Movie Review: CARNAGE PARK – Indie auteur Mickey Keating is back with a tense 70s-styled thriller

carnage park

I think I had at least heard the title of Carnage Park when it was recommended to me over the past week, but I knew almost nothing about it.  A quick trip to the web told me it was purportedly based on a true story (which I now doubt), and while the description didn’t set me alight, it seemed worth a watch.   Set in the late 70s, this is less of a horror movie (though it’s not a stretch to say it’s vaguely similar to The Hills Have Eyes) than it is a old-school thriller – other than the more adult content (The Walking Dead’s Greg Nicotero is thanked in the closing credits), it’s something that could have been a Quinn Martin production (if anyone can remember those!) back in the day.

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Movie Review: THE DROP – nice, gritty thriller with a retro feel and a great performance by Tom Hardy

The Drop

Finally watched The Drop, based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River (arguably Clint Eastwood’s best directorial effort). I’m a fan of seedy crime dramas, the kind that used to be so prevalent in the 70s, like Serpico, The French Connection, you know – where the story revolves around a handful of people and mostly takes place in a small geographical region, usually in the five boroughs of New York City. The Drop doesn’t deserve to be up there with the best, but it definitely fits into that sub-genre, and is a pretty good example of it. Continue reading “Movie Review: THE DROP – nice, gritty thriller with a retro feel and a great performance by Tom Hardy”