This is another one of those videos where you spend the majority of the video waiting for a bunch of zombies to pop out of nowhere and start chasing the living down the street. That doesn’t happen here but I still like the atmospheric desolation of this video.
In a way, it actually reminds me a bit of Lost River. I gave that movie a negative review when it was first released but it’s actually grown on me a little bit.
Enjoy!
Today, everyone else is talking about the fact that Henry Cavill will not be playing Superman in any future DC films but all I care about is the fact that the trailer for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has been released!
This is the latest film from the Coen Brothers. It’s a western. Originally, it was going to be a miniseries but apparently, the Coens decided that it worked better as a movie so they edited the anthology together. It’s six stories about death in the old west and it will soon be available on Netflix!
Today, as they tend to say, is the first day of the rest of your life. What better way to celebrate than with a little Blanck Mass?
Dead Format is off of Blanck Mass’s second album, Dumb Flesh. If a rogue planet ever threatens to crash into Earth and exterminate all human life, Dumb Flesh is something that I will definitely make sure to listen to one final time before the end comes. The video for Dead Format is both exuberant and ominous. You’re not really sure if you want to repent your sins or maybe commit some news ones. This is perfect end of the world music. Listen to this track with the knowledge that you could very well be dead and that all of your hopes and dreams could be rendered meaningless within the next two hours.
Enjoy!
Somewhere on this site, I once posted my opinion that Uwe Boll was the worst director of all time.
That, of course, was many years ago and I posted that before watching Ulli Lommel’s Zodiac movie. At the time that I posted that, Boll was mostly known for directing movies that were based on a video games. A little bit later, Boll would get political and direct films like Assault of Wall Street and that led to some critics saying that perhaps Boll wasn’t as bad as they thought he was.
Myself, I stand by my original claim. Uwe Boll was the worst director of all time. I say was because he’s apparently retired from filmmaking. Before he retired — and this is actually really neat — he challenged some of his fiercest internet detractors to a boxing match. Many of them accepted, not realizing that Boll was an accomplished boxer before he became a director. Say what you will about Boll’s films but I imagine that, by literally beating the crap out of some of his critics, he got to live every director’s dream.
Anyway, there’s a documentary coming out about Uwe Boll. It’s called Fuck You All: The Uwe Boll Story. I may or I may not see it. Here’s the trailer!
It’s been raining here since Thursday, which kept me from going out as much as I would have liked this weekend but it’s still a nice change from the dry, 100 degree-heat that I was having to deal with just a few weeks ago.
Here’s what I did this week:
Movies I Watched:
Television Shows I Watched:
Books I Read:
Music To Which I Listened:
Links from Last Week:
Links From The Site:
(Want to see what I did last week? Click here!)
Have a great and safe week, everyone! Hopefully, I’ll be a little bit more caught up on my movies and my reviews by this time next week!
At least it’s almost October…
Halloween City by Karl Pfieffer
Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime movie premiere, Her Boyfriend’s Secret!
Why Was I Watching It?
With a title like that, how couldn’t I watch it!? Seriously, whenever one of my friends gets a new boyfriend, I immediately start digging up all of their secrets. I’m like the sassy best friend in a Lifetime movie except for the fact that I don’t get murdered right before the fifth commercial break.
What Was It About?
Melissa (Kelly Sullivan) and Travis (Jordan James Smith) have both built successful careers as home renovators. In fact, everyone assumes that they must be a couple! But no, they’re just friends and business colleagues.
In fact, Melissa may have met the one. His name is John Anderson (Mark Famiglietti) and he’s handsome and charming and he owns a really big house. Of course, it does seem strange that John is constantly taking business trips. He claims that he spends his time flying from London to Paris to Geneva but he’s always kind of vague about what he actually does in any of those cities.
And then there’s Carrie (Maiara Walsh), the woman who approaches Melissa one day and informs her that 1) John is actually named Phillip and 2) Phillip/John has a history of stalking his ex-girlfriends!
That’s a lot of secrets but, believe it or not, there’s even more yet to be discovered!
What Worked?
I really liked this one. Not only was it well-acted but it featured some really nice houses! As any longtime fan can tell you, a good Lifetime film also features a combination of big melodrama and big houses! The film’s central mystery was intriguing and Mark Famiglietti brought a convincing mix of creepiness and charm to the role of John.
Though I won’t spoil the nature of her role, Anne Leighton also gave a very good performance. She’s doesn’t have a lot of screen time but she makes the most of it.
This film also played with the standard Lifetime stalker formula by casting a guy as the nosy best friend. That actually added a whole new dynamic to all of the expected scenes of Travis digging into John’s background. Was Travis right to be concerned or was he motivated by something more than just friendship? The film did a good job of keeping you guessing.
What Did Not Work?
It all worked. This was an entertaining Lifetime melodrama.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments
Again, as with all Lifetime films, I related to all of the skeptical and nosy best friends. If only people would listen to them for once!
Lessons Learned
Just because someone has a big house, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should trust him.
The Graboids are back!
For those who aren’t familiar with the term, the Graboids are the giant, ravenous sandworms that were first introduced in the 1990 film, Tremors. Graboids are always on the hunt for food and, over the course of the original film, four sequels, and one prequel, they’ve attacked and devoured a countless number of communities, all while helping to spread all sorts of comedic mayhem. For whatever reason, the mere presence of a Grabboid tends to lead to human beings getting very quippy.
