Viewings: December 2023

Best film I watched in December turned out to be one of the best of 2023. Godzilla Minus One was a shining ray of light in a mostly depressing year in cinema. Before any triggered cinéaste's blood boils over that statement, I'll double down on my claim with a fresh load of critical and popular darlings listed below which all had me never wanting to watch them ever again.

Lewis Teague's gangster drama The Lady in Red was the only other notable discovery for me this month.

Other than Paul Giamatti's wonky glass eye, the best thing about The Holdovers was it inadvertently sending me on a slasher binge and inspiring me to blog about should've been final girls.

Finally, I watched an obscene amount of old and new Doctor Who episodes this month; way too many to name individually.

Film:

Maria Marten, or the Murder in the Red Barn (Milton Rosmer, 1935)*

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (George King, 1936)*

Follow That Skirt (Richard W. Bomont, 1965)*

Carry on at Your Convenience (Gerald Thomas, 1971)

Crucible of Terror (Ted Hooker, 1971)

Carry on Abroad (Gerald Thomas, 1972)

Disciple of Death (Tom Parkinson, 1972)*

Messiah of Evil (William Huyck & Gloria Katz•, 1973)

The Lady in Red (Lewis Teague, 1979)*

Happy Birthday to Me (J. Lee Thompson, 1981)

The House on Sorority Row (Mark Rosman, 1982)

The Mutilator AKA Fall Break (Buddy Cooper & John Douglass, 1984)

Cheerleader Camp AKA Bloody Pom Poms (John Quinn, 1988)

Popcorn (Mark Herrier & Alan Ormsby•, 1991)

Cut (Kimble Rendall, 2000)*

Husk (Brett Simmons, 2011)*

Christmas Bloody Christmas (Joe Begos, 2022)*

The Sadness (Rob Jabbaz, 2021/2022)

Asteroid City (Wes Anderson, 2023)*

Ballerina (Chung-Hyun Lee, 2023)*

Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023)*

The Exorcist: Believer (David Gordon Green, 2023)*

Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023)*

The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023)*

It’s a Wonderful Knife (Tyler MacIntyre, 2023)*

Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, 2023)*

Leave the World Behind (Sam Esmail, 2023)*

Lion-Girl (Kurando Mitsutake, 2023)*

May December (Todd Haynes, 2023)*

Nefarious (Chuck Konzelman & Cary Solomon, 2023)*

Priscilla (Sofia Coppola, 2023)*

Saltburn (Emerald Fennell, 2023)*

Thanksgiving (Eli Roth, 2023)*

 

Television:

Doctor Who - Various Episodes (Donald B. Wilson & Sidney Newman, 1963 - 2023)*

Mastermind - Episodes 15 - 18 (Bill Wright, 2023/2024)*

Only Connect - Series 19 - Episode 23 (Chris Stuart, 2023)*

 

* First time viewings.

• Uncredited.

Dada Debaser Notes:

• Stumbled across Cut on Plex, an Australian slasher starring Molly Ringwald and Kylie Minongue. Nowhere near as potentially entertaining as that sounds. Goes from a meta film à la Scream to Freddy Krueger rip-off and falls flat on its arse.
  
• Best thing about Todd Haynes's critically overrated drama May December is its recycling of the The Go-Between (1971) soundtrack, which in turn made me rediscover Ill Advised's Through the Eye this month.
  
• Negative review bombing of Nefarious by angry atheists was the reason I even checked it out in the first place. The whiners were right about it, however - below average film.
• Turns out third time really is a charm as I ended up enjoying Popcorn much more after a recent viewing of it. Reggae music doesn't really fit in a slasher, however.
• Some great creative kills in Thanksgiving and bonus points for the fictional fantasy of modern teens listening to The Pharcyde's Oh Shit, but I can't help thinking how potentially great the film might’ve been if it was made around ten years earlier in the vein of the 2007 fake trailer.
  
• Priscilla was another nice looking snoozefest. Luhrmann's Elvis (2022) was way more entertaining.
  
• File Killers of the Flower Moon under the list of Scorsese's films where once is enough, like Silence (2017).
  
• Saltburn is essentially Letterboxd-core Brideshead Revisited x The Talented Mr. Ripley.
  
• Really enjoyed Mitsutake's erotic giallo Maniac Driver (2020), but Lion-Girl is atrocious. Posthumously added to my Worst Films of 2023 list.
  
• With Disciple of Death ticked off the list, I've finally watched all four films featuring pirate radio deejay turned actor turned sculptor Mike Raven AKA Bootleg Christopher Lee. A weak film, but immensely fun, regardless.
  

Other notable highlights this month were: Ashton's Tales That Witness Madness and Black Christmas reviews; Unpopped Cinema's Top 25 Best Discs of 2023; and The Martorialist's Best Movies and TV of 2023.

Home Format Releases of 2023

An incredible year for boutique label releases. You know it's a bumper year when both the Pete Walker and Coffin Joe box sets being delayed until next year offers you a chance to watch all the amazing titles you ended up coppin'. It's not hyperbole, 2023 was the best year in home format releases since 2020. Fact!

