At the Movies with Kane and BN

[Kane52630]

Megalopolis

I must have missed this episode of Even Stevens.

An insane 2+ hours of what is essentially one giant avant-garde sci-fi drama paralleling American society of today with the Romans in ancient times. At times it feels more like an experimental art house movie and other times it feels like an overwrought Hollywood project full of notable actors overacting their asses off. The closest thing I can compare this to is somehow a mixture of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Tinto Brass's Caligula, some of Southland Tales, and some of Ralph Fiennes's Coriolanus.

One thing I do credit with this movie is it actually looks amazing to watch and seeing it on a giant screen with the perfect A/V conditions was great. Another thing I will credit this is while I do mostly understand what it was trying to go for, it is so gonzo and cuckoo that I was never bored by it. It's also so visually bizarre and out there that you don't often get to see it in a movie like this so I also got to credit Francis Ford Coppola for pushing whatever thing he had going on.

All that being said, this movie is all over the place in a not-good way. It's intentionally esoteric and very heady in making philosophical speeches that continue to bash you over the head of its ideas and what it thinks of itself. The only character genuinely liked in this is Aubrey Plaza who is just acting like Aubrey Plaza as if she was pretending to be a TV personality/reporter. There is a crazy Shia LaBeouf performance and a crazy Jon Voight performance that I can give or take. Everyone else like Adam Driver & Giancarlo Esposito is mostly taking it very seriously.

Overall, I can't say I hate it but I also can't say I really enjoyed it aside from the wild and old-school visuals. It's definitely a movie that will have a second life and get a cult following. To me, this is kinda split right in the middle.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

My Old Ass

I'm sure half of the people on letterboxd probably have their room decorated full of Saoirse Ronan's red carpet photos.

A really heartfelt coming-of-age drama that happens to have an interesting almost sci-fi hook to it. Megan Park continues to give these kinds of movies an extra depth to them so whenever some cliche things do happen in this, it means a little bit more. I did really like the start of this and the comedy mostly comes through when Aubrey Plaza shows up as the older version of the main character. What the trailer doesn't suggest is Aubrey Plaza isn't in this for that long and only really shows up twice. Maisy Stella takes up most of the movie and she does carry it really well. It's a movie that gets deep about being young, regrets, and letting ago fears about growing old. I also thought the reveal at the end makes the movie that much better and the performances between Maisy Stella & Aubrey Plaza were really good. Overall, I dug it a lot, it's definitely not the pure comedy that you think it is from the trailer.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Wild Robot

I feel like that beaver should have charged those other animals a fee to save the island.

A pretty well-done animated feature from Dreamworks that actually did something creative and new for once. Much like PIXAR, this does a good job of elevating the material to a point where all audiences can enjoy and get something out of it. It's definitely got shades of Wall-E, The Iron Giant, and even How to Train Your Dragon with some other movies like Big Hero 6 and Land Before Time. The voice acting is perfect to the point where you at first don't recognize the cast because they are doing such a good job. Lupita Nyong'o and Pedro Pascal are fantastic in this. The movie has a distinct painted style that makes it look like a storybook come to life in the best way possible. The music by Kris Bowers is also really well done. I will say I think a lot of the movie does play into familiar territory and the movies that remind me of this did it slightly better. Overall, definitely one of the better animated movies out there.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Oddity

Me the whole time while spooky sh** started happening: "How much do you think that house goes for on Zillow or to rent with AirBnB?"

So good. It's a fantastic premise for a horror movie that does a great job of capturing mood, atmosphere, and strangeness in the classic literary sense. I love how they were able to take you in directions you didn't expect at first and they did a great job using the environment and layout of this house to its benefit. The performances are fantastic, particularly with Carolyn Bracken who carries the film and I thought Gwilym Lee, Tadhg Murphy, and Caroline Menton were really good in this too. They also do a good job using effective jump scares that add to the plot of the film and while I guess the twist early on, it still doesn't negate the filmmaking and the story to me. Overall, loved it and it's a shame I missed this in theaters.
4/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Handling the Undead

I'm sure the alternative title was The Worst Person In The World Handling The Zombie Apocalypse.

