The monsters are coming from within, natural and unnatural.

Backcountry - Charmed - the Monster
pop culture daily @ weekly 042

This was kept in the backburner for a couple of days now. Here I am trying to make it a daily thing again:

Backcountry

[2014]

I remember this film as that bear camping flick after catching a glimpse of the trailer and after finished watching it, that encounter is the start of the third act while the journey of this couple into the jungle leading to it that is the crux of the storyline. Between an overconfident boyfriend and a clueless girlfriend, you can see from the start how it starts to unravel and gone wrong for both of them between leaving vital stuff behind and going off the tracks to reach that elusive lake and they are just riding their luck and biding their time until it is too late and they do not have the emergency rations to help them so to speak. They are flawed as humans do and make mistakes along the way and you see the seed being planted every now and then and when their life depends on it, all those mistakes lead to this face to face with the bear and the surprising revelation in the last twenty minutes just makes you want to root for the main protagonist to survive and come out on the other side of this alive.

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Charmed

s01e01 Pilot

[cw]

Well, this is going to be divisive. I'm all for a modern reboot of this beloved (to me at least) magical 90's series but how they incorporate the current culture climate into the show will not suit everyone's taste suffice to say and whether or not it will too on the nose or be naturally fit into the narrative is still remains to be seen. The pilot starts with a fast pace really as we see the two sisters learning of their mother's true nature and reason behind her death while the third being introduced into their lives. The personalities of each is quite stark with the older sister being the brash and opinionated one while the younger being the more careless and youthful I might say and the newcomer is calculative and putting her scientific background to good use. Besides the different approach to magic, having each one of them having their own distinct ability will be adding to the charm, pardon my pun, of this new take. It's a decent start and entertaining to watch but I'm intrigued where it will go after that ending twist.

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the Monster

[2016]

Compared to the more nature-oriented feature above, this is surprisingly an effective confined monster feature set in a single road gated by the forest on both sides. We follow a mother and a daughter with a tumultuous relationship already before accidentally running over an animal and what the aftermath entails really brought all of their suppressed emotions to the surface as they initially hunker down and then face it head on. Having their normal life being interjected at the start and then between the event on that rainy road do not feel out of place at all as they really help you to understand the dynamic between the family members and how they ended up where they are at the start of the film, which makes it better for you to see the character progression throughout and I enjoy that the most. With the busted car and the pouring rain, the feeling of being trapped in the middle of nowhere is really palpable as I applaud the director and the cinematographer for conveying it well in the final product. It is both an emotional journey as well as a horror-tinged one and it will satiate you for both.

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Well, that's all folks! Thank you for your time and please do come back for my future posts! :-)