My 2025 Watchlist Frenzy!

It should be pointed out, I don't have an iPhone

Any discussion of Last House on Dead End Street takes a certain amount of obfuscation, explanatory follow-up, anecdotal evidence and a desire to not go back to proofread what you just said about it. It's just that kind of movie.

__________________

And hallucinating iPhones!

Prospect is going to stick around in my memory because it was such a purely enjoyable sci-fi western to digest - successfully transforming the vastness of interplanetary prospecting into the same wild trigger-happy frontier of old that proved so successful with tales of banditry, greed, danger and lawlessness. The surroundings have been reinvented - it's not gold that these new prospectors are looking for, but rare gems removed from the heart of organisms that are half plant, half flesh-pod. What adds to the anxiety levels is the fact that if you cut them open the wrong way, a corrosive substance leaks which dissolves the precious jewel. A father and daughter team - Damon (Jay Duplass) and Cee (Sophie Thatcher) land on a verdant planet hoping to score big, but roaming in the alien jungles are fellow prospectors and deadly desperados who are well versed in killing, thieving and violence. What transpires is a desperate bid for survival when events don't go as planned - which is where Ezra (Pedro Pascal) becomes central to this story. This is a world where first aid kits, clean air filters and laser scalpels can become as precious as any jewel when a situation develops which threatens your continued existence.

A little goes a long way - in this case $4 million, which was raised by independent filmmakers Zeek Earl & Christopher Caldwell after shooting the short version of Prospect with $21,000 raised on kickstart and using it to pitch their idea to studios - not an uncommon way for independent films to evolve in this day and age. The spacecraft sets and all the equipment we see look realistic and best of all well used, so the production design on this venture veers towards the impressive end of the scale and lends all of the outlaw characters a really grungy, ad-hoc, dirty but hi-tech appeal. The sound design was excellent enough to convince me we were in de-orbit burns, powered landings and take-offs, not to mention the fact that the cool laser gun battles really sounded great - more realistic than the *zing* *pew* you hear in old sci-fi films. All of this would mean nothing however if it weren't for Pedro Pascal, who carries the entire film and lifts it way above it's station with a grizzled and winsome performance as the rough, hard-edged, experienced character always ready to make a deal in the deadly situations prospectors often find themselves in on this particular planet. Earl & Caldwell imbue everything he says with the wisdom of someone who has been in many a dangerous fix, and the ingenuity of a true survivor. He'd have a shade of Rooster Cogburn to him if it weren't for the brutal way he's introduced to the story.

Underneath everything I've mentioned so far is our true entry point into the narrative and the universe it exists in : Cee, the young audience surrogate whose inexperience contrasts so sharply with that of Ezra. Young Sophie Thatcher has gone on to score plum roles in films such as Heretic and this year's Companion, so it might be interesting for all who haven't seen this to catch her debut here - she handles herself really well. In the meantime, to everyone who has a certain nostalgia concerning the days of the Wild West - space exploration offers up the perfect new frontier in which the same lawlessness and prospecting can begin anew in very much the exact same way. At a certain stage in Prospect, when Ezra is in dire need of medical attention, our characters come across a cult-like community/village that reminded me of a Native American tribe - some aspects being conspicuously similar. Regardless of what it resembles though, I found this to be a movie that ratchets up the tension to a really high degree at just the right moments (the film's climax is superb) and propels you on a far-reaching journey that's exciting and enjoyably compelling. All of the ingredients work so well together - Pedro Pascal, the intricate world building, the genre shift and sound combining to create something special.

Glad to catch this one - winner of Best Film at Heartland Film and Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival. Pedro Pascal won Best Actor at the Fargo Film Festival and Sophie Thatcher Best Actress at Filmquest.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Prospect

Glad you liked Prospect. It's very rewatchable, in my opinion, especially the second half. I thought that the way that the power dynamics shifted and developed between the characters was really solid.

Regarding Little Children: if you enjoyed it, the book is quite good (and also more explicitly comedic than the film).

Had a great time watching Little Children - it was fantastic. I'll have to check out Tom Perrotta's novel, which does sound quite good.