This year, the Graboids return for a sixth time with Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell. This time, the Graboids are up in Canada and they’re eating a bunch of scientists. Normally, Canada would be too cold for a Graboid infestation but apparently, climate change has altered the rules of the game. That’s one good thing about climate change. It can be used to explain away just about anything. Why does Northern Canada look so sunny and warm? Climate change! Why are the Graboids no longer limited to the desert? Climate Change!
Anyway, this is pretty much a typical Tremors sequel. A bunch of people end up getting trapped in one location and are then picked off by the Graboids. There’s some sinister scientists and bio-weapon subplot but those are mostly afterthoughts. The film promises Graboids and, eventually, it delivers them. Especially when compared to some of the other films in the franchise, A Cold Day In Hell is rather slowly paced and the CGI isn’t always as convincing as you might want it to be. On the one hand, the film delivers pretty much what you would expect it to deliver. On the other hand, it’s also rather bland.
Oh well. At least Burt Gummer is back!
As any fan of the franchise can tell you, the Graboids are pretty much secondary to the presence of Burt Gummer. Brilliantly played by Michael Gross, Burt is the only character to have appeared in not only every Tremors film but also the TV series as well. (Okay, technically, the fourth film featured Burt’s great-grandfather but Hiram Gummer might as well have been Burt Gummer.) Burt is a heavily armed doomsday prepper who lives out in the middle of the desert and who hates the government. Though the IRS may just view him as someone who refuses to pay his taxes, fans of the franchise know that Burt is the world’s greatest Graboid hunter.
What is Burt’s appeal? Well, some of it has to do with the fact that Burt is always honest and consistent. It’s been 28 years since Burt was first introduced and, in that time, he has always loved guns and hated the government. He doesn’t hold back on his views and he makes absolutely no apologies and that’s exactly the type of guy who you want by your side when you’re dealing with a bunch of killer sandworms.
In the end, though, Burt’s greatest appeal is that he’s a thowback. If Tremors had been produced in the 21st Century, there’s no way that a character like Burt would have survived the movie. His anti-government stance would have been viewed as being unpatriotic during the Bush and Obama years and his love of guns would have gotten the movie picketed by Shannon Watts and denounced on twitter by the writers at Slate and Vox. The AV Club would declare the character to be problematic and Michael Gross would have to go on Colbert and personally apologize to everyone who was hurt by his performance. But since the first Tremors was made way back in the 90s, Burt is allowed to thrive in all of his anti-PC glory. At a time in which monster movies are dominated by grimly-written heroes and overly rational scientists, Burt is a reminder that films like this should, at the very least, attempt to be fun.
As for Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell, it was released on Netflix earlier this year and it premiered on SyFy last night. It’s forgettable but at least Burt’s back.
This is a video that I’d love to see expanded into a movie.
We still miss you, Avicii.
RIP.
Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime Movie Network premiere, House of Darkness: New Blood!
Why Was I Watching It?
The main reason I was watching it was because it was on Lifetime.
That said, I was also intrigued by the fact that Lifetime was premiering a horror film. In the past, horror has been one of the few genres that Lifetime has usually avoided. It’s only been rather recently that Lifetime started to show movies that could even be considered a part of the horror genre and, as a horror aficionado, I’m curious to see what this development will lead to.
Of course, another big reason why I was watching it was because it’s been raining nonstop since Thursday so, for once, I actually spent a Friday night at home. There’s nothing like watching a horror movie while surrounded by rain, thunder, and lightning!
What Was It About?
Judd (Liam McNeill) has asked Brooke (Kate Stone) to marry him! Yay!
There’s only a few problems. For one, Brooke’s creepy son, Dylan (Jake T. Getman), doesn’t seem to like Judd that much. Secondly, Brooke has yet to meet Judd’s mother, Elaine (Hilary Momberger-Powers). Elaine, it turns out, lives in a big house out in the country, a house that’s full of secrets and — you guessed it — darkness! When Judd takes Brooke and Dylan out to the house, Elaine doesn’t seem to be happy to see any of them. Judd says that it’s just a symptom of Elaine’s dementia but is that all there is to it?
Soon, Brooke is hearing weird noises, seeing dark shadows, and having terrible nightmares. Judd says that it’s probably just a side effect of the sleep aid that she’s taking but Brooke isn’t too sure. Is it all in Brooke’s head or has she truly discovered …. A HOUSE OF DARKNESS!?
What Worked?
There were a few effectively creepy moments. The house was big and spooky and full of ominous atmosphere and Hilary Momberger-Powers did a good job as Elaine. She kept you guessing and off-balance.
What Did Not Work?
House of Darkness ran into the same problem that’s haunted a lot of made-for-TV horror films. It’s difficult to maintain suspense when you the story has to come to a stop every 15-to-20 minutes for a commercial break. Every time that I found myself starting to get invested in the storyline, it was suddenly time for that Humira commercial where that guy meets his girlfriend’s parents for the first time.
The fact that it was on television also meant that the horror often had to be a bit low-key. There was one hanging scene that was effectively horrific but otherwise, the film often felt a bit too restrained to be fully effective.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments
I know that it’s usually said that people are stupid for not just leaving an obviously haunted house but, to be honest, I’d probably stay even longer than Brooke did. I mean, it’s not every day you get to deal with the paranormal.
Lessons Learned
Always check the lights before moving into a new house.
