Ridley Scott's newest pic, The Dog Stars, is as close to a western as he ever did get to do. A post-apocalyptic story, it's a very slow and intimist film, 1 character, a dog, two characters, three characters, that's it. Oh, and a Cessna 1956 plane. Major character.
Jacob Elrodi (frankenstein) replaced Paul Mescal as Hig, the pilot. Josh Brolin who worked previously with Scott on American Gangster is the cynical Bangley. They represent opposite views, opposite worlds, one missing his old world, the other one adapting, full survival mode.
Supporting are Margaret Qualley (OUTiH, Poor Things,The Substance, Kinds of Kindness, Drive-Away Dolls, How to Make a Killing), in her most normal and romantic role (up to now) as Cima and Guy Pearce as Pops (Pearce was the old Peter Weyland in Prometheus). Benedict Wong is also here (he was in Ridey's The Martian) and an Ewen Bremner cameo that works as a red hering. He also worked for Scott in Black Hawk Down.
Now if you already read the reviews which I can't understand...? Worst ever for a Scott film??
Worse than Gladiator II and Napoleon which were painful to sit through? Anyway, this is not that biggie of a film, compared to the scale of these two baaad juggernauts...
The film is very slow and it builds atmosphere gradually. The three acts are separated smoothly. The landscape, the nature is another silent character, the green, the mountains vs. The Wasteland.
Incredibly the whole film was shot in Italy, with the Grand Junction sets built at Cinecitta. DOP is Erik Mesermschmit, David Fincher's later collaborator, here in his 1st cinema fare with Scott (he worked before with RS on TV's Raised by Wolves and The Dope Thief).
Comparisons with The Last of Us or The Walking Dead are wrong, closer is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
The Dog Stars is based on the 2012 book by Peter Heller and the script is by Mark L Smith who wrote The Revenant.
Harry Gregson-Williams composed the score, which is part elegiac, part menacing, it's his 7th for a Scott film.
The soundtrack has also dramatic value, it's folkish and rockish, from the opening credits with Hozier ( Like Real People Do), that gets replayed at the end of the film, to Van Morrison (Tupelo Honey), to Caamp’s “By and By” (on headphones), Dean Martin (Memories are made of This), to the end in The Chieftains and Mick Jagger. (The Long Black Veil). Featuring also Charmaine written by Lew Pollack, Erno Rapee performed by Jack Nitzsche, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Fly Me to the Moon, sung by Allison Janney on screen.
There is a most poetic scene at the end with the "mormons"/ mennonites countryfair that transcends Ridley Scott's cinema, an optimist message in a post-apocalyptic world. I sensed in the interraction betwwen Hig and Bangley could be a sort of tribute to Ridley's late brother, Tony....
The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) id the 2nd film of New Zeelander James Ashcroft. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: meets Bubbahotep (without the mummy ;) and Misery. Rush and especillay Lihgow are a blast, one of Lithgow's best. Stellar acting. Not for the faint of heart ;)
Tim Curry aka Dr Frank-N-furter, on stage since 1973 !
Curry was 80, he had a stroke in 2012 and sice then did mostly voiceover work.
Quintessential as Dr. Frank-N-Furter the Transexual Vampyre from Transylvania in the cult movie that invented the Midnight Movie Madness, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), also featuring Meat Loaf.
also:
The Dark Lord in Ridley Scott's superb Legend (1985), under heavy prosthetics make-up (over 6 hours if work).
Long John Silver in The Muppet Trasure Island
Wadsworth in Clue )1985)
The clown from It (1990), the original Pennywise
Dr Petrov in The Hunt for the Red October opposite Sir Sean Connery...
And the infamous Romanian con Herkemer Homolka, 'at last freed from Ceausescu's chains' from the very bad guilty pleasure movie Congo (1995, Frank Marshall). I guess the neme came from Oskar Homolka ?
"While filming Congo, I sat on top of a Volcano talking to Tim Curry..." - Bruce Campbell said about sitting on top of a volcano talking with Tim Curry.
Curry earned three Tony nominations and a Daytime Emmy and released three musical albums in his career.
Chuck Russell, the cult director of The Blob, A nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Mask and Ahnuld's Eraser, or if you will The Rock's The Scopion King is gone at 74.
