Viewings: February 2022

Dada Debaser had nothin' but love to give during the month everyone went Clive Myrie over world affairs, while AnnaLynne McCord released the latest Hollywood cringe video. More importantly, February was also the month yours truly came correct with one of Jon Kitley's Mystery Photo I.D. quizzes. Not to toot my own horn, but being listed as one of the winners, along with an esteemed walkin', talkin,' movie encyclopedia Troy Howarth, felt like a "made it, Ma! Top of the world!" moment for this film geek.

As far as first time viewings go, Passport to Shame, Seconds, Black Caesar and The Tough Ones were my picks of the litter. Honourable mention to Hell Up in Harlem for not only being an entertaining follow-up to Black Caesar, but for being way more surreal than the two Eastern Bloc movies I happened to watch this month.

The Adams family get a special nod from me for Hellbender, the first 2022 release I have enjoyed thus far. Well done, fam!

Film:

 The Dark Eyes of London (Walter Summers, 1939)*

I Walked With A Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

Passport to Shame (Alvin Rakoff, 1958)*

Honeymoon of Terror (Peter Perry Jr, 1961)*

The Monster of Camp Sunshine or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nature (Ferenc Leroget, 1964)*

Daisies (Vera Chytilová, 1966)*

Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)*

Baby Love (Alastair Reid, 1969)*

The Cremator (Juraj Herz, 1969)*

And God Said to Cain (Antonio Margheriti, 1970)

The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)

Black Caesar (Larry Cohen, 1973)*

Hell Up in Harlem (Larry Cohen, 1973)*

The Tough Ones (Umberto Lenzi, 1976)* 

Free Hand for a Tough Cop (Umberto Lenzi, 1976)*

Class of 1984 (Mark Lester, 1982)

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (Tom McLoughlin, 1986)

Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986)

Arabella Black Angel (Stelvio Massi, 1989)*

Frankenhooker (Frank Henenlotter, 1990)

Hiruko the Goblin (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1991)*

Nekromantik 2 (Jörg Buttgereit, 1991) 

Deep Cover (Bill Duke, 1992)

Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)*

Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012)

Gimme Danger (Jim Jarmusch, 2016)*

The Beach Bum (Harmony Korine, 2019)* 

House of Gucci (Ridley Scott, 2021)*

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2022)*

Scream (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2022)*

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (David Blue Garcia, 2022)*

The Tinder Swindler (Felicity Morris, 2022)*

Hellbender (John Adams, Zelda Adams & Toby Poser, 2022)*

 

Television:

 Mastermind - Episodes 21-24 (Bill Wright, 2021/2022)*

The Book of Boba Fett - Season 1 (John Favreau, 2021/2022)*

Louis Theroux's Forbidden America - Season 1 (Louis Theroux, 2022)*

 

* First time viewings.

 

Dada Debaser Notes:

• Herbert Lom certainly proved pimpin' wasn't easy in Passport To Shame, since his decisions were about as wrong as the Donner Party shortcut. How on earth could he have a blonde bombshell like Diana Dors in his stable, but still think a Plain Jane like Odile Versois would rake in more dough for him? Makes absolutely no sense to me. Also, despite being uncredited, the film marks the earliest appearance I've seen thus far of Michael Caine.
  
• Loved the creepy atmosphere for the blind mens' hostel featured in The Dark Eyes of London and would not be surprised if it played a part in E.C's Blind Alleys story, as adapted by Amicus as part of the classic Tales From the Crypt (1972) anthology. Bela Lugosi was very underrated in this too as Dr. Orloff.
• Finding myself in agreement with Simon Mayo's opinions rather than Mark Kermode's more often. Ridley Scott's House of Gucci is the latest example of this. Mayo comparing Jared Leto's accent with Joe Dolce was 100% accurate.
  
• The nude hippies crushing of the grapes scene in John Frankeheimer's Seconds goes on for what feels like forever and slightly tarnishes what's otherwise a perfect science fiction thriller.
• How Baby Love ever got the green light, I will never know. The middle class thugs in a rowing boat were the weakest looking gang I've witnessed since the Hi-Hats from The Warriors (1979).
  
• The best thing about Vera Chytilová's Daisies, is this review of it on IMDb.
  
• Amazed by how much money a bunch of gullible women gave to The Tinder Swindler; an Israeli conman who resembles Adam Buxton with a douchebag makeover and awful attire.
  
• Well done to Matt Berry, whose Star Wars piss take episode from Toast of Tinseltown was infinitely more entertaining than his official appearance in the laboriously bad The Book of Boba Fett. Note to self: avoid your old school mates' T.V. recommendations!
  
• Rooney Mara was dreadfully miscast in del Toro's Nightmare Alley remake. Gorgeous looking movie, but like most cases, the original trumps the remake. No idea what was going on with Cate Blanchett's face either, but it looked almost as terrifying as Courtney Cox's mug in the latest Scream film.
  
• Tinashe's channeling of Sally Hardesty and the Sawyer fam in her latest music video, proved to be a far worthier spirtual successor to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than Netflix's Gen Zzz reboot/sequel/requel:
  

Tinashe - Naturally
(Digital Single, 2022)