Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

 The 3rd such film in as many years, both for the franchise and for me. Jason continues his killing spree and gains his signature hockey mask. The final girl from the last movie Amy Steel declined to return, so the script had to be rewritten to give new lead Dana Kimmell a separate traumatic back story. The films a little bit goofy, which I liked. In fact to my surprise I didn't hate this. Maybe it was a quirk of mood but it's badness struck me as enjoyable. Movie was  originally released in 3D so there are gimmicky shots very much composed with that in mind. *1/2

Inferno (1980)

 'Inferno' is the closet to 'Susperia' (in aesthetics and themes) of the five Dario Argento films I've seen since. Despite a lack of cary over characters 'Inferno' is in fact a lose sequel, part of a trilogy not concluded until 'The Mother of Tears' in 2007 (which I have added to my list).

The story centers on Leigh McCloskey as an American music student in Rome, who returns to New York after receiving cryptic messages from his sister. (This films "American" scenes are pretty obviously shot in Europe which adds to the surrealism.)

Instead of a ballet school the string of deaths here are connected to an old apartment building. This structure is the seat of one of the "three mothers", ultra powerful witches who are said to "control the world" from their respective homes in Frieberg, Germany, New York City and Rome. (We saw the German one in Susperia and see the American and Italian ones here.)

'Infernio' follows a pretty similar story arc to its predecessor, with even the ending being basically the same. More muted then 'Susperia' there are still memorable scenes and elements including the extended opening sequence, principly it's under water segment, and the unwitting architect of all three witches residences being torturously kept alive as a slave long after the world believes him dead.

Though the intent was to expand upon the first films mythos it arguably makes it less interesting. I had more difficulty getting into this one then the other Argento films I've watched, I may have reached a point of saturation with Dario for a bit. I will probably need to revisit this but for now I give it **1/2

The Neon Demon (2016)

 Not a Dario Argento film this time but certainly taking some visual inspiration from 'Susperia' is 'The Neon Demon'. From the Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for the Ryan Gosling/Carey Mulligan film 'Drive'. Elle Fanning is a recent orphan who lying about her age moves to L.A. to become a model. It's a vicious scene, I think we all know that, but this film dials it up to 11.

Both aggressively unpleasant and slow, everyone is mean and/or exploitive to Elle, save one struggling young photographer whose legitimately sweet on her. Manipulative agent, shallow piers, MeToo creepy photographer, passive agressive gay fashion designer, sexually predatory lesbian make up artist. Even the motel manager where Elle stays is despicable, and he's played by the famiously well liked Keanu Reeves.

The film does take an unexpected turn at roughly the three quarters mark, which adds something but not a lot. This film about vile people lacking substance is vile and lacks substance. *

Dario Argento's Trauma (1993)

 With 'Dario Argento's Trauma' Dario Arengto breaks his own formula a bit, as here the principle mystery solver is actually from the country he is solving a mystery in. Set and filmed around Minneapolis, Minnesota, Christopher Rydell (son of director Mark Rydell) is a news copy writer for a local TV station (and currently sleeping with its top anchorwoman). A former drug addict who has gotten himself sobar, one day he stops on a bridge when he sees a young woman in distress. He succedes is preventing her suicide, takes her to get something to eat and learns that she is a drug addict, anorexic and run away.

The girl is played by Asia Argento, daughter of the director, she's not quite Sophia Coppala in 'The Godfather III' bad. She gets away from Mark pretty quick and is apprehended by child protective services (Asia is 18 playing 16) and returned to her parents, Romanian immegrants. Her mother (Piper Laurie) works as a medium and after a reading gone bad her and her husband are killed. Beheaded by a serial killer who has been in the news lately (the films opening sequence depicts one of the killers murders).

Asia flees to Mark's, having apparently memorized his address after seeing his ID once. The two proceed to investigate the killings while avoiding the efforts of Asia's old psychraist (she had spent some time in rehab) to apprehend her. They discover that the killer will only behead when it's raining, and is killing not at random, but working through a list of doctors, nurses and patients who were at a specific area hospital on a specific rainy night. Also Mark and Asia are falling for each other, which is creepy because she's 16 and he's like 30.

Argento is deep into well worn thematic terroitory by this point, but I found his idiosyncrasies as a story teller still held my interest. He's told this basic story before, but there's still some real creativity here, and despite some stumbles the film certainly isn't bland. There is even what apperes to be a very functional, non exploitive lesbian relationship going on between two side characters. **1/2

Deep Red (1975)

 A Lithuanian psychic at an Italian parapsychology convention, proclaims in an open session that someone in the audiance is a murderer, shortly after she threatens to expose exactly whom and is murdered herself. An English pianist, plucky reporter, and parapsychologist team up to solve the case.