It's a pretty atmospheric and somber take on the zombie sub-genre that is probably not for everyone. It's essentially a collection of tales set in Norway from three different stories and how all three handle seeing someone they love come to life. It moves at a glacier pace but I was really digging the quiet atmosphere that takes up most of the movie and I really liked the cinematography. With the minimal dialogue, this could have been a silent film. The closest thing this reminded me of was another zombie flick called Maggie which starred Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin where it was all about dealing with grief and saying goodbye to someone they cared for but under the mask of a zombie apocalypse. It was an interesting choice to have both Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie who were fantastic in The World Person in The World but they never get to meet in this. But I thought they were also pretty good in this as well. When it comes to the horror aspect, I thought the makeup job on the zombies was really effective and disturbing. Overall, while I personally really enjoyed this, it's definitely not a movie if you're expecting full-on zombie action or even minimal zombie action, you'll probably be bored by it.
3.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Salem's Lot (1979)

Tobe Hooper really knows how to find and build the perfect abandoned house with a creepy Southern-style porch filled with bird feathers.

I thought I'd finally check this out before seeing the remake and it really reached my expectations as an early-period Stephen King movie that was made for TV. I never read the book but I thought as a movie it was pretty well done and so obvious how "Stephen King" this is with having Ben Mears & Mark Petrie's characters be the older and younger versions of himself. With it being a TV miniseries or a 3-hour movie, you do see what subplots they were able to expand and give enough attention to like the truck driver or the cop. I really enjoyed how it moved at a very steady pace and getting to know the main characters more than if it was just a short 90-minute movie and the acting was pretty good for the most part. Tobe Hooper does a great job of giving atmosphere and tension in a way that takes you by surprise at times just like with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I also love how the movie works as a vampire movie but also as a commentary about isolation and how small towns suck the life out of you. Overall, it's a great and suspenseful vampire flick for the late 70s that checks a lot of my boxes.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

'Salem's Lot (2024)

ngl that PB&J looked amazing especially since I was hungry while watching this.

I can see why this was shelved for over a year. It's more or less what I expected this to be, it's a noble attempt at making a modern remake that gets some things right and some things wrong. You can tell right away this was recut and re-edited multiple times because much of the story and characters were either compounded together or let go entirely. Some decisions made sense while other decisions felt so contrived and awkward. I will say I thought the majority of the movie kinda works and that has to do with the director Gary Dauberman who's got a spotty track record but has some interesting ideas. This does feel a little bit more ambitious than your recent Blumhouse-style horror but it also has some cheapness at times to the filmmaking (which doesn't help if you shoot the movie so flat digitally). Of the cast, I thought Lewis Pullman, Bill Camp, Jordan Preston Carter, and Alfre Woodard weren't bad. Makenzie Leigh, who I remember from Gotham, was a bit all over the place in her performance but it was interesting and it was cool to see William Sadler again. For a vampire flick, there are some cool moments, especially towards the end that were interesting but the story overall felt so unfinished and none of the characters outside of Lewis Pullman got enough screen time. Overall, it adds up to being just average at best.
2.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

V/H/S/Beyond

Chet Hanks lookalike jumpscare iykyk.

Still ever grateful this series is still with us and this year I really like they've decided to go with a theme instead of picking a year and for the most part it's all sci-fi/aliens. I will say a couple of these don't really fit the theme and one in particular doesn't really work at all. The budget continues to grow even more than the last one and with a couple of these, they've got big budget blockbuster ambitions. Just like with 85, I also really liked the frame narrative/wrap-around this time around where it's like one of those History Channel shows that discusses aliens.


