Darling (2016)
Movie #10
Director: Michael Keating
Length: 76 minutes
Platform: Shudder
"Darling" is a really good picture, an homage to Polanski's apartment trilogy of the 60s ("Repulsion", "The Tenant", and "Rosemary's Baby"), in which a young woman agrees to house sit an old building in Manhattan. Beautifully shot in black and white, the picture opens with Darling (character's first name apparently) meeting with the house Madame (played by Sean Young) who gives her the rules, brings up how the previous caretaker jumped to her death from the top floor balcony (for some reason) and also asks some questions about a particular reference who has yet to respond to her inquiry. But...she's in a hurry, needs someone immediately, I'm sure everything checks out. The film is layered like a short novella, broken into up into five chapters (chapter 1: Her; chapter 2: Invocation; chapter 3: Thrills; chapter 4: Demon; chapter 5: Inferno), so you have some idea how this shit progresses.
So, the film is about the mental breakdown of this young woman and Lauren Ashley Carter is tremendous as Darling. She skulks around the building stalked by flashing lights and hallucinatory images which help depict her deteriorating mental state. While out for groceries, she runs into a man who triggers some PTSD flash backing. Does she know the man? Back in the apartment, she wanders down a narrow hallway and comes upon a locked door. She can't get in. The Madame, over the phone, implores her to stay aways from that room. Also, still can't get ahold of your reference.
After a while, we start to wonder if it's the house that's haunted or if this shit is all Darling? Eventually, she needs some time out so she applies some makeup and hits the town where she meets a guy in a bar. After a couple of gin shots she brings him home and things get really harrowing. To say more would bring us into spoiler territory. If watching a picture where a young woman walks around an old style Manhattan home while she slowly breaks from reality (thought I have to wonder if that break had already happened by the time she first had that meeting with the home's Madame) piques your interest than this might be the film for you.
OCTOBER 11, 2019
The Mimic (2017)
Movie #11
Director: Huh Jung
Length: 100 minutes
Platform: Shudder
Here's another pick-me-up picture. This time, we got one about a couple of parents grieving the disappearance of their young son. Since the disappearance (in Seoul) they have relocated to the country where they now run a dog sanctuary. Also, this dog sanctuary happens to exist in the shadow of Mt. Jang, under which lies a cave known, appropriately, as Mt. Jang cave. Spooky shit lives in this cave. We got disembodied voices....and well, maybe even a creature or two.
Anyway, Hee-Yeon is the mom. Min-ho, the dad. A pre-title sequence involving a speeding car, a frantic couple, a crashing car, and a kidnapped women in the trunk give us a little information about what lies beneath the mountain. We're later introduced to Hee-yeon as she picks her mother up from some sort of Sanitarium. She brings her home. The mom is strange, sits in a lazy boy chair along a backyard path which becomes an ominous path as it descends towards the base of the mountain and, the opening of the cave. Later, Hee-yeon and Min-ho find a little girl hiding out by the cave opening. Where did she come from? Not too concerning, I guess, until she starts to assume the identity of their missing son. Also, there are some detectives in here somewhere, investigating the pre-title happenings.
This is a pretty good one. Mystically scary shit all around. It's called "The Mimic" so you can probably infer that the young girl may not be what she seems to be. Also, there's more backstory involving a pretty fucking gleefully evil Shaman. Some of the cave stuff evoked "Nightbreed", in particular, one such tiger-human creature that dwells below. Ok, it's the Shaman. So, the batshit wrap-up sorta works to balance out the downer themes at play here. Grief, it's all about grief.
Child's Play (2019)
Movie #12
Director: Lars Klevberg
Length: 89 minutes
Platform: VOD
It's incredible to me that the one franchise to emerge out of the 80s and to keep going in new and interesting directions is the one about a fucking killer doll, but here we are. "Child's Play 2019" exists in a world where the shenanigans from the original series cannot possibly exist. This also isn't some meta "New Nightmare" bullshit where the movie exists in a reality where the movies are actual things. None of that shit exists here. How else to explain a company taking the Buddy doll from the original films and re-branding it "Buddi" and giving this thing the power to control ones' home. Buddi, the smart homicidal doll.
