John’s Horror Corner: A Dark Song (2016), a riveting exploration of the inner workings of ritual magic.
MY CALL: While not in the typical vein of British folk horror, I think fans of the subgenre would love this beautifully written film which deconstructs the process of a ritual down to its nuance. Exemplary filmmaking and acting, atop the thoughtful writing, make this a true hidden gem, overlooked by mainstream genre fans. MORE MOVIES LIKE A Dark Song: I’d compare this most closely to The Skeleton Key (2005). Spell (2020) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) also provide interesting approaches to the occult in horror. For fans of slow and steady, creepy, atmospheric horror, I’m inclined to suggest patient yet dire atmospheric revelations like The House of the Devil (2009), The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), Midsommar (2019), The Witch (2016), Hereditary (2017) and The Dark and the Wicked (2020).
A woman of mysterious motives, Sophia (Catherine Walker; Cursed, Rig 45) rents a house in Wales under secretive circumstances. She hires occultist Joseph (Steve Oram; Kill List, Altar, The Cabal) to perform a ritual for her, for which she has been preparing for half a year with abstinence, soul cleansing, and dietary practices. He talks to her as if being hired as a business consultant; very to the point, results-oriented, brass tacks. The poignancy of their dialogue is that of a well-written one-act play, wherein the set could hardly matter. We’re only focused on them and their words.
We quickly come to learn that the occult process they intend to endeavor is long, committed and taxing. It may take the better part of a year. The ritual seems tedious, unsensational, and grounded. No swirling ectoplasm, ghostly voices, seances or slamming doors; just drinking some blood let peacefully into a drinking glass, extensive readings and vigils, some elaborate chalk-drawn circles and glyphs on the floors, and a lot of interpersonal trust and control dynamics. Sophia has early doubts about the progress of the ritual, and Joseph assures her it’s working. He is always in control as the ritual master, and she must do as he says to ensure the ritual’s successful completion. Over the course of months, a relationship dynamic forms through a filter of cabin fever, disbelief versus gaslighting, and codependence.
However, quite different in this film is the progress of this long-term ritual and the subtlety of the black magic. Its design, incremental goals, and clearly defined objectives (e.g., working on sealing the 7th chamber over time) feel as discrete as an engineering schematic for the infrastructure of a building. Weeks and months into the ritual, they continue to draw and write on pages and the floor, working out progress as well as problems desperately reading dark esoteric scripture, as if actively architecting this ritual schematic in real time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen ritual told on film with such attention to time, patience, endurance and tedium. In that respect, this may be among the very most interesting “occult ritual-based” films I’ve ever seen. In many ways I’m reminded of The Skeleton Key (2005), which gives the process-long perspective of the object of a ritual, instead of the perspective of its evokers; the typical horror perspective.
Also intriguing is the strong emphasis on intention. The ritual will not be seen through—or not with the desired result—if the intention of the ritual is not honest and clearly known to both the occultist driving the magic and the appointee, whose soul must be pure when engaging in this black magic.
In terms of horror, this film is quite understated. The dread and scares are deliberately minimal. However, the atmosphere is inescapably constant. That’s what this film is all about, though. Atmosphere from the filmmaking perspective, and an exploration of conducting rituals from the content perspective. Truly, the third act “horrors” could have been omitted entirely. I might have even preferred it as such. Because, for its content, this is one of the most interesting horror films I’ve seen in a long time and a riveting viewing experience. Moreover, these two actors grace us with outstanding performances, delivering a great deal of gravity in the subtlety of their line delivery and a broad range of strong emotions. That was critical for this film to work at all. Without my investment in them, this could have become a boring slog. And now let’s turn to the creator, writer and director Liam Gavin (The Haunting of Bly Manor). Wow. Just wow. Sign me up for anything else he does—and why on Earth hasn’t he done more?
Everyone involved in this film seems to have given it everything with the purest intentions. Oddly enough, that’s what likewise evokes the successful ritual of film.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – The Kitchen Fight Michelin Star Guide – Halloween Ends (2022)
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Mark and Nick talk about the legacy of the Halloween franchise and ponder whether or not the kitchen fight from Halloween Ends is Michelin Star worthy. Enjoy!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 585 – Godzilla Minus One, Takashi Yamazaki, and Creature Features
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Mark and Norbert discuss the 2023 creature feature Godzilla Minus One. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, and starring Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka and an all-time monster, the Academy Award winning film became an instant classic and does a great job expanding the lore of the world’s most recognizable kaiju. In this episode, they also talk about water monsters, low budget filmmaking, and Godzilla’s legacy. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
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John’s Horror Corner: Immaculate (2024), essentially Rosemary’s Baby in a convent… with a twist.
