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Metroid Prime Review

I played Metroid Prime. It was incredible.

Retro Studios perfectly translated Metroid game design into 3D, with a satisfyingly complex non-linear map, and puzzles that feel more alien than any Metroid I’ve played so far.

The environment design and atmosphere are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Every single region and room on Tallon IV is gorgeous and fun to explore, and collecting upgrades is just as satisfying as the 2D games. The graphics are amazing, with awesome lighting, and cool details like seeing rain droplets on Samus’ visor, or even her own reflection.

I got used to pressing R to aim decently quick, and after a while it became second nature. Plus with the lock-on it’s really not a problem. The sidestep dodge is fun, too, and the bosses are very challenging but rewarding.

The story is also wonderfully fantastical, with some really cool sci-fi ideas, and some very disturbing content for a first-party Nintendo game. I love how you collect pieces of the backstory through documents, like a traditional horror game.

Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma’s music is mind-blowing. It’s officially dethroned Super as my favorite soundtrack in the franchise I’ve heard so far. The synths are sweeping and beautiful, the grooves are badass, the melodies are fantastic. It’s perfect. In fact, this entire game is perfect. A total masterpiece. I can’t stop gushing about it enough. I’m almost completely sure it’s my new favorite Metroid.

5/5

#Metroid Prime #review #game review #2000s game review #Metroid #GameCube #GameCube game review #2000s shooter review #2000s shooter game review #2000s sci-fi shooter game review #metroidvania #adventure games #adventure game review #2000s adventure game review #Retro Studios #Nintendo #Kenji Yamamoto #Kouichi Kyuma #2000s shooter game

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I saw Saltburn and I feel like it's legitimately too complex to describe, been attempting to review it for days.

I'll just say it's a fucking mind-melting masterpiece, and if you can handle very twisted dark humor, it's a must-watch.

5/5

#Saltburn #film #movies

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Dogtooth Review

I saw Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2009 movie Dogtooth, and I completely love it. I’ve become obsessed with Lanthimos ever since seeing The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the latter of which is in my top ten movies ever. However, this may be his best work I’ve seen yet. I say this, even though it’s hands down one of the most disturbing, horrifying experiences I’ve ever had watching a film.

The shot composition is very much Lanthimos’ signature style – cold and distant, yet profoundly beautiful. This is amplified by the gorgeous greenery surrounding the family home the movie is dominantly set at. But, as this is a Lanthimos story, the family has something much darker lurking.

Lanthimos and his co-writers are absolute geniuses at gradually revealing their plots, and this film is the most artfully mind-destroying example of this I’ve seen, so I really don’t want to give away much. But it’s about an abused family, and the extent of the abuse is probably some of the most extreme and disturbing ever put to film. It’s disgusting and vile, I’m not joking. But for anyone mentally well enough to handle it, they’ll find a deeply profound story of control and the concept of family, and one of the most hauntingly accurate portrayals of abuse. As someone who has been through domestic abuse, it moved me to near tears.

Also, even with the movie being in Greek, I could see and feel the raw emotion from every single actor. And after seeing Angeliki Papoulia in a few Lanthimos movies now, I must say, she’s a total fucking legend.

5/5

#Dogtooth #Yorgos Lanthimos #Angeliki Papoulia #movies #film #movie review #film review #psychological horror #psychological horror movies #psychological horror films #2000s movies #2000s film #2000s psychological horror movies #2000s psychological horror films #2000s movie review #2000s film review

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It's the 78th birthday of one of my favorite movie/show directors, David Lynch :D

His works have inspired my imagination more than most artists I've ever heard of. Eraserhead is one of my favorite movies, and I believe Twin Peaks is possibly the best live action show ever made. Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, and Lost Highway are obviously great too. And I think Inland Empire is the weirdest thing I've ever seen, which is worth something.

I love his taste for the macabre, how he turns settings of everyday life into wild-ass fantasy stories, and his deep understanding of human emotion you can feel throughout his work. It's sad he doesn't make movies anymore, but he left a sizable catalogue, some of which I still haven't seen.

