This is a fairly straightforward man vs nature thriller, & Benjamin accomplishes what she set out to do. Though my horror tastes run a little weirder than hers, I like Roxanne Benjamin & how she approaches her films. I also like the idea that female leads don’t always have to be strong, capable superwomen. It’s refreshing to see a movie based around a normal woman, flaws & all. I would’ve liked a bit more suspense, but that’s my only complaint.
Edit: That’s actually not my only complaint. I wish they hadn’t used a real bear. Using wild animals in movies is mean.
14 April 2019: The Field Guide to Evil
I’m a sucker for a good anthology, & this one has a great premise - folklore from around the world. It’s uneven, but what anthology isn’t? The Twilight Zone movie, maybe? Or is that one disqualified because of what happened during filming? Anyway, this doesn’t approach Twilight Zone movie quality, but you could find worse ways to spend your time. Plus, we’re talking about the filmmakers who brought you Goodnight Mommy, The Lure & Baskin here. That should be more than enough to sell you.
The first & last segments are my favorites. The first one is like if Thomasin from The VVitch was extra weird & a lesbian. The last one is a silent film that features a large amount of semen, I think? The only one that’s outright shitty is the Melonheads segment. You can just skip that one. I know you won’t, but you’re going to wish you had. The creature design is so lame it ruins the whole thing. I’m annoyed just thinking about it.
7 April 2019: Pet Sematary
It wasn’t what I was hoping it would be, but was serviceable for what it was. I wanted something with a distinct feel, like Starry Eyes had, but there was nothing that made me think “yeah, this is totally Kölsch & Widmeyer.” Anyone could’ve made it. About the only way this improves on the 89 version is the acting, which was really the only problem with that one.
The plot changes they made were fine with me (it’s their adaptation, they can do what they want imo), but the production design lacked any of the surreality that made the original so creepy, & the way the resurrected people moved came off a bit silly. One of the most effective things about the novel & the original film is the way the returned characters seemed to be unaccustomed to getting around in their bodies. This helped give us the feeling that they were animated by something else & that force was using them as a puppet. In this iteration, though I liked that they brought in some of the scary knowledge the dead had in the novel, they spoiled the mood by making them super strong & dexterous.
It’ll be a perfectly fine companion to the current spate of bigger budget horror films that have been making studios so much money, but I doubt I’ll watch it again.
23 March 2019: Us
It makes me so happy that a movie this weird is playing on multiple screens in theaters across the country. God bless Jordan Peele for bringing weird to the masses. Plus, this horror movie that’s going to break all kinds of box office records has a black woman as it’s central character. AND she’s a mother! How neat is that? Honestly, I’m so glad people like Jordan Peele & Julia Ducournau & Jennifer Kent exist. It’s wonderful to have smart horror films that have something to say again. I feel like horror hasn’t been this interesting since the 70s.
10 March 2019: The Hole in the Ground
You can go ahead & forget the hype, it’s not in the same league as Hereditary or The Babadook. As far as A24 releases go, it’s not even The Monster. This could pass for one of the better Blumhouse releases, like a Ouija: Origin of Evil or similar. So, if you like those you could do worse. Just keep those expectations low.
27 February 2019: Piercing
Goddamn this guy has a great eye. A story in the same vein as Eyes of My Mother, this one’s also about a disturbed person whose past trauma affects the way he connects with others. It’s the flashy counterpart to Eyes’ lyrical understatement, & it’s just as beautiful in its own way. The scene in the cab with the lights outside playing on the window was a highlight. Loved the use of Goblin in the score, too. Could Pesce be claiming the killers in giallo classics have the same root as his protagonist? Not sure yet what to make of the use of those miniatures, but they sure looked neat.
20 January 2019: Glass
Listen, give M. Night a break. Sure, this was messy, & the pacing was weird, & a lot of the dialogue was crappy. But isn’t that the case with every single other superhero movie that has come out in the past 20 years? At least these characters are fully realized & unique, & the story is heartfelt & doesn’t just seem like a marketing vehicle. Yes, this is the worst of the trilogy, but I’d watch it over an Avengers movie 10 out of 10 times.
21 December 2018: Bird Box
Much better than early reviews had me expecting. I was fine with most of the changes from the book, simply because it would’ve been difficult to translate the suspenseful moments to the screen without taking a lot of time to build tension. And there’s too much plot to get through for that, what with the duel timelines. I preferred the character of Malorie as she’s portrayed here to the Malorie of the novel, since we also didn’t really have time to let her character change over the course of the film.
The most significant change for the better from the source material is John Malkovich’s character. The book paints him as almost totally unsympathetic & without merit, but here he’s just a person who’s sometimes at odds with the rest of the group, but whose motivations are understandable.
One last thing - I haven’t seen Sandy B in anything in a while, & I was upset to notice that her face is looking a little immobile. I wish actresses wouldn’t feel pressured into getting filler, etc. They must know it limits their expressiveness. How sad that they consider it a fair trade-off.
15 December 2018: Hereditary
Holds up very nicely to a second viewing, but with Aster’s attention to detail I would expect nothing less. You get the feeling everything you see & hear in the film matters, if you could only put the pieces together correctly.
6 December 2018: Annihilation
This time around some of the cgi looked a little fake, but I noticed how amazingly creepy the score is, so it’s a wash in terms of rating change. Still love it.
1 December 2018: Possum
I've got a feeling I'm going to like this one more & more as I sit with it, & hopefully find time to watch it again before the end of the year. It's quite Lynchian, & as such, contains some incredibly disturbing imagery & effectively unsettling sound design. And "Possum" itself? Jesus. H. Christ. If you can find a scarier monster this year than that thing, I'm not sure I'd want to know about it.
24 November 2018: Cam
Unique, intense & lovely to look at. Kudos to the filmmakers & to Netflix & Blumhouse for releasing a movie that makes us root for a sex worker. The story totally falls apart at the climax, which is a real shame. This could’ve been a new classic.
4 November 2018: Suspiria
This is the kind of remake I want to see. What’s the point of slavishly rehashing a movie when we can still watch the original? It’s the same with cover songs - I want the cover artist to make the song their own. Isn’t the combination of an existing work of art & a new interpretation far more interesting?
The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this remake is the score. Honestly, I think Johnny Greenwood would’ve done a way better job than Thom Yorke. The score may have gone better with the dreary color palate, but it had absolutely no oomph, even after Guadagnino starts to saturate the screen with lurid colors. His collaboration with Sufjan worked very well in CMBYM. This time, not so much.
28 October 2018: Halloween
The story was a little half-baked, & some of the dialogue got a teensy bit cornball, but those are my only qualms. It was fun & exciting, Jamie Lee was wonderful, & I always love seeing Judy Greer. I’d been worried about Danny McBride’s influence, but the few funny moments worked just fine. The wheel wasn’t reinvented, but I don’t think anybody wanted it to be. This shouldn’t give slasher fans any reason to complain.
15 October 2018: Hold the Dark
Not at all the movie I’d expected it to be. I was bracing myself for some kind of man v. nature adventure, but instead I got a crime thriller in the style of No Country for Old Men but much bleaker. Nice performance by Riley Keough & very effective action sequences, but the pacing is messy & the metaphysical stuff is half-baked. Seems Saulnier is better when he writes his own screenplays.