A woman answers a help wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious New York City high-rise, unaware that she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years and may be under the grip of a Satanic cult.
This one is on its way to cult status, I think. It hasn’t been received as well as I woulda thought just scanning the various movie sites, but I think it’ll find its people (and I am its people). This is a fun movie.
I watched it with my folks (“That’s a way to put it: a fun movie,” my dad said; he likes slashers more). I loved it. It has a strong color profile, great camera work, campy effects, and is somehow exceptionally funny. It reminded me a bit of Kill Bill, which I’m sure was an inspiration. The soundtrack was good (some of which was already in my playlists) but sometimes felt out of place. Maybe that’s just me. I would watch it again with Karen and Josh for second opinions.
The Black girl power fantasy angle is awesome. Zazie Beetz made a fantastic heroine, really putting her all into swinging her weapons and absolutely eating up that choreography. She was cool as hell.
The setting was interesting (“Do they live in Gotham?” my dad asked when Asia arrived at the Virgil) and was an enemy unto itself. It was a veritable maze as they wandered through the walls and the halls, but we only got to see a few floors of the big ass building. I wish we coulda seen more; Ray mentioned in the movie that there were floors dedicated to each of the 7 vices because immortality gets boring, but we see the Fuck Floor and the Feed Floor and the servant’s floor… and that’s pretty much it.
Which, speaking of the servants, there is pointedly a race gap between the servants and the rich in the hotel. They make it clear during the movie that they pick up the poor off the street and then nix them so…
Explosions! Blood spray! Colorful backdrops! Cool lighting! It’s a high-impact movie that actions its way through everything. The gory effects are campy as hell and it’s almost cartoonish at times. I love the color palette. I love the camera work. I love the over-the-top action scenes. It was great.
