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The Unsung Animated Masterpiece of 2023: THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Finally Hits Blu-ray
While the best animated film spotlight last year was firmly locked on Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, one film I definitely felt also deserved some accolades was Takehiko Inoue’s The First Slam Dunk. It was a film I caught by chance on the festival circuit and was literally transfixed for the entire two hours with the frantic nailbiter of a film that, like all great sports films at its core, has a very human story. Since then the film has been dubbed, which lowers the bar for entry and recently it also hit home video and Blu-ray. I hope now more folks will give the film a chance and like me develop a whole new appreciation for the property, which is severely underrated.
For those not in the know Slam Dunk, the iconic sports anime/manga that ran for six years (1990-1996), and left an indelible mark on the sports manga/anime. Now three decades later the original creator Takehiko Inoue is back and making his directorial debut, writing and directing the first new animated feature length film for the property in over three decades! Titled The First Slam Dunk, this latest entry was a box office juggernaut in Japan. Before hitting play that first time I had neither seen nor read Slam Dunk, in either incarnation, and I am not the biggest sports fan either, but this film completely won me over.
The hook here is that the entirety of the two-hour runtime transpires nearly in real time within the framework of the high school championship game between two teams: the unbeatable Sannoh school, and the manga protagonists, the underdogs from the Shohoku High. As expected the team from Shohoku is your typical shonen ragtag group of outsiders who are faced with beating an unbeatable foe. Interspersed between the frantically paced game is the heart-wrenching story of Ryota Miyagi, the captain/point guard of Shohoku, who uses basketball to heal not only the death of his father, but also the death of his older brother who was a basketball prodigy. We soon learn this game has a very significant meaning to Royota, who after chasing his brother’s shadow for most of his life, is finally standing where his brother always dreamed he would be, facing off against Sannoh in this championship game.
Unlike most anime films based on a series, The First Slam Dunk feels completely accessible to both fans and those curious to check this series out like myself. The ambitious real time game setup makes this a tense watch, since Inoue masterfully cuts back and forth using Ryota’s emotional story to amplify the game’s beats and illuminate the stakes to not only him, but his teammates. Ryota’s story is one of anger, loss, and how basketball carried him through all of that, taking the sports story and elevating it to something more human and accessible. It’s particularly interesting how this carries into his relationship with his grief-stricken mother, who lost not only a husband but a son, only to constantly be reminded of that loss daily due to both brothers’ shared love of the game.
The film and how it looks is unlike anything I’ve even seen in animation. It’s rumored there was a great deal of R&D put in to achieve its look that perfectly captures the fluid energy and motion of a basketball game, just animated. The animation style uses a combination of motion capture and 3D CG to great effect, while still keeping that hand drawn look of the original manga. Think Chainsaw Man, but a bit less clunky and more organic, after all this is a feature film. This technology has surprisingly grown leaps and bounds in the last few years, and does a breathtaking job here at recreating the action in a believable way, bridging the live action and animated world.
Slam Dunk is not just visually a sight to behold, but also a moving story of familial trauma, which is no doubt the reason it resonated with so many. Even while its story is steeped in shonen tropes, Takehiko Inoue has carved a deeply emotional tale in that testosterone and ambition, showing just how these principles and relationships on the court impact the lives off of it. Like any good sports story Slam Dunk is able to make its exhilarating story accessible on a human level; to be honest, I’ve never been more invested in and riveted by a basketball game my entire life. But for those two hours I was cheering the cocky Ryota and his teammates and hoping they were able to unite as a team and take down Sannoh in a story that is accessible to both fans and newcomers alike.
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Film Masters Deals out a Salacious Double Helping of Hillbilly Hijinks
It’s great to see Something Weird branching out and working with other labels. This double bill of Hicksploitation has the legendary psychotronic imprint partnering up with the new kid on the block and my personal new favorite boutique label Film Masters and reissuing a previous DVD release in glorious HD. Hicksploitation as a sub-genre is essentially the name for regional films made for the south, which in the 60s/70s had an vibrant drive-in culture, that along with their own product would show the same offerings from the northern grindhouse circuits to round out some of their double bills. Since I hail from the south originally, I will never pass up on the opportunity to witness some hillbilly hijinks, the only problem here is sometimes these stereotypes are just, that for a reason.
Both of these films are very interesting examples of the “child bride” trope you see in the genre, but from two very different approaches. Common Law Wife (1961) is definitely the sleazier of the pairing, in this this film we have Shug (George Edgley), a well to do old man, “living high on the hog” if you will, looking to replace his long time mistress Linda (Annabelle Weenick), who thanks to the length of their relationship (5+ years) has become his common law wife. Her replacement, digging into another stereotype is his much younger stripper niece from New Orleans he calls “Baby Doll” (Lacey Kelly). This obvious nod to the Tenneseee Williams play gives us a character that thinks she’s there to take care of her dying uncle for a short stint and possibly some hanky pinky, to simply inherit his money. But Shug is in fact fine and is simply looking for a younger woman for the long haul.
Common Law Wife This film’s trajectory follows Linda, who once was with Shug just for the money, but now is fighting for her man whom she’s since fallen in love with. The performances in Common Law are more camp than anything else, and since Hollywood was still under the code, this allowed this film’s script to deliver the salacious goods they couldn’t get elsewhere. One thing I didn’t pick up until digging into the film’s extras was another shared thread between the two films was they both essentially started out as one thing and became something else. For Common Law Wife, the film started out as Swamp Woman, and later that unfinished film was taken and incorporated into Common Law. This bit explained a lot from the obvious changing of film stock to watching actors swapped out in various parts.
A bit of a cultural aside, getting Married isn’t cheap, and being from the south Common Law Marriage is a very real thing and common thing, it also holds the same weight as husband and wife in most social circles. This practice is also due to the general distrust of the government and authority, which is pretty common once you pass the Mason Dixon line. I happen to know a bit about this, because to further reinforce a stereotype – my parents were actually common law married. In fact I didn’t know they weren’t married, married, until much later in life, when they separated. This is the other advantage of the common law marriage for southern folk, divorce is a court-less affair and can be dissolved quickly and usually without government intervention.
