Tag Archives: 2021

SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror(2021)

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If you have even a passing interest in the world of folk horror, Kier-La Janisse’s exhaustive exploration — which clocks in at 3 hours and 14 minutes and could have been a thousand more if I had my way — is the film of a lifetime. The ‘unholy trinity’ that launched this trend on to screens — Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General, Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man — are not just names, but significant milestones in the history of folk horror. This movie is quite literally the last word in what folk horror is, what it means and how it’s still part of the world of cinema today, perhaps more than ever before.

With more than fifty significant names in the world of horror and horror writing — everyone from Amanda Reyes, Piers Haggard, Adam Scovell, Jeremy Dyson Samm Deighan, Kat Ellinger, Robert Eggars, Ian Oglivy, Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer and around forty more voices appear with great insights — there’s never been a more well-rounded approach to tackling a movie genre within a genre. This feels like the kind of film that I’ll be coming back to again and again.

Beyond the expected anchors of the genre, I was so excited to see lesser-known films get their due, like Alison’s Birthday (which is on the gigantic All the Haunts Be Ours box set that Severin is releasing), beDevil, Dark August, Eyes of Fire (also being released by Severin), Grim Prarie Tales, Lemora (which seemingly has footage from the mysterious blu ray of the film that never materialized) and Zeder.

This is the kind of material you want to pause, write down, make notes on, and keep updating your Letterboxd while watching it. This isn’t just a movie about films. This is a true celebration of the magical wonder hidden within the flickering image, an exploration of a genre of all the dark old things and a journey through how each country documents the unknown through their media.

There aren’t enough stars in the firmament out of ten to rate this one. You can preorder this film from Severin now or watch it on Shudder. You can also visit the film’s official site.

Thanks to the fantastic Letterboxd list Films mentioned in “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror“ by Jon Ursenbach, here’s a list of the films as well as links to reviews of them that we’ve done on our site.

King Car (2021)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: We got to see this movie at Fantastic Fest and posted about it on September 28, 2021. Now it’s being released in theaters and on VOD/Digital by Dark Star Pictures. 

Imagine Christine with political messages. Yes, in King Car, Uno — a taxi company owner’s son — is able to speak to cars — because he was born in the back of a taxi — and has become close friends with the vehicle that saved him from a traffic accident as a young child at the cost of his mother’s life.

Uno gives up on cars from that point on, going to college to study ecology until a new law that bans cars over 15 years old from the roads destroys his father’s business. He’s never been close with his dad, but his strange Uncle Ze — the reason behind an argument that led to his mother driving into that fatal accident — harnesses Uno’s ability to speak to the rusted out autos.

Now, Uno is listening to the old cars, hearin their complaints of no longer being allowed on the roads. And he’s found the car that was his friend from childhood and transformed it into something called King Car.

But King Car may have ideas of its own. And this might be the end of humanity.

The technology that Uno and Ze have invented allow lower income drivers to remain on the road. Yet why has Uno turned his back on ecology and embraced the machine?

There’s a lot jammed into the trunk of this film, as if it were packing for a weekend trip and decided that it needed every single suitcase it only stuffed beyond overflowing. There are mechanics who have become possessed and move in synchronized dances. A car spouting rallying cries and fiery speeches within an assembly line. A man who has slowly become more and more part of the machine, running up a hill like an ape seeking a bone. A woman who yearns to make love to King Car. And plenty of socio-philosophical messaging.

Renata Pinheiro — who co-wrote King Car with Sergio Oliveira and Leo Pyrata — has some great ideas in this film that don’t always pay off. You do have to appreciate the audacity, however. There’s promise here, however, despite the need for more focus.

The Legend of La Llorona (2021)

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La Llorona is a malevolent spirit bent on vengeance that has shown up in plenty of movies as the Latino film market grows and the realization dawns that the character is public domain. In this film, the crying woman is stalking a young family visiting Mexico, but perhaps they picked the wrong town.

