When I was younger, some slightly older friends were introducing more sophisticated foods to my New Jersey palette, and one of those refined foods was Crab with Black Bean Sauce, a delicacy at Lin’s China Garden on Bayard Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say it was one of the messiest and most delicious meals I’ve ever had. And before Lin’s closed, I had several opportunities to enjoy it there. Its comparable has never been found, unfortunately. It annoys me that the song’s title, “Black Crab,” conjures up thoughts of the dish. I feel hungry just thinking about it.

The name of a team selected for a potentially victory-snagging probably suicide mission in a not-too-distant future war to end all conflicts, or all of civilization itself, is “Black Crab” in this dark, dramatic sci-fi war film from Sweden. I know, exactly the kind of thing we are all itching to do right now. To be honest, I’d rather be eating crab with black bean sauce in Lin’s China Garden (not to belabour the point). Adam Berg’s film, which is an adaptation of the well-liked sci-fi novel by Jerker Virdborg, begins with a memorable scene in which Noomi Rapace plays Caroline Edh, a mother waiting in a traffic congestion in a tunnel with her kid. Suddenly, the tunnel is filled with gunfire and soldiers, and we black out on Edh and her small daughter sheltering in the backseat as “Five Years,” a David Bowie song about the end of the world, plays on the radio.

A few years later, Edh, as she is known throughout the majority of the film, is a soldier who is on the move to receive instructions. Her transportation is far from luxurious. Almost like a cattle car on a railway. After getting off the ship, a woman approaches her and gives her soup, assuring her that it is not tainted. Could Edh guess that the soup lady has a boyfriend at the base? Edh’s commander stops THAT talk in its tracks. Following that, this lieutenant abandons Edh in hostile area. But she manages to escape. Later, the man appears as the Black Crab assignment’s leader. Yikes! One of the elements causing the movie’s spills and chills is this character’s ultimate tenacity and drive.

Then what, you wonder, about this quest. There is an ice-covered archipelago in this “time of the wolf,” as their recruiter General Raad (David Dencik) describes it. There is a location at the conclusion of which, if the squad is successful, they will deliver two enigmatic presents, heralding triumph for their side. In this dystopian scenario, specific nations are never mentioned, and the geographical names that are mentioned are made up. The problem is that the ice is too thin for cars to drive on, and the sea passages are too small for an etc.

The recruiter remarked, “It could be navigated by soldiers with ice skates,” and I have to admit, I laughed aloud. Okay! Then again, you know, the gallant marauders led by Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris arrived at their Nazi target on skis in Anthony Mann’s 1965 film “The Heroes of Telemark,” which was based on a true story and is a classic of the stealth war film genre (and served as an inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”). So why not? The appearance of these hardened half-dozen in silhouette, trudging across pitch-black stretches of ice, occasionally pausing to glance at the hundreds of drowned bodies under them, proved to be accurate (climate change figures here because of course it does).

The hope of finding her daughter, who she is told was found in a makeshift refugee camp, gives Edh motivation to try to turn this mission around despite the fact that it is essentially a suicide mission. The recollections that are intermingled with the treachery-filled, frequently gruesome walk through the ice are set up by her longing. When the customary awful secrets are disclosed. On several levels, war is hell. especially when Edh is forced to make the unavoidable Moral Decisions.

Rapace, who I assume is currently a dominant power in the world of fantasy, exhibits the stoic fortitude that has been a performance staple for her. Of course, this too will soon crumble. What a welcome home (this is the actress’ first Swedish film in ten years!) Sometimes, one may say that the effects are a touch too convincing. The blackness practically surrounds us. But is hope truly the main factor in the end? “Black Crab” is more than engrossing enough to keep you interested in finding out what happens.

The Netflix release of Matthew Reilly’s directorial debut, “Interceptor,” might as well have a Cannon logo in front of it. The action movie is so archaic that it almost plays like an abandoned Chuck Norris script with some contemporary gender politics and social themes thrown in (albeit someone like Cynthia Rothrock could have easily starred in a movie that was virtually precisely the same in the 1980s). There’s something laudable about the no-nonsense hoo-rah of it all, and Reilly and co-writer Stuart Beattie of “Collateral” have created a film that the characters from “The Expendables” might sit around watching. Even while some of the execution is a little clumsy—the combat choreography is flat, particularly in the climax—this is the kind of summer escapism that people frequently seek as the weather warms up around the United States. It is now also available on Netflix.

