The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 480: The Hunt (2020), Crystal May Creasey, and Kitchen Fights
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Mark and Lisa L. (@FoolishMinion20 on Twitter) discuss the 2020 action film The Hunt. Directed by Craig Zobel, and starring Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ethan Suplee and a fancy fireplace, the movie focuses on what happens when a group of morons decide to hunt a group of idiots. In this episode, they also talk about the greatness of Betty Gilpin, and why her character Crystal May Creasey is an action icon. 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: Jeepers Creepers (2001), basically a “Florida Man” cautionary tale about a very mysterious road-raging cannibal Boogeyman.
MY CALL: This Boogeyman movie is somehow both mean and fun at the same time, and this movie plays like a “bad movie” script was made by a solid cast and crew. You’ll have a lot of unanswered questions—in a kind of funny way. Very entertaining and not the typical kind of horror movie. MORE MOVIES LIKE Jeepers Creepers: Move on to Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003), which I find to be yet more fun with yet more exciting horror action.
Siblings Trish (Gina Philips; Jeepers Creepers 3, The Sickhouse) and Darry (Justin Long; Barbarian, Drag Me to Hell, After.Life, Tusk) are taking the rural countryside route heading home from college. They are typical siblings. They argue and nag each other to no end, but they are frenemy-besties when the going gets tough. They encounter a little road rage when a rusty vintage truck needlessly honks and bullies them into a stressed panic until it finally pulls past them. Filmed in Ocala, Florida, the opening scenes depict how many transplants react to erratic Florida drivers who—as my NJ girlfriend quotes—are apparently literally trying to cause multi-car pileups.
Farther down the road, when they witness the driver of the old jalopy dumping what appear to be dead bodies behind an old abandoned church at the side of the road, the trenchcoated driver spots them, pursues them, and violently runs them off the road. Again, my girlfriend would call this a “normal Florida driver.”
Now, rather than continuing to head home, these two decide to press their luck with this psychotic Florida Man and investigate his body dumping chute behind this creepy old church. Deep underground in a subterranean torture lair with the walls and ceiling lined with mannequinized dead bodies, Darry finds a dying victim with his abdomen crudely stitched up as if he had been autopsied. Yeah, Florida people. I know, right!
When these two get the local cops involved, we wander deep into bonkerstown with “The Creeper” wholesale murdering these sheriffs while on top of their speeding cruiser. This is where we learn this demon has something of a mullet (which is somehow never explained or explored or commented on even in the sequels), carries a very custom-job axe (again, no explanations about the Renaissance Fair armorer who likely commissioned that), and truly delights in his killing (still no good explanations). Oh, and it has even more surprises in store.
But I still have to wonder how no one ever questioned where this mulleted, trench-coated, road ragey, Florida-country cannibal-murderer got that custom axe. How about that batwing-facehugger thing attached to the back of its head!? I really dig this flick. But if you’re looking for answers, you won’t get any. Is this thing a demon? What was it doing to those people to make them like mannequin corpses? Why were those bodies plastering the walls and ceiling of his lair? Why was that kid’s stomach stitched up and how the heck was he still alive? Did the Creeper actually stroll into the local DMV to get his BEATNGU custom license plate? Does that mean he has a registered car, a driver’s license and auto insurance? Did the sheriff (Brandon Smith; Jeepers Creepers 3) never try to run the license plate through the system? No answers across the board except for a local psychic (Patricia Belcher; The Number 23) telling us he comes out every 23rd Spring for 23 days to “eat.”
This is more a cheeky yet mean monster movie and a cat-and-mouse chase than a movie that thrives on gore, blood and guts. There is some gore, but the effects are definitely biased towards our Creeper’s monster make-up and the horror action.