Abduction/Adduction
It's the wrap-around segment by Jay Cheel that is basically a TV show from the History Channel like Ancient Aliens except it focuses on one story that continues throughout the movie. I really like how they actually got the guys that would be doing this kind of show like Mitch Horowitz and the YouTubers from Corridor Crew. I did like the build-up and the overall execution of the final part even though I kinda wanted more. The design of the alien was pretty cool.
3.5/5


Stork
This one by Jordan Downey was basically their big action horror segment and it was clear he wanted to be the Timo Tjahjanto of this movie who did Safe Haven and The Subject. It's very much like watching old-school Resident Evil meets Hardcore Henry but my only problem is the story is kinda weak and the characters weren't all that interesting to begin with. Still, as far as action goes, this does deliver and some video game moments in this kinda of work.
3/5


Dream Girl
This segment by Virat Pal is the Bollywood one that goes nuts. Similarly to movies like The Substance, I like how it leans more into the satire and commentary about celebrity and paparazzi, and where it goes is pretty well done. I will say I think they could have played the horror part a bit longer and a little bit more explanation of what happened but overall, it was pretty solid. I did like that they actually went all out and tried to make a real Bollywood dance sequence with a catchy song.
3.5/5

Live and Let Dive
This is probably their most expensive segment by far. It's directed by Justin Martinez who's done these anthologies before and is the other member of Radio Silence. The skydiving/UFO setup is so genius and so well thought out that the payoff was even more insane. This is basically Cloverfield meets The Blair Witch Project and it's the one that actually tries to be scary and the jumpscares are pretty effective. I will admit some of the CGI work was sometimes lackluster but for a horror anthology made for streaming, it's still pretty impressive. The only downside I have about this one is some of the actors they got are pretty awful. I really wish this one could be remade as a full-length feature with a Cloverfield-sized budget with better stars.
4/5


Fur Babies
This one is the only one that really doesn't make any sense why it's here other than they got Justin Long and his brother co-directing this. It's the one segment that isn't all that good aside from the taxidermist who plays it like Annie Wilkes. It's almost as if Justin Long still can't escape his time doing Tusk so he kinda made another one like this. The actors who played the animal activist were playing it like lazy parodies and the sfx were laughable not in a good way even if it was meant to be laughable. Overall, this is a stinker.
2/5


Stowaway
They sort of saved the best for last and this one by Kate Siegel was pretty interesting. For one, they got a really solid actress played by Alanah Pearce who kinda plays it like Heather Donahue in The Blair Witch Project, and using the Phoenix Lights phenomena as a backstory much like the other found footage movie Phoenix Forgotten was really well done. This is another one that could be done as full-length feature and I really like where it went with the story and the backstory as well. It's also got some crazy visual effects that work and having it go between color and infrared was pretty cool.
4/5

If it weren't for Fur Babies V/H/S/Beyond would probably rival the better ones like 2 and 94 but this kinda falls in the middle.
3.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Joker: Folie à Deux

Some immediate thoughts and questions as I was coming out of the theater:

1. Why didn't we get to see the crappy TV movie that they were always talking about?
2. Why didn't Catherine Keener put Arthur in the sunken place during the trial?
3. Why do the Saints go marching in, do they want to be in that number?

As someone who really loves the first one as an Elseworlds type of story going into this, what a strange movie that I kind of like in parts that ultimately feel like it was spinning its wheels the moments it started after its introduction. After 20-30 minutes in, you get the feeling Todd Philips didn't really have a script or clear vision in mind after he was given a blank check by Warner Bros to make this sequel. All he had was two things written on the whiteboard: A pseudo-Arkham Asylum movie in the vein of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and a courtroom drama in the vein of Primal Fear with an almost documentary-style of those Charles Manson interviews and someone else came in and said "What if it was also a semi-musical like La La Land?" This movie is basically a collection of scenes that try to be all kinds of things that are seemingly well-made, but linger on for too long and have no real cohesion to the overall story. Especially when the musical acts start appearing, it's almost entirely in Arthur Fleck's head and it rambles on with the drama even when the scenes themselves isolated are extremely well acted and extremely well shot.