Andrew, Carly and their son Danny have traveled to an isolated hacienda in Mexico for a much-needed vacation. Seeing as how they’ve just lost a child, they need to fix their family and get past a lot of pain. They learn the story of La Llorona, the spirit of a distraught mother who lurks near the water’s edge and strikes fear in the hearts of all who see her.

Soon, La Llorona thas taken Danny and trapped him in a netherworld between the living and the dead. Can taxi driver Jorge (Danny Trejo!) help them against the spirit and the cartels that run the area?

The Legend of La Llorona is competently made and would have completely fit into the 5 for $5 rentals category back in the Blockbuster days.

You can catch it in theaters starting today, January 7, and then on demand and digital January 11 from Saban Films.

See for Me (2021)

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Sophie (Skylar Davenport, a visually impaired, non-binary actor who is legally blind due to a stroke and rare neurological condition; they are also known for voice work on the Final Fantasy video games) is a young blind woman house-sitting at a secluded mansion that is silently being burglarized by thieves seeking a hidden safe. Her only means of defense is a new app called See For Me that connects her to a countrywide volunteer ready to help her survive by seeing on her behalf like Kelly, an army vet who relives her past playing video games. Can a blind teenager survive against the odds?

There have been plenty of home invasion movies — I may have watched more than one just this week — but the direction by Randall Okita and the script by Adam Yorke and Tommy Gushue has some unique edges, like presenting Sophie as someone who steals small objects from the homes she watches and who rages against the world, a place that has cost her the ability to ski.

If you’re looking for something new to watch this weekend, See for Me just might be it.

See for Me is now available in select theaters, on digital platforms and on VOD from IFC Midnight.

Dawn Raid (2021)

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One of the best things about doing this site is that I learn about things I’d never know otherwise.

Like New Zealand hop hop.

Dawn Raid Entertainment was started by Andy Murnane and Brotha D and the label includes stars like Savage, Mareko, Adeaze and Aaradhna. From humble beginnings selling t-shirts on the streets of South Auckland, Andy and Brotha D formed a legendary partnership that would enjoy worldwide success.

Oscar Kightley’s first full-length film, this movie moves quickly and involved me in a story and life that I had no idea I would have any interest in. Thats the hallmark of a great filmmaker and an interesting piece of art. So while I may never listen to anything Dawn Raid has released, I could see the passion and drive they had to change their lives and the lives of everyone around them.

Named for the 70s raids that targeted Polynesian immigrants to New Zealand, this hard scrabble label made its share of mistakes — Andy and Brotha D are more than open about some of the not-so-great choices they made along the way — while also finding surprising success.

With quick cut animation, great insight from artists and even family members connected to the label, as well as the authentic and honest remembrances of the label from its founders, this is a movie worth watching.

Dawn Raid is available on demand and digital from Universal Pictures. You can learn more on the film’s official site.

Space Milkshake (2012)

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Quack you!

One look at that theatrical one-sheet combined with that title: you know you’re getting a space comedy that owes its clever cues to John Carpenter’s Dark Star (1974).

Sure, we could mention the quicky-came-and-quickly-forgotten Space Station 76 (2014), itself a retro-parody of ’70s science fiction television series that used Gerry Anderson’s UFO and Space: 1999 for all of its costume, set and model cues. As result of that Liv Tyler-starrer (in spite of her presence) resembling those British-made, Century 21 Television/ITC Entertainment imports-to-U.S. television, I eagerly anticipated the arrival of Space Station 76 . . . and it was a huge disappointment (Liv Tyler f-ups another movie, for me) ejected from my below-the-waistline, rear celluloid airlock. Remember how Spaceballs was hilarious with its on-the-sleeve humor, while the The Ice Pirates certainly looked better but was “meh” in a post-Star Wars world? Remember how Galaxina was nerf herder-scuffy and Spaced Out (aka Outer Touch) sucked dianoga tentacles?

Well, for me: Space Milkshake spins to the Spaceballs side of the vortex.

