FILM / Captain Canada's Movie Rodeo / September 2022 / Gabriel Ricard
Image © Universal Pictures | Amblin Entertainment
I was recently participating in an activity in which myself and several friends picked a favorite horror movie per year for an entire decade. My 1990s list reflected a lot of stuff I watched as a kid, and it was interesting at least to me to see which movies I choice from my formative years. It was just as interesting to me to discover that 1993 was far and away the worst year for the genre in my lifetime thus far.
Let’s use IMDB as a starting point for all of this. Only one movie makes it to the 8.0+ range, and I’ll be honest and say that I’m pretty indifferent to Jurassic Park at this point in my life. Then you have Army of Darkness with 7.4. Certainly a masterpiece, but then the drop in quality or even just entertainment gets pretty severe from there.
I inevitably chose the Australian slab of lunacy known as Body Melt as my favorite horror movie for 1993. It’s a good, weird, and quite fun film, but under no circumstances should it be the best movie for any given year. Sorry, Australia.
1993 might just be the worst year for film period, at least in my retroactive examination of the period. I have no idea how 1993 would stack up to the 2000s or 2010s, but I’m fairly confident it would still come out ahead.
Even the 1994 Oscar winners are kind of mixed bag for me (Philadelphia is good, but it’s been years since I’ve seen it, and I should probably give it a pair of fresh eyes). Although these days, with the way people and companies treat films and filmmaking, it would be wild to see stuff in the vein The Piano or The Age of Innocence get a widespread release. And so continues my exhausting relationship with nostalgia.
WUSA (1970): B-
Image © Paramount Pictures
“Pretentious” is not necessarily a condemnation that a movie isn’t worth your time. Like most things, there are degrees of this quality that’s also entirely a matter of perception. WUSA is a story of a cynical alcoholic Rheinhardt (Paul Newman) who takes a job at a conversative radio station. He’s just trying to coast through life at this point, but his situation becomes complicated, and eventually harrowing, when he meets a few fellow misfits. The most interesting among them being a woman (Joanne Woodward, who gives the best performance in this oddity). Soon, a right-wing conspiracy is discovered within the radio station, forcing Rheinhardt and those around him, including a very-good Anthony Perkins, to decide where they want to stand.
The plot is fine. Where WUSA gets a little strange is in its execution of these ideas. A lot of the time, this movie feels more than anything else like a series of character-driven monologs that just happen to take place in the same universe. The dialog itself at times seems solely interested in being clever, or making a larger point about the state of the world. And to a pretty high point, I’m fine with that.
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg, who also worked with Newman on Cool Hand Luke, WUSA is if nothing else a showcase for its excellent cast. The story doesn’t really evolve beyond the basics I’ve outlined for you, but I didn’t have a serious problem with that. Only occasionally did I feel as though this forgotten film was actively wasting my time.
Nope (2022): A-
Image © Universal Pictures
It’s a guarantee at this point that at the very least, Jordan Peele as a writer and director (and producer) is going to create something that demands my attention. However, with three very good films now in the can, he’s also got one of the best win-loss records of any filmmaker I’m currently following. I’ll even go so far as to say Nope is his best film to date.
Nope is Peele’s first entry into a more overt blend of science fiction with horror. There’s probably a little more sci-fi in this story of two siblings (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer), whose difficult life trying to manage their late father’s (Keith David) California horse ranch is suddenly made a little more complex by the appearance of a flying saucer. There’s comedy in this, but that soon gives way to something sinister and altogether unique in this particular sub-genre.
Without spoiling anything significant for those who still haven’t seen it (my grace period for spoilers is 6 months), Nope has more than a few surprises in terms of how this basic premise unfolds. Peele has yet to direct a film that doesn’t subvert at least some of your expectations, and Nope might be his wildest gesture to that end. You may feel as though there should have been more when the story begins to make a certain sense. I’m more than pleased with the entertainment value, punctuated with some deeply unsettling notions. I sincerely hope there isn’t a sequel.
