Roh thoughts: definitely creepy, minimal but well-placed and -used jump scares. Wikipedia clarified some things but I don't know all of what's Malay folklore and what's Islamic mythos. I forgot djinn aren't just folklore but part of the Quran. I was thinking of djinn stuff because of the crafted from fire versus clay stuff but got thrown off by the use of 'devils.' I definitely would not have guessed that Tok was an "iblis," and that that's something from the Quran (a specific djinn that became an angel and then got booted back to earth to punish humans by using their bodies...?!) because the movie is pretty minimal. That said I was creeped out and did enjoy it despite the cultural confusion, even though the characters do a lot of "why the fuck would you do that?" kinda stuff. Subtitles are speech only, no sound effects. 

They live in the grey: strong start, meh finish. It was very creepy and ominous at the beginning and really didn't need so many jump scares. Only one actually served the plot. Lead actress did a fantastic job. It's not a subtle movie but it was still interesting until the finale. On paper the ending seemed fine but the writing and camera work veered wildly off course and just kinda felt like a soap opera. Audrey didn't give a great performance but tbh she didn't have much to work with. And there's no closure on Sophie; she's just discarded for the ending. And Audrey saying Giles (who the hell is named Giles nowadays????) "took away her life" is just...? Bizarre? Like you can kinda see what she means but like girl you let this stew for 10 years and then decided to abuse and try to murder your daughter? Just weird choices all over that finale. Near perfect captions, sound effects and only one mistake I caught. Btw this movie has an amazing lamp that I really loved 

Midsommar: people crave ritual and acceptance, Dani gets a community that obviously doesn't have pure intentions but at least some of them genuinely care for her. She finds people who aren't embarrassed or annoyed by her grief

glorious
wtf was this movie, honestly. It was so bizarre that it almost ended up a little pointless. Like what are we supposed to take away from it, exactly? that Jeff? whatever his name was, was actually a good guy somehow? that a serial woman killer could do something good? sure he's going to be forgotten but that's not even really a punishment. idk it's wild. JK was great of course. I love his voice acting. 




















<!-- dunzo, baby 

kandisha
pretty by-the-numbers accidental-entity-summoning movie that had a lot of potential and wasn't bad but fell a little flat. The three main characters were kinda competing for screentime and it ended with none of them being all that fleshed out. What killed Morjana and Abdel's parents? Why are Amelie and Antoine's parents used as a punchline? Maybe it's just my dumb ol' American brain but there just wasn't enough there to really connect with. There's some light race and class commentary in the beginning and then it shifts toward looking more at misogyny and colonialism but it ever quite lands properly. I was pretty happy to see a non-Catholic exorcism though, always am, and I love djinn lore. Also a tiny bit proud that I recognized Solomon's Seal. I loved the look of Kandisha, and how she became more and more bestial. Found it interesting that a white woman getting sexually assaulted by a man of color (specifically Arab) led to the deaths of men of color exclusively. Actually maybe Ben was white? idk. These three girls are ignored by the men in their life, and then turned away from a mosque and forced to seek help from outside the system. They clearly had a message going into this but it became kinda muddled by the end, especially as the deaths felt more and more tacked on. animal death, sexual assault.

may
this movie was so fun? it dives headfirst into the question "what if dr. frankenstein was the cringiest early-00s girl imaginable?" it's hard not to feel for her, even when she starts her rampage. the novelty is just off the charts. unfortunately dragged down by a gratuitious cat death in the middle that keeps being shown and brought up. 

here comes hell:
"what if Evil Dead was a half-assed period piece, and also sucked?"
There's definitely some fun in this movie, particularly the medium's mangled corpse walking around, but everything else was bad. The acting was average and the characters were...well, they were all distinct, but none of them was entertaining enough to stand out. Elizabeth's ghost story didn't matter, nor her engagement to Freddy, nor George's "junior" issues. Victor ended up getting the dad showdown. Elizabeth slicing her hand on the sword seemed like it would be symbolic of...something, but didn't matter, like anything else in the movie. Like it was clearly going for and Evil Dead homage at numerous points which is fine, but it felt forced. The period setting was clearly just a gimmick and didn't matter. I also hated the disclaimer at the beginning because it reeked of pompousness. They didn't even use era-appropriate language, you know? It all just rang extremely hollow. 