The company in question (I think it was called something like Krasbro or Kalamazon) is pushing these things out in time for Christmas. The Chinese sweat shop where these things are made is where the story opens. A guy shows up late and is promptly fired (but, of course, he's told to finish the doll he's currently working on before he's "officially" fired). So, he disables the safety features (i.e., "things that stop the doll from murdering, I guess) and then suicides off the top of the building Cut to Zed-Mart employee, Aubrey Plaza who doesn't have a lot of money because she works at Zed-Mart. What's she going to buy for her, near deaf, son? How about this refurbished "Buddi" doll? That'll do nicely, she guesses.
So, this is a fun fucking picture. Unlike the other Child's Play films, this Buddi is active immediately but, here, he starts off kinda nice....and he's also voiced by Mark Hamill. He reminded me of Teddy from "A.I." He just follows the son around (son=Andy), does some chores for him, hands him toilet paper in place of his science book (I think he's got a sense of humor) and then kills the cat. The cat deserved it since it was named Mickey Rooney and not Kitty Rooney? I don't know. Also, Aubrey Plaza has a terrible boyfriend. He's got another family, unbeknownst to them, threatens to hit Andy, etc. I wonder how long he'll be around?
There are neighbors (Brian Tyree Henry -- people love him in "Atlanta" and he's great here -- and his mother). There's a perverted super. leaving video cameras around in various bathrooms, etc. Andy's got some "Stranger Things" type friends. Lot of fodder for old Buddi (named Chucky, after Andy tries to name him Han Solo and he malfunctions, sticks with Chucky). The kills are inventive, fun, and red. Aubrey Plaza does her whole...."I got this thing for you so we can make fun of it" schtick and I gotta say, I love that schtick. Anyway, I wrote about ten pages of notes for this 90 minute movie but this is all you're getting.
Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)
Movie #13
Director: Yoshiyuki Kuroda
Length: 84 minutes
Platform: Criterion Blu-Ray (own collection)
Initially, I was only going to include this as a bonus review. Then I watched it and realized I never actually watched it all the way through before. So, it's totally counting. Also, I'm worried I'm not going to hit the 31 film mark so I'll need all the help I can get. "White Heaven in Hell" is the sixth and final film in the Lone Wolf & Cub franchise. Along the way, we've had many laughs and many more severed arteries. Quick backstory: In the first film, Ogami Itto (he was the Shogun's chief executioner -- which is a really big deal) is framed as a traitor to the Shogun by some old geezer named Retsudo Yagyu (of the Yagyu clan). They kill his wife. This punishment is, of course, death by hara-kiri. Instead, Ogami kills a bunch of motherfucking ninjas and offers his son (Daigoro -- or, cub) a choice. Choose the ball and I'll send you to be with your mother. Choose the sword and you'll live your life with me as an assassin for hire, a demon amongst the living. The series is called "Lone Wolf & Cub", so figure out how he chose for yourself.
Another question: How is this one horror? Does it count. Two points:
1) Retsudo desperately (after losing his entire family to Ogami in the first five films) employs a clan of zombie fighters. Well, he really employs a clan that practices black magic. They, in turn, raise some dead warriors. These guys tunnel through the ground and are dispatched really easily. The film's claim as horror is dubious, at best.
2) I'm guessing no one's going to call me on this so who gives a shit?
I always put this picture off because, frankly, I didn't want the series to end. I was also aware that the series never properly ended. For whatever reason, they just stopped making them. The guy that played Itto would live for another decade or so (fuck, he was the opposing manager in "The Bad News Bears Go To Japan"). This picture has an ending but the series does not. Once more, Itto fights off hordes of his enemy in some incredible and beautifully choreographed, lit, scored battle scenes. This one, has a final battle in the snow that puts that James Bond on skis scene to shame. There's a fight outside of an inn that's as incredible as any fight in this series, for the most part. It just frustratingly ends with, once again, Ogami getting close to Retsudo and Retsudo, once again, making his escape into the next picture, a picture that would never come. Maybe I should watch the TV series for further enlightenment? I did skip to the end of the manga series to see how it all wraps up and well, on second thought, maybe I'm good with the series ending right here? By all means, check out this movie but, please, not before you've seen the previous 5 films.
