We watched Wolf Man last night. It was ok. Julia Garner helped.
Still think the transformation scene in AWIL was better.
The Ugly Stepsister (2025) - dir. Emilie Blichfeldt
In the late 1800’s in Scandinavia, Elvira’s mother marries an old man for his money, but when he dies on their wedding night, it’s discovered he had married her for HER money. No one has any. So it falls to the braces-wearing, mousey girl to try and snag Prince Julian as a husband and save the family from destitution. To do so, her mother will subject Elvira to all manner of abuse, from withering critiques all the way to primitive cosmetic surgery, such as rhinoplasty performed with a chisel and without the benefit of anesthesia.
Mining much of the same thematic ground as last year’s The Substance, Blichfeldt looks at societal female beauty standards through a body-horror lens, and gives us the goriest possible version of the original rather violent Cinderella tale, from the point of view of the stepsister (obv). If you know it, you’ll know what’s eventually coming here. If not, I won’t spoil it, though it won’t be hard to guess.
Elvira goes through ever more gruesome steps in an attempt to outshine her beautiful stepsister, please her mother, and fulfill what she sees as her only useful role, eventually losing sight of any sanity, culminating in a squirm-inducing final sequence. While not on The Substance’s level of grand guignol camp, it’s still an effective set piece.
But, that’s somewhat part of the problem. It’s not Blichfeldt’s fault that this quite stylish and very well made period horror piece just happens to be treading similar ground as one of the most visually arresting and, frankly, ballsy films of the last 15 years. It’s not her fault that ‘dark reimaginings of classic fairy tales’ as a category has been overrun by low effort cash grabs like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. This is neither low effort nor a meaningless search for profits. It’s just picked about the worst possible moment for a film with this particular take on this particular subject matter. It can only suffer by comparison to a superior (but markedly different) effort, or be dragged down by poor company.
It’a currently in limited release. It MIGHT be playing near you. If not, no worries. It’s a Shudder/IFC co-production, so it should hit streaming relatively soon.
This is quite a good film. Just not remotely a great one. It seems churlish to hold that against it.
3/5 examples of corsets being the LEAST ridiculous thing women have endured in the pursuit of financial stability.
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We started watching Dead Mail based on your recommendation, but maybe we weren’t feeling “artsy” enough for it. Might continue watching at a later point.
Instead, a dumb popcorn movie, Elevation about post-apocalyptic “monsters” was entertaining enough for a hump day. That said, you def do not have to see this.
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Finished up first season of Ludwig on BritBox. Excellent show and I love David Mitchell of peep show fame. New episode of the Studio and need to catch up on the Residence which is getting a bit bogged down (imo).
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We greatly enjoyed Ludwig. Almost forgot about The Studio, so thanks for the reminder!
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North of North is a delight (easygoing, sweet, single-camera comedy). I highly recommend. Also, it’s produced in part by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril who made the excellent documentary, Angry Inuk (2017).
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Peep Show and Ambassadors too, which I just started. Great cast, tongue in cheek.
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Check out Back also. David M and Robert Webb together for another great show.
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Any Mitchell and Webb collaboration is automatically worth viewing. Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look are genius.
Sir Digby Chicken Ceasar and Numberwang are frequent references here at Yoyodyne Propulsion.
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Check out Back. They play their kind of baked in characters (responsible guy and irresponsible guy) but it’s very enjoyable.
Last night was the opening of the 3rd annual Sacramento Midnight Film Festival (with zero midnight showings for the third straight year!)
OBEX (2025) - dir. Albert Birney
In yet another period recreation, OBEX is set in 1987 Baltimore,in the midst of a cicada brood emergence. Colin is a shut in. His only social contact is a brief conversation through the door with the girl who delivers his groceries. His job is creating ASCII reproductions of photographs by typing them in by hand and printing them on a dot matrix printer. He gets his commissions via mailed in responses to his ad in Personal Computer magazine. One day, he sends away for a new computer game, “OBEX”, that promises to put him “into the game.” One can imagine what follows.
The film is a black and white love letter to retro tech and gaming, and convincingly gets the aesthetic of both the tech and the games themselves more or less correct, though if you were actually around then and involved in the personal computer scene, you might find some quibbles. Birney is aiming for least some of that Lynch-ian “questionable reality” quality, and he occasionally succeeds. The film is ultimately very sweet, with a gooey center beneath any surface level menace. Even at 90 minutes, it seems to take its time getting moving, and drags towards the end. But the charming chiptune score and earnestness carry things along, even if the plot ultimately feels a bit derivative.
2.5/5 villagers pointing the way to the castle
She Loved Blossoms More (2024) - dir. Yannis Veslemes
In Athens, three brothers are experimenting with a dimensional travel box they’ve constructed from their mother’s wardrobe. In this way, they believe that they’ll be able to bring back their mother, who has apparently died years before.
And that’s really the only bit of plot that makes any sense. She Loved Blossoms More is a surrealist horror meditation on grief, and not so much a narrative as an eighty six minute vibe. We get some astonishing images courtesy of some truly jaw dropping practical effects. It leans towards body horror, but isn’t really treading on Cronenbergian ground, or even the more medical version in The Ugly Stepsister. Rather, it evokes the hyperweirdness of Clive Barker, but without all the oozy sexuality or S&M overtones.
