31 Days of Halloween: Good Boy

2025, Ben Leonberg (feature debut) -- download

Elevator pitch -- ever catch your dog staring at things in the corner of the room, where there is obviously.... nothing? Or growling at a closed door, maybe to the basement? What if it wasn't ... nothing? So, let's do a movie entirely from the dog's viewpoint -- not always literally from the ground level, but from what the dog is aware of, not what the people are. And add to it a conceit where the humans are truly secondary, often only shot from the shoulders down, to lend weight to perspective from below their knees.

As a shadow grows in the corner of their room, good boy Indy whimpers and crawls into the lap of owner Todd (Shane Jensen, FBI). Todd is coughing up blood, and not long after, checks himself out of the hospital, arguing with his sister Vera (Arielle Friedman, feature debut) on the phone. Things are not good and he is relocating from the city to the abandoned home of their grandfather (Larry Fessenden, We Are Still Here), who lived alone in a rural area, and recently passed away under mysterious circumstances. The house is off the grid, relying on generators.

Whatever shadow Indy saw in Todd's home is also here. Its ever present, a strangeness that is constantly catching Indy's eyes and ears. Todd doesn't notice; only the dog is haunted. And not just by the shadow but also by the grandfather's dog Bandit, a hollow whine from the basement that only Indy hears. Vera said something about their grandfather's dogs always disappearing, in one of the angry dismissive phone calls she has with Todd. He has not come here to recover, to rest, but to escape, and she challenges him on the choice, which only makes him angry.

Whatever haunts this family only wants its men folk, and the good boys who protect them are a nuisance. Todd is frustratingly just not paying attention to Indy's silent warnings, until it is too late. 

Indy, the NS Duck Toler plays his role perfectly. Despite a lack of fear/growling in most interactions with the shadow, he is steadfast in his dedication to Todd. The movie has fun not only depicting something that only the dog perceives, but also playing with shadows and angles and isolation, from a non-human perspective. Of course, we are keen on dogs, so we are biased, but it was quite engaging, if contained.

31 Days of Halloween: Never Let Go

2024, Alexandre Aja (Horns) -- download

Its a pet peeve of mine, but I am not fond of movies that give you the choice of believing whether its a monster or supernatural being, or believing the person is just suffering mental health challenges. I am fine if you give the characters that choice, as that is a dominant trope in horror movies (given what people experience in horror movies, most people would think them off their rocker) but when the viewer is left feeling unsure, I get annoyed. There was the briefest of moments where I thought, "Yes, its explained, we are sure their is a monster," but then, thinking back on it, I was again left... unsure, and annoyed.

Momma (Hallee Berry, Gothika) lives in a remote Cabin in the Woods with her twin sons Samuel (Anthony B Jenkins, The Deliverance) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV, Paradise). Upon introduction, you can see the boys are malnourished, food-wise and human interaction-wise. They are literally tethered to the house by ropes, long ropes that unfurl from a conduit under the house. In the woods, Momma constantly reminds, is The Evil and if they let go of the rope, it will get inside them and force them to kill each other, as it did their father, and her mother before them. Age ago, Momma reminds, the world fell to evil and her father built the house away from wicked people, and The Evil, and imbued upon it a ritual of magic, wherein the blessings of the wood of the house protect those within its light or tethered to its heart. They live by this hard-and-fast rule.

But its been a hard winter. The green house's abundance has died off, the animals they hunt did not return in the spring, and the family has resorted to eating whatever they find, including bugs, grubs and frogs. And eventually bark, once the pickled and preserves run out. The (un)dead constantly torment Momma, telling her its all her fault, that she did this all on her own, she let The Evil in, she brought it with her. The boys unwavering faith in their mother is beginning to shake, and she herself is beginning to break. When she suggests them killing and eating the family dog, Nolan loses it, cutting her rope before she can put a crossbow bolt into the dog. She is severed from the protection of the house, and instead of letting The Evil in, she cuts her own throat. Kodda the dog runs off.

Without Momma the boys completely unravel. A stranger appears on their doorstep, a hiker who has become lost. At first, he's a bit concerned to see such a ragged pair of boys alone in the woods but then they point the crossbow at him. He tries to escape but.... that is when things become unsure. The man has a cell phone, a working one that makes a call through to 911 before he succumbs to the bolt in his gut. If the world outside has collapsed, then what is this all about? Was Momma lying all along? Was she being metaphorical, and if so, weren't her responses unreasonable, or was she just completely lost, a victim of familial abuse and trauma? The boys cannot know any of this, so only we can speculate. Considering the boys are starving and likely poisoned by what they have been forced to eat, anything that comes after, including a deceptive snake girl, is suspect. I continued to watch as a monster movie, but... the annoyance seeped in.

In the end, the houses is burned down, but not before the boys are ... rescued. The outside world is there, it is not destroyed. But The Evil is now in Sam and Nolan knows it. What are we to believe? Everything is left to speculation, but there was a giant snake skin found on the river side, a moulted sign of something very very large, much larger than can be found in woods like this. So, is there Evil or is there just .... evil? Bah, some questions can be fun, but I am just annoyed.

But I cannot just leave it there, can I? There was much I did enjoy -- the setting, the built up mythology and the dressing up of the environment. Aja had fun constructing this movie, giving us something that felt both magical and mundane, current yet timeless in its depiction of how the family lived. Berry is always more than capable and the boys excelled at playing the twins they were, but with their own personalities, children growing into adolescents, discovering independence and it not weighing well on their shoulders.

31 Days of Halloween: The Occupant

2025, Hugo Keijzer (feature debut) -- download

Kieijzer made a short called The Occupant: Prologue which is tied this movie much more strongly to the scifi vein. But instead of truly building on the base of that short, he decided to go for a more emotional impact, giving us a movie that is about loss and survival. They sometimes call the genre "survival horror" but usually that is when there is more than isolation and elements to be defeated. This movie is entirely about Abby fighting to survive a helicopter crash in the remote Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, the country not the state. The scifi element, which also allows a wee bit of horror to creep in, is there, but it doesn't play a big part of the movie. And if the audience reviews are to say anything, just ended up pissing off the viewers expecting a proper alien incursion movie, which wasn't helped by the absolutely infuriating AI generated images that dominate Google searches for this movie.

Abby (Ella Balinska, Charlie's Angels) and her sister are very close; they bonded strongly after the death of their mother. Now Beth has terminal cancer and Abby is desperate to find any measure to extend her sister's life, including taking a job with a Georgian uranium mining company, which could pay for private medical care. She would rather deal with a long shot than be with her sister during her final days, and the weight of the guiltis heavy.

The speculating hasn't paid off, but she found a strange obsidian like rock she believes could fund her, but then gets "the call" -- she needs to go home. She hops the company helicopter out but it runs into a flock of starlings (murmuration, once again boding ill weather) and the copter crashes, killing the pilots. She's not sure what to do next, but a walkie talkie chirps out some static and she tunes it to hear from John (Rob Delaney, Bad Monkey). He's an American pilot whose plane also crashed; he is pinned beneath some wreckage but otherwise sounds fine, in good spirits even. He knows his long-range radio is working but cannot reach it, so as hers is destroyed, Abby decides to find him instead of walking out.

The walk in the wilderness is the bulk of the movie. As a genre, I generally enjoy the survival in the harsh, cold wilds and this movie gives it in spades. But really the talking between the two is what the movie wants us to focus on, which is weird unto itself. There is notably a lack of mention of food or water, for either of the two. And then there is the rock, the strange black shiny stone that reacts to her touch. The same rocks litter the mountain sides on her journey, exhibiting strange anti-gravity effects, but really the only other-worldly effect she notices is when it rearranges to her will, into a piton assisting her getting up the mountain. Eventually she ends up in an abandoned Georgian mountain village where some Russian soldiers are patrolling. John cautions her exposing herself to them, considering the volatile nature of border patrols. But its when she discovers she's not the only one talking to "John".