Keep kicking around Lynch <3

#David Lynch

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Wow, that record was way too long and complex for my first-ever record review. I hope it's pretty good anyway :D

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Björk - Homogenic Review

I heard Björk’s 3rd album, Homogenic, as part of going through her discography for the first time. I heard the standard version. She’s quickly becoming one of my favorite singers; I love the timbre of her voice, and her passionate style. I guess this is her most famous album? I dunno, but I’m happy to report it’s a banger.

“Hunter” starts the album with a moody combination of spooky, reversed-sounding atmosphere, stuttery drum machine hits, and daunting strings. It sets the tone of the album well, and it’s pretty good stuff. Apparently the lyrics are about her feelings of newfound fame in the music industry at the time. It’s a great beginning to the album – stating that she’ll keep hunting for new sounds no matter what.

“Jóga” is actually the song that introduced me to Björk, when someone sent me it in a DM. But it had been a while since I heard it, and I wasn’t prepared for the fucking epicness this track unleashes. Two minutes in you get the first shit-hits-the-fan moment of the album, where a thick, distorted drum beat and groovy, perfectly-modulated electronic bassline suddenly BURST into the 2nd chorus. The strings are incredible; her vocals are passionate; everything about it is amazing. I think there’s even a polymeter? I dunno, this shit is crazy. The lyrics seem to cover a hefty amount of themes too, including her love of Iceland and how it shaped her.

“Unravel” is a pretty laid back tune with slow, washed-out drums. I love the somber atmosphere and how the drums become distorted, but it’s mostly carried by her gorgeous vocal melodies. The lyrics are also an interesting description of when 2 people leave each other, then reconnect.

“Bachelorette” is another incredibly epic piece, with a large variety of booming percussion, dramatic strings you should always expect from Björk, and even a NASTY piano bassline. At this point, the album really seems like it wants to blow your mind every other song.

Oh, did I say every “other” song? “All Neon Like” is hands-down my favorite track on this album. I’ve never heard anything like it. It begins with possibly one of the most beautiful, ethereal melodies I’ve ever heard, before bringing an extremely interesting hyper-distorted drum beat. Then after 2 minutes you’re greeted with THAT fucking synth. Extremely noisy but not too harsh, playing a rhythm so groovy and quirky I can’t help but dance while smiling like an idiot. It fits SO well with the drum rhythm, too.

“5 years” is a fun-sounding song with a cute synth, playful bassline, and the distorted drums you should expect from this album. It’s very euphoric when the strings come in, and the song is an empowering expression of unrequited love.

“Immature” begins with a sampled vocal and jungle d&b-esque bassline, before delivering yet another show-stopper moment, where the bass gets heavier and it becomes groovy as fuck. What do you expect from this album by this point? I love how the lyrics convey growing past the popular notion that you need someone else to complete you, and she gives one of the sauciest Björk-growls I’ve heard from her in a while. If you know what I’m talking about, you know.

“Alarm Call” has a wonderful mix of awesome hip-hop beats, industrial vibes, and psychedelic synths. It’s a super fun listen, and a joyous expression of nature and love for music.

“Pluto” sounds like the kind of dystopian nightmare Hiroyuki Sawano would make, with ridiculously aggressive synths and drums. I love hearing the Björk-growl with that kind of distortion, but the song really doesn’t do much for me melodically or compositionally. I love the lyrics though; they’re kind of hilarious as well. Seriously, if you’ve never heard this album, at least look up the lyrics for Pluto and get a good laugh.

“All Is Full of Love” ends the standard edition of the album with really beautiful ambience full of reverb. The sounds expand pretty nicely as it goes on.

