Halloooooooooooooooooo!!
Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeeen!
It's the TENTH ANNIVERSARY of our medley of spooky films to celebrate this, the spookiest of seasons! Hurray for Psychocinematic longevity!!
I have generally continued last year's trend of not having much of an appetite for outright scary movies lately, which means I've admittedly had to get a bit creative and generous in what I categorize as a Halloween medley-eligible movie this year. Instead, this year's selection skews more into tense/stressful/bleak atmosphere emotional territory rather than straight-up horror. That said, I'm still actually pretty pleased with this year's collection of films, especially if you are experiencing a similarly lowered tolerance for scary cinema.
You know the deal: Each of the following films will be accompanied by the usual 1 - 5 rating scale for overall quality, as well as a scary/intense rating of 1 - 5 exclamation points, to be interpreted as follows:
Or rather, because this year's movies are generally more haunting than haunted, this year's scale should be interpreted more as:
Let's roll!
"The Wonder" (2022)
Rating: 4 Scary Rating: !!!!!
I made the perhaps bizarre and questionable decision to watch this movie late last year while I was completing a time-consuming medical test, inspired by recently watching Florence Pugh in "Don't Worry Darling" (2022) and also a strong push by Netflix's advertising at the time. "The Wonder" pairs beautifully austere and remote Irish countryside with an ethereal and haunting score. With those characteristics and its setting in the 1800s, the film's overall atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of "The Witch" (2015). While "The Wonder" refrains from overt horror and replaces the gray tones of the even more distant (and explicitly evil) 1600s with the muted blues and browns of a more natural world, the film nevertheless generates an enveloping dread and foreboding akin to the gauzy damp surrounding its characters. The movie also skillfully exploits the horror trope of the rational expert plunging into an irrational world in which their weaknesses are laid bare and their sanity and morality are tested, similar to "Winchester" (2018) and many others before it. It is in many ways a quiet yet deeply memorable and affecting film.
"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" (2022)
Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !
This is definitely not a scary movie, but who doesn't love a great, twisty, packed-cast murder mystery? I loved "Glass Onion" for all its silliness, sneakiness, and ultimate satisfaction. For someone looking for more of a fun romp than a scarefest this Halloween, this is a great option.
"The Banshees of Inisherin" (2022)
Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!!!
We love playright-turned-film-director Martin McDonagh in this household, and we also love the exquisite duo of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. I also love some bleak and remote Irish countryside of yore, evidently, given this is the second such entry in this post. In his unique and singular voice, McDonagh is extraordinarily capable of introducing tension, disquiet, and at times shocking and seemingly chaotic acts of violence into the lives of characters who at first glance seem to be living remorselessly banal lives. Throughout the entire movie, you can all but hear the banshees screaming for someone. The man also knows how to write some incredible dialogue, and the characters' Irish lilting cadence and particular turns of phrase are an added (and needed) treat in this deft and stark movie. "The Banshees of Inisherin" may not be pleasant, but anyone who loves McDonagh won't be disappointed.
"Emily the Criminal" (2022)
Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!!
I wanted to write a dedicated post for "Emily the Criminal", but since I didn't get around to it I'm glad to at least use this occasion to write a mini-post about it. Emily, played by blog favorite Aubrey Plaza, begins the movie as something of an everyperson, claustrophically cornered by crushing student loan debt and limited job prospects. Over the course of the film, Emily's scrappiness and wiliness give way to escalating violence to match her ever more dire circumstances. For anyone wanting an incredibly taut and effective movie that might feel a bit too real, this one's definitely worth watching.
"Persona" (1966)
Rating: 5 Scary Rating: !!!!
This film is both beautiful and mind-bending. As a brooding, slow-build psychological thriller, drawing its audience into the darkness and mystery within the minds of its two main characters, it feels very appropriate for anyone looking for a cerebral international option for their spooky Halloween viewing.
"Nosferatu" (1922)
Rating: 3 Scary Rating: !!
The original film version of "Nosferatu" is this year's classic horror film, which we watched to accompany our annual Jack-o'-lantern carving. I'm very much of two minds about this film: On the one hand, it's a surprisingly watchable film for being over a century old. Its very age makes it an artifact of interest: it features stilted black-and-white silent footage with title cards, newspapers, letters, pages of ancient texts and a meandering yet ominous organ-heavy film score as the story's only audible guide, as well as very rudimentary special effects to communicate the titular vampire's magic and power. With the relatively simple instruments available to it, it is still an effective horror film. For anyone with an interest in the history of cinema and the craft of filmmaking, this is certainly an engaging and instructive film.
On the other hand, the styling of the vampiric Count, as well as the storyline's clear resonance with historic antisemitic lore and misinformation, is quite explicitly antisemitic. The independent online pop culture magazine The Quietus has an excellent piece unpacking the antisemitic imagery and propaganda underscoring the film and its source material, as well as the cinematic and pop culture history and evolution of vampires as antisemitic tropes and thoughts on how to approach this film from a Jewish perspective, which you can read here.
I hope you enjoy a wonderful, spooky, cinematic Halloween! Happy movie viewing!
{Heart}
