What Did You Watch in October 2024?
Good horror, bad horror, Teri Garr, classic film noir, and more
I hope your October movie watching was scary… in a good way.
I also watched nine other films at the Noir City DC festival. Although those titles are not listed here, I will write about them in a separate post coming soon.
First-time Watches
Dolores Claiborne (1995) Taylor Hackford - The Criterion Channel
You may disagree, but the number of good movies based on Stephen King stories and novels is fairly low. This is one of the better ones, a psychological thriller about a broken mother/daughter relationship (Kathy Bates/Jennifer Jason Leigh) and the question of whether the mother is guilty of murder. The film also stars Christopher Plummer, David Strathairn, and John C. Reilly.
Pulse (2001) Kiyoshi Kurosawa - The Criterion Channel
Anytime you watch a movie more than just a few years old that focuses on technology, you could be in for some major embarrassment. Pulse is a Tokyo ghost story relying primarily on the internet from 23 years ago. While the tech has moved on, the film is still creepily effective. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Mother’s Instinct (2024) Benoît Delhomme - Library DVD
Set in the early 1960s, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain play two mothers who seem to live perfect lives, but when tragedy strikes one family, something more than a rift occurs between the two women. The period recreation looks better than it sounds (in dialogue, anyway), but the film disappoints in its characterization, plot credibility, and ending. For fans of Hathaway and Chastain only.
Flunky, Work Hard! (1931) Mikio Naruse - Criterion Eclipse Series 26 DVD box set: Silent Naruse
I usually don’t post about short films (this one is only 29 minutes long), but since this kicks off the Silent Naruse box set, and it’s my first Naruse experience, I wanted to include it. Isamu Yamaguchi plays an unmotivated insurance salesman whose aggressive young son could wreck his father’s chances of success in their small village. This comedy/drama mix works well, and I look forward to more Naruse.
Theatre of Blood (1973) Douglas Hickox - Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection DVD box set
You have to watch a Vincent Price movie in October, right? It’s probably an ordinance or something. The plot is simple: Price plays a Shakespearean actor who decides to kill each critic who snubbed him for a major award with each death based on some aspect of a Shakespearean play. The supporting cast (Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry, Harry Andrews, Robert Morley, Jack Hawkins, Diana Dors) is great, and the movie is fun for a while but becomes somewhat tedious after about 45 minutes.
I Saw the TV Glow (2024) Jane Schoenbrun - Max
“This isn’t how life is supposed to be…” I Saw the TV Glow is sort of like Twin Peaks for young adults. Owen (Justice Smith) is an introverted teenager trying to navigate both school and the suburbs when an older student named Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) shows him a late-night TV show called The Pink Opaque. Owen is, of course, hooked from the get-go and becomes obsessed with the series. The film deserves much more examination than I’m giving it here, but it captures the feeling of not belonging, yet there’s so much more. It’s been called an allegory for being transgender, but the movie is not limited to that. Visually stunning and worth a look.
The Hairdresser’s Husband (1990) Patrice Leconte - Kino Lorber Blu-ray
The film opens with a boy named Antoine, who has an obsession with the woman who cuts his hair. Upon becoming a man, his obsession with female hairdressers hasn’t diminished. In fact, he asks one to marry him. We think we’re getting a French romantic comedy, and we do, but there’s much more going on here. Roger Ebert included the film in his Great Movies list, and deservedly so. The Hairdresser’s Husband is also a film about sexuality that’s not pornographic. It’s an adult film without being “an adult film,” if you know what I mean. In French with English subtitles.
One from the Heart (1982) Francis Ford Coppola - Criterion Channel
I can understand both those who loathe and adore this film. I’ve never been a fan of Frederic Forrest, but he works well as Hank, who has an on-again/off-again relationship with his girlfriend Frannie (delightfully played by the late Teri Garr). I love the supporting cast which includes Natassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, Harry Dean Stanton, and especially Raúl Juliá. If you’ve never seen it, I encourage you to do so and just roll with it.
In the Tall Grass (2019) Vincenzo Natali - Netflix
My wife and I watched two movies at a relative’s house for Halloween, both of which he picked, having seen neither. Based on a novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill (King’s son), In the Tall Grass is a horror thriller that initially holds interest and promise: A pregnant young woman (Laysla De Oliveira) and her brother (Avery Whitted) stop their car along a rural road and hear cries for help in the middle of the tall grass. They hear what sounds like a young boy who can’t find his way out of the grass. Do you try to help him or move on? (We should’ve moved on to a different movie.) Although intriguing for a while, In the Tall Grass doesn’t have enough story to adequately fill its 90-minute running time (101 min. in an extended version!), and what’s there is disappointing.
Don’t Move (2024) Brian Netto, Adam Schindler - Netflix
How about Don’t Watch? This abduction thriller has only three problems: it’s not smart, not believable, and not satisfying. A man named Richard (Finn Wittrock) discovers a distraught young woman named Iris (Kelsey Asbille) who has hiked to the top of a cliff and is ready to end it all. Richard is resourceful (but mostly lucky), but he isn’t really a character; he’s more of a trope. We learn almost nothing about him and why he kidnaps Iris. After he gives her a paralyzing drug, we watch as Iris slowly regains the use of her body while the most ridiculous moments play out. Skip this one.
Rewatches
Gilda (1946) Charles Vidor - Criterion Blu-ray (3x)
Research for my guest appearance on Robert Bellissimo At the Movies
Rango (2011) Gore Verbinski - Blu-ray (2x)
I love this movie about a family’s lost pet chameleon who becomes stranded in the desert, where he hopes his dreams of becoming a hero will come true. My wife and I babysat with three young boys who loved the movie. (Sometimes I get it right with my audience…)
The Third Man (1949) Carol Reed - Studio Canal Blu-ray (3x)
I was delighted to watch this extraordinary film again in preparation for my guest appearance on The Great Movies virtual discussion.
Thieves’ Highway (1949) Jules Dassin - Arrow (UK, Region B) Blu-ray (3x)
Rewatched for an article I wrote for an upcoming issue of The Dark Pages.
Okay, the comments are open, so tell me what you watched.