I watched this last night and couldnāt really decide what I thought about it. I love a good summer camp film, but then the young child peril was quite upsetting. But then the ending was ok. Veered all over the place from thinking it was crap to thinking it was deece. Still undecided. Did something a bit different at leastā¦
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Watched yesterday: The Devilās Game: The Sandman. This is the first episode of an Italian TV show from 1981. Each installment is a stand-alone adaptation of a 19th century fantasy/horror story, overseen by a different director, with this first episode featuring ETA Hoffmannās The Sandman. Itās been a while since I read the story, so I canāt say how close of an adaptation it is, but the show itself made for an engaging watch. The main plot here focuses on Nathaniel, a young scholar who becomes obsessed with a young woman who lives across the street from him. His obsession only increases once he meets her but itās obvious to everyone except Nathaniel that thereās something amiss with his new-found love. This was more or less total catnip for me: itās Italian, it features some beautiful location-based photography and itās got that unique look of TV from that period. Itās pretty talky so if youāre in the mood for something more action-based, this might not do it, but overall, I thought this was a promising start to the series. Next up is the reason that attracts most folk to this show, as it features the last directorial effort from Mario Bavaā¦
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Watched yesterday: Edge of the Knife. Wow, this was really, really good. This is a 2018 folk horror movie, the first film to ever be shot entirely in the Haida language, the Haida being the residents of Haida Gwaii, an area of islands in Canada. The backstory to the film is almost as interesting as the film itself: something I read mentioned that there are only around 24 fluent speakers of the language and that none of the main actors in the film spoke the language fluently before filming began! The film is set in the 19th century and recounts a classic Haida narrative detailing the story of a young man who is indirectly responsible for a tragic occurrence which will in turn see him lose himself in the woods as a gradual transformation takes him over. Philistine that I am, I figured this might not be horror enough for me going in. And sure enough, the early stages of the film do an excellent job of introducing the main characters and providing some insight into a culture that Iām not sure has ever been explored before in a narrative film. But of course, all this is exactly the kind of set up you want so that when the shit hits the fan, you really care for the folk involved. And when the horror arrives, damn, there are some truly nightmarish moments here. Highly recommended then, both as a unique attempt to preserve a language at risk of extinction and as a folk horror film that works simply because itās so well-made.
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Love it, let us know what you thinkā¦
The Ritual from 22025 is a proper stinker. I knew it would be bad but I thought a world post Popeās Exorcist with Al Pacino (!) and Dan Stevens, who has made some interesting stuff recently, would be at least entertaining. Nope. Properly dull, such a waste of time. Really oddly filmed with cameras almost like a mockmentary film crew
Frogs from 1972 on the other hand - what a blast. A young Sam Elliott surrounded by a family being destroyed by nature? Hook it to my veins. Oddly despite the name and the poster showing a frog eating a hand the frogs are pretty placid, its the other animals to look out for
Angel Dust - 90s Japanese one which is more of a serial killer investigation with some dark elements. All about the atmosphere here but its pretty good, if a little by the numbers
And I put in the other thread and its not horror but Megan 2.0 is a lot better than I had any expectations of
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Just finished. Itās not often that I read a review of something (in this case, yours) and immediately press play, but ^that had a lot that that Iām interested in. For background, two of my best mates are Cowichan and that First Nations connection to a pre European history of place and oral tradition is something that I constantly try to learn more about.
Anyway, film is great. Beautifully shot and makes full use of its location. Has genuinely funny bits and also genuinely horrifiying bits. Also, the language is absolutely incredible. Having seen it once. could quite happily watch it again without subtitles and just listen to the dialogue.
Thanks for the recommendation 
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So happy to hear this. I watched this with my son and weāve not stopped talking about it since. Think there are some videos on YouTube with the filmmakers if you want to learn more about it. And totally agreed about the language, just incredibleā¦
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A music thing in here?? What??
Death & Vanilla are doing a tour in October for their new score to Whistle and Iāll Come to You (1968), which was (sort of) the first of the BBCās Christmas ghost stories films.
I like them a lot anyway but the score is really cool, this should be a good spooky season thing.
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oh man i am so in for this. wonder if itāll be seated at moth club thoughā¦ terrible sight lines there
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There were quite a few details to Final Destination: Bloodlines I enjoyed, mostly the illegitimate son getting sucked into the MRI machine, not because it was part of Deathās plan but because people do just die..
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Bring Her Back was good. No real gimmick - you pretty much know whatās going on from the off, and it does stuff I normally find a bit tedious, but it does it all well, so it was a good time. All the acting was very good too, especially the foster Ma. Good good good.
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Yeah really liked Bring Her Back. Not sure it quite lands the ending and theres a lot to the story which means some bits get lost but think its really good overall, better than Talk To Me. Two favourite bits - when a police officer asks to call an ambo at the end and finding out the main lads grandad in real life is Shakin Stevens
The Sacred Sun - pretty good folk horror/creature film. A pastorās daughter is shunned by a community after the death of her husband, releasing a beast in the woods at the same time. I find most folk horror to be about atmosphere aka nothing happens, but in 80 minutes this packs quite a bit in and is a nicely tight bit of horror, some good grisly bits in it. The creature looks naff and Iāll probably forget Iāve seen it in a year but it passed the time well
Think Iāve talked about this film in here before but I had another watch this week and it stands up really well.
Any idea what itās English language title is?
Iāve seen it called Trance or just The Fan. Found it on YouTube, looks to be in full
I was actually joking but then it does actually have two different English titles 
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Thought bring her back was a great flick.
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I finally got to watch Dead Mail the other night, I quite liked it too. Low budget but inventive with shots giving a surreal view that never ruins itās vintage setting. I liked the story, characters and the presentation. Nothing ground breaking but still entertaining, worth a watch imo and looking forward to what Joe & Kyle do next, actually might try their other film BAB since itās free with ads.
Better than Last Straw Iād say, it only really skips time once and itās pretty obvious whatās going on.
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