2021 Top Ten (Categories) - #6

 6. Should I Love This?

So there’s always one or two movies each year that just … defy categorization. I struggled with where to put this because while I loved the lone movie in this category, I couldn’t in good conscience put it ahead of movies that I know are great even if I didn’t fall in love with them.

Malignant

Is this movie good? LOL no. Is it amazing? Yes. I’m confident that every wacky choice in this bazonkers movie is on purpose and that James Wan knew exactly what movie he was making (not sure I can say the same about all of the cast). Usually, self aware terribleness doesn’t work (l don’t really care for the Sharknado movies and that ilk). This movie feels like an exercise for Wan – an extremely fun exercise. What would a schlocky director with B-movie sensibilities do with a massive budget and nearly limitless resources? This movie is so insane at every turn and I loved it. Nothing gave me more stupid joy in a movie this year than Gabriel’s flaily arms. (Available to rent on most streaming services.)

2021 Top Ten (Categories) - #7

 7. Didn't Knock My Socks Off, but Still Pretty Good

These are my middle of the road movies. They’re perfectly fine but I found myself wishing they'd all given me a bit more.

Agnes

The two halves of this movie are wildly different and I’m not entirely sure they work together. The performances are really good, the tension is well done, and the idea of what’s going on in both halves makes sense as two chapters in a story. We start with what looks like an EXORCIST knock-off in a convent, but there’s a little more to it (this should not be mistaken for a horror movie), and before that situation is resolved we jump ahead to one of the former novices and her life outside the convent. It’s not that I mind leaving the convent story without a full account of what happened to the possessed woman, but we spend so long in the convent part of the story that I expected a bit more from it, especially as the movie is named after the possessed Agnes, who we barely spend any time with except to establish (however tenuously) her relationship with the actual main character. I did enjoy the movie, but the balance seems off, and I wonder what it would be like if we spent more of the movie in one half and less in the other. (Available to rent on most streaming services.)

Black Widow

There’s a lot of good stuff here. Love getting some backstory on Natasha, though it still doesn’t seem like enough, especially when so many were hoping for a prequel. Love the not-family dynamics, especially when they all reunite in the second half of the film.  And definitely loved Florence Pugh, who is without a doubt the movie’s MVP (every time she made fun of Nat's dumb hero pose my heart sang). But it feels too separate from the other Avengers movies (which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if Natasha wasn’t such a central character in those) and some of the effects seem wonky, which is inexcusable in a movie we had to wait this long for. Still an enjoyable movie, and I appreciate that the plot revolves around restoring women’s agency. (Streaming on Disney+ and available to rent on most other streaming services.)

Don’t Look Up!

This movie does everything it intends to do, but I’d like it a lot more, I think, if it strived for a little more, even if not that successfully. It’s hilarious, I love how obvious the parallels are, particularly to the personalities (that morning talk show is meant to be Morning Joe, yes?), and I will never be over that guy charging for free food and Kate boggling over it right up to the end. But I wish it offered a single idea for a solution, even if just for a half-second. Maybe that was the idea – that it’s beyond the point of solutions – but if it’s truly too late already, then what’s the point? (Streaming on Netflix.)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Jessica Chastain’s transformation is amazing and both she and Andrew Garfield (along with Vincent D’Onofrio) give great performances. But if you’ve seen the 2000 documentary called “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” which this is based on, you’ve already seen at least half of this movie (or rather the real scenarios that this movie recreates). Along with being a rather sympathetic look at Tammy Faye herself, the movie is also a horrifying look at how the Bakkers commodified faith. You can tell Chastain has a lot of affection for Tammy Faye and this is why the movie works as well as it does, but it never rises above the level of dramatic reenactment (of mostly things there is ample actual footage of). (Streaming on HBOMax and available to rent on most streaming services.)

The Found Footage Phenomenon

This is a solid overview of the found footage subgenre, its history, an attempt to guess why we’re so fascinated with these movies, and the big signpost movies that have defined the genre. I was a bit miffed when they continually referred to THE LAST BROADCAST as the first found footage movie, but CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, despite being technically the first, did not start a full-blown trend the way later films did. It’s an interesting watch, but for a movie about one of the most popular subgenres of horror, I wish it popped a bit more and felt less like a university lecture. (Not yet released.)

Free Guy

I wish I liked this as much as others seem to. I do like it, but I also feel like it’s cribbing from at least a few other movies – THE TRUMAN SHOW, READY PLAYER ONE, WRECK-IT RALPH, GROUNDHOG DAY, and maybe even TRON. It’s also chock full of that “hey, remember this thing from pop culture?” thing that apparently you can build whole movies on now instead of coming up with jokes or references that actually Say Something (which is why I had no interest in the new Ghostbusters). Don’t get me wrong, Ryan Reynolds is hugely enjoyable, as are Jodie Comer, Joe Keery and Taika Waititi, and especially Lil Rel Howery. And some of the cameos are genuinely great (I’m still laughing at the two seconds Chris Evans is in this). I just wish it were more original. (Available to rent on most streaming services.)

Gunpowder Milkshake

Genuinely entertaining, with some great fights (every moment that Karen Gillan has to fight without using her arms is GOLD), but again, I’ve seen what’s here in several other movies. It’s JOHN WICK, it’s THE NIGHT COMES FOR US, and there are even notes of STARDUST here. The more movies there are about kickass women, the better, if you ask me, but I wish this movie were *more* about the women and didn’t just use the Headey-Yeoh-Gugino trio as a third act surprise. Give me an entire movie about the “library” and those women and their relationship with the main character. Mostly, I wish this movie didn’t feel so much like a *male* action movie with some pink glitter sprinkled over it. (Streaming on Netflix.)

