(tubi/YouTube)? Bonkers Canadian nightmare fuel for pre-teens that’s surreally entertaining for adults. Best if you go in blind, but if you must watch the trailer, it paints the film (well, TV film) as something simple and naive, but no, it is not that. Not that at all.
Horror
ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1989)
(AMC+/hoopla/Hulu/Prime/Shudder/tubi) Combining Elvira’s vaudeville MC schtick with a John Waters-type of cultural/sexual norms disruption was goddamn inspired. Yes, the male gaze interrupts the film’s flow every two minutes, but the self-aware winks and Elvira’s personal agency (mostly) subverts it. (I wish there was a better trailer for the film than this one.)
Also highly recommended: THE ELVIRA SHOW, which never made it further than the pilot.
Feels like THE GARRY SHANDLING SHOW but with Elvira. What more could you want?
LITTLE JOE (2019)
(Hulu/VOD) A film about airborne pathogens that alter your brain might be a tasteless viewing choice right now, but LITTLE JOE is a sleek, patient take on THE BODY SNATCHERS, despite a surprisingly overbearing score that would feel more at home in Bryan Fuller’s HANNIBAL than a film about malicious flowers.
THE CLEANSE (2016)
(VOD) A surprisingly thoughtful take on the ‘things aren’t what they seem like at this therapeutic retreat’ horror film, always managing to zig when you think it’ll zag. I identified with the leads far more than I’d like to admit. While there’s a link to the trailer below, I recommend going into the film blind.
STARFISH (2019)
I’ve been watching STARFISH (2019, AMC+/fubu/VOD) in intervals over the past week; it’s visually intense, with a haunting soundtrack, yet still hard to grasp. Has a melancholy that’s like catnip to me, and so goddamn relevant right now. “I wonder if the world still exists if I choose to ignore it.”
LIKE ME (2018)
(AMC+/kanopy/Shudder) Far more intriguing than the description — ‘A reckless loner sets out on a crime spree that she broadcasts on social media.’ — makes it to be. Visually inventive, and it’s nice to see Fessenden in a meaty role again.
WOUNDS (2019)
(Hulu/VOD) Tepid relationship drama disguised as horror. Perfect role for Armie Hammer, though.