Three new movies this week, but a pair of classics to go along with it:
“Somnium,” “Dirty Boy,” and “Site” from this year. “The Jester” from 2023 is up next, followed by “Curse of Chucky” to complete that series, we already watched all the others. .
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Mainstream Films:
2024 Somnium
Directed by: Racheal Cain
Written by: Racheal Cain
Stars: Chloe Levine, Jonathan Schaech, Will Peltz
Run Time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A struggling actress takes a night job watching over a bunch of people who have signed up for Somnium, a facility where they are put to sleep for weeks and kept in a continuous dream state while being hypnotized into an improved mental state. Is it just stress and lack of sleep that’s causing Gemma to struggle with life or is something more ominous at work? We wondered and so will you. This was very good, entertaining and pulling us along while leaving a lot open to interpretation.
Spoilery Synopsis
Gemma has moved to a new city; she wants to be an actress. She goes to the talent agencies and auditions. She eventually goes to a place called “Somnium” who is hiring. Gemma doesn’t have much experience in anything useful, but Dr. Shaffer explains that it’s not a hard job, but it’s been hard to find anyone who stays very long. She’s essentially a “sleep sitter,” watching over sleeping patients in the facility.
We flash back to Gemma and Hunter talking about what they want to do with their lives. She wants to be an actress, he wants to be a touring musician. He knows he’s not really going to do that and sketches her a picture of the house he’d like to build someday.
On her first night at Somnium, Gemma learns about the “Science of Winning” and sees the sleep pods with people inside. The machine plays pictures and sounds into these peoples’ dreams. It’s a way to “program” new personal truths into people. It’s a quiet job, making sure nothing happens all night.
Gemma’s not comfortable inside her own apartment, hearing and seeing things that aren’t there. She clearly misses her life back in Georgia. She runs into Brooks, a creepy guy who probably wants something bad for her. Noah, at work, shows her how he programs people for their careers. He takes a photo of Gemma and puts it in some guy’s dream, teasing her that if he left it in the guy’s dream he would wake up infatuated with her without knowing why.
At an audition, Gemma does great, but the casting people aren’t excited. That night at Somnium, she sees some kind of monster in one of the patient rooms, but, of course, there’s nothing really there. At home, she hears that back home, Hunter has found a new girlfriend. Depressed, she calls Brooks, who offers to show her around town. He is strange, but he’s clearly rich and connected and seems interested in helping her.
Time passes, and Gemma does more auditions. At night, she learns more about Somnium and reads all the brochures. She learns from Noah and Olivia about “Cloud 9” an emergency procedure where mental patients get programmed to straighten out their lives in just a few short hours. “No one comes back the same.” Olivia thinks the process is terrible, but Noah says it’s better than the alternative.
Gemma runs into Noah working late one night; he’s doing something sketchy. Brooks invites her to a party Friday night, but she can’t get off work. As she starts to mess with the security footage logs to cover her sneaking out, she sees what Noah’s been up to late at night. She then sneaks off to party with Brooks and his friends. She meets Dakota, another actress, and she’s not having any luck getting parts. Max, a huge star, talks to Gemma about Somnium; she’s a former customer, and it made her successful.
Gemma finds that she’s being evicted. She also gets caught sneaking out of Somnium. At night, sometimes she sees monsters in her apartment. Brooks comes by, and he’s worried about her. He implies that he’s disappointed with her and tries giving her advice. We get more flashbacks to her time with Hunter as she gets more and more depressed. She finds a shadowy man in her apartment who injects her with something.
We get glimpses of Noah at Somnium, working on Gemma. “You figured it out a lot faster than the last dream sitter.” He’s put her in the Cloud 9 program, and she’s being re-programmed. She sees herself inside the Somnium facility, chased by a monster. Suddenly, she’s a guest on “The Latest Show,” being interviewed as a big star. Even in her dream, the interview goes badly. She talks to dream-Hunter, and he’s mean. Eventually, she confronts the monster again, face to face, and it vanishes.