Jennie: Wife/Child The next film up was 1968’s Jennie: Wife/Child directed by Robert Carl Cohen and James Landis, like Common Law, this film had a bit of a troubled production. This film started its life as Tendergrass a two hour southern melodrama, once again taking a page from Babydoll telling the story of Jennie (Beverly Lunsford) a “Child Bride”, who is stuck in a loveless marriage with the double her age senior farmer Albert Peckingpaw (Jack Lester). When distributors thought they could get more mileage for the film on the drive-in circuit than theaters, the film was overhauled to amp up the sordid and comedic bits and downplay the more dramatic pieces. That said, this was definitely the stronger of the two on the set for me, with solid performances and characters that felt a bit more fleshed out than the previous film.
This all rests on the capable shoulders of both the film’s lead blonde bombshell Beverly Lunsford, who had roles on the likes of Leave it to Beaver and My Three Sons, and her onscreen husband Jack Lester who also hailed from the small screen with credits for Gunsmoke and Bonanza under his belt. While dipping its toes in the “Child Bride” trope the film is very clear on the fact Jennie was 20 when she was paired up with Albert. Jennie also isn’t quite as infantilized as you might expect in the genre, while she does spend the bulk of the film seducing the farm’s handsome yet infantile farmhand, we see this desperation and loneliness come from a place of frustration and love, rather than simply boredom. She is also the aggressor and this gives her character a bit more agency than if she was simply a prize to be won since her emotions come from a very real place.
Jennie: Wife/Child The pair of films not only do an excellent job at showing two different takes of similar themes, but they do so in a way that thanks to the commentaries and extras educates the viewer on context and the production on both. Given the rarity of both titles I definitely had to watch both with and without their respective commentaries to get more info on both. Aside from the commentaries that do an amazing job digging into these films, there’s a nearly hour long doc simply on Hicksploitation, that I found did a impressive job at sort of taking someone unaware of these kinds of films and explaining where they came from and the audience they were intended for. Of special note here was these restorations weren’t done from the same weathered prints as the original Something Weird releases, but were sourced for different elements. Personally I like a little print damage on my transfers and you get that organic film print feel here with both transfers.
Jennie: Wife/Child Once again Film Masters comes through with another solid release that highlights two hidden gems that I completely dug, along with dealing out plenty of extras to educate as well as entertain. I also applaud their philosophy on restorations and retaining their film look and grain. I know some labels try to smooth out the grain to better contemporize films like these, but in my opinion those aren’t the kinds of collectors picking up these titles. I’m also glad that Something Weird is branching out a bit and working with other labels, opening up their library and giving other distros a chance to release films that they’re interested in. If you’re looking for an easy entry point into Hicksploitation, this is definitely it, also if you’re a fan of those regional delicacies, you’re also in luck.
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Tired of the Grind? Two Cents Invites You on A PERFECT GETAWAY
This week on Back to the Beach, the Cinapse team hits the beaches of Hawaii for murder and mayhem.
Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to [email protected].
I have to confess, when I threw out A Perfect Getaway as an option for beach month I wasn’t necessarily hoping it would get picked. We were spitballing ideas and there were plenty of great options already on the board. I just wanted to suggest a movie that hadn’t been mentioned yet. I revisited A Perfect Getaway just under two years ago (according to my Letterboxd), for the first time since the film was in theaters. That rewatch was quite rewarding, as the movie is evening more entertaining than my faded, decade-old memories told me it was. A Perfect Getaway is a total blast. It’s fiendishly plotted and set against a lush Hawaiian backdrop. It’s the kind of movie where you watch it and desperately want to be there. Just, you know, without the looming threat of murder. Alas. A Perfect Getaway is a delightful piece of escapist entertainment and I’m excited to see what the team thinks of it.
Eddie Strait
This marks the third time I’ve watched A Perfect Getaway and I have to say I’m more amused by David Twohy’s twisty concoction than I’ve ever been. A Perfect Getaway is a game that places viewers in the middle as active participants. Twohy’s playful direction and mischievous writing excels at keeping the characters and viewers off-balance. It’s a cat-and-mouse thriller where Twohy is the cat and everyone else is a mouse, running from one setup to the next. Like many great B-movies, A Perfect Getaway knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. It doesn’t aspire to be anything more than a sun soaked mystery with twists that will stick in your craw like beach sand.
What better setup for a movie than a newlywed couple stuck on a Hawaiian island with reports of murders on the loose and surrounded by suspicious strangers? The cast is lively, with Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton, and Chris Hemsworth feasting on Twohy’s devilish script. It’s hard to tell who’s having the most fun here. Perhaps it’s Olyphant as an ex-marine and his stream of survival and amatuer screenwriting advice. Although it’s hard to top Zahn’s work as Cliff, a screenwriter who seems to be in a constant state of exasperation. On this watch, Jovovich takes the crown for me. As Cydney, Jovovich gets the most notes to play. She has this kid-in-a-candy-store enthusiasm that is undeniable. In a movie designed to keep viewers off-kilter, Jovovich’s performance provides a false sense of stability from which she, and Twohy, always has the upper hand. Everyone onscreen is having a blast, the type that is infectious and draws the viewers in. By the end of the movie it’s obvious to me that the real winners here are the viewers. One of the most satisfying feelings you can get from a movie like this is the sensation that you’re in the hands of a master manipulator. Twohy delivers on that over and over again. He’s constantly throwing the characters and viewers off the scent and doing so with a wink and a smile.
(@eddie_strait on Xitter)
Frank Calvillo
Aside from containing what may be the best performance Timothy Olyphant ever put to film, A Perfect Getaway remains a memorable piece of well-crafted popcorn entertainment for a number of reasons. Chief among A Perfect Getaway’s attributes is its existence as a true 21st century B-movie. With a cast full of high B-list actors, a story that’s pulpy, yet diverting, and a mother of a twist in its third act, the movie is the quintessential alternative to the kind of overly-polished studio fare that seems to dominate the summer movie box-office. Speaking of that twist, even those who see it coming early on (such as your’s truly who figured it out thanks to an incredibly stupid and incidental reason), the level of suspense and action that springs up as a result of the reveal only amps up the overall enjoyment of the experience and takes its audience to places they might not readily see coming.
