MY CALL: With better writing and more honed direction, this could have been much better. But as it is, this is a mildly thrilling thriller aiming all its attention at Megan Fox… who accordingly seems to be the punching bag of all this film’s criticism. MORE MOVIES LIKE Till Death: Gerald’s Game (2017) and You’re Next (2013), which both did it better.
Having been a while since I’ve seen Megan Fox in horror or anything serious, I was nervous yet optimistic for her. As we meet our protagonist Emma (Megan Fox; Jennifer’s Body), she is caught between two men. One an affair with Tom (Aml Ameen; The Maze Runner, Evidence) that she breaks off the eve of her anniversary; the other her strained, cold marriage to Mark (Eoin Macken; The Hole in the Ground, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter). But when her anniversary weekend at their remote lake house in the winter leaves her handcuffed to her now dead husband, her love life is ever more complicated than before.
Watching Emma drag her dead husband around the house with his massive headwound while wearing his bloody clothes is not as awkwardly amusing as I’d hoped. It’s cheeky, sure. But it needs help to carry the scenes. Emma talking to herself throughout the process could also be funnier, but it’s not bad. If anything, what I find truly funny here is how unreasonably elaborate this revenge plot is. You’d think Mark was a disciple of Jigsaw in one of the later Saw sequels with all his little posthumous recordings and notes and how he rigged the lake house so extensively in such a short period of time.
Not only is Emma condemned to lugging around her dead husband, but the phones are out, and her terrifying past arrives for its pound of flesh in the form of someone she sent to jail years ago—Bobby Ray (Callan Mulvey; Shadow in the Cloud) and Jimmy (Jack Roth; Rogue One). Now that her hunters have arrived, the stakes are raised and I’m enjoying her now-more-urgent spouse-dragging more. Moreover, the filmmakers do a good job of creating a convincing cat and mouse chase in such a small venue with some clever timing and hide and seek shenanigans. When Emma is forced to fight back, what little we get is generally well-done and very credible. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very exciting and I wanted something more shocking to come of it.
This movie steadily gets better as you watch it. Sure, the opening scenes spinning all the relationship drama was very dry. But with each 15-20 minutes that passed I noticeably found myself enjoying this more, while also seeing more interesting writing and filmmaking decisions realized before me. Still, I feel sharper writing would have helped this movie a lot.
Megan Fox did well enough with what she had, and the story comes to a satisfying ending. I feel like most people who didn’t care for this movie readily and unfairly blame Fox—but I’d argue that no one in the film gave a “better” performance than she did. And sure, she had some rough line deliveries in the opening scenes (which felt very, very, very forced by the writer and director)… but they were also rigidly performed by her co-stars who simply had less screen time and fewer lines. The writing and directorial experience just wasn’t there.
I had hoped that director S. K. Dale’s first feature film would be Gerald’s Game (2017) meets You’re Next (2013). But to think that would nurse greater expectations than anyone should have. This movie is just good enough to not regret watching it. I wouldn’t really recommend this. But it’s a perfectly “just good enough” popcorn evening of entertainment.
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Halloween Kills (2021) – Review: A Misguided Sequel That Kills The Momentum Built From the 2018 Rebootquel
Quick Thoughts – Grade – D – The opening credits of Halloween (2018) feature a pumpkin becoming fresh again. The opening credits of Halloween Kills should’ve featured the fresh pumpkin being overwhelmed by mold and collapsing into a pile of mush.
The David Gordon Green directed Halloween Kills is a classic example of what happens when sequels lose focus, and choose to go big. Instead of keeping it small and dealing with the aftermath of Michael Myers surviving the trap that Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) set for him, David Gordon Green and fellow writers Danny McBride and Scott Teems expand the world, and focus on what happens when a mob forms, and some familiar residents of Haddonfield starting hunting down Myers. What follows is a total waste of time, as nothing is resolved, time is wasted, and the kills become unnecessarily bloody. The worst thing about Halloween Kills, is that it has no idea of who Michael Myers is. Is he the bogeyman? Is he some dude who decided to kill one night? Is he some guy who just wanders around and wants to go home? Is he some immortal monster who just keeps getting stronger and stronger?