Gemma wakes up in Somnium and gets off the table. Dr. Shaffer, Olivia, and Noah are out there. Gemma tells them to look at Noah’s hard drive for evidence. She then goes home, pays her bills, and cleans up her apartment. She hears on the news that Noah has been arrested for multiple occasions of kidnapping and assault. She gets a call from a director, and she’s been cast in the first film she auditioned for.
Everything is fine now. Isn’t it?
Brian’s Commentary
There’s a lot of weirdness going on, and we never really know what’s real and what isn’t for the first hour. We get the feeling that Gemma might be crazy, might be in a simulation, or might be a patient of Somnium– we don’t know, but something is very off about her.
The last segment, inside the dream, isn’t as exciting as it should have been and actually drags a little. The ending is good, though, as we still don’t know exactly what happened. Is what we saw real? Is anything real?
I liked it quite a bit, although I’m sure I didn’t understand the ending entirely.
Kevin’s Commentary
Early on, I was wondering if Gemma was already a Somnium client right from the beginning, there were some hints of strangeness. When we do see her put into the dream state, that seemed more predictable because we knew none of that was really real. It does leave things unanswered about what really happened and when, but I thought it was well made and entertaining. I liked it quite a bit.
2025 Dirty Boy
Directed by: Doug Rao
Written by: Doug Rao
Stars: Stan Steinbichler, Susie Porter, Graham McTavish
Run Time: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Isaac has mental problems and is part of a small cult in a beautiful, isolated area. There’s just enough story to keep pulling us along as we try to figure out what’s really going on with these folks. It’s a simple life that makes us wonder if we might be in the past, but we also see some strange technologies that might mean it’s the future. It’s slow moving but fascinating, and we thought it was great.
Spoilery Synopsis
A very religious man wakes up with a nightmare; he’s got crosses hanging all over his walls. He’s not sure if he took his pills today. He’s Isaac, and he hears voices in his head. A woman in a mask knocks on the door; she says he’s been in that room for a week, and it’s his third lock-up this year. She wants him to break out and escape. Everyone in the house wears weird animal masks. Yes, it’s some kind of cult, and Isaac watches a human sacrifice in one of the rooms. Suddenly, the alarm goes off and he runs back to his room. He then argues with Frankie, one of the voices inside him. Credits roll.
In the daytime, there’s a procession out of the big house as the women all sing. Old man Walter watches as Verity welcomes Isaac back into the fold. She talks about how the people outside are all filthy with liberalism and Satanism. He tells her that he’s clean now.
There’s a tense dinner afterward, and it’s clear that everyone knows about Isaac’s issues. When Hope stands up for Isaac, Walter makes her drink most of a bottle of apple cider vinegar. Isaac goes back to his room and mashes up all his pills. He hides the powder and then pretends to have overdosed.
Isaac talks to Dr. Cronin about the Foundation, but she explains how great the Wentworths are. There’s history between Isaac, Frankie, and his old girlfriend, Sarah, who isn’t around anymore. Cronin’s not a particularly nice doctor, and it’s clear that she works for “The Flock.” Isaac escapes from her and runs off.
Isaac comes to a house in the woods and goes inside. A woman shows up and acts as if she’s been expecting him. She takes him to another woman, whose hands are tied. She tells him to “Breed me.”
Meanwhile, a boat arrives outside with Wentworth and others. They get there in time to see Isaac running back into the woods; Wentworth lets him go. One of the other young men ends up doing the breeding.
Frankie/Isaac starts following young girls around the trails. He’s been in trouble for this before. He’s interrupted by two men of the cult wearing antlers. They take him back to the Wentworths, where Verity gives him a harsh baptism. He’s clean again now.
The four girls at the Foundation talk to Isaac about his pills and lifestyle. Grace is put in charge of Isaac’s medications. Hope is on his side, but she’s in the minority. She also helps him out with his sexual needs. Are they really family? Isaac wants to know. As soon as she leaves, he pukes up the pills. Hope slides a key under Isaac’s door and he escapes again.
Everyone is gone out, so Isaac searches the house. He records everything he sees with his handheld device. He finds birth records, but he has no father or mother listed. As he works with Walter’s devices, Walter gets a notification about it. We learn what happened to Sarah: she killed herself due to Isaac’s lies about her.