The only real downside was not being able to grab everything as it would leave you skint. Personally, many desirable titles were way beyond my threshold of an acceptable price range, thus that 4 disc 4K release of Dellamorte Dellamore, and a bunch of other Severin releases for that matter, were sadly avoided. Similarly, newcomers from across the pond like Neon Eagle and Terror-Vision didn't even get a look-in due to their pricing and shipping costs. Therefore, my personal picks of the year were shaped mostly by local labels.

Home Format Releases of 2023:

Enter the Video Store - Empire of Screams (Arrow)

Magic Myth & Mutilation: The Micro Budget Cinema of Michael J. Murphy 1967 - 2015 (Indicator)

Blood and Black Lace (Arrow)

From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family (Indicator)

The House that Screamed (Arrow)

Full Circle (BFI)

Blood Sucking Freaks (Vinegar Syndrome)

Targets (BFI)

After Hours (Criterion)

A Gun for Jennifer (Vinegar Syndrome)

The Defilers (AGFA/Something Weird Video)

Black Magic Rites (Indicator)

Messiah of Evil (Radiance Films)

Freaks / The Unknown / The Mystic: Todd Browning's Sideshow Shockers (Criterion)

Martin (Second Sight)

The Whip and the Body (88 Films)

Some of the films which got the boutique treatment were on my wish lists, so finally owning them and getting to watch them in all their glory, made them welcome highlights in 2023. That new artwork for A Gun for Jennifer is still atrocious, regardless.

It was also somewhat strange seeing a few of my personal highlights make it on various critics' favourite physical releases this year, too.

Looking forward to what 2024 might bring, maybe we'll finally get The Hitcher after the last couple of years in delays.

Worst Films of 2023

Annus horribilis for the House of Mouse, but misery really does love company since a bunch of other studios were also responsible for some horrid films this year. If only the Writers Guild of America strike was still going.

Some of these films might have contained some fleetingly memorable scenes, and some of this lot ended up on various critics' best films of the year lists. However, the overall impression they left upon me was profoundly negative. Did you know some progressive nations still administer corporal punishment to offenders?

Worst Films of 2023:

Asteroid City (Wes Anderson)

Bottoms (Emma Seligman)

Cocaine Bear (Elizabeth Banks)

Enys Men (Mark Jenkin)

The Exorcist: Believer (David Gordon Green)

It’s a Wonderful Knife (Tyler MacIntyre)

Knock at the Cabin (M. Night Shamalamadingdong)

Lion-Girl (Kurando Mitsutake)

Maid Droid (Rich Mallery)

The Meg 2: The Trench (Ben Wheatley)

The Nun II (Michael Chaves)

Scream VI (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett)

Kyle Edward Ball's experimental art house film Skinamarink (2022/2023) didn't make the cut on account of me lacking the willpower to watch it all the way through; a rare occurrence for your host. Checked out around the thirty minute mark. Grainy fixed film footage of walls, floors and lego bricks had me scrambling for the remote control during my brief dalliance with the film.

Skinmarink (Trailer)

Kyle Edward Ball, 2022/2023

 

Best Films of 2023

Not quite ready to close the book on 2023, but only a fool would pretend it wasn't a disappointing year for films. Don't believe me? Explain the hysteria over Barbenheimer then. Two films about as appealing as root canal surgery.

Lengthy epics were more abundant. They highlighted the inflated egos of various directors and the idiocy of production studios funding them rather than be of legitimate necessity. Know what I mean, Ari?

Infinity Pool, The Last Voyage of the Demeter and even Renfield were films I was personally looking forward to this year, but they all left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

Thankfully, there were some positive highlights. Salute to this lot! o7

Best Films of 2023:

No One Will Save You (Brian Duffield)

Godzilla Minus One (Yamazaki Takashi)

The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)

When Evil Lurks (Demián Rugna)

Talk to Me (Danny Philipou & Michael Philipou)

Unwelcome (Jon Wright)

Tetris (Jon S. Baird)

Candy Land (John Swab)

LOLA (Andrew Legge)

Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis)

The Passenger (Carter Smith)

No One Will Save You is the film of the year as it's a gem of a science fiction film which takes inspiration from Richard Matheson's story The Invaders; making it a winner by default. Hopefully it gets a physical release as it does not deserve to rot on some streaming service.

2023 Films I Still Need to Watch: The Beasts (Rodrigo Sorogoyen); El Conde (Pablo Larraín); The Iron Claw (Sean Durkin); Napoleon (Ridley Scott); Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos); The Zone of Interest (Johnathan Glazer).

Best Old Films Discovered in 2023

For every recent film misfire, there will always be the assurance of an older gem awaiting discovery.

At the risk of it sounding cliched, these older films really were an educational experience: I was clueless about Peter Watkins's mock-documentaries; wrong about writing off Sidney Hayers; and completely slept on the brilliance of apocalyptic eighties thrillers The Quiet Earth and Miracle Mile until this very year.

