A Horror Film Blog

 Suitable Flesh materialised on Shudder recently and I watched it almost straight away. I had low expectations.  They were not met.  I mean that in a bad way. I knew, going in, it was a product of the Troma-style group of film makers associated with Stuart Gordon, a film maker often but inaccurately described as an 'adapter' and sometimes even a 'great' or even the 'greatest' adapter of Lovecraft's fiction. This accolade only makes sense if you have a) never read any of Lovecraft's fiction and b) never seen a Stuart Gordon film.  If you have done both, you'll know even if Stuart Gordon was the only person trying to adapt Lovecraft, he wouldn't be the best.  Some non-Euclidean director existing only in the curious space beyond the walls of Keziah Mason's would be doing a better job, even if the films produced could only be viewed though special spectacles manufactured by Migo and had the unfortunate side effect of rendering the viewer insane. ...

Finally, after a long line of grotesque, sadistic and exploitative trash masquerading as horror I stumbled upon  Offseason  , directed by Mickey Keating, a near brilliant film. It will be appreciated by those who like atmosphere, suspense and the horror arising from being trapped; but disappoint those who like gore, jump scares, nudity and on camera eviscerations. "Just try and blend in, everything will be fine." Keating seems to have gleaned a lot of information about Things I Like and put them all together in one place: films that centre on strong female characters; abandoned places; a pervading sense of doom or punishment for crimes known or unknown; and that mysterious hinterland where the land becomes the sea.  It's also a very Lovecraftian films without actually invoking Lovecraft. So it has a nodding acquaintance with films like Carpenter;s The Fog (there  is s lot of fog billowing about the empty streets in Off Season); the magnificent Messiah of Evil directe...

It took me a while to catch up with this loose Lovecraft adaptation.  In fact, it has taken me over two decades.  Even great Cthulhu, locked in aeon long slumber in sunken R'lyeh, thinks I'm taking things a bit slowly. The reason for my dalliance is fear.  Not of being scared of the film - I'm familiar with the concept of fiction and I'm pretty sure that's what Lovecraft was writing - but being scared of disappointment.  When it comes to Lovecraft adaptations there are very few good ones.  Reanimator ?  Give me a break.  It's a lurid, trashy comedy with an unpleasant streak of 80s misogyny running through it. So I viewed Dagon with trepidation, especially when I learned the man behind the camera was none other than the director of Reanimator and self appointed master of Lovecraft adaptations, Stuart Gordon.  The man is certainly a trier, still seeking to convince the world of Scary Movie that it should really be interested in the profoundly unfu...