Movie Night! Well… More like ‘Movie Weekend’…

Last weekend was all about catching up on some of the movies that I’ve been leaving in my Prime Video watchlist, which is kind of a little insurance against weeks like last week (I’m so glad that’s all out of the way now). Normally, I’d apologise in advance for the quality of said movies (I do like the rubbish ones…) but my choices didn’t turn out too badly in the end. I say ‘didn’t turn out too badly’… Lets just say that two out of three isn’t bad…

 


‘Assimilate’ (2019)

Three friends making a web series about their town discover that their neighbours are being killed and replaced by creatures who are perfect copies of their victims.

I’m not one of those people who get wound up by re-makes and re-boots but there’s no denying that there are some films that cast a shadow that their successors will never come out from under. The 1978 version of ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ is one those movies and ‘Assimilate’ sits very firmly in its shade. To be fair though, ‘Assimilate’ does its best and is very watchable, there are a couple of jump scares that really work, but it’s not doing anything that hasn’t been done better elsewhere. Having said that, I did like the slight twist on a familiar ending, that kept things fresh when they really needed to be. 


 ‘The Watch’ (2012)

Four men who form a neighbourhood watch group, as a way to get out of their day-to-day family routines, find themselves defending the Earth from an alien invasion.

Repeating the same joke doesn’t make it funny, especially if it wasn’t funny in the first place. That’s all I’ve got as I think several ‘jokes’ fell into this category. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I’m looking back on this and wondering why I sat through the whole thing. Because it was free, I guess.


 ‘Mulberry Street’ (2006)

A deadly infection breaks out in Manhattan, causing humans to develop into blood-thirsty rat creatures…

Also known as ‘Zombie Virus on Mulberry Street’ which is a little weird seeing as there are no zombies here at all. But anyway… I’m still not sure how ‘zombies’ made it into the title but ‘Mulberry Street’ works just fine as it is with a decent build-up establishing the characters and a ‘housing project under siege’ storyline offering plenty of scope for jump scares that the film duly delivers on. ‘Mulberry Street’ is a taut slice of horror that isn’t afraid to dish out the gore but prefers to focus on those really unsettling moments where just because you can’t see a rat/rat person, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t one close by. Worth checking out. 

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