In the past month, I’ve covered four film festivals and have a good, moderately exhausted sense of films to come over the next year. I have a great affinity for horror and genre cinema, and the way the market currently works for these genres of films is that they tend to move from the festival circuit to streaming services. (Shudder will likely end up home to many of these titles, and bless them for it, because someone has to keep the vibe going.) Unfortunately, that’s very much the case in Nashville. So this episode of Primal Stream is specifically focused on what’s happening in genre cinema.
If you’re lucky enough to see these movies in theaters, you should (provided you’re smart and careful). The recently completed 2022 editions of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and the Knoxville Horror Film Festival are doing a good job here, as is the Chattanooga Film Festival earlier this year (where I saw a few of these titles for the first time ). I noted throughout where I screened each film.
Above all, both as an academic exercise and as a representation of what genre cinema can do, The Time Keepers of Eternity (KHFF) is essential (and inspiring) viewing, taking a three-hour made-for-TV Stephen King adaptation, re-editing, re-photographing, and recontextualizing it into an hour of distilled cosmic horror that hits the viewer like a trainer. Equally broad in scope but retaining the down-to-earth intimacy of their earlier and better work (Resolution, infinity), Benson and Moorhead something in the dirt (BHFF/KHFF) is an emotional journey into conspiracy theory seduction, a dip in the intersection of science and magic, and a ruthless autopsy of what to do with art with someone who loves you. is expensive can do.
The time keepers of eternity
It’s been way too long since Carter Smith fucked us up with The ruins. His queer slasher midnight kiss was fun, but in no way prepares the viewer for Swallowed (BHFF/also NewFest). Here, a last-minute scheme to help a friend escape small-town malaise leads to a surreal, scatological body-horror thriller that delves into complicated friendships and generational divisions of gay men. . When beloved icon Mark Patton poses as an outback crime lord with an immaculate set of props, everything turns into an ideological battleground that offers plenty of intense answers.
Whether Eternity Time Keepers is a kind of academic exercise, then the remake currently airing by Tubi of train of terror is another: a remake that stays surprisingly close to the original script, even reproducing some of the more memorable shots from the 1980 original, but trying to address what aspects of a “classic slasher” are subject to its time and to its space, and which are narrative functions. The original had Jamie Lee Curtis, Vanity and Hart Bochner. This
no one is really allowed to shine in this capacity, but it’s essential viewing for anyone who loves the genre and is interested in how the aesthetic changes.
As we enter December, there will be a few holiday-themed movies to watch, both of which tie into what a post-midterm election America might look like. by Eric Pennycoff The leech (KHFF; airing soon on Arrow Unlimited, on Blu-ray in December) is a grungy parable about a priest (stalwart indie Graham Skipper) who takes in a drifter and possible con man (Jeremy Gardner) during the holidays. Violent psychological warfare escalates. Perfect for anyone who needs confirmation that a vacation alone isn’t a terribly awful thing. And Joe Begos (The mind’s eye, VFW) is back with Bloody Christmas Xmas (BHFF/KHFF), a colorful, nihilistic pan of chaos resulting from the military-industrial complex making robotic Santas so parents can feel safer in malls. Begos does filmed atrocities like no one else, and respects Mystery Science Theater 3000by Jonah Ray Rodrigues for another great addition to his gallery of The Doomed.
As for the post-apocalyptic tone for an uncertain world, the girl (BHFF) and All bloated and full of worms (BHFF, streaming November 8 on Screambox) tackle very real terrors and express them in unconventional ways. The former uses Casper Van Dien’s emotional legacy to fill an impressionistic and authoritative portrayal of domestic life and community structure, while the latter is genuinely transgressive in its portrayal of Hubert Selby Jr.-meets-old-school-Harmony Korine of crackpots and bullshit in a society where psychedelic verses abound and where absolutes are not so much. all up it’s a bit too much (there are a lot of subplots and some of them will really surprise the viewer), but it’s something unique and special, and I’m waiting for the conversations it will begin and the friendships it will end. Comedian Whitmer Thomas and his longtime collaborator Clay Tatum present The civilian dead (KHFF), a comedy (with some sharp edges) about the rocky friendship between a struggling photographer (Tatum) and a recently deceased struggling actor (Thomas). The two go together well, and Thomas is such a lovable presence that some of the late reveals and actions land completely differently than the filmmakers might have hoped. It’s still worth checking out – just be prepared to be mad for how the movie hurts one of its characters.
