* (restored)
I watch a lot of dark films, some of which cross into the horror genre. Here’s a selection of lesser-known favorites from the last ten years. Most are quiet, abstract, and tense, and low on gore, jump scares, and explanations.
(A longer list is here.)
Berberian Sound Studio (2012, dir. Peter Strickland)
A British sound designer (played by the wonderful Toby Jones) is flown to Italy to work on an Italian horror movie soundtrack. As expected (?), the merely awkward situations become mystifying and threatening. Strickland is somehow able to sustain a sense of unease with mostly the gorgeous sound design, and not very much happening. But you don’t have to be a sound geek to enjoy the slow-burn, with all its visual references to Italian horror movies. (“Berberian” is a reference to the divine Cathy Berberian, avant-garde vocalist active mostly in the 60s/70s.)
The Duke of Burgundy (2014, dir. Peter Strickland)
“Starting with a surprising, sensual and semi-retro opening credits sequence, Strickland had created a voluptuous exploration of power dynamics in what may be a relationship’s waning days.
“Visually, it recalls a Greenaway, but less smothering and with heat and warmth. Triple exposures, layered reflections, some manic sequences of just moths – it’s almost a bombardment.” Frank Danay, https://letterboxd.com/bebravemorvern/film/the-duke-of-burgundy/
The Endless (2017, dir. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson)
I’m a big fan of the Moorhead/Benson team; this is not unflawed, but maintains an uncanny tension. It predates Midsommar, and the story has similarities (I’m not a big Ari Aster fan, sorry). Two brothers, who escaped from a doomsday cult years ago, receive a VHS tape inviting them to visit. The awkward social situations quickly take a darker turn.
Resolution (2012, dir. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson)
The Moorhead/Benson team’s first feature opens like a claustrophobic but possibly conventional thriller: the protagonist travels to his friend’s isolated cabin to help with drug rehab, taking a pretty extreme approach. Then the weird surveillance videos and space/time anomalies kick in.
The same team’s Spring (2014) is very engaging and charming (and dark), but quite different from this and The Endless. Their newest, Synchronic (2019), hasn’t seen much US distribution, AFAIK.
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010, dir. Panos Cosmatos)
If you loved Videodrome, but hanker for a more abstract approach with minimal narrative machinery, this is for you. Beyond… does wear its influences on its sleeve, with the cold wave synthesizer soundtrack, static-y analog TV, and “Benway” pills. The main character (played by Michael Rodgers) even looks kind of like James Woods in Videodrome! But there’s a lot of gorgeous visual design (see trailer), with some beautiful set pieces (reminiscent of Jodorowsky?), and lovingly detailed sound design.
The Blue Hour/Onthakan (2015, dir. Anucha Boonyawatana)
Two Thai boys hang out in an abandoned swimming pool, and encounter a possibly supernatural presence. It’s dark, elegiac, abstract, and sexy: my kind of horror movie. For some reason this has not enjoyed wider distribution.
A Dark Song (2016, dir. Liam Gavin)
A smarmy occultist and a woman dealing with loss are trapped together for a few days to perform a magic ritual. This is claustrophobic, intense, draining and messy, the way I think real magic might be.
The Man with the Magic Box (2017, dir. Bodo Kox)
A bleak time travel tale without the hardware, reminding me of a less abstract Primer. The wealth of visual details is noteworthy: the uncomfortable, washed-out blue and green tinted scenes, some truly sinister characters, the main female character’s Bridget Riley dress, the recycling center that’s too close to today’s ugly truths. The main actors turn in nice performances as they wander through the cryptic, sometimes discontinuous little scenes in their ultimately charming and sympathetic fashion.
The Strange Color of your Body’s Tears (2013, dir. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani)
I believe this is familiar to some DLs. The “plot” is really not important, kind of like a Robbe-Grillet novel. But it’s a visual feast with its saturated colors, and nods to Argento and Italian horror movies.
Depraved (2019, dir. Larry Fessenden)
The latest from the indie horror mainstay is a smart updating of Frankenstein, set in modern day Brooklyn. It’s thoughtful and beautifully executed, with some sly bromance moments.