He worked his way up in the LA film industry, from assistant directing and production managing independent films while writing screenplays (Dreamscape). Russell made his directorial debut in 1987 with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which relaunched the franchise.
as stated on Sept. 23, 2025 when the trailer premiered.
Movie or at least Curio of next year ?
The Bride, Maggie Gyllenhaal's second film after The Lost Daughter (2021) is a revisonist retelling of Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale), with Jessie Buckley (Fargo sez, IV) as The Bride, Christian Bale as Frankenstein's Monster, and Jake Gyllenhaal, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening.
Just fyi, there was another The Bride, starring Sting, Clancy Brown as the Monster aka Viktor and Jennifer Beals as "Eve", directed by Franc Roddam, in 1985.
-Update-saw the film in cinema March 9th 2026 and posted my "review" on Letterboxed here.
It says:
All over the place big budget mess of a personal (I'd say Vanity) star project (Maggie Gyllenhal's 2nd film) with an incoherent agenda: meta-cinema, pretentious literary references (Mary Shelley, Herman Melville, Shakespeare), grand feminist message, cult genre films homage, from Bonnie and Clyde to Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, over-the-top performances -Bale can go for a Razzie, gratuitous violence, #metoo engagement, anachronisms galore, chaotic choregraphy and revisionist musical score. I didn't feel involved at all, Zlatko Buric as Italian capo Lupino ! (another Ida Lupino reference !) is the weirdest casting choice.
Folie a Deux meets (Un) Natural Born Killers, It surely deserves the exclamation sign from the title !!!
New Zeelander hero (but born in Northen Ireland) Sam Neill has gome away at 78.
Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park series for most, but great in Possession (1981), his 1st major European part, his 1st American important part in 1990's The Hunt for the Red October. That came after his intense performance in Oz director's Phillip Noyce's excellent triangle thriller, Dead Calm (1989).
He could've been James Bond but he skipped it...
One of his carrers best: John Trent in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1994).
Also great villain for another John Carpenter flick, Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992).
Great villainy also in Event Horizon, The Piano.
TV best: season 2 of Peaky Blinders.
Also great parts in Oz and NZ films as Taika Waikiki's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) and The Hunter (2011).
"I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world."
BLÜESFERATÜ: UN CINE-CONCERT EVENIMENT, O ANIMAȚIE NOUĂ ȘI UN VIN DE COLECȚIE
Pe 27 iunie 2026, Blüesferatü – Eine Symphonie des Blues revine la Castelul Bran pentru cea de-a treia ediție consecutivă prezentată în grădina castelului. Ediția din acest an aduce însă mai mult decât o nouă reprezentație live a cine-concertului inspirat de Nosferatu (1922): o animație nouă realizată de Costin Chioreanu și Olivia Chioreanu, lansarea ediției de colecție a vinului Blüesferatü Red Blend creată împreună cu Stoker Wines și noi colaborări culturale care continuă să extindă universul proiectului.
Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens, de F. W. Murnau (1922), este unul dintre cele mai importante filme mute din istoria cinematografiei. Coloana sonoră originală s-a pierdut, iar de-a lungul timpului au fost create nenumărate partituri și reinterpretări muzicale, transformând filmul într-un reper al cine-concertelor și al festivalurilor de film din întreaga lume.
Dar niciodată nu s-a cântat blues pe el.
Un blues mai psihedelic, dar ce blues: Blüesferatü!
Muzica originală este compusă și interpretată live de muzicienii brașoveni Robert Watzatka „Watzzy” și Ionuț Constantin „Yokko”, alături de Claudiu Rusu „Kani” (tobe), Ilyes Botond „Boti” (chitară), Mihai Nedea (keyboards) și Ovidiu Modigă (bas).
Proiectul a fost prezentat în premieră mondială pe 28 septembrie 2023 la Brașov, în cadrul Transilvania Blues Festival, după două reprezentații speciale organizate la Banca de Cultură Apollonia și Hub 2068. De atunci, Blüesferatü a continuat să evolueze prin improvizație, reinterpretare artistică și noi direcții creative, fiind prezentat în contexte culturale precum TIFF Timișoara, Buzz IFF și Castelul Bran.