Walter punishes Hope for helping Isaac. In the morning, Isaac seems like he’s all on-board with the cult now. Turns out, he’s used his medication to drug the Wentworth’s juices and starts interrogating them about the foreign women that Walter’s been “importing.” He’s already uploaded his evidence to the Internet.
The other three young men ride up on horses, and they’ve brought some new kidnapped children with them. He runs to the house in the woods, where the foreign women have been killed. The radio talks about the news of the Wentworth’s crimes; they’ve blamed it all on their mentally ill adopted son, Isaac. He finds evidence of who his parents were and how he got here.
Back at the Wentworth house, the girls are taking care of the new babies when Isaac returns. He goes outside looking for the others and finds them all out in the woods getting ready to sacrifice more women. Isaac’s got a sword, but Walter gives him a dagger to kill Hope and the foreign women. Isaac then kills all the men with the sword; his doctor as well. He then gives the foreign woman her passport back, and she leaves. He then kisses Hope, who is probably his half-sister.
Isaac and Hope go inside with the girls and babies as sirens approach from the town. Isaac tells a joke.
Later, we see Isaac in an asylum. He’s both a murderer and a hero for exposing the cult. They tell more jokes. Isaac still talks to Frankie.
Brian’s Commentary
This is one of those films where you know there’s more going on than what we’re being shown, but we don’t know what that might be. Isaac is clearly schizophrenic, and everyone knows that. How much of the weird cult stuff is real, though? What’s with the odd technology we see every once in a while?
The cinematography is really good; this is a nice-looking film, with great scenery and sets. It’s also very slow and low on action, but it’s tense and weird, and the story is just confusing enough that you want to know what’s going on while being straightforward enough that you can follow it.
It’s slow moving, some may find it dull, but I was engrossed throughout. Very nice!
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought it was great how we never know quite how much is in Isaac’s head and how much is real. Plus, is it in the past or the future? The acting is good, it’s beautifully filmed, the script is good. I really liked it.
2025 Site
Directed by: Jason Eric Perlman
Written by: Jason Eric Perlman
Stars: Jake McLaughlin, Theo Rossi, Arielle Kebbel
Run Time: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This movie is heavy on science fiction and big ideas with an ambitious story. Unfortunately, it’s too long and stretched out. There is a payoff at the end, with everything pretty much explained. It took too much time to get there. It’s well put together, but we give it a rating in the middle at best.
Spoilery Synopsis
We are told about Japan invading China in 1931 all the way to the Russian border. We open on a Chinese family in the countryside as bombs start falling. The Japanese are invading, and they– we get a flash of people from the future, scientists, and they’re watching all this on their time-travel blue glow machine. Credits roll.
Neil comes home to ex-wife Elena and son Wiley. Neil works with Garrison doing inspections of old properties. Today, they are checking out a big abandoned government site. This isn’t a factory or office building, they see that it’s an old research facility– as they turn the power back on. Something must have happened since the place looks like it was abandoned in a hurry.
They walk through the place and come to something weird. All their electronics and the flashlight go dead. But rather than back away and turn the power back off, they persist. As Neil approaches the glowing blue thing, he hears voices and sees some strange things. Garrison says he’s been waiting for him to come out for 45 minutes; Neil and his watch have lost some time.
Later, Neil takes Wiley out to ride his motorcycle and has an accident while hallucinating Chinese prisoners. Wiley’s eyes have been damaged in the crash, and he needs a transplant that they can’t afford.
Neil tells Garrison about the accident, and Garrison explains that their insurance isn’t good. Later, he talks to Wiley and hallucinates the torture of Chinese people and children. He tries to talk to Elena about it, but she’s too busy hating him to listen.
Andrew and Naomi come over for a visit; she’s been dealing with trouble at work. Garrison comes over, and it’s a party. Neil has another weird hallucination and beats up Garrison. Neil takes Andrew and Naomi to the weird factory where the visions began. Naomi looks into the “thing” and sees puppets and burning Chinese people.
