Skinamarink (2022)

This movie has been living rent free in my head for a while, and there it will probably stay for years. Shuttered, elusive, suffocating, and a royal mind f*ck - this film is not for everyone. 

Let's check out:

Skinamarink

Let me start off by saying this is not a movie you *watch*, it's a movie you experience. This is very important. 

Best as I can tell, a young sister and brother are left alone (seemingly) in a house that slowly begins to trap them in an endless, windowless, light-less, and parent-less home. They take care of each other and their loneliness by watching cartoons and playing with toys in the living room - all while a *creature* lurks in the darkness, trying to separate and further isolate the naive and abandoned siblings. 

This was a rough film. It conjures scary memories of childhood - which, even in the best settings - can be a frightening place.

There are debates online about what this film is really about. Is it about child abuse? Abandonment? Parental neglect through drug and alcohol abuse? There's also talk about perhaps this entire story is regarding head trauma, lost time, comas, or a dream/nightmare. The writer and director is mum on the topic, and rightfully so. Again this film is about experience and that experience is specific to the viewer.  

Personally, I wanted to cry while being terrified and desperately searching for things in the darkness. 

There's not enough money in the world to be a child again. Hell no. This incredibly unique film honestly taps into the fear and vulnerability of children. A very delicate topic that was expertly executed with care and heart.  

This is 100%, absolutely, not a film for everyone. Are you an art house cinephile? Come on in - the water is fine! There is a lot to talk about with this one. 

And that's about it. I felt like I was in a late night edgy art show in a really sketchy part of town, and I could only experience what the paintings and sculptures were trying to convey by seeing the art work through the entire experience of the venue and other people. 

Pairs with food you would make as an 8 year old. Best watched alone or with just a few people who you can periodically converse with when a epiphany hits. 

Good luck.

I watched this film on Shudder or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this truly unsettling feature. 

The Day of the Locust (1975)

Somewhere in the back of my brain, I knew this movie was originally a book. I'm not so sure I have the courage to read it though after this viewing experience. Let's check out the classic story:

The Day Of The Locust

Oh god. 

I really had no idea what I was getting into with this one. But based on what little information I did take a peek at, I was pretty confident that I was going to get sucked down some sort of David Lynchian madness, mixed with a healthy dose of emotional chaos, and a hearty meal of existential dread. 

Guess what?

I Was Right!

I'm never fully prepared for these experiences, however. This one is no exception. 

Opening with an eerily familiar Mulholland Drive vibe, where folks are arriving to LA to find their fame, we are greeted with a cast of characters that only rivals the cast of characters I have an uncanny knack to find when I leave my house. This is all to say: very interesting, curiously comedic, and often tragic. 

It's 1930's Hollywood and the hustle for the lime light is real. "Spoiler alert" but to no one's surprise - things don't go well for our little cast of characters...

This entire film is chaos, heartbreak, the celebration and horror of our collective delusions about life/ourselves/our dreams, and rubbernecking consumption of our failures. A real charmer, this film.

I was quite impressed with the tiny little nods to prior LA tragedies, legends, etc. For example, when some of the folks take a tour by the Hollywood sign, the tour guide talks about a woman who jumped to her death from the sign. I knew immediately they were talking about the tragic case of Peg. Entwistle. 

And when they went to a church sermon - as soon as the woman started shouting and preaching from the stage, asking for money - they were in the company of the controversial (and in my opinion, cult leader) Sister Aimee.

Countless other Easter eggs too, no doubt, but I didn't catch all of them. There is A Lot going on in this stylish, memorizing, and fantastically well made film. 

While this film is bleak, odd, morbidly funny, and just downright shocking in many ways, what really gave me chills was realizing what happened to the author of this story. Nathanael West, while not well known at the time, produced profound works observing our absurd life landscapes. Particularly the shadows of tinsel town. Arguably, a poet for piercing social commentary.

So yeah, while the entire film (which doesn't *exactly* have a plot) gave me chills, it's knowing that this author - who was friends with F. Scott Fitzgerald (there's an irony there I can't quite place) - when he got word of Fitzgerald's sudden death, him and his wife raced in their car back to LA from Mexico for his funeral. 

And it's on that trip where both passed away in a car accident. One day after Fitzgerald's death. This news gave me quite a shiver down the spine. 

Okay, to wrap up, if the chaos and horror of the ending of the film mother! gave you all the nightmares then tread carefully with the ending of this film. It's.... something else. It took me all the way to the end of this movie to realize what this film was actually about, though....

So there you have it, folks. Best watched with your most unstable friend. Pairs with alcohol, ice cream, a really fancy charcuterie board.  (preferably with flies buzzing around).

I rented this film from Scarecrow Video or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this film that will absolutely haunt my head for the rest of my days.

The Unknown (1927)

Back in the days when streaming services weren't really a thing and I was getting Netflix in the mail, I used to go the library and rent a ton of films. For a couple of years I was primarily checking out silent films. 

I love silent films. I'm on death's doorstep laughing at some of these silent films (this does not even include Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton works!). One of my favorites is a story about suburb life - in the 1910's!!!! I was on THE FLOOR. DECEASED WITH LAUGHTER. 

Good stuff. 

You know what else is good stuff? Silent Horror Films. Let's check out:

The Unknown

Okay, so this title is not great. In fact, I still don't know what this title is trying to do, but it stars Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, and is directed by Tod Browning so you know it's going to be f*cking STELLAR.

Here we have the story about some theatrical/circus/side show performers. And one of them is fixated on a woman in the troupe. You all know this won't go well...

The creep performer in question is of course Lon Chaney, and he performs as an arm-less man and I can GUARANTEE YOU, you are not prepared for what he can do with his feet sans hands. No one is ready for this.

NO ONE

I wouldn't be surprised if there were folks on set that weren't okay for several days after working with him. 

Joan Crawford isn't fazed in the slighted, of course. 

This seems to be a film that hides in the corners of silent cinema history. Or maybe I'm surprisingly new, considering my years of silent film study. It's phenomenal. Personally, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and gasped several times. I don't know what it is about spectacular silent films but they take *my breath away*. 

In all, this is a story about a man who becomes fixated on a woman and that woman is not fixated in the same way in return. Oh, did I mention he's a serial killer and the police are after him because he has three thumbs and finger prints were becoming a big thing. 

Wildly ahead of it's time and performed with a precision I can only imagine - this film is excellent. 

If silent films are new to you then I highly recommend taking a deep dive. In fact, as I'm typing this, I just let the silent films continue and I currently have "It" - the original 1927 film - playing in the background.  Fantastic.

Best watched with Wine. Lots of it. 

I watched this film on Tubi or use the Find It! Watch It! links on Horror Habit's side bar to see where else you can find this treasure of a feature.