Fessenden’s earlier movies, such as Habit, are well worth checking out.
The Deeper You Dig (2019, dir. Toby Poser and John Adams)
My favorite from Another Hole in the Head 2019. It’s a standard death and revenge story arc, but there are clever, surprising ideas, and some vicious black humor (see annoying radio, and the hilarious toilet sequence, for instance). It’s largely a family production; the directors’ daughter plays the teenage daughter, and does an excellent job both living and dead. Some beautiful cinematography of snow scenes, and a lovely crazed seance sequence.
The Invitation (2015, dir. Karyn Kusama)
The protagonist and his girlfriend are invited to a party thrown by old friends and ex’s. The opening section does a beautiful job of evoking being trapped in an excruciatingly uncomfortable social situation. Things of course go downhill from there. Excellent menacing performance from John Carroll Lynch; check out also Nick Antosca’s Syfy series Channel Zero. (I almost excluded this movie because of the bloodbath ending, but everything before that is well worth seeing.)
Coherence (2013, dir. James Ward Byrkit)
Another dark science fiction-ish movie without the hardware, this is centered on space/time anomalies, one of my favorite tropes. A nice sense of unease and the uncanny throughout.
The Incident (2014, dir. Isaac Ezban)
Yes, more space/time anomalies, without hardware. This is gritty and obsessive and painful, like they should be.
The Untamed (2017, dir. Amat Escalante)
Dysfunctional interpersonal relationships, some beautiful visuals, and that thing in the cabin in the woods.
Jamie Marks is Dead (2014, dir. Carter Smith)
Finally, a relatively straightforward atmospheric ghost story, but there are some beautiful visuals, the interactions between the living and dead boys are nicely done, and most questions are left unanswered. Adapted from Christopher Barzak’s novel One for Sorrow, which is more queer than the movie.
*
p.s. Hey. ** jay, Hey. Thanks for your always trustworthy gaming insight and expertise. Very cool about your new abode, and enjoy being teenagery and secretive — godlike characteristics, at least from afar. Those squares around you are so lucky. ** ⋆˚꩜｡darbbzz⋆˚꩜｡, They were founded in ’62, but they only started advertising and franchising wildly in the 80s. But, yes, they knew nothing about my thang. Nah, you radiate dignity, pal. I’d like to know how to make Tibetan Butter tea, thank you. There’s a Tibetan restaurant here, but the food is weirdly bland (to my taste buds). Never been to Egypt. Would like to, yes. We had a regular Egyptian commenter here for a while, but I think his life got too interesting for him to visit. We’re not going to the Philly screening, but we are going to the Iowa City screening a few days later because they’re paying the bucks to bring us. ** _Black_Acrylic, Is there not a ‘Chucky’ video game? Wow. That would be fun for all and guaranteed money in the bank for some company. ** l@rst, Thanks, buddy! ** Carsten, Hi. Yeah, apples and oranges on the Jarmusch vs. Jarmusch, right? You and your storms. We’re just breezing along over here, the spring arriving a little more obviously every day. ** Steeqhen, Very glad the post hit home. And I’m more happy that your things are getting easier. It’s a very tough world to be trying to survive and get ahead in for anyone, even optimistic, problem solver me. Writing is definitely a good and healthy start. Great! ** Antonia, Hi! Oh, yes, of course that’s what it is. I wasn’t thinking. Yeah, there’s a famous, controversial one in Paris by Gare du Nord where the Eurostar comes in, and when I lived in Amsterdam in the 80s, there were tons of them. That’s really great work you’re doing. I have some late great friends in the US whose lives would have been saved if it wasn’t such a mindlessly conservative, Christianity-lionising place. I’ll look up that Matteo B. Bianchi book, thank you. And thank you for attending to the stuff around Zac’s and my films. It’s been such a boon to find filmmaking. I feel really refreshed artistically. Spring is arriving here. And there? How is the rest of your week looking and lining up? Oh, and where are you in Germany. Zac and I are going to be in Berlin showing our new film in middish-May if that’s in your vicinity? ** HaRpEr //, It’s always so sad when fucked up, fascinating people think far right politics is their dream religion. Auto correct is Satan. Well, except when