MY CALL: Dire, atmospheric, paranoid and brutal. Those four words sum up this gloriously crafted horror film. MORE MOVIES LIKE Immaculate: The First Omen (2024).
A cold open depicts a young, panicked nun praying, stealing keys, and trying to flea from her convent only to be captured at the gate, have her leg horribly broken, and to be buried alive. I’ve gotta’ admit, I loved the subtle intensity of the leg break! This should be good!
Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney; Night Teeth, The Handmaid’s Tale) joins an Italian convent whose main purpose is to ease elderly sisters to the next life; something of a holy hospice. The convent is built over historical catacombs, and is populated by nuns in their final days, some of them suffering dementia. And we all know that is going to provide some scares.
With the newfound friendship and light-hearted levity of Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli), who is also new to the convent, they take their vows, learn the ways of the convent, endure Sister Isabella’s rigid mentorship, and learn to send off the recently deceased into God’s arms. Cecilia also endures overwhelming holy relics, unnerving dreams, and disturbing encounters with disturbed elderly nuns. But most strange since her arrival is the discovery that Cecilia, a virgin, is pregnant!
This is declared a miracle, and the more senior nuns consider her main job at the convent now to be growing the baby. But this bizarre, immaculate conception has Cecilia paranoid. And her pregnancy is not the only bizarre thing. Cecilia encounters an elderly nun with crosses branded to the soles of her feet.
Cecilia demands to see another doctor outside of the convent and becomes suspicious of her own pregnancy, especially after a fellow young nun tries to drown her in a jealous rage and her closest friend disappears. She comes to learn that much of her paranoia of the nuns’ and clergy’s insistent in-house management of with her pregnancy is merited.
Thankfully our tension is not limited to Rosemary’s Baby-like paranoia. There’s some gore to be enjoyed as well. The victim of a bad fall presents very gory imagery; we most uncomfortably witness a victim have her tongue cut off (on-screen!); there’s a bruuuutal skull-imploding face-smashing; a horribly charred burn victim performing an anesthesia-free C-section; and someone getting stabbed in the throat with a stigmata stake! And let’s not fail to mention a very intense final scene. Just brutal!
The last several scenes are wild. I found myself slack-jawed over and over again at the brutality and at what Cecilia endures. And the hits just keep on coming until the final moment of the film. Wow. Just wow.
Among a recent throng of “nun horror” releases (e.g., Prey for the Devil, Deliver Us, The Nun II, The First Omen), director Michael Mohan (The Voyeurs) ultimately has a lot to offer. From paranoia and intrigue, to cultish shenanigans and mean gore and effects, topped off with a really intense finale sequence. Yeah, horror fans. This film is worth your time!
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John’s Horror Corner: The Demon Disorder (2024), an Australian possession movie with a grotesque body horror twist.
MY CALL: I don’t think it’s objectively fair to call this a good movie. But it’s definitely entertaining, and visually impressive from a gross gore perspective. So it’s certainly a good flick!
We are introduced to the graphic effects of this film in full force by very early scenes featuring a grotesque cow miscarriage on a family farm. Yeah, that’s the right tone.
Haunted by memories of their father’s (John Noble; The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) tormenting demonic possession, Graham (Christian Willis) is recruited by his estranged brother Jake (Dirk Hunter; Undead) to address their family history. Their younger brother Phillip (Charles Cottier) is not well, and his malady was inherited. That’s about the gist of it. The rural farm vibe harkens When Evil Lurks (2023), whereas the elderly horror element reminded me of Relic (2020). Still, this film is like neither in tone nor execution.
So now we can dive into the gross stuff. In a possessed, bloody fit, Phillip spits out a tongue-like chonk of flesh, which slithers away! What ensues captures a manic, awkwardly funny, Evil Dead 2 madness as the regurgitated glob of tissue skitters about the ceiling making almost giggle-like squeaking sounds. Some of the dialogue and gross visuals are awkwardly funny.
