Last Seen Contemporary Movie

[Tommy Jarvis]

The Day After Tomorrow 2004 ★★★

Say what you will, but nobody does adrenalin fueled brain on zero popcorn fun quite like Emmerich.

And main characteritis helps you survive all of that without a scratch.

Personal Shopper 2016 ★★★

Personal shopper was an interesting thriller. Kristen Stewart plays a student who works as a personal shopper for a society figure. Spending your whole days in fancy shops, trying on expensive clothing, living in Paris, hopping back and forth between Paris and London,... I think there are a few people I can sign up for that.

However, there is of course more to it than that. She also tries to get in touch with her deceased twin brother and at the same time she gets texts from some stranger who appears to be either toying with her and/or stalking her.

As a thriller, it was enjoyable, but the story did not really know where to go. With the result being that both the murder subplot and the brother plot could have been fleshed out more. But we get some interesting sequences while she is trying to get into contact with her brother and the shot where she finds the body is well construed. Also, Kristen Stewart does a solid job here as the lead girl, going back and forth between bewilderment, curiosity, terror and being appaled.

For people who like their mysteries a bit different.

[Tommy Jarvis]

The House on Pine Street 2015 ★★

A pretty unmemorable haunted house flick. A few decent effects and ditto jump scares (barely) earn it its second star.

Skin & Bone 2022 ★★★½

An entertaining short with ghosties and the growing tension between a farmer and the drifter she employs.

The director had the mood down, the actors are solid, and not to spoil anything, but the ending does add a new dimension to the term the GOAT.

Also, extra half star for Amanda Seyfried's singing voice.

Death Metal 2016 ★★★

More cartoony than scary by far.

But some good carnage and some fun gore and all in all enjoyable. if you're in good for a laugh.

Ps: Michael Dalmon (with his look in this short) could make for a good Charles Manson.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street 2019 ★★★★

For the second time in little more than a week, I've ventured into the universe surrounding ANOES. Only this time in a completely different way.

Because... while part of it, if not a large part, is about the series and Freddy Krueger, it's certainly not the main focal point. That would be the life and journey of Mark Patton, the man portraying Jesse Walsh, aka the first male scream queen. We follow him thoughout his life and times, with (more than) a few aspects making it unbelievable.

From how comfortable he was with his sexuality early on (not an easy feat in less supportive times) to him finding his way to the stage as an actor. Culminating in a beautiful Cher-story.

The movie that made him, also broke him. But not as much as the scriptwriters did and the impact of the AIDS epidemic was even worse. As someone who was a child during the Reagan-era and who hit puberty around the time that condoms became a common thing, I was (kind of) aware of the epidemic, but at the end of the day, it was far away. Something to be careful for, end of story, no more than that. And you kind of knew that a lot of people died and certainly a lot of gay people, you just did not give it that much thought, since you were too busy with your own life, discovering girls, music, movies and what not. In a way, this movie was an eyeopener, a lot more than a movie like Philadelphia was. Philadelphia raised awareness about gays, this raises awareness about AIDS. Mark telling about Tom, his disease and his passing really hits home how big the stigma and the self loathing must have been to have certain thoughts. Not to mention how small things could have had an immense impact.

We see the hell that Mark went through as a person (chances are the line about not seeing a person for a year will make your eyes misty), and you immediately had an image of all the nameless gay actors who fell between the cracks in the system of that era. He tells about his personal life, how he pulled himself off the grid and how he built a new life. Only to find out about the impact he had and then start a new life, touring the convention circuit and being a champ at it. and you immediately see why he says that. It was touching to see how many people drew courage from his portrayal of Jesse and how it inspired them to lead their lives and and all of them help shift the needle of aceeptance. I loved the analogy with the Crispin Glover dance and you know what? The universe is richer with both of them doing their own thing than with one copying the other.

One of the two highlights of the documentary is the reunion with the original cast. You can still mistake Kim Myers for Meryl Streep and over the years, Robert Rusler has only become more handsome. And while he does not say much in this movie, you can tell that Robert Englund is a kind, warm soul, supportive and accepting. The reunion is warm and you can see that these people respect each other. With a telling conversation between Rusler and director Jack Sholder.

The other is the confrontation with writer David Chaskin. With Mark Patton wanting him to admit that he knew what he was doing more than he let on or wanted to admit at the time and see the impact of that an of some of the stuff he said. Knowing his experience and how he still feels the consequences (“You wrote it, btu I'm the one getting called f****t a hundred times a day”), you can perfectly imagine Mark being bitter and vinctive about that. And while, yes, some of that is there, I was also struck by the perspective he still had and his willingness to reconcile. Making this kind of story more likely to awaken pepople than some of the more extreme woke people on Elon's thingamajig (x or whatever the fuck he calls it a month from now).

A touching and moving story to go out your way for in order to see it. And part of me hopes that it also somehow gave Wes a bit of happiness and pride in the many ways his creation has meant so much to so many people.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker 2023 ★★½

An anthology of a handfull of mostly forgettable stories surrounded by a radio DJ being stalked by an obsessive fan. Play misty for me meets MeToo.

Most of the stories were pretty forgettable, but the last two has some solid gore and special effects. Candy may be no Adrienne Barbeau when it comes to radio voices, but the two actors do a good job here and it does have some good tension and imagery with a good scare in the studio. With perhaps a bit of an underwhelming (and a tad predictable) ending.

Two and a half stars nonetheless.

