Fulci dreams in tenkiller
Halloween Marathon Late Night on the 31st—Films 50 and 51
Terror at Tenkiller- 1986 Directed by Ken Meyer
A no budget slasher that doesn't really captivate. I found myself lulled to mini sleeps throughout as the synth soundtrack emphasized dense chords with moments of oddly cheerful interludes. I'd say there's a bit here for making jokes at the film's expense, but most of it finds a way to be quite dull. Monotonous overdubs, bad lighting, and noisy mics don't help the experience either.
Mostly it involves some killer and a lake- but with a weird sexist vibe that a woman should have stayed with her stalker boyfriend instead of trying to spend the weekend away? Just an oddly moralizing killer with some odd Native American mythology about a protector that never materializes. You also get a funny ball-tastic shot of the killer wearing short shorts and sitting. I joked after the first unsettling start to the film that there wouldn't be anything for the next 40 mins... sadly that lasted the rest of the movie. At least the Vinegar Syndrome Box art is pretty cool.
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Cat In the Brain - 1990 Directed by Lucio Fulci
Fulci on Fulci- a reflection of a horror maestro's work. In reflecting on art there's this compulsion to dictate what is good or bad- or what constitutes worthiness for the watching. Terror at Tenkiller for example is a work that is poorly made- lots of roughness and wonky cinematography so the worth of watching becomes about the weird experience of watching a low budget horror. In a similar way Cat In the Brain isn't one of Fulci's most pointed works.
It's an odd, rambling and disjointed - and almost clip show movie where Fulci himself plays a man plagued by Directing works of blood and madness. It reminds me of Lars Von Trier's more brutal and abstract "The House That Jack Built"- a metamphorical film about the artist's lament at his creation. Or a giallo madness reworking of 8 1/2's Director with internal conflicts.
Fulci presents himself in a more crass and absurd manner- the depiction of Nazi orgies and perverse desire around humanity's pull towards death is more about this moral jettisoning of society's preoccupation with good taste. The gore in this movie is more full on gruesome than some of his more dreamlike films- and repeated like a Warhol can of soup while at the same time framing the false meta awareness. Is Fulci a monster himself for participating?
All of this is wrapped in fuzzy narrative of detectives, mad doppelgangers, sexual anxiety, maggots, and cats chewing brains. The watching experience feels contorted with a nonsensical style then. If anything I wish it had a more clear sense of the deranged artistic mind, but I appreciate the general direction. A noisy variance that doesn't care about a destination. The final question then isn't whether it's good or bad but the journey itself. Fulci drinks a glass on a boat named Perversion. Cheers
next week: Halloween Marathon Tier List