Episodes
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WITTE WIEVEN, directed by Didier Konings, brings my Fantastic Fest 2024 coverage to a belated end.
Frieda (Anneke Sluiters) is a pious woman struggling to conceive a child. In her medieval Dutch village, help only comes through God and the Church, via archaic fertility rituals.
One day, the local butcher Gelo (Leon van Wass) assaults Frieda, threatening to rape her in the forbidden woods just outside the village. Legend says no one leaves those woods alive, but this day, something stops Gelo and saves Frieda. She makes it out of the woods.
Once the villagers see this, the murmurs start. Frieda's cursed. She conspires with the Devil to conceive. She's a witch. Normally, these accusations wouldn't bear any weight, but given the voices and presences Frieda feels next to her in the coming days, including the feeling something beckons her to re-enter those mythical woods, she can't shake the feeling there's a grander design at work.
Konings' movie brings to mind the best Robert Eggers movies: THE NORTHMAN and THE WITCH. This is folk horror with roots firmly planted in an anti-patriarchal worldview, one decrying religious corruption - its unwillingness to prune the festering, fallacious branches of humans committing abuses in the name of otherwise nurturing principles. In this film, as evidenced through grand wide shots firmly establishing this world's perspective: nature is king. Humans pale against the might of a forest hundreds of years old.
Sluiters plays a woman whose stillness is a survival tactic. She keeps her mouth shut against her husband's cowardice, the town's baseless accusations. The performance is not one of a meek woman discovering her anger, but rather an angry woman finally failing to hold back righteous fury. Sluiters' screams make for some of the movie's most rewarding and intense scenes.
And all of this comes in at just 60 minutes? What a bargain! How can you pass this up?
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I kick off the first of 10 listener requests by fulfilling the most important one: my wife's.
She chose TRIANGLE, Christopher Smith's 2009 horror film about a mother (Melissa George) whose sailing trip with friends ends with a storm and shipwreck.
Their salvation comes in the form of a luxury yacht, but once aboard, the group discovers the yacht's only occupant: a masked axe-wielding killer.
Sounds like FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII if it kept honest with its premise, right? Partially. What makes TRIANGLE special is what happens after this point. The question of "How do they get back home?" quickly devolves into a labyrinth of dead ends, the reveal of which stirs in a satisfying swirl of sci-fi.
This movie's about humanity's inability to stop sabotaging ourselves, blissfully unaware of how the chain of bad choices we make slowly wrap around our own necks until it's time to hang.
It's a dated watch (holy shit, the CGI seagulls) but nonetheless, a worthwhile one.
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---Kate Cobb's directorial debut, OKIE, stars Scott Michael Foster as Louie, a writer returning to his rural hometown after his father's death. Going back home is always complicated, but more so because he's unflatteringly based his stories on said town and its community. What starts as a day trip to collect final mementos devolves into a weeklong excursion through old haunts, hanging out with old friends and old flames. The difficult feelings swirl and Louie struggles to determine whether the recurring spectral glimpse of his father is hallucination or a sign of something more concerning.
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I got to interview the creative team behind OKIE: director Kate Cobb, writer Kevin Bigley and actor Scott Michael Foster.
OKIE stars Foster as Louie, a writer returning to his rural hometown after his father's death. Going back home is always complicated, but more so because he's unflatteringly based his stories on said town and its community. What starts as a day trip to collect final mementos devolves into a weeklong excursion through old haunts, hanging out with old friends and old flames. The difficult feelings swirl and Louie struggles to determine whether the recurring spectral glimpse of his father is hallucination or a sign of something more concerning.
This was an energizing interview. These filmmakers burst at the seams with joy talking about the process, their influences, the ways their own childhood sneak into the art. OKIE wasn't an easy movie to make nor conceptualize so to have the director, writer and star break it down for us is a real treat.
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---Before we get started, no, I don't believe there's any relation to Matthew.
Boston McConaughey is the director of ALIEN COUNTRY, a sci-fi horror comedy he co-produced and co-wrote with Renny Grames to kick off their production company.
It follows Everly (Grames), an aspiring singer who's just discovered she's pregnant. First instinct? Get out of Dodge. Her small Utah town seems only conducive to raising shitkickers, Clint Eastwood wannabes and man-children. The third bracket is where her baby daddy Jimmy (K.C. Clyde) firmly resides.
On the way out, though, Everly's car breaks down, and Jimmy's the one to spot her hitchhiking on the side of the road: a double-whammy that normally would seal her fate to spend her life as a bar-crooning stay-at-home mom.
