When a Man Negs a Woman

Movies: The Souvenir

Joanna Hogg's coming-of-age drama The Souvenir is a strange, quiet movie. I saw the preview some months ago and was intrigued even though I couldn't figure out what the movie was supposed to be about other than a tumultuous relationship between a young man and woman.

And it is about that, albeit with a twist (which will be revealed below, so spoiler alert). But it is also about a young woman, Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne--Tilda Swinton's daughter), who is emerging from a cocoon of privilege and severe naivete´ and blossoming into an artist.

The time period of The Souvenir is the early 1980s in England. Julie is in film school and being supported by her rich parents (real-life mom Tilda Swinton plays Julie's mom). She meets Anthony (Tom Burke) at a party and the two start meeting regularly for lunch and champagne. Anthony is the ultimate rich, arrogant preppie. He wears Tucker Carlson bowties and slyly undermines Julie's ambitions and opinions. But he hides a pretty intense secret of his own.

During a dinner at home with a pair of mutual friends, when Anthony is in another room, Julie's friend casually calls Anthony a "habitual heroin user" as he is puzzling out how Julie and Anthony know each other. Julie is struck silent, and this revelation informs the rest of the events of the movie, especially when Julie comes home to find all of her jewelry and film equipment missing and Anthony claiming that they were robbed. Her willingness to believe him is both cringeworthy and understandable. A 24 year old girl in love is going to hard-pressed to believe that not only would her boyfriend steal all her shit to feed his drug habit, but that he would do so and then lie so blatantly to her, as if she's that stupid. It's almost less insulting to her intelligence to believe him.

And so The Souvenir goes. Anthony acts like an ass while denying his drug problem, then can't hide it, then disappears, then reappears claiming he is fine, then relapses. All while Julie is puzzling out film school and what filmmaking means to her.

Words I could use to describe this film are "frustrating", "insufferable", "pretentious", "repetitive", and "boring". But despite its difficulties and almost stubborn unwillingness to be a likable or accessible film, I admired it because it was honest about how relationships really work. It's also honest about the human ability to lie to ourselves and others. Julie isn't foolish and she isn't weak, she's simply inexperienced. And because of that inexperience, she lets herself be influenced by a man who is arrogant and attractive in his arrogance. I have been Julie. I have been a young woman who is attracted to art, beauty, and arrogant men. Haven't we all been Julie, to some degree or another?

The inevitable conclusion of The Souvenir is almost annoying in it's clean resolution. Julie is free of Anthony and able to fully pursue her work, all the more wise for having had a borderline emotionally abusive relationship. And while that is what I wanted for her character, it's too neat a resolution for all the messiness and pent-up emotions that came before it. The Souvenir might be the most British film I've ever watched: despite everything--the drugs, the stealing, the sex, the fights--there is never truly an explosion of emotions. Maybe that's one benefit American have over the English: we're willing to scream and cry when it is warranted.

The Souvenir is like a museum: beautiful, curated, clean, elegant, and ultimately cold and frictionless. It's an imperfect, yet poignant film that feels like it only scratches the surface of a more interesting film lying underneath.

Grade: C

The Bitch is Back

Movies: Rocketman

When I first saw the preview for Rocketman, I thought "well, this movie is going to be embarrassing." Biopics, especially musical biopics, seem to be a devilishly difficult genre of film to get right. They either lionize the subject of the film too much and/or white wash the person's more nasty parts, or they try to cram too much of the person's life into two hours and thus feel like a Wikipedia article adapted into a movie. I'm not sure why I was so skeptical of Rocketman at first--maybe just the title alone made me groan a bit.

Well, I was wrong. Rocketman, which blends the genres of biopic and musical pretty seamlessly, was a delight and a joy to watch. While not perfect, it goes right more often than it goes wrong and actually got me close to tears in the final scenes.

Rocketman traces the rise of a shy, musically-inclined boy named Reginald Dwight as he blossoms into the campy, glam-y butterfly we now know as Sir Elton John. Beginning at a critical point in John's life--when he entered rehab in the late 80s--the film uses a recovery meeting as the frame for John telling his own story (through song and dance!) up until that point. I loved that the film doesn't use John's songs in chronological order, but rather by how well they tell the story of the artist's life. For example, the 1990s song "I Want Love" is used to show how various members of John's family were deeply repressed and unhappy: John's father was distant and disdainful of his son's "softer" traits. His mother was more interested in fashion magazine and martinis than in raising her son. Only John's grandmother seemed to understand his unusual gift of being able to memorize music by ear and play it perfectly on the piano.

