Tag Archives: Bill Skarsgärd

Saturday is Horror Day #227 – Locked

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Locked

Eddie Barrish (Bill Skarsgärd) means well. He generally has good intentions. But somehow things always seem to get in the way. Such as when it’s his turn to pick up his daughter Sarah (Ashley Cartwright) from school but his car is in the shop and he doesn’t have the money to pay for it to be fixed and the shop owner refuses to take his word for it that he will pay him or extend him credit.

Eddie is at the end of his rope and desperate. His ex has warned him what will happen if he doesn’t fulfill

his duties as Sarah’s father. His promises are empty and she is fed u with them. He does everything he knows how to do to get the almost $500 he needs… and then he spots the luxury SUV sitting alone in a parking lot.  Looking vulnerable. And it’s unlocked. What else is a guy to do but take it?

But life is not quite so easy….

Eddie finds himself, to his dismay, locked inside the car. Panicked – and on a time schedule – he tries to get out, but to no avail. Then the screen begins to light up with a call, one that is marked Answer Me. He ignores it the first few times, but finally he’s forced to answer it. To his dismay, he discovers himself speaking with the car’s owner,  William (Anthony Hopkins), who tells me he is tired of having his car stolen and the police doing nothing about it. So he’s taken matters into his own hands. And now, if Eddie wants out, he’s going to have to play William’s game.

I have to confess that when I saw that this film had both Bill Skarsgärd and Anthony Hopkins, I knew I wanted to see it, no matter what it was about. And I’m glad I did. It’s a psychological thriller about two men at the end of their ropes. Eddie is just the unlucky one who falls in the fed-up William’s trap. Seriously, who would leave such an expensive vehicle unlocked, alone in a parking lot? But Eddie is desperate, so he isn’t using what common sense he might possess. Eddie goes through an ordeal in his attempts to simply exit the car, and William is relentless in his methods – including taxing Eddie, and withholding food and drink, torturing him with music, etc. I was never sure how things would work out, and I found myself very invested in finding out. Both men do an excellent job of portraying their characters. Despite one reviewer who blared something about Pennywise vs Hannibal Lecter, that is far from the case. Eddie is no Pennywise and William no Lecter. I found the movie very enjoyable, I’ll give this film 4 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #224 – Nosferatu (2024)

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Nosferatu (2024)

Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) dreams of a man, a man who wishes to possess her. A man she wishes to be possessed by. Is he real? She doesn’t know, but she is all too aware that she is a newly married wife with a husband she loves, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) Thomas is a rising star with his law firm, and eager to please. When he learns that he is to deal with a new client, he is pleased, until he finds that the man is infirm and cannot travel, so he must travel to the man – to his home in the distant Carpathian Mountains.

Of course he does not refuse, although Ellen pleads with him not to go. On his arrival, the local folk are less than welcoming, especially one he has revealed his destination – Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard)’s castle. The trip to the castle is an eerie one, and his reception by Count Orlok just as odd. Especially his obsession with Ellen, whom he spotted in a locket – and promptly took, refusing to return. Things go from bad to worse when he finds himself a prisoner in Orlok’s castle, and he discovers the true nature of the client he has come so far to serve.

Meanwhile, at home, an anxious Ellen confides her fears to her best friend, Anna (Emma Corrin), who is married, with children, to Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and pregnant with another child. Ellen, who has always been supernaturally sensitive, continues to have “visions” of her dream lover, suffering from mysterious fits which alarm her friend. They send for an eminent professor, Albin Eberhart von Franz (Willem Dafoe), who arrives, as well as Dr Wilhelm Sievers (Ralph Ineson). They are at a loss to explain her fits, and the suggestion is made to send her to an asylum for the insane to safeguard the others. And Ellen is concerned that Thomas has not returned from his business trip – and he is long overdue.

Nosferatu is a reboot of the original 1922 film, which was itself a ripoff of Dracula, for which the makers were sued. It is very similar to that, and to the 1979 version, which I previously reviewed. Cinematically, this film is breathtaking, each shot carefully planned and framed. The performances are extra-ordinary, particularly that of Lily-Rose Depp who is, of course, the daughter of Johnny Depp. The story does indeed resonate with what came before, but in its own way. It was very well done, but at the same time I found myself somewhat dissatisfied in ways I can’t completely explain. The dynamic between Ellen and Orlok drew me in at the beginning, but I feel as if it could have used some more depth, especially considering the ending (which I won’t reveal, of course)

I did like it much better than the 1979 Klaus Kinski version, but I felt the storytelling was perhaps uneven. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree. I’m not denying it’s a very good film. But perhaps not as satisfying as I would have wanted. I’ll give this film 4 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #99 – Barbarian

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Barbarian

Tess (Georgina Campbell) books a night at an AirBnB for a job interview the following day. Arriving during a storm, she discovers to her dismay that when she uses the code on the lockbox, the key isn’t there. That isn’t supposed to work that way. Then her irritation turns to confusion when she sees a light inside. Knocking, she discovers that Keith (Bill Skarsgärd) is already there and he too has a reservation for the night. Tess decides to leave but Keith persuades her to stay, and gives her the bedroom. She is wary but doesn’t have much of a choice. She goes to her room and closes the door, before going to bed. But in the middle of the night, she awakens, hearing a noise, to find her door open. She confronts the sleeping Keith, who denies all knowledge of the door.

Tess goes to her interview the next day and is shocked to see the neighborhood surrounding the AirBnB consists of decrepit, boarded-up houses. Good thing she isn’t staying long. After her interview, she returns to the house but there is no sign of Keith. When the power acts up, she heads to the basement to deal with it, only to accidentally lock herself in when the door closes behind her. And she has left her phone upstairs. Searching for a way out, she stumbles upon a secret room which contains a bed whose mattress is covered in suspicious stains and a camera on a tripod. Who knows what once went on in this place. Spying a door, she opens it to discover what appear to be steps carved into the ground, leading down…

 
 
 

AJ (Justin Long) is a one-time actor whose career was ruined by false accusations from a female co-

star. Determined to get away from it all, he decides to go to one of the properties he owns, which he rents out as an AirBnB. He’s confused to find evidence of occupation, since no one is supposed to be there.  But it looks like a couple of people are staying there, although they aren’t in evidence. In looking around, he heads down to the basement and is locked in too. Then he too discovers the secret room, which leads to the secret door leading down, down, down… to where? Hearing a cry, he heads down to find out.

 

To be honest, this is the point where I just gtfo some other way and not down those creepy stairs. But then where would the movie be, right? She does go down the stairs, of course. This movie is not what it first appears to be. And it is pretty creepy. I’ll admit I didn’t find the ending as disturbing as some might, but I’ve seen this trope before. It’s not something one would readily guess, though. Definitely worth watching, and probably rewatching. I’ll give this film 4 Stars.