Review: Glorious (2022)
We have a new Shudder Original to cover this month with the release of Glorious (2022). Does the film live up to the name? Find out in our review below how the sticky restroom-set horror comedy lands.
Glorious (2022)
Glorious, directed by Rebekah McKendry and written by Josuha Hull, David Ian McKendry, and Todd Rigney, follows a man named Wes after a particularly nasty breakup. After a series of drunken mishaps, he arrives at a rest stop. Soon he finds himself trapped in a men’s room with a mysterious stranger engaging him in conversation through a gloryhole. However, the conversation has cosmic consequences.
The film’s stars are Ryan Kwanten, J.K. Simmons, Tordy Clark, Sylvia Grace Crim, and André Lamar.
What worked with Glorious
The film is an excellent example of the fun that can be hand with Shudder’s Originals and Exclusives. This film wouldn’t have set box offices ablaze, but as a streaming offering, it works pretty well. The overall story is a neat blend of comedy, mystery, and Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It is a movie that can pivot from disturbing to funny several times within the same scene. The film’s two leads, Wes (Ryan Kwanten) and Ghat (J.K. Simmons), who spend most of the movie talking, carry it. A very dialogue-heavy film, moments of gore and surreal cosmic imagery punctuate Glorious. However, it balances the shocks with the dialogue well.
One of the great things about J.K. Simmons is that the man could read a phonebook, which everyone would hail as a stunning performance. Through Simmons’ voice acting, Ghat appears simultaneously charming and intimidating. Almost like a stern but loving uncle trying to guide Wes to do something significant. The balance of power switches periodically, but not significantly enough to give Wes any real agency in the story. This can be good or bad, depending on your interpretation.
The other performances, brief though they are, are compelling. André Lamar gets the most to do as Gary, the unfortunate property manager of the rest stop. He delivers some fleeting fun moments. Sylvia Grace Crim, who plays Brenda, Wes’s object of affection, plays the haunting lover well enough. However, her role doesn’t offer much beyond that. She becomes the trope of the development of a traumatized male in horror. Tordy Clark’s mysterious Sharon has a brief scene full of mystery. Yet, it doesn’t seem overly important to the story. She just more or less shows that other people have been to the rest stop.
Technical Aspects
Visually, the movie does a great job of taking a rest-stop bathroom and giving it enough visual interest not to grow monotonous. David Matthews’ cinematography is admirable given the unusual scale of the film. Cramped when needed, imposingly open otherwise, and the strange, out-of-time paintings within the restroom give it a sense of the uncanny, especially where the cosmic gloryhole is concerned. The film has a lot of visual similarities to the Color Out of Space. Glorious is drenched in cosmic purple lighting from time to time.
The audio engineering was solid, giving Ghat an otherworldly quality, but the music didn’t stand out that much, generally leaning into weird, cosmic synth without doing anything notable.
What didn’t work with Glorious
The film’s structure does have some weak spots, and even at a meager runtime of 89 minutes (a rarity for movies these days), the film does feel longer than it needs to be. Glorious does drag as the single location features similar beats across different scenes; Ghat asks Wes to do something, Wes attempts to escape or refuses, and Wes gets punished. This loop makes up most of the film, and only with the introduction of property manager Gary for a single scene do we get a natural break in that loop until the end.
Glorious is a story that the team could have trimmed by 20 minutes. The film doesn’t quite overstay its welcome, but I often questioned when the story would progress after a certain point.
The film’s attempted shocking revelation about Wes does not really land. Hints to Wes’ true nature show up but end up too obscured or subtle for the “aha!” moment. Most of Wes’s character’s depth stems from Kwanten’s performance instead of the writing.
While I think the cinematography overall was excellent, I did find two scenes featuring a space-level zoom-out to be a bit ridiculous and unnecessary. In a film that could benefit more from the subtext, the transparent nature of showing ‘cosmic implications’ felt downright silly.
Final Thoughts on Glorious (2022)
Glorious hits that sweet spot of Shudder Originals and Exclusives where interesting, fun horror films are given a chance to shine on an enthusiast’s platform. It is one of those films where horror fans can appreciate them for what they are as opposed to struggling at the box office. Glorious is not the best of Shudder’s offerings, but it is a lot of fun with two solid performances and a nice pairing of gore and comedy wrapped up in a Lovecraftian shell.
