two evil eyes image of the dead wife and the zombie cat

Hooptober 11.0 – Two Evil Eyes (1990)

Being Film #1 for Hooptober 2024

Despite having worked together on Dawn Of The Dead, it still feels a little odd putting George A. Romero and Dario Argento together on a film. Those are two styles and aesthetics that just don’t taste right bumped up against each other. That would imply Two Evil Eyes, their mini anthology (does it even count as an anthology if there are only two stories?) doesn’t work. Each filmmaker brings their unique vision to these adaptations or inspirations of Poe, and if it’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, it has its moments of gore and fun.

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Hooptober 10.0 – Raising Cain (1992)

Being Film #30 for Hooptober 2023

Oh, Brian De Palma. You are a master craftsman, and you wear your quirks on your sleeves. Raising Cain features aggressive sex, men dressing as women (although this time not nearly as problematic as Dressed to Kill, although who am I to judge?), heightened scores and your signature split diopter shots, fish-eyed lenses and a truly bugnuts performance from John Lithgow. Sure, your plot is almost cartoonishly ridiculous, but you execute it with such a sense of style I really can’t complain.

What more can I possibly want from you?

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Hooptober 10.0 – Candyman (1992)

Being Film #25 for Hooptober 2023

Sometimes context is everything. On its own I’ve always liked and admired Candyman, Bernard Rose’s adaptation of Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden” but watching it right after The People Under the Stairs I’m even more impressed. Here is a film that looks at the disparity between the haves and the have nots, the extent of white privilege and appropriation but doesn’t hit you over the head with it. Instead it all creeps out in the action and events that pry back the lid of urban legends to reveal a terrifying entity feeding off the cries and whispers and rumors emanating from the very people caught at the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

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Hooptober 10.0 – The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Being Film #24 for Hooptober 2023

Nightmare on Elm Street may have the dream logic and evil supernatural beings; The Serpent and the Rainbow may have actual magic in the shape of its depiction of voodoo, and yet it’s the very real (to a point) horror and journey of its lead that makes Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs the most fantasy-driven of the man’s work. I’m not prepared to make the case it’s Craven’s best film (that still goes to the original Elm Street for me), but underneath some of its dated jokes and mugging is a wicked satire of the 1% and the struggles of the beaten people under their boot. Plus the man still knows how to frame an indelible image: I’ll never look at an ajar cabinet door the same way again.

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Hooptober X #2: The Mangler

The Mangler represents a rare meeting of three horror icons; director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist), actor Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street), and Stephen King (the most commercially successful horror writer of all time). It’s the not the first time any of these people connected with each other. Hooper directed the tv mini-series adaptation King’s classic … Continue reading Hooptober X #2: The Mangler

Lost in the Mail: Jon’s 2022 Sight And Sound Ballot

When it comes to compiling “Best _ of All Time” lists, I generally find the process more interesting than the final lists themselves. For me personally, I obsess for hours over the internal debates and criteria which only make sense to me. Once those decisions are made, all that is left to do is record it somewhere and throw it into the void of whoever reads it. For the Sight and Sound list, I find it fascinating how the simple passage of ten years along with structural changes result in movies being added, removed, or changed in ranking. Do I have a lot invested in how any particular movie is ranked on the Sight and Sound list? Aside from Seventh Seal, no. Do I think it’s cool that recent movies like Portrait of a Lady on Fire or Moonlight got onto the list? Absolutely. I’ll be absolutely curious how those movies mature in stature for the 2032 list. That’s why I mostly don’t get too hung up on particular rankings, because these “Best _ of All Time” lists don’t establish some kind of eternal metaphysical truth, but ironically mark a very specific moment in time for the people involved.

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