Visually, the movie’s lush, paradise-like settings provide the perfect juxapostion to the terror surrounding the main characters and the core four people placed at the center of the action are each well-drawn just enough to make them feel believable and compelling. This is due in no small part to the collection of great performances from a quartet of actors who are all turning in characterizations the likes of which they seldom have before. A Perfect Getaway is also one of those films whose extended cut is should have been the one to play in theaters. While some may find the extra material (available on the home video release) superfluous, the scenes do give some nuance and unexpected poetry to the overall movie, which is extremely unexpected given the nature of the movie as a whole. Great performances, an adrenaline-fueled action/mystery, and paradise-level surroundings all conspire to make A Perfect Getaway the kind of late summer genre gem that comes along only once in a very long while.
(@frankfilmgeek on Xitter)
Justin Harlan
I’m currently resisting the urge to just type “it was fine” and nothing else, but the movie does deserve more than that. I find myself a bit disappointed, despite mostly enjoying the film. “Why?” you ask. Simple, it had a great cast of genre stalwarts and an extremely interesting premise. Sadly, the overall execution left me feeling that the finished product was a good deal lesser than the sum of its parts.
I can’t pinpoint one primary issue, but I left the experience feeling like it was a decent enough thriller which had the potential to be a stellar one. Perhaps a double feature at the theater just a day prior where I took in Longlegs and MaXXXine was to blame for setting my expectations too high… but alas… A Perfect Getaway was “fine”.
(@thepaintedman on Xitter)
CINAPSE GOES BACK TO THE BEACH!
Every week in July, we’ll be headed to the beach. Sometimes it’ll be fun, other times it’ll be a difficult journey, and yet other weeks it may end up deadly! Join us this month by reaching out to any of the team or emailing [email protected]!
July 22nd – Evil Under the Sun
July 29th – Club Dread
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CROCODILE a Ridiculous JAWS Knock-off with some Real Teeth
Crocodile is a truly amazing specimen of the Jaws knock off, that not only changed species from shark to crocodile, but poses the question, what if the great white was a Kaiju?
The film hit Blu-ray thanks to Synapse films recently, and if you’re looking to for a fun Jaws double bill, Crocodile definitely has you covered.
Shot in 1977 two years after Jaws hit theaters, the absurd Thai Eco horror toiled a few years in editing before hitting screens until about 2 or 3 years later. Produced by Chaiyo Productions and Directed by Sompote Sands the film is the story of two Bangkok doctors Tony Akom (Nat Puvani) and John Stromm (Min Oo) who while vacationing in Pattaya lose both of their significant others to the beast. Like Jaws, they then enlist the talents of an expert fisherman with a magical bird tattoo on his chest, to help them kill the beast, while it terrorizes the coastal community.
The tattoo bit is hilarious, because it was obviously drawn on with a magic marker, and since it’s on his chest, he never misses a chance to unbuckle his overalls to show it off. (See Below)
Crocodile feels like a surreal collage of animal attack films and genres. Footage of real animal violence is spliced into amateurish Toho like Kaiju sequences, along with some inconsistent forced perspective shots to create this ever changing, ever evolving narrative nightmare. First the beast appears to be released from an earthquake in the opening, with airs of mysticism. Then about halfway through the film, they say the beast is a mutant and the result of weapon’s testing. It’s bonkers in the best possible way, and it’s hard to get bored as they also combine the above with some rather bizarre bouts of nudity that linger way longer than they should.
Taking a page from Italian cinema there’s also stock footage incorporated into the film at various times to pad the narrative wherever possible and adds some “production value”.
While Synapse is known for their rather more pristine presentations, the choice here to leave some of the damage on the print, only makes this presentation that much better. There’s a charm to the obvious changing of stocks as they throw in every kind of in camera trickery they can manage, and it only makes the film that much more fun to watch. Now also keep in mind even though the film was a low budget affair, the cinematography is actually quite beautiful. There’s some excellent night scenes and the scope frame is used to great effect here to show the ever changing scaled of the beast. The film comes with not only deleted scenes, but an interview with the director and a feature length commentary by Lee Gambin.
I love a ridiculous Jaws knock off and Crocodile definitely fits the bill. It’s as entertaining, as it is bizarre and that’s not always the case with these films. Just when you nearly think Sompote Sands has run out of tricks, we get another narrative excursion or visual break to keep you watching wondering just what will happen next. While the ending is basically a copy and paste from Jaws, it still does so in such a way as to not let the insanity subside, but continue to maintain it. If you dig animal attack films Crocodile is most definitely in your wheelhouse and worth picking up. I hadn’t seen it before writing up this piece, but I will no doubt be breaking it out again in the coming coming years.
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LONGLEGS is High-Grade Nightmare Fuel
The inspirations are evident, but the effectiveness of Osgood Perkin’s horror is undeniable
The marketing campaign has been a triumph. A mystery code on billboards and posters, haunting imagery and sounds, the promise of unrelenting horror coupled to an FBI hunt for a serial killer. As potent as it’s been, it’s also been prolonged, and with release this week it’s finally time for Longlegs to show it’s mettle. Despite grandiose claims of it being a new type of horror, writer/director Osgood Perkin crafts a film where the structure and inspirations are plainly evident, but the mood and impact of Longlegs are what makes it incredibly distinct.
Our hunter is FBI agent Lee Harper (Maika Monroe, Watcher, It Follows), who after a successful (but bloody) assignment tracking down a murderer is found to have an unnerving sense of intuition (half psychic?). She is subsequently assigned to a special taskforce under Agent Carter (Blair Underwood, adding both head and heart to the film), one that has been on a decades long hunt for a man referring to himself as Longlegs. As suspect, they believe, in a series of murders. Starting in the 70s, each horrific to behold and unusual in nature. On the surface, each sees a family consumed by violence, with the father brutally killing his wife and children. Each house showed no sign of forced entry, the weapons used came from the home. But each case occurred around the birthday of one of the child victims, and the murder scene was always marked with a card, covered with a cryptic message, signed by Longlegs. Harper is brought into the fold to see if her abilities can shed new light on a case now running into the 90s, and with over a dozen families lost to this man who somehow orchestrates these evil acts. As she dives into the notes, the case begins to unlock, a path seemingly laid out for her to follow that might offer insight into the motives and madness of this man, a means to track him down, and answers to her questions as to why Longlegs has taken such an interest in her after remaining hidden for decades.
