#nicktrunks

This is a review for a film called Dave. I’ve brought Dave up to a few people and they knew exactly what I was talking about, which I almost can’t believe. As a cinephile and fan of films, I legitimately did not know this film existed. I like Kevin Kline and think he’s great in everything he does (yes, even Wild Wild West) - but this film escaped me. My coworker lent me Dave after hearing of my love for Kline and I finally had a chance to sit down and watch it...and oh boy, it sure is a movie!

Dave is one of those inconsequential early 90′s films where there are no real problems or ramifications. No one is really at risk in the film and the plot trucks along with a plucky soundtrack to reassure you that everything will be okay. It goes through great lengths to reiterate just how good of a person Dave is and how he’s here to make everything better and in the end, he kind of does and takes out many of the “bad people” along the way. It’s fluff, and that isn’t bad once in a while. I appreciated how timely my viewing of the film was (where someone in the office actually manages to do good), but that’s something I won’t go into too much detail with.

For years Meg has been trying to get me to watch Halloweentown - a Disney Channel Original Movie released in 1998. This year it was at the front of her list, but finally explained that it was “for kids”, like “Hocus Pocus” and I thought about how much I loved Hocus Pocus, and if this film was anything like Hocus Pocus...I was certainly on board.

Halloweentown is nothing like Hocus Pocus. It might be that I was in the right place at the right time and just have no nostalgia for Halloweentown, but it is bad and should feel bad for somehow being a cornerstone Halloween film for so many people growing up. There are so many lists where Halloweentown is in a top 10 list and honestly it feels more like a low budget studio product cobbled together at the last minute. The fact that it garnered as much success as it has is probably astonishing to the creators -- because although there are great people behind this (one of Lynch’s go-to editors directed), I can see how it came together and all of the seams poking out from within. The film feels like it was hurriedly shot in 10 days in July to release only a few short months later. 

I saw “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” when I was around six years old. I remember watching a bunch of pretty creepy films from the 60′s and 70′s as a kid and gravitated toward classics thanks to influence from my mom. Baby Jane has just been in my life longer now than it has been without it, and much like other beloved classics of that era...doesn’t hold up all that well. It’s certainly odd and it’s certainly a “movie”. Watching it with Meg this October, she had a harder time with some of the more ridiculous moments of desperation (Blanche refusing to call out the window for help, not telling her nurse, etc.) instead of actually trying to put an end to the madness. I told her that as someone who has thought about this film on and off for over twenty years that I could explain away most of the plot holes - but understood where she was coming from.

The pacing of the film is also “classic”. The scenes are long and move slowly, taking its time to stretch out whatever is happening: whether through reactions or interstitial scenes that join everything together unnecessarily. I think back to six year old Nick sitting down, watching this film unflinching and just soaking it in. Not bouncing off the walls or shaking his leg in boredom, but being able to sit through it all. I don’t have the patience I once had, and could feel it getting long in the tooth.

I feel as though like Death Becomes Her, this film might have been better viewed as an extended episode of Tales from the Crypt or The Twilight Zone. Also, by today’s standards, the “punishments” that Blanche was receiving were very tame. Like re-watching The Exorcist as an adult, I can feel how traumatizing the film must have been at the time, but it rolls off of me because of how “of the time” it was. 

After watching Death Becomes Her this week, I realized I had never watched the first 30-45 minutes of this film. It might have been due to missing it through ill-timed broadcasts, but the beginning of this film was a complete blank to me. It’s unfortunate because this film is absolutely amazing. It manages to combine a considerable number of my favourite cult films of the previous decades together (Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Clue come to mind first). The film is slap-sticky and ridiculous and absolutely a product of the early 90′s, but it is so good. While watching it I just kept gravitating back to Bruce Willis’ performance as the limp Ernest and how badly I wish that Willis leaned more heavily into comedy roles instead of his “leading man” default because he steals the film for me. Speaking of stealing scenes, the extras in this film are also incredible. Even in scenes with a handful of dialogue, Sydney Pollack and Ian Ogilvy are so good. 

I know it sounds ridiculous and that I’m hyping this film up, but it was such a relief to re-watch the film and realize that it is a beloved cult classic for a reason. There are hardly any lulls, and throughout the film there are such great line deliveries that it had me going back to how much I was enjoying myself. The film is by no means perfect - in fact I’d say that it’s a genuinely “bad” film, but it feels like an inside joke that you’re actually in on, rather than viewing from outside. I appreciate when films can pull you into the “joke”, even if that isn’t clearly telegraphed upon your initial viewing. The idea that you could sit in a theatre and watch Bruce Willis and Meryl Streep in these roles is a joke in and of itself.