Let the Wrong One In

I enjoyed most of it quite a bit. Maybe the best part is the presence of Anthony Stewart Head, formerly seen as Buffy’s watcher in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” in this movie playing a self-made slayer himself after his fiancee is turned. A sort of modern-day Van Helsing.  Love that this is a vampire horror comedy where people know about vampires and we don’t have to cover the lore like no one’s ever heard of them -- at most, we have to sift through what’s true and what’s not of what we’ve heard. About the only thing I didn’t enjoy about this was several of the main character’s decisions, especially in regards to what to do with his newly vampirized brother. Frustrating is not usually fun to me. (Not yet released.)

Muppets Haunted Mansion

There’s not a ton to say about this one. If you like the Muppets, you’ll like it. I love Scary Halloween, but I also love Adorable Halloween and this is dripping in Adorable Halloween. There are also tons of nods to the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney, which shouldn’t be surprising. Something I’ve always loved about the Muppet movies is how they use the characters we love to fill the archetypes they need to tell whatever story they’re telling. That’s a thing “Glee” always tried to do but almost never succeeded in, but the Muppets cracked that code long ago and that is on full display here. A new addition to the Halloween rewatch list. (Streaming on Disney+.)

A Quiet Place Part II

I like where Krasinski and the actors take this story, and it has some of the tension of the original. I also really loved getting to see Day One, if for nothing else (and there’s plenty else) than that it lets Krasinski be in the movie for a bit. There’s no way it can match what made the original so great, though, and I kind of liked that they didn’t really seem to be trying to do that. That might be disappointing to some people, but dude, if you want to watch the original again, watch the original again. My biggest problem is some of the decisions of the characters, who deliberately remove themselves from safety for no apparent reason. This series is so smart most of the time that it’s especially annoying to see it do something dumb just to create a scary moment. (Streaming on Paramount+ and available to rent on most other streaming services.)

Strawberry Mansion

In a world where the government records our dreams and taxes us on their contents, an auditor gets lost in a woman’s dreams and falls in love with a younger incarnation of her. This was kind of a cool concept and I liked the relative subtlety of the visuals. It’s a bit confusing as to what’s going on at times, as we shift between reality and the dream world. They also completely abandon the dream tax element pretty early on, so the way they visualize that seems wasted. But this was a nice light sci-fi story and I think it’s exactly what it sets out to be. (Not yet released.)

Wrath of Man

This is a solid action movie with some good storytelling and satisfying surprises. I think my problem with movies like this (compared with something like NOBODY) is that we don’t know what the character’s motivations are at all until halfway through the film or later. That makes for a great surprise reveal but I feel like I should have known what this guy’s deal is much earlier. Still an enjoyable movie, though, and I continue to be pleased to see MINDHUNTER’s Holt McCallany, who I just recently learned played the young supposedly Native American guy with the beautiful long hair (wig) in CREEPSHOW 2. (Available to rent on most streaming services.)

Yellow Dragon’s Village

This has a similar structure and surprise reveal as WRATH OF MAN but I think this one works a little better because it’s more lighthearted and funny. It’s also super-short (67 minutes!), which is great for economy of storytelling but not so great for character development. This plays almost like a slasher comedy. Nothing wrong with that; I just wish I could distinguish the characters a bit better. (Not yet released.)

2021 Top Ten (Categories) - #8

 8. Mixed Bags

This is my “Facts of Life” category: you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have this section. Most of these movies have plenty to love, but lots of unsatisfying or downright infuriating stuff as well.              

Black Friday

Good gore, good character work, but the monster-building or threat-building needed some more work. I’ve worked retail, including at the holidays, and I recognize nearly all of the characters here. And customers at that time of year sure feel like rage zombies being consumed by an entity of evil. Love seeing Bruce Campbell, as always. And if you haven’t seen Devon Sawa since FINAL DESTINATION, he is settling very sexily into middle age. But it drives me crazy that we never know where the evil entity comes from, or why there’s more than one in multiple places. There are no rules established for how to fight it either. I guess that sort of puts us more firmly in the characters’ shoes — because obviously they wouldn’t know these things either unless they were told through exposition or learned through fighting it (like, you know, happens in every other horror movie). It just feels like an oversight to not include anything like that beyond guessing “oh, they can’t be killed.” (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

Candyman

I like how this movie goes further and gets more specific about the context of racism in the Candyman story. I like a lot of the ideas here. There are some incredible visuals. I kind of like the idea of multiple incarnations of Candyman (though Tony Todd will always be The Candyman). And I love the lampshading of the idea that this story that began as a tale of racial injustice and revenge ended up being a story about some white woman and *that’s* what people remember. But the script is very disjointed (there are three credited writers and it shows). I’m still glad this exists, though, and I’m very happy about its success. I do wish people would stop calling it Jordan Peele’s Candyman, though. Maybe that name ID makes people more willing to see it, but it’s like “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” – that’s not who directed it, dude. (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

Cry Macho

Not terrible, but kind of dull. I like the idea of Eastwood exploring toxic masculinity (he’s done it before, but this is a new flavor) and his relationship with the kid in the movie is nice. It just doesn’t really stand out at all for me as an Eastwood movie, either with him as an actor or a director. It's a fairly simple road trip movie, with Eastwood being hired to retrieve his boss's son from the boy's mother in Mexico (which, to be fair, occasionally ends up being pretty dangerous). I remain impressed that he can still be going at his age, but I have to wonder how much more he has to say. Having said that, though, I will probably keep seeing his films as long as he *does* have more to say. I may not always agree with his politics or his point of view, but he's still one of the greats and I'll always be curious if he's got another UNFORGIVEN or MILLION DOLLAR BABY or BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY or HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER in him. (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

Fear Street trilogy

First of all, 1994<1978<1666. These movies progressively got better and the series has a surprisingly strong finish. I liked the notion of the two communities at odds with each other, and that the more we learn about their history, the more messed up it is. There are some GREAT kills in this (THE BREAD SLICER OMG) and some decent acting (though I was bummed to see Maya Hawke disappear so near the start). But it has the same problems that most throwback or “period” horror does. That is not the 1994 that I remember, nor is that the 1978 that I’ve seen in all my favorite 1978 horror movies (and dude, camp slashers weren’t even a thing until 1980). And everyone is hot, which is annoying — where my homely guys and gals at? (Streaming on Netflix.)