As a procedural, it’s familiar but engrossing fare. Macabre crimes scenes and mysterious letters, a broken cryptic leading to one haunting clue after another, and a ever deeper immersion in this occult-tinged mystery. More than just murder, it becomes apparent that there is a grand plan at play, a maneuvering of people, including Agent Harper, towards an evil end game. Comparisons will be made to Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, but better ties can be made to David Fincher’s Seven, in terms of the Biblical lilt, as well as the darker, meaner spirit that perfuses the film. Longlegs is the type of horror that expertly carves out a visceral niche, with an impressive sense of suspense and discomfort.
Cinematography from Andrés Arochi weaves together amber hues atop a desaturated palette, showcasing a rurally-tinged area, immersing us in a grim Americana. Grey skies, dark corners, closed off wood-paneled houses, and the basements of the FBI. Presentation and place conveys the sense that this story should never see the light of day. A macabre sense of unease that permeates every frame, conjured from precise camera positioning, framing and blocking. Diffuse imagery is overlaid on screen, drawing the eye and leaving you vulnerable to a plot point or a sharp splice of unsettling imagery. None of this is in service of cheap scares, but rather generating a continual feeling of being off-kilter. All this is aided by impactful sound design and a discordant score from Zilgi (suspected to be a pseudonym for Elvis Perkins) that is evocative of those distinct noises so instrumental in building unease in episodes of The X-Files.
Much of the film rests on Monroe, rendering Harper as (at least initially) a studied, somber type, clearly weighed down by some psychological baggage and a somewhat stilted relationship with her mother (a lynchpin of a performance from Alicia Witt). It’s pivotal work as she reflects the ongoing events in the film gradually whittling down her defenses and assaulting her senses. As cool and collected as Monroe’s Harper is, the opposite is true of Nicolas Cage as Longlegs. An unspooled ball of chaos that feels like a walking malignancy. This is a prosthetic heavy transformation which is disturbing enough, but the physical movement and vocal shifts are what truly brings immortalizes this monster. As both burnish their status as genre icons, the real star here is Osgood Perkins, who after promising efforts with Gretel and Hansel, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, it seems like Perkins final has the creative grasp (and perhaps freedom) to bring he ideas to bear. A cumulation of his efforts to craft a film steeped in lore, horror and mystery, here distilled down into high-grade nightmare fuel. Beyond the look and feel of the film, Longlegs lingers long in the mind because of how it explores the idea of evil. This is not some typical horror where evil is clearly defined or easily vanquished, its about the persistence of evil, its changing nature, and its ability to fester within the corner of the soul. Evil can corrupt a person, a family, and even a home. There are some leaps and plot threads in the closing act that could frustrate some, but they work in service of this more bleak worldview, a cruel and twisted denouement about the unrelenting nature of evil.
Longlegs worms its way into theaters on July 12th
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The Dark Alchemy of LONGLEGS [Spoiler Free]
![The Dark Alchemy of LONGLEGS [Spoiler Free]](https://i0.wp.com/cinapse.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/longlegs-header.png?resize=1140%2C641&ssl=1)
There’s something magical about seeing a period horror film like Longlegs in a sold out air conditioned theater on film (1 of 5 35mm prints made!), on a hot summer’s eve. It’s like a forgotten ceremony that calls back to the old horror film gods of yore to bless this new film, that’s so heavily influenced by the classics that came before it. Thankfully the marketing for this one never engaged me, so I was coming in blind. The trailers and their serial killer vibe just seemed to lack a hook for me to latch onto, but in the first 20 minutes you kind of understand that was the whole point. It’s something that to be honest might have been a deal breaker for some if they had shown more of this psychological horror film’s more surreal leanings. But director Oz Perkins masterfully grounds that atmospheric opening in such a way these later leaps work, and the film is able to cast its spell on the viewer.
It’s those events that ultimately land the awkward Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) in the bowels of the FBI facing every man Agent Carter (Blair Underwood), now tasked with an unsolved serial killer case that’s been ongoing for three decades. Longlegs as he’s known for the signed and Zodiac Killer-esque encoded letters left at the scene of the crime, which usually involves entire families, all with daughters who were born on the 14th of the month.These grisly killings always appear to be a murder suicide committed by the patriarch of the family, and have no real motive. These letters from Longlegs left at the scene are the only thing linking the murders together. After Lee is mysteriously visited by the killer, leaving her a birthday card with the rosetta stone to the code, she immediately rips the case wide open while continuing to build on that mystery box, until the film’s final act.
While the film’s narrative itself is a cat and mouse game between Lee and Nic Cage’s albino Tiny Tim-esque Longlegs, there’s a very gender specific subtext that carries through the film to its shocking conclusion. I also have to mention the white male serial stereotype is such a known quantity at this point, it almost goes without saying that it’s a part of this equation. Another contributing factor is the fact that all these people are essentially murdered by their fathers, or so they think, it’s a point brought home by a line of dialog when Lee meets Agent Carter’s daughter and she asks the awkward woman in a rather endearing moment, if it’s scary not just to be an FBI agent, but a woman FBI agent. It’s something that casts a rather dark suspicion over all the men in the film, since even her partner has some reservations on his new charge. I think in the film’s closing act, as the film fully bares its fangs things become a whole lot more complex in the way Longlegs looks at both gender and religion.
There’s also some interesting subtext about the lengths parents will go to for their children, but I am trying to keep this spoiler free.
That said, Maika Monroe is really doing some interesting character work here as the special agent, who is extremely awkward and possibly on the spectrum. But that’s kind of the point to why she’s there. It’s definitely a much more dynamic and unique take on a female FBI agent, as we see her mind racing in every scene trying to make connections and use those to craft theories, that do nothing but unnerve her partner. There’s some True Detective in there too, but this is clearly Lee’s singular story. Cage however is fully uncaged here, but that makes sense given the actor has been placed under a layer of grotesque facial appliances to allow the actor to fully transform into the killer here. A personal surprise for me was Alicia Witt, who I was a big fan of in the 90’s. She takes that weird, off putting personae she perfected and adds a bit of religious paranoia giving us Lee’s mother an eccentric quality that is hard to put a finger on.
