Mainlining Christmas

The fact there's a 1981 psychological horror movie written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Caine that you've probably never heard of basically tells you everything you need to know. To its credit, the movie explores some important themes: toxic masculinity, misogyny, abuse, and projection make up a substantial part of the narrative and even more of the subtext. Unfortunately, the film itself is almost shockingly boring, and character decisions undermine the twist to the point of nullification. The movie spends its runtime dangling the question, "How much of this is real?" without giving us a reason to care. By the time the ending reveals the truth (and the inevitable post-script slaps an obligatory question mark on that reveal) I was just grateful the whole thing was over. The premise, incidentally, centers around a comic writer (Jon, played by Michael Caine) who loses a hand in an automobile accident then comes to believe that hand has reanimated an...

Both of the following statements can be true: Silent Night, Deadly Night: Part 2 is a rushed, direct-to-video production that barely qualifies as an actual movie, and - based on what director Lee Harvey was working with - it's shocking it's not far worse. The original plan was to release recut footage from the first movie as a new movie in a bait-and-switch scheme to trick fans into handing over more money. And, to be clear, repackaged clips are still a significant part of the sequel, with most of the first half devoted to a series of flashbacks to famous scenes from part one. But the team making this managed to secure a modest budget and a rushed shooting schedule, and were able to cobble together something that could be reasonably called a movie. They deserve credit for that. Maybe a little more than that, too. While the movie isn't at all good, it contains sections and choices that are smarter - or at least more ethical - than you might expect, particularly when compare...

Well. That wasn't remotely what I was expecting. And, just so we're on the same page, that's a very good thing. I should probably get used to this subgenre (or in this case movies marketed within the subgenre) surprising me, particularly since I kind of predicted the turn said subgenre was due to take a few years ago. But, yeah, based on the initial teaser, I was ready to write this off as an overly-nostalgic homage to a horror film that I have... let's go with "mixed feelings" about. That's being generous, by the way - I didn't enjoy the 1984 film at all , though I see the appeal. There's some smart stuff going on in that movie if you can look past the misogynistic exploitation, the slow pacing, and the nihilistic cloud hanging over the whole thing. I certainly preferred the original to  the 2012 remake , which basically turned up the volume on everything distasteful about the original while dumbing down the premise and themes to the point there w...

Actually, you probably don't know what that means, at least as far as this site is concerned. Hell, I still don't entirely know what it means, and I'm writing this. Last year, it meant a Christmas horror movie a day, every day, for the entire month of October, followed by daily holiday movies through November and December. Let's just rip the band aid off now and make it clear that isn't happening this year. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say my free time has been largely taken up by other commitments in 2026, leaving me with a fraction of the time I'd require to watch and review 90+ movies. What fraction? About half. Maybe a little more, depending on how things go between now and December 25th. But daily updates starting on October 1st are right out. That said, I don't want to throw out all the changes we made last year. Spreading these out meant fewer reviews got lost in the commotion, and I think there's something to the "Ch...

As is customary in these situations, I'll start by stating the obvious: One Battle After Another is a movie with Christmas-related elements, but it's not something I'd describe as a Christmas movie. The elements in question are interesting, unusual, and initially confusing, as is the movie itself. To a degree, I think that's intentional - One Battle After Another exists in a world similar to ours but more exaggerated, one where both the right and left sides of the political spectrum are sort of caricatures of their real-life counterparts, as imagined by their opponents. Or at least I think that's what Paul Thomas Anderson intended while writing and directing the film, only reality sort of intervened in ways that leave you feeling as though his movie wasn't just set in a different universe but was imported from one, as well. The revolutionaries of the film are essentially the lawless renegades described by Fox News when they warn their viewers about armed Antifa ...

I remember watching this anthology at least a few times back in the '90s - while it didn't have much of a theatrical run, it was weird enough to be a popular VHS rental (at least in circles I hung out with) back when that was a thing. The gimmick here is the movie tells four stories, one after the other, about four bizarre experiences a new bellhop has on New Year's Eve, with each of the four stories set in separate rooms and written and directed by different filmmakers: Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. The two names in that list you recognize are the two whose segments work, though it's not at all clear which way the causal relationship goes there. Apparently there were some major cuts required by the producer, and those came from Anders's and Rockwell's segments (the "producer" in question was Harvey Weinstein, in case you needed more reason to empathize with those directors). Since the uncut versions were ...