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| Victoria Williams in The Changes (1975) |
This Static Age’s spotlight goes to the influential British fantasy TV series The Changes (1975), originally broadcasted by BBC. Based on Peter Dickinson’s sci-fi trilogy and directed by John Prowse, the ten-episode children show is told from the point of view of a young girl (Victoria Williams) and is about a strange occurrence that involves an unworldly noise that causes the collapse of society via its members newfound revolt against technology and machinery.
And now, let’s
switch our focus towards some recent series…
The Haunting of Bly Manor - Season 1
The sole season
of Netflix’s mini-series The Haunting of
Bly Manor (2020), is about two orphan kids that live in the titular
secluded mansion and are soon about to be introduced to their new nanny
(Victoria Perdetti), who in turn will face a variety of horrors that lurk in
the mirrors. Created by Mike Flanagan, this is a masterful and important event
for the small screen format, and horror entertainment at its best. Atmospheric
and eerie, it comes highly recommended.
The 2nd
season of Marvel Studios’ Loki (2021
– 2023) finds the titular superhero (a gorgeous Tom Hiddleston) lost in time
and space as is so common these days with similar output, but here the whole
prospect is presented charmingly with the precise amount of humor needed,
therefore resulting in an enjoyable 6 episodes.
Yellowjackets - Season 1
The 1st
season of Yellowjackets (2021 –
present) is about the titular 1990s high school team of female soccer players,
whose plane crushes, leaving many dead but also several survivors. The lengths
the survivors went in order to stay alive and the things they did are a mystery
to the rest of the world, but this past may haunt them now, several decades
later, as the now middle-aged protagonists lead troubled lives separately from
each other and far away from their former friendships as students. Featuring
breathtaking performances by all involved, and especially Juliette Lewis and
Christina Ricci, this is a surprise horror hit that combines the survival genre
with that of gruesome terror which goes as far as depicting cannibalism and
outright slaughter. It is also one of the very few series to have managed to
intelligibly employ flashbacks and ‘back and forth’ editing.
The 3rd
season of The Mandalorian (2019 –
present) has the titular warrior (Pedro Pascal, playing mostly with his voice
and under a helmet) on a new journey with his cute companion baby yoda, in what
has to be the best thing that happened in the Star Wars franchise in ages, let
alone Disney.
The Punisher - Season 1
The 1st
season of Netflix’s The Punisher
(2017 – 2019) is about the titular vigilante anti-hero (a perfectly cast Jon
Bernthal) who after avenging the murder of his family (with army-like force, as
he is a veteran), now lives in the fringes of society. Bleak, violent, and
dark, this is the most mature material to ever see the light of the day under
the Marvel Television banner, and as such it should be cherished.
The 3rd
season of American Gods (2017 – 2021)
ends the series based on Neil Gaiman’s same-titled lengthy novel with an
all-out war between gods. Boasting a rocking soundtrack (that includes The
Rolling Stones and Marilyn Manson) as well as a phantasmagoric depiction of
rural America, this is a very welcome addition to strange television.
And now, please
allow me a word on some recent mainstream film releases…
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King on Screen (2022)
There is
literally nothing left to say about Stephen King’s beloved novels, nor about
their several film and book adaptations (there are even a couple of studies on
that subject available), so director Daphne Baiwir’s King on Screen (2022) documentary expectedly adds nothing to expand
our knowledge, but its bigger sin is how formulaic it is, managing to barely
scratch the surface and waste interesting talking heads such as Mick Garris and
Frank Darabont without allowing them to go deep and steering clear of any
attempt for an angle. The end result is entertaining enough, but it also a
waste of time.
Leonardo
DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Brendan Fraser, are among the key players of the
stellar cast that leads Martin Scorsese’s three and a half hour epic Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), a
story about a series of murders in a small Indian town, and the small-time
operation that was mechanized in order to cover them up, motivated both by
racism and profit. However, this is not – as it so often mistakenly stated – a
commentary on capitalism, but rather a thesis on humanity and death, with a
very intelligent angle on grief. Simply put, it is a masterful cinematic
experience.
