Author: Seth Harris

An immigrant from the U.S. trying to make sense of an increasingly saddening world.

Movie Review – Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016, dir. Paul Feig)

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Erin Gilbert is a physics professor on a tenure track a Columbia University but hits a road bump when her past as a paranormal investigator comes back into her life. She ends up working alongside her old partner, Abby, and a new one, Holtzmann, to investigate hauntings in New York City. They recruit Patty, a subway token operator with an encyclopedic knowledge of the city and Kevin, a ditzy secretary to take on an overflow of angry and vengeful spirits that seek to reclaim the land of the living.

Ghostbusters is arguably the most written about film of 2016, inspiring very polarized reactions online. It’s no surprise that the announcement of an all-female cast drew ire and admiration from the camps you would expect. In the lead up to its release, it was difficult to find any conversation that didn’t devolve into an online shouting match. I can’t say I was excited about the remake, but I hadn’t been a big Ghostbusters fan since I was a kid. They are enjoyable movies but nothing that hooked me and brought me back on a regular basis.

I’ve been a big fan of Paul Feig since his work on Freaks and Geeks. I was a senior in high school when that series came out, and it immediately caught my attention. I am a huge fan of Bridesmaids, one of the few films I’ve paid to see multiple times in the theater. It was one of those instances of an entirely perfect cast and well-written script. I enjoyed his follow up The Heat quite a bit but wasn’t too warm on his action-comedy Spy. Bridesmaids still stands as my favorite of his films and a hard movie to top.

If you look at the five highest grossing comedies of 2015, the list goes as follows: Minions, Pitch Perfect 2, Hotel Transylvania 2, The Spongebob Movie, and The Peanuts Movie. My tastes in comedy and the mainstream audience’s comedic preferences are not aligned in any manner. Just a matter of different taste, neither is better than the other. Major film studios are most interested in making broad, inoffensive comedies that they can sell to international audiences. Comedy is very hard to translate because so much of it is based on language play. To dodge that problem modern comedy has adopted even more of an emphasis on physical humor. Look at trailers for comedies; it’s a litany of people falling or getting hit in the head. This isn’t new; it’s just becoming more prevalent as studios look to broaden their revenue streams.

Ghostbusters, due to studio influence, rather than letting comedic minds work without hindrance, ends up being just another mediocre big budget comedy. It’s not an affrontery to humanity as the MRAs would have you believe, but it’s not a revolutionary beacon to womankind either. It’s a seed for a possible franchise as Sony seeks to recover from its failure to do so with Spider-Man. Set pieces are emphasized over interesting and potentially funny character interaction, and the finale is another cut and paste special effects deluge.

After watching the Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder films and reflecting on my love of improv comedy, I’ve come to realize that less is better when it comes to ad libs. You need a very talented comedian to pull off good improv. The success of films like Anchorman has convinced some studio execs that just letting the funny people riff results in comedy gold. It only works if the structure around them is strong enough. I don’t think Kate McKinnon is untalented, but she doesn’t appear to have the support of a strong script and editing, so her comedy feels very shallow and not as intelligent as I know she is. The direction she seems to be given is “make a silly face and contort your body.” I found Leslie Jones to be the funniest character in the film because she is more grounded and if she was improv-ing than she does it in a very nuanced way.

Ghostbusters was never a piece of cinematic art. It was a studio comedy that picked up traction over the years. The newest film isn’t a failure, but it’s just another middle of the road movie with a couple of light chuckles. What’s most annoying is the push to intentionally grow a franchise. Sony seems to believe that by plugging Paul Feig and his acting troupe into a film will result in The Funny. They fail to recognize that the reason why a movie like Bridesmaids was so funny in the first place was the freedoms the creative talent was given to structure a funny story and that is was something new and so the direction of the story was unexpected. Ghostbusters is a fine film for a rental and watch, kids would enjoy it, but it’s not very memorable.

Movie Review – Phantasm

Phantasm (1978, dir. Don Coscarelli)

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Something is going on at the old cemetery in town, and young Mike is determined to find out exactly what. His brother Jody thinks Mike just imagines things as part of his grief over their parents’ death, but when Jody sees the evil firsthand. A tall menacing stranger stalks the grounds, sinister dwarves attack anyone seeking out the truth, and a chrome sphere makes quick work of trespassers. Phantasm paints a surreal, dreamlike tableau of horror that stands as a singular achievement in horror.

Watching Phantasm reminded me of my childhood, flipping through the channels on a chilly October Saturday afternoon. Certain images just feed the primal fears of a kid, and this film is chock full of them. When it comes to a logical story that makes sense, though, it falls apart. I was reminded of Beyond the Black Rainbow, a very stylish horror film from 2010. Director Yorgos Lanthimos spoke interviews about the working to infuse the film with an intense dream logic that focused more on playing with nightmarish imagery rather than a fully realized plot. Phantasm is one of the films Lanthimos will mention when he talks about those late night childhood experiences.

