Lineup for Protean Depravity Film Festival At Home - Winter 2022 Edition

Photo by Pylz Works on Unsplash

With yet another possible lockdown ahead of us, the time has come again for another round of horror film
festival at home.

A short wrap-up if you don't know what I mean: about this time last year I decided to start my own film festival at home due to the lack of cinemas and cinematic activities in general under hard lockdown in Berlin. So I basically make a selection of horror movies and watch these at home after which I select a winner for that season. The winning movie gets a way too long and exhaustive review, and my gushes (the winners of last year were Relic and Sator).

Although we finally witnessed the opening of the film industry and all the movies that had been put on hold during lockdown times have at last been released, with COVID spiking again in Berlin, my heart breaks but I'm kind of reluctant to go to cinemas.

So, after having done some research for upcoming movies that sound exciting to me, I have come up with the following lineup for the Protean Depravity Film Festival at Home, Winter'22 Edition and have reviewed the trailers, here we go:

You know how sometimes your joy about something is broken so many times that you don't even feel happy when it finally happens? That's how I feel about Antlers. It should have been released ages ago but has been postponed so many times that I don't really wish to see it anymore. I have had this movie in my lineup so often throughout the last year that I included it in the selection out of sheer habit anyway. Based on Nick Antosca's short story "The Quiet Boy", it looks like Antlers takes a rather predictable trajectory by focusing on Euro Americans encountering Indigenous American magical mythologies, to be specific, the Wendigo. Although recently the problematic image of "Native Americans as magical superheroes" is being deconstructed thanks to authors like Stephen Graham Jones and Rebecca Roanhorse who normalize the Indigenous presence in fiction outside of pre-defined boxes, I think it will take some time for that to settle down. I'm curious what Antlers, or "The Quiet Boy" for that matter, has to offer in that sense, we'll see.

Candyman is the second movie in the lineup whose release date was postponed many times over. But after 20 years of abstinence, Candyman is back from his state of hibernation and has apparently found a new vessel to keep on terrorizing people who were naive enough to say his name into mirrors. I'm excited for this one, needless to say, I'm curious where the story will go.

Bingo Hell looks pretty trippy and unnerving to me but I love the colors, the visuals, the main characters consisting of elderly actors and the idea of a deadly bingo game with Leaving Las Vegas vibes and a good message. 

A little secret - since I'm a little late this year announcing my selection, I have already seen some of the movies in this list, and Bloodthirsty is one of them. Trust me, no big spoiler when I say that this was one of the more mediocre werewolf films out there and although an acceptable pastime, there are better ways to spend your quarantine time.

 

Dawn of the Beast, an indie movie about a group of film students who seek to view the legendary Sasquatch during the month of the death somewhere in the woods, and they get more than they bargained for. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did - yes, the acting, not all but some, leaves much to be desired, and Bigfoot is not a very original trope, but this film succeeds in turning that around with a dreadful twist. Plus, no CGI at all was used, all special effects look self-made...or self-bought...from the Halloween store. I still liked it a lot because it doesn't follow a money-grabbing approach to cinema and is very creative.

 

IFC Midnight strikes again with Hunter Hunter! Official synopsis says it revolves around a mother and daughter trapped in the woods with a stranger while her husband is pursuing an extraordinarily violent wolf. Visuals look great, there is supposed to be a bloody twist and it looks like a decent combination of psychological horror and creature feature, excited for this!

 

Jakob's Wife is another release I am really looking forward to. It feels like years since I last watched a decent vampire movie that doesn't focus on how elegant and seductive vampires are and shows their animalistic side, Thirty Days of Night was probably the last time. And it looks like this story of a preacher's wife who is looking for a little getaway from her monotonous relationship has many things I'm looking for.

 

Old - Shyamalan. Epitome of bitter-sweet in my book. A hit or miss. Love or hate. And I hated Old. I think it was silly, the acting was bad, and apart from a few camera tricks, so was the whole movie. But please see for yourselves and judge.

