October 23: A Thin Line Between Genius and Madness: Japanese Auteurs
201. Kamisama no iu tôri a.k.a. As The Gods Will (2014)
202. Doa 3 a.k.a. Door 3 (1996)
203. Kawaii Akuma a.k.a. Cute Devil (1982)
Japan has been home to some highly unique filmmakers over the years, particularly in genre work. Takashi Miike is probably the most well known of these three in the western world. With his name comes a certain expectation of anarchic mash-ups that often fuse action, comedy, horror, sci-fi and crime thrillers among other things to produce films that take Miike on whatever whims strike his fancy. As the Gods Will definitely typifies this approach to filmmaking. Based on a manga (which I now really want to read), Miike takes the premise of a school that is forced into bizarre and deadly games by gods and imbues it with ludicrous violence and a wickedly dark sense of humor with some truly excellent comic timing in places. It’s as baffling as it is entertaining with some great effects work. This is easily one of the most purely fun Miike movies I’ve ever seen.
Door 3 finds Kiyoshi Kurosawa in a sort transition period where you can see him start to cement the themes and style he would return to for some of his most well-known films like Cure and Pulse, unlike earlier efforts like Sweet Home, which while entertaining, definitely does not represent Kurosawa’s later more shadowy, slower rhythm. Door 3, on the other hand, very clearly has this feel with the more static, medium shot camera work that lets the creeping dread unfold naturally over the course of the film rather than relying on kinetic jump scares or explosions of gore.
Nobuhiko Obayashi was almost certainly best known for his deliriously entertaining batshit insane Scooby Doo-meets-Evil Dead horror film Hausu. What most don’t realize is that he had a very long and prolific film career starting in the early ’60s and going all the way to his last film released just last year shortly before he passed away at the age of 82. For whatever reason, none of his other films have ever really caught on with the public at large, perhaps because rather than adopting the over-the-top surreal horror of Hausu, they often for a more subdued, nostalgia-laced comedy/drama tone with light sci-fi or fantasy elements on occasion. This brings me to Cute Devil which, while certainly a horror film, is definitely a very different sort of horror than Hausu. In many ways, it’s more conventional and falls in the “evil kid” sub-genre. It definitely does have elements of Obayashi’s more manic work at times, especially in the first 15 minutes or so and toward the end of the film. It does dial down the craziness in the middle while it starts to develop out the character of the governess more and her suspicions about the kid she’s charged with watching. Overall, it’s a solid film that has many of Obayashi’s unique and creative flourishes and is worth checking out.
October 23: Ghostly Revenge: More Southeast Asian Horror
204. Phii khon pen a.k.a. The Victim (2006)
205. Dek hor a.k.a. Dorm (2006)
206. The Road (2011)
My last round of Thai films were so abysmal I thought it only proper to give Thailand another chance to impress me. I’m happy to say that this group of films is definitely better than the last group for sure. The first one, The Victim, tells the story of an actress who is hired to be the victim in a series of murder re-enactments by the police. On her most recent job, she becomes compelled by the ghost of the victim to try and solve the murder which leads her down a dangerous path. This one was pretty good although felt a little bloated in places. It has some nicely executed creepy sequences and a central story that held my interest.
Dorm was an actively good one that tells the story of a boy sent to a boarding school who becomes involved in sorting out mysterious events born out of past tragedies. It definitely has a distinct feel to it in comparison to many of the more generic J-horror rip-offs I’ve seen. It has more of a deliberate pacing and doesn’t have an over-reliance on jump scares, instead slowly unveiling the story of what happened in the swimming pool and elsewhere. It’s even longer than The Victim, but I actually felt the running time was warranted. It never felt like it dragged to me. Really, the only qualm I had with it was in the bad camera effects at times and needless use of slo-mo in a couple places that just made it look cheap.
The Road from the Philippines was an interesting one. At first I thought it was going to be more of an anthology with the stories in different time periods of “bad stuff happening” around this old road, but the third (and I think longest) story actually manages to tie it all up pretty well. It does feel a little on the long side in places and I think could’ve been trimmed, but overall it was pretty satisfying some a good mix of slow-burn mystery with some eerie sequences mixed in.
