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Red Riding (limited)

“Loose ends abound in the Red Riding trilogy, and any hope of a satisfactory resolution are dashed to the British pavement with the overly-ambiguous final film. Steeped in melancholy and ugliness, the movies manage to get the serial killer mood exactly right, even as they stumble under the convoluted weight of their own porous storytelling.”

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Although the ambitious but convoluted Red Riding trilogy centers around two different series of grisly murders, the true focus is on police corruption. Based on a quartet of popular novels by English novelist David Peace, the crime saga has been pared down to three feature-length films, all written for the screen by Tony Grisoni, and each helmed by a different director. It makes for a dark, slow, moody triple-feature, although I sometimes found myself wishing more time was spent on the serial killer aspect of the story, and less time on the dirty cop shenanigans.

In Red Riding “1974“, a hotshot young crime reporter in West Yorkshire manages to connect three local murders, all girls between the ages of 8-10, as being committed by the same person. Although the deeply unethical Yorkshire police are eager to pin the murders on roving gypsies, the reporter believes that a wealthy landowner (Sean Bean) may be somehow involved. From the smoke-hazed newsrooms to the period clothing, “1974” is steeped in rich, realistic detail. Like the next two films in the series, it’s very deliberately paced, a solid first entry that lets the audience know exactly what to expect from the trilogy as a whole. (In other words, it ain’t The Shield.)

Out of the three films, I was most interested in watching the second entry, Red Riding “1980”, for two reasons: it stars the always awesome Paddy Considine (Dead Man’s Shoes), AND it focuses on the real-life Yorkshire Ripper, a brutal but inept serial killer who was eventually convicted of murdering 13 women (and probably a handful more they never charged him with). Considine plays a straight-laced officer asked to conduct an inquiry surrounding the crooked cops investigating the Ripper case. The police are quick to pin any gruesome unsolved murder on the Yorkshire Ripper, and Considine is worried that the Ripper might be taking the blame for a murder or two he didn’t commit. Although “1980” has the narrative potential to be the most interesting entry in the series, it primarily serves as a bridge between “1974” and “1983”. And the best parts of the story (the search for the Yorkshire Ripper) remained buried under a bunch of talky corruption rubbish.

The Ripper storyline is abandoned completely in the final chunk of the saga, Red Riding “1983”, instead picking back up with the trio of murders committed in “1974”, except now it’s 9 years later and there’s been a new murder fitting the profile. (Which, by the way, is that the murderer tries to sew a dead swan’s wings onto the girl while she’s still alive. Kind of gross.) Back in ‘74, the police charged a local retard with the three killings, but he’s still incarcerated in ‘83, so it’s hard to explain who’s responsible for the new murder. A slobby lawyer and a sleazy cop work independently to solve the mystery.

Loose ends abound in the Red Riding trilogy, and any hope of a satisfactory resolution are dashed to the British pavement with the overly-ambiguous final film. Steeped in melancholy and ugliness, the movies manage to get the serial killer mood exactly right, even as they stumble under the convoluted weight of their own porous storytelling. More thorough explanations and a stronger emphasis on police procedure would go a long way toward redeeming this high-end project that can be occasionally hard to follow.

Red Riding “1974”: 3.5 out of 5 Skulls
Red Riding “1980”: 3.5 out of 5 Skulls
Red Riding “1983”: 3 out of 5 Skulls

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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