Weekly Movie Roundup

I watched 7 movies last week:

Flesh for Frankenstein The Wailing Two Evil Eyes
  • Flesh for Frankenstein can’t decide if it wants to be a parody of gothic horror or a transgressive counterculture send-up, but it doesn’t have a good enough script or acting to be either. Udo Kier sure chews a hell of a whole lot of scenery in it, though.
    • I’m not entirely convinced the ending works, not least because I think I preferred the ending the movie seemed to be building towards just before that. But I can’t deny that The Wailing is a chilling, often terrifying meditation on evil.
      • It’s strange to me how many critics and viewers of Two Evil Eyes seem to prefer the Dario Argento half of this Poe-inspired horror double-bill. George Romero’s “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar” never rises above workmanlike, but it’s serviceable and entertaining, whereas Argento’s “The Black Cat” is muddled and sluggish, with possibly Harvey Keitel’s worst-ever performance. It doesn’t even betray much of Argento’s visual style, so I’m at a loss to understand the appeal.
      The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave Bad Things A Dark Song
      • Stephen King was being kind when he called The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave an “Italian turkey.” The movie’s ending is somewhat interesting, but only because it takes a wild left turn that suddenly forgets everything that came before it, not because it’s in any satisfying on its own.

          • Bad Things is well cast, and I like the way it turns its mundane location into an unexpected source of real dread. But the movie gets a little lost in the weeds of wondering what is and isn’t delusion. It’s an intriguing modern queer take on The Shining, with interesting things to say about trauma and some very eerie moments, but it never quite came together for me.

          • A Dark Song draws a lot out of just atmosphere and minimal sets, and it’s an eerie little thriller about grief and vengeance and forgiveness.
          The Raven
          • The Raven is silly but charming, with a delightful cast.

          I also re-watched The Exorcist III, which I think falls apart near the end—and might even have done so without all the studio interference. But it does a lot of things right, and Blatty asks honest questions about the nature of good and evil.