 

Saloum - Looks so good!! And mysterious too, there isn't even a trailer for this, only an extract. All I know about Saloum is the official synopsis that three mercenaries who need to take a druglord out of Guinea Bissou hide in the mystical region of Saloum. To be honest, I'm insanely curious what that mystical region has in store. It doesn't look like this movie is being streamed anywhere I know of and there's no Blu-ray release date either, might be hard to find.

 

The Banishing, nice and creepy British Gothic, haunted house, creepy kid, puppet horror, diabolic cult story. Did I miss anything?

 

In case you didn't know; the much anticipated upcoming horror movie The Black Phone is actually the title of a short story collection as well as a short story in this collection by horror's favorite son Joe Hill. The collection is very recommendable and the short story itself, the story of a young boy being kidnapped by a psychopath, but getting supernatural help from previous victims through the titular black phone, although not very scary, has very much soul and lighter chills. And every film adaptation of a Hill book has worked perfectly until now, so I'm expecting great success here.

 

Mushroom Zombies! Here comes good old-fashioned, loud, tacky USA horror! I have a feeling that The Spore will certainly not win an Oscar, but it will certainly satisfy the teenager in you.

 

I have to admit that I already watched There's Someone Inside Your House but can't really remember what it was about, except it's outsiders against jocks in a quite predictable US teenage high school horror. Embarrassing, really, I should re-watch it and pay more attention this time. On the other hand, the fact that I didn't in the first place shows it's probably not going to be one of my favorites after all.

 

As the first horror movie to do so, the 2021 Palme d'Or winner Titane has caused an uproar during Cannes this summer and has been the talk of the town ever since. Part of the uproar was that writer-director Julia Ducournau is also the first female filmmaker to win the award solo. The trailer shows much cyberpunk, has traces of Cronenberg's Crash and the synopsis sounds like a sexed up Christine.

 

One of the most mysterious movies in my selection is "You Are Not My Mother", written and directed by Kate Dolan, which doesn't even have a trailer! The plot description is appealing enough for me to include it in my festival, though; "In a North Dublin housing estate Char's mother goes missing. When she returns Char is determined to uncover the truth of her disappearance and unearth the dark secrets of her family."

 

This time I added a few movies which aren't quite as buzzing new as the other movies, but which I somehow missed watching these last few years, and I want to catch up with;

Last Shift, the story of a police officer who needs to do the last night shift in a PD building that will be demolished.

Shame... Shame... Shame Inci! This is another movie that I think I watched but can't remember anymore. I'm in fact pretty sure I saw it but browsing through trailers I realized that there's so much I forgot that it will certainly be like watching it like a new movie.

The Girl on the Third Floor looks ridiculously gory! I have to state here that I wholeheartedly understand and love renovation horror, having, a couple of years ago, moved into a new apartment that badly needed renovation but was somewhat defending itself against any attempt at glossing over - the original wall paint resurfacing and not allowing any cover-up despite painting twice, three times, until my arms hurt or blood red floor paint that went sticky while grinding and was impossible to remove - it was a nightmare and I have every sympathy in the world to use that frustration coupled with the familiar scare of being in an unfamiliar place. Add to that a good haunting, it's every movie I ever wanted to see!

I'm not usually a fan of real crime stories because, you know, life has enough of those and the fiction I so to say consume is a kind of escape for me. So I need supernatural elements, monsters and unrealistic creatures even if only in the metaphorical sense, to break that reality for me. And yet I feel strangely drawn to the premise of Macabro, a 2019 film by Brazilian director Marcos Prado which is based on the true story of the "Necrophil Brothers", two young boys who were accused of brutal murders in the 90s in Brazil.

 

And finally, here are two lighter movies to brighten up the mood and to alleviate the doom and gloom a little;

 

Love and Monsters, the story of a boy who, after the so-called "Monsterpocalypse" which saw monsters invading the surface of Earth, sets off on a journey to retrieve his girlfriend. This whole movie just seems sweet and uplifting.

 

Muppets Haunted Mansion - I guess there is no need to explain why anyone would ever want to watch the Muppets in a haunted house.

Alright then people! That's the selection for the winter season. It is a lot, but then again, it looks like there will be plenty of time to spend at home this winter too, so why not make the best of it? Or the worst. Evaluation/winner will be announced in late spring/early summer. Off to watching movies now!