Vomitous Mass

(these are films I watched and for some reason or another was unable to write a little thing about which I'd like to revisit)

-Live Forever As You Are Now

-Planet of the Apes

-Killer Klowns From Outer Space (a favorite)

-How a Mosquito Operates

-The Monster That Challenged the World (here's my letterboxd from watching it)

In the meantime here's a link if you'd like to watch it. There is no Does The Dog Die link for this one.

Reminder spoilers ahead!

Uncle Peckerhead is a movie that tries to fill a B-list vibe while being horror comedy. It leans hard into teasing the punk scene and metalheads and other genres of alternative culture (in a silly we're trying to make the characters the epitome of this idea sorta way). Short summary to follow. (leaving out some details)

It's heavy in gore (splatter gore) for those who do not want to see/read/hear that.

Small local punk band catches a break and starts their first tour. Their van gets repo-ed and they start flyering asking to borrow vans. One of the vans they flyer belongs to a man who claims his name is Peckerhead (Peck for short). Peck says he'll be their roadie and drive them around if they spot him on gas. They all agree. First show first night of the tour is disappointing, they're the only band scheduled and the promoter is an asswipe. Midnight rolls around after the show and Peck claims he needs to use the bathroom before they hit the road to find somewhere to sleep the night.

Peck takes a while, Judy (bassist) grows impatient and goes to check on him and discovers a gruesome awful scene where a demon who looks like Peck has ripped apart and eaten the promoter. She runs and yells to start the van and get the fuck out of there. The keys are with Peck.

Peck comes out covered in blood claims Judy is lying about what she saw and after the band goes to see for themselves he asks to take the band to dinner to explain and apologize. They agree (except Judy) and he says it was because the promoter sucked and he was sticking up for the band and he has it under control. He claims he uses heroin to put himself to sleep so he doesn't turn.

Max and Mel (Judy's bandmates) out vote Judy to keep Peck on because he apologized and seemed sincere. Judy is not happy with this and lets everyone know. She begins to treat Peck in a stand-offish manner and tries to regularly steal the keys to the van.

Things seem fine for a while, everyone sort of settles in with each other. Judy puts Peck to sleep and another night goes by but no one seems to have been harmed. Next day rolls around and next show. A rival band has been introduced, lead guy is a dickhead. They perform well and Judy goes to bed early nervous about Peck. Overnight Peck kills some metalheads who were mean to Max with the permission of Mel.

Judy is not happy when she learns about this in the morning but Max and Mel seem to think it was fun and cool. Next show and rival band is being dicks and making vague threats. Peck sells tons of demos pre-show and then gets the crowd to start a small moshpit for Duh (the band). Everyone feels they performed well and have a tiny celebration. Judy tells Peck he's a good guy and she trusts him. Everyone goes to sleep at the motel.

Next show rival band is opening for Duh and being shitty and weird again. Duh performs well and asks the crowd if anyone has somewhere they can crash. After the show a girl comes up and says they can crash at her grandma's and that another band is staying there as well.

Rival band is staying there and being shitty no surprise. Peck gets a small bed and Judy and everyone else stays in the living room. Judy goes out to get stuff from the van and comes back in to find Mel alone watching the news. The new report is saying there was 2 people murdered at the motel they stayed at. Judy freaks and goes to see where Peck is. He is not in his room.

Panicked Mel and Judy look for Max. They find him tied up in the rival bands room. They end up tied up as well. The rival band says they're doing this so they can open the big show Duh landed since they can't make it if they're tied up in a different town. Knock at the door and its the girl saying quiet down. Minutes later there is a weird growl outside the door and when the rival band opens the door all fucking hell breaks loose and they get absolutely fucking obliterated. Ripped to shreds and eaten.

Duh has had enough of the trauma induced by Peck. Peck has kidnapped the girl and grandma and is driving Duh (covered in blood and also Peck's shit I GUESS?) to their big show. Peck gets voted out and he makes a threat about it almost being midnight. Duh is close to a big break as a record is wanting to sign them and right as they're about to go on stage Peck walks off and cops arrest Duh in association to the murders.

8 MONTHS LATER

Thanks to girl and grandma Duh is being acquitted due to mistrial (or some shit) because they said Peck was the one who did all the killing. Duh claims to have been taken hostage by Peck. They go to play a show after being released and everything is going great. Judy sees Peck in the audience and then her alarm indicating its almost midnight beeps and the audience goes from cheers to terror.

