Friends, it’s time.
We’ve been discussing this for some time now behind the scenes. In fact, before we launched we knew we wanted to try this out.
It’s taken me nearly two years, but I think I’m almost ready to put down some words to the masterpiece that is Suspiria. And I do mean, the 2018 version. Because yes, it is the superior version.
Please don’t @ me or send any pitchforks to our (e-mail) address. Read what I have to say before you do, and then do what you think you must.
When I think of horror films I usually think of a fairly simple structure, a couple jump scares, maybe some cool creature effects, that sort of thing. What I don’t think of is old school hollywood musicals and mugging to the camera while at the same time still shocking you with an uncomfortable atmosphere. This is exactly how the Japanese 1977 film Hausu (House) made me feel and more. For those horror fans who have never had the pleasure of viewing this wacky masterpiece I am about to describe the indescribable and there is no way I will be able to do this film justice. My honest advice is to get some friends together and experience Hausu for yourselves but for now you’ve made it this far and you’re stuck with me.
When it comes to October and spooky month watchlists, it’s always good to have at least a few slashers in there; or if you’re like Alex and Ryan, almost your entire list will entail serial killers, chase scenes, gore and an unnecessary amount of nudity in the woods. Many of their nights this month have consisted of cracking open a couple of beers and doing double features, and although they came up with some good ones (The Guest / You’re Next, Insidious / Sinister, Wrong Turn / The Hills Have Eyes), the most fun came from a double feature of Friday The 13th Part 2 and The Burning. Not only were they both released in 1981, but one of the biggest things they share is how underrated they remain to this day. For this double feature recommendation, Ryan writes about the iconic slasher series second installment while Alex writes about how that series in particular tainted the success of a criminally underrated camp slasher.
Every once in a while, an album, or movie or a form of art will be released and it’ll change the industry. In 2009, Paranormal Activity rocked the world.
In 1989 Compton, L.A Anna Bludso (Elle Lorraine) is a young Black Woman working as a production assistant with hopes of becoming a VJ for her music network. When her new boss, Zora (Vanessa Williams) arrives, Anna figures she has a chance to advocate for the role she wants. Yet after constant comments about her image, particularly her hair, are made a focal point as to why she is not T.V appropriate. After Zora suggests a weave to amplify her look, Anna visits Virgie (Laverne Cox) and ends up with hair with a mind of its own.
Halloween helped the slasher genre make a name for itself in 1978. As everyone knows, there are a dozen or two other films that previously helped define the genre. Peeping Tom and Psycho are two films that always get thrown into the conversation. Both came out in 1960, and many other films also influenced the genre pre-1960. But I’m more interested in 1976’s The Town That Dreaded Sundown and its relationship with the 2014 film of the same name that is far more interested in legacy, and the evolution of the slasher genre.
Newsflash for everyone that doesn’t know me that well… I am a Broadway geek. I devour cast albums at a rapid pace and try to go (or at least tried before COVID was a thing) see shows in New York (or Toronto when they come over here) whenever I can. I can recite the entire Hamilton album by heart and grew up obsessed with Cats (and yes, I did go see the film, we just don’t talk about that.)
I didn’t grow up reading Roald Dahl, my first introduction to him and his work was through the film, Matilda, one of my favourite film of all time (one that I rewatch multiple times a year). It’s later in my teenage years after I learned English that I went and read his books, devouring them one by one. That’s how I stumbled upon The Witches for the first time, after finishing the book, I discovered that a film adaptation existed. That is when I ran to the closest Blockbuster to went to rent it. The truth is, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Me a girl who got scared at The Scorpion King (yes, I know, you can judge me, God knows Andres does), I was simply not ready. But the truth is, the original The Witches is still to this day one of my favourite book adaptation, a scary and suspenseful film that to this day stand out. The truth is, nothing could come close to the original adaptation and Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forest Gump) remake doesn’t even come an inch close to being a worthy adaptation of Dahl’s book.
I didn’t want to write this but here we are. When I started Equal I wanted to love it, I really tried to love it even. It seemed like an important series, a history lesson that too often gets ignored. How many of us can talk about our history and how we got the rights we have today? No enough and that is the truth. But the thing is Equal simply not as good as it thinks it is. Is it educational? Sure. But what does that mean when it is so boring that you are simply looking away and wishing to be watching something else. I wish I liked this docuseries, it has a good idea of what it should be but just fails to execute it. Part footage and part dramatic recreation, Equal tries to navigate the two the best way it can but the truth is that it just doesn’t work. Narrated by Pose’s Billy Porter, Equal tries to educate and entertain at the same time but is only successful with one of those things, and that is educating the public.
Ben Wheatley is a director whose name kept being thrown around, but every film of his left me cold. And then one day, something clicked for me, and then he became one of my favourite filmmakers working today. Seeing Happy New Year, Colin Burstead was one of my favourite experiences in a theatre. So, to see Wheatley adapt the Rebecca novel written by Daphne du Maurier. Which was previously adapted by Alfred Hitchcock. I haven’t seen the Academy Award Best Picture winning film, so I was even more excited to watch Rebecca as blindly as one can.
