LITTLE SISTER [2016]

The daddy in director Zach Clark's quirky drama Little Sister isn't really all that big but the film still finds itself going down some dark corridors nonetheless.
A young nun readies to take her final vows but takes a sudden trip back home when her newly disfigured older brother returns from the Iraqi war.
The family is riddled with mild dysfunction, especially Ally Sheedy who seems to be playing it like Allison Reynolds over 20 years later, and she does a wonderful scene-stealing job at it.  By opening the film with a Marilyn Manson quote you know it's not going to be your average dysfunctional family drama and that's fine because there's plenty to laugh at no matter how dark the subject matter might be.  There's a bit much tossed in the background in an attempt to make important statements but thankfully it never gets overly sentimental and that's where it's greatest strength lies.

3 trippy family Hallowen parties out of 5

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN [2014]

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's The Town That Dreaded Sundown is simultaneously a remake of the 1976 grindhouse slasher of the same name and a bit of a meta-sequel.
Set in the same town, the story takes place in a world where the 1976 film is a cult classic and watched annually only to birth a copycat killer that follows the film's murders from beginning to end.  This grim and atmospheric little piece has some wonderful tracking shots and scene set-ups with some great performances to boot but in the end it just isn't all that scary.  Which is fine but it seems to take itself way too seriously, so the fun of cheap laughs are quickly tossed out the window as well.  It's nowhere near as shitty as any of the other slasher flick remakes as of lately but it doesn't quite succeed in standing aside any of the more recent originals either.

2½ trombones of death out of 5

ODD THOMAS [2013]

Stephen Sommers' horror/comedy Odd Thomas had promise as a great late-nite cult film but an uneven tone and jumbled plot hold it back.
Anton Yelchin assumes the role of the title character, a young man who can see dead people, an ability in which he uses to help solve heinous crimes.  Aided by an adorably charismatic performance from Addison Timlin, Yelchin and the rest of the cast toss bizarre yet amusing lines of dialogue between each other that seem like a twisted take on the hard-boiled noir genre.  I was constantly reminded of the eerily similar The Frighteners but this one never quite builds up to the bat-shit craziness of the Peter Jackson film.  As forgettably light entertainment it's easy to digest but as anything more it never quites lives up to expectations.

2½ bowling shirts out of 5