Netflix’s Bird Box Review

The following is a mostly spoiler-free review of Bird Box, which is now streaming on Netflix.

In a slightly better effort and presentation than most Netflix Original movies, Bird Box stars Sandra Bullock as one of the few survivors of a global “event” that – *sigh* – involves invisible demons instantly causing all who see them to commit suicide. Look, it’s all better than the description makes it sound. Though, this gimmick also feels goofy at times, and needlessly convolutes a story that, for all intents and purposes, could be about anything world-ending (zombies, clickers, what have you).

The end result of these supernatural creatures (if you’re looking for the film’s “hook”) is that the characters can’t go outside with their eyes open, creating a scenario where Bullock’s Malorie has to escort two 5-year-old kids (one is hers and the other an orphan) through the woods blindfolded, surrounded by shrieking chaos. Their lack of visuals makes for a cool visual, and an unsettling survival scenario, but it the movie feels reverse engineered to create this very specific, heightened situation. As if the author – in this case Josh Malerman, who wrote the 2014 book the movie’s based on – worked backwards from a cool idea and created “monsters” that could accommodate such an ordeal.

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Last Year: The Nightmare Review

The title of Last Year: The Nightmare may be short on inspiration, but its take on asymmetric survival horror multiplayer has plenty. Those who have played Friday the 13th or Dead by Daylight will be familiar with the premise of one powerful player hunting down several weak ones as they try to escape, but Last Year: The Nightmare introduces a couple new twists that make it among the best of this burgeoning sub-genre thus far. Whether you play as the killer or one of the hapless teenagers, its action is tense and strategic to the end. That said, with only three maps, no progression system, and intermittent glitches, it does have an air of early access to it at the start of its 90-day exclusive period on the Discord Store.

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