Displaying items by tag: Angus Cloud

ABIGAIL

US, 2024, 109 minutes, Colour.

Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir, William Catlett, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Giancarlo Esposito, Matthew Goode.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillette.

Abigail was a successful horror-thriller of 2024 directed by the duo who were responsible for Ready or Not, the remake of Scream and Scream VI. It has a strong cast of character actors – invited to act and overreact!

The film begins with the young Abigail, Irish actor Alisha Weir, a ballet dancer, Swan Lake. And she is observed by a number of people at the theatre and in waiting vehicles. What follows is a kidnapping. They are  not known to each other, not knowing anything about the girl or her family, are trapped in a house for 24 hours by the intermediary, Giancarlo Esposito.

There is a lot of complaint on the IMDb that the trailers gave away the major twist of the film. It is certainly better for the audience not to know anything about the film before they start to watch it.

So, very strong spoiler alert.

The switch in the screenplay is that it becomes a vampire film, the little girl an age-old vampire, her father a master criminal. When the revelation is made, the main part of the plot is her attacking the various members of the kidnapping group. They have codenames, the central character, Joey (Melissa Barrera) has a skill of explaining some of the background of each of them so the audience knows their personalities, skills, dark secrets.

There are very few holds barred in the presentation of the vampire attacks, especially the bloodsucking and the destruction scenes, massive blood explosions as each character passes into eternity. There are various betrayals, revelation of secrets, the role of the young girl, the final appearance of her father (a surprise in Matthew Goode).

Dan Stevens is the leader of the group, it is a pity that the most sympathetic of the group played by Will Catlett is killed early. Angus Cloud is the young sociopath. Kevin Durand is the heavy. The other female participant is the tech expert, played by Kathryn Newton.

A lot of the action and performance is very much tongue in cheek, touches of comedy and parody, and a huge overload of coarse wearing language.

For the fans of horror films with twists.

YOUR LUCKY DAY

US, 2023, 89 minutes, Colour.

Angus Cloud, Elliot Knight, Jessica Garza, Sterling Beaumon, Moussa Hossain Krais,, Spencer Garrett.

Directed by Dan Brown.

Your Lucky Day is a brief gritty thriller. Its action is confined over a couple of hours one evening. And the action is generally confined to the interiors of a takeaway store. It was written and directed by Dan Brown (not of the da Vinci Code).

The basis of the story is an ordinary customer winning a lottery worth $156 million. In the shop there is the manager pleased to verify the winning as well as a young couple, the wife pregnant.

However, we have seen the central character, Sterling (Angus Cloud who then died in real life of a drug overdose at age 25), in a drug deal gone wrong and his being ambushed and robbed. He intends to rob the store, wants to get the lottery ticket, is interrupted by a patrolling policeman, the shooting, the owner of the ticket being killed, the policeman wounded.

This sets a situation for moral dilemma, moral choices, self-preservation, the store owner checking the surveillance cameras, the planning for an explanation of who owned the ticket and its claims, the possibility of dividing the winnings amongst the group.

The wounded policeman contacts his father and a group of fellow officers who are in fact are corrupt. They then come for the ticket, a siege, deaths, the husband away from the store driving the bodies away in a vehicle, the pregnant wife still in the store – but then showing all kinds of shrewdness, physical prowess, sending off the attackers.

Some more deaths, the police, and a final plan for the mastermind of the police with the young couple to divide the winnings, claim that the ticket was theirs and a generous dividing of the money with the policeman who rescued them.

During the final credits there is a brief sequence where a security guard approaches the vehicle with the bodies…

A contemporary parable about greed, violence, truth and lies, and the undermining of integrity.

1. The irony of the title? Winning the lottery? Consequences? Greed, violence, manipulation?
2. The setting, the confined time, the shop, action in the shop, sequences outside, Abraham and the car and the bodies, the police on watch, the security guard? The claustrophobia of being confined to the shop? The musical score?
3. The tone of the opening, Sterling and the drug deal, the young man, the setup, his being robbed? His going into the shop, intending to rob it?
4. Those in the store, at the counter, Abraham and the pregnant Ana Marlene, Mr Laird, his manner, the lottery ticket, checking it out, his joy at winning? The response of the others?
5. Sterling, his action, the confrontation with Laird, the struggle for the ticket? Cody, seeing the situation, entering, his gun, the shooting, Laird dead, Cody wounded?
6. The situation, Sterling and his behaviour, the setup, the issue of the surveillance footage, Mia, using his wits? The reaction of the couple? The threats, the uncertainties?
7. The power of the ticket, the greed, one $156 million, the dealings, the plans, as brother-in-law coming in, the danger, getting rid of him? The security guard? Planning the setup? Moving the bodies? Abraham persuaded to drive the bodies away? Ana Marlene’s reaction? Amir, the plans, the dividing of the money?
8. Cody, wounded, phoning his father, his father and his friends, the police, yet corrupt? The plan about the ticket?
9. The arrival of the police, confrontations, the death of year? The death of Sterling? Ana Marlene, her reactions, the elaboration of background, her skills, outwitting the attackers, the deaths? Her being captured? Her singing The Bells of St Mary’s, Abraham hearing it, his return?
10. The taking of Abraham, the capture of Ana Marlene, the mastermind waiting in the car, Cody, his reactions, the death of his father?
11. Ana Marlene using her wits, the final plan, the ticket, that the couple had the ticket, dividing it with the policeman who rescued them?
12. The policeman and his TV interview, the village generosity of the couple? The happy baby? The future?
13. In the credits, somebody moving up to the car with the bodies?
14. The theme of greed, opportunism, personal integrity?