Whatever "John" is, he's been manipulating people in the mountains. Can't be many but he does mention Abby was the most "fun" of those he has played with. Its time for the Russian soldier and her to trek out, but they make a fatal error crossing a large lake. The thin ice takes the soldier and Abby partially falls through. Thoroughly soaked, she is about to give up when she sees another helicopter fly over a ridge. Through delirium, she climbs the ridge and... finds a cave. She falls down its incline into a pool of water, wherein lies the body of John, the American pilot, encrusted in the black stones and quite dead.

Then the expositional explainer, the "alien". Whether its John who became one with the strange rocks or something inherent to the alien who crashed, something you would only know after seeing the "prologue" short, it wants her to join with it, with the collective nature the stones provide. Its unclear, unsatisfying (why are the rocks scattered over an entire mountain range) but it serves one purpose -- to give Abby a choice. She can join with it and be given a hallucinatory idyllic family life which isn't real, or she can fight against its offer, get out of the mountains and return for her sister's final days -- reality. She chooses the latter, of course.

I wanted to like this movie, but... it was under-baked. Sometimes the tone and visuals can allow a tense scifi and/or horror thriller to excel, but even with the stunning landscape and great performance by Balinska (is it though; hard to tell as she is the only one present most times) so much was lacking. And frustrating, especially considering the idea that she may have never actually gone for the trek, and the whole thing was an hallucination at the scene of the helicopter crash, influenced by the shiny black rock in her bag. 

31 Days of Halloween: Shaun of the Dead

2004, Edgar Wright (The Sparks Brothers) -- download/Blu-ray

Yes, I download movies because getting the game system setup to play a Blu-Ray when I haven't touched it in months is dusty & arduous and I am impatient & lazy.

Also, and again, "You haven't written about this in one of the many rewatches since 2004 ?!?!?"

Clever. The clever zombie movie. I love this clever zombie movie, which in case you have been under a cinematic rock, is part of Wright's tap-side-of-nose "Cornetto Trilogy". This is my movie, while Hot Fuzz is Marmy's movie, if we can claim ownership.

The season has been a bit ragged, as we have been tired and distracted, so we broke a generally unwritten rule, in adding more rewatches into the mix. I mean, traditionally watching horror movies during the Halloween season always involved your favourite and even just before this blog began this series, we had plowed through all the "classics" during Halloween of years previous. Rambling way to say, we might end the season with a handful of our previously seen favs, not yet written about.

Shaun's (Simon Pegg, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One) a bit of a cockup, working a dead-end job, living with two old friends, only one of whom is paying rent. He does the same thing every day, every weekend and his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield, Byzantium) is getting sick of it. He kind of likes his life, but is also kind of just stuck with it. So, she breaks up with him and as fate would have it, its on the night of the zombie apocalypse. Like many of the genre, its happening in the background, on the telly, but everyone is too caught up in their own drama to pay attention. Shaun doesn't even notice when the regulars in the neighbourhood are either gone or shambling.

And then he's caught up in it, with two things in mind: save Liz, save his Mum.

Some day I would like to track back and watch the movies that set the tropes for the genre. Even Night of the Living Dead had it on the television in the background, but more the idea of gearing-up and going on a quest to find a secure place. The journey through the zombi-fied London suburb is strewn with obstacles and dangers, but finally motivated Shaun has it in him to prove to Liz that he can do this even if it ends up at the last place on Earth she wanted to go -- the Winchester Pub. But still, she cannot deny, it feels like a more secure location than Shaun's flat. Myself, I would suggested Liz's second of third floor flat but... Shaun doesn't know it well. They don't actually lose anyone until they are "safe" inside the pub, and it quickly goes from a slightly-buzzed safe to a shit-show very quickly, mainly because of personal drama. And it ends with only Liz and Shaun left alive.

Clever. So many cute and witty things, from the obvious to the thin. People on the bus look like zombies long before these are coughing & sneezing. As someone who rides the TTC pretty much every day, I can attest to that. And the line from Ed (Nick Frost, Tomb Raider), "We're coming to get you Barbara!" (a nod to Night of the Living Dead) always makes me chuckle. Of course, the best gag is Shaun's rag tag sloppy crew running into a mirror image group, full of capable (and recognizable ! Martin Freeman! Reece Shearsmith! Tamsin Greig! Matt Lucas! Jessica Hynes!) survivors. 

This movie is brains comfort food.

31 Days of Halloween: The Elixir

2025, Kimo Stamboel (Headshot) -- Netflix

Wouldn't be the season without at least one zombie movie.

A family patriarch is gathering his family at their home in a small village outside Jakarta, Indonesia. He is Sadimin (or Dimin; Donny Damara, Hotel Sakura), a greying widower who married Karina (Eva Celia, The Shadow Strays), his daughter Kenes' (Mikha Tambayong, Blood Curse) childhood best friend, which caused an irreparable rift between the two women. Kenes husband, whom she is also at odds with due to his infidelity, is there to finish a merger with Dimin's small but lucrative herbal supplement company. I guess herbal medicine is big there? Unfortunately Dimin's rushing to produce a new age defying concoction before his scientists have tested it thoroughly and downs a sample. Amazing, it takes decades off his appearance.

Except under an hour later, he dies in painful throes and is turned into a zombie, immediately attacking his family and staff. His staff succumb pretty quickly, while one grounds man who got sprayed in the face with blood drives off seeking medical help. He only gets as far as a large family gathering celebrating a circumcision (!!!), before he too succumbs to the zombie infection, slamming his car into the celebration crowd and immediately munching down on them. Thus the plague has begun.

Like most zombie that take place at the beginning of the plague, its about a small group fleeing the ravenous hordes of flesh eating dying and dead. There are the two young women, Kenes' husband & son and eventually another couple who they blunder into. The small village doesn't make for many secure buildings, so everyone ends up at the local police precinct where all but one cop have been eaten & transformed. How will they survive? Or more typically, who will survive.

The movie had two things going for it: a very very good special effects budget, and choosing to have the movie set absent of any "zombie" mythology at all, i.e. even the video game playing, crossbow building brother-in-law doesn't bring up zombie lore. The practical effects are pretty impressive here, and the drone shots of the running hordes along the narrow right angle streets between the rice fields in the lush, verdant rural village are incredible. CG or a cast of hundreds of extras? Hard to tell, which is a good thing. This movie treats its zombies as something of its own, their own gnashing teeth, their own twisted contortions and the panic stricken irrational responses of the survivors. These people have zero situational awareness, but they don't know they are in a zombie movie, so... In some ways, a little silly, but it takes itself seriously. 

Note: I watched this on my own, as seasonal filler, and even if Marmy had been interested in a zombie movie, and she isn't, this one would have immediately turned her off. It depicts the infection moving quite quickly through the body, visualized by a spread of holes in the flesh akin to those caused by parasites, giving a quick trypophobic reaction to even me, who is not bothered by it. It was gross; gross gross gross.

31 Days of Halloween: The Astronaut

2025, Jess Varley (feature debut) -- download

There is a plot point I have seen come up a few times in the last few years, one focused on women astronauts and the challenges they face, with a spotlight on being astronaut first, or mother first. There was the Noomi Rapace show Constellation, a German Netflix show called The Signal and a bit further back, the Hillary Swank Away. There's more, but there is an image, a scene I always recall, where there is guilt and pain about being dragged away from being a mother, whether it be caused by long training missions or the time away in space. Comparatively, the images of astronauts as "fathers" is always dominated by the proud stance the men take and how their sons look up to them. 

