Do we have a word for this yet? “Stress horror”? “Anxiety thriller”? Plain old “Kafkaesque”?
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The Surfer (Lorcan Finnegan, 2025)
Watched:
Media Log: Movies
I try to get to the theater at least once a week. Boston has three absolutely world-class theaters in terms of programming: the Brattle, the Coolidge, and the Somerville. (Also, they all use real butter on their popcorn.)
I only started logging these in the winter of 2024, and from February 2024 to February 2025 I watched about 81 movies, so I’m aiming for 100 in 2025.
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Hudson Hawk (Michael Lehmann, 1991)
Watched:
This movie is…good?!
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Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Watched:
Is PJ Soles the least punk-looking person to exist?
Part of Joe Bob Briggs’ “Cult of the Rock Star Night” along with “Bubba Ho-Tep.”
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Bubba Ho-Tep (2002
Watched:
Part of Joe Bob Briggs’ “Cult of the Rock Star Night” along with “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.”
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Smithereens (Susan Seidelman, 1982)
Watched:
I liked this movie even more than I expected to.
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Silkwood (Mike Nichols, 1983)
Watched:
Good movie, but I was stunned by this ABC Motion Pictures logo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DqBbW0j-g
Also evidently you can’t stream this anywhere, because ABC is now owned by Disney, and Disney is not interested in giving this (star-studded, multiple-Oscar-nominated) movie any due.
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The Brutalist (Brady Corbet, 2024)
Watched:
“Tortured, misunderstood male genius”-core
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The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)
Watched:
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The Funhouse (Tobe Hooper, 1981)
Watched:
Not a “good” movie, but jeez that ending.
Part of a Mahoning Drive-In Road Show 35mm triple feature.
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Shock Waves (1977)
Watched:
For a movie about underwater zombie Nazis — pretty dull!
Part of a Mahoning Drive-In Road Show 35mm triple feature.
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The Birthday (2004)
Watched:
This was…not terrible??
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It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Society in Which He Lives (1971)
Watched:
One of the most formally unconventional movies I’ve seen. An essay in the structure of a nature documentary, with the barest of plots and what little dialog there was entirely dubbed with seemingly different words.
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Hundreds of Beavers (2024)
Watched:
I have to confess, this movie won me over a little. There are some inventive bits in here.
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Pitch Black (2000)
Watched:
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The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)
Watched:
My third or fourth rewatch. One of my absolute favorite movies. Martin is one of the greatest villains of the 21st century.
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Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch, 1992)
Watched:
They showed a “Blue Velvet” trailer and I cried.
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Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964)
Watched:
A double-feature with Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage!
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The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970)
Watched:
A double-feature with Bava’s Blood and Black Lace!
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Timestalker (2024)
Watched:
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Prevenge (2017)
Watched:
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The Substance (2024)
Watched:
Caught this again in the theater before it disappears.
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Presence (2025)
Watched:
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The People’s Joker (2022)
Watched:
On 35mm!
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Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Watched:
Loved this movie. Glad I was able to catch it in the theaters.
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Babygirl (2024)
Watched:
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Single White Female (1992)
Watched:
On 35mm. I’m just such a sucker for these early 90s thrillers. JJL is a genius.
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Nosferatu (2024)
Watched:
Beautiful and mesmerizing.
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Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Watched:
I still love this movie, a real treat to see it on 35.
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Anora (2024)
Watched:
I almost really enjoyed this, but it was at least half an hour too long.
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Casablanca (1943)
Watched:
On 35mm!
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Out of the Past (1947)
Watched:
On 35mm!
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Heretic (2024)
Watched:
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Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985)
Watched:
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Frankenhooker (1990)
Watched:
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In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Watched:
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Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966)
Watched:
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Train to Busan (2016)
Watched:
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Oculus (2013)
Watched:
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Tenebre (1982)
Watched:
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The Outwaters (2023)
Watched:
Found footage cosmic horror? I really admire the attempt but there’s not a lot here.
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Stopmotion (2024)
Watched:
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Polyester (1981)
Watched:
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Noroi: The Curse (2005)
Watched:
dir. Koji Shiraishi
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Possum (2018)
Watched:
dir. Matthew Holness
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The Innkeepers (2011)
Watched:
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Terrifier (2018)
Watched:
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Oddity (2024)
Watched:
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A Dark Song (2016)
Watched:
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Friday the 13th (1980)
Watched:
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House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Watched:
Saw this “in Emergo”! (They wriggled a plastic skeleton along a length of rope strung across the screen.)
