Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 25: Hollywood 90028 (1973)

Hollywood 90028 is an angsty drama about the Hollywood dream, the gentrification of Los Angeles, and how the desperation for fame can lead to tragedy. But it's all wrapped up in disguise. Surrounding those themes is a story about Mark (Christopher Augustine) a cameraman on porno movies who's also a serial killer.

It's an odd mix! Those appreciating what director Christina Hornisher is trying to say about Hollywood will probably be turned off by the porno shoot bits (have to admit, those bits made me a little uncomfortable), and those who are there for the porny bits and murder are going to be pretty bored by the rest of it.

There's a lot of dialogue in this, but there are two lengthy bits that are really memorable. One accompanies a section filmed in Bunker Hill, and discusses the decline of that neighborhood that was once full of families and beautiful Victorian homes. These sequence features some amazing shots of those decaying homes.

The other bit is a monologue by Michelle (Jeannette Dilger) an actress Mark meets on one of his film shoots. She talks about arriving from a small town in pursuit of Hollywood fame, and how a young actress can, bit bit by, find herself working in adult films.

There weren't a lot of women directing exploitation films in the 70's, and while the exploitative aspects of Hollywood 90028 are no different than something that may have been shot by a man - director Christina Hornisher is not hiding any of the expected nudity - there's definitely some commentary going on, from the monologue mentioned above, to the sweaty and lecherous director who watches his set from above with binoculars, to the murderous cameraman himself. (Definite shades of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom in him.)

Hornisher never made another feature, and studios really didn't know what to do with Hollywood 90028. Shot in 1973, it didn't get released until 1976. It was later re-cut and re-released under the title The Hollywood Strangler, and anyone expecting a slasher film would have come away disappointed. I'm even reluctant to include it in this countdown, because it barely counts as a horror film. But it's such a unique, odd, and beautiful film, and anyone who's a fan of Ti West's X trilogy is going to appreciate it. It also has one of the most astounding final shots I've ever seen, anywhere, let alone in a low budget exploitation film by a first time director...

I watched Hollywood 90028 on Mubi. It's also available on Hoopla.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 24: Creep (2014) and Creep 2 (2017)

I've long been aware of Creep and its sequel, Creep 2 mainly because I've long been aware of Mark Duplass and his extensive body of work...for better or worse. But I never bothered watching it. Not entirely sure why. When it comes to the career of Mark Duplass (as well as the work he's done with his brother Jay), I guess you could say I'm indifferent. Don't love him. Don't hate him. Just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But I can say I kind of hated Creep. It's a found footage horror film, which right there, enough already, centered on Aaron (Patrick Brice) who accepts a job offer to film some moments in the life of Josef (Mark Duplass) who has an inoperable brain tumor and wants to create a video for his unborn son. Of course this turns out to be a lie, and Josef is, in fact, a lunatic.

I'll give it this: at the halfway point it kind of veers into a direction I wasn't entirely expecting, but that is the only even halfway surprising thing about Creep. The sequel sets itself up with kind of the same scenario, though this time, the videographer is a YouTuber (Desiree Akhavan) who's desperate to find a subject that will actually get her some views. Enter Josef, who is now calling himself Aaron, and wants someone to document his retirement from serial killing.

I suppose there are some entertaining moments to be found in both films - they both have some funny scenes - and I probably liked the premise of the second more than the first. But ultimately I found both of them pretty boring, and will admit I fell asleep more than once. 

  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Both are currently streaming on Netflix.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 23: Black Sabbath (1963)

After learning yesterday's film was based on a story also adapted in Mario Bava's Black Sabbath, it made me realize I had never actually seen Black Sabbath - I always get it confused with Black Sunday, which I have seen, albeit a long time ago. Might be due for a re-watch!

Apparently there are different edits of this film, with its three stories presented in different orders. The one I watch started with The Drop of Water, in which a nurse does the one thing she's not supposed to do when preparing a deceased patient for her funeral, and suffers the consequences. It's filled with the colored lighting Bava loved, and a truly memorable corpse.

The second story was The Telephone, and apparently the American version I watched has a very different plot than the Italian version. The Italian version includes a call girl, the pimp she helped imprison, and some implied lesbianism. I want to see that version! Of the three shorts, I liked the set decorations and costumes in this one the most.

