Totally Killer - 2023 - USA

 
Totally Killer - 2023 - 6/10  

 
Here in Vernon, where every Halloween, people still dress up as the serial killer.
After a death, 35 years later, Jamie vows to put a stop to the murderer, now and then.
How?  Her best friend is tinkering with her mother’s time machine experiment.
One strike of iron into the system panel, and Jamie is back in 1987.
Where social norms are wildly different.  Woke?  Political correctness?  Acceptance?
Comedy flits between SciFi and Horror.  Note:  This is a Slasher, flat out.
Plenty of in-jokes for fans who recognize homage to two franchises.
Gleefully wicked fun.  Pair with The Final Girls for your October party.

Satan’s Rhapsody - 1917 - Italy

Satan’s Rhapsody - 1917 - 6/10
AKA - Rapsodia Satanica

 
Merry party-goers leave Alba’s Castle of Illusions, while she, despondent, pines for her youth.
Out steps Mephisto, offering her youth and beauty, but she must not fall in love.
Of course, Alba is adored and soon has handsome admirers, including two brothers.
Slowish Silent melodrama is noteworthy for Pietro Mascagni’s only film score
Likewise the hand-coloring of Alba in fuchsia and olive green, and Mephisto is crimson.
Running less than an hour, Silent fans ought to give this a look.

Late Night Ride - 2021 - Singapore

Late Night Ride - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - Kai ye Che  //  开夜车

Three of the four web-hosts and influencers, head down the deserted road.
Legend says the road was constructed over an old cemetery and is now haunted.
Can’t say the girls weren’t warned.
Three stories of death and hauntings, all on the same midnight road.
A husband whose wife perished on it, and an over-worked taxi driver.
By the conclusion, the three interlink.
Grief and ghosts.

The First Omen - 2024 - USA

The First Omen - 2024 - 5/10

Excessive prequel to The Omen (1976), invents Damien’s backstory, as well as the rationale for his existence.
Novitiate Margaret arrives in Rome from Pittsburgh, begins tasks in the orphanage.
Rather than being severe, many of the sisters smoke or jump on the trampoline.
One fellow novitiate, Luz, suits Margaret in “dressed up to get messed up” attire before they go clubbing.
Waking up the next morning, she realizes something ain’t right and eyes the orphanage closer.
Sure enough, closed rooms, creepy novices, a troubled girl, and a sinister trail.
Well, we knew that already.
Filmwise, characters and script are wildly over-the-top to the point of lunacy.
Countless plot holes.  A big one involves Satan who shows up when invoked.  Really?
Better for folks who suspect the Antichrist is already active.

The Devil’s Rain - 1975 - USA

The Devil’s Rain - 1975 - 5/10

 
“They found us!”  Us being the Preston family, on the run for centuries.
They?  The diabolical Corbis, leader of devil worshipers.
All are descendants of Pilgrim satanists, now in a southwest ghost town, Redstone.
Cobris and his followers want “the book”.
Wild, over-the-top flick is not overtly campy, and not exploitive enough to be drive-in.
Ernest Borgnine is the heart and soul of this, he devours the screen.
I was hoping for the same from Shatner, but he has little to do here.
A bad film that I could not resist watching.

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul - 1964 - Brazil

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul - 1964 - 5/10
AKA - À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma

 
Zé, village undertaker (who dresses like a carnival magician) knows how to mesmerize others.
So that he can injure, main, or murder them.  He is, after all, superior.
Despite having a wife / girlfriend, Zé fancies friend Antonio’s fiancée, Terezinha.
Girlfriend disposed of, Antonio disposed of, Zé forces himself into Terezinha.
Throughout, the village witch warns him.  As if he cares.
Melodramatic, cheap, hammy.
So bad to be most enjoyable.

Piranha II: Spawning - 1982 - USA

Piranha II: Spawning - 1982 - 4/10

 
Piranhas.  Flying piranhas, whoa no!
Biologist has altered the deadly fish so they can fly.
Setting, the touristy Caribbean, where a canister of the fish have gotten loose.
Where visitors want midnight fishing, fish savor long pork.
Cheap spinoff of the original film has nothing to do with that.
Minuscule budget, laughable fish.  Too much talk, not enough mayhem.
James Cameron’s first film, boasts Lance Henriksen as the lead.

