The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 474: Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan and Ben Foster
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Mark and John (@MFFHorrorCorner on Twitter) discuss the 2016 thriller Hell or High Water. Directed by David Mackenzie, and starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, and several banks, the movie focuses on what happens when two brothers start robbing banks to save their family ranch. In this episode, they also talk about Taylor Sheridan, movie brothers, and the excellence of Ben Foster. Enjoy!
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John’s Horror Corner: A Wounded Fawn (2022), a weirdly satisfying indie arthouse horror embracing Greek mythology.
MY CALL: Arthouse films are not my jam. But this trippy indie hooked me with a good serial killer vibe and its utility of Greek mythology. Weird and well done. MORE MOVIES LIKE A Wounded Fawn: Looking for more weird, trippy, surreal horror? Maybe try Mandy (2018), Antichrist (2009) or Natural Born Killers (1994).
Off for a weekend retreat to get to know one another better, Meredith (Sarah Lind; Wolfcop, Jakob’s Wife, The Exorcism of Molly Hartley) and Bruce (Josh Ruben; Scare Me, Werewolves Within, Blood Relatives) are off for a cabin retreat. Something awkward about their dialogue, I came to realize, is that this weekend is essentially their second date (or so)—they really don’t know much about each other at all.
Bruce’s cabin is an artistic splendor, but something haunts Meredith upon her arrival. There seems to be a woman skulking about the cabin. All the while, we can see that Bruce is fighting off some sort of dark murderous compulsion in the shadows of his subconscious which he occasionally “sees” standing before him, as if beckoning the sin. Their first evening grows tense by dinner time and Meredith already wants to go home back to the city. I think anyone who’s ever been on a bad or strange date will readily relate to this deliberately restrained panic and urge to flee, purely to avoid inciting unwanted reactions from the other party. After all, you don’t just suddenly scream, turn and sprint when you cross a bear on a forest path.
Most pleasing to me was the use of a small “Erinyes” sculpture as a plot device. The exposition behind the piece was organic, it served as a plot device, and was ultimately thematic to the Greek Mythology-inspired fate of our characters.
This film has a very, very indie look to it, as well as some very strong, recurring arthouse elements. Indeed, this is an arthouse film. But there are also some more mainstream visceral, graphic wounds and blood. The fleshy gore is not frequent nor thematic to this film, but effective. The atmosphere is sufficiently creepy, and occasionally lulls us into surreal dream sequences and threatening visions.
All told, this was neither riveting nor exciting—truly, this just isn’t “my kind of movie.” However, it was very interesting. I was ever curious about what was going on, where it was leading, what it all means… and unlike most horror movies, I found some satisfaction to its resolution.
The atmosphere was well-cultivated, I was always curious where it was heading next, and while not my style at all, the arthouse components sure threw a curveball into the mix. So I’d call this an intriguing arthouse horror for the more inquisitive viewer. I’m definitely glad I gave this a shot and will now seek out more films by director Travis Stevens’ (Girl on the Third Floor, Jakob’s Wife). I also enjoyed Girl on the Third Floor (2019), so Jakob’s Wife (2021) is next for me!
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John’s Horror Corner: Nightmare Cinema (2018), a solid horror anthology worth your time.
MY CALL: This was good. I’ve encountered plenty of anthologies of short films by inexperienced filmmakers and aggravatingly low budgets Frankensteined together into 90 minutes. At times they can feel like an assembly of short films that failed to find acclaim, so they bundled them together and called it a movie of a different name. This is not one of them. Nightmare Cinema is an enjoyable anthology with a broad range of themes, filmmaking styles, and solid special effects and gore. I’m even more impressed at the special effects quality considering these shorts were all made independently of one another.