As a whole, Phantasm has a lot of flaws and doesn’t deliver on the promise of the horror it builds up. However, there are a nice handful of moments that show off some real cleverness and creativity. The chrome orbs are probably one of the most original concepts I’ve seen in a horror film. Their design and the utterly brutal way they dispatch unwanted visitors was genuinely shocking for me. The Tall Man as an antagonist is not like the slasher figure that was garnering so much popularity around the same time. When Mike discovers the gateway to the other world, we’re presented with a very striking and hellish image of another planet/dimension.

The acting is incredibly stiff, but I suppose some might chalk that up as part of the charm. I think there is a fascinating seed of an idea in the film, a real chance to tell a great horror story, but the execution just never pays off. The standout character, in my opinion, was Reggie, the shotgun wielding ice cream man, such a uniquely original character for this genre of film. He seems to have the most acting talent in the crew and every scene he is in ends up being very enjoyable.

I have plans to watch the second film in the series, but beyond that, I don’t have much interest. Despite its flaws, Phantasm is a genuinely original entry into the horror film genre. It doesn’t feel like anything that came before it, and there is nothing in horror today that seems quite so interesting to look at and as surprising in its ideas.

TV Review – The Exorcist: The First 3 Episodes

The Exorcist: The First 3 Episodes

(Airs Fridays at 9/8 Central on Fox)

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Father Tomas, a young priest in Chicago, is approached by one of his parishioners about a problem in her home. Angela Rance is convinced there is a demonic presence in her home. She hears voices and things that shouldn’t move. Angela believes her eldest daughter, Kat, is the source of the presence and that it’s connected to the tragic death of a college classmate. Tomas begins receiving visions of another priest, Father Brennan, who fails to exorcise a demon inside a young boy and loses the child. These various figures converge in Chicago where a larger evil looms, bigger than just one young woman’s possession, that could have apocalyptic repercussions.

I didn’t watch the original 1973 film until I was a senior in college and found it to be an excellent example of the golden age of horror in that period. The way director Friedkin walked the line between the shock of horror and building atmosphere was perfect paced. What I loved most was the ambiguity of Regan MacNeil’s possession. There is never an explanation as to how this happened to her and that is a terrifying element.

The new series on Fox apparently takes place in the same universe as the original film. An incident in Georgetown in the 70s is mentioned by a priest when discussing possession. I love that they didn’t feel a need to ignore the original film. The series is a very different animal than the movies, though. There is a bigger emphasis on a larger conspiracy that permeates Chicago and seems connected to multiple possessions happening across the city. As a result, the series loses the intimacy of the 1973 film. Friedkin’s Exorcist was solely focused on a character exploration of Father Karras and the incident in the MacNeil household. If the television series had been on HBO or FX, I could see it having a quieter focus but because it’s on network television and up against increasing spectacle it has a more Lost-like sprawling narrative developing.

The largest problem with the series, and I suspect it’s due to network standards and practices, is that it is rarely actually scary. There are a handful of moments in the first three episodes that are creepy and only one I would say was genuinely scary. The interactions between the demonic presence and the priests is played a little more broader and as a result the demons don’t feel that intimidating. They talk too much and are too direct instead of toying with the humans who want to expunge them. Because of the mandated commercial breaks, the building of tension and suspense is constantly undercut. Good horror needs adequate breathing room to let itself take root and slowly grow. There’s a sense in each episode that suspense is focused in those acts from commercial break to commercial break, rather than an overarching tension to the story.

I’ll continue to stick with the series for this first season, but I sense it will become much less about the intimate horror of a family and the crisis of faith in a priest confronting that horror and more about the political machinations of the devil to bring about the apocalypse.

Movie Review – Tetsuo the Iron Man

Tetsuo the Iron Man (1989, dir. Shinya Tsukamoto)

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A mysterious man lives in a junkyard and fetishizes metal to the point that he cut open his body to insert iron rods and wires into it. He’s struck by a car and apparently killed. A salaryman (Japanese corporate drone) is haunted by strange techno-nightmares, even attacked in the subway by a woman transformed by a piece of metallic effluvia. Where this film goes and mood it evokes is truly unpredictable and very much of its time.

Tetsuo is a techno-horror film akin to David Lynch forming a death metal punk band. The energy in the picture is non-stop, grabs the viewer by the shoulders and violently tosses them around until they can’t take it anymore. In the 1980s, body horror was a growing sub-genre thanks to the likes of David Cronenberg and Clive Barker. The way a human body could betray its nature was of increasing interest as medical science evolved a breakneck pace, the AIDS epidemic slashed across humanity, and urban spaces became increasingly smother in pollution. Self-mutilation wasn’t a new concept and many cultures still practice scrying script into the skin or slicing off bits of their reproductive organs as a sacred ritual. The addition of technology into the mix is what took the exploration of these ideas in a new direction.