it’s a saving grace, I guess. ** Hugo, so sorry about the lost notebook. I lost a whole hand written novel-in-progress once years ago, and I just told myself it was probably shit, which it probably was. If I’m in Paris when you come to Paris, sure, of course. Try to feel better, and highest hopes that some saintly stranger or whoever will return that which is yours to you. ** Laura, Tingly, nice. Best when the trickery and the flaws are both showing. I think I’m rationalist. Huh, am I? Thinking. Yeah, that actresses’s prosthetic asshole was a popular meme in my social media yesterday. Not it, but its existence. Give me a prosthetic asshole over a fleshlight any day. Although I do like the fleshlight = flashlight aspect. I would be a really cool rich guy, I swear to god. I really wouldn’t wait too hard to hear anything about the script because it’s going to be while, I think. My inbox can be your receptacle, its honor and mine, but just to say/remind that I am really, really slow at getting to stuff. ** voskat, Autocorrect really, really wants to change your name to ‘vodka’, as you might well know. Wow, thanks for the memes/gifs and the video. I’ve only glanced at them so far, but I’m already excited. Everyone, voskat has three gifts, two Silent Hill memes/gifs here and here (sound on), and a video called 1 Year in The Backrooms, and they’re all fun central. ** kenley, Ah, French black metal being Nazi, that actually rings a bell. France would certainly ban Nazi bands playing here if they knew. Interesting. ‘Castle Faggot’ will outlive all of us and everything. I would say just wait and see if I’m right, but we’ll all be dead by then. Iow, hooray! Funnest Thursday in recorded human history to you. ** Right. Today I’m bringing back a wonderful guest-post from the mighty visual/sound artist and DC’s regular Bill Hsu from years ago for your delectation. Snuffle around in it, won’t you? See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Thank you Bill Hsu, these are awesome! I’ve seen most of the films on this list, but the ones I haven’t are absolutely being added to my list. I don’t know if you’ve seen “Triangle”, but it sounds like your kind of thing. Berberian Sound Studio is such a good film too, the video-less foley work in that film is so much more gruesome than any actual film ever could be.
Finished RE:9 yesterday. Pretty good, it doesn’t really change that much from the first 5 hours. I can’t say I was totally on-board with the action stuff, it felt like such a chore compared to the amazing survival horror bits. The first-person stuff was genuinely making me yelp, then it’s followed by an hour of Leon killing zombies… pretty weird. It’s definitely as good as Resident Evil has ever been though, the monsters are really nasty in this one. I can see why they put the action bits in, the first-person horror bits are so overwhelming that I think I’d struggle to play it without little segues of killing zombies effortlessly. Hope you’re well, lots of love from here. See you!
@ Bill, Thank you from across time for this fascinating post. I remember seeing Berberian Sound Studio back in the day at the DCA cinema and remember being swept up by its mighty command of sound and vision. The rest of Peter Strickland’s filmic oeuvre is defo worth a look also. Would be interested to find out where the guy goes from here.
OH thank you bill for this post! I have only seen beyond the black rainbow from this list, and I love gritty movies so this gives me so much fruitful opportunities. I bet most of these are on tubi too. Will probably watch one wit my friend tonight before we go to Charlotte because…
Dennis: SO tomorrow is the day! Charlotte. Machine Girl. Fun. This might be very insane, never been to a machine girl show. Do you like Machine girl? Havent actually listened to the full new album yet, maybe I’ll make that a goal.
Ohhh interesting about Little Cesar’s. Hmmm yes, yesterday I was watching this video on Anthony Bourdain’s YouTube channel about his “psychedelic trip” to find the beat generation. He goes to this cafe in Morocco and has a chat with this guy who talks about William s burroughs who aboded there or something. It was a good episode. I need to rewatch it to fully inundate myself. I would love to go to Morocco one day, we have friend here named Asthma who’s been wanting to take us but, you know, business and stuff. Ofc I want to see the beauty, the food, the people. Life can be good.
