Ti West directs Mia Goth, Brittany Snow and Jenna Ortega in this slasher horror movie where a film crew pick the wrong farm in Texas to shoot their porn movie at.

West’s most approachable, accomplished and satisfying movie to date. He knows he’s making Texas ChainSaw meets Boogie Nights and doesn’t colour too far outside of the lines of that simple enough diagram. For a sleazy movie, it proves very sex positive and the female characters are granted a pinch more complexity than you’d expect. Of course, West is an old hand at the slow burn, so there’s plenty of room for him to scribble a little shading and messaging while we await the carnage. As things come to the boil he even distracts us with a potential unexpected killer. One of our victims comes very close to a schizoid breakdown themselves. The set pieces are solid, consistent. It is the mood and the tactile sensation the movie illicits that is most satisfying. It is just nice to see something like this crafted so well – the editing, the soundtrack, the make-up, the nudity and the dialogue. All elements come together in harmony, even finding space for a few neat callbacks to Hitchcock’s Psycho. Clearly West is trying to say something about youth being restricted and exploited by the older generation here but he doesn’t ram that message too far down our throats. He knows ultimately we came to see Mia Goth’s now near mandatory naked body and then heads going squelch. I can’t think of many better ways to spend a Saturday. I hope the home video market takes off for these kids.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Body Double (1984)

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/

Carol Reed directs Ralph Richardson, Bobby Henrey and Michèle Morgan in this drama told from a child’s point of view, where his beloved butler finds himself entangled between a shrewish wife, a doomed affair and, eventually, the suspicions of the police.

Great movie. Featuring a one-of-a-kind child performance. Reed kept the camera rolling on the lad, hoping that like a stopped clock, a mixture of restlessness and off camera stimulus would illicit the needed reactions for each scene. That patience worked an absolute treat. Little Bobby Henrey got bored with filming midway through the shoot and started misbehaving allegedly. It doesn’t show here, but it is in keeping with his character, who like all children is a curious little sociopath capable of callous strops and unguarded obsessions. And completely getting the wrong end of stick when trying to fathom the adult world. A trip to the zoo and snake’s hiding place (“McGREGOR!”) both lean into visions of being trapped and caged… in a way, the little tyke wants to keep his hero Baines in much the same captivity. Not realising the poor bugger, lovely and dedicated as he is to his young ward, is constantly stuck behind bars from the off, seen and unseen.The adult performances are somewhat secondary to our protagonist but quite compelling. We never truly plumbs the ultimate depths of these tragic figures and their squalid little love triangle, though Sonia Dresdel’s spurned tyrant is particularly affecting. Set mainly in a vertiginous diplomat’s townhouse, this could easily have felt like a mere filmed play. Reed explores young Philippe’s mini fiefdom with his trademark flair for the askew, meaning the interiors feel infinite and fantastical. Truly cinematic, well worth seeking out.

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Remains of the Day (1993)

Check out my wife Natalie’s 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/

Steven Soderbergh directs Zoë Kravitz, Byron Bowers and Rita Wilson in this David Koepp scripted thriller where an agoraphobic tech worker discovers recorded evidence of a violent crime but is met with resistance when she tries to report it.

“O.K. Google… I want to watch Rear Window.”

“Rear Window is not available on any streaming service.”

“Alexa… I want to watch Blow Out.”

“Blow Out is not available on any streaming service. Did you mean Get Out?”

“Siri… play The Conversation.”

“Please repeat.”

Not a bad wee techno thriller. Kravitz gives her best performance so far, very physical and attractive. The way she airclaps her hands compulsively after sanitising = the epitome of cute. Soderbergh has the most pleasure in getting his flinty, horny agoraphobic outside into the world, turning Seattle for about 10 minutes into a blocky level from a console game of old. At least that’s what the framing invoked to me. His understanding of tech, privacy and corporations probably matches my own slightly detached, slightly under educated ideas of how the world currently works. We both are probably quite naive, as I’m guessing this is an airport thriller level of knowledge and insight.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Panic Room (2002)

Check out my wife Natalie’s 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 Lee Hancock directs Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto in this cops hunt for a serial killer thriller.