That night, at home, a strange man in a mask comes to see him; he knows what Neil’s been seeing. He talks to Garrison about the particle collider at the site, and Garrison takes everything the wrong way. Neil continues seeing and hearing things that aren’t there, and everyone starts thinking he’s losing his mind. Except… we see that Naomi is having visions as well.
Naomi comes to talk to Neil about the particle collider. Andrew follows her, thinking she’s cheating on him. The two start researching Chinese war criminals and prison camps. She talks about generational trauma and racially profiled reincarnation.
Elena questions Garrison about the past weekend with Neil. He is also having hallucinations now. Neil and Naomi go to see her father to research the name of a scientist whose ID card they found in the factory. He finds some records of a project INDRA, but it’s all classified. They get the name of one scientist who was dishonorably discharged and head to talk to him.
Garrison meets with the buyers and sellers of the site, and he says it’s all good and safe to purchase.
Neil goes to the scientist’s house, and he takes a metal pipe as a weapon (why?). He sneaks in the back window and finds a crazy wall, complete with string maze and a drawing of himself. Nanda, the scientist, comes home and Tases Neil before Naomi pepper sprays Nanda, but they all are quickly fine. INDRA stands for Intradimensional something or other and uses quantum entanglement to connect points in time and space.
Nanda touches Neil, and he gets a full flashback of the scientific stuff at INDRA. Tobin, the chief scientist, turns the machine up to eleven, and sees the past. They overloaded the collider and made multiverse stuff happen because quantum things and human souls are being recycled throughout time backward and forward. Somehow, Tobin and Neil are the same person, even though Neil wasn’t even born yet back then.
Garrison and Elena talk about her options. Neil and Naomi flashback to watch the Chinese family die. “We were there. A part of us was there.” All the characters we’ve seen are reincarnationally connected to the Chinese prison incidents.
Neil gets his eyes tested to see about donating his corneas to Wiley if they are a match. The doctor says it’s illegal and immoral for a living person to donate. They find Garrison at Elena’s place; he’s gonna be the new “daddy” of the family. As they fight, we get more prisoner flashbacks. Naomi drives off with Elena and explains things. They go to see Nanda who tells us all that the time travel project used the Chinese prison as a target since none of those people survived; there was no harm in messing with those people because it wouldn’t change history.
Neil steals some files and ruins Garrison’s business deal. He calls Garrison and tells him to meet at the site. Everyone else soon arrives outside as well. Nanda and Elena work the controls to end the project while everyone else stands in front of the blue glowing device and hallucinates as they dial the machine up to eleven again.
History changes. In 1978, they didn't do the experiment at full power. In 1931, the Chinese family escaped the prison.
When things are settled, we see an old Chinese man in the present, the little boy from the camp all grown up; his family was the only one to escape that camp. Naomi is there to interview him, with her daughter who didn’t exist in the original timeline. Also, we see Wiley thriving with undamaged eyes.
Brian’s Commentary
This is one of those films where Neil has done a bunch of horrible things and made his family suffer for years before the film starts, and we see nothing but his wife being hateful and mean to him, like he’s completely innocent, because we don’t see him doing anything wrong. He’s not a sympathetic character, but he’s portrayed like one. He just goes on and on with all the bad things he’s done in the past, and since we see none of it, we just don’t care. All the characters are essentially bad people.
In the middle of all the family drama, there’s some time travel shenanigans that don’t make any sense for a very long time. I spent quite a bit of time browsing my phone during the movie and didn’t miss a thing. This could have been 45 minutes shorter with no loss of story at all.
There might be a good sci-fi idea in here somewhere, but it’s just way too dull and stretched out to recommend. A lot of it doesn’t make much sense, and it can’t all be blamed on quantum gobbledegook.
This was pretty awful.
Kevin’s Commentary
When I take a bathroom break and tell Brian he doesn’t have to pause, that’s not a good sign. It’s an intriguing idea, and it’s not actually bad, there are many positives. It’s well made and decently acted. It’s just too long and stretched out as they piece together the mystery of what’s happening and why. It does make a sort of sense in the end, but it’s kind of a grueling journey to get there.
