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The trick is not minding
My most anticipated movie right now:

David Cronenberg Returns: Sci-Fi Movie ‘Crimes of the Future’ Sets 30-Day Shoot in Greece

I thought he had retired after making Maps to the Stars, so this is wonderful news.
Thai is fantastic! I, too, had thought he had retired or something. Looking forward to this!
Unrelated note, but I was disappointed by his sons second film, Possessor.



My most anticipated movie right now:

David Cronenberg Returns: Sci-Fi Movie ‘Crimes of the Future’ Sets 30-Day Shoot in Greece

I thought he had retired after making Maps to the Stars, so this is wonderful news.
I will die of the giggle fits if it’s just a straight up, shot for shot remake.

But yeah, I’m excited. Those two never let me down.



Victim of The Night
Thai is fantastic! I, too, had thought he had retired or something. Looking forward to this!
Unrelated note, but I was disappointed by his sons second film, Possessor.
I also like Thai!



Victim of The Night
I think the more I run across praise for The Final Girls in online lists of under-rated Horror movies and whatnot, the more I think it might actually be the most OVER-rated Horror movie of the last several years.
Change my mind.
Or don't.



I think the more I run across praise for The Final Girls in online lists of under-rated Horror movies and whatnot, the more I think it might actually be the most OVER-rated Horror movie of the last several years.
Change my mind.
Or don't.
It is very average. I guess I could see someone vibing with its meta take on 80s slashers, but I would in no way call it under-rated. I thought it was a pretty big let-down, honestly.



I think the more I run across praise for The Final Girls in online lists of under-rated Horror movies and whatnot, the more I think it might actually be the most OVER-rated Horror movie of the last several years.
Change my mind.
Or don't.
I respect that they managed to trick producers into funding their slasher satire without ever having watched a single slasher.

And then seemingly did the exact same premise with romcoms a few years later.



Victim of The Night
It is very average. I guess I could see someone vibing with its meta take on 80s slashers, but I would in no way call it under-rated. I thought it was a pretty big let-down, honestly.
I agree and it's on a LOT of lists.



I agree and it's on a LOT of lists.
I think that it failed to really get traction with horror fans and never picked up a ton of momentum. It certainly is one of those films I don't even remember until someone brings it up.

I don't think that under-rated/under-seen and "mostly forgotten" are the same, but sometimes lists treat them like they are.



My most anticipated movie right now:

David Cronenberg Returns: Sci-Fi Movie ‘Crimes of the Future’ Sets 30-Day Shoot in Greece

I thought he had retired after making Maps to the Stars, so this is wonderful news.
Maps to the Stars was directed by Cronenberg? I had no idea although that does sort of clear up a lot of the buh? moments I experienced while watching it.



I think that it failed to really get traction with horror fans and never picked up a ton of momentum. It certainly is one of those films I don't even remember until someone brings it up.

I don't think that under-rated/under-seen and "mostly forgotten" are the same, but sometimes lists treat them like they are.
I think it depends on where you’re looking. On Reddit, the film is a massive cult success brought up anytime slashers or modern horror is mentioned. I view it as being among their pet movies that are huge there but not much anywhere else.



In an attempt to clear out some of my Shudder watchlist, I inadvertently created a double feature that I will call

NIGHT OF THE LIVING GERUNDS*

The Banishing (2020)
Lingering (2020)

Both of these are mostly run-of-the-mill spooky-house stories. Lots of people cautiously roaming corridors and saying "hello?" a lot. You know the kind. The Banishing was directed by Christopher Smith of Severance and Triangle, so I was hoping it would be better. Lingering is from a Korean first-timer. Neither of them are bad, just terribly ordinary. If you're in the right mood maybe these will scratch your itch but I wouldn't make either of them a priority.


*these may or may not be gerunds. Just roll with it, ok?
__________________
Captain's Log
My Collection



Watched two last night:

Found Footage 3D: tries to be the Scream of the genre and while it’s far from the worst FF, it’s not clever or entertaining enough to justify the atypically long run time and thin characterization. It ends up “okay.”*

Still, props for Shudder actually having the 3D version available for streaming. I was able to enjoy the gimmick fully.

Haunt: would pair nicely with Hell Fest. It’s a less straight forward haunted house slasher, with more emphasis on the attraction itself being perverted into something actually dangerous, but that ambition leads to both higher highs and sloppier lows. Either way, a very solid flick that would make great October fodder with friends.



