Best Horror of 2017

I have a vision of now-me shaking my head at Xmas 2016-me when I was saying we were glad to see the end of that year, as if to say wait until you see the garbage pile that was 2017. Not for me personally of course for despite a hiccup in the summer, my year was decent. I premiered a new short at Toronto After Dark, finally got my foot in the door at Rue Morgue and picked up a new (now my fourth) programming gig - but more on that later.

In between all that I saw some movies. Here below are the five standouts.

The Shape of Water

Canada/USA, Dir: Guillermo del Toro

Though I suppose not technically horror, this was my favourite film this year period so I'm putting it front & center. I've said it many times before, but this movie is magical. I feel this is the unabated vision that del Toro has been leading up to his entire career. And it's timely. We needed this film. In late 2001, Amelie was released right when it felt the world was fractured beyond repair. The Shape of Water possesses that kind of whimsical healing power. Maybe I'm being melodramatic, but after months of being hoofed in the crotch every time I opened my social media feeds, del Toro's opus reminded me how much cinema can shine against the darkness.

Get Out

USA, Dir: Jordan Peele

And speaking of important films, there is Peele's masterful debut. Get Out is one of those rare pieces that continues to reveal hidden layers upon repeated viewings, even just the small things like the separation of milk & cereal and how the protagonist literally picks cotton to save himself. The horror genre turned a corner when revolutionaries like Romero, Craven and Hooper used the forum for social commentary and this practice still continues to be as powerful as it ever was. However, it goes even deeper than that, as Peele has a true command of the visual and audio aspects of the medium, as well. This film is a triumph.

Gerald's Game

USA, Dir: Mike Flanagan

In a year that saw many Stephen King works brought to the large and small screens - with mixed results - this was the cream of the crop. Long considered unfilmable, Flanagan did the impossible by not only doing it, but doing it well. I still maintain that this is the purest King adaptation to date. Brilliantly skirting the issues that long stymied its production, Flanagan hired two of the best character actors working today (Carla Gugino & Bruce Greenwood) and let them do their thing. I think it is now safe to say that Flanagan is the most consistent journeyman working in the genre today.

Split

USA, Dir: M. Night Shyamalan

No one is surprised more than me that M. Night made my list this year. Not only did he serve up a solid thriller with terrific performances by James McAvoy & Anya Taylor-Joy, he also managed to drop one hell of a bombshell at the eleventh hour. It's amazing to me that he was able to erase his erroneous past by just connecting Split with 2000's Unbreakable. It was like I entered an alternate universe where everything from the last act of Signs onwards never existed. Superhero cinematic universes are chock-a-block now, but it can be argued that M. Night was one of the first to attempt it.

Cold Hell

Germany, Dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky

The best film I saw at Fantasia this year, Cold Hell was a return to form from the director of Anatomy. With DNA that is the closest thing to a giallo I've seen in quite sometime, this film is bursting with kinetic energy that had me shadow boxing afterwards. I loved the character of Özge, deftly brought to life by Violetta Schurawlow, who despite constantly being in peril never let herself be a victim.

Honourable Mentions

It was a terrific year for Canadian genre film in 2017. At the top of the pile was Seth A. Smith's The Crescent with its quiet, creeping dread and experimental visual palette. I was also very entertained by the in-your-face excesses of Sebastien Landry & Laurence Morais-Lagace's Game of Death and... as I was typing this I realized that Graham Skipper's Sequence Break is not Canadian - I guess the Videodrome with arcade games angle had me thinking it was - but hell I really dug that one too.

As with 2016, there were a lot of good genre docs, as well. I saw a pair of great ones at Fantasia in King Cohen and 78/52, but my fave this year was Rob Grant's “faux” doc Fake Blood. I think frequent horror documentaries may be here to stay and that fills me with cheer.

Lastly, I just want to bang the drum for Issa López's Tigers Are Not Afraid. This is a stunning piece of work. I've seen it referred to as “the greatest film del Toro never made” and I can see that though I wager the feminine element is a large part of what makes this resonate as much as it does. After seeing The Shape of Water I thought to myself, “wow nothing is going to affect me emotionally as much as that did”. Then two months later I saw Tigers...