Halloween Kills focuses on the aftermath of Michael surviving the trap that Laurie had been planning for 40 years. Thinking Michael has burnt to death, Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), head to the local hospital to get their wounds taken care of, and try to start coping with a horrible night that saw their friends and loved ones killed. The problem is, Michael survived the fire, killed several firefighters, and his presence has riled up the locals into a murderous frenzy. From there, a plethora of former Halloween franchise characters have major roles (and most are killed), and they spend their return to the franchise trying and failing to kill the local bogeyman. None of it matters as it all seems like a time wasting middle chapter, that will make a lot of money, and lead to another battle between Laurie and Michael that will close out the trilogy.
The majority of the reviews and trailers have focused on the violence found in this sequel, which is fair considering Halloween II (1981) and Halloween II (2009) both stepped up their violence. However, both sequels made less money, and have lower critical scores, which means the ultra-violence (the hot tub death…) doesn’t always mean a step up in quality. 1980’s slasher fans will appreciate the various ways in which Michael kills, but, people expecting Michael to be interesting or layered will be disappointed (watch the 1978 original again, you’ll see Michael is a complex murderer). The idea of mob justice is nothing new to the Halloween world, but mob justice took place on the periphery in movies like Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Halloween Kills is overwhelmed by a screaming group of extras led by the grown up Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall taking over for Paul Rudd), a baseball bat wielding badass who is still dealing with the trauma that occurred in 1978. The focus on the mob takes screen time away from Laurie and her family, who made a big impact in the 2018 film, and are a big reason why the film became a blockbuster smash. Why spend so much time creating a believable family dynamic, and then abandon it with a group of pointless townsfolk who are suppossed to be subverting the trend of dangeous mobs?
The best part of Halloween Kills is the opening flashback that features Jim Cummings (The Wolf of Snow Hollow, Thunder Road) punching Myers in the stomach. I had no clue that Cummings was in the film, and seeing him scrap with a horror legend was worth the price of admission.
Final thoughts – Halloween Kills is a waste of time, that kills any goodwill built up by the 2018 rebootquel.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 392: Hereditary, Cults, and Get Rich Schemes
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 Lisa Leaheey (of the SibList Podcast) discuss the 2018 horror film Hereditary. Directed by Ari Aster, and starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Gabriel Byrne, and Milly Shapiro, the movie focuses on what happens when a demon worshipping cult wants to make some extra money. In this episode, they talk about chocolate, insane scams, and the beautiful production design.
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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NOT SAFE FOR WORK
NSFW
NOT SAFE FOR WORK
MY CALL: Really cool ideas and monster effects don’t save this pseudo-anthology from the depths of generally weak filmmaking and writing. As impressed as I was with the monsters, I simply found the film boring. Sorry. I really wanted to like this. MORE MOVIES LIKE Necromentia: Well, for more body modification horror and/or discount Cenobites, I’d recommend Strangeland (1998), Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993) and No Reason (2010).
A disoriented man (Hagen; Santiago Craig) awakens with a Ouija board scarred into his back and a strange gas-masked Cenobite giving him a hammed-up Jigsaw lecture about his choices and punishment. After the recent passing of his wife, Hagen had preserved her stiffening body in his makeshift, filthy basement mortuary where his daily “maintenance” of her condition flirts with necrophilia. His eventual fate at the hands of yet another undeniably Hellraiser-inspired Cenobite is gruesome, and his dark angel perpetrator looked positively wicked considering the budget of the film!
Travis (Chad Grimes), the man who scarred the Ouija board onto Hagen, had fallen on tough times after the loss of his parents. To care for his disabled younger brother Thomas (Zach Cumer), he runs a scarification business. But while he works, a pig-headed, barb wire fever dream of a demon convinces the boy to commit suicide. Using the dark gifts of necromancy, Travis conjures a demon into a dead man’s body to aid him. But the demon has demands.
The special effects were very good considering budgetary restrictions—although, the effects probably accounted for the lion’s share of money spent. Morbius (Layton Matthews) is poisoned, but takes the life of his murderer before succumbing to a massively gruesome, skull-cracking face-smashing. Scenes of body modification and on-screen torture are also graphic, but not unbearably brutal. We find bondage, sheers severing fingers, oral surgery devices, some disembowelment… it’s like Marylin Manson’s wet dream of the 90s.
The weakest component of this film is the dialogue. When demons speak, they speak the lines you’d expect a twelve-year-old to write; it’s the stuff of 80s comic books with horror flare. Unfortunately, it really diminished the gravity otherwise cultivated by the macabre visuals and tactfully dreary sets.