This is now the 4th Dario Argento movie I've watched and you can't help but pick up on recuring motifs and themes. Occurring in at least two of the 4 films I've watched we have psychic powers, head smashed through window, Goblin soundtracks, transvestites, multiple killers or a principle killer and someone who tries to cleanup their messes, and in each of the 4 the principle investigator is not a professionl detective and is from a country other then the one the murders take place in. I find this all kind of neat.

Executed with some real visual flair, though still nothing on the level of 'Susperia', 'Deep Red' is an effective Hitchcockian, psychological mystery with extra gore, in short a 'Giallo film'. The movie contains one near iconic horror image which I had seen before without context, and rather memorable opening and closing scenes. The exaggerated way many of the characters express themselves is reminiscent of anime and at least partly due to the dubbing. This one really worked for me. ***1/2

Hannibal (2001)

Sequel to the Oscar winning 1991 film Silence of the Lambs', 'Hannibal' picks up 10 years after the events of the first film. Julianne Moore very ably takes over the role of Clarice Starling from Jodi Foster, this is one of the best examples of a recast I can think of. Clarice is older and wiser now, more jaded, run down by the bureaucracy of the FBI. At the start of the film she is involved in a bust gone wrong, its not her fault but she takes heat for it. Then the spector of Hannibal Lecter returns, first in the form of his lone surviving victim promising new leads, and later the man himself.

One of the things I most appreciated about this film is how different it is from the original. Both movies are based on books by Thomas Harring so there is still a strong sense of continuity, these stories come from the same mind. 

Much of the film concerns Lecter, again played beguilingly by Anthony Hopkins, having assumed a new identity and living in Florence. A local police detective played by Giancrlo Gianni is inveating a disapernce, a scholar whose old position Lecter's alter ego is now on the verge of filling. The detective gradually pieces together who Lecter is, but instead of proceeding through channels, he opts to persue a reward from Lecter's vengeful surviving victim. Things don't work out well for anyone involved.

For roughly its first half this movie really worked for me, then the whole Italian sequence started running long, and the film got increasingly over the top and trashy. 'Silence' felt more grounded and focused then 'Hannibal', and it felt like it had more of a story to tell. The story here exists because the first was so successful, and the desire to top what came before becomes far too dominate. While the central performances are strong and the film well made, it still feels exploitive in a way it's predecessor, despite much gore and sleeze of its own, managed to avoid. **1/2

Phenomina (1985)

'Phenomina' is a Dario Argento horror/mystery/thriller set in Switzerland. A serial killer is abducting and killing teenage girls. Donald Plesance is a wheelchair bound, Scottish born entomologist who has  helped the police date a murder based on insect damage to the recovered head. A 14 year old Jennifer Connelly is the daughter of an American movie star and new student at a prestigious boarding school, she has a tendency to sleep walk and a strange psychic connection with insects.

Here Argento is able to delve into the whole girls school thing with age approprate actresses, something originally intended for 'Susperia'. It gets a little awkward. The dubbing and dialouge are worse then in either 'Susperia' or 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage'. The movie also keeps wanting to be a music video and some of the acoustic selections really seem out of touch for the scenes they underscore. Reminiscent of 'Firestarter' this movie is alternately silly and batshit crazy. At least the ending is memorable. **

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

 Francis Ford Coppola's 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' was a project born more of economic need then creative desire. While the 1970's had been a great decade both creatively and financially for Francis, the 1980's were considerably less so. With his production company American Zoetrope in dire straights, the early 1990's would see the autor concentrating on projects with built in commercial appeal, 'The Godfather Part III' in 1990 and 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' in 1992.

Wanting popular young stars as an audiance hook, Coppala brought in Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves as the juvenile leads Mina and Jonathan. While Ryder is okay, Reeves performance is famiously bad, he underplays everything and both actor and director came to acknowledge this casting as a mistake. The youngsters look even weaker when forced to act against Gary Oldman's Dracula and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, with Hopkins giving what is now my favorite portrail of the character.