I also don't know why they decided to not give Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn equal billing because she is not in this enough to justify it being a romantic drama like some of those pretentious French new wave films that he thinks he's trying to pay homage to. The most damning thing most people will walk away from this is it's mostly a meandering courtroom drama that is built in a way that you constantly are reminded of the first movie in every way. This is more a Joker 1.5 movie than a real sequel that deals with Harley Quinn.

All that being said, the most positive thing I have to say aside from the acting from Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga is seeing this in 70mm IMAX was great. I do have to credit Lawrence Sher for shooting the hell out of this even more so with the first Joker movie, every time they show an exterior shot, my jaw was on the floor. There are some ideas that they do try to explore that I thought were interesting even though it'll piss off a section of fans and in a better movie that's more structured, those ideas would have been well executed in a true Elseworlds-type story. I thought the ending was also pretty good on multiple levels mainly with what it implies and looking at how everyone is dog-piling in on this movie, it's probably for the best.

Overall, it's one of those movies where if you go in already hating on it, nothing in this movie will really sway you the other way and I somewhat understand the hate for it. For me, this is kind of right down the middle, I didn't hate it or love it or even bored by it. There are parts of this movie that I really did enjoy watching on a filmmaking and acting level, but there is no story to be had, and what little story it does have to offer, it falls short. Also, wild tangent but I always get a chuckle every time DC brings in Looney Tunes.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Hold Your Breath

So cool of this movie to end with Avicii's Wake Me Up music video.

Pretty average at best. It's essentially a psychological horror movie set during the 1930s Dust Bowl that has shades of The Babadook, Smile, and The Wind but none of it reaches that level. It has a very typical Sarah Paulson role and I thought she was good but nothing about it was all that interesting. It's a movie that can't decide if it wants to be a monster movie, a character period drama, or a Stephen King/Carrie movie. It's yet another movie where filmmakers don't really care for the horror aspect and use the trauma troupe at every turn to explain everything. Still, I thought some of the performances worked like Sarah Paulson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Annaleigh Ashford, and especially Amiah Miller who kinda gets a forgettable role but she tries her best to carry it when she has to. Also, some of the shots and creepy moments almost worked. Overall, not bad but nothing too memorable when we've got so many movies like these that come and go.
2.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Guillermo del Toro was probably watching this like it was American Pie or Girl Next Door.

Pretty good overall and it's interesting watching this because it's essentially the main precursor to the next generation of horror films like Jaws & Alien when it comes to the structure, themes, and scares. It's also funny for me to come back every October to watch the next Universal Monster series because you can definitely see the evolution of filmmaking and culture within the span from the 30s to the 50s. Thematically very much like King Kong, it uses these white explorers to find something they shouldn't have in the name of science, and that something fights back. It's still a simple yet effective monster movie that ultimately gets you by being afraid of going into the water. Some great directing by Jack Arnold who uses some early day slasher moments that so many slashers in the later years would use all the time. The cast was mostly decent and Julia Adams is the obvious star who gets all the best moments. Overall, fun movie even though I wouldn't call it my favorite among the Univeral Monster movies.
3.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Revenge of the Creature

I like how at some point, Gill-Man said f*** this and left the girl on the sand after he realized the entire police department was chasing after him.

More or less the same in quality as the first one which is kinda interesting. This in a way completes its King Kong themes from the last movie by having Gill-Man get captured and force him to become a sideshow attraction. I thought it started off pretty slow and repetitive and it was funny how Nestor Paiva shows back up in this still playing a racist caricature of a South American sail captain and somehow his crew members are still alive (I think?). It wasn't until Gill-Man was freed from his chain that the movie came alive again. John Agar and Lori Nelson who play the leads were fine but nothing too remarkable. There's also a quick shower scene that I thought was interesting that definitely predates Psycho even though the context is different and the follow-through is not the same. The whole examining the exploitation of wildlife is definitely the focal point of this movie more so than the last one... which works more than it doesn't especially by the time you get to the second half. Overall, it was pretty enjoyable for a 50s scifi horror.
3.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

The Creature Walks Among Us

My boy Gill said "I was a wimp before Anchor Arms! Now I'm a jerk and everybody loves me!"

