Genre: Supernatural Director: Don Mancini Country: USA Availability: Amazon On Demand
I had some pretty harsh words for why I had absolutely no interest in seeing Curse of Chucky. I mean, it would be terrible. And not even a fun kind of terrible, but a kind of terrible that just makes you angry. Granted, I hadn't seen any of the Child's Play sequels. But this franchise is based on campy one-liners and a killer doll - with titles like Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky. Yeah, I'll pass.
But in Rue Morgue's November issue Dave Alexander had this to say, "Curse of Chucky is a well-acted, effectively told, technically tight horror tale with a lot of care put into it. Some toys are just built to last." Well, shit. Well played, sir. Challenge accepted.
As it turns out, Curse of Chucky was not terrible. In fact, it was pretty damn good. With a creepy old mansion giving us excellent atmosphere, a fun soundtrack that is both ominous and energetic - bringing to mind elements of Goblin, solid acting with likable and despicable characters (hey, you have to root for someone to die) and some great classic moments creating that tension where you know there's a jump scene coming but you're still going to jump anyways.
But I think the secret to Curse of Chucky's success is the less is more quality. Chucky doesn't actually speak until more than halfway through the movie. He just sits there, silent, with his glassy stare - watching you. He goes missing a lot but you never see him move. This doll is fucking terrifying by what he's NOT doing. By the simple implication that there is something off. Something strange about him. And isn't that what makes dolls terrifying in general? The idea that they have a life just on the periphery of vision. That those unwavering eyes see everything. That they're just waiting for you to look away, to close your eyes, for that perfect moment when they can finally come to life and kill you in your sleep.
"Hi, I'm Chucky, and I'm your friend till the end!"
Genre: Satanic Director: William Peter Blatty Country: USA Availability: Amazon On Demand
Last night I watched one of my top 5 favorite horror movies of all time, for about the tenth time, The Exorcist III. A movie that, despite familiarity, still gives me chills when I watch it. I debated whether or not to put up a trailer because every "official" trailer that there is for The Exorcist III is misleading. Yet another example of how the studio tried its damnedest to market this movie as a scary horror movie about demons, instead of staying true to what the movie is really about, which is scary enough. More on that later.
There are no less than three different official trailers for The Exorcist III. All of which are mostly a slight variation of each other, none of which show what the movie is really about therefore maintaining its misleading expectations for new viewers more than twenty years later. While perusing YouTube for a fitting trailer to show you I came across this fan made trailer here, which is by far the best Exorcist III trailer out there, if not a little too long and a little too revealing.
The Exorcist III isn't about an exorcism. It's not about the head-twisting, split pea scares that made the first Exorcist movie so memorable. It's not about screaming and crying or chaos or shock. It's quiet. It's stark. It's compelling in its mysteries and it's chilling in its restraint. It's about old friends, and old demons, and a dead serial killer who seems to be back from the grave and killing again. And it's one of the scariest and most satisfying horror movies ever made.
But The Exorcist III was not born easily. It was first conceived as a movie idea by the author of The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty. Upon trying to write the script, the creative team dismantled due to conflicting opinions and the project fell apart. Blatty then decided to take his idea for The Exorcist III and turn it into a novel called Legion. It was a bestseller. After the book's success he decided to turn the story back into a screenplay and make the film. And then the real problems began.
After the film was complete the movie studio said, "An exorcist movie with no exorcism? Well, we can't have that. Redo! Redo!" And so Blatty had to reshoot the ending to add in a new climax scene of an exorcism. And then came time to market the movie and release it. After the commercial and critical failure of The Exorcist II (a film which had nothing to do with either the first nor the third movie and was not done by Blatty), Blatty requested that his new movie be called Legion. But, the studio insisted that the title maintain the word "exorcist" in it, and so it was done. The Exorcist III did poorly at the box office and was initially met with mixed reviews. It's not until some time has distanced us from its release that The Exorcist III succeeded in creating favorable impressions on its audience. Now it's a movie that you'll often see on those random "Best Horror Movies" lists that are so popular come October. And by all means, it has every right to be there.
The Exorcist III is gorgeous. Blatty, who also directed, had a way of capturing a scene that made something like, a building, look ominous and looming, the entire movie has Presence. And then there's the scenes of the religious iconography that solidified the film's religious overtones, giving feelings of security and yet overwhelming menace. There is also a sense of pacing that is like listening to the long whining of the wind through a small crack. It's hypnotic, sensual and eerie. It's calming in its fluidity and yet maddening in its relentlessness. The effectiveness of this measure of film making is remarkable. And it's only for the few impatient horror movie watchers that long for blood and violence and SCARES! that find fault with this method. And it's funny! Intentionally. Man, the dialog in this movie just snaps with sharpness. The characters are aware and don't miss a beat and the chemistry between George C. Scott and Ed Flanders, who play old friends, is a dynamic that helps makes this movie so rich. And you don't get any more original in an idea than you do with The Exorcist III. It's solid and daring story telling at its finest which makes not only for a fantastic horror movie, but for a timeless film.
Genre: Serial Killer Director: Shion Sono Country: Japan Series: Bloody Disgusting Selects Availability: Netflix Watch Instantly
I don't even know where to begin. From the trailer of Cold Fish I knew I was in for a rather bizarre movie but I guess I just didn't see this crazy, bloody, pornographic and abusive freight train of a movie coming. When we were twenty minutes in and they suddenly showed the opening title of the film it prompted us to look up the running time. 146 minutes! 146 minutes! At times throughout the movie it really felt like I had been watching Cold Fishfor my entire life. Miraculously, the movie maintains a level of strange intensity for the majority of the film's storytelling, peppering the plot with subtle sexuality and then overt, somewhat violent sexual encounters that leaves you unsure as to what kind of movie you're watching and where it's really going. You're essentially always waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it finally does, it fucking clobbers you. The movie suddenly turns into an absolute bloodbath, quite literally, and the gore and depravity that spins us into our final scene is horror movie work at its finest. I wasn't the biggest fan of Cold Fish while watching it, mostly because it seemed to never end, but the last 40 minutes combined with a lot of reflection and afterthought I would have to say Bloody Disgusting Selects has once again offered up a surreal and quality horror movie.
