Category Archives: Horror

Series Review: Katla

 

 

My sweetie-wife enjoys programming from Iceland, and this has expanded my cinematic and entertainment horizons with the latest being the enigmatic series Katla.

Katla is the largest volcano in Iceland and in the program Katla is had been erupting for a year when the first episode begins. The shows start with a woman covered in mud and ash climbing out from under the glacier and stumbling to a local station. The nearby town of Vik has been evacuated save for a few people maintaining the vulcanologists studying the eruption. The mysterious woman gives the name of a Swedish tourist who had visited Vik some twenty years earlier. Soon other strange occurrences begin happening. Dead ravens are seen alive again and people who are missing or known to be dead and buried appear in the area, again covered in the mud and ash of the eruption. The reappearance of the dead, missing, and long departed persons reopens traumatic memories and familial divisions with the people surviving the brutal conditions at the volcano’s base.

I haven’t yet finished the series and so I reserve final judgment. Endings are critical and something as atmospheric and mysterious as Katla depends heavily on a satisfying conclusion.

That said I am very much enjoying the series. It is well produced, every frame carries mood and tone far beyond the simple spoken word and the air is not only thick with ash and gas from the volcano but with tension, secrets, and menace. Katla is not an action series but one that builds slowly over its episodes as we follow disparate characters struggling with mysteries with the viewers the only ones having all the clues.

Katla is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.

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Movie Review: The Banana Splits Movie

 

After discovering that not only had someone revived the weird psychedelic children’s program The Banana Splits Adventure Hour not only into a feature film but a slasher horror film at that I knew that I was destined to rent and review the feature.

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, a live action sort-of furry kids shows ran from 1968 thru 1970 for just over 30 episodes and presented a mixture of live action and animation sprinkled with musical numbers. After 1970 the series aired in syndication for another decade a tribute to the heavy drugs consumed during the 70s.

The Banana Splits Movie deviates in two major fashions from the historical Banana Splits. First, instead of human performers in anthropomorphized animal costumes the Banana Splits are advanced mobile self-directed animatronics. Secondly, instead of being canceled in 1970 the show remained a hit running continuously until 2019.

The movie opens on what could have been a disappointing fake-out with Beth awaking to the sudden and horrifying image of one of the Splits standing over her as she slept on the family sofa. I feared that this was a set-up for the entire film to be a dream but luckily that was not the case.

Beth’s son Harley is a fanatical fan of the show and for his birthday his entire family, Beth, her second husband and Harley’s father Richard, and her son from her deceased husband are all going to a live taping of the show bringing along a friend of Harley’s. At the studio we are introduced to a series of quirky but not fully fleshed out characters, Paige the page, Rebecca the producer, the heartless studio executive, and an assortment of audience members. When it is learned that the series is now canceled and this will be the last performance that information along with computer code malfunctions, turned the Splits into murdering machines and everyone is suddenly in a fight for their lives.

The Banana Splits Movie could have been written and produced with a heavy sense of irony and lots of winking at the camera but that was not the path taken by screenwriters Jed Elinoff & Scott Thomas or director Danishka Esterhazy. Instead, they present the film as a straightforward, non-self-aware horror movie firmly in the slasher genre. When violence breaks out it is graphic and bloody. The stakes are real and with few exceptions that danger is presented an a suitably threatening manner. When a film, particularly a horror movie, includes children in vital roles it is always a concern. Make the children too precocious and you’ll damage the suspension of disbelief, make it clear that the kids are in no real danger and the stakes evaporate, kill the kids and you’ll lose your audience very quickly. The Banana Splits Movienavigates these treacherous waters deftly employing screenwriting solutions to all of these issues.

The Banana Splits Movie is far from perfect, there are unmotivated camera moves that are distracting, the story is told in manner that takes too long to get to the stakes and establishes certain characters too solidly at the expense of other and draining tension from the story. That said it was a decent rental and I have endured far worse horror films. For a rental fee of two dollar and ninety-nine cents I can say I got my money’s worth, and I can salute the filmmakers for avoiding the trite and worn troupe of treating this project as mere fodder for japes and jokes.

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Streaming Review: Saint Maud

 

Writer/Director Rose Glass’ modestly budgeted horror film Saint Maud is an impressive display of skillful filmmaking and doubly as Glass’ feature film debut.

Morfydd Clark plays Maud a former hospital nurse now turned to in-home hospice care for the dying. Maud is deeply religious and often prays in a conversational manner with God which the audience experiences as well-crafted voiceover. Haunted by a traumatic event seen only the glimpses through flashback Maud is clearly a lonely young woman of with a devout and possibly fanatical mindset. Her newest hospice charge is Amanda, played by Jennifer Ehle, a free-spirited professional dancer now confined to a wheelchair as a cancer in her spine marches her towards her death. Rather than being repelled by Amanda’s alcohol indulgences and same-sex assignations Maud becomes obsessed not only with easing Amanda’s final days but saving her soul. Throughout the film’s brief 84-minute runtime Maud experiences events that may be supernatural in origin or psychotic breaks from reality with Glass’ directorial hand deftly charting a course between the two possibilities until the film’s final few frames.