Advertised as Saw (2004) meets Hellraiser (1987), I feel somewhat conflicted. If I simply agree, then people will get excited to watch this with very high expectations. If I disagree, then I’d also be denying the obvious and frequent concepts inspired by those films and brandished proudly on-screen. Perhaps this is more like Saw (2004) meets Hellraiser (1987) in the hands of inferior filmmakers (sorry, not sorry) with some really cool ideas.
On a budget of only $300k, director and writer Pearry Reginald Teo (The Gene Generation, The Evil Inside) did a lot with this pseudo-anthology which links the dark fate of several people to a ritualistic necromantic wounding. For all the provocative imagery and gore, I just never really cared what happened. This was really rather boring for something so macabre. Great ideals, great vision, but much more in terms of execution is left to be desired. Sigh… oh well. I’m glad I gave it a try. This film tried its best.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Granny (1995), ugly crusty-faced demons and nice boobs populate this raunchy horror comedy.
MY CALL: This is middle-of-the-road schlocky fun. Boobs, blood, demon faces and weak death scenes. You could do worse. But you could do way better. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Granny: Well, for more murderously demonic geriatric horror, go for Rabid Grannies (1988). Another potion of eternal youth-gone-wrong B-movie delight would be The Rejuvenator (1988).
In the space of just a few minutes, director Luca Bercovici (Rockula, Dark Tide) sets the raunchy atmosphere with a gross bang. There’s a Night of the Demons-ish (1988-) smuttiness to be found as a demon-possessed woman gauges a priest’s eyes and jams his face into her… ummmm, yeah. While not terribly graphic, there are some very perverse scenes.
The sloppy special effects and rigid soap opera acting are readily forgiven when just below the ugly crusty demon faces, we find perfect boobs. Yup, of course. This is exactly the kind of movie that 14-year-old me rented and thought this was the best thing ever back in 1995.
Granny (Stella Stevens; The Terror Within II, The Manitou, Monster in the Closet) has invited her whole greedy, loveless family for Thanksgiving. They’re morally bankrupt people and they all want her dead so they can collect the insurance money.
Like Death Becomes Her (1992), Granny is given a potion (of youth or immortality or something) of great power and great consequence. But when the potion is corrupted, her cat is the first to change. The cat undergoes a laughable yet awesomely bad gory transformation as its skin peels back to expose the gnarly monstrosity beneath.
The death scenes are done cheaply, but they remain entertaining. A plastic surgeon gets cut up, a mink-obsessed heiress is torn apart by the animated minks of Granny’s coat, a horny uncle gets his member scissored off (off-screen) and a teenager gets a pro-wrestling death. Then the whole family is raised as ghouls along with a hilariously puppeted Grandpa who gross-kisses Granny. LOL
Our fiendish Granny toys with her victims and cackles just like Freddy Krueger in a way that feels really quite deliberate but even hokier. There’s a lot of goofy shenanigans. So this is an extremely obvious B-horror comedy.
There’s really no reason to recommend this movie. But if you enjoy a deliciously bad movie from time to time, you could do a lot worse. I enjoy how silly it gets, but wish it had a little more budget to throw into its gore and death scenes. I was also very disappointed we didn’t get a monster cat attack a la The Kiss (1988). I mean, come on. You don’t make a monster cat in Act 1 unless it’s going to attack someone in Act 3—Chekhov’s Monster Cat, right?
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The Last Duel (2021) – Review: Ridley Scott Has Crafted Another Daring and Exciting Epic
Quick Thoughts – Grade – A – Ridley Scott has crafted another daring and narratively interesting film that will hopefully be appreciated come awards time. The adaptation of the 2004 book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France, is a thrilling piece of storytelling that covers the leadup to the infamous 1386 duel from the eyes of three separate characters, who all see what transpires in different ways.
What’s beautiful about The Last Duel is that it’s a 152-minute big budget epic that’s aimed towards adults looking for a narratively rich film that features sword fights, court cases, and Matt Damon rocking a beautiful mullett. The screenplay by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener is inspired because it asks for the audience to pay attention, as the narrative shifts from the three central characters played by Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, and Adam Driver. Damon and Affleck wrote the male perspective, while Holofcener wrote the female perspective, and combined, their script is wickedly funny, and thoughtful.
