GLORIOUS (July 2022)

  

GLORIOUS

(July 2022)

“Piss stinking inebriated. All by my lonesome at this rest stop here in… wherever the hell this rest stop is.”

The “piss stinking inebriated” Wes (Ryan Kwanten, also one of the executive producers*) is actually in the comfort room of the Route 37 Rest Area.

And he isn’t alone. Not at all.

Though he will eventually come to wish he was (even if he is being kept company by J.K. Simmons… or Simmons’ voice, at any rate)…

“Will it hurt?”

“Very much.”

Based on a story by Todd Rigney (which can be found in his flash fiction collection Taste Level Zero), Glorious is directed with a steady and blackly humorous hand by Rebekah McKendry, from a screenplay credited to Joshua Hull and her husband, David Ian McKendry.

Save for a few brief exceptions, the film is an odd sort of horror two-hander, in that Kwanten is basically bouncing off Simmons’ voice, but hey, it’s J.K. Simmons, so wotta voice!

“I’m sorry, but you’re not going to able to leave until we’re done here.”

Glorious is an exquisitely grotesque paradox, an unsettling vision of cosmic horror, told from within the cramped confines of a filthy, rest stop comfort room…

So if that sounds like the sort of title that floats your horror boat, then check it out!

“F*ck it. Let’s do this.”

* Along with horror stalwart Barbara Crampton.

(Glorious key art courtesy of impawards.com.)

IN FABRIC (September 2018)

   

IN FABRIC

(September 2018)

“A purchase on a horizon, a panoply of temptation. Can a curious soul desist?”

“I’m just looking, thank you.”

“The hesitation in your voice soon to be an echo in the recesses of the spheres of retail.”

I don’t know about you, but if a salesperson walked up to me with that spiel, I would not hang about to hear more…

Particularly if I’ve already seen the creepiest TV advert ever* for the shop’s latest sale…

“You who wear me will know me.”

Peter Strickland’s In Fabric kicks off with Sheila Woolchapel (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a lonely mother just trying to find love and intimacy who happens to visit Dentley & Soper’s, leaving the premises with the singular “Ambassadorial Function Dress”--a chiffon and silk and satin number in, get this, artery red--in stock.

A dress that happens to be, gulp, haunted.

“The very purpose of this seasonal retail occasion is to expunge. Returning what has already left the Ladies’ Fashion Boutique of Dentley & Soper’s Trusted Department Store goes against the nature of things.”

A haunted (or in some cases, cursed) fashion item featuring in a horror film is nothing new, of course.

Some that come quickly to mind: Kim Yong-gyun’s Bunhongshin (The Red Shoes), Won Shin-yeon’s Gabal (The Wig, AKA Scary Hair), the more recent Bad Hair (from Justin Simien, which features a “possessed weave”), and Elza Kephart’s Slaxx (killer jeans, natch).**

And while some of those titles lean more into the comedic side of their horror-comedy combo, there’s still something undeniably unnerving about having something that you’re wearing--that, by its very nature, is something that rests snugly against your body--have a malevolent mind of its own, even if there are some laughs mixed in with all of the chills.

Trust Peter Strickland to toss his hat into this particular horror movie ring…

“But your dismissal of such a prestigious consumerist festivity leaves me bereft.”

If you’ve seen Berberian Sound Studio (and if you haven’t, please, please, please do yourself a favor and seek it out), you’ll know what I mean when I say that Strickland is the kind of director whose work is definitely experiential. Like David Lynch, the way he combines visuals with sound and music is alchemical in nature, disturbingly bewitching.

Just like that artery red dress.

And while there is a ribbon of drily absurd humor that flows through its runtime, In Fabric also drapes us with an unsettling, inescapable tone, almost like that artery red dress settling down all around us, brushing up relentlessly against our bare, viewer’s skin…

The inner, hidden workings of the retail world have never been quite this surreal and creepy on film***…

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of a dress.”

* Courtesy of Julian House, who also worked on Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio.

** For the record, I’ve seen all of these, except for Slaxx.

*** The closest I think we’ve come to something like this is Kim Sung-ho’s Geoul Sokeuro (Into the Mirror), in which bizarre goings-on mar the intended re-opening of the shopping mall, Dreampia. Though to be frank, that film doesn’t even come close to the unsettling strangeness of Strickland’s vision of Dentley & Soper’s…

Comics, though, are another matter entirely…

Eerie retail hijinx may be found in Christopher Cantwell and I.N.J. Culbard’s Everything, from Dark Horse comics, edited by the one and only Mother of Vertigo, Karen Berger…

Parting Shot: If you find yourself enamored with Strickland’s aesthetic, then I implore you to also check out his definitely not horror piece, The Duke of Burgundy, as well as his contribution to The Field Guide to Evil, “Cobblers’ Lot,” loosely based on the Hungarian folktale, “The Princess’s Curse”.

(In Fabric quad and OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

ANTLERS (October 2021)

  

ANTLERS

(October 2021)

“Yeah, he said he was, uhh, hiking up near Greymouth, when a stench led him to a man half buried in the woods. I guess the other half was found in the mine, near a meth lab. Was probably a, a bear or a cougar, something.”

“Jesus.”

“From what he just told me, I don’t think Jesus was anywhere to be found.”

Guilt-ridden Julia Meadows (Keri Russell) finds herself back in her hometown of Cispus Falls, Oregon, still trying to “resolve” her lifetime of “issues” (which reveal themselves gradually during the first act, proving her own terms blatant understatements).