MORE HORROR ANTHOLOGIES: Dead of Night (1945), Black Sabbath (1963), Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Uncanny (1977), Screams of a Winter Night (1979), Creepshow (1982), Screamtime (1983), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985), Deadtime Stories (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987), From a Whisper to a Scream (1987; aka The Offspring), After Midnight (1989), Tales from the Crypt Season 1 (1989), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), Grimm Prairie Tales (1990), The Willies (1990), Two Evil Eyes (1990), Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Campfire Tales (1997), Dark Tales of Japan (2004), 3 Extremes (2004), Creepshow 3 (2006), Trick ‘r Treat (2007), Chillerama (2011), Little Deaths (2011), V/H/S (2012), The Theater Bizarre (2012), The ABCs of Death (2013), V/H/S 2 (2013), All Hallows’ Eve (2013), The Profane Exhibit (2013), The ABCs of Death 2 (2014), V/H/S Viral (2014), Southbound (2015), Tales of Halloween (2015), A Christmas Horror Story (2015), The ABCs of Death 2.5 (2016), Holidays (2016), Terrified (2017; aka Aterrados, a pseudo-anthology), Oats Studios, Vol. 1 (2017), Ghost Stories (2017), XX (2017), All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018), The Field Guide to Evil (2018), Shudder’s series Creepshow (2019-2021), Scare Package (2019), The Mortuary Collection (2019), Xenophobia (2019), V/H/S/94 (2021), Netflix’s series Cabinet of Curiosities (2022) and V/H/S/99 (2022).
This horror anthology’s segments lack any theme or story-based links to one another, and are all made by different filmmakers. This generally produces the greatest diversity in anthology segments for those seeking a lot of different flavors (e.g., The Field Guide to Evil). But it also means we’ll find no consistency in quality or style, nor storytelling synthesis (e.g., Trick ‘r Treat) for those who prefer that.
In this anthology, the flavors at hand to tickle our horror taste buds include manic horror-comedy, a solid Twilight Zone throwback, demonic possession, surreal trippy psychological horror, alien spiders, botched plastic surgery medical horror, a sword-wielding priest on a gory killing rampage in a church, and generally high-quality gore and latex effects at high frequency.
The Projectionist—Our wraparound story presents a series of people wandering into an empty theater led by some spectral force to watch their own fates transpire on the screen. Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart) gives an empty husk of a performance as the Grim Reaperly projectionist. This wraparound is the only “segment” I didn’t care for at all.
Director and writer Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, Psycho IV, Critters 2).
The Thing in the Woods— Hunted by a pickaxe-wielding maniac, an attractive young woman (Sarah Elizabeth Withers) covered in blood sprints through the woods with the camera fawning over breast and butt angles, clearly doing so deliberately and overtly. She trips and falls face first into a rotting corpse, fumbling through its entrails as she struggles to get up. That scene really sets the tone well! The gore is abundant and grotesque with a head split wide open and gaping for the world to see like a flower opening for the sun.
The gore is on-point, deliciously executed, and tiptoes slapstick with a chuckle-worthy gun mishap and a wonderful exploding head gag. There are multiple scenes of head splitting awesomeness! This is delightful, relentlessly silly, horror comedy. We have our Welder-killer (Eric Nelson), a spirited final girl fight, and alien meteorite spiders that crawl in your mouth and possess you. Constant action and gore to match this “slasher-plus” theme made for an outstanding segment. This was wonderful!
Director and writer Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead).
Mirari—Recently engaged Anna (Zarah Mahler; The Wretched) consults a plastic surgeon at the Mirari Clinic to help with facial scarring after a car accident. The charismatic doctor convinces her to have additional work done… and then yet more. Medical horror, medical abuse, coerced surgery and imagery of surgical mutilation are the themes of this segment, much like that old Twilight Zone episode Eye of the Beholder (1960; S2 E6). Much more tame in pacing than The Thing in the Woods, but this leads us to a great reveal. Very satisfying down to the Twilight Zone-ish delivery style.
Director Joe Dante (Burying the Ex, The Howling, Piranha).
