The Friday Night Horror Movie: Hereditary (2018)

hereditary

This week I watched exactly one movie, Beau is Afraid the new horror film by Ari Aster. Honestly, I’m not sure what I think of it. It isn’t a bad film, exactly, but it did take me three days to complete it. There was just only so much of it I could take in one setting. It is a film with a particular point of view, and that POV is rather unsettling.

Joaquin Phoenix plays a man with intense anxiety. He is the sort of person who always imagines the absolute worst thing possible is going to happen. The film essentially stays in his point of view and so I was never sure what was real and what was just in his head. Critic Matt Singer has a very good review of the film and he explains it much better than I am.

I finished Beau is Afraid yesterday and so it is not the Friday Night Horror Movie, but watching that film made me want to return to Ari Aster’s first full-length feature film, Hereditary. And that is the FNHM.

Like Beau is Afraid, Hereditary is a strange, unsettling film and I’m not entirely sure what it all means, but I connected to it much more strongly than I did with Beau.

Like so many modern horror films Hereditary is about grief. It begins with the death of a matriarch, or rather the funeral of the matriarch. She was a complicated, sometimes difficult woman as we’ll learn by listening to her daughter, Annie (Toni Collette) give her eulogy. Mother and daughter had a strained relationship. The family has a long history of mental illness that ends in tragedy.

Later another terrible tragedy will strike sending the family spiraling. Annie begins having visions of the dead. Her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) tries to hold the family together but his own grief envelops him. The son, Peter (Alex Wolff) blames himself for the accident.

The film goes to unexpected and weird places, almost none of it is believable, and yet I was completely carried away by it. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot as to avoid spoilers but if you like horror that find a unique way to terrify then this is a movie worth checking out.

Collette gives an absolutely riveting performance. Ann Dowd shows up too as a, well, again I won’t spoil it, but she’s always worth watching.

Cushing Curiosities is the Pick of the Week

cushing curiosities

Like probably most people my age from America I first discovered Peter Cushing playing Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars film. But he was so much more than that.

I’ve come to love him as the star of numerous Hammer Horror films, but he was more than that too.

Severin Films is releasing this week a collection of six rather obscure and slightly different films from the great actor and I am all for it. I love that more and more Blu-ray companies are putting together this type of set filled with films one might not usually buy or even know about. I’m happy to make it my pick of the week.

It is a very big week this week as we are ever so close to Christmas. So buckle up as we move our way through it all.

Bollywood Horror Collection: I know absolutely nothing about Bollywood movies. It is a huge gap in my cinematic knowledge. There are just so many of them that it is hard to know where to start. This package from Mondo Macabre, which features 6 movies from the Ramsey Brothers might be the place to start.

Blue Rita: Jesus Franco directs this movie about a nightclub owner who is actually a spy and who delights in torturing men for information.

Jailhouse Wardress: Another Jesus Franco flick. This one deals with Nazis who have escaped capture and are now living in South America. Being a Franco joint it also entails a laboratory that creates beautiful women for the Nazi’s pleasure.

Goodbye Dragon Inn: This Taiwanese film is an ode to going to the movies, to the simple pleasures of sitting in a movie theater watching cinema on the big screen. It is a beautiful, strangely hilarious film. You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.

Passages: Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos star in this drama about two gay men who have been together for fifteen years and what happens when one of them has an affair with a woman.

The Quatermass Xperiment: Hammer Studios existed for nearly two decades before making this film. For those years they mostly made super cheap, forgettable little films. But with this, they were put on the map. Its popularity allowed them to make more science fiction and horror films and within a few years they were a powerhouse. I’ll have my full review up at Cinema Sentries in a day or two.

House of the Long Shadows: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Vincent Price star in this film about a writer who goes to a remote Welch cottage on a bet – can he write an entire novel in 24 hours? But when he arrives he finds it full of quirky oddballs.