Ca și în 2024 și 2025, și în acest an filmul va fi proiectat pe un ecran amplasat în curtea Castelului Bran. Muzicienii vor interpreta live coloana sonoră pe întreaga durată a filmului – 95 de minute.
Ediția din 2026 marchează și extinderea universului Blüesferatü dincolo de cine-concert.
În deschiderea evenimentului va avea loc o proiecție specială a animației Blüesferatü: The Animation, realizată de artiștii vizuali Costin Chioreanu și Olivia Chioreanu (Twilight13Media). Lansată recent online, animația va putea fi urmărită în prezența realizatorilor pe ecranul amplasat în curtea Castelului Bran, marcând debutul unei noi dimensiuni vizuale în universul Blüesferatü.
Tot cu această ocazie, va fi lansată împreună cu Stoker Wines ediția de colecție Blüesferatü Red Blend – Collector's Edition, inspirată de imaginarul proiectului. Fiecare spectator care achiziționează bilet la cine-concert va primi o sticlă din această ediție specială de colecție* (*în limita stocului disponibil).
Totodată, ediția din acest an beneficiază de sprijinul Centrului Cultural German Brașov și al Institutului Goethe, parteneri culturali ai proiectului, într-o colaborare care evidențiază dialogul dintre expresionismul german și reinterpretarea contemporană propusă de Blüesferatü.
Un film cult.
O coloană sonoră blues interpretată live.
O animație nouă.
Un vin de colecție.
BLÜESFERATÜ – THIRD TIME'S A CHARM
📍 Castelul Bran
📅 27 iunie 2026
🕘 Ora 21:00
🚪 Acces public: 20:00
🎟 Bilete:
130 RON presale | 150 RON la intrare
🎫 iabilet.ro
📅 Eveniment Facebook:
Blüesferatü – Live at Bran Castle
Un proiect produs de Alin Ludu Dumbravă și Vlad Popescu pentru Asociația Transilvania Arts & Events.
Partener principal: Castelul Bran
Powered by: BCR, ButanGas, Dräxlmaier, Aplind, Centrul Cultural German Brașov, Institutul Goethe
Psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, therapists. Group therapy or one-on-one. Mentalist, alienist, psychoanalyst, shrink.
Speaking of the original HBO series In Treatment, which itself comes from the Israeli BeTipul, I thought of no better way to wrap up this series of rankings, especially since I had my share of shrinks in my time. :-)
The number one “psychiatric” film would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Forman), but the psychiatrist there is merely window dressing; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is the one who embodies the oppressive system. And then there’s virtually any Woody Allen film, especially the Gene Wilder episode from *Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), featuring the doctor who falls in love with Daisy the sheep, which I previously discussed in my ranking of performances in Woody Allen films.
K-PAX (2001, Iain Softley), in which Jeff Bridges plays Dr. Mark Powell, treating an alien—or merely a psychotic patient? (Kevin Spacey)—and the Argentine counterpart Hombre mirando al sudeste (1986, Eliseo Subiela), are really about the patients, much like Nash (Russell Crowe) in A Beautiful Mind (2001, Ron Howard).
There’s also Dr. Marc Chabot (Yves Montand) in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970, Vincente Minnelli), who hypnotizes Barbra Streisand and discovers she has lived previous lives. Barbra herself tried being a doctor in The Prince of Tides (1991), attempting to cure Nick Nolte.
But my personal favorite is Klaus Kinski as Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot in Buddy Buddy (1981), Billy Wilder’s remake (and final film) of L’Emmerdeur (1973, Édouard Molinaro), unfortunately only a supporting role, complete with a fondness for nudist therapy.
And then there’s Dr. Elliot (Michael Caine) from Brian De Palma’s thriller Dressed to Kill (1980), whom I would call the “cross-dressing” variation.
Still, I decided to give the place to the illustrious Dr. Caligari. To paraphrase Siegfried Kracauer’s From Caligari to Hitler, this ranking goes from Caligari to Freud...
10. Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Variation: creepy
Dr. Caligari runs an asylum and uses the somnambulist Cesare for various dirty jobs. Similar to Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether and its idea that the inmates have taken over the asylum.
Its descendants include Asylum (1972, Roy Ward Baker), as well as the opening and cover art of In the Mouth of Madness (1995, John Carpenter).
