Film Review- "'The Substance"

 There is a lot to like about this movie. It is tense, as the characters fall down their spirals in what would be a tragic manner if it was not driven by the ego-driven madness that is Hollywood. Things take a turn for the aging fitness icon, so she turns to a shadow corporation to make her young again. This is where the twist in the film is as it goes in a more Jekyll and Hyde direction, though Hyde is not a distorted monster version of herself but a younger hotter one. It is sadly being hailed by some as a feminist masterpiece when it is about narcissism taken to gruesome extremes. 

Being famous is a choice, and rather than being thankful she made it to where she did Moore's character shows where self-obsession will take you and how Hollywood is the perfect echo chamber to bring it to a boil. The cinematography is pretty breath taking, its artfully delicious, with vibrant colors paying homage to Stanely Kubrick. Hyde is not the only classic monster it gives a wink at as John Carpenter's Thing, can be seen in the way the body horror goes to twisted extremes. There is also influence from both "Carrie" and the Hunchback Of Norte Dame. But you are less sympathetic as the characters only suffer the consequences of their own actions making this a cautionary tale. 

All the eye candy makes this a fun ride, but while you are being dazzled by it you forget this is not that original concept just many mashed together Dorian Gray being who this story lifts most liberally from. By the end, you can tell where it is going, and it all falls apart with blood splatter that is hardly justified as there is little actual violence in the film aside from a showdown of sorts between the older and younger self. Until the end, the gore works well, as mutations from breaking the rules set it. It is a dark movie despite the bright lights is find's itself which might be its best quality. The writing and dialogue are lackluster, but the distraction works until the very when it just settles for a stylistic wandering. It is still recommended as it is technically brilliant even if the script needs substance.

Film Review : " I Saw the TV Glow"

 We might as well get the biggest elephant in the room here out of the way... this movie is NOT horror. There is nothing or unsettling about it, if you found the plot thread of the main character's 'friend" wanting him to go off to the TV world dimension scary, then you need to get your diapers changed and go back to watching Nick at Nite. There are those of you who also just want to support the movie because it's almost completely shot in bi-lighting, and that is great, but when it comes to what actually makes a movie worthwhile, key elements like acting and storytelling, it falls pretty flat with the acting being the worst offender here. I had a feeling they were trying to make the main character on the spectrum and that fell flat, aside from his uncertainty with social cues. 

At the end of the day you never had a stake in the game they were boring perpetual adolescents who I could have cared less if anything happened to them, thus eliminating any tension that could have developed, if the story went anywhere, which it did not so we do not have to worry about that. Here is where the chorus of Why can't you just let people enjoy things comes in whenever people shatter the social bubble of what the narrative is supposed to be and excuse shoddy art. It is not gatekeeping horror by saying this is not horror, no more than it would be to complain at the fact someone put a box of Capt Crunch Cereal where the box of croutons is supposed to be at the grocery, they are both edible, but one you pour milk on and eat for breakfast, the other you put on a salad. In fact, it's just good marketing as this film might have had a bigger box office if it was marketed as an art house teen drama because people who do not like horror movies might go see this and like it since it is not a horror movie. Simple business. 

Genres and labels exist to help the audience find the art. This art works better in theory than execution. I guess if you are super high out of your mind you might like it, and it has a solid message in questioning the nature of reality, they do not go as far as saying it's a simulation but introduces those concepts, not scary concepts they just are thoughts worth exploring. Directors like David Lynch and David Cronenberg explore this kind of surreal filmmaking but done with more depth and better execution, compared to those guys this is trash. It's also an hour and a half of my life I wish I invested differently, there are actual horror movies I could have been watching with that wasted time. The only worthwhile part was when King Woman was on stage.

 

Film Review : "Terrifier 3"

It's great that a movie like "Terrifier" usurped "Joker 2 " giving Hollywood the middle finger it deserves. But the franchise is developing its own hype machine, trying to push this as extreme gore. Hoping to gain momentum by creating the urban myths about people walking out of the movie. To the point that the kids at the ticket booth felt the need to warn me about the gore. I was wearing a Slayer shirt at the time, so I don't know how that made me look like someone who is easily squeamish. Not only is this film a more accessible take on their proven formula, but it is not even the goriest movie I have seen this year, as both "In a Violent Nature" and "The Substance" can go toe to toe with the third film of this series.

Rather than comparing it to the first two movies, which is really a matter of budget and the actors settling into the characters, let's weigh it against other 2024 horror movies. "In a Violent Nature"  is a slasher movie as well. At times it tries to create a more realistic point of view, white Terrifier goes for less realism and works off its own mood, which has more in common with the "Nightmare on Elm Street. Art the Clown is a big personality, much like Fredy Kriger, while the killer from "In a Violent Nature", was a 3-D killing machine. 

If you compare it to a movie like "The Substance" it is clearly outmatched when it comes to writing and cinematography. But it does a good job of capturing what they are trying to do here, The writing has some holes in it, but the characters are more developed than the previous movies. They made some smart choices like a gender-flipped kill shot that replicates the more infamous moments of the first movie. The only thing I did not like was the off-screen kill of a major character that was implied. They leave the door open to explore the more supernatural story arc in this movie. Overall it delivers what you be expecting from the movie. It delivers most of the thing you want from it.