I'm way behind on my movie posts. Here's a few from the last couple weeks.
Lamb dir by Valdimar Jóhannsson
While this movie is in my wheelhouse for weird arthouse shit, it did nothing for me. I was barely engaged in the story and main theme was so simple it was spelled out in the first 10 minutes and did nothing with it. We just watched these people exist with their "child" and live their day to day life. Then the ending happened. It was over and I just felt cold to the whole ordeal. Watch if you're curious but it's far from essential viewing.
Titane dir by Julia Ducournau
First thing I need to get out of the way, the Crash/Cronenberg comparisons that people have been on and on about with this one is so surface level it actually irritated me while watching the film. The film didn't irritate me just the fact that this film has some body horror in it and part of it deals with cars people immediately started saying it's just like Crash. It set very different expectations for the film that I wish I didn't have. That aside this film is fucking nuts and everyone should watch it. The first 30 minutes left me insanely uncomfortable and kind of squirming in my seat. Bravo to that, not many films can do that. After the first 30 minutes of complete fucking batshit stuff you are left with a little over an hour of a very weird but less wild ride. The film stuck the landing too. Between this film and Raw, Julia Ducournau has my full attention, I can't wait to see what else she has in store for us.
Godzilla Vs Hedorah dir by Yoshimitsu Banno
I haven't seen this one in many years but was scrolling through HBO Max and decided to put it on late last night. I love Hedorah, he's one of my favorite monsters design wise. The film is actually really well paced with monster action for a Godzilla film, I found big G's overacting a bit much at times but the effects are really fun, I love all the forms of Hedorah and there's a lot of kaiju action to be had. Very fun rewatch for me.
The Deep House dir by Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
From the directors of l'intérieur & Livide, this film is probably their weakest to date but still an enjoyable watch. A couple who travel the country side recording their exploration of potentially haunted or scary abandoned sites travel to a lake in France that houses the ruins of a flooded town beneath it's surface. What they think is going to be a secret secluded location is actually a hotspot for lake goers and water skiing enthusiasts. While getting some food and drinks the boyfriend chats up a local who tells him the underground ruins are shit in this area but agrees to take them to an unknown almost preserved house at a different area of the lake. The couple agree and set off to scuba dive through the house videotaping all the creepy shit they find. It's an underwater haunted house film, it has some really great ideas here that are not fully executed in an effective way. The boyfriend is a giant piece of shit who spends most of the film gaslighting and manipulating his girlfriend. You want him to die. Unfortunately underwater slow moving ghosts don't really come across well in this one so the scares are pretty minimal. I liked the film and encourage people to check it out but just know it's not entirely successful in what it attempts. It is a hybrid of traditional cinematography and found footage just to warm ahead of time so you are not surprised about it.