It's interesting how this was the end of the Creature trilogy when they were seemingly ready to make more with how this one ended. I thought it had some moments but having this one be about a dude who's jealous and insecure about his wife being around other men was kinda disappointing. Still, I did like where they went with Gill-Man and his transformation into something more human and there are some interesting action/horror scenes that I didn't expect. Granted, this movie made him more like Frankenstein's Monster than anything else and there are some odd moments they introduce that never come into play later in the movie like Leigh Snowden seemingly like hunting sharks with a shotgun. Overall, it's decent. It's gonna be interesting to see where the James Wan remake will take this because it's definitely got some potential as a concept for something cool and exciting.
3/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)​

 

[Kane52630]

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

It was really wild when Van Helsing showed up at the end and asked The Wolf Man about the Universal Monster Initiative.

Surprisingly, it's really damn good if you don't come in with expectations of seeing Frankenstein's Monster facing off against the Wolf Man for the entire runtime of the movie. Even though I was saving the crossovers for this year, I really should have watched this one during my Wolf Man mini marathon last year because this feels like the only real sequel to the 1941 Wolf Man movie and the sequel to The Ghost of Frankenstein. I actually love how this starts making you think you're gonna watch Frankenstein's side of the story when it was really Larry Talbot's graveyard. This movie is entirely built on Lon Chaney's performance as Larry Talbot and The Wolf Man who carries the film and who gets more screen time than Frankenstein's Monster and deservingly so. He was fantastic in this and to me was better here than in his original Wolf Man movie... which sucks because unfortunately, I think Bela Lugosi's Frankenstein's Monster was completely miscast and almost played him like the parodies we would see years later. I also really like how they managed to bring back Maleva and Elsa Frankenstein and weave them into the story in such a great way. The movie itself is a great melding of both Monster movies and the directing and cinematography were excellent. Overall, aside from Bela Lugosi dropping the ball, this is such a great movie that laid the groundwork for future IP crossover movies.
4/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

House of Frankenstein

I like how at a certain point I was watching The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Ilonka and Daniel.

It's such an interesting crossover movie with no real heroic protagonist with some stumbles in the early to middle act. For a movie called House of Frankenstein, I did like how they managed to get Dr. Frankenstein without bringing him back from the dead. Boris Karloff as Dr. Gustav Niemann basically plays the new Dr. Frankenstein who's hellbent on recreating his experiments at any cost and he's got his Fritz/Ygor with Daniel played by J. Carrol Naish. While I would have loved it if Karloff played Frankenstein again, I did like what they did with his character. As for Frankenstein's Monster, Glenn Strange did a much better job playing him than Bela Lugosi. But I have to say, John Carradine as Count Dracula felt so off in this movie and almost played it for laughs. On paper, I did like how they included Dracula at the start but what they did with him felt like the weakest part of the movie. That being said, the best part of the movie is when they bring back Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man who does a great job giving depth to the character and bringing the emotion out of the movie, and where it ended with his character was pretty well done. I also love everything about how that final act went, it's probably the most action pack of the Univeral Monster movies. Overall, not quite as great as Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man but it's mostly solid. I'm more curious to see how this all plays out in House of Dracula.
3.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

House of Dracula

It's so wild to me that the only modifier they made to have a female Igor is just to give a dolled-up actress a hunchback that looks like she stuffed two small pillows behind her back and called it a day.

Interesting end to what seems to be the official ending for the Universal Monster's core members and it kinda ends on a whimper a bit. It's by far the shortest movie with an hour and 7 minute runtime and even then it almost lingers for too long. There are parts that I did like when it went to Franz Edelmann going mad who feels like he's the main character of the movie and I thought John Carradine did a better job here as Dracula even though it is a more English version compared to Bela Lugosi. Lon Chaney as Wolf Man was also good but he wasn't as interesting as a character compared to the previous two. Because the movie is roughly an hour long, a lot of the plot felt underbaked and rushed. Still, I thought it ended interesting enough and there is some cool directing work that would have been even better if they had more story to tell. Overall, it's just slightly above average.
3/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

Azrael

You know Samara Weaving is a true scream queen when she doesn't even have sound coming out when she screams for it to be extremely effective.

