Category Archives: Horror

Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil                      3 suns

Sundance always has its share of imaginative horror films so today I took in Speak No Evil. Here a young European filmmaker has conceived a story that starts with a Danish family on vacation in Italy who meet a Dutch couple that they easily make friends with. When the Dutch couple invites them to their home in the Netherlands, they quickly accept bringing their young daughter with them. Then when the hosts start to behave in some odd and eccentric ways such as disrespecting the wife’s dietary restrictions, the visitors do their best to be accepting and maintain politeness. But then as is always the case in horror movies, certain things happen, choices are made and inevitable consequences result. Things do not turn out well for our visitors. If you liked the movie Midsommar from 2019, then Speak No Evil is for you.

Nanny

Nanny                                   4 suns

The winner of the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize was Nanny, a film with supernatural elements that doesn’t quite rise the level of full-blown horror. We meet Aisha, an undocumented immigrant from Senegal, who gets a job as a nanny to a wealthy Manhattan couple taking care of their girl, Rose. Aisha is a mother herself, but has left her young son in the care of a cousin back in Senegal. Her hope is to be able to bring the son to the U.S. to join her one day. However, the situation is less than ideal as her employer’s problems begin to spill over to affect her own life, compounded by a supernatural presence that appears to invade her thoughts and dreams. Hope comes in the form of the grandmother of a man she meets played by Leslie Uggams, whom she can confide in. The film portrays the difficulties faced by immigrants who are parents in the U.S. as well as dealing with issues of mental illness among a population not equipped to handle them. Fortunately, the movie ends with a hopeful note.

The Substance

The Substance  4 ½ stars

For a searing indictment of the obsession with youthful looks and beauty double standard in today’s society combined with some of the grossest scenes Hollywood has produced lately, you can’t miss with The Substance currently in theaters. This science fiction horror film by French director Coralie Fargeat is sure to be remembered by all who see it. (She previously brought us the over-the-top and bloody as hell revenge movie aptly titled Revenge in 2017 that was a condemnation of rich white men who have little regard for women.) In The Substance we first meet Elizabeth Sparkle (a still stunning Demi Moore in one of her finest performances), who rose to stardom in the nineties and now stars on her morning workout show. But the sexist producer, Harvey (Dennis Quaid) wants to dump her and replace her with someone younger and hotter. Elizabeth learns of a black-market treatment called The Substance that claims to create a new, better version of yourself. Who wouldn’t want that? She quickly signs up for it and is directed by a mysterious voice on the phone of how to get it and implement the procedure. In a very long sequence with no dialogue, she carefully does as told, injecting the drug, leading to the resulting division of her body into two, one the new younger version (Margaret Qualley of Drive-Away Dolls) and the other, her original self. Part of the bargain is that Elizabeth must alternate between the two bodies every seven days, using the correct food and stabilizer that are provided. Both bodies are her and she must “respect the balance” as the mysterious voice says. Otherwise, things can get ugly. The young Elizabeth, who goes by Sue lands the part of the new star of the workout show with her youthful body being ogled by older men. Everything seems great, especially when she is offered the opportunity to host a New Year’s Eve show; that is, until Sue takes more than the designated amount of time creating a conflict between the two bodies. As one would predict this leads some very unfortunate consequences for the pair. What follows can best be described as a David Cronenberg horror movie on steroids as the amount of blood and gore reaches new and absurd heights. There is an abundance of closeup shots when things get messy as well as on Dennis Quaid’s face (and his sloppy eating habits) as well as loud sound effects to emphasize how gross it gets. The film certainly gets very self-indulgent, but it delivers on its message of condemning the impossible beauty standards of our society. It reminds us that trying to relive one’s past can only result in disappointment. If you like this movie for its action and blood you should be sure to find Fargeat’s Revenge. You won’t be disappointed.

MaXXXine

MaXXXine           3 ½ stars

In a throwback to slasher flicks of the 1980’s, director Ti West brings us MaXXXine, a story of blood, lust and murder set in 1985 Hollywood. Although there are a few suspects, MaXXXine is not really a murder mystery but a test to see how much blood and brutality the audience can endure. It can also be seen as a portrayal of how cruel the entertainment industry can be to those who seek their fortune there as untold numbers have learned. For the third time West teams up with star Mia Goth, the scream queen of the 21st century. Previously, they made X and Pearl in 2022. Goth plays Maxine Minx, an established porn actress with a very southern accent seeking greater stardom so she auditions for a role in a new film. The film, The Puritan II, seems like the ideal vehicle and the film’s director (Elizabeth Debicki) sees something in Maxine and gives her the role. But in this time of VHS tapes and St. Elmo’s Fire, there is a darkness looming. A serial killer called the Night Stalker has been hunting starlets and the police are nowhere in the search for the killer. There are flashbacks going through Maxine’s mind about killings, so we know she has a dark past. We also can see that she can be a fearsome force such as when she confronts a would-be attacker and bashes his testicles with graphic effect. A few times we catch glimpses of a masked, glove wearing figure wandering the porn parlors. Maxine is confronted by an old gumshoe (Kevin Bacon at his creepiest) who explains that he has a client who is demanding to meet her, but she wants nothing to do with this offer. Shortly, some of her friends in the industry turn up dead with horrible burns in the shape of satanic symbols. Though she is asked by police detectives (Bobby Canavale and Michelle Monaghan) for cooperation in finding the killer, she refuses, opting for protection offered by her agent (Giancarlo Esposito). Like any good slasher movie there must be a final confrontation between the film’s star and the killer where the bodies fall, and body parts get chopped up and bloodied. In this respect MaXXXine delivers very well even though it takes a while to get there. It feels very much like the genre it imitates. Along the way we even get to see some famous movie sets put to good use including a certain iconic sign in the Hollywood Hills.

