Latest news with #HappyDeathDay
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Rajkumar Rao's candid confession on playing Ranjan Tiwari in 'Bhool Chuk Maaf: 'There were too many ways to express that frustration.."
All set with the release of his latest project, 'Bhool Chuk Maaf', alongside Wamiqa Babbi, actor Rajkumar Rao has managed to become a force to reckon with in the industry. The actor recently shared all the juicy stories about how the new film came to be, how his experience was playing the role of Ranjan Tiwari, and what his future projects will be like. He talks about how the movie is based on a completely new concept for him, and that to portray the emotions of the main lead, 'There were too many ways to express that frustration, irritation.' Rajkumar Rao details how he ended up getting the role During an interview with News18, the actor shared the interesting story of how the script landed on his desk and how he ended up playing the lead role of Ranjan Tiwari. The actor shared how 'I heard the story from Karan, and I found it very unique. The concept is so new for our Hindi industry. I've seen this concept in the West, and I've been a big fan of this space, this genre. The way Karan has written the whole story, keeping this time loop in it, the comedy in it, and the characters' arc, and in the end, there's a very beautiful social commentary also that we are making. So, it just came together very nicely for me.' The film follows the main lead as he relives the same day again and again. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy Brass Idols - Handmade Brass Statues for Home & Gifting Luxeartisanship Buy Now Undo 'We all have seen weddings; we all have seen these characters in our growing-up years. And on top of that, to have this time loop in it was, I think, a double whammy for me," Rao added further on why he chose the movie. While playing a completely new role, how did Rajkumar Rao manage to bring life to Ranjan Tiwari? While detailing his process, he added that 'The plan is always how to make this one different. Because, of course, there are those many stories, those many characters that one can portray on screen throughout their career.' On how he makes every role he plays unique, he shared that he uses 'unique traits' that can help identify and set the character apart from his other roles. 'I try and bring some element to my characters, be it a physical trait or be it some emotional core that only I know while performing that I'm carrying this throughout, which helps me in defining that character in the film,' he added. Why did he wish to do something unique like this? Rajkumar Rao also shared how intrigued he was by the concept. As shared before, the actor had mainly observed the concept of time loops being used in films from the Western industry, like 'Happy Death Day' and the popular Tom Cruise starrer 'Edge of Tomorrow'. Seeing a concept like this be used in Indian cinema for the first time was something that he was looking forward to and wanted to be a part of. 'This one also, I've tried something new, also because the concept is so unique, the circumstances are so different from whatever I've done to date. This whole time loop thing of this guy getting stuck in one day of his haldi day and then reliving that day again and again. There were too many ways to express that frustration and irritation. Sometimes he's just helpless or very angry. [At times] he's just apologising to everyone. So, I think the way Karan, as I said, designed the whole arch of this one day was beautiful for me to explore." Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . Don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
Daily Record
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
MOVIE REVIEW: We head towards the edge with mystery-thriller 'Drop'
Several suspects served up on menu during first date from hell. Having helmed the Happy Death Day flicks and Freaky, Christopher Landon has built up a strong reputation for comedy-horror. With Drop he veers into mystery-thriller territory as widowed mum Violet (Meghann Fahy) is bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during her first date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar). The whodunnit element is effectively played out in Jillian Jacobs' and Chris Roach's script as several potential suspects fill the luxurious restaurant. Violet is literally and figuratively dangling over the edge with an evil blackmailer manipulating her every move while she looks out on a colossal drop from the window at her table. Landon jazzes up his shooting style with swooping shots, close-ups on faces and key objects and on-screen text sharing the messages Violet is receiving. Fahy, a relative unknown beyond her turn in TV's The White Lotus, is wonderful as the under intense pressure, out to do the right thing lead. Her powerful back story lends her character vulnerability and an understandable lack of trust in others. Sklenar is charm personified; the guy is so likeable, caring and funny you're praying he isn't involved in Violet's torment. The supporting characters all play their part in adding to the mystery while making for endearing or irritating possible suspects or allies. This is Landon's most serious movie thus far, although he does include some jokes, and Jeffery Self's first night on the job waiter Matt feels like he's been dropped in from a comedy flick. The amount of times Violet gets up from the table becomes ridiculous and you end up questioning why even a sweet guy like Henry wouldn't call it a night. Landon really goes for broke with a wild ending that increases the element of danger and it works as a resolution to the numerous tense face-to-face encounters where characters are often trying their best to say things with body language or avoid doing something terrible. Drop is Landon's most mature outing to date and its Hitchcockian trappings mix well with modern technology and attitudes. ●
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Until Dawn review – efficient, if unscary, video game horror