They used to release a movie like this every week. Denzel has even starred in some of the better ones. Cliched and trudging. Too miserable to enjoy. The ending throws up a few neat ideas but you are so disengaged from the variable leads by the showstopper that you are unlikely to care about the thorny ethical issues it churns over.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Ricochet (1991)

Check out my wife Natalie’s 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/

Kevin Lewis directs Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta and Beth Grant in this horror comedy where a silent drifter is tricked into spending a night in a family fast food restaurant where the animatronic band puppets have been possessed by killers.

Does exactly what it says on the tin. If you’ve come for fully committed Cage rage weirdness then this delivers. If you want one joke violence and trace level creepiness then this just about scrapes up enough of both. Anyone watching this must be primed for a feature length meme, nobody is choosing this casually expecting a great movie. Considering the low bar the filmmakers set themselves, Willy’s Wonderland is shockingly competent.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Color Out of Space (2020)

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 Mirkin directs Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow and Janeane Garofalo in this comedy where two gauche high school best friends, who have stayed together, head back to the hometown reunion worried they have little to show for their ten years after graduation.

Bubblegum look, top pop soundtrack and a couple of good laughs. Let’s say three. Hard to see its cult appeal, but R&M is undemanding and cute – surprisingly low energy too.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Clueless (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/

Brian De Palma directs Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins and Connie Nielsen in this sci-fi adventure movie where the first astronauts to land on Mars suffer a tragedy and another crew is sent to rescue them.

Plodding and lacking atmosphere. This is not exactly the sexiest cast ever for a blockbuster and the dialogue is very meat and potatoes. De Palma gets away with a decent middle act as extended set piece where everything that can go wrong does go wrong during the approach to the planet. He also pleasingly makes it quite clear he’s happy to kill off anyone and everyone. It is the controversial first sequence of his Mission: Impossible all over again. Yet once we touchdown on the red planet, things go all diluted Close Encounters / 2001 / Contact and it really feels like an adaptation of a Disney theme park ride you might not bother waiting in line for. Adequate but uneven.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Marooned (1969)

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/

Elie Wajeman directs Vincent Macaigne, Sara Giraudeau and Pio Marmaï in this Paris-set neo-noir where a philandering but good hearted GP makes his nightly house calls to addicts and the infirm while pressure is put on him to write fake prescriptions for fentanyl.

Not ground breaking but adequate. Mean Streets and Taxi Driver are obvious influences on the plot and you’ll know where this is ultimately headed to very early on. Vincent Macaigne is not an obvious sex symbol but in French cinema anyone with access to a leather jacket seemingly can have a gorgeous wife and one or two ladies on the side every night.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Playing Good (1997)

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/

Jean Vigo directs the residents of Nice in France for this documentary montage of life in the seaside town.

Perfect length for what it is. Some neat surreal moments and sexualised shots. The carefree partying is brought into judgmental juxtaposition with the industrial work that goes on away from the riviera.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927)

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/

Carol Reed directs Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles in this Graham Greene scripted thriller about a pulp novelist who arrives in post-war Vienna to find his friend is dead and the story of his demise has an inconsistent third person involved.

Before WWII, your 39 Steps or Riddle of the Sands had a hero lost in circumstance, scrabbling to get ahead of international intrigues. After VE Day, with the arrival of Greene, Len Deighton and John Le Carre, you’d be lucky to get a good guy. And if you did, like here, he’d be so bumbling, useless and counter intuitive to what anyone else wanted to achieve that he pretty much jams up everyone he cares about on his crusade to find that titular shadowy figure. Of course, we all know who that mysterious Third Man is. We’ve seen his face lit by a treacherous pool of window light, know his opinion on the Swiss and have read his legendary name in the credits. Orson’s third act unveiling is no surprise, no twist. What a callous bastard he is though is the true shock. Handsome… impish… charming but fuck me you wouldn’t want to be on a big wheel with the door unlocked around him. Everything about this screams perfection; Reed’s trademark Dutch angles, beautiful Alida Valli walking through the cemetery, Anton Karras’ iconic zither theme (note the credit sequence of strings being plucked by an unknown hand) and that wonderful narration… Carol Reed’s own voice wistfully telling us “I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm. Constantinople suited me better. I really got to know it in the classic period of the black market. We’d run anything if people wanted it enough and had the money to pay…” This is about as good as it gets.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Odd Man Out (1947)

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/