Tetsuo is a ghost story at its heart. One man wrongs another man, and the wronged man comes back to haunt him. Very simple, on the surface. A significant factor in what is happening in Tetsuo is the transformation of the Japanese culture at the time. Westernization was flooding Japanese culture, and traditional Japanese life was uprooted. Technology and industrialization were the greatest representation of that takeover and the unnamed man has become so absorbed in this new world of wires that he attempting to physically merge with it. The merger of the Fetishist and the Salaryman in the finale is sparked by their discovery of the New World, a possible future landscape where the planet is devoid of all natural life and now a techno-organic construct. The decision to close out the film with the words “Game Over” rather than “The End” is also a telling detail in reflection on the relationship that developed between Western culture and Japan through the medium of video games.

Tetsuo is a rough film to get through. It’s has zero interest in traditional narrative conceits and from the very opening it makes sure you know that. The film is almost virtually hyperlinked within itself as the narrative jumps around to fill in backstory, hint at the future, and provide the minimal information needed to understand it. The soundtrack is designed to shred your sense and it truly evokes the sense of being overtaken by some faceless industrial presence.

Best Audio Horror on YouTube #1

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In the last five years, I have come across and explored a very vibrant and active creative community on the Internet: The writers of creepypasta and r/nosleep. The are some masterpieces of horror being posted online and I truly believe the future of the genre rests in the online medium. In addition to the writing are the incredibly talented voice actors who choose some of the best horror stories and make high-quality readings of the work. This month I will post a lot of these readings with plans to make it a regular monthly or bi-weekly feature of the blog. I hope you find some great listens for this spooky month.

The Museum

The Showers (One of my all-time personal favorites)

NormalPornforNormalPeople.com

The Other Internet

NoEndHouse Part 1

Room Zero

The Disappearance of Ashley, Kansas (an audio version of found footage)

Patreon Update – September Blog Stats

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Views and Visitors

Growth in views from August to September was 33% (August: 249, September: 369)

Growth in visitors from August to September was 20% (August: 207, September: 260)

 

29% of views came from Google Plus

34% of views came from Google searches

4% of views from from Facebook

 

Posts

The top five most visited articles for September were:

  1. Masks Actual Play: Junior Elite #2 – 57 views
  2. Masks Actual Play: Junior Elite #0 & 1 – 32 views
  3. Comic Book Review: The Vision Vol.1: A Little Worse Than Man – 20 views **
  4. Comic Book Review: Omega Men by Tom King – 18 views **
  5. Movie Review – A Tale of Tales – 16 views

 

** denotes post was published in previous months, though the views came exclusively from September.

 

Analysis

My Masks actual plays are by far the most popular thing posted in September, but isn’t too big of a surprise based on my knowledge of my core audience. This has caused me to look closely at some future games I’d like to run with actual play posting in mind (i.e. would they be fun to read, would I be able to write them in a way that would be fun to read). I definitely Masks is going to be my major go to game for the foreseeable future, but am also looking at running Lovecraftesque and doing more Games for Two reviews with more detailed play reports.

 

Tom King comics appear to have a very long lasting popularity as evidenced by The Vision and Omega Men continuing to be mainstays in the top 5. A review of his first volume of Batman is coming in January. Based on what I’ve read about sales number for DC Comics since the launch of their Rebirth direction, there is increased interest in those titles. My own interests are also pulling me towards a large number of quality looking Image comics titles and I plan on devoting some time and posts to review a series of collected volume Ones of these.

 

Two films jumped to the top of the charts this month, A Tale of Tales and I Am Not a Serial Killer. I think they garnered so many views because they are both current and not mainstream cinema. I will still be posting reviews of films like Ghostbusters and Star Trek Beyond when they become available, but will actively look for interesting non-mainstream cinema that plays with genre expectations.

 

Conclusion

Views will definitely make a jump in October due to an increased posting schedule. I have found a balance with work and home with some detailed scheduling so I think posting is stabilizing. In November, I have planned to delve deep into Gene Wilder’s films. I have some election related posts, and depending on the outcome, have a list of post-apocalyptic films ready to go. December will have a Xavier Dolan post series and I strongly hope this gets good views because he’s a filmmaker I’m incredibly excited about. Patreon pledges have increased with two new donors coming on board in September.

 

Hypothetical Film Festival: Family Nightmares

Hypothetical Film Festivals place five to six films together that share some thematic element.

Hypothetical Film Festival: Family Nightmares

Families can be terrifying things. They have histories shaded in darkness and can know your most intimate secrets. Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether being inside a family is more disturbing than viewing one from the outside.