Color Me Blood Red (Lewis, 1965)



When I'd first watched Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast, that pioneering splatter film, I'd considered it one of the worst movies I'd ever seen. Over the years, I was willing to grant that my opinion may have been coloured by my lack of exposure to exploitation movies, and when I revisited it a few years ago, I didn't exactly like it but was willing to concede that it had enough interesting qualities to merit a viewing. Soon after, I watched Two Thousand Maniacs!, his skewering of southern hospitality, and while I thought it had been bettered by the films it inspired, I found it mean and energetic enough to enjoy. I had mixed reactions to his subsequent splatter films (enjoying the cheerful sadism of The Gore Gore Girls but finding The Wizard of Gore interminable). I also started getting the sense that Lewis was kind of a hack, so for years I'd held off on watching the third film of the "Blood Trilogy", Color Me Blood Red, about an artist who uses the blood of his victims for his paintings. (If this sounds an awful lot like Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood, Lewis has copped to the influence.) But hell, while I'm stuck at home with my viewing standards significantly lowered (not sure if you're aware, but there is a pandemic raging right now), I figured I'd finally give this a shot. Worst case scenario, I waste eighty or so minutes.

It's tempting to read something personal into the story of thoroughly unappreciated artist who only gets attention when he starts incorporating extreme violence into his work, but everything I've read about Lewis suggests that his motivations were entirely commercial, and I'm not sure he really sells the main character's arc. (It's also hard to reconcile any notions of Lewis as a serious artist with the wealth of water-bike footage, which reeks of obvious runtime padding and product placement. But hey, check out those sweet water-bikes!) It does help however that the movie matches the belligerence of the thoroughly unappealing protagonist, who spends much of the movie doing the Kubrick face (head lowered, glowering above) so that it's a shock when you realize he in fact has a terrible mustache. (In this respect it also helps that Gordon Oas-Heim, the actor playing him, has none of the likability of Dick Miller, the lead in A Bucket of Blood.) He also garners some empathy as most of his victims are inconsiderate ****s who decide to use his private property for their leisure without asking. How would you feel if somebody started sunbathing in your front yard? Or found your vehicle unattended and took it for a joy ride?

Aside from a handful of moments (a shot of a victim having been disemboweled, another of the maggot-covered face of a rotting corpse), this lacks the relatively imaginative violence of Blood Feast and Two Thousand Maniacs!, although the bold red colour of the blood gives the violence enough visual interest. Audience expectations are further subverted after the movie introduces two thoroughly annoying beatnik types but fails to kill them off or when it repeatedly raises the possibility of T&A only to quash it immediately. (Lewis had stopped directing nudie cuties at this point after the market dried up.) Lewis shoots the proceedings in bright, comic strip colours, so that the movie has a distinct look even when his visual style remains pretty rudimentary. This is a movie that benefits heavily from being seen in a nice transfer (available on Tubi or from Arrow Video) as I imagine the colours didn't pop quite as strongly on the tattered prints it likely played in back in the drive-in days (and probably not on TV either, judging from the time I saw Blood Feast on cable). It does however make it more noticeable when the camera isn't in focus (which happens enough times to affect the movie's overall visual character).

Did I enjoy this? Yeah, more or less. Has Lewis as a director changed in my esteem as a result? Not really.





HG Lewis is a very bad director. He is a hack by any standards. His movies really can only be appreciated as artifacts of their time. Blood Feast and Gore Gore Girls are the only ones that are kind of enjoyable in their trashy way. Wizard of Gore is interminable, but is also baffling enough that it remains the only film I've ever felt compelled to think about once it was over. Most of the rest I find pretty unbearable. Gruesome Twosome I found particularly dreary. And I think Blood Red is almost as bad.


It's been way too long since I've seen 2000 Maniacs, so I can't comment on that one.



I tried to watch a couple of his 'nudie cuties' when they were briefly on Netflix years ago, but I don't think I had the patience to finish any of them.



HG Lewis is a very bad director. He is a hack by any standards. His movies really can only be appreciated as artifacts of their time. Blood Feast and Gore Gore Girls are the only ones that are kind of enjoyable in their trashy way. Wizard of Gore is interminable, but is also baffling enough that it remains the only film I've ever felt compelled to think about once it was over. Most of the rest I find pretty unbearable. Gruesome Twosome I found particularly dreary. And I think Blood Red is almost as bad.


It's been way too long since I've seen 2000 Maniacs, so I can't comment on that one.



I tried to watch a couple of his 'nudie cuties' when they were briefly on Netflix years ago, but I don't think I had the patience to finish any of them.
Won't argue with you there, Crumb (he might be the worst "important" director I can think of), but my standards have lowered enough these days that I found it passable enough. Most of the time I watch movies these days, I'm just happy the TV works.



If I saw it before the pandemic or after I get the vaccine, I imagine the rating would have been at least a lower.





Consider me a big fan of Saint Maud, currently on Prime. In hindsight it's probably not very deep, and I was reminded of The VVitch more than once, but I don't know, I was into it. And the lead actress was pretty great.
Maybe I'm just in a good mood but I'm giving it 4 popcorns.
If A24 Horror is your thing, check it out.