Film Review : "Infinity Pool"

This movie is horror but not in the ways you think of horror. The concept is equal parts sci-fi in the concept of cloning. The body horror twisting the sense of identity was something also explored in director/ writer Brandon Cronenberg's last film "Possessor" Here it is taken a step further. The underlying message explores the social/political concepts of how other cultures see Americans. The invasion of drunk tourists who escape consequences, as well as some BDSM themes that are dabbled in. But the main takeaway is the beauty of the storytelling that is unfurled here which shows Brandon very mindfully carrying on his father's legacy. 

I want movies to disturb me and make me feel something. He successfully accomplishes this by creating an offsetting mood, where you see the road the characters are going down in their spiral into this abyss. Mia Goth continues to prove herself and her acting exceeds what she did in her work last year with TI West. There is not a clear-cut antagonist in this movie, but she would be in the running for it. The main theme is man vs himself, often the metaphor is clear, sometimes even literal. Masks are also a powerful symbol used, this sometimes creates a Clockwork Orange feel when things get reckless and characters give in to criminal urges.

What this movie does best is what I look for in not only horror movies but all cinema which is to take the darker ugliness and shoot it in a way that depicts it with stunning beauty. I want to see the worst perversity but shot in a way that makes it a surreal ballet. There is no real gore and even the violence is kept in check, but the violence is more of an attitude shaped by how bizarre trauma fragments someone and makes you question who is their real self. Death of self and shedding the condition weakness of the world unlocks a fearless animal inside and asks where is the line here. An excellent movie that leaves you with more questions like a dream you woke up in the middle of.    

       

the Top 10 Horror Movies of 2022

The key to horror is it has to somehow make me feel uneasy. Just gore is not enough, though there is one movie that made this year's list that really pushed gore to an absurd level. With streaming services, now providing original content it shakes things up and most of these movies are from overseas.  I think you can tell a great deal by society when it comes to the type of horror being consumed. After the pandemic I think we see people are afraid of everything, including old people, men, clowns, and things that are just not there. Surprised not more diseased based, though two did make the list. 

These might not be the movies that got the best Rotten Tomatoes score, though they all did pretty decent, nor are the most popular as the most mass marketed movies tend to be for the lower common denominator. If your favorite movie is not on the list, it is not because I did not see it as a saw most horror movies that graced small screen and the inner webs this year, it because in some cases your favorite movie was unimpressive or trying too hard, in other's well it was not that scary. So, these are movies that proved to engaged me in some way more than the other horror movies not on this list. Here are the top ten horror movies of 2022.

10-the Invitation

Being hungry for vampire movies I was eager for anything of any quality. This movie delivered it until the rather absurd ending, which is why did is receiving the bottom spot that is more of an honorable mention, but even with it's terrible ending it is better than the rancid Halloween Ends or the tedious boredom of Nope!. 

9-Terrifier 2

The reason this movie did not rank higher is while it fixed some of the issue of the first film, the first film might be better as the mood is more unhinged as it takes itself more seriously where this movie found the franchise beginning to conform to the horror tropes.  

8-Moloch

This Dutch film follows the folk lore of the peat bogs in another darker take on the folk horror genre. Very well made and possessed by a creepy atmosphere it relies less on formula and unwraps the character in the unveiling of its mythology. 

7-X

This TI West movie played off many of the slasher tropes we have seen before but given an enough of a new slant to feel refreshed. Old people killing off the young, is not a novel concept this year and maybe a guilty perspective for those who were calling Covid Boomer Doomer. Naked old ladies were the most disturbing part of this film. 

6- the Sadness 

Anytime I read someone on Facebook say that a movie is triggering, then I know it is for me. This was hyped as being extreme and over the top in it's shock value, but I found it to be just what horror movies should be.

5-Mandrake

This could fall under folk horror as witchcraft play a big part along with pagan belief systems, but it is darker and uglier than most of the movies that get that label. A witch gets out of prison to prove the town that was afraid of her right. Some urban legends turn out to be true. No one is safe in this movie which I appreciated immensely. 

4-Old People 

Netflix movies continue to prove themselves to be as legit as anything else coming from the major studios. This German film is surprisingly well done, the fact a virus made these old people go violent is understated and it comes across more like they were pulling a Twisted Sister and just not gonna take it anymore. Where this movie wins aside from the spectacular camera work is the build to pay ratio. Age is something that is given a terrifying new twist in this one.

3-Incantation

This movie from Taiwan is especially disturbing to me as a child is in peril for the bulk of the movie. The mother makes terrible decisions. Her past haunts her in the present as much as the ghosts and it's the emotional strings this movie manages to pull that make it unsettling. Anytime the story defies the normal Hollywood expectations it's a win in my book a well.  