And so shy, soft Reggie Dwight grows into shy, soft early-20s Reggie Dwight who decides he wants to play rock and roll and changes his name to Elton John. Taron Egerton, the rising star from the Kingsman movie, plays John and captures the musician's deep hunger to be loved and to be seen and accepted for who he really is. And it's that vulnerability that both helps John--especially in his longtime partnership and friendship with lyrics writer Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell)--and hurts him.

After Taupin and John, working under the management of Ray Williams, hit it big in the United States, John meets John Reid (played by Robb Stark Richard Madden, with a domineering intensity that is as scary as it is sexy), a music manager who eyes John like a cat eying a mouse. The two have immediate chemistry and begin a relationship, which you can tell from the get-go is not going to be good for the barely out of the closet (and apparently a virgin when he met John Reid) Elton John. Indeed, Reid convinces John to break his contract with Ray Williams and work under the management of Reid instead, which allows Reid more control over John's work (which is shooting off like, well, a rocket) AND personal life (increasingly filled with drugs, partying, and insane material wealth). The underlying message of the film is that John just wanted to be loved, but was taken advantage of by a manipulative (and, the movie suggests, physically violent) man and this lead to John's descent into drugs and "fucking half of LA", as he tells his mother at a very uncomfortable dinner.

The musical sequences that tell Elton John's story are dazzling, outrageous, and fun--and deeply moving at times. During a scene at the Troubador nightclub in Los Angeles, the audience actually lifts off the ground as John plays an exuberant rendition of "Crocodile Rock". During the height of John and Reid's relationship, Egerton and Madden sing a slick, campy rendition of "Honky Cat" that is one of the gayest things I've ever seen (that's a high compliment, btw). During John's "rock bottom" scene, he literally dives into a pile of humans and bodysurfs along a slithering mass of sexy flesh while singing "Bennie and Jets".

I've seen some reviews that ask the question "Is Rocketman queer enough?" Apparently, the film's one sex scene is a big deal (they do it face to face --I guess straight people think gay men only fuck doggy style??), especially compared to the PG-13 Bohemian Rhapsody. But some reviews have suggested that Rocketman takes the route of painting Elton John as a flamboyant, strange artist who just happens to be queer instead of revealing how queerness itself informed John's art. I don't really see a difference in Rocketman. Personally, I thought the film hit the sweet spot of reminding the audience that Elton John is gay and that is a huge part of his identity, art, and choices he made in life, but not focusing *entirely* on his queerness and sex life. In any case, between the hot/scary chemistry between Egerton and Madden, the over-the-top costumes, and the orgasmic bliss of the eye-popping musical numbers, Rocketman is gay as hell. And I love gay as hell movies.

Though Rocketman has a few cheesy scenes, I still found myself deeply moved. Maybe I just saw the movie on the right day at the right time, but even the scene where John's younger self asks grown-up John "when will you hug me?", echoing an earlier scene where young Reggie Dwight asks his neglectful father the same question, only to be told "don't be soft", threatened to make me cry (I rarely cry during movies, so even getting close to crying means the movie gave me FEELS). There was something so earnest, so humane, and so willing to be vulnerable about the film that you can't help but feel your heartstrings getting tugged. And I left the theatre with a sense of joy and happiness that I haven't felt after watching a movie in a long time.

So, long story short, go see Rocketman. It's fun, dazzling, sexy, and warmhearted--much like the artist himself.

Grade: A-

Super Bad Broads

Movies: Booksmart

Olivia Wilde's (yes, actress Olivia Wilde directs this film) Booksmart is doomed to be compared to 2007's Superbad. To be fair, the films share some pretty substantial similarities: both films depict two ride-or-die buds trying to make it to a big party during their senior year of high school; both films have a scene of a drunk person vomiting on/near their make-out partner; both films feature a high school party broken up by the cops; and both films share a sibling: Beanie Feldstein, who plays control-freak valedictorian Molly in Booksmart is Jonah Hill's younger sister.