Early in the movie there is a scene where a 15th century Dracula curses God and hits a stone crucifix causing it to bleed. Similarly Coppala manages to get blood from a stone, offering a fresh take on over done material. Ironically much of what feels new in this adaption comes from going back to what's old, story elements from the original novel usually left out of other adaptions. Examples of this range from big, Lucy's three suiters (usually condensed to one), when paired with Van Helsing are among my favorite parts of the film; to small, such as a brief apperence by the blue fire, which isn't gotten into in detail but by its very unexplained presence ads an extra element of enjoyable weirdness.

The romance angle between Darcula and Mina is considerably played up to good effect, the whole film is rather overtly sexual. Visually they pull out all the stops, using a variety of styles and employing some brilliant practical effects. Uneven but ambitious this Dracula mostly works, is a real creative accomplishment on most fronts, and worth seeing if your not put off by the eroticism. *** 

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970)

 Written and directed by Dario Argento 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' is a Hitchcockian thriller about an American writer living in Italy (Tony Mustane) who becomes involved in efforts to stop a serial killer. Our protagonist happens to be in the right place at the right time to stop a woman's murder, though the assailant gets away. Briefly considered a suspect, the police inspector realizes his value as a witness and takes away Mustane' s passport to keep him in country. Mustane decides to try and solve the case himself, so he and his Italian girlfriend can move to America as planed.

Mustane gets too close to the truth putting himself and his girlfriend in danger. The Inspector gives him back his passport and encourages the couple to leave the country, but by thus point Mustane has become obsessed and must see things through to the end.

Nicely shot and well paced, the film looks good but is not the visual frenzy that was the directors later film 'Susperia' (his only other work I have yet seen). A solid mystery/thriller enhanced by some eccentric side characters, including a gay merchant and a reclusive artist. Argento dosen't overplay his hand with these flourishes and the film remains very accessible, even mainstream feeling more then 50 years out. The ultimate identity of the killer was a bit of a risk but I found it worked. ***

See How They Run (2022)

'See How They Run' is an extremely metatextual movie. The story, a period piece detective tale, concerns a murder behind the scenes at the West End production of the Agatha Christie play 'The Mousetrap' in 1953. 'The Moustrap' play is an adaptation of a Christie short story, which was adapted from a Christie radio play, which in turn was inspired by an actual murder case from 1945.

With rare exceptions such as the Covid lockdown, that play has been showing continuously in its original West End run since 1952. At more then 27,500 performances that is the longest continuous run of any play in recorded history. Ironically 'The Mousetrap' also has a reputation as being mediocre.

'The Mousetrap' has also never recived an English language film adaption, though there are Russian and Bangalories productions. According to this film there is a clause in the contract for the play that no film adaption can start production until six months after the close of the plays initial run. Thus more irony as the murder victim was involved in pre production for a film adaption.

The story concerns the efforts of a alcoholic police inspector (Sam Rockwell) and a talkie constable (Saorise Ronan) to solve the crime. The interplay of those two is the best thing about this movie. The rest of the solid cast play a mixture of historical chatacters, such as actor Richard Attenborough and producer John Wolfe, and fictional characters like Wolfe's secretary and the man hired to adapt the play for the screen. These fictional characters are often cast post racially, which is a bit of a distraction when the film has a subplot about mid century sexism but completely ignores contemporary racism.

It's a fun enough film, has some decent twists and turns, and certainly has a sense of humor about its self, being a comedy and all; though it plays the mystery elements fairly straight. Again metatextually there are wheels within wheels here, and you might miss that the movie tells you precisely how it is going to end early on. **1/2

He Knows When Your Alone (1980)

Part of the then popular slasher genra and best remembered as the feature film debut of Tom Hanks, this movie went through several titles before and during production and was finally released as 'He Knows When Your Alone'. The title is problematic because the film's serial killer, who focuses on killing brides after his beloved left him for another man, only kills one person who is truly home alone. He kills one guy who had been conversing with a woman in an adjacent room, one guy just as a woman was leaving down the hallway, kills a couple engaged in a trist, and his first on screen kill is in a moderetly populated movie theater. His other kills are (principly) woman alone in a room, but not alone in the house. Despite the descriptive limitations of the title and the movies often being slow, it works decent enough and is just slightly off the beaten path and contains characters a little more likable then they absolutly needed to be. **

Suspiria (1977)

 I was very fortunate to have had my first viewing of 'Suspiria' on a big screen, because this is one of those movies that really benefits from it. There is so much going on, it is such a visual feast, boarding on overstimulating. I have never seen a movie that looks like this before, the vibrant colors, particularly red, the lighting, the sets, the use of shadow, the composition of the shots. 