This album is amazing, and after 3 albums I feel like I now fully understand Björk’s solo work as mostly focused on sound selection and design, and her incredible singing. Her lyrics are always cryptic but fun to analyze, too. The last 2 tracks might not do much for me at this current time, but I was fully on board beforehand, and it’s insane how many flat-out BANGERS this record has. 4.5/5 Talk to me in a few months and it might be a 5

#Björk #Homogenic #Björk Homogenic #experimental pop #electronic music #pop #record review #album review #music review #pop music review #review #90s pop #90s experimental pop

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Glad Wonka is getting good reviews. It looks good

#Wonka

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So, it's been way too long since October, and I'd really like to get back to talking about other art, so I think I'm just gonna stop the horror marathon reviews Plus, it's been so long I've forgotten tons of details about most of the movies that are left Dx I've gotten way faster at writing though, so I'm excited to do it again next year :D I'll definitely review them when I re-watch them, and if anyone really wants to know how I feel about a movie on the list, feel free to message

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Deep Red Review

I saw Dario Argento’s 1975 movie Deep Red (or Profondo Rosso) for my October horror marathon. The first giallo movie I’ve ever seen. I saw it in Italian, with subtitles.

If you don’t know what giallo movies are, they’re Italian slasher movies famous for being extremely violent. However, what I didn’t know before watching this, is that they’re also very plot-focused mystery stories. In fact there aren’t even many violent scenes in this movie, but when they happen, they’re gruesome.

It’s written by Argento, and Bernardino Zapponi. A jazz musician named Marcus, played by David Hemmings, witnesses a murder in his apartment building from outside, and becomes obsessed with finding the culprit. There’s also a reporter named Gianna, and his best friend Carlo who’s also a musician. Like most mystery stories, the set-up is pretty simple, but the plot builds up in many ways.

I didn’t really take away any themes from my viewing, but after seeing someone else’s analysis, it’s clearly at least somewhat focused on the idea of gender and sex. I kinda don’t like how Carlo is a common archetype of the only gay character being mentally unwell. It’s really my only critique of this amazing movie, but I feel like Carlo’s character is still mostly handled with empathy. And maybe it has some meaning that’s going over my head, I don’t know.

The acting is great, as far as I can tell with the language barrier. I could really feel the passion from Gabriele Lavia, who plays Carlo. The thing is, even aside from the language barrier, most, if not all of the dialogue, is ADR. I guess it was common for giallo movies to ditch the original audio for artistic effect? I dunno, but it doesn’t bother me when I don’t even know the language to begin with. I saw a couple people on Reddit saying it’s “unwatchable,” which is really funny.

I really love the way this movie looks. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something shot with the lens and film they used. It has such a specific film grain that’s so cozy, but strange. The locations and set design are equally as atmospheric. I love the place Marcus and Carlo go to talk a few times, with the Ancient Greek-looking statue.

The soundtrack, mostly done by Italian prog rock band Goblin, is fucking insane. There’s a lot of variety, but what stands out most is some SUPER groovy and aggressively psychedelic jazz/rock fusion. It does sound scary at times, but the soundtrack overall is just SO much fun to listen to. The movie isn’t afraid to play fun tracks during horrific violence, too, which creates an interesting apathetic feeling toward the characters.

I can’t wait to eventually see how other giallo movies stack up to this one. Deep Red is an audio-visual masterpiece, and a super fun introduction to the genre. 4.5/5

#Deep Red #Profondo Rosso #Dario Argento #Bernardino Zapponi #David Hemmings #Gabriele Lavia #Goblin #movies #film #horror #thrillers #crime thrillers #giallo #slashers #horror movies #thriller movies #crime thriller movies #giallo movies #giallo film #slasher movies #movie review #film review

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Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review

I watched Scott Pilgrim Takes Off with Ashley. We also watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World the day before, but it wasn’t my first time seeing it.

The movie isn’t really my kind of thing, but I was excited when I saw the trailer for this. The animation looked great, and I thought the concept would work better animated, because I find the special effects really jarring in the movie.

And yeah, the animation kicks ass. I love the low framerate during more lowkey character stuff, and Science SARU know how to make incredible action sequences too. I also love the comic-accurate style.

