tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72367751049709103442024-03-17T23:59:33.327-03:00bloody terrordiscovering today's trash before it's tomorrow's artDave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-87687290919073981672023-12-18T11:31:00.008-04:002024-01-12T15:32:50.333-04:00Godzilla Minus One<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYG49dHDbGSTvtoHxEmPasaAk-bljnlbJhFGa4oWzUrHCGCQxYIDlXdYXM2R5yI64sCIEyRUXNZIdynjnhu5O91vR3seRYz2A_H8fmElWQ3xgFyeqEkKVeBxZ1iLZ0mzoV1S38a2mIN9bDQH-U07-nWEApYKyjE4tsricir5KYMZWu4nRvkcoifL90KA/s3672/w.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="3672" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYG49dHDbGSTvtoHxEmPasaAk-bljnlbJhFGa4oWzUrHCGCQxYIDlXdYXM2R5yI64sCIEyRUXNZIdynjnhu5O91vR3seRYz2A_H8fmElWQ3xgFyeqEkKVeBxZ1iLZ0mzoV1S38a2mIN9bDQH-U07-nWEApYKyjE4tsricir5KYMZWu4nRvkcoifL90KA/w400-h174/w.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505;">Uncertain whether or not <i>Godzilla Minus One</i> would make it to a screen in my province, my husband, two friends</span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505;"> and I drove the 164+ kms to Moncton to see it<i> </i>on the big screen, and I’m glad we did.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505;" /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I’ve made the trek to M-town to see a movie exactly four times now — to see <i>The Devil’s Rejects</i>, to see <i>My Bloody Valentine 3-D</i> (before we had 3-D capability here in Charlottetown), to see <i>The Witch</i>, and now for <i>G-1</i>.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGD1AQ_cC-Y07tMisMnNvjYg68tpQlAuBsCgM3dyMBkKbzHjln2ClkeG6nV8SW2ubPCa-j0EvTl7E_BAqzVfXKi53eiaW-6JhZdOd-j2RsPteBX_hWWJXH9Md_jWb8g6U2LhwNjBT4vwlsja_7iUVpyi2MXmuuRUCoklMKGNPpk_DibKUHogsCW5-uJ1Q/s2069/fmj94rarmrax0yhkhwjt.png"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="2069" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGD1AQ_cC-Y07tMisMnNvjYg68tpQlAuBsCgM3dyMBkKbzHjln2ClkeG6nV8SW2ubPCa-j0EvTl7E_BAqzVfXKi53eiaW-6JhZdOd-j2RsPteBX_hWWJXH9Md_jWb8g6U2LhwNjBT4vwlsja_7iUVpyi2MXmuuRUCoklMKGNPpk_DibKUHogsCW5-uJ1Q/w400-h150/fmj94rarmrax0yhkhwjt.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve been a lifelong Big G fan — He’s my favourite movie “creature”. I think that he was borne out of Japan’s need to </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;">work through the radioactive trauma of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is both heartbreaking and fascinating. My Chinese Zodiac sign is the dragon, and although Big G is a version of a dinosaur, he’ll alway be closely associated with dragon mythos in my mind. When I was diagnosed with blood cancer, I quickly settled on Godzilla as my symbol for my fight against this disease. He has been tattooed on my body — twice. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "system-ui", ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQQM1Yubm4Euq0bBXWTPnX086LOLa8ok8kcM5VIZaINIz86EkVSZx7E6I0AU6IT4J0C3HspQgeRjf49j4iOvAE_A4b5qiRtSQy6kR6uIidcN8vG5S0RFIfcQSDzsa1Y7JVRZVF4xV0YgCS7IG9cl1xuGjgb5DZlrRetwuxKgUX3Br3zJyaVx3CLABiAT0/s4181/Godzilla%20Tattoos.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3235" data-original-width="4181" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQQM1Yubm4Euq0bBXWTPnX086LOLa8ok8kcM5VIZaINIz86EkVSZx7E6I0AU6IT4J0C3HspQgeRjf49j4iOvAE_A4b5qiRtSQy6kR6uIidcN8vG5S0RFIfcQSDzsa1Y7JVRZVF4xV0YgCS7IG9cl1xuGjgb5DZlrRetwuxKgUX3Br3zJyaVx3CLABiAT0/w400-h310/Godzilla%20Tattoos.png" width="400" /></a>
</span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As a kid I “thrilled” (yes, that’s the right word) to Saturday matinee screenings of Godzilla flicks. I enjoy the campy later Showa Era Godzilla movies, taken on their own terms. I’ve enjoyed watching his evolution (and sometimes de-evolution) both as a character and in creature design. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left;"><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMJPq16hdAJjomdPQttpZI9Msb5ufNac4Q0ggfEC4H5k7N8FgaPQURPsnZmlJ_iFQCud12u9xZXHOmEjMMpZFzuzo6ilGi5N1AXWeNlbXv-ByQhxj8bpfQ5pXQB2U9xn-aCQ90_EBWO-kXxmJ8M-KodcXz3M82yWCetfzNEXfBOIxjPohWDMr2nyGVfE/s1106/King%20Kong.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1106" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMJPq16hdAJjomdPQttpZI9Msb5ufNac4Q0ggfEC4H5k7N8FgaPQURPsnZmlJ_iFQCud12u9xZXHOmEjMMpZFzuzo6ilGi5N1AXWeNlbXv-ByQhxj8bpfQ5pXQB2U9xn-aCQ90_EBWO-kXxmJ8M-KodcXz3M82yWCetfzNEXfBOIxjPohWDMr2nyGVfE/w400-h234/King%20Kong.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">All that to say that I probably react more intensely to a Godzilla flick than the causal viewer. With that in mind, Godzilla Minus One gave me all that I hope for in a Big G flick, and more — Characters to care about, honestly felt emotion — it’s possible that as a gay person, the concept of “found” or “chosen” family hits harder, awesome” (in the true and original sense of the word) mayhem, unobtrusive nods to the original 1954 Godzilla flick, suspense, social commentary, original themes neatly explored, a master class in how to use CGI, and this — the filmmakers were able to make Godzilla scary (no mean feat, as I’ve never found giant creatures a particularly upsetting notion). </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Much, if not all of the film’s success can be attributed to Takashi Yamazaki who wrote, directed and provided the visual effects for G-1. Leave it to the Japanese to give us the best films about “their” creature. I think they understand Big G’s appeal, history and fluid meaning, and the weight (no pun intended) that he carries best. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As we were leaving the theatre, one of my travelling companions and I had a discussion about an occurrence that takes place towards the end of the film that he wasn’t sure how he felt about. I get where he’s coming from, but for me, there’s this — If you don’t live, you don’t know what you’re missing, no matter how improbable. In coming to terms with Japan’s notion of death as honour here, it makes perfect sense to me.</span></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4Id_UXw10NWSuOE7-hFUwT0NMAQ_Ake0XnnX-B7juHgS5ImjJRac6tB-vh71M6jUKAonEj8vop96TiVoCcbbtuY3QIvP4M8-fqfmbL4-dGBzmZ5Ik36nyEeaweyY_zZye9whEjEPJDmjhSN7ldoSZk2Z0MHkret1s59Aj0sOFUtYYa0CjmLnEHE7IXQ/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4Id_UXw10NWSuOE7-hFUwT0NMAQ_Ake0XnnX-B7juHgS5ImjJRac6tB-vh71M6jUKAonEj8vop96TiVoCcbbtuY3QIvP4M8-fqfmbL4-dGBzmZ5Ik36nyEeaweyY_zZye9whEjEPJDmjhSN7ldoSZk2Z0MHkret1s59Aj0sOFUtYYa0CjmLnEHE7IXQ/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-4063055212877988512023-09-06T13:53:00.011-03:002023-09-25T13:33:46.215-03:00RELEASE ME 3: More Movies That Need a (Decent) Region 1/A Release<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="font-family: Times; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Begotten</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">(USA, 1989; Dir: E. Elias Merhige)</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7B8asaBlM66MdY34YkSTNq8GuAPnnaaYhAbIY6H2l6ii4_Cvf0I25wO7lAC8EYK9wr7uj50n28m9IaOWs8K8jMtsS97oSTBzIiU3EKNKCeaphKoMEaXruA5A_kpkedPJsud3cbr_SguQdf8BpjaEJkDIPVdS-1YFtP-jpGJR9RMD5SaH7iR_68WZuCWc/s2136/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-21%20at%2012.38.17%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2136" data-original-width="1194" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7B8asaBlM66MdY34YkSTNq8GuAPnnaaYhAbIY6H2l6ii4_Cvf0I25wO7lAC8EYK9wr7uj50n28m9IaOWs8K8jMtsS97oSTBzIiU3EKNKCeaphKoMEaXruA5A_kpkedPJsud3cbr_SguQdf8BpjaEJkDIPVdS-1YFtP-jpGJR9RMD5SaH7iR_68WZuCWc/w358-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-21%20at%2012.38.17%20PM.png" width="358" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></span></div><div style="font-family: Times; text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: Times; text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: verdana;">Blood and Roses</b></div><div style="font-family: Times; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(France/Italy, 1960; Dir: Roger Vadim)</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMANRiAipUlP5GSFLPJXu1tZilszeQCYWuA44ZPGV_ibW59MD4qUaWkg39rjS4BiF8d3l06p_61JWAiXTXln3JQJ1Jj4IFD1OJ5aisoOAQOe6Xli5YngT2aHhsjCvhdrJVi6kFlRq0cC8ehm_cR_Cwua51svPgigenjxb03ek_Dp6PcyK17fhoDZra5Y/s1800/MV5BZWY5ZTkzMjMtZmE3Yi00NWZhLWI4NDktMjgzMzM4OGIzYTQ5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMANRiAipUlP5GSFLPJXu1tZilszeQCYWuA44ZPGV_ibW59MD4qUaWkg39rjS4BiF8d3l06p_61JWAiXTXln3JQJ1Jj4IFD1OJ5aisoOAQOe6Xli5YngT2aHhsjCvhdrJVi6kFlRq0cC8ehm_cR_Cwua51svPgigenjxb03ek_Dp6PcyK17fhoDZra5Y/w426-h640/MV5BZWY5ZTkzMjMtZmE3Yi00NWZhLWI4NDktMjgzMzM4OGIzYTQ5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_.jpg" width="426" /></a></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Blood Beach</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">(USA, 1981; Dir: <span style="background-color: white;">Jeffrey Bloom)</span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuUxyT_iKzVJHQr6EKfvS3JQ6otpgs3w8j9aNy7pU8pKgy1Fzy7skHNCA8cGQ078OtVHap7efVBBv12ls_TjVOBZ9Nqrz1EAFNBizLI2dAGW2BJ-ocSEYcWIUNZaH2UH3Y-Ce7wYcqXPXNmGxtk04DcNGKqz8WhoksGtZ17EQd9RgB4YdMtzS2QtSVuU/s2916/MV5BOTE1YjA5ZWEtMTM0Yi00ZDBmLWJkNGYtZTllY2YwZGU0MjBiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2916" data-original-width="1921" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijuUxyT_iKzVJHQr6EKfvS3JQ6otpgs3w8j9aNy7pU8pKgy1Fzy7skHNCA8cGQ078OtVHap7efVBBv12ls_TjVOBZ9Nqrz1EAFNBizLI2dAGW2BJ-ocSEYcWIUNZaH2UH3Y-Ce7wYcqXPXNmGxtk04DcNGKqz8WhoksGtZ17EQd9RgB4YdMtzS2QtSVuU/w422-h640/MV5BOTE1YjA5ZWEtMTM0Yi00ZDBmLWJkNGYtZTllY2YwZGU0MjBiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_.jpg" width="422" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Body Count</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Italy, 1986; Dir: Ruggero Deodato)</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtnG8gL5Tl-KbkGUPiCcrspFJDmxMqW7lwUT0F74rDB7roR9JbJvdpKVal7VvIlu1kJJM7h5DTCc1RiFoJ4h03D5ewsWZaBXz7zB949R4MU0fNKaUGtWw0jCp3PSVZmCT9pnNanWqrkgrfQXQHb5RwVEr5XxlmkNRHJMraiIkdXYwpB-bHzY_0Lpu2Tw/s1504/count.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1504" data-original-width="999" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtnG8gL5Tl-KbkGUPiCcrspFJDmxMqW7lwUT0F74rDB7roR9JbJvdpKVal7VvIlu1kJJM7h5DTCc1RiFoJ4h03D5ewsWZaBXz7zB949R4MU0fNKaUGtWw0jCp3PSVZmCT9pnNanWqrkgrfQXQHb5RwVEr5XxlmkNRHJMraiIkdXYwpB-bHzY_0Lpu2Tw/w426-h640/count.png" width="426" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>City of the Dead</b> (aka Horror Hotel)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(UK, 1960; Dir: <span style="background-color: white;">John Llewellyn Moxey)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana;">VCI Entertainment have released a DVD/Blu-ray version, but it could sure use an upgrade. </span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlzo4QpwXTiQ3NJl3t0aYjm8cBDVh-6zoSbNHaYM5weRLfMBBg0YUxVEduLRlIV4jikG82GMekUa_KCMg04W_cQT6BqwBBYW6f-aQs5EWpjbzZBu_VKEUSCDRu6TtKbHEsaPtoEB0DC4YkqA4QMVTZWavrgzc9ZI3wcG39uhb-hewMMh7DGDrjEOBNWQ/s2034/horror%20hotel.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="2034" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlzo4QpwXTiQ3NJl3t0aYjm8cBDVh-6zoSbNHaYM5weRLfMBBg0YUxVEduLRlIV4jikG82GMekUa_KCMg04W_cQT6BqwBBYW6f-aQs5EWpjbzZBu_VKEUSCDRu6TtKbHEsaPtoEB0DC4YkqA4QMVTZWavrgzc9ZI3wcG39uhb-hewMMh7DGDrjEOBNWQ/w400-h299/horror%20hotel.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Dawn of the Mummy</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1981; Dir: Frank Agrama)</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PbKBffoHh5DLyGkWgHJzhOaOJ5zTcFCK-C4RyWSSDn4-ejuGAgup1YMLtFQ1ekGQ1Xo_5UtEkAeKL6vx5R9Fd0nxHA6DLyfF3OtaSntFNT1Pb_DDNytqeuqES3A3o5MPwY643ORBUlWVAqV8RB4zYHZZoo-_V45Y0ESVq4T7tylhYF35LcuwPNFQ23o/s1521/mummu@.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="999" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PbKBffoHh5DLyGkWgHJzhOaOJ5zTcFCK-C4RyWSSDn4-ejuGAgup1YMLtFQ1ekGQ1Xo_5UtEkAeKL6vx5R9Fd0nxHA6DLyfF3OtaSntFNT1Pb_DDNytqeuqES3A3o5MPwY643ORBUlWVAqV8RB4zYHZZoo-_V45Y0ESVq4T7tylhYF35LcuwPNFQ23o/w420-h640/mummu@.png" width="420" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Day of the Triffids</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(UK, 1963; Dir: Steve Sekely/Freddie Francis)</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cKMsFdnfLUbYarE3YH8sdy-X0ghMcKb8BJB3cOpa_uFyRCDY64YEEeXRkY24INBx33gGTnybB_QjeVoQ8JoMvRh0nM64uK6TaPSewDw1USCkue-3uXKgcw-mDs47WxsPv5nZttDYWAC3Rixwf7E9G-0_7hYuU2xOhgf_JHDAhvQcddAQ6g8kxPPXyFk/s1504/triffids@.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1504" data-original-width="999" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cKMsFdnfLUbYarE3YH8sdy-X0ghMcKb8BJB3cOpa_uFyRCDY64YEEeXRkY24INBx33gGTnybB_QjeVoQ8JoMvRh0nM64uK6TaPSewDw1USCkue-3uXKgcw-mDs47WxsPv5nZttDYWAC3Rixwf7E9G-0_7hYuU2xOhgf_JHDAhvQcddAQ6g8kxPPXyFk/w426-h640/triffids@.png" width="426" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Death Weekend</b> (aka The House By the Lake)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(CAN, 1976; Dir: William Fruet)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWX972zluE0JHUBMbuk3LDAyWY_NN-U_1nuMi2QbKOB75kHZxlCvYP8OCQGGXfViUY7k_y63HKAs6pVvWh5Z3Y3x_TDOonCFcPfLQKX0WZl2BFzaLmdhLi7lnP2jrjwMh5E0JyG7m3ZRuobOnVPb2Pkzq38voFP0kRlJgE4FpkmG5CQacWgd28k3pAfkw/s2006/MV5BYzY2Yzg3OTItY2I4Ny00NmVlLWI0MTMtYWM5Nzc5NDA5NjY5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="2006" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWX972zluE0JHUBMbuk3LDAyWY_NN-U_1nuMi2QbKOB75kHZxlCvYP8OCQGGXfViUY7k_y63HKAs6pVvWh5Z3Y3x_TDOonCFcPfLQKX0WZl2BFzaLmdhLi7lnP2jrjwMh5E0JyG7m3ZRuobOnVPb2Pkzq38voFP0kRlJgE4FpkmG5CQacWgd28k3pAfkw/w400-h304/MV5BYzY2Yzg3OTItY2I4Ny00NmVlLWI0MTMtYWM5Nzc5NDA5NjY5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Devils</b> (Uncut Version)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(UK, 1971; Dir: Ken Russell)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Holy Grail of missing releases. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1N2iOJO6jlEjrdu_p1tyRpBkEcmbR-hK41blKXx6NuKmwzumHdk5cI4flAZrZznj4uPLsu-2v0SqlsvuMFfPlyU-rJshVegYOAK1-2jbz14EoQ0LIPzB7z7sX3mK6rltxMWiXYFn_ZFOq-QWknreN0L3ov-fbCPiuHyTFWLYhzHJabo2PyiuEwDi6Lh4/s2800/MV5BYTZmNDBkMTEtODIyYS00MmFhLWIwNzUtNmY1OGU0M2Q5OGY1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="1836" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1N2iOJO6jlEjrdu_p1tyRpBkEcmbR-hK41blKXx6NuKmwzumHdk5cI4flAZrZznj4uPLsu-2v0SqlsvuMFfPlyU-rJshVegYOAK1-2jbz14EoQ0LIPzB7z7sX3mK6rltxMWiXYFn_ZFOq-QWknreN0L3ov-fbCPiuHyTFWLYhzHJabo2PyiuEwDi6Lh4/w420-h640/MV5BYTZmNDBkMTEtODIyYS00MmFhLWIwNzUtNmY1OGU0M2Q5OGY1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Montserrat; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>The Early Films of John Waters:</b></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Montserrat; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Hag in a Black Leather Jacket/Roman Candles/</b></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Montserrat; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Eat Your Makeup/The Diane Linkletter Story</b></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Montserrat; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(USA, 1964-1970; Dir: John Waters)</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Montserrat; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLH8v_vu0C2Hkn0fgPjeYJEoz0n02rRCBO9qUx3xjUES2B86FOeNdK5lf4INthhKycIfxmnQ5ropQ51m1CMvwE1IBO_EY4KOhoxKblU9XyhKrZIaUex13brlvMkKpd6Z8mUpxMxERnutA8geC2wUatv_34aXOJ2PVakjDUhhJuICps2a4fvNe8EKGsnc8/s1382/waters.