2023 The Jester
Directed by: Colin Krawchuk
Written by: Colin Krawchuk
Stars: Michael Sheffield, Lelia Symington, Dalaney White
Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A powerful and evil Jester shows up to terrorize folks for Halloween, seeming to fixate on one dad and his two adult daughters. The Jester looks and pantomimes well, the effects are excellent, and there were some interesting scenes. Kevin thought it was a solid piece of work, Brian was less pleased. But we both agree it could have used more origin story and explanation.
Spoilery Synopsis
John walks home alone late at night, and a man in a colorful suit and top hat follows him suspiciously closely. He gets glimpses of a strange little girl as he walks; is she real? He’s not sure since it’s his daughter, Emma. He calls her and is surprised that she picks up the phone. She’s not buying his apology. When she hangs up on him, the Jester shows up and kills him. As the Jester walks away, credits roll.
Later, at John’s funeral, Emma is there, which surprises Jocelyn and her friends. Afterward, she sees the Jester dancing by the grave. He sticks around to harass the gravediggers before killing them both.
Emma goes to talk to Jocelyn, her estranged half sister, that evening, but Emma doesn’t say anything about talking to her father right before his death. She runs into the Jester on the street after, and she’s creeped out.
Jocelyn has some friends over, it’s Halloween night, and there are creepy kids all over the streets. There’s a big Halloween party tonight, and they all plan on going. There’s a lot of talking about… stuff that isn’t important to anyone.
Emma recognizes the Jester from the cemetery, but he doesn’t speak. He kills himself in front of her, but then he gets right back up again.
Jocelyn and her friends go to the Halloween Festival, and it’s all pretty elaborate. She’s maybe not ready for all this and freaks out.
Emma calls the police about the Jester’s “suicide,” but they assume she’s drunk. The Jester shows up to prove her right, and the cops don’t appreciate it. Things go badly from there.
At the festival, Jocelyn runs into her dead father as The Jester takes her friend’s teeth and eyes.
The Jester comes to Emma and, through her mother’s voice, tells her everything. She runs into dead-John then, and they finally talk. He blames her for his own death and then puts the noose around her neck– then suddenly, she’s in the cemetery. She confronts the younger version of Jocelyn, and they argue about Emma’s parentage. Emma stabs Jocelyn–
And suddenly, they’re back in the real world, and Jocelyn’s been stabbed.
Time passes, and Emma goes to see John’s grave. She refuses the blame for his death, and suddenly, the Jester is there following her again. Emma meets Jocelyn later, and they’re both happy now.
Brian’s Commentary
The Jester is cool-looking, like a cross between Art the Clown and the guy from “The Black Phone” (2021).
Other than his stylish looks, the film is very slow-paced, maybe a little too slow paced. The acting is not bad, but no one really stands out. The story is confusing; at the very least, they could have told us why this was all happening. It was just random carnage, or so it would appear. Why???
Kevin’s Commentary
Overall, I’m going to say I enjoyed this. I thought it was well put together, the Jester was cool, the effects and cinematography were excellent. But the lack of explanation is a real sore spot. The Jester was referred to as a sickness that dad had and passed on to his daughter? So that manifested as a magical killing entity? But it wasn’t revenge or anything, he was killing innocent people that didn’t do anything wrong. Perhaps the sequel will shed some light on that.
2013 Curse of Chucky
Directed by: Don Mancini
Written by: Don Mancini
Stars: Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly
Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one is more serious, tamping down the humor and upping the horror. Chucky is working solo on a project of his own, and we eventually find out why. Of course there are some collateral deaths along the way. All is explained, it entertains, and of course leaves it open for the next sequel.
Spoilery Synopsis
A delivery driver brings a box for Sarah, and Nica answers the door. Nica’s in a wheelchair, and the driver remembers her from school. They flirt, but Sarah interrupts and is clearly overprotective. Sarah opens the box and inside is a Chucky doll. He promptly winds up in the trash can. Late that night, Nica finds her mother bleeding out on the floor. Credits roll.
