Bonus Horror On TV: The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t (dir by Bruce Bilson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh no!  Halloween might be canceled because people just aren’t scared of the old monsters!  Dracula (Judd Hirsch) calls all of the classic creatures to a meeting in his castle (where they all happen to be freeloading) and give them an ultimatum.  Be more scary!  It turns out to be easier said than done.

This originally aired in 1979 but, for people of a certain age, it achieved a certain immortality thanks to regular airings on the Disney Channel.  It’s a cute show.  It might seem a little bit corny today but that’s a large part of its appeal.  It’s a reminder of a more innocent time.

Warren the Werewolf, by the way, was named after Warren “Werewolves of London” Zevon.

Horror on TV: One Step Beyond 3.27 “The Confession” (dir by John Newland)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond features the great Donald Pleasence, making it perfect viewing for the Halloween season!

Pleasence plays an attorney who prosecuted  a man for a murder that he didn’t commit.  Pleasence did so, even though a woman (Adrienne Corri) claiming to be the supposed victim of the crime came to him and said that she had not been murdered.  Pleasence refused to believe her.  Now, years later, his guilt is driving him mad while host John Newland looks on.

Can you prove it didn’t happen?

This episode originally aired on April 11th, 1961.

October Hacks: Wrong Turn (dir by Rob Schmidt)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Poor West Virginia!

Seriously, I’ve been to West Virginia.  It’s a beautiful state and the majority of the people that I met while I was there were just lovely.  And before anyone trots out all the usual stereotypes about rural communities, let me say that one of the nicest used book store that I’ve ever been to was in West Virginia.  It’s a nice state, one that feels like a throwback to a less cynical universe.  Even all of the bridges and the streets named after the loathsome Robert Byrd added to the lovely quaintness of the place.

And yet, when it comes to the entertainment industry, West Virginia is rarely portrayed in a positive light.  The coastal elite has never had much use for West Virginia or the surrounding states and that’s something that comes out in the films and television shows that are made in New York and California.  Whenever anyone says that they’re from West Virginia in a movie or a television show, you can be sure that they’re either going to be a meth cook or a villainous redneck.  West Virginia is one of those regions that’s never given much respect in Hollywood and that’s a shame.

Take Wrong Turn, for instance.  First released in 2003, the original Wrong Turn taught an entire generation that West Virginia was full of cannibals and blood farmers.  If you’re going to go for a drive in the wilderness of West Virginia, this film tells us, keep an eye out for barb wire booby traps.  If you’re going to hiking in the mountains, notify your next of kin because you probably won’t be coming back.  Wrong Turn follows a group of friends as they are tracked by a family of cannibal hillbillies and the main message seems to be, “For the love of God, stay out of Appalachia!”

(When I first started writing for this blog, I caused a mini-controversy when I said that no one would pay good money to see a film called The Vermont Chainsaw Massacre.  My point was that Texas has a reputation, albeit one that has more to do with fevered imaginings of out-of-staters than anything rooted in reality, that made it the only place where that film could really be effectively set.  The same is true of Wrong Turn.  It’s a story that people wouldn’t buy if it was happening anywhere other than in Appalachia.  Nobody would care about cannibals living in Minnesota, for instance.)

West Virginia slander aside, the original Wrong Turn holds up well.  It’s a slasher film from the era right before slasher films started taking themselves so seriously.  It’s a throwback to the rural horror films of the 70s, with an attractive cast getting picked off in various gruesome ways.  The cannibals are frightening and the victims are all likable without being so likable that you can’t handle seeing them killed off.  Jeremy Sisto and Lindy Booth both bring some comic relief to the film before their characters are dispatched.  Desmond Harrington is a sold-enough lead.  When I first saw Wrong Turn, my main reaction was that Eliza Dushku kicked ass and that was still my reactions when I rewatched it.  The film is bloody, shameless, and fully willing to give the audience what it wants without scolding them for it.  In short, it’s a perfectly fun slasher film and, watching it, it’s hard not to miss the era before horror films started taking themselves so damn seriously.

Wrong Turn‘s a fun movie.  But West Virginia is a lovely state and that should never be forgotten!