Heres a line from my book:
He took his skin off every day, hung over the bedpost, and became an insensate machine programmed at the demands of others. It wasn’t love. He was a vessel. They spoke of him the same way they would talk pedantically over each other of some ambiguous art pieces in a museum. A thing.
And this would all soon shatter.
I think I really like it and it works on its own, and in a way summarizes this whole part of the book.
Have a good rest of your week and weakened.
I think the only one of these ive seen is The Endless… remember o
it being pretty good. good to have more recent movie recs in any case…
just been sooo damn tired, work wearing me down a bit. still need to write my short amy grant story, ‘above the trees’ story is almost ready to show my friend, other than that we have all we need for first issue of zine, aside from a name hehe. although we did name our little “press” and have a phychedelic drawing of a horse picked out for the cover.
unfortunately i think i’ll have to miss Richard Hell’s portland stop, a friend is leaving the country and thats the night we’re gonna be working on some send-off music recording stuff. a bit sad, but i gotta prioritize this i think…
oh also, picked up Are People Out There, and I can tell i’m gonna have fun with this one.
enjoyed the black metal post too, old harmony korine stuff is kinda funny although his last decade plus hasnt really resonated with me too much…
anyway, have a good one!
Ran back to my computer to tell you that Nick Drake’s BRYTER LAYTER turns 53 today!!!!
lol darbbz i didnt realize i was replying to your comment, and you may not have realized either, but thank you for the nick drake reminder, i think i know what album im gonna listen to when i go on my night walk in a few minutes…
Of the above I’ve only seen “The Invitation” but I remember liking it quite a bit. The same writer-director team also made “Destroyer” with Nicole Kidman which was a grim, gritty surprise.
Yeah the climate really did a number on southern Spain this winter. But climate change science easily explains this shit. Oceans get warmer which leaves more moisture in the air which then gets picked up by various pressure systems & unloads in the form of heavy rain. Wild weather I can deal with, it’s just this ramshackle ill-maintained house that’s making it tiresome. My recent trip to Alicante reminded me that I always wanted to live in a hotel. Bare-bones efficient simplicity. Give me a shower & a balcony & I’m content. I think it must’ve been stories of the Chelsea in NY & the Beat hotel in Tangier that fed this fantasy.
I had to look up the actress with the prosthetic asshole you & Laura were talking about. She actually had a bunch of nude selfies leaked a while ago & now she’s worried someone might catch a glimpse of the old exhaust pipe? I do not get celebrities…
@Carsten well obvi it’s diff for some rapey rando to leak yr private nudes than for you to willingly share stuff w the public… but then it just doesn’t even show lol. was this some intimacy coordinator’s paroxysm (i’m so lowkey eek about that job, can’t help it) or the most random way to promote a film lol
Dennis!! Sorry I didn’t reply last time… kids got sick and work absolutely did a number on me.
Thank you so much man…. You gave me such confidence in my work and writing, I really can’t thank you enough.
I can’t believe London is being so shit re: room temperature! Surely the ICA or Barbican should be all over it? I wish I had some contacts but I don’t know anybody. Well, fingers crossed man. And lots of love, hope you’re doing great.
I’m reading La Medusa at the moment, do you know it? I’m not far enough in yet to have drawn any firm conclusions but the writing is pretty phenomenal. I’m so shit at reading since Louie was born as I tend to write when I have free time and even that’s not a lot. I hope I can get back into it soon
tomk
Thanks for these suggestions, Bill! Since Moorhead & Benson have been working on big-budget TV lately, I wonder if they will return to the micro-budget realm of their best work. As THE ENDLESS and SOMETHING IN THE DIRT showed, they have good chemistry together as actors. STRANGE COLOR is the one Cattet/Forzani feature I still need to catch.
A new theme for a visual art day: prosthetic sex organs! Male actors seem to enjoy wearing large fake dicks.
I’m in the middle of Chantal Akerman’s memoir MY MOTHER LAUGHS. It’s so bleak that I have trouble reading more than 30 pages a day.