According to legend, Reilly wanted his debut film to have a modest budget, a small cast, and only one set. Therefore, when he dumps JJ Collins (Elsa Pataky) on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, a vessel that contains interceptor missiles, the international safety net designed to take care of business if a nuclear weapon happens to be launched, we know it won’t be long until something crazy occurs. For Collins, who was fired from her job after reporting her sexual assaulter’s superior to the authorities, this is somewhat of a homecoming. She is a soldier with no nonsense, and we want her on our side should things go really bad.

Of course, the day she arrives, the fan gets hit when terrorists seize 16 nuclear weapons from a Russian plant and point them towards important American cities. She learns that the bad men have already boarded the ship and have thought about the interceptor’s job while she and a supervisor discuss how this might have happened. The terrorists are led by an annoying alpha male named Kessel (Luke Bracey), and their only apparent goal appears to be the utter annihilation of the human race. Can JJ prevent them from accessing the control panel, where they may disable the interceptors and destroy the entire country?

Naturally, she can. A movie like “Interceptor” isn’t planned to have many surprises, therefore it becomes a test of execution. The majority of that is the responsibility of Pataky and Bracey, who quarrel in the midst of the gunfire and fights that break out whenever Kessel tries to enter the control room. Although Pataky occasionally comes off as a bit too stoic, particularly in the opening scenes, she is game for the action in the second half of the movie and convincing as the protagonist. Even though he too could have been a little more charismatic, Bracey leans into the superficial smarm of his persona. When there is a version of “Interceptor” that leans even more into its B-movie ’80s roots, dropping one-liners and great murders, both performances appear a little under-directed. As silly and riddled with story holes as it is (although Pataky’s husband and executive producer Chris Hemsworth’s cameo is kind of fun), the movie nearly takes itself too seriously.

The action is mostly shot in a way that gets the job done but little more, so it could have been wonderful to lean into style a little more. That evaluation applies to “Interceptor” as a whole at the end. It’s okay. It completes the task. Just finishing the work feels like a small miracle considering how many bad action movies have appeared on VOD and streaming services in recent years. However, Chuck Norris would have enjoyed it more.

The most recent Netflix Original horror film, “Choose or Die,” features a fantastically weird premise that, throughout, is reminiscent of genre films from the ’80s and ’90s. I was excited because I grew up in that time period and I admired the filmmakers who looked at developing technology and wondered what nightmares they could create. That emotion vanished quickly.

Naturally, Wes Craven’s great “A Nightmare on Elm Street” serves as the primary inspiration for this, and not just because Robert Englund, who plays Freddy, lends his voice in the opening scene and because the poster for it is on the wall. However, it also brings to mind a time when “terrifying technology” horror films like “Ghost in the Machine,” “Shocker,” “Brainscan,” or “Dreamscape” were popular. The issue is that this kind of surreal horror necessitates a lot of visual flair, which director Toby Meakins simply lacks in this film. “Choose or Die” needed a Craven or a Cronenberg, masters of the visual arts who could take an idea this obviously absurd and run with it imaginatively, making their visions feel almost primal. “Choose or Die” repeatedly falls short of the truly hallucinogenic promise of its premise, at least up until its insane final act. Without that, it’s essentially a forgettable decision.

Iola Evans portrays Kayla, a college student with debt issues and a problematic mother living on the verge of affluence. Isaac (Asa Butterfield), a programmer who isn’t precisely a romantic lead but certainly likes Kayla enough to model a character after her in his new game, is her best friend. However, once Kayla discovers a game from the 1980s called “Curs>r,” which was also once a better name for this movie, there is no time for romantic relationships. “Curs>r” is a vintage Infocom-style text game, one of the first PC games that required players to enter text to advance the plot. “Choose the chalice up? Are you sure?” Those sorts of things.

The video game “Choose or Die” is connected to the entertaining subculture of individuals who look for misplaced video games when Kayla learns that it includes a monetary prize that was never claimed. This one is a little unique, though. Every level usually results in bloodshed and a screen that repeatedly says “CHOOSE OR DIE,” and it adapts itself according on what’s happening in the room with Kayla. Say Kayla completes the first level at a diner, and the scene that follows features a helpless waitress eating shards of glass. It’s not quite “Tetris,” though.

