Movies
Lovely Molly (limited)
“‘Lovely Molly’ is subtle, brooding horror that merely delivers on everything it promises. Sanchez shows tremendous restraint in keeping it simple and in the end rewards the audience with a haunting little film that’s ultimately timeless.”
After The Blair Witch Project many wondered which of two directors could succeed in its wake. After 13 years, it’s now clear that Eduardo Sanchez is the master storyteller of the two as he delivers a wholesome scarefest with Lovely Molly, his demonic supernatural tale that crept up on Midnight Madness moviegoers.
Much like Sanchez’s awesome Altered, he doesn’t overcomplicate Molly; it’s a simple story that’s executed to near perfection without a forced twist. The film is organic nearly to a fault, but is so sharp that the audience will engaged until the end credits.
The film follows Molly (Gretchen Lodge) as she moves back into her childhood home with her new husband. Almost immediately she is haunted by an old demon that forces her back into madness.
The shocking imagery is slim to none as Sanchez delivers a movie predicated around the acting of Lodge and the nerve-racking sound design. Lodge puts on a freakish performance that ranges from sexy to haunting – she rapes her husband, she’s raped by an invisible entity, and is mentally abused by some spirit from the past. The film echoes the opening sequence from the infamous Entity, but drives it home for a full hour and a half.
Without taking anything away from Lodge’s performance, the sound design truly IS the movie; it’s trickled with creepy hoof stomps and horse snorts throughout. Much like Paranormal Activity, it does paint the viewer’s head with the image of Baphomet. This leads to a series of questions that keep the audience locked in for the duration of the film.
While the third act is a bit long and lacks a huge payoff, there’s enough there to leave you dwelling on it for a few days (Sanchez opts to leave the finale open to interpretation). Lovely Molly is subtle, brooding horror that merely delivers on everything it promises. Sanchez shows tremendous restraint in keeping it simple and in the end, rewards the audience with a haunting little film that’s ultimately timeless.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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