Yes, Space Milkshake fluxes my capacitors over the puerile, dead-in-space-before-it-even-hit-the-big-screen Leslie Nielsen-starring Alien parody Naked Space (1983), as well as his other space “comedy,” 2001: A Space Travesty (2000). Don’t even get me started on Eddie Murphy’s The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) — a movie so painful that Sam or myself (or any B&S guest writer) wanted to cover that $120 million dollar turd for our “Box Office Failures” week of films (and it is noted as the #1 biggest of bombs). Amid those flurry of “space comedies,” however, I enjoyed — to the chagrin of many — Mike Hodges’s Morons from Outer Space, so what do I know?

Okay, back to Space Milkshake.

While not as deadpan in its its funny-dry humor as Dark Star and not as slapstick as a Mel Brooks galactic joint, Space Milkshake is more aware of its ancestors and goes for the “fan humor” of the genre. So, think Shaun of the Dead (2004) set on a space station in terms of humor. When it comes to the sets, reflect back to your days of watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Red Dwarf on public television (in the States). If you’re a fan of Blake’s 7 or the Tom Baker-era of Dr. Who, you’re in the sector of space you need to be.

Owning up to Dark Star: one of the off-screen characters referenced is named Professor Gary Pinback: after Sergeant Pinback from Dark Star. As with the Carpenter progenitor: the crew deals with the boredom of space and hygiene issues. They play board games. However, unlike Dark Star: there’s two females on board, so there’s a comical, sexual innuendo component. In the second half, as in Dark Star, the tedium breaks when the “monster” appears: Dark Star had a beach ball with claws. Here, we have a mutated-enlarged rubber duck on a rampage. In between, the crew deals with the fact that all life on Earth has ended — and there’s that pesky time flux that zips them between various dimensions and timelines.

QUUUACK! Don’t call me a dianoga, you scruffy nerf herder. Go eat daggit dung!

As with the Nostromo before them (and Buck Henry’s of Get Smart! fame creating the garbage-hauling Quark starring Richard Benjamin in 1977): we have four blue collar astronauts employed on a Sanitation Station responsible for collecting space garbage from Earth orbit.

Jimmy (Robin Dunne) is the station’s newly-arrived, socially awkward computer technician. He’s welcomed by a dickish Captain Anton (Billy Boyd) who’s just broken up with his fellow crew member, the statuesque beauty queen Valentia (Amanda Tapping). The other female of the crew, the Ripleyesque Tilda, quickly becomes Jimmy’s love jones.

The ludicrous plot twists ensue as Anton and Valentia discover a glowing trinket from the salvage of an abandoned space shuttle. The “Time Cube,” accidentally activated, the station loses all contact with Earth as Tilda begins acting oddly — and discovered to be an android. Then a rubber duck — identical to the one given to Valentina by her ex-lover, Professor Gary Pinback — slams into ship. Brought on board by Valentina, it grows (and has George Takei’s voice). It is soon learned that Pinback, via the duck, is possessed by the galactic evil responsible for the “Time Cube” and is bent on universal conquest.

Yes. The above paragraph about mutant tub toys voiced by a Star Trek alumnus, time cubes, and androids is real. I did, in fact, write it.

It is reported this cost $300,000 to make — and this film looks great for a film made for less than a half million dollars; it certainly stands tall against its raison d’etre, Alien (1979), which cost $11 million and came to clear over $100 million during its initial box office. At its reported price, I see no reason why Space Milkshake didn’t — at the very least — break even on its production costs through cable buys and streaming rentals (it never saw a theatrical or hard media release). Again, it’s a fine film that looks great; however, make no mistake that the proceedings in Space Milkshake are still more Full Moon (the monster, seen above, takes me back to the alien mayhem in Bad Channels) than 20th Century Fox: but that’s not a bad thing, for Full Moon (and its previous incarnation as Empire Pictures) had their moments (Robot Jox).