Similar to how Freddy Krueger did in the “Nightmare” movies, “Curs>r” shatters reality, frequently sending Kayla to other locations or endangering people nearby. However, the dread experienced here lacks any meaningful organisation. Freddy could penetrate your dreams, which made him terrifying. It’s understandable. Everyone has nightmares. Too often, “Choose or Die” seems to be making it up as it goes. It’s the distinction between experiencing a nightmare firsthand and learning about someone person’s. In order to draw you in, a movie like “Choose or Die” must either entirely deviate from reality with its surreal graphics or establish some ground rules that both spectators and protagonists must abide by. Meakins and author Simon Allen struggle to make a choice, which results in a lackadaisical and uninspired movie.

The issue might have been budget-related in some way. A lot of the action is hidden by darkness and dry ice, and a lot of the violence takes place off-screen; nonetheless, as I mentioned earlier, a stronger visual eye would have concealed lack of finances more than anything else. Up until the final act, when things finally turn truly crazy in an engaging way, the movie is oddly boring (MVP Eddie Marsan, of course). At least Liam Howlett of Prodigy provided a memorable score for the film, which also helps to set it in the 1980s’ techno-heavy horror era. But it would be better if you just decided to watch “Videodrome” once more.

It is very evident that the creators of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” were inspired by David Gordon Green’s 2018 remake of “Halloween” and believed Leatherface might make a similar comeback. The story of a survivor is once again the focus of the sequel, which omits all of the prequels and remakes except for the original movie. In this instance, Sally Hardesty, the sole survivor of Tobe Hooper’s shattering original, is Olwen Fouéré (replacing Marilyn Burns, who passed away in 2014). The Netflix Original pits them against one another as she searches for the monster who killed her companions for years. Sorta. merely barely The movie by David Blue Garcia is “sorta just barely” everything (other than the gore, which is impressive). It’s one of those movies that has obviously gone through a lot throughout production—there have been rumours of a new directing team and awful test screenings—but it still seems as though it was destined to fail from the start. It’s a striking failure—a film that utterly fails to do practically anything it sets out to do. Better is due to Leatherface.

Unbelievably, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” serves as another gentrification cautionary tale. I am not joking. To renovate the tiny town of Harlow, Texas, Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), and their friend Dante (Jacob Latimore) have travelled to the middle of nowhere. Even a busload of influential people will be brought in to visit the location. (The bus’s side may just as easily read, “Chainsaw Victims”). When they get there, a homeowner (Alice Krige) argues with them right away since she won’t be leaving. She ends up being this situation’s Norma Bates, and when she is ejected from her house, her son Leatherface (Mark Burnham) goes on the attack.

The opening of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is promising. It’s a smart notion that doesn’t work to portray Leatherface as a bogeyman in the middle of Texas, a man who not only inspires dread but also has an odd fan base that buys corkscrews with chainsaws on them. “TCM” keeps bringing things up and then nearly never doing anything with it, which is really annoying. Lila, for instance, survived a school shooting, but this comes out as opportunistic rather than enlightening. Although Hooper’s picture helped define the trope of urban dwellers who are unaware of what awaits them when they leave the security of their house, this one doesn’t bring anything new to the horror genre. It discards that concept as well when it begins to mock social media in one morbidly humorous moment. In a movie that is under 80 minutes long without credits yet drags on for twice as long, everything is superficial.

And that dearth of narrative substance would be acceptable if “TCM” worked well as a horror film. It isn’t. Although there is a lot of blood, the violence is staged and carried out in an uninspiring manner. There is no suspense, tension, or interesting characters. The first film’s concept of common people being thrown into Hell was so powerful in its simplicity, in my opinion, that subsequent filmmakers assumed it would be simple to replicate it. It isn’t. It takes a specific type of instinctive craftsmanship, which Hooper possessed, to infuse such a fundamental idea with tremendous, unyielding dread. Most of his adherents lack the same talent that he has.

Although Garcia and his associates frequently clog his environment with ill-conceived ideas, they don’t really go for that brusque simplicity either. Worst of all, Sally’s storyline devolves into a bland parody of Laurie Strode’s Laurie Strode vengeance story from Green’s “Halloween” film. That movie also abandoned years’ worth of prequels in order to return a series to its origins. The similar attempt is made in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” which fails miserably upon returning home.