Longlegs is a terrifying haunted house of a narrative, with dimly lit amber interiors and an always moving camera, so the viewer is never truly allowed to find their footing. The film does lean into the jump scares and this is amplified by some very unnerving sound design and score, that really helps to maintain a constant state of unease. But the real question with a film like this is, does the mystery at the heart of Longlegs actually pay off? I have to say for me it did, and it does expect the viewer to meet it on its own terms, which may be where it loses some. That last act is a rapid fire of exposition, flashbacks and mythology that’s ambitious as it is undeniably insane, and I loved every second of it. Longlegs had me completely under its spell and I can’t wait for others to fall down this rabbit hole and deliver their own dissections as I continue to mull over what I just witnessed.
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LONGLEGS is a Diabolical Detective Story
Oz Perkins crafts an unsettling, infernal spell on unsuspecting viewers in a satanic crime thriller
Stills courtesy of NEON. Evil hangs softly in the air of every Oz Perkins film.
From The Blackcoat’s Daughter to Gretel and Hansel, a silent malevolence infects every interaction, every flicker of daylight, hinting at elemental evils far beyond our comprehension. No kindness can be trusted, and moments of peace are a foreboding precursor to inevitable violence and terror. While plenty of modern horror has mined quiet moments of dread for all they’re worth, none quite match Perkins’ singular approach of cinematically binding natural and unnatural worlds. It’s an approach that’s developed a similarly gradual groundswell of pop culture resonance over the last few years, in the form of a Netflix original, an A24 VOD release, and finally a theatrical release in the remaining few weeks before the COVID pandemic.
In that context, it’s no wonder that Longlegs, Perkins’ first (hopefully) unencumbered wide theatrical release, feels like the tipping point of a major horror breakout. Thanks to NEON’s tantalizing slow-burn of a marketing campaign (beginning in January!), Longlegs’ malicious atmosphere has had a fair amount of time to percolate in the zeitgeist–conceivably acclimating mainstream audiences to the equal patience occasionally required for Perkins’ frights to take proper effect. Thankfully, it’s a patience that more than pays off: Longlegs sees Perkins operating at a creative fever pitch with a visually dazzling, uniquely frightening detective story that seizes control of our deepest fears.
Set during the Clinton administration, Maika Monroe’s Lee Harker is an FBI agent whose nascent psychic abilities land her a key placement in the Bureau’s hunt for a decades-spanning serial killer–if he can be called that. He shows no signs of directly interfering with his victims, who instead kill each other in ritualistic murder-suicides adorned with cryptic, Zodiac-like letters bearing his call name: Longlegs. As Harker grows closer to deciphering Longlegs’ enigmatic goals, Longlegs himself (Nicolas Cage) meticulously prepares to take his next victims in satisfaction of his ultimately Satanic pursuits.
What makes Perkins’ approach to horror so effective is how he initially grounds audiences in the traditional and familiar. It can be on a totemic level, through intricately detailed and lived-in production design, effortlessly evoking the tired, twilight grime of the mid-90s (major praise to production designer Danny Vermette). Here, the 90s are represented as a boxy, beige era caught between a worn-out reminiscence for 70’s kitsch and a premature nostalgia for Reagan-era exceptionalism. It can also be through familiar tropes, here rooted in a shared love for detective procedurals and psychological horror films. While Longlegs may immediately remind audiences of classics like Seven or Silence of the Lambs, there are also echoes of the burning madness of Cure, the dream logic of Phantasm, and–at least, to this viewer–the crackling tension between cruel reality and the terrifying mysteries of the beyond in The Exorcist III. This love for horror has a literary bent as well, with characters’ names nodding to everyone from Bram Stoker to H.P. Lovecraft. This isn’t to say that Longlegs earns most of its mileage through a clever, stylized pastiche of horror greats; rather, Oz Perkins uses these myriad cultural touchstones as a Rosetta Stone to tap into anxieties on a deeper, primal level.
Much like Longlegs’ letters cryptically pointing to the motivations behind his grisly crimes, Perkins’ usage of the familiar soon gives way to a nightmare logic that permeates every atmospheric frame. So much tension is divined from a flashlight beam dissolving into darkness, a split-second invasion of demonic imagery, or a twisted mouth whose face malevolently rests just outside the confines of the screen. Oftentimes, you aren’t quite sure just what you’re supposed to be afraid of. Is something going to appear in a distant doorjamb? Is there another voice lurking in the shadows? Is this shot something omniscient, or have we temporarily inhabited another sinister point of view? Eventually, the specifics don’t matter–in favor of surrendering to a permanent sense of surreal unease. Perkins and cinematographer Andres Arochi imbue this sense of uncanny dread in each of Longlegs’ gorgeously terrifying sequences, which on their own retain a painterly chiaroscuro quality before preying on our fears of the dark.
One key decision, crucially upheld until well toward Longlegs’ final act, is Perkins and Arochi’s choice to obscure our view of their titular killer. While Longlegs is one of Nicolas Cage’s most imposing and sinister personas yet, he’s deliberately kept out of frame or at a distance–aside from teasing glimpses either in an ominous game of peekaboo or in tentative dips into our range of vision. This not only tempers the expected heights of another Cageian performance–but fosters the idea of Longlegs as an invasive presence in both the world of Longlegs as well as the film itself. He’s a sublimely unheimlich demon even for a procedural thriller like this, infusing the ominous omnipresence of a killer like the Zodiac with the supernatural vibes of the Cursed Video from The Ring or the Girl in the Radiator from Lynch’s Eraserhead.
In surprising opposition to this, Maika Monroe’s Harker is played extremely close to the chest, with a marked reserve that makes her initially difficult to read as a protagonist. While commanding when pursuing the FBI’s latest target, Harker remains steely in private moments with co-workers or her cloyingly religious mother, the latter deviously played by Alicia Witt. It makes for a mature evolution of Monroe’s presence as a modern scream queen, especially in inevitable comparison to Jodie Foster’s turn as Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. While Foster’s Starling must adopt a performative bravado to be seen as an equal in the eyes of her FBI cohorts, Harker’s deliberate emotional detachment becomes an asset in unearthing clues that go unseen by others working on the case. Monroe’s execution is remarkably skilled here, working with Perkins’ oppressive silence to let audiences in on non-verbal emotional cues to Harker’s inner machinations, a far cry from the more theatrical terrors of It Follows and Watcher.
