While the first group declared less valuable are the elderly, a pregnant woman and young girl are soon singled out as either most important or most sympathetic, and the group divides into two factions. One side want to work together to ensure at least one of the two reach the end, ensuring one may potentially survive. The other, lead by a bearded man, argue that they should be killed, as they aren't actually any more important than anyone else in the room and the sympathy for them condemns everyone else. It's a morally complex film, uncomfortable to watch. What would you do in that situation? What is the correct outcome? Are you making your decisions based on stereotypes or your own prejudices?

In what could have been a heavy handed moral moment, one black man calls on the other black people in the group. He says they will be killed by the white people, who immediately get heated and insist race is meaningless. The other black people refuse to engage, saying that whether or not he is correct, drawing negative attention to himself will just get him killed. It's put aside, but he is the last black person alive and in one last second redirection one white person literally says "Kill the black guy!" and he is zapped. Vocal male characters are only voted off for enraging everyone else; the rich jerk guy only faces the killer beam after an intense homophobic rant and the scruffy guy only after a blatent series of lies that are a blatent attempt to get everyone to kill the woman next to him.

In the moment, these deaths aren't even satisfying beyond shutting the ranter up. All but one is earmarked for death, and it's clearly going to come down to the pregnant woman and the girl. The question of why comes up a lot. The scenario is apparently the aftermath of alien invasion, mass panic and fleeing the city, and potentially random abduction. Staying in the circle right until the last scene, we not only do not see the aliens but also do not find out the answers to any of the questions posed. Why these fifty people in particular? Why are they voting each other off in a contactless battle royale? Is there a correct way to play, is it a judgement of humanity or is even anyone even watching? Unanswered and unimportant; the film is not about the motivations of the aliens, but the behaviour of the people.

As the cast slowly lowers in number and the conflict becomes the sole focus of the discussion, the outcome becomes more and more certain. The tension stays high and the 'leader' of each faction continues to outlive their groups. A last second twist leaves one survivor, released as it was guessed (or hoped) into the desolate city. Walking along a tunnel to echoes of their most effecting quotes, the survivor joins a small group of children and adults, and they all stand and watch one of the many giant circular spaceships over the city.

What does it all mean? It isn't clear. Just like the point of the game, the morally correct thing to do, and the truth of any of the people, the film is not here to give us any answers. With more courage, the film might have something to say about human nature, prejudice and selfishness, but it leaves it all up to the viewer. There's a missed opportunity for an amazing ending, if it had turned out that the fallen people were unconscious and they all had to face their victims. Interesting but ultimately unsatisfying, its worth watching if just for the concept.

With literally just two cast members, Patrick Brice as Aaron and Mark Duplass as Josef, the film itself is very pared back. With no gore, monsters or high action sequences, Creep instead relies entirely on the acting and interplay between the two characters. The result is brilliant. Josef is both a scary and pitiful man, seeming entirely genuine or completely deceptive from second to second. Aaron is a competant everyman, making mostly sensible decisions and reacting in a normal way to strange and scary things. 

The found footage genre is not for everyone, putting severe limitations on the way the plot is presented and what can be included. The filmmaker premise works very well, and Aaron's rising fear gives good reasoning for the expanding scope of what he records. Josef's desperate attempts to befriend him and erratic stalking work well. There are some suprises, red herrings and minor jump scares along the way, all adding to the atmospheric horror more than any special effects could. 

The pace and real-world setting plant Creep firmly in the psychological horror camp. While my heart raced and my hair stood on end, it was not anyone in-film I was afraid for. Dangerous people who may or may not want to kill you are real, and the possibility that you are in danger with zero evidence to take to the police is the kind of logical adult fear that worries you in the early hours of a sleepless night.

When all the character driven tension is eventually resolved, the fact that things are actually resolved is more shocking than the jump scare. There's a little wrap up that confirms your suspicions and makes space for the sequels. Watch in the afternoon, and follow it up with some kitten videos, or watch it late at night with the window open to keep you from sleeping.

When the name of the film itself is a reference to two others (the book Slaughterhouse-Five and the film The Cider House Rules) it's practically a Where's Wally of references. References to Harry Potter abound, and the dialogue references Goodbye, Mr Chips, 300, Freaks, Braveheart. and even Fifty Shades of Grey.

The plot is simple and classic; working class boy goes to public school, and his fish-out-of-water story is disrupted by a monster attack. Three doomed romance subplots, some character rivalries and a Chekhov's lighter; Pegg, Frost and Sheen are having a whale of a time under writer and director Crispian Mills. 

It's pretty funny, it's a little bit scary, and it's exciting. Well worth an afternoon.