The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse: The Red Balloon is a delightful little film about a boy chasing a red balloon through the city streets. It had been decades since I watched it and yet it remains a pleasant memory in my mind. The Criterion Collection presents it and four other films from the same director in this set.

Anna Christie: Greta Garbo stars as a prostitute who returns home to her father and tries to make a new life. Garbo is terrific in this.

Madame Bovary: Vincent Minnelli directs Jennifer Jones, James Mason, and Van Heflin in this adaptation of the Flaubert classic novel.

Long Arm of the Law Parts 1 & II: 88 Films present this double feature of these Hong Kong action flicks. I don’t know anything about them, but I love me some HK action.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: I gotta admit I’m not a huge fan of del Toro’s films and I can’t think of a reason we need another adaptation of Pinocchio, and yet this looks pretty cool. And since it is the Criterion Collection putting it out it is definitely worth a mention.

Weird: The Al Yankovich Story: Danielle Radcliffe stars as the brilliant song parody writer that nearly every juvenile discovers and loves at some point. Apparently, the film is entirely fictitious which is exactly what you want from an Al Yankovich biopic.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: How are these things still popular. They were huge when I was a kid some twenty years ago.

The Mandalorian: The Complete First Season: I’ve not loved this Star Wars series, but I do appreciate that it is mostly telling a story outside of the Skywalker Saga (yes I know it isn’t completely outside, but it is mostly its own thing) and I’m always happy to see streaming shows get a physical release.

The Creator: Science fiction film about the war between humans and AI. The reviews have not been great, but I’ll eventually give it a try.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: My daughter loved this movie about a night at a Chuck-E-Cheese-style pizza place where the animatronics turn evil.

The Friday Night Horror Movie: The Royal Hotel (2023)

the royal hotel

Hannah (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are backpacking in Australia. When they run out of money they go to an employment agency that specializes in finding gigs for travellers. They are sent to a remote mining town where they are employed as bartenders at a dirty, rundown pub/hotel.

It is run by a drunken bastard of a man who has clearly seen better days (a glorious Hugo Weaving), and it is patronized by a motley crew of miners who are as rowdy as they are misogynistic. They constantly harass with come-ons and sexist jokes.

Writer/director Kitty Green (along with co-writer Oscar Redding) fills The Royal Hotel with an unending sense of dread. From the moment Hannah and Liv arrive in town there is a feeling that something terrible is going to happen to them.

But this isn’t a movie filled with knife-wilding maniacs or skeezy rapists, or cannibals. It is more realistic than that. The men, for the most part, seem like decent blokes – hard-working, blue-collar, rough-around-the-edges blokes for sure, but not necessarily evil men.

But that’s the thing, that’s the point the film is trying to make. A couple of young women, out-of-towers, like these girls are, will inevitably face a litany of potential dangers in a place like this. And there is no way for them to tell who is essentially harmless, and who might cause them real horror.

Hannah is the one who recognizes the potential danger they face every night, while Liv seems more oblivious. She’s willing to accept the overt sexism as a cultural difference. It is up to Hannah then, to constantly steer Liv away from danger.

One of the locals, Matty (Toby Wallace) takes a shine to Hannah. He seems nice so the girls allow him to take them to a watering hole for a swim. They have a good time and get a little drunk. That night he puts a few moves on Matty. She rebuffs. Gently at first, but he persists. She tells him straight up “no” but he pushes back. Eventually, she has to get tough and yell at him. But at that moment it isn’t clear if he will leave.

Another customer, Dolly (Daniel Henshall) is seen lingering upstairs in the hall near their room. On another night he gets aggressively rude with Matty. But he’s sweet to Liv, especially when she’s drunk. On at least a couple of times, he steers her towards his car when she’s completely loaded.

It is a slow burn of a film. There isn’t a lot of incident. Not a lot happens. For most of the film’s run time, I felt myself waiting for something to happen. Something horrible. That’s not a knock on the film at all, I found it rather exhilarating. So many horror films go running straight to the jump scares and the violence, that it was rather pleasing to watch a film so willing to take its time.

