protean depravity

As with each of my film reviews, I will talk spoilers for sure, so go and watch the movie first, then come back and let's discuss this film!   So we're in the middle of the Fantasy Filmfest fever with lots of great sounding movies coming our way, but there have been lots of good horror movies showing in regular movies too, and it's time I address them in a series of posts here.  Weapons is the first movie I want to discuss because I was smitten with it, although I would not give it the 100% it allegedly got on Rotten Tomatoes.   We start off with a mystery; at 2.17 am on a given night, all children from one single class at Maybrook Elementary School disappear, except for one little boy, Alex. They just wake up in the middle of the night, open the door and make that Naruto run for an unknown place. (I have to say at this point that I don't get this running gesture, the Naruto run, and it's one of my critique points that it looks just a little bit ridiculous, but ulti...

Talking about movie festivals, the Final Girls Berlin are giving us a summer treat: the "Brain Binge"- horror talk weekend! On June 11th and 12th you can participate via Zoom to some seriously interesting talks revolving around women* and horror. Here's the link for subscription. I'm especially excited for "I am She: The Witch Archetype & Patriarchal Disruption", "Beyond the Freak Show: Disability and Horror" as well as "The Monstruous Feminine & Political Abjection". And all the other too, to be honest! All talks are free and donation based.

The weather is warming up and what better story is there to read in these early days of spring than Hex , the story of a witch being awakened from her centuries long hibernation? Dutch author Thomas Olde Heuvelt's breakthrough novel has been quite the talk of town ever since it was first published in 2013, mainly because of its USA version for which the author decided to re-locate the story to the USA instead of originally Netherlands and to re-write the ending for the American audience. Whether you think it is the ultimate witch novel and Katherine van Wyler one of the scariest monsters of modern times or you think a re-write was unnecessary and turn up your nose on the US version - I guess the whole back story is a little sensation itself that probably did good advertising for this eerie slice of small town horror and enhanced its fame as the horror novel that was too scary for Americans (just kidding!).