As one might gleam from repeated notions of patience and cold distance, Longlegs most definitely retains the crawling pace of Oz Perkins’ past work despite being his most accessible film yet. The film’s marketing nails Longlegs’ terrifying ambiguity–and while this may prove enticing for crowds eagerly awaiting this picture, it may ultimately prove divisive among wider audiences conditioned to or expecting multiple frights per minute. However, viewers willing to surrender to Perkins’ subversive spell will be rewarded in the nightmares that will linger long after they leave the theater. Major kudos can be given here to editors Greg Ng and Graham Fortin, who traffic in split-second imagery and unpredictable, aspect-ratio-shifting time warps between the 1990s and 1970s, with all of the latent Satanic Panic visuals and audio cues one might gather from these respective eras.
While there are some concrete answers divulged for Longlegs’ many mysteries, what’s most exciting about Perkins’ film is its dedication to retaining the enigmatic nature of several key elements. Whether it’s an FBI-run program meant to weed out the psychics among them, the origins of some of Longlegs’ particular tools, or the many moments where our eyes may be deceiving us, Perkins has a wonderfully auteurist flair for keeping some crucial clues deep within the shadows. It allows the careful, diabolical magic tricks of Longlegs to retain their unearthly power across future viewings–entertaining but never permitting audiences to wake up from this nightmare.
Longlegs opens in theaters on July 12th, 2024 courtesy of NEON.
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Fantasia 2024: The Cinapse Crew’s Most Anticipated
North America’s largest genre film festival, Fantasia, is back this year with its 28th iteration of the iconic fest, running from Thursday, July 18th, through Wednesday, August 4th. The Montreal based cinematic celebration returns with their usual selection of can’t miss premieres, classics, panels, and workshops that are sure to please any discerning cinephile.
The fest will open this year with the World Premiere of Ant Timpson’s latest Bookworm, which will reunite the New Zealand filmmaker with his Come to Daddy star Elijah Wood and the fest will close with André Forcier’s Ababouiné. The film is an important local story chronicling a time in the 1950s, when the Catholic Church ruled over Quebec with an iron fist. Other highlights this year include, the book Launch for Heidi Honeycutt’s latest tome – I Spit On Your Celluloid, talks with Gary Pullin and Mike Flanagan and a live recording of The Colors of the Dark Podcast presented by Fangoria. Mike Flanagan will also be on hand to accept Fantasia’s 2024 Cheval Noir career award.
I will be attending covering as press and I put the word out to my fellow colleagues here on Cinapse attending for the titles they’re most excited about.
Dan Tabor’s Most Anticipated:
FRANKIE FREAKO Directed by Steven Kostanski CANADA
Directed by Astron Six’s Steve Kostanski (Manborg, The Void, Psycho Goreman), Frankie Freako promises to be a creature comedy that’s a love letter to the ’80s, with echoes of Ghoulies and the Puppetmaster series. This combo has it as literally my most anticipated films of the fest given Steve’s previous films scrappy insanity.
AZRAEL Directed by E.L. Katz USA
A post-apocalyptic film starring Samara Weaving? Say less.
The film pairs the director of Cheap Thrills E.L. Katz, with a script by You’re Next’s Simon Barrett that features Weaving as the titular Azrael, a woman trying to escape a mute cult who wants to sacrifice her to an ancient demon. Given Weaving’s track record for relentless brutality on screen, I expect this won’t end well for the cult.
THE SOUL EATER (Mangeur d’Âmes) Directed by Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo FRANCE
The latest from directors Julien Maury and Alexandre the directors of the transgressive classic Inside follows a pair of investigators arrive in a remote town in the French mountains, who have been dispatched to look into a married couple’s grisly murder. This pair seldom disappoints, so I am front and center for a film that looks tackle a ficticious urban legend in their patented style.
BRUSH OF GOD (Kaminofude) Directed by Keizo Murase JAPAN
A love letter to all things Kaiju. One day a mysterious stranger appears to Akari who gives the lonely teenager a prop from her recently deceased grandfather’s unfinished giant monster film, a handmade ink brush. The stranger then explains to Akari and her nerdy classmate Takuya that the brush is the key to stopping the world from ending! That’s one hell of a setup and that image above definitely sold me on this film.
THIS MAN Directed by Tomojiro Amano JAPAN
This film adapts a real urban legend that circulated in Tokyo in the 1990, were all the victims have psychiatric histories, and have drawn portraits of a sinister, monobrowed man seen in their dreams just before they died. This Man promises a folk inspired entry in J-horror that looks to use this premise to delve into mental illness from a Japanese perspective and that sounds like a fascinating approach for a J-Horror film.
Julian Singleton’s Most Anticipated:
HOUSE OF SAYURI Directed by Koji SHIRAISHI JAPAN
To me, Koji Shiraishi is the most exciting voice in Japanese horror since the J-Horror movement of the early 2000s. Noroi: the Curseis my all-time favorite horror film, a found-footage symphony of dread that has only been followed up by Shiraishi’s genre-defying body of work. He brings a wacky, wild sensibility to the skin-crawling creepiness J-Horror is most known for, tempering the slow-burn frights established by Hideo Nakata and Takashi Shimizu with the scrappy, go-for-broke zaniness of Sam Raimi and John Carpenter.
House of Sayuri is Shiraishi’s adaptation of a sublimely creepy manga by Rensuke Oshikiri, one that harkens back to the Ju-on-style haunted house genre with a gleefully gorier bent. It’s a story whose genre subversions and radical left-turns marry well to Shiraishi’s modern mission to “destroy J-Horror entirely”–and the story’s pivot from passive, bloodcurdling haunting to combative bloodthirsty revenge is something only a director like Shiraishi can pull off.
CUCKOO Directed by Tilman Singer GERMANY
Speaking of singular horror voices, Tilman Singer’s Luz came out of nowhere for me, providing a creepy different take on single location thrillers, police procedurals, and exorcisms all in a brisk 70 minutes. It’s been way too long since Luz’s 2018 debut, and after several years of delayed post-production, Singer’s follow up Cuckoo looks like another blend of horrific mayhem on a far broader canvas. The cast is also stacked with some incredible faces, namely Euphoria’s Hunter Schaefer, The Matrix Resurrections’ Jessica Henwick, and everyone’s favorite chameleon Dan Stevens–who seems to be turning in another unpredictable and unhinged horror performance!
