Passenger
Middle child syndrome is no joke so I have only sympathy for PASSENGER, the hapless horror film born between legit phenomenon OBSESSION and the highly anticipated BACKROOMS. It probably doesn’t help when your siblings are giving off fresh, of the moment, cultural zeitgeist vibes and you gotta peddle a throwback campfire tale/boogeyman legend/haunted highway flick that emulates the eighties. On the other hand, director Andre (TROLLHUNTER, THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE, SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK and THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER) Ovredal is not exactly a slouch and there’s something comforting about an unambitious supernatural stalker tale that delivers dopey jump scares on the regular and is perfectly content drawing within the lines while magpie cribbing from every possible source . It’s all pretty mediocre for sure, but I didn’t mind being reminded of the wonderful “Terror in Topanga” opening segment from NIGHTMARES (’83) or the always exciting late night TV motorhome/van-in peril stylings of RACE WITH THE DEVIL (’75) and THE HILLS HAVE EYES ('77) (It also favors a slew of movies I rented at Redbox (R.I.P.) like THE MONSTER (2016), THE TOLL (2020) and ALONE (2020). I should also note that I may have a long running RV bias because as a kid I would draw van interiors all day and imagine one day living in one. Additionally, my cousins had a stagnant camper in the back yard that they basically used as a club house and I fond memories of its moldy smell and reading CASPER and RICHIE RICH comic books inside).
Fetching young couple Tyler (Jacob Scipio) and Maddy (Lou Llobell) leave Brooklyn and their jobs behind to hit the open road in a decked out orange van they have named “Pumpkin”. Tyler asks Maddy to marry him and she says yes but they foolishly decide to help an anonymous injured man in a car wreck (this flick goes kinda hard on the “don’t help others” angle) which leaves them cursed by a low rent Reverend Kane-type dubbed “The Passenger”. In order to survive the entity's relentless attempts to murder them, the betrothed couple and their faithful orange vehicle must collect as many Saint Christopher pendants as possible, take a crash course in hobo symbols, utilize the sage wisdom of artist Bob “happy accidents” Ross, use a projector showing ROMAN HOLIDAY as a makeshift flashlight and finally seek the advise of a fellow van enthusiast named Diana Marsh played by Melissa Leo. A lot to juggle but totally doable.
For a guy that has delivered visual stunners like the aforementioned mouthfuls SCARY STORES TO TELL IN THE DARK & THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER, this movie comes across much more salt of the Earth, no-frills than you’d expect. Besides a few nifty billboards, the landscape is mostly presented as is, which adds some realism perhaps at the expense of the uncanny. Luckily, a dark road late at night with compromised optics has a certain power all its own and needs little embellishments. The two leads are certainly likable enough and if their struggle with opposing views of what defines a home comes off as low stakes, it’s also a refreshing vacation from the usual confronting grief and trauma trope. I doubt PASSENGER has the weight or firepower to knock many people’s socks off and it does veer into dangerous BYE BYE MAN (2017) territory on a few occasions but it’s too innocuous to get mad at and its fiery climax and the spotlight kill that launches it have at least some gusto. It surely could have been improved by a more arresting demonic antagonist. In more than a few instances the titular baddie simply comes across as a toothless old man who is ornery about being woken (I’d definitely find such a sight more terrifying if I didn’t see it in the mirror every morning). Overall, I’d much rather Ovredall delivered a sequel to DEMETER than this unoffensive also-ran but PASSENGER is a serviceable enough near gateway-horror outing that if not groundbreaking, at least provides some comfort chills and a closing song from Siouxsie Sioux.