Paranoia and distrust escalate among the three brothers, and yet stranger developments ensue. Scenes of possessed chicken slaughter, a blinking eye emerging from a sticky festering wound, more “possessed” chunky festering wounds, and a squiggly demon is yanked from a wound. Yeah, this movie definitely has a body horror theme cast over this… perhaps possession movie?
The storytelling and scenes are rather erratic in the first hour. I felt the effects scene weren’t enough to compensate for the drama, distrust and mania that transpired. But in the last 30 minutes, as is typical in effects-driven movies, the effects amp up. Deformed hands emerge from possessed wounds. It’s gory, slimy, drippy, and all those delicious things. And then, yup, an entire malformed creature is birthed from a torso wound, and it grows and metamorphoses on screen to my squishy, disgusting glee. There’s a lot of gross to be enjoyed here. A lot! This slimy, gangly homunculus is a sight.
This movie is for gorehounds and gorehounds alone. Despite many typical possession movie tropes, the effects and gore carry the entertainment load. The execution and synthesis of the story is somewhat proficiently laid out, but desires a more creative touch with more refined writing. But the concept is cool, the acting is certainly good enough, and the effects are more than worth the price of admission. I had fun with this one. Director Steven Boyle did alright.
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Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – D+ – Joker: Folie à Deux is a bad romance.
Joker: Folie à Deux exists because of a feeling that Joaquin Phoenix had while wrapping up work on Joker (2019). Phoenix wasn’t ready to leave the character behind and had a dream of the Joker singing and dancing on stage. He told director Todd Phillips about his vision and the two started conspiring about a sequel that would eventually snag a $200 million budget and the Oscar-nominated Lady Gaga. Phillips admits that this film scares the sh*t out of him, and his risk hasn’t paid off because the movie is too scattershot and boring to make an impression.
In an interview with Variety, Lady Gaga explained the film by saying ““There’s music, there’s dance, it’s a drama, it’s also a courtroom drama, it’s a comedy, it’s happy, it’s sad. It’s a testament to [Todd] as a director, that he would rather be creative than just tell a traditional story of love.” It’s nice that Phillips took a big swing, but when you make a courtroom drama musical comedy that’s both happy and sad, there’s very little focus on the plot because the story is pinballing all over the place. Both Phillips and Phoenix have admitted that they don’t mind failing while doing what they love (AKA 2010’s I’m Still Here), but it seems like this film is just the two of them going for broke – and failing. It’s crazy to say, but the two didn’t go big enough, and instead of creating a fantastical musical they’ve made a boring courtroom drama that never really goes anywhere or says anything of value.
The film starts with Arthur being dragged from his Arkham State Hospital cell by head guard Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), and being taken to meet with his lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), who is angling for an insanity plea as she believes Arthur’s psyche has shattered after years of abuse and neglect. Phillips set up the courtroom drama plot line as a way to keep the film grounded, but it mostly is an excuse to bring back characters from the first film to recap what happened to them in the first film. It’s an odd choice, and Catherine Keener is wasted in the role as her character is fired by Arthur, who ditches his medication and starts leaning into his “Joker” persona when representing himself. His burst of confidence comes from his relationship with fellow Arkham resident Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), an supposed arsonist who loves the Joker (not Arthur – which isn’t great) and puts herself in his path to start a bad romance. Their relationship causes chaos in the courtroom and inspires dangerous anarchists and fellow Arkham State Hospital inmates to start rallying around him.
The first film drew inspiration from The King of Comedy, Taxi Driver, and other Hollywood movies of the era. This time, Phillips pulled from Hollywood musicals for the fantasy song and dance numbers that feature Arthur and Lee taking part in Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour-esque numbers. Their musical numbers are raw and the song lyrics read more like dialogue, which makes sense considering Phillips doesn’t like calling his film a musical. The most interesting part of their relationship is that Lee loves the violent clown and the celebrity that comes from dating a violent criminal. It’s not a recipe for relationship success, and it would’ve been fun to see their relationship explored without so many song and dance numbers that are purposefully sung off-key.
There are a few interesting moments, like the animated Looney Tunes-esque opening by animator Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville). Also, there’s a fun bit about the TV movie about Arthur’s life that may or may not be terrible. Aside from these bits, Joker: Folie à Deux is an absolute drag made by two people who take pleasure in gambling with house money.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 584 – Badlands (1973), Terrence Malick and “Feel Good” Movies
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Mark and Jonny Numb discuss the 1973 crime classic Badlands. Directed by Terrence Malick, and starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek and an all-timer treehouse, the movie focuses on the fictionalized exploits of real-life murderer Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. In this episode, they also talk about white shirts, location shoots, and the excellence of Terrence Malick. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
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John’s Horror Corner: Subservience (2024), when domestic AI fembots go bad. (PS: this was actually pretty good!)
