You know Severian most people don't fuck dogs and brag about it. I know its your special thing but it is weird.

I don’t strongly dislike it. I probably prefer it to Nightmare on Elm Steeet (man those were some stinkeroos, guys... if you were scared by them in the ‘80s, I *strongly* recommend revisiting, because they are fruit punch), but compared to, say, Halloween or the first two Hellraiser films (I know, Hellraiser is a totally different style, but whatever) ... even, perhaps *especially* Texas Chainsaw Madsacre... they fall pretty flat.

Now I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the remake despite being a Michael Bay production because it upped the “unstoppable killing machine” factor and actually dug right in with a very bizarre 30-minute intro sequence wherein you meet and get to know characters who die horrible deaths before the opening title credit even runs. I loved that, and thought it was an interestingly experimental tactic for a super mainstream reboot franchise.

I also SUPER dig Rob Zombie’s first Halloween remake. The second one is pulpified balls, but the first is an odd, slow-burning, also experimental horror flick that really delights in the extended sequences of high tension. I dug it a whole lot more than I expected to, and that made the utterly disappointing sequel all the more godawful.

Nightmare reboot is trash. Texas Chainsaw reboots are fun, like Friday the 13th, despite being Bayjobs.

I basically consider the pantheon ‘80s horror bads to be Michael Meyers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhies and Pinhead.

The world probably deserves a proper Hellraiser reboot, but I won’t hold my breath.

What were we talking about again?

... don’t even know what this is in reference to, but I love a good laugh and it’s not one.

Oh, yeah. It’s a hoot. But a good hoot.

Have you seen Army of Darkness?

fuck yeah, the whole lot. it’s great.

also the teevee show but only season one. only season one! gonna catch up soon. say nothing....

It was Colonel Mustard, in the dining room, with a candlestick

ha ha ha ha!

thank you

Watched Trouble Every Day. I really didn't know a ton about this movie going into it. I had seen the poster online, other than that didn't know much. That movie is beautiful and possibly one of the darkest movies I've ever seen. I remember when that movie "Raw" came out and people were talking about that being a difficult movie to watch. I'm a big fan of "Raw", but it has nothing on some of the scenes in Trouble Every Day.

Oh I haven’t seen even one episode of it.

You’re talking about Ash vs. the Evil Dead, right?

Nah, I haven’t seen a minute. How about this: Why don’t you tell me if it’s worth my time. We’ll go bizarro world on this one. Oh, and I’m fine with spoilers because I have no emotional investment in the story, what with having not seen any of it and all. Not even sure what it’s about (apart from the obvious, in the title, and existing knowledge from the movies).

Lemme know

i dont know what would be worth your time but here’s why i liked it (season 1 anyway)

* bruce fucking campbell! between the evil dead saga and “chuck finley” in burn notice, he da man

* it’s funny. mainly because trailer park dwelling ash would rather fuck/drink/get high than “fight evil.” that’s the main theme. many goofy variations.

* there are other characters so it’s not just his face vs. a bunch of monsters—there are sidekicks, adversaries, cops, etc. xena! ha ha ha

* the soundtrack. bit of a classic rock thing (consider ash’s age sex location) but it sounds good loud and it’s well applied and contributes to the comedy &psychedelic aspects of the thing.

* there was a long arc in season 1 with a pretty dark ending in spite of the lols. i was left intrigued by it

eta: since youre into awards etc, rotten tomato rating is 99%

Sounds like a win for Severian.

But I’m not really “into” awards, I just follow them compulsively and hate myself for caring. That’s different right?

And Rotten tomatoes is different. Yeah, I’m sure Black Panther is a better movie than the fucking Godfather, metacritics! My ass! There’s something statistically flawed about the entire RT/metacrtiic thing that leads to a lot of really good and really bad rating and not a lot in the middle. 99%? Not even Sopranos is 99%. Mad Men, maybe.

Fuckaaargh

House of 1000 Corpses

Not a great film. A lot more interesting on paper than when you're actually watching it. Thank God then for the occasional appearance by Sid Haig, who has a habit of being the only really memorable thing about most Rob Zombie movies.

That's one of those films where I know I've seen it but I'd be damned if I remember a single thing about it.

SPOILERS:


Family buys a home.

Turns out there are a 1000 corpses in the basement.

They consider suing the realtor, but he wears a patriotic hat, so they figure he must be alright and it's probably an innocent mistake. But they do alert him to the problem.

He apologizes and takes away the corpses.

Credits

Pretty tame stuff.

This one’s actually an old favorite of mine. When it first came out, I watched it with a friend in college after smoking a blunt. It was really upsetting. Upon repeated viewings and minus the THC, I found it much less disturbing and more campy ridiculous (albeit seriously gratuitous) horror.

Not as good a film as Devil’s Rejects or that first Halloween movie he did (which I maintain is brilliant), but fun enough.

Gas mask monster, fish-lady-body-torture-horror, Sid Haig, house, guy from Singled Out (anyone remember Singled Out?), and twist at the end kinda.

“Lost” thirty-somethings pretending to be lost twenty-somethings stumble upon house of... well, 1,000 might be overstating it, and I don’t recall it being particularly corpse-heavy really, but... probably at least many corpses and certainly a lot of murder.

Started this last night. Man it’s fucking long. So many movies are so long these days. This is why I didn’t see it in the theater... a non-Blade Runner 2049 film that creeps up on 3 hours? Uhhh, nah. For BR, obviously I’m there. But for Avengers? I wait for home video.

Got halfway through it. Maybe a little more. Will finish tonight.

