Reviews: June

Sarah breaks out the knives for her review of June, due out October 6th. 

"Don't you dare f*&% with my teddy bear!"

With the fact that it's almost Halloween and also the most magical time of the year (well, in my opinion anyway) comes a steady slew of slashers, paranormal creatures and killer feature films. Sifting through the goods, the bads and the just plain wrongs of modern horror film warfare comes the most surprisingly disturbing synopsis yet that's truly unlike any other movie of its kind. Its juvenile and macabre coming-of-rage story begs to be one of the best horror movies of 2015. 

Directed by pro skateboarder turned filmmaker L. Gustavo Cooper (The Devil Incarnate), June is a stylish new possession flick that goes in some pretty wild directions. The film stars Kennedy Brice (“The Walking Dead”), Casper Van Dien (The Pact, Shiver), Victoria Pratt (Patient Killer), Eddie Jemison (Ocean’s Eleven) and Lance E. Nichols (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Brice is outstanding as a nine-year-old orphan who, after repeated shuffles in and out of foster homes for years, becomes subjected to evil supernatural dealings. There are a series of unambiguous plot sectors that clearly lay the mapping for the sinister direction of the story line, Overall, Brice deftly navigates her way through the shuffle of incomplete foster care and proves to be a heavy contender in the horror film ring, if ever there was one. 

There could have been a tad bit more story line between June and the rest of the cast to more firmly establish her role in the community she was reluctantly thrown into versus the reality of her painful adjustments. But just like any other coming of age story, the protagonist does not get to pick and choose which environment they are given. The direct onset of parallel stoic-ness somewhat plays into the factor of the theory of isolation but in turn doesn’t reach out and grab the viewer to solidify the raw emotion that is typically expected from a standout horror movie. Yet, June is of a higher quality among the large quantity of horror screeners we receive. 

June definitely capitalizes on what works and in turn makes one hell of a scary movie. The beneficial idea to assume that all horror films lack a point, purpose or multi-layered plotline is creatively proven wrong with director Cooper’s use of humble special effects that give an ample amount of depth and clarity that also gives the viewer just enough to work with in order to successfully fill in the blanks later on.

Score

-Sarah Shafer

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