Now, for the chaff. I was fortunately much better at avoiding the garbage this year than I was last. However, that fucking Alien: Covenant, man... Life deserved much more praise over that, the characters were better, the effects were better and though they both had so-we-weren't-supposed-to-see-that-coming? endings, at least Life's was half as long. And it had one-hundred per cent less recorder.

Okay, that's it for features. I've decided that, since I've started seeing several hundred a year now, I'm going to do a short film wrap up so stay tuned for that tomorrow.

Merry Xmas!

Hello all. I just wanted to drop in and say Merry Christmas to you and yours.

I really have to give Riverdale credit for the genre reference two-fer in their last episode. They are truly shameless over there. That said, not having a new one to watch until January 18 fills my soul with sorrow.

Happy holidays everyone!

A Full Moon Christmas

In the interest of keeping things festive I checked out Full Moon’s 1994 joint Lurking Fear that just happens to take place during Christmas.

When a recently released convict (Blake Adams) attempts to recover money buried in a cemetery, he runs afoul of the evil creatures living underground. 

I’d never seen this one as it was released after I left my video store and lost touch with the admittedly diminishing returns of the Full Moon machine. However, on resident Laser Blaster Justin Decloux’s recommendation, I decided this was as good as time as any to give it a watch.

It turns out that C. Courtney Joyner’s Lurking Fear was not half bad. Full Moon’s formula for decades has been create a hook or creature and then build your movie around it, but surprisingly that wasn’t the case in Lurking Fear. While it’s true there were creatures, they really didn’t come into play until the third act so what the bulk of it was a crime film more akin to From Dusk Till Dawn, or 1992’s Trespass. I’m not saying this was anywhere near that caliber, but I appreciated the break from tradition.

And while the script was fairly anemic, the actors all brought a lot of personality that kept it from falling in on itself. In addition to genre favourites Jeffrey Combs (who drinks from a king-sized flask like a champ) and Ashley Laurence (inexplicably credited as Ashley Lauren, as perhaps Charles Band was too cheap to spring for the last two letters of her name), you also have the delightful Vincent Schiavelli as a shady undertaker. In the starring role was Adams whom I recall thinking “now that’s the face of a B-movie leading man” when he first came onscreen.

Ashley Laurence & Jeffrey Combs in Lurking Fear.

At a brisk seventy-five minutes, Lurking Fear gets in, gets out and leaves a good looking corpse. It doesn’t serve the H.P. Lovecraft source material as well as some of Band’s previous endeavours, but it was still an entertaining yarn.

I'm Into Survival.

Last Tuesday night, The Black Museum held its third debate, this one featuring a quartet of pairs arguing the Greatest Final Girl. It was a rather contentious affair that saw the closest contest yet.

This one was a little different for me, as two weeks out I became a part of it after debate regular Steve Kostanski had to drop out. This involved me doing a shit-ton of research and when the time came, I actually forgot to record the damn thing. So, alas I won’t have any quotes this time around, but I can still give you the gist of what went down.

This iteration of the Debate Club saw some more new faces in addition to my own. Here were the teams fighting for their chosen character's honour.

Returning champions Alison Lang (writer, Women With Guts) & Simon Borer (musician, Entire Cities) were Team Thomasin from 2015's The Witch.

I was partnered with Tal Zimmerman (filmmaker Why Horror?) as Team Sally from 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Joshua Cross (film programmer, Queer Fear) & Cameron Crookston (horror academic) made up Team Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Alicia Faucher & Larissa Thomas (co-creators, Allie & Lara Make a Horror Movie webseries) comprised Team Gale from the Scream series.

Left to right, Team Sally, Team Thomasin, Team Nancy & Team Gale.

Taking over judging duties from Stuart “Feedback” Andrews was another Rue Morgue alumni in Liisa Ladouceur. After some event housekeeping, the opening statements got underway.

Team Thomasin came out strong right of the gate. Due to their unorthodox choice, they had to immediately convince everyone that she was indeed a Final Girl. To do so, they went about listing all the ways she met the criteria laid out by the originator of the term Carol J. Clover. They then put forth the clever idea that Thomasin’s family in the film were the oppressors and the rejection of their puritanical ways was her particular triumph over adversity.

