Horror Watch: Backrooms (2026)

Watched:  10/04/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Kane Parsons

During lockdown, I went down a lot of YouTube holes.  One of the ways I wasted my hours was watching "urban exploration" - videos of people going into facilities and structures which have been abandoned.  

These videos cover everything from empty hospitals with equipment collecting dust to prisons with rotting bars to defunct mega-construction projects in China.  Some folks hit old forts and underground military bunkers left over from the Cold War.  And houses - often mansions, that have simply been left to rot.

The videos are always marginally disturbing.  Buildings are *designed*.  They have purpose where form meets function.   You can see the massive expense for these places, from the labor needed to build them to the equipment and furnishings.  And then... something happened and everyone went away.

The buildings, tunnels, etc.. are left to decay.  America's former malls are a wild thing to behold.  Nature reclaims what it can, rain comes through ceilings, vines and mold grow in odd places.  a layer of dust a half inch thick may have formed in the older examples.

Sci-FI Watch: Project Hail Mary (2026)

Watched:  10/03/2026

Format:  Amazon Prime

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Lord & Miller

I've already seen Project Hail Mary (2026) once in the theater this year.

The book and movie are favorites here at League HQ, especially with Jamie.  She wanted to pick a movie, it had been six months since we'd seen this one, so I was in agreement.  

I will say, as much as I enjoyed this movie again, it was one I'd say should have been seen on the big screen.  It's a sensory experience from the elaborate visuals to the sound to the score.  It's good at home, but it was something else in an auditorium.  

I have heard the social media chatter around this movie is very weird, with edge lords who are mad that our lead character is a relatable human being instead of a gritty kick-ass guy, and then the folks who can only relate to media by turning it into wank material frustrated that there's no one to "ship" Grace with other than a rock.*

Sigh.

Anyway...  I am not going to write up a movie again that I liked perfectly well, already discussed, as well as discussing the book.

*apparently a kick-ass, brilliant woman (with a lovely shade of hair) who gets shit done is not an option

Horror Watch: Weapons (2025)

Watched: 10/03/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Zach Creggar

Y'all, I did not think Weapons (2025) was a good movie, so if you love it, you might as well either close this post or leap to the comments to tell me I didn't get it.

Weapons was a big f'ing deal when it came out.  Horror fiends lauded it, and it's still tracking at an 81 on Metacritic.  So, I know that much like Taylor Swift, it's me.  I'm the problem.

Horror Watch: Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Watched:  10/02/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Robert Hiltzik

So, all I knew about Sleepaway Camp (1983) was this image:

And that 43 years later, it seems like this movie still has an enthusiastic cult following.  

I also saw it was part of Prime, so... why not?

Well, the "why not?" is probably good taste and better judgement, but this is The Signal Watch, and we're in short supply on both.  

Totter Western Watch: The Vanishing American (1955)

Watched:  10/01/2026

Format:  YouTube

Viewing:  First

Director:  Joseph Kane

The Vanishing American (1955) is based on a Zane Grey novel that is supposed to be pretty good.  The novel is about a Navajo kid taken from home, raised by White folks, sent to college and the collision of his worlds.

This movie uses a tad of that as background for why it's male hero is more relatable to our female lead (Audrey Totter) but focuses on... the hot blonde and her land dispute.  Because it's 1955, people, and we don't want to make the audience feel things when we could just be having a rollicking adventure.

Happy Birthday, Angie Dickinson

Today is the 95th birthday of screen legend Angie Dickinson.

Because of my personal tastes, my favorite of her movies is Point Blank, which I saw at the Castro in San Francisco many years ago with Jenifer, Dug and K.  Dickinson was in attendance and kept the audience of about a thousand enthralled.

As a Rat Pack adjacent young star, Dickinson is sort of the avatar of the connection between mid-Century American cinema and what would come after in film and television.

If you've never seen Point Blank, fix that.

Horror Catch-Up Watch: Obsession (2025)

Watched:  09/28/2026

Format:  Peacock

Viewing:  First

Director:  Curry Barker

I only knew a few things before going into Obsession (2025):

• It made an insane amount of money (~$520 million) on a modest indie-horror budget
• I knew Inde Navarrette from the excellent Superman & Lois where she played the daughter of Lana Lang

I guess I also knew that Navarrette's character, Nikki, was obsessed with some guy and magic was involved.  And the audience was primarily young people and a few older horror-heads who wanted to see what the fuss is about.

Obsession (2025) isn't just a young person's movie, it's a young person's movie of the modern age of young people.  

Forgot to Post Watch: Miller's Crossing (1990)

Watched:  09/09/2026

Format:  YouTube Movies

Viewing:  ha ha ha ha

Director:  The Coen Bros.

I forgot to post that I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago.  I don't even know which day.

So, no post.  Here's my podcast on the film from a few years ago when we were podcasting.  Thanks, JimD, for the excellent time back in the day.

Marvel Watch: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019)

Watched:  09/26 and 09/27

Format:  BluRay and Regal Cinemas in 3D

Viewing:  Unknown/ Unknown

Director:  The Russos

I don't know that we've ever truly reckoned with what Marvel pulled off across 22 movies between 2008 and 2019.  Instead, we've spent the post-Endgame years grappling with how Marvel seemed to overproduce Marvel content leading to a lack of cohesiveness as the films and shows became uneven and diluted. 

For the youths who are now young adults, what bugs me the most is that they take what Marvel did between 2008 and 2019 *for granted*.  

Look, in no way was it obvious that one could make almost two dozen movies, each film working independently, but also all building to some capstone movies that had a complete and character driven arc for their lead characters while making more money than the GDP of many countries.  

Crampton Watch: Poison (2001)

Watched:  09/27/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Jim Wynorski

Always a good sign when a movie has been given multiple names.  This one is listed as Poison (2001) on IMDB, but is also listed as Thy Neighbor's Wife, but I found it - for free - on Amazon as Midnight Vendetta.  

Why did I find it?  I was thinking "man, it's been a while since I watched a Barbara Crampton movie."  And while I am not gearing up to see *every* Barbara Crampton movie, stranger things have happened.