“Well, Israel aren’t committing war crimes.”
The IDF literally tell you on social media what they are doing. They just don’t think Palestinians are human.
To quote from the film Jennifer’s body: “I don’t have a confession, I have a declaration.”
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Watching Deadstream on Shudder, a gross-out horror comedy about an obnoxious YouTuber, stuck in a haunted house, with a ghost that, among other disgusting things, keeps sticking her gnarled claw-like finger up his nose.
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So I just saw the new Blumhouse flick, The Black Phone.
I'll get it out of the way and say: I thought it was pretty good. Seems like everyone involved knew what they were doing, nothing egregiously wrong with it. Solid cinematography and sound design, thematically resonant, even some mostly good performances from the child actors involved. And of course, Ethan Hawke portrayed The Grabber PHENOMENALLY.
All that out of the way, some spoiler talk, mostly focusing on my favorite element of the film, and the one I can critique the most, The Grabber himself.
Immediately, I was interested when I saw this mask. Designed by horror effects master Tom Savini himself. It does a lot for the character, obscuring his features and muffling his voice. It adds to his sinister presence. But what makes it really unique is that it isn't really one mask!
The mask is composed of 4 separate pieces, as far as I can tell. One eye piece and three interchangeable mouths that can be attached to it, or worn as separate masks. This allows the pieces to be subbed out, allowing for more expression on Hawke's part, or a less muffled voice, without entirely removing the mask from the equation.
Now, on to what I think is a weaker part: it seems like they had competing ideas of what the grabber would be, and they chose an awkward compromise.
There are moments where the grabber is meant to come off as frightening and mysterious, but we the audience know he's just some guy with a black van and a coked up conspiracy theorist brother living upstairs who's too stupid to realize the killer he's obsessed with is living under the same roof.
There are allusions to the grabber having some troubled childhood, possibly abused in a way he reenacts on his victims (whipped with a belt) and interestingly paralleled by the abuse our protagonists suffer at the hands of their own father. There's probably something here trying to be said about the cycle of abuse, which Finney, the kidnapped boy the film follows, breaks by escaping The Grabber.
This could work really well, making the grabber another abused child, the person who Finney could become, his father's already become, that he needs to choose to be better than. Buuut... No. That idea is never really expanded on, the film kills the comic relief brother who could have enlightened us as quickly and abruptly as it introduces him.
It also feels like at some point in the writing the brother, Max, may have been an alternate persona of The Grabber (who interestingly is never named as anything else), but if this is the case it was probably dropped early on, the brother a bizarre vestige of a script deemed too similar to Split or Malignant.
Oh, also The Grabber and both protagonists are psychic. This is never really explained beyond throwaway lines and an insinuation that their mother had similar abilities which drove her to suicide, or that their father drove her to it by gaslighting her about her psychic abilities. It's... Kinda dumb, tbh.
Most of the sister's storyline could have been cut, along with the Grabber's brother, and nothing of substance would be lost. They had literally no influence on the final outcome of the film. Seriously, if you watched it, think back. Those plot threads lead nowhere.
Anyway, 6/10, it was a fun watch, Ethan Hawke was great, iconic mask, a story that could have benefited from a sequel hook if we're being honest.
The Grabber would make a better slasher than kidnapper.
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'The Strangers' Reboot - A Recipe for Horror Success?
A fresh take on the 'Strangers' franchise is on its way. But will it deliver the goods?
In August 2022, Lionsgate announced plans for a three film reboot of The Strangers, the cult classic, stalker themed thriller from 2008. The original film, inspired by a number of true events (which we touched on in our Four Horror Movie Murderers That Were Based on REAL Killers article) offered a terrifying, intense story of a couple being mercilessly pursued by three sadistic, masked…
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