As October continues to be eerily hot, here are some more movies to watch with the air conditioning on:
Murder Party: There is a scene towards the end of this film where a Greenpoint hipster, dressed as one of the Baseball Furies from The Warriors,
is hunting someone down while walking through a Brooklyn art show. He is ignored by most of the party despite being covered in blood and screaming. Finally he walks into a room where there are several people posing for a “still life” exhibition. “Fuck this scene,” he says quietly, “everyone dies.” He then beats them all to death with his baseball bat before his head is split in half with a chainsaw.
This is an especially gruesome scene in Murder Party, a new Brooklyn-based horror movie that was a favorite at Slamdance and is now available on Netflix. The rest of the film is actually quite funny, and tells the story of a clueless guy who is invited to a “murder party,” not realizing that he will be the centerpiece in a twisted art show concocted by a group of clueless, apathetic hipsters. I strongly recommend this to not only horror fans, but all Brooklynites as well. If you like your horror with a little comedy, like Shaun of the Dead or Sliver, you’d probably enjoy this too.
Wait Until Dark: Audrey Hepburn stars as a blind woman who unknowingly has people snooping around her apartment, looking for a toy doll that is filled with heroin. This film is very similar to Hitchcock, and is based on a play by Frederick Knott (who, not surprisingly, also wrote Dial M For Murder). Audrey Hepburn is incredible, as is a young and terrifying Alan Arkin, who plays the brutish Harry Roat. While it’s not exactly action packed, the finale is great and completely unexpected. Strongly recommended for Hitchcock fans, as well as fans of psychological horror films like Copycat or claustrophic films like Bug.
Stir of Echoes: This movie came out at almost the exact same time as The Sixth Sense and was completely overshadowed by M. Night’s twist ending and Haley Joel Osmentness. Kevin Bacon stars as Tom Witzky, a Chicago utilities lineman who starts seeing fucked up things after being hypnotized at a party. His son can see things too (yet another similarity to the above) and the two of them have to work together to solve a savage neighborhood crime. This one was less gimmicky than M. Night’s, and personally, I’ll take Bacon over Bruce any day. Also, the Bacon Brothers are not featured on the soundtrack. Considering the way that Kevin Bacon’s character pulls a Jack Torrance, I’d recommend this to fans of the Shining.
May: I couldn’t figure out whether I wanted to put May or Ginger Snaps on here. Both feature a female lead, and are new takes on horror legends. I decided to put May because I think the director, Lucky McKee, has a cooler name. May is the story of a young woman with no friends. She works at an animal hospital where she assists in surgeries and learns the fundamentals of working with needles and sewing people up. She is socially awkward, but meets a guy (Jeremy Sisto) who she begins to date because she finds his hands so attractive. She weirds him out and he starts to leave, until she comes up with the idea that she can make her own friend using spare parts. It’s creepy fun, but also a little disturbing. Check it out if you’ve always thought that Tim Burton could stand to be a little sicker and a little less sentimental.
And that’s all for now. More next week!
