Why yes, I did once work in a video store...
Current Favorites: My Favorite Horror Flicks at Age 10
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One Cut of the Dead 2017
Hooptober 8: My God. They're Using Tools!
Slightly Spoilerish but Mostly Vague Review Follows...
One of the most original and truly clever horror movies of the past few decades. This was even better the second time around and watching with a group of first-timers! The first 40 min is especially fun knowing all the in-movie reasons for the awkward pauses and seemingly out of place dialogue. Knowing the ending really helped the second act go down, which almost caused me… -
Eyes Without a Face 1960
Hooptober 8: My God. They're Using Tools!
The surgery, time-lapse, and maskless reveal are fairly graphic and grotesque for the time, but as is often the case in horror, the ambiguous and hidden is more disturbing. Christiane's mask is haunting and it's expressionless, vacant stare echoes endlessly throughout the genre; Michael Myers' albino Shatner facade is the most obvious scion but every other masked slasher from Jason on down is tied to it in addition to works as diverse as Bruiser, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, and Abre Los Ojos/Vanilla Sky.
Finally, few films can lay claim to inspiring a Billy Idol song.
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Rope 1948
Hooptober X: The FrighTENers
Hitchcock balances loaded innuendoes, a limited setting, queer subtext, and a faux feature-length oner in this take on Leopold and Loeb's "perfect crime." The setup is classic with the freshly murdered body--hidden in plain sight at a dinner party--the proverbial bomb under the table, but technically and performance-wise, this let me down. While the manipulation of the set and the grand skyline background were impressive, how often the camera jerked in transit was distracting. Knowing that… -
Prisoners of the Ghostland 2021
Hooptober X: The FrighTENers
My wife, 30 seconds in: "I thought you said this was a Nic Cage movie."
*Cage bursts in wielding a shotgun, screaming*
"Oh."Escape From Old West Tokyo starring Cage suited up in a rejected Ghost Rider costume. There are dozens of disparate elements colliding in this culture shock genre mash-up, and just as many production companies involved. Though a fool's errand to pick out all the crazy shit that happens herein, if forced to pick three they would be:
•Bill Moseley in Colonel Sanders cosplay
•Testicle torture via shaped charge
•Mutant Nick Cassavetes
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Gothic 1986
Hooptober X: The FrighTENers
If Are You Afraid of the Dark was originally conceived by Ken Russell as a sweaty Romantic swingers' parlor game featuring flesh, phalluses, and fellatio. The entire cast are horned up maniacs perpetually on the verge of groping, stripping, or inflicting harm. Again, this is a Ken Russell film. Thomas--SCIENCE!--Dolby's score is wickedly unhinged, mirroring the deteriorating sanity of the characters. Another vhs box cover that haunted me for decades. Little did I know it would be far less psychologically damaging that watching the movie itself. -
Stop Making Sense 1984
And you may find yourself sitting in a LieMAX theater
And you may find yourself watching the greatest concert film of all time
And you may find yourself watching an awkward Q&A
Moderated by Spike Lee
And you may ask yourself, "well, how did I get here?"One of the most idiosyncratic pop bands of the 20th century documented live at the peak of their creative power. Building off the already top-notch tunes, director Jonathan Demme captured the undeniable energy…
