4/30/2023 0 Comments Layers of fear 2 jump scaresThey do every flavor of horror imaginable, from Ti West and his survival horror X to supernatural Giallo throwbacks like In Fabric and existential dread fests like A Ghost Story from David Lowery or The Blackcoat's Daughter. They do science fiction films with big ideas and small budgets like Under the Skin with Scarlett Johansson, Colin Farrell in The Lobster, or Robert Pattinson and a baby hurtling toward a black hole in High Life. So here are our picks for the 10 best A24 films.Whatever genre they dabble in, the distributor turned production company puts its unmistakable mark on their films. Just what kind of treatment is anyone's guess, but horror, sci-fi, fantasy, coming of age, and every genre in between, A24 strives for a distinct vibe and an interesting voice, which is why they deserve their own Movie List. More often than not seeing that logo means you're in for a treat. If there's a logo we love seeing in front of a movie more than most, it's those three, vintage font, RGB animated characters A24. A better-designed sequence involving a series of hidden telephones at least kept me moving and exploring in an engaging way, but moments like this are extremely rare in Layers of Fear’s short, two to three-hour run. Even though the pieces glow to make locating them easier, the search felt more like a chore I needed to trudge through before I could move on to the next area. One particularly frustrating sequence asks you to collect tiny checkers pieces in a large, dark room, which felt like the three-dimensional equivalent of pixel hunting. And every time I started to enjoy the flow, it was broken by small puzzle challenges that just aren’t fun to solve. Without uncertainty or tension informing my every move, the constant wandering through looping hallways turns Layers of Fear into a dull routine. At no point did I feel the need to look over my shoulder or peer cautiously around a corner – the on-rails style made it clear that the central scare in each sequence was always going to be in front of me, and if it was going to be behind me, it would let me know first. Layers of Fear also tends to telegraph its jump scares, like a poorly designed walk-through haunted house. The "disturbing" crayon doodles are just pointless. Is crayon art of a burning forest scarier than going on a hallucinatory nightmare trip through a living house that’s constantly changing its layout to bring your past misdeeds to light? I’d say no, especially not when the last part lacks the depth to stand on its own. Creepy dolls and “messed up” kid’s drawings serve as cheap ornamentation for a setting that doesn’t really need it. It isn’t even a problem that Layers of Fear features traditional horror tropes to begin with – the bigger issue is that it doesn’t bother to play around with these elements or repackage them as something fresh. Walking through the same predictable hallways just doesn’t make for a scary experience, especially when paired with boring cliches like creepy dolls and angsty wall scribbles. These effects look great and are pulled off seamlessly, but rather than use this subversion of space to heighten your distrust of your surroundings, Layers of Fear ungracefully over-indulges, repeating the same cool visual tricks until they feel like a gimmick. Doorways materialize out of nowhere, new hallways form mid-turn, and reminders of the horrible lengths you’ve gone to for your art await around every corner. “Your home becomes a nightmarish, labyrinthine dungeon of impossible architecture.
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