Obsession
Writter/Director Curry Barker’s OBSESSION remarkably transforms a rudimentary TALES FROM THE CRYPT/DARKSIDE “Be Careful what you wish for” premise into an absolutely fascinating, truly engaging, wildly unpredictable and surprisingly cathartic grenade of horror. I have a hunch film academics will be dissecting and analyzing its bottomless pit of potential interpretations for many years to come. I certainly felt one way about it while viewing it and then was hit with a completely different take many hours later. It rather brilliantly lures the viewer into certain areas only to bludgeon them from the opposite direction on several occasions. In fact, one of its greatest scares utilizes just such a subtle misdirection. I gotta say, it was a jolt so potent that I felt like I was being electrocuted. I probably should go see a doctor because it may be a symptom of something far more serious, but I felt bolts zapping my body like I was Wile E. Coyote and I believe if I ever want to feel that way again, the most efficient way would be to shove a fork in a wall socket (I promise I won’t).
Poor insecure Baron “Bear” Baily (Michael Johnston) has got some unrequited heart eyes for his music store co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarette). Foolishly, instead of staying home and mourning his recently deceased cat (like I would) he takes Nikki up on an offer to go out for drinks and even buys her a cute novelty present in the form of a “One Wish Willow” (a stick that’s meant to make your dreams come true if you break it while stating your desire out loud). As the evening ends, per usual, Bear fumbles every attempt to disclose his true feelings to Nikki and in frustration, after saying good night, breaks the toy himself wishing that the object of his affection loved him more than anyone else in the world. The request is instantly granted with Nikki becoming head over heals infatuated with Bear which is awesome at first but then snowballs into a cross between the BUFFY episode “Him” and a gore-soaked, sadistic, mutated version of HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. Sounds pretty silly for sure, but believe me when I say that every nightmarish results your brain can come up with is delivered ten fold and nothing can prepare you for how strangely comical, squirmingly uncomfortable, supremely tense and downright disturbing things become.
I was a little disappointed to see the movie theater I was seeing OBSESSION in was at full capacity when I bought my ticket but I’m so glad that I plowed through my ochlophobia instincts. I don’t think I’ve ever been on the same page with a group of people before as I felt I was with my fellow audience members while viewing this film. We were of hive mind, gasping in terror, laughing in second hand embarrassment and cringing at the physical and emotional atrocities. Barker got me right in my two soft spots. First of all, the movie delights in playing with darkness and utilizes it to great effect obscuring characters faces at the most opportune time. Secondly, it showcases two of the best and most delightfully erratic acting performances that I’ve seen in a horror film and both are absolutely award worthy in my book. Bear on paper shouldn’t even be remotely tolerable but somehow Michael Johnston is able to convince you he’s a victim of circumstance even while he commits moral outrages and seems incapable of registering what he’s done. Navarrette’s Nikki is terrifying one minute and hilariously unhinged the next. Whatever supernatural force engulfs her reads distressingly akin to the kind of mental illness we’ve all probably witnessed at some point in our lives. Her pendulum swings from monster to victim are phenomenal and there’s something so damn heartbreaking about her feeble slivers of awareness that her true self is being systematically stomped out and erased by some malignancy beyond her control. It’s almost like the half—fly caught in the web at the end of THE FLY (’58) squealing “help me” I can barely handle it. Suffice to say I’m obsessed with OBSESSION and even though it put me through an emotional wringer, it’s basically just what I wished for.
Hokum
Oh man, I love a good ghost story & writer/director Damian McCarthy’s HOKUM is certainly that. It’s a spooky, dark, compact, well acted, sometimes riveting, sometimes heartbreaking, and eventually down right terrifying, ghost story. Its quiet, unassuming, downright sneaky nature may result in it not exactly taking the world by storm but even better, it’s the type of creepfest that one could return to again and again for years to come when a supernatural fix is needed. My only complaint is that it was not released in the autumn season as it takes place on Halloween but I suppose you can’t have everything. I know I’ll be returning to it in Octobers to come because it’s that rare seasonal film that leans into the old school spirit of the holiday rather than the more commercial and garish presentation of it that’s more ubiquitous today. This is the type of haunting tale that stays with you and its attention to detail insures each viewing will likely deliver fresh discoveries. I love that the thought of revisiting a couple of its scenes fills with me with a sort of delicious dread.