Framing Britney Spears

I was surprisingly invested in this. I was ready to punch some of those paparazzi, to say nothing of Diane Sawyer (who was justly but belatedly dragged for her unconscionable interview of Spears). But the coverage of the #FreeBritney movement feels a bit strange and unscrutinized, particularly all of the people finding weird clues in her social media posts, which the film takes completely seriously. I think the overall effect of the movie is good, however, and I also think it’s likely it had an impact on the eventual end of the conservatorship, which, again, I was surprisingly invested in. (Streaming on Hulu.)

House of Gucci

There are moments in this movie that I love for the sheer insanity, but they do not make up the majority of the movie. I knew this wasn’t going to be good, but I was at least hoping it would be entertaining trash. I *LOVE* me some good trash but this movie never fully commits to that and is still clinging with a couple of fingers to respectability and simultaneously trying too hard but not nearly hard enough to be a Serious Movie. The accents are all over the place, the scenery is chewed into mush, and Lady Gaga is sometimes (not always) wonderfully over-the-top but somehow Jared Leto is the only person trying to be in the movie I wanted to see. He is both the worst and the best thing in it. (Still in cinemas.)

No Time to Die

I love roughly half of this movie, and it’s at its best when Ana de Armas is on screen (which is unfortunately only about 10 minutes). Love the use of “We Have All the Time in the World” (which reduced me to sobs in the theater) but I’m not a fan of James Bond having a Mutual Understanding and Bonding of Souls with someone who is not only not Diana Rigg but also is about half Bond’s age. I do, however, love the repeated motif of women rescuing themselves (even tiny Mathilde!) rather than being rescued by Bond. As good a conclusion as they could have given Daniel Craig’s Bond, given that they had to continue from where SPECTRE left off. And I liked that they *gave* him an ending, which they’ve never done for a Bond before this. (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

Psycho Goreman

There’s a lot to love here, especially the creature work (I adore PG himself - “I do not care for hunky boys. Or do I?” - and all his minions are fantastically designed). And I can get behind a movie that completely rejects the notion of a moral compass…in theory. But wow, this was depressing at times. The little girl and the dad are completely insufferable and the Literal Worst, and I can’t believe I had to spend so much time watching them. Also, no thanks to that stupid “heckin’ best” song (a complete ripoff of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" and I wonder if the filmmakers were sued over it), and all of the “heck" and "frig” stuff in general — just let the kids cuss, man. (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

2021 Top Ten (Categories) - #9

 9. Just Not My Jam (But Others Like Them and That's Okay)

These are the ones that I’ve seen raves about or seen on other people’s “best of 2021” lists and I’m like … really? I mean, I wouldn’t dare say any of these were bad movies, but they absolutely did not connect with me the way they clearly have with others and I have a hard time appreciating them (which is what separates these from my #5s).

Ema

This was the other Pablo Larrain film that came out this year (besides SPENCER) – in the US, at least; it’s listed as a 2019 movie, which drives me crazy. It’s never a good sign when I have to look up a plot summary to remember anything about the movie, even who was in it. Now that I've looked, I remember that Gael Garcia Bernal is in it (he was in a previous film of Larrain’s called NO, which I quite liked) and that it’s about a divorced couple who had adopted a child and ended up returning him to an orphanage. There are things to admire about this movie (the dance scenes are nice), and I do feel for the main characters, even if what they do to their adopted child seems unforgivable. But this is one of those cinematic worlds I just don’t enjoy being in. (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

The French Dispatch

Wes Anderson’s movies either hit with me or they don’t and this was one of the don’ts. Sometimes his style works for me but this time it didn’t, and worse, this particular style seemed to be cranked up to a higher volume than in previous movies (in my view). There’s not a ton of camera movement; the scenes are mostly still tableaus with the subtlest of movement and carefully timed awkward pauses. Sometimes he can make that interesting to me, but this one was just a miss (again, for me). Also, I’m not sure what “He received an editor’s burial” is supposed to mean, but I guess it’s hilarious and I’m just too thick to get it. I kind of hate when movies do that. (I do love every moment Tilda Swinton is on screen, though. A whole movie with her, please.) (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

The Many Saints of Newark

I’ve never been the biggest Sopranos fan, but I was intrigued by the idea of this as a prequel to the show and presumably an origin story for Tony. I just wish Tony was in it more, I guess. The entire movie is about the Alessandro Nivola character who (as I understand — I haven’t watched the whole series) is only ever heard about in passing on the show. Some of the casting is uncanny, though. I love that, with the casting of Vera Farmiga (who is a ringer for Edie Falco), the movie essentially says that Tony married his mother. Also, this is one of two movies this year with second generation legacy actors (Michael Gandolfini in this and Cooper Hoffman in LICORICE PIZZA) — and they have almost the exact same haircut! (Available to rent on most streaming platforms -- surprisingly not on HBO at the moment.)