Lorcan Finnegan (Nameless) is back with a new movie, Nocebo (BHFF), in which Christine (Eva Green – stunning, iconic, devious) is a children’s fashion designer who finds herself with home help after a debilitating shock. Diana (Chai Fonacier) is knowledgeable, insightful, and well-versed in folk and battle magic, and she’s there to help Christine improve and understand things. It’s political horror at its wildest, drawing the viewer into a world that Rod Serling would have approved of. Respect is due to writers Garret Shanley and Ara Chawdhury for finding a whole new way to blast an old, hackneyed stereotype. Huesera (BHFF/KHFF) is an outstanding Mexican pregnancy horror and cultural myth, with a dynamite central performance from Natalia Solián and a lesbian coven of aunts, so you know it’s very good. Joko Anwar sequel Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion takes the best impulses from the Indonesiansploitation and gives us the surviving family members from the previous film now living in a high-rise building on a secluded plain near the sea. There are demons, ghosts, cult action and a suspense sequence involving an elevator that any elevator horror in the future will have to reckon with. You are not ready.
And as for exquisite political horror, anthology V/H/S/99 (BHFF; now streaming on Shudder) shines with “Ozzy’s Dungeon” a Flying Lotus short that talks about the ancient cosmic horror behind every Nickelodeon game show. Equally versed in the racial lens of ’90s game shows and how much of that beloved programming is tied to unspoken flaws and the power structures of crass older people (Flying Lotus would be ideal for achieving a film from Jennette McCurdy’s book), “Ozzy’s Dungeon” can’t help but stand out among this latest offering from the V/H/S crew. The people who made Deadstream have a funny and imaginative segment called “To Hell and Back” which plays like a stoner-stuffing version of The Outwaters (be prepared for that one), and even if it had done nothing more than introduce Mabel the Skull-Biter, it would be essential viewing. Horror lovers know the drill – it’s a V/H/S the film and your mileage may vary – but there are some great and visceral things to be had. But all in all, it’s a good fit – how can you not love teenagers riled up against a Gorgon, or pranksters who die horribly?
I hated Children vs Aliens (KHFF). Like, I hated it enough that I’m starting to wonder if these people who hate horror might be right. I know a lot of people who really loved it so maybe it’s just me but it starts like Michael Haneke doing The Goonies (not in terms of skill, but more in forcing you to end the process), tweens screaming “fuck” and suffering the cruelties of popular kids. Then the aliens show up and things get really gross (both because of the gore and because of the absolute pleasure this movie takes in making all of its female characters suffer). This is actually from the “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” sequence in V/H/S/2, which was inspired and economical in its excesses, and it will serve as an example for not adapting a short film into a feature film. Taking similar momentum to much more brilliant and successful narrative points, Zach Passero strange children (BHFF) is a rambling, hand-drawn animation about friends and family and a desert community insect cult. It has a very adolescent sense of humor, but it also has an unforced sweetness that rewards the more shaky aspects of its first reel.
Another thing. Everyone needs something to read, and if you’ve never seen the outstanding critical work of Kier-La Janisse House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Film, you’re in luck: there’s a new expanded edition available that’s absolutely essential reading. Clever, insightful and intense, it’s an ideal read for anyone who loves genre cinema on many levels, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. That, and the new and also expanded edition of Cookie Mueller’s Walk in the clear water of a swimming pool painted black were my recent subway read of choice, and they are well worth your time.
Be on the lookout for genre titles that will appear in my New York Film Festival and NewFest recap on November 3: Bones and All, Coma, Enys Men and The Eternal Daughter.