The movie begins with the splash down of Sam Walker's (Kate Mara, Fantastic Four) capsule in the ocean, its window broken, her unconscious, helmet cracked and covered in blue goo. She is taken to a secure facility in a remote location, one of those architecturally impressive houses in a dark forest that horror movies love so much, on the pretense of recovery & study. Her estranged husband (Gabriel Luna, The Last of Us) & adopted daughter meet her, but are not allowed to stay -- the tension between the couple is palpable; her mission has caused a rift. There is a brief moment where Sam talks to a fellow female astronaut and it is strongly hinted that Sam needs to hide any signs of fragility or she will be overlooked for coming missions. She has to be "strong" despite the mysterious trauma she has been through.

Its a horror movie, so almost immediately, she starts seeing things, hearing things, shadows in the background, on the perimeter of the house. And the strange bruises on her arm are spreading. Medically she seems fine, but they keep her detained for now. Things escalate, including the discovery that the house is more than it seems, being surrounded by surveillance technology. Sam's father, the Pentagon general (Laurence Fishburne, Hannibal) who runs the facility, hand-waves it away, showing her how it is as much a safe-house with lock-down capabilities as it is a house for diplomats -- typical shadowy US govt shit. Almost immediately after the house goes into lock-down, on its own, with strange electronic disturbances and shadows of creatures that we see, and not always Sam. Again, her father hand-waves it away. She doesn't mention the stalker.

In a horror movie, the narrator can be unreliable. While we see what is stalking or "haunting" her, there is always the question as to whether she is imagining the strange happenings, or is it actually happening. We also don't trust the authorities, including her father. Eventually things do escalate to full-on reveals, a Jurassic Park style scene of some creature hunting her through the hissing steam & blaring alarms of the locked-down house, all the trappings of previous horror/alien movies but with little thought as to why these are happening. Why are there random jets of steam from the ceiling? Why, if the basement of the facility is supposed to be secure, is it behind flimsy wooden doors? The creators of the movie wanted the trappings with little care for reasons, and its a disappointment.

Spoiler-age.

As the final act escalates, as Sam is stalked, we also see that the bruises have become bioluminescent goo & skin patches, that Sam is bleeding from strange wounds emerging on her body. The aliens stalking her are also bioluminescent, and we are given enough to see that Sam is maybe not quite what the movie has told us she is. The flashes she gets of a crater, and soldiers with guns chasing... something. Sam is the alien, an alien, one of many who many years ago, chose a bio-altering camouflage and became Sam as a child, who was taken by the general and raises as his daughter. Now, years later, her real family attacked the ISS and introduced an "antidote" to the camouflage. Sam is becoming who she really is. And the aliens take her away, whoosh.

Meh. Not bad, effective haunted house, stalking-stranger motifs with some decent acting. Despite my labelling as a "fan" of horror movies, there are those by-the-numbers that really do it for me, and those that just barely scratch the itch; most in fact -- a lot of chaff that needs to be brushed away for the grain of value left behind.

I am wont to mention my fondness for directors being given a chance, something to cut their Hollywood teeth on, and while this will not be the Neil Blomkamp District 9 of Varley's career, its a good start to a hard-working career. And the purple suits ("from the producers of A Quiet Place") have to keep on purple-suiting.

31 Days of Halloween: Rabbit Trap

2025, Bryn Chainey (feature debut) -- download

I feel that I have to watch at least one UK movie that highlights its wild, bleak and gloomy countryside. If it also adds in a touch of the fae, bonus! 

Daphne (Rosy McEwan, Vesper) and Darcy (Dev Patel, The Green Knight) are a married couple who have come to the Welsh countryside from London. Daphne is an established electronic musician and Darcy is ... her sound man? I was never sure what Darcy was, but he was as enraptured with collecting sound as Daphne was in creating it. It should be noted that it is 1976 and thus all of Daphne's electronic musical instruments are giant, modular analog monstrosities. Its odd that I was offered this movie, considering I have just become aware of "Look Ma No Computer", a YouTube musician known for his use of modular synthesizers. Not that he is anything like Daphne's music, which is more akin to Laurie Spiegel. Anywayz, Daphne is into discordant soundscapes, and is suffering a bit of a block, while Darcy is out recording water dropping and murmurations.

One day while wandering a forested hillside, Darcy comes across a pool of water obviously reacting to an unheard sound. He puts on his headphones, adjusts his big mic and hears.... music & voices, if you stretch your mind enough to call the sounds that. He follows them, comes across a fairy ring and before we can yell at the screen, "Don't walk into that !!" we find him waking up in its centre.

What has Darcy done...

Not long after Daphne sees someone watching the house. Darcy, on one of his wandering treks, also catches a young... boy (?) hiding in the grass. The child (Jade Croot, The Witcher) is obviously a wild creature of the hills and moors, threadbare coat, thick Welsh accent and very odd nature. Darcy introduces them to Daphne and thus begins a co-dependent relationship. Both are obviously seeking something from the other, including inspiration for Daphne's music.

Meanwhile Darcy continues to suffer from night terrors, a dream of a looming figure at the foot of his bed, which leaves him with sleep paralysis.

The Child, which never gives the couple their name, begins to manipulate the situation more and more, until they have a "gift" for Daphne, and the two walk out into the woods, through a tunnel under a hill (again, we yell at the screen, "Never do that!!") and into an ancient wooded area. By this time Darcy is already panicking and has to follow, but ends up having more and more visions. Daphne ends up being incredibly disturbed by the experience, finally seeing the Child as being something strange and otherworldly and ends up asking them to leave, after a strained night where they claim to have become the couple's child.

It gets worse for the couple.

This is an incredibly well shot, well recorded movie with powerful performances especially from Jade Croot as The Child. The problem lies in that its not sure what it can do with this obviously sly, manipulative fae creature as it shies close to folklore but also to metaphorical family trauma. The ending is weird, gross and mystical but not entirely satisfying.

31 Days of Halloween: Kristy

2013, Olly Blackburn (Donkey Punch) -- Amazon

We continue the trend of clicking past all the movies we have in our Lists on streaming services, as well as the getting-longer list of horror movies I have already downloaded (previous years worth of them) for something new & shiny that caught our eye. We have always liked a final-girl who turns the tables on her attacker.

Justine (Haley Bennett, The Magnificent Seven) is staying for the long weekend at her university -- she cannot afford the flight. Originally she is staying with her roommate, whose family is abroad, but plans change at the last minute and suddenly Justine is alone. That is weird. In an entire campus, she is the only one who stays? Anywayz, I am skipping past the over-share preamble & opening credits which sets up a Dark Web based network of thrill killers, led by a mysterious woman (Ashley Green, Twilight) who has something against pretty girls and Christians. She organizes "hunts", i.e. those collections of masked & hoodie wearing thrill killers who terrorize and kill isolated young women.  And then she bumps into Justine at an all night convenience store near the campus, and the unfortunate young woman is marked as a "Kristy".

This is another movie with distinct style, sometimes a bit too heavy handed with it. It is so very much a product of the 2000-teens, with the non-stop period appropriate music (music that sounds so distinctly 2000-teens) and the nausea inducing panic-stricken shaky-camera runs. But its effective. Kristy... sorry, Justine, plays the role of the final-girl when there are actually no other girls, just a handful of campus staff who are quickly killed off more or less as innocent bystanders.

But Justine is capable. Despite her fear, she eludes her hunters with ingenuity on multiple occasions, getting tired of running, and even turning on them eventually. There are only four, so it doesn't take long, once she is underway, but the movie enjoys having us run along with Justine, rooting for her, cheering her on. And in the end, via voice over, we understand Justine is helping authorities find all the "cells" of this thrill kill cult, and end them. A post-credit scene, which was entirely wasted, implies they are still active, likely to setup a sequel that never happened.

31 Days of Halloween: Kill Me Again

2025, Keith Jardine (action actor's feature debut) -- Amazon

OK, tempted to do this in the format of a Loopty Loo, but that would just be unfair to Kent. But indeedy do, this is a horror-thriller time loop movie, but without the comedic light nature of Happy Death Day. Essentially, a psychopath walks into a diner, and then cannot get out. 