Silent Night

Wow, this movie depressed me. I was very glad I did not see it *last* Christmas, which I truly considered might *be* my last Christmas. The idea of a group of friends who get together for Christmas before all of humanity is extinguished the next day is an interesting idea, and there are some good moments, but nearly everyone in the film is so thoroughly unlikable it was hard to get invested in what happened to them. There is a scene where Matthew Goode makes like half a dozen trips downstairs to the pantry to get sodas that had me seriously impatient for these characters’ impending doom. And then there’s the last few seconds, which is such a middle finger to anyone who was stupid enough to care about these people that I was glad to leave the theater. I’m sure this is some people’s cup of tea, but it was not mine. (Available to rent on most streaming platforms.)

2021 Top Ten (Categories) - #10

10. Thanks, I Hated It

These movies aren’t necessarily bad (I can quite enjoy a bad movie, in fact), but they were my least favorite for various reasons.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

I have a lot of feelings about this franchise and its glorification of the Warrens, who I think it's clear were absolute charlatans. But the fact that this movie was set in the magical year of 1981 and that Vera Farmiga’s 1981 fashion was On Point convinced me to give it a shot. I will say that it’s maybe the least terrible(?) of the franchise. Still not a fan. (Available on HBOMax and for rent on most other streaming platforms.)

The Sadness

I liked so much about this movie, especially the twists on the zombie tropes and the amazing gore. But there is So. Much. Rape. It completely put me off the entire movie. And there is no purpose for it beyond that the filmmakers needed something really horrible, beyond the zombification, to happen to all these people. Just gross. Can’t even put this in the “mixed bag” category because the incessant rape completely blights everything good about the movie. (Not yet released.)

Wrong Turn

First off, this is not a Wrong Turn movie. There’s a trope in all the other films of how the characters get into the horrible situations, and this movie does something completely different and makes the characters far less sympathetic. Nothing wrong with that, just don’t call it Wrong Turn. I appreciated the twist, but then the movie kept going to a place I just didn’t want to follow. (Available on Showtime and for rent on most other streaming platforms.)

Mortal Kombat

I had high hopes for this one, especially as my first movie back in theaters after the lockdowns, and I guess it’s not really bad. I just strongly prefer the 1995 movie. This one takes itself far too seriously for my taste. It tries to be a serious epic most of the time, which just was never my impression of the game at all (don’t consider myself a gamer by any stretch, though I did play MK a little in my late teens).  Also, how do you have a Mortal Kombat movie and then never even get to the tournament?! (Available on HBOMax and for rent on most other streaming platforms.)

Last Night in Soho (2021)

I will concede at the beginning that I may not be the most objective reporter when it comes to an Edgar Wright film. I am a fangirl, but I am also a fan of other filmmakers, and I don’t think that prevents me from seeing straight when it comes to evaluating a film made by someone I admire. What it does, I suppose, is make me the most open that I can possibly be to receive what the filmmakers want to give me. So when something works, it REALLY works, but when something doesn’t, I’m not predisposed to ignore it or pretend it does. I also saw this film at a surprise screening at Fantastic Fest, the first screening ever in the United States, with Wright in attendance. So I won’t deny that the excitement of that experience might have heightened my appreciation for it.

I say all this up front because reviews of this movie have been wildly mixed. People either really love it or really hate it (the critic on rogerebert.com gave it one and a half stars, which seems brutally unfair for any film as technically accomplished as even this movie’s harshest critics can surely admit that it is). I actually really love when a movie is polarizing -- like another movie I adored this year, Leos Carax’s ANNETTE -- because at the very least I can be confident that it will be interesting.

So my verdict, the short version: I loved it, utterly. I have nitpicks but they don’t detract from my overall response to it. It is definitely one of my favorite films of the year, if not my favorite outright. It is beautiful, hypnotic, terrifying and (though I may get some blowback on this) feminist. Yes, feminist. I described it to friends on social media as “A Lot, in the way all of [Wright’s] movies are A Lot. But this one may be the most A Lot of all his films so far.” That’s not a criticism, by the way. Like all of his previous work, there’s just “a lot” of information coming at your eyeholes and earholes and it’s impossible to catch it all in one viewing. But this is actually a pretty big departure for Wright, in several ways, which I’ll get to in a bit more detail below.

So now for the longer version... 

[Note: What follows is more detailed than the film’s marketing is giving you, but I’m avoiding anything from, say, the last half of the movie, not only because I and my fellow audience members promised Wright to do so, but also because spoiling stuff is just a dick move, especially with a movie like this. It may still, however, be more than you want to know going in. So proceed with caution.]

If you associate Edgar Wright with movies about lovable schlubs or awkward twenty-something guys who learn life lessons (or don’t), this movie is about the wildest swing he could have made. Which would be a good thing even if the movie was a failure (and it certainly isn’t). He has been accused in the past of having female characters who are “sexy lamps” (meaning a female character can easily be replaced with a sexy lamp without it making a difference to the scene/story). I disagree (I will cut a bitch for BABY DRIVER’s Debra) but I still found it refreshing to see him center a story on two (arguably three) awesome women.

First and foremost among these women is our hero Eloise (“Ellie”) Turner, played by Thomasin McKenzie. If you don’t know Ms. McKenzie, seek out Debra Granik’s LEAVE NO TRACE immediately (she is also in JO-JO RABBIT and this summer’s OLD). Ellie moves to London from a small town in Cornwall to go to a fashion academy and very soon tires of the company of her dormmates. She rents an upper-floor bedsit in Soho and gets a job at a local pub to help with her expenses. We’ve been told Ellie has a special gift, a kind of “sight,” but we don’t really know what that means until Ellie’s first night in her room in Soho, when somehow she is able to travel back in time to the 1960s -- an era of London’s history that has always held fascination for her. She follows a young woman named Sandy, who is beautiful and stylish and wants to be a singer like Cilla Black. Ellie has this experience night after night, watching as Sandy navigates the seedy world of London after dark -- sometimes Ellie *is* Sandy, sometimes she is simply watching. It is unclear how the rules of these experiences work, or if there even are any, which should be our first clue that what Ellie sees might not be the full truth.

