I wanted to watch AGFA’s release of THE MCPHERSON TAPE, but my copy never arrived! I watched other alien movies, folk horror, Robert Pattinson movies, and a shit ton of found footage. I got some reading done, too!
Watching movies has become my daily therapy, helping keep my spirits up. Living in the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a real toll on my mental health. I rarely leave my apartment, except to buy groceries, and I’m not sleeping or eating well. I’ve been overwhelmed with anxiety, not just worrying about my own exposure to coronavirus but my family’s and friends, some of who are essential workers and working on the front lines. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to continue working from home, but all my life has become is a walk from the bedroom to my desk, where I sit at my computer for ten hours a day for five days a week, and then post-work I go to my couch and put on a movie. Movies have injected some joy to my day to day bullshit, but I still feel like a depressed zombie. I actually forgot to send back my apartment lease renewal on time, so I’m waiting to hear back from my landlord, and have been worried sick over the thought of having to find a new apartment and move during the pandemic.
Another major disappointment in April was that I ordered the limited edition slipcover of The McPherson Tape, which was supposed to be restored beautifully by the American Genre Film Archive, and sold in limited quantities via Vinegar Syndrome. I never got my copy, so I checked my tracking and discovered that it was marked as “delivered”. This isn’t the first time USPS fucked up (around Christmas, an employee “delivered” a gift sent to me at 11 PM at night, leaving it outside the building!), so it’s not the fault of AGFA or Vinegar Syndrome. Of course the limited edition is all sold out now, so I can’t even buy it again. I’m tempted to spend the money on the standard edition, but I’m concerned that it’ll get stolen, too. And I really don’t want to spend any more money, anyway. I had been planning to write about The McPherson Tape here, which has a really interesting history behind it, and of course was beyond excited to watch since I’m a huge fan of anything alien related and found footage. That of course my copy of The McPherson Tape got stolen is another reason why 2020 sucks.
Found Footage
All that said, onto the movies and what I actually watched. The fount footage (or mockumentary) flicks are listed below, ranked from favorite to least favorite:
- Digging up the Marrow
- A Record of Sweet Murder
- The Triangle [rewatch]
- The Borderlands (Final Prayer)
- Webcast
- Strawberry Flavored Plastic
- Rorschach
- Apollo 18
- Unaware
- Aliens: Zone of Silence
- Exhibit A
90 Minutes or Less
I noticed Tubi had a lot of short horror movies, which definitely appealed to me because at the end of a long day I don’t want to watch something that’s two hours long or more. Inspired, I began a list of movies 90 minutes or less. Here are a bunch of “short” movies, most of them foreign, all available currently to stream:
Out of those, I’d recommend Henge, Luz, Lyle, Rutabaga, Pure, The Pool, and The Man in the Orange Jacket the most. Pure is on Hulu, and Luz is on Popcorn Flix. The rest are available on Tubi.
Robert Pattinson
I decided to watch Good Time and High Life, both movies had been on my watch list for a while. I had been especially excited about High Life because I’d heard so many things about how whacky it was. Unfortunately, I was really let down by the film. Robert’s performance was great, and he was easily the most compelling character, but I thought the story, dialogue, and character development overall suffered. The film looked beautiful, but definitely screamed “weird for the sake of being weird.” Good Time, on the other hand, was phenomenal. The story grabbed me from the beginning, and I was an anxious wreck the entire time watching it.
Folk Horror
Despite my love of folk horror, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’d never seen The Wicker Man before. I decided it was time to watch it! What a disturbing film. Definitely lived up to the hype in my mind. I also watched Wendigo, which had been on my folk horror watch list for a while. It wasn’t scary as much as it was a bummer. (Still good, though!) Then there was Sennentuntschi, which I had been putting off watching due to its run length. I’m glad I finally watched it though.
Cult Film Challenge
All three films were shot-on-video, but I counted one of them, Video Violence, toward the Bleeding Skull week task. Video Violence was surprisingly good for an SOV film (I’m slowly warming up to them), although I could have done without the weird bit of sexual violence in the film. Dreamaniac was a bit dreadful; I didn’t follow the narrative and it was just… not that great. Lastly, I watched Sledgehammer, which I had never heard of before. It was available via Vimeo thanks to Alamo Drafthouse’s Terror Tuesday. It was really fun with a creepy villain and a bit of a strange narrative.
Everything Else
I finally got around to watching Parasite, which absolutely gutted me. I loved it. For my birth year challenge, which I have been neglecting, I watched Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. I thought I had never seen it before, but a lot of it was familiar to me. Strange, but I enjoyed it immensely. I watched the iconic Fright Night, which I thought I’d seen before but I guess I hadn’t. Anyway, it was easily one of the best horror movies I’d ever seen.
I group-watched via Twitter Colour out of Space, which I had been really looking forward to seeing. It was beautiful and brilliant, and the group watch was super fun, too. Other random films I watched that I would recommend:
- The Psychic – Don’t read the synopsis, it’s a spoiler! Regardless, an awesome Fulci film.
- Body Snatchers – There was a reason why I watched this, but I forgot… It was a fun sci-fi movie.
- Black Mountain Side – Really glad I watched this. Archaeological horror meets The Thing and Lovecraftian shit thrown in. Loved it!
- The Clovehitch Killer – Chilling and superbly acted.
- Effects – Fun 1980s movie where a horror movie crew may be making an actual snuff film.
- Banshee Chapter – Rewatch. Love this movie. Also Lovecraftian!
The last movie I’ll mention is An American Werewolf in London. One of my favorite movies of all time. I had to watch it as it’s my comfort film.
Books
Thanks to the 24 Hour Readathon, I actually managed to finish books (six!) and break my reading slump. I didn’t read for 24 hours, but I read for a long time and finally finished those books-in-progress. It was my third time participating in the readathon. You can read about what I read here, in my 24 Hour Readathon post.
I link to Letterboxd throughout. If you’re on Letterboxd, feel free to add me. I log every movie I watch.
Recent Comments