Thomasin from The Witch

Team Sally took a more literal approach. We had to lean on the fact that Sally was the pioneer and also cribbed passages from Clover’s tome to back up she was the truest definition of a Final Girl. Mainly we argued that Chainsaw was the most dramatically potent, and Sally endured the worst of all the characters being discussed.

Sally from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Team Nancy had the valid point that she actively fought back against Freddy. She pro-actively investigated and challenged him while her friends rejected or ignored that they were being stalked.

Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Team Gale took things up a notch with their presentation. Having baked cookies for everyone beforehand and streamed the event using a selfie-stick camera dubbed “Kenny”, these two took over the whole stage and posed that Gale's take charge attitude and willingness to run toward danger instead of away from it made her the best.

Gale from Scream.

After the video presentations (which gotta say wreaked havoc with my neck as it is a lot harder to watch them when you are actually onstage), Team Thomasin & Team Nancy led the way. Next came the rebuttals.

Having the least evolved Final Girl of the four, Team Sally knew we had to bring it here. Thankfully, we crushed it and made some headway. Again, a lot of it was adherence to the literal meaning of the term – two final girls in Scream, only one qualifying character in The Witch and the fact that Nancy ultimately dies disqualifies her etc – but Tal did slay with the crowd with a joke about Nancy being held back a few grades because canon tells us she was actually a nineteen-year-old high schooler.

The other teams all suitably shot down each other’s arguments, but fortunately the judge came down in favour of Team Sally this round. After the closing arguments, Team Thomasin & Team Nancy were still battling for the top.

Fortunately, there was trivia. Tal had won this round at the previous two debates and I fancy myself fairly knowledgeable so we racked up points here and again got within striking distance.

It all went to hell (for us) during the audience vote though when the crowd largely got behind Nancy & Thomasin. In the end, a tie-breaking lightning round was needed to declare a winner – Team Nancy!

Joshua and Cameron walked away with the coveted Golden Tentacle Trophy and in hindsight, Nancy does seem like the obvious choice. However, I was surprised by Team Thomasin’s game. I guess the fact that The Witch can be interpreted two completely different ways just speaks to how fantastic the film really is.

For me, it was a surreal experience for two reasons. First, I have seen perhaps hundreds of movies at The Royal Theatre, but looking out from, instead of looking at, the stage this time was a trip. I'm glad I had so many facts swirling around in my head that night to keep my anxiety from getting the better of me. Second, it's counter intuitive to argue against films that you adore. Four important titles representing four decades of horror were showcased that night and the debaters were constantly saying “I hate to say this because I love this movie, but…”

At the end of the day, it was fun. I got to re-watch some movies I cherish and also did a lot of book learnin’. I believe the Debate Club will be returning in the Spring and I’ll be there – in whatever capacity – for certain.

DKTM 359

Howdy all! I am breathing a big sigh of relief that this rammed schedule I've been experiencing for the last four months has finally opened up some. I can enjoy my holidays, play some video games and pretty much go full-on sloth until attacking 2018 anew.

Neon Dreams.

I just heard about this new game being developed by Storymind Entertainment out of the Ukraine called My Eyes On You. A third person action game, it follows FBI agent Jordan Adalien as he tries to track down a serial killer in Chicago.

I've been listening to synth-wave almost exclusively the last few months so I'm digging the look, but I wish the teaser showed off more of its game play mechanics. There is no release date as of yet, so plenty of time for that I suppose.

Holiday Cheer.

With one week left until Santa arrives, I suppose I should start getting into the Christmas spirit. For those of you who dread this time of you, I found a little short film for you by Matt Thiesen & Justin Lee entitled Humbug.

Dark Nat.

Here's my thought process that happened to me earlier today while on social media.

“Hmmm, don't know much about this Justice League Dark thing, but this Swamp Thing design looked cool, who els-- OHHHMYGODD”

She would've made a better Captain Marvel, but I'd take anything at this point.

Black Tuesday.

Tonight's the night! My compadre Tal & I will be participating in the latest Black Museum debate, arguing that Sally Hardesty is the Greatest Final Girl.

It should be a bloody affair and when the dust settles I will attempt to give you a blow-by-blow as impartially as possible -- no promises.