Sandy is actually named Alexandra and is played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who most people at this point know from THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT but who horror fans will have known since her breakout role in THE WITCH (2015), her first film role. Sandy lives/lived in the room that is now Ellie’s and is determined to be a singer, confident that she can become one without having to jump through the normal hoops. She meets a man named Jack (DOCTOR WHO’s Matt Smith), who she is told “manages all the girls” and who promises to make her a star. She gets an audition and lands a job as a backup singer/dancer for a … what shall I call it? … let’s just say not the kind of show she dreamed about doing. And things go from bad to worse for her, as Jack coerces her into, errr, entertaining wealthy admirers, which he has apparently done to several of his “girls.” Ellie desperately wants to help her, but again it is unclear how things work in these visions of hers and how much impact she can actually have, particularly as she is seeing things that have long ago happened. I should say here that if you are someone who gets really into rules and logic and how things -- even nonsensical things -- work, you may not enjoy this movie. You’re going to have to let some stuff go to get fully immersed in it. I think it’s worth it. In the words of Elder McKinley in THE BOOK OF MORMON (musical), “turn it off.”

[Side note: I look forward to seeing essays looking at this movie through an LGBTQIA+ lens. There is a definite homoerotic undertone (which I suspect many would call overtone) to Ellie’s attachment to Sandy, though many straight viewers would probably see it more as a “Kinsey One” romantic rather than sexual attraction. The latter is how I see it myself, but I’d be interested to see a queer examination of it.]

And then there’s the late Dame Diana Rigg in her final film role, playing Ellie’s landlady Ms. Collins. Rigg is probably best known to modern audiences as Olenna Tyrell from GAME OF THRONES, but she had an enormous career on stage and screen, dating back to the late 1950s. She was Emma Peel in THE AVENGERS (no relation to Marvel), she played Madea on stage numerous times in London and on Broadway, and she played Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, the wife of James Bond, in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (low-key maybe the best Bond movie and definitely the best “Bond girl”). Ms. Collins is a tough old broad who has seen it all throughout the decades. Her response to a worried Ellie asking about a girl who used to live in her room is so hilariously blase I fell in love with her instantly. She’s owned the building for a long time and she won’t sell it, even though the property value has skyrocketed over the years. She demands a lot of upfront money and has some strict rules, but Ellie thinks it's a good trade-off.

Also of note in the cast are Rita Tushingham (of THE KNACK … AND HOW TO GET IT and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) as Ellie’s grandmother Peggy, and Terence Stamp (of SUPERMAN II, THE LIMEY and THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT), who plays a mysterious man who frequents the pub where Ellie works. Oh, and for Harry Potter film fans, James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley) appear briefly, as mirror images of the same person (they’re seen in the trailer -- Oliver removes Ellie’s jacket, James removes Sandy’s coat).

Ellie is not very successful at making friends at the academy, and her increasing desire to escape her real life and live in another world and another time felt incredibly relatable to me (there’s a scene where she turns down a possible date, saying he has “plans,” and I felt attacked and seen all at once). She does eventually make a friend (and potentially more than a friend) in a classmate named John (played by Michael Ajao -- Mayhem from ATTACK THE BLOCK, all grown-up and love interest-y), who is one of the only men in the film that isn’t trash (I guess the guy who works at the pub is also probably okay). This aspect of the film reminded me a bit of PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a movie seemingly everyone loved but I could not stand, where Bo Burnham is the only “good one” (until he’s not). I liked this significantly more because there are layers to the awfulness (as there are in real life, naturally) and just because you don’t descend to the level of Actual Would-Be Rapist doesn’t mean you’re not still a creep and terrible and someone women want to avoid.

Over the course of the movie, Ellie’s visions get more intense and horrifying and even start to affect her while she’s awake and not in her room. The men who leer at Sandy (and eventually more than leer) start to appear to Ellie as vague, lurking boogeymen with indistinct, blurry faces. (Earlier on the day I saw this, I saw a short film called UNCLE, in which figures similar to this were used as a metaphor for the trauma of sexual assault.) An on-the-nose metaphor, perhaps, but an effective one. At least for some. I read one critic who dismissed these creatures as unscary, and I thought Congratulations. Enjoy not being a woman, where every man you bump into you have to wonder if this is the one that’s going to grope or rape or kill you.

I said above that this movie is feminist and I do feel that it is. Part of the credit for that must go to Wright’s co-writer, Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who was Oscar-nominated for co-writing 1917 with Sam Mendes a couple of years ago. Wilson-Cairns, obviously, has a perspective that Wright does not, and I have to imagine that some of those creepy lines thrown at Ellie (and Sandy) are things that have been said to her herself. There’s probably at least one creepy thing said or done to the women in this movie that every woman can relate to specifically. (Mine was the over-friendly cab driver.) And there’s a thread of “ladies helping ladies” (or at least trying to), which is always a favorite theme of mine.

Wright has mentioned that, in response to criticism that most of his films don’t pass the Bechdel test (Google it) -- SCOTT PILGRIM barely does -- he was determined to have this film pass in the opening moments, and sure enough it does: 1) two women, 2) both with actual names (Peggy and Ellie), 3) talk to each other 4) about something other than a man (Ellie getting accepted into fashion design school). It may seem flip and superficial to check this off like it’s on some grocery list, but I kind of love that checking it off was a priority because it presumably helped shape all the decisions that came after it.

