Wow, Whoa – A GHOST STORY (2017)

Original Post Date: 01.08.19

Hello! Happy New Year! 2019 is here and so am I. Let’s talk movies, shall we? (keeping this one short and sweet) 

Have you watched A Ghost Story (2017)? Yes, the main character is a ghost, but no, it is not a horror movie. Regardless, I enjoyed it a lot (omg the ending!) and was inspired by the amazing cinematography, I mean, I liked it so much that I was “Wow-ing” and “Whoa-ing” all throughout the film due to its powerful visuals. Don’t believe me? Just take a quick look:

Like I said, whoa! (and short and sweet, bye)

- Marath

© 2016-2019

THIS FRESH BLOOD: The Reflecting Skin (1990)

Original Post Date: 12.25.18

The Reflecting Skin (1990) tells the story of little Seth Dove who lives with his dysfunctional family in 50’s rural America. Seth is eight years old and likes to play with his friends and kill frogs and scare people. One could say he is living a rough childhood.

Seth idolizes his big brother, tolerates his mother, and hangs around with his father a little too much (I am not going to get into it, you will have to find out by yourself if you decide to watch the movie). His father is the reason why he thinks the ‘odd’ neighbor is a Vampire, but only because he shared what a Vampire was in the first place as Seth was curious about what dad was reading… he was reading about Vampires.

So naturally, when Seth’s mom made him go apologize to the ‘odd’ neighbor for scaring her with the exploding frog, Seth—with his young and naive hyper-active imagination—made the decision to believe she was one of those Vampires papa had told him about. This is when Seth seals the grim fate for those around him.

By this point in the story a lot of very disturbing events happened around Seth, none of them involving the ‘odd’ neighbor whose name was Dolphin Blue by the way. (Regarding the disturbing events, I am leaving them out of this post because I can’t even you guys.) But hey, wait, not everything was totally bad for our main little guy as his brother returned from the military which made Seth so incredibly happy. The thing was, when the brother, Cameron, saw Dolphin he was taken with her almost immediately, no, really, it was like seeing a moth to a flame; this made Seth angry so Cameron tried to patch things up with him by sharing some photographs that he had in his wallet.

This last picture with the three photographs was so powerful to me. A grown man showing images of Sex and Violence juxtaposed with real Family to a kid just to bond? I have opinions. Anywhohow.

By the way, did I mention there was a creepy dead baby? Yep. Our little guy found it and kept it under his bed and believed it was his dead friend now in the form of an angel… also, side note, I am just remembering a funny line from Seth when Cameron asked him to leave him alone and go out and play with his friends; Seth said, “I can’t, they are all dead.” The way he said it was so matter-of-factly that my jaw dropped. Wow, Seth.

Okay, let’s go back to Cameron and Dolphin’s romance for a sec. They seemed to be the real deal and actually made plans to live together on their own and mind you, Seth still strongly believed Dolphin was a real Vampire, he even confronted Cameron when Cameron complained he was suddenly ‘getting old’ as he was noticeably losing weight, losing hair, and on top of things had bleeding gums. (Okay, honey, little Seth, baby, it was the 50’s in rural America, there could have been at least a dozen medical reasons why your brother was having those symptoms, malnutrition being the first one that comes to mind but okay, you want to play Van Helsing, be my guest I guess.) Where was I? Oh yeah, Seth confronts Cameron and tells him Dolphin was drinking his blood (he spied on them while being intimate) and that he should stop seeing her, to what Cameron took offense because Goddammit you are a kid and vampires do not exist!

It is now time to get serious in this post.

So, murders have been happening in this small town where everyone knows each other, yet no one, not even the police, knows who is behind the killings. The thing was, Seth saw a gang in a black car abduct his friend—same friend who later on turned out dead inside a shed—but didn’t tell anyone, not even to the police, of what he had seen. My personal Marath reasoning for this was because in his mind, Seth ‘knew’ the Vampire had to be behind the killings for sure, so the gang was just a coincidence…

Enter the following scene. Dolphin was waiting to catch a ride into the city, and while waiting she and Seth had a super weird conversation as she was telling him how one day he was going to get old and be alone and die to what Seth didn’t take so well. So Seth, realizing the gang in the black car was back and was going to give a ride to Dolphin, didn’t say anything and let her get in the car without warning her. Was Seth trying to take vengeance on her for ‘hurting’ his brother? Or was he really that naive and didn’t put two and two together about the gang being the killers?

