M.V. Clark's Blog, page 4
January 23, 2018
What is Title Fright?
In case you were wondering, this make it perfectly clear:
January 22, 2018
Title Fright 6 (66?): Demon Child
These two epic religious horror films go up against each other in the sixth edition of Title Fright. Who will win? Pazuzu or Damien?
Title Fright 6 (66?): The Exorcist vs The Omen
These two epic religious horror films go up against each other in the sixth edition of Title Fright. Who will win? Pazuzu or Damien?
Twit Follows: @Polar_Bear_Edit
I've got a tingling at the end of my fingers and that means only one thing - another Twit Follows contender has emerged.
@Polar_Bear_Edit is consistently charming and funny.
She tweets things like this:
I just spent $90 on two bras.
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 17, 2018
Your friendly developmental editor needs her support!
and this on the quintuple-strength caffeinated beverage Death Wish Coffee:
Awhh yeah
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 11, 2018
It's ON pic.twitter.com/kyS9aCQf4h
and this:
Watching shows where ppl are hiding from others my husband is always "HOW DO THEY NOT SEE THEM?!"
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 16, 2018
Meanwhile, I'll be having a whole conversation w him when he suddenly jumps and goes "where'd you come from? You snuck up on me."
and this on the fashion for turning your books so the pages face outwards, creating a neutral effect:
Same. I like to keep my coffee pot upside down and unplugged, too.
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 11, 2018
This trend just gets me. https://t.co/4BgAMwQbXt
But last night she made me read 125 of her tweets. How? A 125-tweet long account of a Sims game (or session) she was playing. I've never played the Sims and I have only the vaguest knowledge of it but her commentary on her avatar's ridiculous antics kept me gripped. There was this:
When a sim farts, they lift their butt and it comes out as a musical note. pic.twitter.com/33t3H50qEt
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 21, 2018
and this:
She sat down and swiped a burger without asking. The dude got pretty irate and walked away shouting forbidden words while Addison chomped away with a huge smile. Then bagged the rest for later.
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 21, 2018
muahahahaha pic.twitter.com/vlcrXCIebr
But the killer for me was this tweet:
This is the huge fantasy that Sims is...she's writing a book to make some quick money. pic.twitter.com/IZWbDvBENa
— Jeannette (@Polar_Bear_Edit) January 21, 2018
Yup!
I haven't got some big analysis of @Polar_Bear_Edit or what she's about or where she's coming from. I just really enjoy her feed. An essential follow.
January 21, 2018
Guts Reaction: Personal Shopper
Personal Shopper is a slow, mournful film about a girl who lives in two worlds and may or may not be haunted. It’s also way scarier than most textbook horror films.
Maureen (Kristen Stewart) has been staying in Paris with her twin brother Lewis, when he dies of a congenital heart problem which she also shares.
She’s a medium – of course – as is Lewis and they promised each other if one died they would give the living twin a sign. So Maureen is living alone in Paris, wandering around the wreckage of Lewis’s life – he had a girlfriend, a house and a project – waiting for this sign to come.
At the same time, Maureen is a personal shopper for an A-list celebrity, Kyra. Kyra displays all the worst kind of aristocratic traits associated with fame and glamour.
Maureen despises the work but at the same time she cannot resist trying on the designer clothes and shoes she chooses for, and delivers to Kyra. The film goes to great lengths to establish what a taboo this is.
I lived in Paris when I was in my twenties, and it was a haunted time for me too, albeit for very different reasons from Maureen. Seeing her scoot along the boulevards as the evening draws in and the lights of the cafes come on was just magical.
There’s also a scene when Maureen takes the Eurostar to London – I’ve sat in all those locations several times, and it gave me a shiver up my spine.
But there's a lot more. There’s a psychopath, who the film barely spends any time on, because actually psychopaths aren’t that interesting. What takes the fore is Maureen's terror, which is so real it reaches out of the screen in a way few conventional horror films manage these days.
One enigmatic scene plays on absence and is reminiscent of an all-time great in French cinema, Hidden.
Supernatural elements are handled conventionally – they may or may not be Maureen’s own emotions – but with great skill because they never displaces the real story, one of bereavement and coming of age.
There are many ways to interpret the end of the movie, but it’s still satisfying.
All in all, Personal Shopper is a wonderful film.
January 18, 2018
Guts Reaction: Creep 2
***Spoilers***
Creep (2014) created an unforgettable monster in the figure of Josef (Mark Duplass).
Superficially bright and cheerful, under the surface Josef was a toxic mess. He hired Aaron, a shy young film-maker, only to draw him into an socially awkward and increasingly sinister cat and mouse game.
Creep’s clever study of personality made us laugh as well as shudder as Josef’s cringingly peculiar worldview crept out into the light. Arguably the first chink on this vista was opened by Christian Bale’s performance in American Psycho, but Creep grabbed the doors and threw them wide open.
Creep 2 is a brilliant follow-up. Instead of a shy male film-maker we have a confident female one – Sara (Desiree Akhavan). Josef, now calling himself Aaron, admits within minutes of her arrival at his remote house that he’s a serial killer.
This renews the dynamic and results in a film that is just as riveting as the original, if not more so.
As a woman, it’s totally unbelievable that Sara stays, but the motivation is twofold. First, she’s anxious that she’s failing as a film-maker and Aaron (as I suppose we must call him now) is the best material she’s every come across.
Second, she’s extremely bold. When Aaron strips naked she calmly films his full frontal nudity. She then takes her own clothes off and invites him to film her.
In fact, Aaron has met his match in Sara. In a way, she is as much of a predator as he is, although she wants to spill people’s vulnerability on film, rather than spill their blood on the carpet.
The pair go through a bizarre romantic arc. It’s not love exactly, but eventually, I think, Sara’s boundaries erode and she begins to feel something for Aaron.
And so do we, the audience. In fact we’re more confused – Sara doesn’t think Aaron’s a murderer but we know he is. And yet we’re charmed at their pre-lapsarian frolicking, like Adam and Eve before the fall. We’re going ‘aaaaah!’ as they excitedly invent games around their mutual interest in weird shit.
The fact that Mark Duplass looks much less creepy in a beard – in fact he looks quite cute – doesn’t do any harm.
The fall, when it comes, isn’t particularly shocking or scary. As other reviewers have observed, Creep 2 has less horror in it than the first, and more character.
But what a wonderful film.
January 16, 2018
Title Fright 5: Angry ghosts
The latest Title Fright makes two classic Japanese horror films trade blows. Do you agree with me on who wins?
Title Fright 5: Ringu v Ju-on: The Grudge
The latest Title Fright makes two classic Japanese horror films trade blows. Do you agree with me on who wins?