There are tons of influences feeding this movie, so many that I couldn’t possibly list them all. But here are a few off the top of my head. Wright originally said this movie was inspired by both REPULSION (1965) and DON’T LOOK NOW (1973). REPULSION’s creepy and insistent men and its surreal visuals are obvious things it has in common with LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, as is DON’T LOOK NOW’s main character trying to resolve a tragedy that happened in the past (as well as a character with psychic abilities). I also see a lot of Bava and Argento in the visuals (everyone will compare this to Argento’s SUSPIRIA, and yes, there’s a lot of intense color in this movie, but there are so many other movies that it resembles visually, and most of what Argento knows about the use of color he learned from Bava anyway). I see a little NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (Ellie’s hickie reminded me of Nancy burning herself in her dream and having a burn mark on her arm when she wakes up, and there’s a lot of ambiguity about when she’s awake and when she’s in one of her visions); PIECES (can’t get too specific, but it has nothing to do with a kung fu professor); and Bava’s THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (Ellie reminds me so much of Nora) and BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (the raincoat is an obvious reference, but the whole film would make a great double feature with this movie). And there are surely many others that I’m just not thinking of right now.

But unlike several of Wright’s other films, these aren’t winks and nods. There’s no “We’re coming to get you, Barbara” like SHAUN OF THE DEAD’s direct reference to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD or a cleverly designed title card to make BABY DRIVER remind you of TAXI DRIVER. Nothing that loud (though there’s nothing at all wrong with loud when it fits the movie’s tone, which both of those examples do). I won’t call LAST NIGHT IN SOHO’s Easter eggs subtle, but they play less as references and more as part of the general flavor. Also missing (maybe just toned down, but I didn’t notice them at all) are his most obvious and characteristic visual gags, like the quick zooms and rapid montages. Most of the movie is played fairly straight, though Wright’s humor and personality can’t help coming through (the first couple minutes of the film are an utter delight and reminded me of the opening credits of ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, of all things; the whole scene is just so goofy and joyful that it makes me smile to think of him directing it).

If you love the tunes in Wright’s movies, there is SO MUCH MUSIC in this one (one critic said Wright had finally overdone the needle drops -- I’m not sure I agree, but there are a BUNCH). It contributes greatly to the full immersion into the world, especially the 1960s scenes. This would also make a great companion piece to ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, another 1960s nostalgia trip. There’s not really one big iconic musical moment a la “Don’t Stop Me Now” from SHAUN, though. The closest is Anya Taylor-Joy’s eerie a capella rendition of “Downtown” (heard in the movie’s first trailer).

The visuals are stunning and probably beyond my limited cinematic understanding to fully examine them. All of Wright’s movies have incredible style, but this just feels like it’s on another level. The cinematography is stunning (from frequent Chan-wook Park collaborator Chung-hoon Chung) and most of the visual tricks you see are done in-camera (like the moment in the gif above). There's an amazing contrast between the exciting and bustling Soho you see in the daytime and the seedy and intimidating one you see after dark, both in the 1960s and present day. 

I did have a couple of nitpicks, but they’re both more spoilery than I’m comfortable getting into. I know it seems like I’ve given an awful lot away already, but I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’m dying to talk about the second half of this movie, partly because that’s where a lot of detractors claim the movie falls apart and I just … don’t agree? Like, I’m starting to think “falls apart” actually means “went in a direction I wasn’t expecting / didn’t approve of.” Because the climax of the movie totally works for me and rocked my face off. Yes, it's wild -- that's why it's awesome! Okay, the very end is a bit cheese, but it’s needed cheese. And it contains one of my favorite moments in the movie … WHICH I CAN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT BECAUSE IT GIVES TOO MUCH AWAY, GRRRRRR. Get here, October 29! 

I LOVE THIS MOVIE. Go see it if you can when it’s out. It will only be in theaters initially, but it’s a great one to go out and see when the nights start getting longer and chillier.

20 Favorite Horror Movies

Stacie Ponder at Final Girl put out a call for this year's SHOCKTOBER for people to submit their 20 favorite horror movies. Now, "favorite" does not necessarily equal "best" and that was what was so fun (and challenging) about putting my own list together.

So here's my twenty, for now at least, in chronological order.

PEEPING TOM (1960)

If you watched Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO and though “hm … is that it?”, may I humbly present Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM, which debuted five months *before* Hitchcock’s suspense masterpiece and shares a lot of its DNA. It’s a tragedy to me that this movie basically ruined Powell’s career and he was never allowed to make a mainstream movie again. While nothing can touch PSYCHO’s place in the genre, PEEPING TOM tends to be the film I’d rather revisit. The grimy streets of seedy 1960 London shot in brilliant technicolor, the unsettling feeling of the murderer being our protagonist, and the fact that I want to be BFFs with Anna Massey’s Helen are just a few reasons why.

ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)

If you can’t bring yourself to watch this because of who directed it, I wouldn’t dare advise you otherwise. Roman Polanski is a bright red line for many, and that’s fair. If you *can* do it, however, what you’ll find is a pretty much perfect movie. It’s easy to see why it made him the hottest director in the business in the late 1960s. It is very easy to misread Mia Farrow’s Rosemary as weak, but she is truly beset on all sides, even within her own home -- even within her own body! There’s no gore here, nor are there any jump scares, but there is plenty of creepiness, as well as use of one of my favorite horror tropes EVER (and there are at least two more examples of it on this list): the one-two punch of paranoia plot and conspiracy plot. Am I just being paranoid or is this real? Okay, shit, it’s real, now what? How far does this thing reach? Who’s in on it? Is there anyone I can trust? (*happy sigh*)

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971)

Before there was SEVEN, there was this movie. Only instead of basing his murders on the seven deadly sins, Phibes (Vincent Price) designs his based on the biblical plagues of Egypt (all the kills are great, but the frog one is … (*chef’s kiss*)). It’s more stylish than scary, and there’s plenty of dark humor (THAT UNICORN), but there’s plenty to creep you out. It’s a shame that Vincent Price doesn’t get to talk much here, but that vocoder he uses is one of the most disturbing things in the movie for me. I love the look of this film. It’s like if DANGER: DIABOLIK were a gothic horror movie; both protagonists have exquisite lairs. Like SEVEN, this movie gives the audience an unsettling compulsion to see all of the planned murders unfold, making you almost rooting against the police so they don’t catch him before he can see his project through to its completion. I love everything about this movie, especially Phibes’s diabolically stylish assistant, Vulnavia.

THE WICKER MAN (1973)

One of the great British horror films, and one of the great British films period. It fits into a lot of genres -- it’s even a musical! -- but I see it having a lot in common with hillbilly horror. An outsider comes to a community in the middle of nowhere and immediately clashes with the locals, disrespecting them and their customs, and eventually realizes he’s in way over his head. There’s more to it than that, but I don’t dare spoil it if you haven’t seen it. The ending is extraordinary, not just the fact of what happens but the tone the movie strikes as it leaves you with a terrifying sense of not knowing how you’re supposed to feel. Sumer is icumen in!

BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)

John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN is pretty much the accepted official birth of the “slasher” genre, but there were several films that preceded it that helped codify it and the tropes it’s so well known for. Bob Clark’s BLACK CHRISTMAS is one of them, preceding HALLOWEEN by four years. And it was already bucking the most famous slasher trope -- the virginal final girl -- as its heroine was pregnant and had decided to have an abortion (in fact, the virginal good girl in this movie is the first to die!). This movie also really leans in on the killer POV, so much that aside from one shot of the guy’s eye in a doorway, you never see who it is! CREEPY!

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974)

This movie sat at the top of my “never gonna watch it” list for quite some time. Something about the idea of power tools and human flesh made it something that felt very taboo and something I could never handle. Now that I *have* seen it, it still feels taboo and unsafe, and that’s what I love about it. There’s some beautiful filmmaking on display here, but you’ll hardly notice because it doesn’t feel like a movie; it feels like something that’s really happening. The dinner scene is one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever seen (at least partly because of the horror stories I’ve heard about the filming), and it’s wild to me that there’s so little blood in the movie, yet it’s remembered as being one of the goriest films of all time.

CARRIE (1976)

I didn’t rank these, but CARRIE is straight-up my favorite horror movie. Horror movies don’t always get a lot of respect (and let’s face it, a ton of the genre is garbage -- garbage that I almost unfailingly adore, but garbage), but CARRIE is a Good Movie. Anchored by two incredible performances (both Oscar-nominated), with a script that takes its time building actual characters. No matter how many times I’ve seen this, I watch Carrie at the prom -- happy for perhaps the first time in her life -- and hope against hope that things will turn out differently for her. They never do. I still vividly remember the first time I ever saw this and how much I screamed at the end. This movie still legit scares me.

HAUSU (1977)

Teenage girls go to house and house eats them. Pretty basic premise and you can see the bones of it in a whole lot of horror movies. It’s the “I came here to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now” of movie plots. But HAUSU is so much more and truly one of the most bazonkers movies I have ever seen (in the very best way). You will see a girl eaten by a piano. You will see a girl smothered by bedding. You will see a man turned into a pile of bananas (yes, that’s right -- this shit is literally B-A-N-A-N-A-S). A phenomenal movie to experience with an audience, especially if there are at least a few people who’ve never seen it and don’t know what they’re in for.

SHOCK (1977)

There are other Mario Bava films I love more but as a horror movie, this one left a lasting impression on me. It’s unlike his other films (though perhaps that’s because it was arguably co-directed by his son Lamberto) and there’s something about it that unsettles me more than his other movies. Its star, Daria Nicolodi, gives what I believe to be her best performance in a role, like Mia Farrow’s Rosemary, that’s easy to misread as weak until you learn just how much she’s being manipulated. It has a really great jump scare near the end (which was ripped off in ANNABELLE) and one of the all-time great evil children in horror.

THE BROOD (1979)

David Cronenberg has always been considered the king of body horror, which reached its apotheosis in 1986 with THE FLY but his earlier films were a touch more subtle (though more subtle than THE FLY is a low bar indeed). This movie centers around a woman who is undergoing experimental psychotherapy which is causing her to literally give birth to physical manifestations of her rage. Like a lot of pre-80s horror, this is a slow burn and it takes a while to get to the blockbuster shocks, but the time is not wasted. The reveal of how these children are born is breathtaking and repulsive. I do wonder what this film would look like if it were made by a woman, but this is definitely my favorite Cronenberg.

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (1986)

IT’S MILLER TIME! Stacie Ponder once said of this movie that it’s the kind of movie John Hughes might have made if he’d ever tried his hand at horror. There’s loads of teen angst and unrequited romance and jocks-versus-nerds drama in addition to an amazing B-movie about killer slugs from outer space that turn people into zombies. I really love how this film is constructed and how it doesn’t lay out its premise from the very first moment, preferring to unfold everything organically. It’s horror icon Tom Atkins’s greatest role (“Thrill me!”) and has the greatest tagline, which Atkins also gets to deliver in the film itself -- “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news, girls. The good news is your dates are here.” (“What’s the bad news?”) “They’re dead.” All of the heart eyes for this movie.