But shenanigans place a glowing orb in the couple's possession. When tampered with (because of course they would), a portal to another world opens, which lets loose a couple of tentacled insect-dog aliens into their small town. Via rules of "you let em out, you put em in," we have a movie!
This is a cartoon, for better and worse, firmly devoted to its influences: ALIEN, THE WORLD'S END, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, SIGNS, WAR OF THE WORLDS - the list goes on. It's got drones, a demolition derby, purple blood splatters, swaths of neon, motorcycle chases - all achieving a similar effect to waving keys in front of a baby to keep their attention.
I can't say I wasn't sufficiently distracted nor failed to crack a single grin but I can't also find myself recommending or remembering this movie two weeks from now.
ALIEN COUNTRY is available now to watch on VOD and in select theaters.
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I interview Kenneth Trujillo, the lead actor of I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE, about the process of becoming a mute ex-con in DW Medoff's horror drama. Through his confident performance, he anchors the vicious downer with empathy and cautious hope.
How does one prepare to be trapped inside a house for six days with one's trauma, manifested via a ghoulish witch? Trujillo says there's a lot of research involved.
We talk about the camera, that total diva. What are the hardest things to do in front of it? How does one craft a performance based on its demands? Is the stage more forgiving? (It's okay. She's not here; Tell the truth.)
Kenneth (Kenny, to friends) is a fun hang: warm, buoyant and thoughtful. Y'all are in for a treat.
I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE is available now to watch on VOD and in select theaters.
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I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE, directed by DW Medoff, is about Richard (Kenneth Trujillo), a mute ex-con whose first job out of prison is to spend six days isolated in a "haunted" house to ensure the removal of its spirits. His realtor boss says the job's as easy as lighting a candle and saying a prayer each night. Has she ever SEEN a horror movie?
Richard's traumatic past blends with local myth to create a disturbing cocktail. In the house, every creak and shuffle is heard. Every noise requires investigation. Richard often catches a glimpse of a masked presence or a putrid hand, the kind of sight horror hounds associate with a musical sting. There's little surprise to these scenes (though I've got to applaud Medoff on one scare that cleverly frames the jump just outside of my eye line).
When Richard isn't searching out sounds, he's plagued by flashbacks to life with his infant son and wife (Katerina Eichenberger), newly post-partum. These scenes, devoid of color, reveal a severely depressed woman calling for help and a husband coping with his inability/unwillingness? to be emotionally present, masking with substance abuse. These affairs are often more painful to watch than the ghost stuff.
I'd be fine with this dynamic but the movie goes down shocking avenues whose tone (...darkly comedic?) takes me out of the movie. Ari Aster's HEREDITARY or Scott Derrickson's SINISTER handle this juggling act better by maintaining a more consistent balance between the vicious family drama and ghoulish scenes. In I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE, the balance comes off as choppy.
Trujillo's confident, nuanced performance keeps most of these troubles at arm's length and I see it doing as such for others. He's carrying six long life-changing years on his back; his gait carries such burden. Richard surveys every space he's in with suspicion, even before he enters the house. The flashbacks reveal a more rash, more easily wounded man whose hedonism offers a false sense of macho security. But throughout the story, Trujillo's eyes remain the same: a tender man who, at his core, wants simply to be a good example, someone worthy of redemption, of hope.
Does this movie work for me? No. The choppy tone combined with a formulaic approach to the horror keep me at arm's length. But I can see how others could cling to it and its descriptions of substance abuse, emotional unavailability, life-altering guilt and pursuit of a life where such pain can be properly managed. I hope, in that sense, it'll never leave someone feeling alone.
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Please rate & review The Movies on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you listen to the show!---For their short, WRECKED A BUNCH OF CARS, HAD A GOOD TIME, directors James P. Gannon & Matt Ferrin had to learn to place faith into their film stock. The movie, which documents a Connecticut demolition derby through driver interviews and on-the-ground footage, was filmed in one frenzied evening with sub-optimal light and only a handful of chances to nab the right shots.In the moment, there's no way to certify quality, so having faith in their film stock and skills was the only solution. The result was a frenetic joy of a piece, molded with a similar scrappy love to the kind that demo derby drivers employ in gutting their junkers and designing them in a manner suiting their larger-than-life personas.In my interview with Gannon and Ferrin, they discuss the do-or-die attitude that got this short made, the strange benefits of using expired film and provide an update of the feature film for which this short would be a proof-of-concept. These gents were a fun hang and you, my podcast-devouring friends, have the luxury of diving on in!---Follow The Movies on - Twitter: @TheMovies_Pod Facebook: The MoviesInstagram: @themoviespodLetterboxd: The Movies or boxd.it/Ptop (looks weird to me too but hey, typing it into Google works)
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In ME, MYSELF AND THE VOID, Jack (Jack De Sena) discovers his stand-up comedy routine has a rude punchline: It's not real.