The Curse Of Nostradamus - 1961 - Mexico

 

The Curse Of Nostradamus - 1961 - 4/10
AKA - La Maldición de Nostradamus

 
Will he open the crypt?  What do you think?
The descendant of a powerful necromancer arrives to punish those who had thwarted his ascent.
And to take control, eventually, or the world.
First , however, he wants the intelligentsia to recognize and acknowledge his supremacy.
Gothic sets, brooding acting by Germán Robles.
Undermined by endlessly talky script, and limited action.
Parts of a serial, reedited into a film, unsure if I shall continue.

People, Places & Things - 2024 - UK

People, Places & Things - 2024 - 7/10  

 
Emma enters rehab for alcohol and substance abuse.
In order to return to work, she needs an all-clear note.
Just a note, she does not need to bother with Group, or fill forms, or even give her real name.
“Just give me the note, OK?”
Emma, an actress, knows how to adopt personas, evade the truth.
She is, in short, a compulsive liar.
Confrontational theatre of a failed human, trying to regain equilibrium, distrusting any system.
English subs = https://subscene.cam/subscene/157581

Van Halen: 1984 Documentary - 2024 - USA

Van Halen: 1984 Documentary - 2024 - 6/10  

 
Lengthy, five-part fan documentary on Van Halen’s “1984” album.
The lead ups, the internal divisions, concerts, substance abuse, massive egos.
Five parts, the entirety runs about two and a half hours.
A I has been used to emulate Roth’s voice based on his writings.
I missed the earliest version of this.
Afterward, Rhino (a label that had NOTHING to do with the original incarnation of the band) put out an injunction of all music video clips and songs.  Perhaps, they intend to release their own doc.  It will not be this comprehensive, and it may be more sanitized.  This is warts and all.
Owing to Rhino meddling, this is a frustrating watch.
Still a labor of love by Alan Berry and a must for Van Halen 1 fans.
Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtaIh3GIdQM

The Pleasure Garden - 1925 - UK

The Pleasure Garden - 1925 - 6/10

 
Having lost her letter of introduction, Jill pleads with the stage manager to give her a chance.
Chorus line girl Patsy takes her home, then gets her onstage.
Grateful, Jill?  She’s now a star!  Being courted by a Russian prince.
Morality tale set amidst theatrical boards.
Choices and dubious menfolk, along with a South Seas siren.
Very early Hitchcock borders on Melodrama, but the tempo perks up midway.
Plenty of tossed off sight gags that fans of this director will appreciate.

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time - 2020 - USA

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time - 2020 - 7/10  

 
Of all the Folkies, Karen had the worst luck, in line with her antagonism to showbiz.
Stellar documentary of her hard-scrabble Oklahoma childhood, marriage at 15, abandoning marriage #2, heading to Greenwich Village during the Bohemian Folk boom of the early 1960’s.
Her voice, depressing, distressing, mournful, laments from one song after another in this.
In spite of her obstinacy, and later substance abuse, she miraculously recorded two albums.
Two live albums were released following her early, and not surprising, death.
Dalton is essential for late, late night listening.

Vortex - 2021 - France

Vortex - 2021 - 7/10

 
Just before  married partners Lui and Elle awake, the film shifts to split screen.
It will stay separate for the duration, observing husband and wife go about their day.
Lui is a writer / philosopher working on a book about films and dreams.
He writes, types, reads, watches old cinema.
Elle clearly suffers cognition decline, lost in her own home.  Outdoors, even more muddled.
She had been a psychiatrist, still has a cabinet of prescriptions, and she is self-medicating.
A son makes suggestions, to which they are resistant.
Leave their home?  All their (many) books?  The neighborhood?
Lui is 80, Elle 76, and they are sleepwalking their own dream.
Powerful film, if very slow, with extremely long takes.

Shopgirls: True Stories Behind The Counter - 2024 - UK

Shopgirls: True Stories Behind The Counter - 2024 - 6/10

 
From the Edwardian era to today’s “virtual shopgirl”.
Three-part series of the entry of females into the workplace.
Life in the company store / dormitory, pittance wages, breaking social taboos.

 
Interesting as a curio, except when one realizes there are still places where females are restricted.
Just as there are groups today, who would enforce new restrictions on females.