Welcome to August’s Tiny Tapes Reviews! With yet another genre-bending mix of films to whet your appetite, including horrors and dramas to musicals and thrillers, you’re sure to find something to pique your interest and help get you settled in for movie nights!

This month’s TTRs consists of: Bodycam; Camp Rock 3; The Drama; Father Mother Sister Brother; Fuze; Hokum; The Last House; No Other Choice; Primate; Venom: The Last Dance.

Director: Brandon Christensen
Writers: Brandon Christensen, Ryan Christensen
Cast: Jaime M. Callica, Sean Rogerson, Catherine Lough Haggquist

Two cops are called to a domestic disturbance in a down-and-out neighbourhood but instead find that dark secrets lurk. Good concept, poorly executed. It rushes into the action far too soon, making for odd pacing throughout with no real build-up or true suspense. It has a creepy atmosphere on the whole, and the demonic entity is definitely well-designed and creepy enough, but neither are used to their full potential. It’s like a student film project based on films like The Blair Witch Project and the V/H/S and Hell House series. The two cops are interesting characters but are written and performed poorly, not to mention that even actual corrupt cops would probably not do half of the dumb stuff these two do, especially when they have actual bodycams recording everything they say and do. Worth watching if you enjoy the found footage style.

Director: Veronica Rodriguez
Writer: Eydie Faye
Cast: Liamani Segura, Malachi Barton, Lumi Pollack, Hudson Stone, Casey Trotter, Brooklynn Pitts, Ava Jean, Milo Manheim, Maria Canals-Barrera, Sherry Cola, Demi Lovato, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas

I suppose someone up on high in Disney thought these films are really good and deserved a third, 16 years after Camp Rock 2: The (not-so) Final Jam. After making huge stars of some its previous campers, Camp Rock is still going strong, and Sage Scott (Segura) is looking to become the next big thing. If you watch this film to feel the same kind of feels that previous Camp Rock films gave you, you will not be disappointed, especially with the continued involvement of the Jonas Brothers (Kevin is still the funniest in my eyes). However, if you’re looking for something new and fresh, you’ll get it from the music but not from the flimsy story. Where Camp Rock (2008) had high stakes and average music, Camp Rock 3 puts all its eggs in the musical basket, leaving a bland story to bridge the songs. Also, Demi only makes a wee cameo, so don’t expect a reunion with the JoBros for this Final Jam.

Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Writer: Kristoffer Borgli
Cast: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie

With Robert Pattinson in perhaps the most Robert Pattinson role as the somewhat whacky Charlie to Zendaya’s secretive Emma, the two prove to have onscreen chemistry as a betrothed couple who come to find out a little too much about each other that could end up as dealbreakers. As dark a rom-com as they come, you may find yourself a little too immersed and taking sides depending on whose point of view you most align with. Pattinson and Zendaya give (unsurprisingly) excellent performances, and Borgli does a fantastic job of building tension where you might think there isn’t any (doesn’t that underline so many real relationships?).

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Writer: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat

I went into this film pretty much blind and I’m very glad I did. Jarmusch’s anthology of three families of different backgrounds, circumstances and cultures yet with similar problems and conversations coming together for various reasons is so relatable in the most nerve-hitting way. Jarmusch himself said that his film is “very subtle, very quiet, funny and sad”, and he is exactly right. On the surface it showcases families, all far from “perfect”, coming together and saying a heck of a lot while actually verbalising very little. It’s a robust portrayal of the various nuances within differing family dynamics that add up to something bigger than we often realise in the moment, and the incredible casting is what really allows this little film to make a huge impact.

Director: David Mackenzie
Writer: Ben Hopkins
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Worthington

If you can tear your eyes away from Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s arms for just a sec (I know I know, it’s difficult), you’ll come to see that this film absolutely screams British crime/thriller. Taylor-Johnson’s Will Trantor, an army Major, is called to the scene of an unexploded WWII bomb, but its convenient placement starts to raise suspicions, especially as a criminal gang is discovered nearby. It is super tense to begin with, much like an episode of a police drama on British television, making the film feel like one long episode of a TV show, and it probably could have been just that, as the story takes a turn and becomes more interesting just as it comes to a close. The performances are decent, particularly from Theo James, though we don’t get to see nearly enough of Sam Worthington.