 

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Parents (1989, dir. Bob Balaban)

Bob Balaban is known to most of us a beloved character actor with a penchant for dry, Buster Keaton-esque reactions. You’ve seen him as the narrator in Moonrise Kingdom or multiple Christopher Guest mockumentaries. Less well known is his first foray into feature film directing, Parents. Starring Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt as the titular parents, the film focuses on their son’s slow burn discovery of a horrific secret they’ve been hiding from him. Set in the 1950s the film plays with the conventions of the nuclear family unit and is a genuinely dark and horrifying film. Balaban’s use of slow motion and twisted camera angles ease the movie into a deeply disturbing place.

 

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Visitor Q (2002, dir. Takashi Miike)

There are few families on this list as fucked up as the Yamazakis. Father, mother, son, and daughter, they are one depraved, twisted mess after another. I won’t go into the details here, but suffice to say from the opening scene you should be unsettled. Director Miike drops Visitor Q into the mix, a stranger who seems intent on forcing this family to come back together but not giving up their utterly disturbing behaviors. Murder, drug use, incest, these are just a few of the messed up things that go down in this film. If you’ve ever seen a Miike film it won’t come as a surprise, but if you haven’t…well you are in for quite an experience.

 

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Home Movie (2008, dir. Christopher Denham)

Pastor David Poe and his wife Clare have just moved, with their son and daughter, to a quaint home in the New England woods. Based on the director’s experience as a child filming his family’s life, Home Movie uses the found footage trope to explore multiple perspectives of parents dealing with children seemingly possessed by pure evil. Nothing supernatural ever happens, and it appears that we’re dealing with children who have suddenly become sociopathic. The sense of dread the film builds is very profound and primal, and the horror of what the children have been up to in secret is slowly laid out for the audience. The final chilling moments of the film descend into pure visceral horror and leave the viewer with lots of questions and lots of things to think about.

 

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The Woman (2011, dir. Lucky McKee)

If you watch one film on this list, make it The Woman. It’s based on a novel by Jack Ketchum who if you know anything about him already know this is a very dark, disturbing film. An unnamed woman, the last of a clan of violent humans, somehow untouched by civilization and kept feral, ends up in the custody of Chris Cleek and his family. Chris is one of the scariest film villains I have ever witnessed on screen, so sure of his moral and divine right to control those around him. Pollyanna McIntosh plays The Woman and delivers such a raw, vicious performance that it will linger in your mind for years as it has with me. Where this film goes and the secrets it reveals about this family are more disturbing than any Texas Chainsaw Massacre you can dream up. What family members do to one another is often beyond even our worst nightmares.

 

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Here Comes the Devil (2012, dir. Adrian Garcia Bogliano)

A family takes a trip near the outskirts of Tijuana and lose their preteen son and daughter in the hills. Hours later, the police deliver the two children home. The parents are so relieved and move on with their lives. However, something is very very wrong with the kids. They don’t eat anymore, they don’t sleep, and their babysitter sees something…something so terrible she cannot give it words, the night she watches them. But parents can’t abandon and give up on their children. Here Comes the Devil explores the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children and how they will destroy others rather than confront the evil sitting across the kitchen table from them.

PopCult Book Club #3 Announcement

The third book for our Book Club is here! Experimental Film by Gemma Files.

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Lois Cairns is a former film critic turned professor with a son that has severe Autism. Her life feels like it’s out of her control. She feels unable to pursue her dreams of being a filmmaker or connect with her child. Then she receives an invitation to attend the unveiling of a seemingly lost piece of early 20th-century film. The malevolent force behind this piece of film begins to worm its way into her life threatening to tear it all apart.

Looking forward to this read and something that will hopefully be appropriately creepy for October.

Purchase this book here!

October Posting Schedule

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October is a big month with a lot of posts, pretty much all revolving around the Halloween season!

1st – Book Club #3 Announcement

2nd – Hypothetical Film Festival: Family Nightmares

        September Blog Stats

3rd – Best Audio Horror on YouTube #1

5th – Movie Review – Tetsuo the Iron Man

8th – Video Game Review – Virginia

10th – Best Audio Horror on YouTube #2

12th – TV Review – The Exorcist Season 1: The First Three Episodes

15th – Movie Review – Evolution (2016)

17th – Best Audio Horror on YouTube #3

19th – Movie Review – At the Devil’s Door

21st – Movie Review – Nina Forever

22nd – Hypothetical Film Festival: TBA

24th – Best Video Horror on YouTube #1

25th – Best Video Horror on Vimeo #1

26th – Movie Review – Shelly

28th – Movie Review – The Blackcoat’s Doctor

29th – Cinematic Immersion Tank #2 Review

30th – Games For Two – Murderous Ghosts

         Best Audio Horror on YouTube #4

31st – Book Club Review #3