OCTOBER 12, 2019
Die Monster, Die! (1965)
Movie #14
Director: Daniel Haller
Length: 80 minutes
Platform: Blu-Ray (own collection)
Man, I almost didn't count this one because I was sure I had seen it. I realized I hadn't seen it as soon as Nick Adams appears as the hero. I had seen the one 1960s Lovecraft adaptation starring Dean Stockwell ("The Dunwich Horror" -- I remember nothing about that one except for Dean Stockwell so maybe it could count too?). Anyway, this one takes place in a small Scottish village where Nick Adams (brashly American, Stephen) shows up looking for the girl he met back in the States, Susan. Susan is the daughter of a guy named Nahum Whitley (Boris Karloff) and lives up at the Whitley estate, a place where no one in the village will bring Stephen. The villagers, mostly drunkards and assholes, hilariously refuse Stephen a ride. One asshole won't even rent him a bike (he probably should have offered to buy, not rent). Anyway, he walks...for what only seems to be a few miles. The closer he gets to the estate the more the vegetations seems to be dead, burnt almost into ash. Also, what's with that big crater?
This is a beautiful picture. I'm pretty sure some of these scenes are backed up by matte paintings. The opening credits, all 10 minutes of them, are swirling colors that pop off the screen. Makes sense since this is based on Lovecraft's "The Colour Out Of Space" (which was just released in a modern update starring Nic Cage and directed by Richard Stanley -- the guy that made the phenomenal "Hardware"). So, we got here a family patriarch (again, Nahum Karloff) that hates outsiders and a he also hates the villagers; mutual feelings all around. His wife (named Letitia -- great names in this) is bedridden with some illness. We never see her face, at least until the end. Even then, we still don't really see it. There's a butler named Merwyn. He seems sickly, but cool. And, outside there's some sort of witch type person. In the basement, a laboratory and a possible portal. It's lit up with colors. Oh, and a locked greenhouse which holds some secrets or what not. Also, colors. Maybe even colors from space.
Suzan Farmer as Susan is properly angelic, doesn't seem like she would belong to this family in a million years. Reminds me a bit of Judy or Judith or whoever the normal relative in "The Munsters" was. Nick Adams isn't exactly a piece of shit but if I was Susan's brother (she doesn't have one) I wouldn't be a fan of this guy, this American that walks into this castle acting like he owns the place, needing to see the basement, the greenhouse, talking over my dad at dinner, trying to bed my sister, etc. Anyway, good movie about-and-for-family.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018)
Movie #15
Director: Stacie Passon
Length: 96 minutes
Platform: Netflix
Here's another family film, based on the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name. Here we got a story about the two Blackwood sisters (Merricat -- Taissa Farmiga / Constance -- Alexandra Daddario) living up in a castle (never explained where, but let's just say Vermont, if it's anything like the novel which I, admittedly, haven't read, but I did read the Wikipedia page) with their depressed, and wheelchair bound, Uncle (Crispen Glover -- terrific) and later with their Cousin Charles (Sebastian Stan). Rumors swirl around this family. Years ago, Constance was acquitted in the poisoning deaths of their parents. Meanwhile, Merricat walks around quoting the ingredients, symptoms, etc to various poisons. Hmmmm...
So, like "Die, Monster, Die" we got a film where the villagers hate the family that lives in that oversized mansion on the outside of town. And the feeling is mutual. Except for Constance, she doesn't, couldn't, hate anyone. She's the Susan (again, "Die, Monster, Die") of this picture. So, this isn't really horror either. I've had some dubious selections in this batch. But, and this is why I'm counting it, it does contain some horror tropes. Old creepy house on the outskirts of town. Distrustful villagers. Allusions and straight up declarations of witchcraft, though how effective any of this witchery is we can never be too sure.
Where "Die Monster, Die" seems to touch on the feelings brought on by wealth disparity in a community, this picture hammers that theme a bit more directly. As Merricat's dead father used to say "shoddy work should be punished not paid for" (of course, meaning the villagers in their crummy houses just don't work hard or smart enough). Also, I'm guessing their inheritance was pretty good (no legal hold ups, post-trial anyway) because not one of these Blackwoods work a lick. And then there's Charles who came in, wooed Constance, refused to leave (despite all the incantations Merricat must be putting on him), and entitled-ly decides to wait it out at Blackwood Castle, thinking this is much easier than college. Oh, and yeah, lots of weird hints at incest. Also, a phenomenal dinner scene (another horror movie trope) where Uncle Blackwood (again, Glover, tremendous) looks at Charlie and says 'that chair is my dead brother's chair. Last time I saw him he was foaming at the mouth". Also, this picture pretty much ends with pitchforks drawn. While I liked this one enough, if you must see a picture where a shitty relative named Charles returns to the home of his weird family, may I suggest "Stoker"?
No comments:
Post a Comment