Finally, the last story was The Wurdulak, with Boris Karloff taking on the role of the family patriarch returning home with an insatiable hunger for the blood of his loved ones. Of course being only about 30 minutes long means it's a much faster take on the story than yesterday's The Vourdulak, but it doesn't have a corpse puppet. Win some, lose some

Not quite as garish and colorful as other Mario Bava movies, but still very beautiful. The soundtrack by Les Baxter is also pretty groovy. I watched it on Prime.

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

A few posts back I was lamenting the growing disappearance of practical effects in modern horror movies, and lo and behold, here's one that does just that, and it's probably the best thing about the movie.

The Vourdalak is a French adaptation of a story by Tolstoy that was also adapted for the screen as one of the stories in Mario Bava's 1963 anthology film Black Sabbath (check back tomorrow for that one). The setting for this version is Eastern Europe in the 18th-century, where a French Marquis (Kacey Mottet Klein) is robbed and loses his horse. He seeks help from a family who are awaiting the return of their patriarch who has left to fight the Turks. When that patriarch does return, he...well, he looks like a desiccated corpse.

This is where the practical effects come into play, as that talking corpse is very obviously a life-size puppet. The Vourdalak does have a sense of humor about it, as no one in the family seems to be quite as aghast about the patriarch's appearance as they should be. That paired with the utter dandiness of the Marquis means I did have a few good laughs. But I also had a few yawns, and ultimately found the movie a bit of a bore. Definitely pretty, and strange! But also slow and repetitive.

I watched The Vourdalak on Shudder but it is also is available on Kanopy and Tubi.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 21: Student Bodies (1981)

The 1981 comedy Student Bodies is credited with being the first slasher film parody, beating the Scary Movie franchise to the punch by decades. Alas, first is not always best.

To be fair I didn't really like any of the Scary Movies I've seen either, so this may be a me problem. But I do think those were at least a tad more clever than Student Bodies. Granted, Student Bodies did not have a lot to work with since it was made in 1981, and didn't have all the subsequent 1980's slasher movies to riff off of.

So what you do have a is a heavy breathing killer known as...the Breather, who's after promiscuous high school students. These murders are happening at an inopportune time as it's the day of the big game. And prom. And a parade. And Halloween. And Friday the 13th. And Jamie Lee Curtis's birthday.

The film's central gag is a "body count" that flashes on screen after every murder, which is...not...funny? Is it supposed to be? I think so? And really that's my main reaction to most of the movie. I know it's trying to be funny, but it just rarely is.

Really the only scene I chuckled at was one involving "good girl" Toby (Kristen Riter) and her session with school psychologist Dr. Sigmund (Carl Jacobs). This scene leans heavily into the type of humor Airplane! was doing a year earlier, and I wish more of the movie followed suit.

I watched Student Bodies on Paramount+.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 20: Unfriended (2014)

I kind of made my way backwards to 2014's "screenlife" horror movie Unfriended, featuring films in this countdown that have used the same format to tell their horror stories years after Unfriended did. (For the record those previous films were Death of a Vlogger, Host, and We're All Going to the World's Fair.)

I'm actually happy that I, for whatever reason, never bothered to see this when it originally came out because now, over 10 year later, the movie has an added bonus of nostalgia. Nostalgia for the days when teenagers were still actually using Facebook and its clunky, blocky site design; for how photo attachments took almost a minute to download; for pixelated Skype video calls; for the sound a computer hard drive would make when it was processing.

I think distance from 2014 tech also helps in overlooking whether the movie actually gets it right, since I don't really remember what that tech was like. (Also, I've never made a Skype call in my life, so no idea if that's how it really worked.) Like similar films that followed, Unfriended plays out on a computer screen, with us seeing what the main character Blaire (Shelley Hennig) is seeing as she messages and Skypes with her friends. It's the anniversary of a classmate's death who was driven to it by online bullying, and when a stranger enters their Skype call claiming to be that dead classmate, things get spooooooky.

Frankly, I wanted things to get a little spookier. There are two scenes that use the tech well, taking advantage of common computer glitches and making them spooky. But there's not enough of that, and towards the middle, when it's just these kids screaming at each other, I got a bit bored. Cut 15 minutes out of this, and you'd have a really tight little horror flick.

As it's not currently streaming free anywhere, and my library only has the sequel (reserving that now, ha), I rented Unfriended on Apple TV.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 19: It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)

As someone who will watch literally any horror or sci-fi movie set in San Francisco, it's pretty preposterous that I had not yet seen It Came From Beneath the Sea. To be fair, I suspected I had already seen the best parts of it, as I've seen the clips of the giant octopus attacking the Ferry Building and the Golden Gate Bridge many times. Turns out, yes indeed, those are the best parts of the movie.

