Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 15: Hell House LLC (2015)

Hell House LLC is a frustrating found footage/mockumentary horror movie because it does some things really well, but the majority is a headache inducing muddle.

The film is presented as a documentary about a haunted attraction set up in an old hotel, and how several people died on its opening night. It uses "found footage" and talking head interviews to tell the story, but too often it veers into that ultimate found footage horror movie problem of people filming what no one in real life would actually film, and including footage that no actual documentary would ever include because it's so boring. (There is a lot of footage featuring the annoying characters putting together the haunted attraction. A lot. Too much.)

This movie is the first in what has become a franchise, with three sequels and another on the way. But I don't think I'll be seeking any more of them out.

I watched Hell House LLC on Shudder.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 14: Let's Kill Uncle (1966)

Actress Mary Badham only made two more movies after her memorable debut as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird; William Castle's Let's Kill Uncle was her last one.

She got the role in the film because her brother, John Badham, was Universal's casting director at the time, and if his name sounds familiar, it's because he went on to direct such films as Saturday Night Fever, Dracula, and WarGames.

While the film is a William Castle picture, it's from the latter half of his career, when he'd let the whole "gimmick" thing go. Which is, of course, a bit of a shame, since without such a hook the movie is pretty lame. Pat Cardi co-stars as Barnaby, an orphaned boy who is in line to inherit millions after his father dies in a car crash. But, as he won't get the money until his 18th birthday, he is sent to live with his uncle (Nigel Green) until then. 

Uncle Kevin, however, has a different idea about who should get that money.

Most of the movie is a game of cat and mouse as Uncle tries to kill Barnaby, and Barnaby tries to kill uncle, none of it terribly thrilling or funny, aside from the ridiculous scenes involving a shark in a swimming pool (see the fin of the shark in the pool; cut to stock footage of a shark obviously shot in the ocean).

This is the second Shower Curtain Film of this countdown, and your guess is as good as mine as to why the movie influenced the title of Morrissey's second solo album, Kill Uncle.

I watched Let's Kill Uncle on a Blu-ray from my library as the versions I found streaming online were not letterboxed. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 13: In A Violent Nature (2024)

In a Violent Nature is soooo close to doing something truly original, but to be that truly original film, it would likely end up being one hardly anyone would sit through. As it is, I imagine there are plenty of people who won't sit through it. 

The movie follows the rise of a vengeful killer as he aims to find the necklace that was taken from his woodsy gravesite. And when I say follows, I mean that literally. A good portion of the movie is just following this killer through the woods as he walks from victim to victim.

And that's where I think the movie chickens out a bit. I wanted more real time walking, with fewer edits in his journey. And while that probably sounds nuts, I just felt like the amount of walking in the current film is both too much for the average viewer (I will admit, I dozed off once, and had to rewind a good ten minutes to see what I had missed), but not enough to feel truly transgressive.

What we get between the walking are the ill-fated campers who will eventually meet their dooms, and the kills, which are extremely violent. I'm not sure if it was the actors, the dialogue, or a combination of the two, but the scenes with those campers aren't great, which also had me wishing there was more walking and less talking.

So, while I did appreciate a lot of what the movie tried to do, for me, it didn't really live up to the hype that surrounded it.

In a Violent Nature is currently streaming on Shudder.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 12: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a horror comedy mockumentary that plays with the tropes of the slasher genre in sometimes clever ways, but doesn't completely work as a comedy since it's not actually that funny. 

I was immediately reminded of Man Bites Dog (1992) another movie that centers on a documentary film crew following a serial killer around. Though that movie is much, much darker, it succeeds more on the black humor front, which Leslie Vernon could have used more of.

The basic set up is that serial killers like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees were real life villains, and becoming a legendary serial killer is like a career choice, requiring research and training. A film crew follows Leslie Vernon as he plans to make his serial killer debut, donning the identity of a boy who had been killed by a vigilante mob years before.

The movie is not bad, and the performances, especially from Nathan Baesel as Leslie, are fun, and seeing slasher movie tropes (like slow walking, and lowering your heart rate to feign death) presented as things one must train for is amusing. But I guess I just wanted more, and in the end, the movie becomes a standard slasher, dropping the whole mockumentary set-up.

I watched Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon on a Blu-ray from my library. It is also available to rent online.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 11: Friday the 13th: the Final Chapter (1984)

While I did go to see Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D twice in a theater the year it came out, it wasn't because I was particularly fond of the movie, or the series. It was because it was the summer, I was bored, and the 3-D was kind of cool. But after that, I never bothered with another Friday the 13th or Jason movie, so I didn't know know about Crispin Glover’s wackadoo part in Friday the 13th: the Final Chapter until recently. I also seemed to miss completely that Corey Feldman is also in it (as well as the following Friday the 13th: A New Beginning).

Does all of that make this a must see? Probably not, unless you are a fan of the series, and if you are, then you've probably already seen it. To be sure, Cripin Glover's brief scenes are a hoot (the best being his dance scene, which you can get a taste of above). But the Jason movies just aren’t my thing I think! I did find it interesting that for the majority of this one, you don’t even see Jason, just his kills, which made me realize how unimportant the “character” of Jason probably is. At least up to this point. Not sure I’m going to test that theory by venturing further into the series (contrary to the promise of this one’s title, it was NOT the final chapter), but I do think I've gotten enough exposure to the Friday the 13th films to better appreciate the two films that are coming next in this countdown...