MY CALL: I was a lot more pleased with this movie than I expected! Very entertaining! Director S. K. Dale and Megan Fox have stepped up their game since Till Death (2021). Another satisfying cautionary tale of AI-gone-wrong. MORE MOVIES LIKE Subservience: For more AI behaving badly, try Child’s Play (2019), M3GAN (2022), Ex-Machina (2015), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Demon Seed (1977). The Machine (2013), Transcendence(2014) and Chappie (2015) all explore self-awareness, our judgment of it and its evolution in different ways. I recommend all three.
After an unexpected medical emergency, Nick’s wife Maggie (Madeline Zima; Heroes) is removed from their children and daily home life for an extended hospital stay awaiting a much needed medical procedure. Now shopping for a domestic SIM to help around the house, Nick (Michele Morrone) receives a sales pitch about their abilities in cooking, cleaning and childcare, with add-ons for accounting, Thai massage, and more.
Nick purchases a model that his daughter likes most: Alice (Megan Fox; Till Death, Jennifer’s Body). Alice quickly becomes accustomed to their lives, schedules and needs. As if Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) just moved in, the house is almost instantly spic and span, the kids like her, and a nice dinner finds them at the dinner table. Oh, and this fem bot wears attractive undergarments. Of course! But fret not. This movie doesn’t wander into very gratuitous waters.
In no time, Alice is listening to Nick vent about work. She’s understanding, supportive, and gets him another cocktail without being asked. Subservient indeed. Alice offers Nick some “extramural” comforts in his harder times which, at first, he resists… to a degree. But she also makes some misjudgments as to what is “best” for the emotional health of the family. Nick resists that more strongly.
Fearful of her prognosis, Maggie pleas to Alice to take care of her family, and gives instructions that may trump Alice’s primary user programing. Did you want a Chucky or Megan mishap? Because that’s exactly how we get a Child’s Play (2019) or M3GAN (2022) mishap!
The reintroduction of Maggie to her own household yields unexpected tensions as Alice understands her children a little too well. And when Nick’s job becomes jeopardized, Alice will go to any lengths necessary to protect her family. No surprises to be found here; this movie goes exactly where you expect it to go, in many of the ways we expect, but also in ways that we kind of want… in a satisfying way. There were even some tropey (but enjoyable iconic) echoes of The Terminator (1984) in there. Another entertaining cautionary tale of AI-gone-wrong.
I was a lot more pleased with this movie than I expected! Very entertaining! The director (S. K. Dale) has stepped up his game since Till Death (2021). And while Megan Fox was not given a great deal of character range to brandish, she also handled her role very well. I would love to see this director-actress team-up continue with subsequent films.
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John’s Horror Corner: Oddity (2024), a creepy, Irish supernatural thriller about a blind psychic, a golem, and a murder mystery.
MY CALL: An okay story executed brilliantly by an up-and-coming horrorsmith. Come, watch, enjoy. You won’t be riveted by any twists. But the journey will be an enjoyable, creepy one nonetheless. MORE MOVIES LIKE Oddity: Maybe What Lies Beneath (2000).
While renovating her remote country estate, Dani (Carolyn Bracken; You Are Not My Mother) is warned by a vagrant (Tadhg Murphy; The Northman) that someone has slipped into her home without her knowing. That night, Dani is brutally murdered.
A year has passed since her murder. Dani’s husband and the doctor attending to the disturbed man, Declan (Johnny French; Caveat) brings the deceased murderer’s glass eye to Dani’s sister Darcy (also played by Carolyn Bracken), a blind antique shopkeeper and psychic who wants to understand the motives of her sister’s murderer. Meanwhile, Declan’s girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton) begins seeing Darcy in the house at night, as if she haunts the estate of her death. If there’s a favorite character to be chosen in this film, it’s the atmosphere itself.