I hesitated to make this my Friday Night Horror film because, well, to be honest, the horror never really comes. It doesn’t end in a bloodbath. Not to spoil things but it does end with a bit of violence, but not in the traditional horror movie sense. There are some tonal shifts moving the film between horror, thriller, and something like a workplace-from-hell drama that the film doesn’t quite pull off. But mostly it really worked for me.

Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny is the Pick of the Week

dial of destiny bluray

I love me some Indiana Jones. Not all of the films are great, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is a masterpiece and the rest of them are quite enjoyable to watch. I’ve even (more or less) come around to the one with the aliens.

I wasn’t able to see the new one, Dial of Destiny in the theater so I’m excited to finally get to see it at home. You can read about that and the other Blu-rays coming out this week over at Cinema Sentries.

The Friday Night Horror Movie: Knock at the Cabin (2023)

knock at the cabin

A young family is vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods. Seven-year-old Wen (Kristen Cui) is outside catching grasshoppers. A huge, hulking man slowly approaches. He says his name is Leonard (Dave Bautista) and despite his size, he’s gentle and kind. We’ll later learn he is an elementary teacher and we can believe that in his demeanor and actions.

But while he is being nice to Wen, engaging in her grasshopper collecting, he keeps looking over his shoulder as if something menacing is going to approach.

Moments later three people do appear. Leonard tells Wen that they are going to have to come into the cabin and that she should tell her dads.

Wen panics at this and then rushes to the cabin, and screams at her Dads – Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) to come inside and lock the door. They try to calm her down but when they see Leonard, and all his girth, standing at the door they get worried. When they see the other three carrying what appear to be makeshift weapons, they panic.

Leonard tries to explain that they need to come inside. He does so in his school teacher’s voice. The film makes great use of Bautista’s size juxtaposed against his kindly demeanor. But he also says they will force themselves in if the men don’t unlock the doors.

The doors remain locked and these strangers do force themselves in. After a brief fight, where Eric sustains a concussion, Eric and Andrew are tied up.

The strangers, which also include a nurse, Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), a cook Adriane (Abby Quinn), and a violent redneck Redmond (Rupert Grint) tell a strange tale about how each of them has been having visions about the end of the world. About how Eric and Andrew must make a decision – a grave decision to stop it. They must choose one member of their family to sacrifice – to kill, to murder – to stop the oncoming apocalypse.

That’s completely mad. No one would believe a few nutters barging into their house spouting that nonsense. And our heroes don’t believe it. But then the film starts to make us, and them believe.

I won’t spoil the details but the film uses the isolated setting and a few other tricks to make this scenario plausible. Director M. Night Shyamalan is an expert in creating tension out of fantastical settings and stories.

Still, I never quite bought into the premise. The thing about a film like this is that you spend all your time wondering what the film is going to do in the end. Will the apocalypse come? Or will it be averted by someone being sacrificed? Or will they sacrifice someone only to realize that the strangers were in fact crazy and nothing actually happened on the outside? Or will it have an oblique ending, will we never know if the apocalypse was real or not?

Apparently, the movie ends differently than the book, and most people seem pretty upset with the changes they made. I’ve not read the book, but the ending definitely was not satisfying. But I’m not sure it could have done anything to really satisfy. As I said, I never quite bought into what the story was selling.

Still, I quite liked the film. Shyalaman is a very good director and a master of camera placement and movement. I was enthralled with the filmmaking even when the story let me down.

The Movie Journal: November 2023

brighton rock

I watched 45 movies in November. 36 of them were new to me. 32 were made before I was born. It was Noirvember and I watched 22 film noirs. That’s pretty good considering I spent the first week or so of the month watching and reviewing a bunch of movies for Cinema Sentries including two large Shaw Brothers martial arts films.

Those Shaw Brothers films had a huge impact on my most watched actors and directors lists.

