Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 28: The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

I decided to watch The Exorcist: Believer because I had just re-watched The Exorcist II: The Heretic in preparation for watching the documentary Boorman and the Devil, and realized, despite seeing all the other Exorcist sequel and prequel movies, I had not bothered with this one. Which is odd. Of course this one got terrible reviews, but so did those two prequel versions, and I watched both of those. So why did I skip this one, especially knowing that both Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair make appearances in it? 

I really don't have an answer to that aside from I think I just forgot that this one even existed! 

Too bad it didn't stay that way.

It is truly not a good movie. David Gordon Green was building a career on franchise reboots (though I think Mike Flanagan may be taking over those reins, with his Carrie series, and his own upcoming Exorcist movie, which is looking like if Seven and The Exorcist had a baby), and I think Believer killed that trajectory. The two further sequels that were planned were killed after this movie tanked at the box office.

It's your basic Exorcist set-up, but this time with two teenage girls instead of one, and three different religions in on the exorcism, instead of just Catholics (though, spoiler, it takes a Catholic priest to get true results). There are some good actors in it, including Leslie Odom and Ann Dowd, but they can't save themselves from the silly script. And I hope Ellen Burstyn got a fat check for her small role because what she's put through in this one is brutal. Finally, for the record, The Exorcist III still holds the title as the only good Exorcist follow-up.

I watched The Exorcist: Believer on Peacock. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 27: The Premonition (1976)

The 1976 psychological horror film The Premonition is filled with a cast of actors that will make you go "Hey! It's that guy!" The most notable is probably Richard Lynch, an actor instantly recognizable because of his burn-scarred face; he played villains in numerous 70's and 80's movies.

Here he plays Jude, an unhinged circus mime (the horrors!) with an even more unhinged, recently institutionalized girlfriend, Andrea (Ellen Barber, who definitely gives the role her all, and then some). Andrea is obsessed with finding her daughter, Janie (Danielle Brisebois), who had been placed in a foster home because of Andrea's inability to care for her. (No, I did not plan to list two foster kid centered horror movies in a row in this countdown. That was just a creepy coincidence!)

When Andrea tracks down Janie's fosters parents, Sheri (Sharon Farrell, also the mom in It's Alive), and Miles (Edward Bell, an actor I've definitely seen before but can't figure out in what), she begins to torture the mom, psychically, with dreams, phantom phone calls, and visions. Luckily, Miles happens to be a professor working with someone studying parapsychology! 

This movie is verrrrrry 70's. It's slow. It's gritty. It's sometimes shocking. It's also a bit of a mess. It goes around in circles a lot, and there's one edit in it so abrupt and nonsensical I'm convinced it was an editing mistake no one ever caught, and it just remained in the film ever since. The ending is also a huge stretch.

All that said, I do think I liked it! It's well directed (for the most part), has good performances, and startled me more than once. Sometimes watching an old horror movie you've never heard of can be a drag because there's usually a reason you've never heard of it. This one deserves more recognition than it seems to have.

The Premonition is currently available to stream on Prime and Tubi. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 26: Before I Wake (2016)

I'm beginning to think that the fondness I have for Mike Flanagan, the person, sometimes overshadows what I think about Mike Flanagan, the filmmaker. He seems like a really nice guy who loves horror movies, loves to share his faves with his family and friends, and has a cast and crew that seem to also like him enough to work with him over and over again. I've never sat down to watch a movie of his with any reluctance.

I love that he clearly loves to make horror movies. But I'm coming to terms with the fact that I don't always love the horror movies he makes.

Before I Wake is one of those. Like many of his films, it centers on a family dealing with trauma, in this case parents (Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane) who are ready to welcome a new child into their lives after the tragic death of their son a few years earlier. Enter foster kid Cody (Jacob Tremblay, fresh off his role in the movie Room), who hasn't had a successful placement after multiple tries.

The parents soon learn about Cody's fear of sleeping, and begin to see weird things happening in their home when he does sleep, like beautiful butterflies filling their living room, and...the return of their dead son.

