THE INNOCENTS (2021) Moody Norwegian chiller about a quartet of children who discover they not only share a psychic bond but harbor special powers. When sociopathic Ben’s (Sam Ashraf) powers grow stronger, he uses them to hurt those who’ve wronged him, causing a rift in his bond with the others. What sounds like X-Men Meets Village of the Damned is actually a much more complex film. The disquieting, brooding atmosphere keeps the tensions high, and creates a world in which none of the characters feel as if they’re safe. It runs a bit long, but The Innocents is a good and suspenseful little film that goes to dark places most movies wouldn’t dare. B+
NEEDFUL THINGS (1993) Solid Stephen King adaptation about a small Maine town slowly taken over by the demonic presence of its newest resident, Leland Gaunt (Max von Sydow). Leland’s antique store specializes in finding rare items for its costumers — objects for which many are willing to sell their soul, or commit murder, to obtain. A terrific cast (Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia, Amanda Plummer, and J.T. Walsh) makes the material work, which is handled in a much more subtle way (by director Fraser C. Heston) than you’d expect from a King book-turned-movie. Sydow wisely downplays his portrayal of the devilish Gaunt, while Walsh, as the bullying, embezzling Danforth “Buster” Keeton, is wonderfully scene-chewing. Good fun, but I can’t help wonder how more effective it all could have been had the screenplay (by W.D. Richter) attained even half of the book’s darker tone. B
THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984) The town of Tromaville has a new hero in the form of a mutated monster who quickly lays waste to the many pimps, murderers, and general douchebags that populate the city. Known as the Toxic Avenger, he’s actually mild-mannered Melvin, a bullied doofus who goes swimming in a vat of toxic waste (the result of a prank gone awry) and is turned into a muscle-bound hero who helps old ladies cross the street — when he’s not bashing in the heads of criminals. Perhaps the ultimate “bad taste” movie (this makes John Waters’s early films look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm), this gets points for its no-holds-barred shock value; children, dogs, and the elderly are all targets of the gory shenanigans of Tromaville. But it’s all done in satirical fun. Best scene: Toxic using industrial kitchen implements (including a milk shake mixer) to kill a group of splatterpunk rapists. Definitely not a movie for the Sensitivity Police. B+
TOXIC ZOMBIES (1980) A group of murderous pot farmers are secretly given a biological herbicide by the government and are turned into bloodthirsty zombie/cannibals in this ultra low-grade Dawn of the Dead clone, shot in and around Pittsburgh. The majority of the movie features characters being chased and chowed down on by the zombies, until a sufficient group of campers manage to escape and hold up inside a dilapidated house, Night of the Living Dead-style. There’s some shoestring charm to this backwoods gorefest, but it only goes so far before the paper-thin plot, like its cast, gets consumed. George Romero regular, John Amplas, has a small role as a corrupt FBI agent who gets his throat torn out. A low-fi howler, this was director Charles McCrann’s only movie; he ultimately died in the 9/11 attacks. C