But Booksmart has new life breathed into it. It is woker, gayer, and Gen-Zer-er than its predecessor. Gone is the homosexual panic and casual misogyny of Jonah Hill's Seth and Michael Cera's Evan and replacing it is a queer female main character (Kaitlyn Dever's Amy) who, by the way, is spending a gap year in Africa helping women make tampons, and a plus-size (which is never remarked on) female main character (Feldstein's Molly) who is bossy, whip-smart, and has a framed photo of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her bedroom.

But perhaps the most groundbreaking aspect of Booksmart is the crucial scene on which the entire plot hinges: Molly is in a gender neutral bathroom listening to a couple fellow students right outside the stalls discuss how she is annoying and condescending. She comes out of the bathroom to confront them, rubbing her acceptance to Yale in their faces, assuming they--who have partied and goofed around the last four years--are far less successful than she. As it turns out, they too are accepted into Ivy League schools (except for the dude who got recruited to code for Google and was offered a six-figure salary right out of high school). Molly is, as the kids say, shook. She realizes in that moment how foolish she and Amy have been: they avoided partying and studied hard, assuming that because they are disciplined, they will come out much further ahead than their classmates. But, as one of Molly's tormenters says to her with a sneer, "Oh, we care about school. We don't just care about school."

This scene, which upends a huge high school movie trope that pits nerds against cool kids, is pretty great. It's rare to see a smart girl realize that maybe she actually doesn't know everything and has room to improve. Of course, instead of internalizing this information and using it to fuel empathy for others and herself, Molly's solution is to convince her more introverted buddy to party their fucking asses off on the last day of school so that they can say that, yes, the *technically* both partied AND studied in high school. Technically. Additionally, Molly wants Amy to hook up with Ryan, a skater girl whom Amy has a crush on. And Molly just might have a crush of her own, which she is too proud to reveal.

The movie mostly focuses on Amy and Molly's attempts to make it to a party thrown by Nick, a hot popular dude and the class vice president (of course, Molly is the class president). But since the two girls never socialized with any of their peers, they don't know the address and have to endure two additional parties in their quest to find Nick's party.

At heart, Booksmart, like Superbad, is about friendship. The relationship between Amy and Molly is not so different from Seth and Evan's. Amy is the more passive friend (like Evan) and Molly is the bossier, more aggressive one (like Seth). As a former (still??) bossy girl who borderline bullied some of my friends growing up, I felt a kinship to Molly. You rarely see a character like her--and even more rarely are you encouraged to empathize with a character like her. But her story arc is so real. Behind her driven, ambitious nature is a real fear of her peers and of not being good enough. So when her "thing" (being smart and successful) is basically revealed to be everyone's thing since many of her "slacker" peers turn out to also be successful and smart, her mind is blown and her armor has to come off if she wants to grow as a person.

Booksmart is wickedly hilarious and features some truly weird scenes (inadvertent drug ingestion leads to an animated hallucination scene) and lots of cameos from funny folks such as Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte. The best part is the all the different "types" of high school kids--the gay, flamboyant theatre people, the rich weirdos, the cool teacher, the stoners--all get mixed together into a really nice soup of humanity at the various parties. Rivals and allies change throughout the evening, so that even though there is plenty of conflict, it never feels like a tired "nerds vs. jocks" cliche.

Grade: B+

Scent of a Woman

Movies: Her Smell

Alex Ross Perry's Her Smell goes from zero to one hundred in the first act and never takes its foot off the gas pedal. It's an intense, nervy film that follows the downfall of a riot grrrl rock goddess in the vein of Courtney Love and her climb back to redemption.

Elisabeth Moss, in a vanity-free and nakedly vulnerable performance, plays Becky Something, front woman to a 90s riot grrrl style punk band Something She. Becky's atrocious behavior--canceling tours, getting blackout drunk backstage--has reduced the once enormously popular band to playing clubs when they used to sell out theaters. Despite Becky's narcissistic behavior, bandmates Ali van der Wolff (Gayle Rankin) and Marielle Hell (Agnyess Deyn) have stuck by her side even though their manager, Howard (Eric Stoltz), is about to walk away after Becky's antics have nearly bankrupted his company.