For the actors, Ku Feng now leads the pack with 11 films of his being watched. He’s followed by Sammy Hunt, Cheng Pei-Pei, Vincent Price, and Boris Karloff with eight films each.

Sam Peckinpah still leads the directors list with six films. Chang Chey enters the list with five films and Ho Meng-Hua and Lo Wei both come in this month with four films each. Martin Scorsese, William Nigh, and Fernando Di Leo are still tied for second place with five films each.

Next month isn’t going to have a theme, but I am going to try and catch up on all the films that came out this year and that I missed.

Obviously, I tend to watch old movies. That wasn’t always the case. I used to go to the theater just about every weekend and I would watch everything that looked interesting to me (and plenty that didn’t). I’ve mostly lived in smallish towns and cities so I’ve never been able to see smaller, independent films or the type that often wind up on critics’ best-of lists.

These days I rarely make it to the cinema, and I don’t really keep up all that well with new films. I still watch the Oscars every year, because I like the ceremony, but it is rare anymore that I’ve seen more than a couple of nominated films.

So, I’d like to spend December making an effort to see some of the best films that came out this year. I’ll probably review a few of them, but mostly I’ll just try and enjoy.

My favorite new watches this month included Brighton Rock, Man on the Run, The Devil’s Mirror, and Night and the City.

Carrie (1976) – ****
Johnny O’Clock (1947) – ****
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) – ****
Touch of Evil (1958) – *****
Doctor Who: The Daleks (1964) – ****
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) – ****
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) – ***
Brighton Rock (1948) – ****1/2
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) – *****
Man on the Run (1949) – ****1/2
The Killer is Loose (1956) – ****
Private Hell 36 (1954) – ***
I, the Jury (1982) – ***1/2
I, the Jury (1953) – ***1/2
Road House (1948) – ****
The Shanghai Gesture (1941) – **1/2
The Racket (1951) – ***1/2
Blackhat (2015) – **1/2
The Frightened City (1961) – ****
Cast a Dark Shadow (1955) – ****
Deep Red (1975) – ****1/2
Backdraft (1991) – **1/2
Carlito’s Way (1993) – ****
Beware, My Lovely (1952) – ***1/2
Human Desire (1954) – ****
The Killer (2023) – ****
The Tattered Dress (1957) – ***
The Girl in the Kremlin (1957) – ***1/2
Pitfall (1948) – ***1/2
A Haunting in Venice (2023) – ***1/2
Man Afraid (1957) – ***
The Dragon Missile (1976) – ***
Gator (1976) – ***
White Lightning (1973) – ***1/2
The Water Margin (1972) – **
The Devil’s Mirror (1972) – ****1/2
Force of Evil (1948) – ****
The Shadow Whip (1971) – ***1/2
The Crimson Charm (1971) – ***1/2
Black Angel (1946) – ***1/2
The First Power (1990) – ***
Brothers Five (1970) – ****
Night and the City (1950) – ****1/2
Lady of Steel (1970) – ****
The Flying Guillotine (1975) – ***1/2

Noirvember: Beware, My Lovely (1952)

beware my lovely

Ida Lupino plays Helen Gordon a widow living in a great big house who takes care of children after school. We see her being kind to the children, and teaching them. Loving them. She has a big heart. She takes care of an old lodger as well. She’s a practical person, but also a bit scatter-brained and not very good at the housekeeping.

One day a man pops by. He says he’s in need of work and he’d be happy to help around the house. His name is Howard Wilton and he’s played by Robert Ryan. She says she’s got plenty of work for him to do and hires him on the spot.

What she doesn’t know, but we do, is that Howard is mentally unstable. We watched him at the beginning of the film working for someone else, someone we saw lying dead in her cupboard. Someone who, when Howard saw her dead, caused him to flee in terror.

The film builds the tension slowly. Because we know Howard is unstable we know he will eventually turn violent towards Helen, but the movie is in no rush to get there. At first, Howard exhibits some little quirks towards Helen. He’ll say something a little odd, or do some little something out of the ordinary. He might even call attention to it but Helen treats him like one of her kids.