The plot concerns an American ballet student (Jessica Harper) who travels to Germany to attend a prestigious ballet school, and quickly discovers that things are not what they seem. The screenplay was written for the central characters to be around 12, but due to the intensity of the horror images it was decided to cast twenty somethings playing girls in their late teens, but they didn't change the dialouge resulting in a rather off sense of immaturity. This combined with the heightened imagery, and the disjointed effect from the international cast all speaking dialouge in their own language overduebbed in post production (a common practice in European film production at the time), adds further surrealness to an already strange story concerning a string of suspicious deaths and other odd goings on.

Directed by Italian Dario Argento, 'Susperia' was his biggest hit in the United States, and not long into a directing streak of roughly 20 years of financial and critical successes. While technically a slasher film and rightly categorized as horror, it is actually part of a lose Italin film genra know as 'Giallo', murder mysteries, with strong physiological and/or sexual elements and often graphic violence. This film also boasts a strong and distinctive score by 'Goblin'. Not for all tastes, but a memorable experience. ****

Scenes from an Empty Church (2021)

 'Scenes from an Empty Church' is a very overt entry in the small canon of Covid filmmaking. Set in a large Manhatten Catholic Church during the height of the lockdown, the film focuses on the resident priests and the few parishioners and others they start to slowly let come into the sanctuary, generally for only brief periods and by appointment.

The film is directed and written (adapting a story by another) by Onur Turkel. Turkel had done some writting on the Bob Byington film 'Infinity Baby' so the works of Byington are the closest reference point I have for this film and its tone. Turkel is arguably marginally more dry then Byington, but he's only about half as surereal. Kevin Corrigan is in this as well and he's worked with Byington before.

Corrigan and Thomas Jay Ryan are the two priests, there used to be a third, an older man, but he died from Covid near the start of the pandemic. That priests death has particularly effected father Thomas, who latter confesses to Father Kevin, in what was a difficult thing for him to voice, that the two loved each other. They kept their vows but were essentially a celebite gay couple. Father Kevin surprises Thomas by telling him that he knew this already. For one thing they loved the theater far more then your average Catholic priests. Father Kevin has a confession of his own that is also dryly funny.

This movie hardly feels like a movie, more like an episodic play. It glides along at a fairly consistent level of wry amusment, at least once the two father's start opening the church. There are a couple of events near the end of the film which felt particularly Byington like to me, one very surreal, and they were among the least effective parts of the movie to me because by this point I had adapted to appreciate Turkel's subtler voice. A mixed bag of a film, but one that does not require a lot of attention, so could be good for film grazing. **1/2

Out of Sight (1998)

 Normally my takes on films tend to line up with the critical consensus, espically if that consensus is positive. 'Out of Sight' is a rare and significant exception, 94% on Rotten Tomatos but this movie did nothing for me. It's technically well made, there are no really bad performances, but it left me cold. I found it flat, uninteresting, it contains neither anything new nor anything done particularly well. 

One of the few negative reviews I could find described it as "warmed over Quentin Tarantino", and I think that captures it. Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, Micheal Keaton reprises the role he played in the Tarantino Lenord adaption 'Jackie Brown' the previous year. There is even a Sam Jackson cameo at the end. I will say that the Clooney / Jennifer Lopez chemistry is decent, but I was both confused by and uninvested in their relationship. I liked the ending 15 - 20 or so minutes more then anything else in the film, but it wasn't enough to redeem it. **

Ask Me Anything (2014)

I very thoroughly misread what kind of movie 'Ask Me Anything' was gonna be. I saw a cover picture of Britt Robertson in a men's shirt and lose tie and thought 'sex comedy', this is going to be lite. Well it's not that light, in fact it gets pretty dark and heavy.

The film it reminds me of the most is 'Perks of Being a Wallflower', only without the fun and appealing friends. Like that movie this one is based on a YA novel and adapted and directed by the author, so we are getting what they intended. While the 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' book was presented as a series of letters, the device here is a young  woman lightly fictionalzing her life on a blog, alieses and such.

Just out of high school and taking a year off before colloge Katie is a naive young woman, played ably by Ms. Robertson. While the film starts out relatively light in tone it proceeds to darken, almost every male character in the thing misuses her, her boyfriend has a quick temper, two older men, one of which is her employer, cheat on fiance and wife respectively with her. Her fathers not a great father, and while her mom's boyfriend seems like a decent guy she resents him. A platonic male friend is generally good to her, but a desprisive who can get verbally mean when he feels neglected.