Discoveries of 2023:

The Sadist (James Landis, 1963)

The Thrill Killers (Ray Dennis Steckler, 1964)

The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1965)

The Bride Wore Black (François Truffaut, 1968)

Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968)

Blind Beast (Yasuzō Masumura, 1969)

The House That Screamed (Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, 1969)

Red Sun (Rudolph Thome, 1970)

Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)

Revenge (Sidney Hayers, 1971)

Full Circle AKA The Haunting of Julia (Richard Loncraine, 1977)

The Lady in Red (Lewis Teague, 1979)

Samurai Reincarnation (Kenji Fukasaku, 1981)

Calamity of Snakes (William Cheung Kai, 1982)

The Quiet Earth (Geoff Murphy, 1985)

Miracle Mile (Steve De Jarnatt, 1988)

The Hot Spot (Dennis Hopper, 1990)

Croupier (Mike Hodges, 1998)

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (Matthew Bright, 1999)

Pusher II (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2004)

Hotel Coolgardie (Pete Gleeeson, 2016)

Honourable Mentions: Chained Girls (Joseph P. Mawra, 1965); If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (Ron Ormond, 1971); Black Magic Rites AKA The Reincarnation of Isabel (Renato Polselli, 1973); Deadly Strangers (Sidney Hayers, 1975); Dr. Caligari (Stephen Sayadian, 1989); Hitcher in the Dark (Umberto Lenzi, 1989); Kolobos (Daniel Liatowitsch & David Todd Ocvirk, 1999); Night of the Rat (David R.L, 2015); Maniac Driver (Kurando Mitsutake, 2021).

Tokyo Story

Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023)

How ironic is it that a Japanese creature feature, with a modest budget of approximately $15M, does a better job than Hollywood at pulling off a compelling human drama. Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus One (2023) is a superbly faithful compliment to Ishirō Honda's original 1954 film, while convincingly serving as a modern update. It avoids making the same egregious errors of its American counterparts. Valuable screen time is not wasted on a distracting subplot or annoying characters; nor does it shroud the titular character from its full glory until the climactic finale. There are no nudging winks to some of the ridiculous past films. Godzilla Minus One takes its concept seriously; it is a film that both understands its namesake and respects its audience’s intelligence.

Set during the final days of World War II, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a cowardly kamikaze pilot, feigns engine problems with his plane and makes a makeshift pit-stop on a Pacific island. His failure to perform his duty leads to his first experience with the titular dinosaur (but much smaller due to it not being exposed to any atomic bomb testing yet) at a naval garrison on the remote island. This event leads to Shikishima's cowardice rearing itself once more, as he fails to open fire with his plane's guns during the Godzilla's rampage of the garrison.

Shikishima's encounter with Godzilla leads to him returning to his home city of Tokyo, where like everyone else, he must rebuild his life amid the ruins. From the rubble of a post-war city, this leads to him being thrust with a makeshift family; a destitute young woman and an orphaned baby girl. While Japan gradually rebuilds itself and Shikishima finds dangerous employment shooting sea mines, the atomically grown Godzilla unleashes death and destruction upon Tokyo. The tremendous sense of scale of this creature is amazingly brought to life in the film. The catastrophic attack; particularly from its nuclear heat ray, is spectacular. 

Godzilla Minus One perfectly crams Shikishima's redemption tale without suffocating the life of the film. A redemptive storyline interwoven alongside themes dealing with national pride, family and healing, mark it as a surprisingly philanthropic film.

The film is a celebration of the human spirit; a shining, positive light during Japan's darkest period. Witnessing the ensemble cast form such strong bonds with one another after such a historical low point that's made even worse with a monumental assault by Godzilla, makes the film feel all the more rousing once our characters get working together. There is no foreign aid for Japan; it must fend for itself against the towering creature. Courage and ingenuity are what our heroes (big fan of the eccentric Japanese scientist with the Taika Waititi hairdo) have left to vanquish the creature; resulting with a spectacular final battle.

Lastly, composer Naoki Sato's score is fantastic. Reincorporating Akira Ifukube's classic Godzilla suite and blending it with emotionally driven themes for its human characters, marks this return to Godzilla's roots all the more lovingly respectful. Honestly had to refrain myself from acting like a lunatic and leaping out of my seat, yelling "Get the fuck up! Simon says, 'Get the fuck up!'" whenever Godzilla's theme came on during my screening.

One of the best films of 2023.

Viewings: November 2023

Discovering the films of Peter Watkins was something of a revelation for me. Both Punishment Park and The War Game were the best films I watched in November. Eager to check out his other films when things get quieter.

Two recent gems which won my approval and revealed 2023 hasn’t been a total write off were When Evil Lurks and LOLA. 

Lastly, the lavish 4K of the Italian horror Black Magic Rites and a VHS rip of the rare British thriller Deadly Strangers were two holy grails that I finally got to tick off the list. Both of which being captivating films.