What makes the movie so much better is knowing it’s based on a true story, and that the duel that took place between Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), is the last officially recognized duel in French history. Normally, a duel to the death is wild enough, but this one had the caveat that if Sir Jean was killed, his wife Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) would have been burnt at the stake, because it would mean her allegations that caused the duel were false. Basically, If Le Gris wins, god willed it, which means he’s innocent and did not rape Marguerite. The only reason Sir Jean is fighting this fight is because wants to protect his reputation (not avenge his wife), and in the 1300s, sexual assault was not a crime against a woman, but a property crime against her husband. Thus, the attacked woman couldn’t do anything, and it was up to her husband to take the other man to court.
This is where the three chapters come into play. Each of the characters have their own section of the film, where we see the story through their eyes. The first chapter involves Sir Jean de Carrouges, a human bulldog, who when entering a fight, says “This is what I do.” He’s almost impossible to kill, he annoys many around him, and his bullish ways have seen him fall out of favor with Count Pierre d’Alençon (Ben Affleck – give him an Oscar nom), who much prefers Jacques Le Gris, whose charming demeanor and intelligence make him fun to be around. After going broke due to bad business decisions, and not enough booksmarts, Sir Jean, who is a widow, marries the charming Marguerite, whose father is a traitor to the throne, and needed a guy like Sir Jean to make his family somewhat respectable again. Things take a horrible turn when Marguerite is sexually assaulted by Le Gris, while Sir Jean is collecting money, and isn’t at his castle. This is where the movie rewinds, as we see the same situation played out two more times, but in the eyes of Le Gris and Marguerite. It all leads to an insane brawl that features Matt Damon and Adam Driver showcasing their physicality as they beat the heck out of each other.
The cinematography by Dariusz Wolski (The Martian, News of the World, Prometheus), is wonderful, as it captures the grime and grit of the battles, and subtly shifts when each character gets their chapter. What’s neat is that the fights and battles remind viewers of the skirmishes in Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven (both directed by Scott), which feature beautiful violence and a massive scope. Since it’s a Ridley Scott film, the costume design by Janty Yates (Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood), and production design by Arhur Max (Gladiator, The Martian, Kingdom of Heaven) are excellent, and it’s no wonder why Scott keeps the same crew for his films, and they must speak a shorthand, and are able to work efficiently and quickly.
It’s nice seeing Damon play such a violent bulldog, who somehow, after all three chapters, comes across as the most moral (this isn’t saying much, he does some horrible things, and is totally self-absorbed) of the characters. His physicality is 100% believable, and it’s easy to believe he’d survive countless wars and battles. As always, if you want a charming villain, it doesn’t get any better than Adam Driver, who really leans into his large frame, and can bounce between likable, sad, desperate, charming and horrible in about three seconds. The MVPs are Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck, who both excel at their roles, and seem to understand exactly what is needed of them. Comer has to put in three different performances, as she’s seen through the eyes of two men, then is able to tell her story, and it’s a highlight of the film. Also, it would be great to see Affleck be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar because every time he’s on screen, the movie is better.
Final thoughts: Watch it in theaters. It’s daring, fun and features a beautiful final fight.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 391: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Prequels, and Bill Nighy
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 David Cross (of the Award Weiners Movie Review Podcast) discuss the 2009 film Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, and starring Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, and Michael Sheen, this Underworld sequel goes back in time to explore why werewolves hate vampires so much. In this episode, they talk about large arrows, action Sheen, and epic speeches. 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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John’s Horror Corner: The Last Shark (1981; aka L’ultimo squalo, The Last Jaws, Great White), an Italian B-movie Jaws rip-off.
MY CALL: This B-movie Jaws (1975) rip-off is 60 minutes of general boredom followed by 20 minutes of decent bad movie fun. But if you’re looking for a fun bad movie in general, this is a decent sleepy Sunday afternoon choice. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Last Shark: If you want more movies inspired by Jaws (1975), I’d direct you to Piranha (1978) or Piranha 3D (2010), Crawl (2019), 47 Meters Down (2017) or Shark Night 3D (2011)… not to mention Deep Blue Sea (1999) and The Shallows (2016).
