Mini Recap/Review: It! (1967) aka Curse of the Golem

Hi, friends! Today I’m going to give you a mini recap/review of It! No, not that one! It! aka Curse of the Golem, is a 1967 movie starring Roddy McDowall.

The Woman in the Window (2021) (Spoiler-free Review)

Title: The Woman in the Window

Released: May 14, 2021 (Netflix)

Director: Joe Wright

Writer: Tracy Letts (based on A.J. Finn’s 2018 novel)

Starring: Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Synopsis: An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbors, only to witness a disturbing act of violence. (From IMDb)

Agoraphobic Dr. Anna Fox witnesses something she shouldn’t while keeping tabs on the Russell family, the seemingly picture perfect clan that lives across the way. (From Google)

Introduction/Spoiler-Free Summary

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The Woman in the Window is another in a long line of “Rear Window but with this small difference” stories. The small difference in this case being “agoraphobic woman.” Dr. Anna Fox (Amy Adams), child psychologist, hasn’t left her home in ten months for reasons we’re left in the dark about throughout most of the movie’s run time. She spends her time drinking while taking medication she shouldn’t be mixing with alcohol, watching classic movies, and spying on the neighbors. All the neighbors, although of particular interest to her are the new additions to the neighborhood, the Russells. Anna meets their teenage son, Ethan, when he stops by to drop off a sort of reverse welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift he says his mother sent him over with, and thus begins a probably rather inadvisable adult woman-teen boy friendship. She loans him movies, he complains about his dad. On Halloween, while trying to shoo away some kids egging her house, Anna gets a little too far away from the safe zone of her front hall and has a severe panic attack. She’s rescued by a woman she presumes is Jane Russell (Julianne Moore), mother of Ethan and wife of Alistair (Gary Oldman). Later, she sees Jane get stabbed while she’s spying on the Russell home. Or . . . does she? Although she doesn’t see the perpetrator, she assumes it’s Alistair (maybe she’s a My Favorite Murder fan – it’s always the husband!) and wastes no time telling the police this. But wait, the cops bring Alistair into her home (these are apparently the most unprofessional police in the history of ever) with a woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) he claims is his wife, Jane!

Believe it or not, none of this is spoilers. Everything I’ve written so far is in the trailer.

So now we have to ask the question – Did Anna really see a murder, or was she hallucinating? And if she’s not hallucinating, who is this imposter claiming to be Jane?

A Celebration of 90’s Horror: The Decade That’s Better Than You Remember

Look at all of this good horror! LOOK AT IT!

Hey, folks! Lately I’ve been hearing/reading that a lot of people think horror in the nineties sucked. Different people seem to be referring to different things – quality of movies, or the variety of movies available. I’m baffled by this opinion, as the nineties had so many great movies, and a huge variety of horror sub-genres. Seriously, the nineties couldn’t figure out what they wanted to be, so they threw everything at us. And that’s a good thing! It resulted in a decade that assured that no matter your personal horror tastes, there would be something there to please you. It was the decade that either kicked off or continued dozens of huge horror franchises. Hell, it was the decade of the Stephen King miniseries! A terrible decade for horror? I . . . I don’t understand these words coming out of your mouth. (Or your Twitter, or your Reddit, or your . . . well, you get the picture.)

So, take my hand and join me on this journey through the nineties, year by year, as we explore the best the decade had to offer.

Random Review: Hellbenders (2012)

Title: Hellbenders

Year: 2012

Writer/Director: J.T. Petty

Starring: Clancy Brown, Clifton Collins Jr., Larry Fessenden

Tagline: Deliver them to evil (There’s also “They’re going to hell so we won’t have to.” I picked the one I liked better to feature here.)

Description: The Augustine Interfaith Order of Hellbound Saints, a team of blasphemous ministers who live in a constant state of debauchery, work to drag the worst of demons back to Hell. (From IMDb.)

So, hi guys! You might have noticed that my title up there says “Review” rather than “Recap,” and you might further be wondering what the hell I’m doing here, changing up formats and such. (Unless this is your first visit to this site and therefore you have no fucking clue what I’m blabbering about, in which case, Welcome! and how dare you accuse me of blabbering.) To which I respond that every now and then I watch a movie that I want to talk about, but don’t really have the desire to do a full recap of, for whatever reason. So, this marks the first time I’m going to attempt a review with more substance to it than what I write on Letterboxd, but less involved than a full recap. And you get to take this wild ride with me, as I work out all the kinks and bullshit! Lucky(???) you!

Note: because I’m me, there will definitely be spoilers ahead. There are movies/books I’ll review spoiler-free, but this ain’t one of them, y’all.