The movie begins with a distinct amount of style in colour and music and lighting. I like when mood, vibes, tone are very apparent. The Midnight Mangler, or Charlie (Brendan Fehr, The Night Shift), drives into the diner parking lot in his shitty pickup, and upon entering, takes stock of the people in this all-night place, obviously in the wee hours already. Two rednecks at the counter arguing over shit. A couple who look out of place, having a quiet heart to heart, some random guy sitting in the far back corner eating fries. Two off shift nurses finishing off their pie. A single waitress who is obviously on her last nerve, and does not react well to Charlie's ham fisted attempts at human interaction. He's an ass and she's just not in the mood. Eventually, her shift ends, and he follows her out, coaxing her into his truck with a gun. And then he stabs her.

This whole scene was incredibly uncomfortable. I was wondering what I got myself into. Is this movie going to revel in our psycho? I know he's the main character but shit, this scene seems to be really getting off on his abuse. But, he stabs her and... poof, he's back walking through the door.

Insert the usual commentary about time loop movies and the second iteration. Charlie is confused and assuming people are fucking with him. But still, what makes him feel better? Killing someone. He kills one of the nurses, tries to leave and ... poof. Without getting too detailed, this goes on (and on) for a while. Kill someone, fuck with someone, try to leave, poof. The movie even does the loopty middle bit where the character tosses any caution to the wind, shouting, "I AM A GOD !!" and kills with abandon.

But gradually the movie comes to dislike Charlie, and like, a lot. Sure, there is a wee bit of sympathy as he begins to unravel. A minute smidgen. But then there is the joy in watching him get his ass handed to him by the burly Russian fry cook (massive gun mook #34) over and over and over again. Eventually killing gets boring for even Charlie and he starts trying to figure out what is going on, and how to get out. He does the typical fourth-wall breaking idea of commenting with silent guy-eating-fries that time loop movies usually have the person come to a realization, and get out. But none of it works.

The tones and colours of the movie change, as Charlie degrades. He starts showing it on his face and the lighting in the diner changes. Eventually this all heads to ... well, spoilers.

I am not going to reveal the ending, but it jumped from what I thought was going to be a horror-specific metaphysical tell (Charlie's in Hell; I know, cliche but appropriate) to something entirely different, almost an entirely different movie. It wasn't satisfying, despite them trying to write in a "gotcha Charlie!" hook at the very end.

Still, a chilling, disturbing example of the Loopty Loop movie genre.

31 Days of Halloween: Knowing

2009, Alex Proyas (Dark City) -- Tubi

I started watching this because, once again I got suckered in by The Algorithm, wherein YouTube (I have a tendency to watch it at 6am while the cats are eating) showed me clips of this old disaster movie I love. I always likened it to a scifi disaster movie but didn't realize how much of it presents like a Horror Movie. So, as filler, here we go!

Of note, I am sure so very sure I had this plugged in somewhere already on this blog, likely a post collecting previous rewatches. But I cannot find it. I suspect it may have been on a un-published post of rewatches, that I eventually deleted.

Anywayz, we start with a bunch of 50s kids collecting things to go into a Time Capsule, which will be opened in 50 years. Little Lucinda offers up her page of numbers, after acting weird all day. Yeah, just a sheet full of numbers. Later on, during the capsule entombment, she disappears, and is found in a basement closet having scratched her little nails off inscribing something on the inside of the door. "Please make them stop, make the whispering stop..." she intones.

Fifty years later little Caleb (Chandler Cantebury, The Host) gets the sheet when they open the capsule -- not sure what he was supposed to do with it, maybe do a class presentation or write an essay. Meanwhile his dad John (Nicolas Cage, Season of the Witch) is drinking and doing the single dad thing really badly. Both of them are still grieving for mom, who perished in a fire.... maybe a year ago? John is a lecturer at MIT and a bit intense; its Nick Cage after all.

While drinking heavily, as his son sleeps upstairs, John notices a very specific set of numbers on the sheet -- 9112001, and after them some digits that a bit of Googling shows is the number of people who died that day in NYC. John freaks. And then John starts finding other number sequences on the sheet. He transcribes it to his white board and spends the rest of the night circling dates, and numbers of deaths. There are other digits which he does not identify, but the dates he has circled are all definitely sequential, leading up to ... now. Well, now of 2009. 

Meanwhile Caleb is seeing weird ass guys outside, pale men in long black coats. If you saw Proyas's 1998 movie Dark City you will be wigged out by those guys, but really who wouldn't.

John takes his wiggy 50-year-old-sheet-predicting-mass-deaths idea to his best friend Phil (Ben Mendelsohn, Andor), who works in astrophysics. He does not take John's idea very well. The meeting makes him late to pick up Caleb from school and that's when he notices his truck's GPS setting, realizing what the other numbers are -- location data. And the location for the next date on the sheet is... where he is at right now. John jumps out of his truck to see what the accident is ahead, assuming its about to be a disaster, and something worse happens. Right behind him, a plane crashes, scraping across the road before exploding in a field. Its a horrific scene or roaring engines, exploding fuel tanks and vast pools of flaming jet fuel. And people dying right in front of John's eyes.

The next day the news is all about atmospheric activity causing havoc in flight navigation systems and the ground of the all planes in the US.

Just the directorial tone is what sets this aside for me. There is now a palpable air of fear, not only in John but in Caleb seeing the men outside. Maybe its just the level of tension & anxiety that this viewing season, and currently real life, sets into my bones, but the movie moved from just the tense feeling I get from disaster flicks (because, even with them, you already expect mass death is coming) to an ever present sick feeling. 

The next date, John tries to prevent. He sees the event is happening in NYC, so he calls it in anonymously. He is ignored, so he goes to the location, where there is the presence of authorities, but also crowds of people. They are there to catch a crank caller, possibly who is going to cause something to happen. John sees danger everywhere, chasing some of it down into the subway system, where... sparks fly, a train rail shorts and boom crunch, a subway train car is slamming through the platform wiping away lives. John is missed by the finest of hairs, as is the one woman & child he saves. Its a soul crushing scene of close up disaster.

There is one event left. Soon, but no "number of deaths". It just says "EE" which John sees as possibly Extinction Level Event. He's desperate and trying to trace down any idea of why and what is going on, maybe a hint of what he can do about it all. He tries to find the original writer of the sheet, and instead finds her daughter & granddaughter. Little Lucinda never really recovered and was obsessed with death, which is understandable. And then John realizes EE is "everyone else". News comes of a solar event coming, which John figures out moments before its announced, something that will burn off the atmosphere and sink solar radiation miles into the planet's crust --- killing everyone and everything. Planetary end. But what can John do? Why was his family presented this, if they cannot save anyone?

This is where the tone, and not untoward considering its Proyas, but probably why the movie got panned, the tone shifts from fearful supernatural horror & disaster to ... well, alien intervention. The scary guys in coats are aliens, who have been whispering to "chosen ones"; Caleb and Lucinda's granddaughter are such. They and other chosen ones will be taken off the planet, but... no one else. We end the movie with a wee bit of Close Encounters and then.... fire.

I still really like the movie, despite the reigned in Nick Cage craziness, maybe because of? Proyas does like his hope tinged darkness.

31 Days of Halloween: Heretic

2024, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods (65) -- download

I would more credit them for being the writers of "A Quiet Place".

Two young Mormon girls get stuck inside a very oddly constructed house, as intellectual playthings for a strange man who wants them to question their faith. 

This movie was as well constructed as the house they were imprisoned within. Whether you think the plot worked or not, one could not deny how well built everything was, from the dialogue, to the imagery to the lighting and cinematography. After a season, or more likely a year, of seeing terrible and tepid, it was just nice to absorb this.

Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher, Companion) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East, The Wolf of Snow Hollow) are two inquisitive, thoughtful and devoted members of their Church (of Latter Day Saints). Their final "investigator" (someone who has professed an interest in the LDS) is Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant, Love Actually) who lives in an isolated house at the end of an isolated street. He invites them in, assuring them that his wife is upstairs and will be down shortly to serve them blueberry pie. They shouldn't be alone with Mr. Reed but he is charming, disarming and charismatic. He immediately drops into an interrogative, inquisitive line of questioning. He offers them Coca-Cola, knowing they cannot have caffeine. Paxton is amazed at his knowledge of Mormonism, while Barnes seems hesitant, more worldly, less trusting.

There is no Mrs. Reed, there is no pie, and there is no escape. There is just Mr. Reed and his own mission, to have the girls question their own faith as he lays out a long dialogue about the position and purpose of religion in the world. I love every moment of these scenes, from the construction, semi-temple-like, of the room, to the colour-tones, to how he lays out the holy tomes and Monopoly games. I do like me some creative precision. Even his presentation is precisely faulty, as Barnes angrily points out, while Paxton just wishes to capitulate and escape.

He claims he wants them to question their belief and in doing so, choose a door through which to leave. Both doors lead to a cold, crudely constructed basement - a ragged metaphor. Once they are aware they are thoroughly trapped down there, Reed introduces his "prophet", a woman in rags & gray skin, and the blueberry pie. And death, and a simulacrum of a miraculous resurrection. But as Barnes angrily points out, its all smoke & mirrors, magic tricks, a weak attempt to deceive them. And just as she is about to equally direct Paxton to attack Reed, he cuts her throat. She bleeds out in front of Paxton who responds like a switch has been thrown; gone is the meek, frightened girl and the thoughtful, angry one emerges, a side of her that she usually demurred to Barnes. She not only challenges Reed's little act but beats him at it, disappearing into his sub-basement that winds its way down and around, his own little play on Dante's Inferno. At the very least, you cannot fault Reed for being a creative mind. Her journey ends in a room with more of his "prophets", other women he has captured and "converted" into shades in cages. He thinks he has her, that she will be his next, but no, not at all. She stabs him in the throat and runs off.

But of course, a horror movie cannot have its villain go down so easy. He once again corners her, stabbing her in the belly and as he is about to ... crunch, the earlier alluded to pointy stick full of rusty nails is slammed into his head by the ashen grey Barnes, a proper miracle to save her friend, before she falls into her own endless sleep. Paxton can escape.

If ever a movie demanded one of those stupid click-baity videos or articles of "Ending of 'Heretic' Explained" its this movie. You see, there is a seemingly toss away plot point, a quick jaunt left of centre, where Reed claims this has never been about proving whether the girls have faith or not, but whether they can break the simulation -- you know, that conspiracy theory that we are all in a great simulation. His proof comes when he cuts out Barnes's birth control implant (LARC) and presents it as a marker for an NPC in this simulation. Its ridiculous, its him grasping at straws as the girls disassemble his little play. Paxton has had enough and dismisses it entirely, buuuuut after she escapes, she emerges into a verdant field covered in last night's snow fall, either an early autumn storm or a late spring one. An unearthly beautiful field, and a butterfly lands on her fingers, recollecting her own professed desire to come back as a butterfly and follow her loved ones about. Then it glitches and the snow & butterfly are gone.

There are a number of ways you could go. Was it all actually a simulation, another iteration of something played out again and again? Was this proof that Paxton was actually a prophet and Barnes, her angel of belief? Or crazy man and survivor hallucinations. I like the idea that as Reed was fucking with them, the directors/writers are fucking with us.

Good movie.

I noticed an odd trend for Amazon. Soon after digital release, Amazon posts the movie in their catalog, but then in a rather short period after, quietly removes it, redirecting you to their partner subscriptions instead. Stupid capitalism. 

31 Days of Halloween: Vicious

2025, Bryan Bertino (The Monster) -- download

We saw one of his earlier movies, The Monster. 

The movie opens with a familiar intonation of the voice of depression. I am tired, tired of banging my head against the wall, tired of being me. This is a movie that is not quiet about its metaphors, for trauma, for deep depression, but it does come with some mild hope. Very mild. After all, its a horror movie, not treatment.

Polly (Dakota Fanning, The Watchers) lives in her sister's house, well one sister and brother in law are renting to her. Mega fucking huge house for a 30ish young art student working dead end jobs that she really really doesn't want to go to. She is so deep in the throes of depression that she doesn't want to do anything. This is not the passing kind of depression, something you can curl up on the sofa with a tub of ice cream kind, but the long lasting, impact every aspect of your life kind. She seems to mostly live with it, but is not really living. She hints at maybe trying to date someone her sister is setting her up with it, but can barely fake interest.

Then the box arrives. An old woman (Kathryn Hunter, Andor; yep, Syril's mom) knocks on her door on a cold winter night. Polly is kind, invites the woman in, offers her some tea. The woman seems confused, until she is not. She has passed the box onto Polly and explains the brief rules: don't tell anyone about the box, and give the box what it wants, or you are dead. In fact, the old woman intones that Polly is already dead. Polly freaks out and kicks the old woman out, leaving her box in the middle of the road. It finds its way back to her coffee table.

The box is an asshole. The idea is that you have to sacrifice three things, each before the sand runs through the hourglass. Something you love, something you hate, something you need. Polly is chain smoking, barely starting one cigarette before she lights the next. That should be easy, right? Cigarettes. Nope, nothing is easy. Fuck with the box, and the box fucks with you via visions and imagery and sound and phone calls. The dead call you, monsters under the bed grab you, memories haunt you. Its relentless, manipulative, conniving. And deceitful. After all, its an evil fucking box, Dybbuk-style.

The movie is pretty effective with the standards of American jump scare horror movies, and the ever growing panic and dread Polly feels about what she will be compelled to do is tangible. Given how the movie will begin, we understand that the only way she can stop this (and yes, its been a single night) is to give the box to someone else. Again, there is no real mythology present in the movie, so really, the rules are loose, and what is explained by the box (when it calls you in other people's voices) can be a lie, so really there aren't any rules, just the tortures of a cursed item. Like The Monster, there is no explainer, just fear and dread, and really, that's what horror movies are about.

And yes, the metaphor for depression was a hammer to the forehead, even when they weren't depicting Polly accurately. Depression lies, depression takes, depression has no real rules and just wants to hurt you, or more accurately, have you hurt yourself. But, you can stand up to it.

Meta note: From the get go, Marmy went, "Where is this shot? I recognize that house." She was right, we did. Its in Ottawa and the architecture was clear.

31 Days of Halloween: Quarantine

2008,  John Erick Dowdle (Devil) -- Netflix

This movie is a remake of the 2007 Spanish movie Rec by Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza, who also directed the sequel [Rec]². This movie is of the tradition of faithfully remaking a movie exactly as the first, but for American audiences, and set in the US.

I rewatched this as a filler for this year's "31 Days of Halloween" as there are always a few days we miss due to ... life. I am also tempted to rewatch the original, just because.

Found Footage movies usually have the conceit that we know everyone is dead. The footage is supposed to be recovered after they all die, or disappear. In this case, the "everyone is dead" comes preposed because the trailers had the final scene of the movie -- main character Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter) being dragged off into the darkness by an unknown assailant. 

The movie begins with her footage of the San Francisco firehall. She is one of those fluff reporters building a repertoire of feel-good stories, and this one is a ride-along with a local fire station. There is some lively banter, some flirting between her and a couple of handsome firefighters Fletcher (Jonathan Schaech, Takers) and Jake (Jay Hernandez, Magnum PI), and then the call comes. They tell her that most of their calls are paramedic in nature, and most of the firefighters are trained in medical first response. An elderly lady in an old apartment building has been making a godawful din and they have called police & paramedics. A bunch of tenants have been wakened, including the super. When the cops investigate, the aggressive old lady pounces on one of the cops and tears out his throat. Everyone panics, carrying the bleeding cop to the lobby floor. Not long after, Fletcher the firefighter comes plummeting from above, crashing into the lobby floor in a bloody, broken mess. When they try to exit the building to the waiting ambulance, they are halted by men with guns and the doors are locked. 