Successors: Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, Dr. M, the mega-villains of the James Bond franchise beginning with Dr. No, etc.
Caligari controls Cesare, in a scene set to music by Lacrimosa.
(The full film can be found on YouTube.)
9. Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) in Spellbound (1945, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
Variation: mysterious
A thriller populated by psychiatrists, fascinated with psychoanalysis—a fairly new concept in Hollywood at the time—partly inspired by producer David O. Selznick’s own experiences in therapy.
Psychiatrist Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) treats the amnesiac John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), accused of murder.
Based on the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding, the pseudonym of John Palmer and Hilary St. George Sanders, screenplay by Ben Hecht.
Memorable above all for its dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí, and for a recurring skiing sequence.
Successor:Gothika (2003, Mathieu Kassovitz), with Halle Berry as an amnesiac psychiatrist committed to an asylum for a murder she cannot remember committing.
Trailer! (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
8. Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in Anger Management (2003, directed by Peter Segal)
Variation: out-of-control!
Jack Nicholson, usually the patient :-) (with the exception of “The Specialist” in the musical Tommy (1975), Ken Russell’s adaptation of The Who), plays an anger-management therapist—or whatever the proper term may be; the closest translation I found was “treatment for controlling one’s temper”—in a mediocre film that deserved a much better director.
A vehicle for Adam Sandler, who, when placed face to face with Jack’s explosive personality, is completely eclipsed.
Best scene: Adam, backed up by Jack, singing I Feel Pretty from West Side Story on the bridge!
7. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) in the Halloween series
Created by John Carpenter for the landmark 1978 film.
The name was borrowed from Psycho, from the character played by John Gavin, Sam Loomis.
Dr. Loomis is Michael Myers’ nemesis. He treated him at the institution from which Myers escaped. He is also the commentator, the voice of reason, and the only character besides Michael Myers himself to appear throughout the series: five films, including Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, released shortly before Pleasence’s death in 1995.
Played by Malcolm McDowell in Rob Zombie’s remake.
On the nature of evil!
6. Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) in Analyze This (1999, directed by Harold Ramis)
Variation: sleeps with the fishes!
Mob boss Vitti (Robert De Niro) has problems and decides to see a psychiatrist. But nobody must find out. Otherwise Vitti might end up sleeping with the fishes too, Luca Brasi style.
Nemesis: Chazz Palminteri, to whom the meaning of the word “closure” has to be explained.
The dramatic TV version:The Sopranos, released the very same year. Which came first? Only they know who inspired whom, but Analyze This is the parody version, a kind of sitcom blown up to feature-film proportions.
Sequel:Analyze That (2002), also directed by Harold Ramis.
Explaining the Oedipus complex! “Fuckin’ Greeks!”
5. Dr. Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) in Color of Night (1994, directed by Richard Rush)
Variation: it’s so bad, it’s good!
The most improbable psychiatrist ever.
Color-blind, traumatized by the color red, trapped in a Hitchcockian thriller inspired in part by Vertigo. Someone starts killing off his patients.
The patient roster is practically a compendium of cult actors: Lance Henriksen, Brad Dourif, Lesley Ann Warren, Kevin J. O'Connor.
Steamy sex scenes with the then-young Jane March (The Lover).
Bruce also played a psychiatrist, Dr. Crowe, in The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan), but I left him off the list for objective reasons: he belongs to the spirit world. :-)
A fan-made video clip for the title song (super-cheesy), performed by Lauren Christy!
4. Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) in Equus (1977, directed by Sidney Lumet)
Variation: equestrian
A drama written by Peter Shaffer, adapted from his own play, in which Harry Potter himself (a.k.a. Daniel Radcliffe) is currently appearing nude on Broadway.
Burton delivers a magnificent performance as a doctor determined to cure an extremely disturbed young man obsessed with horses (Peter Firth).
Nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) and winner of two Golden Globes, for Best Dramatic Actor (Burton) and Best Supporting Actor (Firth).
In the original Broadway production (1974–75), Anthony Hopkins played Dysart.
Trailer!
3. Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) in What About Bob? (1991, directed by Frank Oz)
Variation: funny
Bill Murray is Bob, the patient who relentlessly torments Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss).
The Romanian title used on television (since it never received a theatrical release) was The Psychiatrist on Vacation.