On the anniversary of Dani’s death, Darcy arrives unannounced at Declan and Yana’s home with a disturbing life-sized, golem-like dummy. Darcy seems insistent, and very agenda’d with her occult dummy, which is filled with tributes that smack of witchcraft. With Declan departing for the night shift, Yara is forced to spend the evening just as haunted by Darcy and the dummy as she is by Dani’s ghost, who might be trying to warn her of something. What ensues is an incredibly creepy, supernatural thriller.
Writer and director Damian McCarthy (Caveat) has come to us with a decent idea and excellent execution and vision. As if building his own horror movie universe (a la The Conjuring et alia), the stuffed bunny from Caveat (2020) is among Darcy’s shelves of cursed curios, along with an icon from Monkey Shines (1988). The movie won’t dwell on this; it’s just a passing titillation. The also film populates our eyes with some gorgeous photography, along with a curious proclivity for beautifully centered shots. Understandably contrasting is the macabre imagery, including an obliterated head with flesh chunks dispersed across a bloody floor, and curious views of the position of the hideous dummy.
Truth be told, the execution and vision behind this film are superior to the story and its revelations. Still, McCarthy is clearly a filmmaker to keep an eye on anticipating his next move… just like Darcy’s ominous wooden dummy.
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John’s Horror Corner: In a Violent Nature (2024), a Friday the 13th love letter from the killer’s perspective.
MY CALL: This is not the fast-paced, “fun” or cheeky popcorn horror you were looking for. This is something else. Something that is simultaneously tropey and thoughtful, and very patient. It’s more of a serious film than a fun flick… but it still packs the over-the-top, way gory death scenes you want. MORE MOVIES LIKE In a Violent Nature: There are many high-quality slashers out there. I’d recommend going back to the earlier half of the 80s for some special selections with the likes of Maniac (1980), The Prowler (1981), Madman (1981), Pieces (1982) and maaaaaybe even The Slumber Party Massacre (1982).
Has the basement scene from The Cabin in the Woods (2012) taught us nothing? During a hike to a collapsed fire tower in the woods where a grisly mass murder transpired many years ago, a twentysomething takes a curiously placed gold locket from the site even after his friend suggested that it looked like it was put there for a reason! Only minutes later, and devoid of the grand Friday the 13th part VI (1986) lightning strike resurrection and stormy weather pageantry, a body slowly emerges, shambling beneath soil and dead leaves. No dramatic scoring to be found; just birds peacefully chirping and the sound of the resurrected’s footsteps through the forest on a sunny day as our undead menace makes his way towards the group of camping twentysomethings responsible for taking his locket.
Then, in classically tropey form, a campfire tale provides the backstory exposition for Johnny (Ry Barrett; Lifechanger, Massacre at Femur Creek), the vengeful spirit that slaughtered those involved in the death of himself and his father years ago… and he was buried under the fire tower.
This is very clearly something of a love letter and reimagining of the Friday the 13th franchise. But the unique element here is that the camera’s perspective is that of our Jason Voorhees-like killer. The camera follows Johnny, revealing the quiet, less eventful observations of a mute masked killer as he moves from one death scene location to another amidst a horror movie. We see what Johnny sees, hears, observes, and what provokes him.
This film has received some negative criticism regarding the pacing, with complaints that “nothing happens” and “we just watch him walking around.” But I’d say, that’s the point. The killer’s perspective is much less salacious than twentysomethings partying, playing music, having sex, playing pranks on one another in the dark, and stumbling across the occasional graphically mutilated carcasses of their friends. Instead, we see how Johnny notices and chooses his victims. And then, yeah, we still get the gory death scene payoff. Moreover, I think we get just as much overall gory payoff. Really gory payoff. The yoga-hook-chain death and the rock-head-smash death were both just deliciously gross and graphic. The movie is so calm and quiet… and then it’s really not.
So is this a Friday night popcorn flick? Not really. It’s a thoughtful, taciturn think-piece showing the killer’s perspective while still delivering some solid, creative, gory kills. For those who want the more flagrantly fun slashers, I’d turn you to the Hatchet franchise (2006-2017). But for those true “film” fans who want a differently flavored slasher from time to time, this is the film for you.
This may not have been very exciting most of the time (except for some wild kills here and there), and the ending was especially slow (but not uninteresting, mind you). Still, I enjoyed this quite a bit. So to writer and director Chris Nash (ABCs of Death 2 “Z is for Zygote”), I’m picking up what you’re putting down.
Movies, Films & Flix 