(3.5 / 5)
Episode two of Amazon Prime’s Fallout was equal parts funny and bloody. This almost always leads to a good time.
The story
We begin this episode with the birth of some puppies that look like they’ve had a rough start to life. Each one is weighed, with the ones who fall short being incinerated.
One pup who is just below the correct weight gets a bit of a thumb on their scale. The scientist weighing them, Wilzig, writes down the proper weight. He later takes the puppy home to raise instead of putting them into what looks like an unforgiving training program.
Eventually, we see Wilzig put some blue glowing thing into his neck. When a soldier comes for him, Dog attacks the soldier, and the two escape.
We go from there to the wilderness, where Lucy is recovering from the last episode and enjoying a campfire at night. Wilzig and Dog come out of the shadows, saving Lucy from a bug monster. Wilzig tells Lucy she should go home. And if she’s not going to go home, she needs to evolve.
The next day Lucy finds her way to a town called Filly. As a Pennsylvanian, it hurts me to spell it that way. Lucy is entranced by this town, though clearly put off by the fact that no one is very nice here.
She eventually finds her way to a shop run by a delightful woman named Ma June. Ma doesn’t seem particularly interested in helping Lucy. Or, frankly, having Lucy in her shop.
Or in her town.
Eventually, Wilzig is tracked to this same shop, being tracked by The Ghoul. This is our final primary character. Lucy defends Wilzig, being aided at the last moment by Maximus.
Maximus, by the way, has been having a terrible time. After finally becoming a squire he’s disappointed to find that his knight, Knight Titus, is a terrible person.
Fortunately, Maximus doesn’t have to put up with Titus for long. After Titus gets the bright idea to go hunting, he’s attacked by a mutated bear. Maximus freezes, unable to save him. Then, well, he decides not to save him.
It was Titus’s idea to go hunt the bear, after all.
What worked
The first thing I want to draw attention to is the shootout scene at Filly. This scene checked every box a fight scene should check. It was fun to watch, with great effects. But it also gave us insight into the characters. Lucy is a decent fighter and has a strong moral compass. The Ghoul is callus and desensitized to death. And Maximus continues to be, well, sort of bad at this whole fighting thing. But with enough moral fortitude that we have a hard time blaming him.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the dog. Who’s name, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, is just Dog. Which is fine. He doesn’t need to have a name to be a very good boy. He’s sweet, loyal, and fearless.
Also, puppies. Puppies are always great.
Finally, I’d like to shine a spotlight on Lucy’s reaction to the world at large. She is both amazed and terrified by everything. And while she certainly doesn’t want to be rude, she also doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. The best example of this is when she stops to ask for directions with a bright smile and a gun.
Once again, I don’t have anything bad to say about this episode. It was funny, dark, and fun to watch. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the season.
(4 / 5)
Launching with worldwide excitement, Fallout is based on the extremely popular game series of the same name. Fans of the series have waited with anticipation and trepidation to see if the Prime series would live up to the game.
Having now watched the first episode I can say that, so far, it’s successful.
The story
Our story begins with a children’s birthday party. A performer is there with his daughter, giving horse rides and taking pictures with the kids.
As much as the adults try to focus on the party and the kids, it’s impossible to ignore the looming threat of war that’s on everyone’s mind.
Of course, it’s during this party that war comes, and the bombs drop.
We then cut to after the war and into one of the vaults established to protect humankind and the American Way. For future reference, this is Vault 33. We meet Lucy, our first main character, who’s petitioning to be married to a man from Vault 32 to ensure DNA diversity.
On the wedding night, though, Lucy and the rest of Vault 33 are met with a horrible surprise. The group they let in is not in fact from Vault 32, but is instead a team of raiders from the surface. The raiders kill a lot of the vault dwellers and kidnap Lucy’s father.
We are then introduced to our second main character, Maximus. He is in training to become a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel. And, well, he’s not doing great.
Things get worse when his best friend Dane becomes a squire before him. But when Dane is hurt, Maximus gets their spot.