And then the real reason Cody is afraid of sleep makes itself known...

Before I Wake is in not a bad movie, but it is a familiar one, especially for those who have seen Mike Flanagan's other work. He is very good at creating creepy set-ups, and well-earned jump scares. He always gets great performances out of his cast (though Thomas Jane's haircut is a choice). But I think a lot of the time his endings make or break his movies and shows for me. And that holds true for this one.

Before I Wake is streaming on Netflix.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 25: Sugar Hill (1974)

Sugar Hill is a blaxploitation horror movie that's better than Blacula. Yeah, I said it!

Diana "Sugar" Hill (Marki Bey) hires a voodoo queen (Zara Cully) to help avenge the death of her boyfriend Langston (Larry D. Johnson) after he is murdered by the mob. The Lord of the Dead thusly springs to action, along with his army of zombies, who are actually the preserved bodies of slaves brought over from Guinea in the 1800's. Don't know how they were preserved! Don't wanna know! I do know they walk around encased in cobwebs, with bulbous silver eyes, and are genuinely creepy looking.

Sugar Hill is a Black heroine up there with Coffy and Foxy Brown, taking no shit from nobody. I mean, how can you not love a leading lady who says things like, "Hey whitey! You and your punk friends killed my man!" and, "I'm not accusing you, Honk. I'm passing sentence!" She's also got a lot of groovy costume changes and several wigs in rotation. Perfect.

In short, I highly recommend Sugar Hill, which can be viewed (with ads) via YouTube here.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 24: You Should Have Left (2020)

You Should Have Left was one of those movies that was originally supposed to be a theatrical release, but due to the pandemic, was released as an on-demand rental instead, and I think it did pretty well. Probably better than it would have done had it been released in theaters, because it's not very good, and also because I bet a lot of the reviews would have used the sentence "you should have left the theater."

National treasure Amanda Seyfried stars as Susanna, a movie actress married to an older man, retired banker Theodore (Kevin Bacon). They have a young daughter, Ella (Avery Essex). It's a second marriage for Theodore, and there is some initial mystery surrounding how that first marriage ended. When the family takes a vacation to Wales, nightmares and weird goings on begin to haunt Theodore..

 

Seyfried and Bacon are engaging enough actors that I did find myself enjoying a lot of the movie. It's got some spooky moments in their vacation home, which reveals itself to be, literally, more than meets the eye. The scenery surrounding the home is also beautiful. But the ending gets a little muddled, with some aspects being painfully obvious, and others puzzling head-scratchers. I ultimately came away from it a little annoyed.

 

I watched You Should Have Left on Peacock. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 23: Embryo (1976)

First off, when I say I watched the movie Embryo, I use the term "watched" loosely. The only version streaming online appears to be a 10th generation (at least) dupe of a VHS copy, possibly filmed while projected onto a sheet. But this is the movie my random watchlist selection told me to watch, so this is the movie I (tried) to watch!

It starts off rough, with Rock Hudson hitting a doberman whilst driving a dark road during a rain storm. At least I think that's what happens. I heard brakes screeching, and a dog whimpering, so assumed that's what led Hudson, who is playing a doctor, to bring a dog into his home lab and attempt to save its life.

The dog turns out to be pregnant, so Dr. Rock experiments with the fetuses, which turn into puppies seemingly overnight. Of course, the next logical step is to perform the same experiment on a pregnant woman who has conveniently died via suicide.

From there the movie basically turns into a Frankenstein story, with the baby rapidly growing up to be Barbara Carrera. Her only teacher is the doctor, and yet she learns to speak with an indeterminate accent that is definitely not Rock Hudson American. That the doctor also has sex with this surrogate daughter is a huge ick, but let's just say they don't live happily ever after.

Diane Ladd, Roddy McDowell, and Dr. Joyce Brothers (!) are also featured in some smaller roles. Definitely NOT worth watching in the form that's currently available to stream, and I have no idea if its sole DVD release was any better. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 22: Appendage (2023)

Appendage is like Basket Case meets Project Runway, with a dash of It's Alive, and a sprinkling of Rosemary's Baby. And a little bit of The Brood, to boot.