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1382" data-original-width="999" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLH8v_vu0C2Hkn0fgPjeYJEoz0n02rRCBO9qUx3xjUES2B86FOeNdK5lf4INthhKycIfxmnQ5ropQ51m1CMvwE1IBO_EY4KOhoxKblU9XyhKrZIaUex13brlvMkKpd6Z8mUpxMxERnutA8geC2wUatv_34aXOJ2PVakjDUhhJuICps2a4fvNe8EKGsnc8/w462-h640/waters.png" width="462" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Montserrat; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Ghoul</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(UK, 1975; Dir: Freddie Francis)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUF2zktQ2Z7XXSFMSTOHNoWNencKNCEaeoKMZZGLM3vC4xjC5mk6uTPATGXgSowL84MA-D-x2dSdMalVhfe0ZA9XyFaPAVzzgq6lXHt4qIEc8rXDM37z5QzFWgI7nAvAnrqhiOOj4AsTh5JMG63JRql_7TxvstF3e5hk7MEDGYD1nDzQeCbqrnjQ9_Ws/s1521/ghoul.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="1043" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUF2zktQ2Z7XXSFMSTOHNoWNencKNCEaeoKMZZGLM3vC4xjC5mk6uTPATGXgSowL84MA-D-x2dSdMalVhfe0ZA9XyFaPAVzzgq6lXHt4qIEc8rXDM37z5QzFWgI7nAvAnrqhiOOj4AsTh5JMG63JRql_7TxvstF3e5hk7MEDGYD1nDzQeCbqrnjQ9_Ws/w438-h640/ghoul.png" width="438" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Giant Leeches</b> (aka Attack of the Giant Leeches)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1959; Dir: Bernard L. Kowalski)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEE638g2R7bCctyDNv5fOifVHJZAKP6KiZeC_l0FU28QJwh285CM2CW1pvN8wBdLlzknOWNWgpP3CN8F7J7un_Z9rZDNCZFtTXyTh_foChKG8W28KYtMSUvBOhG905hAtXGT2rUJ9fQSN3oQeMCl7Pn4P_47X0Ljl8Foj5IFmtj41MD1Z17sbBNwsdEc/s1533/leeches.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEE638g2R7bCctyDNv5fOifVHJZAKP6KiZeC_l0FU28QJwh285CM2CW1pvN8wBdLlzknOWNWgpP3CN8F7J7un_Z9rZDNCZFtTXyTh_foChKG8W28KYtMSUvBOhG905hAtXGT2rUJ9fQSN3oQeMCl7Pn4P_47X0Ljl8Foj5IFmtj41MD1Z17sbBNwsdEc/w418-h640/leeches.png" width="418" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Glass Ceiling</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Spain, 1971: Dir: <span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;">Eloy Germán de la Iglesia)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDNbceZy2aEs5miBYy4UEjAnUlczRi8dp5a8KXVlEfbvK7Pa9PlTESxs8nUIIM5_aEOteVVhn0zfKGFM5-YEBbVdDSRDvyvQg9cQohT2zDwA-6E7DogwGu7LtVc2NpPxc1BRz96OO-vOuBXrvkDj4cR_mZVMxL0zbyexkzer2pH2_9KXBtHn2waVQHiBY/s1382/glass%20c.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1382" data-original-width="999" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDNbceZy2aEs5miBYy4UEjAnUlczRi8dp5a8KXVlEfbvK7Pa9PlTESxs8nUIIM5_aEOteVVhn0zfKGFM5-YEBbVdDSRDvyvQg9cQohT2zDwA-6E7DogwGu7LtVc2NpPxc1BRz96OO-vOuBXrvkDj4cR_mZVMxL0zbyexkzer2pH2_9KXBtHn2waVQHiBY/w462-h640/glass%20c.png" width="462" /></a></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>I Was a Teenage Frankenstein</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1957; Dir; Herbert L. Strock)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN-aA2py_LD4812742YEYsxA9V-sA-C4XG_eNw4eQ7ByhbkLMG1OiuwauPVkW7VPjo4Eez49hYIC7rxxiTn5LM2P3eb4JIi6qm_V7lUfM4a3CVts4Ji9hA8QOQRFj5JjB66FpPfCThVtbKaWkqUYXwiep_MklDpwgjLrcu_Si_uIunKK7VFGUjM_rzcyw/s2873/MV5BNWNjM2YzM2ItOTUyMC00YjJiLTkzZWQtMjVjOGNhMGI3MjBkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc4Njg5MjA@.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2873" data-original-width="1885" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN-aA2py_LD4812742YEYsxA9V-sA-C4XG_eNw4eQ7ByhbkLMG1OiuwauPVkW7VPjo4Eez49hYIC7rxxiTn5LM2P3eb4JIi6qm_V7lUfM4a3CVts4Ji9hA8QOQRFj5JjB66FpPfCThVtbKaWkqUYXwiep_MklDpwgjLrcu_Si_uIunKK7VFGUjM_rzcyw/w420-h640/MV5BNWNjM2YzM2ItOTUyMC00YjJiLTkzZWQtMjVjOGNhMGI3MjBkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc4Njg5MjA@.png" width="420" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>I Was a Teenage Werewolf</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1957; Dir: Gene Fowler Jr.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2ZjQt-QndUqwFERmm8HGqPZoufFT_xp_AF2YvJAbwP0CUO0NrEUDsFKWwyR6LfhZa98F7qn7BYD2LBQ5pnwA5-poWACEC1ErIrxD0_rlifcUs9ijNUuBrFhrNoiOvkQY2a9m_GPeNve620e3hVIba2AVxrJ4x68wkV43KnRTkdGblw54tYFxw8wPNUQ/s1538/MV5BNWRkYWY3ODMtMTljNy00NDgzLWE3NzYtY2ZiOWQ3Y2M4YTE2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ2MjQyNDc@.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1538" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2ZjQt-QndUqwFERmm8HGqPZoufFT_xp_AF2YvJAbwP0CUO0NrEUDsFKWwyR6LfhZa98F7qn7BYD2LBQ5pnwA5-poWACEC1ErIrxD0_rlifcUs9ijNUuBrFhrNoiOvkQY2a9m_GPeNve620e3hVIba2AVxrJ4x68wkV43KnRTkdGblw54tYFxw8wPNUQ/w416-h640/MV5BNWRkYWY3ODMtMTljNy00NDgzLWE3NzYtY2ZiOWQ3Y2M4YTE2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ2MjQyNDc@.png" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h1 class="firstHeading mw-first-heading" id="firstHeading" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; flex-grow: 1; line-height: 1.375; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Invasion of the Saucer Men</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1957; Dir: Edward L. Cahn)</span></div></div><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfeZfJZbtkYn1qsK1j-2NK_Mmaw8koFIdt6g-fwb7aWl80Xpis_GCyDJwgqePJrMnLlt9OmZYqj0bg6ei_n9si7ABDopFSqTdqAvuaxfTXFW9tQHyl5v15LnsGWX6uUptP74oAkkRRZEGuBaEpIGYiFax__PEg-xi7a0DX6DtVvHvpJ3IZDlJFwFh_oE/s1534/MV5BNjg3NThkMDItZGVjMi00ZmZlLTk0YjQtNjA0OWY2YmMyYWM1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjM1NzYzMDk@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1534" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfeZfJZbtkYn1qsK1j-2NK_Mmaw8koFIdt6g-fwb7aWl80Xpis_GCyDJwgqePJrMnLlt9OmZYqj0bg6ei_n9si7ABDopFSqTdqAvuaxfTXFW9tQHyl5v15LnsGWX6uUptP74oAkkRRZEGuBaEpIGYiFax__PEg-xi7a0DX6DtVvHvpJ3IZDlJFwFh_oE/w418-h640/MV5BNjg3NThkMDItZGVjMi00ZmZlLTk0YjQtNjA0OWY2YmMyYWM1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjM1NzYzMDk@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" width="418" /></a></div></div></h1><div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Keep</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(UK/USA, 1983: Dir: Michael Mann)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ01plsovLxOTZIENC41TbkGmDDv5iJPDhK47PuXgK26E7WroOrnMvbRa6ZhohbQUTerA6tIezs8Rm_45k2c-PChAWeUtreBZPuAqtnq9ugIiqk2yvGngTgP0tYk5rBUajXuoMlu6L89UlP-jOqynbODun3-j_ejd5e4-w-LZxuQ2nsa6LxtuJpY_KWzw/s2260/MV5BY2E2YTljNzAtNTM3Yi00NTIzLTgzOGMtZThjNzQ3MzljNGZkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2260" data-original-width="1494" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ01plsovLxOTZIENC41TbkGmDDv5iJPDhK47PuXgK26E7WroOrnMvbRa6ZhohbQUTerA6tIezs8Rm_45k2c-PChAWeUtreBZPuAqtnq9ugIiqk2yvGngTgP0tYk5rBUajXuoMlu6L89UlP-jOqynbODun3-j_ejd5e4-w-LZxuQ2nsa6LxtuJpY_KWzw/w424-h640/MV5BY2E2YTljNzAtNTM3Yi00NTIzLTgzOGMtZThjNzQ3MzljNGZkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_.jpg" width="424" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Jonathan</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(West Germany, 1970: Dir: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hans W. Geißendörfer)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTI_FUB5sqU7qAZYUeoXDywSBfn70cWhs_In-2wHwY480l8RVW-Palgq0vXTihsOQlbFNHXNKgIV9H3-scJoSkbsHNY3HaOLvyQfycgb6hw5imvAHM3P_XSJSWHUEoTkEg-UF4WF9WOaNpTdAt0CC3q08HrMs-9AMf3ZONDmNjj5jmRvJx4Pc-MkrCVAE/s1393/jona.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1393" data-original-width="999" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTI_FUB5sqU7qAZYUeoXDywSBfn70cWhs_In-2wHwY480l8RVW-Palgq0vXTihsOQlbFNHXNKgIV9H3-scJoSkbsHNY3HaOLvyQfycgb6hw5imvAHM3P_XSJSWHUEoTkEg-UF4WF9WOaNpTdAt0CC3q08HrMs-9AMf3ZONDmNjj5jmRvJx4Pc-MkrCVAE/w458-h640/jona.png" width="458" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>London After Midnight</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1927: Dir: <span style="color: #202124; text-align: left; text-wrap: nowrap;">Tod Browning</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #202124; text-align: left; text-wrap: nowrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #202124; text-align: left; text-wrap: nowrap;">The Holy Grail of lost movies.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAHNtV_XpmARvnwUN1_IFbxlT_Va8SDT1kFN3bhwp6s6ZkVARCqTGNNHXQJBdn0zYmrwbHVPBjjh4_MMXQu2QW4dLD75bRVZc2y7kG-Gx06k1jpmXnXSWjZwbGszK9cNdU6LD2NaiyyObBFsWFCmGCeJQ-3IwGDV5toWC8vn-Sc85yzymTSfYqzffK-w/s1192/3NrPAE5horNhudJnj7xUSMi2jlg-1-1-.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAHNtV_XpmARvnwUN1_IFbxlT_Va8SDT1kFN3bhwp6s6ZkVARCqTGNNHXQJBdn0zYmrwbHVPBjjh4_MMXQu2QW4dLD75bRVZc2y7kG-Gx06k1jpmXnXSWjZwbGszK9cNdU6LD2NaiyyObBFsWFCmGCeJQ-3IwGDV5toWC8vn-Sc85yzymTSfYqzffK-w/w430-h640/3NrPAE5horNhudJnj7xUSMi2jlg-1-1-.webp" width="430" /></a></div><br /></span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Murder By Phone</b> (aka Bells)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA/CAN, 1982; Dir: </span><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Michael Anderson)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_6-pqQKSddbv0IIT_LxtaqTJ3pWaIIXVQ3l1akad7mtmjLZdoVJ-jsfCXG_0fkw44Ry_thciSRYLaOpKZOTueiDEapOf6fAilyXC6dh1O6QmpWIPJVpGJV7bobAzFqBvarkuq3gi-YxM3sYD_gb_kQTXgdUubgH_qdqYOhMb2U_w9XfflHSrrd5Hk_E/s1929/p%5Bhone.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="1929" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_6-pqQKSddbv0IIT_LxtaqTJ3pWaIIXVQ3l1akad7mtmjLZdoVJ-jsfCXG_0fkw44Ry_thciSRYLaOpKZOTueiDEapOf6fAilyXC6dh1O6QmpWIPJVpGJV7bobAzFqBvarkuq3gi-YxM3sYD_gb_kQTXgdUubgH_qdqYOhMb2U_w9XfflHSrrd5Hk_E/w400-h315/p%5Bhone.png" width="400" /></a></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Name of the Game is Kill!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1968: <span style="background-color: white;">Dir: Gunnar Hellström)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana;">VCI Entertainment have released a DVD version, but see above, City of the Dead.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqQQwl1WocAy7nyDbFiRrSmpvPYQQInc9ca4FmTXbdt6x_g86-f7HDU7YxWaAaaoWiJNZxzyH883pzLkr2wYmUetSm8EikDMcT3ni3DjGnrh7K2LsnGYjoLRK-6d6Mq98PLydq0x9fIaF9AZEcsVA--pfZ0U_Wc5kB5vmAh7yIflH109bQiD6YZjxnbU/s2939/MV5BYTg5MjYzNWItNGU4OS00Y2ZhLWIyMmUtN2U1MTA2MjQ3ODhlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3NzE5MzE@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2939" data-original-width="1927" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqQQwl1WocAy7nyDbFiRrSmpvPYQQInc9ca4FmTXbdt6x_g86-f7HDU7YxWaAaaoWiJNZxzyH883pzLkr2wYmUetSm8EikDMcT3ni3DjGnrh7K2LsnGYjoLRK-6d6Mq98PLydq0x9fIaF9AZEcsVA--pfZ0U_Wc5kB5vmAh7yIflH109bQiD6YZjxnbU/w420-h640/MV5BYTg5MjYzNWItNGU4OS00Y2ZhLWIyMmUtN2U1MTA2MjQ3ODhlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3NzE5MzE@._V1_.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Psychopath</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">(USA, 1973; Dir: <span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">Larry Brown)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7VhbCF3kYJv9AMhZsLUCv8i1eiRrhfzuYImlVV31wrmsaTmgSK6dFcIIkJJJw7QRFzKL7o5E1BE38QX8eCrcj-W3qqmsV-OO5-of7Zz2Uh7mtviFqiRMLuT_pG-Ziqwgwq7k1ctM9ZdO8zx8kd0g2cWkLhgmKVDMnUu_rqQf-mmTtT9rkYGmN7ZlWwI/s1521/psy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="1076" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7VhbCF3kYJv9AMhZsLUCv8i1eiRrhfzuYImlVV31wrmsaTmgSK6dFcIIkJJJw7QRFzKL7o5E1BE38QX8eCrcj-W3qqmsV-OO5-of7Zz2Uh7mtviFqiRMLuT_pG-Ziqwgwq7k1ctM9ZdO8zx8kd0g2cWkLhgmKVDMnUu_rqQf-mmTtT9rkYGmN7ZlWwI/w452-h640/psy.png" width="452" /></a></div></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Rampage</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(USA, 1987; Dir: William Friedkin)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqWlp0LQVLNkZk67akuXeLZRdfSdtQS8i0H9RtDn0KU84CLZqAFw2xpJ1uLAd3Kw1dO4UpJQlr7nGqBYUdBNfV-OrHrcwOLiL4lbT5tQhRtW1Q-6iuUi2o7vY9ecHJBWS4EsFd8OXVTJyP-0p3qEtCUXMRlJM936oEhwLxzGH2MCScdGI2Q0MmhMQ_ye8/s1501/MV5BNjIxNGJmMzgtMGE5NS00ZDViLWIxMzAtMmMxNjYxODY1Mjk0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqWlp0LQVLNkZk67akuXeLZRdfSdtQS8i0H9RtDn0KU84CLZqAFw2xpJ1uLAd3Kw1dO4UpJQlr7nGqBYUdBNfV-OrHrcwOLiL4lbT5tQhRtW1Q-6iuUi2o7vY9ecHJBWS4EsFd8OXVTJyP-0p3qEtCUXMRlJM936oEhwLxzGH2MCScdGI2Q0MmhMQ_ye8/w426-h640/MV5BNjIxNGJmMzgtMGE5NS00ZDViLWIxMzAtMmMxNjYxODY1Mjk0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" width="426" /></a></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Shout</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(UK, 1978; Dir: </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jerzy Skolimowski)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenZSRBZlV8krbSezAiXfSEUCSPO8jL8jvmEl7ZXZ8MX2PqKWjANLkjfsDZhIjH7iB_Gb68gq6kryDFtZd_KFaU1-MkBvROqV9_qBBZ1IiWthTDVoHq-tg-RNcdBfeDULhtznEj5_qhJ0MtdsRWFRGe_IxDZqbIF4dYuzA50gIlaILr4Yb5Srtj52lq0I/s2265/MV5BZTUxMGI1ZmItZjVlNi00NzMzLThlODQtNDVjNTFhYjJkNGRjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2265" data-original-width="1516" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenZSRBZlV8krbSezAiXfSEUCSPO8jL8jvmEl7ZXZ8MX2PqKWjANLkjfsDZhIjH7iB_Gb68gq6kryDFtZd_KFaU1-MkBvROqV9_qBBZ1IiWthTDVoHq-tg-RNcdBfeDULhtznEj5_qhJ0MtdsRWFRGe_IxDZqbIF4dYuzA50gIlaILr4Yb5Srtj52lq0I/w428-h640/MV5BZTUxMGI1ZmItZjVlNi00NzMzLThlODQtNDVjNTFhYjJkNGRjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Themroc</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(France, 1973: Dir: <span style="text-align: left;">Claude Faraldo)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWhdEBXhweKV80URgAVo3ffpP9OR079U5unSzwezg-vUtIzFpv-VYDoPRU6Lpwz2nqEo1PkWenwHXQgXAYdrR_MlpfvgNYqm2jNQOEtrTa73Bzdi2qy8DedNUnjFB3C7snIPYyfV9m8q_E_3A3GzJLrIxzClMhuq0mhITCcGbuQBmwIfh7mQUYPS1PU9E/s800/themroc.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWhdEBXhweKV80URgAVo3ffpP9OR079U5unSzwezg-vUtIzFpv-VYDoPRU6Lpwz2nqEo1PkWenwHXQgXAYdrR_MlpfvgNYqm2jNQOEtrTa73Bzdi2qy8DedNUnjFB3C7snIPYyfV9m8q_E_3A3GzJLrIxzClMhuq0mhITCcGbuQBmwIfh7mQUYPS1PU9E/w480-h640/themroc.png" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Union City</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(US, 1980; Dir: Marcus Reichert)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLIM0RTx6HNcGV3Y9VEnVlOvHo21DjsmVBpvcRPfNfpyk2fKbs5_sYCcrzLp4PqPqYsKNpVF4O4HTdrPWGvdDmDnPRRpPatbq0jCNCm6rQRsnK7mbaDyYyCDELMSoeHiuDvFAY1we4bMuVvEJEzvc0lcuamrwlnLdqSOG2NXXyd4YWLvFrPxWJlDqsP4/s2010/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-25%20at%2011.45.09%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2010" data-original-width="1332" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLIM0RTx6HNcGV3Y9VEnVlOvHo21DjsmVBpvcRPfNfpyk2fKbs5_sYCcrzLp4PqPqYsKNpVF4O4HTdrPWGvdDmDnPRRpPatbq0jCNCm6rQRsnK7mbaDyYyCDELMSoeHiuDvFAY1we4bMuVvEJEzvc0lcuamrwlnLdqSOG2NXXyd4YWLvFrPxWJlDqsP4/w424-h640/Screen%20Shot%202023-09-25%20at%2011.45.09%20AM.png" width="424" /></a></div></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The White Reindeer</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Finland, 1952: Dir: Erik Blomberg)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV87pHZ4XcFYsfMSgbU_d6mv4qg60hEdU2Y3GKV-ZpdN3PIr9HbjrU-cc3qNbkL_-OFyO4zezKnf2CtJezMRGK0UmAAABNLC-HkoRPd9Nzb65xGVJM4FfR8jTDO2daCl4tTV0nMSO0AZUoj_wwKw-xyQz71js7RqpLI5EJhmV7prlaWeGx7368qys1ZHM/s1521/white.