Mike Johnston

Mark Duplass in this role is so goddamn good and creepy. He’s so goofy like his character in The League but has such an interesting dark side that is so captivating. I love the quick runtime with a rapid pace through this documentary style filmmaking. Just insanely well done on what I assume is a miniscule budget to create such a cool style of horror movie.

Rose Glass is now on the list of young directors who will have me seated no matter what. I was a big fan of Love Lies Bleeding last year and I still prefer that, but Saint Maud is an outstanding directorial debut that features an awesome performance by Morfydd Clark who I only recognize as Galadriel in the Prime Rings of Power series. Her screen presence and unreliability as a makn character had me hooked from the beginning. It’s a slow burn but for a movie just over 80 minutes, that doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of it in the slightest. There were a couple scenes that were truly terrifying with the last 10ish minutes insanely scary for no reason. Great stuff here.

I’m still not entirely sure if Cronenberg is for me yet. I still have to watch some of his classics, but I’m a bit mixed on him as of now. Crimes of the Future is interesting with a few really good performances and an intriguing dystopian concept with these surgeries being the new sex with an emphasis on Cronenberg’s use of body horror. I like the exploration of human evolution that was done here and the premise of the movie, but I think it took me too long to buy into the mysterious nature of the film through the first 30 minutes or so. Viggo Mortensen is incredible and I will watch him in literally anything, but I didn’t fully love this. It didn’t make me feel queasy like other body horrors, but this just wasn’t fully my cup of tea. This is a good movie but I struggle at labeling it anything more. This feels like I may have to rewatch in the future.

I didn’t think a sequel was needed but this is damn fun. I’ll never complain about Ethan Hawke getting to have fun and get lost in a role. It’s campy, it’s gory, but the psychological aspect and lore along with the really cool style of the dream sequences made this a super good time at the theater.