Unwillingly along for the ride into Becky's descent into hell is her ex-husband, Dirtbag Dan (Dan Stevens) who is essentially raising his and Becky's young daughter, Tama, by himself. Becky's mom, Ania (Virginia Madsen,) also makes appearances, saddened--though not shocked--at her once sweet daughter's self-destruction.

Perry stages the 2 hour and 14 minute film over five scenes of about 25 minutes each, giving the film a very theatrical feel. It's effective--you get to know the characters right away and see what they're all about. Becky is the epicenter of a shitstorm of diva behavior and abuse, Marielle is the more enabling band member, and Ali is the band member who most aggressively pushes back (only to get dragged back in). The majority of the people in Becky's life are also financially dependent on her in some way or another which prevents many of them from writing Becky off and walking out of her life. They also, against all good sense, love her.

Her Smell (a title which I actually like, although critics have indicated they think it...stinks) is a story about addiction and how an addict--especially one with money and power, in Becky's case--can be a black hole to those around her, sucking up time, money, energy, emotions, and resources.

Her Smell, it must be said, shows how addiction affects rich, attractive, white people. Even after the worst of it, Becky still has a home, has access to her daughter, has friends who come to forgive her, and avoids prison (though she does not avoid lawsuits). Her Smell is *incredibly* white. All the main characters are white, with a bodyguard and a shaman (yup) as the only characters of color. While this might make a certain sense given the genre of music and time period, it was very notable. I mean, hell, the main character's name is fucking Becky. It's for sure a film about white privilege whether the director intended it to be or not.

It is nice to see a movie starring nearly all women that really isn't about femininity. Certainly, a viewer could read "mean girl" behavior into it, or see Becky as a "bad mother", but the film doesn't really make Becky's femaleness the center of things, but rather her addiction and her narcissism. It's refreshing to see a woman behave badly and not be killed or punished for it (but again, this is a white, attractive woman, so she already has a better shot than most). There's something thrilling and voyeuristic about the film, which also feels like a low-key horror movie with an unnerving soundtrack and a volatile main character.

I enjoyed Her Smell. It's not a great movie, but it definitely gets under your skin. Moss does a stunning job playing a woman you can't fucking stand but somehow still care about. And although her redemption does come off as a bit tidy, there's still enough uncertainty at the end of whether she'll be able to stay clean and keep her promises--or relapse into a monster once again--to leave the audience feel shaken.

Grade: B+

A Woman's Liberation

Movies: A Fantastic Woman

I recently had the honor of co-hosting a screening and discussion of Sebastian Lelio's 2017 film A Fantastic Woman at my job. This is the third film of Lelio's I've seen (he also directed Gloria Bell and Disobedience) and he is fast becoming a favorite director of mine.

*plot points are spoiled in this review*

A Fantastic Woman is about Marina, a trans woman with an older partner, Orlando. On the night of Marina's birthday, Orlando gifts her with two tickets to an exotic vacation. It's clear that they love each other very much and are serious about their relationship (they recently moved in together to Orlando's apartment). But later that night, Orlando wakes up feeling sick. He falls down the stairs as they head to the car. Although they make it to the hospital, Orlando passes away from a brain aneurysm.

From this point on, the film is about how Marina navigates instance after instance of transphobia--from the cops who suggest that the bruises Orlando sustained after falling down the stairs might actually be from Marina abusing him, to Orlando's ex-wife who forbids Marina from attending the wake and funeral--all while Marina is grieving and trying to find closure in her partner's death.

Although A Fantastic Woman is a wonderful, beautiful, deeply felt portrayal of a trans woman (played by a trans actress, Daniela Vega), it's not always easy to watch. Marina is misgendered, deadnamed, called a "perversion", forced to strip for an (unnecessary) physical examination, and even assaulted (though not beaten or raped, thank god). Some critics have suggested that the barrage of transphobia Marina faces is excessive, a kind of "tragedy porn" for the audience. But I felt that it was an unflinchingly real portrayal of what many trans people have to deal with in daily life.

Through it all, Marina never loses her nerve and the more she is insulted or told to go away, the more she rebels. She also has people on her side--her sister, her boss, her singing instructor, and her memories of Orlando.