So far, pretty easily the best Avengers movie. Makes Marvel comics look even shittier than they currently are by comparison.

Happy belated birthday James Baldwin, what a great movie.

o man

i have heard so many great things about this and i still have not managed to see it—which is utterly my fault

thanks for the reminder!

—-

ETA: IT’S ON PRIME VIDEO! i owe you for this one...

I HATE HATE HATE how hollywood films always have to show the superheros faces close up, with no mask on. PUT ON THE FUCKING MASKS

Yes, very good. Have you seen “I Called Him Morgan”?

You’re right, the Dark Knight *is* amazing and transcendent.

shhh. please. please. enough with this stupid shit. it grates so much after seeing this



which is actually amazing and actually transcendent and it’s just beyond anything one sees in the... anywhere. i wanna watch it all over again.

i wanted to watch it in a ceremonial/serious kind of way but was too impatient to start and watched half late last night before sleep, then half today as soon as work was over.

o man

this was something else

also props to dick cavett for having that kind of conversation in a teevee talk show which i was not aware it had existed until, coincidentally, just last sunday the nyt had a feature about him, and the tales were perplexing—mohammed ali going on about vietnam for 90 minutes, for example—and to see the way james baldwin goes on without moderation or interruptions—wow. apparently it’s all on youtube now.

anyway, im sorta speechless, and just came to say thanks, and wow, thanks. and then! lol

but anyway, yes. watch this great thing. it so needs to be analyzed. and discussed. and then discussed again. and rewatched. and talked about some more.

Where did you watch it? I'd like to see it. I saw a screening of The Searchers this week end and a speaker before the screening made a reference to Baldwin and this documentary.

I wish there was someone like Dick Cavett on TV. He also brought Ingmar Bergman and Godard to American TV sets. Always a great interviewer who knew when to shut the fuck up.

it’s free on amazon prime video!

which blew my mind.

as for cavett: funny you should say that. i used to be a fan of the charlie rose show cuz he always would bring “great people”, but i never was a fan of him personally because he *would not shut the fuck up*. so i’d always be yelling, i swear: “shut uuuuup charlieee!!!” also, he’d quickly shut down anybody whose opinion he disagreed with. but one time i remember jeanne moreau was getting interrupted by him and shut him the fuck up at last ha ha ha.

gonna look up dick cavett on youtube. but baldwin! o man. no words.

—

as for “ the searchers”— it looks so good but it’s so fucked up. cant tell if it’s paean or criticism.

also stagecoach figures there. john wayne in fact is a pretty big figure on this documentary.

Felt much the same way !@#$%! This documentary should be seen by everyone. Its both infuriating and life affirming. It still lingers with me.



Watched this today, another really great French movie that flew under the radar but is damn good.

Jesus, it was on subject (tangentially). So, like, you shh.

Anyway, I haven’t seen “I Am Not Your Negro,” but now I’m fixing to watch this weekend after reading your comments about it.

Happy now, motherfucker?

yess. i went yesterday and watched the whole cambridge debate on youtube. it’s 58 minutes and change.

baldwin was brilliant, and william f. buckley was such a pompous douche haaa haaaaa haaaa


oh, thank you for this! i was 100% unaware of it

....aaaand holy shit it’s on prime too

this i won’t see so quickly cuz i gotta be in the right frame of mind to deal with the notion of (holy shit) mass rape—but i’ve added it to my watchlist.

and again thanks, keep posting great stuff

Anyone ever see KILLER OF SHEEP? Looks great.

YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS.

yes yes yes yes

best american indie movie ever

saw it when it was finally released in 2007, then again on rental

man. dat movie. it’s from another dimension.

the guys second movie was not so great tho. so calibrate your expectations for “my brother’s wedding”. which feels kinds like an extended episode of “good times”. (i liked “good times” btw so not saying bad. just not... fucking sublime)

yes. killer of sheep is fucking sublime.

best american indie/art film/ something

Eh. That doesn't sound like something I'd like.

Jk.

This is from Roger Ebert:

Any review, whether positive or negative, should give the reader a fair idea of what it would be like to see it themselves. I refer you to an actual conversation I once had on the phone:

Caller: "We live near the Wilmette Theatre, which is showing 'Cries and Whispers.' What can you tell us about it?"

Self: "I think it is the best film of the year."

Caller: "Oh, that doesn't sound like anything we'd want to see!"

haaa haaa haaa

right...

anyway must-must-must watch

without delay!

you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, etc

srsly, dat movie. i have no words.

Great film. Just realise he was on a massive budget

Edit:by massive I mean massively small. Terrible English I know.

This is a great, disturbing film and quite the radical departure from Claire Denis' other films. I remember for the longest time it was very hard to find and never released on home video after making quite the splash at the '01 Cannes and Toronto Film festivals. Glad its available now to stream.

I Am Divine

I enjoyed this a lot but didn't really learn much I didn't already know, except that Divine's mum looks like she would've fitted in perfectly in films like Female Trouble. Just a shame so many of the old Dreamland crowd are no longer around, so no contributions from the likes of David Lochary or Cookie Mueller or Edith Massey. (It's surely only a matter of time before someone makes a documentary about her - if they haven't already.)

so, motherfucker... didja? ;)

Not yet, sorry. I got sucked into Handmaid’s Tale, which I finished last night.

Motherfucker.

oh you lying motherfucker

get your sorry motherfucking ass on with it!

(it will live up to the hype, i promise)

hahaha i wanna see divine’s mom

those people died a long long time ago!

i think someone is gonna just have to interrogate john waters thoroughly about them

ima see if this is available somewhere...