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Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Watched:
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The Substance (2024)
Watched:
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Hackers (1995)
Watched:
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
Watched:
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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Watched:
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Point Break (1991)
Watched:
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Longlegs (2024)
Watched:
What? This was way too convoluted. Spoilers ahead.
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MaXXXine (2024)
Watched:
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Jagged Edge (1985)
Watched:
A gripping, precisely executed legal thriller. Glenn Close is brilliant. Why had I never heard of this??
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Body Double (1984)
Watched:
Sheer smut!
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While the City Sleeps (1956)
Watched:
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Dracula (1931)
Watched:
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Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Watched:
Saw this on 35mm with director Susan Seidelman in person!
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The Vourdalak (2023)
Watched:
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Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023)
Watched:
Cute. A more whimsical “Let the Right One In.”
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The Beast (2023)
Watched:
Yes, those are clips from Harmony Korine’s “Trash Humpers” in there.
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In the Line of Fire (1993)
Watched:
We were told by the program director for this theater’s 70mm festival that there were probably a total of six 70mm prints of this movie struck, and that this one in particular has been sitting unplayed in a corner at Sony somewhere. As a result it was in near-perfect condition.
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Grand Prix (1966)
Watched:
Saw this on an original 35mm print that was so faded, it was basically monochrome magenta-and-black. R.I.P. François Hardy.
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The Tingler (1959)
Watched:
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Suitable Flesh (2023)
Watched:
Featured on “The Last Drive-in.” Lousy film.
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The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Watched:
Caught this on Svengoolie.
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Run Lola Run (1998)
Watched:
Seen this half a dozen times, but never in the theater, and brought a friend who had never seen it.
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Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Watched:
Caught this on 70mm, part of the same 70mm/widescreen program that I first saw it at last year. It’s long, but it’s so beautiful that it’s a breeze to just kick back and luxuriate in.
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The Professionals (1966)
Watched:
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Watched:
Great flick! I have some thoughts.
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Chinatown (1974)
Watched:
Fifty years later, still the best movie about municipal water systems and real estate fraud.
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The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Watched:
If you were to score this on some kind of Bechdel scale, it might come back `NaN`.
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The Window (1949)
Watched:
The scene with the key and the coat hanger! Absolutely chilling.
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Masters of the Universe (1987)
Watched:
Suffice it to say I was not expecting to see a laser shoot-out in front of an H&R Block.
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Immaculate (2024)
Watched:
A dopey premise with a lousy script.
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The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Watched:
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Dark Passage (1947)
Watched:
Trippy!
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The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Watched:
I also saw this in the theater when it came out, and had about the same impression this time. The slow unraveling of the mystery in the first two acts is great; the final act dropped all the cleverness in favor of ghastly jump scares. Which is fine enough!, but meant that it felt like all the stuff it had going for it in the beginning just kind of petered out.
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Days of Heaven (1978)
Watched:
The brownest movie I’ve ever seen. Four stars.
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Riddle of Fire (2024)
Watched:
I can’t overstate how much I adored this movie. It’s like watching a magic trick. There are so many ways it could have gone awry — tonally, stylistically — but it never does.
It’s one of those movies you would expect to walk away from thinking, “I see what they were going for, but they just didn’t pull it off.”
Riddle of Fire pulls it off.
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The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Watched:
I’d never seen this movie before and I have to admit I had no idea the title was a metaphor. I had pictured a Hitchcock-like twist where a number of rings is the giveaway to some clue. Nope!
Saw this on 35mm which is always a treat. Lots of surprising unpredictable twists to the story. Hume Cronyn as the manipulative lawyer Keats was great.
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Arthur (1981)
Watched:
What can you say about “Arthur”?
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Nowhere (1997)
Watched:
This movie blew my mind. I’m embarrassed not to have heard of Gregg Araki. It has 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is…maybe understandable? But I can’t recommend it enough.
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The Fall Guy (2024)
Watched:
This was fun. I can’t help but love Ryan Gosling (“The Goz”). Some good laughs, though the story was a bit convoluted and messy and the romantic tension not entirely earned.
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Perfect Days (2023)
Watched:
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13 Ghosts (1960)
Watched:
Caught this on Svengoolie.
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Dune: Part Two (2024)
Watched:
I just can’t get terribly worked up about these movies. This was fine. I’m just not sure the Dune books benefit from being put onto a screen.
Chalamet is adequate, but he’s distractingly beautiful and his face just doesn’t scream “inner turmoil” to me.
Also for as long as this movie was, it still felt kind of rushed, cramming in all the necessary plot points.
I’ve never been like a “Dune guy” but I for sure enjoyed the book more. I’ll have to read “Messiah” before that movie comes out now.
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American Fiction (2023)
Watched: