BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019) RUINS CHRISTMAS IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY

BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019) RUINS CHRISTMAS IN JUST THE RIGHT WAY

Starring: Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, Cary Elwes
Written by: Sophia Takal, April Wolfe
Directed by: Sophia Takal

<SPOILERS AHEAD>

For my 55th birthday, I went to see one of the most divisive horror films since 2015’s It Follows. The division falls sharply along gender lines as the male viewers search for new ways to express their displeasure and the females champion its clear-eyed take on the difficulties of modern life. What has created this intense, boys versus girls shouting match on social media? It is director-writer Sophia Takal & co-screenwriter April Wolfe’s reimagining the 1974 slasher film Black Christmas as a polemic on toxic masculinity and female oppression. Due to its transgressive nature and unsubtle/over-the-top presentation, Black Christmas has ruined Christmas for many horror fans!

CHAD CRAWFORD KINKLE'S FAITH OF THE FATHERS

CHAD CRAWFORD KINKLE'S FAITH OF THE FATHERS

Humanity has been gifted with a drive to create understanding and meaning. There is possibly even a biological mechanism behind that drive: One half of our brain records raw experience, while the other half draws lines around the elements, giving them borders and definition. This applies not just to concrete experiences but also abstract concepts, such as “What is beyond the stars?” or “Where did we come from?” Historically, whenever societies have formed, they sought to answer these harder, more abstract questions by creating a religion that is a reverential and a highly symbolic practice with a connection to an otherworldly source of power and wisdom.

[REVIEW] RED LETTER DAY (2019) WAS "UNDELIVERABLE"

[REVIEW] RED LETTER DAY (2019) WAS "UNDELIVERABLE"

Starring: Dawn Van de Schoot, Hailey Foss, Kaeleb Zain Gartner
Writer: Cameron Macgowan
Director: Cameron Macgowan
Studio: Awkward Silencio, RLD Productions

"Do we have to have another discussion about consent?"

Synopsis: The Edwards family, Mom Melanie, daughter Madison and son Timothy (Dawn Van de Schoot, Hailey Foss, and Kaeleb Zain Gartner) are settling into their new home. The kids complain that the new neighborhood is boring, not realizing that today is going to be a red-letter day in the worst possible way. A shadowy group called "The Unknown" has delivered a series of Red-Letters to the community pitting neighbors against each other based on their conflicting social media personas. In order to survive, the Edwards must be prepared to do what ever it takes to stay alive as they realize their new home is anything but boring.

Marla Mae (2018)

Marla Mae (2018)

Starring: Lisa van Dam-Bates, Travis Johnny Ware, Katie Hemming, Jason Stange
Written: Lisa van Dam-Bates
Directed by: Lisa van Dam-Bates

Lisa van Dam-Bates is the super-human triple threat behind medical shocker Marla Mae (2018). Writing, directing and starring in a movie would be beyond the powers of most ordinary mortals. I will barely get through writing this paragraph without needing to call my therapist. I was drawn to this movie by the fact Dam-Bates seemed to have so much control over her movie. I know it may seem unfair to say that this movie is more interesting because it was written and directed by a woman, after all, no-one goes to see Martin Scorcese films because he is a guy, but to me it is a numbers game. My opinion is that there are too few female voices in horror, especially ones that have so much control over their vision, to ignore a movie like this. Judging by its subject matter, it is easy to think that the subtext of Marla Mae is something extremely personal to most women: getting adequate and affordable healthcare from a system that doesn't appear to respect or pretend to understand women.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Final Edition

Shocktoberfest 2019 Final Edition

The Mask

Shocktoberfest 2019 Final Edition

What a long strange trip it was! We begin our Doris Day a Day a thon this weekend. Being married comes with some perks, but it is also duties. My non horror movie loving wife knows this is important to me, so she was willing to do without my presence for the last six weeks, but now it is time to show my appreciation to my greatest obsession, her. Let's get right to it.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #6

Dream Home

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #6

So far, there has been a paucity of films from the Asiatic Region in this year's Shocktoberfest. This week's selections attempted to correct that omission. While none of this week's movies are considered Asian Extreme Horror, some of them are pretty close. Caveat emptor!

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #5

Crimes of Passion

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #5

Week off from work - Yay Fall Break! Obviously, I spent plenty of time watching films this week. There are some new films, some old favorites and also three movies that I consider to be modern stand outs in the horror genre.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #4

2001:  A Space Odyssey

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #4

Seven more movies for Week 4! One first-time view, but numbers 25, 28, 30 & 31 were watched so long ago it was like seeing them as new. It was a treat to see them with what felt like new eyes.  Oh hey, I switched the list order in a way that makes more sense.