The film had a trouble production that, according to Playback Magazine, began in the winter of 2011. The production was stymied — according to the Hollywood Reporter — by the provincial government of Saskatchewan, where the film was shot, closing out their refundable tax credits program: a tax credit that “funds” productions due to films contributing to the local economy through jobs and crew members frequenting area businesses.

Never intended for a theatrical release in its homeland, Space Milkshake premiered on the Canadian television channels The Movie Network (now known as Crave) in February 2013, then in March on Movie Central (defunct; 2016). Never picked up for U.S. cable distribution (Why, not Syfy? It had Amanda Tapping from Stargate, which you rerun.), Space Milkshake made the U.S. film festival rounds in 2013, in addition to the festival circuits in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. It began appearing on streaming platforms outside of Canada in 2015.

Armen Evrensel effectively wrangles all of the touchstone plot elements of the genre, along with cheap, but well-made sets and costumes (think 1980’s Battle Beyond the Stars) and schlocky, but better than ’70s British sci-fi series special effects. The cast is a shaken to perfect chemistry ensemble fronted by the instantly recognizable and perpetually likeable Robin Dunne (TV-familiar “Will Zimmerman” from Sanctuary and a few Lifetime Christmas flicks), along with Billy Boyd (yes, “Pippin” from Lord of the Rings), Kristen Kreuk (“Lana Lang” from TV’s Superman spinoff, Smallville), and Amanda Tapping (the Stargate TV series-verse). Oh, please tell us you do not need us to tell you who George Takei is.

Writer and director Armen Evrensel made his feature film screenwriting debut with the Canadian-produced romantic-drama The Zero Sum (2009), an inventive, unique tale about a mugger (a great turn by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner; yes “Spud” from Trainspotting) who falls in love with one of his victims. While Space Milkshake served as his second feature screenplay and his directorial debut, Evrensel hasn’t made another film, since, and since moved into television in other disciplines. That’s a shame because his wacky take — across the same comedic stars explored in the earlier frames of Galaxy Quest (1999) — is infectiously nuttier than that Tim Allen annoyance. Space Milkshake should have been a harbinger for more feature projects.

You can enjoy Space Milkshake as a VOD on You Tube Movies or as a free-with-ads stream on Tubi. Amazon no longer offers it as a stream, but if you want to avoid the ads and prefer not to use You Tube, it is still available on Google Play, iTunes, and Vudu. Be wary of those DVD-r, as this has never been official issued to DVD. You can sample the trailer on You Tube.

Films like Space Milkshake and the short-lived U.S. television series Quark joke about “junk in space,” but the reality is that it’s a very real problem. B&S About Movies frequent reader and fellow WordPress’er Peter Adler breaks it down with his “Garbage In Space” post — which turns you on to the 360-degree tracking map, Stuff In Space. See? Fascinating stuff and not just junk films are to be had at B&S.

Be sure to visit these past features
with more sci-fi in space and other obscurities!
Click those pics!

About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook. He also writes for B&S About Movies (links to a truncated teaser-listing of his reviews).


Hotel Poseidon (2021)

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David reluctantly pretends to be the manager of Hotel Poseidon, a place with fungus-covered walls. As he wanders the corridors like a zombie, he becomes a passive spectator to what happens around him. As clients stumbled around without money to pay and his family members haunt him, David begins to slowly lose his mind and disappear within the Hotel Poseidon.

Director and writer Stefan Lernous is committed to keeping it weird, what with a closed hotel that still has squatters hiding inside, all prepared to make David’s life a hassle. Everyone is covered in white makeup, dead bodies are disposed of in shocking ways and the entire inside becomes a jungle for our protagonist to get as lost as some viewers may be by this movie.

There’s not a lot of direction, but the whole thing is gorgeously ugly. Hotel Poseidon is financed by the Belgian avant-garde theater company Abbatoir Fermé and feels like a short that was given more moments of weirdness all around it. I didn’t fall in love with it, but in no way was I bored or upset that I watched it. It looks way better than it plays, if that makes sense.

You can watch Hotel Poseidon on the Arrow Player. Just visit ARROW to start your 30-day free trial. Subscriptions are available for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly. ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.

