Connect with us

Movies

Penumbra (Twilight) (VOD)

Penumbra‘ creates an anxiety-producing environment with no escape that oozes atmosphere – not a huge shock, considering the brother pulled off something similar in ‘Cold Sweat’ – so it’s a shame that the soundtrack seems to be battling it at every turn. With a little fine tuning (some scenes with the outside world need trimming), Penumbra could be great but as it stands, it’s a solid, yet familiar, thriller.

Published

on

On the day of an impending eclipse, Margarita (Cristina Brondo) impatiently awaits the late arrival of Jorge, a realtor who has a client willing to handsomely pay for the rundown apartment she inherited. The snooty business woman from Spain isn’t particularly excited to be in Buenos Aires but with the promise of extra money to line her pockets (both from the transaction and working at her company’s local branch), she’s willing to deal with the dredges of society – i.e. everyone else – including a foul-mouthed homeless man who garners sympathy from onlookers after the socialite publically reprimands him. The solar anomaly is known to make people act a little kooky, but when her apartment begins to fill up with “associates” of the high roller and strange noises start coming from the pantry, she starts to wonder whether or not she’s ever going to get paid.

By having Margarita start doubting her sanity in the outside world and then locking her inside the building for the rest of the film, Adrian and Ramiro Garcia Bogliano set up a slow-burn absurdist horror-comedy that revolves around Marga’s constantly changing level of (in)sanity. Brondo carries the film well as the shallow, proud woman, and is given plenty of time to explore her character. She’s so concerned with the money she’s about to get, the affair that she’s having, and the politics of her job that she doesn’t pay any mind to the fact that someone is paying quadruple the asking price of her crummy apartment.

Like House Of The Devil, Penumbra takes its time creating the environment its characters exist in and building up the atmosphere and tension. It’s not so much a celebration of a specific point in time like House as it is a storytelling mechanism used to make what very little plot there is seem banal and trivial. There’s a direct relationship between the film’s seemingly inconsequential nonsense and Marga’s mental health; as she tolerates more and more of her soon-to-be renter’s quirks, she starts to lose her grip and things get a little more dangerous – and darker, remember that eclipse? – for everyone.

There’s a few lessons that can be taken away from Marga’s story of reaping what her fiery arrogance has sown, and the Bogliano brothers drive most of them home. Penumbra creates an anxiety-producing environment with no escape that oozes atmosphere – not a huge shock, considering the brother pulled off something similar in Cold Sweat – so it’s a shame that the soundtrack seems to be battling it at every turn. With a little fine tuning (some scenes with the outside world need trimming), Penumbra could be great but as it stands, it’s a solid, yet familiar, thriller.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Movies

SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

Published

on

As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

Continue Reading