The rest of it is, frankly, a total bore, even though they try to juice up the military blather and pseudo-science by tossing in a romance between submarine commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) and Marine biologist Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue). 

But it takes way too long until we get a glimpse of the creature, and way, way too long until that creature gets to San Francisco. But those moments, thanks to the special effects from legend Ray Harryhausen, are just pure fun. (Pay attention to the number of tentacles that "octopus" actually has.)

I was surprised the only place I could find a free streaming copy was on Tubi, with commercials. But it's also available as a rental basically anywhere else.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 18: Where the Devil Roams (2023)

I've included movies from the Adams family in three previous countdowns. I love their story and their whole deal, which you can read more about here. This year's entry is Where the Devil Roams, and I have to say, while aesthetically this one is right up my alley, with its depression era sideshow setting, of the four Adams family movies I have seen, I liked this one the least.

And I should caveat that with, while I did like a lot of the film's aesthetics, there were also things about the aesthetics that did not work at all. For one thing, a lot of the sideshow "freaks" are just too modern looking. They would not be out of place at a modern goth dance club. For another, the switch from scratchy black and white to color within the film doesn't always make sense thematically. Also, while I like the metal-ish music the family also creates together, I didn't like its use in this movie. It kept ripping me out of the era.

Finally, the story is just a mess. Ostensibly about a mother, father, and daughter (all played by real like family, John Adams, Toby Poser, and Zelda Adams, who also wrote and directed it together) who develop a gruesome sideshow act with terrible consequences, but the storytelling is chaotic. Too often its obvious they are going for "arty" over coherence.

And again, some of the visuals are really stunning. There are moments I will definitely never forget. But I just came away from it really frustrated. Like, all the pieces were there for them to make their greatest feature yet, and they just couldn't get them to fit together.

This is their first film produced for Tubi, and not available on Shudder. I watched it commercial free on Prime. 

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 17: Uninvited (1987)

After watching Booger I wanted some more cat-centric horror, so I chose Greydon Clark's Uninvited. 

My god what a choice. What a terrible, wonderful choice.

I first became familiar with the b-movie career of Greydon Clark after a local screening this year of his 1983 comedy Joysticks. That film is awful, but also enjoyable, which I can safely say sums up Clark's career in a nutshell.

Uninvited is everything you'd want from a terrible movie. A plot that sounds like it was cobbled together in ten minutes ("Lab experiment gone wrong during spring break in Florida and a millionaire with a yacht who's trying to flee the country to avoid arrest. Also, a cat."); gratuitous nudity; special effects so immensely bad they become charming; Clu Gulager. 

I have to say a bit more about those effects. Yes, there is a real cat in this. It does survive, and never seems to be in any overtly stressful situations, even though it ostensibly vomits up an evil mutant cat several times over the course of the film. 

The vomiting cat and the vomited cat are so very clearly hand puppets, and that's what makes Uninvited so fun, and an example of something that is probably gone for good. In the age of CG and A.I., even if you wanted to create a movie with terrible effects like this, those effects would likely be created using computers, and not old carpeting, fake fur, and KY jelly. So I will continue to treasure films like Uninvited for the lost art they are.

I watched Uninvited on Prime. It is also available to stream with commercials on Tubi.

Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 16: Booger (2023)

As I do with any movie that prominently features an animal, I had to look up whether the cat in the movie Booger dies or not. Spoiler: it does not. (But a rat does!)

In fact the cat gets off much better than the lead character Anna (Grace Glowicki, excellent). She's dealing with the trauma of losing her best friend Izzy. When their cat Booger bites her in a fit of cat rage, and then runs away, she attempts to deal with both the aftermath of her friends' death, and a search for the cat. All this while also beginning to undergo some...changes.

Booger is a very short film, not even 90 minutes long, so it doesn't take long to jump right into its tale of body horror, and indeed there are some moments that are really gross. (Cats puking up hair balls is gross enough; it's something else entirely to see a human do it.) But it also pairs that grossness with a good sense of humor; the short glimpses into Anna and Izzy's friendship via little video clips from their social media are a delight.

Being that one of my favorite horror movies is Cat People (the 1982 one; yes I'm serious) this movie was of course very much my jam. It doesn't quite come near to that film's greatness (shut up) but I think I'm just always going to be partial to horror movies centered on cats and catness.

Booger is available to stream, with commercials, on Tubi, Plex, and Roku. I watched it commercial free on Prime.