Prey (2022): B+
Image © 20th Century Studios
I must admit that a certain degree of indifference to the Predator franchise. I like most of these movies, but I’m rarely in a particular mood to watch them. Prey is seemingly made with someone like me in mind, as well as just about anyone else who appreciates a lean, fun, and satisfyingly intense story of a Comanche warrior named Naru (Amber Midthunder, an actor who is only going to get even better) taking a brutal stand against a Predator. Set 300 years before the events of the iconic 1987 film, Prey promoted itself as an earnest effort to strip this series back down to its essentials, while also telling a story wholly unique from what we’ve seen in this series in the past.
Prey succeeds in all these endeavors, with beautiful cinematography, editing, music, and costumes. You’re not necessarily thinking about these things as you appreciate the movie’s masterful pacing and formidable performances from Midthunder and the rest, but Prey is what you get when this series is firing on all its very best cylinders. Nothing feels shortchanged here, with strong characters and motivations to drive along the movie’s more visceral thrills.
A lot of people are calling Prey the best Predator since the first one. It’s hard to argue with that. Where the series goes next is anyone’s guess, but there are some valuable lessons here that I hope the next group will keep in mind.
The Dead Center (2018): B-
Image © Arrow Video | Sequitur Cinema
Lo-fi might be a good way to describe everything that goes down in The Dead Center. While the movie may move too slow for some, with a climax that suitably matches a movie that focuses on character and slowly-spiraling circumstances, I found the film to be a frightening and psychologically troubling look at the dangers of using empathy to fill a void.
Being kind is important and valuable, and we see that kindness in characters like Daniel Forrester (Shane Carruth) and Sarah Grey (Poorna Jagannathan). Both work at a hospital, with Daniel trying to do the best he can as a psychiatrist who deals with extreme cases that come through the emergency room. An amnesiac (Jeremy Childs) who claims to have died and returned from the void with something horrifying and powerful catches his attention, as you might think it would. Danie’s investigation soon becomes an obsession, and it soon becomes apparent that this amnesiac has indeed fallen under the influence of something as brutal as it is unfathomable.
The Dead Center has its supernatural elements, but it’s really more of a psychological horror film than anything else. This may be a disappointment to those hoping for a stylish, visually inventive movie. If you’re interested in something that focuses more on the people trying to make sense of a genuine mystery, The Dead Center will prove ripe for your discovery.
Blue Collar (1978): A+
Image © Universal Pictures
Apparently one of Bruce Springsteen’s favorite movies, Blue Collar might just be Paul Schrader’s best work as a director. Paul’s filmography in general can make for a wild ride, and Blue Collar is one of his most pointed commentaries as a filmmaker, but with a sense of rage behind its working-class heroes and villains that could almost be described as optimistic. Almost. As the movie unfolds, with three Michigan auto workers (Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, and Richard Pryor) becoming entangled in complications after desperation compels them to rob their place of business, it becomes pretty clear that we’re still in grim territory. The best Paul Schrader films, particularly when we talk about the ones he’s written, often deal in a universe that punishes the good and evil alike, and often contorts good intentions into something darker and bleaker.
Yet Blue Collar is not an overly depressing film. It features riveting, complex performances by Keitel, Kotto, and most notably Richard Pryor in what might be the best acting work he was ever given the chance to do. The film’s pacing and tension are as relentless as they are expertly timed and delivered. Everyone in this film is working at their very best, and the film’s larger points about greed and corruption, particularly of the soul, are sadly as relevant now as they’ve ever been.
Gabriel Ricard writes, edits, and occasionally acts. His books Love and Quarters and Bondage Night are available through Moran Press, in addition to A Ludicrous Split (Alien Buddha Press) and Clouds of Hungry Dogs (Kleft Jaw Press). He is also a writer, performer, and producer with Belligerent Prom Queen Productions. He lives on a horrible place called Long Island.