Anamanaguchi’s music fucking rocks. I don’t know if any tracks are straight-up taken from the game or not, but yeah, I love it. I actually didn’t even know they did the game’s soundtrack until recently, but I’ve loved their remix of Sad Machine by Porter Robinson for a long time.

All the actors do a good job, even if it’s sometimes obvious they’re not very accustomed to voice acting.

So uh…

*SPOILERS. EVEN IF YOU’VE SEEN THE MOVIE. I’M NOT KIDDING, DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE SEEN THE SHOW OR DON’T CARE WHATSOEVER*

Obviously it’s not a hot take to say the original story was problematic. It’s very well-known by now, and it’s part of the reason I never liked the movie much. Well, the entire point of this anime is deconstructing Scott’s old character, and it does so very well. I love how it not only portrays Old Scott and Even Older Scott as extremely insecure and childish, it also delves more into Ramona’s character, and her sensitive self-discovery period that would make her fall for someone like Scott.

It made me laugh quite a bit. I love the joke where 2 different evil exes are going to play Scott in a re-telling of the movie, and when Ramona is looking for him, they both say “I’m Scott.” It’s funny, but also hammers home the idea that Scott was just another evil ex in the making.

It might seem contradictory, but I like how the ending implies they could be happy together, or that they’ll at least try no matter what. For now, it reminds me a lot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But there seems to be a season 2 hook at the end, so we’ll see… 4/5

#Scott Pilgrim Takes Off #Scott Pilgrim #Anamanaguchi #Science SARU #anime #action #comedy #action comedy #action anime #comedy anime

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The Dead Zone (1983) Review

Well, my life got a little messy, but now I’m gonna finish reviewing these October horror marathon movies. Even if it kills me, god dammit. Next up, David Cronenberg’s 1983 adaption of The Dead Zone by Stephen King.

Before the marathon I had only seen 1 Cronenberg movie, that being Crash. Fucking weird movie, but that’s not what we’re talking about. I’m sure most people still know who Cronenberg is; he made The Fly, which I also watched for the marathon, and he’s known for kickass body horror… which this movie contains almost none of. But it’s still amazing.

The script was written by Jeffrey Boam, who wrote Lethal Weapon 2 and 3, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It stars MOTHERFUCKING CHRISTOPHER WALKEN as the main character Johnny, and Martin Sheen plays a guy who wants to be president. I can’t get over this, because the idea of Martin Sheen being president is fucking terrifying.

Johnny has a wonderful life, with a fulfilling job as teacher and a girlfriend named Sarah, but then gets in a serious car accident and enters a coma. He wakes up 5 years later, has to go through physical therapy to regain the use of his legs, and finds out Sarah has a husband. To top it off, he now sometimes sees sudden visions of peoples’ past or future when he touches them… because it’s Stephen King. Definitely more of a thriller, but it has at least one pretty gory moment.

This wonderful plot results in a meaningful story about lost hope and self-discovery. I can’t help but make the connection to Taxi Driver, especially with Martin Sheen’s character in the mix. I love how Johnny and Sarah’s relationship is handled; Johnny is heartbroken but doesn’t blame her, and they’re both written very realistically overall.

All the acting is great, but Christopher Walken is completely unstoppable. He’s one of the greatest actors ever born, and he’s possibly at his BEST here. Martin Sheen also does a fantastic job. I mean, I love him as an actor, he’s just batshit crazy. Which turned out to be perfect casting for his character. There’s a scene involving him near the end that’s one of the WILDEST fucking things I’ve ever seen, and I was laughing my ass off the whole time.

The cinematography is great, and the editing when Johnny has his visions is jaw-dropping. It’s sudden, and really makes you feel like you’ve been randomly transported to a different space and time.