A fantastic mix of post-apocalyptic action with biblical horror done on an indie horror budget. It's directed by E. L. Katz and written by Simon Barrett so it has a lot of that early 2010s indie horror style that I kinda miss and it's got a great sense of sound design with a cool synth score playing every now and then. The movie itself reminds me of A Quiet Place, The Descent, and The Devil's Rain and because there is no dialogue, it moves in an interesting way where we are learning about the world as it goes along. As usual, Samara Weaving is incredible, and it was so great to see she was able to show 50 different emotions without having to say a single word. I thought most of the movie worked really well but mainly I thought the ending was so well done in a year of horror movies that end so drastically that involves something similar. Overall, I really dug the hell out of it.
3.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

Saturday Night

ngl when they had Willem Dafoe and JK Simmons sharing a scene together, I immediately thought of the "wtf, they acting like nothing even happened" meme.

A fun and eccentric comedy thriller by Jason Reitman about the first night of SNL that is less concerned about making things super accurate in a biographical/historical sense and more concerned about getting the feel and anxiety of crafting a show right up the minute it airs with all the hurdles it takes to get it made. The movie operates like Uncut Gems meets The Muppet Show. It does get a lot of what was going on and what seemed like what was going on behind the scenes during that time in that first episode and season of SNL with all these comedians, staff, and producers that are compressed into this walk-and-talk framework.

For a lot of SNL and TV historians, it'll be more challenging to watch considering a lot of what happened in that first episode didn't really happen exactly in that way. I will say I thought the entire cast was brilliant and in some cases were so perfectly cast to their real-life counterpart like Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase and Matthew Rhys as George Carlin. Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, and Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol were fantastic in this, and is mostly the center of the story as chaotic as it may look. I also really dug how well Nicholas Braun pulled off playing both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson seamlessly without making it a big deal that one actor was playing two distinct roles.

It's definitely a movie made for me who wants that historical NY-ness of the 70s with an entertaining thrill ride of creative chaos even though you know how it ends and what the legacy ended up being for SNL. Overall, it was fun and fantastic. It gets the essence of making a show like SNL more than it doesn't and probably works better on a rewatch.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Terrifier 3

Say what you will about Art the Clown, he cleans up and washes the dishes when he's done.

Yet another messed-up entry into the grindhouse-level horror that pushes the envelope of what it can get away with. The pivot to making it a Christmas theme slasher is pretty much the natural progression of what to do next other than Thanksgiving. There are some inspirations and obvious direct nods to movies like Black Christmas & Silent Night Deadly Night which still works. The opening scene is pretty brutal and sets the tone of what the movie is capable of doing without any remorse whatsoever. Right away you can tell this has a much larger budget from the cameras they're using and the color grading to the scope, special effects, and characters.

I thought the acting was definitely a step up from the previous two movies and it feels more like any ordinary Hollywood horror movie. Lauren LaVera is fantastic in this and mostly carries the movie when it's not about the kills. It's got shades of Scream and New Nightmare when they were exploring her trauma plus the commentary about people and podcasters being obsessed with serial killers was well done. David Howard Thornton continues to be great as always as Art but I thought they did a good job giving Samantha Scaffidi her shine to be the sadistic mouthpiece for the two. I was also so happy when a certain horror effects legend showed up as a cameo because you couldn't help but think of him while watching this series.

As far as the mean kills go, I thought three of them in particular stood out the most and they almost reached the levels of that infamous kill in the second movie. I think the only thing that keeps this away from being "better" than 2 is it doesn't uncomfortably linger on the gore as long as you think it does and it feels sleeker in the final edit. Still, I enjoyed it and I'm still curious to see where this plot goes after finally getting some questions answered from the last movie. Overall, while it might not beat Terrifier 2 in the most insane kill ever made, as a novelty this was still a fun and disturbing slasher that still rarely gets made anymore.
4/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
Day 13: Terrifier 3 (4/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

It’s What’s Inside

I'm 99.9% sure the actor James Morosini must have body-swapped Jake Gyllenhaal in real life at some point because it's so dead on, it's scary.

