Cat People (1982)

 Paul Schrader's reimagining of Val Lewton's classic 1942 low-budget, minimalist B horror picture is mystical, erotic, violent and kind of hypnotic. Nastassja Kinski has lived in foster homes since the death of her parents, circus lion tammers, at the age 4. She is contacted by her six year older brother Malcom McDowell, and invited to visit him at his home in New Orleans. Shortly after her arrival Malcom disappears for days, coinciding with the local zoo procuring a black panther from a shady motel where it almost killed a prostitute. Nastassja is drawn to the animal and also begins a romantic relationship with the zoo's curator John Heard. In broad stokes where this is going is kinda obvious, but in its particulars rather surprising. A moody piece, with excellent New Orleans atmosphere and a cast full of recognizable faces, Ed Begley Jr., Ruby Dee, Annette O'Toole, John Larroquette, ect. This took a bit to pull me in, but I stuck with it and am glad I did. ***

Beware! The Blob (1972)

 'Beware! The Blob' is a kinda, sorta sequel to the 1958 monster classic 'The Blob'; kinda, sorta because a character in this movie watches the original movie on TV. But continuity is not much of a concern here; Larry Hagman, then best known as the male lead in 'I Dream of Genie', directs this lose, semi-improvised, doubtless drug infused, hippie style romp. The blob attacking a bowling alley at the end of the film proves a neat idea, but the best part of the film is all the cameo appearances, Dick Van Patten, Cindy Williams, Carol Lynley, Burgess Meredith and more just show up, often for a single scene. This movie is not very good, but it is fun to watch. **

Companion (2025)

On a weekend vacation to visit her boyfriend Jack Quaid's friends, Sophie Thatcher learns that she is not a human like she thought she was, but rather a commercialy avilable romantic substitute android known as a 'Companion'. It's a rough weekend, but I can't say much more about that without spoilers. Intriguing premise unevenly rendered. **1/2

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

 I skipped 'Jason Goes to Hell' and 'Jason X' because neither of those were free on any streaming service I subscribe too. 'Freddy Vs Jason' might well be the best Jason movie, principly because it is also a middle tier Nightmare on Elm Street movie. The paring was destined to be after New Line Cinema bought the "Jason" character from Paramount, it went through development hell but the finished product is probably as good a movie as you could make from that premise. It feels like Freddy gets a little more screen time then Jason, though it's probably pretty close to even. The films story is unusually strong for a Jason movie, and decent for a Freddy film. The lovely and often besweaterd Monica Keena is the female lead, Jason (irony) Ritter is the male lead, this movie came out about a month before the sudden death of his father John Ritter. I can can hardly believe this, but I think I'm gonna give it ***

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

 This should really be called 'Jason Goes to Manhattan' because he spends most of the movie on high school graduation cruse to NYC killing young people; this is after he is resurrected by an underwater electrical accident. More wasted opertunites then usual, for a franchise that likes waisting opertunites. *

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

 Basically this Jason vs. Carrie, the masked killer accidentally raised from the dead by a young woman with telekentic powers (Lar Park Lincoln, who died earlier this year), who of course is the only person who can defeat him. Jason ends this film once again dead at the bottom of Crystal Lake. *1/2

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

 Throwing out everything after Halloween 2 continuity wise, this is a sort of Halloween 3. Set twenty years later as the subtitle says, this is a boon for marketing, a sort of resurrection, which will be the title of the next movie. Laurie Strode is back, she's changed her name and gone into witness protection. Consistent with the characters already established academic orientation, two decades on finds her the head mistress of a California private school, divorced, and with a son who just turned 17, Josh Hartnett with an "Introducing" credit.

Like the actor who played him Dr. Loomis has died. Mike Meyers, (who has been doing who knows what for twenty years) breaks into the home of the Doctors assistant, kills her and two local boys, including Jospeh Gordan-Leavitt, and steals information as to his sister's wearabouts. Right on time he shows up for Halloween and the private school serves as the primary location for the killing spree. Adam Arkin is Laurie's love interest, Michelle Williams is Josh's. Janet Leigh is here as an Easter egg and LL Cool J is a security guard with aspirations to be a romance novelist. The film is pretty decent, especially when compared to its immediate predecessors, but by its very nature a derivative product. **

