Since I left everyone holding their breath…

I may as well reward those who have been waiting for this Sinful Tongued Devil to return. 

Detroit fucking sucks. There, I said it. It has sucked for a long time, and now that the city is practically dead, Horror filmakers have been handed a gold mine for location shooting. Curiously, very few have taken advantage, but Fede Alvarez would not be one to miss out on the chance to turn an already bad situation into something twisted and dark.

Our story concerns 3 Go-Nowhere-White-Trash youths who have taken to robbing people’s houses for a living. Presumably the Drug Dealing bubble burst, and none of them can carry a rhyme, so B&Es are pretty much their only option. After just enough background on the kids is shown to solidify me not giving the top layer of skin on my ballsack about them, they get wind of a job too simple and lucrative to pass up. An old man, living alone in a deserted neighborhood, with a huge amount of cash stashed in his home. To make the deal even sweeter…he is BLIND! Easy money, right? Weeeeellll….

Dude happens to be a Deranged Army Vet with a traggic past and a very twisted secret that ensures he will stop at nothing to protect what he feels belongs to him. No spoilers, but do yourself a favor and check this out as soon as possible. The Atmosphere conveys the tension of the scene extremly well, and the violence is brutally realistic. The Kids must keep quiet to avoid detection, so naturally nobody can keep quiet. Every sound is potentially fatal, and the Silence is made all the more ominous because of it. Stephen Lang brought his badass boots to set for this one! He manages to pull off a tough role in that be plays someone who has a major physical handicap, and a sad story in his past, which you would think should make him pretty sympathetic. But Lang knows that there is a very dark secret the old man is hiding in that house, and his body language reflects it. Even when we first see him on screen, something seems off about him…almost like he makes my Spider-sense tingle.

The only flaw I can find is that I didn’t care about the kids, and I didn’t care about the old man. They all deserved very bad things to happen to them, so watching these bad things unfold didn’t do anything for me except make me giggle a lot. But the Turkey Baster spot… Holy fucking FUCK that Turkey Baster spot!!!! I know to bring it up is kind of a spoiler, but go fuck yourself, it’s been out long enough and people have been mentioning the Turkey Baster all over social media. Goddamn, I was howling with laughter when that spot happened. Pure disgusting gold!

You’re in Good company when you’re amongst Wolves

Here we have another nearly forgotten gem, burned into my memory from my days of exploring the VHS aisles. Long before I would be allowed to rent such a film, I was fascinated by the incredible image on the cover. Was this person turning into a Werewolf? Or was a wolf literally trying to escape from within? How did it get there? I didn’t pick up on metaphors very easily as a young lad, it seems…I didn’t even make the Little Red Riding Hood connection that was staring me right in the face. Young me must have had ADD. Since it’s gone so long untreated, i think it’s only proper to give me all the drugs for it now. I’ll catch up.

 

Everyone knows the cutesy version of fairytales, Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, etc… and most of us have heard the bloody original versions which seemed to be told to scare children out of harms way. Boil away everything but the subtext of Grimms tales and the message is mostly “Kids, don’t do dumb shit, or associate with sketchy people, because you will get raped and die, MAYBE in that order.” Despite this we tend to hold these tales in a special place in our mind. They are instantly familiar, yet so often forgotten. This film is a perfect example of those qualities.  Equal parts anthology film, graphic fantastical retelling, fever dream, and erotic nightmare. The film unfolds within a dream where the characters tell various stories, which in turn unfold for the audience, all for the dreamer to wake to see her dream come to life. It’s a bit strange, and not the most easily accessible, but well worth the ride.

Angela Lansbury plays “Granny”, who knits the Red Riding Hood, and tells the majority of the tales, and she is just a fucking joy to watch. Anytime she is on screen I can’t help but hum the “Murder She Wrote” theme to myself. Also a joy are the FX work and transformation sequences. Clearly the filmmakers paid careful attention to folklore when dreaming up the visuals. Unibrows and salves, and such abound! The telling of these classic fables through the mesh of human sexuality is somewhat jarring yet oddly fitting. So much imagery in the film doesn’t make sense and is totally wrong, such as Pythons and Reptiles chilling in a French Forrest, but they work within the dreamlike-fairy tale atmosphere

Released several years after the trifecta of Wolfen, An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, I totally understand how this film went a bit under the radar. For Horror fans young and old, The Company of Wolves should be considered Must-See cinema, but is best viewed with an open mind. Lacking in Gore and Gratuitous Nudity, as well as the usual cheap thrills, the film more than makes up for it by positively dripping with Nightmarish atmosphere.

Well Hot Damn! It feels good to be back! It’s been nearly a full year, but I promise I’m coming back with a new bag of tricks! Well, actually none of this shit is new…just stuff I haven’t used before.

This year’s #31DaysOfHorror will take a look at the works of two of the Masters: John Carpenter and Rob Zombie. Various entries will examine their films, and I’ll be taking a look at their recent “Feud”…and believe me…I have some fucking Venom to unleash on you fuckers.

 

You can also look forward to seeing original video content being included in a select few posts, as well as special guests. Welcome back, and enjoy the ride!