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="1076" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV87pHZ4XcFYsfMSgbU_d6mv4qg60hEdU2Y3GKV-ZpdN3PIr9HbjrU-cc3qNbkL_-OFyO4zezKnf2CtJezMRGK0UmAAABNLC-HkoRPd9Nzb65xGVJM4FfR8jTDO2daCl4tTV0nMSO0AZUoj_wwKw-xyQz71js7RqpLI5EJhmV7prlaWeGx7368qys1ZHM/w452-h640/white.png" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUWwHHh-xMbotGwz5m0eIPg_f5Je4Dr3A7ZMn49OWjmSHV0QGf_xwPPFsmPxxEAjQUOltQifsSoZGz5tYS4W1cb3nbnygXoZWqyNP0y9g0hEqr2jRE4pyyipczppKWOngM_-YW1SDtfiD7nPzEYKVClC_fLCJMFGkf14ZABGLPW9UPNZNJmcTIRFMYrE/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUWwHHh-xMbotGwz5m0eIPg_f5Je4Dr3A7ZMn49OWjmSHV0QGf_xwPPFsmPxxEAjQUOltQifsSoZGz5tYS4W1cb3nbnygXoZWqyNP0y9g0hEqr2jRE4pyyipczppKWOngM_-YW1SDtfiD7nPzEYKVClC_fLCJMFGkf14ZABGLPW9UPNZNJmcTIRFMYrE/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-33140896639544450912023-07-20T16:18:00.003-03:002023-07-20T16:20:57.109-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Phantasm<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJW496JvnLDd-7UvV_-2a0mhKn7JYaV7jxw_dCGuj2PH-IniVd3CkpeZ-4xqK8HbdVBdIgB-0l554K9hLTavnlTCFSpBktDQ1tZ_7h3uv6UiTVbQNeqRSKShTrJVdpO7SHeEFD1a0TJVvxXzyS-LNzTneStESd91lSWLtA94GlH8xd8WwkzP_dBFUuTg/s1024/MV5BNWE5ZjNjOGItNzY3Yy00ZWRiLWIwMzMtYjAzMDAxMDdkOTc0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJW496JvnLDd-7UvV_-2a0mhKn7JYaV7jxw_dCGuj2PH-IniVd3CkpeZ-4xqK8HbdVBdIgB-0l554K9hLTavnlTCFSpBktDQ1tZ_7h3uv6UiTVbQNeqRSKShTrJVdpO7SHeEFD1a0TJVvxXzyS-LNzTneStESd91lSWLtA94GlH8xd8WwkzP_dBFUuTg/w400-h225/MV5BNWE5ZjNjOGItNzY3Yy00ZWRiLWIwMzMtYjAzMDAxMDdkOTc0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Phantasm</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dir: Don Coscarelli. Cast: Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester & Angus Scrimm. 1979</span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Phantasm</i>, the little movie that could. This indie flick is such a shaggy dog that I think horror fans either find it too all over the place and goofy to be a cohesive horror classic, or embrace its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink storytelling. Clearly, I fit into the latter category.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reduced to brass tacks, <i>Phantasm</i> is the story of something weird going on at a small town mortuary that involves tiny robed creatures from another dimension, a flying bloodsucking orb, and the iconic Tall Man played by Angus Scrimm. It also, significantly, involves a teenager dealing with the death of his parents, and the off-kilter world that he finds himself in in the wake of that loss. And that, for me, is the key to <i>Phantasm</i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Never a fan of “other dimension” horror tales, <i>Phantasm</i>, much like </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;">Jack Woods</span>’ 1970 indie flick <i>Equinox </i>(to which <i>Phantasm</i> seems to owe a small debt, much smaller than say Sam Raimi’s <i>The Evil Dead</i> does), director Coscarelli doesn’t go down that particular portal in very much depth, which suits me just fine. Instead, Coscarelli focuses on the bizarre world of Morningside Cemetery and the uncertain and unstable nightmare that teenage Mike (Baldwin) is trapped in.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFzQ4PUP8O7tHfy8NKcAG5VQgc0eqAqn0U2ZxbIDptZEjKHitVVsTzDNIquzbdi2JH8oPjP2PwUrWeXKNdV-jIeXaLvaqwCkDKtnrSLy5LoRzS573xyRZ85cBTvoHkw2tmcYJkKRdwBMaapOUulREOqmuwiPZx_qXluiapQYJYA48Y4o9h4PMjXLR-d8/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFzQ4PUP8O7tHfy8NKcAG5VQgc0eqAqn0U2ZxbIDptZEjKHitVVsTzDNIquzbdi2JH8oPjP2PwUrWeXKNdV-jIeXaLvaqwCkDKtnrSLy5LoRzS573xyRZ85cBTvoHkw2tmcYJkKRdwBMaapOUulREOqmuwiPZx_qXluiapQYJYA48Y4o9h4PMjXLR-d8/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-63220222945724985052023-07-20T13:06:00.006-03:002023-07-20T18:47:43.733-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Pearl<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6WDs5s86WPszvzzJ9tQj7zduseLkmYCLn9YV7BgxMgqqIpklxNI4HK_3ox5zoWRgQs3sFwG-IBsmAg-KR9Ur4OeEicXzloBKTom_jZU5tJKTI85Gcbw7BkMXlRCKY4LBsXZpCP-7A0lFviTdPvlEZXe78IXYV59FNjrb4n7xTuh9EnQBVTv2PucAuYk/s1600/REVIEW-Pearl-2022-1.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1600" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6WDs5s86WPszvzzJ9tQj7zduseLkmYCLn9YV7BgxMgqqIpklxNI4HK_3ox5zoWRgQs3sFwG-IBsmAg-KR9Ur4OeEicXzloBKTom_jZU5tJKTI85Gcbw7BkMXlRCKY4LBsXZpCP-7A0lFviTdPvlEZXe78IXYV59FNjrb4n7xTuh9EnQBVTv2PucAuYk/w400-h199/REVIEW-Pearl-2022-1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pearl<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span></b><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dir: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro, & Alistair Sewell. 2022</span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As much as I love <i><a href="https://bloody-terror.blogspot.com/2022/05/more-favourite-horror-movies.html">X</a></i>, I was unprepared for how much I would fall for <i>Pearl</i>. Set 61 years earlier than <i>X</i>, Pearl gives us the backstory of my favourite murdering granny, set in the era of the influenza pandemic in rural Texas.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I love how West and co-writer Goth revisit and payoff themes, elements and incidents from <i>X</i> here. I love that they draw a connection between the height of the COVID pandemic with the earlier influenza pandemic. I love that Goth has an opportunity to really own her character here, to inhabit her, to write her, to co-create her. I love how Pearl’s parents know they are housing a psychopath in the making, and that this, to them, is Pearl’s true X-Factor. I love that West took the movie in a different direction than its predecessor by drawing inspiration from movies like <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> and <i>Gone with the Wind</i>. I love Goth’s performance here (she should have been handed an Oscar), and that of the other actors. I love the world this movie creates, I love its atmosphere. I love that, for me, it evokes the filmography of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Harrington">Curtis Harrington</a>. I love that we get to see the spark in the young Pearl that, by movie’s end, is just starting to be snuffed out, only to be replaced by something much more lethal and sad.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">West and Goth have just wrapped shooting on <i>MaXXXine</i> as I write this, the third and final film in the <i>X</i> trilogy. It follows Pearl’s mirror image Maxine from the first film as she tries to make it big in 1980s Hollywood. I, for one, can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for us.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqNKcX684qBP9vZuFQ3Ff4ey9y693_kMhU59Aj1W8iwUf01RR3BuTpVplO8wgVV7Ndv6XjCzEBkT9oMLQU4IOfFoSPnllvyvS2stca_JPQG8id8gMLRFwvjE9vFcVa5M4mAPpqZ8aAW2WjUoLgcpvup0uRiIbc8DSjv1Mdp8fUq2PTbfOdVQO_IDx8Oo/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqNKcX684qBP9vZuFQ3Ff4ey9y693_kMhU59Aj1W8iwUf01RR3BuTpVplO8wgVV7Ndv6XjCzEBkT9oMLQU4IOfFoSPnllvyvS2stca_JPQG8id8gMLRFwvjE9vFcVa5M4mAPpqZ8aAW2WjUoLgcpvup0uRiIbc8DSjv1Mdp8fUq2PTbfOdVQO_IDx8Oo/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-34173313708080136802023-07-20T12:26:00.006-03:002023-07-20T18:51:23.460-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: The Hills Have Eyes <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxwsaLIOcM1pOytaYhThJBS1gliyRX_AN9taI1yXdnEb5QBQu_5oL6LSlHLkSZRPpua38TGBuI7MJlIrzn-o6266MHYwINWPxrOqV6rYDW1QabjQV16MvujzC9aafDnEQKd59_y96gplSyAsu70yr2W6VrtnlJXeIe2Xr9mNS9KQKI25SlsrmFg_HXoo/s600/The-Hills-Have-Eyes-3-600x338.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxwsaLIOcM1pOytaYhThJBS1gliyRX_AN9taI1yXdnEb5QBQu_5oL6LSlHLkSZRPpua38TGBuI7MJlIrzn-o6266MHYwINWPxrOqV6rYDW1QabjQV16MvujzC9aafDnEQKd59_y96gplSyAsu70yr2W6VrtnlJXeIe2Xr9mNS9KQKI25SlsrmFg_HXoo/w400-h225/The-Hills-Have-Eyes-3-600x338.webp" width="400" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Hills Have Eyes<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Dir: Wes Craven. Cast: Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, Martin Speer, Dee Wallace, Russ Grieve, John Steadman, Michael Berryman, Virginia Vincent & Janus Blythe</i><i>. 1977</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While his <i>Scream</i> films tend to divide horror fans, I have a like/don’t like relationship with Wes Craven’s movies in general. Sometimes I react to a perceived silliness that I just can’t get beyond (i.e. his penchant for boobytrap-fuelled climaxes), sometimes I think he brings the worst out in his actors (Virginia Vincent in <i>Hills</i>, Ronee Blakley and — yes, sorry… Heather Langenkamp in <i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i>), and sometimes, I actively dislike his movies (<i>Shocker</i>, <i>Deadly Friend). </i>Oddly, it’s some of his less popular titles that I respond to more positively, namely <i>Deadly Blessing</i> and <i>Red Eye</i>, though I think that <i>Last House</i> has its merits, and <i>The Serpent and the Rainbow</i> and <i>The People Under the Stairs</i> are worth catching, and <i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i> is a bonafide horror classic.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">All that to say… By all accounts an intelligent and thoughtful man, Craven followed up his <i>Last House on the Left</i> with this less controversial but still lurid tale of an All-American Family at odds with its cannibal clan opposite. Stranded in the desert due to irritatingly dumb actions from Mom and Dad, the surviving members of the Carter family have to stay alive and retrieve Baby Katy from the clutches of the cannibal family lead by Papa Jupiter (Whitworth).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rife with social commentary, great raw shocks, genuine emotion, some indelible characters, and yes, boobytraps, <i>The Hills Have Eyes</i> gives me Craven at his best. For once, it’s less complicated than it need be.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Solidly remade by <a href="https://bloody-terror.blogspot.com/2019/08/more-favourite-horror-flicks_12.html">Alexandre Aja</a> (co-produced by Craven) in 2006.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFaROaVXM-lnZgjPsyAQHBk5znU_RTb9XiGttqfx3gxF-K5EGR9Jw_9GGz2CchV_BjQynRFMlHxF5pPsYx9I4lzUi-JD73tNJtVyoffPV_qlqVGDxy3WLnjt7G0ihKHludhICF2I1wLSrTEVl2I8MhW_2zuE1OIczZt4iLRtrysCrNdk3BLq6jzy1JJPY/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFaROaVXM-lnZgjPsyAQHBk5znU_RTb9XiGttqfx3gxF-K5EGR9Jw_9GGz2CchV_BjQynRFMlHxF5pPsYx9I4lzUi-JD73tNJtVyoffPV_qlqVGDxy3WLnjt7G0ihKHludhICF2I1wLSrTEVl2I8MhW_2zuE1OIczZt4iLRtrysCrNdk3BLq6jzy1JJPY/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-21996746450527949442023-07-20T11:35:00.010-03:002023-07-21T23:31:38.595-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: City of the Living Dead<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw1sH5BPT5vmuGfTGLPC16JGQr_2UgPa1Tzz-04NKB9pDkJwyCKIQjCWHDhYMgvj9olCHqSXu7MylPkIMW5myHYBVqW9xty1QOQYkAvEbuhVhRqaKr-qhamRK5J3okrhrJGAijW6xgsXGBKmpAwRlI5eMUaP15OaamxBuu-RavI22iVfvpl5YXL09O85Q/s560/city-of-the-living-dead-15.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="560" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw1sH5BPT5vmuGfTGLPC16JGQr_2UgPa1Tzz-04NKB9pDkJwyCKIQjCWHDhYMgvj9olCHqSXu7MylPkIMW5myHYBVqW9xty1QOQYkAvEbuhVhRqaKr-qhamRK5J3okrhrJGAijW6xgsXGBKmpAwRlI5eMUaP15OaamxBuu-RavI22iVfvpl5YXL09O85Q/w400-h216/city-of-the-living-dead-15.webp" width="400" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">City of the Living Dead (aka The Gates of Hell)</span></b><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dir: Lucio Fulci. Cast: Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Janet Agren, Antonella Interlenghi & Giovanni Lombardo Radice. 1980</span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lucio Fulci is one of my “comfort” filmmakers, having created a filmography from which segments have become very familiar to me, and which always serve to bring me back to the early days of hunting for Italian horror on VHS, and the joys of actually happening upon a rare uncut tape at some mom and pop shop back in the 1980s.<br /><br />The director has a number of great horror films to his name — <i>The Beyond</i>, <i>Zombie</i>, <i>The House by the Cemetery, </i>and most notoriously, <i>The New York Ripper</i> — as well as gialli — <i>Perversion Story</i>, <i>Don’t Torture a Duckling</i>, <i>A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin</i>, <i>The Psychic</i> — but for me, <i>City of the Living Dead</i> is his most gleeful foray into the macabre.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A doorway to Hell is opened when a priest in Dunwich, Massachusetts (Lovecraft territory), hangs himself. What follows (and precedes it) is a number of set pieces designed to wow splatter fans: A psychic awakens after being buried alive (a scene I believe Tarantino — ahem — paid homage to in <i>Kill Bill: Vol. 2</i>), poor old John Morgan (aka the late, great Giovanni Lombardo Radice) has his head drilled, internal organs are spewed, brains are squeezed out of skulls, and what’s an Italian splatter classick without a storm of maggots?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are surprising twists that may not be logical, but they sure work on a visceral level, and there are no rules about who will make to the other side, or even what that other side might look like when they get there. The whole thing is heavy on atmosphere and comic book lighting, and is not meant to offend or to be taken more seriously than the entertainment — albeit a little on the nihilist side — that it is. Admittedly, its pace has slowed, for me, on repeat viewings due to that same familiarity that makes me love it, but that initial introductory screening was extraordinary.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqoNvgSkb8DD3HAUDMf3BRQ98tFgX23-nHqIC4x9UzNbGzUfvEesXezgZCV-fYc2SRk-u7t0iql6AWFYL6USWnS5Vy5Flj9QY8MoP0EtoIAUcmdb6D17bpGk4zL1n9Z340zzVm2Hwt3B_VLy-D4sTtEMzRDdC5weaY3MDu5zqvHy_4hdNwRMO0Hpj2wc/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqoNvgSkb8DD3HAUDMf3BRQ98tFgX23-nHqIC4x9UzNbGzUfvEesXezgZCV-fYc2SRk-u7t0iql6AWFYL6USWnS5Vy5Flj9QY8MoP0EtoIAUcmdb6D17bpGk4zL1n9Z340zzVm2Hwt3B_VLy-D4sTtEMzRDdC5weaY3MDu5zqvHy_4hdNwRMO0Hpj2wc/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-66032805990751307682023-05-09T11:54:00.011-03:002023-05-09T14:43:14.455-03:00Another White Guy Writes About Blaxploitation Movies<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSL8r0t8XZL6YLr1oA-lwaCmTxy8iTvricY2KXOhiBV2a7BAPUSFfjZx9mivaHQ11ZBwbvktjPFXCzkHanlGS-qhVdsRZvserkYJIxrFR_8CGwANwtFxC2D_9tbzwjJYsxV9YuLQ7aS5gOoI3gG19iYPCs65SD3CnjArr4pvFkssTJUvGvvN3wvm13/s1656/Posters.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="1656" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSL8r0t8XZL6YLr1oA-lwaCmTxy8iTvricY2KXOhiBV2a7BAPUSFfjZx9mivaHQ11ZBwbvktjPFXCzkHanlGS-qhVdsRZvserkYJIxrFR_8CGwANwtFxC2D_9tbzwjJYsxV9YuLQ7aS5gOoI3gG19iYPCs65SD3CnjArr4pvFkssTJUvGvvN3wvm13/s400/Posters.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">