Hey there Dennis! Hope the week has been going well for you
I’ll start by responding to a question you asked a few day ago. With dream gigs, my mindset is in a place where I’m thinking of venues that are local to me. A friend of mine who is teaching me how to DJ is someone who already performs sets around the city. It’s all dependent on where I take these skills, but it’s possible I could play somewhere around here. In terms of anything specific, there is this one monthly goth gathering I frequent which puts up different local performers. Sometimes I go there and envision a set list of my own. In fact, yesterday I downloaded a bunch of songs from artists like Skinny Puppy, Strawberry Hospital, and Deadsy (I’m actually lifting their song Mansion World as the title for my novel), which make up a dream set list I have in mind if I was to ever perform for it. Just a few days ago I actually finished my first mix. I’ve been unsure to where to post it, but I have shared it with some friends, and the reception has been positive. They seem to view me as having an eye for song selection, and that’s sweet to hear. If I find a place to put it up, I’ll let you know in case you’re curious to hear it.
Had some frustrating occurrences within my classes lately. Well, I say “within”, but the problem is that they haven’t been happening. The teachers for my modules have disappeared, and the university has claimed they haven’t found anyone in time to take up the lessons. Got an update today and it seems we’ll be having the replacement sessions at a later date. Still, it’s left me a bit creatively astray, and I’ve lacked the space to present my work within that context. Really, having someone like Hugo who is willing to provide has helped fill that hole. Sometimes I fall into head-spaces where I worry I come across as unrecognisable. Of course, I love playing with portrayals of the disembodied in my work, but I wonder sometimes if I can just never seem to convey certain ideas in a way that’s transferable to someone who isn’t me. Really, I value when I talk out loud and it doesn’t seem completely anonymous, which is something I value when I speak with you. Lately I’ve been deprived of a close social reach, so I want to try and change that.
One of my ways of counteracting that is keeping creatively involved. I’ve touched on the DJ antics, but I’ve been interesting in dipping into acting. I recorded some voices lines for my friend’s short film called girlfailure. She put up a post on her socials looking for an actor, and I chose to respond to help her our and see what the process is like. It was fun to bounce back ideas and different takes over how to represent the character. The person I voiced for is a conspiracy podcaster haha
Going to get some rest now, but it’s been nice to write to you again. Hope all has been well for you. Take care <33
Deadsy! There is nothing and never has there been a thing quite like Deadsy.
What a band. What a shame.
Their vision got more and more soiled by dumb and greedy record execs, who held their albums hostage for years on end. 🙁
But if you can get your hands on their (never officially released) self-titled on eBay or some dusty corner of a bargain bin, GET ON THAT.
The artwork alone is amazing.
And it’s got maybe my fav track on it (This Goodnight): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WITudk32cw
I don’t know Strawberry Hospital, but I like any band with Strawberry in the name, so I’m checking that..
girl! ok you gotta dj and do Deadsy— dude’s only ever in the shit rn or smth, which sucks, but Commencement def didn’t 💕
Yes, Elijah pretty much *is* Deadsy.
Which is bad news for Deadsy. 🙁
He’s been dealing with substance abuse, mental health, divorce, all that fun stuff. He got arrested TWICE this week for trespassing in random places. Terrible. Intervention required, urgently.
Oh btw… the mansion world is a concept from the Book of Urantia, which was one of the inspirations for Deadsy’s first era, so it’s already second hand kinda.
See: https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book-standardized/paper-47-seven-mansion-worlds
@voskat, yes i heard! Although knowing Charli she probably just said that to create noise and cause chaos! I would really like an official release, though I’m pretty content with my downloaded version; my favourite songs are I Wanna Be With U, Bounce, Come To My Party, and Down like Woah… I never consider Girls Night Out and No Angel as part of XCX World despite their place on the tracklist coz of their official releases and being around when those singles dropped, but I love those two songs. And TRANSNATION!! I still haven’t listened to that posthumous Sophie album, but I do listen to TN every so often…
Hey Dennis,
Things are starting to look up in my head; basically i’ve come to some terms with what happened, and focused on trying to handle my ruminating and obsessive thoughts about it. Work was pretty great, and I feel pretty valued, and I feel pretty competent. Part of me almost wants to forgo London and stay here, though I’d need to be content with living with family which is hard, even though I’m close with them.
