What to Watch This Weekend: Our Friend, True Mothers, Dark Whispers, Max Cloud, Come Play, White Tiger, Ad Astra, MacGruber

For A Powerful Friendship Drama: Our Friend
Our Friend is a poignant, painful, and powerful movie about love, family, and friendship that feels so real and raw and should not be missed.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Oscar Worthy Adoption Drama: True Mothers (Virtual Cinema)
True Mothers is a thoughtful, delicate film that approaches a difficult subject matter with beautiful cinematography, realistic and realized characters, and a balanced approach to the story telling that will leave you speechless.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Collection of Scares: Dark Whispers Volume 1 (Digital)

Dark Whispers Vol. 1 is a scary good compilation of horror stories, that highlights some frightful female voices in the horror genre.  For more information, check out the review!

For A 90s Inspired Space Opera: Max Cloud (Digital and Physical)

Max Cloud is the ridiculous 90s science fiction and video game homage that we didn't know we needed with plenty of fun, 16 bit gaming references, and a great space opera cast.  For more information, check out the review!

For Those Looking For Digital Horror: Come Play (Redbox)

Come Play is a modern Babadook, with fantastic sounds, a creepy modern creature, and palatable tension.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Compelling Drama About Class: The White Tiger (Netflix)

The story of a poor villager's rise to successful entrepreneur, this film has rave reviews based on its great source material and compelling drama.  Definitely check this out if you're looking for something new to watch!

For Two Hours of Brad Pitt and Phenomenal Sound: Ad Astra (HBO)

Ad Astra is leaving HBO after this weekend, so if you've been thinking of watching this one now is your chance!  It is a slow burning near future space journey that will take you to the stars and beyond if you give it the time.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Ridiculous Time: MacGruber (Amazon)

MacGruber is all ridiculousness that will have you laughing at the slapstick comedy and insane situations.  Plus it has some stars in it who have become household names!

Dark Whispers Vol. 1 Review: A Scary Good Compilation of Horror Stories

Release date: January 25, 2021 (UK and Australia)
Running time: 100 minutes
Stars: Andrea Demetriades, Ed Speleers, Anthony LaPaglia, Asher Keddie
Producer and Creator: Megan Riakos 

Dark Whispers (Vol 1) consists of ten chilling chapters by female directors from across Australia, brought together by the Sydney based production company Hemlock & Cedar Films with a wraparound story written and directed by the anthology Creator Megan Riakos (Crushed, Deadhouse Dark).  When Clara discovers her deceased mother’s ‘Book of Dark Whispers’, she can’t stop reading the strange stories within its mystical pages. Each weird tale reveals a new facet of the twisted human psyche . . . or the not-so-human. From the horror of grief to a sharehouse living disaster, from existential dread to right-swiping vampires, there is something for all tastes, as long as those tastes are twisted!

Dark Whispers (Vol 1) has a great feel, something out of a Saturday night horror special.  It felt like a series of Are You Afraid of the Dark stories stitched together.  The sheer variety of this collection is enough to be excited about, and you will definitely find a story that you love in the eleven included in here.  But it is not just the different content that provides the variety, but the collection also features different styles of films.  You have some that are comedic, some that are deadly serious, some Noir films, one that is stop motion animated, and another that feels almost like a classic documentary.  The collection has many great snippets and provides a chance for female filmmakers to highlight their horror chops.  

Although there are several good stories in the eleven included, there are some notable standouts.  The Man Who Caught A Mermaid was a wonderful short that had some great effects and a twist ending that I loved.  And I also liked Grills for its Noir style and relatively simple storyline, and effectively enjoyable ending.  And The Intruder was another fantastic short film, that has a level of suspense that will have you jumping at every creak and crack.  And the ending of that short was a great little surprise. 

If there is a downside to the variety, it is that the stories all end too quickly.  They are well done with some wonderful twists, but it also seems like each story is over before it really has a chance to begin.  Just when you are starting to get into the story, the twist happens and it is on to the next one.  I would love to see the individual work of these filmmakers when given more time, but again, this collection is a great way to highlight many different contributors.  Additionally, not every story is a hit but again, the sheer variety is something to enjoy and if you don't like one of the stories, it will be over before you know it.  I enjoyed the variety from Volume 1 and am excited to see more female horror aficionados work highlighted in future volumes.   

Dark Whispers Vol. 1 is a scary good compilation of horror stories, that highlights some frightful female voices in the horror genre.

Watch it.

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Dark Whispers (Volume 1) is available digitally and on demand January 25, 2021 in the UK and Australia.

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