Written and directed by Victor Salva (Clownhouse, Powder, Jeepers Creepers 2-3), this was overall a very fun and energized horror movie. There are few scares as this plays out more like a hunt than a boogeyman flick. It just finds its thrills outside of jump scares. I enjoy the over-the-top antics of this Floridian demon who seems to enjoy his human-eating profession.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008), the teen horrors of high school in another Horror-LITE for beginners.
MY CALL: All the teen angst and horrors of adolescence, but none of the movie horror… at least, not for seasoned horror-goers. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Haunting of Molly Hartley: If you enjoy this style of young adult horror, then you might consider Séance (2021). For a more wild coming-of-age high school story, try Excision (2012). I haven’t seen the “sequel” to this movie (i.e., The Exorcism of Molly Hartley (2015)), but I’m inclined to pass.
Having suffered a horrible, near-death trauma at the hands of her disturbed mother (Marin Hinkle; Quarantine), Molly Hartley (Haley Bennett; Swallow, The Hole) lives with PTSD as she attempts to start fresh at a new prep school. She is plagued by nightmares she keeps to herself and social distractions abound both at home and at school. Meanwhile her father (Jake Weber; The Beach House, Dawn of the Dead, The Cell) just wants her to be happy and to consider forgiving her mother, her school counselor (Nina Siemaszko; The Hatred) is watching for signs of inherited schizophrenia, a classmate (Chace Crawford; The Boys, The Covenant) is turning on his charm, and the top ‘mean girl’ Suzie (AnnaLynne McCord; Tone-Deaf, Trash Fire, Day of the Dead, Excision) is trying to get in her way at every opportunity. So, yeah—drama!
As the story develops, so too does the high school drama. Molly lies to her father to sneak away to a party, she gets in a fight and injures her bully, she gets peer pressured to be “saved” by her Christian classmate, and she keeps having nightmares about her mother. Oh but wait, that last nightmare wasn’t a nightmare. Aaaaaand now her crazy mother is dead in a toothless scene lacking the horror it deserved.
Being Mickey Liddell’s only director credit, this film is well-made, well-written, well-produced and well-acted. What the film lacks is any sense of earned horror, intensity, creepiness or urgency. All the teen angst and horrors of adolescence (done well), but not enough of the movie horror. Atmosphere is not cultivated into tension—things just “happen.” We keep getting “told” that Molly’s situation is bad, but I hardly feel nervous for her even when her Baptism turns into attempted murder in the name of God. Even the “big finale reveal” felt completely unearned; just dropped in our lap with way too much bland exposition. I’d prefer something more vague, with more mystique, especially considering the cold open when a paranoid father killed his own daughter (Jessica Lowndes;Abattoir, Altitude, The Devil’s Carnival) who was hearing things.
This film closes tongue-in-cheek with the kind of ending you’d expect from a high school RomCom like 10 Things I Hate About You(1999), with a graduation ceremony, a triumphant speech from the Valedictorian, and the will-they-won’t-they couple finally together. It ends like a happy ending and a young adult horror twist.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 479: Hard Rain, Jet Skis, and Bank Robberies
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Erik discuss the 1998 action thriller Hard Rain. Directed by Mikael Salomon, and starring Christian Slater, Minnie Driver, Morgan Freeman and several other waterlogged actors, the movie focuses on the slippery shenanigans that follow an armored truck heist. In this episode, they also talk about high concept movies, non-violent villains, and water tanks. 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: Saloum (2021), a truly wonderfully executed crime thriller about trauma and revenge, followed by some ill-fitting supernatural horror.
MY CALL: This is an elite production of a crime thriller executed perfectly for 60 minutes, followed by something of a not-so-elite horror ending. But the good (in fact, the great) here tremendously outweighs what I considered the lesser aspects. So watch this and be dazzled. If our tastes differ, perhaps you’ll enjoy being dazzled for the full 90 minutes. But make no mistake. Despite my strong criticism, this is a strong recommendation for all film fans. MORE MOVIES LIKE Saloum: I struggle to conjure similar fare without simply saying the best of Guy Ritchie.