Remember, the entire introduction is via the camera man's viewpoint, and Angela's constant coaxing to get it all on camera. At this point, she isn't panicking, but everyone around her is. Full on chaotic panic from first responders & residents with only Jake doing his best to keep a level head. The super points out that there is an overhang with window access from his office, and maybe someone could escape from there, but before they can, spotlights and armed forces and a big plastic tarp is dropped. The are being sealed in, entirely. Soon power and phone are cut. They are trapped inside with whatever is going on. The old lady has been shot, as she has killed her housekeeper. The panic ramps up.

Some details are eked out as the movie progresses. One of the residents had a sick dog, and her husband brought it to the vet. Their daughter has a fever. Another resident shows signs of illness, frothing at the mouth. The injured cop and firefighter and both salivating really bad. A vet who lives in the building comments on that being signs of rabies, but rabies takes month to progress to that state, and by that time it is fatal. The CDC sends in bunny suited specialists to test Fletcher and the cop, but that doesn't end well. Yep, zombies or Infected, but aggressive and killers.

The movie is very very effective in keeping the tension high, like on the edge of a knife high. There are lots of people screaming at each other, emotions are ratcheted up to 11 and normally this just bugs me, but here it feels appropriate. Soon, the movie escalates from a group of people trying to figure out how to escape the building, to just fleeing and hiding, until its only Jake and Angela and Scott, the camera man. They flee to the penthouse apartment, rented by a man not seen in months. His is not an apartment, more a chaotic mess of a lab, an Angela cannot help herself but rifle through the notes, giving us hints of this man investigating some sort of ancient tribal virus, something horrific and violent. The movie ends with the camera light breaking, Scott is down, the nightvision filter is on and Angela is doing her best to hide from a gaunt creature that must be the tenant. And then, like he poster, she is dragged screaming off into the dark.

Being a faithful remake of the original, I do like this movie, but again recall liking the original better, but likely only due to it being my first exposure to the story, and my enjoyment of another country's vision of an infected zombie apocalypse emerging. The found footage nature is mostly effective, if not entirely realistic. At some point, someone would have just said "fuck this" and tosses the bulky camera, screwing the record of events.

31 Days of Halloween: Something Wicked This Way Comes

1983, Jack Clayton (The Great Gatsby) -- Disney

OK, what is it with classic America not decorating for Halloween around the time of Halloween? Are you telling me on October 24th in the 1940s, middle America didn't at least put a jack-o-lantern on the porch, or maybe a spooky scarecrow or two? Trick or Treat-ing was already a thing in the 40s so there should have been at least some reference to the kids building costumes. Alas...

The movie begins with "the lightning rod salesman" (Royal Dano, The Outlaw Josey Wales) wandering into Green Town, Illinois with an evocative voice over of a boy being all nostalgic over Autumn in the 40s. This is prime Bradbury writing style, as he wrote the screenplay for Clayton based on his 1962 novel which he had already adopted from his own 40s short story. We are then introduced to Will Halloway (Vidal Peterson, ST: TNG: Unification II), the narrator, and his best friend Jim Nightshade (what a last name! Shawn Carson, The Funhouse), and their picturesque little town with iconic shop keepers and Will's dad, the librarian, who is suffering a mild depression over his age, and having married late in life.

The carnival is coming to town, and almost immediately it proves itself magical. From just the sound of a steam whistle, to an instantaneously built midway, the boys recognize something is just not right here. And then there's its ring leader Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce, Slow Horses) littering the town square with his advertisements. And things get scarier and more mystical after just opening night with the locals lured into various traps of an arcane nature.

This is a classic Disney style adventure of a magical & horror nature meant for kids. The victims of Mr. Dark's dark magic are all adults, falling to their own desires and folly, and only the kids seems to recognize something is awry. But its also a story of the love between a father and a son, who despite their challenges, are strongly bonded. There is really no true violence, not real death, but a lot of kid-level scary things. Maybe I am not as in touch with my kid-level whimsy as I thought (dude, this post says otherwise) but it didn't do much for me. Its just another example of things that don't hold up as well over time.

I love David Grove's poster work....

31 Days of Halloween: Haul Out the Halloween

2025, Maclain Nelson (Christmas in Vienna) -- download

In the same vein as the last movie (fits in because its set during Halloween), and yes, this is a Hallmarkie set at Halloween, and apparently one of a few in a "Haul Out the..." series. I learned one thing in watching this movie, in that if I am not watching a Hallmarkie with at least the thinnest hint of "the formula" then... well, I am not interested -- and they don't have to be just Xmas; I rather enjoyed a "harvest fest" a few years ago. This Hallmarkie came more by way of a terrible Disney Channel sitcom than a "proper" Hallmarkie, and yes, I said that -- "proper". But it was about decorating for Halloween, so at least that can be fun, huh?

Nuh uh.

So, it starts with Emily Melrose (Lacey Chabert, The Christmas Waltz) getting married to Jared Farnsworth (Wes Brown, My Southern Family Christmas). Sorry, it starts with a flyover of a Picturesque Small Town with snow capped mountains in the background, and some dialogue about Evergreen Lane. No, not Evergreen, the perpetual Xmas village of other Hallmarkies, nor Evergreen of Peacemaker but just some town with a cul-de-sac called Evergreen Lane. It is Autumn and the town is aflame in colours.

So yeah the main characters are getting married. I guess there were escapades in previous movies that have brought us to this moment, and we are supposed to recognize most of the supporting wedding cast. The wedding is typical Hallmarkie sweet but almost immediately the movie jumps into the plot -- new neighbours have moved in and they are a little over-the-top when it comes to decorating for Halloween. As in Violating the HOA Charter over-the-top. 

Yes, this is a movie about overbearing HOA members, and wherein most movies have the HOA as an unstoppable force of Evil, this one has them as the main characters. It says something about the current American value system that the Main Characters are all members of a horrible political system. Anywayz, it seems Halloween Decorating was not outright banned on Evergreen Lane but expected to be very toned down because of The Incident. What Incident, you ask? Well apparently Emily got jump scared when she was 10, so for the last 30 years... seriously, WTF? A kid gets scared at Halloween and they basically ban the event for THIRTY YEARS?!?! Pay no mind, obviously they repeal that or we wouldn't have the movie but... ?!?!?!

The rest of the movie is about the lead up to decorating, some internal squabbling with the neighbours and families, and complications with the local news reporter. I guess they assume that since these aspects are typical plot points in other Hallmarkies, just lumping them together in this movie as connectors between the plot and all the other sitcom-y shenanigans will satisfy viewers? I won't comment on what truly typical Hallmarkie viewers think of this mash-up but it is not for me. There was some fun spins on the Baking Competition and the Holiday Sweater (set decorators had fun, plot basically ignored the element) but for the most part the movie focused on the shenanigans. And the actual Halloween night event is... toned down? One thing I love about the Xmas Hallmarkies is how utterly over-the-top they go in decorating their Xmas Villages or Squares, but here it was only one notch up from Spirit Halloween. In fact, I am pretty sure they shot in one of its stores. 

This was a Hallmarkie that was boring, stupid, celebrated terrible people and barely enjoyed the thrill of the season, and worst of all, the Main Characters had zero chemistry or charm.

Speaking of terrible, while trying to find a poster for this post, I ran into at least two different AI generated posters, which were created for AI generated posts meaning to lead people to malware and scammy stuff. The posters were decently done, but not this movie and the movie they described were not even this movie, but something entirely fabricated. I even ran into one that generated a terrible AI version of a poster for this actual movie, but still... so so wrong. Its amazing how quickly the Use AI for Evil has gotten out of hand.