I've never seen When a Stranger Calls, but while I'd normally make sure to see the original before I catch a sequel I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be okay not to in this case. I was definitely puzzled though, as to why a made-for-TV sequel was on my watchlist to begin with. My verdict after all is said and done? This is a television film that distinguishes itself from most others by doing things it's own way and shifting the focus away from what an average psychological thriller would do. The movie can be separated into three distinct segments - the first sees babysitter Julia Jenz (Jill Schoelen) suffer from a house caller who seems intent on psychologically torturing her. The second involves Julia's ongoing trauma, and her suspicion that the man who originally targeted her is back and sneaking into her apartment while she's not there - which brings college counselor Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) into the story. Jill was the main character in the original When a Stranger Calls. The final segment of the film involves the hunt for the man doing this - and in case you're wondering how normal and everyday this person might be, he's pictured above doing a ventriloquist act at a strip club. See? Nothing strange about this guy at all. He seems like the kind of man where the neighbours might end up saying "Yes - I 100% thought he was a serial killer from the very day I met him."

What I really loved about this film was it's dogged focal point - trauma, and the way it takes it's time slowly elevating the fear Julia feels at the start of the film, when a caller comes knocking at the door while she's babysitting. Careful attention is paid to the progression which begins with a sensible decision not to let the guy in to use the phone - and the movie slowly tightens the screws while Julia continues to hope that all the bad signs (the phone no longer works, the back door was open, the guy can't take a hint) are simply coincidental. Ordinarily we might skip straight to the hunt for the perpetrator, but When a Stranger Calls Back really wants to delve into what the experience has done to Julia, and in relation how Jill sees the world after her experiences in the first film. The hypersensitivity to changes in their environment alerts them to danger - and while buying Julia a gun might seem like a great idea in that it might provide extra protection, there can be negative consequences to arming someone who has been knocked off-balance by distressing events. In the meantime the police still have no idea what they're dealing with when it comes to the victims of crime.

Not having seen the first film, I did not know that John Clifford (Charles Durning) was a carry-over character, and I'm not sure how I'd have reacted to the ending of When a Stranger Calls Back if I'd seen the original - but the hunt for the man causing all of the trouble for Julia and Jill and the bizarre chameleon climax seems more a coda to the main thrust of the film. There are mere moments spent on the aftermath - and really, considering the fact that this is more about fear and trauma, it would be remiss of the audience not to consider the fact that these two women are even more damaged and traumatized now considering the fact that they've both been pretty badly hurt. Smiles all around because "everything is okay now" seems to be a simple way to end the movie on some kind of positive note - but as critical as I might be at ending the movie this way, there's not a lot of emphasis or time paid to it. What I take away from When a Stranger Calls Back are the way it grips us with fear at the thought of a girl alone being stalked by a stranger and the life-changing after-effects people are left with even if they personally escape situations like that. For that, it's a TV movie that hits above it's weight.

Glad to catch this one - in France it won the Prix de la Critique and Prix Special du Jury awards (at the Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival) the first time the same movie had won both of those awards.




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch When a Stranger Calls Back

When a Stranger Calls Back is great. Like you say, the main focus is on the experience of both women.

I love the scene where Julia freaks out at night and Jill has her slowly walk through and search the apartment.

It's about tied with Dark Night of the Scarecrow as my favorite made-for-TV horror.

Here's the review I wrote after watching it.

When I read the above I instantly recalled being impressed by that part - it's one of those things you very rarely see in movies, or if you do it'll basically be something simple, like a bloodstain. When a Stranger Calls Back went above and beyond in including all of the detritus left by Emergency Services when they attend a critical incident like that. It makes our impression of what it must have been like all the more real, and I think the people making this one really cared.

And further, it also fits with a huge theme of the film, which is that the trauma and "residue" from a violent encounter is very upsetting and lingers. There's always something "left behind" even if the person survives.

I think it's one of the most interesting combinations of some really outlandish stuff (largely around the stalker/killer) and then some thoughtful reflections about violence and its long-term impact on a person.

The Addiction just might be my favorite film by Abel Ferrara