What an incredible sci-fi thriller that manages to take a familiar concept like a body swap movie and elevate it to a whole new level. This movie is pretty much this year's Bodies Bodies Bodies for me in terms of using a classic whodunit like Clue in a modern way with some humor. It's doing an 8 person body swap with a bunch of friends in their 20s who all have complicated histories with one another.

While on paper it might look like a straight horror movie, it's way more of a paranoid sci-fi thriller with some comedy on the side with stakes and concepts that can be super horrific in a real-world way. What makes this movie work is the entire cast who manages to give a double or even triple layer of character development and performance as they swap bodies multiple times. In particular, I thought David W. Thompson, Alycia Debnam-Carey, and Brittany O'Grady were fantastic in this.

The friendship drama almost feels like you're watching one of the better seasons of The Real World or American Vandal and it works entirely because of the direction by Greg Jardin who also wrote and edited it. The style is one of the best parts about it where it looks very stylized and colorful and almost all the exposition and following who's who was brilliantly well done and clever. Overall, it might be one of my favorite movies of the year and I can not wait to see what Greg Jardin does next.
4.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
Day 13: Terrifier 3 (4/5)
Day 14: It's What's Inside (4.5/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

Ed Wood

[Manifesting a Celebrity Deathmatch episode where Lugosi fights Karloff in a casket match and The Undertaker is the special guest referee]

Incredible movie. Lived up to my expectations and then some. It's a biopic about Ed Wood set in the 50s that does the right thing and focuses on the themes and characters with a directorial style rather than trying so hard to depict a super-accurate recreation of real-life figures and events. For Tim Burton, this pretty much feels more like a biopic about himself as a director getting recognized in Hollywood than just about Ed Wood and you can see it as it goes along. I absolutely love the look of it and the direction of making it feel like a lost film from the 30s or 40s and even more so an obvious ode to Orson Welles.

Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, and surprisingly Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller were fantastic in this. There are also some great supporting cast performances like Patricia Arquette, Vincent D'Onofrio as Orson Welles, and Juliet Landau who looks just like Aubrey Plaza. But I will say I thought Bill Murray felt like a miscast.

It's a movie that does a great job showcasing a behind-the-scenes look at how indie filmmaking gets made, gets by, and gets funding at the time, and even more so as a filmmaker who makes crappy films. It also does a great job as well of using a lot of these historical actors and filmmakers in a fun and interesting way that does not feel boring whatsoever. Overall, it's for sure one of Tim Burton's best films and it's up there for a reason.
4.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
Day 13: Terrifier 3 (4/5)
Day 14: It's What's Inside (4.5/5)
Day 15: Ed Wood (4.5/5)
​

 

[Kane52630]

Frankenhooker

It's been a few hours since I watched it but I still can't shake the idea of someone inventing SUPER CRACK off-hand that makes people explode. Incredible. We used to be a country.

What a fantastic sleazy horror film with a brain that only the guy who directed Basket Case could make. It basically takes Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and has it set in the Reagan 80s that also has commentary built-in even if it's not anywhere near sophisticated.

Just like with Basket Case, I was surprised how well they were able to make the movie so grimy and sleazy at that B movie level. The movie itself centers more on Jeffrey Franken who is basically Frankenstein and I thought James Lorinz gave a pretty good performance that reminded me of Jeffrey Combs in Re-Animator.