Suspiria

Suspiria                 3 stars

To say that the horror movie Suspiria is not for everyone is putting it mildly. The 2018 “remake” of the seventies Italian horror movie by the same name is greatly expanded at two and a half hours from the original. Set in 1977 Berlin, a young American dancing student, Susie (Dakota Johnson) auditions for a world renowned dance academy and is soon accepted by one of the instructors, Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) to be a lead dancer. While this is going on an elderly male psychoanalyst, Dr. Klemperer is taking in a story from one of the young women (Chloe Grace-Moretz) of the dance troupe about strange goings on in the company, but he initially writes them off as hysteria. The movie credits didn’t acknowledge it, but Dr. Klemperer was apparently also played by Tilda Swinton in heavy makeup. (I thought the voice sounded off.) The viewer soon becomes aware that the academy is actually run by a coven of witches who are looking for certain special female dancers that they hope to feed off of in some horrific fashion. The movie is set against the backdrop of the terrorist actions of the anti-Nazi Baader-Meinhof Gang, that was plaguing Germany in the seventies. There are references to the past horrors of the war and the Berlin wall that divided the city at the time. The film goes into full blown supernatural horror scenes mainly while the dancers are rehearsing. One of the dancers is brutally beaten and her body bruised and disfigured beyond recognition as a result of a supernatural connection to the lead dancer. At this point you must be advised that this movie is not for the squeamish and you should probably avoid it if such a description bothers you. It is one of those movies you either love or hate. Internally in the coven there is a struggle for control between the witches that will end badly for some when the witches all gather for a ritual of feasting on the new blood. I like a good supernatural horror movie, but this one got a little too intense too long for me. For a good movie of this genre you should check out Hereditary or even Mother!. I was very curious about Suspiria so now I know what it is about.

Crimes of the Future

Crimes of the Future                       3 ½ stars

After a long absence from filmmaking, David Cronenberg, the master of the “body horror” film, has returned with his new offering “Crimes of the Future”. People familiar with his work will recognize him for such sci-fi horror films as Videodrome, Scanners, The Fly and eXistenZ. His style includes images of gory, grisly mutilations of bodies and he is not letting us down in Crimes. So get ready for the gore. There is too much to describe here, but the setting is a time in the future when evolution has removed the threat of pain and infection from our lives and some people have gained the ability to rapidly evolve their own bodies. One such person is Saul Tenser (a handsome Viggo Mortenson), a performance artist who allows surgeries to be performed on him in public by his associate Caprice (Lea Seydoux) by means of an autopsy machine that is operated by a remote control that seems to resemble a vagina. During these autopsies any new “organs” that Saul has managed to grow inside his body are removed and displayed with Caprice making sketches of the new creation. As Tenser says, surgery has become the new sex and it is there to be viewed by a live audience. Tenser gains the attention of many individuals including the director of The National Organ Registry, a man seeking his skills for a “live autopsy” and a “New Vice Unit” agent seeking information on illegal activity. The feel of the movie is aided by the scenes of bodies being cut open with automated steel scalpels  and some interesting furniture pieces including a bed that looks like an open cocoon and a chair made of bones. There is a lot of talk about the meaning of art and beauty and many dark interior scenes and secret meetings. Unfortunately, the film seemed to end rather abruptly leaving one with a rather empty feeling at the end. This is a true Cronenberg film. It will not be for everyone.

Nope

Nope                     4 ½ stars

Nope is Jordan Peele’s the third horror production and this one brings all the classic aspects of traditional Hollywood monster movies together, only set against a wide-open western frontier. Like his previous movies Get Out and Us, Peele tells his stories from a uniquely black perspective. In Nope, early on we are introduced by Keke Palmer’s Emerald Haywood to a story about the first “moving picture” which featured a two second clip of a galloping horse with a black rider, whose name is missing from history. Emerald claims that the man was her ancestor and in a way this reminds us of the role that Black Americans played in taming the West and in the early days of moviemaking. Emerald’s brother is OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) who runs the family ranch in the foothills of northern California that they inherited from their father who dies mysteriously early in the movie. Eventually OJ becomes aware that there is something strange going on as mysterious lights appear in the sky and the horses have a tendency to get spooked and run away. With the help of a tech store clerk, (Brandon Perea) the team puts together a video surveillance system in order to capture the alien visitors on film. Before we get a good look at the aliens there is a good indication of the level of horror we are in for when in a flashback we see an especially troubling incident involving one of the characters that occurs on live TV. (We learn there is a reason that chimpanzees do not appear in commercial TV shows.) Midway through the movie Peele takes us from glimpses of the threat, ala Jaws, to the full-on terror of facing the enemy. He gives us a cacophony of voices and noise and blood-soaked terrain as our heroes struggle to get the images recorded while at the same time surviving the assault. Through it all, the quiet OJ is amazingly cool and calm as he plans what his next move should be, (sort of a Clint Eastwood character in a classic western). Palmer, though much more vocal shows how resourceful her character can be. Peele’s hit blockbuster of the summer expands his story telling skills beyond what we have seen before. You will have to go see it in the theater to really get the full experience of this horror movie.

