(BP)

My absolute favorite giallos:

Halloween III is Michael’s Tony Soprano coma dream that’s happening between Halloweens II and 4, and Tom Atkins is his Kevin Finnerty alter ego.

Martino is my favorite giallo director. He didn’t have Argento’s verve, but all of his movies in the genre are bangers. He kind of bridges the gap between Italy’s 60s crime thrillers and 70s proto-slashers. There’s usually the suggestion of a sexual thrill killer in the beginning of his horror movies, and then there’s a turn that reveals more complex criminal conspiracies at the heart of the murders. Torso is the exception where it is a true early slasher, and it’s one hell of an exception.

Oddity not only has a great jump scare, it also has a sight gag involving the statue sitting at a table that absolutely killed me.

I guess good for them for opening the checkbook to meet Quan’s post-Oscar quote.

It’s always seemed like this story was overshadowed by the steroid investigation and somehow scrubbed from the public’s memories immediately. The first time I was even vaguely aware of it is when I read a 90s wrestling magazine that briefly alluded to it, but referred to it as a “sex scandal,” which is truly shameful.

I will always maintain that the greatest sequel title of all time is House: The Second Story.

Dogma was held in somewhat high esteem for a bit because it was Smith’s follow-up to Chasing Amy, when it seemed like he was going to mature into a more complete filmmaker. It also seemed more significant than it really was because he got so many death threats over it, when in retrospect we’ve seen targeted threats over much dumber things since then. I definitely hold his horror movies in higher regard than any of his comedies from the past two decades.

I went back to Christine this week because I’ve been rewatching the Carpenters that I didn’t think much of years ago since I’ve realized how much pan and scan hurts his movies. I enjoyed it more than I used to, but it’s still just a pretty good King adaptation. If Bryan Fuller gets his version made there’s plenty to dig into not touched by the 83’ film, but it’s probably going to be hurt by CGI. The practical effects of Christine reassembling are so simple but incredibly eerie. Also, I just saw the original teaser for the first time and it’s so cool. I only caught the new It movies this month. I loved Chapter 1, but Chapter 2 is definitely hurt by the middle act being a series of Pennywise run-ins with no breathing room.

I watched the new Hulu release Mr. Crocket. I’d say it’s kind of I Saw the TV Glow meets It by way of Nightmare on Elm Street, with Terrifier-level gore. If that sounds up your alley you’ll probably enjoy it. There’s a bit of tonal whiplash between a compelling family drama and the cheeky splatter kills, but both are executed well enough, and the performances are disarmingly good.

Sending Klaus Kinski off with a second unit team to direct himself in all of the scenes where’s he’s attacking women was certainly a choice.

It’s pretty cool that Marvel’s Dracula was based on Palance. The castle location in that movie always stuck with me as one of the best in any Dracula production. Palance also made a cheap Jekyll and Hyde movie in the 80s that’s enhanced by his weird energy.

Going in blind to The Void is such a treat. I only just saw it over the summer and I adored it. This year I’ve been doing a deep dive on horror from the last decade + (basically since I started having kids and didn’t have time to watch as much.) New Favorites Most of these are available on Netflix, Shudder, or one of the other notable streamers. Hope this is helpful @Eivion

Did The Blues Brothers invent the public domain movie gag of cutting between something chaotic and people quietly riding an elevator while Girl from Ipanema is playing? I’m trying to think of an earlier version of it.

I’ve drastically reduced how online I am, but I know enough to know Zoomers embracing Catwoman as high camp makes total sense. Halle is #ServingCat

Great cookies, great cameos in Taxi and The Office.

She’s also in an early screenplay draft of Kill Bill. There’s an excised chapter where Go Go Yubari has a sister who almost kills The Bride, and Bonnie nurses her back to health.

I just didn’t see Bueller at the right time. By the time I got to it I’d seen Broderick as a sardonic weiner in so many things that I couldn’t imagine him being that slick or charismatic. Also, I’m usually fine with separating art from artist, but this a film where Jeffrey Jones stalks teenagers and Broderick is featured prominently behind the wheel of a car.

So far, this rules. Wish Alfred didn’t look like Jon Polito though.

I always found those straight-to-dvd serial killer bio-sploitation movies really tacky and unpleasant. Besides, that dude has no chance of being as good as Cameron Britton as Kemper in Mindhunter.

They overhauled a lot of the liquor laws at the beginning of the year to make it more business-friendly. Apparently they’d been about the same since prohibition was repealed.

He posted an image of a prop from the new one that’s a parody of the Necronomicon, so before the dispensary plot came out I was hoping it’d be Jay and Bob in a horror movie. I know they aren’t going to get an A-list franchise, but maybe Jay and Silent Bob Make a Wrong Turn or Jay and Silent Bob and Victor Crowley.

Kevin bought the theater in his hometown that he went to growing up. It’s mostly the same as it looked in the 80s, so the location makes for an inexpensive period piece. It plays new movies but also functions as a repertory house, kind of like a janky east coast New Beverly. I saw him host a Jaws marathon there last month. 80 souls went into that screening in early afternoon, only 20 came out near midnight. Shitty sequel fatigue took the rest.

The tone of Deadpool is such a delicate balancing act. How much are we supposed to care about the emotional stuff if we’re constantly being reminded we’re watching a dumb superhero movie? I think making the story about saving all of the significant characters from the first two movies while sidelining them the entire time made all of that worse.

I didn’t hate it, or even dislike it, but it left me cold. If anything, I thought it proved all the window dressing in the world can’t conceal the stilted nature of the current MCU movies. The Scorsese theme park ride analogy has never felt more appropriate; I had a fine time, but the movie was already leaving my brain as I was exiting the theater. I laughed a lot at the first two movies, but this one mostly just got some knowing chuckles out of me. I think the emotional stuff from Deadpool (which is handled quite well in the other movies) is overwrought here, desperate to give us an emotional button. I think maybe the funniest part to me was The previz on this one also seemed very lazy, and that’s not something I typically get hung up on. This came off like they sent a team on a vacation to the most attractive tax credit state and had them pick through old files on their hard drives. All that notwithstanding