Ready or Not
Actually pretty fun! Lots of twists and turns, Grace was sympathetic and likeable, the family dynamics were believable (relative to the plot and in general), the ending was fun. Grace screaming at the driver who ditched her was a real highlight. Great performances all around too. I wish we knew a little bit more about Stevens? the butler. Like I guess I'd appreciate a little explanaton as to why he was so damn loyal to these people. Grace doesn't have much of an arc, and it kinda feels like she's a maguffin even though she's the protagonist. The real character growth happens with Alex and Daniel, which is interesting. This isn't really a complaint at the end of the day. Main characters don't HAVE to show major growth or anything, it's just a little odd that the focus is so much more on the family than her. Emily? the sister was absolutely hilarious. I kinda wish she'd gotten a higher bodycount, honestly. She kinda disappears for most of the movie after killing the two servants. And honestly I'm not totally clear on why the servants are kept in the house for this event anyway. But those are all just nitpicky little issues. Overall it was great. 
Warning do not play: still don't know why it scared me so badly, absolutely amazing sound design, 

tilbury
what the fuck was this movie, honestly? it's from some time in the 80s and has gotten a re-release and it's...wild. Apparently the British fucking invaded Iceland in the 40s???? I had no idea. As a made-for-tv horror movie, it stands up. It's funky and dripping with bizarre old-fashioned folklore, it has some funny moments (though it's not always clear if that's intentional), but man...there is some weird messaging here. It says the guy's...girlfriend? lover? unrequited crush? it's never clear- that she falls in with an "ugly, impish" British officer. Toward the end I joked that the Tilbury was a stand-in for the sugar industry coming in and ruining traditional ways of life. Chocolate features so heavily in the movie. Not only is Gudrun's Tilbury making butter for Cadbury chocolate (???????) but then at the end the Americans appear and there's a strange overlong scene of an American guy tossing Hershey bars into a tiny group of children before his features also start transforming. I agree with the letterboxd reviewer who pegged it as an exploration of anxieties around women's sexuality- that's 100% in play here. When the tlbury is sucking on the inner-thigh teat it's explicitly shown as giving the woman pleasure, and it's not difficult to see what that may be a stand in for. These British dudes invade the country and, as often happens, the women of that country seek relationships with the invaders. Iceland may not have been being INVADED invaded- ie no bombs dropping or real combat- but it was still an impoverished nation just barely starting to modernize. The local men simply can't compete: they're poor rubes who are stuck in shitty manual labor jobs, while the British soldiers are party-throwing chocolate-providing party boys all too eager to pay for companionship. now we begin to get into the problem with this movie: the antisemitism on display is weird commentary at best, blatant nazi talking points at worst. The whole "invaders coming in and stealing our women" thing is still a white supremacist talking point today in 2022, and the idea that it's being supported/funded/planned by jewish people is too, unfortunately. There's a character at the beginning who gets taken away for allegedly being a Nazi supporter. Later it's not alleged: he just says the Nazis were right or that they should win or some shit. And not soon after we see the inside of Gudrun's apartment and it's revealed that she does indeed have a tilbury (and also just vats of butter sitting around???????) and then there's the reveal, I believe it's when he's fully transformed and about to attack her, in front of four- FOUR menorahs. This combined with his grossly exaggerated facial features, obsession with possessions and again, FOUR MENORAHS makes it pretty hard to believe that it's not intentional. According to Some Random Website Guy the director said the set pieces were accidental and there was no Jewish commentary intended but uhhhhh...Seems sus. If we're being generous it could be interpreted as a commentary on all this (it is set during WWII after all) rather than intentionally pushing these shitty talking points. also re: sexuality, Gudrun wasn't just a good girl, she was a priest's daughter, expected to marry a bishop or something. Main Guy also presumably knows that the tilbury will kill her if they're found out, but still allows it to happen. I genuinely don't know if this was just an innocent movie about some scary folklore or an intentional work of messaging. there's also a dance number out of nowhere and another girl who just chokes on tilbury chocolate and has a seizure and then disappears from the movie. 

captions were mixed: subtitles for Icelandic seemed fine but there's no captions available for the English dialogue, at least on Shudder. 

 -->