Halloween Watch-A-Thon

Claire Foy plays a woman who is institutionalized after a stalking incident. When she's in the mental institute she believes one of the orderly's is her stalker. The film has a strong premise but the execution is a bit weak.

I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.

A cleanup crew is given a job working on an abandoned mental institution but things do not go as planned.

I mainly know Session 9 for its place within the AV Club's New Cult Canon and also one especially unforgettable line delivery courtesy of David Caruso, which I figured was reason enough to watch the whole thing. In my review for Hellbound: Hellraiser II, I noted how the prospect of setting horror movies in mental institutions (abandoned or otherwise) is always a bit of a dicey prospect as mining their more barbaric practices and conditions for entertainment purposes can always come across as more than a little exploitative if not handled properly. Session 9 skews that way more often than not with its tale of an asbestos removal crew who are tasked with cleaning out such an institution - the job (which is already proving a hassle as desperate foreman Peter Mullan promises to do in one week what should take at least three) is subsequently complicated by the crew members bringing their own internal and external demons into the matter long before even the implication that there may be paranormal activity sets in.

There are little things to appreciate about Session 9 - the fact that it's shot on visibly digital video is an interesting touch that does add a found-footage verisimilitude to the proceedings while still allowing for distinct filmmaking flourishes (even that video I linked serves as such an example with its dramatically swooping close-up), and it's not like its patient approach completely lacks for pay-offs (the most blatantly conventional scare in the whole movie actually works remarkably well). There's even some decent interplay between the small cast, especially Mullan and Caruso. Unfortunately, these various pieces never quite come together in a satisfactory manner and Session 9 only continues to serve as a reminder of the paradoxical nature of mental institution as horror trope. The constant guessing as to how much is real or imagined or who's crazier than who is effective (even to the point where even an obvious bit of foreshadowing doesn't quite render the whole thing predictable), but it ultimately collapses inwards into a familiar run-through of old tape recordings and crumbling corridors that whimpers to a close. Given its reputation as a minor cult classic, I almost feel as if I should give it another chance at some point but as it stands I consider it a movie where the successes are mild and the failures are considerable. In other words...f*ck youuuu.

I thought insurance abuse was part of the actual text of the movie, not just the subtext.

Plot: A snooty British man gets haunted after blowing a mysterious whistle in a graveyard.

Quite a unique watch. A T.V. movie from 1968, only 40 minutes long, and just one part of the 'BBC Ghost Stories' collection.

It has a great atmosphere and overall tone. The constant wind blasting the main character, the wet beaches, the quaint hotel etc. Michael Hordern's performance as the stuck-up rich man is very good and really shows his character: Constantly muttering and singing to himself, giving a long-winded 'non-answer' when a man asks him about the existence of ghosts as saying yes may lower his image.

The film does have quite a big problem though, it's much too slow. Absolutely nothing of importance happens in the first 13 minutes. There's also a 3 minute picnic scene in the middle of the film which also adds nothing to the film. Quite cheeky for a film to do this when it only has a very short run-time to tell its story.

In terms of horror, it's really good. The atmosphere and tone I mentioned above certainly adds a rural feel to the whole thing. There's also no music either. The dream sequence is quite frightening: Surreal imagery, disturbing noises, loud noises etc. The ending is pretty spooky too.


If anyone cares to see it it's on YouTube:

Demonia (1990) N

An archaeological team in Sicily is doing research on ancient Greek influence on the area. Liza, an assistant to professor in charge, is drawn to the nearby medieval monastery. When she discovers the skeletal remains of five crucified nuns from the cellar Liza accidentally releases the an evil from the past.


This is one of the worst Fulci films I've seen. The premise is fine but the story ends up being a senseless mess. There's no suspense at all and most of the time characters just wander aimlessly around with someone dying every now and then. We learn practically nothing about the nuns and there doesn't seem to be any logic or goal in their killing spree (fortunately at least some of the murders are pretty good... but not the cat scene ).

There are some glimpses of Fulci's visual prowess but in comparison to his better works Demonia looks really bland. Even the scenery is, well I guess bland is the right word here as well; lots of white stone, sand, pale blue sky, etc. but very little dark tones to contrast it. Acting is passable but there are no real characters. All in all very disappointing nun horror by the master.