The soundtrack was made by Michael Kamen, who scored so many movies it’s kind of ridiculous, including Lethal Weapon 1 2 and 3, The Iron Giant, 101 Dalmatians, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s satisfyingly haunting. 4.5/5

#The Dead Zone #Cronenberg #David Cronenberg #Christopher Walken #Martin Sheen #Stephen King #movies #film #thrillers #thriller movies #thriller films #Michael Kamen #The Dead Zone 1983 #movie reviews #film reviews #CRONENBERG FOR PRESIDENT

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Halloween (1978) Review

I saw 1978’s Halloween for my horror marathon. I planned to watch it on Halloween, but it ended up being the day after.

Obviously directed by John Carpenter, who’s had several big hits. I’ve seen They Live and I loved it. The Thing was on my marathon list but I couldn’t get to it.

John Carpenter also did the music. He did test-screenings with only orchestral music, but audiences didn’t find the movie scary, so he added a bunch of synths. It’s great stuff. I love that aggressive air horn sound.

The movie’s everything I’ve heard about, and I absolutely love it. It’s pretty much as classy as slasher movies get, minus the boobs. Minimal blood/gore. Better cinematography than something you’d get out of a typical slasher. Michael Myers is portrayed as a metaphor of fear itself, and presented like a folktale. Everything about it is soft-spoken and slow-building.

Which is exactly why some people find it boring, but idk this shit’s dope. I love how the kids in the movie are watching some crazy sci-fi shit at a couple points too, like it’s directly comparing itself to less low-key movies. Also at one point they watch The Thing from Another World, which is fun foreshadowing for The Thing which Carpenter did later.

And of course, Michael Myers is conceptually terrifying. As I said, he’s a manifestation of fear, unstoppable and with no motive, plus superhuman strength. I love the part where he pins someone on the wall then stares at them, turning his head back and forth as if he’s admiring an art work of his. Nick Castle does it so slowly and mesmerizingly that it’s hard to keep track of the number of head-turns.

Amazing movie, and a beautifully classy story about fear and myths, perfect to watch for the holiday it’s set during. If only I actually did that…

4.5/5

#Halloween #Halloween (1978) #movies #film #horror #horror movies #slasher movies #slashers #John Carpenter #Nick Castle

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Obviously I haven’t written most of the reviews yet, but here’s a list of the 24 movies I saw for my October horror marathon, in the order I watched them:

The Birds

Bone Tomahawk

Candyman (1992)

Carrie (1976)

28 Days Later

Children of the Corn (1984)

The Dead Zone

Deep Red (sub)

The House That Jack Built (director’s cut)

28 Weeks Later

Don’t Breathe

Dracula (1931)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

The Blair Witch Project

The Exorcist (director’s cut)

The Fly (1958)

Evil Dead II

Army of Darkness (director’s cut)

The Shining

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Halloween (1978)

The Fly (1986)

Super fun experience. :D It’s been fun but also hard as fuck to figure out my writing style, and I definitely picked way too many movies (this is about half of them). Maybe by October next year I’ll be faster at writing and my anxiety will be better, and I’ll definitely only pick 30 or maybe 25 movies.

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Review

I saw 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for my horror marathon, the day before Halloween.

I might’ve seen this movie as a kid, I don’t remember, but I was definitely always terrified by the idea of Leatherface. As everyone knows, he’s a killer who likes to use a chainsaw, and wears his victims’ skin. He’s inspired by the real-life serial killer Ed Gein, and while Gein didn’t use a chainsaw, and didn’t have the same speech issues, he did in fact like to wear human skin.

It’s directed by Tobe Hooper, who also directed Poltergeist, which was on the marathon list, but I wasn’t able to get to it. The shot composition is great, with some amazing stand-out shots, like the skeleton sculpture Leatherface makes.

The acting is good, maybe a bit goofy at times, but I feel like that added to the psychotic feeling, especially when certain characters are expanded later on. And WOW, I didn’t expect this movie to focus so much on characters other than Leatherface. Suffice to say, this movie was also twistier than I expected.

