Movie review - "Possession" (1981) ***

 Balls to the wall insanity with Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill going toe to toe. He's a spy, she's his wife, she leaves him for another guy, he goes nuts, she goes nuts. Hard to follow. Mostly interesting.

Movie review - "Backrooms" (2026) ***1/2

 Solid horror. Creepy setting (rooms adjacent to furniture store), excellent actors, logically developed. Slow burn but big bang in the middle. Very confident. 

Movie review - "An American Werewolf in London" (1981) ****

 John Landis' classic? A fresh, energetic take on werewolf movies, where the horror is straight but it loves the legacy, and has plenty of humour. David Naughton is so likeable in the lead it's a wonder he didn't have a bigger career - Griffin Dunne also very winning, and Jenny Agutter is magical as the perfect fantasy nurse.

I enjoy how Landis keeps the tension and pace going via violent dream sequences. Transformation is extraordinarily well done. 

Movie review - "Midsommar" (2019) **** (re-watching)

 Very well made. Smart. Solid world building. Florence Pugh anchors a passive role with her beauty and charisma. Might've exploited the deaths more for scares. Hard to pick at thhough.

Movie review - "Woman Who Came Back" (1945) **1/2

 Decent knock of off Cat People from an "idea" by Phil Yordan who bought a script from another guy. Made by Republic who did the odd horror - decently directed. Nancy Kelly is the woman who thinks she's something Bad - in her case a witch.

The film would have been better if someone had done something bad - once Kelly discovers her ancestor wasn't a witch she's cured. There's no real baddy. The townsfolk are mean but no one goes all out. Someone should have died. Ruth Ford as another woman looks as though she's going to do something.

The terrible John Loder is alas the male lead. The director deserved a better male lead and a story with more sting because he did a good job. 

Movie review - "The Guardian" (1990) ***

Often called Friedkin's worst movie but Deal of the Century is far worse, and I enjoyed it. It's silly, of course, a druid sacrificing babies to trees, and random rapists who appear in the forests to die, and you can tell Friedkin was going through a custody dispute with its emphasis on the father, the untrustworthy nanny, etc (though it's not as divorced dad a movie as Rampage). Still it works on a certain level.

I loved the way the movie was shot, there's effective scenes of the house at night with a late night DJ talking (playing Aussie songs from The Triffids and Not Drowning Waving), and the tree is creepy. Memorable sequence with that architect character tracking Seagrove in the forest and regretting it.

I think the movie should have been more about the mum, Carey Lowell - who is required to scream and look dumb too much (though she is allowed to fight at the end). Seagrove should've seduced the husband (played by someone caled Dwier Brown) who should've died. 

Jenny Seagove has a high old time running around nude covered in much.  The climax is a lot of fun with Brown chainsawing the tree and Seagrove duking it out with Carey Lowell.

Full of plot holes and places it needed to be tightened but I had a good time. 

Movie review - "The Exorcist" (1973) *****

 It all clicked for William Friedkin - he got the perfect material for his documentary style of filmmaking, and also casting. Ellen Burstyn is a consistently strong actor. The X factor comes from Linda Blair (likeable, relatable, heartbreaking) and Jason Miller (often overlooked but tormented, tough, smart, soulful, excellent, I appreciate they didn't play a love story with him and Burstyn).

The film works so well for many reasons but mostly this - an outlandish story is treated totally seriously. A child is ill, the mother does everything she can, the doctors try everything they can but it doesn't work. And this is primeval because when a child is injured you feel so helpless. 

The movie Burstyn is starring in looks terrible - a campus protest film! 

Movie review - "Premonition" (1972) **

 Alan Rudolph's first movie as direcotr is hard to get through. Some hippy goes to the desert with a professor and sees something weird, then years later the hippy and his band members go out there and sense weirdness.

It's so padded. I kept waiting for weird stuff to happen. Just felt like lazy dope smoking movie making. There's even a  pretty girl to soothe the hero's furrowed brow. 

No characterisation. Best moments are the bit towards the end where someone gets lot in the desert and dies. I wish this had been a proper horror film. Amateurishly made. 

