Another mixed bag, filled with a couple classics, two modern greats, and a couple worthy of neglect.
Read on, or don't!

Films watched between Monday 23/01/2023 and Sunday 29/01/2023.

Monday 23/01/2023
Pieces (1982)

Director: Juan Piquer Simón

"You don't have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre!"
It's always good to revisit this legendary slice of splatter cinema from producer Dick Randall & director Juan Piquer Simón. Is it a slasher masquerading as a giallo, or is it a giallo disguised as a slasher? Who cares?! The movie is a blast from beginning to end, boasting a bevy of gory kills and moments and dialogue that are unintentionally hilarious. Pieces is a fan favourite for a reason and an absolute classic from the grindhouse era. A title I've covered elsewhere on the blog!



Wednesday 25/01/2023
The Found Footage Phenomenon (2021)

Director: Phillip Escott, Sarah Appleton

Watched this with Emm via Shudder. A decently made little documentary about the seemingly divisive "found footage" subgenre. For the most part it is quite informative, it dials it right back, giving Ruggero Deodato and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) a good ol' deserving nod. But, the biggest detractor throughout is the sodding background music, it's far too loud and becomes detrimental to what limited insight the talking-heads offer. It's worthy of checking out, like any genre documentary, for clips of movies you might not have seen or heard of and may want to check out.



Thursday 26/01/2023
Frankenhooker (1990)

Director: Frank Henenlotter

Watched this with Emm and I was admittedly very eager to see her reaction to it. A late entry from Mr. Frank Henenlotter, where you can get a little glimpse of a still dirty NYC. James Lorinz nails it as Jeffrey Franken, a medical school dropout who loses his wife in an accident involving a lawnmower, yeah really, he keeps her head and builds her a new body from various hookers he explodes using a "super-crack" he's developed in a seedy downtown hotel room, yeah really!
Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen, set the mould for goth and alternative chicks with the Frankenhooker-look; smokin' hot! It's a wild movie filled with exploding hookers, flying limbs, and a giant brain with cyclopean eye. I've written about this too elsewhere on the blog. Got a lotta love for Henenlotter over here!



Friday 27/01/2023
The House That Jack Built (2018)

Director: Lars von Trier

Holy moly, I think I respect this movie a little more every time I see it. I was a little late getting to this, I caught it on disc, but I instantaneously fell in love with it. Matt Dillion virtually carries the entire piece, through his onscreen performance and intermittent narrating voiceover. Breathing life into the despicable failed architect turned obsessive-compulsive serial killer Jack, or Mr. Sophistication, as he may prefer to be known. The plot freewheels throughout different periods of Jack's life; childhood, his first kill, all the way through to his traversing and brief exploration of the afterlife, and to the eventual damning of his eternal soul. Repulsive, beautiful, funny, enigmatic, and full of philosophy. It may be my favourite Lars von Trier flick.



Saturday 28/01/2023
Cloverfield (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves

Caught this in the cinema during its theatrical run and I can still remember being blown away by the visuals and specifically the sound at the time, it came together to be a real experience. Still a fun one to revisit, even if the "sequels" are a tad irksome, but we're not here to talk about them are we? A found footage movie where a giant monster appears and begins attacking NYC, the plot is a little opaque when it comes to the origins of the creature and unless you were around at the time, or care to do a little research, most of the backstory was given away through various viral marketing campaigns on the internet. There is a blink and you'll miss it moment at the end when the narrative very suddenly flicks back to an old piece of video footage, in the background you can see an object drop into the ocean and it is believed to be the creature first arriving, or rather crash-landing on Earth. Really cool movie, I just can't help but wish they'd taken a different direction with the "sequels".



Saturday 28/01/2023
The Silence (2019)

Director: John R. Leonetti

Netflix's The Silence is a little like A Quiet Place-lite, the similarities between the two films are numerous and troubling, though I understand The Silence was based on a book by Tim Lebbon published in 2015, I couldn't help but be reminded of A Quiet Place at almost every turn.
I struggled to get much out of this, Kiernan Shipka and Stanley Tucci hold it together as best as they can, but the plot quickly devolves into everything you've seen and experienced before. The initial deadly menace of the monsters soon fades into the background and sits there as a useful plot device to drive-forward the rest of the events, as the survivors come up against a group of tongueless religious cultists. Is man the real monster? Urgh, how many more times do we have to see this play out. Romero did it (to greater effect) with his Dead films, The Walking Dead did it to death, Bird Box (2018) and Bird Box: Barcelona have continued to do it. Maybe I'm just becoming jaded to this type of movie, or maybe writers are just rehashing everything that's been done better before...Tough to recommend, I bet the book is way better.



Sunday 22/01/2023
The Final Wish (2018)

Director: Timothy Woodward Jr.

I don't know what this was supposed to be, or how much money they threw at Lin Shaye or Tony Todd to appear in it, but this is something I cannot recommend. Written and produced by Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination (2000)). The perfect movie for anyone who loves to shout "WHY?", "WHAT?!", and "C'MON!!" at the screen every 10 minutes, it really is the pits. Avoid, watch paint dry, the ongoings of an ant colony, anything else.