Recommended movies: Dark Waters is considerably better horror involving nuns and monastery.

A rich American couple holidaying in Spain find themselves trapped in a coastal village that is home to a cult of half-human mutants.

It's a bit weird to think about how H.P. Lovecraft, who is widely considered one of the most influential horror authors ever, hasn't seen much in the way of direct cinematic adaptations of his work - maybe it's because his words are so reliant on the notion that certain things can be so indescribably terrifying that they send people insane at the sight of them is extremely hard to effectively translate into a visual medium. It's not like there haven't been some noble efforts to do so - John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness works as a loose pastiche that does a good job of capturing the essence of the author's signature brand of unknowable cosmic horror while Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator is arguably the best direct adaptation of a story (though the fact that it's a fundamentally simple tale of mad scientists and zombies means that it's easy enough to turn into a splatter-happy B-movie instead of something that evokes the existential dread of Lovecraft's most noteworthy work). Gordon once again tries adapting Lovecraft with Dagon, which leans further into Lovecraft's established "Cthulhu Mythos" with its emphasis on the horrors of unfathomably cruel gods and the freaks who worship them. As with Re-Animator, the set-up is a familiar horror one - naive travellers end up falling prey to a town with a dark secret - and the question of whether or not Lovecraft's sense of terror translates through scene after scene of lumbering fish-people chasing the hapless protagonist (Ezra Godden) is answered quite definitively.

Fortunately, I would consider Dagon moderately successful in not only capturing what makes Lovecraft scary but also being a solid horror movie in its own right. Gordon crafts the second act as a nigh-relentless game of cat-and-mouse with nothing but the rain beating down and mutant shrieks to soundtrack Godden barely managing to stay ahead of his pursuers to the point where a protracted expositional flashback plays less like a momentum-wrecking interjection than a much-needed breather. The progression into overtly Lovecraftian territory is suitably curious - troubling dreams give way to nightmarish reality, the author's well-documented racism manifests through its twisted tale of demented half-breeds, and the third act ramps up into some truly nasty insanity for its surviving characters. Parts of it have aged more than a little poorly (just look at that CGI - or don't), but outside of that the film builds a solid atmosphere that compensates alright for the film's other weaknesses. In this regard, I would recommend Dagon - I don't necessarily think it's an underappreciated classic but there is quite a bit to appreciate about its distinct approach to adapting one of horror's great writers that is at least worth considering if you have a vested interest in horror obscurities.

I imagine this would make a hell of a double-bill with The Shape of Water.

I do use them, I just don't pepper them around to the point where my reviews turn into Christopher Walken impressions.

The Mummy's Hand



Steve Banning and Babe Benson are on vacation in Egypt. But unfortunately to them, they have so little money they can't afford to go back home. Suddenly Steve finds a broken, but intriguing historical vase that he decides to purchase. Babe thinks he's nuts, but Steve has a hunch that it might be a huge moneymaker. The vase is confirmed by Dr. Petrie to be authentic, but Andoheb claims it's a duplicate, in order to discourage them from going on the trip. Ignoring his words, Steve and Babe go in search of a treasure, with fatal consequences...

Hearing me describe it you might notice I didn't use the word "mummy" once. Well, I think the reason might be that I not only see this as a good mummy movie, but also a very exciting adventure. In a smallscale way, it shows the sense of wonder traveling to a mythic place can have. Steve and Babe also make for wonderfully likeable protagonists, with Dick Foran playing the sensible and collected straightman, and Wallace Ford playing the goofy sidekick, who manages to balance the fine line of being a nice bit of comic relief while not just standing in the way as a foil. When it really comes to it, he shows a nice bit of bravery despite being so scared. Most of the best lines in the movie also comes from him, especially Besides those two, Cecil Kellaway as Mr. Solvani the magician is a blast. He brings a lot of charisma to his character with a fun, eager attitude as expected, his creative display of magic tricks. Then you have Peggy Moran as Marta Solvani, who becomes an unexpected travel companion. I say unexpected because Andoheb (portrayed nicely by a very Karloff-like George Zucco) tricked her into thinking Steve and Babe are swindlers! So she comes with them on their trip to make sure her father doesn't get swindled. Predictably, a romance between her and Steve starts developing, but they have enough believable chemistry together that you actually buy into it. I even like the love interest here more than the first one. Marta has just the right amount of sass and likability, and Moran gives a colorful performance. The scene where she "introduces" herself to Steve and Babe by entering their apartment with a gun and shoots six warning shots stucks out as both one of the most memorable and amusing moments in the movie.