I finished Wuthering Heights today, and I did kind of fall in love with it. Especially the oft-ignored second half, which very few adaptations actually even touch upon, never mind adapt. It really shifts the novel from a “romantic tragedy” to a story about cycles of abuse and the darkness that lurks in everyone, that one can choose to lean into or turn away from. But I’m also a sucker for the gothic and novels about morality, suffering, and death!
I really liked The Endless, though I still haven’t watched Resolution despite it actually being connected to the former. And I loved Coherence, it’s a movie I tend to recommend a lot (and fuel my individuality complex as most people haven’t heard of it, at least from my experience). I love stories about time and space and the incomprehensible. I think I just want to find a movie that will almost be a key to unlocking some higher level understanding of the world… still haven’t had it yet, though. Maybe Mulholland Drive, which changed my life (albeit in a spiritual intervention way)?
I found this book in work today that was a collection of letters written by school kids to this girl named Grace who died a year prior. It was from 2002, and was fascinating. A lot of talk about 9/11 and Bush for a bunch of 9-12 year olds. She stuck with me though, in a similar manner to someone like Laura Palmer, or Chris McCandless. Feel like the name Grace will become a name I will end up using, like she’s some muse for me. Which is crazy; she’s a girl who died a year or so before I was born, and who had no connection to my life aside from a book I found dedicated to her at my job…
There’s such a sprawl of unreleased/scrapped Charli songs.. I’ve probably not even heard half of them.
One of my favs is “I hate all this gravity” which somehow didn’t make it onto HIFN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGObYcNusx0
The posthumous SOPHIE is pure heartbreak because you can tell how good the songs were supposed to be, but most of them just don’t land.
I never want to hear that version of Reason Why ever again in my life.
real, we stick w the freefloating versions, yes
Yes bb, thank fk for Soundcloud and Youtube..
I do love One More Time though (plus its video). I’ve rarely heard a song move through 3D space in that way. At some point it almost fades out of sight. It’s kinda menacing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3tMwhDNm2g
@Laura
If you see this, sorry, I didn’t see your comment yesterday.
I’ll have to think about the novel and showing it to people. I’m unfortunately in a difficult situation where I’m feeling a lot of shame and confusion around what I’ve written there and have ambivalent feelings towards it to say the least. I actually ended up writing what I wanted to write, but maybe the whole idea was flawed.
I was influenced by John Waters and Ryan Trecartin and wanted to create some sort of parallel effect to a quality they both have with words, and make something that was rough around the edges and using its blemishes as its strengths with purposely tin-ear dialogue. The tone is offputting for sure. It’s idiotic and the product of a very terrible summer for me. Just reading a sentence will take me back to the room I was sitting in as I was writing it and its moldy walls. But it’s exactly what it is, and very possibly the product of some severe delusions, and I can’t change it. It’s cursed. I plugged it with so many hidden details and will blow the whole building down if I push one out accidentally. It’ll be in the world one day, when I find out how to, but it’s probably better if I just leave it for now rather than go down on a sinking ship seeing as no publisher seems to be interested yet.
Long answer, but there you go. Thanks for the interest though!