Mashit—This “religious horror” segment opens with a possessed Catholic school boy falls to his bloody death; and what a great gruesome shot it is! Mashit is a demon who leads children to suicide, and this demon is hard at work today as we enjoy creepy contorted possession-walking/crawling/backwalking.
By my critical eye, the exposition doesn’t feel well-executed, and the writing and acting don’t quite do the gravity of the premise justice. But this is more than forgiven when we reach the incredibly violent, gory battle between a sword-wielding priest (Maurice Benard) and an army of small possessed children biting, stabbing and headbutting the priest as he hatchets heads in half and jettisons severed heads from their shoulders spinning through the air spiraling blood like a sprinkler. This very extended scene felt like the church fight in Kingsman (2014) with horror flair, and it’s quite satisfying in its lunacy.
Director Ryûhei Kitamura (Azumi, Versus).
This Way to Egress—A woman (Elizabeth Reaser; Ouija: Origin of Evil, The Haunting of Hill House) visits a therapist to discuss her fear of change. Everyone around her seems to be changing over time, for the worse, and for the uglier—literally. The world becomes filthy and people become truly macabre, deformed and distorted to her. Feels like something from Cronenberg’s mind crossed with a dark Black Mirror episode. Her paranoia really elevates and things get weirdly surreal. There are very interesting ideas and visuals—I felt like I was in a drug-induced nightmare.
Director David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night).
Dead—A carjacking results in the violent death of a family of three with seriously graphic gun violence. In the hospital, the revived boy encounters a stitchwork horror of a patient. Turns out after his brush with death, now he sees dead people wandering the hospital as they were in their bloody final moments. This segment features some great gore and violence, but weak writing. Still, it is visually satisfying and finishes strong.
Director and writer Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, Psycho IV, Critters 2).
Although I prefer my anthologies to have more cohesively linked stories (e.g., The Mortuary Collection, Trick ‘r Treat) or richer stories to tell with clever twists, themes or moral spins (e.g., Terrified, Holidays), this anthology still manages to deliver the goods in the form of solid filmmaking across the board and a nice mix of themes, subgenres and styles. I’ve encountered plenty of anthologies Frankensteined together by fledgling filmmakers and shoestring budgets (e.g., Scare Package, Screamtime). This is not one of them. Mirari and The Thing in the Woods were delightful, and This Way to Egress captured a Cronenbergian level of surreal weirdness. Everything here is of decent quality and filmmaking prowess.
Definitely worth your time.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 473: Scream 2, Slasher Sequels, and Ooze
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Mark and Zanandi (@ZaNandi on Twitter) discuss the 1997 slasher sequel Scream 2. Directed by Wes Craven, and starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Timothy Olyphant and a very smart cameraman, the movie focuses on what happens when Ghostface goes to college. In this episode, they also talk about car chases, movie soundtracks, and the chemistry between Arquette and Cox. 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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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 472: I Spit on Your Grave, Day of the Woman, and Exploitation Cinema
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Mark and Haikim discuss the 1978 exploitation film I Spit on Your Grave (AKA Day of the Woman). Directed by Meir Zarchi, and starring Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, and Richard Pace, this violent piece of low-budget filmmaking has become one of the most notorious films ever made due to its extreme content and controversy. In this episode, they also talk about 1970s cinema, low-budget filmmaking, and horror remakes. 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: Screamtime (1983), an understandably obscure British horror anthology.
MY CALL: There’s good reason that you likely haven’t heard of this movie and, if you have, you’ve had trouble finding it. It’s… not good. Like, on all levels it’s not good. Weak writing, acting, premises, directing, effects–everything. MORE MOVIES LIKE Screamtime: I’m inclined to suggest Dolls (1987) for anyone who wants to see doll horror done right.