Jack is actually passed out on his bathroom floor and the comedian we see is Jack's mind, stuck in his subconscious alongside an imagined version of Jack's best friend, Chris (Chris W. Smith).
Said space, which I assume to be the titular void, is just that: darkness, broken only by what looks like a literal Memory Lane, a winding road peppered with spotlights and trinkets from Jack's life, including his Toyota Corolla (It's no Camry, but we'll forgive him.)
Now Void Jack and Void Chris have to solve the whodunnit of what happened to K.O.'d Jack, and how to connect mind and body before the void consumes them both. Do they need to possess Jack's body to call for help? What unresolved business with family, friends or ex-girlfriend Mia (Kelly Marie Tran) might Jack have to settle?
In the void, all shall be revealed, in a humorous, poignant, well-acted-and-produced manner. And for this budget? Shit, it's impressive.
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Daniel from 2024 here: Spotify got onto me for playing other folks' songs on the show so I had to cut out the track from the episode. It's fucking with my numbering system, but whaddaya gonna do? Mandy Walker was nominated at the Oscars for Best Cinematography for her work on ELVIS. She also directed the music video for Foo Fighters' BIG ME. I couldn't resist. I ended the episode with the song. Here's hoping truncating the track can slip past the autobots.---
Welcome back to THE MOVIES' coverage of this year's Best Picture nominees! Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS is a raucous, opulent look at the life of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), America's first modern pop star. From humble beginnings to inexplicably lavish fame, Elvis is certain of only one thing: He needs to sing. He's compelled to dance. He's obsessed with performance. Whether his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), will or won't weaponize those needs against him to make an absurd amount of riches at the detriment of his health matters not. For Elvis, music is the language of the spirit, the common thread in all of us, and THAT, friends, gives life some of its greatest joys.This is a star-maker for Butler, man. He's fucking excellent.---------------------------Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode!--------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/
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Daniel from 2024 here: Spotify got onto me for playing other folks' songs on the show so I had to cut out the track from the episode. It's fucking with my numbering system, but whaddaya gonna do? I actually can't scrub all of the song, but here's hoping I took out enough that the autobots (not the fun kind) leave me be. In the meantime, let's go back to the inaugural Make Believe Seattle Film Festival where I covered David Farrier's MISTER ORGAN!
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The Make Believe Seattle Film Festival coverage trucks along with David Farrier's documentary "Mister Organ"! Farrier, a New Zealand-based documentarian and journalist (known for 2016's TICKLED), focuses this story on Michael Organ, an enigmatic con man known for forging documents, stealing yachts and serving $760 tickets to folks who park at Bashford Antiques' lot after close. Regarding that last point, he's not a traffic cop or anything. The owner actually hired him to just enforce these exorbitant rules. Add in multiple reports of threatening and violent behavior and Farrier now feels the need to get to the bottom of what makes this douchebag tick.
After Farrier becomes the target of Organ's most recent lawsuit, he falls into the whirlpool of Organ's bullshit. To make matters worse, Organ realizes Farrier is making a documentary about him and decides to involve himself in the story. We're not talking "involved" by way of a simple sit-down interview; Organ ENTRENCHES himself in Farrier's life to creepy and mentally draining effect.
The documentary's definitely a wild piece of pulp, but I'd be lying if I said it was an unflappable piece of journalism. It kinda reminds me of a Netflix true-crime-of-the-week piece. But hey, those things are fun enough! And Organ, as a subject, is definitely weird enough...
---------------------------Closing Song: "Picasso Baby" - Jay-Z---------------------------Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode!---------------------------Follow Daniel on:Twitter - @TheMovies_PodInstagram - @themoviespodLetterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/
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Daniel from 2024 here: Spotify got onto me for playing other folks' songs on the show so I had to cut out the track from the episode. It's fucking with my numbering system, but whaddaya gonna do? If you see this, here's a blast from the past, pre-THE MOVIES, where I and my screeching 1-year-old? (Dear God, I'm getting old) react to S1E4 of LOKI live.