Similar: the Burt Reynolds / Dom DeLuise pairing in The End (1978, directed by Burt Reynolds).
The “Gimme Gimme, I Need I Need...” scene. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
2. Col. Vincent Kane (Stacy Keach) in The Ninth Configuration (1980, directed by William Peter Blatty)
Variation: red herrings!
Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane (The Exorcist).
How Do You Fight A War Called Madness?
A new commander arrives at a castle where he applies shock therapy to former soldiers suffering from mental illness.
An entirely male cast: Jason Miller, Stuart Wilson, Neville Brand, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell.
A film about post-war trauma—in this case Vietnam—one of the greatest unknown films ever made, although it enjoys a loyal cult following. Now available in its longer director’s cut.
Packed with references to The Exorcist, also written and produced by Blatty.
Filmed in Hungary. The castle is Burg Eltz in Germany.
Successor:Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese).
Part One: the opening sequence set to “St. Antone” by Denny Brooks. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
1. Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976, directed by Herbert Ross)
Variation: Freudian :-)
The film in which Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) treats Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson), brought to him by Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) for cocaine addiction—hence the film’s title.
Based on the novel by Nicholas Meyer.
Laurence Olivier plays Professor Moriarty and Vanessa Redgrave is the romantic interest, Lola Deveraux.
A special, one-of-a-kind film that clearly influenced Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Predecessor: Freud had appeared on screen before, from John Huston’s 1962 biopic Freud, starring Montgomery Clift, to the less likely incarnation played by Jamie Elman (his co-star from California Dreaming!) in the film where Armand Assante portrays Nietzsche, When Nietzsche Wept (2007, Pinchas Perry).
Most impressive if you count the director, Kane Parsons is 20 years old ! It's based on his youtube found footage series & Kane Pixels.
To be seen and appreciated in a cinema !!! Really !
Plot description: After a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him.
I saw it tonite., and the theater was packed with teenagers. They knew the backstories, the innerworld of the film, the odds and inns. I guess it's one of the reasons Backdoors has a great thetrical run, the best of A24 til now (overpassing Civil War ).
Totally psychedelic & psychotronic, some M.C. Escher angles and tricks, reminding recent Exit 8, and some other cool mindf*cks, Cosmatos' Beyond the Black Rainbow, Tarsem's The Cell, Cube, Us, Severance office sets (actually inspired by the Backwoods originals) and Twin Peas Black Lodge landscape and soundscape, even shades of Eraserhead.
The production /set design is all practical, was built as a maze. And the colors (yellowish) and the lightning. Widescreen cinematpgraphy mixed with video formats.
Could've been more claustrophobic, and it has some weaknesses, clumsiness, confusing ideas, also starts too slow and it's too long, but still, as I wrote above, Impressive.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is Clark, the Alone Man, the furniture shop `Architect` and Renate Reinsve (fresh from Oscar's Sentimental Value and Cannes fare, Fjord) is Mary, a shrink whose book Window of self is a also a clue. Mrk Duplass is the Third Man, as a scientist with a more complicated backstory...
A sort of Malice in Wonderland occurs. Some RMI too, or not ?
And there is also a clue from a classic film and tale/book, The Neverending Story...
Anyhu, I hope a new serious genre Director was born...
Remarkable debut by Charlie Polinger (w/d). It premiered in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Worthy of the DGA Award. Amazingly it was shot in Romania (by Abis studios, art director Vlad Vieru just won a Gopo for the Yellow Tie) !!! Great widescreen compositions. in 2.39 : 1. Also shot on film,35mm by Steven Breckon, another name to follow.
Joel Edgerton (also a producer) is the only adult name in the film, the rest is a bunch of kids, real talent. Everett Blunck as Ben is a stand-out. They won best actors in Sitges, also together with Kayo Martin.
Lord of the Flies in a summer waterpolo camp with shades of masculin Carrie. It's set in 2003, no clue why. It's gross sometimes like teenagers are, it's unpleasant and it feels real. Tough to direct all these kids, and as a first picture, kudos !
Also great, I mean GREAT sound design and a great score by Johan Lenox, reminiscent also of Pino Donnagio's cues.