SHELBY OAKS Directed by Chris Stuckmann USA
It’s always fascinating when a prominent, insightful critic pivots into a creative role–and having been in the works since its record-breaking Kickstarter campaign in 2021, Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks has certainly been percolating on my to-see list for quite a while. Framed as a faux documentary following the search for a missing Paranormal YouTuber, Stuckmann’s feature debut has garnered the support and backing of storied horror vets like Mike Flanagan and Aaron B. Koontz, as well as the legendary Keith David among the cast. With support at a fever pitch among creatives and anticipatory audiences, Shelby Oaks may be the debut of a strong new vision in horror.
RITA Directed by Jayro Bustamante GUATEMALA
Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona was a meditative terror whose insights into genocidal guilt sparked international acclaim during its Oscar campaign as Guatemala’s entry for Best International Feature. A dreamlike horror film that infused folk terrors with disturbing modern ones, Bustamante appears to be taking a similar tack with his follow up feature Rita. The film follows a 13-year-old girl incarcerated in an all-girls’ custody facility, as rumors persist of a winged savior who will deliver these girls to freedom. It’ll be fascinating to see how the surreal melancholy of La Llorona translates to a gritty magical realism, which the Fest has already drawn comparisons to the works of Guillermo Del Toro. With US buyers already locked via IFC Films and Shudder, one can’t help but also draw potential comparisons to Issa López’s similarly majestic and magical Tigers Are Not Afraid.
A SAMURAI IN TIME Directed by Junichi Yasuda JAPAN
I’m always going to be down for magical, genre-pushing movies that manage to turn a winking eye to the thrill of making movies themselves. Junichi Yasuda’s A Samurai in Time sounds like a blast, as a time-traveling Samurai finds himself far from a fish out of water when he appears on the set of a modern jidaigeki swordplay drama. It’s a story whose heart and charm already leaps off the page, and I’m excited to see how Yasuda’s film pays homage not just to the Samurai era itself, but to the legendary film epics they would later inspire.
Justin Harlan’s Most Anticipated:
DARK MATCH Directed by Lowell Dean CANADA
Those who know me know I’m a pro wrestling “mark” – a term for a superfan of said sports entertainment fare – who even runs a podcast about wrestlers in film. Combine this with the fact that I’m a huge horror and genre nerd, a sucker for movies about cults, and love low to mid budget fare – and Dark Match seems like a movie made especially for me. With well-known wrestling superstar Chris Jericho (formerly of WWE and WCW, currently with AEW) in a prominent role and Wolfcop director Lowell Dean at the helm, this is easily the film I’m most excited for in this year’s Fantasia lineup.
An indie wrestling company takes a well-paying gig without knowing the real motives of the mysterious cult leader who brings them to town. Honestly, what’s not to like?
Frank Calvillo’s Most Anticipated:
4PM After having to back out last year due to family reasons, I’m chomping at the bit to dive back into the world of Fantasia Fest. Out of the nearly 10 years I’ve been covering the festival, I can’t think of a lineup more varied and exciting than the one that’s been set for 2024. Director Jay Song’s 4pm promises a nightmarish tale of a couple quietly tormented by a neighbor in a tale that feels like the offspring of Rod Serling and Stephen King. The fact that I practically grew up in a library (my mother was a librarian) has me eager to watch Darkest Miriam, the story of a librarian who finds herself in an unexpected romance which brings with it a spot of danger.
HOLLYWOOD 90028 On the retrospective side, the resurrection of Hollywood 90028 is the highlight of this section of Fantasia for me. The once thought lost examination of a cameraman driven to murderous impulses remains one of the most provocative female-helmed films of the 1970s. Penalty Loop takes us to the other end of the Fantasia spectrum with a Japan-set tale of love, loss, revenge, and major déjà vu. Finally, the remake of the 80s original cult classic Witchboard has me excited as director Chuck Russell transports this story about a group of young people who dare to tamper with the afterlife to New Orleans.
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Two Cents Crashes Tom Hanks’ Island Paradise in CAST AWAY
This week on Back to the Beach, the Cinapse team revisits a classic Robert Zemeckis tale of ingenuity, survival, and volleyballs
Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to [email protected].
When Justin mentioned the idea of doing a “Back to the Beach” theme for Summer, I couldn’t help but suggest Robert Zemeckis’ one-Hanks-show Cast Away. I wanted to suggest a film not just with the most “beach” possible–even with Old briefly in the running–but one where the Beach has a central emotional impact on its characters. Cast Away has that in spades–telling the story of Tom Hanks’ FedEx engineer marooned on a lush, remote Pacific island for more than four years. It’s a remarkably stripped-down, back-to-basics film for a blockbuster director like Zemeckis, one whose sunny, sandy location forces its sole inhabitant to learn not just how to survive, but what’s worth living for.
Julian Singleton
I hadn’t seen Cast Away in twenty years before revisiting it for this series, and it’s safe to say that the cumulative time and distance made the whole film hit far harder than might’ve been possible as a teen. The pacing is just remarkable: how Zemeckis draws out the breakneck routine of Chuck’s FedEx logistics engineer, the breathless frenzy of the plane crash (one of Zemeckis’ two aviation crash all-timers)…and finally, how Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, and screenwriter William Broyles Jr. power through Chuck’s seemingly endless time on the island without making it feel like any less of the purgatory he’s going through.
A man obsessed with time, a paradise by any other point of view becomes hell on Earth for a man whose whole life revolves around keeping on the go. I can’t help but imagine this verdant stretch of Pacific isolation proved a prison as much as an inspiration for both director and star. So much of what makes Tom Hanks a star to me is witnessing the impact he has on others; whether making them laugh or cry, it’s always so stunning seeing the Hanks effect take hold on people both in-scene and in-audience. Likewise, up to this point I’d associated Robert Zemeckis with jaw-dropping, big budget spectacle–and while Cast Away’s central crash and opening package globe-trotting allows those indulgences, much of the film is spent so far outside either man’s comfort zone. While we have the amazing volleyball straight man that is Wilson, so much of Cast Away forces Zemeckis to train his eye on a solitary Hanks–with both everything and nothing at the creatives’ disposal.
But like their central character, there’s few things as rewarding than being resourceful. By focusing on Chuck’s compulsive need to problem-solve his way out of going insane, Cast Away moves at such a tremendous clip, chock full of ingenious details (that cave solar calendar!) that reveal just as much about Chuck’s mental state as it does his tenacity for survival. Even more astonishing is when the two come in direct conflict with one another–as when Chuck must come face to face with one of his darkest failures if he truly wants to escape the island.