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I'm actually comin' to you LIVE from Denton, Texas to talk about the newest episode of "Loki," titled "The Nexus Event." I'm hoping to turn this into more of a reaction show with the last two episodes, but for today, treat this as the first experiment of a new format for this show, and enjoy some MCU talk while you're at it!Follow me on Twitter to leave comments, suggestions, assumptions, treatises and recommendations: @berriospodcast
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Maximina Juson comes onto THE MOVIES to discuss her new documentary, ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE? The movie tells the history of the electoral college, the actual Constitutional manner in which the president is elected. Following four Colorado electors during the 2020 presidential election, the movie provides an underseen look at the people who place the official votes for president. When we vote for president, we're really voting to assemble a group of these folks to cast their ballots in the electoral college. Some have been involved in politics for decades, shaking hands with governors, presidents and popes. Some have only been able to vote for months.
Juson and I discuss slavery's influence on the electoral college's creation, the abuses committed through said system in service of nabbing political power and the importance of civic education.
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ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE? is available to stream on the PBS app.
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Maximina Juson's ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE? looks to demystify the electoral college. From examining slavery's influence on its inception to recounting the abuses of said system committed in the pursuit of political power, the documentary advocates for civic education and participation. Remember what GI Joe taught us: knowledge is power.
The documentary jumps between evocative animated dramatizations of the Constitutional Convention and election past, black-and-white readings of words from the delegates of said convention performed by an all-Black cast (which, if you think about how these men regarded their ancestors as inhuman, serves as a sort of beautiful "Fuck you" to history), fly-by profiles of four Colorado electors during the 2020 presidential election and a series of talking head interviews.
I appreciate each of these elements individually, but their assembly leaves me even more confused about how to approach the electoral college this year. Is the system the problem or are the corner-cutting dirty fuckers, as Dave Hause eloquently puts it, abusing said system the culprits we should place the blame on? I think I'm looking for a more even spread in terms of how to handle the electoral college but this movie's definitely planted its flag in team "National Popular Vote."
Not to say I'm against the movement but I could've used some more math. What happens if you redo the 2020 election as a popular vote? How does the math change which states gain the most influence? I think that would improve this movie's case. In the meantime, I'm gonna go rewatch THE WEST WING.
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Fantastic Fest hosts a wealth of shorts, celebrating the eclectic mix of filmmakers who make them. That being said, there was no way in hell I could cover this year's fest and not watch any, so today's episode gets into demolition derby mayhem: WRECKED A BUNCH OF CARS, HAD A GOOD TIME.
Directors James P. Gannon & Matt Ferrin are currently working on a feature: HANDPAN, about a demolition derby driver stranded in the desert with only a case of beer for survival. Aspiring to shoot some test footage, their producer landed the duo and their crew an opportunity to cover the Durham Fair's demolition derby in Durham, Connecticut. What results is a dive into a world of junkers, clashing steel, DIY spray paint jobs and a gleefully reckless abandon of self-preservation.
Shot with Super 8 and 16mm film cameras, the movie boasts all the grain and glory of the medium, including the happy accidents that come with using expired film. (This shit ain't cheap. Use what you have.) Whether it's the deep shadows or rich color, the movie looks gorgeous, almost as though we've time-warped into the '70s. Gannon & Ferrin play around with editing tricks of the period too; it's a nice touch.
This isn't a complex feature. It essentially just plays out the event from beginning to end, but where it succeeds is in translating the anticipation, the giddiness, the pulse-pumping energy of a demolition derby through its pacing, handheld camera work and editing. This short's officially placed Durham, CT on my map & as this year's demolition derby rages on THE WEEK I POST THIS REVIEW, I wish all drivers (but especially Andrew cause he's my favorite) the best of luck.
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Natalie Erika James, director of the new film APARTMENT 7A, stops by The Movies to chat all about her prequel to ROSEMARY'S BABY, streaming on Paramount + starting Sept. 27! We talk about bringing back 1960s New York design, the delicate art of balancing dark humor with even darker subject matter, how simply STELLAR Julia Garner is as an actress and much, much more!
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---APARTMENT 7A follows in 2024's tradition of independent directors helming prequels to successful horror franchises. We had THE FIRST OMEN and A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE. Now, Natalie Erika James takes the reins to ROSEMARY'S BABY, revealing the story preceding Roman Polanski's iconic 1968 movie.
This story follows Terry Gionofrrio (Julia Garner), a New York dancer toughing her way through a marathon of auditions to try and land work. It's already difficult to stand out in New York, but doing so right after sustaining a severe foot injury? Impossible.