Likewise, it can be as easy for a director to become typecast as an actor; Robert Pattinson has broken away from the dull love interest he played in Twilight, and this follows an almost-arthouse role in The Lighthouse. While a viewer might expect a different feel of film from Nolan, the action-heavy style of Tenet is not a flaw.

John David Washington's protagonist is a brilliant mix of a proactive instigator and an audience surrogate, buffeted along by the plot. What is happening? he asks, and How does this time reversal thing even work?. As we move through the film, his awareness and comprehension matches ours, ending with a satifying conclusion and the set up for the events before the beginning of the film.

While the plot and the time travel concept is measured out, the climactic battle scene is wild and chaotic. The gist and the core events are easy to follow, but the details are confusing. Just like a real battle, it's hard to spot the red and blue armbands or keep track of where the action is happening. The balance of action-packed moments and exposition-packed dialogue make this a textbook Nolan, in that watching it once is nowhere near enough to spot everything. Luckily, I found it so enjoyable I'm looking forward to those further viewings.

In conclusion, it's a brilliant sci fi.

Alma, picked up as a clumsy waiter and turned into a model and girlfriend, ignores danger sign from the first date. The foreshadowing of the poisonous mushrooms is so obvious it's painful, and the awful behaviour of Reynolds had me saying "kill him!" out loud on multiple occasions. The lack of consquences that any character faces for their abuse of each other is frustrating.

Reynolds treats everyone around him like garbage and Alma especially. The times that she is gaslit, dismissed and treated like a stranger increase, even as their relationship strengthens. A glimmer of romance is dangled in the New Years party, but instead of his character having growth or redemption, Reynolds drags Alma away like a naughty child. Kill him, I urged. But no, lackluster plot and horrifying romance prevailed, and she seeks to make him fall in love with her. Unsatisfyingly, we sort of stumble to an end.

Feeling very unfinished, we are told that he is okay with her Munchausen's plan and also they somehow live happily ever after. Forgotten is the rivalry with Reynold's sister, forgotten the chance of death, and forgotten the fact that his good behaviour post-poisoning was far from permanant. A barely-romanticised abusive relationship and an abrupt ending, and I wonder how this film got all the accolades it did. 

Where the film fell down on some of the original's unknowable aspects, it also excelled. Instead of a protagonist who can't comprehend what they saw or a witness too traumatised to explain, we have some truly disgusting body horror and the fate worse than death that comes with it. With this comes quite a lot of gore, and perhaps falling into the trap of mistaking gruesome for scary. These bloody moments are in stark contrast with the brilliance of the colour and framing; the moments that are not nauseating are a delight to see.

Keen eyes will enjoy the slow shifting in colour palette and distracted eyes will really enjoy the scenery and the house. The characters are developed far better than HP Lovecraft's stories often manage, and once the film has its fun with the red spray effects the ending really relies on the viewer caring about the fates of the characters. A tale with minimal "cosmic" in the "cosmic horror" the Cthulhu writer is known for, the visuals of the titular colour and visions lay the foundations for the cosmic elements of the mythos.

A thriller for fans of the story and newcomers alike, be sure there are adaptions to come.

The repeated themes of depicting abusive relationships is annoying. Each story is fine and valid, but as a collection it's an uncomfortable trend. Likewise, the Creepshow tagline "12 terrifying tales of terror" is as inaccurate as it is cheesy. The scares are few and far between, and this short is almost devoid of frights.

Lake Champlain is a real lake, situated on the border of USian states Vermont and New York (and peeking up into Canadian province Quebec) and the monster, Champy, is a real legend. Familiarity with the area and the legend may improve or ruin the story, but looking it up afterwards makes for a nice bonus to the story.

Everything seems to have gone perfectly for everyone, and the protagonist gets a second chance to have a magic leech. Tension at max, just as he's seconds away from the treatment and the apparent perfection is at an eleven out of ten... the body horror comes in. On live TV.

If suspicious miracle cures and unexplained science aren't enough to give you the creeps, the idea of creatures growing inside you like the Alien chestburster is sickening. Well-executed, the horrifying chaos that ensues is full of obvious influences; The Thing, Alien, Scanners, to name a few. A little exposition and a little moralising later, and the everyman lands a triumphant end to the story. Overall, a much better short than some of the previous ones.

The sexual assault and child abuse are thrown in as rapidly and carelessly as everything else, leaving them as a bad taste shock tactic. Instead of a dark, real-life horror, it feels like it's just shoehorned in for the sake of being edgy. What could have been a few reasonable shorts is instead a confusing mess. The ending introduces zombies, confusing what could have been a plot pay off. Dropping its half of the episode, this one is not worth watching.

Well acted, it holds up it's half of the episode, but not much more. There are an abundance of horror tropes seemingly for the sake of it. A mortician, a stormy night, a film noir filter... these do not a scary short make.