My October in Media

This year, I didn't feel as dialed in for Spooky Season™ as I normally am, probably because this year is a disaster and I also watch spooky movies all the time. But I tried to lean into it as much as possible, squeezing some classic rewatches in with about a dozen new films, most of them spooky. 

I even watched a few spooky TV shows!

1BR

I liked this one! It wasn't perfect but it was engaging and decently unpredictable, with a good performance by Nicole Brydon Bloom. It also convinced me I'm right that no one should talk to their neighbors.

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

Due to the slightly unhinged joy House of Wax (2005) brought me, I decided to watch this one and it was pretty fun. It could've done a few things better, but the 2006-ness of it all was hysterical. A major plot point is that Camilla Belle went over her minutes on her phone. She also references TiVo, carries a messenger bag and wears one of those long skinny scarves down to her knees. Good stuff.

The Conjuring

I'm not into this type of horror movie (Insidious, Paranormal Activity, you know the ones), so this is the only one I've ever seen. I thought it might be legitimately scary, but it wasn't. It was ok, but it was also pretty dumb.

The Lie

This movie is pretty bad. I figured out 90% of what was going on about a half hour in and only kept watching until the end to see if I was right. I don't recommend doing that.

Rewatch: St. Elmo's Fire. Rewatched for the fall vibes. Liked it the most this time of the ~three times I've now seen it. 

Evil Dead II

I didn't necessarily like The Evil Dead when I saw it for the first time last year, but I was impressed by its effects and overall insanity. When I rewatched it earlier this year, I liked it a little more, but still most of my enjoyment was from the effects. I'd always heard Evil Dead II was the one people liked more and that it was more of a horror-comedy, which is my jam – but I didn't like it at all. 

Cats

Listen: it's obviously an abomination. There's nothing I can say about the way it ~is~ that hasn't already been said. But I also didn't know anything about the "plot" of Cats going in so that was wild in its own right and I spent most of the movie confused why it's just 9,000 character introductions. "Here's a new cat, here are its traits delivered to you in song! Here's another cat, here are its traits!" for more than two hours. Also, the only good cat is Gus, obviously.

Beginners

Back in the alternate universe that was January, I was extremely struck by A Single Man, a movie that felt like a reminder of all that movies can be. That's also how I felt watching Beginners. It's a truly great movie. Also, maybe we should put Christopher Plummer in everything?

The Trial of the Chicago 7

In some ways, this is an extremely self-important, Oscar-bait movie. But it's also actually good. All of the acting is very impressive – including Eddie Redmayne, who I largely feel has tricked everyone into thinking he's a good actor, and perhaps especially Sacha Baron Cohen, who I forget actually is a good actor. I am also of the belief that, like Christopher Plummer, we should put Michael Keaton in every movie.

Rewatch: Scream 4. A masterpiece. Fun to watch this one with Tim, who hadn't seen it.

As Above So Below

This is good! I was so stressed the entire time. It's very effective and the story is pretty original. It did some things I've never seen before and it executed them well about 90% of the time.

Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia

Pretty fun! I just needed to watch a comedy special and it hit the spot.

Rewatch: Always Be My Maybe. Still cute.

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror

I really enjoyed this. I'm a major nerd for movie academia (RIP, RTF papers) so I found everything about this super fascinating. Horror is an often misunderstood genre that is almost always trying to do more than just scare people and the people behind this documentary understand that and expand upon it, bringing to light what the genre has meant for the Black community. Highly recommend.

Rewatch: Bram Stoker's Dracula, Se7en. Dracula is hammy but a good adaptation; Se7en is perfect except for Kevin Spacey being there.

Oculus

Meh. I can sort-of see the beginnings of what Mike Flanagan would later be able to do more successfully, but it didn't do anything for me.

Rewatch: It, The Crow, Hocus Pocus, Halloween, The 'Burbs. The Crow and Hocus Pocus are traditions, Halloween is Halloween, The 'Burbs is an all-time fave and It remains a surprisingly good movie, not just horror movie.

This month, I also finished up watching the Fantastic Fest shorts I had RSVP'd for. Here's what I thought of those:

Blitzkrieg (short)

My main takeaway from this is that the thing little kids do where they breathe with their entire bodies stresses me out. But also, this short was effective and a little weird.

Milk Teeth (short)

I loved this one. I truly hate tooth-related body horror, so the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this proves how good it is. The story is a little Pan's Labyrinth, a little "The Monkey's Paw." I'd love to know more.

Fish Whiskers (short)

I don't know what I was supposed to get out of this one. I was intrigued and ended up saying "um, what?" out loud at the end.

The Three Men You Meet at Night (short)

Being a woman is horrifying. And Stella Baker makes some A+ facial expressions in this.

Mourn (short)

Pretty good! Effectively tells a whole story.

Ottie (short)

This one was extra short but still managed to be brutal. 

Abracitos (short)

This fell in the vein of that type of horror I mentioned above that I don't care for BUT it was very scary.

Heat (short)

Based on its premise, I was worried this one was going to really gross. But it was just weird and kind-of dumb.

Mime (short)

An interesting concept, but it didn't quite work for me.

Stuck (short)

I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the most hardcore things I’ve ever seen. Morbidly thrilling and I winced so many times.

Great Choice! (short) 

This was just wild. Its surreality was both off-putting and kind-of funny and it just kept getting weirder until a surprise ending.

This month, I also watched some spooky TV shows: Monsterland (uneven, but about half are very good); The Haunting of Bly Manor (it's good, but much different than I thought it would be and I liked it significantly less than Hill House); and The Vow (spooky in a real-life way but also boring). I also watched a few episodes of Emily in Paris (cute but vapid), started the Queen's Gambit (good so far), rejoiced over new episodes of Bob's Burgers and finally finished Schitt's Creek (I laughed, I cried, I made inhumane sob-shriek noises).

Also in October, I attended two virtual "concerts": Betty Who (very cute and fun) and The Dirty Nil (I love them, but it was kind-of lame).

Tim and I are almost done with Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. We lack two chapters and the epilogue and we still don't know for sure how it's going to end. And I've also been reading Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror because, ya know, spooky season.

Bonus! Some good articles: 

• Netflix recently canceled two of its best shows: Patriot Act and GLOW. This The Verge piece gets at what made Patriot Act stand out among its political comedy peers. And this GLOW eulogy Betty Gilpin wrote for Vanity Fair almost made me cry and made me wonder for the millionth time why she hasn't written half a dozen books by now.
• This Jezebel piece about the very traditional, very gendered appeal of Chip and Joanna Gaines is also great.

It's going to be a rough couple of days – hell, a rough couple of months – for everyone. Take care of yourselves, y'all! And get your news from a reliable news source, I beg of you.