In the discussion following the screening, we had a great discussion about the film, facilitated by three people with academic knowledge and/or personal experience in trans issues and their perspectives added to my appreciation of A Fantastic Woman. One facilitator pointed out the numerous instances when the director chose to focus on Marina's body when it may have not been necessary to do so and asked what the point of that was. There is an especially aggravating scene where Marina is forced to comply with a physical examination as part of an investigation about the bruises on Orlando's body. The camera stays on Marina's bare upper-body, as if to make the audience complicit in objectifying her and staring at her. I didn't get the sense that the director was trying to be exploitative in these scenes, but it most definitely felt uncomfortable.

Even if Lelio had blindspots in making this movie, overall I think it is an important film. For one, he actually cast a trans woman to play a trans woman (unlike many other movies about trans people where they often cast cis people to play a trans character). Secondly, Marina is a three-dimensional character. She is talented, in love, angry, grieving, scared...she is a human being trying to retain dignity while those around her treat her with contempt. Finally, A Fantastic Woman is not a cute after school special about "tolerance"--it faces transphobia full on, but never crumbles beneath the weight of hatred and ignorance. It has a happy ending for Marina and is a film that is full of hope, even in shitty circumstances.

Grade: A 

Put on Your Big Boy Cape and Tights

Movies: Shazam!

Shazam! is a delightful throwback to more innocent action/adventure movies of the 1980s. Directed by David F. Sandberg and based on a DC character, Shazam! walks a fine line between kid-friendly and surprisingly dark, not unlike the films it pays homage to such as The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (just to name a couple). Obviously, the film is cashing in on Millennial and Gen-Xer's nostalgia, while also being appropriate for them to take their own kids to. Smart thinking.

Opening in 1974, we see a young boy being emotionally abused by his father and brother during a car ride to his grandfather's. This boy, Thaddeus Sivana, is transported to a magical lair where he meets Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), a wizard looking for a champion to transfer his powers to now that he is old and weak. This champion would be strong, powerful, and smart--he/she would have to be in order to hold the Seven Deadly Sins at bay so they don't wreak havoc on the world in the form of ugly-ass demons. Well, despite Thad being the victim of bullying, it turns out he's not good enough (he fails the "pure of heart" test) to be the Wizard's champion and he is transported back to his terrible family.

Years later, 14 year old Billy Baston (the wonderfully named Asher Angel) is a foster kid trying to hunt down his birth mother in Philadelphia. He was separated from her at a very young age when he wandered off at a carnival (between this film and the opening scenes of Us, carnivals are getting some seriously bad press). The thing is, she never even tried to look for him. I was surprised at Billy's depressing backstory--it's one thing to have a parent give you up at birth because they don't feel equipped to raise you; it's quite another to not try to find a child who goes missing.

The fact that both Billy and Thad both have extreme daddy/mommy issues is relevant since the heart of Shazam! is the meaning of family. Billy is picked up by the police and placed in a new foster group home run by a quirky couple and filled with a lively crew of diverse and funny kids. Billy, not surprisingly, is not into it. He's learned the hard way to never depend on anyone but himself.

Meanwhile, Thad Sivana is all grown up (Mark Strong is excellent as the loquacious, smart bad guy) and is evil as fuck. A scientist, he has cracked the code on how to release the Seven Deadly Sins and is intent on taking revenge against Shazam, his evil father and brother, and...the entire world. Shazam is desperate and he transports Billy to his lair and gives him his own powers, causing Billy to grow into a whole-ass adult male (played delightfully by Zachary Levi of Chuck fame) who is not only over 6 feet, swole as hell, and sexy while still being boyish--he also has a ton of super powers, such as super strength and super speed.

After freaking out, Billy asks another kid from the foster home, Freddy (Jack Dylan Glazer) for help. Freddy is the resident nerd who loves comics and so Billy figures he might be able to help him. This leads to a delightful (I'm using that word a lot, aren't I) montage where they test Billy's powers. They also use Billy's grown-up appearance to buy beer at a convenience store.

Eventually, Billy's destiny becomes clear as Thad's powers grow and he realizes he can't run OR hide from Thad who is actively looking to destroy Billy because once Shazam's powers are gone Thad and his seven deadly demons will reign supreme. Thad plays dirty by taking Billy's foster family hostage...but it turns out that the foster kids are a lot stronger and smarter than they appear to be.