It’s pretty well-known by now that this is a vegetarian work, and now that I’ve finally seen it as an adult, it’s really obvious. Even without knowing beforehand, I probably would’ve figured it out. The main characters explicitly discuss how horribly animals are treated in slaughterhouses. Leatherface makes bone sculptures, places his victims on a hook like animal carcasses, and there’s pig sounds when he’s killing. Hell, even him wearing human skin is a parallel to wearing animal skin, hence the name “Leatherface” even though human skin isn’t called “leather.” In fact, now that I’m thinking about it, the only reason the main characters start roaming around the countryside is because one of their family members had their grave robbed… like how humans mess around with animal corpses.

The music was made by the director himself and Wayne Bell, and is apparently one of the earliest works of genuine dark ambient music. It uses no “actual” musical instruments, and is meant to sound like what an animal would hear in a slaughterhouse. I LOVE dark ambient, and this shit slaps. It’s SO moody and industrial, it’s wonderful.

So yeah, I’m not a vegetarian, but it’s extremely clever to make a slasher where the victims represent animals, and the symbolism in general is very well-done. Guillermo del Toro became vegetarian for 4 years after seeing this, and it’s easy to see why.

This movie is also famous for making daytime feel scary, and while there is a night-time section, this is true – most of the movie is pretty bright, but still feels scary. Lots of movies have done this since (Midsommar comes to mind), but it must’ve been impressive for the 70s.

Fun side note, I love the way Leatherface acts at the end. It comes across like he’s dancing, and it feels strangely cathartic. 4.5/5

I’m sorry animals, you just taste so good and my diet is too accustomed to you ;A;

#The Texas Chain Saw Massacre #Tobe Hooper #The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 #movies #film #horror movies #horror films #slashers #slasher movies #slasher films #horror #Wayne Bell

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Finally got Mario Wonder, loving it so far :)

#Super Mario Bros. Wonder

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The Shining Review

So for the last 3 days of October I wanted to watch some of the biggest movies on my marathon list, and put the reviews out before the others in my backlog, to sort of celebrate Halloween with a few of the more famous movies. And I began on the 29th with The Shining.

Kubrick is one of my favorite directors, disregarding who he was as a person. I’d only seen 2001 and A Clockwork Orange before this, but both of those movies completely changed my life, and I believe 2001 is the best live-action movie ever made. But yes, I’d never seen this movie from beginning to end before. Can’t call me a fake horror fan though, because I’ve seen it now :D 

I’m sure everyone knows the plot – a man named Jack takes a job looking after a hotel while it closes for the cold season, takes his family with him, and goes insane from isolation and/or souls of dead people haunting the hotel. Oh, and his son Danny can telepathically communicate with people, and see the future… because it’s a Stephen King story. Duh.

The main themes people usually take away from the story are isolation, alcoholism, and child/family abuse (possibly caused by alcoholism). It also contains many hints about white peoples’ oppression of other races, and a theme of lost passion/disillusionment, which is obviously a reflection of King’s feelings of burnout with his writing at the time. Honestly, none of these themes ended up emotionally affecting me very much on first watch, but they’re still there, and the movie is such a trippy, immersive experience that it didn’t matter.

As expected, the cinematography is perfect. Every single shot has perfect composition, and the camera movement is fucking nutty. It’s my favorite aspect of Kubrick’s movies. Apparently for the scenes where Danny is riding around the hotel on his trike, Kubrick used a newly-developed camera harness to be able to film a continuous shot for so long, while being so close to the ground. The sound design in these sections is amazing too, with the sound of the wheels changing as he rolls over floor mats. There’s also lots of symmetry used in the shot composition, which cleverly expresses the 2 parallel worlds the hotel contains.

However, the thing that’s most impressive to me is how the hotel is set up – it’s literally impossible to comprehend. You’ll see characters go into a room, then later go into another room that WOULD be in the exact same spot as the other room. You’ll see hallways that don’t realistically lead anywhere, because there’s a wall or a room where they SHOULD lead. Lots of shit like that. This must’ve taken TONS of time for the set designers to plan and set up, and it’s just ridiculous how much it adds to the feeling of disorientation and liminality. And yes, this movie feels SO liminal it’s crazy. I’ve been a huge fan of liminal spaces for a long time, and NO movie I’ve seen has captured liminality as perfectly as this one does. I love how the time-jump screens jumpscare you, too.