Adam Scott (he of HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE) portrays Ohm Bauman, a famous borderline insufferable author with a cruel streak who travels to Ireland to bury his parent’s ashes near a quaint hotel where they once honeymooned. The hotel is filled with many a rustic glowing pumpkin in anticipation for All Hallows Eve and several lovable eccentrics for him to rudely condescend to. He is informed right away that the establishment’s Honeymoon suite is inaccessible due to it being haunted by a witch, which he scoffs away as “hokum” while I can’t believe my luck in getting not only a ghost movie but a witch movie. Of course, Ohm is not one to leave well enough alone and after a few shocking occurrences I won’t disclose, he decides to investigate the forbidden area and becomes trapped inside. Slowly, the supernatural takes hold and tragic occurrences from his past (which reveal why he’s such an asshole) are revealed. One truly disturbing (not to mention extremely kindertraumatic) memory involving a horrific anthropomorphic host of a children’s TV show is seared into my psyche forever. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, a dumbwaiter to the hotel’s cellar is discovered which turns out to be a direct route for the film to slide from haunting to hellish.
I feel like I’m the lone person in the world who wasn’t entirely blown away by McCarthy’s previous work ODDITY (2024). I thought it was spooky and entertaining enough but some of the characters’ behavior I found hard to swallow (who accepts a hideous golem gift from someone they clearly don’t care for, who would allow said creepy person to stay in their home when they are called to work and who has such a convenient trap door?). But now, HOKUM has got me thinking I have to give ODDITY another chance (maybe I was just in a skeptical (Ohm Bauman-ish) mood when I viewed it ). I gotta say though, It’s possible that Adam Scott’s fine performance is what made the huge difference between the two films for me because he’s so naturally incredulous that when he shifts from dubious to convinced it’s pretty much impossible not to follow suite. In any case, I absolutely I found myself completely under HOKUM’s spell and felt fully transported to the rich space it creates which is pleasantly occupied by characters that felt worn in and authentic and whose fates I cared about. The entire film is so much like sitting in a big comfy chair by a fire with a cat in your lap reading a ghost story while a storm rages outside, slowly becoming less and less comfortable in your surroundings. So much of HOKUM is about that gradual disquiet as things grow darker and darker and the veil between this world and the other thins. Consider me a happily converted believer.
Lee Cronin's The Mummy
There’s always room in my heart for another creepy killer kid flick but LEE CRONIN'S THE MUMMY had me scratching my head so much you’d think a scarab crawled under my hat. There are some rich, intriguing elements dealing with the dread, repulsion and guilt that accompany the caretaking of a sick loved one yet much of it unravels when faced with even the slightest scrutiny and baffling character behavior reigns. For the most part, I have no idea why this movie insists on presenting itself as a mummy movie when mummies seem to be the furthest thing on its mind. Sure, there’s some Egyptian curses involved and a sarcophagus nearly lands on someone’s head but they mostly come off as decorative quota fillers. Spiritually, this movie has much more in common with Stephen King's PET SEMATARY and its too bad they didn’t just go with another title (THE RETURNED, THE CURSED, THE TAKEN etc.) to avoid expectations.
Cronin’s movie is really about a grieving family who lose their child to a kidnapper, get her back eight years later and then find out maybe they’d all be better off if she had stayed lost (much like his earlier work A HOLE IN THE GROUND (2019)). The child in question evokes much of the same type of discomfort as PET SEMATARY’s kindertrauma legend “Zelda” in that she’s creepy as hell and inspires extreme emotions ranging from absolute revulsion to cautious compassion and then back to pure nausea again. There’s a lot of body horror involved and like David Cronenberg’s THE FLY (’86), it raises the question of how long you can keep loving someone that is changing into something else. The atmosphere of sickness and death is palpable but thankfully Cronin injects enough morbid black humor to keep things from becoming too dire. It’s a rough ride though, especially for anyone who has had to deal with an ailing loved one before.