I find it at best awkward when a white person writes about Blaxploitation movies, mainly because these movies weren’t made specifically for us, and because we bring our experience as white people to them. It can be so easy for us to miss the point, to treat them as camp, or to dismiss them, because, honestly we might just not get them. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">As a white suburban kid in the 1970s during the golden era of Blaxploitation, I didn’t come into contact with any of these films. They may have played my local drive-in, but I wasn’t seeing them. If what I <i>was</i> seeing in the pages of <i>Cracked</i> and <i>Crazy</i> magazines could be believed, however, these movies were mostly playing urban centres, and they all shared one common message: “Let’s get honky!” </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNwnANRt_W8OXGBWOk17l4HgowpzzUmVoGq56iX7ed-BDNm3IxhDkxxVgdw9Bo0MGZqDZBQFPOs_Ie5rjfXRYFDdBB5ljNfDgj6ZT0txnL3Zk1LPFG_9mqlNuJ_sCPOCFlSlBG_c13zH2ArqxM0u2k5UUmuED1wGQ2Fcfv9RCcWFgrFyJpkAM9O-by/s1667/c4-1973.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="1253" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNwnANRt_W8OXGBWOk17l4HgowpzzUmVoGq56iX7ed-BDNm3IxhDkxxVgdw9Bo0MGZqDZBQFPOs_Ie5rjfXRYFDdBB5ljNfDgj6ZT0txnL3Zk1LPFG_9mqlNuJ_sCPOCFlSlBG_c13zH2ArqxM0u2k5UUmuED1wGQ2Fcfv9RCcWFgrFyJpkAM9O-by/w482-h640/c4-1973.png" width="482" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The latter wasn’t true, of course, but it was a reading that obviously a lot of white people were making of Blaxploitation movies at the time, and it may also have been a reaction to the fact that movies made by black filmmakers and starring black actors were vying for screens alongside the usual white-centric films. Regardless, the message that was being passed along to pre-teen me was that these movies were clearly dangerous, at least to a little suburban white kid. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Eventually, I caught one of the <i>Shaft</i> movies on TV, and I was surprised to find myself getting into it, and responding positively to Richard Roundtree’s John Shaft. Maybe there was more to these movies than what the comedy magazines of the day were pitching. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">During the 1980s, Blaxploitation movies made their way into suburbia and rural areas via home video. Unfortunately, that was also the decade when the concept of B-Movies took on a new life, meaning “so bad, they’re good”, and so all art, especially that from any earlier time period, was subjected to a sort of “we're above it” mentality. It was through this lens that I experienced <i>Black Belt Jones</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Despite that, times change, people change. Hopefully, we all develop a better understanding of, if not communities specifically, then of the need for communities to have their own and equally valid modes of communication, expression and storytelling. Blaxploitation, after speaking to the black community first and foremost, can be an invitation to others to be a respectful visitor/viewer, if you're open to the invitation. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">This is the way I’ve been able to approach Blaxploitation movies as I’ve dug deeper into them. Now, I’m ready to take in the concerns of the day in which each of these movies were made. Now I’m ready to take in their aesthetics, what they have to say. Now I’m able to enjoy them absolutely for their entertainment value, for the stars that they produced. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I think being Queer has something to do with this, at least in my case. It doesn’t mean that I understand the “Black Experience”, as diverse as we all know that is; It means that I know what it’s like to not see yourself represented onscreen and to watch as films emerge that actually reflect some aspect of your experience and of your being (i.e. The New Queer Cinema of the 1990s). Not every Queer person thinks this way, of course, but I’d like to think that all of us from any faction of society are getting to a point where we can appreciate art for where it comes from, what it says, for the perspective it offers, and maybe, just maybe, to enjoy it for what it is.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kl8sZYn6J-KhpRbb2ZYz--2fwQM588i44JM3yZuvsQM5lW5zFupmvamU1o1hAvKdOHQCJhlTC5kaylpc1XVwjDpnSEui_gVfp6aY1jPYqBePHje6M4RQYr0H7A1DJ0qfwGVjpZEZEU40I7Y0SsFShBvDp4KrxZ3ZHmYgpPX-RAQEe48-FZxVnYMB/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kl8sZYn6J-KhpRbb2ZYz--2fwQM588i44JM3yZuvsQM5lW5zFupmvamU1o1hAvKdOHQCJhlTC5kaylpc1XVwjDpnSEui_gVfp6aY1jPYqBePHje6M4RQYr0H7A1DJ0qfwGVjpZEZEU40I7Y0SsFShBvDp4KrxZ3ZHmYgpPX-RAQEe48-FZxVnYMB/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-79979022617341953832023-03-02T11:09:00.004-04:002023-03-02T11:12:13.314-04:00More Favourite Horror Movies: Basket Case<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu9_8Lj8jcVpfmq8EdA3amZuJcWrZF1DmO4aaH1yU5z6cpTI_Ap0fSMJmWblspkFmLdotpvadspUHYLgJMhICROmgfD5t2d1bq5nKQGgKoS5V6SC_sxfoBebCTqxqftERqdt5IEA5lviDDf3ekiKxJRY-W1AEN0OMAQ40aHYIl_PaqdhYT-5Pz-pT/s1278/basket_600.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1278" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu9_8Lj8jcVpfmq8EdA3amZuJcWrZF1DmO4aaH1yU5z6cpTI_Ap0fSMJmWblspkFmLdotpvadspUHYLgJMhICROmgfD5t2d1bq5nKQGgKoS5V6SC_sxfoBebCTqxqftERqdt5IEA5lviDDf3ekiKxJRY-W1AEN0OMAQ40aHYIl_PaqdhYT-5Pz-pT/w400-h294/basket_600.png" width="400" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><span style="font-size: large;">Basket Case</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Dir: Frank Henenlotter. Cast: Kevin Van Hentenryck<span class="s1" style="background-color: white;">, </span>Terri Susan Smith<span class="s1" style="background-color: white;">, </span>Beverly Bonner. 1982</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><i>Basket Case </i>is the tale of two brothers, Siamese twins separated against their will, who take revenge on those who’ve “put them asunder”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">I first saw Frank Henenlotter’s feature debut during its initial VHS release by Media. If memory serves, I’d read about it in the pages of <i>Fangoria </i>magazine, and so, had my eyes pealed for its appearance at any of the video stores in my area. Lo and behold, one day, there it was.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">I took it home, and popped it in my home player (or did I have to rent a VHS machine?). As it began, I remember being hit with these impressions: cheap, gory, outrageous. These are three of the characteristics I love about <i>Basket Case</i>, though in hindsight, it's much more than that. It’s also clever, a thorough snapshot of early 80s Times Square, it’s populated with unforgettable characters, and it’s utterly endearing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">The moment early on in which a murder takes place accompanied by squeaky ballon sound effects, I was hooked. By the time, also early on, that a character is cut in half with a buzzsaw, the deal was sealed.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Henelotter has a terrific ability to covey a sense of place, to create unforgettable characters/creatures/outsiders (Belial from <i>Basket Case</i>, Aylmer from <i>Brain Damage</i>, Frankenhooker), and to bring them together under intriguing circumstances expressed with unbound outrageousness. At heart, Hennelotter works to keep classic exploitation alive, and there is no better example than here in <i>Basket Case</i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DOHDTSlxRYAd5Q9DERjMbVZNTPh0Rio2R2aZJCov7HJ38wAbZcOIGXvCWd1jchjpoO3GbYYWjcaD54VwjPpxesu0kMLYLXJFmzDV4yguX9tSEMHpSk5SsGj7DGm9Mo1wOOmlvIX1zwWQJxiwCfvDH_ifMz5d1ZzYE1nW4ba8yWgXJiRL65-To3aq/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DOHDTSlxRYAd5Q9DERjMbVZNTPh0Rio2R2aZJCov7HJ38wAbZcOIGXvCWd1jchjpoO3GbYYWjcaD54VwjPpxesu0kMLYLXJFmzDV4yguX9tSEMHpSk5SsGj7DGm9Mo1wOOmlvIX1zwWQJxiwCfvDH_ifMz5d1ZzYE1nW4ba8yWgXJiRL65-To3aq/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-8940846177686931612023-02-28T14:11:00.008-04:002023-02-28T14:25:04.838-04:00 More Favourite Horror Movies: Last Night in Soho<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6U_5F5aeSwKprkgnffUCugwgNVb3wFHRVj7_sqwtlM7gEmJcezezQYG9ApGhE9Xgr4u424yD-wbpapM5VHnK7xmfhHJorUdyRYs0Vi4a2jwHvgqUOc8ydjMkvc_MzrNieQIGtbEv6l5H9zKJHTBgyicOkMFSLjyHo5x6KVEfoYw6HP0Nx5gVc1xZu/s800/Best-Shots-of-2021-The-Last-Night-in-Soho.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="800" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6U_5F5aeSwKprkgnffUCugwgNVb3wFHRVj7_sqwtlM7gEmJcezezQYG9ApGhE9Xgr4u424yD-wbpapM5VHnK7xmfhHJorUdyRYs0Vi4a2jwHvgqUOc8ydjMkvc_MzrNieQIGtbEv6l5H9zKJHTBgyicOkMFSLjyHo5x6KVEfoYw6HP0Nx5gVc1xZu/w400-h168/Best-Shots-of-2021-The-Last-Night-in-Soho.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Last Night in Soho</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Dir: Edgar Wright. Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp, Michael Ajao, Rita Tushingham. 2021.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Ellie Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) sees ghosts. Specifically, she sometimes has visions of her mother, dead by suicide. This doesn’t seem troubling to Ellie, in fact, it seems to be reassuring for her. Ellie wants nothing more than to experience whatever remains of Swinging Sixties Soho, a time and place that holds special significance to the women in her family. Accepted at the London College of Fashion, Ellie leaves both Cornwall and her grandmother behind, and travels to Soho where she begins to have visions that take her back to the 1960s and to the promising yet troubling and ultimately tragic life of a young singer named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy).</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><i>Last Night in Soho</i> is a flawed movie, most noticeably in the sometimes illogical behaviour of its characters. I’m not going to argue that this adds to the dreamlike quality of the movie — it doesn’t — but I am going to state that these flaws didn't detract from what <i>Last Night in Soho</i> offered me, which is an experience, and a completely cinematic one at that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Director Edgar Wright, assisted by co-writer Kristy Wilson-Cairns and each and every one of his behind the scenes creative departments, has worked to create a decidedly appealing Soho of the 1960’s. Its colours, wardrobe, locales, soundtrack and actors inhabit a thoroughly alluring world. It’s this enticing place filled with the music of Peter and Gordon, Egyptian eyeliner and plastic raincoats that, like its twinned main characters have been, lures us in. It’s only when nightmarish reality starts to bleed into this innocent and promising world with its Argento-like colours that we understand the truth behind the glamour, and it’s here that <i>Soho</i> truly becomes a ghost story.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">After my initial viewing of <i>Last Night in Soho</i>, I left the theatre feeling fully satisfied. I’d had my thrills and my senses had been completely engaged. It was only afterward that I began to really think about the dangers of nostalgia that <i>Soho</i> asks us to ponder, as well as the notion of just what makes a victim, and what constitutes fitting punishment. Lofty take aways from a movie that too many have criticized for its lack of substance.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEINjkMByZsMtBwT_gFSkbQqMPyWB2T_VN_V9KPLgZSQ5Q_2u-XZQjvZtWJoyO4f1T0LTdPt0ISTZZPlCgNu0LkEuQWEDmQsgy_IUkZxAdGmrmPWgvSgYFFknoBkCTP7cIFYQD-nJoeHTq4WCXWsckHGCVfqSvwMbBAUibfRAclSNwo152dBjua3l4/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEINjkMByZsMtBwT_gFSkbQqMPyWB2T_VN_V9KPLgZSQ5Q_2u-XZQjvZtWJoyO4f1T0LTdPt0ISTZZPlCgNu0LkEuQWEDmQsgy_IUkZxAdGmrmPWgvSgYFFknoBkCTP7cIFYQD-nJoeHTq4WCXWsckHGCVfqSvwMbBAUibfRAclSNwo152dBjua3l4/s320/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-22715421976839330662023-02-05T20:16:00.005-04:002023-02-06T16:32:44.525-04:00My Gay Ass Has a Problem with Knock at the Cabin<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSC4vZbTEp2xdM_IgMRAzazhnyIDydJL87Oqj0VDSyVSPYljRm7AP0LowKM4yW0XKkS8bAC6-LROQECYaKh8BE7pAufasAoPcvy8mJBMdX_EBhQyreCdn9Z0-ZngLs7fp-Ly3E9iejC6mCPqRGJTC3LMt-xRiBY14kqNCHIIy29VUYNiU6nFerm_g/s960/6E77139A-3F6D-42FB-88EB-95B6AD4C4C45.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSC4vZbTEp2xdM_IgMRAzazhnyIDydJL87Oqj0VDSyVSPYljRm7AP0LowKM4yW0XKkS8bAC6-LROQECYaKh8BE7pAufasAoPcvy8mJBMdX_EBhQyreCdn9Z0-ZngLs7fp-Ly3E9iejC6mCPqRGJTC3LMt-xRiBY14kqNCHIIy29VUYNiU6nFerm_g/w320-h180/6E77139A-3F6D-42FB-88EB-95B6AD4C4C45.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table>There are two kinds of gay guys: one is the kind who doesn’t see an issue with what I’m about to type about (That’s fine. He should just move along.), the other is me.<p></p><p>And there’s another thing; although I’ve looked, it’s something I’ve yet to see mentioned in reviews of this film. My assumption then, rightly or wrongly, is that the reviews I’ve read were written by straight people, because it doesn’t seem to have registered with them. </p><p>Yesterday, my husband and I took in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin”. It’s his adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s novel “The Cabin at the End of the World”, which I’ve not read. In the film, a gay couple (oddly always referred to as “same sex”) and their daughter rent a secluded cabin and are visited by four strangers who may or may not be the four horsemen of the apocalypse (sans horses). They tell their hostages that one of them must be killed by their other two family members in order to prevent the end of the world. </p><p>Sure. Let’s just go with that for the sake of enjoying the movie. I mean, “The Rapture” and “Breaking the Waves” both did a pretty great job of selling a Christian “what if” scenario, so why not? Food for thought.