Halloween H20 is definitely a product of the 90′s and especially a product of Dimension films. Thankfully, H20 avoids heavy computer animation to create a creepier film, it feels very much like other Dimension films of that time, like The Faculty, the Scream series, and Teaching Mrs. Tingle. The heavy emphasis on the teenagers in the film definitely brought me back to a lot of the horror films that were being pumped out at that time. Jamie Lee Curtis is understandably the major draw for the film, but she seems overshadowed by a lot of the teenage storylines that are going on in the film. 

The film wasn’t bad by 1998 standards, but it is just riddled with predictable moments that have you knowing exactly how everything is going to be played out. My biggest problem was Michael’s mask in this film. I can’t say I have a lot of experience with his masks having not seen every entry in the series - but jumping from II to H20, it feels extremely silly and doesn’t fit the same scary presence Michael had in the first two. Looking back now, I can see that so many of the masks over time have actually looked *worse* than this one - which is such a shame. Unlike Jason, whose simplistic goalie mask changes slightly over time, and Freddy’s face who only goes through one major transformation in New Nightmare - changing Myer’s mask so dramatically is such a confusing decision. 

Sitting through a 10+ hour long miniseries released on Netflix over the course of so few days was certainly challenging, but I enjoyed almost every minute of The Haunting of Hill House. From it’s aesthetic choices to its storytelling, the show was able to pull me in much like the titular house. I kept finding myself being drawn in, thinking about the story and getting lost in some of the more compelling moments - itching to keep watching to find resolution. 

The best way for me to describe The Haunting of Hill House is to echo one of the more recent horror titles I’ve watched: Hereditary. Like that film, Hill House manages to tie in family drama and cinematography with storytelling that help elevate the entire piece. Although Hill House didn’t fill me with the exact same dread that I could feel creeping throughout Hereditary, there were certainly moments of terror that it was able to capitalize on. I do wish that Hill House didn’t rely so heavily on most of its “horror” coming from jump scares. There were plenty of lingering moments in the show that filled you with uneasiness and worry, only to be punctuated by a jump scare that seemed cheap and easy. Fortunately the show had enough underlying character development and a hefty length to it that the jump scares came only once or twice per episode - and over the course of ten hours, it didn’t take away from the overall story.

Every October at work we choose a spooky movie or two to watch after hours. This year was tough because we’ve had a lot to choose from and wanted to pick something new and original that we could find streaming. Foreign horror films are often executed in a way that western audiences aren’t as familiar with, so being able to check out something outside of the Hollywood system seemed like an awesome idea. Our office administrator found Under the Shadow, an Iranian horror film from 2016 that had good reviews and we put it on not knowing any of the plot - and it was really good!

The film takes place in war-torn Tehran in the 80′s, which is honestly scary enough as it is. The constant looming threat of the war and missiles being dropped on your house and your family is only the undertone of the film - the real “horror” comes from the psychological torment that is being caused by a djinn that is terrorizing a mother and her daughter. The film gave me some Babadook vibes in terms of its pacing and its use of dread. There is so much build up and tension throughout the film that by the time the real horror kicks in, you’ve been lulled into a false sense of security. 

I’m going to go out on a limb and say “The Purge” has overstayed its welcome. While the first two Purge films did a good job exploring two ends of a nation’s spectrum for the concept, the third was a bit of a stretch. This is now “Purge” number four and I’m kind of over it. With such a highly politically motivated campaign pushing “The First Purge” will allusions to Trump’s 2016 win, I thought that the film would be more tongue-in-cheek about making direct connections to some of the insanity that has been going on in our world. While it did poke “fun” of some aspects, it was still a pretty standard Purge film with lots of eye rolling surrounding character motivations and the loose plot holding everything together.

I don’t think I’m necessarily against the idea of the franchise continuing (and it is - the end of the credits plug was for the Purge TV show airing now), I just don’t find that what is being explored is interesting anymore. I was captivated by some of the truly disturbing ideas that were coming up in the series. The costumes and “performance” of it all was compelling. Seeing how certain people may interact with and take a concept like this and roll with it was original…but the further you go in a franchise like this, you keep repeating yourself. In this film the most “creative” thing were two old women who set up a bunch of dolls with homemade bombs inside of them. It just feel “by-the-books” now instead of inventive and that’s how you know you’re in trouble.