As those quirks turn more sinister she’s still polite, still kind. She should just run, but she doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. When she finally realizes she must get out, it is too late. Howard keeps her from leaving.

The movie never quite boils over in the way I wanted it to. The tension stays on a low simmer, and I wanted it to explode. But the filmmaking is good. Ida Lupino is wonderful in everything she does and she’s terrific here. Her company The Filmmakers produced it. She was an extraordinary woman, I recommend reading up on her sometime.

Robert Ryan likewise is quite good. He’s always good as the heavy. There was something menacing about his presence.

Noirvember: Brighton Rock (1948)

brighton rock

Watch enough British cinema and you will eventually come across the name Graham Greene. He was a novelist whose books were often adapted for the screen. Eventually, he became a screenwriter himself. His films include The Third Man (1949), This Gun For Hire (1942), Went the Day Well? (1942), Ministry of Fear (1944), and many others. I’ve seen quite a few of them and there isn’t a bad one in the bunch.

This includes Brighton Rock, a terrific little film noir about a group of hoodlums in the titular seaside English town. Richard Attenborough stars as Pinkie the razor-wielding, sadistic leader of a small gang of hoods. He happens across Fred (Alan Wheatley) a man he thinks is responsible for the death of the gang’s former leader.

He and the rest of the gang members (including the first Doctor Who, William Hartnell) chase Fred through a carnival until finally killing him on one of those creaky horror rides.

While trying to hide at the carnival Fred meets Ina (Hermione Baddeley), for having a woman by his side might work as a disguise. She winds up playing detective as no one else seems to care what happened to him.

Looking for an alibi Pinkie latches onto Rose (Carol Marsh) whom he comes across working as a waitress in a restaurant. She’s lonely and never had a guy before and falls in love immediately. He treats her terribly but says enough sweet things to keep her by his side (when he needs her to be).

It is an extraordinary performance from Richard Attenborough. I’ll always think of him as John Hammond in Jurassic Park (1993). He’s young here, and terrifying. He’s icy cold and the way he manipulates Rose is just awful (awfully good).

This is film noir all the way through with terrifically stark black-and-white photography, pitch-black characters, and wonderfully made from start to finish.

The Sandman: The Complete First Season is the Pick of the Week

the sandman

I was a freshman in college and this girl I liked handed me a Sandman comic. I had not read this particular comic before. I had not read any comics in many years. I never was much of a comic reader. But I devoured it. I loved everything about it. It was so imaginative, and thoughtful, so beautifully drawn and artful. I didn’t know comics could be like that.

I read every book in the series. I used to read it during my psychology class, sitting at the back with the comic folded into my textbook. I’ve since purchased all of them and reread them a few times.

I was more than excited when Netflix announced they were doing a series based on the comics. I was thrilled when it actually turned out to be good. I’m also always happy when shows and movies that are streaming only come to physical media. I’m happy to make The Sandman: The Complete First Season my Pick of the Week.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

A Haunting in Venice: I wrote about this one in my Friday Night Horror column a couple of weeks ago. It isn’t an amazing movie, but it is a fun one, and I love that they keep making these Poirot adaptations.

Wandavision: The Complete Series: Again, I am really glad streaming series are getting physical releases. This is probably the best Disney+ Marvel series, which isn’t saying that much. The first half is better than the second, but the good stuff really worked for me.

Blackhat: Michael Mann’s techno-thriller just didn’t work for me, which is surprising because I usually love his films. I wrote a review for Cinema Sentries which you can read here. If you are a fan, then Arrow Video is releasing in a pretty fancy set.

Le Combat dans l’île: French noir about a terrorist hiding out after a failed assassination.

Messiah of Evil: Pretty good little horror flick about a woman coming to a seaside town looking for her dad and finding a cult of zombies gets a really nice-looking treatment from Radiance Films. You can read my Friday Night Horror talk on the film here.