Hot Picks
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Painkillers
USA 2018
produced by Giles Daoust, Luke Barnett, Vincent Masciale, Catherine Dumonceaux (executive), Mike Macari (executive), Alain Berliner (executive), Vincent Toujas (executive) for Title Media, Lone Suspect
directed by Roxy Shih
starring Adam Huss, Madeline Zima, Debra Wilson, Grant Bowler, Mischa Barton, Tate Birchmore, James Logan, Maria Olsen, Naomi Grossman, Anthony Ma, Brandy Redd, Stephen Wastell, Kim Estes, Ana Harrison, Danny Herb, Richard Van Slyke, Nicole Reddinger
written by Giles Daoust, music by Dustin Morgan
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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John (Adam Huss) once was a brilliant surgeon - but then he lost his
son (Tate Birchmore) in a car accident where he was the driver, and ever
since then he became emotionally scarred, resulting him to hurt all over
and suffer from constant shakes. His inner and outer turmoil of course
also has effects on his personal life, with his wife (Madeline Zima)
feeling more and more alienated. Then John accidently cuts himself, licks
some of his blood - and things change for the better: The pain and shakes
and even his depression go - but he soon notices he needs more blood ...
which leads him into the hands of Herb Morris (Grant Bowler), a shady
"businessman" who claims he can provide blood for all
"human vampires" by taking out the scum of earth (drugdealers,
pedophiles and other lowlives) and giving their blood to the needy. At
first, John is blinded by his need, but he soon realizes all of Morris's
claims to clean the world's underbelly are just cover-ups for his shady
business practices. That said though, John's attempts to get blood another
way lead to little, especially his attempt to work in surgery again (as an
assistant for now) to get his hands on blood is stopped short when his
boss (Debra Wilson) catches him trying to take a sip. At the same time,
Morris isn't one to let a prime customer like him go just like that -
after all, this is just a business, pretty much exactly like drugs ...
Ok, now the pseudo-vampirism in this movie is of course a very
clear metaphor for drug addiction, that much can be seen from quite a
distance - but that said, the film doesn't use this metaphor to drive a
point home, just to tell a compelling and quite creepy story that manages
to find the right balance between character study and mood-piece, shocker
and even cautionary tale to keep one wholly entertained, thanks too solid
writing, a very stylish directorial effort and of course a first rate
cast. Quite a movie, actually!
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
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Thanks for watching !!!
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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