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #3

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #3

Illness came to my house this week and also a certain amount of horror film fatigue set in. Much time was spent tracking down lesser known films and re-watching some neglected films. I also realized that I picked a weird way to list my weekly choices! As a bonus, this week's post has some appropriate music to celebrate the  addition of Electric Wizard to my list of favorite bands.

Schocktoberfest 2019 Update #2

Shocktoberfest 2019 Update #2

Week Two has been all about the new films. Five of the 7 were first time views. But I also visited some old favorites!

Incident in a Ghostland (2018) [New World French Extremity]

New French Extremity darling Pascal Laugier’s 2018 film Incident in a Ghostland presents thematic  continuance of some elements introduced in his 2008 film Martyrs. Both films feature violent attacks on a family and focus heavily on the killing, torture and abuse of young females, including children and teenagers, and the long lasting effects trauma.

Schocktoberfest 2019 Update

The Night Sitter

 A popular thing to do in the horror movie loving community is to share pre-Halloween movie lists. Not much of a planner, I am putting out my list as I watch it. So far, I am one week in with nine movies watched. Six of them were first watches, and 5 can be considered as releases.  Submitted for your approval,  a brief review of  Shockoberfest 2019 celebrations:

Shocktoberfest 2019 Begins! Rabid (1977) [Cronenberg]

This is not the first time David Cronenberg’s 1977 film  Rabid has been reviewed at the Insomniac Theater. When I wrote about it in 2010, it was as a pre-AIDS metaphor for the devastation of a sexually transmitted epidemic. This time around, I tried to look at it from a different perspective.

Twenty First Century Horror Standouts (Another list of... Post)

Reddit user ScarletBegonias79 posted a list of the top horror films of the 2010s and asked users for theirs. I decided to expand mine into a blog post.

Climax (2018) [Psychedelic, Experimental]

Director: Gaspar Noé
Writer: Gaspar Noé

Biographical note: I was ill in 2010. Much of that year I was paralyzed. I started this blog because I stopped sleeping and would stay up all night long, watching horror movies. One of those movies was  Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void (original, 2010 post here). Noé provided a handy spoiler in his own movie when a character summarizes existence after death according to the Tibetan Book of the Dead as foreshadowing of what was to come next. Ten years later, in his 2018 film Climax, Noé provides no such road map, leaving the viewer to wander through his psychedelic maze with no directions other than their own. It was an intense trip.

The Whip and the Body (1963) [Horror Romance]

Directed by  Mario Bava (as John M. Old) 

Writing Credits Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra, and Luciano Martino

There is no doubt after watching The Whip and the Body why Mario Bava was considered a master in the use of light, color and shadow! This 55 year old film is beautiful to watch. Replete with exterior shots of sunrises and sunsets through a gray sky and over a turbulent ocean and desolate beach and moody internal shots where the subjects move through a spectrum of color with each step, this film is a treat for the eye.

Viy (1967) [Folk Horror]

Directed by Konstantin Ershov & Georgiy Kropachyov

Writing Credits Konstantin Ershov & Nikolay Gogol (story) (as Nikolai Gogol), Georgiy Kropachyov, Aleksandr Ptushko

Based on a novel by Russian author Nikolai Gogol, Viy explorers the power of faith and belief in mythology through the efforts of a young seminary student struggling to fight a vengeful witch whose path he has inadvertently crossed.

The Theta Girl (2017) [Sci Fi, Action, Horror]

Director: Christopher Bickel

Writer: David Axe

Last Friday evening, a friend sent this text, “Going to see this tonight at a Burlesque Club called Le Chat Noir. Right up your alley.” with the link to the trailer  I knew she was right before it was halfway through and I needed to watch this movie! Luckily, it is streaming on Amazon Prime and The Statesboro Psychotronic Film Society gave it a watch the next day.

Head Count (2018) [teenagers are horrible]

Director: Elle Callahan

Writers: Elle Callahan (story), Michael Nader

Better than average teen, supernatural slasher that sacrifices jump-scares and violent kills for a slowly building sense of unease that catapults into an alright finale. The story is interesting and even though there is no heavy lifting to be done, the young performers are up to the task. 