House of the Dead 2003 ★

Gruß gott, Herr Uwe Boll! :-)

[Tommy Jarvis]

Beau Is Afraid 2023 ★★★★

This certainly was a very trippy experience.

We encounter Beau Wasserman, a man living in... well... he could be in group therapy with Carrie White and she would ask “Are YOU okay?”.

Beau is the kind of mousy voiced character that always somehow manages to get himself in (deeper) trouble. Or at least deeper than before. Either in spite of his good intentions or without even having to do anything at all. Like that accident after which he is out cold or in coma and then somehow ends up with a psychotic version of mister Feeny (with a little bit of Annie Wilkes thrown in for good measure).

And from there, it keeps getting weirder and weirder. Just the people in that house alone. There's a couple with Misery-levels of warmth and pleasantness that only have you wonder about what lurks beneath the surface. Also because the director is Ari Aster, the (uncrowned) king of unheimlichkeit. Jeeves – an army veteran with PTSD out the wazoo – can snap and go on a killing spree at pretty much any given moment. And the daughter... well... first, she hates Beau, then she makes him smoke what I hope is weed before she takes her life in an unexplicable way and the only thing you need to know that everybody somehow ends up thinking that it's all his fault.

He then ends up with a bohemian theater community and then it gets really weird, with fashbacks and flashforwards, with Beau reuniting with his childhood crush, having sex with her and then somehow ending up killing her in the process (again, through no fault of his own).

And, as contradictory as this may sound... the more I was confused, the more I was fascinated. I wanted to know what came next, create some order in the chaos and you know what? I just wanted everything to end well for the poor bastard.

This movie is not for everyone. It might make you uncomfortable to the point where you want it to end of turn it off. But that level of discomfort is what it had in mind as a goal. So you know what you are getting into when you watch an Ari Aster flick. Also, when the end seemingly comes out of nowhere, I could not help but think “that's it? I want to know more”.

If any of this has swayed your confidence in the slightest, then you might to give this one a skip. But if you are touched by it, it will be profoundly.

Bayi Ajaib 2023 ★★★½

Amateur sales pitch: this movie opens with a pregnant woman being raped by what can only be described as Father Christmas in pyjamas. Just the right amount of what the hell to get you as a viewer intrigued.

The general is nothing special. Life in exchange for wealth and prosperity and all the trouble that come with that. Add a conventional twist ending and you are done.

What comes in between can best be described as an Indonesian knock off of The Omen with some good effects (with the possessed child looking like a better version of Threefinger) and decently worked out dread. Not to mention the father, whose moustache and sometimes jovial and sometimes ruthless demeanor kind of reminded me of Daniel Day Lewis' character in Gangs of NewYork.

For fans of religious or non-English spoken horror.

Deathly 2015 ★★★

An entertaining short with a nice jump scare and a well worked out revenge theme.

I'm glad the makers got Alan Ruck to star in this one. Not just because it's nice to be able to recognize people in the cast. Also because he looks innocent and sympathetic enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, longer than one perhaps should.

That said, the last shot seems a bit redundant. Perhaps better to end on the family photo.

[FryeDwight]

THREE TO TANGO (1999). Absolutely dreadful "comedy" involving a married Business Tycoon who, to ensure some work being done for him, hires a client (whom He believes is gay) to spy on his girlfriend to make sure She is not hit on by other boyfriends. Of course, the Spy (who is not gay) and the girlfriend fall in love.

This plays very much like a FRIENDS episode, lots of forced antics to provoke laughs, all sorts of cutesy moments and a quite disparaging attitudes towards gay people. Neve Campbell talks as though She has ingested helium and Matt Perry is basically playing the same doofus He played on that lamentable (albeit quite popular and long running) series. 1/2

[Amaltheaunicorn2023]

[classic_horror_fan]

"Safe Zone: The Making Of Safe Zone" is actually a feature length comedy mockumentary on a failed zombie film. It has a good realistic outlook on what it is actually like trying to make a feature length film, especially on a low budget, which is a lot different from how a lot of people think it is. It also has plenty of interviews and behind the scenes footage. It even has a lot of scenes from the failed movie that are actually cool and intense looking. The zombies are also cool and intense looking themselves. There is also a bizarre eye opening scene where a meth good ties and up and screws a female zombie, only to get shot in the heart for it. There is also a scene with Lumpy Trunks the clown turning into a zombie while performing at a kid's birthday party, eats everybody at it, then to get wasted by John the zombie hunter, only John also has to blow his own brains out afterward due to getting bit while in his process, followed by a funny behind the scenes shot with the actor who plays John then getting up to say, "Okay." The director gets onto a trip into thinking he is making a Sundance ready zombie film, only to have everybody else clearly see the project is falling apart more and more as it goes along. He even has his main actors quitting left and right with his replacement actors not even doing that good, if even showing at all. He then needs to get back into a warehouse he was shooting at, but its owner was charging too much to use it anymore. It eventually twists to a sad but touching ending to where you can feel sorry for he guy, with a lot of emotion clearly being there. This one has a similar plot and humor to "Diary Of The Dead," "The Dead Hate The Living," "Not Another B Movie," "Cut Throat," "American Zombie Film," and the like.

[Amaltheaunicorn2023]

[DeadbeatAtDawn]

Natty Knocks, 2023. 5/10

Director: Dwight H. Little




All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, 2022. 7/10

Director: Alex Phillips