THE LOST BOYS (1987)

I recently watched a YouTuber's reaction to this movie and realized that it’s not exactly scary (though there are some frightening sequences). But it’s not really designed to be. It’s a teen movie above all else and an excuse to look at hot 1980s guys. At least that was the appeal for me when I was 12 or 13 and saw it for the first time. I absolutely buy that Michael is drawn to these bad boys (and not just because he wants to get closer to 1980s Jami Gertz). This movie took all the classic vampire lore and gave it a younger, more modern spin (I’m fairly sure this was the first time I ever heard of the significance of inviting a vampire into your home). And what the movie lacks in terror it more than makes up for in gore. The vamp deaths in this are GRODY. I adore this movie. Not least because it gives us an entire scene that seems to only exist to show a shirtless and sweaty saxophone-playing Tim Cappello absolutely Working. It.

SOCIETY (1989)

Another example of my favorite trope (see ROSEMARY’S BABY), the paranoia-conspiracy two-step. The way this movie handles it is to make us doubt even what we see through our protagonist’s eyes by setting up that he has genuine hallucinations and can’t always trust what he himself sees. Is the metaphor for the rich sucking the life out of the poor a whole lot on the nose? Sure. But the way it’s visualized in the movie’s unforgettable, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed “shunting” sequence is truly stunning and like nothing anyone would ever attempt today. And it seems so perfectly suited for the 1980s, the Greed Decade. Please, no one ever remake this movie. Everyone should just see this one. It’s great. There is no way a remake would be a ballsy and wackadoo as this is. 

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

My favorite movie, period. I don’t consider it a horror movie myself, but I know many do and I don’t argue with it. Ted Tally wrote a perfect adaptation of the original novel, distilling it down to just the essentials. The cast is phenomenal, from top to bottom -- from the irreplaceable Jodie Foster as Clarice (sorry, Julianne Moore) to the perfectly slimy Anthony Heald as Chilton to the kind-faced Frankie Faison as Barney. It feels incredibly grounded and yet lets itself veer into the operatic and grand guignol when it wants to. And it has one of the most brilliant “oh shit” reveals in any movie ever that still wows me every time I watch it.

TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL (2010)

Good horror comedies are much more than just spoofs and parodies. They actually engage with the genre and say something about it. There are countless movies about teens going into the woods and encountering murderous hillbillies. This movie makes the hillbillies our heroes, makes them a pair of sweet yokel BFFs, and makes the scary cabin in the woods their dream vacation home that they’re working to spruce up. And our teens get themselves killed through their own misunderstandings and prejudices. Love a horror movie with heart.

THE LOVE WITCH (2016)

There’s a ton of horror and B-movie iconography that this movie will remind you of, but director Anna Biller would insist that this movie isn’t an homage or a pastiche. This isn’t a genre exercise for her; she’s simply crafting her own story in the style of movies that she likes. And she does a ton of the work herself -- not just writing and directing, but designing and sewing the costumes and designing the sets. The movie has style oozing out of its eyeballs (Elaine’s look, in particular, is so iconic that I’ve seen many a Love Witch cosplay and Halloween costume in the years since) but it also has some stuff to say, particularly about misogyny and the patriarchy.

RAW (2016)

It’s a lot to stomach (ba-dump-bump-chhhhh), but RAW is a richly rewarding take on body horror via cannibalistic fairy tale. Justine’s descent from strict vegetarian to cannibal, doubling as a metaphor for her sexual awakening, is fascinating to watch and director Julia Ducournau shows it to us with zero judgment, cleverly placing us squarely on her side in early scenes of school hazing humiliation. Great horror should show you something you’ve never seen before, and this movie has many of those somethings (including the most horrifying bikini waxing you will EVER see). I can’t wait to see what Ducournau does next.

GET OUT (2017)

The third in the paranoia-conspiracy trifecta, along with ROSEMARY'S BABY and SOCIETY. It’s hard to overstate how significant this movie has been to horror, a genre that has not had the greatest track record with Black characters and the few stories in the genre that have revolved around them. There are others far more equipped than I to talk about the movie’s portrayal of the theft of Black lives and bodies. But what I do feel equipped (and in fact compelled) to talk about is the way it portrays White privilege and how not one White person is exempt from it. The fact that there is not one White savior in this movie is more than a conscious rejection of a trope. It’s a reminder that, no matter how woke you might be, if you’re White you don’t get to be excused from your privilege or the responsibilities it entails.

MIDSOMMAR (2019)

This movie just plain knocks me out. Every time. If all you see in this movie is a retread of THE WICKER MAN, you are not looking closely enough. Florence Pugh is superb, perpetually on edge and occasionally spilling over into outright despair (in at least two of the most emotional scenes I saw in any movie in 2019). The fact that so much of the movie takes place during the day, including its most horrific scenes, adds a layer of audacity to that horror. And the conclusion is such a beautifully disturbing opera of mixed emotions that it’s impossible to pinpoint an appropriate reaction. Which is horrifying in and of itself.

ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (2019)

On the one hand, I’m not a big believer in sticking with something when it’s not working for me just because it supposedly gets better at some point. On the other hand, you HAVE to stick with the first half of this movie. It’s not especially compelling or entertaining the first time out, but without it, the second half -- which is all extremely satisfying payoff -- doesn’t work. Each half of this movie gives the other meaning, and that’s what makes it special. Well, that and the fact that it’s an absolute love letter to the chaos of independent filmmaking and the joy of creative collaboration.