Corsa Notturna(see, it's in Italian;) will give you goosebumps. It looks like it's Lenox' first real score too. Bravo !
Also Moby's song Feeling So Real will never feel the same again ! 4 real ;)
7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 ! Deserves even more but my empathy was with the filmmaking, not the characters.
I caught up with Damian McCarthy 1st feature film Caveat after seeeing Hokum in a cinema last week and Oddity in 2024.
Caveat in Latin means Warning/ Beware.
Creepy, claustrophobic, atmospheric very low key and extremly well done low budget debut feature shot in Cork, Ireland.
Loses some steam in the third act but it's paced at 1h30 so it's all good. It's basically for the viewer a one person drama and experiences and emotions -through Issac (Jonathan French's amnesic character).
The harness is a gimmick worthy of Edgar Allan Poe's stories.
The film's dialogue is minimal, and the sound design/ soundtrack is keeping the ternsion up, as with the camera movements and the set design of the creepy house with falling walls, the basement, floors creaking and those distant cries of the foxes...
***The toy rabbit featured in the film was acquired via eBay by McCarthy, who "always had an interest in wind-up toys". It was stripped of its fur and sent to costume and prop builder Lisa Zagone, who finalised its design.
3 1/2 out of 5 / 7 out of 10
Sight and Sound: The uncannily claustrophobic design of the setting matches the tightness of the irrationally unfolding narrative in this slice of ghostly surrealism, so beautifully styled that you can practically smell the mildew-stained walls.
maybe the best, most intense horror of the year yet.
To be seen on the big screen. It's widescreen - 2.39 : 1, -by Colm Hogan, kudos! - but it's claustrophobic and the sound design is Great !!! And the music too-atmospheric, as a tool of building more sound !
From the director od Oddity and Caveat, Irishman Damian McCarthy, a name to follow...
McCarthy provides some genuine good scares
and gets a restrained performance from Adam Scott (Severance series), at his most serious and downbeat. His character is the obnoxious and depressed writer Ohm Bauman (reminiscences to Richard Bachman, The Shining -Kubrick's- and other Stephen King characters, Jack Torrance, Mort Rainey, George Stark included).
Hokum is psychological horror mixed with folk supernatural lore, but also a bit more,
Opening and ending bookends raise the quality of the film a lot.
Liked it better than Weapons and felt the kind of vibe Hereditary gave me back when I saw it in a cinema.
Tough cookie, lost count of how many films I've seen. Less than probably any year. Over 200, less than 300 ? More ? I started to put them on Letterboxed starting late October but still didn't catch up with the rest.
***
Top of the series is here and films from 2024 are again a problem, The Brutalist and The Substance should've make the 2025 list, as there still are some of 2025 which I haven't seen yet (Hamnet,-saw it,. did not like at all- Resurrection, Sound of Falling ?). Marty Supreme would make Top 5 but I've seen it in Januaray 2026.
Just caught up with Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice that makes the list. It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy.
Kinda disappointed with Romanian Cinema this year too. I liked Kontinental '25 and that's it. Could 've been also Jude's Dracula but he made it such an intentional mess and duration wise a whole calvary...
Finalmente l'alba - Saverio Costanzo -2023, on which I wrote:
Rome and Cinecitta 1953. More like a drreamlike story, a false thriller, homage to Fellini and La Dolce Vita, Notti di Cabiria, and linked to a real muder cold case known as the Italian Black Dahlia. Interesting slow film, in the Venice Competition in 2023. Modern beat score, strange and eerie. Song Last Nite by The Stokes (2011) on the end credits.
Saw a horrible amonut of series/tv series, some new, some renewed, some cancelled, some I quit...
Mayor of Kingstown s04 -4 -toughest yet, Lennie James, Richard Brake, Eddie Falco, Laura Benanti.
The Iris Affair -miniseries- 8 eps big fsss. Tom Hollander good.
The Last Frontier -should've quit
got back to Slow Horses s2 1/2 -5 -Gary Oldman getting more and more Legend !
Down Cemetery Gates -loses steam after ep. 4
The White Lotus s03 - -best yet-Walton Goggins, Scott Glenn, Parker Posey.