2- Barbarian

This movie was very well written and fakes you out with the twist and turns it takes before conforming to good fun horror at the end. Not the most original concept as it works in themes from movies ranging from "the People Under the Stairs', "the Hills Have Eyes" and "8MM" into something that becomes its own. 

 1-MEN

The most original film took the top spot. Sure, you can lump it into the 'folk horror" sub-genre and while it does involve remote country sides and pagan rituals, those things are not what pumps the blood into this bizarre unfolding of what you think is going to be socially driven message that is mocked while turned inside out, which is what horror should do. Rory Kinnear delivers the Oscar worth performance that feels like only he could have filled the role. It is beautifully shot and captures the right amount of atmosphere while staying about from tired horror tropes.     

Film Review : "Skinamarink"

This movie is going to gain at least cult status with the traction it's getting because you have not seen anything like it before. That does not mean it is a good movie, as in order to accomplish this story telling and writing is out the window. It is very similar to when I review music, you find a band that has a sound like you have never heard before, while that novelty might hold your interest for the first five minutes of the album. Eventually the question becomes, but can you write a song? Movies are telling a story. They can look cool or in the case of this low budget art film, look different, but what is the story being told? That is not to say there is not a story presented in the weird, hushed darkness of this film, it is just obscured by the director’s stylistic choices. I am not sure there was an actual script for this, the making of this movie is so baffling in and of itself I am sure it could have been shot over the course of a weekend.  

 Imagine "Eraserhead" merging with "the Blair Witch Project:" and you are in the right ballpark if you factor in not really getting to see any of the actors more than the back of their head or feet for the entire movie, so perhaps this is shot from the perspective of their cat. It is creepy and it does create an unsettling mood. The fact that the two protagonists are small children, is the weird balance of what works with kids in horror movies. I am fine with kids getting killed or hurt in horror movies if it is well done and serves a purpose driven by the story, "Pet Cemetary" is a prime version of this. It is also handled really well in Boris Karloff ‘s “Frankenstein. But the fact these kids are so young and the situation they are put in is so unnerving that it seems like overkill where they go with this. The fact it happens off camera is a must. 

Is this worth watching? Well as an experience, yes not a lot happens for the bulk of the movie with creepy segments of interactions with the kids. Much like HP Lovecraft it is what you do not see that is the scariest, and this movie does not give you a great deal to see. We can talk about the mood it creates and the atmospheric manner in which it is shot, but at the end of the day it is what really killed this movie for me. By just getting surreal, they do not have to tell the story, they can offer up an idea and present the concept of what they are doing, but if you want them to make it go somewhere then I am sure there are art house gatekeepers who will defend this by saying it would be selling out to write an end. I joke while watching this that this is the film adaptation of the book “House of Leaves” . Both leave you with more questions than answers. Not something I would watch again, but I would read “:House of Leaves” as it is a puzzle that is worth solving while this movie is not. But if you like weird experiences this is that.

Film Review : "M3gan"

 

Is this a well done and often entertaining movie? Yes. Is it a horror movie? No. it has more in common with "Short Circuit" and "Ex Machina" than any of Chucky's films aside from the 2019 reboot. In fact, that movie highlights a crucial element in regard to why this is not a horror movie. After I watched the reboot with my daughter, I asked her if she could tell the difference between horror and sci-fi when you weighed the reboot against the original. She was only 9 at the time but said.

"Demon possessed dolls are horror and robots gone wrong are science fiction."  

After the buzz surrounding this movie was claiming the antagonist was a gay / feminist icon, it made me a little apprehensive, since I do not like my escapism drenched in agenda. However, it's the press that is misleading. as it has nothing to do with at all, aside from the robo-girl hunting down a bully, that is a boy who she claims will grow into a toxic man. But that one scene was easy to take in stride, rather than this being a movie that shoves that kind of message down your throat. Which leads me to believe that narrative the press was a marketing move after the fact. Is the M3gan character as interesting or well developed as Chucky? No. The dance it does a couple times in the movie is pretty silly, and the fact they parody Furbies is amusing as well.  

This is an easy watch, though not a movie I would really re-watch, as most of the jokes are one and done, it is not scary though there is a rather grim message this movie carries, which some of the post release propaganda seems to be a distraction from. This movie asks nothing about gender roles, but about the addiction to technology we are allowing children to develop. It is a commentary on parents who allow device to be the babysitter because they themselves are not present. But when you are glued to the screen trying to invest in who you are that is something we do not want to talk about, which is why the message is more important, as science fiction shows us both sides to the promise of the future. Most people who got caught up in AI art to make selves look like an over sexed version of this film's antagonist, do not what to think about the dire warning this movie gives. Also Just how said is it that people would want a killer robot to be the poster child for their cause? Unless their cause is about killing themselves and others while becoming a slave to technology then maybe it's a dance worth Tiktoking to. But when you strip away the bullshit and watch this movie for what it is, it proves to work more often than it doesn't, not a great film but a fun one.