 

The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Don’t Look Away (dir by Michael Bafaro)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The main thing you need to know about 2023’s Don’t Look Away is that the killer looks like this.

Yes, the killer is a mannequin and a rather silly-looking one at that.  Silly or not, the mannequin is undeniably creepy, as mannequins tend to be.  The mannequin is apparently stalking a group of friends.  Frankie (Kelly Bastard) is convinced that the mannequin is alive and possessed by some sort of supernatural power.  Her friends disagree …. until they start dying, one-by-one.

Now, I should make clear that, for the majority of the film’s running time, we don’t actually see the mannequin kill anyone.  At the most, we see the mannequin suddenly show up behind someone.  He evens shows up in a swimming pool at one point.  Occasionally, his facial expression seems to change but, for the most, he always has the same goofy smile painted on his face.  The mannequin stalks one person-at-a-time and if you see him behind you and then look away, he’ll be closer the second time you look at him.

We do see the aftermath of meeting the mannequin.  As silly as it may seem to get killed by a mannequin (and I mean, seriously, how do you handle that shame while waiting in Purgatory), Kelly’s friends are actually dying, though it appears that they could all just be having unfortunate accidents or committing suicide.  Is it possible that the mannequin is just a mess delusion and that Kelly’s paranoia has poisoned the group?  The thing is, though …. if you were going to imagine a scary mannequin trying to kill you, wouldn’t you actually visualize something a lot more scary than a naked, emasculated wooden man with a silly smile on his face?

Don’t Look Away doesn’t quite work.  None of the friends really make a huge impression or even register as anything more than horror movie stereotypes.  There’s a scene set in a disco that I appreciated but that’s just because I appreciated anything that’s set in a disco.  Don’t Look Away suffers from a common affliction amongst horror films that were made after It Follows, in that the action moves way too slowly.  When the film should be fast-paced and silly, it’s somber and strangely self-serious.

The film’s big star, of course, is that mannequin.  Here’s another shot of him.

I mean, yeah, he’s creepy.  The first few times that you see him, he’s legitimately scary.  But then, after a while, he just become silly.  There’s only so much you can do with a goofy-looking mannequin.  I mean, don’t get me wrong.  I’ve seen some good killer mannequin films.  Mannequins can definitely be scary and I wouldn’t want to get locked in a warehouse with them or anything like that.  Mario Bava’s Lisa and the Devil makes wonderful use of the creepiness of mannequins.  But the mannequin at the heart of Don’t Look Away becomes less creepy and more goofy every time that you see him.  I’ll admit that I looked away a few times in an effort not to laugh.

Hmmm …. that may have been a mistake.

Here Are The 2024 Gotham Nominations

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Awards season began this morning, with the announcement of the Gotham nominations!

Now, to be clear, the Gotham Awards are not exactly the best precursor when it comes to predicting the Oscars.  The Gothams are designed to honor independent films and, as a result, a lot of Oscar contenders are not even eligible for the Gothams.  Dune 2, for instance, is definitely not a Gotham film.

That said, every little bit helps and, since we’ve got a whole month before the rest of precursors start weighing in, the producers of Anora have to be happy that today’s headlines have all basically been a variation of “ANORA LEADS THE GOTHAMS.”  If you’re going to build momentum on the way to the Oscars, it’s important to stay in the conversation.  Today, Anora is dominating that conversation.

Here are the Gotham nominations!

Best Feature

Anora
Sean Baker, director; Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, producers (NEON)

Babygirl
Halina Reijn, director; David Hinojosa, Julia Oh, Halina Reijn, producers (A24)

Challengers
Luca Guadagnino, director; Luca Guadagnino, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal, Zendaya, producers (Amazon MGM Studios)

A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, director; Gabriel Mayers, Vanessa McDonnell, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)

Nickel Boys
RaMell Ross, director; Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, producers (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Best International Feature

All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia, director; Julien Graff, Thomas Hakim, producers (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Green Border
Agnieszka Holland, director; Fred Bernstein, Agnieszka Holland, Marcin Wierzchoslawski, producers (Kino Lorber)

Hard Truths
Mike Leigh, director; Georgina Lowe, producer (Bleecker Street)

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Thien An Pham, director; Jeremy Chua, Tran Van Thi, producers (Kino Lorber)