Saint Maud is a well crafter piece of mood cinema. The cinematography perfectly captures the atmosphere of Maud’s isolated life and with reveling in filth conveys the sense of a fallen and broken world that we inhabit. Clark’s soft and often understated performance as Maud couple with a script that leans towards ambiguity creates a film that invites the viewers to build their own interpretation rather than holding your hand and explaining everything. Jennifer Ehle is perfectly cast as the chaotic Amanda a woman of considerable talent now dealing with life’s cruel and chaotic misfortune. At time understanding of Maud’s faith and at other times mocking it Amanda and Maud are the dynamic that drives this feature. A fascinating and thoughtful film Saint Maud is well worth the time to watch intently and not casually while you do other chores.

Saint Maud is currently streaming on Epix and Paramount+.

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Streaming Review: Superdeep

 

Cinema from across the Iron Curtain produced a number of fascinating and noteworthy films including not a few deeply serious science-fiction movies some of which became bastardized American version when sold to the west. (I’m looking at you First Spaceship on Venus/The Silent Star.) Horror however was frowned upon as a serious subject and relatively few true horror movies were made with the Kremlin’s approval. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the age of digital effects that has changed and this weekend I watched a recent and decent Russian horror film Superdeep.

Serbian actor Milena Radulovic plays Anya (Presented as Anna in the English dub and subtitling) a soviet era physician haunted by her transgression of her medical ethics at the behest of the Soviet military intelligence. Now, near the collapse of the USSR Military Intelligence has called upon her services again. A secret research facility hidden in the Kola superdeep borehole has gone silent and there are hints that something biological has gone awry. Anya and the officer who pressured her into the ethical lapse are dispatched to investigate, obtain any samples for future military applications, and depart from the facility before the official rescue teams arrive. Once there they find that the lead scientist has been denounced by his lieutenant and all contact has been lost with the lower levels of the facility. Venturing underground they encounter horrors and a threat to not only the USSR but all of humanity.

Superdeep is a decent and solid horror film. The characters are engaging and believable creating enough empathy that their situation generates genuine horror. Radulopvic’s Anya provides the movie’s sole point of view allowing the filmmaker to restrict information to only what Anya see and hears herself escalating the tension of the unknown without cheesy gimmicks to hide information from the audience. Production values are high with the sets and the special effect, both practical and digital, well executed supporting a robust suspension of disbelief. The film’s cinematography is dark, moody, and atmospheric without becoming overly intrusive always managing that balance between what the environment would require versus the emotional drive of the scenes. The film is not particularly gory, but it is visually disturbing with explicit images of bodily disfigurement and horror.

Superdeep’s failings are that more than once during the movie it is nearly impossible to not think of other classic films. It is not the case that Superdeep is a ‘rip-off production’ but rather certain directorial and photographic choices were clearly influenced by films such as Alien. However, this visual rhyming with cinematic classics only harms the film marginally and reduces it merely a solidly enjoyable experience.

Superdeep (English Dub only) is currently streaming on Shudder.

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Streaming Review: Psycho Goreman

 

Psycho Goreman is horror comedy with the emphasis on comedy.

After a mercifully brief voice over narration informing the audience of an ancient evil that threatened all of existence now entombed on a distant planet Psycho Goreman transitions to Earth the aforementioned ‘distant planet,’ and two children Luke and his younger sister Mimi playing a game of their own invention, Crazy Ball. (Think Calvin Ball but with a more stable rule set.) Luke is unsure of himself and easily bossed around while Mimi is assertive, commanding, and may very well be fully psychopathic. While digging a grave for Luke’s penalty for losing Crazy Ball, the winner can dictate any terms they please for the loser to fulfil, they discover the Gem of that will eventually give Mimi full command and control over the now unearthed evil which the children name Psycho Goreman or PG for short. In a far distant location, the entities that entombed PG become aware of his release and hurry to recapture him setting the stage for the final conflict between this pair of ancient foes that will be dictated by the capricious commands of child.

With a limited budget and merely adequate digital effects director Steven Kostanski who also wrote and produced Psycho Goreman manages to create an entertaining, bloody, and disturbingly funny film centered on a terribly dysfunctional family caught at the center of a crisis of universal proportions. This movie will not be for everyone if the comedic tone is too strange for your tastes, then it is very likely that you will be unable to suspend disbelief for anything that occurs on the screen. This is not a film that strives for any sense of reality rather it swings for the fences and if that results in a homerun or a strike out will vary entirely upon your tastes. Myself, I enjoyed the bonkers approach and felt the film exactly hit its intended mark.

