Olivia Wilde directs Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine in this sci-fi mystery where a housewife begins to grow paranoid about her idyllic existence in a conformist community shut off from the rest of the world.

Is it The Truman Show? Is it The Matrix? Is it The Stepford Wives? Is it Get Out? Spends three acts getting to a point when most narratives have establish themselves in 30 minutes. It leaves you with too much downtime to guess ahead. The sinister stuff doesn’t hit hard enough, the sexy stuff is very front loaded. There is one stinker of a performance yet even the reliable Pugh and invaluable Pine struggle to find much room to dazzle in this glossy but sterile trap. Lacks engagement and coherence, just sits there looking pretty.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Spiderhead (2022)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

David Gordon Green directs Rohan Campbell, Andi Matichak and Jamie Lee Curtis in this horror sequel that explores a new killer emerging to take the Michael Myers mantle.

Genuinely surprised about how much I liked this one. Felt legacy but not beholden, closer to the Rob Zombie reboots but still mainstream. Scuzzy, sexy, unrestrained. Exemplary central performance by Rohan Campbell as the troubled young man ostracised by the Haddonfield community. Lots of memorable kills amongst the sensitive drama… the cold open is pretty damn shocking and there’s a tongue related moment that is cheeky gore nirvana. Laurie and The Shape take a few steps back until the finale… the conclusion is definitely a little less convincing, especially as a full stop to the franchise. But I think we all know the old big knife and boiler suit haven’t been fully retired by Universal just yet. Score, credit sequence, mad underpass bums, teens worth killing, cute girls, nasty deaths. Why aren’t Freddy and Jason still getting it served this hot?

7

Perfect Double Bill: Halloween Kills (2021)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Joseph Kosinski directs Miles Teller, Chris Hemsworth and Jurnee Smollett in this techno thriller where an arrogant CEO experiments on sexy convicts with his new mind control invention.

One day that Netflix algorithm is going to stumble onto a fine piece of home entertainment. Like a stopped clock or an infinite amount of monkeys with an infinite amount of typewriters. Until then I’ll give slick dreck like this a fair 20 minutes of my undivided attention and then start opening tabs and sidebars on my tablet until the action ramps up.

3

Perfect Double Bill: Don’t Worry Darling (2022)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

John Ford directs Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel and Preston Foster in this IRA drama based on Liam O’Flaherty’s classic novel.

Victor McLaglen is a pitiable braggart and a drunk hoping to get 20 quid so he and his streetwalker sweetheart can escape Dublin for America. So he makes a deal with the devil (the British) and squanders his chance to leave playing the big man. Guilt, betrayal, hedonism. Ford films this like German Expressionism though that may be down to how little budget he had to recreate the Irish capital. He has the perfect leading man though so who cares about the set dressing? My dissertation was on Irish Nationalism In Film and I had to blag watching this as I struggled to gain access to it. Nice to finally catch up on it.

7

Perfect Double Bill: I See A Dark Stranger (1946)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Dominique Othenin-Girard directs Danielle Harris, Donald Pleasence and Don Shanks in this slasher sequel where Michael Myers… well… you already know…

Cheap and choppy. Unimpressive teens, unimpressive kills, weird mask redesign. Squanders all that was intriguing about the end of the fourth entry. There’s a car chase in a field that is a glimmer of hope. Clearly cut to ribbons by an over zealous producer. The hints at some greater conspiracy around The Shape have little impact but do confuse… Poor old Donald Pleasance is made to play heroic Dr Loomis like a batshit crazy child abuser.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Halloween 4: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1988)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

David Zellner directs Rinko Kikuchi, himself and Nobuyuki Katsube in this strange but mostly true story about a Japanese woman who became obsessed with the lost ransom money in the fictional Coen’s Brothers film Fargo and travelled to freezing Minnesota to find it.

A winning mixture of bleakness and whimsy. This is a tragic story of mental illness, admirably never played for laughs. Kikuchi completely sells the seductive drive of this unremarkable woman on a ridiculous quest. Often hauntingly beautiful also.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Well… Fargo (1996)… Duh!

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Jeffrey McHale directs Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Paul Verhoeven in this documentary about the production, evisceration and cult legacy of Showgirls.

Big fan of Showgirls, and not in an entirely snide way. Every time I watch it I have a memorable experience. This documentary is pretty even handed exploring its over inflated problems and celebrating its extreme pleasures. Slightly strange start to watching this documentary. The stream struggled to buffer and then played with the talking head narration overlapping in triplicate. It actually worked quite nicely, adding a woozy fever dream like atmosphere to the heightened subject matter. But then I paused it… realised it was definitely a glitch. Was slightly disappointed in all honesty that it wasn’t a stylistic choice. I rarely watch “DVD extra” Making Of Content but do feel that movies with this footprint of cultural impact deserve documentaries at least as well made, and their own thing, as this. Or nothing at all.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Showgirl (1995)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Steve Miner directs Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams and Josh Hartnett in this legacy sequel slasher where Michael Myers stalks Laurie Strode through a boarding school.

Notable more as a post-Scream artefact than a Halloween sequel. I have an over inflated affection for this one. Almost unjustifiable. But there we are… H20 is short and slick, certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome despite nothing at all happening in the middle act. There aren’t even enough kills but Curtis, Williams and LL Cool J bring a smile to the face and it always looks pretty. Killer filler.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Olivier Assayas directs Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Nathalie Richard in this fish-out-of-water meta comedy where a Hong Kong action star is miscast in a turbulent remake of French silent classic with a massive language and cultural barrier to overcome.

Quite up its own arse but Maggie Cheung shines. The punkish elements are the best moments but you can’t help but feel that often you are sitting through a “you had to be there” in-joke that runs for feature length. Never really solidifies into anything worth your time.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Les Vampires (1916)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Ryusuke Hamaguchi directs Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tôko Miura and Masaki Okada in this Japanese drama where a bereaved spouse has to cast a play where his dead wife’s famous lover auditions for a role.

Oscar winning and quite classy. Nowhere near as erotic as Wheel of Fortune And Fantasy (despite a strong start that suggests otherwise). In fact, the 40 minute, pre-credits, prologue was easily the strongest section. The remainder is lengthy, gentile, almost ambient at times. Ultimately this is a film about the fake way we present ourselves to the world, how our actions don’t really match up to our image, how we are all performers. It is based on a short story by Murakami. Technically perfect and notably well acted, there is little to fault. At three hours, it is a literary and a cerebral experience. As I grow older my tastes lean back towards the emotive… and spectacle. I can’t see me rushing into watching Drive My Car again in spite of all its fine qualities. It just isn’t my flavour.

7

Perfect Double Bill: An Actor’s Revenge (1963)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/