 

Film:

Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (Fritz Lang, 1922)* 

Fear and Desire (Stanley Kubrick, 1952)*

Beyond the Time Barrier (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1960)*

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (Val Guest, 1961)

The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1965)*

Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)*

Black Magic Rites AKA The Reincarnation of Isabel (Renato Polselli, 1973)*

The Internecine Project (Ken Hughes, 1974)

Deadly Strangers (Sidney Hayers, 1975)*

The Killing of America (Sheldon Renan & Leonard Schrader•, 1981)*

King of New York (Abel Ferrara, 1990)

Divergent (Neil Burger, 2014)*

The Creator (Gareth Edwards, 2023)*

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, 2023)*

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Daniel Goldhaber, 2022 / 2023)*

LOLA (Andrew Legge, 2022 / 2023)*

The Killer (David Fincher, 2023)*

When Evil Lurks (Demián Rugna, 2023)*

 

Television:

Doctor Who - Various Episodes (Donald B. Wilson & Sydney Newman, 1963 - 1989)*

Doctor Who - Season 1: The Daleks in Colour (1963 - 1964)*

An Adventure in Space and Time (Terry McDonough, 2013)

Doctor Who "The Star Beast" (Russell T. Davis, Pat Mills & Dave Gibbons, 2023)*

Louis Theroux Interviews - Series 2 - Episode 3: Dame Joan Collins (Louis Theroux, 2023)*

Mastermind - Episodes 11 - 14 (Bill Wright, 2023 / 2024)*

Only Connect - Series 19 - Episode 19 (Chris Stuart, 2023)*

 

*First time viewings.

• Uncredited.

Dada Debaser Notes:

• The two positive things about Kubrick's first feature film are its cinematography and Virginia Leith making her acting debut in it. Her final role was as the eponymous brain from The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962). A far better and less pretentious film, in my opinion.
  
• Took three sittings to get through the four and half hours of Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. Definitely appreciated it for its innovation, but it's needlessly way too long.
• The new Dungeons & Dragons film borrows heavily from James Gunn's movie making formula. Not a bad film, but the best live action representation of this I.P is still from a Brazillian car commercial.
• Found How to Blow Up a Pipeline a disappointment after Goldhaber’s tech thriller Cam (2018). Gavin Brevik’s Vangelis/Tangerine Dream synth style score made it bearable, however.
• Can't help but think The Creator is more like a two hour VFX tech demo rather than an actual film. Visually phenomenal, but completely let down by its bland and clichéd script.
  
• The Killing of America was a major blind spot for me. Would have hit harder had the documentary with the God tier narration dealt with more contemporary examples of the nation’s decline.
• Watched a veritable gaggle of Doctor Who episodes (mainly the very first season of the show) in celebration of its sixtieth anniversary. The Sensorites turned me into an instant fan of them thanks to their creepy faces, combover beards and dinner plate looking feet:
  

Other highlights this month were: drizzle's 20 films of the 2020s list; The Martorialist's 50 One Song Wonders; and Messer Chups' cover of the Blood & Black Lace theme. Zombierella still the finest bass player. ♥︎

Children of the Corned Beef

When Evil Lurks (Demián Rugna, 2023)

Hollywood has commonly been lacking the required mean-spirited streak to appease desensitised fans of  horror cinema. In order to cast a net and attract the majority, the output is usually safe, soft and homogenised. Thankfully, there are foreign and independent film makers out there to counter the Disneyfied dross being churned out; Rob Jabbaz's The Sadness (2021/2022) and Damian Leone's Terrifier 2 (2023) are recent examples. Argentinian film maker Demián Rugna's When Evil Lurks (2023) is the latest to balance the scales with what's probably the best horror film of the year.

When Evil Lurks stands out from many of its peers for having the cojones to have all its characters as fair game to the horrors that unfold. As a result, it's still shocking when certain scenes are acutely telemarked and still landing a haymaker on your senses. This is a deeply nihilistic film; evoking the anything goes attitude of 1970s horror like Who Can Kill a Child? (1976). There is no safety barrier, it's pure destructive brutality. Critics will list some of Lucio Fulci's films as obvious inspirations, but I spotted traces of other notable horror films, such as Prince of Darkness (1987) and Hereditary (2018) in there, too.

Set in a rural Argentenian province where folks are deeply superstitious, the film's two major characters; brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimi (Demián Salomón) encounter a grossly bloated individual named Uriel, who is said to be one of the rotten. This is the colloquial term for demonically possessed. The brothers, along with neighbouring land owner Ruiz (Luis Ziembrowski), are given the unenviable task of dealing with Uriel. Like every horror film, things don't go to plan. 

The film introduces seven golden rules which must be adhered to when dealing with the rotten. If they aren't dealt with properly, and more importanly, by an expert, then the demonic evil spreads. Thankfully, with this being a horror film, the rules are constantly broken. As beasts and humans are possessed this allows Rugna to showcase some shockingly extreme moments that you don't see very often in contemporary horror. It's almost farcical watching Pedro making bad decision after bad decision and leaving a trail of death in his wake, but they do lend to a compelling film. Children being subjected to either being victims or perpretators are easily the most disturbing highlights of the film. One scene involving a mother carrying her infant son along a road is pure nightmare fuel. Definitely not something that will be forgotten easily.

It's not a perfect film, however. When Evil Lurks can feel disjointed at times, as it plays a balancing act with its cumbersome handling of multiple characters and locations for the sake of keeping everything breezy, along with a second ending that feels almost trivial in comparison to what occurs earlier. Still, these flaws don't ruin the film, as Rugna's main focus seems to be all about bringing back some utterly nihilistic and misanthropic brutality that's evidently missing in many of today's contemporary horror films. As such, the film is a triumphant success.

