As much as I love horror movies, I love movies that are weird that are like, horror adjacent so much more. With movies like that, you really have to think, “Is this scary? Or is this just bizarre?” What I love about horror is that the stuff that scares us doesn’t really have to be scary to everyone. Some people can just think it’s weird. So, I love re watching movies, especially after reading people’s ~theories and opinions~. Even if they don’t match my own.

A good example of this phenomenon is Mother!

Is it good? Yes, it’s wonderfully acted (despite your wrong opinions) and I think that the themes of the movie made people look down on it. I personally appreciate this movie. I watched it again, and was able to make more connections to other sources besides The Bible. Like, this could be an opposite retelling of Rosemary’s Baby.

Do I think it’s scary? Absolutely not. I’ve seen Begotten, which is pretty similar to the themes of this film. Which is also much more weird than scary; but like, I see what they were trying to do.

Do I think it’s weird? Yes, mostly because there is no way Mother thee Earth is a conventionally attractive white woman. Also, it’s weird because of the biblical stuff being put in a concise story. Hate! the ending. But at the same time, how else was it going to end?It really made me think about how it’s all going to end for us. We should probably be recycling more

Here are a few more weird movies I’ve watched (ok… re watched) recently.

The Lighthouse.

Even though I hate Twilight, I do really like Robert Pattinson’s acting. And, you know…I’m sort of a Willem Dafoe fan myself. I’ve written about The Lighthouse before. My first impression of this film made me think this movie was scary AF. The first time I viewed this, I didn’t feel like it was scary. I found it thrilling and thought provoking. The second through like fifteenth times, I thought it was hilarious because it’s so gay. And, as Fall Out Boy and Hilary Duff have told us time and time again, gay is not a pseudonym for sh*tty. I mean, these men are literally homosexuals in denial. And to me,that’s funny because like…They’re in the middle of the ocean…who is going to know? Who’s gonna care?

But, something about the sixteenth time scared me. Like, laying in my bed thinking about what the ending actually meant. Or, when it did end, frankly we do not know.

• Did Ephraim die when Thomas Wake dropped him whilst painting? And the rest is the afterlife?
• Did Ephraim not exist and The Lighthouse was Thomas Howard’s afterlife? Or vise versa?
• Did Ephraim die on the way to the lighthouse and end up in Hell instead of the place he was supposed to be working? As we know in Dante’s Inferno, Hell is very cold and wet thanks to the former anger of light flapping his wings. If this is Hell and the lighthouse represents Lucifer…What did Thomas Wake do to also be there? And, I know that this is also supposed to be a modern interpretation of Prometheus. But why can’t it also be inspired by both? The Lighthouse movie was originally supposed to be an adaptation of the Light-House by Edgar Allan Poe. And we do know that Eggers was inspired by more than one piece of art. So why can’t he be inspired by both Prometheus and Dante’s interpretation of Satan?

• Were Thomas Wake and Thomas Howard/Ephraim the same person, which would explain why “self abuse” and homosexuality were recurring themes in the film?
• Did Wake literally curse Ephraim over some lobster?
• Are they both experiencing mercury poisoning?
• Did killing that Seagull seal Ephraim’s fate? Does the Seagull have any connection to the real Ephraim Winslow? Is the seagull the other, other guy that was that there with Thomas Wake?

I have a million more questions, but we have to move on….

Come to Daddy

I don’t know where I’ve been, but apparently Elijah Wood has been doing King Shit when it comes to horror. I did not know he was the founder of SprectreVision, a production company that makes really good horror movies; almost exclusively. This includes one of my favorite vampire movies, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and of course: Mandy. Mandy is a movie I bully people to watch and they thank me for it. I should have known that he knew what was what in horror. My favorite segment in Paris,Je t’aime has Elijah Wood in it! And, it’s a horror segment that doesn’t feel too out of place in a movie that does focus on the more romantic aspects of Paris.

When I found out that Elijah Wood had a good eye for horror, I decided to watch Come To Daddy. As y’all know, due to events that still feel too recent for me, I try to avoid stuff regarding fathers. This movie was not what I expected,but in a good way. I am totally the kind of person that knows what’s going to happen before it happens.

I literally guessed EVERYTHING in Knives Out. Except I thought Ransome was going to marry Marta and get the money after making people think she did it. I did immediately buy a cable knit sweater dress after the movie, so I guess I’m predicable too. You can get a similar dress here, because I’m not letting us buy the same dress, sorry.

Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised by Come To Daddy. The trailers frame it as a horror/survival type of movie where you’re under the impression the main character’s “Daddy” is trying to kill him out in the woods. That is NOT what is going on at all.

Something really neat about this movie is that it was funny. Funny in a similar way to The Lighthouse. Like, some people’s idea of masculinity is hilarious to me.Also, who tf is Arthur?

Taxidermia

Listen up hotties, thotties and the ghost of John Gotti: misophonia is real. If you don’t believe me, watch this movie.In addition to being weird….. It’s gross. And, a lot of things don’t gross me out. It’s about three generations of men (There’s a theme to these movies, my bad) who are all literally so disgusting.

And bay-bee!! I am not exaggerating when I say, Every time I even THINK about this movie, I do not eat for the rest of the day. This movie is really disgusting, and for like three days, I felt like it was gross for no reason at all. In fact, the first amazon review of this movie suggests that the makers of this film (directed by György Pálfi and written by Lajos Parti Nagy and also Pálfi ) need mental health counseling. I felt like that was rude (but like…..), so I looked up why they made this film. It’s a political metaphor, and then I realized that it makes sense from what little I know of life in Hungary at any point in time. I feel like that puts a lot of things into perspective. I can see where they were coming from with this weird and gross movie. I think you have to be big brained to get the metaphors to begin with.Kind of how like Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is about The Italian Social Republic/Nazis. But I think it’s better if you don’t know because it’s an opportunity to learn about something you might not have considered learning about before.

I like movies like this. Do I resent the fact-a-rooni that the only two eyeballs I get in this world saw a dude possibly pork a pig? Yes, of course, absolutely. But now, I understand how desperately post war men craved pleasures they felt were owed to them after fighting in a war. I totally get that the next generation got these pleasures in excess, hence the speed eating (and fatness…first gen craved, second man indulged). The third generation man wanted to preserve what he could (he’s a taxidermist) and was obsessed with the idea of being around for ever because it was like, post Hungarian Revolution and everyone was under the threat of dying every damn day. Like they are all gross, but it makes sense. It’s not just gross to be gross. It’s not just making fun of fat people or skinny people. But, it’s also not the body positive crappola that mainstream America pushes on us (personally, I’m a big fan of body neutrality, but that’s neither here or there.)

And you know what? Maybe I am big brained because….three generations…..three courses….It be like that sometimes.