31 Days of Halloween: Arsenic and Old Lace

1944, Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life) -- download

A movie about a pair of serial killers set during the Halloween season? What could be more 31 Days !!

This movie is a classic, both very much a product of its time but still stands the test of time. Dark Comedies have that enduring ability, but I guess a little slap stick doesn't hurt.

Renowned theatre critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant, North by Northwest) wants to marry Elaine (Priscilla Lane, Four Daughters), but feels a need to hide it, for his reputation is built on hating marriage, romance and all the drivel. Meanwhile over in Brooklyn (the movie comes with a lot of derision for Brooklyn, something I would have to research) police officer Brophy is showing his beat to O'Hara who will take over from him, and this includes the old house belonging to the Brewster sisters, sweet old ladies that never turn a hungry soul away from their door. Mortimer and Elaine, her parents living next door to the Brewsters, and Mortimer wants to break the news to his aunts. We also meet Teddy, Mortimer's brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt and whom the neighbours are constantly complaining about, but mainly his trumpeting in the middle of the night.

And then Mortimer finds a body in the window seat. You see, his sweet old aunts like to invite homeless men in, under the pretense of renting a room (the room is never rented) and kill them with wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide. They were inspired when their first potential renter died of a heart attack in front of them, and looked so peaceful afterwards. At first Mortimer believes Teddy must have done it, given his brother's state of mind, and begins to make plans to have Teddy committed to the Happy Dale Asylum. Then he learns it was his aunts, and begins cracking himself.

Screwball Comedy is the term. The situation just keeps on heaping more and more complications upon poor Mortimer. His black sheep other brother Jonathan returns, an escaped criminal with his own body count, seeking to hide out at his aunt's place, as well as hide his own body. His partner Dr. Einstein, an escaped murderer in his own right, will also finish the botched plastic surgery job he did on Jonathan, an operation that has left the man with a resemblance to Boris Karloff, in the movie Frankenstein to be precise -- this is an in-joke, as Boris Karloff played the character in the original Broadway production. Meanwhile Elaine just wants to head off to Niagara Falls, and they even have a cab waiting outside for them. 

The movie is hilarious. Its not really Halloween-ish, as the only connection is the commentary about it at the beginning. I am not sure of the state of decorating for Halloween in the 40s, but I would have liked to at least see some more trappings. Still, it checks the box.

31 Days of Halloween: The Ugly Step Sister

2025, Emilie Blichfeldt (feature debut) -- download

Or stygge stesøsteren.

The elevator pitch is pretty much, "Cinderella but from the point of view of one of 'ugly' step sisters" and I can hear my coworkers now, decrying its "woke feminist agenda". The movie does have a strong message about altering one's appearance to fit into societal moulds, no matter what the cost personally. 

Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp, The Quake) arrives at the opulent home of her new husband Otto, with her two daughters Elvira (Lea Myren, Kids in Crime) and Alma (Flo Fagerli, Kuppel 16), where they meet Otto's haughty and beautiful daughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss, La Palma). Otto obviously has money, from the grand stature of his home to the lavish design of Agnes' dresses. Plural. The family lives in the shadow of the Prince's castle, whom Elvira has constant fantasies about as she reads his poetry. It is a time when widows have to marry into money in order to survive, except they discover that Otto thought he was doing the same thing -- turns out they are both barely eking by. Barely, as in only a handful of servants.

Almost immediately after her arrival Otto dies and Rebekah sets her eyes on marrying off her daughters, Agnes as well, relying on the virginal nature every man desires. An invitation comes from the Prince, to attend a ball in four months time. That is plenty of time for Rebekah to have Elvira made into something more beautiful, partially through starvation, partially through reconstructive surgery on her already very normal, but not "slender" nose, and partially via a finishing school. But the cost is extravagant and Agnes challenges her spending the money there, while her father literally rots in the drawing room. Literally, with flies and maggots and bloating. This is not a faery tale from Perrault, but one by way of Grimm and David Cronenburg. Oh yeah, the starvation is helped along by swallowing the egg of a tapeworm.

Eventually Agnes, who is excelling at everything at the finishing school, while Elvira usually gets last place, is caught fucking the stable boy. How dare she sully her virgin status with the help?!? Rebekah drives the boy off, and shoves Agnes down onto the scullery floor, to assume her "cinderella" role. Meanwhile adolescent Alma, who disappears into the background, falls into the stable boy role, dressing in pants and mucking out stables.

Everything is leading to The Ball. As the tapeworm grows inside her, Elvira suffers horrible stomach pains and binges on treats from the pantry whenever she can hide it from her mother. Agnes shoulders her new role with aplomb but as time gets closer to the date, she still has a desire to attend. She even has the perfect dress and the perfect shoes, that is until Elvira sees them and tears them to shred. She is finally getting somewhere, having lost weight and the nose covering has been removed to show a slim & slender proboscis, and her braces are off revealing perfect teeth. She has even risen in the ranks at the finishing school because of Agnes's absence. She's also become a wee bit unhinged with the obsession impressed upon her by her mother. Agnes runs off in tears to her... ick... father's melting corpse, where the ghost of her mother appears. Oh yeah, Cinderella story so let's have some minor Magic Realism and the maggots become silk worms that repair her dress to its high glory.

The night of The Ball is all bloated with our, the viewer's, expectations on how things are going to go. Elvira is beautiful, even if her hair falling out had to be replaced by a wig, and she can dance well, but is kind of flatulent and her tummy growls and moans constantly. We know how its going to go. But this is not an American movie, so the climax is not at The Ball itself, but further in, once The Prince has become enamoured with Agnes/Cinderella who has to run from the dance before midnight. This movie is from Elvira's perspective, and her reaction to all her painful plans being dashed by Agnes (AGNES !!) 

So, we know there has to be a fallen shoe, and the step-sisters have to try them on, but in this movie its all happening off camera. There is no way Elvira's big feet will fit into that shoe, so why not just cut off some toes. That doesn't go so well, and the pain knocks her out. No matter, her mom finishes things off, even pointing out she did it to the wrong foot. So, five toes become ten. Buuuuut, again off camera, the Prince has already bumped into Agnes and... they have ridden off into the sunset, happily ever after. A drugged and in pain Elvira falls out of bed breaking her fragile nose and her shiny teeth. All the ugly on the inside is now on the outside. But her sister Alma, now more stable boy than potential virgin bride, still loves her and the two rob their mother and escape into the fog to have ... different lives.

The movie was somewhat painfully indie feeling. Its very rough around the edges but its strength lies in knowing exactly what tale its telling and the, yeah well "agenda" is very on point. And by very potent performances. Elvira is driven by what is expected of her, and nothing ever comes easy for the girl. I won't preach on its message, but its well told. The horror of the story comes in the consequences, the body horror, and the (even if it didn't happen at The Ball) inevitable extrication of the tape worm. That scene was all the more horrible for the reality of it all. Makes me squeamish just recalling, squick almighty!

31 Days of Halloween: Revival

2025, download -- 3 / 10 episodes

I once said, "It wouldn't be Halloween without something by Mike Flanagan." I should have kept my big mouth shut as all his shows and movies are still forthcoming, while 2024's The Life of Chuck is not Halloweenish, nor watched yet. But, its nice that there is usually something on TV, this season or this year, that is genre appropriate. And people coming back from the dead is Halloweenish, right?

A reporter and a crematorium/morgue staff member have a traumatic beginning to an event in the rural Wisconsin town of Wausau -- the guy being toasted kicks the door off, and then the person in the body bag sits up. Meanwhile across town, Deputy Dana Cypress (Melanie Scrofano, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) is trying to quit her job and leave town, but her dad, the Sheriff (David James Elliot, JAG) won't have any of it. Revival Day interrupts her plans.