Really hope the film gets a physical release and not rot on Shudder like Deadstream (2022) has been doing in my region.

Knick Knack Patty Wack

The cold-blooded and methodical protagonist. The hit that goes wrong. The friend or foe dilemma. The big payback. Stop me if you've seen this one before, but the premise of David Fincher's latest offering, the imaginatively titled The Killer (2023) is like every other hitman movie ever made.

Always enjoyed Michael Fassbender's performances, but the reason for even bothering with this entirely generic film was based squarely on him wearing a bucket hat. A real shame that the titular character's music playlist consisted entirely of songs by The Smiths when it really ought to have been those stalwarts of the aforementioned head gear EPMD.

Doubt I'll ever bother watching The Killer again; even if I did enjoy Fassbender's Patrick Bateman-esque internal monologues. Regardless, this is an opportune reason to post a scene from John Woo's hitman classic (and Red Heat soundtrack jacka) also imaginatively called The Killer (1989):

The Killer (Church Shoot Out Scene)

John Woo, 1989

Can You Hear Me, Major Thom?

LOLA (Andrew Legge, 2022/2023)

Last year's Deadstream proved that no matter how passé first person/found footage films have become, a winner can still be produced today. Andrew Legge's forewarning from a dystopian timeline, LOLA (2023) shot on 16mm Bolex, is the latest film to follow suit.

Set in the late 1930s and 1940s, Legge's low budget, high concept, sci-fi feature is about a pair of orphaned and self-sufficient sisters, Thomasina (Emma Appleton) and Martha (Stephanie Martini) Hanbury, who build LOLA (named after their mother), a machine that is able to receive radio and television signals from the future. They become fans of David Bowie's music and eke out a living by visiting the bookies. With the onset of  World War II, the Hanbury sisters can't remain idly silent and opt to warn the public the times and locations of the Blitz bombings. With the accuracy of these prophetic reports, they become known as the Portabello Angel and soon draw the attention of the British Army.

Under coercion, LOLA becomes even more integral in aiding the British war effort. However, the continuous tampering with the future causes a butterfly effect that reshapes the rest of the twentieth century. So long, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Stanley Kubrick! And hello, fascist popstar Reginald Watson! The miraculous invention proves to have other devastating consequences in the current timeline, too; a morally questionable decision made by Thomasina (commonly referred to as Thom throughout the film) results with the US withdrawing from the Allied powers. Further to this disaster, the over reliance of LOLA causes the Nazis to feed false information; leaving the port of Dover undefended against in the invasion. With the Germans marching through England, the sisters are branded as traitors. Martha (nicknamed Mars), goes on the lam and attempts to right the wrongs her and her sister have committed. She films a message in the vain attempt for it to be received by LOLA at an earlier point in time to end the nightmare.

This is the type of time paradox related sci-fi that greatly appeals to me. All the more impressive are the doctored newsreels embodying the alternate timeline, edited with the sisters' home movies in pushing the story. These tidbits, which are peppered throughout are the reason why the film feels so mesmerising. It's a similar effect to the the vintage docu-news reels from Zelig (1983) and Forrest Gump (1994). There are also small nuances like the sisters' language, dress style and behaviour being more modern and out of sync with 1940s England. Way less enthused about the latter, however. I can accept the constant cursing and Thom's blokish appearance, but does the viewer really need to watch Mars taking a piss while standing?

While LOLA ought to be applauded for its technical proficiency, the film's writing is somewhat wanting. The releationship between Thom and Mars doesn't give the impression that they're siblings. At times they act like a lesbian couple; which is very evident with them both sharing a bath together. Not exactly sisterly, is it? There's also Mars becoming romantically involved with a British army officer called Sebastian (Rory Fleck Byrne), which strains the relationship between the two sisters. Oddly enough, Thom seems to act like a jealous ex lover at times. The issue with the writing doesn't stop there sadly, as the finale culminates with a ridiculous rescue that reminded me of the castle scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). It might have worked on a big budget, all-star adventure flick helmed by Steven Spielberg back in the day, but on a more cerebral, grainy looking, sci-fi drama made today, it comes across as rather cringeworthy. This tarnishes the film, in my opinion. Thankfully, LOLA gets back on the right track with its poignant final message; even though the Kubrick hommage ending (you'll know it when you see it) is a tad heavy-handed.

Legge's debut feature is an extension of a similarly themed, short film narrated by Jeremy Irons, The Chronoscope (2009). The twenty minute featurette, featuring fake historian talking heads, is a more amusing take on alternate history compared to his debut feature. Much prefer LOLA over it, however. Regardless of its already listed flaws, the gravitas of such a real and monsterous evil actually conquering the world will always be a terrifying concept. For this reason alone, LOLA resonates hard with me.

LOLA ultimately depends on your appreciation for alternative timeline films. As evident with the gold standard set by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's It Happened Here (1964), the concept is hardly a new one, but it's a theme that I've found equally fascinating and disturbing; therefore, I'm more likely to overlook its various glaring faults to a certain degree. To think, if a bit more care was spent in it avoiding some typical fanfic levels of writing, which is at odds with some seriously impressive effort everywhere else, LOLA might very well have been one of the best British films in recent years. Still a very good film, regardless.