</p><p>Here’s the thing, though people are chopped, shot and bludgeoned in mostly PG-rated ways, what’s the one horror that Shyamalan can’t bring himself to show onscreen? Answer: Two men kissing. </p><p>This is a film about love, about the romantic bond between two men and their bond with their daughter. These men are tied to chairs, forced to watch murders take place before their eyes, they are asked to make a choice about which one of them will die, but they are not allowed the absolutely human, more than situationally called for act of an actual kiss. Forget about fucking. You know, like real human beings do. </p><p>Our boys are, however, allowed flashbacks. Flashbacks that work hard to earn the couple acceptance by a hetro audience. </p><p>See them struggle with homophonic parents. See a gay bashing. See an actual adoption. All in aid of trying to work up some sympathy from the audience. And how do we do that best? We take away the queer threat. We de-sex queer characters, because that’s where the real horror lies, isn’t it, M. Night? That’s the threat present in a simple kiss. </p><p>While it’s true that one movie can’t (and shouldn’t) be called upon to address all ills, to show only uplifting stories about marginalized people, how long can we continue to represent gay men onscreen via handsome, buff white men of means who are busy assimilating into straight society, here with the added bonus of de-sexualizing them? </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HX7bSOfm06cVfDkucvUDYxhkJPLI5IPA4qNRI9cc-8pu-RPpWKEvayjP9JRRrTE6Q_BNrGfmpa5aGQ6P9h5Xj8okjlkWerXoGICouCWUI_Nm-qgGjSHsaqM7OncBqAeCSdQ8ZikU25pRsOlqwmZD0uGpXn8hynD4Mi70Ox9jKQUW6TtbFePL7yEe/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HX7bSOfm06cVfDkucvUDYxhkJPLI5IPA4qNRI9cc-8pu-RPpWKEvayjP9JRRrTE6Q_BNrGfmpa5aGQ6P9h5Xj8okjlkWerXoGICouCWUI_Nm-qgGjSHsaqM7OncBqAeCSdQ8ZikU25pRsOlqwmZD0uGpXn8hynD4Mi70Ox9jKQUW6TtbFePL7yEe/s320/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-76886828039758643502022-05-05T10:34:00.011-03:002022-05-05T10:55:14.472-03:00 More Favourite Horror Movies, Alphabetically: X<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE3HWcjYAg8OL7fcBq9OFRgQXkgoDXdCRyy03XEMjpAyTBKQwxZ3ggWsnksYPTXpfU33j3qfVqUYcs2g9gtMvCLGC2HAVUgz_aMFnw5hKynwyb-g2soyYOHOoWqHjVLGwpy0MKV_OmD86jJQKCQpO9wKBpyLO1y1QD5ZvDjGJW27weL2YMnS_devlm/s2556/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-05%20at%2010.29.18%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2556" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE3HWcjYAg8OL7fcBq9OFRgQXkgoDXdCRyy03XEMjpAyTBKQwxZ3ggWsnksYPTXpfU33j3qfVqUYcs2g9gtMvCLGC2HAVUgz_aMFnw5hKynwyb-g2soyYOHOoWqHjVLGwpy0MKV_OmD86jJQKCQpO9wKBpyLO1y1QD5ZvDjGJW27weL2YMnS_devlm/w400-h266/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-05%20at%2010.29.18%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><b>X</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure. 2022.<br /><br />The newest movie on this list has also become something of an obsession for me. Just what is it about this movie that I connected with so strongly?<br /><br />Set in the 1970’s, <i>X</i> follows six Texans to a rural rental property owned by a very elderly couple. There, the sextet plans to shoot a porn movie. This, however, unleashes a killing spree fuelled by sexual frustration.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>X</i> suggests the horror films of the 1970s (and to a lesser degree, the 1980s) without unimaginatively ‘paying homage’ to them by ripping off key scenes. For instance, the setting, both era and location, suggests <i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i>. The alligator mayhem and bayou locale suggest Tobe Hooper’s wild <i>Eaten Alive</i>. A scene of ocular trauma suggests the Lucio Fulci flicks of the 1980s. They bring us back to the time period in which X is set, but they don’t just ape what’s come before.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">The cast, especially Goth, Ortega, Snow and Campbell, are outstanding. They manage, with an immeasurable assist from director West’s script, to create memorable, surprising, and endearing characters. Goth, in particular, stands out by taking on two substantial roles here.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">I was really impressed with a scene in which Campbell, as the porn flick’s ‘auteur’, has a breakdown in the shower after discovering that there is more to his girlfriend than his naivety can process. That West included this scene illustrates one of the things that I love about this movie. There are characters and ideas here to care about. There is something on West’s mind, even if it’s just to let us see that there is more to people than what their archetype suggests.<br /><br />And that shot of the alligator </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Montserrat;">—</span><span style="font-family: Raleway;"> if you've seen <i>X</i>, you know which one </span><span style="font-family: Montserrat;">—</span><span style="font-family: Raleway;"> sublime.</span></span></p><p class="p4" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">There is also more than one way to interpret the film’s treatment of the elderly. I think whatever interpretation a viewer brings to the film says more about the viewer's thoughts about sex and aging than it does about the filmmaker's take on the matter.<br /><br />To some, the idea of sex between people in their 80s is grotesque, it’s black comedy, it reflects a fear of the elderly. I don’t see it that way here. I was shown a too often neglected side of aging, bloodily awakened by assumptions that sexual needs and desires disappear as we age. It’s not (always) so, and to assume so is dangerous.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />In the end, what I love about <i>X</i> is that, for me, it delivered. It’s a horror film with thrills, ideas, surprises, and interesting characters. It’s a film that communicates the connection between sex and death — one of horror’s key themes — without having to hit the nail on the head with lesbian vampires drooling blood down their cleavage (not that there’s anything wrong with that).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Reportedly, West has two more <i>X</i> films in the works. The next, <i>Pearl</i>, is set before the events that unfold in <i>X</i>, and I’m guessing the third will take place in the present day. Whatever the case, you can be sure that I’ll be there, anxious to experience more of what West has to show us.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh967RIfWIQmkBknjKeBWYrAEAqSo71XqDpmDrt3V01DR3w2KgLIXGYp47i8g4LJs9VHjM7_w9KXNorB7u7veMYB3vJ7of34aHekzZVVaOB-J_rtyNTEXvEmc-xjvHz3JeH9WWA8I77-0t5VZvdZH_2iFWZoVQMIcYm9t9uHmXTxWqT9i8E38H6-tTi/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh967RIfWIQmkBknjKeBWYrAEAqSo71XqDpmDrt3V01DR3w2KgLIXGYp47i8g4LJs9VHjM7_w9KXNorB7u7veMYB3vJ7of34aHekzZVVaOB-J_rtyNTEXvEmc-xjvHz3JeH9WWA8I77-0t5VZvdZH_2iFWZoVQMIcYm9t9uHmXTxWqT9i8E38H6-tTi/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-62731048621275193012022-04-28T16:01:00.009-03:002022-04-29T11:24:51.773-03:00POW! ZAP! BAM! I Co-Created a Comic Book!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1283" data-original-width="1695" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvJhaFFBiPSWK9dTUk--FMp9J6TuQxypyXbq441TAWPeL1spYI58Q9kQD5UR5A457VJGKN1MOJJVNRrPzVqXbfoNc9RKtfEy90Qlr_HHPyRS6DpnQRKlXe-5PybNzQLoqynuupEsmjXYAFa3QnBVJ3OKTqRn5Rcg3FM11I_ltLjwyJiBd4O7S_mnW/w400-h303/DS.png" width="400" /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;">Why haven't I blogged about this before now?<br /><br />A couple of years ago, I self-published <i>Monster Man: Tales of the Uncanny by Dave Stewart,</i> a collection of short horror stories I'd written. Shortly after it was released, artist Sandy Carruthers sent me a couple of quick sketches he'd done illustrating moments from two of the stories contained within. You can see them below. These illustrations set me to thinking.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvJhaFFBiPSWK9dTUk--FMp9J6TuQxypyXbq441TAWPeL1spYI58Q9kQD5UR5A457VJGKN1MOJJVNRrPzVqXbfoNc9RKtfEy90Qlr_HHPyRS6DpnQRKlXe-5PybNzQLoqynuupEsmjXYAFa3QnBVJ3OKTqRn5Rcg3FM11I_ltLjwyJiBd4O7S_mnW/s1695/DS.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Giba0OYzYHzR5obHfzRPMWA1edXrnYeYZuQ_hc_5q_56q2irPvHI5VI6eXm0p750a1nOXnXsejiX52SF9RnjPdRYHbxrlbMC9Bbhrk2P6r5-tOKVuYapG0pS8xQSS5u7O5TcuUdAoo8D8jloVS00y9F7BOFzRL6ctYl_qKyjes-xXWh2Rv4c4XGe/s2048/MM%20-%20Sandy%20copy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1611" data-original-width="2048" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Giba0OYzYHzR5obHfzRPMWA1edXrnYeYZuQ_hc_5q_56q2irPvHI5VI6eXm0p750a1nOXnXsejiX52SF9RnjPdRYHbxrlbMC9Bbhrk2P6r5-tOKVuYapG0pS8xQSS5u7O5TcuUdAoo8D8jloVS00y9F7BOFzRL6ctYl_qKyjes-xXWh2Rv4c4XGe/w400-h315/MM%20-%20Sandy%20copy.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><br /><span style="font-family: Raleway;">I'd long had an idea for a story about a modern day mummy who, like Fagin from <i>Oliver Twist</i>, has assembled a gang of young criminals to do his bidding. Suddenly, this seemed like a great idea for a comic book, and so I arranged a meeting with Sandy. </span><div><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Raleway;">Sandy is the owner of <a href="https://sandstonecomics.com/" target="_blank">Sandstone Comics</a>, a comic book creator/publisher located here in Prince Edward Island. For anyone who might be unfamiliar with Sandy and his work, check out his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Carruthers" target="_blank">Wikipedia page</a>. Beyond <i>Men in Black</i> and <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Charlton NEO, Sandy </span>was a student of my father in the Commercial Design program at Holland College - ahem - a few decades back - end ahem - and I've known him casually for years. </span><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1QPerooG1Zd1T-dOXsvng2Jfye0UyfILmzrQd3O3QK0hBKEZpS9coSqof86tI5D1Tzg_CK04oWY57RCYDJ57yqV7RF2oQ-JOc6pPh3gOcbYZ66a476Tug22uccrv6iE5nE1vlsSN0zHQazLYQ-sz5d1MG3rj9lZMSCOi6u5m4nVqNOoToD0yfLoT/s1554/SC.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1445" data-original-width="1554" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1QPerooG1Zd1T-dOXsvng2Jfye0UyfILmzrQd3O3QK0hBKEZpS9coSqof86tI5D1Tzg_CK04oWY57RCYDJ57yqV7RF2oQ-JOc6pPh3gOcbYZ66a476Tug22uccrv6iE5nE1vlsSN0zHQazLYQ-sz5d1MG3rj9lZMSCOi6u5m4nVqNOoToD0yfLoT/w400-h373/SC.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Raleway;">Fortuitously, Sandy liked the idea; in fact, we were both excited about collaborating on this particular project, and so we set about making it happen. <br /><br />Somehow, we settled on the <i>DARK|Sanctuary</i> title, and then I went to work on the script while Sandy went to work creating illustrated renditions of our characters. I had never written a comic book script before, and although I'm sure I don't follow proper format, the way I write seems to work for Sandy, at least in this instance. I don't like to tell the artist how many panels a scene requires, or to dictate the composition of a panel. As I see it, my job is to create story and dialogue, and Sandy's is to bring it to life on the page. <i>DARK|Sanctuary</i> is very much a collaboration in the purest sense. <br /><br />Out of necessity, the focus of the story shifted somewhat, but more often than not, I find that this opens up an idea in ways the original concept never could. Our mummy, an ancient evil that moves from body to body as the old one crumbles, got a name - Pharaoh - and as all villains worth their salt need a sidekick, Pharaoh was given Suma, a hairless Egyptian cat.</span><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhFGDWM4LsGPEZWhPds-j4q2HHk32Rl-p6iFavqW1o29pIghYDHAOhd4Qv8wx8w4zffqnauPSkwooaTCZfk7PALp02gPJn5rN65mO2DKuzGE6Zz3mVyW8oLeQX5WiwpuPTCTFObI7CpwykwEmMhgNbHyfpYUHTJ15bf2KuuFv63JuTPDC70FTmC3Xv/s680/b5dacfba6c51d59af1efb230c876ba3a_original.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="680" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhFGDWM4LsGPEZWhPds-j4q2HHk32Rl-p6iFavqW1o29pIghYDHAOhd4Qv8wx8w4zffqnauPSkwooaTCZfk7PALp02gPJn5rN65mO2DKuzGE6Zz3mVyW8oLeQX5WiwpuPTCTFObI7CpwykwEmMhgNbHyfpYUHTJ15bf2KuuFv63JuTPDC70FTmC3Xv/w400-h203/b5dacfba6c51d59af1efb230c876ba3a_original.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Raleway;">What was missing was an accessible way into Pharaoh's world, and so Cassie was born. Cassie is a 14-year-old runaway whose father, ostensibly, has a hard time accepting that she is a lesbian. Cassie has made contact with Sanctuary, the dorm/centre of operations that Pharaoh has built, and it's her story that is the throughline of our series.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_i7ASFIVQTjJIFEUTr3DeZnGA1km4wJ3uL5eIbf4joFA6uH65ccDCoTx-iRlTgLQ-nh0KYxpLy3tKk8ikPc7-ez41cqQ1AGadNEE11lKiQS1D6U9CSvzcJal3GEMelfUC1xLm98SiP1IvtRk3RJbojlJQUpy0-4D6SyMYbwTRksJT44ZPYUE-xox/s680/e7816daba20e5b187d213008398d70fe_original.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="680" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_i7ASFIVQTjJIFEUTr3DeZnGA1km4wJ3uL5eIbf4joFA6uH65ccDCoTx-iRlTgLQ-nh0KYxpLy3tKk8ikPc7-ez41cqQ1AGadNEE11lKiQS1D6U9CSvzcJal3GEMelfUC1xLm98SiP1IvtRk3RJbojlJQUpy0-4D6SyMYbwTRksJT44ZPYUE-xox/w400-h163/e7816daba20e5b187d213008398d70fe_original.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Raleway;">Key to Sandy's and my ability to collaborate, I think, is that we trust each other to do our jobs, and leave each other alone to do them, with only the occasional but absolutely necessary suggestion for each other. Another key to our successful collaboration is that we both share a love of Warren Publishing's <i>Creepy</i>, <i>Eerie</i>, and <i>Vampirella </i>magazines, as well as the horror comics of the 1960s and 70s. This gives us a sort of reference shorthand when discussing the look and feel of a scene or a character. Perhaps the latter makes the former easier to do. There's an innate trust there. I assume that's why Sandy lets me surprise him with the twists and turns that I present for each issue, and it's why I leave the artwork and comic book business decisions to him; he knows his stuff. <br /><br />To that end, Sandy landed on a 20-page per issue, four-issue run plan for <i>DARK|Sanctuary</i>, and it's been really fun working to the beats that each issue requires, and cutting out all the fat that doesn't get us where we need to be, story-wise, by the end of each issue. Believe me, each issue is thoroughly thought out before the final artwork is ready to go to print. <br /><br />So far, two issues have seen the light of day. You can pick them up at your local comic shop, and if they're not there, you can order directly from <a href="https://sandstonecomics.com/" target="_blank">Sandstone Comics</a>, where you can check out all the comics in their roster, including other work from Sandy, Robert Doan, Gregory Webster, and Brad Seymour. <br /><br />Presently, I've written the script for the third issue, and Sandy is at work on its thumbnails and layout. We know where issue four is going, we just hope we get to complete this story and get it out there. To that end, we'll be hosting another Kickstarter campaign when issue three is ready to go. Please consider supporting our work when we do. This is truly a labour of love. Stay tuned!</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1Aeztcy24Sw-4IkN8uWiLuJaihXRZDpo-rfo2ft7iwSu4FTvfGUfeRkClO7xaccQXs-CSMh8cfzkR0XzT0PckI8ORENaDA6gUGilfPWlNnzxQh-MZNpDTANEy___Dt8XF8UYHV9IIC7CwAOnKLNo-6l_fWbHVewT96VPHk8RT0lbvhCIsvv7U__o/s1135/docs@graphcom.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="1135" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1Aeztcy24Sw-4IkN8uWiLuJaihXRZDpo-rfo2ft7iwSu4FTvfGUfeRkClO7xaccQXs-CSMh8cfzkR0XzT0PckI8ORENaDA6gUGilfPWlNnzxQh-MZNpDTANEy___Dt8XF8UYHV9IIC7CwAOnKLNo-6l_fWbHVewT96VPHk8RT0lbvhCIsvv7U__o/w400-h150/docs@graphcom.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>A favourite moment from DARK|Sanctuary #1.</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVINJO2iwBF-FqiVL-pgsNXIc5UXoWdsVPoWaLapxbCQZuLWvcC5IwuIkKXoLBP4stEdiWF2B8hlV2bFNTUdEbVZABglvypuPQR5FxPz7qO7cKTfBEZkztlYT0IL9WX-sbYHzpXhEzKh8wkfdfPgaqHZsgNlQosv25cavpdjaVyUHeJilkDTw-eS0/s880/BT%20Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidVINJO2iwBF-FqiVL-pgsNXIc5UXoWdsVPoWaLapxbCQZuLWvcC5IwuIkKXoLBP4stEdiWF2B8hlV2bFNTUdEbVZABglvypuPQR5FxPz7qO7cKTfBEZkztlYT0IL9WX-sbYHzpXhEzKh8wkfdfPgaqHZsgNlQosv25cavpdjaVyUHeJilkDTw-eS0/w400-h55/BT%20Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-25467387615624399272021-11-25T15:58:00.008-04:002021-12-06T10:52:44.631-04:00More Favourite Horror Movies, Alphabetically: The Witch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAKa3xViVSEyOmhESAaMEUwWB0Wcy4w5TTgsgbtQZDN-aHCfRsqzLC6xYsk-4E6re5RodV5PWyHA2A22NnJDQV5G_TiVkiS5CR-qlfV1MrNdEMw_-oxxqqaD96akB8tdvhJw370Zih7s/s1920/the-witch.