October 23: KIDDIE KORNER!
207a. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
207b. The Mouse Factory: Spooks and Magic (1972)
207c-209. Monster Force E1-7 (1994)
I spent the afternoon watching the kids yesterday since my wife had some things to get done, so I ended up watching a lot more for the kiddie korner than usual. For a big chunk of it, I just put on this Monster Force DVD I’ve had sitting around for a while. Monster Force is an animated series from 1994 that seems like a dry-run for what Universal wanted to do with its Dark Universe by having a team of guys, some monster and some not and all of whom seem to be dressed like Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy for some reason, who are tasked with fighting Dracula and other classic monsters in various needlessly complicated plotlines. Honestly I can see why this show only lasted one season. All the leads seem to have roughly the same gruff ‘let’s get this done’ attitude and the plots don’t really seem to take advantage of what makes the monsters unique.
Taking a break from Monster Force, my wife and I thought it a good time to crack out an annual favorite It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I still crack up every time Charlie Brown says “I got a rock”. That’s some cold shit, grownups… I mean, I kind of get the kids treating Charlie Brown like crap. Bullying is a real thing. But the adults too? Especially total strangers? That’s just terrible. I also threw on Spooks and Magic, an old Disney Halloween special. I knew my daughter would like this one. She basically watched a similar Disney special Halloween Treat last year on repeat for like four months. Spooks and Magic is definitely not as good though. The host for the wraparound segments in this one is Phyllis Diller. Does Disney think kids watch Friars Roasts and Hollywood Squares? Oh well, we still get clips from Ghost Hunters and The Sword in the Stone, so I guess it works.
October 24: The Fangs of a Snake and the Face of an Angel: Brazilian Horror
210. Encarnação do Demônio a.k.a. Embodiment of Evil (2008)
211. As Boas Maneiras a.k.a. Good Manners (2017)
212. Trabalhar Cansa a.k.a. Hard Labor (2011)
The shadow of Coffin Joe looms large over Brazilian horror so it seemed only natural I watch one from that sinister, sadistic, top hat-wearing muther-effer to kick off this block. Embodiment of Evil is a sort of “Get the gang back together” flick for Coffin Joe. Unlike many of the films featuring my man Zé do Caixão, after his big one-two punch of At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul and This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse (two of the greatest titles in the history of horror cinema), where he appears in more of a cameo capacity as an anthology host or bizarre hallucination, Embodiment of Evil is a full-fledged sequel to those original two films, taking place decades later as Coffin Joe is released from prison, having served his time for his hideous crimes (he didn’t get life for what he did in the first two movies?). Naturally after seeing the state of the world, he determines what it needs is a return to good ol’ fashioned torturing and attempts to sire offspring. It does throw a couple of elements into this one that gives it a different tone from the previous two in a some ways. For one, Coffin Joe is actually fleshed out as a character a little more, having him be tormented by ghosts of his past. This one is also MUCH more graphically sadistic than the prequels, which I mean, given the 40 year gap isn’t that surprising. But at times, it almost feels like (literal) overkill with skin graphically flayed and a rather unfortunate rat forced into a crevasse he almost surely never emerged from among other unpleasant things. Despite these scenes, much of the movie still has that ridiculous off-kilter sense of dark fun to it that the previous two had at their best. If you’re a fan of Coffin Joe, you should probably check this out.
Good Manners is one I had no real preconceived notions about going into it, and I actually ended up finding it rather charming and sweet in its own way. I won’t bother going into the plot because part of the enjoyment of this one is watching it unfold. I will say the two lead actresses both did a great job and the only real complaint I had was that it could’ve used some editing to tighten it up and some parts of the second half come off a little predictable. I still liked it quite a bit though.