A week after the release of Ryan Coogler's unusual, artfully crafted horror Sinners, we are now back to the industry's genre norm with Until Dawn, a schlocky video game adaptation that has far less on its mind. Such a drastic drop in IQ and ambition means there's no serious comparison to be made here and this weekend there'll be no real competition at the box office (Sinners is likely to remain on top) so such contrast does ultimately allow the film to stay within its own, sillier space, a deep-fried donut for dessert after a filet mignon entree. On its own, lower-stakes terms, Until Dawn is a passable, if rather unfrightening frightener, made with some skill and enlivened by a strong troupe of young actors, enough to notch it slightly above the piss-poor standard but not quite enough to really justify its existence. The game it's based on has been described by the director David F Sandberg as 'pretty much a 10-hour movie' but with interactive elements, the idea being that you can affect the direction of a narrative that would otherwise be fixed. There's obviously no such gimmick here (at times one wonders what a Bandersnatch-style choose-your-own-adventure version would look like) and so instead, there's a replication of the gaming process. In Until Dawn the movie, when the characters die they're then brought back to life to die all over again. Those characters are also different here than in the game, a group of twentysomethings who are retracing the final journey made by Melanie, their missing friend. Her sister Clover (Anora's unimpressed housemate Ella Rubin) is fueled by guilt, their last conversation an argument, and while those around her are starting to lose faith, she's compelled to follow vague clues all the way to a mysterious valley and the welcome centre that greets them. Taking shelter from the rain, the group is soon picked off by a masked killer only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning. They're stuck in a time loop where each decision leads them into a differently horrifying death. Except those deaths, while certainly violent, aren't quite as inventive as they could have been, most involving something sharp piercing through something soft (some spontaneous combustion midway does at least break the monotony nicely). A character jokes that the time loop is reminiscent of that one movie, but as another points out, it's happened in an awful lot of them at this stage and even within the horror genre – in films such as Triangle, Happy Death Day, The Final Girls and Lucky – it's become increasingly common (also using dialogue to admit unoriginality is not the save some screenwriters seem to think it is!). There's an obvious comparison to 2011's The Cabin in the Woods and even with both the structural novelty and the 14-year gap, this still feels like the kind of cliched split-up-and-investigate-noises nonsense that Joss Whedon was poking fun at in the first place. Transplanting a video game such as this to screen has its pitfalls – one almost wants to reach out and click on the many obvious pick-up-and-explore clues littered around the house – but it does also give a plucky, Scooby Doo charm to some of the group text-on-screen investigation. The cast, also including Hellraiser's Odessa A'zion and Love Victor's Michael Cimino, are likable and committed, if stuck with predictably underwritten characters, and the gruelling nature of the die, wake up and repeat plot compels us to root for their survival. Their journey to finding out the details of their predicament and then some sort of way out is a little haphazard, the only real bright spot being a chance for Peter Stormare to reprise a version of his role in the game. His ramblings about trauma and wendigos might be nonsensical, but he delivers it all with snarling gusto. Until Dawn is well-staged and entirely inoffensive, which, in a year that's seen horror dreck like The Monkey, Opus, The Gorge, Heart Eyes and Wolf Man, will just about do. It's held together by Sandberg, a director who has mastered the art of totally competent studio horror with slick, equally forgettable films like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation and he again shows himself to be a crisply efficient commercial film-maker again let down by a far less effective script. For a film all about repetition, one viewing will suffice. Until Dawn is out in US and UK cinemas on 25 April
New York Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Until Dawn' Review: They Keep Dying, You'll Keep Shrugging
Watching someone play a video game that they never let you play is a singular kind of boring. A similar 'why am I here?' dullness arrives early and stays late in 'Until Dawn,' the new supernatural slasher film based on the popular horror video game of the same name. The game, about the eerie goings-on that happen after sisters go missing from a remote mountain resort, is played in a choose-your-own-adventure style. With interactivity off the table, the film relies on a traditional slasher formula: Clover (Ella Rubin) and a group of her friends make the terrible decision to visit a remote valley's welcome center seeking answers about the strange disappearance of Clover's sister. Inside, a masked killer starts slaughtering the characters one by one. But here's the 'Happy Death Day'-style twist: Each night the characters' lives, and deaths, get reset by an hourglass clock. It turns out there's a deus ex machina madman at work in this uncanny valley, and as part of his diabolical project to learn more about the mechanics of fear, he reboots days and forces his victims to survive (they don't) until (you guessed it) dawn. The director, David F. Sandberg ('Annabelle: Creation') does an exhausting job moving along a script, written by Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler, that's made slack by mediocre monsters, muddled time loop stuff and underdeveloped characters who seem straight out of a lesser 'Goosebumps' episode. The spectacular and repulsively funny deaths by spontaneous combustion deserve their own, better movie.