MORE HORROR ANTHOLOGIES: Dead of Night (1945), Black Sabbath (1963), Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Uncanny (1977), Screams of a Winter Night (1979), Creepshow (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985), Deadtime Stories (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987), From a Whisper to a Scream (1987; aka The Offspring), After Midnight (1989), Tales from the Crypt Season 1 (1989), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), Grimm Prairie Tales (1990), The Willies (1990), Two Evil Eyes (1990), Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Campfire Tales (1997), Dark Tales of Japan (2004), 3 Extremes (2004), Creepshow 3 (2006), Trick ‘r Treat (2007), Chillerama (2011), Little Deaths (2011), V/H/S (2012), The Theater Bizarre (2012), The ABCs of Death (2013), V/H/S 2 (2013), All Hallows’ Eve (2013), The Profane Exhibit (2013), The ABCs of Death 2 (2014), V/H/S Viral (2014), Southbound (2015), Tales of Halloween (2015), A Christmas Horror Story (2015), The ABCs of Death 2.5 (2016), Holidays (2016), Terrified (2017; aka Aterrados, a pseudo-anthology), Oats Studios, Vol. 1 (2017), Ghost Stories (2017), XX (2017), All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018), The Field Guide to Evil (2018), Shudder’s series Creepshow (2019-2021), Scare Package (2019), The Mortuary Collection (2019), Xenophobia (2019), V/H/S/94 (2021), Netflix’s series Cabinet of Curiosities (2022) and V/H/S/99 (2022).
As an old school movie collector, I love that this anthology begins with two guys at a video store—even if the execution is weak. A simple wraparound story, they snatch some movies and their illegal rentals serve as the source of the anthology stories.
Awakening my nostalgia, the first story (That’s the Way We Do It) revolves around puppets called Punch and Judy—and Punch looks just like Mister Punch from Dolls (1987), who was gifted to a girl named Judy in that movie. As is so often the case with dolls in horror, the owner and crafter (Robin Bailey) is devoted to his creations, which are damaged and disrespected by his wife and snide stepson (Jonathon Morris; Vampire Journals, Subspecies 4). Unfortunately all occurring off-screen, the wife and stepson get their comeuppance when they are beaten to death by a two-by-four by Punch. You’ll probably figure out the ending—it’s very predictably cliché, though not completely unentertaining for it. Somewhat boring, somewhat cheeky.
The second story (Dreamhouse) is about a married couple in their new home. The wife constantly fears there is someone in the house at night, with no one to be found by her husband. She also has psychic visions of bloody murder and dead bodies. There are some graphic, though clumsy, scenes of murderous violence. Generally, another boring and weakly executed story that I could have done completely without.
The third story (Do You Believe in Fairies?) is about a young man who takes a job as a handyman and gardener for two elderly women who claim to have fairies tending the garden. When he decides to rob the old heiresses, their garden gnomes and fairies come to their aid. This was horrible. However, some may find a laugh when the inanimate garden gnomes converge on the thieves.
The wraparound story adds no substance whatsoever to the movie, which packs rather weak anthology entries. I guess this explains why this movie is so hard to find. This was boring. The stories were uncreative and/or uninteresting, and all levels of performance and filmmaking were poor in my opinion. Very poor. There are simply too many better anthologies to suggest one suffer through this lest (like me) they are anthology completists who simply want to see them all. If that’s your pleasure and you still want to see it, I found a rough transfer from VHS on YouTube.
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MY CALL: While I must admit, I felt that I had to see an American frontier period horror-dark fantasy movie, I now just as equally wish I had never heard of this awful cinematic miscreation. Hard Pass. But take into consideration that Amazon reviewers seem to have LOVED this film even if I clearly didn’t. MORE MOVIES LIKE Eyes of Fire: I thought I was getting something dark fantasy more like The Bride (1985), which you should probably go watch instead. But if it’s frontier horror you seek, then consider Bone Tomahawk (2015), Ravenous (1999), Deadbirds (2004), The Witch (2016) or Grimm Prairie Tales (1990).