Brief Thoughts on the New Thanksgiving Trailer

The O.G. Thanksgiving trailer featured in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's spectacularly indulgent Grindhouse (2007) double-bill (and later split into two separate films; Planet Terror and Death Proof, respectively) was perhaps the best thing helmed by Eli Roth, in my opinion. Evidentally, I wasn't alone in thinking this way as calls for Thanksgiving to be made into an actual movie like Machete has eventually winded up a reality after sixteen years.

Sadly, this new Thanksgiving trailer lacks the saturated and scratchy charm of the original trailer (along with John Harrison's classic Creepshow score). The replacement of vintage filters for a more contemporary and generic look are the least of my concerns, however. What it truly lacks are the humour and mean spirited nastiness from the original. Hopefully, the feature film will prove me wrong.

This has always been the proverbial ace up the sleeve in Roth's career; no matter how lacklustre the 2010s and early 2020s have been for him, Thankgiving has always been considered his potential comeback film.

Time will tell whether Thanksgiving is a turkey or not, but Damien Leone's Terrifier 2 already set the benchmark in what brutal, holiday themed slashers ought to be like today, and Thanksgiving really needs to serve all the trimmings in sharing a spot with Art at the table.

Thanks for introducing me to Ana de Armas, though!

Viewings: October 2023

The two highest ranked films watched in October were Peter Bogdonavich's Targets and Brian Duffield's No One Will Save You. The latter being my favourite 2023 film thus far.  However, what with it being Halloween, it's only appropriate that Boris Karloff's mug from Targets graces October's screenshot, don't you think?

It wasn't by design, but the majority of other notable films discovered this month were set in a pub: Revenge, Hotel Coolgardie and The Royal Hotel.  The exception to the rule being Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby which is the type of amazing movie you stumble upon on late night TV when coming home half cut from the pub.

 

Film:

Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968)*

Figures in a Landscape (Joseph Losey, 1970)*

Assault (Sidney Hayers, 1971)

Family Life (Ken Loach, 1971)*

Quest for Love (Ralph Thomas, 1971)*

Revenge (Sidney Hayers, 1971)*

All Coppers Are... (Sidney Hayers, 1972)*

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (Tsui Hark, 1980)*

Hard Rock Zombies (Krishna Shah, 1984)*

Der Todesking (Jörg Buttgereit, 1990)

Singapore Sling (Nikos Nikolaidis, 1990)

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (Matthew Bright, 1999/2000)*

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (Mike Hodges, 2004)*

Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (Stacy Title, 2006)*

Death Sentence (James Wan, 2007)

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel, 2008)*

The Canyons (Paul Schrader, 2013)*

The Dyatlov Pass Incident AKA Devil’s Pass (Renny Harlin, 2013)

Night of the Rat (David R.L, 2015)*

Hotel Coolgardie (Pete Gleeson, 2016)*

Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023)*

Bottoms (Emma Seligman, 2023)*

The Equalizer 3 (Antoine Fuqua, 2023)*

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (André Øvredal, 2023)*

The Meg 2: The Trench (Ben Wheatley, 2023)*

Night of the Hunted (Franck Khalfoun, 2023)*

No One Will Save You (Brian Duffield, 2023)*

The Nun II (Michael Chaves, 2023)*

The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green, 2023)*

Saw X (Kevin Greutert, 2023)*

Suitable Flesh (Joe Lynch, 2023)*

Totally Killer (Nahnatchka Khan, 2023)*

V/H/S/85 (Scott Derrickson, David Bruckner, Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero & Natasha Kermani, 2023)*

Television:

Batman - Season 1 (William Dozier, 1966)

Ghosts - Season 5 Epsiode 1 (Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard & Ben Willbond, 2023)*

Mastermind - Episodes 6 - 10 (Bill Wright, 2023)*

Only Connect - Season 19 - Episode 16 (Chris Stuart, 2023)*

 

*First time viewings. 

Dada Debaser Notes:

• The Meg 2: The Trench is further proof Ben Wheatley has fallen off since he can't even make a half decent creature feature.
  
• Night of the Hunted is an inferior American remake to the Spanish thriller Night of the Rat. The cringeworthy political commentary really ruined the film. Can't believe Khalfoun and Aja made this.
  
• All for the current trend of action heroes acting like slasher villains, but you don't see Jason Voorhees cotching all day in a café when he's not slaughtering people like Denzel Washington does in The Equalizer 3.
  
• Nice of Nikos Nikolaidis' son to upload his old man's explicit noir uncut and in HD on YouTube. Won't ever see a kiwi fruit in the same way again.
  
• Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid and André Øvredal's The Last Voyage of the Demeter turned out to be major disappointments for me.
  
• Marc Wilkinson's music for depressing mental health drama Family Life is perfectly suited to a vintage horror and completely wasted in a Ken Loach film.
  