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAKa3xViVSEyOmhESAaMEUwWB0Wcy4w5TTgsgbtQZDN-aHCfRsqzLC6xYsk-4E6re5RodV5PWyHA2A22NnJDQV5G_TiVkiS5CR-qlfV1MrNdEMw_-oxxqqaD96akB8tdvhJw370Zih7s/w400-h225/the-witch.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: Raleway;">The Witch</span></b></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;">Dir: Robert Eggers. Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw. 2015.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Raleway;">”Wouldst thou like the taste of butter… wouldst thou like to live deliciously?”</span></i></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><i><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><i>If you haven’t seen The Witch, please don’t read what follows, as it’s spoiler laden.</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><i>The Witch</i> is a movie that divides audiences. The major complaint its detractors seems to have against it is that ‘it’s not scary’. Whatever that means.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;">When I hear that complaint, my first thought is, “I wonder how they watched this movie? Did they watch it on a computer monitor or some little screen? Were they absent of distractions? Did they have excessive expectations of what they were about to see?”<br /><br />Regardless of the answer to the above, I honestly believe that <i>The Witch</i> is a movie best seen in the theatre where the image and sound overtake you, where the experience is bigger than anything else around you. Regardless, I get that <i>The Witch</i> isn’t a movie to everyone's tastes. No movie is.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;">From my perspective, <i>The Witch</i> illustrates how a belief system forces someone to become what its adherents believe her to be. I can relate to that, and the notion, to me, <i>is</i> scary.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><i>The Witch</i> is, first, a horror movie that is propelled by a sense of isolation and fate, heading, with moments of false hope, towards its seemingly predestined conclusion. Though this was director Robert Eggers first feature film, he has such a command of what he’s doing that it’s hard to believe.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;">It is also a film with extraordinary performances, unnerving music by Mark Korven, and intense attention to detail. Its dialogue is written and spoken in Olde English, and its language is as dense as the forest that surrounds the farm of the outcast family, and hides not just one witch, but perhaps a coven. In that regard, the dialogue can sometimes be difficult to discern, but that rarely detracts for long.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;">And Poor Thomasin; she gets it from all sides. As the family begins to lose, first, hope and then their grip on reality, we fear for what is in store for her. Whether her ending is a release or a role she’s forced to take on is open for interpretation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3iYMGgvHGU8DpLUmKRwjOZzzt5zTM-9wQIFaRYhXMC-Sby_7eAUPj1TxP3XameU5IfyxucoI8KXFMLklk_LK4bfgYMLpr06CYfwiZJTq05koGgjHW8WHvuTktzKiuVCnRLBa2_b1LFT8/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3iYMGgvHGU8DpLUmKRwjOZzzt5zTM-9wQIFaRYhXMC-Sby_7eAUPj1TxP3XameU5IfyxucoI8KXFMLklk_LK4bfgYMLpr06CYfwiZJTq05koGgjHW8WHvuTktzKiuVCnRLBa2_b1LFT8/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-12644017293777051972021-11-25T14:29:00.006-04:002021-11-25T14:34:29.304-04:00More Favourite Horror Movies, Alphabetically: Videodrome<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVl7HyQ0MW_wX169BnmdxKa-kO8Xk5cHe06099aRFQUJM7M45welmGML_rC8vZSaskptwpPwqRQyd1-JdYrFdsAUw-3MGOKpsj2c1NGPXgnJEDmY2i3Pjh3EygL3DRqWopj9IZhm0AStc/s650/safdie_medium.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="650" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVl7HyQ0MW_wX169BnmdxKa-kO8Xk5cHe06099aRFQUJM7M45welmGML_rC8vZSaskptwpPwqRQyd1-JdYrFdsAUw-3MGOKpsj2c1NGPXgnJEDmY2i3Pjh3EygL3DRqWopj9IZhm0AStc/w400-h225/safdie_medium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><b>Videodrome</b></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: David Cronenberg. Cast: James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky. 1983.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">I saw <i>Videodrome </i>when it was first released to theatres in 1983. I was (and am) a fan of both Cronenberg and Debbie Harry. When I walked out of theatre after that first viewing, however, all I could think was, ‘What the hell was that?’<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">The fact is, <i>Videodrome</i> was years ahead of its time. It’s a metaphor-heavy movie that uses body horror to expand upon Marshall McLuhan’s notion that ‘The medium is the message’, and in this case, we become the medium.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Max Renn manages an adult content cable TV station. His tech guy introduces him to <i>Videodrome</i>, a show comprised of only sex and torture that he’s discovered via short bursts of glitchy transmissions. Max becomes obsessed with tracking the show down for his network, and along the way becomes ‘the new flesh’.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Gory, surreal, visceral and intelligent, <i>Videodrome</i> is a brilliant piece of work that becomes more and more prescient as time passes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PZ1_h1mHbhll4VFXc6KUI68OMBc2YPcJbWb4997WtQ-A8hgcgPQUuPuhGgb5bSgxvCp3y6BKj7JI9VI1rNKsd1-92ioTesNyrNMyhOfugoFkoMa2hTk3-TA1nOCAyvRQapSPjZ49fto/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PZ1_h1mHbhll4VFXc6KUI68OMBc2YPcJbWb4997WtQ-A8hgcgPQUuPuhGgb5bSgxvCp3y6BKj7JI9VI1rNKsd1-92ioTesNyrNMyhOfugoFkoMa2hTk3-TA1nOCAyvRQapSPjZ49fto/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-17602835546834563982021-10-06T12:09:00.008-03:002021-11-25T14:29:53.278-04:00"A Small Fortune"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivEymkyPjYD87_CW_4iNvS0PVqgwlOBzddN5ztNc0Alvy_a7Kwhl4xFPTQWnTiVQHzRDKbQk9L1312sc3KrVkUJvnQOV2JR-YYB_P-e9ltZTT01UI7-QlSu0ccEIcuKyn7wpbRWsYIHTg/s2048/243503115_690978465638758_6952637572317495091_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1043" data-original-width="2048" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivEymkyPjYD87_CW_4iNvS0PVqgwlOBzddN5ztNc0Alvy_a7Kwhl4xFPTQWnTiVQHzRDKbQk9L1312sc3KrVkUJvnQOV2JR-YYB_P-e9ltZTT01UI7-QlSu0ccEIcuKyn7wpbRWsYIHTg/w400-h204/243503115_690978465638758_6952637572317495091_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Kevin (Stephen Oates), running from his </span></i><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">bloody destiny in A Small Fortune.</span></i></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">A Small Fortune</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Writer/Director: Adam Perry. Cast: Stephen Oates, Liane Balaban, Andrea Bang, Joel Thomas Hynes, Matt Cooke, Bill McFadden. 2021.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">When you live in Prince Edward Island, it can be difficult to receive an Island-made film without preconceived notions, for better and for worse. Happily, in the case of Adam Perry’s <i>A Small Fortune</i>, it fits neatly into the 'pleasant surprise' category.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">What struck me first after a viewing of <i>A Small Fortune</i> was how engrossed I became in the plot and how invested I became in the characters. For most of the film’s 91 minutes, I forgot that I was watching an ‘Island film’ (actually a PEI-Newfoundland co-production), no matter how much the place and its people are at the heart of its story. And that’s a very good thing. It’s a film that, first and foremost, is interested in fulfilling the requirements of a thriller. And it’s that commitment to genre that is key to its success.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>A Small Fortune </i>gives us antihero Kevin Doucette (Stephen Oates), an Irish moss farmer in Skinner’s Pond, Prince Edward Island (the film was actually shot in French River, PEI), finding it hard to make ends meet, not surprisingly. Kevin’s wife Sam (Liane Balaban) is pregnant and not making much money working as a home care worker. One day, while mossing (did I just make up that term, or is it a thing?), Kevin stumbles upon an answer to the couple’s prayers — a bag of big money washed up on the shore.<br /><br />Being a thriller, the not-so-rightful owners of the money come looking for it, guns at the ready. And while avoiding the bad guys, Kevin also has to sidestep his suspicious spouse and a couple of local cops. True to the demands of a PEI neo-Noir, destinies are preordained, people die, and characters learn uncomfortable truths about themselves.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />The notion of ‘traditional versus contemporary’ is also ever-present throughout <i>A Small Fortune</i>. It’s there in the outdated nature of Kevin’s work, and it’s there in local law enforcement, which is made up of by-the book Susan Crowe (Andrea Bang), who is both new to the police force and new to the community, and Jim Bradley (Matt Cooke), a local who knows how to local.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">It’s also there in the character of Omer Tom (the late Island icon, Bill McFadden). He’s an Irish moss dealer, among other things, who knows that his time, and his kind, are coming to an end. After all, as he asks Kevin, what are you going to do when I’m gone?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Although it’s a question that resonates for the duration of <i>A Small Fortune</i>, the answer, of course, is in Kevin’s connection to PEI. Whatever your experience of Canada’s smallest province, it’s hard to deny its magnetic pull that is hard to escape for many. It is, in the end, a place that feels like “home” perhaps as only an island can, even if what you make of that connection is not necessarily logical.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">That sense of place plays a large role in <i>A Small Fortune</i>, and the connection to it is reflected in the film’s spent fall setting. It’s a side of Prince Edward Island we don’t often see on film, one that is typically reserved for the lived experience of Islanders who reside in-province year round, long after the tourists have packed up and gone home.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">What this means is that the Island is presented here in a way I’ve not seen it represented on film before. You won’t find any scenic drone shots of shoreline in <i>A Small Fortune</i>. Instead, the brittle, long grass of fall and the frigid shoreline set the atmosphere and the stage for what’s to come. Cinematographer Jeff Wheaton introduces Prince Edward Island as a fresh character — no mean feat, that — one that both hints at the beauty of the place and showcases its ruggedness.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br />The human characters in <i>A Small Fortune</i> fare just as well. Oates, Balaban and Hynes (the bad guy with the most screen time) create a tension-filled triangle, and at least two characters you care about. Hynes is absolutely terrific, but you don’t exactly root for him, after all.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Bang and Cooke are also excellent as, respectively, a fish-out-of-water cop trying to learn the ropes of small town policing, and the long-time cop who has the chops his new deputy desperately needs to develop. The casting of Bang is particularly inspired as her timbre belies the true nature of her character and emphasizes that fish-out-of-water quality.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">There’s also nice work from Celia Owen and Sophia Bell as sisters Gussie and Josie. Comic foils at first, and perpetually mounted on ATVs, they also act as the eyes of the community, observing much of what takes place in Skinner’s Pond.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">What can be said about Bill McFadden? Locally, he’s an icon, a larger than life presence that will be felt in the streets of Charlottetown, and throughout the province, for some time to come. <i>A Small Fortune</i> was McFadden’s last film (it’s dedicated to him), and he certainly brings life to Omer, though I wasn’t always convinced by his performance. When he nails it, however, there’s no doubt that anyone seeing <i>A Small Fortune</i> will come away remembering him. His turn as Omer Tom is absolutely a fitting tribute.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">As <i>Master of Suspense</i> Alfred Hitchcock knew and frequently proved, a plot hole doesn’t matter if you’re wrapped up in the story, and like most thrillers,<i> A Small Fortune</i> has a couple. Almost a trademark of the genre, chances are that your engagement with the film won’t allow you to dwell there, with some pop psychology reasoning giving you enough of a rationale to ignore it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Behind it all, I’ve been privy to some of the work that writer/director Adam Perry has put into realizing <i>A Small Fortune</i>, and it’s a testament to his belief in the project, and that of producers and Perry cohorts Jason Arsenault and Jenna MacMillan, as well as Newfoundland-based producer Mary Sexton, that this film haas made it to screens. Perry has some web work to his credit, including the 2009 feature-length web series <i>Jiggers,</i> but here, Perry has strived for more and achieved it. The evolution of his script and his direction are as solid as they come. He has made a film that we can point to and say, “This is what we’re doing in PEI.” On a personal level, it is absolutely a film I wish I’d made.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWRzRpqVkYERGADGgbPyxsuLholOjqLw_b2NPOjXu8SWkqKWm7dPVMC3OBmP3-sOlFfYGJ_mJcEIP4-3blwQfv9MnuEXtHrXRsBVBuduPuCR4hG7Ghxhw7d29FMA0zmehhlN1GL2-arQ/s1440/240168910_4336177139808405_3878544335127682955_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="972" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWRzRpqVkYERGADGgbPyxsuLholOjqLw_b2NPOjXu8SWkqKWm7dPVMC3OBmP3-sOlFfYGJ_mJcEIP4-3blwQfv9MnuEXtHrXRsBVBuduPuCR4hG7Ghxhw7d29FMA0zmehhlN1GL2-arQ/w432-h640/240168910_4336177139808405_3878544335127682955_n.jpg" width="432" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-77475918732965287162021-09-22T13:07:00.012-03:002021-09-22T16:50:54.424-03:00"Let’s Go Play at the Adams’" by Mendal W. Johnson (1974)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP53P3tL7Y3MRJ2VzDyNOj51h9S4I41CNx-myVS3DTr9KWlUkUK5_-HA-4w9YNIzfijldarBOrIVuKzpDDAhiwKktxYZ7i2FikDINHxEL1JHFyLVyeJa1WFosqYMDRYZdQ5L9SNB5xF4w/s503/letsgoplayattheadams_orig.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="325" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP53P3tL7Y3MRJ2VzDyNOj51h9S4I41CNx-myVS3DTr9KWlUkUK5_-HA-4w9YNIzfijldarBOrIVuKzpDDAhiwKktxYZ7i2FikDINHxEL1JHFyLVyeJa1WFosqYMDRYZdQ5L9SNB5xF4w/w259-h400/letsgoplayattheadams_orig.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Mendal W. Johnson had only one novel published - <i>Let’s Go Play at the Adams’</i>. Two years later, he died as a result of alcoholism.