Wow. The almost addictive atmosphere of the opening scenes is… it’s energizing. A paramilitary hit squad navigates the casualty-littered streets on their way to “decommission” the local drug trade in a power coup. But as they position themselves before engaging, they step in tune to the soundtrack like an unintentional music video while the presentation of very hard violence is delivered with a tongue-in-cheek editing style smacking of a Guy Ritchie crime film. You see the intensity of this land and these militants, but you bob your head to the music during this almost “fun” introduction to a very rough people in a very rough part of the world.
Then the scene changes with the scoring, another riveting musical choice that almost feels like the scene change cued the start of a new level of some stylish new FPS game. If you watched this already, I’ll bet you remember thinking to yourself “I need to look up these songs!” Meanwhile, we are treated to beautiful shots of African landscapes. Good Lord, the music, camerawork and editing in this film! Chef’s kisses. Director Jean Luc Herbulot is on to something, and you’ll notice he loves using shoes during his visual storytelling.
Our gang escapes a conflict in Guinea Bissau and are forced to land their plane unexpectedly, but thankfully, in Saloum, where there is a preserve; a sanctuary previously visited by Cheike (YannGael; 1899). It is a place not of financial transactions between guest and owner, but of shared care and maintenance of the retreat. They plan to stay three nights. But the composition of the other guests at this sanctuary poses threats and challenges to the secrecy of our criminals. And that threat tears at the trust within our trio.
Eventually, the Guy Ritchieness tones down, along with the fast paced action and scoring and editing. Now we are immersed in more of a mystery/crime thriller in the Saloum retreat among the guests. We find past trauma, revenge, mystery, plotting… too many people seem to know their secrets at this preserve. The urgency is to get out of there as soon as they can, before their cover is blown.
When things wander into the supernatural, I was much less engaged. I preferred the crime thriller to the eventual horror spin. We encounter shaky CGI-blurred dust devils of spiritual pestilence, like miniature locust swarms. The spirits are… really weak in my opinion. I’m going out of my way to be really polite about this since the first hour was top-tier excellent as a crime thriller. But I did not care for the last 30 minutes (i.e., the supernatural portion) at all. Their rules, their purpose, their appearance, their special effects… this blew a flat. Worse, I didn’t care for any more for the actions or words of any of the characters—all of which I found flawlessly engaging in the previous 60 minutes.
But look, if you think I didn’t like this film because of that, then you need to re-read the first four paragraphs. I’ll not let, what in my opinion was 30 ill-fitting minutes of a totally different movie jammed into this elite production of a crime thriller, ruin or smear the cinema perfection of the beginning and middle. I really want to track back to that. When was the last time you thought a film was “perfect” for 60 straight minutes? Even if only because “most” things were done so seamlessly well, so engagingly, that the critical portion of your mind shut off and you were simply wowed…? THAT is how I felt, and now I want to see whatever Jean Luc Herbulot does next.
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John’s Horror Corner: Endangered Species (1982), a very strange crime/medical thriller with a serious cast.
MY CALL: I feel I have stumbled unexpectedly across a gem! This movie is really way better than the premise or movie posters would ever suggest. Fans of 80s (sort of) science thrillers, government conspiracies and obscure cinema ought to love this.
After resigning from the police force and becoming sober, ex-New York cop Ruben (Robert Urich; The Ice Pirates) heads to Colorado for a fresh start. Investigating a series of bizarre cattle mutilations, the local sheriff (JoBeth Williams; Poltergeist) reluctantly accepts Ruben’s help… and his romantic advances.
The mutilated cattle are somehow missing all of their organs as if they just evaporated, and their heads are “bisected” perfectly revealing a cross-section of skin, muscle and bone layers. Cattle tradesman Ben (Hoyt Axton; Gremlins) suspects devil worshippers, and doesn’t like it when the local news and sheriff keep digging deeper into this case.