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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Ignoring all
laws of physics and common sense via the aid of the most terrible CGI you could
possibly ask for from a $215 million-budgeted disaster, director James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) is
as awful as these things can get, proving once again that DC is beating a dead
horse with the superhero genre that is facing a horrible decline in recent
years. Avoid at all cost.
Another film
from the superhero front that is equally awful is the light-hearted and comedic
The Marvels (2023) from the
competing Marvel Studios, directed by Nia DaCosta, who is wasting her
previously-proven talent on the altar of massive budgets. There is even singing
and dancing here, in a desperate attempt to penetrate the Indian market, while
all it achieves is ridiculing itself further.
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Dario Argento: Panico (2023)
Released by
Shudder, director Simone Scafidi’s Dario
Argento: Panico (2023) documentary on the titular Italian master of the
macabre and suspense, offers an interesting angle in going deep into some of
the psychological issues projected on the films and the making of them, even as
it opts for a linear and chronological narrative. Therefore, it remains
conventional, but also becomes original, and as such it is enjoyable and
welcome. Talking heads include Asia Argento, Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava,
Luigi Cozzi, Gaspar Noe, Guillermo del Toro, and Dario Argento himself.
Yorgos
Lanthimos’ Academy Award darling Poor
Things (2023) is about Bella Baxter (Emma Stone in a stunning performance),
a dead woman rescued by the brain transplant of her baby, thanks to advanced
surgery by Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). She appears to have a personality that
echoes autism and schizophrenia, failing to absorb polite society rules, but as
she embarks on a journey of self discovery, she also sees the world and men for
what they truly are. Gorgeous set and wardrobe design aside (this clearly the
most artistic picture to have made it in the Oscars in years), this is a
masterful creation with the signature of its author stamped clearly (look no
further for the most creative use of the wide lens and the zoom ever committed
on celluloid). This is an important work and a feminist manifesto, a thoughtful
piece of art and the most fascinating art film since the 1960s.
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Madame Web (2024)
Directed by S.J.
Clarkson, Marvel Studios’ Madame Web
(2024) starring the stunning Dakota Johnson in the titular role, is not as
torturous viewing experience as the critics have told you – it is just an
average superhero film, or a mediocre one – but is suffering from the same
banality of the genre’s recent output which is lack of any sense of importance.
Superhero films of the past decades, including the works of Tim Burton or Sam
Raimi were highly re-watchable, while routine CGI-packed efforts like this are
forgotten as soon as you leave the theater.
Directed by Gil
Kenan, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
(2024) is channeling the franchise’s original duo of films (by having most of
the original cast return and echoing several other references in the form of
Easter eggs) with the recent reboot efforts, maintaining a perfectly decent
balance most of the time. The first half may be lacking as it takes forever to
set-up the antagonist ghost, but the second half is rewarding, spectacular,
fun, and overall entertaining.
And finally, I
enriched my bookshelf with the following additions…
Nicolas Winding
Refn Presents Jimmy McDonough’s last book The
Exotic Ones (2023, FAB Press, Surrey, U.K.) which is a massive tome that
you need two hands to lift it and it is about the wild world of the Ormond
family which delved from exploitation oddities to religious blockbusters that
thrived at your local church. Knowledgeable and researched to death, while also
stunningly designed and presented, this is a fine and fun read, and ranks among
the five best film books I’ve ever read. It also comes with a bonus shorter
book called ‘The Most Exotic One: Georgette Dante’, which is also a joy to
read.
Edited by Emma
Westwood and featuring some of the most current and original voices of the
field, the Midnight Movie Monographs:
Bride of Frankenstein (2023, PS Publishing, Hornsea, U.K.) brief tome
includes some fine essays on the legendary sequel, and gets quite original in
its approach, as aside from tackling a variety of aspects including the
stunning make-up work, it also gives space to some serious but fun queer
analysis.
Based upon a
story penned by Edward D. Wood Jr. and originally turned into a screenplay
format by Fred Olen Ray for a film that unfortunately never got made, and in
turn recently finding itself taking the pulp novel format by the latter ‘best
selling author’, Deep Red (2022,
Retromedia Press, U.S.A.) is definitely not a great literary event by any
means, but it is fun and entertaining.
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