When he drags the body in the back room and slams the door and then it cuts The just animal brutality of it gives me the shivers
Eyes Without a Face - 9/10 There was so much to love here: The mask, the house, the doves, the baying dogs, the incredibly graphic face removal scene. All beautifully shot. A somber, stunning, and incredibly devastating film about vanity, guilt, and redemption. Peeping Tom - 8/10 First heard about this film from a "The 50 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time" talking head show when I was 10 or 11, and the short clips they showed from it scared the shit out of me. The opening scene, a POV shot from a serial killer's camera as he murders one of his victims for a snuff film he's making, is such a clever way of setting up the main story but is also just genuinely terrifying. Not enough can be said about how gorgeous the colours are throughout this thing. Thankful that Scorsese was able to bring it back from relative obscurity. The Innocents (1961) - 7/10 Didn't realize that 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' was an homage to this before watching. There were a lot more sexually repressed pedophilic undertones here than I was expecting. Deborah Kerr, filled with abject terror, stumbles around the halls of a mansion she believes is haunted, agonizing over the thought of the innocent children she is caring for somehow having... lost their innocence. It might have some of the best performances from child actors I've ever seen in a horror, but I think Bly Manor did more with the story.
I can do horror movies but I can't do Horror movies if that makes any sense. Like I can watch Insidious, but Texas Chainsaw would really fuck me up. Real horror movies go so much harder.
Bringing Out The Dead - Mid-tier Scorsese, but again that is still better than most. It really focuses on how saving people in the end can come down to simply treating them with dignity, regardless of if they live or die. Unfortunately, we don't allow the people who want to do this kind of work that same dignity. We'd rather pay them poorly and push them to unsustainable hours. How can we expect the people who save us to treat us well if this is how we treat them? Hell or High Water - Not quite as good as I remember, it is extremely unsubtle in its message and there's not a ton of work done to make me believe Gil Birmingham's character would actually like Jeff Bridges but overall still a very enjoyable film. The Motorcycle Diaries - A coming-of-age tale about one of the most important revolutionaries in history. There are plenty of young upper-middle-class people out there who hold liberal ideas but do nothing about them, maybe being pushed outside of their comfort zone and being forced to come face to face with the harsh realities of those who suffer under capitalism would drive more of them into action. I appreciate that this chronicles the beginning of Guevara's political awakening rather than trying to cram a whole life into two hours. More biopics should take this approach.
Season of the Witch is absolutely the right side of bonkers for me and I think the direction and atmosphere is genuinely great, but I think some of the writing is undeniably...questionable. Lol
Diabolique (Les Diaboliques) - 8/10 If Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' was set in a French boarding school and the murder was justifiable. A lot of fun, especially the final 10 minutes, and the two bathtub scenes. Carnival of Souls - 9/10 I am so incredibly mad at myself for never having watched this before. Can't remember the last time a horror film made me smile this much. The last stop before you're dragged, kicking and screaming, to the other side. Absolutely loved it, and its influence on something like 'Night of the Living Dead' is obvious. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - 7/10 Toxic sibling rivalry and resentment lead to unimaginable misery. Knowing about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's real-life rivalry before watching this made it even more enjoyable. The film meanders and overstays its welcome a little bit too much, but Davis manages to save it with an incredible performance. That being said, I hope I never have to listen to the song she sings in this ever again.
The Lazarus Effect - 5/10 Great cast, b-movie premise, cheap execution. Bottoms - 8.5/10 Was worried about this just being an updated Superbad at first but it wound up being the freshest theatrical comedy I've seen since Sorry to Pother You. Pure insanity.
Zodiac - 4/5, 8/10, whatever - Probably my 4th or 5th time seeing this. I'm not as high on it as some people but it does, in fact, rule. Mark Ruffalo is actually hysterical in it, the movie is way funnier than it should be
Something that always stood out to me about Zodiac was the way he shot the lakeside murders. He has the murderer show up so unassumingly, which risks taking away the terror of the figure, but it becomes scarier precisely because it is just a guy. Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger are scary in art but we know they aren't real, but the Zodiac killer is.