So I’m watching this movie and I’m totally expecting a cheap gorefest of a creature feature, and then later I’m expecting an alien Sci-Horror type movie. Halfway into this film I no longer have any idea what genre I’m watching. I thought it was horror originally—literally, this was an accident as it was suggested to me as a Horror movie by Amazon. But now I’m thinking it’s more like a medical-crime thriller. Still, I’m liking it!
But what’s most interesting about this forgotten flick—that I’ve somehow never heard of—is that it has a pretty serious cast and a much more serious story than I expected. The additions of Peter Coyote (The 4400, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis), Dan Hedaya (The Hunger, Alien: Resurrection) and Harry Carey Jr. (Gremlins, The Exorcist III) bring gravity to this unraveling mystery in which the monsters are as human as you and me. Cliché, I know. But this movie does it well.
Director Alan Rudolph (Premonition, Terror Circus) made an interesting film that has nearly been lost in the ether. I suspect genre-confusion may have been part of the reason it’s so poorly known. The poster, premise, and even the vibe of the movie scream for horror, and a man’s guts spill out of his body in one scene (along with some other gory moments). Yet, as I’ve said, horror this most certainly is not.
Decent movie, though!
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John’s Horror Corner: Dracula 3-D (2012), if this is Dario Argento’s grand vision of Bram Stoker’s work… we need to check Argento for glaucoma.
MY CALL: This is a grand champion among awesome bad movies. Dracula fans will observe so many ill-funded great ideas, and so many misfires. I mean… I enjoyed this film a lot. But probably for reasons outside of Dario Argento’s intentions. MORE MOVIES LIKE Dracula 3-D: I feel like the Subspecies (1991) franchise captured a different flavor of Dracula’s mystique on a budget far more successfully. And to any who haven’t seen them, the OG Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and Interview with a Vampire (1994) were splendid period vampire films, along with the latest BBC mini-series Dracula (2020), which was a wonderfully different perspective.
This is a grand champion among bad movies that take themselves seriously. Of course, I only call this “bad” because we have this movie’s well-funded 1992 predecessor for comparison, with a glorious studio budget and top-tier cast. Directed and co-written by Dario Argento (Suspiria, Inferno, Mother of Tears, Two Evil Eyes), this approach to Bram Stoker’s Dracula had but a fraction of the budget of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 rendition. Nope, Argento enjoyed none of the budget. So instead he turned to enjoying all of the boobs, and he did so with long lingering shots… often on his daughter (Asia Argento; The Church, Demons 2, Mother of Tears).
But boobs are not the only cause for eye-rolling laughs. We see friendly curious wolves on screen frolicking about the forest while hearing the obviously mismatched sounds of snarling and growling; a skull-splitting shovel to the head represents the best gore; and a feral peasant biting a man’s ear is more convincing than when Dracula first bites a neck.
The iconic scenes representing Dracula’s folklore are weakly phoned-in—obviously partly due to budget, but also there were some obvious visionary short sights. The blood baptism of his new bride (Miriam Giovanelli) is reduced to a cut of the wrist and an emotionally hollow sip from a goblet; some scenes of Dracula in animal form would go completely unnoticed were it not for sudden and dramatic scoring indicating that “dun dun dunnnn, that rat is Dracula!”; and our discovery that he casts no reflection was completely without impact.
Harker’s seduction and vampire attack was perhaps the best executed, yet still laughable when compared to 1992. And both 1992 and Subspecies (1991) made finer work of Dracula’s wall-crawling ability. We also suffer (or laugh out loud at) the hands-down worst CGI wolf-to-man transformation ever.