After what I can only describe as three straight minutes of awkward softcore windsurfing porn, the movie corrects its horrible misstep with a shark attack. The shark POV is no more menacing than peaceful underwater shots of coral reef and school fish, yet leads to our shark takes a chunk out of the windsurf board. Unfortunately, we see as little blood as we do the shark—which is to say none at all.
Rather blatantly, we are introduced to characters that are carbon copies of Jaws’ (1975) Quint, Brody (here as Peter – James Franciscus; Killer Fish) and the ambitious local mayor. This beach town is approaching a major televised windsurfing competition and the mayor will not see it canceled over a few shark-related deaths. Deny, deny, deny, right? Only quite contrary to its 1975 source material, in this movie the mayor and our Quint character work together to keep beach-goers safe rather than having the problem largely ignored.
It pains me that this was only PG! Although clearly PG-13 by today’s standards. There’s slow-motion bikini running but no nudity (not that it would have enhanced this movie), there’s shark footage of a rather narrow-snouted normal-sized shark but the on-screen shark attacks are some humungous broad-faced monstrosity of a great white, and most shark shots seem to just be nature show stock footage. A few shots show the bloated shark emerging from the water and, when it does, it’s momentarily satisfying.
Director Enzo G. Castellari’s (Escape from the Bronx, Warriors of the Wasteland) movie starts slowly with the action, from almost none in the beginning to just a little in the middle. We do see windsurfers knocked off balance into the water, a lone severed limb, swimmers yanked beneath the water’s surface, sand the occasional comical catapulting of a motorboat and its human (or dummy) occupant into the air as if a bomb went off underneath them.
But finally after an hour we finally get to SEE something when someone is hanging from a helicopter and has both their legs bitten off! It’s bad, but it’s delightfully awesome—and it’s one of the most worthwhile scenes in this entire movie. Other highlights include pulling a man out of the water to discover he’s missing his lower half in a chunky gory mess (a gag well-utilized by the various Piranha), and the shark’s eventual defeat is a bloody underwater explosion.
After a very, very slow start, overall this movie is mildly entertaining and I certainly enjoyed a few laughs—even if biased towards the final third. But still, the movie isn’t really worth it unless you’re a fan of the era, Jaws rip-offs, or hokey Italian 80s horror. But if you’re looking for a fun bad movie in general, this is a decent Sunday afternoon choice.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Horror Show (1989; aka House 3), this mock-NOES sequel feels nothing like a House sequel… but I like it anyway.
MY CALL: This wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, it wasn’t bad at all! Very enjoyable with solid special effects and a decently made Freddy-esque 80s boogeyman movie. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Horror Show: If you watched this thinking it was House 3, then I assume you saw House (1986) and House II: The Second Story (1987). For more “Electric Chair” horror, try Shocker (1989), Tales from the Crypt, Season 1 (1989) and Prison (1987). But more than anything I’d liken this movie to A Nightmare on Elm Street parts 3-5 (1987-1989).
With a head cooking in a diner fryer, another plated for a meal, a screaming severed head, and cop with his arms chopped off to bloody stumps crying that he did his best, this movie uses goofy gore gags while telling its story with a mostly straight face as Detective McCarthy (Lance Henriksen; Man’s Best Friend, The Visitor, Pumpkinhead, Harbinger Down, Hellraiser VIII, Near Dark, Piranha II) hunts down the serial killer Meat Cleaver Max (Brion James; Tango & Cash, The Fifth Element, Nemesis).
Traumatized by Max’s very existence, McCarthy attends his electric chair execution, which is wild and gory down to pulsating skin from boiling blood (like, think Scanners finale). But after the killer is taken down, McCarthy continues to suffer nightmares and paranoia.
After receiving some unbelievable warnings from a parapsychology professor (Thom Bray; The Prowler, Prince of Darkness, DeepStar Six) with some crazy ideas that Max is somehow not gone for good, McCarthy tries to get on with his life. But hungry for revenge from beyond the grave, Max comes back using the very electricity that cooked him in the chair.
The special effects are actually pretty good! The cleaver wounds are gaping and fleshy, the blood is abundant, and then there was the dinner scene. The dinner scene is something straight out of a Freddy sequel (e.g., The Dream Child). The effects for this scene are a bit hokey, but delightful in an 80s kind of way as a turkey grows tendrils and has an unnervingly off-center human face (of Max) on the side of the turkey head which giggles at McCarthy tauntingly.
