Spooky season is upon us. I think it was only at least somewhat fitting to be covering mostly horror movies in this edition but I didn’t only watch horror movies, predictably. Yet I think they’re always on my mind, especially around now, when I’d really want to fit whatever I can into my very busy schedule. Because as one knows: I’m getting older. I can’t watch everything I want. But that’s okay. I still have it in me to fit them all in and that’s what you’ll be hearing about now.
Without further ado, these are Friday’s Five Films. If you like what you’re seeing here, remember to subscribe for a whole lot more.
#1: Army of Shadows (1969, Jean-Pierre Melville)
This is one of the bleakest movies ever made, but it’s also one of the best pieces of resistance art that can ever be made. I saw a brand new 4K restoration of this amazing film at the TIFF Lightbox, and I was reminded why this movie stuck so strongly with me when I first saw it in high school: it was a movie that captured the futility of resistance all too perfectly. And even then, it simply hits the very point that even when we’re on the side of the good guys, there’s only an inevitability that death will be looming for us in some way or another. Perhaps a movie like this only ends up feeling more distressing now, going back to the current situation in Gaza, as many Palestinians are suffering under the hands of the Israeli occupation.
#2: Near Orouët (1971, Jacques Rozier)
I think this is the best Jacques Rozier film that I’ve seen thus far. It’s the best because it encapsulates the feeling of joy being merely temporary especially when you’re on vacation, and how it’s not going to last forever. But it’s also a movie about how that happiness ultimately can transform you, to a point you can’t relate with people around yourself anymore in that moment. Part of me thought, while watching this, that I’ve known vacations quite like this and even then, I got sadder thinking about how happy I was in that moment.
#3: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Wes Craven)
I remember thinking at first, as a stubborn teenager that A Nightmare on Elm Street was “not scary.” But while watching it all these years later, I find it’s one film that ranks among the very best slashers, with films like Halloween and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Perhaps that all comes down to the fact that this film is a sly commentary on how young teens are not taken as seriously by the adults in the world around them for what they are going through, especially when what they witness cannot be so easily explained. It might just be Wes Craven’s masterpiece, even if I have a softer spot for Scream, which I’ve rewatched far more often than this.
#4: Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders)
This was a movie that profoundly affected me the first time I saw it in my teenage years. To this day, this movie still rings with the same effect on me, even though I might not have seen it in a while. But that’s also because I know every minute and beat of it to my heart. I think it only goes without saying that this is Wim Wenders’s best film, alongside Wings of Desire. Because Paris, Texas feels like one of the best movies any artist could ever make about America at that, and whether or not our own paths to redemption are as feasible as we might see them to be.
#5: Zombie (1979, Lucio Fulci)
Up there with George A. Romero’s zombie films as one of the greatest zombie films ever made, in my eyes. Perhaps that might just as well have more to do with me being a gore hound after having watched so many gory horror movies of the years. Maybe that’s all one needs, because it’s just pure zombie fun - and that screenshot I attached above features one of the greatest (and most gruesome) kills in all of horror cinema.
The Complete Day-by-Day Log
First time watches are denoted with bold text. Scores are on an out of five star basis.
Friday
Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Fritz the Cat (1972, Ralph Bakshi) - ✯✯½
The Castaways of Turtle Island (1976, Jacques Rozier) - ✯✯✯✯
Hex (1980, Kuei Chih-hung) - ✯✯✯✯½
Saturday
The Thing (1982, John Carpenter) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Near Orouët (1971, Jacques Rozier) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Horrors of Malformed Men (1969, Teruo Ishii) - ✯✯✯✯½
Sunday
Crime and Punishment (1982, Aki Kaurismäki) - ✯✯✯½
The Witches (1990, Nicolas Roeg) - ✯✯✯✯
Army of Shadows (1969, Jean-Pierre Melville) - ✯✯✯✯✯
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933, Fritz Lang) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Zombie (1979, Lucio Fulci) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Monday
Burst City (1982, Gakuryu Ishii) - ✯✯✯✯½
Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972, Lucio Fulci) - ✯✯✯✯½
The New York Ripper (1982, Lucio Fulci) - ✯✯✯✯½
Tuesday
Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion (2022, Joko Anwar) - ✯✯½
Problemista (2023, Julio Torres) - ✯✯✯½
Front Row (2024, Merzak Allouache) - ✯✯✯
The Void (2016, Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie) - ✯✯✯½
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Wes Craven) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Wednesday
Terrifier 2 (2022, Damien Leone) - ✯✯½
Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (2023, Neo Sora) - ✯✯✯✯½
The Grapes of Death (1978, Jean Rollin) - ✯✯✯✯½
Thursday
Demonia (1990, Lucio Fulci) - ✯✯½
My First Film (2024, Zia Anger) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Smile (2022, Parker Finn) - ✯✯½
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