Katie was abused by a neighbor as a child and spent some time in a mental hospital. She is a wreck, but slow to recognize herself as such. The most decent man to her in the picture could be described as a reformed sex offender. 

Things don't go well for Katie, the ending a real downer with a twist that probably works better in the book, though I thought was creatively handled here. I watched the film a second time about a week after viewing so as to better process what this movie really is. It's uneven, surprisingly subtle, gimmicky, tonely odd. An experminat that dosen't fully work, but an effort to be applauded. **1/2

Halloween 4 (1988)

 We watched and recorded on this for the podcast, it's become a tradition of ours to work through the Halloween franchise one movie a year. I didn't have a lot to say about 'Halloween 4' on the podcast and I don't have a lot to say about it now. 'The Return of Mike Meyers' is just that, the anthology formate experimented with in '3' is dead, they bring back Mikey, only now he's after his niece because Jamie Lee Curtis isn't in this one and the Laurie character is supposedly dead. Now I don't know much about the later films in this franchise but I know she comes back.

'Halloween 4' is predictable, very by the numbers, not very creative. The one somewhat interesting idea to the piece is introduced really in the last 2 minutes of the movie, though apperently explored more in '5'. It felt cheap, cheaper then '3' which had like half the budget and didn't make much less then this movie at the box office. I much prefer '3' which was trying to do something different, while '4' was trying, and trying hard, to avoid doing something different. This movie was actually filmed around where I live, though I thought it was pretty bad. *

Maniac (1934), Maniac (1980)

'Maniac' (1934)

Producer/director Dwain Esper was known as "The King of the Celluoid Gypsies" and had his hand in many of the best known explotation films of the 1930's, directing 'Sex Madness', 'The 7th Commandment', 'Narcotic', 'Marihuana' and 'How to Undress in Front of Your Husband'. Though he did not direct 'Reefer Madness' he for a time handled its distribution. Explotation films of this time side stepped production code approval and managed to justify there exhibation as being "eductional", tacking on explanatory title cards or brief lectures either on film or in person to "contextualize" the subject matter, which is code for provide an excuse for on screen depravaity.

'Maniac' perports to be an examination of mental illness but is really just a lose adaption of Edges Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat' penned by Esper's wife and frequent collaborator Hildagrde Stadie. It concerns a classicly mad scientist working on a way to bring people back from the dead, in the process he dies and has his identity assumed by an equally unstable assistant who happens to be a former vaudeville impersonator. The movie is extremely cheap, bad and non-sensical. Not enjoyably so I'm afraid, but at least it's only around 50 minutes. 

At one point in the film the two mads go to the mourge to steal a corpse, but the lady they fixate on is obviously still moving, the mad scientist states they can still save her life so they abduct her. But they went there for a corpse, if the doc is convinced he can bring the dead back why try to keep her from dying? Also why was she in the morgue to begin with if she were still alive? Someone is being extremely sloppy. *

'Maniac' (1980)

'Maniac' was made to take advtange of the 'slasher' movie craze which really hit its stride after the release of the original 'Halloween' in 1978, and would largely play its self out over the ensuing decade, only to approprately return from the dead in smaller bursts right up to the present.

Mostly unremarkable 'Maniac' managed to come out when demand for said product was high enough to earn it $10 million at the box office off a rougly $350,000 budget. 'Maniac' was directed by William Lustig, the nephew of former middleweight boxing champion Jack LaMotta, whose well regarded bio-pic 'Raging Bull' would come out that same year. Lustig had worked in film in various capacities before, including directing hard core pornography under the alias of "Billy Brag". Lustig brings a suitably seamy aesthetic to this film.

Frank Zito is an asspiring artist and big creepy slob with mommy and sex issues who starts killing women and the occasional associated male in the urban decay of New Yorks less then high class neighborhoods. He is surprisingly underplayed by Joe Spinell, a legit actor who had appered in two Godfather and two Rocky movies, in the latter as the low level crime figure who employs Stallon for muscle.