Part of the Greek “Weird Wave” that includes folks like Yorgos Lanthimos or Panos Comatos, Veslemes proves himself a member of the club in good standing. If you tend toward the expeimental, and have on hand the mind-altering substance of your choice, if you do that sort of thing, then I can say this will be worth a look when it inevitably lands on streaming somewhere. It’s hazy and almost as impenetrable as Peter Greenaway in his more-is-not-enough excessive stage. But let go and drift along with it, with the occasional class 5 rapids, and it’s quite the trip.
2.5/5 chickens with dimensional portals for heads. It makes sense in the film. Kinda.
2 more tomorrow!
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We watched Seasons 1 and 2 of the Australian Mystery Road. We enjoyed it.
Aaron Pederson is fantastic actor.
That’s because the older we get, the earlier it gets late!
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These Mitchell & Webb references still leave us laughing!
Night 2 of the Sac. Midnight Film Fest, and two excellent selections:
40 Acres (2024) - dir. R. T. Thorne
Danielle Deadwyler (Woman in the Yard) plays Hailey Freeman, a former Canadian soldier. 14 years ago a fungal infection wiped out 98% of the animal biosphere. Food riots and shortages have lead to societal collapse. Now Hailey, her husband, and children stay on their farm, loosely (and very cautiously) networking with other local farms to survive, and ruthlessly killing any intruders. There’s good reason for that. The countryside is full of raiders and militias, looking to take anything they can, and willing to use any captives as a food source. When a roving gang of these cannibals threatens their home, a whole lot of violence ensues.
While it lacks the budget and flashiness of Sinners, 40 Acres manages to pull of a similar trick. Namely, it’s a terrifically entertaining action film and can be enjoyed completely on that level. It’s a grand time. But if you care for a little more depth to the story, it’s all right there. The kids are reading books about class struggle. Hailey has clearly brought back her own trauma from her military service. And, not for nothing, the raiders are almost all male, and almost all White, compared to Hailey’s Blackness and her husband’s First Nation-ness. The politics here aren’t subtle. But that’s fine. Should you wish, you can ignore them entirely. But doing so will mean you miss out on some interesting and poignant messages. It’s a terrific example of a tight script, solid direction, and a talented cast not letting budget get in the way of a high level of execution. It’s been picked up for distribution and should receive a limited theatrical run later this year. Watch for it.
4/5 crack shot 14 year olds.
Conjuring Tapes - dir. Rob Livings, Randy Nundlall Jr.
This is a found footage horror anthology put together by a local Sacramento filmmaker, Rob Living. His previous efforts include The Christmas Tapes and Infraredtwo other low budget found footage style films. There are a number of segments with a wraparound story, the gimmick being they all the segments star the same two always actresses. The segments themselves range from pretty good to quite good indeed, and things move along quickly.
It’s currently available on Prime Video for rental or purchase.
3/5 old combo tv/vcrs.
Disclosure: Rob runs a monthly ‘trash tapes’ screening where he shows old terrible VHS movies, and I know him through that. But I really did enjoy this.
Two more tonight, and three Sunday.
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I binge watched this in its entirety yesterday evening. The 3 young leads are excellent. Highly recommended.
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We watched Last Breath with good ole Woody Harrelson last night, about a deep sea diver left behind and his retrieval. Plot would’ve been unbelievable if it weren’t based on a true story. Fun, and only 1.5 hr long. My kind of movie 
Then we watched It Feeds, a reasonably scary horror flick that got worse as it developed. Still, two jump scares made me scream in a way that sent our chonkster flying off his chair.
Not all bad, then 
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The first slot at night 3 of the Sac. Midnight Film Fest was the Short Animation Program, a selection of eight animated films in a variety of styles, from CG to traditional stop motion, all ranging from “decent” to “excellent.” I particularly liked La Bête, an odd little tale of a creature creating a circus from trash.
But on to the feature presentation:
The Severed Sun (2024) - dir. Dean Puckett
Off in the English countryside in some nebulous (possibly post apocalyptic?) time, Margaret, aka “Magpie”, is daughter of the leader of a cultish, close knit puritanical community. After poisoning and killing her abusive husband, she is accused of “fornicating with devils.” Further conflicts follow.
A classic folk-horror set up, The Severed Sun is very stylish and extremely well paced, taking a slightly different path through familiar narrative ground, including a very “which is the greater evil?” attitude towards purely human maliciousness versus actual spiritual/supernatural evil as an elemental force. It’s full of excellent performances throughout and a couple of really tense and frightening scenes. I was particularly impressed with the momentum of the film. It’s quite quick out of the gate and never really lets up for its runtime. Where this might be exhausting in another film, it’s only quick relative to generally slow-burn pace of other folk horror staples, bringing an uncommon urgency and tension to things.
4/5 zealous hypocrites
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That sounds intriguing. Looks like it’s “coming soon” to a streaming service.
I have been quite happy (read: hooked) binging on foreign series available on PBS Passport. (Free access if you are a PBS donor at any level.) Spanish, Danish, German, French so far. Multiple seasons allow character and plot development, plus locations are stunning. Captioned of course but soon you don’t notice.
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