24 Hours of Horror

An election day “live” blog

Tuesday Nov 5th: 9AM : October’s marathon was a lot of fun. I’m still going through everything to reorient myself, but the last weekend still weighs heavy with the election. Even with my voting done all I have to do now is wait and see. What could be more horrific and stifling? Today surely won’t be the end of that feeling, but horror (and film in general) as a medium is also a place for respite. We can explore these scary things from a perspective of safety.

It may also be a day to watch V for Vendetta—Remember Remember..

Film 1
Finishing up the 1994 Danish version of Nightwatch. I remember a bit of the Ewan McGregor version in a hazy way- of the black spaces and more focus on the spooky space of the morgue. This has more of a giallo /Hitchcockian thriller feel to it that I like. Some amazing tense and tragic moments- seeing a young Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) is also a bonus.

Film 2
9:40ish—Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (2023)— they did a sequel? With the original director and Coster-Waldau? I’m intrigued.
9:47— nice opening scene. More modern sensibility- I do love a psychotic laugh. Jaime’s back! +the trauma from the first film +Dark medical student humor.
9:49- I have to look up who the crazy actor is from the students—Alex Andersen- IVAR THE BONELESS— he was batshit in Vikings.
10:10 Sex or Croissants? Can I have both?
~asks for consent!~ But Can I trust Ivar?
10:20 Evil residue lingers in locations.. but monsters captivate our minds
10:50 This film better pick up— a lot of the gang getting back together feels incredulous. Most of the characters are stuck after the supposed happy ending of the original that had this feeling of the young accepting adulthood.
11:48: Ehhh… very trite telling. Almost too sappy in its dramatic trauma moments, but quickly turns into a lame slasher. Missing the ambiance and nightmare void of the first.

Film 3
12:12: Midsommar Director’s Cut 4K (2019) - I haven’t seen this version, but love this opening bleak landscape… beauty broken with a phone call.
Whew— these intellectual dudebros are shitty as hell. “it’s literally abuse” to ask a partner for emotional availability..
12:31: Enjoying the small details in the backgrounds and a mirror shot reflecting his distance from her as she asks about the Swedish trip. Bad communication/gaslighting to be “nice.”
12:39- Nice twisting transition to the flight bathroom. Reference to Nazi-runic language-other asinine comments on women—unsettling cues even in the sun-long trip upside down and flipped.
1:10 “We’re just gonna ignore the bear then..” I like this transcendent moment with the culture of the May Queens.

2:30pm- (after a pause) Before the film turns on the Swedish customs. Over-explaining the meaning in this version. But it reflects on Dani’s finally able to release the tension she feels after her family’s death.
2:39— The argument over appropriation of different thesis is hilarious— grad school is its own domain of voyeurism for want for a deeper meaning. Both feeling revolted but compelled by the disturbing ritual.
3:14- The whole oracle character and specific framing of violence is where the film starts to bubble under with more of the guttural/exploitative horror.
3:53- The Maypole dance has such a great momentum to it. Some of the film is more broken up- but especially the scenes of communal expressions of distress and desire make these emotions feel more natural (not having to hold back grief). Nothing is individual - therefore nothing feels lonely.
4:12— The culmination of frictive emotions finally relents, breaking to a catharsis for Dani. Joyeux!

Film 4
4:38 Moonstalker 1989 from VS Home Grown Horror. Yup this is some Z Grade cinematography and audio design. Nice break after the beauty of Midsommar. Everything sounds like it’s been filtered through a toilet bowl.
4:50 Love that there’s a copycat Halloween synth. Dad and family stuck in the cold eating burned hamburgers is ridiculous.
4:59: Bring out the gimp! Straight jacket monster-silly costume ready to bash. 80s cheesy kills.
5:15: Outside of camping in winter there’s also an outdoor shower scene? Slasher logic…
6:11: Silly ending- trashy kills and bodies strung together on a log to sing camp tunes.

Film 5

6:29: V/H/S Beyond 2024— UFO found footage/History channel spoofy quality is right here. Re-enactment level shitty acting.
6:37: haha fast zombies and first person view just feels like a videogame. Splash BOOM. CHAINSAW ZOMBIE
6:52: This clearly has some more grotesque weirdness on its mind. Resident Evil like monsters and bird zombies amp it up.
7:22 As with most anthology films something typically ends up amiss between stories. This doesn’t have much to connect them and the Indian Shakira storyline has lost all the momentum of the first 25 mins. Now comes the shaky shake cam-The gross out gore effects are funny/absurdly splatter.
7:43 High octane adrenaline junkies jumping out of a crashed plane is a jumbled mess of campy gore with B-movie CGI.
7:51: Getting a bit tired of the shaky-cams. Obnoxious so I just phase out. This is starting to feel more like form aesthetic over content.
8:06: Thankfully they’ve cut out the cam stuff for now. Replaced with an endearing “cute” revamp of Tusk with a Kathy Bates like performance.
8:49: Rest of movie kinda turned into a squish fest for an otherwise interesting setup.