It’s apparent that Argento was really trying, but just lacked the ability to capture the mystique of Dracula’s story and character. Argento’s greatest successes were the scenes of violence. Dracula slaughters a room of men by head-severing claw, blood-spewing throat gashes, flesh-ripping bite, and compelling a man to shoot himself (presented in awesome slow-motion) through the head—it’s a bloody pleasure. I also enjoyed Argento’s embrace of Dracula’s shapeshifting. Even though the execution is sadly most often stale, Dracula adopts a vast diversity of lesser animals to spy on villagers. At one point he enters a room as a swarm of flies; a very cool idea and a neat visual even on such a budget and CGI limitations. Where it jumps the shark is when Dracula assumes the form of a giant CGI praying mantis and slaughters Lucy’s father with its sharp forelimb through the chest. Oh, it’s hilarious—but it does great disservice to Bram Stoker’s vision.
And what of our hero? Van Helsing’s (Rutger Hauer; The Sonata, Bleeders, The Hitcher) vampire slaying is haphazard at best. He seems to fumble his way to victory upon his first two encounters. The character played out fine. But sadly the finale with Dracula and Helsing fell completely flat… kind of in a funny way… but in a way that was definitely not meant to be funny. At one point, Van Helsing grabs two twigs from the forest floor and aggressively cross them into a “+ sign” crucifix with a snarl. That sums up the budgetary efforts and impact on what should be the wowing cinematic moments in this movie.
As Dracula, Thomas Kretschmann (Blade II, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Hostel III) is the most convincing of the cast, followed by a spirited Unax Ugalde (as Harker). The wooden acting of most everyone else is a struggle to endure. But that is the least of this film’s flaws.
I mean… all told, I enjoyed this film a lot. But probably for reasons outside of Argento’s intentions.
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Where the Scary Things Are (2022) – Review by Jonny Numb
Where the Scary Things Are (2022)
By Jonny Numb (@JonnyNumb on Twitter)
Grade: B+
Where the Scary Things Are addresses a lot in a relatively compact 93-minute run time. It takes the notion of the horror genre as our most fertile artistic arena for articulating real-world fears and holds a mirror to the kids (and grownups) who inhabit our modern-day society. It’s a “monster movie” where there’s a literal monstrous Other (in this case, an urban legend known as “Lockjaw”) that is besieged by the whims of some particularly monstrous teenagers looking for cheap thrills.
Depictions of bored, amoral youth seeking the social-media spotlight often suffer from sledgehammer-subtle depictions of youth and out-of-touch depictions of social media. When films commenting on the corrosive effects of social media are good, they are very good: think Ingrid Goes West; Like Me; or last year’s Bodies Bodies Bodies. Each of these efforts are keyed into the boredom and delusion that play into depictions of online celebrity.
The kids in Where the Scary Things Are aren’t on the level of the junior sociopaths in a Larry Clark film, but they are well on their way. After being caught breaking into a Halloween park (Field of Screams in Lancaster, PA), the group is sent home. Writer-director B. Harrison Smith stages the parental fallout in a heavy-handed way that nonetheless gives valuable insight into the kids’ home lives, and the type of discipline they are (or aren’t) receiving.
But the youth – led by Ayla (Selina Flanscha, in a breakout performance) – are not “all good” or “all bad” per se. Even the adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door reimagined characters to provide a somewhat moral center. Here, we have hangers-on like the soft-spoken, diabetic Mighty (Riley Sullivan) and the conflicted yet consistently peer-pressured Snack (Peter Cote). Even the characters who appear on track to become future prison statistics are not without moments of relatability. In coming-of-age horror films like Deadgirl, teenagers are either on the edge of committing horrible acts…or diving full-on into the abyss simply because they can.
Angst can manifest in abused or neglected kids by bullying those weaker than them. When these teens are given the assignment of “creating an urban legend” for a class project, a real one literally falls at their feet. Looking like the Tarman from Return of the Living Dead, Lockjaw (whom the kids rename “Crocamole” to fit the fiction of their project) subsists on the fear of its victims. When the kids chain it up in an unused part of the Halloween park, they see an opportunity not only to ace the project, but get even with people they dislike.