A month later, the town is still under quarantine, nobody coming in or going out. No mention of food logistics, but at least their lockdown has been lifted. The month has proven that all the people who died within a two week period of the fateful day woke up. Miracle or supernatural or freak physics phenomena? Nobody knows, but the CDC has sent Dr. Ibrahim Rahin (Andy McQueen, Mrs. Davis) to investigate. One doctor, and maybe some support staff? Seems underplayed.

Like most SyFy / Canadian specific TV, its focused on the people element, so the first three episodes are about getting to know the characters, including Em Cypress (Romy Weltman, Slasher), the younger sister, who turns out to have also revived, waking up from drowning in the river, but with no memory of how she died. But she's having weird visions and filling sketch books with ominous imagery. All the Revived are normal, but for an encounter with old Arlene Stankiewicz who has been pulling out her own teeth, watching them grow back -- oh yeah, side effect of being revived -- you are now invulnerable, and heal from any wound; ANY wound. Arlene goes bonkers and kills her own daughter in law, which leaves the town nervous that maybe other revivers are going to go off the rails.

Its not bad. Its been a while since we had some familiar Canadian scifi/horror/specfic, so its almost like comfort food. I covered some of the plethora of fictional media that deal with this same topic back in 2014, and the graphic novel from which this was adapted is 2012, so right in there. Unlike many TV shows, where three episodes is enough to determine whether to give it a pass, I have a feeling, again like much Canadian produced TV, this will be OK enough but satisfaction will come only if they handle the final few episodes of the season well. I mean, something is going on, we just have to slowly reveal what it is and stretch it out enough to last more than one season. I am not convinced so far this will get its second.

31 Days of Halloween: Weapons

2025, Zach Cregger (Barbarian) -- download

In 2022 (wait; that wasn't last year? it seems so recent), we loved Barbarian and like Kent, I am hesitant to label Cregger as the "next....". We've got a lot of those currently, and while I don't mind adding more standard horror directors to the roster, I don't care when they get labelled as the top of their food chain.

This movie was a fucking ride, just like the last one.

And just to get this out there, it almost felt like he got heavy-handed with the allegory early on in the story, just to get it out of the way. Then shit could get entirely fucked up without diluting his intent. 

The story is told from a few different viewpoints, doing the tape rewind, so we can see each person's perspective. But the bookended story is told like a campfire tale, from a little girl's voice, the kind of scary stories children tell each other, far fetched and unreal, like the ones I used to hear/tell, about the Butterscotch Palace (a large caramel coloured hospital in my home town) and the insane patients who escaped. One night, 17 children from Ms Gandy's class ran out into the night, at 2:17am precisely, and ... well, we assume, were never seen again. One child was left behind, and nobody knew what happened.

We start with Ms Gandy (Julia Garner, Wolf Man) and, yeah, she's a bit of a mess. She knows exactly where the vodka is stored in the large alcohol convenience store -- making a beeline right to the fridge and grabs two large bottles. Not that we would fault her, for she is being blamed by the parents of all the missing children, though the investigation for the following month found nothing to connect her. Nor did they find out why only Alex didn't run.... away. She really really wants to connect with Alex, but as Principal Marcus (Benedict Wong, 3 Body Problem) says, that's more to make her feel better than him.

Next up is Archer (Josh Brolin, Outer Range), the father of one of the kids. He's angry and upset and is demanding more be done to find the kids, and figure out whatever the fuck happened. He's the only one who seems to pay close attention to the weird way the kids run and the direction they head. He's also stalking Ms Gandy a wee bit, giving somewhat innocent explanation to the stalking figure she's been feeling. 

And there's Paul (Alden Ehrenreich, Beautiful Creatures) the cop she used to date, who shows up to comfort her. And opposite Paul there is James (Austin Abrams, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), the local junkie who just blunders into the plot, trying to secure funds for his next fix. Just as Archer is catching onto ... something, and goes to Ms Gandy to see where she fits into it, she is attacked by Principal Marcus, who is wide-eyed (wide enough to have torn off his own eyelids?), maddened looking and covered in blood and scratches. Just before he bowls her over, we see he is running like the kids did. Archer saves her and...

Tape rewind, many tape rewinds filling in the story, stretching it far from the allegory of school shootings and gun violence into something... creepier and more traditionally horror. Archer has had his hallucination, a vision of an assault rifle in the sky, with 2:17 imposed on it. Why? What does it mean? Nothing directly connected to the story, but the hit-with-a-hammer metaphor that the US is caught up in a cycle where utterly terrible, confounding things happen and people need explanations, reasons why it keeps on happening, so they can ignore the real reasons it is happening. Here, there is a reason for the horrible, inexplicable event that impacted 17 children -- its a witch (Amy Madigan, Carnivàle), a simple horrible witch with her own Hansel & Gretel level manipulation going on.

I get what Kent was saying Cregger's sketch comedy past being prevalent. I found many scenes more eerie than comical, but there were a few, such as Gladys fleeing the children chasing her, where a guffaw escaped me. But so many many other scenes just overwhelmed the funny with chill; everything was well placed here, scary to me and my mind that fills in so many blanks.

We Agree.

31 Days of Halloween: Hell Hole

2024,  John Adams, Toby Poser (Hellbender) -- download

We watched a previous film by this family of film makers called Hellbender back in the 2022 year of this series. They have a bit of a name made for themselves in the horror film festival circuit, but we know what I generally think of the horror fandom crowd (less of the crowd, more of what excites them). I could have been one of that fandom, some would probably label me as such -- I have a "horror movie" seasonal series and I did revel in both FantAsia and Toronto After Dark film festivals and attended a few years of TIFF Midnight Madness. But I could never commit. This is my way of saying, after this flick, I can say I don't really care for this family's films. They will not be added to future rosters.

Kent, are the posts you did as a guest-reviewer for After Dark still online somewhere?

American Frackers are in Serbia but halted while some local ecologists look to see if the fracking will damage the ecology of local pika's. Note, the pika is not found in Serbia. Also, the only road into the camp, which is situated on the ruins of some Soviet-era installation, has washed out.

Even with the delay, head fracker Emily (Toby Poser, What We Find on the Road) starts things off by drilling a hole. I guess the low budget of the movie, as long as you can get past the stilted acting, shows itself here, as this is more a piece of machinery used by landscapers than heavy industrial work. No matter, it drills into something bloody. But don't pay attention to that, because the movie quickly forgets that happened so it can focus on the weird cocoon found while digging a garbage trench. And inside the cocoon is a living man. Note, there was a brief preamble showing two men from 19th century France having become lost in Serbia, and were attacked by... something that exploded out of a horse. This guy in the hole is one of them. He doesn't show his hundreds of years.

Nobody knows why this guy was in this weird sack cocoon thing and nobody speaks French well, but eventually they figure out he wants them to kill him, and makes weird gestures that something is in him. Everyone argues about what they should do with him. Kill him! Protect him! Sure, they found him in a hole, and that's weird, but... kill him? Seems a little extreme for even Serbian roughnecks.

Everyone argues about everything. Everyone stands around in half circles and discusses everything contentiously. So... much... standing around in half circles!! Normally a comment like that would lead you to believe this was going to be a cerebral horror movie full of dialogue. But nope, the debate is barely conversational, just angry utterances, and even when they have the scientists do science chatter, its barely above high school level banter. The rest of the movie is either showing they spent their budget on some decent practical blood & gore effects, a painfully rubber monster and some terrible CG.

For a family that is touted as being so deep in the no-budget horror movie making, once given some budget they seem to not be able to rise above a sense of Asylum (my gauge for terrible movie making) level film making. At least Hellbender had some flair and thought to it, but this is just ... tiring. Nothing ever comes of the monster, despite the endless commentary on octopus biology. Depictions of the monster are unnecessarily juvenile and scatological, and then they just explode most of the miners and then rush head long to the "only the sympathetic characters escape" ending with the requisite... but did they escape?!?!

Terrible movie.