What I Watched in August 2025

The small town in which WEAPONS (2025) takes place seems easily recognizable as a typical American place. The streets, buildings and people all seem exactly like what we see every day from our front yards or sitting next to us in traffic. So, when the majority of a classroom of students disappears one night the panicked reactions and insane accusations slung about seem typically American as well. I’m old enough to remember the Satanic Panic of the 1980’s in this country when madder and madder ideas of hidden child abducting cults grabbing vulnerable kids off the streets became a cartoonish obsession. This film’s small town, confronted with missing children, turns on the teacher and the school lashing out ignorantly but in exactly the ways expected. Frustrated fear becomes anger directed at any target available and lives are ruined accordingly. In this case, some of the parent’s darkest fears are reality but the danger stems from a nesting evil that presents in a disarming fashion. The film is a brilliantly done, chilling look at dangers from within and how dark actions are always waiting for the right trigger. I can even see it making a sly commentary on the older generation leeching the youth to extend its own reach.

 

Weeks after seeing WEAPONS I can still not shake images from it. The Ring doorbell camera footage of children running away from home into the night; the look of anger on Josh Brolin’s face as he wrestles with the mystery; the shadow creeping up behind a sleeping Julia Garner to snip a lock of hair; the flashlight illuminated basement that holds some of the answers. Rarely has a modern horror film drawn me into its story so effectively and haunted my thoughts for so long after I left the theater. Writer/director Zach Cregger knows how to work his way under our skins and presents a vision of America trying to fight off evil it can’t understand. How very modern. 

The List

MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM (1944) – 6 (rewatch) 

QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC (1981) – 7 (Indonesian supernatural classic)

OPERATION FORTUNE: RUSE DE GUERRE (2023) – 8 (fun Guy Ritchie espionage)

THE WALKING DEAD (1936) – 8 (rewatch on Blu) 

ELI (2019) – 7 (that took an interesting turn) 

SWEATER GIRL (1942) – 6 (murder mystery musical) 

THE MONKEY (2025) – 9 

REDNECK MILLER (1976) – 6 (small regionally-made crime film)

WEAPONS (2025) – 9 

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (2022) – 8 (hilarious live-action cartoon)

ZENABEL (1969) – 4 (dull period soft-core comedy)

OPUS (2025) – 8 

ALLEY CAT (1984) – 4 (sloppy, low-budget revenge film)

GRAVEYARD DISTURBANCE (1987) – 7 (Lamberto Bava horror) 

LONGLEGS (2024) – 8 (rewatch)

THE MONKEY (2025) – 8 (rewatch)

MORBUS (1983) – 3 (Spanish mess with zombies, nudity galore and Victor Isreal!) 

DEATH OF A UNICORN (2025) – 5 (waste of a great cast) 

RELAY (2025) – 7 (well done thriller) 

ZORRO IN THE COURT OF ENGLAND (1969) – 6 (solid adventure - could have used more action)

THE OGRE (1989) – 6 (Lamberto Bava horror) (rewatch on Blu)

LUZ (2018) – 6 (interesting take on possession and desire) 

THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944) – 7 (rewatch on Blu) 

The Bloody Pit #146 - BEYOND DARKNESS (1990)

John Hudson and Bobby Hazzard join me to discuss our first Filmirage production and, of course, it’s a horror film.

BEYOND DARKNESS (1990) was directed by the man responsible for the astonishing TROLL 2, Claudio Fragrasso. That should let you know what kind of ride the movie will provide but it might not prepare you for the sheer madness. Consisting of ideas, characters and entire sequences cobbled together from at least six earlier films BEYOND DARKNESS serves up a low budget variation on the haunted house concept that must be seen to be believed. A Catholic priest and his family (!?) move into a home in his new Louisiana parish and are almost immediately assaulted by spectral nonsense. There’s a glowing otherworldly hole in a closet, ghostly witches creeping around and the lingering presence of a recently executed child murderer making a full night’s sleep pretty difficult to get. A sane family would leave but then we’d have no movie.

The three of us try very hard to stay on topic but we each seem determined to run off onto side discussions that have only tenuous connections to the film. We start off well talking about the Otis House location BEYOND DARKNESS shares with Fulci’s THE BEYOND and the number of cast members that are also in other horror movies of the times. But eventually I’m babbling about alternative poster art for vintage films while Hudson drags us on another ‘Porn Talk’ sideroad and all of us are giggling about the haunted lamp in AMITYVILLE 4! What is wrong with us? Things repeatedly go off the rails as should be obvious by the fact that we end up referencing Zamfir, the Master of the Pan Flute, Gilligan’s Island and The Doors. Dive in and hang on – this one is a little crazier than usual.

We end the show with a tune from The Cocktail Slippers and you should check out their fine music wherever you listen to cool stuff. If you have any comments or suggestions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thank you for listening to us go on about things and we’ll be back soon. 