Vermiglio
Maura Delpero, director; Francesca Andreoli, Maura Delpero, Santiago Fondevila Sance, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, producers (Sideshow and Janus Films)

Best Documentary Feature

Dahomey
Mati Diop, director; Mati Diop, Judith Lou Lévy, Eve Robin, producers (MUBI)

Intercepted
Oksana Karpovych, director; Darya Bassel, Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Rocío B. Fuentes, Giacomo Nudi, Lucie Rego Pauline Tran Van Lieu, producers (Grasshopper Film)

No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, directors; Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, producers (Antipode Films)

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Johan Grimonprez, director; Rémi Grellety, Daan Milius, producers (Kino Lorber)

Sugarcane
Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, directors; Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn, producers (National Geographic Documentary Films)

Union
Stephen Maing, Brett Story, directors; Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, producers (Self-Distributed)

Best Director

Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow and Janus Films)
Sean Baker, Anora (NEON)
Guan Hu, Black Dog (The Forge)
Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Best Screenplay

Between the Temples, Nathan Silver, C. Mason Wells (Sony Pictures Classics)
Evil Does Not Exist, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Sideshow and Janus Films)
Femme, Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Utopia)
His Three Daughters, Azazel Jacobs (Netflix)
Janet Planet, Annie Baker (A24)

Breakthrough Director

Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls (Juno Films, Inc)
India Donaldson, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)
Alessandra Lacorazza, In the Summers (Music Box Films)
Vera Drew, The People’s Joker (Altered Innocence)
Mahdi Fleifel, To a Land Unknown (Watermelon Pictures)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl (Roadside Attractions)
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24)
Keith Kupferer, Ghostlight (IFC Films)
Mikey Madison, Anora (NEON)
Demi Moore, The Substance (MUBI)
Saoirse Ronan, Outrun (Sony Pictures Classics)
Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Yura Borisov, Anora (NEON)
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson (Netflix)
Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
Natasha Lyonne, His Three Daughters (Netflix)
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24)
Katy O’Brian, Love Lies Bleeding (A24)
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24)
Adam Pearson, A Different Man (A24)
Brian Tyree Henry, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)

Breakthrough Performer

Lily Collias, Good One (Metrograph Pictures)
Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios)
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)
Izaac Wang, Dìdi Y(Focus Features)
Brandon Wilson, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

BloodRayne (2005, directed by Uwe Boll)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In 18th century Romania, Rayne (Kristanna Loken) is a vampire/human hybrid who is being forced to work in a freakshow by Leonid (Meat Loaf).  After Rayne escapes, she meets a fortune teller (Geraldine Chaplin) who informs her that her father is the feared king of the vampires, Kagan (Ben Kingsley), and that he raped her mother.  Rayne teams up with a group of vampire hunters (Matthew Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, and Michael Madsen) and sets out to destroy her father once and for all.

BloodRayne is perhaps not the worst film ever made about a vampire/human hybrid in Romania but it’s also nowhere near the best.  Instead, it’s another one of Uwe Boll’s cheap-looking video game adaptations where a group of talented actors slum it as action stars.  (Michael Pare, Udo Kier, and Billy Zane also appear in the movie.)  The movie is full of bad wigs and big swords.  Michael Madsen and Michelle Rodriguez are neither convincing as Russians or people who lived in the 18th Century.  Geraldine Chaplin tries to keep things interesting,  Ben Kingsley doesn’t.  Kristanna Loken is actually a good choice for Rayne, in that she’s hot and she’s convincing in the action scenes.  This is an easy film to laugh at but it features enough blood and nudity to keep its target audience happy.  Don’t try to follow the plot, though.  You’ll get a headache.

While we were watching the movie last night, Lisa suggested that Ben Kingsley was using his Gandhi Oscar as a stake.  Now that would have been something worth seeing!

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 5.15 “The Case Against Mr. Roarke/Save Sherlock Holmes”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984.  Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites.  Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.

This week, Mr. Roarke might be a father!