Spinal has a very effective early scene, played long for awkwardness, in which he hires a prostitue, takes her to seedy hotel, and she starts to take pitty on him when he can't get it up and then he strangles her. The rest of the film is less interesting and gets kind of repetitive. He eventually encounters a girl he is unable to take down in the form of former Bond girl and Hammer Horror veteran Carolin Munro. The ending, which goes for what can be read as either symbolic, supernatural or some hybrid, I did not care for. Notable for camo appernces by Gaylen Ross and Tom Savini who had appered together in 'Dawn of the Dead' a few years before, playing a couple whose first date ends very poorly. *1/2

Queen Kelly (1929)

 Previously I was most familiar with 'Queen Kelly' from a bit of trivia, it was a clip from this film that we see the butler Max show to Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis in the classic 1950 film 'Sunset Boulevard'. The use of that clip was some meta commentary purportedly suggested by Erich von Stroheim who played Max in the film, more then twenty years before he had directed the actress playing Norma, Gloria Swanson in 'Queen Kelly'.

A late silent film from that brief period in the late 20's when major studios were releassing both silent and talking films. The movie was produced by Joseph P. Kennedy who at the time was having an affair with Ms. Swanson, setting a pattern for the affairs with Hollywood actresses had by his presidental son. Written and directed by von Stroheim 'Queen Kelly' is the story of a convent girl (Swanson, 29 playing a teenager) who is loved by a prince betrothed to marry a wicked queen. Fairytale type story had a then contemporary setting, first in a fictional central European country and then in colonial Africa where Kelly is exiled. Or at least that was the intended story.

The epic film was to run around 5 hours, von Stroheim, a free spending perfectionist, had completed only around a 3rd of the picture when he was fired 3 months into shooting. There followed a long production hiatus.

Originally intended for release in late 1929 or early 1930, Swanson managed to get a highly truncuated cut, minus all the Africa stuff, into theaters in 1932. Not American theaters however which by this point were playing only sound films. The movie ran in parts of Europe and Latin America. Swanson retained her rights to the thing and it would be showen at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and on television in the 50's and 60's. After Swanson's death a more complete version of the film, including some of the African scenes would be put together and releassed in 1985, that is the version I watched.

It's kind of hard to judge it as a complete film because it really isn't one. There is a real sumptousness to the production, the story a heightened and often melodramtic one. I mostly liked what was there, the tonel shift once the action moves to Africa is  intriguing, orignally most of the film was to take place there, in this cut around 20 of 90-odd minutes is all that does. **1/2

Pearl (2022)

Review contains spoilers for it's self and 'X'.

'Pearl' is a prequel to the horror film 'X' which came out earler this year. It is the origin store for the titular Pearl, the psychotic and horny old lady killer both introduced and dispatched in the earler film. We travel back from the 1979 of 'X' to 1918, the farm from the first movie is in much better shape, and so is Pearl, at least physically. This story recounts the psychotic break which tunred Pearl, never well adjusted to begin with, into a real, but not totally unsympathetic monster.

'X' was a loving pastche of 70's and 80's horror tropes, well executed but something that doubtless could have been done by any number of directors. 'Pearl' on the other hand is a very idocentric piece of film making, a distinct vision, horror auteurism. The script is a collaboration between director Ti West and star Mia Goth, both quite willing to go to unusual places.

The film has been likened, and I think correctly, to 'The Wizard of Oz'. In contrast to the muted grime of 'X', 'Pearl' is shot in bright exaggerated colors, there's a scarecrow and musical numbers. Like Dorothy wanting to leave an oppreive life on her Kansas farm, Pearl longs to be liberated from her Texas one. She is sure she can be a star, and if others won't liberate her, like the local film protectionist and her own mother, she'll create her own tornado. But like Dorothy she'll just end up back home again.

The West/Goth collaboration is an intriguing one, and to my surprise the end of this movie teases another film in the franchises, this one to focus on Maxine, the final girl from the first movie who was also played by Goth, now part of the California porn scene of the mid 1980's. Pornography is a through line of these films, the first about a film crew who picks the wrong place to do some shooting, while in 'Pearl' our lead character is shown a silent sex flick by the local film protectionist, who thinks he might be able to entice her to making one of their own.

'Pearl' has a lot of little intriguing touches, that her parents are dour German immigrants trying to keep a low profile while their adoptive nation is at war with their homeland. Most people wearing masks when Pearl goes into town, on account of the then current pandemic, though this element is dropped from the later Church scene. But it is Ms. Goth performance which is the center of the piece, if there was a horror acting Oscar she'd get one. For all the violent buisness she is called upon to perform she must still anchor it to an innerlife. Ungrateful and put upon, a simple girl torn by complicated feelings, deep loves and deep hates. The long monologue she performs near the end of the film is an unbroken, Bergmanesque piece of reflection. Only here it is followed by an ax murder. ***