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Disney Animated Witches

SUSPIRIA (2018)

As soon as this remake of Argento's classic 1977 film was announced there was the usual hue & cry from horror fandom. It was a noise similar to the one made every time a remake of a beloved film is learned of and, to be blunt, I'm damned sick of it. Yes, a large number of remakes suck. No joke. But some of them are very good examples of creative people finding new ways to tell a good tale. Why not hope for the best and discover what the new film might have to offer? Of course, I think I know why. For a lot of self appointed defenders of cinema, The Great Screaming is a public display of their bona fides as real fans. I'm not saying they don't actually feel that remakes are a bad idea. I just think that a very public rending of garments is a way to prove they are to be taken seriously. Their loudly derisive sneers about a movie they have not yet seen are broadcast to enhance their own standing in fandom. "Look at me! I hate something sight unseen. I also hate food I haven't tasted. Aren't I to be admired?" This is pathetic. It's the one thing that I know will eventually cause me to go off on some bloviating idiot in a way that will require me to make a major apology or do hard time. One day I will be screaming 'Grow Up' at some gibbering protector of art while fighting the urge to strangle them with a length of 35mm film from Cronenberg's THE FLY (1986).

But I digress. How was SUSPIRIA (2018)?

Surprisingly brilliant. As a friend said after the credits rolled, "Now that's how to remake a film!" Indeed. The filmmakers have taken the story of a young American woman traveling to Germany in 1977 to attend a dance school that is secretly run by witches and crafted something new and fresh. Smartly avoiding the incredibly colorful visual style of the original, this film strives to look as grim and bleak as Winter in 1970's Berlin actually probably looked. The colors are muted, the sky overcast and the population is constantly reminded of the dark realities of life by steady news reports of the ongoing Red Army Faction terrorist activity in the country. These visuals change the feel of the story immediately from a place of bright beauty with shadows creeping into view from the corners to a dark, pitiless place with harsh details seeping into life from all over. Here, the dance studio could be seen as a retreat from the unpredictable world of sudden violence and ugly reality. This sets the tone for the story brilliantly. We are already worried about the real life horrors that occasionally intrude onto the soundtrack adding an uncertainty to events that would be ordinary in other circumstances.

Also, in this remake, the dance academy actually comes alive. In Argento's film it was just a place to gather a group of young women of a certain age to provide victims for the witches. In this film dancing is an integral part of the witches' lives. Dance is used as part of the casting of spells and as a way of testing the latent powers of the students. This addition to the tale builds a depth into things that allows the final act to become more clearly part of the whole story. Along with the machinations of the witches/teachers as they choose their coven's new leader it paints a complex picture of these women as layered characters with competing visions for their art - both witchcraft and dance. It is fascinating!

The addition that I worried most about was the expansion of the realistic element from the first version. In the original movie we have a couple of 'experts' on the human mind who are replaced here with an elderly Jewish psychiatrist pulled into investigating the academy by the disappearance of one of his clients. This character seemed an odd one to enlarge in the story even as he becomes a stand-in for the audience, exploring the background of the school and it's founders. But by the final act it is clear why he, with his tragic history, is perfectly suited to demonstrate the change in the coven by the end of things.

This new film is fantastic and, while it won't replace the original for me, it is an incredible achievement. I wish that more remakes were given this level of thought and effort by their creative teams. 2018's SUSPIRIA is a great film that stands proudly next to 1977's film as a cleverly conceived variation on it's themes. Well done!

What I Watched in February

I got to see a lot of movies in the theater in February so I'll keep this brief. First up was the latest Coen Brothers comedy HAIL, CEASAR and I found its recreation of 1950's Hollywood to be charming and amusing. It seems to be crafting a vision of the past that pretends that the movies of the time actually reflected reality and I find that entertaining on its own. Adding to that is a group of slightly off-center characters (in a Coen film!) who all have their own selfish agendas as they negotiate a kidnapping, a pregnancy, a life changing job offer and a host of other problems. I loved this wonderful film even as I must acknowledge that it might be something only a old movie fan could completely embrace. I've read other people complaining about it with my favorite criticism being that it's a story about a kidnapping that has no tension. This made me laugh out loud! This just ain't that kind of movie, friend! The kidnapping plot is just there to hang all the other subplots from and to give a near perfect capper to a nice character turn by Josh Brolin. Of course, the entire cast is fantastic wringing every bit of juice out of the script's ridiculous shenanigans. This is a joyful and grin-inducing movie that makes me love the Coen's more every time I am reminded of a dozen or more little moments. Damn! I want to see it again!   

      

Next I caught the horror film THE BOY starring Lauren Cohen from the cast of The Walking Dead and Rupert Evens who has recently impressed me on Amazon's Man In The High Castle series. The story involves American Cohen taking an au pair job in England for an elderly couple going away on holiday. Her duties revolve around caring for their young son who - in a disturbing twist - turns out to be a three foot tall doll of a boy instead of the real thing. At first incredulous she finally accepts the position after a down to earth talk with the husband of the house who explains that the doll was a way of coping with their child's death many years before. If she will just go along, abide by the strict rules they set out then all will go well and she will be well paid. She agrees and after the couple depart we learn that the reason Cohen's character is so far from home concerns an abusive ex-boyfriend who is unaware of her new location. Soon after disregarding the carefully structured rules she begins to hear and see things in the large house that lead her to suspect the doll may be supernaturally possessed or at least the focus of ghostly attention. She convinces Evens' local businessman character that something strange is going on just about the time her ex finds his way to England and things in the house escalate. THE BOY is a well done chiller that navigates its few twists very well. It's not a great horror movie but it is a reasonably effective one.