The plot is pretty similiar to the first one. You have the mummy Kharis, who was buried alive when he tried to revive his loved one with tana leaves, so ever since then he's just rested in his tomb, waiting for someone to set him free. You have the expeditionists, who go there in site of the lurking danger. The last act is also nearly identical in how it plays out and how it ends. And if you think the flashbacks with Kharis look extremely alike the ones in the previous movie... well, that's because they're using archive footage! Most likely they needed to save some money, so they used old material hoping nobody would notice. Sorry, but we did. Everybody noticed.
However, what's makes this one stand his own anyway is not only the fact that most of it takes place in the desert (the original kept things mostly at homebase), but it adds a lot more humor into the script. There are scenes of tension, but also scenes where you see the characters relaxing, and Babe offering one funny line or two. At the same time, it takes itself seriously enough that you sit there in suspense hoping the good guys will make it out. Tom Tyler brings his own interpretation as a mummified creature, with his iconic walking style and the uneasy black stare. It's not a role which requires a ton of acting skills, but he's still a fairly imposing Kharis.

The director Christy Cabane does the most with a low budget. The scenery is very nice to look at, and it's nicely framed and shot. There's a particularly good-looking image of a wolf howling at the moon in the bane of night. The ancient temple has an air of mystique and intrigue.

I won't force your hand... But you should see The Mummy's Hand.

An entomologist discovers that the disease-curing breed of insect she created is now endangering the citizens of New York City.

One of the things I find interesting about del Toro as a filmmaker is his capacity for taking basic (or maybe even bad) concepts and managing to give them solid executions. Blade II expanded upon the vampire-hunter's original adventure to make for something that I considered a superior thrill ride, Pacific Rim took a story of giant robots fighting giant aliens and infused it with a surprising degree of pathos, and (most famously) he took the absurd-sounding high concept of a woman falling in love with the Creature From The Black Lagoon and turned it into Best Picture material with The Shape of Water. Needless to say, I was ready to see what he could do with that most B-movie of premises: the giant insect movie. Mira Sorvino plays an entomologist who, in response to the outbreak of a deadly disease in the middle of Manhattan Island, breeds a whole new type of insect in order to wipe out the cockroaches that carry the disease and thus eradicate it. Years later, she finds out that the insects she created are starting to become a problem in their own right and are threatening the citizens of New York. Naturally, it falls to her and a motley crew of individuals to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Unfortunately, Mimic marks the first instance where I truly realised that del Toro isn't always capable of making something worthwhile out of seemingly unworkable or trite premises. As is the case with all his films, one can certainly respect the effort that goes into crafting the various onscreen elements like the designs for various sets or creatures (even if the mid-'90s CGI may be showing its age a little bit), but what really disappoints me is how dull the underlying story ends up being. Sorvino's a sympathetic enough protagonist who's granted enough of a background to keep her from being a flat character, but it barely extends beyond a basic sense of tragic irony - and even that is still much more than can be said for the likes of Charles S. Dutton's transit cop or Giancarlo Giannini's shoeshine man. Even overt attempts to grant the proceedings a semblance of soul (like having Giannini be the doting guardian of an autistic child who also ends up being caught up in the action) come across as misguided (if well-intentioned). The leaden pacing that divides the film into two equally boring halves - one spent figuring things out, the other spent escaping from things - doesn't do it any favours either as stand-out moments of terror are few and far between. As such, while I can appreciate del Toro and company trying to pull a fresh 1990s spin on the old-school creature feature, now it exists as a dull reminder that the man has definitely gone on to better things.