My 2024 Watchlist Obsession!

I was a little dismissive of Revenge before watching it. Another revenge thriller? Yawn. What this is, though, is kind of I Spit on Your Grave from an intelligent woman's point of view - and what we get from it is blood, courage, and the idea that women are made to tolerate great pain, which can be transformative. That's an advantage exploited to the full by Jen (Matilda Lutz), who had joined Richard (Kevin Janssens) on a trip to his out-of-the-way vacation home in a desert location to have fun (and cheat on his wife.) When Richard's friends Stan (Vincent Colombe) and Dimitri (Guillaume Bouchède) join the couple, all is leisurely and there's a party atmosphere. Stan, however, takes Jen's intimacy as permission to have sex, and when she refuses him he rapes her while Richard is out. When he returns, Jen wants to leave immediately, and when she refuses to accept a pay-out and job offer to forget the whole incident she's pushed over a cliff and ends up impaled on a tree. The three men go hunting, with the intention of coming back later to take care of the body. When they return though, the body is gone...but how much trouble could the badly injured Jen possibly cause them?

Revenge is gory fun. We get to watch people pull glass shards out of their feet, tree branches out of their guts, and generally splatter flesh and bone everywhere. It only falls down, in my eyes, as far as believability goes. For example (mild spoilers coming), Jen spends half a day or so with a tree branch sticking through her midriff, and it's far too painful to pull it out and cauterize the wound - so she turns to peyote, which she's heard can completely separate herself from her agony. When she's completely under the influence she pulls the branch from her body and burns the wound with a discarded beer can heated over a fire. I don't know if any of this is really possible, and I'm not sure if her wounds are survivable, let alone not severe enough to completely incapacitate her. In fact, she's hurt so badly that I at first assumed that Jen was going to come back as a zombie and hunt down her foes - I did not think it possible for her to do what she does, considering the fact that she's been impaled on an entire tree branch. If you or I survived what she does, we'd need the help of two nurses slowly getting to and from the hospital toilet. Jen is running and diving around like a commando the very next day. It's a quibble though - because this is an enjoyable movie, and it also manages to double as great horror.

Revenge has the feel of an early Peter Jackson film, and that has me excited about Coralie Fargeat's next movie, The Substance, which is already receiving rave reviews. I've never felt as much of a supporter of the feminist cause as I was while watching this exploitation film - and that's a sentence I never thought I'd ever type. It distils the very best of it's genre, and see's it's protagonist reborn through suffering and pain as a kind of phoenix-figure. Better yet, it doesn't feel the need to hammer home it's points about a woman's strengths and abilities - that's part of the narrative, as are the darker subjects of sexual aggression and consent. There's a fine balance when it comes to how trashy a film like this can be (just take the abovementioned I Spit on Your Grave as an example), and here the feel of everything is so right. I found myself fascinated by Fargeat's approach, which fixates on horror, gore, pain and suffering - and how they're overcome - rather than the usual role reversals we get in most revenge thrillers. It was a little different, while still being familiar - but overall it was so surprisingly good. I was really amazed in the end - keep an eye out for this young filmmaker.

Glad to catch this one - it has a 93% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and is one of 16-or-so movies with the title "Revenge".




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Revenge.

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I liked Revenge. Decent film.

I guess vampirism and drug addiction go hand in hand, and in case the connection is a little hazy Bliss provides us with a character who scores the double - ending up addicted to some kind of powdery hallucinogenic drug, and blood. Or is it all in her mind? Hmmm. Dezzy (Dora Madison) is a successful artist with a creative block - and this block is causing all kinds of financial difficulty for her. To help deal with the stress, she visits her friend and dealer Hadrian (Graham Skipper) who provides her with a big bag of the experimental drug Diablo (it's kind of explained as a mix of DMT and cocaine.) He warns her though, that it's potent stuff and she should start with small doses. Before long, Dezzy and her friend Courtney (Tru Collins) are partying, snorting and having threesomes. Problems arise when Dezzy starts having blackouts, and funnily enough she paints during them. Later on, while at a club, she becomes violently ill and witnesses Courtney bite a woman on the neck and drink her blood - which she shares with her buddy. Before long Dezzy's lust for blood becomes like the worst addiction you could ever imagine, and her life erupts in chaos, despite her artistic inspiration being at maximum levels. Looks like she'll finish her latest commission in time after all.

