The Fall of the House of Usher (TV series)
The latest Mike Flanagan joint is a good one. The eight episode series follows the members of the corrupt Usher family--a family clearly based on the Sacklers, as they built their insane wealth by creating lethally addictive pain medication. The series opens with patriarch Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood, perfect for the role) mourning the death of all six of his children (don't be too sad--said children are all adults and each one more hateful and shitty than the last).
Roderick gets together in his dilapidated ancestral home with the attorney who has spent years trying to prosecute the Ushers for their many crimes to give his final confession. This confession reveals how--and why--the Usher children died. The series is love letter to Edgar Allan Poe, as all the stories are updated versions of Poe stories and all the characters are named after Poe characters.
Additionally, Flanagan's usual themes are woven through this series: family, addiction, time, and redemption. However, The Fall of the House of Usher is a little more acidic--and funny--than Flanagan's previous works. There are also fewer monologues--a staple of Flanagan TV series. Thank God. The monologues in Midnight Mass almost drove me to madness.
With excellent acting from Flanagan's regular cast of actors (including Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, and Kate Siegel among others) and genuinely shocking and gross gore, The Fall of the House of Usher is a fun watch for spooky season.
Grade: A-
***
When Evil Lurks
This movie, directed by Argentinian director Demian Rugna, has been touted as "the scariest movie of 2023". And while it is indeed quite grotesque, I personally didn't find it all that terrifying.
Two brothers, Pedro and Jimmy, realize that a demon has possessed a local man in their rural town. The people of this town have seen such evil before and refer to Uriel, the possessed man, as a "Rotten". In their attempts to remove Uriel from the town, the brothers set the demon loose to infect others...and no one is spared, no matter how innocent.
When Evil Lurks is a unique entry into the possession/zombie subgenre of horror. The "rules" for possession in this movie are a little different than in other possession movies, in that the demon stays in place but can infect others in the vicinity.
This is a solid horror movie with a lot of gore and shocking moments. Although I didn't *love* it, I would recommend it to other horror fans.
Grade: B
***
The Boogeyman
This horror flick started strong, but petered out a bit near the end. Chris Messina plays Will Harper, a therapist and father of two who is raising his daughters Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) in the aftermath of the death of his wife. The girls are obviously traumatized, but despite Will's training as a therapist, he can't bring himself to talk about their mother's death with his daughters.
One day, a strange man shows up at Will's house asking for a counseling session. This man, Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian), was accused of murdering his children. He claims that it was in fact a strange entity, simply called "The Boogeyman", who ultimately killed them. By coming to the Harper's house, Lester seems to have brought this evil with him and soon Sadie and Sawyer begin seeing the Boogeyman. Can they figure out how to destroy the entity before they, like Lester's children, are killed?
It's a horror movie about grief and it's a bit derivative. The Babadook did the same thing, only much better. That said, The Boogeyman, which is based on a short story by Stephen King, is bolstered by really good acting. Sophie Thatcher is so, so good in Yellowjackects (she plays young Natalie) and she brings that intensity and empathy to this role as well.
Overall, not the most remarkable scary movie, but a fun pick for a dark and dreary evening at home.
Grade: B-
***
The Village
(spoilers)
I hadn't seen this M. Night Shyamalan film since it came out in theatres in 2004. Back then, we all thought Shyamalan was the shit. The Sixth Sense had blown everyone away. Signs also scared the hell out of us. Well, in my opinion, The Village was where it all started to go downhill.
Now, I will begin by saying that this movie is beautifully filmed. The cinematography and costumes are gorgeous. Also, the movie is filled with excellent actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver...the gang's all here!
But once you actually know the twist, the whole thing just falls apart. A group of people appear to be living in a rural town in the late 1800s, but they're actually living in the modern world. The founders of the town decided to get together and basically create a commune/historical cosplay because they all experienced some type of profound grief that relates the the modern world. Or...something. So they raise families completely separate from not just other people, but from modern medicine and technology.
It's, frankly, a completely dumb twist. I would understand if these people want to live separate from other people...but why do they have to live like it's 1890? And what makes them think they'll be spared grief and pain by living this lifestyle? For god's sake, the movie opens with one of the founders grieving the (likely preventable) death of his 12 year old son!