Director: Damian McCarthy
Writer: Damian McCarthy
Cast: Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Michael Patric, Will O’Connell Brendan Conroy, Austin Amelio

What happens when you drop an American in the Irish countryside? Well, Hokum will let you know, as author Ohm Bauman (Scott) makes a trip to the Emerald Isle to put his parents ashes to rest, but ends up becoming part of a bigger supernatural conspiracy at the hotel he stays at. The premise isn’t exactly all that original, but the execution of it, with the way some of the scares are portrayed (one particular scene of a woman following Ohm really piqued my interest in how fear is created onscreen) are really well done. McCarthy could have delved further into Irish folklore in my opinion, as the Irish culture has some incredibly interesting history and tales (I’m sure McCarthy, being Irish, is aware of this), but on the whole this is a terrific follow-up to 2024’s Oddity.

Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Matthew Robinson
Cast: Greta Lee, Wagner Moura, Riley Chung, Noah Alexander Sosnowski, Emma Ho, Gabriel Chung

A family stuck in their home, unable to open any doors, break any windows or climb out, stalked by creatures that only appear when it rains. Sounds like quite the intriguing premise, but it struggles to actually live up to expectations. For starters, the family (parents, a son and a daughter) are way too happy in the first 30 minutes for a family housebound for weeks. It’s strange not only because it’s weird that they’re not more stressed about what the hell is going on, but also because it’s difficult to believe they’d be getting along that well with each other. It had so much promise in the first act but was let down by a weak story by the time it got half way through. Not a lot actually happens, and the pacing is so off – one minute things are happening quickly, the next nothing is really happening for a while. It’s a shame, because with the calibre of actors like Greta Lee and Wagner Moura there really should have been something far more substantial than the given reason for why they are locked inside.

Director: Park Chan-wook
Writers: Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, Lee Ja-hye, based on The Ax by Donald Westlake
Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won

It’s a known fact that Park Chan-wook does not put a foot wrong in his filmmaking. In his latest, family man Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) struggles to find employment after being laid off at a papermaking company. He decides he deserves a high position at another papermaking company, and starts to “remove” his competition. Park does yet another incredible job of blending dark humour with the reality of living in a competitive society, particularly in South Korea, with the source novel perhaps hitting a nerve with Park, especially as he had been circling and working on this project for over a decade. Between the editing and Park’s skills as a director, we are almost reluctant spectators of this tragicomedy that is Man-su’s life. Lee Byeong Hyeon is incredible and so naturally funny as Man-su, and if you’re familiar with Korean films and/or dramas you’ll recognise some other familiar faces.

Director: Johannes Roberts
Writers: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Cast: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng

When a chimpanzee turns rabid, a group of college students find themselves under attack and unable to escape the huge house they’re stranded in in Hawaii. Like many horror films, the premise is competely unoriginal, and unfortunately so is the film in general, employing multiple done-to-death tropes and trying to make itself stand out by adding some kind of gimmick (in this case the owner of the house and the chimp is deaf). The gore and body horror goes some way to make up for the lack of imagination in all other areas of the film, but it’s not enough to make it stand out amongst other films of a similar sub-genre.

Director: Kelly Marcel
Writer: Kelly Marcel
Cast: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach

Somehow, Eddie Brock and his symbiote pal came back for a third instalment of the series, and this time they’re on the run until they find themselves caught up in a fight involving other symbiotes from Venom’s homeworld. Fortunately, this film is a little more entertaining than the previous two, but it’s really just a vehicle for the bromance between Eddie and Venom, lacking any real depth or value. It also features Rhys Ifans as an alien-obsessed hippie, and it’s a bit jarring to have him play another role within the Spider-Man megaverse that isn’t Curt Connors. Gotta give it to Tom Hardy and his commitment to the dual role of human and symbiote, though. It’s clear he had a whale of a time with these characters and is just about the only reason to watch this film.