CHICAGO – If you can remember the 1990s outside of childhood, you are in the glow of middle age, so congratulations. The Brown Paper Box Co. theater ensemble takes us back to those thrilling days of yesteryear with “Spike Heels,” a relationship comedy centering on the co-mingling antics of two couples, with a slight nod toward George Bernard Shaw and the play “Pygmalion” (or its musical counterpart, “My Fair Lady”).
Film Review: Clive Owen, Carice Van Houten Star in Hollow ‘Intruders’
CHICAGO – Clive Owen is a fantastic actor, one of the best of his generation in films like “Children of Men” and “Trust.” His co-star in “Intruders,” Carice Van Houten, generally makes everything she does more interesting (and memorably appears in the new season of “Game of Thrones”). And yet neither of these talented thespians can do a thing to save “Intruders,” an inert, boring supernatural thriller, a flick that joins the crowded subgenre of childhood boogeyman scare-fests that fail to find the spine-tingling power of what we think may be under the bed.
Even as adults, we’re fascinated by things that go bump in the night. We can all remember those childhood days when a pitch-black closet or a creaky floorboard could suddenly sprout nightmarish visions of the boogeyman or some other legendary monster. The creature in “Intruders” is a faceless apparition, a man-like figure shrouded in rags with ghost like hands and the nickname “Hollowface.” You see, he needs a face. And it might as well be yours. Sounds promising, right? None of that promise is fulfilled.
|Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Intruders” in our reviews section.|
Hollowface haunts two children, a young Spanish boy named Juan (Izan Corchero) who lives alone with his mother and an American girl named Mia (Ella Purnell) whose father (Owen) and mother (Houten) get sucked into their daughter’s nightmare. The Spanish urchin is attacked first as he watches Hollowface climb the scaffolding outside his window and crawl into his apartment, first attacking his mother and then him before running off into the rainy night. Across the globe, Mia is exploring a tree when she reaches into a knot and pulls out a box with a half-written story on it – the legend of “Hollowface.” Before you know it, Mia is being haunted as well. Or is she? Is this a demonic creature or a hallucination? And how are the two hauntings related? (Ten bucks says half of you will figure out this “twist” early…I sure did.)
Photo credit: Millennium Entertainment