The music is also great, done by Wendy Carlos (one of the most legendary electronic musicians ever born) and Rachel Elkind.

I’ve always gotten weird vibes from Jack Nicholson. I don’t know why, I just don’t really like the way he comes off. However, that turned out to be perfect for this movie. He’s trippy, terrifying, and pulls out an INSANE amount of technical acting ability, with some of the most expressive facial acting I’ve ever seen. So… credit where credit’s due, you weirdo.

But, then obviously there’s Shelley Duvall. I don’t say “but” because of her acting ability – she’s incredible – but her role as Wendy has become possibly the most infamous case of an actor being abused by a director, ever. Kubrick constantly screamed at her and harassed her, and even encouraged Jack Nicholson to do the same thing. Also, for the scene where Jack threatens her while they walk up a staircase, he made them do 127 takes. 

It’s a little less well-known, but Kubrick was also horrible to Scatman Crothers; for the scene where his character explains Danny’s shining ability, he made them do 148 takes, and apparently it holds the record for the most takes ever shot for a single scene… I know Kubrick was VERY obsessive about quality, and in Shelley’s case all of these things might’ve been done to make her appear more exhausted/terrified for the role, but it’s completely inexcusable. Just like Tippi Hedren in The Birds, Duvall and Crothers deserve HUGE credit for delivering badass performances under those conditions.

Amazing movie. One of the most stunningly visceral, immersive experiences I’ve ever had with a work of art, just like 2001 and A Clockwork Orange. I just wish it didn’t cost Duvall and Crothers their mental health to make it.

5/5

#The Shining #Stanley Kubrick #Kubrick #Shelley Duvall #Scatman Crothers #Wendy Carlos #Rachel Elkind #horror #movies #film #horror movies #horror films #Halloween #Stephen King #The Shining 1980

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Children of the Corn (1984) Review

Next movie in the marathon, 1984’s Children of the Corn. More Stephen King! And uh… yeah, I know I said I’m trying to focus on GOOD movies for this marathon, but I honestly just thought this movie seemed really creepy as a child when we had it on DVD, so I wanted to finally watch it, because I don’t think I ever actually did. But yeah, it’s not great.

It’s directed by Fritz Kiersch, who seems to have not worked on any other movie I’ve heard of, and written by George Goldsmith, who I also had not heard of. Stephen King originally wrote a draft for the script, but it was tossed out for Goldsmith’s script, which removes tons of backstory about Gatlin and focuses more on the 2 adult characters, which is maybe why uhhh the movie sucks.

Two adults, Burt and Vicky, forcibly end up in Gatlin, a town where everyone is killed once they turn 19 – a religious cult completely of children, led by a kid named Isaac. Isaac’s performance is fucking hilarious, and probably gave the movie a whole half a point for me, purely for ironic enjoyment. His right-hand-man Malachai isn’t much different, either. This movie is great for funny child acting.

Burt is the main character, and he’s supposed to be a doctor, but constantly makes stupid decisions. Classic horror trope indeed. I think this is fine in stories if it leads somewhere interesting, but it doesn’t. There’s a point where he says “things just aren’t moving fast enough,” and I think that’s really funny. Maybe it was in the book, I don’t know.

His girlfriend, Vicky, isn’t too bad, but of course there’s a point where she has to become a damsel in distress… would anyone even care about spoilers for this movie? Nothing interesting happens from it. Burt easily saves her and overcomes the… children. I guess I won’t spoil some details, because the ending is fucking hilarious and wild.

None of the acting really stands out in a great way to me, but Burt and Vicky’s chemistry is pretty good I guess. The music as well. And the cinematography is solid, especially the opening mass murder scene which is great. It’s just a shame they went with such a boring script, and couldn’t find good child actors in a movie that’s heavily dependent on it.

2/5

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