I'll hold off on further details since I've already given a thorough plot synopsis here, but suffice it to say that Shazam! is wholesome--but not TOO wholesome--fun. It's dark enough that you might not want to take young kiddos to see it, but it's sweet (and PG-13) enough that it is entirely appropriate for most kids 10 and up. But it's the adults who will have the most fun watching Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Glazer crack wise and goof around while referencing every movie from Big to Superman.

The only complaint I have about the film is that it doesn't allow Thad Sivana more than one dimension, even though he's the type of villain who absolutely deserves a more meaty emotional backstory. This poor kid was tormented by his own father and brother for his whole life, and when he has the chance to claim power, is denied it because he is not pure of heart. How can a little kid who is abused not be pure of heart? No wonder he grew up evil. This is a Kilmonger-esque backstory if I ever saw one and yet Thad is give about 20% the depth of the Black Panther villain. This seemed like a real wasted opportunity and blindspot in the film.

Grade: B

Does the Cat Die? (Sorta)

Movies: Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary, based on Stephen King's 1983 novel, is pretty dumb. I'll just get that out of the way. I haven't read the book and I haven't seen the 1989 film adaptation, so I have nothing to compare this film to (though I assume the book is much better and scarier), but I can say that as a standalone, Pet Sematary is pretty weak. As John Lithgow says in the film, "sometimes, dead is better." Indeed.

There are spoilers in this review.

The movie follows Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), a doctor who has moved his family from Boston to Ludlow, Maine to "slow down" so he can spend more time with his family: wife Rachel (Amy Semeitz), 9 year old daughter Ellie (Jete Laurence), and toddler Gage (Hugo and Lucas Lavoie). It doesn't take the Creed family long to realize that there is a creepy-ass pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary" because kids can't spell...nor can pets) where generations of children in Ludlow have buried beloved animals.

But it's not the "sematary" the Creeds need to be wary of, it's what lies beyond...

An elderly man named Jud Crandall (John Lithgow, easily the best part of the film) strikes up a friendship with the Creeds after helping Ellie out when she gets a bee sting. The old man has a soft spot for the little girl (not in a creepy way) since he never had children of his own and his wife has passed away. When Ellie's cat, Church (short for Winston Churchill), is hit by a truck, he shows Louis a different place to bury it...A FREAKIN NATIVE AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND*.

Sure enough, Church comes back...but, different. Meaner. More violent.

Having Church come back has spared Louis the discomfort of telling Ellie her cat died. But at what cost? Reviews I've read called Louis a "putz" who couldn't sack up and tell his kid about death. But the thing that gets me is that the whole Church-zombie thing isn't really Louis' fault--it's Jud's. Jud knew about the special powers of the land and, though Louis didn't ask too many questions, didn't exactly give Louis fair warning.

So, when Ellie herself is hit by a car and dies, Jud can hardly blame Louis for doing exactly what the audience has been waiting for. In a state of crushing grief, Rachel and Gage spend a few days at Rachel's parents--giving Louis the space and time to exhume Ellie, bury her beyond the pet cemetery, and wait for the inevitable to happen. It does. Ellie comes back...but different. Meaner. More violent.

Now, to be fair to Louis, if you were a parent whose kid was killed and you knew a special place that would bring them back to life, you know damn well you'd bury them there, damn the consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences for Louis and the rest of his family are dire when zombie Ellie returns.

The thing about Pet Sematary is that it's about a parent's worst nightmare and yet this particular iteration of the story doesn't really honor the grief and agony at the heart of it all. We see Louis and Rachel mourn Ellie's death for all of 5 minutes before Louis is scheming to bring her back. The film races past the grief to get to the zombie 9-year-old, twirling in her dirty ballet costume and threatening mom with a kitchen knife. I've seen horror movies do grief (Hereditary) and I've seen horror movies do the terror of being a parent (The Babadook) and Pet Sematary just doesn't do any of it justice. I will admit I watched some parts through my fingers, but ultimately the scares weren't enough to justify the lack of an emotional core.

Now, for people who hate seeing animals and children die in movies, you're safe here--they all come back. But, as Jud would say, sometimes dead is better.

Grade: C

*yes, the concept of the spoopy ancient Native American burial ground is hella racist. I have to admit, I loved Jud's shoutout the the Wendigo though. When will they make a movie about the Wendigo!?