being the only one to notice this gigantic oversight was a ridiculous way to prove his point. The fact that it suddenly became nighttime was very unclear didn’t help the matter either, and the tribunal (with Maggie magically missing) interruption with the zombie body that Rick could have got ANYWHERE had everyone ready to listen to his speech. The further interruption of Pete would have been fine – had he not killed Reg. But again, it felt too convenient that he immediately killed Reg just so Rick could kill him. Does this usher in a new era for Alexandria?
And what does it mean for Morgan, a seemingly reformed killer, to see his friend kill an innocent man before his very eyes… Sadly we have to wait until the fall to find out.
That’s it for The Walking Dead Season Five!
Sorry this was late, I was at ECCC all weekend and didn’t catch the finale until this morning. Had to go dark to avoid spoilers.
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
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Spring 2024 Horror Preview: 12 Horror Movies You Don’t Want to Miss
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