The Mist (2007) [Biblical Horror]

Directed by Frank Darabont
Writing Credits (WGA)  Frank Darabont (screenplay), Stephen King (novel)

Frank Darabont’s 2007 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella The Mist is a great example of the rare movie that asks, “What if the God of the Old Testament were to re-emerge today?” Shortly after it begins, a terrible calamity befalls a small New England town and a group of local citizens and “summer people” find themselves struggling for survival inside the supermarket that is trapped inside an other worldly mist.

Heavy Rotation Album Cover Challenge #1 The London Symphony Orchestra Performs Tommy (1972)

English Chamber Choir / London Symphony Orchestra perform Tommy (1972)

Genre     Stage & Screen, Classical, Pop/Rock

“The album challenge is simple enough to post an album cover per day for 10 days, challenging a friend per day to take the challenge & not to unfriend me for it. HAHAHAHAHAHA. As promised, today's challenge is extended to fellow Methodist alum, Michael Williams. Thank you for offering to take the torch and run with it for the 10 day 10 album marathon!“

Vengeance of the Zombies (1973) [Paul Naschy]

Vengeance of the Zombies (1973) [Paul Naschy]

La rebelión de las muertas (original title)
Director: León Klimovsky (as Leon Klimovsky)
Writers: Paul Naschy (screenplay) (as Jacinto Molina), Paul Naschy (story) (as Jacinto Molina)

León Klimovsky's Vengeance of the Zombies draws from many sources.  It presents a jaw dropping mashup of Hindu mysticism, Satanism, and Voodoo, plus references to the  Kali Death cult thuggees and a nod to the writings of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. This willingness to clump all sorts of horror sources together in one movie was a trademark of Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter Paul Naschy (who provided the screenplay). A truly admirable quality from Naschy's large body of work, as uneven or downright weird as it could get, was his love of the genre. He truly was a Glenn Danzig before there was a Glenn Danzig.

Psychomania (1973) [Adventure Horror]

Psychomania (1973) [Adventure Horror]

Director: Don Sharp
Writers: Arnaud d'Usseau, Julian Zimet (as Julian Halevy)

The other day as I was riding my bike around the lake, a line of spectral riders approached in the fog and I tried to remember the name of a movie about undead, Satan worshipping bikers terrorizing a small town. The Wild One, but from Hell. It was on a DVD from Netflix, years before they started streaming.

The Island of Lost Souls (1932) [Horror, Sci-Fi]

The Island of Lost Souls (1932) [Horror, Sci-Fi]

Directed           Erle C. Kenton

Screenplay      Waldemar Young and Philip Wylie,  H.G. Wells (novel)

This nearly 100 year old film is primitive yet effective. As is often the case with older films that lack the visual sophistication of modern movies, the screenplay is everything. The most important elements are related through dialogue, not in action. The story is mesmerizing, beginning with shipwrecked man adrift at sea and ending the revolt of pack of wild human-animal hybrids as the extract horrifying revenge on their creator.

The Cleaning Lady (2018)

The Cleaning Lady (2018) [Stalkers]

Director: Jon Knautz

Writers: Alexis Kendra & Jon Knautz

This is the second movie in what looks to be a 3 movie series dealing with relationships between women where one is in power, and the other is under her. The first was the Brazilian film Good Manners and the next one will be Greta.

For a movie that is supposed to be about women, however, screenwriters John Knautz and Alexis Kendra created their characters as 2 dimensional objects.  Most of the women are vain, selfish and superficial creatures whose prime motivations in life are eating chocolates, getting beauty treatments, shopping, and defining themselves through their relationships with men.

Good Manners (2017) [Foreign Horror]

Good Manners (2017) [Foreign Horror]

IMDB

Trailer

Back in the days before Netflix and mailable DVDs, we used to have to go to the video store to rent VHS cassettes. Luckily, the Putney, Vermont general store had a great video tape collection in the early 1990s! What was especially wonderful, besides their wall of cult favorites, was the full large of foreign movies. Since this was pre-internet days, we didn't have the luxury of looking up titles read about them. All we had was what was on the box and sometimes the boxes lied!

We learned to be wary of movies that were billed as "Triumphs," or "Laughter filled testaments to life!" And the word "Heartwarming" was meant Do not rent this video!" One such South American film, the title escapes me, bore all those labels was about a middle-aged gold digger and her desire  to plan to find a sugar daddy so she can leave her husband and ungrateful children. The climax end takes place in a remote in the jungle where the husband and the elderly sugar daddy incapacitate face each ahead of an oncoming flood. The film ends with the woman leaving both men to drown. As she rushes to safety, she comments that someone always cares for stray dogs.