It's got some insane moments as the movie gets more unhinged and fun. Patty Mullen who is fantastic in this shows up a little bit in the beginning but when she becomes Frankenhooker in the last 25 minutes, the movie shifts for the better, and my only complaint would be is the movie needed more of her. Overall, it's right up there with some of my favorite exploitation horror films.
4/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
Day 13: Terrifier 3 (4/5)
Day 14: It's What's Inside (4.5/5)
Day 15: Ed Wood (4.5/5)
Day 16: Frankenhooker (4/5)
​

 

[chintai80]

Ed Wood

[Manifesting a Celebrity Deathmatch episode where Lugosi fights Karloff in a casket match and The Undertaker is the special guest referee]

Incredible movie. Lived up to my expectations and then some. It's a biopic about Ed Wood set in the 50s that does the right thing and focuses on the themes and characters with a directorial style rather than trying so hard to depict a super-accurate recreation of real-life figures and events. For Tim Burton, this pretty much feels more like a biopic about himself as a director getting recognized in Hollywood than just about Ed Wood and you can see it as it goes along. I absolutely love the look of it and the direction of making it feel like a lost film from the 30s or 40s and even more so an obvious ode to Orson Welles.

Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, and surprisingly Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller were fantastic in this. There are also some great supporting cast performances like Patricia Arquette, Vincent D'Onofrio as Orson Welles, and Juliet Landau who looks just like Aubrey Plaza. But I will say I thought Bill Murray felt like a miscast.

It's a movie that does a great job showcasing a behind-the-scenes look at how indie filmmaking gets made, gets by, and gets funding at the time, and even more so as a filmmaker who makes crappy films. It also does a great job as well of using a lot of these historical actors and filmmakers in a fun and interesting way that does not feel boring whatsoever. Overall, it's for sure one of Tim Burton's best films and it's up there for a reason.
4.5/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
Day 13: Terrifier 3 (4/5)
Day 14: It's What's Inside (4.5/5)
Day 15: Ed Wood (4.5/5)
​

i feel this and the disaster artist can be watched as companion pieces to each other.

 

[Kane52630]

i feel this and the disaster artist can be watched as companion pieces to each other.

I thought exactly that half way through watching it.

 

[Kane52630]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2

You know you're headed in the right direction to Austin, TX when you start seeing multiple Chop Tops along the way.

Fun stuff. It's a truly high-80s camp slasher and I can see why many people who were expecting the original again weren't into this one. While the original is a 70s grungy cinéma vérité style horror slasher that truly puts you into that situation, this sequel takes that concept and totally changes the vibe to be more fun and fantastical.

I will say I thought the first half did a better job depicting what Texas actually looked and sounded like more than the original. Tobe Hooper really brought out the "Keep Austin Weird" vibe into the story, the sets, and the characters like Chop Top and Stretch who share my favorite scene in the movie when he shows up at the radio station.

Caroline Williams, Dennis Hopper, Jim Siedow, and Bill Moseley were fantastic in this and I thought Caroline Williams was a better final girl than Marilyn Burns from the first one but then again they're both in vastly different movies. Also, Dennis Hopper can do no wrong. As for Leatherface himself, he almost takes a backseat in some cases as the center of the movie, but I thought what they did with him was also interesting and different from the first one like that shimmy chainsaw move.

There are also some incredible gore effects from Tom Savini that take it to a new level from the first one. Overall, it's a fun movie that is definitely misunderstood and built differently by design, and how can I say no to a chainsaw duel? I can't!
4/5

31 Days of Horror Marathon
Day 1: Oddity (4/5)
Day 2: Handling the Undead (3.5/5)
Day 3: 'Salem's Lot (2024) (2.5/5)
Day 4: V/H/S/Beyond (3.5/5)
Day 5: Hold Your Breath (2.5/5)
Day 6: Creature from the Black Lagoon (3.5/5)
Day 7: Revenge of the Creature (3.5/5)
Day 8: The Creature Walks Among Us (3/5)
Day 9: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (4/5)
Day 10: House of Frankenstein (3.5/5)
Day 11: House of Dracula (3/5)
Day 12: Azrael (3.5/5)
Day 13: Terrifier 3 (4/5)
Day 14: It's What's Inside (4.5/5)
Day 15: Ed Wood (4.5/5)
Day 16: Frankenhooker (4/5)
Day 17: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (4/5)
​