Episode 5.15 “The Case Against Mr. Roarke/Save Sherlock Holmes”

(Dir by Don Weis, originally aired on February 6th, 1982)

After last week’s episode with Julie, Tattoo returns this week and Julie is nowhere to be seen.  When Mr. Roarke asks where Julie is, Tattoo mentions that Julie is helping with the Custer’s Last Stand fantasy.  At this point, I can only assume that a life insurance policy has been taking out on Julie and Roarke or Tattoo, or maybe both are trying to get her killed so they can collect.

Julie not being present means that she misses out on one of the biggest scandals in Fantasy Island history.  A former guest, Fran Warner (Laraine Stephens), returns to the Island after seven years.  Accompanying her is her six year-old daughter, Nancy (Nicole Eggert).  Fran loudly declares that Mr. Roarke is Nancy’s father and that he now has an obligation to take care of her.  Fran even has a birth certificate where, under the father’s name, someone has written — and I kid you not — “Mr. Roarke.”

Is Mr. Roarke the kid’s father?  As is his habit, he refuses to answer the question directly when Tattoo asks it.  But it soon turns out that no, Mr. Roarke is not Nancy’s father.  Instead, Fran is sick and may be dying and she wants to make sure that Nancy is cared for.  When Nancy learns the truth, she runs away and Tattoo leads a search party across the Island.  Fear not, of course.  Nancy is found and a very forgiving Mr. Roarke allows Nancy and Fran to stay on the Island.  And Fran’s terminal disease suddenly becomes less terminal!

While this is going on, security guard Kevin Lansing (Ron Ely) gets to live his fantasy of helping a great detective.  Kevin doesn’t care which detective he gets to help so Roarke sends him back to Victorian-era London so that Kevin can work with Dr. Watson (a charming Donald O’Connor) to save Sherlock Holmes (Peter Lawford, not looking well in one of his final performances) from the clutches of Moriarty (Mel Ferrer, being as sinister here as he was in countless giallo films).  Kevin also falls for Nurse Heavenly (RIta Jenrette, the wife of a corrupt Democrat member of Congress) and is pleased to discover that she’s not really Moriarty’s assistant.  Instead, she was just another guest on the Island having a fantasy.

The Sherlock Holmes story was silly but fun, in the way that Fantasy Island often is.  It’s always interesting when this show goes into the past and we get to see how the show’s crew dressed up the show’s sets to try to make them look historically accurate.  The same street appears in every episode but sometimes, that street is in 1890s London and sometimes, it’s in 1690s Salem and sometimes, it’s just in modern day Fantasy Island!  As for the Mr. Roarke’s a father storyline, it was predictable but still, it was a good showcase for Ricardo Montalban’s enigmatic interpretation of Mr. Roarke.

This was a pleasant trip to the Island!

Horror Scenes That I Love: The Interview With The Chief From Night of the Living Dead

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Yeah, they’re dead …. they’re all messed up.”

There’s a lot of disturbing scenes in the original Night of the Living Dead but I’ve always loved this live, televised interview with the chief of police.  First, there’s the delivery of that classic line.  “….they’re all messed up.”  Yes, they are.  Then there’s the fact that the chief doesn’t seem to be particularly perturbed by the fact that the dead are coming back to life.  Instead, his attitude is very straight-forward.  It’s happening, we need to take care of it, let’s arm some civilians.

Of course, this interview sets up the film’s ending, in which we learn that those helpful civilians with guns are a bit trigger happy and sometimes, the living get in the way.  When you first see this interview, it’s easy to laugh at the sight of the chief’s posse and everyone’s odd confidence that the dead will somehow just go away.  (Death, after all, is the one thing that is guaranteed to happen to everyone eventually.)  Once you know how the story’s going to end, though, this scene becomes much more ominous.

In the end, the film suggests that it’s not just dead who are all messed up.

Here’s The Trailer For Queer

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s Queer dropped today.  Based on a novel by William S. Burroughs, the film stars Daniel Craig as William Lee.  (Lee, of course, was Burroughs by any other name,)  After a drug bust, Lee heads down to Mexico and become infatuated with a drug-addicted former serviceman (played by Drew Starkey).

I’ve never really forgiven Guadagnino for his Suspiria remake and I think he’s a fairly overrated filmmaker but Queer has been getting a lot attention on the festival circuit and Daniel Craig has been getting a lot of Oscar buzz for his performance in the lead role.  So, we’ll see.  Here’s the trailer!