Simplifying The Daily Existence

SEND HELP unbalances itself, trying too hard to storyboard what is cooking beneath, and by the time the last 30 minutes open up, you might have lost interest, checked your WhatsApp messages about 47 times, or secretly answered your shady Instagram admirer. This is the only thing that is holistically wrong with SEND HELP - the movie I managed to grab on Jio Hotstar. The thing about SEND HELP is that it starts with a lot of promise. The movie does not really surprise you at any point if you have watched the type of content streaming on Netflix India ever since the Pandemic tore apart the world's balance. There is nothing you will recall about SEND HELP a week after having watched it, but during this time, if someone asks you to recommend it or to banish it, you will say that the director missed plenty of opportunities in making SEND HELP a more watchable movie. I believe the entire build-up to watching it was spoiled by content labeling experts.

I guess horror movies do better, engage attention more convincingly, and benefit from a well-knit storyline when there is a bit of desperation upfront - your protagonist should not be a corporate leader, a global music star struggling with an affair, or an NBA star being visited by his dead parents. Ideally, the main character should be vulnerable, struggling, overwhelmed, and someone you would normally not bet your money on. No One Gets Out Alive does the characterization to perfection using this approach. Our lady is an immigrant, perpetually out of money, trying to hold on to some type of optimism, and her character reeks of mental health constantly challenged by self-doubt. Taking plenty of clues from how immigration, the more unmanaged type, happens across the US, No One Gets Out Alive presents Ambar as someone seemingly destined to struggle for the rest of her life. To make matters worse, she takes up refuge in a boarding house, which is where nearly 80% of the movie seems to have been shot. The boarding house is the perfect backdrop to this psychological horror movie, with its creaky floors, big rooms with dark corners, ducts that let in the whispers, and staircases that always look daunting. No One Gets Out Alive does not overdo the characterization. You watch Ambar for a couple of minutes, and you get it, even if you have not tasted the illegal immigrant life, even if your college fees were paid years in advance, and perhaps, you have never reconsidered going to a physician's office because of out-of-pocket expenses that an out-of-work mom might not be able to bear.

I am a congenitally anxious soul. Not a day goes by that I don't feel it in my head, fingers, or hamstrings. I could feel anxiety change its expressive form during the COVID years. Yes, the Pandemic Anxiety was like a subculture in the larger landscape of generalized anxiety because more people than ever felt it. Even the happiest souls, mavericks, chronic travelers, yoga maestros, and spiritually uplifted monks felt it creep along their spine even as they hung on to the idea that anxiety is perhaps for an entirely different species. Still, I feel that something has recently changed in the last three or four months, where the anxious faces remain the same. Still, anxiety has morphed into something more tangible and relatable, and it has become a lot more penetrative. Also, I feel that anxiety is becoming increasingly environmental, and by saying this, I don't mean anxiousness due to greenhouse gases or carbon footprints, but anxiety seeping in slowly in all facets of our lives, such as:

Streaming on Netflix India, Bring Her Back does not do anything remarkably different or special. It tries the tried-and-tested route of opening up the plot slowly, revealing the real face of the sinister but emotionally challenged caregiver who just cannot get over the death of her daughter. You really cannot compliment the Director for putting in jump scares or some shocking twists in Bring Her Back - streaming now on Netflix. At best, Bring Her Back is good for someone who has not seen a lot of horror flicks recently. In the last 5 years, there has been a surge in the number of horror genre movies that try to pique your curiosity with complicated storylines. If you have watched a handful, you have probably seen them all. You will certainly not find Bring Her Back a great watch. However, the occasional horror genre fan, someone getting started in this niche, just might find Bring Her Back interesting. The blind Asian girl in the movie is not that convincing.

Yes, the opening scenes remind you of Cliffhanger. However, as you move ahead, APEX transforms into something entirely different. For one, it is Charlize Theron and not Stallone - while I realize this is a poor attempt at being humorous, you get the feeling that just like Stallone, Charlize Theron trained really hard for the role. You can easily spot the mean muscle mass that must have been earned over a few months. One look at her and you know that she did the groundwork and perhaps, much more than that, to look part of the role. The script just demands it! APEX is not the usual adventure story themed around urban folks who take up something in the mountains they cannot handle. The entire layout for APEX is highly focused on survival. The landscapes keep changing, but the intensity of Theron and the taut storytelling is unforgiving. Just like the opening sequence in Cliffhanger that renders Stallone guilty, Sasha [Charlize Theron] is overwhelmed by the sadness of letting go of her partner off a massive, steep, and snowy peak. She just looks like a mountaineer with all the gear attached to her. Just like Stallone, Sasha does not speak much. She clearly did not like human company much before the ill-fated climb, and with her grief, she becomes even more solo, taking off to trails that are not meant even for the seasoned adventurers.