Fear Street: Part Three 1666 (R)
Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr.
Also Gillian Jacobs and other people who appeared in the first two movies.
The Netflix trio of Fear Street movies wraps up with this episode that takes us all the way back to the beginnings of Shadyside and Sunnyvale, back when they were one town called Unity and a young woman named Sarah Fier was hanged for witchcraft. Deena (Madeira), the Shadyside teen battling zombie serial killers who managed to stay alive when so many other teens didn’t, attempted to put Sarah Fier to rest at the end of the last movie and was suddenly plunged back into 1666 and into the body of colonial-era Sarah. We see the past play out with many of the same actors from the previous two movies playing roles here, including, crucially, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), Deena’s Sunnyvale girlfriend, now standing in for Hannah Miller, the pastor’s daughter and Sarah’s sweetheart.
After showing us 1666, the movie returns to 1994 for a final (or is it?) showdown.
What is the big evil creating a legacy of murder in Shadyside? It’s not just the patriarchy but that’s also not an incorrect answer. This factor, and a general “stand up against various forms of bigotry” strain running throughout, helps to give the movie some pluckiness; I was getting some real early-seasons Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes off several parts of this movie (in the best possible way). This series ended up with a pretty top-notch cast of young actors for these sorts of roles — Madeira in particular is a great Final Girl-style action hero.
I also like the overall presentation of all three films: there is decent craft in all aspects of these movies and fun soundtracks (no expense spared in the music here). And I like the three-Fridays-in-a-row release schedule. You can binge them now but you could also have made an event out of their release. I’m impressed, good on you Netflix and R.L. Stine adapters. I gave the first two movies B+; I think this fun little triple feature might just deserve an A- overall. Available on Netflix.
Gunpowder Milkshake (R)
Karen Gillan, Lena Headey.
Also Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett and Paul Giamatti.
Sam (Gillan) is a no-nonsense assassin working for crime guy Nathan (Giamatti) in this richly colored, entertainingly mannered shoot-’em-up movie.
Sam learned the business from her mom, Scarlet (Headey), who had to take off abruptly 15 years ago after angering the wrong people. For reasons that don’t quite make sense, Scarlet doesn’t leave the then-teenage Sam at the Library, a sort of professional association for lady bad-asses staffed by some lady bad-asses: Anna May (Bassett), Florence (Yeoh) and Madeleine (Gugino). But when the now young-30s-something Sam has herself killed the wrong people, she turns to the Librarians to help her dispose of some weaponry and later for some extra firepower. She also finds herself protecting the 8-year-old Emily (Chloe Coleman), who quickly starts to call herself Sam’s apprentice.
Gunpowder Milkshake feels like a very appropriate name for this movie in that it often comes across like a McFlurry or a Blizzard with bits of Guy Richie stylings and the Kill Bill movies swirled with thick ribbons of John Wick and a vaguely Carmen Sandiego outfit worn by Gillan. The result is not unpleasant. It’s a bit weird and lumpy at times, like some pretzel-fudge-cookie-dough-cinnamon concoction would be, but it’s overall affable. It’s an accessible ladies-kicking-butt-plus-slo-mos movie. It’s violent but not cruel, it has its gory moments at times but not grisly. It has the feel of a highly stylized, well-cast one-off comic book come to life. B- Available on Netflix.
Werewolves Within (R)
Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub.
You know Milana Vayntrub even if you’re thinking “who is Milana Vayntrub?” She is the woman-girl-lady of indeterminate age from the AT&T ads and when you see her here she feels at least as famous as your average sitcom star, bringing the same quirky energy from the commercials to her character here.
Vayntrub plays Cecily, the mailwoman in Beaverfield, who shows around Finn Wheeler (Richardson), the new forest ranger in what turns out to be a pretty strange small town. A man named Sam Parker (Wayne Duvall) has pitted neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife, with his offers to buy people’s land to bring his pipeline through. Cecily also fills Finn in on assorted hot Beaverfield goss — who left who for whom, who had an affair with whom and who is just a straight up weirdo.
With a big storm approaching, the town is suddenly shaken by two startling, maybe-or-maybe-not connected events: a woman’s small dog is eaten while she lets him out on a leash, the townsfolks’ generators are slashed and damaged. Add to this the dead body that Finn finds and soon everybody is holed up in Jeanine’s (Catherine Curtin) inn, trying to figure out whether the danger is outside or inside.
As the title suggests, “werewolves” soon become the most considered suspect — even if there are plenty of other people with motive for Muhr-Der and also, really, werewolves? It’s a fun little blend of locked room murder mystery and possibly-creature horror and the movie seems to play the tone just right — jokey but not aggressively so and with characters who are wacky but not insufferable. I guess you could call this movie (which is apparently based on a video game) horror but I feel like it is far more a light (well, light with some gruesome injury and death), fun comedy. B Available for rent.