Additionally, The Village really leans into Shyamalan's ableism. Shyamalan has a history of writing disabled characters either as villains or "super crips"--meaning exceptional, or even magical. The Village has both: Bryce Dallas Howard plays a blind woman who makes the trek to the outside world in search of medicine and is able to find her way against all odds. That's not too bad. But then we have poor Adrien Brody's character, Noah, a developmentally disabled man (yes, played by Adrien Brody...it's not cute) who ends up becoming violent and is very much punished for it. I had forgotten completely about Brody's character and, man, it's not cool.
So yeah, M. Night Shyamalan had one really good movie in him (The Sixth Sense) some so-so ones, and a bunch of epically bad ones. The Village is one of the so-so ones...
Grade: B
***
A Knock at the Cabin
(spoilers)
...and so is A Knock at the Cabin. Also directed by Shyamalan, I can't help but be disappointed in this movie because it's based on an absolutely excellent book, The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay. Problem is, there is a shocking turn of events that takes place in the book which does not take place in the movie (yes, I'm going to spoil it below) and therefore basically ruins the entire story. The ending is a complete change too, and not for the better in my opinion.
Gay married couple Eric and Andrew (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge) are vacationing in an isolated cabin with their 7 year old adopted daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) when four strangers carrying homemade weapons show up at their door, demanding to be let in. This gang of four is led by Leonard (Dave Bautista, really, really good in this role), a gentle giant of a man who is unfailingly kind and polite as he breaks into the terrified family's home.
Once inside, Leonard and the three others, Redmond (Rupert Grint), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), and Adriane (Abby Quinn), explain that while they mean no harm to the family, they have been chosen to relay a message: Eric, Andrew, and Wen have to decide to sacrifice one member of their family (as in, kill), or the entire world will die from various plagues and natural disasters.
Of course, Eric and Andrew are like "no fucking way" and "is this a hate crime?"...but when they refuse to choose one or the other to sacrifice (we know they ain't killing Wen), the predictions that the gang of four make appear to start coming true. They turn on the news to see multiple epic earthquakes setting off a chain of tsunamis which kill thousands and thousands. They see a new virus spreading like wildfire. They see plans literally falling from the sky.
Now, in the book, the tension ramps up slowly, with Andrew remaining skeptical and Eric starting to worry that maybe all this is real. Things get more and more violent when they begin fighting back. And then partway through the book (HUGE SPOILER)...a gun accidentally goes off and kills Wen. This event radically changes everything because now Eric and Andrew aren't focused on protecting Wen (her accidental death doesn't count as a sacrifice). In fact, they completely stop giving a fuck once Wen dies and refuse to sacrifice one or the other and basically say, "If God really is doing this, then fuck God." and walking off into the (maybe) apocalypse hand-in-hand. It's quite beautiful, actually.
Well, when I heard that M. Night Shyamalan was adapting this book, I knew he would pussy out on killing the kid. I also knew he would probably love letting one of the gay men kill the other. Shyamalan's movies are filled with Christian themes, so having a gay dude be forced to sacrifice his husband in order to save the world is basically Shyamalan's wet dream, right? Sorry...do I sound bitter? Well, that's exactly what happens in Shyamalan's vastly inferior version of this story.
Having Wen die is the crux of the entire story and when you take that away, it's no longer the same story. Of course, having a 7 year old girl get her head blown off and then having two gay dudes basically say "Fuck God and fuck the world" and letting the world burn down isn't really Shyamalan's style...and it for certain wouldn't be popular with movie-goers, so I'm not surprised he went in the cowardly, basic-ass-bitch direction that he did.
I will give it to Shyamalan though: the guy hires good actors. Bautista, Groff, and Aldrige are really great in this movie. That saves the movie from going into "C" territory for me.
Grade: B
***
Uncle Buck
What can I say? Uncle Buck is great. It's not THE BEST John Hughes movie. But when John Candy flips that giant pancake with a snow shovel, you know you're watching a stone cold classic.
Grade: B+
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