Coping using pain pills, Terry goes on a bender, and after one particularly bad night, is scooped off the street by the wealthy, doting Castavets - Minnie (Dianne Weist) and Roman (Kevin McNally). The childless couple, drawn to the struggling artist, become her benefactors, offering her a gorgeous apartment in the opulent Bramford building: rent-free. (Daniel, stop drooling. You're embarassing yourself.)
But as the days and weeks pass, with more pain pills, impossible auditions, and a one-night experience of which Terry can't quite place the details regarding how she ended up in another's bed, she encounters these bizarre nightmares, hallucinatory and threatening in scope. The once high ceilings of her apartment appear to slowly shrink in size. She swears she sees presences lurking round every corner. And the Castavets? They're a bit too friendly, a bit too doting, a bit too...possessive.
Natalie Erika James' movie is surreal, theatrical. At times, I'd dare even say, pulpy. The camera bobs and weaves through musical sequences and hallucinations, borrowing from films such as THE RED SHOES and ALL THAT JAZZ. But the sinister beating heart lies in the real-life horror befalling Terry, one about bodily autonomy, sexual assault and an obsession for success that grows to prevail over one's own wellbeing. This grounds the movie so bitterly that I find the surrounding silliness to often be a welcome tonal reprieve from an otherwise all-too-real nightmare. Mix all this with rich, textural photography, a color palette of decadent chestnuts, mustards and moss greens & costumes that teleport me to 1960s New York. The result's a hazy, tense thriller that breathes new life into a nearly 60-year-old franchise, posing James as an exciting new voice in horror.
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HAYRIDE TO HELL is about Farmer Sam (Bill Moseley). As is the case with most farmers, he's happiest living a simple life: growing crops, selling candy apples, making dad jokes so heinous you'd rather pull your own dad's finger after Sunday lunch. But the most exciting time of Sam's life arrives when he hosts the haunted hayride. This schlocky attraction brings together costumed community members under the holy vow of doing their damnedest to give everyone one good scare.If only mayor Betsy Butte (Allyson Malandra) and Sheriff Jubell (Kane FUCKING Hodder) felt the same way. They're all like "It's a nui-sance," "It invites vandalism," "Think of the property valu-" blah blah blah, bite me.
In a last-ditch attempt to save the hayride (and the family farm that's been there since before the actual town), Sam makes a bet with Mayor Butte: if he
can make a hayride so scary (while still being safe) that if converts the mayor, cops, and other esteemed members of the community, they'll have to leave his operation be. If he loses, both he and the farm go.But Sam, ever the plotter, has something a tad darker up his sleeve...
Give my silly horror movie a little bit of teeth and I'll be a happy man. I consider HAYRIDE TO HELL an appetizer for what spooky season & October have to offer me. It gets me into the holiday spirit and for that, I'll happily recommend it. The movie releases on VOD platforms on Sept. 24!
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Patricio Valladares' INVOKING YELL is a frustrating movie. Three main elements make for a promising horror flick: black metal, found footage in the woods a la BLAIR WITCH and psychophony, the practice of recording sounds of spirits.
So when I'm introduced to Invoking Yell, Chile's first all-female "depressive suicidal black metal" band, in the summer of 1997 when they trek into the woods to record their demo tape, hopefully featuring the spirits from the site of a bus accident, I perk up, expecting an opportunity for hollow-eyed spectral children or the shrieking of ghosts.
Instead, I got an hour of annoying jokes, unwillingly learning what it feels like to watch grass grow. It's a short trapped in a feature's body. Without substantial character development nor tension to keep a bare bones plot afloat, it simply sinks.
INVOKING YELL is available on VOD on September 20th.---
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---LOOK INTO MY EYES, directed by Lana Wilson (MISS AMERICANA, PRETTY BABY: BROOKE SHIELDS), centers on a group of seven New York psychics and the intimate readings they undergo with their clients.
Some search for answers regarding their future. Others try to make sense of the past. People ask about their lost loved ones, both young and old. In these psychics, they look for comfort, but even more so, the simple, affirming joy of being heard and understood.
The movie then flips the camera around on the psychics, learning who they are, what brought them to the field, their own struggles and trauma. It peeks into their lives and in a way, heals the healer?
And I wouldn't say this focuses on what you think when you hear the word "psychic." No Ouija boards, seances, nor Mewtwo here. It's less about clairvoyance and more about psychotherapy. It doesn't matter if the spirit is tangible. The comforting hugs and the happy tears are. And they are enough.
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