Movies about addiction tend to feel like horror movies - the likes of Trainspotting requires a strong stomach to get through, as does Requiem for a Dream. Bliss goes straight for the jugular, and you can practically feel the warm blood running over you as it dominates this film in a visual sense. I don't know if we're quite there performance-wise - but I might be mistaken in that instance seeing as Dezzy is completely intoxicated for 87% of this film's running time (a very specific guess.) Her expressiveness kind of goes - and she becomes like a zombie. Visually, this is a very dark kind of horror in a literal sense - with a deep red/crimson kind of hue to most scenes. Of course, it would make sense that if Dezzy really becomes a vampire, then the daylight scenes at the start would be the only ones we see through the entire film. It gives us a good sense of Dezzy's evolving madness through convulsive movement, and the special effects look practical - if that's true I give Bliss a hearty slap on the back, and if it's not then that's some good CGI. There's nothing I hate more than CGI blood, because I can always immediately spot it, and it looks incredibly fake. So I really liked those horror effects.

I liked Bliss, despite not being a huge fan of vampire lore - I don't know why, but it's never excited me. That said, Dracula is a great novel - even if nobody has ever quite nailed it's adaptation to film. This film brings the whole subject into a completely modern context - the whole clubbing aspect reminded me of the start to The Hunger, especially when combined with sexuality and eroticism. I also got strong Mandy vibes from it, especially in a visual sense. The production and art design is top-notch too - and whomever did it, I want them to do some interior designing for me. Bliss often rises above what threatens to be a very trashy experience, but still delivers on that front if that's what you're looking for. It's also enough to frighten any kid watching it off drugs - better than any Public Service Announcement on that front. To hell with "Just Say NO", put Bliss on and make your kids watch it. Show them what a descent into addiction and madness really looks and feels like. That's all I have for Bliss - it's really doing something and I completely respect that in a horror film.

Glad to catch this one - The A.V. Club reviewer Katie Rife said that it "represents a stylistic leap forward for its director" and compared it to the work of Lucio Fulci, Gaspar Noé, and Abel Ferrara.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Bliss.

We might not be born bad, but our "gifts", as that specific designation suggests, are inherent within us. It might be imagination, physical prowess, intelligence or nurturing. In Emily's (Aubrey Plaza) case it's aggression and criminality. John Patton Ford's film Emily the Criminal starts off with an example of how tough life can get in the United States if you've been convicted of a crime. Emily is trying to land a job good enough to allow her to repay her student debts - but her record, despite only consisting of a DUI and assault charges, are enough to cause her problems. Once you turn down that road, the system makes it hard to do anything other than commit more crimes. You're more likely to spend time in prison in the U.S., which can criminalize a person further - and poverty is becoming all too common. Still, Emily fights the good fight - putting in long hours at a catering business who awards their workers "contracts" which allow them to rob them of union-based rights. When she's given an opportunity to earn $200 for one hour's work, doing something illegal, she balks at first but then caves and so starts her journey.

It's not that Emily has an urge to be bad - she's a good person. It's simply the fact that she's so damn good at it. She immediately attracts the attention of Youcef Haddad (Theo Rossi), who sees in her not only that spark of ingenuity but also a capability of handling herself physically when the need arises. The two become close, with Haddad being a mentor of sorts, before the student eventually surpasses the teacher. This adds an interesting romantic sub-plot to the narrative - and running side-by-side with all of this is Emily's attempts to get a high paying job that might be enough to divert her from the path she's taking. Most criminals start off in their childhood, but some, like Emily, "break-bad" through necessity or simply because of an opportunity to do so. It's nice to see all of these strands interwoven so well, which enhances the strength of the film as a whole. Aubrey Plaza has charisma enough to command the screen for the film's duration, and we believe her capable of everything she eventually does, and like so many of these films we're on the side of the protagonist simply because of a system that is broken and in bad need of repair.

Emily the Criminal didn't exactly have a huge budget, but all the same it barely broke even despite all of the positive reviews that came in it's wake. It's an oversaturated marketplace, despite the "death of film" being heralded from every street corner these days. I think there's a middle ground it awkwardly sits in, where it's far too good to be cast aside, but not good enough to be talked about 20 years from now - I have no regrets watching it though. Now lets see if John Patton Ford can take his next step forward, this being his feature-length debut. He's certainly shown that he can pace a movie with precision, and also write a good screenplay - so I do hope he gets future opportunities. For me, personally, it's very interesting to note that Aubrey Plaza's first role came in the 2009 comedy feature Mystery Team, which at the time was a 'branching out' effort from YouTube comedy team Derrick Comedy (I was a huge fan), that featured among it's trio a 'before-he-was-famous' Donald Glover. As per this film, it kept me glued to the screen from start to finish and certainly heralds a newcomer that has the potential to do anything.