Hard Labor is another one that is hard to talk about but for very different reasons than Good Manners. It follows a husband and wife and their difficulties with work (a vague dull summary, I know, but it’s something of a complicated movie to discuss). The husband is fired from his job just as the wife is starting to get her dream of opening a grocery store off the ground which runs into multiple hiccups along the way, one of which poses an even greater threat to their happiness than any other obstacle. This is a depressing film in the most banal of ways. The increasing frustration of the wife paired with the sad desperation of the husband combine for a fairly bleak watch. The horror elements are also fairly light, not coming in until the second half with the first hour more focused around the escalating tension in the household. Honestly this is a hard film to actively like even though it’s an easy one to admire from afar. It does have a great final scene that sums up the film well though.
October 24: Anal Probe? No Thanks: Alien Abduction Horror
213. Altered (2006)
214. Dark Skies (2013)
215. Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998)
While movies featuring aliens are often classified more into science fiction, the idea of the “other” invading our lives, disrupting and destroying is a very intense fear for many. It’s this fear that gives the concept of alien abduction and insinuation into our world real weight.
Altered is a good example of how to make the most with a limited budget. This one tells the story of a group of friends who attempt to capture an alien, their reasons revealed over the course of the film. The director smartly limits the action to a handful of locations and putting what seems like a significant chunk of the budget into the effects. The alien actually looks pretty good for this level of film and other make-up effects work looks pretty convincing as well. Where this one falters is in its relentlessly unlikable characters and dumb script. I mean, honestly these guys come off pretty brain dead, so I could see them doing some of the stupid things here. That doesn’t make it any less frustrating to watch though.
Dark Skies definitely has much bigger money behind it with a recognizable cast including Keri Russell as the mother of a family tormented by aliens who seek to finish what they started long ago and J.K. Simmons as a purported expert on these abductions. While some of the things I had complaints about while watching it eventually are justified to an extent, it still affected some of the enjoyment of the movie (and I’m trying hard not to spoil some of these movies…not intentionally being vague for no reason).
So Alien Abduction seems to be basically a bigger budget remake of the McPherson Tape I watched earlier this month. It makes a kind of sense if you know the backstory of the original McPherson Tape as a bootleg passed around back in the day which people questioned whether it was real or not, ultimately building a kind of reputation but being difficult to actually see. So it stood to reason that someone would take the premise, give it a facelift and wider distribution. The taped footage itself is largely similar with new, more professional actors, some added family drama and alien effects (although still VERY low budget). It also adds a few cutaways to “experts” talking about the legitimacy of the footage in various capacities. This one can’t help but feel “not as real” though (and I mean, they straight up list the actors at the end anyway, so this one definitely isn’t trying a “Blair Witch” style publicity stunt).
October 24: JOSHUA!
216. Joshua (2006)
217. Joshua (2007)
October 24: KIDDIE KORNER!
218. DTV Monster Hits (1987)
Well, after showing my daughter that Disney Halloween special yesterday, she started demanding more. So I decided to break out this old chestnut. Like Disney’s Halloween Treat and Spooks and Magic from yesterday, this one is also a spooky-themed Disney clip compilation. The big difference here is that the clips are set to various Halloween-themed pop songs like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” and Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me”. As expected, both kids ate this stuff up. It also brought back some nostalgia for me because I have vague memories of watching this one recorded off TV as a kid.
October 25: Do the Needful: Bollywood Horror Double Feature
219. 13B: Fear Has a New Address (2009)
220. Raat (1992)
So Bollywood, despite being one of the largest film industries in the world, has a pretty weak track record with horror. Not to say they’ve never done anything of worth in the genre (the Ramseys in the ’80s created a fun little mini-industry for a while and I’ve liked a couple of newer non-Bollywood Tamil horror films like Pizza), but for whatever reason, Bollywood just doesn’t have a whole lot of horror output in general, and what they do produce tends to come off derivative or lackluster is various ways.