When Chuck finally returns to civilization, he confronts how much time, his greatest obsession, cares little about him in return. With those he loves most having moved on despite appreciating his return, Chuck is once again adrift in a sea of possibility. What he draws from his time on the beach, as I feel both Zemeckis and Hanks must have in making this film, is that there’s as much joy and excitement as there is loss and uncertainty to be found in having all the time in the world to explore the unknown. Who knows what the tide could bring?
(@Gambit1138 on Xitter)
Frank Calvillo
Like Julian, I hadn’t seen Cast Away in quite a few years. If I’m being honest, the only time I ever saw the film (prior to this rewatch) was on its opening weekend. I remember the hoopla surrounding the movie as being positively deafening. Cast Away was to be yet another entry that would further director Robert Zemeckis’ standing as a modern-day cinematic showman, while the physical transformation undergone by star Tom Hanks was getting just as much buzz as the movie itself, it was bound to land him yet another Oscar nomination. The experience itself was a spectacular one, a monumental movie achievement that worked spectacularly on every level to such a degree, it instantly earned its place in popular culture.
In the 24 years since I first saw Cast Away, I wasn’t totally sure what kind of movie I would be watching. Many of the film’s various moments had lingered in my memory over the years to the point that I felt I knew what to expect going into this rewatch. Needless to say, watching the movie at 18 years old reads differently from watching it at 42. Experiencing it this time around, I found myself struck by the level of humanity contained within it. It’s easy to think of Cast Away as some partial effects-driven cinematic feat that existed more as an event than a film about people. But the movie is actually a telling document about the human experience and an exploration of the core of a man’s soul. In accompanying Chuck through his journey, we are reminded of the value of human connection and find ourselves reintroduced to the array of emotions that comprise our very existence. Scenes such as seeing Chuck make the brave decision to leave his island, watching the mental anguish he experiences at seeing him lose his beloved Wilson, and the bittersweet reunion with Kelly (Helen Hunt), all show Cast Away’s ability to tap into the intimate poignancy at the heart of such a larger-than-life story. I realize some of this may sound a bit hokey, but amid Zemeckis’ tour-de-force achievement and Hanks’ wonderfully grounded performance, Cast Away reminds us of the beauty and importance within every step of the journey we are all destined to take.
(@frankfilmgeek on Xitter)
Justin Harlan
24 years ago this movie was released to extensive fan fare and extremely positive reviews. I never bothered watching, despite genuinely enjoying Tom Hanks in most of the films I’d seen him in because it just didn’t seem like it was for me. Fast forward to this week, where it was selected for our weekly film club and I finally pressed play.
I’m sad to report that I was correct. It is very much not really my thing. Yet, all of the things I expected to be done well, indeed were done very well! I’d even note that it likely deserved to win some of he many awards for which it was nominated, as the film is compelling and is quite the singular film. Despite its quality and its uniqueness, it simply isn’t for me… and I can’t even fully explain why.
I’m quite glad I was asked to watch it though, as it always felt like a large cinematic blindspot for me. Since I loved last week’s film – despite the often mediocre nature of the filmmaking and plot in that film – and am not a fan of this one – despite the breathtaking cinematography and a Tom Hanks acting clinic – the real take away here is that my opinions should simply not be trusted.
(@thepaintedman on Xitter)
CINAPSE GOES BACK TO THE BEACH!
Every week in July, we’ll be headed to the beach. Sometimes it’ll be fun, other times it’ll be a difficult journey, and yet other weeks it may end up deadly! Join us this month by reaching out to any of the team or emailing [email protected]!
July 15th – A Perfect Getaway
July 22nd – Evil Under the Sun
July 29th – Club Dread -
CFF 2024: GHOST GAME is a worthy followup to THE STYLIST
The Stylist, which World Premiered at the virtual Celebration of Fantastic Fest back in 2020, was an impressively crafted exploration of female pathos by Jill Gevargizian, who infused the story of a killer stylist with her own life experiences as a hairdresser. I think that grounded that particular character in a way that gave the young auteur her breakout and would have the film winning over audiences at every festival thereafter. Well, here we are, four years later and Jill is back with her follow up. This is of special note to me, since the film was written by Philly’s own Adam Ceaser, the hardest working man in teen horror literature, who’s probably best known for his Clown in a Cornfield series. (Third book dropping soon!)
Jill’s latest, Ghost Game is a clear statement on the current climate on social media hijinks, where terrible behavior online is rewarded with digital clout. This sentiment manifests itself in the film as an online trend called “Ghost Game”. This has its players breaking into and then hiding in strangers homes and terrorizing them, making their houses appear haunted. Cameras are also placed in and around the home and of course the footage then is ingested and digested and posted online. This film follows a young couple who hope to galvanize their troubled union by partaking in their first Ghost Game together in the rumored haunted Halton House. Embracing one of the most time honored tropes in haunted house movies, it also just got some new owners in the form of a family who are just moving in.
The hook is, it becomes quickly apparent however, to both our players and their prey that something else is going on as our players and the family start to experience phenomena that wasn’t intentionally set up by their unwanted guests.
Like her last film, Game relies on a solid cast of fresh faces to invest us in this story that feels nearly plausible. I did, however, happen to notice one of the cast was fellow female director Emily Bennett (Director of the excellent Alone with You), who plays the mother of a young woman on the spectrum caught in this game. The player couple at the center of the film, played by Zaen Haidar and Kia Dorsey, really invests you in not only the game itself, but its moral implications as the writer father of the family turns out to be not only an alcoholic, but abusive and this splits the couple on how to handle this development. It’s a layer, like the little girl’s autism that added flourishes to a story that could have been just your standard haunter or broad horror thriller.
Jill Gevargizian’s follow up to The Stylist, has the same scrappy charm, energy and ultra-violence as her previous film along with toying with some timely issues this time around. It’s also a bit more ambitious in its world building and scope, which makes me wonder what the future holds for the director, who shows yet again how far she can stretch a budget. The smart move here given that there were more than a few social media-esque narratives recently in the indie sphere is, Jill realized the real story is the people behind the screen rather in front of it. I think that what really made Ghost Game work for me and this was no doubt thanks to Adam’s script, is it wasn’t purely about the game, but the folks caught up in it, and their tangled relationships.
