Ope! My bad everyone. Because I watched it twice in the past week, I'm going to forgo The Tingler (1959) and opt for a film I've never seen: The Reflecting Skin (1990), currently available on Prime, Peacock, and a lot of the free channels with ads. The Reflecting Skin is a 1990 coming-of-age horror film written and directed by Philip Ridley and starring Jeremy Cooper, Viggo Mortensen, and Lindsay Duncan. Set in 1950s rural Idaho, the film follows an impressionable young boy who comes to believe that a neighboring widow is a vampire responsible for a number of disappearances in the community. Described by its director as a "mythical interpretation" of childhood, the film weaves elements of vampirism, surrealism, black comedy, symbolism, and religious zealotry throughout its narrative. I'd never even heard of it tbh until I read that Ethel Caine used it to promote Perverts, so I'm looking forward to experience it with y'all for the first time. Looks like it premiered at Canne to critical acclaim. We'll see how it holds up. ...that being said, if anyone wants to watch The Tingler (1959), it's free on Youtube, as is another wild Castle flick, Mr. Sardonicus :)
I thought The Reflecting Skin ended up being just okay. I hated what happened at the beginning with the frog. I also didn’t like the kid we follow. I guess you can say it’s just kids being kids but I thought he was a little asshole lol. His acting was unintentionally funny at times too lol. Dolphin and the older brother were great characters though so it’s a high 2.5/5 for me
I'm only half an hour in, the frog thing was definitely fucked up but the whole movie feels like it's focused on the sinister/uncomfortable side of "Innocence" and I'm pretty interested in seeing where it goes. Also feel like it's really beautiful to look at, lots of shots (including the opening one) that could be paintings
It does have a lot of nice shots for sure it’s not a bad movie by any means, just not really for me even though I usually love coming of age stuff
I've got some catch up to do on this (hopefully will get to The Reflecting Skin by early next week). I've been very very busy lately with work and life. I do have a pick locked and loaded though! And it conveniently coincides with what I'm showing my friends tomorrow night. I didn't check but I believe it's my week now. I will be sinking this thread real low down into the muck for The Greasy Strangler. Currently streaming on Prime. It's real absurd and gross and full of filth, but it's an achievement on its own and nothing else is really like it. It's like if Napoleon Dynamite was put into a blender with John Waters and it was set to puree by Tim and Eric during their darkest era.
Really enjoyed The Reflecting Skin, had Lynch and Richard Kelly tones throughout and I love watching Viggo Mortensen in anything. Just a really interesting film, warts and all, and I'm glad it's finding an audience. The Greasy Strangler has been on my list for a long time, so I suppose there's no better time to get to it than when I'm feverish from the side-effects of a TDAP vaccine.
Glad I finally watched The Greasy Strangler even if it wasn't necessarily for me. Definitely had some laughs, plenty of gross-out fun, although I do think the non-sequiters would have landed more with me when it came out and I was a little younger. Somewhat unrelated, but I did throw on Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters after this and it felt like a warm blanket.
I bowed out a little while ago. Go on without me. I'll probably join back in soon when things calm down with wedding planning and such though.
Yeah, The Greasy Strangler isn't really for me either, but it did have me laughing a couple times. Such a strange one lol Thinking of what to pick