Got a hankering for more body horror so I revisited Starry Eyes. Good flick. Somewhat underrated and undone by its first half, but the third act is a doozy. Alex Essoe gives a spirited performance as an actor in search of fame but instead is reborn into a satanic cult.

Almost embarrassed to admit this but you can't see everything seeing everything isn't possible. Up until last night I had never watched Ju-On: The Grudge. My stars that was terrifying. You know a movie is powerful when its signifiers become a part of pop culture but don't lose their initial impact because them pale vengeful ghosts and black wraiths with their death rattling fucked. my. shit. up. So much better than The Ring. Perfect movie. Got right into business and didn't let up.

I've never seen Ju-On, either, even though I loved that wave of horrors and was blown away by The Ring and even more so by Pulse/Kairo. It seemed like a bland story and approach so I never bothered, but I guess I'll have to catch up now.

I liked that the story was simple: traumatic death provokes a curse that dooms all who encounter the domain where the deaths occurred. No symbolism just supernatural shenanigans, and on that front the visual and audio components delivered spooky vibes. Conversely, I watched Nick Frost's new movie, Black Cab, that failed on the audio/visual wavelength with a generic-looking ghost that borrowed heavily from the herky-jerky ghosts of Ju-On. Like, dude, come on...enough with those hyper-kinetic ghosts. A lot of the scares from Ju-On were these exceptionally creepy slow-moving sequences.

Can a spooky movie have too much spooky? This Hungarian paranormal period piece about a post-mortem photographer trying to suss out ghastly shenanigans in a post WW1, pandemic-ravaged village doesn't think so. The production design is flawless with many unsettling practical and visual effects, but by the explosion of supernatural activity in the third act it gets kinda silly and/or boring. Motherfuckers be levitating and dragged all over the place. AND CAN WE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP WITH THE HERKY-JERKY ANGULAR GHOST WALKING LIKE FUCK YOU!!! Make it soft, slow, serpentine, fluid, very demure, very mindful (soz). Still, I pretty much enjoyed every bit of it save for the English dub. Like, Tubi, wtf?



Not hella impressed by The Creep Tapes. I's fucks with anything Mark Duplass-related, but the entire Creep universe leaves me cold. As a horror nut the ability to suspend disbelief comes second nature, but I just can't do it with Creep. I think it's because there's nothing preternatural afoot - no ghosts, curses, or demons - just a serial killer and his dumb, dumb, dumb, and I mean, so dumb victims. I find myself internally screaming "WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU WALKING AWAY OR STICKING UP FOR YOURSELF?!?!" Mark Duplass plays a ridiculously unhinged and humorous killer, but all of his targets act super-duper dumB and it irks me.



Been getting into the analog series The Man in the Suit. Not bad. I've only watched the first three episodes, and though I'm not an analog horror freak I often find myself creeped by the aesthetics of it all.

Strange Darling. I liked it! Kudos to everyone involved. Kyle Gallner looked so hot sockgagged I can't even talk about it. The ending reminded me of the ending to A Wounded Fawn. More intense endings.

I haven't had a movie break me in ages like Be My Cat: A Film for Anne did last night. It's been on my watchlist for years, finally pulled the trigger, and had a highly enjoyable time being destroyed by the Romanian wacko who dared to dream of such a deeply disturbing found footage film about Anne Hathaway. The story revolves around a filmmaker obsessed with Anne Hathaway. He wants Anne Hathaway to act in his film and so he creates a film to Anne Hathaway about his obsession, with 3 actresses who believe he's shooting a horror film. A movie within a movie within a movie. Peak found footage. Meta as fuck. There was no crew just the actor and actresses so extensive preparation had to occur beforehand to achieve realism. Never before have lines been blurred to this extent. And dude is such a creep. The director/actor, Adrien Tofei, plays such a convincing weirdo you get confused about who is the character and who is the director. This film is fucked up yo. Weaponized.

None of the violence happens onscreen. IT'S ALL IN YR HEAD. I'm broken. Destroyed. Can't stop thinking about it.

I'm not sure I can do it...

rsmurphy wrote: Mon Nov 25, 2024 9:30 am None of the violence happens onscreen. IT'S ALL IN YR HEAD. I'm broken. Destroyed. Can't stop thinking about it.