Okay, this frame tells me Seth was trying to hurt her by letting the killers take her (devilish grin):

This one tells me he had no idea the gang was dangerous (kid being a kid):

3, 2, 1, Surprise! Dolphin is dead and your brother is heartbroken. Double surprise! By her being dead proves that Dolphin was not a Vampire and that Vampires are not real. What you believed in was wrong and unknowingly (big question mark?) you sent a woman to her grave, Seth. Now feel bad about it.

Like I said, rough childhood.

- Marath

Andrea’s Journey aka Amityville: It’s About Time (1992)

Original Post Date: 12.22.18

Andrea is a complicated woman experiencing normal human emotions. Andrea hasn’t moved on from a defunct long-term relationship with a widower. She used to live with him and his two kids at his house. Used to. Years later, Andrea still babysits the kids, now teenagers. Andrea needs to move on.

Amityville: It’s About Time (1992) tells the story of a haunted clock taken from the original evil Amityville house, however, this horror tale focuses on the human struggle as told by a female perspective, the possessed clock is just a very important background element.

This was my second time watching this movie. The first time I did I was a kid and let me tell you something, it kind of messed me up. As an eleven year-old my brain was definitely not ready to take in all the information and imagery presented in the story, because the story was—as I just came to realize—a very adult story.

So Jacob, Andrea’s ex, goes to New York for work and has her look after his family while he is away; when he comes back he brings a souvenir, the clock. Andrea is ready to leave but Jacob convinces her to spend the night and thanks to this conversation she gives us the best line from the movie:

“I hate having regret for breakfast.” – Andrea

So yeah, she spends the night and has great sex with him. Next morning, Andrea has some weird interaction with the kids, Lisa and Rusty, before leaving for her class at grad school. Meanwhile, our guy Jacob decides to go for a run and oh no, he gets viciously attacked by a dog, and guess what, Andrea decides to take care of him while he heals. DUN DUN DUUUUN!!!

This is when it goes downhill for Andrea. Listen, honey, as a strong independent woman (ew, cringe) it makes me so mad to see smart women do dumb stuff because of a guy. I’m like, honey, no, just wake up and do you, you know what I mean? Anywhohow.

So yes, the clock, don’t forget about the clock. The clock in the house is playing tricks on everyone: Jacob becomes a hot mess of a maniac slob, Lisa becomes an aggressive hot nymphomaniac, and Rusty becomes an adorable confused mess.

HOT MESS:

HOT:

MESS:

At this point Andrea realizes she is over her head, yet, she does not make the decision to get the hell out of there so she has her current boyfriend, Leonard, go visit her at Jacob’s house. The boyfriend is not only an insightful Psychiatrist, but also a very likable and handsome man.

“You have a pyromaniacal Nazi down the hall. You’ve got a toxic lunatic in the master bedroom. The only one around here that seems normal is Lisa and that’s because I’ve not met her yet.” -Leonard

Then, because it was a horror movie, a bunch of messed up things happened and people died, normal gory stuff. [Side note: I must mention that this film was unintentionally funny and made me laugh, unironically. It was that organic lighthearted humor from the 90’s that makes you feel nostalgic for the good old days. Anywhohow.]

The ending was so good and worth the wait… but I don’t mean the movie was boring or anything, on the contrary, all the things that happened, all the characters and uncomfortable moments between them, all the unique ways that the clock controlled time (stopping, slowing, fast-forwarding, rewinding) was so entertaining to watch! What I meant by worth the wait was because since the clock restarted time (after exploding) to the beginning of the movie when Andrea was watching the kids, it did so in a way that Andrea was the only one remembering the whole ordeal and, honey, she finally said No more and left! Success! Good for her!

“It’s about time, that’s what.” -Andrea

—Marath