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Based very loosely on the real life case of Sylvia Likens, <i>Go Play</i> tells a story that, quite honestly, based on description alone, is anything but appealing. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Barbara, a twenty-year-old college student, takes a job babysitting the two Adams kids — 13-year-old Bobby and 10-year-old Cindy — for two weeks while their parents are in Europe. One morning, she awakens to find herself the captive of the Adams kids and three of their teenage friends.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">At the age of 56, while I still like reading things that push the envelope, I’ve had enough of this kind of story. For those of us looking for something shocking, <i>The Last House on the Left</i> and <i>I Spit on Your Grave</i> are rites of passage, for better or worse. Hopefully, we come away from them with empathy, or some sort of catharsis, maybe just the feeling that “we made it through”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">After being there though the post-9/11 advent of Torture Porn movies (<i>Hostel</i>, <i>Saw</i>), enough was finally enough. The fact is, after awhile the only sane response to these kinds of stories, for me, was to laugh at how over the top they’d become, or to feel depressed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">What will get me to risk feeling that human beings are shit for a few days, however, is the reputation of the work in question, and that was the case with <i>Go Play</i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Out of print for many years. Grady Hendrix and Valencourt Books have brought <i>Go Play</i> back into circulation via their <i>Paperbacks from Hell </i>imprint. Since it was first published in 1974, the book has been one of those holy grail publications that wasn’t always easy to get your hands on, and that had a reputation for being both a difficult read, but well worth it. After having finished it just last night, I agree that it’s both.<br /><br />The beginning of the novel very much has the feel of the time it was written. It’s almost like an S. E. Hinton novel co-written by a sociopath. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">I don’t want to say too much about what happens in <i>Go Play</i> — it’s pretty much a single scenario that plays out over a few days and gets progressively worse — but I will say that it’s the manner in which it’s written that gives it its true power.<br /><br />It's horrific without being exploitive. The cruelty, the nudity is not there to titillate, it's used to describe, to add pathos. Johnson also very much gets into the heads of all six of his primary players, and makes them seem very real, both as individuals, but also when the young captors act as a unit under the guise of the<i> Freedom Five</i>. This makes the scenario, the dynamics, and everyone’s actions all the more believable.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">It’s also very much a story about hope, despair and the apathetic (fatalistic?) nature of cruelty. In fact, it was this hope-despair dynamic that had me hooked by the novel’s midpoint, and led me to cram-read the second half of the book in one sitting. Much like the captive Barbara, I just <i>had </i>to know what her fate was going to be.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">At its end, the book transcends everything that’s come before it. I don’t mean that in the pejorative sense that many people use when writing about horror novels. I mean that it veers into a type of poetry, almost taking the reader into the realm of Kubrick’s <i>2001 </i>ending.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">As a result, <i>Let’s Go Play at the Adams’</i> is absolutely that difficult but nastily worthwhile read that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to the right people. You know what I mean. This is a novel that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-88926198676341216792021-09-08T11:49:00.011-03:002021-09-09T09:12:27.309-03:00More Favourite Horror Movies, Alphabetically: The Thing<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85nFRRmZt8-ydwFhQ2M5E-o5H8wVpujVUeNPBJ8TY-RD_aY7nO7Kf6yr_gEkaIQgWd71RWIo8S2Jhl2F2YB4Fq2qCNA5RJ4_-ybCl6qqbrSUtglN62WMhHpHamcsXD5TDQyDtBAcNvlI/s580/6baa26274b679785f7b43c59822c9b59.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="580" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85nFRRmZt8-ydwFhQ2M5E-o5H8wVpujVUeNPBJ8TY-RD_aY7nO7Kf6yr_gEkaIQgWd71RWIo8S2Jhl2F2YB4Fq2qCNA5RJ4_-ybCl6qqbrSUtglN62WMhHpHamcsXD5TDQyDtBAcNvlI/w400-h170/6baa26274b679785f7b43c59822c9b59.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"> <b>The Thing</b></span><p></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: John Carpenter. Cast: Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat, David Clennon, Richard Masur, T.K. Carter, Thomas G. Waites, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Joel Polis. 1982.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">John Carpenter’s version of <i>The Thing</i> is an argument in favour of the power of special effects. Though all the elements of filmmaking are firing on all cylinders and absolutely doing their jobs here, it’s the SFX that overwhelm and horrify.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">I saw <i>The Thing </i>twice in the theatre during its initial release in the summer of 1982. I don’t remember that first screening, but I do remember the second. Lured back into the theatre by what I’d already experienced the first time around, I convinced a friend who hadn’t seen it to accompany me. At some point during the movie she leaned over and whispered to me, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to hold my hand.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>The Thing </i>features an all-male cast, save for Adrienne Barbeau as the voice of a computer. I really think, intentional or not, this serves not to reinforce the machismo of the 80s action movie, but rather to add to the coldness and hopelessness predominant in the frigid atmosphere of the film.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>The Thing</i> is about an American research station located in Antartica that has to defend itself from a shapeshifting alien that sometimes looks like some of the crew. It’s a full on jump into the depths of paranoia. But the practical special effects here, by a very young and not overly experienced at the time Rob Bottin, show us things that we truly haven’t seen before, and maybe since. It’s the closest we’ve come to putting onscreen the sort of creatures writer H.P. Lovecraft imagined.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">That’s not to say that <i>The Thing</i> is all effects and nothing else, but I can’t think of another film, with the exception of possibly <i>The Exorcist</i>, where its effects matter so much, and at times, all the other aspects of filmmaking seem to be in support of the SFX with the primary purpose of getting the story onto the screen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-18816985918492764732021-09-07T12:44:00.010-03:002021-09-08T11:12:21.478-03:00More Favourite Horror Movies, Alphabetically: Targets<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudMh_sVYuDt1KcN71_TQ9_Azkg3ngzHJnr6N0OjjR-iNwXutrdTPPBm7sW4KKnWUf-TmiFvWzkcNoAzxNw1F-pxuCewOQTB-YA93XBvgRLjhhH0Tfzf80iIy3E08ED1iwruHqYb8DY0w/s900/6a00e5523026f588340177438142f9970d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="900" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudMh_sVYuDt1KcN71_TQ9_Azkg3ngzHJnr6N0OjjR-iNwXutrdTPPBm7sW4KKnWUf-TmiFvWzkcNoAzxNw1F-pxuCewOQTB-YA93XBvgRLjhhH0Tfzf80iIy3E08ED1iwruHqYb8DY0w/w400-h223/6a00e5523026f588340177438142f9970d.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Targets</span></b><p></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Peter Bogdanovich. Cast: Boris Karloff, Tim O’Kelly, Peter Bogdanovich. 1968.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>Targets</i> is a remarkable film, and no less so for how it was made. Producer Roger Corman allowed director Bogdanovich to make a film if he would use Boris Karloff during the two days the actor owed the producer, if he would incorporate footage from Corman’s <i>The Terror</i>, and if he came in under budget. What Bogdanovich was able to create adhering to these guidelines is not only a clever achievement, but it resulted in an under-seen horror classic.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Like Hitchcock’s <i>Psycho</i> eight years earlier, <i>Targets</i> announces the death of classic horror and the birth of its contemporary counterpart. Here, rather than modern day murder in the shadow of a gothic mansion, it takes the form of a gothic horror personality making an appearance at a drive-in where contemporary horror muscles in in the form of a hidden snipper, poised to kill as many as possible.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">In part inspired by the real life horror of sniper Charles Whitman, who found his victims street level while hidden atop a tower at the University of Texas, <i>Targets</i> itself fell victim, though to bad timing. Released shortly after the assassinations of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the U.S. was in no mood to see this reality reflected on the screen, and it was <i>not</i> a box office hit.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Pity, as it's both an extraordinary movie, and a warning of things to come.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-70820738960752689992021-08-30T10:10:00.003-03:002021-08-30T10:10:54.403-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Tales from the Crypt<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPT_GT2LPcpP2xRRh0PLW-x4pKYLX3ZQ4pVbzA0KiscWeEHeotXtlwCl-Rkh26GPUGa1CVHgPoHhAiP_-e0s4XGEphArdN3bAeCVo1Rp-ykWPPuddnUiAMPJm841puuBK32VB1sGG9KRU/s790/tales-from-the-crypt-cushing-790x444.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="790" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPT_GT2LPcpP2xRRh0PLW-x4pKYLX3ZQ4pVbzA0KiscWeEHeotXtlwCl-Rkh26GPUGa1CVHgPoHhAiP_-e0s4XGEphArdN3bAeCVo1Rp-ykWPPuddnUiAMPJm841puuBK32VB1sGG9KRU/w400-h225/tales-from-the-crypt-cushing-790x444.webp" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Tales from the Crypt</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Freddie Francis. Cast: Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ian Hendry, Partick Magee, Ralph Richardson. 1972.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">While Hammer Films was transplanting their gothic horrors to modern day settings in the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s, amping up the nudity and violence, and adding doses of tongue in cheek humour, their fellow UK horror specialists Amicus Productions was making a name for itself by focusing on anthology horror films such as <i>The Vault of Horror</i>, <i>Asylum</i> and <i>From Beyond the Grave</i>, among others. And while personal favourites may vary, <i>Tales from the Crypt</i> is readily mine. </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Taking its name and stories from classic EC comics, as did Vault of Horror a year later, <i>Tales from the Crypt</i> sees five people who, on impulse, decide to tour nearby catacombs in order to kill time. Once in, the Crypt Keeper tells each a story highlighting his or her misdeeds. </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">The second story - <i>Reflection of Death</i> - is the weakest of the five tales, but it’s entertaining nonetheless, and for my money, the other four stories are as good as this stuff gets. Gruesome and ghoulish, <i>Tales from the Crypt</i> is thoroughly entertaining and utterly satisfying.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8jE_x4v9S2Bf2heckTfzntn3cuPdwSZ30RZwcKbPFvW7fgPh082Wp_DpZ6jvvDc1w_AN3JmWABkelv9iYYYD8Hu64ntaEJC7O6oVGb_WJ_Htv35edJbEwL30BPKgItFAsLnKP4N9kfM/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8jE_x4v9S2Bf2heckTfzntn3cuPdwSZ30RZwcKbPFvW7fgPh082Wp_DpZ6jvvDc1w_AN3JmWABkelv9iYYYD8Hu64ntaEJC7O6oVGb_WJ_Htv35edJbEwL30BPKgItFAsLnKP4N9kfM/w320-h44/BT+Footer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p></div>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-70569687047996045342021-08-27T10:32:00.007-03:002021-08-27T10:36:55.668-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: The Shout<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZCiKVLLEvtFgevPLplMQ2CxRbUQ1Z6UB70yLxblbgTtO71v-TXxOCGVy8MKp56HfYO6NzgJhnTmdwHWJoN25eS99z9h0TZPCRlUZ88ITlGFEPg5CSwKO63gmmaNtijKPxmn2q74gp0o/s1116/shout-the-1978-001-alan-bates-screaming-beach-16x9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1116" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZCiKVLLEvtFgevPLplMQ2CxRbUQ1Z6UB70yLxblbgTtO71v-TXxOCGVy8MKp56HfYO6NzgJhnTmdwHWJoN25eS99z9h0TZPCRlUZ88ITlGFEPg5CSwKO63gmmaNtijKPxmn2q74gp0o/w400-h225/shout-the-1978-001-alan-bates-screaming-beach-16x9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><b>The Shout</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski. Cast: Susannah York, John Hurt, Alan Bates. 1978.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>The Shout</i> would make a perfect and gloomy double bill with <span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Andrzej Żuławski's excellent <i>Possession</i>, featuring a truly outstanding performance from </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">Isabelle Adjani. The Shout, however, </span>is a unique, unusual, and intimate horror film in its own right, that builds in volume, and echos long after it’s over. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">It tells the story of a couple who lives in rural Devon; he’s a composer who works with weird electronic sounds. One day a stranger (Bates) comes into their lives. He claims to have learned a shout from an Aboriginal shaman that results in the death of those who hear it…</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Watching the <i>The Shout</i> is like watching a couple’s relationship implode in slow motion. All the hints are there, too large to ignore, and popping up like warning signs as things become inevitable - the subtle clues that their connection is in danger, the suspicions that something not right is going on, the feeling of being forced out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">In fact, it’s the central relationship between York and Hurt, and the third that Bates brings to the dynamic, that truly gives <i>The Shout</i> its impact. These three actors deliver outstanding performances that bring the viewer in when it’s required, push us out when necessary, and keeps us guessing and hoping for 86 minutes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">There are other things at work here too, concepts that are undercurrents, or maybe more fittingly, <i>tones</i> that add weight to the slow motion catastrophe taking place in front of us, and which, as only viewers rather than participants, we are unable to do anything about. For example, the natural world is very much present and at odds with the artificial world (the unnaturally natural shout vs. Hurt’s electronic recordings). Present too, is the way the old world, represented by the shout itself, becomes at odds with that most British of sporting events, the cricket match.