I think Peck's character is fun as he's really quite sweet and silly outside of the whole murderer thing. I think that makes the movie more interesting to watch because you find yourself enjoying him and wanting good for him. I think they leaned a little too hard into the epitome of (the scene they were trying to go for) at first and it was initially stiff. Acting became more fluid as the movie went on. Peck's acting was good imo. I think this movie is silly and enjoyable if you're looking for a gore-y comedy to watch(?)

Three stars

TW: Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Drug Usage

(minor spoilers ahead)

I really thoroughly enjoy horror films that are packed full of every awful thing imaginable but instead have a story to tell. I, unfortunately, had had the twist spoiled for me however it was still a really good watch. It moves slow at times but I didn't feel disengaged from it because of this. I was surprised the infamous shower scene came so soon in the movie, I think the shot of Marion's eye in the following scene really did more for the disturbing and unsettling factors than the shower scene did (personal opinion). Anyway, I enjoyed the movie, not one of my favorites but good nonetheless.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Marion is in love with a poor man who's ashamed of his poverty and thereby refuses to treat her as other than a secret for "her sake". She does not want that with him. She leaves the hotel they spent "lunch" in together and goes back to a job she is unhappy with and her boss asks her to deposit a large sum of money in a deposit box at the bank. She leaves to do so and instead steals the money and runs off to go find her boyfriend in hopes the money will solve things for them. She ends up seems a tad more than suspicious and catches the eye of a cop.

She flees and ends up at the Bates Motel where Norman checks her in and invites her to dinner. She agrees and later overhears an argument between Norman and his mother Norma. Norman comes back down to the motel and brings Marion food, they eat together in the parlor of the office of the motel and Marion expresses concern for Norman based off what she heard. Norman's behavior shifts and becomes slightly off-put. Marion heads back to her room and has changed her mind about the stolen money and is getting ready to head back to Phoenix and apologize. She gets ready for bed with a shower and as she is showering Norma approaches with a knife and stabs her to death.

Norma goes back to the house and Norman finds her covered in blood and freaks out. He runs down to the motel and after a moment of panic begins to clean up his mother's mess so to say. He sinks Marion, the money, and her car in the swamp out back.

Marion's sister comes looking for her and finds Marion's boyfriend, Sam. She demands to know where her sister is and Sam says he has not a clue what shes on about. A PI walks in and says he's looking for Marion too and they (Sam and Lila) should sit and wait. The PI traces Marion down to the Bates Motel and Norman lets loose that his mother saw Marion too. The PI asks to see Norma but Norman refuses saying his mother is unwell.

The PI calls Lila to update her about Marion being at the motel and then says he's heading back to speak to Norma. He does so and is stabbed to death by Norma in her house. When the PI doesn't return Lila and Sam worry. Sam checks out the Bates Motel and decides maybe they should ask the sheriff instead. They do so and the sheriff let's loose that Norma is dead and buried.

Lila and Sam decide to investigate for themselves. Sam distracts Norman and Lila goes to find Norma. She's exploring this house, which seems to be untouched in disturbing ways when Norman comes back. She runs down to the cellar and finds Norma. She spins Norma around to find she is a decomposed corpse. Norman comes running after Lila screams dressed as his mother and attempts to stab her but Sam intervenes just in time.

After this we sort of just get a recap and backstory.

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CW: corpses, stabbing, blood, use of the t slur, abusive parenting, taxidermy

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3.5/5

I'm not going in as much depth as A Bucket of Blood for this lol.

This movie is very well done in terms of cinematography, costuming, set, colors and acting. HOWEVER, I didn't really care for it much.

It was a fine movie, but calling it horror seems out of place to me? A movie about a woman struggling with mental health issues and potential psychosis is like such a "she's hysterical isn't that terrifying, women have too many emotions driven by silly things" sort feeling. Personally anyway.

SPOILERS AHEAD

She suffers neglect and abuse by her mother, we don't know anything about how her father was prior to the state we see him in so we do not know how long the neglect and abuse has been playing out for. She is clearly suffering and eventually snaps.

She sort of just spirals down a killing spree due to consistent disappointment, fear and other sorts of negative emotions. Now, I do not think she should have killed people about things, but calling a story of an abuse survivor snapping and using any means to escape abuse horror is unusual to me. There is definitely suspense carried throughout the film although for me it was only there because I was aware it was horror and I was expecting something bad to happen.

idk it was fine. Not great, not terrible. Some weird scenes to try to carry discomfort and uncanniness through the movie.

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CW: sex, sexual themes, blood, animal death, murder, neglectful/abusive parenting

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idk maybe I'm taking it too seriously. 2/5