I guess what I'm saying is, Appendage is not the most original movie you will ever see, but it's got some fun moments in it.

Hadley Robinson stars as Hannah, a fashion designer's apprentice who one day finds a lump on her side that turns out to be a small monster - a small monster who's a total asshole, giving voice to all the insecurities in her head. Eventually she learns she's not the only person with such a monster, and they have an actual support group...

At first, because the tiny monster is such a dick, and pretty amateurish looking in its design, I figured this would end up being a full-fledged comedy. And while it definitely is funny at times, after a few twists, eventually it reveals itself to be a little more dramatic in nature. And when that happened, I began to miss the comedy. Still, I did find it enjoyable, and especially liked Emily Hampshire as Claudia, the friend (or is she?) Hannah makes in the support group.

Appendage is streaming on Hulu. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 21: The Night Walker (1964)

The Night Walker is another one of William Castle's movies that did not include any kind of associated gimmick, unless you consider Barbara Stanwyck's insane screaming to be a gimmick. Lady had some pipes on her!

Stanwyck stars as Irene Trent, the unhappy wife to a blind, rich asshole who is convinced she is having an affair because she keeps moaning about another man in her sleep. When her husband is conveniently killed in a lab explosion, Irene continues having dreams about another man, and can't determine if they're actually real, or in fact just dreams. Robert Taylor - Stanwyck's real-life ex-husband at the time - is her husband's one-time lawyer, who promises to help her figure out what's really going on.

And what's really going ends up being pretty ridiculous, even by the standards of screenwriter Robert Bloch. Expect some revelations that make you go, "you're kidding, right?"

Really, the best part of the entire movie is the surreal opening montage, especially if you are a fan of the "Haunted Mansion" at Disneyland. That scene is included in the video below if you don't want to bother watching the entire movie (which is available to rent online, though I watched it on a DVD from my library).

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 20: Slash/Back (2022)

Watching Slash/Back immediately brought to mind Attack the Block, as it is also a movie about a group of marginalized kids fighting an alien attack, and John Carpenter's The Thing, because it's an alien attack movie set in a snowy area. And also because the characters in the movie talk about The Thing directly. Director Nyla Innuksuk is for sure not hiding that film's influence.

The director is Inuit, and majority of the young cast of amateur actors were found primarily in the Inuit community of Pangnirtung, near where it was filmed. That's the film's greatest strength, and also at times it's biggest weakness. Getting a glimpse into a community that does not get a lot of cinematic representation is a treat. And for the most part, the young cast is pretty good. But there are times where their lack of experience definitely comes across in some line readings and stiffness.

I also really loved how the aliens are depicted wearing what are essentially the skins of its victims. What was probably a pretty cheap effect to pull off ends up being both gross and at times, pretty funny.

I watched Slash/Back on Shudder.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 19: Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970)

At the beginning of this countdown I mentioned that the majority of the movies I would be watching would be selected randomly by setting my Letterboxd Watchlist to shuffle, and the genre to horror, and then watching whatever shows up first (and is currently available to watch in some form). But I think this is the first movie that's a miss, because Five Dolls for an August Moon really isn't a horror film. It's more of a murder mystery, and not truly a giallo mystery either, even though it was directed by Mario Bava.

Loosely based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, it also of course brought to mind Glass Onion, though unlike that one, this one does not have a detective on the case, just a murderer, who is picking off the guests on a private island one by one. 

Despite some really groovy interiors, costumes, and, on the women, hair, I found this to be a total snooze. I kept hoping it might get garish when the murders started, but those were pretty boring too. Alas. 

And maybe if I wasn't wanting and expecting a horror movie, I would have felt different. But I kept waiting for it to turn into the kind of movie I expect from Mario Bava, and it never did. So, the first complete miss on this countdown, in my opinion.

I watched Five Dolls for an August Moon on Kanopy.