Psycho Goreman is currently streaming on Shudder.

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Streaming Review: The Last Drive-In; Ginger Snaps

 

This weekend I decided to give Shudder’s original series The Last Drive In a test spin. Hosted by Joe Bob Briggs the series is a throwback to local television stations hosting horror themed fare. Briggs dismisses using an overtly horror inspired host gimmick instead going for a ‘regular’ country guy on his porch approach while provide production details and commentary during breaks in the presentation. Overall, I am not sold on this approach except for possibly campy and over-the-top titles which Ginger Snaps is not.

Ginger Snaps is a Canadian werewolf movie from 2000 starring Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle as sisters Brigitte and Ginger respectfully. Ginger is the older sister at sixteen while Brigette is just a year younger. Both are outcast, fascinated by the dark and morbid and thoroughly devoted to each other. When the film opens the suburban development where they live Bailey Downs is already in turmoil as some unknown beast has been killing the dogs of the area. While out on a nocturnal mission of revenge for Brigette’s abuse at the hand of a local bully the girls are attacked by the beast and Ginger bitten starting a chain of events that drives a wedge between the sister as Ginger embraces her new condition.

This film, while a very entertaining horror movie with a fresh take on the werewolf myth, blatantly discarding most of the tropes introduced in 1941’s The Wolf-Man is at its heart a coming-of-age story and deals with the tragic and traumatizing transformation from adolescence to adulthood by way of blood, gore, and horror. Written by Karen Walton the film has a distinctive female perspective and never losses focus on the sisters and their relationship. While modestly budgets at just 4.5 million dollars Ginger Snaps retains a high level of production value with lovely cinematography that provides an atmospheric mood of dread in a dull suburban setting.

The film found its following on home video and repeat broadcasts on HBO mainly because it never got distribution in the United States. It had an offer, but the distributer wanted a PG-13 rating and the direct was unwilling to censor the films prodigious use of ‘fuck’ in the script. (Good for him.) Still, it found enough success to develop a cult following and spawn a few sequels of questionable quality.

Ginger Snaps is a fun, thrilling, and thoughtful film that uses the lycanthrope trope to talk about identity and growing up. It is well worth watching.

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Buffy’s Broken World Building

 

The feature film Buffy the Vampire Slayer made little impression upon the world and vanished with little notice but the television series that followed became a cultural sensation skyrocketing its show runner Joss Whedon into celebrated creator status that only recently crashed back to Earth with scandal and controversy.

Running for seven seasons, the first five being well made with the final two in my opinion suffering from turnover in the writing that’s that severely damaged the integrity of the series the series followed the trial and adventures of Buffy Summer the titular Slayer a young woman mystically selected to protect the world from demon, supernatural threats, chiefly vampires.

In the pilot episode Buffy’s watcher Giles explains that contrary to legend the world did not start out as a paradise but rather was thoroughly infested with demons who were eventually dimensionally expelled with the Slayer now the appointed guardian of the barrier between the demon dimension and our own. A clear and unambiguous refuting of Christian cosmology. (One that Whedon in the audio commentary for the episode said he expected to initiate a flood of letters and complaints that somehow never arrived.) Dismissing Christian cosmology for your won is perfectly acceptable world building and, in many cases, a preferrable one but it left the series with an unanswerable question.

Why do crosses repel vampires?

It is not because there is any actual truth behind the symbol, Gile’s ‘actual’ history dispels that possibility. It also cannot be because the user has actual faith that powers the repulsion as when it became necessary to mystically revoke a vampire invitation to Willow’s home a required element was a cross on the wall and not a symbol from Willow’s Jewish faith.

This also raises the question about historical vampires from before the common era. In pre-Christian Rome or other parts of antiquity there were slayers and vampires did the cross repel them even before the advent of Christianity?

I know that these may seem like pedantic and pointless questions. After all it was just a TV series and used as the basis for much of its mythology concepts incorporated into vampire lore from a struggling Irish stage manager and a century of horror films, but it is exactly these sort of the backstory question that bedevil my mind. I would invite you if you were writing vampire stories to ask these sorts of questions and think deeper on the why of your mythology and not simply copy and paste from a century of cinema.

 

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Back From my Time Off

 

Friday was my birthday and after a year of pandemic restricted travel and not yet ready to travel again I decided to take both Friday and Monday off to celebrate and simply luxuriate in a long weekend. So here are some quick thoughts and reports to bring everyone back up to speed.