I watched Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter via a DVD from my local library, but it, and the rest of the Friday the 13th movies, were recently added to Shudder.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 10: I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Director Jane Schoenbrun's first film, We're All Going To the World's Fair, made it to the countdown in 2022. I Saw the TV Glow is their follow-up, and while less experimental than World's Fair, it's definitely on the same wavelength, touching on themes of identity, and kinship.

It's interesting to read reactions to the movie, as it's a film that is very open to interpretation. Some people seem to come away from it completely baffled, while others have an immediate emotional response that often stems from their queer identities.

The story centers on awkward teen Owen (Justice Smith) who bonds with a slightly older girl at school named Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) over a supernatural teen TV show called The Pink Opaque. Freaky stuff happens, Maddy disappears, and Owen grows older trying to adjust to a life that doesn't feel right.

Jane Schoenbrun has explicitly said the story is an allegorical one about being trans, coming to that realization, and how one chooses to live their life as a result can be liberating, or scary. And it's this allegorical approach that explains the disparate reactions viewers seem to have to the movie.

Personally, I responded to it as a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, which The Pink Opaque definitely takes its inspiration from. I just wonder if I'd have the same realization on a re-watch that Owen has when he revisits The Pink Opaque as an adult....

I watched I Saw the TV Glow on Max.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 9: Die! Die! My Darling (1965)

I have this cool shower curtain covered with old newspaper ads for horror movies, and I figured I should probably make an attempt to watch all of the films on it I hadn't yet seen. Not sure I'll get to them all this year, but I will get to them! 

Which brings us to Die! Die! My Darling (AKA Fanatic).

This film definitely falls into the genre of "Hag Horror" (AKA "Psycho Biddies," AKA, "Hagsplotation") since it stars Tallulah Bankhead in her final role, (also, she is literally called an old hag in the movie). Like fellow psycho biddies Davis and Crawford before her, she relishes her villainous turn as Mrs. Trefoile, a fanatical Christian living in a creepy house in the English countryside. When Patricia (Stephanie Powers), the former fiance of her deceased son, decides to pay her a courtesy visit while in the country with her new fiance, Mrs. Trefoile deems Patricia's soul hopelessly doomed, and Patricia's visit lasts a little longer than the afternoon she'd planned for.

Die! Die! My Darling has a weird tone, sometimes coming off as a (not entirely funny) comedy, and sometimes going for the horror. It doesn't completely work, but it is worth a viewing, mainly for Tallulah Bankhead's performance. It's also a beautifully colorful film, and the print I watched on Prime was flawless.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 8: Hell Hole (2024)

Movies by the Adams Family of filmmakers have appeared twice before in this countdown, with Hellbender and The Deeper You Dig, both of which I liked, so I was happy to have a new one of theirs to feature this year.

Hell Hole is a departure of sorts in that it leans a bit more towards comedy, does not feature either of their daughters, and is set outside of the U.S., this time in Serbia. John Adams and Toby Poser are both back as two Americans leading a team of frackers in the Serbian wilderness when they accidentally unleash a parasitic monster that begins to take over the crew. 

The movie owes a lot (like, a lot) to The Thing, and to Alien, so not going to give it any props for originality. But what the Adams Family is able to do with limited budgets is always fun to see. The CGI creature is pretty gross, and the tendency for its victims to just explode is amusing. I also liked the heavy metal score that fuels much of the movie. In short, not my favorite of theirs, but it helped solidify Adams Family films as ones I will always happily check out.

Hell Hole is available to stream on Shudder.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 7: Cutting Class (1989)

Cutting Class is billed as a dark horror comedy, but there's nothing very scary or funny in it. Instead, it's really only notable for being one of Brad Pitt's first feature films and for having a bunch of Wall of Voodoo songs on the soundtrack. And I also suppose for being at least one nail in the coffin of the 1980's slasher movie trend.

Donovan Leitch co-stars as a high school student who spent five years in an insane asylum for killing his father. Martin Mull (the film's only real comedic relief) is the district attorney who helped put him away. And Jill Schoelen is his daughter, who he leaves alone for a week so he can go hunting, imploring her to do her homework, not have any boys over, and definitely not cut class. She does all three.

When students and staff start disappearing and dying, the insane asylum alum is of course the number one suspect. But is he really a killer? Or is he being set-up? It takes way too long to get to that answer, and by that time, its neither surprising or scary. Aside for a few interesting shots, including one of a face behind a water cooler that's genuinely creepy, if completely preposterous, the movie is just very, very basic.

I watched Cutting Class on Peacock.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 6: Trauma (1993)

I always try to get a Dario Argento movie into this countdown, and the results have been pretty hit or miss. And I have to say, 1993's Trauma falls into the miss column. 

It was Argento's first film produced in the States (Minnesota is the setting) so it doesn't have a lot of the usual post production dubbing that mars Italian productions, which is a plus, and the story itself is classic giallo. But it falls short in so many other ways.

Asia Argento plays Aura, a traumatized teenager with anorexia who is rescued from a suicide attempt by a TV news employee. She's also being terrorized by a serial killer who is decapitating people associated with the psychiatric hospital she escaped from.

The film is filled with a surprising number of well known actors, including Piper Laurie, Frederic Forrest, and Brad Dourif, and they are all universally terrible in the movie. I'm always amazed when something like that happens. Can a good actor really give a bad performance just because he's following the direction of a bad director? Or is there something else going on?

But aside from that, it's just not a very engaging story, is, for the most part, bereft of Argento's trademarked garishness, and has too many ick factors surrounding Asia Argento, who was 17 when the movie was filmed. Her character is 16 years old, appears topless, and engages in a romantic relationship with the adult hero. No thank you.

I watched Trauma on Prime Video.