MIDSOMMAR’s Jack Reynor does an excellent job portraying the father but at the end of the day his biggest obstacle is the script rather than his seemingly possessed child. Every possible bad decision seems to be made by the characters and its almost like they’re all suffering from collective amnesia. I don’t even understand how the child Katie (Natalie Grace) is even allowed out of the hospital looking and acting like she does. I know the state of health care in America is dismal but Katie surely required a bit more healing before discharge. The doctors don’t even bother to clip her twisted toenails which leads to a very effective and yet very illogical scene. All I can do is recommend that you chalk up the slew of inconsistencies as “nightmare logic” and try not to think about how so little of the film makes sense or why nobody behaves in a way that resembles reality as we know it.
Maybe I was just lucky enough to see LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY with a game, lively audience but I rather enjoyed it even while marveling at the quantity of incongruities it shovels. Flaws aside, It’s got more than a few memorably gruesome set pieces, the mood is genuinely unnerving and the performances are above standard. I really dig Cronin’s style and wicked morbidness but someone might suggest to him there’s no shame in dialing up a script doctor. If you enjoyed EVIL DEAD RISE (2023) this is not much of a drop off and could have been something really special if they skipped the unnecessary globetrotting and kept the mummy angle under wraps.
Name That Trauma:: Scott on an Alien Commercial
Hi KT Team,
When I was young, probably somewhere between 3 and 6 (1989-1992) I was home sick with my grandmother. I was watching a claymation movie on tv about an older man and his hot air balloon. A commercial came on that traumatized me and left me scared of aliens. I can only relay what I remember filtered through a young child’s eyes and 35 years. The commercial seemed to be for alien insurance or a protection program or something. It almost felt like a psa. It warned of all the risks aliens presented. Showed a series of headshots of the various species of alien that parents had to worry about. All were variations on the classic grey alien. It had a white washed scene of human scientists working in a lab. It ended with a mother and her young daughter. The daughter was playing with a top and the mom left the room for a moment. When she returned, all that remained was the spinning top. The girl was gone. It may have been a promo for a show or movie or something, but if it was that aspect was lost on me.
I’d love any help you community could offer in identifying what the heck I saw.
Many thanks!
Scott
Name That Trauma:: R.B. on a Picnic Gone Wrong
I am looking for a TV-movie, or an episode of an anthology, that I saw when I was very young. I remember there was a man and woman having a picnic with their dog. The dog ran off and entered a spooky gothic house. The couple followed, there were some scares, and when they tried to leave, they opened the front door to find a brick wall. This aired at night on TV in Southern California, some time between 1981-1983. – R.B.
Kindertrauma Funhouse
Ready Or Not 2: Here I come & They Will Kill You
2019’s READY OR NOT is a blend of kill or be killed motifs lifted from THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME dunked in seventies era occult paranoia and TOM & JERRY level violent slapstick. The jewel in its crowd-pleasing crown is a fierce performance by Samara Weaving portraying a betrayed woman on her wedding day forced to fight for her life against a horde of lunatic in-laws. Having ended on the most satisfying note possible (lone survivor Grace (Weaving) smoking the most deserved cigarette since Veronica (Winona Ryder) Sawyer’s at the climax of HEATHERS (’88)), it wasn’t exactly begging for a rinse and repeat sequel but fortunately, its continuation READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME (which starts exactly where the previous flick left off) ups the ante on all counts, adds a few more vibrantly threatening and/or hilarious characters and may even be the finer outing at the end of the day. I’m not exactly loving the fact that now, seven years later, the idea of rich elites hunting humans to sacrifice to a demon in exchange for power has somehow become less fantastical and more likely than before, but here we are. For me, the most important factor in a survival/revenge movie is its comeuppance quota and there’s no question that RON2:HIC delivers on that front.