I’m a bit confused as to the association between this movie and the House movies, unless it was only to garner sales overseas using the popular predecessors in name alone. Probably just the marketing people, I guess. But as dissimilar as it is to House (1986), Wes Craven’s DNA abounds in this movie. Likewise in sync with Freddy, Max appears amidst a TV program heckling McCarthy, Max is basically a boogeyman returning from the dead for his revenge against his condemners and their children, and there are several scenes focused on a basement wood-burning furnace. There’s even the classic Freddy’s-face-pushing-through pregnancy scene as we saw in early NOES movies through the wall (part 1), stomach (part 2) and TV (part 3). Director James Isaac’s (Pig Hunt, Skinwalkers, Jason X) NOES influences are worn proudly on his sleeve. There’s even a little jingle they play that sounds like the NOES jingle.
This wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, it wasn’t bad at all! I quite enjoyed it. Nothing epic, but a very enjoyable and decently made Freddy-esque 80s horror movie. Truly, it would make a good double feature with any of NOES 3-5.
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Nashville FIlm Festival – Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – B – Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror is an expansive and educational look into the history of folk horror. Make sure to have a pen and paper nearby, because if you aren’t totally knowledgeable about the genre, you are going to write down a bunch of movies you’ll want to watch.
A big thank you to the Nashville Film Festival for the screener. More reviews to come! You should definitely check out the festival in 2022, you will see some excellent films.
Something random happened the day after watching this documentary. While watching, I found myself taking notes about all the folk horror movies that have gone under my radar. One of the movies that was added to the list was The Lair of the White Worm (1988 – It’s on Amazon Prime now), a wild looking movie which was directed by Ken Russell (The Devils, Altered States), and adapted from a Bram Stoker story. That day, John Leavengood (of John’s Horror Corner on MFF- Follow him on Twitter) posted a review of the film, and the obvious coincidence inspired me to start hunting down more folk horror that I haven’t watched. It’s a random aside, but it’s proof that this documentary opened up a whole new world of films I’ve missed.
Directed and produced by Kier-La Janisse (who wrote the popular book House of Psychotic Women), who started working on this documentary as a half-hour bonus feature for Severin Films (who also produced this doc), Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror has grown into an enlightening behemoth that covers over 240 films during its 194-minute running time. What’s nice is that fans of The Wicker Man (the original), or the recently released The Witch, or Midsommar, will be drawn in, and will definitely understand a genre that is much larger than anyone would think (aside from horror scholars). It’s pretty great that this documentary grew into what it is now, because it means Janisse wasn’t happy with just slapping together a 90-minute doc that only covered the mainstream folk horror hits, and call it a day.
The doc starts off by covering the folk horror unholy trinity of Witchfinder General, The Blood On Satan’s Claw, and The Wicker Man. Then dives into movies like Haxan (1922) and The Golem (1915), which came long before the 1960s/1970s classics, but didn’t make as much of an impact as the three British folk horror films. With the big-hitters out of the way, the doc moves on to Midsommar, The Skeleton Key, Lake Mungo, The Company of Wolves, Children of the Corn, and various international features to have an almost complete guide of the folk horror genre.
What’s nice about the documentary are the occasional poems, folk songs, and animated collage sequences that break up the talking heads and movie clips. A lot of work went into this doc, and it’s cool seeing the 100% Tomatometer rating, and 7.5 IMDb score. Works like this should be appreciated, because they enlighten, educate and offer something new to fans of cinema who want to learn more about the medium.
The only thing that kept this documentary from getting a higher grade, is in its quest to cover 200+ movies, it never fully explores many of them. It makes sense that production stories weren’t shared, as Janisse wanted to focus on themes of folk horror and scholarship, but it would’ve been nice to hear about the trials and tribulations of the productions that introduced the world to babies being turned into mush (The Witch), or featured hellish descents into satanism and the occult (The Blood on Satan’s Claws). These films either came from national trauma, or were created by directors who grew up watching them, and it would be cool to hear about why they exist. It sounds extreme to drop a grade because the documentary didn’t fit into expectations, but, with so much covered, it’s easy to forget about 90% of it.
Final thoughts: If you are a fan of cinema, and want to learn more, you should watch this documentary and learn about some cool films.
Movies, Films & Flix 