It’s a place she admits she barely recognizes anymore, an economically depressed mining town, in the midst of a so-called “war on American energy.”

But, given that this is a horror movie co-produced by no less than Guillermo del Toro*, it should come as no surprise that there are even darker (and bloodier) things afoot.

“Daddy said God is dead.”

Director Scott Cooper (working from a screenplay credited to C. Henry Chaisson, Nick Antosca, and Cooper, based on Antosca’s short story, “The Quiet Boy”) gives us a horror film that isn’t just about literal, supernatural monsters, but also the kinds of monsters that lurk behind the unassuming masks of men.

While the “Creature”** is, naturally, the main attraction, Antlers is also about generational trauma, and the tragic and grotesque scars left behind by abuse.

It’s about “the lost, the frail, and the depraved”.

“I just have to feed him, and he’ll love me.”

There’s also an interesting supporting cast here, with the likes of Jesse Plemons (as Julia’s brother, Paul, who also happens to be Cispus Falls’ Sheriff), Amy Madigan, Graham Greene, and Rory Cochrane.

Sadly, three of the above mentioned are relegated to either Exposition Delivery, or those sad, thankless horror movie roles that ultimately underutilize the actor.

You can’t win ‘em all, I guess.

Still, Antlers is most definitely worth a look.

I came to it because of the lure of Antosca***, del Toro, and Felicity herself, and was, in the end, happy I did.

Check it out, if you’re so inclined, and maybe you’ll be glad you did, too…

Will you, I pray, demand that demidevil

Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?

--Othello

   Act V - Scene II

* David S. Goyer is another co-producer.

** For my fellow comic book nerds out there, the one and only Guy Davis is credited for Lead Creature Design, as well as a bunch of drawings that appear onscreen.

Davis is also the main Creature Design dude for del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and has worked with him on a whole bunch of past productions…

In del Toro's own words: “Guy Davis, to me, is one of the best monster designers alive right now.”

*** And, speaking of, those, ahem, antlers on the one sheet should remind you of another thing Antosca worked on, that should in turn, tip you off as to the nature of Antlers’ Creature…

(That other thing is also to be found in the Iguana Archives.)

Parting Shot 1:

The short story “The Quiet Boy” can be read online here.

My personal recommendation is, if you haven’t already read the story but are curious to see the original source material, then check it out after you’ve seen Antlers.

Parting Shot 2:

In Antlers’ end credits roll, Christian Bale is one of the names under “Special Thanks”.

Cooper has worked with Bale on three films to date, the latest, the Netflix adaptation of Louis Bayard’s The Pale Blue Eye.

Looking forward to that one…

(Antlers OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

NOCEBO (October 2022)

    

NOCEBO

(October 2022)

“Something is hidden inside of you, Christine. Something you hide from yourself. It is invisible to you, and you must see it. It makes you sick. I will draw it out of you and show it to you.”

A children’s fashion line called Tykie comes to a screeching halt after a distressing phone call, and the disturbing “encounter” that accompanies it (one of the creepiest dog scenes I’ve ever seen; at one point in the film’s runtime, that dog is described as “a hideous thing”).

In the aftermath, fashion designer Christine (Eva Green) suffers through a debilitating months-long ordeal, broken only upon the sudden arrival of Diana (Chai Fonacier), who hails from a “very special place” in the southern area of the Philippines, and who claims to have been hired by Christine, though she has no memory of it at all.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It is?”

“We will make it pretty.”

Meanwhile, the other members of the household, daughter Roberta (Billie Gadsdon) and husband Felix (Mark Strong), need to acclimate to this stranger suddenly living under the same roof. One is initially rude, the other, increasingly suspicious, while Christine becomes more trusting and dependent on Diana.

“This is just different medicine, Christine.”

That’s the basic set-up of Lorcan Finnegan’s latest, Nocebo.

If you’ve been paying attention, Finnegan landed ‘round these parts previously for Vivarium, and this film, like Vivarium, ends up being a potent title with a very singular, unsettling vision, proof positive that Finnegan continues to be a name to look out for.

Nocebo is also of particular interest to me since it’s an Irish-Philippine co-production, significant portions of which were shot on location in the Philippines.

Also noteworthy are Fonacier’s commendable performance, and the film’s score, courtesy of Jose Antonio C. Buencamino. This seems to be Buencamino’s first feature film credit, and it’s an impressive one.

“This is so much better than a cure.”

There’s also a particular scene in Nocebo--during Diana’s recounting of her past--that should be a treat for any lovers of Philippine folklore out there.

The term Diana uses may not be the one that might be expected, given what unfolds onscreen, but it’s a nonetheless familiar image to a folklore lover, and that scene’s imagery goes off like gangbusters.

Ultimately though, while the horror in Nocebo is shudderingly effective, it’s the tragic underpinning of the narrative* (scripted by familiar Finnegan collaborator Garret Shanley) that serves as the iron-hard core of this film.

It’s been a long, long, looooong while since I’ve seen a Filipino horror movie that’s this effective.

And sure, it’s a co-production, but still…

So, hopefully, that’s piqued your interest enough to seek this one out…

“You must allow me in, Christine. I will prepare you to face it. You will know it when you see it. You will understand what must happen. And you will be free.”

* An incident based on an actual tragedy in recent Philippine history. To say any more at this juncture would be to spoil a key plot point.

There is a prominent statement though, during the end credits roll that will acknowledge and shine a spotlight on that tragedy.

(Nocebo OS’ and quad courtesy of imdb.com, twitter.com, and themoviewaffler.com.)