I’ve known for a long time that I’ve had odd tastes in entertainment.

Compared to the sensibilities in my small town, they’re downright weird.

I like horror films and other fantastical genres. I like thinking deeply about those films (and TV shows and stories).

Thing is… I don’t fit in with a good hunk of the rest of the fans of the things I enjoy. I don’t get quite as passionate about things as some. I’m much pickier about others.

This becomes particularly clear when it comes to horror films.

See, I actually like my horror films smart and scary (in general). Sure, I love Evil Dead 2 and thoroughly enjoy some schlock every now and then. But most low-budget horror-comedy? Don’t much care for it.

I was reminded of this when I saw Killer Rack the other night. I chuckled a few times, but mostly I just rolled my eyes and cringed. Other people in the theater enjoyed it a lot more. That’s often the case with these films.

So, reviewing them seems a bit… difficult. I mean, the goal was to make a funny, bad movie… and, as far as most people are concerned, it was, indeed, funny (there’s no question about the “bad” part). Since I don’t care for the style, though, there’s not a lot good I can say about it and everything generally bad I’d have to say is, well, pretty much what everyone else considers “good” in the style.

Which leaves tonight’s review a bit awkward.

So, take it as more of my own opinion than usual. I don’t have a decent enough yardstick for measuring “intentional crap” movies when they make the audience happy. (Which this one most certainly did.)

Anyway, took the night off of the movie fest so I could catch up with some other things (like sleep). I’ll be back out tomorrow night… but I already have tomorrow’s special vlog #25 shot… and should have it ready to go sometime during the day tomorrow.

Here’s tonight’s review… it’s the breast I could do. 😉

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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It’s one thing to have a family business where everyone goes and works at the restaurant or retail store or becomes a lawyer and joins the family practice.

It’s another thing to get the whole family involved in a tale of utter psychological terror, where they’re all–including the young daughter–more or less playing themselves.

Luciferous is exactly that other thing. And it’s pretty excellent.

This is the first full-length feature for Mahsa Ghorbankarimi and Alexander Gorelick, but you really wouldn’t know it until right at the end of the film. It’s a slow build to full-steam-ahead terror, but every step of the way it’s a believable story of either supernatural predation or pure mental breakdown.

With everyone playing themselves, the relationship dynamics are believable and what would otherwise be bad dialog reads true to who these “characters” are. It also makes the emotion–like when their daughter goes missing or when Alex is afraid he’s going to hurt his family–more raw and real than what you normally see in a first production on this scale.

Needless to say, this is much more my kind of film than Valley of the Sasquatch was. I’ve been reminded that my taste in horror films is very, very different from most other people who seem to be “fans” of horror. I’m okay with that… as long as I get some good films like this out of the deal.

So, here’s the vlog where I gush a bit over this film. If you get the chance (and you will get the chance, they’ve already got a distribution deal for next year), and you love some deeply dramatic and realistic horror, check this out.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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I’m often a little picky about the movies I see in the theater. I figure if I’m going out and paying to see something, it should be something I’m really interested in that I’ll likely enjoy.

But when there’s a film festival things are a little different. Especially if I’ve gone and bought a full pass. Then I’ll go and see pretty much anything.

That’s the situation tonight. After watching the trailer for Valley of the Sasquatch, I’d have been hard pressed to decide to see it if I hadn’t already paid for the festival pass. I most certainly wouldn’t have tried to dig up anyone to go see it with me. Maybe I’d have caught it on Netflix, eventually. (I’ve been surprised by movies before that I didn’t think were going to be that good… notably, in this case, because they’re similarly premised films, is Wendigo.)

Needless to say, I didn’t care much for this film. Despite the fact that it’s won awards, it really didn’t work for me.

It lacks any sort of heart. It’s inconsistent. And, in my opinion, it misses the chance to make a number of statements about a number of things.

See, good writing naturally has themes that develop as the story plays out. Maybe it’s an environmental theme–how our destruction of natural habitats put us at odds with animals (or monsters) we don’t normally interact with. Or maybe it’s how the ties of family, memories of the good times, shared suffering, or some other really human aspect, help us get past some pretty serious problems. Perhaps it’s just the simple message of “Don’t be a dick” or “Poking at Bigfoot is a bad thing.”

You can create a story without a theme… you can just string scenes together, have characters doing what’s typical to do for their archetypes, not deviating from what’s expected. But that’s not good writing. That’s purely utilitarian writing. It’s passable, but, at best, it’s mediocre.

It’s just a walk in the woods… or just being chased by things in the woods. And that’s not anything really special.

Mediocre is worse than bad. At least with bad you stand a chance of becoming a cult classic by finding a viewership that loves poking fun at your film.

So, for all you creators out there, strive to be excellent… but go all out. As long as you go all out, you’ll either be awesome or awesomely bad. Don’t play it safe. Playing it safe is how you end up mediocre. And there’s really no winning like that.

Unless all your competition is on the down side of the mediocre plateau, I guess.

Tomorrow will be another movie at Spooky Fest, this time with a Q&A with the directors. I really hope the movie is awesome, one way or the other.

Anyway, here’s today’s vlog wherein I talk a bit about the problems with the movie.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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