• More a silly teen comedy than a proper horror film, but Totally Killer ended up being a suprisingly decent timewaster. Kudos to the film makers for featuring one of my favourite ever 80s jams in a slasher:

Totally Killer (Heather's death scene)

Nahnatchka Khan, 2023

 

Two in the Bush

The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green, 2023)

When the trailer to Kitty Green's psychological thriller The Royal Hotel (2023), blipped its way onto my radar over the summer, it evoked serious Wake in Fright (1971) vibes for me. Thankfully, those nightmarish feelings were still present in the full length feature film.

Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are two young backpackers in Sydney, Australia who wind up broke after partying a bit too hard. Through the aid of a recruitment agency, the pair are offered jobs as barmaids in a remote mining pub in the Outback. With it being such a remote location, full of burly blokes, they're advised to only accept the offer if they're comfortable with receiving "a little male attention". Brillo-haired Hanna, the smarter of the two, accepts the vacancy with trepidation, while the more naive Liv accepts for the simply silly reason of getting to see kangaroos in the wild out there.

The Royal Hotel is essentially a strangers in a strange land type deal. Civilisation hasn't reached every corner of the globe and for our two female leads, they're in for a rude awakening. You can't get any ruder than The Royal Hotel's alcoholic owner Billy, played by a constantly scene stealing Hugo Weaving. Billy is an aggressive type of Aussie, who talks bluntly and calls Hanna "a smart cunt" when talks back to him condescendingly. The culture shock is very real. This clash of worlds is introduced in an amusing way initially, but as the film progresses it delves into far darker and hostile territory. This leads to some incredibly intense scenes throughout the film.

Green's film excels at generating a forboding sense of unease for Hanna and Liv, where you'll be forgiven for thinking this might be a horror film along the likes of the Outback classic Wolf Creek (2005). The film's obvious agenda is to showcase male toxicity in a backwater part of the world and villify them. But The Royal Hotel's overall message is applicable in a far broader context by contrasting the nature of those who are educated and civilised people against the rough around the edges folk eking out a living in a harsh environment.

Julia Garner and Jessic Henwick exhibit good chemistry together in their lead roles. Garner's cautious attitude increases with the same rate as Henwick's recklessness. The supporting cast aren't slouches either. They include: Romper Stomper's Toby Wallace as Kylie's #1 fan in the Outback; Snowtown's John Bunting in strong form as the psychotic Dolly; and lastly, the aformentioned Hugo Weaving who absolutely kills it.

Perhaps the one real flaw was its cop out ending. It's a slow burn psychological thriller, highly atmospheric, so I expect the tightly wound tension to snap in a quick and abrupt manner, that logically provides a believable outcome, but, without going into spoilers, did it really need that awful closing shot? It tarnishes what is otherwise a great film. Still, despite this erroneous error, it's still an overwhelmingly good film for the vast majority of its running time.

Dada Debaser Bonus Feature:

Did not know that The Royal Hotel was inspired by Pete Gleeson's slice of life documentary Hotel Coolgardie (2016). You can bet I was all over it the moment I found out. It's a feature worthy of a review itself as it's equally funny and horrifying with a randomly messed up post script to cap it off. Hotel Coolgardie also makes for an excellent double feature with The Royal Hotel as you can compare the exaggerated levels Kitty Green went with the source material. Ironically, it's very reminiscent of what certain exploitation film directors would do when inspired by real events.

Alienated Nation

No One Will Save You (Brian Duffield, 2023)

Science-fiction has become a ubiquitous film genre ever since nerd culture became the norm thanks to the shite sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007 - 2019). It's usually the genre of choice for many tent pole blockbusters. As a result, more slower paced and cerebral offerings tend to never make it on the radar whenever some VFX heavy spectacle is doing the promotional rounds during the same time. Brian Duffield's No One Will Save You (2023) is sadly one of those films, as it's condemned to streaming Hell via Hulu (Disney+ in the UK). This is a huge shame as the film is superb.

No One Will Save You centres around a social pariah called Brynn. Without spoiling it, the reason for her being ostracised from her local community becomes revealed later on in the film. Brynn often writes to her childhood friend Maude, but there's no real human contact in her world - other than a postman trashing her parcels doing his deliveries (probably works for Evri). She has no one to talk to. Enter what might be perceived as the film's major gimmick - there is virtually no dialogue (five words in total). This might be drawing from the same well as A Quiet Place (2018) to some audiences.

Our outcast protagonist experiences creepy goings on one night and begins to think it's not hungry raccoons rummaging about in her bins, but encounters of the third kind once one of them terrorises her in her home. They're the grey aliens we all recognise from various media. They also possess telekinetic powers, which makes dealing with them very difficult. For much of the film, it's a cat and mouse type situation until it becomes apparent that this plays out on a far larger scale for our planet.

What we have here is a film that reveals informations via action. Show! Don't tell! That's the methodology for the film. As a result, the lack of dialogue comes as a complete antithesis to all the expository drivel with many of today's films. Additionally, Kaitlyn Dever's performance as Brynn is fantastic; her ability to convey so much in a restrictive physical performance is what elevates the film above the generic sci-fi extravaganzas pumped out by major studios.

