Stranger Things: S01E07 The Bathtub
Dr. Brenner and crew are closing in on our boy wonders and Eleven, our intrepid superhero. The opening scene shows Lucas warning Mike, Dustin, and Eleven that the bad men are coming for them. Thus proceeds one of the most…
Oh! The Horror… of ‘Darling (2015)’
If Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965) succumbed to heavier edits and bought into a Dario Argento-esque aesthetic of blood and gore, the product might look like something akin to Mickey Keating’s 2015 independent feature, Darling. Keating unashamedly wears his Repulsion influence…
Stranger Things: S01E05 The Flea and The Acrobat
What does it take to clarify the central conceit of a science fiction series? When a humble science teacher, Mr. Clarke, uses a paper plate to explain the “theoretical” existence of other dimensions. The Acrobat is walking a tightrope and…
Stranger Things: S01E03 Holly Jolly
Barb is dead. Long live Barb! Nancy gives in to Steve’s consistent pursuit of her after the pool party while Barb struggles out of what the audience now comes to see as a parallel reality: She is in the swimming…
Stranger Things: S01E01 The Vanishing of Will Byers
By the time the mysterious, shaven-head girl, Eleven, emerges from the woods and meets our three intrepid boy wonders, we have completed the first episode of The Duffer Brothers’ new Netflix series, Stranger Things, and been plunged into a 80s-tinged…
Review| Green Room
Jeremy Saulnier’s last film, 2013’s Blue Ruin, was a vengeance flick with a flare for equal amounts of comedy and tragedy. It’s characters, narrative and outcomes actually felt satisfyingly realistic. None of the clean-cut, glorified vengeful murder set pieces found…
Review| The Witch
A few days back it was announced that Robert Eggers’ The Witch had gained public support from the Satanic Temple as “a Satanic experience.” I, in a potentially controversial move, publicly declared this news to be a good omen for…