Wish me luck and I'll see you back here at the end of the week.

Girl #2

Toronto's Black Museum is having its latest event tomorrow featuring a heated debate about who is horror's greatest Final Girl. In a bizarre twist of fate (really it was just competitor Steve Kostanski got a gig) I have been called upon to fill in and fight for Team Sally.

Today though, I wanted to focus on horror females a tad more unsung. The Girl #2's -- the ladies that almost made it through their respective movies. Most characters in slasher flicks are just fodder, archetypal meat to up the body count, but sometimes there are ones that you are sad to see go.

Growing up, slashers were (still are to a certain extent) my bread and butter and with it being the home video era, I would often watch them several times. With some particular titles though, I'd wish scenes would somehow turn out differently. Maybe Brinke Stevens won't go back for her textbook this time in The Slumber Party Massacre. Or perhaps Lesleh Donaldson will decide to stay home at the beginning of Happy Birthday To Me. Insane I know, but those thoughts arise every time I re-watch those movies.

She seems like a nice kid. #ihatewhentheycallthemkids

They were unfortunately among the first to go in their respective movies, but the women below almost made it to the credits or some cases did, only to die in a subsequent sequel.

Phyllis from Black Christmas (Andrea Martin)

This film is arguably the first North American slasher and features some of the most well-drawn and fleshed out characters in horror. Phyl was a genuinely nice person. She was loyal and her concern for her friends is ultimately what led to her death when she went to check on Barb. I've always been glad her death was off-screen.

Marcia from The Initiation (Marilyn Kagan)

The Initiation still remains one of my favourite slashers. It puts you at ease to start with a first act feels more like Animal House featuring a bunch of likable goof-offs. Among them is Marcia, the stereotypical prude. However, it isn't until deep into the film you find out she was molested by her music teacher when she was young. It's a scene that catches you off guard, but always came off to me as sincere. Later, when she commits the mortal sin of sleeping with her best friend Ralph, she sadly becomes fair game to the genre Gods. The image of her being pulled back into that elevator is burned into my brain.

Kirby from Scream 4 (Hayden Panetierre)

There are several characters in the Scream franchise I didn't like to see get killed (Sarah Michelle Gellar in Part 2 and Parker Posey in Part 3 for instance), but Kirby is the one that irked me the most. She was genre savvy and did everything right, but her desire to help someone in distress was her downfall.

Violet from Friday the 13th Part 5 (Tiffany Helm)

Violet wasn't the last girl to die, nor was her character particularly established – I'm not even sure what she was doing at Pinehurst; she wore bracelets to cover up wrist wounds maybe? - but she was the one I lamented the most in that movie. Thinking on it, I'm sure that my late-eighties infatuation with Samantha Fox probably had something to do with me taking a shine to her.

Kristen from Nightmare on Elm Street 4 (Tuesday Knight)

Kristen was a great final girl who was unfortunately written out of the series. I was pretty smitten with Patricia Arquette's replacement though, again probably due to that aforementioned crush – I definitely had a type back then. When I recently re-watched the Nightmare movies all in a row I was glad to see the fourth part was just as good as I remembered.

Lastly, the Entire Halloween series.

I don't think there is any series that is as unforgiving as the Halloween franchise.

Though she was a jerk and often selfish I always, always hate seeing Annie (Nancy Loomis) die in that car. She reminds me of that friend you have when you are young who's a bad influence on you and inevitably lose touch with when you get older, but those times shared were some of the funnest ever.

Halloween 4 was a significant film in the series for me as it was the first one I was able to watch in the theatre. Rachel (Ellie Cornell) embodied all the best characteristics of the Final Girl which is why I was really put off by Part 5. The number of reasons that movie was shit are legion, but the way she was dispatched in that movie was so lame, it actually made me angry.

However, there is no greater offense than how the quintessential Final Girl of all time Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) gets unceremoniously killed off in Part 8. It was a big fuck you to the fans and I hope this new one coming in 2018 is first and foremost and apology for that abomination.

Ugh.

Whew, I wasn't actually expecting that piece to be so personal, but there you have it. I hope to see some of you at The Royal tomorrow for the debate. Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?