Fans of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1959 - 1964) might draw parrallels to The Invaders episode from the first season. A mute hermit woman in a cabin having to face off aliens? Identical premise. A more contemporary comparison would be M. Night Shamalamadingdong's Signs (2002) meets Mike Flanagan's Hush (2016) as the film does verge into horror territory, too. Of course, No One Will Save You eventually diverts on a different path to the aforementioned titles once it progresses further.

Without spoiling it, the biggest controversies are perhaps the film's curveball ending and the lack of dialogue. It's what makes No One Will Save You such a Marmite film; you'll either love it, or hate it! Doubt these detractors would have enjoyed The Invaders episode either. Personally, I consider this a great little film, despite some minor flaws here and there. My personal gripe being some of the visual effects look a bit ropey at times, but in no way do they ruin the suspense and tension in the film. Also, the ending did not rub me the wrong way like it did for others.

In summary, I totally get why Hulu released inferior films like Hellraiser (2022) and Prey (2022) in the past, but No One Will Save You is a legitimate rollercoaster ride. It would have been perfect in the cinema rather than rot as a streamable film. Hopefully, this will get a physical release as it's one of the few films from this year that warrants a blu-ray purchase from me.

No One Will Save You (Bedroom scene)

Brian Duffield, 2023

 

Viewings: September 2023

When Harry met Julie! Steve De Jarnatt's forgotten eighties thriller Miracle Mile may have bombed at the box office, but no film has put me on such an emotional blast wave like this in ages. Still feeling the fallout weeks later. Diamond of the month for your host.

Recent notable standouts were Talk to Me and The Passenger, which renewed my hope for films in 2023. Both William Friedkin and Father Amorth will probably be rolling over in their graves, but I enjoyed Russell Crowe as the famous Italian exorcist riding around on his Lambretta in the rollercoaster horror The Pope's Exorcist.

 

Film:

Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964)

2+5: Missione Hydra (Pietro Francisci, 1966)*

Carry on Screaming! (Gerald Thomas, 1966)

Cruising (William Friedkin, 1980)

Night Ripper! (Jeff Hathcock, 1986)*

Gor (Fritz Kiersch, 1987)*

Miracle Mile (Steve De Jarnatt, 1988)*

Edge of Sanity (Gérard Kiköine, 1989)*

Rush Week (Bob Bralver, 1989)*

In the Cold of the Night (Nico Mastorakis, 1990)*

Slumber Party Massacre III (Sally Mattison, 1990)

Sorority Slaughter (Gary Whitson, 1994)*

A Gun for Jennifer (Todd Morris, 1997)

The Midnight Meat Train (Ryûhei Kitamura, 2008)

Insectula! (Michael Peterson, 2015)*

Crucible of the Vampire (Iain Ross-McNamee, 2019)*

Influencer (Kurtis David Harder, 2022/2023)*

Maid Droid (Rich Mallery, 2023)*

No Hard Feelings (Gene Stupnitsky, 2023)*

The Passenger (Carter Smith, 2023)*

The Pope’s Exorcist (Julius Avery, 2023)*

Talk to Me (Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou, 2022/2023)*

 

Television:

Neverwhere (Dewi Humphreys, 1996)

Mastermind - Episodes 1 - 5 (Bill Wright, 2023/24)*

Neighbours - Episodes 8903 - 8910 (Reg Watson, 2023)*

 

*First time viewings.

 

Dada Debaser Notes:

• Copped Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace on 4K UHD this month and it cements my opinion of it being one of the most beautiful films. It also happens to be one of the best gialli, in my opinion.
  
• Insectula! is a micro budget homage to fifties era sci-fi/horror creature features, and mostly fails at it. Arielle Cezanne made the film watchable, though.
• Carry on Screaming! proved to be an infinitely better written comedy than the painfully unfunny recent shite that I had to endure in No Hard Feelings.
  
• Revisited the BBC fantasy mini-series Neverwhere this month. Didn't realise the actors who played Johnson and Toni from Peep Show were in it.
  
• Don't really blame Oliver Reed being sloshed in the Conan style fantasy film Gor. Horrifically bad. Apparently, the sequel is even worse!
  
• Didn't fall in love with Edge of Sanity, but I did appreciate Anthony Perkins gurning in emo make-up in this Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Jack the Ripper mash-up.
  
• Only watched In the Cold of the Night because one of Bob Morton’s coke whores (the fit one) was the femme fatale in it. Mastorakis' attempt at a De Palma erotic thriller is largely soporific, but it's well shot and the curveball sci-fi finale redeems it slightly. Feel like I might be one in only half a dozen people on the planet to identify the obscure UK rap song which sampled the film's dream sequence theme.
  
• Not seen Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, but Maid Droid is the worst 2023 film for me this year. Inclined to believe the producers blew their entire budget (and their wads) on the French maid uniform that Faith West wore for this poor production.
  

In other media: I've been casually reading Quentin Tarantino's book Cinema Speculation; the chapter on Don Siegel's Dirty Harry (1971) is both fascinating and educational, despite me disagreeing with QT's opinions half the time; and I've been watching the most insane animation since Mad God (2022); the viral phenomenon Skibidi Toilet (2023):

Skibidi Toilet

Alexey Gerasimov AKA DaFuq!?Boom! (2023)