A 1750 minister accused of polygamy for taking in a widow, Will (Dennis Lipscomb;The First Power) and his followers are excommunicated from their settlement. The story linking these characters is needlessly complicated, even if not unrealistic. And while it may represent the way things were at the time, the writing stumbles through it while trying to jam star-shaped characters through square-shaped plot holes. Together they brave the American frontier, hiking across the dangerous Shawnee Native American territory. Yup. It’s as riveting as it sounds.
As this exiled group of settlers try to start a life in the forest, they are haunted by forest spirits. A mute and apparently good witch, Leah (Karlene Crockett) has visions of these spiritual threats, whereas sometimes these spirits harass everyone in real life. For much of the movie, nothing ever really amounts to anything substantial—or the movie just squanders harbingered perils with weak storytelling. References to a “devil tree” never produce greater threats than weird human faces forming in tree bark. And visions of naked, mud-covered Native spirits are never restless enough to considerably bother the living. Of course, all these rather unthreatening “threats” become more threatening later in the movie, long past the point that I stopped caring.
Some sightings of what I’ll call a grimy, mud-orc amount to very little of interest. I mean, it kills someone. But in the most boring way possible—slowly pulling them into a mud puddle. Just a big nothing really. Turns out the mud orc is actually a tree witch that desires children. But if it’s a tree witch you want, you should turn to The Guardian (1990) instead.
This movie is… awful. It’s boring, unengaging, and just plain not good. I guess it should come as no surprise that I had never heard of it (until this week). Yet still, in watching this I see loads of creative ambition that just lacked the budget, writing and filmmaking prowess to come to fruition.
Meanwhile, a wealth of five-star reviews on Amazon have me feeling like I’ve been cursed. For me, one star… no more. But why so many good ratings? I guess maybe these other viewers didn’t approach this under the impression it was a horror movie…? Maybe they just liked what the film was trying to do—which, admittedly, is an interesting genre-splicing of historical drama, dark fantasy and horror (in that order, I’d say).
Most of the “horror” which befalls our characters is simply a product of living in the harsh frontier lands or an occasional hostile Native American encounter. Only in the last act do we encounter some grimy gory faces. But they feel so out of place in the movie as a whole… so like everything else going on here, I just don’t care.
Writer and director Avery Crounse (Sister Island, The Invisible Kid) only ever did three movies, the other two at least as obscure as this one in the annals of film history. Probably for the best. While I must admit, I felt that I had to see an American frontier period horror movie, I now just as equally wish I had never heard of this awful cinematic miscreation.
Hard Pass.
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Mark and Megan talk about their favorite 2022 films and hand out random awards to the movie moments and characters that they love most. In this episode, they talk about EO, Triangle of Sadness, Mad God, Decision to Leave, Murina, Happening, Aftersun, RRR, The Woman King, Prey, Barbarian, The Banshees of Inisherin, and many more! 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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MY CALL: Almost as much a “dance movie” as it is a giallo-ish crime thriller, this was an enjoyable change of pace after Fulci’s Gates of Hell trilogy. Sure, I love gore whereas this has but some blood. Yet this was intriguing and had intense kills in its own unique way. MORE MOVIES LIKE Murder-Rock: If you just want to stay in the realm of dance horror, consider Suspiria (1977), the Suspiria (2018) remake, Black Swan (2010) and Aerobicide (1987).
Okay, wow. So right out of the gates—so many long, surprisingly inspired and elaborate dance numbers with incredibly lively music. From Breakin’-inspired (1984) pop-and-lock to ballet-contemporary and straight-up Flashdance-y (1983) provocative. Cameras wander to gyrating hips and other delicate bits. But make no mistake. This movie features some major dance routines!
