Horrorvember 2023
A few films before the tier list— (horror movies watched in Nov 23).
On the nature of control: A few films this month delve into how the individual relates to a community- how one can involve themselves in messaging and become wrapped in cult mindset. There are two films that depict this special kind of dread: Safe and Faults...
Faults- 2014- A cult deprogrammer has decided to leave the field after his new book doesn't sell. When a family asks him to help him get their daughter back from a cult we get to see the techniques of mindfuckery that one engages in to try to take control from someone else. There's an intense sensation here of nasuea and dread as the cult mindset infests itself in positive reinforcement. There's a combustible energy to the film as the programmer and cult minded victim create a bond.
Safe- 1995- Psychological dread permeates this film... setting itself against a suburban backdrop of empty living - a woman finds herself getting sick from the toxic fumes of every day life. It starts as off-kilter as a lulling Lynch score that drives an overwhelming sensation of disease. As it's set in the 80s there is also this new age discussion around AIDS and the ideological feeling that all disease comes from our negativity through the world. The woman soon comes to a gay leader that has this belief that healing can come from within, if we only allow it to. The unsettling feeling of queer identity from the woman's dissolved attachment to her husband is there too- but moreso this dread is felt today. Going through a collective trauma of the covid pandemic breathes the truths of conspiracy that seeps into consciousness. That the media has created a fiction- or that the whole toxicity of our environment can only be escaped from creating an isolated oasis.
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Worth your time:
Kwaidan- 1964- A beautiful series of ghost stories set in medieval Japan. Several of the stories. I love the set pieces and the look of the movie really captivates and shows what you can do with more minimalistic settings. I especially enjoyed a colorful battle on the water and a monk that sings their story.There's also some nice moments of eerie macabre and the stories are straight forward so it's easy to get into the atmosphere of the folk tales.
Angel Heart- 1987-A gloriously moody southern noir film- Occultist sensibilities and frantic paranoia that fuels a Detective's descent into the underworld. Works on the same level as A Devil's Advocate or the 9th Gate.
Road Games-1981 Stacy Keach is effective as a Truck Driver that keeps seeing what he thinks is a serial prowler on the highway kidnapping women. Jamie Lee Curtis appears far too late in the movie, but the beginning has great tension with a guitar wire garrote. Very much a low blooded Hitchcock thriller with some car mania.
The Dark Side of the Moon -1990- Worth it for some cheezy B-movie quality effects - you get Tyrell from Blade Runner and an odd atmosphere of Alien meets Bermuda Triangle Conspiracy through Hell. Event Horizon without as much of the later 90s bombasticity.
Addams Family Values-1993 Macabre humor just in time for Thanksgiving- one of our yearly watches as it hits on celebrating being othered from general society and having a loving space.
Phantom of the Paradise -1974- Somewhat of a mind boggling extravaganza of lewd silly songwriting combusting with a Phantom of the Opera like twist on pacts with the devil in musicland. That Brian De Palma directed this made me ponder out loud whether Tarantino would ever have enough crazy to make an actual musical. This one jumps right into zany territory as a compozer is exploited by a music producer- a great lampooning of the music business as so many auditions come up for their one minute. I can only imagine the number of artists getting sifted through on music services now- only to find their souls written off to someone more marketable. The person as commodity is only more prevalent now so it still feels very contempoary- with great 70s vocals.
Other films
Knock At the Cabin- 2023- An Armageddon cult convinces a gay couple and their daughter that they must make a sacrifice. Though the beginning is set up well the rest of the film dissipates in both sense and any sort of buildup. These things must happen because the story demands it. Meh..
The Skin I Live In-2011- A soap opera version of horror. Though it has some moments of interesting cinematic visuals - it also treads into transphobic territory and utilizing nonsensical rape to drive the story forward. Unfortunately it also doesn't allow enough breath for the true book ending for the story- which becomes about an acceptance of self - especially considering the focus on meditation. *spoiler* It's really trying to be an edgy exploitation film full of melodrama as a plastic surgeon takes revenge on a rapist by turning them into a woman (the horror!). The odd thing is that throughout the film the transitioned person is depicted as a beautiful being- but we're to perceive this as horrific with the "twist?" The surgeon has fallen in love with them too- the film doesn't really linger on the operative body horror either, merely that it has happened. Rather it tends to be more focused on visereal horrors of rape- chopping this movie into two sections that don't make sense- rather than the failure of the film to really embrace the theme of trauma bonding that would be more compelling.
Insidious: The Red Door- 2023-The other Patrick Wilson horror movie. Sigh... Unfortunately there's not a lot here to plod on, as the sins of the father pass to the son there's nothing new explored. What was neat about the first film was a lot of the contained mania in the house itself. There's not a lot of exploration here, just a dawdling film that doesn't really explain the demonic forces.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife-2021- whew this was boring- rather than the tedious previous re-release this one really ramps up the memberberries - even retreading the same overall plot from earlier films. Sure you get to see a few minutes of the original gang on film, but I'm not sure it's worth your time whatsoever.
Deadly Blessing- 1981- Wes Craven digs up some religious trauma in this one- a slasher set on a more repressed amish like community that seems to confine their followers for unjust reasons. Or are they so crazy? This cult theme really doesn't quite have enough momentum to move it beyond soap opera with some kills.
The Blackening- 2022- What starts out as a creepy social commentary on racist tropes in horror movies quickly becomes more like a scooby-doo mystery that unravels. A group of black friends goes to a cabin in the woods to have a game night celebrating Juneteenth. Some hillbillies give them side eye, and there are some callbacks to other horror films, but the main baddie doesn't seem to really do much but shoot arrows from afar. There are are funny moments and in jokes that turn the film into a better horror parody- but once the obvious unmasking happens I found that it wrapped everything in a pretty bloodless and scareless manner. Though there could be more said if the characters really confronted what instigated the villain's motivation.