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

 This might actually be the best one; as Jay Baumen says it "feels like a real movie." Tommy Jarvis is back, though we are now on the 3rd actor playing him. Still plagued by visions of Jason, Tommy and friend dig him up o burn the body, but they accidentally end up bringing him back to life. We learn that for PR reasons Crystal Lake has changed its name to Forrest Green, but it will be back to Crystal Lake by the next movie. We have the return of camp councilors as victims, and we have actual campers this time, children, though none of them die. We also have a sheriff who thinks Tommy Jarvis is behind all the mayhem, though he comes to know better by the time he dies. Movie ends with Jason tied to a rock at the bottom of the lake. **1/2

The Crimson Cult aka Curse of the Crimson Alter (1968)

 A grown man searching for his lost brother, traces his movements to a rural English village; the peculiarities of whose history has lead to odd rituals both public and private. Featuring a hunched back Micheal Gough, Barbara Steele in greenface, a meta appearance by a dying Boris Karloff, and of course Christopher Lee. This was sold to me as H P Lovecraft inspired, however I found there to be more of the spirit of two other roughly contemporary Christopher Lee films here (The Devil Rides Out, The Wickerman) then strong Lovecraftian vibes, not that those are totally absent. **

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

 Tommy goes to a troubled youth camp. A semi random ax murder at the begging is not committed by the copy cat killer who will do the bulk of this movies killings. Yep "Jason" isn't actually in this one. The camp kids are mostly pretty one note characterizations. Film is kind of a satire of its self. Broad. Meta. *

The Zero Theorem (2013)

 A Terry Gilliam dystopia satire, not on the level of 'Brazil' or 'Twelve Monkeys'; he plays it safe here, its a very familiar movie. Does admirable with its limited budget. Christoph Waltz is good in this. David Thewlis appropriately used, Matt Damon miss cast, and Tilda Swinton somewhere in between. About once a decade Melanie Thierry shows up in a movie and reminds you how incredibly beautiful she is. **

Friday the 13th Part 4 aka Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

 I rewatched the first 3 films before proceeding to franchise entries I had not seen. I find #4 to be easily the best of the films so far. It's not based around a summer camp, there is more diversity to the kinds of characters here, a wider range of ages. This is the introduction of the character Tommy,  who will become the closest to a real mortal nemesis that I suspect Jason ever gets. Jason dies at the end. **1/2

The Dunwich Horror (1970)

 Adaptation of H P Lovecraft's most famous story.

Produced by Roger Corman. This is  a story that should be made with a large special effects budget, which this movie does not have. They do what they can principly with lighting effects.

Given a contemporary setting instead of the 1910's - 1920's setting of the original story. I believe this to be less effective, less creepy.

A rare lead role for Dean Stockwell, though he is technically the villian. Sandra Dee plays his love interest. I don't get what she sees in him. Sam Jaffe plays Stockwell's dad, he is 45 years older.

This was one of Ed Bailey's last roles. He died about 3 months after release.

I spotted a young Talia Shire as the secretary for a rural Massachusetts doctor.

I found trivia for this movie to be more interesting then the movie its self.

*

One Battle After Another (2025)

 The newest Paul Thomas Anderson movie 'One Battle After Another' is the directors second Thomas Pynchon adaptation, and like 'Inherent Vice' it dosen't totally come together. It's like a movie from an alternate universe, as adapting Pynchon's 1990 novel about an ex revolutionary whose teenaged daughter's life is threatened by an old adversary, this just feels off with a contemporary setting. 

Featuring a large and talented cast and a bigger then average budget for a PTA production, owing to the presence of Leonardo DiCapiro in the lead. It's uneven. I wasn't expecting the films prolonged backstory section, the tone is all over the place and I can't decide how much of Sean Penn's performance was meant to be taken seriously. This wants to be a thinking mans action movie, and has a few solid sequences in that vain, as well as some fun characters, with Benico del Torro at the top of that list. It's politics are both muddled and hit you over the head obvious; had this movies tired revolutionaries been Right wing instead of Left wing...

Still so much is happening so fast that you don't get much time to reflect as the movie progresses. I enjoyed watching 'One Battle After Another' on the big screen, that's the way to see it, but I don't know how rewatchable it will prove to be: it could be a joy or it could be a drag, odds seem 50/50, don't know which elements will win out. For now however I'm giving it ***

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

 Adapted from the novel series 'The Thursday Murder Club' concerns a group of pensioners at an upscale retirement community  who meet once a week to go over the unsolved cases of a fellow resident, now comatose. One of the cases they examin proves to hit close to home. Solid cast, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan. This plays like British TV, so as a movie **