It: Welcome to Derry -quit
Task sez. 1 not much
Duster 1 sez. cancelled , was kinda fun
Subteran 1 sez. oy vey
Landman s. 1 ep.7-10 / sez 2 ep. 1-5 (in Top Series 2024, contd. in 2026)
The Lowdown 8 eps - Tulsa noir on the songs of J.J.Cale, Ethan Hawke as jouranlist Lee Raybon gets beaten up all the time. Created by Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs).
Pluribus s01 -Vince Gilligan is moving way to slow...
Peacemaker s02 -even better than season One.
The Studio 1 season-10 eps., Seth Rodgen's satire is hit and miss but the episodes are short and Bryan Carnston as Griffin Mill is a blast !
Dept. Q sez 1, 9 eps. (renewed) -the Sweedish series of thriller books by Jussi Adler-Olsen get new (Scott Frank for Netflix) and way too slow treatment with Matthew Goode as Carl Morck.
The Last of Us -season 3. All gets weak after Pedro Pascal is no more.
Monster The Ed Gein Story (sez 3 -8 eps) -see below
Walking Dead-New York -quit
Alien: Earth s 1 -they did some good, and then they did some real bad. Continuing to mix the Weyland Yutanis with the Blad Runners, Prometheus, Timothy Olyphant's android Kirsch is a hoot !
Paradise season 1 (renewed) -cool idea of post apocalyptic city under a dome.
Dope Thief sez. 1 -Ridley Scott produced and directed the first episode. Based on a true story.
Movies mix with the legacy of serial killers -from Psycho to Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Silence of the Lambs. Clever post-modern choices. Plus Ilsa Koch and the Nazis ! But a truly great performance form Charlie Hunnam. And Tom Hollander is Alfred Hitchcock. Even Mindhunter returns in ep. 8. Too much grand guignol as always but way way upper than the other 2 seasons (the 2nd I quit watching...)
Why is though Ed Gein made so sympathetic and a victim, "mother's boy" ?
Udo Kier died on November 23d in Palm Springs. He was 83. One of the greatest actors. Ever. Only through his mad glaze, blue piercing eyes, he dominated every screen and stole every scene he was in.
Takes me some time and pain to write about him. I knew him, met in different occasions 4 times over the years. Interviewed him with Andrei on the set of One Point O in Bucharest in 2003. We spent hours in a derelict block of flats, now demolished, in a smoked flat, under the lights, into the night. Uberhot, hot early summer night in Bucharest (8th of may as the picture says). Udo came for a film and stayed for one more, got a part in Andy Garcia's Modigliani. His hair was dyed blonde for the part. We got Polaroids with him, each, this is Andrei's here.
Then he was invited in Cluj at TIFF in 2006 and we hang out with him, even to a second hand shop where he bought a glorious long leather coat. This is another pic from Andrei, from one night to never forget, in the Diesel club, in the cellar VIP room (ha, another place that does not exist anymore...)
Then year passed, I had Udo's US address and mail, we sent him a script of a film still not done today. Didn't pass us to his agent or anything. I don't have the same mail address so that got lost.
In 2015 I was a guest of Grossmann film Festival, and spent more time with Udo, also there. We even went to see an art exhibition together.
Found another pic from Grossmann 2015, with my buddies, director Kritstjan Milic (Zivi i mrtvi) and Kapelmeister of the fest, Marko Mehtsun.
And last time I saw him in Cannes, on Rue des Antibes, in 2019, as he was there with the cast of Kleber Mendonça Filho's Bacurau, great film. We met on the street and had a chat. The last part of Udo is in Filho's new film, The Secret Agent. A beautiful heartfelt goodbye...
On the screen I saw him last in Hunters, season two where he played obviously on of his recurring characters, Adolf Hitler. Update: I just saw My Neighbor Adolf and liked it, Udo is at his best.
Goodbye Udo, it was a pleasure and an honor to meet you...
New entry in the Body horror genre, after the recent The Substance, this is the debut feature of writer/director Michael Shanks. Liked it more than the overrated Bring Her Back. For me the other interesting horror fodder this year include 28 Years Later and Weapons.
Together is an ambitious little horror flick, with themes of love and obsession, about a couple that moves in a little village house, far from town, and a mysterious pit in the woods.
Dave Franco and Alison Brie are married in real life so the intimate scenes have more power, intensity and authenticity than with other actors.
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