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">It’s the nature of the shout and its impact on our modern world that has me thinking that <i>The Shout</i> very much belongs to the category of Folk Horror, an enticing and unsettling type of horror film that hints at the power of things we have buried long ago, not because they were useless embarrassments, but because they were all too powerful.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyfH_Jugf0Td2HdvsgPc4U_UkHtT7gcx4Y4UW3OhIh2gpgE0594w4YISDpjSyUDuIv6pNiAGOAZxc3BhURT9rOXoZ-GzpRmLQdqqZRVhUQN57qPXEJN3Y4zShloj2byYweZwKkoqbSaw/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-77173506402043685722021-08-26T15:22:00.007-03:002021-08-27T09:50:33.026-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Scream of Fear<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZZGrStAJ-b3Br-W0CuIHF_lHVGZW_JoTCxPYP2Qpoxm1jULOzdkFkAGFhRh06ipgJYWfason7k_zck0OwSjZqb55gYiWa4zh4xX1sgYQW1Vpf-fopMsbEkpFCw9dIzaQ5QqL5Mnuvag/s942/Scream-of-Fear.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="942" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZZGrStAJ-b3Br-W0CuIHF_lHVGZW_JoTCxPYP2Qpoxm1jULOzdkFkAGFhRh06ipgJYWfason7k_zck0OwSjZqb55gYiWa4zh4xX1sgYQW1Vpf-fopMsbEkpFCw9dIzaQ5QqL5Mnuvag/w400-h225/Scream-of-Fear.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><b>Scream of Fear <i>(aka Taste of Fear)</i></b></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Seth Holt. Cast: Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee. 1961.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">The best of Hammer Films’ <i>Mini-Hitchcocks</i>, <i>Scream of Fear </i>is a tight, black and white psycho-thriller in which wheelchair-bound Penny returns to her father’s home after years away at school. Of course, all is not right.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">The less said about the plot the better, so suffice it to say that it’s got shocks, eerie imagery, terrific performances and a brisk pace. It truly stands out from others of its kind - <i>Nightmare</i>, <i>Hysteria</i>, the much loved <i>Paranoiac </i>(that mask!), et al - in terms of delivering plot and effective twists.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Director Holt would make two more Hammer Horrors - <i>The Nanny</i> starring Bette Davis, and <i>Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb</i>, his final film. Holt collapsed and died on set as shooting neared completion.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lr7O9Zs5HUjbkl7DDlQfwyEhV6atvZFqWtpZjZRZV5inDEewmoRyLSKkMRFNNneYJfg9TWWI-GCCnYUYBZ-W-UyW88zv_L2ekuiAgPL4EdOivCQKGhuJpp72Ol8rmpxVlZXAHcyQ2nU/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lr7O9Zs5HUjbkl7DDlQfwyEhV6atvZFqWtpZjZRZV5inDEewmoRyLSKkMRFNNneYJfg9TWWI-GCCnYUYBZ-W-UyW88zv_L2ekuiAgPL4EdOivCQKGhuJpp72Ol8rmpxVlZXAHcyQ2nU/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-29762193691529005052021-08-25T11:32:00.009-03:002021-08-27T09:38:48.260-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Repulsion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWm7W6UBvxDodcxhBHMu8RH2usOWlxpF8axLh_3ABq0yTavRmpJoNT8RJLUas49X5GDZ5D7h_6EFTTMA9HKacKtTjFQjtVwFOYPVWbdRPyyB6FNHoZ4wpEyobCOB0XjPfMgCjcOhytnRU/s1600/f5747479bc49182842e32f861783a649.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWm7W6UBvxDodcxhBHMu8RH2usOWlxpF8axLh_3ABq0yTavRmpJoNT8RJLUas49X5GDZ5D7h_6EFTTMA9HKacKtTjFQjtVwFOYPVWbdRPyyB6FNHoZ4wpEyobCOB0XjPfMgCjcOhytnRU/w400-h225/f5747479bc49182842e32f861783a649.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Repulsion</span></span></b></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Roman Polanski. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Yvonne Furneaux, Ian Hendry, John Fraser. 1965.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">With the desire to reach an English-speaking audience, Roman Polanski followed his Polish feature film debut <i>Knife in the Water</i> with this low budget horror film. The popularity of the genre and the minimal budgetary demands of the concept created by Polanski and writing partner Gérard Brach meant that they were able to eventually interest a studio in backing the film.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>Repulsion</i> is the first of what’s come to be known as Polanski’s <i>Apartment Trilogy</i>, followed by <i>Rosemary’s Baby</i> and <i>The Tenant</i>. A then unknown Catherine Deneuve is Carol, a young Belgian newcomer to England who shares an apartment with her sister Helen. Though Helen is sexually active, Carol is detached and uninterested in the advances of men. When Helen leaves on vacation with her lover, the true extent of Carol’s detachment emerges, as Carol finds the world around her filled with decay and sexual menace.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Following a simple but effective narrative, <i>Repulsion</i> does a stellar job of bringing the viewer into the mind and world of someone suffering from a psychotic breakdown. In Carol’s refusal to share what she’s experiencing with those around her - strangers appearing in the apartment, being attacked in her home - we feel her loneliness, even though people are everywhere around her. She is so out of step with those others, however, that she is absolutely in a world of her own. It’s that connection that the viewer feels with Carol that gives this film its unique perspective, and that adds additional weight to what she - and we - experience in <i>Repulsion</i>.</span><br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0zZ057zk_4dlGNkQ8RToy1xdO_0sOKypLcWyLcfbm98Y_8cC56VTWvh2b3__zHAZtjFX_c2wYKPUHpKBsHjV8eqXDU1ssiR3XjHelusGpQ71biMkFhM5A25944M-mZhElYuOuOT53Ug/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0zZ057zk_4dlGNkQ8RToy1xdO_0sOKypLcWyLcfbm98Y_8cC56VTWvh2b3__zHAZtjFX_c2wYKPUHpKBsHjV8eqXDU1ssiR3XjHelusGpQ71biMkFhM5A25944M-mZhElYuOuOT53Ug/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-45634043793664520012020-10-26T15:26:00.005-03:002020-10-28T11:35:35.769-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Race with the Devil<p><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijk6fcG9TQypC4prab-BbygJCmIexrfPKp1IonmRM8slZ63wW-6OiY4QjYkW-XE8upAP2BcB6AdDMuFF0XrZ2F_w0PVIJExmmFqHqW3QbNBRqscoELWMFAsyau7MKMbtDVe2BBUuis4h8/s620/race-with-the-devil-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="620" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijk6fcG9TQypC4prab-BbygJCmIexrfPKp1IonmRM8slZ63wW-6OiY4QjYkW-XE8upAP2BcB6AdDMuFF0XrZ2F_w0PVIJExmmFqHqW3QbNBRqscoELWMFAsyau7MKMbtDVe2BBUuis4h8/w400-h205/race-with-the-devil-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Raleway; font-size: large;">Race with the Devil</b><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Dir: Jack Starrett. Cast: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Switt, Lara Parker. 1975.<br /><br /><i>Race with the Devil</i> is the kind of movie that packs it all in — Satanism, car chases, motorbike racing, Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Switt, creepy trees, and leaping snakes! It’s also the kind of movie that, once you let your defences down around, reveals itself as a pure movie-watching experience. And that’s why it’s one of my favourite horror movies.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><i>Devil</i> is a flick that exists to entertain. Well, it exists to make money through entertaining, but close enough, because here, we get what we came for.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">A drive-in staple of the 1970’s, <i>Race with the Devil</i> follows two couples as they take to the back roads of Texas in a Winnebago, looking for a break from city life. Any of us who have seen <i>Deliverance</i> know how well that is going to go, and true to form, one boozy night, Fonda and Oates witness a Black Mass complete with sacrifice. To get things going proper, the Satanists realize they’ve been spotted, and the chase begins.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">And it’s this chase that makes up the majority of the film’s running time, with stops along the way for breaks in the action, and opportunities to ratchet up the paranoia.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">Director Starrett was expert at making exploitation moves work, with directorial credits that include <i>Run, Angel Run!</i>, <i>Slaughter </i>and <i>Cleopatra Jones</i>. After <i>Devil</i>, he’d go on to direct <i>A Small Town in Texas</i> and <i>Walking Tall: Final Chapter</i>. The primary actors — Fonda, Oates, Switt and Parker — are likeable, believable as couples and as friends, and many of the decisions they make are logical, given the structure of the movie. The chases are exciting, the cult scenes are suspenseful, and somehow, jamming all these varied elements together works.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;">If you’re in search of some PG-rated, drive-in style horror thrills, <i>Race with the Devil</i> is as good as it gets.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="p4" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsJhX1Ivxo3r3gGX4q1l8SY9jU2t58IKXURxBm58U2_0AbmQyUpZKJiEs6TVy9sGuWE6Is82fZ4dvDMrY2bDw4i2BV5HnfsLRUUVV40uyVy2mQaH0Av_yiReNILeW030YOHx8hga5law/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsJhX1Ivxo3r3gGX4q1l8SY9jU2t58IKXURxBm58U2_0AbmQyUpZKJiEs6TVy9sGuWE6Is82fZ4dvDMrY2bDw4i2BV5HnfsLRUUVV40uyVy2mQaH0Av_yiReNILeW030YOHx8hga5law/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-11331478572737695792020-10-21T13:28:00.012-03:002022-04-29T11:27:28.965-03:00What Makes the Horror Community?<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">As a life-long horror fan about to end his fifty-fifth year, I have come to realize something obvious: Although there are certain films that are canon within the genre, it’s the ones that aren’t that give it — and us — our character.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Whether we connect with them or not, F.W. Murnau’s <i>Nosferatu</i>, Alfred Hitchcock’s <i>Psycho </i>and William Friedkin’s <i>The Exorcist</i> will always be pillars of the genre, but what about the flicks that fill in the gaps between those pillars? For me, these are films like Philip S. Gilbert’s <i>Blood and Lace</i>, Peter Sasdy’s <i>Hands of the Ripper</i> and </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">Brian De Palma’s <i>The Fury</i>, horror movies that I connect with personally, but that aren’t recognized as essential.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">These are the films that add character to genre appreciation, the very thing that defines me as individual from you and your horror fanaticism. It’s a pleasure to be able to introduce a fellow horror nerd to a lesser known movie that I love, to be able to introduce them to my perspective, even though sometimes it’s a flop. You pays your money, you takes your chances, so to speak.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">Canon titles are essential, they are cornerstones of any genre, and if someone were to ask me about how to start getting into horror movies, I’d tell them to seek out those titles immediately. You know the ones, the ones that appear on pretty much every Best Horror Films list.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">I’d tell them to be fearless and without prejudice, to seek out silent movies, movies from every corner of the globe, get rid of any fear they have of subtitles, lousy dubbing, format, age, and god forbid, black and white.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">If they get hooked, well then, they’re going to start seeking out the films that will give them their personality as a horror fan. They’re going to look for other movies from the director of a canon film they’ve connected with, or its studio, writer or country of origin.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">Once we’ve moved through the canon, the joy is in finding the films that matter to each of us individually. That’s when we truly find out who we are as horror people.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">One last thought about all of this: We need to allow people to have their own likes and dislikes, their own taste, and therefore, their own personalities within the genre. It isn’t up to us to say that this or that film is “shit”. It can only ever be up to each of us to say that we didn’t connect with this or that film.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Raleway; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">We need to encourage diversity within the horror community, just as we need to encourage it in the world outside of our dark little cabal.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOfaHQFjDXUIXaAE6VcQdZ37Ssz4yRZsLOLkWqraCeDd-XXwBQMRgDmfv24WxU6xMuKu95vZw5as82ipGnORLuOhbnZdBT-eV0liij6Ryt8doTkNKjMHreBEOARcR7KyCYT82zSrw91JY/s880/BT+Footer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="880" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOfaHQFjDXUIXaAE6VcQdZ37Ssz4yRZsLOLkWqraCeDd-XXwBQMRgDmfv24WxU6xMuKu95vZw5as82ipGnORLuOhbnZdBT-eV0liij6Ryt8doTkNKjMHreBEOARcR7KyCYT82zSrw91JY/w400-h55/BT+Footer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Raleway; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span><p></p>Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236775104970910344.post-70913691551936619152020-07-07T10:52:00.000-03:002020-07-07T10:52:57.165-03:00More Favourite Horror Flicks, Alphabetically: Onibaba<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #222222;"><b>Onibaba</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><i>Dir: Kaneto Shindo. Cast: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satō, Taiji Tonoyama. 1964.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">When I first saw <i>Onibaba</i>, I was instantly taken by how unsentimental and adult it is in terms of its attitude and presentation. Its nudity is casual. The nature of its characters is unapologetically brutal and self-serving. Their actions reveal humans with the hearts and morals of insects. Artistically, its imagery is striking, pulling the viewer into its simple story that, at its core, reveals human nature at its most raw and mercenary.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">Set during a 14th century civil war in Japan,<i> Onibaba</i> tells of an old woman and her daughter-in-law who await the return from battle of their son/husband, and in the meantime, make do by killing soldiers and selling their armour and possessions. While the object of their attention remains AWOL, another soldier returns to his home nearby, which causes tension between the two women. There is more, but this is where anyone intent on not eroding a first-time viewing for others should stop, and so I will. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">Onibaba is a hag-demon from Japanese folklore. Director William Friedkin says that its representation here contributed to the look of the demon Pazuzu in Father Karass’ dream within <i>The Exorcist</i>. Aside from any common physical characteristics, these two horror classic share something bigger — an exploration of the human condition under extraordinary conditions. <i>Onibaba</i> is arguably the best Japanese horror movie ever made. </span><br />
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Dave Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.com0