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Bodies Bodies Bodies     4 stars

Bodies Bodies Bodies by director Halina Reijn is billed as the slasher movie of the summer. This hip comedy horror features a young Gen Z cast full of digital social media references and a hip hop soundtrack so it is obviously meant for a younger audience. That said, the script is surprisingly smarter than one would think. The premise is that a group of young people of privilege gather for a night of partying at one of the member’s father’s house in the path of a hurricane because that is a thing that people do. The young cast includes Amandla Stenberg (star of The Hate U Give) as Sophie who is just out of rehab and Maria Bakalova (from Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) as young immigrant Bee who is in a romantic relationship with Sophie. (Don’t worry if you don’t remember Maria Bakalova because Rudi Giuliani will.) The pair arrive at the house where the rest of the partiers have already gathered. There is a history of relationships among the group that will become apparent as the night progresses. As the storm approaches the group plays a game called Bodies Bodies Bodies, a sort of role-playing murder game that serves as a precursor of what is to come. Among the group is David whose father is the owner of the afore-mentioned house. As played by SNL’s Pete Davidson, David is a first class dick and really gets on the nerves of some of the partiers as he ridicules some of the jargon they use. Inevitably one of the members turns up dead from horrible injuries which leads to the chaos of the rest of the movie. Waves of suspicion and accusations emerge among the group as they try to cope with this rapidly changing situation. Conflicts based on relative wealth and race emerge as the arguments rage. Much of this is filmed with low lighting and hand-held cameras which lends itself well to the confusion among these Gen Z children of privilege. The intelligently written movie is not so much a slasher film, but more of a lesson in the consequences of a breakdown in trust and understanding. Of course there is more than enough blood and mayhem to satisfy the true horror fans out there.

Orphan: First Kill

Orphan: First Kill               ½ star

Orphan: First Kill is the prequel to the 2009 movie Orphan about dwarf young woman who passes herself off as a child who also happens to be a psychopathic killer. Judging by First Kill I won’t be seeing the earlier one. The movie explains how Esther, the diminutive 30 year old and the most dangerous inmate of an asylum in Estonia escapes and makes her way to America and convinces a grieving family that she is their lost daughter who disappeared four years earlier. First Kill breaks one of the rules of horror movies at the start by leading with scenes of bloody mayhem instead of waiting the customary 20 minute minimum. After that it asks way too much of the audience to believe as the premise plays out. In the first Orphan Esther is played by a 10 year old playing the part of a 30 year old pretending to be a 10 year old. In First Kill the same actress is a 25 year old playing the part of a 30 year old pretending to be a 10 year old. I can’t tell which is harder to believe. Perhaps we are supposed to blame the victims for falling for such an absurd trick. There are other inconsistencies that are not explained such as the lack of any genetic testing in this modern age of DNA and how the medical doctors could be fooled by the masquerade. There is an attempt to make things more interesting with a twist that is introduced midway through the movie with Esther not being the only one with a secret to hide. I advise everyone to stay away from Orphan: First Kill, especially with so many interesting movies coming out in the next few weeks.

Halloween Ends

Halloween Ends                2 ½ stars

It has been four years since the night of terror in the town of Haddonfield when the inhabitants tried to take revenge on Michael Myers only to have him mysteriously escape. Things are quiet now as Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is putting her thoughts into a book about her fight against the evil entity, while some people continue to blame her for the cursed events. This third film by director David Gordon Green takes a departure from the earlier Halloween movies as we get a lot more back story about the characters that includes a relationship between Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichek) and the bullied Corey (Rohan Campbell) who is blamed for an unfortunate babysitting accident. (Nothing turns out well for babysitters when it’s Halloween.) Frankly, it takes too long for Michael Myers to turn up along with his version of mayhem, but he is still there when October 31st arrives. When he does emerge he carries out the usual knife wielding bloody executions in his efficient style. We get a montage of past scenes from the earlier movies and that familiar theme music as well as a view of a scene from John Carpenter’s The Thing. We even get the long anticipated final showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers as promised, even though Curtis doesn’t have the focused role we see in the earlier films. Jamie Lee Curtis says this is her final Halloween movie. Will there ever be another repeat of this franchise? It’s hard to see how but I wouldn’t bet against it.