@HaRpEr no problem! you’re making me even more curious rn tho =D that idiotic, offputting tone sounds like it could do a bunch tbh. i want to know what it is! anyway your processes are your own, obvi, you’ll share if and when you’re ready. ^_^ i’ve been having trouble w my own writing lately, like telling apart whatever feels cringe to me bc i’m so close to it and whatever is just cringe, period. the agony! the sweet… suffering! lol
@DC
Well, to my knowledge the friend I was talking about quietly gave up the alt right schtick at some point and became a lefty, so I don’t hold much against him these days. In fact, I sort of blame myself. He had this friend that sort of replaced me after I stopped hanging around with him who ended up committing suicide, and some time after that he wanted to re-connect with me and I felt like he had no right to just casually approach me like he didn’t do anything wrong, and I resented him for a very long time. But now not re-connecting with him feels like the biggest regret of my life. It was so spiteful to ignore him when he was in his hour of need, and that’ll keep me up at night forever. I mean, he had lots of friends then and I didn’t, so I figured I’d just open some old wounds and that he could get through it without me. He really really fucked me up for a very long time. But despite all that, I still think of him every day, so the whole thing is a complicated mess. I wish I didn’t love him but I do, the whole thing is pathetic, it really is.
Funny, I’ve seen none of these films. I’ve actually wanted to explore Peter Strickland for a while.
I watched Guy Maddin’s ‘My Winnipeg’ this evening and loved it. I love glitchy editing and he’s great at that. It put me in a trance. Mesmerising. I like things that move you and you don’t know why and the voice is maybe disaffected or alien. I hate describing things as beautiful, but often there’s no other word. I once looked out at a sunset with a friend who said it was beautiful and I was like ‘well, duh. Let’s just look at it shall we?’ which probably makes me seem arrogant but whatever.
Hi Dennis.
I found the notebook! I can rest easy for that. Yes, I would like to meet you again in Paris, and I might see about bringing Alice again when I do. What was the novel about actually? Maybe it was better than you thought. I dunno.
Speaking of other things.
I also have a friend in London who told me she wants to meet you, but said, “I think the fact that he said he’s friends with pedophiles would put me off.” – I’ve always wondered, how do you (or did you) navigate that? I dunno if that’s too direct, but I suppose it’s one of the things that people find out and feel weird about. I think that and the escort posts would mark you out in a way most people would find morally repugnant. I don’t judge you that way (otherwise I wouldn’t consider you my friend), but I guess I would ask, how are you friends with those people? Do (or did) you ever find that difficult? Do you ever find the subject too much?
I tried to phrase this block of text in a way that doesn’t sound like it’s accusing you or making you out to be a bad person, since I really don’t think you are, even when we might disagree on things. But I guess I just wanted to push the hard question because it’s been put to me by a friend.
Anyway, I wish you the best. Have a good morning.
@Hugo yeeeet! you got back what’s yours! i had hope. good job nothing is lost <3
Thanks for reviving this post, Dennis. It was great fun to make. I’ve been meaning to offer you an updated High Anxiety 2, but never got around to it.
Loved a lot of yesterday’s ghost projects. Those album reconstructions, and I love lost/non-existent films (and fiction about them). And if Del Toro had actually gotten to make Silent Hills, maybe his recent movies would have been much better.
Glad everyone looked over the list and enjoyed some of the items! jay, I don’t know Triangle, will definitely check it out. I assume you meant the 2009 movie, not the 2007 one from Tsui Hark?
Ben/Black Acrylic, glad you’re a fellow Peter Strickland fan. I’ve faithfully sniffed out all his feature films up to Flux Gourmet, which was too much fun. Hope he has another one in the pipeline.
Carsten, I haven’t seen Destroyer, and have added it to my list.
Glad you liked the list, Steve! You’ve probably seen quite a few items on it. Yeah I’m breathlessly waiting for another Moorhead/Benson. (Not sure I’d bother with Moon Knight.) Strange Color is definitely worthwhile.
Steeqhen, Resolution is intense. The same team’s COVID lockdown feature Something in the Dirt is also worthwhile.
darbbzz, Thom, you’re most welcome, hope you come across something interesting on the list.