Sadly that’s a nice segue into 13B: Fear Has A New Address. So this movie had me laughing pretty hard quite a bit. The thing is, it’s not a comedy. It takes a B-grade Twilight Zone premise (the soap opera my wife watches is predicting our future!) and plays it so broad and so serious, it had me cracking up almost constantly. The camera work has that nervous, jittery washed out style that I’ve seen in quite a few newer Bollywood movies, like the director doesn’t trust the material and has the camera moving around constantly to liven things up artificially. It also has a needlessly convoluted, incredibly preposterous backstory like something out of a direct-to-video J-horror plot that relies on such a dumb series of coincidences that the whole thing crumbles under even the smallest of observations. Of course, it also jarringly throws in random pop songs that completely destroy any potentially suspenseful mood that are totally superfluous. The crazy thing is that I’ve read more than one review that proclaims this as a masterpiece of suspense with flawless directing and all other kinds of praise that isn’t even remotely accurate. Avoid unless you want a good laugh.
Raat is an earlier Bollywood horror film that I’ve seen referenced regularly on the subject of Bollywood horror but never watched, so I thought it was time to buckle down and see what was up with it. Honestly, I actually kinda liked this one. It didn’t have the overdramatic acting common in a lot of newer Bollywood movies and in general actually felt in many ways like a decent late ’80s/early ’90s low budget Hollywood horror movie which is an era I tend to like quite a bit. This story of a girl who begins having nightmares and fear possession afoot has some nice eerie segments like the opening and the scene in the movie theater. While it certainly isn’t super original, it’s still probably one of the better examples of horror I’ve seen out of India.
October 25: Ho-Ho-Horror: Christmas-Themed Terror
221. To All a Goodnight (1982)
222. I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday (2017)
223. A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
224. Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987)
With Christmas decorations already showing up in Walmart and Netflix recommending I watch a static yule log for an hour, I’m already feeling a little bit festive. So I thought it’d be a good time to bust out some merry old tales of murder and mayhem.
To All A Goodnight is a Christmas-themed slasher from sleazo actor com laude David Hess that features a killer Santa bumping off horny teens over holiday break. Could it have something to do with the hilariously fake-looking accidental death from the beginning of the movie? Is this an ’80s slasher? What do you think? So just to start off, this is not good. Hess as a director is probably at least part of the problem (this is his lone directing credit other than a random documentary short two decades later). The pacing is really slow in places with scenes going on forever for no reason, unconvincing acting and pretty bad effects work. But it still had such a stupid sense of fun to it that it’ll do in a pinch if you want to watch a bunch of faceless teens get murdered by a Kris Kringle.
White Doomsday is a very low-budget fairly minimalist post-apocalyptic story of a mother and son trying to survive and celebrate Christmas in the wake a nuclear fallout. As you can imagine, this is not the happiest film out there. It honestly had potentially but unfortunately the lead actress just isn’t convincing enough for me. If you are more forgiving of overly theatrical acting and hyper depressing material, you may find more to like here.
A Christmas Horror Story I actually had a lot of fun with. It has a cross-cutting anthology story setup with multiple different tales going on in parallel and eventually overlapping in different ways (some more interesting than others) reminding me of Trick or Treat in that way. It also has a jolly wicked sense of humor to it like Trick or Treat as well. Of course, like all anthologies not all stories are of equal quality. But at least none of them are out and out awful and the cutting back and forth between them means that even the less interesting ones are broken up with some fun. Check it out if you’re looking for an anthology with zombie elves, a rampaging krampus, William Shatner as a sanctimonious radio DJ and other amusing stuff.
Silent Night, Deadly 2… Hm… Well, as a sequel to the first movie, it’s pretty awful given that it feels like about half of it is flashbacks to the first movie with snarky narration. BUT if you just skip the first movie altogether, this one gets in all the good parts and then throws in a goofy, ridiculous murder rampage with classic ’80s scenes like a guy shooting a car with a handgun causing it to flip and explode. Hey, it ain’t boring.
October 25: KIDDIE KORNER!
225. Invisible Sister (2015)
Yet another lame-tacular Disney Channel Halloween movie, this one about a geeky girl who turns her popular older sister invisible. My son thought the concept of an invisible person was kind of neat but that only held his interest for about 5 minutes before Minecraft came a-callin’. My daughter didn’t care at all and neither did I.