I've already written a good bit about THE WITCH but I have to admit that it's odd to me that so many horror fans dislike the film. Their protestations of 'It's not really a horror movie' sound a whole lot like the flip side of the old 'serious' filmmaker's dodge of 'It's not a horror film- it's a supernatural thriller'. Bullshit on both rations of this crap. THE WITCH is a horror movie and so all the bitching needs to cease. If you didn't like it that's fine but it's still a horror film even nothing blows up or gets carved into pieces. I'm pissed that I have to explain this.

DEADPOOL was just as funny and exciting as you have heard. I enjoyed the hell out of it and look forward to a sequel even if I have never read a single comic book with Cable. Kudos for the fine post credit Ferris Bueller riff.

And finally I saw THE FOREST at the second run theater which was about right. It's not a bad little ghost tale about a lost twin sister in the infamous suicide forest in Japan but it's nothing very special either. It's well acted and the pacing is strong with the fine location work in the shadow of Mt. Fuji adding very much to the creepy vibe. I enjoyed it but I doubt I'll ever go out of my way to see it again.

The List 

THE BLACK BOOK (1949)- 8 (excellent Anthony Mann, Menzies produced tale of Robespierre)

GHIDORAH, THE THREE HEADED MONSTER (1964)- 7

HAIL, CAESAR (2016) - 9  

BURN AFTER READING (2008)- 8 (rewatch)

THE BOY (2016)- 7 (sharply done horror story)

BREEDERS (1986) - 3 (nudity filled alien monster mess)

SOLARBABIES (1986) - 1 (horrible on every level - and boring!)

THE PHANTOM LADY (1944)- 8 (excellent noir with horror overtones)

THE VISIT (2015) - 7 (solid found footage horror)

EX MACHINA (2015) - 7 (rewatch) (I liked it more the second time but it's still a detached, distant experience)

THE BIG SHORT (2015) - 9

THE WITCH (2015) - 8

FURY (2014) - 8 (WWII tank tale)

ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014) - 9

HELLIONS (2015) - 6 (not bad but the story is too stretched out for feature length  running time)

GHOSTHOUSE (1988) - 3 (bad haunted house film from Filmirage)

CHINGACHGOOK: THE GREAT SNAKE (1967) - 6 (solid German western from James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer)

DEADPOOL (2016)- 8 (very fun!)

PHANTOM SHIP (1935) - 6 (interesting version of the Mary Celeste story with Lugosi)

RAMPAGE AT APACHE WELLS (1965)- 6 (German western better known as The Oil Prince)

THE FOREST (2016)- 6

EL VAMPIRE Y EL SEXO (1969) - 5 (nude version of Santo film The Treasure of Dracula)

VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS (1961) - 4 (terrible but fun Jules Verne adaptation) (rewatch)

SWORDSMAN OF SIENA (1962) - 8 (Italian made Stewart Granger swashbuckler)

THE EXTERMINATORS OF THE YEAR 3000 (1983) - 7 

THE WITCH (2016)

Got out to see the recent Sundance Film Festival hit THE WITCH last week. It's being touted as one of the best horror films of recent years and I have to concur! Very much in the vein of Polanski's brilliant REPULSION (1965) it delineates a descent into insanity and death. And, like that horror tale, this is an exquisite film but a hard sell to most of the general horror crowd, I fear. This is a movie that takes place in a very specific time - the early 1700 in New England i.e. the colonies and it refuses to bend reality to fit modern audience's desires. The language is very accurate to the time and, according to the tag at the end of the film, the dialogue for the most part is taken directly from written accounts of the period in question. This makes for fascinating viewing for anyone with a knowledge of history and also an interest in a kind of social anthropology. But I suspect that for modern audiences the antiquated language will be a barrier that they won't even try to cross.

Let me state right up front that a lot of people are going to hear 'social anthropology' and wonder what the hell I'm talking about. Is this a horror movie or a drama? Well, that's the trick the film plays as we watch this family deteriorate over the course of 90 minutes and slowly destroy themselves. We see the burgeoning sexual feelings and their guilt-ridden repression, the religious dogma that cripples thought and the hypocritical nature of people unsure of the right path. We see these people sometimes trying to do the thing that will put them in the best light in a loved one's eyes and watching it all fall to pieces and slowly rip these characters apart.

Pride is the reason for this family to have isolated itself in the middle of nowhere but it is fear that guides these people's lives. Fear is the reason they are out in the middle of a harsh, unforgiving wilderness attempting to make it on their own. They wish to keep themselves pure of mind and body before their god but it is their pride and fear - preyed on by that religious belief - that makes their future impossible. When you believe mad things madness lurks around every corner giving any childish statement, silly joke, poorly considered remark or angry outburst more heft and meaning than it can honestly bear. When fear rules your life you can never be safe and that is truly horrifying.