Biography: WWE Legends Volume 2 (2021)

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The second volume of Lionsgate and A&Es WWE collection of Biography features Shawn Michaels (directed by Joe Lavine, who did the ESPN 30 for 30 “Playing for the Mob and the documentary Namath for HBO), Ultimate Warrior (directed by Daniel Amigone (Chain of Command, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth), Mick Foley (directed by Thomas Odelfelt, who made the HBO 24/7 Mayweather-Marquez) and Bret “The HItman” Hart (directed by George Roy, who made Mantle for HBO).

It’s great to see these movies made by actual sports documentarians instead of presented as jokes. Sure, the Warrior doc has some of the dirt that you expect, but that came after WWE realized that they would truly be competing with Dark Side of the Ring.

You also get. to hear from the actual stars themselves — when possible — and the people they told these amazing stories with. If you’re a wrestling fan — or know one — this inexpensive set (and Volume 1 as well) are a great deal.

Biography: WWE Legends Volume 1 (2021)

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While the majority of the WWE docs are examples of the one that wins the war controlling history, these WWE Legends docs are actually pretty fun. Seeing as how Dark Side of the Ring had their own episode about Randy Savage, WWE decided to go all in on the more sensational sides of the life story of the Macho Man, somehow out scummy-ing — that’s a word, trust me — Dark Side at their own scummy and often bleak for the sake of bleakness game.

Now you can have that doc, as well as “Rowdy” Piper, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Booker T all on one disk from Lionsgate and A&E. Sadly, WWE are discontinuing their physical media after the end of this year, so getting more releases like this probably won’t happen.

There’s some real quality here, as Savage’s was produced by Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman (Screwball), Piper’s was directed by Emmy and Peabody Award-winner Joe Lavine (who has directed for ESPNs 30 for 30 series), Stone Cold’s was produced by Jason Hehir (The Last Dance, Andre the Giant) and the Booker T doc was directed by Emmy and Peabody Award-winner George Roy (The Curse of the Bambino).

If you want to know more about these great legends, this is a great place to get started. And these sets are pretty inexpensive and easy to find at Walmart or on Amazon.

A Wiseguy Christmas (2021)

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After watching this movie, I have some slim inkling of how African-Americans may have felt after hearing Amos ‘n Andy on the radio. I mean, sure, I’m only half Italian. I’m also half Polish, which means I made myself an offer I couldn’t understand, but after hearing the incredibly loud and near braying Italian accent of Nino Cimino, who plays Tony Pantera, the mobster protagonist of this story, I felt like I finally understood why The Federation of Italian-American Democratic Organizations protested The Untouchables (I also understand that group was started by Anthony Anastasio, vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, controller of Brooklyn Local 1814, the boss of the Brooklyn docks and oh yeah, Gambino family associate).

Before you can say “Forget about it,” Tony has been relocated to Los Angeles in the witness protection program after his partners turn on him. So he finds a bar, starts getting laid and ends up fighting everyone he meets before they fall in love with him.

Also, Tony hates Christmas. I mean, he hates it more than me.

Cimino (Amityville Cop, the American Mobster movies) wrote this as well and you know, I kind of think I got the same Stockholm Syndrome — maybe Salerno Syndrome? — as everyone else he meets and found myself laughing by the end of the movie and hoping that Tony would get to bring an al dente noodle to the spaghetti house of LAPD officer Natalie (Jaclyn Marfuggi).

Anyways, this was directed by the same guy who made Samurai Cop 2 and Amityville Cop Gregory Hatanaka, who has also made a modern take on Emanuelle — using the D’Amato spelling — The Awakening of Emanuelle.

Bonus points for casting Lisa London, who was Rocky in the Andy Sidaris films Guns and Savage Beach.

Will Tony find love? Will he find the true meaning of Christmas? Will I get used to his accident? Will I adopt it and follow my wife around the house screaming things at her from this movie?

I think we know the answers.

You can watch this on Tubi.