With a major show coming up soon and a big competitive cut to be made to whittle down the over-worked dance students, recent murders beg the question of whether the killer isn’t one of the students trying to ensure her rise to stardom. With time, more are murdered in the same very specific manner, but the authorities seem no closer to identifying the killer. Between the murders and the unfair competitive pressure being placed on the students, the head dance instructor (Geretta Geretta; Demons, Shocking Dark) and school mistress Candice (Olga Karlatos;In Hell, Zombie) are placed at odds.
In proper giallo form, our killer POV shows his extended, gloved hand as he chloroforms his dance student victim and slowly punctures her breast and ribs through to her lung with an ornate hair needle. For so little blood during this almost peaceful murder, it actually struck me as very tense and graphic.
I watched this expecting the kind of movie that might transition horror between Suspiria (1977) and Aerobicide (1987)—not the case. The horror is quite soft in this film, which is more of a crime thriller in nature. But as a crime thriller, it’s decent. Just don’t come into this thinking you’re getting a wildly gory Lucio Fulci (Zombie, The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, The House by the Cemetery) movie.
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MY CALL: Certainly very Christmas-y, more so than most Christmas horror. But actually not very horror-y for my taste. Weak kills, weak gore, horror-lite, and feels more like a murderous drama about a man pushed over the edge. Still, not bad. MORE MOVIES LIKE Christmas Evil: For more holiday horror, check out Black Christmas (1974, 2006 remake, 2019 reimagining), Await Further Instructions (2018), Holidays (2016; Christmas), A Christmas Horror Story (2015), Krampus (2015), Better Watch Out (2016), Silent Night Deadly Night (1984), Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010), Gremlins (1984), Elves (1989), Tales from the Crypt Season 1 (1989; And All Through the House) and Tales from the Crypt (1972; And All Through the House). Skip Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984), The Oracle (1985), Silent Night Deadly Night part 2 (1987), and maybe even All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018).
Obsessed with Christmas to such extent that he spies on the neighborhood kids keeping an elaborate list of who has been naughty or nice, Harry (Brandon Maggart; Dressed to Kill) is about crack. Between being disrespected at the toy factory by his own employees and then corporate, he had it!
Harry lives and breathes Christmas. He manages a toy factory, dresses as Santa and sleeps in Santa pajamas, he literally makes kids toys and delivers toys to the needy, and he sings Christmas songs during his morning routine. And whereas Silent Night Deadly Night (1984) features a toy store employee in a Santa suit murdering people, Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984) features a killer targeting blue collar holiday Santas, and Elves (1989) is literally about a Christmas elf trying to mate on Christmas eve; they just don’t manage to capture that Christmasy feeling as much as Christmas Evil does. There are Christmas decorations, employee Christmas parties, Christmas music, and yuletide décor at every turn. Oh, and I love that Harry tried and failed to go down a chimney in a Santa suite—and by that, I mean breaking and entering!
So yes, this movie is very Christmasy. Unfortunately, it’s not as awesome as it is in the spirit. And while it’s decently produced for a 1980 holiday horror, there’s really not much substance to the horror. The best stocking-stuffer in this movie’s Christmas sack is a finding a young Jeffrey DeMunn (The Mist, The Hitcher, The Blob) playing Harry’s brother.
The execution of the death scenes isn’t great, and the pacing of the “horror” takes a while to kick into gear, but I’ve definitely seen worse. The kills are few and the height of creativity is found in smothering someone with a sack of presents. This movie really feels like it’s going to build up to a killing spree. But it never does. The horror stays very light, and the body count remains low. Truly, the movie feels quite misnamed.
This feels more like a super low budget predecessor of Falling Down (1993), but with Christmas themes. Harry never really felt like “the killer” in a holiday horror movie. He felt more like a guy who was pushed to his limits and went a little nuts. And sure, he killed a few people. But it almost feels like a drama-thriller more than anything I’d call horror.
Was this movie good? Not really. Was it really even a horror movie? Let’s say no—perhaps on the cusp. But ultimately, I’m glad I finally saw it. It’s an interesting little film creation.
Movies, Films & Flix 