Film 6
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - 2024 I turned this off to watch something with some actual funny elements- What We Do In Shadows. Carrie Coon is so much better outside of this role, and Paul Rudd can’t get out of his Antman persona.

10:59pm Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - 1992- The sultry jazz void pulls me back~ Pop fizz— a violent break. An absurd sequence with sex workers being pulled out of a school bus? And Chris Isaak with Kiefer Sutherland? Cheeeese.
The lady in red with a blue flower. FEDERAL. Watching this I have no idea but bafflement and glee. Yes this is TWIN PEAKS.
Remember Lil had a sour face… I’m glad they spell it out. Perhaps {self} mocking the crypto analysis of media that nerdy fans DIG. Can You Dig?
11:25 Lynch plays with the background score- from noir-esque cool that fits with the non-sequitur line readings to screeching discordant strings while the murder is examined.
A telephone pole with the number 6. Full lines repeated/miscommunicated.
Cooper looks at the camera till he sees David Bowie (playing Phillip Jeffries) showing a nightmarescape with music played backwards. An evil place, a monkey’s face. The frizzled electronic line. Is it Cooper?
11:48: The turkey’s one of the dumbest birds on Earth… gobble … gobble gobble..
11:57: Laura’s Diary— Bob coming through. Be Me or Kill. The double laugh. Bits and pieces of a montage 12:16- the Good Dale is in the Lodge.12:44 A thread will be torn. The masked boy hop hop skip. Images flow and drift.

Angels fade away

Film 7
2:37AM The Taking of Deborah Logan 2014
Exploitation of Alzheimers and a family’s financial situation — great way to start of a scummy “documentary”
2:50: Already getting into the violent outbursts — odd that they’d stay at the house/set up some surveillance.
3:04: Ridiculous that they’d show a patient their unstable state ~ is there an actual doctor here? lol
3:27: Some effective creepy moments as the mythos starts picking up, but I’m wondering if the Footage point of view is the best way to tell this.
3:44AM- Luis complaining about white people attics and basements is hilarious— how many places are there in this house? At least one of the cameramen had the sense to leave.
4:00AM Hilarious B-Movie ending. Sad more of the crew didn’t have to suffer too. Also doesn’t close with their documentary so what was the point of them?

Film 8
4:20: Dagon - 2001 Time for Some Stuart Gordon silly. Most of the movie seems to have some nice set pieces- but the atmosphere is hard to reconcile with just alright special effects. The telling of the tale lulls at a few parts; The Lovecraftian story is good though, allowing for just enough silly cult goings on and a dramatic ending. That’s probably the moment that stands out the most as a Gordon film- upping some more of the camp with the costumes.

Film 9
6:59: The Beyond 1981: Perhaps my favorite Fulci film— another tale pulling further into the abyss.. The beginning sets the tone of melancholy; showing the eyes of a deranged artist. Reading from the book of Eibon- a Hotel set upon one of the 7 gates. The spaces of evil have started to open…
7:18: A goopy eye gore effect cuts to the horizon of a highway- a void space of disconnection… (a tune of crumbling and ascending piano repeats itself before zoned out phasing sounds)…
8:01: All these odd violent attacks come as a series of nightmare dream tableaus. Not fully connected- Fulci’s spiders dance across the screen.. So GROSS. Another strewn out eye and tongue.
8:13 Another pop eyeball— the sigil of the dead walking the earth; a malformation of Jupiter.. Good fortune turned away.
8:25 And you will face the sea of darkness….
8:40 and all therein that may be explored.

Film 10
8:43 MadS 2024- Sleep deprived with micro sleeps and the daylight shining bright. The humming zone of abyss. And I press PLAY
8:52- Digging the forward momentum and the push of the music so far
8:58— A burst of violence and a splash of blood… French extremity is (dead)alive and well.
10:14— I don’t know that the whole film needed to be from this perspective, but I liked wondering what was going to pop up just around the corner. At the party it really lost its way, like a lightweight Gaspar Noe film.

2:30PM- Rewatching some of the last half.. Funny how much of this leans into the soundtrack now— with long walking sequences and trying to get the vibe of Godspeed You Black Emperor! from 28 Days Later. Unfortunately the continual jump through characters doesn’t make me care about them more. Thankfully the last moment of dread works.

An Election Epilogue 3:30PM True joy is in the spaces we choose to make positive. For me the transcendence of horrific art is in its cathartic release. Thanks for reading and being passionate about film

look out for more november noir and weird happenings. grab some popcorn and settle in- a theme from the amazing mystery/horror series Yellowjackets.