Bill
hi Dennis!
man what a good post <3 so many great ones and few i’ve yet to see. The Invitation is forever one of my favs, and the bloodbath was super good! but i do like a bloodbath lol. in any case, by the time the final girls come out and spot the red lights all over the hills, we know we’ve been spared the greatest part of the carnage. like, what a night.
i’m weird about Aster, like i think i’ve yet to like a full film of his but the parts i do like i *really* like. Hereditary was so turned up to 11 from the get go it had nowhere to progress to and as such was super funny to me, but then that final scene does what it could do by that point, break up w everything, surprise but not shock and be really beautiful and poetic and stuff.
trickery and flaws are so endearing and they sometimes transcend really hard. here’s to more of that ^_^
speaking of which, i’ve got this bit of a poem totally stuck in my head, it goes smth like ‘keep singing the songs of your ancestors, only then you’ll conquer that which you will never conquer’— i’ve totally forgotten everything else, it’s fucking w me. you don’t happen to know what it is, right? if you don’t i’m gonna have to ring my father, who knows for sure. it’s like i’m getting dementia here lol.
oh fleshlights are these amazing pieces of grotesquerie fr. like the first Nightmare on Elm Street where that girl is on the phone & Freddy’s tongue bursts out of the receiver…? like that. anyway i v often can’t tell mouth fleshlights from pussy fleshlights and i once saw one w a nose and another time i saw one which was very Johnny Got His Gun/Boxing Helena, only final consequence or whatever, sans head. there were balls if i recall but no dick and the arsehole was v disappointing imo, like why a realistic torso but then that weird literal hole. idk, maybe there’s smth to that, i just don’t see it.
alas the limits of my body are the limits of my world, but maybe the stuff is fun in the thick for those who actually benefit from the technology? as variably partialistic objects they’ve got a bit of my attention lol. huh idk if this exists but i’d probably like to look at like a *really* partialistic triumvirate of body options minus any attempt at naturalism binding them together, like you know like a… trident maybe?
ofc, ‘flashlight’ totally informs ‘fleshlight’ on some sort of emotional level lol. enlightenment by fake naughty bits, p major idea, potentially.
so what do you think, rationalist or nah? =D i think i’m probably sort of a post-Kantian idealist at heart lol. or smth. those guys tried to get over Kantian dualism and came across much less western as a result, made loads of space for intuition which used to be unheard of in the West … Fichte, bit undercooked imo, Hegel, not nearly as bad as folks who don’t like him make him out to be, but he sort of did too much. Schelling tho, bruh hits me just right most of the time lol. like the whole “I needs the Not I” thing, no subject without object, and the other way round too. basically no difference between the subjective and the objective, the ideal made possible by the real. and now that’s a bit of mysticism that interests me lol. it sort of flips platonism and says yea ok so much to be agnostic about re:ontology, but we can feel things both metaphysically and intraphysically and that’s fine af imo. i actually wrote a character to represent this pov.
i’ll be p chuffed to have my stuff both in your inbox and in your general proximity. those are good receptacles. again i don’t mind if you take your time, like, you’re totally within your rights there mate. just promise you’ll get to it when you decide you’re ready, i can hopefully inspire you to read and the rest is whatever. ^_^
going to bed w Bresson’s Notes of The Cinematograph tonight, not sure why now except he’s like this total soulmate whom i’d also like to argue w a bit periodically. rn my thing is ok, bodies and body language are obvi a huge thing and employing an economy of language is great, it means something. but when it comes to my style, idk. all of this babble, the buzzing, all of the false starts and hesitations and filler words are all silence, reaching out. if silence must lose its dignity in order to touch you, and touch you, and touch you, then i’m cool with that. when i write, i want to make a clown of myself, for you.
and that’s about it!
when’s the last time you remembered a dream, hey? almost everything i want to make comes from one. dream super soft tonight!
<3
Hi Dennis, I have nothing but love for autocorrect. It’s given so much. I (very nearly) hit send on a (Dutch) message to our catsitter which meant to say “hey *name* how are the kitties?” but instead got mangled into “hey rice lord how is the cancer?”
Which is a reminder that one of the most effective forms of horror is the threat of social disgrace. It can get the adrenaline going better than most jump scares.
** THE INVITATION SPOILER BELOW **
Like the bit in The Invitation where the main guy slaps the wine out of other guests’ hands. Those few seconds of doubt whether he did the right thing or he made himself look like a foaming lunatic in polite company…
Fear of cringe is a powerful and not fully tapped source of terror.