As prescribed by HALLOWEEN II (not to mention COLD PREY 2), it’s off to the hospital for unsinkable, blood-soaked heroine Grace where she meets up with estranged sister Faith (FREAKY’s Kathryn Newton) who she neglected to delete from her emergency contact information. Insults, accusations and recounting flashbacks collide as the two siblings catch each other up to speed. The family reunion is short lived when a would be assassin (rightful heir to Christopher Waken’s hand-me downs Kevin (CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD, ABIGAIL) Durand shows up to sever any loose ends hanging from Grace’s unprecedented survival of a worldwide Satanic Cult ritual. Please don’t make me explain the knotty intricacies, rules and technicalities involved in the curse-sport depicted, just know that it allows awesome people to participate like horror legend David Cronenberg as a psychotic patriarch who sired kids the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar (BUFFY, SCREAM 2, IKWYDLS) and THE FACULTY’s Shawn Hatosy. Heck, this action/horror hybrid hootananny even secured such guests as MANIAC (2012)’s Elijah Wood and BATES (still miss this show) MOTEL’s Nester Carbonell! Not sure if it’s ethical for the casting director to read my diary, but I’m not complaining. Seeing all these fine folks butting heads on the big screen is like watching CLUE (’85), a star studded disaster film, and an exceptional episode of FANTASY ISLAND (which if I’m not wrong, played the DANGEROUS GAME card on multiple occasions) all at once. Ya can’t beat that.
READY OR NOT 2 is as much riotous fun as the snappy jaunt it spawned from but I’d say much more adept at exploring the benefits and deep pitfalls of family ties. Gellar is a standout as an ice queen who’ll stomp on anyone to retain power and Hatosy is uncomfortably scary as her sadistic, sociopath brother. Weaving and Newton make a great pair especially when handcuffed together a’la THE DEFIANT ONES or cracking skulls to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (which is becoming a go-to horror staple after previous needle drops in URBAN LEGEND (’98) & overachiever THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT (2028). Considering the wedding ballroom location and the sisterhood angle, I would have gone with Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” but nobody asked me).
Poor THEY WILL KILL YOU! It’s a fantastic movie but somebody really messed up allowing it to be released so soon after RON2! Even if one could get past the fact both flicks are about surviving the night against a Satanic cult while kicking around themes involving exploitive class divides, the emotional heart of each film revolves around estranged sisters, the younger of whom resents being abandoned. It’s like the same banger song sung two wildly different ways. Both are equally worthy, but it’s gotta be disheartening being the second horse out of the gate, especially when the enthusiasm for the first horse wasn’t exactly off the charts. TWKY needn’t sweat it though, time will be kind and it won’t be much of a shock if this artsy, action packed also ran becomes a cult favorite somewhere down the line. My psychic prediction is that Director Kirill Sokolov will make a highly regarded masterpiece in the future and then folks will scramble around looking to check out his gutsy earlier work.
This is a gorgeous movie with rich dark, earthy hues that resemble a Goya painting and the sound design and use of edgy innovative music is phenomenal. We’re talking SUSPIRIA (’77) level eye-candy partnered with KILL BILL-esque over the top fighting sequences. It’s got a dark, gloomy occultist vibe akin to Alex de la Iglesia’s THE DAY OF THE BEAST (’95) and is generous with the gore in a way that recalls Peter Jackson’s BRAIN DEAD (’92). The SUSPIRIA nods continue as NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: THE DREAM WARRIOR’s Patricia Arquette plays a queen bee marm who sorta channels Joan Bennett’s Madame Blanc and oversees an ancient Manhattan high rise secretly operating as a Satanic temple of sorts (shades of 2004’s TOOLBOX MURDERS). She’s even got a creepy kid sidekick (yet another note shared by RON2)! It’s all good stuff and I trust it will be properly appreciated one day. Twin movies are nothing new (looking at you VOLCANO & DANTE’S PEAK (both '97), not to mention DEEP IMPACT & ARMAGEDDON (both '98) et. al.) so rather than lament this duo’s accidental yet indisputable similarities (Oh, now I’m thinking of FRIDAY THE 13th (’80) & THE BURNING (’81) and my beloved hell party doppelgängers HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (’81) and MADHOUSE (’81) ), I’ll just rejoice that they’d make an excellent double feature (preferably at a drive-in).
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