The Working Dead

If it weren’t for Sinners this would be my favorite film of the year. But only one movie gave me an out of body experience and I have to respect that.

Just saw this a couple months ago on a double bill with Bay of Blood. I’d never even heard of it and had so much fun. So many great faces in it. Definitely need to get the disc.

NIN tonight!!!!!!

Yeah they extended the tour and there’s no way we could pass on seeing them again. It was brilliant.

Closer seats this time, too.

“Piracy is the most effective form of artistic distribution these days. So be it.”

-Werner Herzog on NPR just now 🔥

It’s great, but I don’t love that the only Black actor to appear in the original run was only there to serve as an annoying hurdle for Cooper.

I checked out the DVDs from the library, I’m not sure what the availability is these days.

Use of job-stealing environment-destroying plagiarism machines.

On a personal note: I spent around $80 on a movie I will now never watch. And I’ll also not be giving any future attention to the British Horror Studio.

I’m not an idiot here, I know that the difficulties facing independent filmmakers are numerous and can be damn-near insurmountable, but I can’t help but feel this sort of corner-cutting is antithetical to the independent spirit.

Low budget indie films have been made for over 100 years without the

Attributing music arrangement, licensing, composition, etc with Church Films Post Productions Ltd.

Their website does not mention ai, but it also appears to not have been updated since 2019 so who knows.

Maybe the music was created by humans, but I have my doubts.

A little samey. So I flipped to the end credits. There are no musicians listed anywhere in the credits to this film, which has music under every second of what I saw.

There is a song with lyrics credited to the director, but you think someone would be credited with the music. There’s a credit

Searching. Come to find that last year on Patreon the director proudly announced his new AI studio that he would be using to create matte paintings and improvements without spending days on photoshop.

While i was reading the film was playing and I noticed the music, which was constant, seemed

The first clue was this slipcover, which I honestly didn’t even think about. But some of the inner artwork, and the disc itself, have the similar piss-tinged hue that sometimes denotes genAI.

I was getting a sinking feeling in my stomache.

Then I noticed some suspicious backgrounds, and started

A couple years ago I backed the revival, in the form of a new portmanteau film, of beloved Amicus Productions.

I’d been waiting to watch with friends. Today I got tired of waiting and put it on only to find… a bunch of GenAI bullshit.

A thread.

1/

#Filmsky #Horrorsky

Full disclosure: I googled the actress who plays Celia just to reassure myself she grew up and had a career and seems to be relatively well adjusted (you can never tell with actors).

But there’s also a bone-deep nervous ache to this film. It’s an artistic achievement worth witnessing, but not the greatest space to live in.

Gotta pick something cheerier for my next watch tonight.

4 out of 5

Yeah this is still terrific, still emotionally harrowing. The film is a brilliant depiction of the joy, magic, sadness and fear that comes with being a child. The performances are great and the vibes are immaculate.

1/

I saw them years ago but really liked them. They’re less comedic than the movies by far, more old-school pulp stuff. The 60s movies are clearly very Bond inspired but much sillier.

Poster for Celia. A young girl holding a rabbit and smiling. Behind her an arm with a clawed hand reaches out. The tagline says ‘a tale of innocence corrupted’

As I continue through the All The Haunts Be Ours boxset, I am #NowWatching Celia (1989).

I’ve seen this before, and may never watch it again. It’s a fantastic film but the lead actress is so heartbreaking in this. It fills me with a great sadness.

#Horrorsky #FilmSky #FolkHorror

A squirrel at my feet standing on its hind legs with arms outstretched begging for food.

In Santa Monica and this place is just overrun with guys begging for a handout. Disgraceful.

Letterboxd last four watched Fantomas Vs. Scotland Yard (3.5 out of 5) Fantomas Unleashed (3.5) The Cars That Ate Paris (2.5) The Secret Agent (4, but should be at least half a star higher)

Time for #LetterboxdFriday. Late again. #LastFourWatched

Finished out the 60s Fantomas trilogy, which were all good fun, rewatched Peter Weir’s debut feature, and need to increase my star rating for The Secret Agent, one of the best movies of this decade.

#Filmsky

Went with Spheeris because it’s a foregone conclusion they’ll cover Verhoeven at some point, just to close that circle.

The Crying Game, by Still Corners track by Still Corners

Dreampop band Still Corners did a great cover last year that I really like.

stillcorners.bandcamp.com/track/the-cr...

I only got through the first story but I’m liking it so far. The Phantasm films are such a janky, bizarre set of films it’s good to get more.

What is going on.

Paperback edition of Phiction propped on some bare branches.

Small job i went out on today turned out to be very small indeed, only one day. But it did give me an opportunity to crack open a new lunchtime book.

#NowReading Phiction, short stories from the Phantasm universe by Don Coscarelli, w/ an intro by @joerlansdale.bsky.social

#Horrorsky #Booksky

It’s the one unforgivable mistake they made in the first run; following James out of town for such a go-nowhere laughably thin story.

His recollections in that new Twin Peaks book are really interesting.

Having seen all of it so many times now, I think James (Marshall) is a pretty good actor who is fairly badly miscast. His moping looks silly and whiny but the moments he gets to lighten up a bit are all solid.

He’s the character I was really excited to see when the Return promo pics came out

Hot damn this was great! And, uh, a lot going on in it. I’ll definitely be revisiting this one to unpack all its secrets.

Plus!

Udo Kier, and a terrific use of Ennio Morricone’s Guerra e pace, pollo e brace on the soundtrack.

(Check comments the song rules)

#Filmsky