Suck (2009)

Tis the holiday season still! Time to say thanks and give.

I'd like to say thank you, personal music collection, for being so bad ass. In honor of being so bad ass, I'm going to make a mixed CD and give it as gifts to all my loved ones. Sharing my bad ass music collection makes me feel good because my loved ones love the CDs and I enjoy knowing I have such a bad ass collection.

Which brings me to tonight's movie.

If you love music - and I mean good music not crap - the really sexy cool music, like everything in my collection, then you'll love this movie.

Netflix has been yelling at me to watch this film for a long time and for some reason it has taken me a very long time to warm up to it. It takes me a while to warm up to vampire flicks period. Perhaps I'm a little burned out, or perhaps they are a little over played, but ultimately I feel vampire movies seem a fang too easy to make for me to find instantly intriguing.

NOT SUCK, as it turns out.

Partly because the music is awesome. If you enjoy music by Catherine Wheel, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, and Swervedriver then you know what I'm talking about here.

I almost threw this one into the Happy Horror category but decided against it because the undertone of the film is no laughing matter. Sure sure, this comedy vampire movie is about a band trying to make it and ultimately do because they become cool: with their addiction. 

It's their addiction that grabbed me pretty hard. Although it's about blood in the film, the undertones parallel anyone, especially band members who, as they become more popular, are increasingly exposed to a dark and seedy world of drugs, etc. That stuff is not funny, but Suck sure made a fine dark comedy about it.

Which makes the music stars that appear in the film all that more intriguing. For instance, Iggy Pop (my birthday buddy), who is surprising alright after his decades of abuse is actually the words of wisdom for the band and tries to get them to kick their habit. While Alice Cooper, a staunch anti drug and alcohol advocate in real life, is the pusher man in this film.

This is a fun film and a good one for those that don't like Ultimate Horror films. It's smart, pretty, sexy, and fun. A great Saturday night flick. I'm adding to the favorites list because of the music and creativity.

Suggested pairing. Red wine and your favorite play list.

Santa Sangre (1989)

Happy Holidays everyone! In honor of this festive season I've decided to watch a horror movie with the word 'Santa' in the title!

Actually - it's taken me about three years to get through Santa Sangre.

I'd start it and then six to eight months later I'd watch a little more but have to stop because all of the crazy - brain could not take all of the crazy - then pick it up again only to be defeated by the crazy for another six to eight months.

Santa Sangre is completely and totally insane. 

Like, if Carrie's mother and Norman's mother got together for a three month binge on PCP all the while their children were their disguised dealers insane.

This film is very disturbing, but it takes a while to realize how disturbing it is because the film moves so erratically and over-the-top. There is blood and feathers everywhere,  including an elephant with blood shooting out of it's trunk. Circus performers EVERYWHERE (note, there are many clowns....many many clowns). I'm going to just give you a moment to soak up this visual so far.

....

Okay, moving on. Religions, sex, prostitution, child abuse, and infidelity play a huge role too. And it gets worse! Once you realize what's going on, for instance when you realize how connected the son is to his neurotic mother, your skin crawls and you just want the ride to stop. This is why it took me so long to get through this epic film. It was too dark, insane, and disturbing for me to watch in one seating.

That said, I'm glad I finally got through it. This is an incredible film and deserves the praise it has received. I don't think I'll watch it again though. Once is enough.

Now, to top this whole experience off, read this IMDB Message Board post titled: "NOT A FILM ABOUT SANTA!!". To quote the user:

 "I took my kids to see this film last night as they are still young enough to believe in Santa Claus. I didn't get it though; this film has got nothing to do with Santa? I demanded my money back but didn't get it because we had sat there for too long (waiting). My kids were really upset. I can't believe someone would want to mislead us like that! It makes me really angry."

 Ohhhhh hooo hoo, ahhh HA HAHAHAHA. Ah. Thank you, erlendsp. Thank you for that, I really needed some dark comic relief after watching and writing about Santa Sangre. Going to cry as I laugh now.

Off to watch happy things for a while. Happy Holidays!