Some time later, Nica tells her sister, Barb, that her mother was on her meds and happy; she shouldn’t have killed herself. Father Frank is there as well because Barb is religious, but Nica’s very much not. Ian, Jill, and Alice are there as well; they’re Barb’s family and nanny. Alice immediately has to go to the bathroom, and we see that Chucky’s already in there.
Barb wants to sell the house and put Nica in an assisted living place. Her family needs the money, but Nica wants to stay in the big house. Nica makes everyone dinner, but when she’s out of the room, Chucky puts rat poison in one of the bowls. They all dig in, and we all wonder who’s got the special plate. Ian and the nanny, Jill, are flirting with each other as Father Frank starts to turn green and sweaty. He politely excuses himself and leaves. We soon see that he doesn’t get very far before getting in a very fatal traffic accident.
The family watches old movies of when the girls were young. They all see a creepy guy with long hair in the film. He must have been one of their neighbors.
The Chucky doll goes missing, and Barb sends Jill to go find it. Barb catches up to her, and it soon becomes clear that she’s the one cheating with the nanny. They talk about Nica’s bad heart. Meanwhile Chucky tells Alice all kinds of things about life and death.
Nica senses something off about the doll and does some research. She uncovers all the events of the previous films, including the death of Charles Lee Ray. As she reads about the famous serial killer, Chucky electrocutes Jill. Meanwhile, Ian tells Barb that he knows about her cheating with the Nanny. And he’s going to have proof from the nanny cam he put in Chucky.
Barb and Nica argue about the doll, both knowing different things about it. Barb goes looking for Alice up in the attic and peels off the repairs that Chucky made to cover his old scars. He then shows her what he thinks of her eyes.
Chucky comes after Nica, and she crawls away from him. She wakes up Ian, who finds the bodies. He thinks she killed them, but then she has a heart spell and passes out. She wakes up tied to her chair; he wants to know what she did to Alice.
He plays back the footage from the camera he put inside Chucky to spy on Barb and Jill. The footage shows everything that happened from Chucky’s point of view. Chucky comes up behind them and kills Ian, but Nica manages to decapitate Chucky with an ax.
Chucky regains his head and pushes Nica, wheelchair and all, over the railing two or three flights up. She’s not dead, and she explains that she knows who he really is. He comes clean, that he was an old friend of the family; that was him in the old movies. When Nica’s father died, he kidnapped Sarah and tormented her. He caused Nica’s paralysis. We get a flashback of all this, and also of Charles Lee Ray’s death and Chucky’s creation.
Chucky brags about the families he killed, but Nica knows he never killed Andy Barclay. She taunts him about his completion anxiety. They fight some more, and she stabs him in the back.
Meanwhile, the police have been investigating Father Frank’s death, and they come to the door to investigate. They hear Nica screaming inside and find… everything, including Nica holding a knife.
Chucky watches as Nica is committed to an asylum for the criminally insane. Chucky is used as evidence and then is stolen by a police officer who absconds with the doll after the trial. Out of nowhere, Jennifer Tilly (or is that Tiffany?) pops up in the back seat and kills the cop, re-releasing Chucky.
We cut to Tiffany at the shipping place; she mails the package to Alice’s grandmother. Alice is pleased to see Chucky. “Where is Grandma?” He wants to play “Hide the soul” with Alice. This time, no one interrupts him…
After the credits, six months later, Andy Barclay gets a package in the mail. Except Andy’s ready for him…
Brian’s Commentary
Nica’s lived in this house for years, why does she constantly seem surprised that she has no cell reception there?
Chucky’s got a bit of a makeover since his previous appearance, losing the scars, at least in the beginning. He’s much more digital here, less with the practical effects, and although it’s different, it’s not necessarily a change for the better. This one also drops most of the humor and jokiness of the previous few films and returns to the full-on horror genre.
It’s good!
Kevin’s Commentary
I love that house. Chucky did look a bit different, even after his scar coverups were removed he seemed less detailed. But the movie worked overall, and I was entertained. I’d call it another successful entry in the series.
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