Birthday Haul: My lovely sweetie-wife presented me 3 Blu-rays as gifts, The Fog, John Carpenter 1980 horror classic on a Shout Factory special edition, The Invasion the 2007 remake of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this time starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, and The Night of the Big Heat which sounds like a film noir title but is a Hammer-ish Sci-Fi film starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee about a far north island on the UK in the dead of winter suffering an extreme heat wave due to an alien invasion.

I had originally planned to have friends over for movies and gaming, but our guest bathroom is currently disassembled due to water damage from the unit above and so the weekend was just me and my sweetie-wife.

However, on Friday I did for the first time in over a year go out to theater. I watched Nobody an action film starring Bob Odenkirk. It was a lot of fun. What could have been tedious was made fun because the film makers understood that humor and a light touch can carry an audience through over-the-top action.

Writing: The Work in Progress novel has been copy-edited and proofed and my SF murder mystery clocks in at 102,000 words, making it longer than my noir Vulcan’s Forge but still trim compared to so many genre novels these days. Now I just need to wait for the feedback from the beta readers to see if it requires any serious surgery.

My mind continues to work on the next book though I am not yet to the outlining stage so writing-wise things are not too bad.

Ta Ta For Now

 

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Do Not Watch This Movie: The Creeping Flesh

 

Due to water damage reasons our weekly board and card games we’re canceled pitting movies front and center for me and my sweetie-wife’s entertainment. Surfing through Amazon Prime available films we discovered this Peter Cushing/Christer Lee movie from 1973 that I had never seen and she couldn’t recall watching, The Creeping Flesh.

Professor Hildern (Cushing) returns from New Guinea with a skeleton of an advanced man much older than the current fossil record for human evolution. His household is run by his sheltered adult daughter Penelope as his wife ‘died’ many years earlier. Hildern plans to used his discovery to win the ‘Richter’ prize returning his household to solvency but his half-brother James (Lee) also plans to wins the prize for his work with the insane, Both become fixated on the skeleton when it is discovered that is exposed to water it instantly regrows flesh that is the course of all evil in the world because evil is cause by a bacteria. Betrayal and theft result in the creature being reborn in a rainstorm, losing evil upon the Victorian Age.

Believe it or not that brief synopsis makes much more sense than the actual film. The Creeping Flesh, though mercifully short at 94 minutes attempts to stuff its scrip with an absurd number of sub-plots.

  • Hildern’s wife was not killed but committed to James’ asylum for apparently enjoying her sexual life too much.
  • James is also dealing with an escaped mad murderer that serves no story purpose.
  • Penelope is infected by the evil bacteria which makes her drink and dance and attack rapists. She is judged to be mad.

It turns out my sweetie-wife has seen this film before but had managed to repress it from her memory. Nothing saves this film, not Cushing, not Lee, not even the barest hints of sex and violence. It is a slog to view and should be avoided.

 

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Streaming Review: Mayhem

 

Okay, I’ll give everyone a break from the political posts and do another film review. This past weekend a friend and I watched the 2017 action/horror/comedy Mayhem starring Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving.

Derek (Yeun) is a rising corporate lawyer in the mega-firm of TS Consulting whose career is ruined when he is selected to take the fall for legal fumbles he had nothing to do with. Melanie (Weaving) is a woman desperate to save her family home from foreclosure by the faceless sociopathic firm. When a virus that fully inhibits inhibition and impulse controls permeates the towering building that houses TS Consulting the facility is quarantined for 8 hours to allow a neutralizing element to eradicate the infection. Due to legal precedent already established by TS Consulting itself no person is legally responsible for any of their action while infected giving Derek and Melanie, now improbably teamed up, a ticking clock to fight their way to the boardroom when the nine partners can change their doomed fates.

Directed by Joe Lynch and written by Matias Caruso Mayhem is a *fun* movie. Notwithstanding the copious amounts of blood, sex, and brutal violence, the tone of the film is light and satirical. Yeun and Weaving give us personable characters to empathize with and to root for while the corporate baddies sitting in their corporate offices doing corporate-y things are perfectly serviceable stand-ins for the faceless, joyless, and scruple-less bureaucracy that destroys lives in a mindless pursuit of profit and power.

Filmed in Serbia with a limited budget Mayhem through the excellent craft of director Lynch, cinematographer Steve Gainer, and production designer Mina Buric it has the appearance of a film with a much more substantial budget. Particularly impressive are the invisible visual effects. The virus causes infected people to have one terribly bloodshot eye and throughout the film everyone’sbloodshot eye is a CGI effect.

Unlike the previous Joe Lynch movie I have watched Knights of Badassdom Mayhem finds and nails the right ending for its tone making the experience of watching it quite enjoyable.

Mayhem, including a version with a commentary track featuring Lynch and Yeun, is currently streaming on Shudder,

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