Straits Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
At The Movies: Horror homage Until Dawn gets dead tired, Above The Dust a terrific yet tragic tale
At The Movies: Horror homage Until Dawn gets dead tired, Above The Dust a terrific yet tragic tale Until Dawn (M18) 103 minutes, opens on April 24 ★★☆☆☆ The story: Clover (Ella Rubin) and her friends (Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli and Odessa A'zion) arrive at a remote mountain valley town to search for her sister (Maia Mitchell), who went missing a year earlier. They become trapped in the abandoned visitor centre, attacked by supernatural entities. Gamer alert: The return of Swedish actor Peter Stormare as therapist Dr Hill is misleading. Until Dawn is a Hollywood adaptation of PlayStation's popular interactive video game mostly in name . It introduces a new ensemble of photogenic teens, and has the five of them murdered and revived to be killed again and again. They have to somehow survive until dawn , lest they die for real. Were this an inventive spin on the mortal time loop such as the combat science-fiction Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) or college whodunit Happy Death Day (2017), or even the original choose-your-own-adventure game, the characters would remake their choices to influence their future. But logic will not help them when there is none in a story that resets , such that they wake up each fatal night in a different horror movie to a masked psycho slasher out of Halloween (1978), torture porn inspired by Saw (2004), monsters, demonic possession and environmental apocalypse. Creepy dolls have a cameo, the director-producer being David F. Sandberg of Annabelle: Creation (2017) in his second collaboration with writer Gary Dauberman. The violent jump scares barely scare. This sandbox of tropes is about nothing more than the film-makers' love for the genre and their facility with references. It hurtles along, mindless like a zombie – which will show up too, somewhere between a witch and a mad doctor. Hot take: Live, die, repeat. This self-amused horror homage gets dead tired. Above The Dust (M18) 123 minutes, opens on April 24 exclusively at The Projector ★★★★☆ (From left) Li Jun and Ouyang Wenxin in the drama Above The Dust. PHOTO: DONGCHUN FILMS The story: Ten-year-old Wo Tu (Ouyang Wenxin) wants a water pistol like his village schoolmates in north-eastern China, circa 2009. His late grandfather (Li Jun) returns as a ghost to grant him his wish on a surreal journey that won the 2024 Golden Horse Awards' best adapted screenplay. China's 'Sixth Generation' film-maker Wang Xiaoshuai has , since his earliest work in The Days (1993) and Beijing Bicycle (2001), drawn both universal acclaim and the politburo's displeasure for his documentations of his country's social changes. The writer-director is at risk of another ban for screening Above The Dust internationally without the approval of state censors, who had demanded more than 50 edits to the politically sensitive subject. In this child's-eye magic-realist fable shot on location against the terraced hills of Gansu province, the grandfather takes Wo Tu back in time to the multigenerational trauma of the 1950s Great Leap Forward, when family farms were confiscated for communes under Chairman Mao's calamitous campaign to industrialise the agrarian society. Wo Tu would witness landowners purged and killed, among them his great-grandfather. The modernisation drive continues today with little regard for the human toll and all that is lost in pursuit of national progress: homes and, along with them, traditions and values. Mongolian actress Yong Mei from Wang's So Long, My Son (2019) is again magnificent as a careworn mother digging for fabled heirlooms under their farmstead that are symbolic of their lost ancestry. Wo Tu finally gets his toy gun. But there is no one left in the village to play with and soon, the boy with the name meaning 'fertile land' and his family, too, will join the urban exodus. Hot take: Renegade auteur Wang tills blood-stained history for a tragic tale on rural displacement. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