Movie review - "Terror Circus" (1974) **

 Alan Rudolph's second feature had him called in to re-shoot a movie that had been started by other fands. It's about three girls traveling in the desert who meet a mystery man (Andrew Prine, a familiar face) who kidnaps them. He's got all these other women captured and he does weird stuff.

Solid basic idea, probably needed some more gore and exploitation. Starts well and ends well with the reveal of a monster scarred by atomic testing.  The middle is a slog - needed a subplot or two. 

Prine gives a strong performance, the girls are pretty. I enjoyed it more than some of Rudolph's other movies.

Movie review - "Scary Movie" (2000) **1/2

 Tasteless in many places but I laughed. Benefits from being based on Kevin Williamspn's strong Scream sccript.

Movie review - "Frankenstein" (2025) **1/2

Look, it's fine. I felt as if I'd seen it before. Maybe if I was more into Oscar Isaac. His performance is fine but you see the acting. I would've loved a real nutter in that part. Mia Goth struggles with her words.

When the film gets fantastical - the make up, some revived bodies, blood splattering - it becomes more interesting. 

Key problem - no emotional relationsship you care about. Frankenstein is so odd and eccentric he doesn't have real feelings for his brother or Mia Goth or Chris Walken or the monster. The monster bonds with the blind man but that's about it.

It's made with love but the whole thing is... so. Jacob Elordi is fine. 

Movie review - "Beloved" (1998) **

 A film that kind of sank without a trace despite the star power of Oprah, writer Toni Morrison and her book, and director Jonathan Demme. This was in part due to an uninspiring release - I remember seeing this bland poster of Danny Glover and Oprah and the title and thinking "what is that about". I think it needed to lean into its ghost story background more.

It's a decent story though there's a lot of backstory. It's long - three hours long. Very well acted although Thandie Newton stumbles into Simple Jack territory.

It didn't work for me.  There were good moments. It felt unfocused. Kept changing protagnists.

Movie review - "The Shining" (1980) ****

 Jack Nicholson starts at nine and keeps going higher. Shelley Duvall magnificient. Ditto Danny Lloyd. I get why Steven king is upset, the film skips the essential human tragedy of Jack Torrence, but offers other pleasures. Wonderful atmosphere.

Movie review - "Jaws" (1975) ***** (re-watching)

 Saw it on the big screen. Just wonderful. Perfect. Maybe could lose the Ben Gardner boat scene and the dock feeding scene... but possibly because I know what happens whereas new viewers would be more settled. Beautifully structured script. First half you go "how did this go over budget?" Second half you go "okay wow". All on screen. Truly epic. Wonderful actors. The kids, the mum of Alex Kitridge, the lead three. Unselfish Roy Scheider, funny Richard Dreyfuss, mad Robert Shaw. Just perfection.

Movie review - "Martin" (1977) ***1/2

 Confronting. Well made. Thought provoking. Romero firing all cylinders. Makes you identify with a killer the way Peeping Tom does (not Psycho becauseyou don't know he's the killer until the end). Acting totally fine.

Movie review - "The Shrouds" (2025) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 I went with this. Modern day version of an Edgar Allan Poe story - man going mad after wife dies, doing stuff with the crypt, catnip to the ladies. The nudity suits the story because it has body horror elements. Ending unsatisfying - felt life a cliff hanger. Needed another beat at least. Still watchable.  

Movie review - “The Substance” (2024) ***1/2

Body horror which is brilliantly directed and acted. Demi Moore goes for it so does Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid has a high old time. The film is too long.

Movie review - "The Ring" (2002) ***1/2

 Spooky, clever, atmospheric, nicely handled, great shock moments, strong lore. Very strong work from Naomi Watts. All the cast is effective though.

Scary little girls - so many famous killers are kids, people respond to it I think. Film school aesthetic.

Movie review - "The Ring Two" (2005) **

 The photography is normal, the mood has gone, it feels more generic. Naomi Watts is excellent the little kid is fine. But it's not much of a movie.

Movie review - "Child's Play" (1988) ***1/2

 Fun horror film. Terrific villain in Chucky, who is scary, fast, cute and deadly. Catherine Hicks maybe overacts, Brad Dourif overacts just the right amount, the kid is fine, Chris Sarandon allows himself to be knocked out. Some bravaura set pieces like Chucky trying to kill Sarandon in a car and the final battle.