We then go back to Lucy, who has decided to leave the vault and find her dad. Of course, the council of her vault doesn’t want her to go. So she is aided by her brother Norm and cousin Chet in a wild escape.
What worked
The first thing that deserves attention is the exceptional character work. Our three main characters are fleshed out and relatable right away. We feel sympathetic for The Ghoul before he’s even introduced as such. We love Lucy’s nativity and selflessness. And we love Maximus for his honesty and passion for his cause.
While these characters are their own people, they also exhibit the three responses we might expect to see in a post-apocalyptic world. We have the hopeful optimist who doesn’t understand how bad things are. We have the aspiring hero who wants to make the world better by force. And we have the self-serving individual who’s given up on the rest of humanity and is only focused on surviving.
Another thing I enjoyed about this episode was the balance of humor and gore. Because there was certainly enough blood and guts for even the most hardcore horror lover. We had a violent sabotage, a brawl with raiders, and even several nuclear bombs.
But there were a lot of funny moments as well. Usually from Lucy. Her overall goodwill and fearless gumption are absolutely hilarious, especially given the horrors she’s facing. It never ceases to amuse me.
Both of these aspects are done perfectly. The jokes land and the bloody scenes pull no punches. It was delightful.
All in all, this was an exciting start to a much-anticipated series. Here’s hoping they’re able to stick the landing.
For more tv shows based on video games, check out my review of Witcher.
(4 / 5)
Episode seven of American Horror Story Delicate was a classic AHS flashback episode. If you were excited to see what Preecher had to say to Anna at the end of the last episode, I’m sorry to say that you will not get that satisfaction. However, we did learn all sorts of other fascinating things about the strange coven hunting Anna. And, we learned all sorts of things we didn’t know about Dex’s first wife, Adeline.
The story
We begin our story with a woman giving birth alone in a barn. When it becomes clear that she’s not going to be able to deliver vaginally, she pulls out a knife and cuts her stomach open to pull out her children.
For whatever reason, this is when the coven of witches decides to make themselves known.
We then cut to 2013, when Dex was still married to Adeline. In true Dex fashion, he’s surprised her with a puppy.
While that sounds great in theory, dogs are something a couple should talk about, not gift each other with as a surprise. An adult would know that. A trust fund boy like Dex does not.
Adeline owns a vegan restaurant called Ave Hestia. Love that name. She seems to be living a great life. She has a career she’s passionate about, friends who love her, and a husband she seems kind of fond of.
Maybe that’s why she didn’t want a puppy. She already had one.
Of course, things aren’t as good as they appear. We soon find out that Adeline was one of those babies we saw at the start of the episode. The other baby was Sonia, the painter.
And yes, both of these characters are played by Annabelle Dexter-Jones.
Adeline has stepped away from their family, and whatever dark things they do. But the family isn’t happy with her decision. And if she isn’t going to come back willingly, they’re going to make her.
What worked
To start with, I loved the character, Adeline. She is fierce, she is fearless, and relentless. I feel like this would have been a far different story if Adeline had been our main character. It was astounding to see her interact with the same people Anna has, and get a completely different response. It’s clear now, how much everyone around Anna resents her for simply not being Adeline.
I also appreciated that there was just a shocking amount of blood in this episode. From the start when Adeline and Sonia are born, to the climactic end of Adeline, this episode is just drenched in blood.
Finally, I’m fascinated by the changes in this season from the book it’s based on. Because absolutely none of this was in the book. Compared to this, the book is heartwarming.
The book is kind of heartwarming even without the comparison.
But I love the fact that, even with just two episodes left in the season, I have no idea what’s going to happen. I do not know what Anna is carrying. I do not know if she’s going to survive this. I do not know what these people want with her.
But I can’t wait to find out.
What didn’t work
All that being said, it is a bit frustrating to have no forward momentum in this episode. This was all backstory, and it felt like there wasn’t enough backstory to fill a full forty minutes. Because of that, it dragged. There were a lot of scenes that just didn’t need to be as long as they were. It felt like they could have cut that down considerably, and had some time to check in with our main characters at either the start or the end of the episode.
There are only two episodes left in the season, and I can honestly say I have no idea what’s going to happen. But so far the story has been dark, bloody, and provocative. So I hope they can manage to end it on a high note.
(4 / 5)
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