Glad to catch this one - the movie earned four nominations at the 38th Independent Spirit Awards, including Best First Feature, with Ford winning Best First Screenplay.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Emily the Criminal.

I really enjoyed this one. Gory and tense, and the violence sits on this fine line between impactful and outlandish. (I mean, around the time she .)

It also does something that I think Mandy did to strong effect, which is to

Very happy to see you back @Takoma11 !

Thanks! I have been watching your attack on your watchlist with a mix of jealousy and intimidation. My watchlist is definitely moving in the opposite direction!

Elmer Gantry feels like the very definition of a film I have to watch a second time before I really know how I feel about it. Truth be told - I wished I knew a lot more about evangelism and it's history while watching it. Apparently, the role of Gantry (Burt Lancaster) himself is a take on famous evangelist Billy Graham, and Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) is Aimee Semple McPherson, the first such figure to take to radio to preach hellfire and damnation. Not being an American means I have absolutely no first-hand experience other than what I've seen in other films. It's interesting that the novel this was based on (a 1927 book written by Sinclair Lewis) and this film expose the darker side behind these characters, something that has been exemplified in more modern times with various scandals related to modern-day televangelists. Put simply - they don't practice what they preach. In any case, most of them shamelessly fleece their congregation for so much money they own their own private jets, palatial mansions and an embarrassment of riches. "It's what God wants," they tell their followers, with a straight face. (Interesting that this film came out the same year as Inherit the Wind also - fundamentalist, bible-thumping religiosity really took a pounding that year.)

Elmer Gantry is a womanizer and a drinker, along with having a job as a travelling salesman that nonetheless gives him a lot of time to spend conning his marks with evangelistic sermons delivered with verve and energy. When he comes across Sister Sharon Falconer he's blown away by her gift for talking to audiences, using humour, wry observation and a common vernacular. Soon enough, using flattery, he's become part of her travelling revivalist roadshow - he's the one who preaches hell and eternal torture, while she preaches the love and forgiveness of the lord in a kind of 'good cop/bad cop' routine. Before long, they fall in love with each other. Newsman Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy), a cynic and non-believer, travels with them to report on the whole circus-type enterprise. One day, after delivering a particularly scathing piece in the newspaper he works for, Gantry sees an opportunity open up and demands an equal platform to respond - on radio. Doing this, he expands the revivalist's audience - and before long he's leading crusades, intending to close brothels and prohibition-era speakeasies. Quite accidentally, while doing this, he's reintroduced to a prostitute he once had a relationship with, Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones), who could bring the whole enterprise crashing down.

Compared with his modern counterparts, Gantry is something of a saint in this film. Sure, he drinks and has slept around - but by the time he's become part of Sister Falconer's travelling circus he's pretty much faithful to her, and not as much of a drunkard. He's intoxicated by the power he has over the crowds of people that come to see him. He's a complicated figure, right to the end - and it's impossible to dislike him, which had me wrestling with this film's intentions. I think having a modern perspective makes watching Elmer Gantry a more challenging prospect - but that's not a bad thing. How shocked would the audience of this film in 1960 be with the exploits of today's evangelists? The drugs, the sex and money - the corruption - it's the proof in the pudding as far as this what this film was saying goes. They're simply con-men using religion as the ultimate grifting tool - and millions of people fall for it, believing their lives will be blessed if they send as much money as they can to these people. Lancaster sells his role with as much verve as Gantry preaches, and gives an unforgettable performance - which is what I liked best about Elmer Gantry the film in the end.

Glad to catch this one - was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar (beaten by Billy Wilder's The Apartment), with Burt Lancaster winning a Best Actor Oscar, Shirley Jones a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and Richard Brooks a Best Adapted Screenwriting Oscar. André Previn's score was also nominated.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Elmer Gantry.

Not a big fan of Elmer Gantry. It’s been years since I’ve seen it though, so perhaps a rewatch is in order.