Smith creates an atmosphere of desensitization from the outset – the kids’ “clubhouse” is a room with a replica of a disemboweled corpse on a dinner table – and depicts the teens as always seeking an adrenaline rush. This, coupled with a sense of indestructibility, leads to a reduced understanding of physical and moral consequences.
The script doesn’t affix a default “blame” to any of the characters, but shows how even the most good-natured intentions can create ripple effects that result in death and destruction. Mr. Lewis (Paul Cottman) is the teacher who assigns the “urban legend” project, and is clearly concerned with his students’ inability to discern fact from fiction. Not only does he have to deal with the everyday bureaucracy of the public education system; he also must take his students to task for the disturbing “reality” of their gone-viral “creation.” In the end, even authority figures tasked with teaching the up-and-coming generation aren’t immune to repercussions.
John Avarese’s score is appropriately moody, lending a distinctive weight to the proceedings. It’s ominous without being generic, and one of the film’s standout technical achievements. That said, the conceptualization of Lockjaw/Crocamole is admirably minimalist – a sentient black void that, in a none-too-subtle way, acts as a mirror to the cruelties visited upon it. Smith wisely keeps the creature in low light, thus accentuating the details most obvious to the naked eye.Films that address the seamy side of teen life – or just life in general – and don’t paint the world as all ice cream, rainbows and falling in love often face an uphill battle, especially when done well. Where the Scary Things Are may not have the overt exploitation elements of a Larry Clark film, but it is honest about its subject. Those who can look past the actions and attitudes of these characters and view the commentary beneath will be rewarded with a thoughtful – albeit frequently and appropriately unpleasant – take on humanity.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 478 (Nobody (2021), Bus Fights, and Bob Odenkirk)
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Norbert discuss the 2021 action film Nobody. Directed by Ilya Naishuller, and starring Bob Odenkirk, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Connie Nielsen, and a Hello Kitty bracelet, the movie focuses on what happens when a murderer decides to start murdering again. In this episode, they also talk about bus fights, musical cues, and Mark’s first boxing match inside a Florida bar. 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!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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MY CALL: Much better than I thought, both in fun “bad horror-ness” and in terms of how well- made it was. Recommended for fans of 80s B-cinema. MORE MOVIES LIKE Scarecrows: I have come to discover there are a LOT of scarecrow horror movies out there, and I’ve only seen this one. So I’ll blindly suggest Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981).
If you’re looking for some fun nonsense, this is immediately great. Bunch of tough guys with mean sneers and tactical gear, smoking cigars and shooting guns miles above ground in an airplane. Feels like the opening of a bad action movie, and I like it! After a heist, a plane hijacking, a double-cross and an in-flight gunfight, one of them parachute-escapes with the money down into a rural cemetery populated with creepy scarecrows. Now Bert the double-crosser needs to find where the money fell before his criminal colleagues catch up to him.
After locating the trunk of cash, Bert notices that some of the scarecrow crosses no longer have scarecrows on them. Hmmmm. If you’ve seen many horror movies, you know this doesn’t bode well for Bert.
This movie is actually pretty well made… I was expecting something hokier and cheesier. The gore gags are pretty good, visceral and graphic. Victims are hung like scarecrows and gutted like turkeys, with Bert getting stuffed with the stolen cash and then sewn back up, only to become some sort of scarecrow zombie himself. Bloody limb-sawing and gushy face stabbings ensue as the scarecrows pick off the criminal team one by one. Panic sets in and wild hypotheses form. Are these scarecrows zombies? Were they supposed to land here after the heist? Are Corbin and his team dead and being punished in Hell?
At first, I was disappointed that the scarecrows kill primarily by stabbing. But their stab game is strong; brutal and graphic. If you get killed by a scarecrow, you become a scarecrow. Simple.
Writer and director William Wesley (Route 666) stitched together a pretty solid cult classic B-movie. I thought this would be a fun, awful B-movie. But this was a pretty solidly good B-movie, if you ask me.
Movies, Films & Flix 