Hallo-Watch: Salem's Lot (2024)

Watched:  10/15/2025

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Gary Dauberman

How does one make a movie that is supposed to be horrifying just weirdly annoying to watch?

Salem's Lot (2024) is here to crack this mystery wide open.  

Poor Steven King.  Probably tired of being mistaken for author Stephen King who wrote the book this movie is based on, which had a TV series or some such of it made back when I was a wee tot and missed the show.  And Stephen King has become a master of horror novels which have only been made into good movies if Stanley Kubrick takes the novel as a suggestion or its Rob Reiner making Stand By Me, which is not horror.    I do like Christine, though.  And Silver Bullet has its moments.  But neither is a patch on the books.*

Writer/ Director Gary Dauberman took a beloved American novel, wrote down "vampires" on a yellow pad, jotted down the character names from the book, and as near as Wikipedia can tell me, paid little attention to anything else.  And, instead, he wrote a nonsense script where everyone is dumb as a bag of rocks to the point where I was wondering if the movie was supposed to be a satire or spoof at times.  

Hallo-Watch: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

Watched:  10/14/2025

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  First

Director:  William Dieterle

Back in the 1970's and early 1980's, we were coming out of a monster movie craze aimed at kids.  I don't know how serious the craze was, but it did mean I wound up with a lot of monster movie books - but there was never a great criteria for what made a movie monster.  You might see the Wolf Man listed, which made sense - he changes shape and attacks nice folks.  And then you'd see The Phantom of the Opera, who is just a dude with an unfortunate condition and a penchant for sopranos, but did murder plenty of people.  And then, like, Jaws. So, large animals.   

Even as a kid I found the inclusion of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) odd.  He was just a guy with a physical condition, and he wasn't out slitting throats or anything.  If his condition made him a monster, I had an elementary school guidance counselor who should have been far spookier and less of a great guy.

In short, this is a drama, not a horror movie.  It would be like calling Mask a horror movie because it has make-up effects to change an actor's appearance.  You live and learn.

Anyway, there is this 1939 version starring Charles Laughton and a very young Maureen O'Hara  (she's like 18 here) and then there's the OG silent version starring Lon Chaney, which I've never seen, but I will take in soon.  I've seen the Disney version on a 13" TV on VHS once, didn't like it much, and moved on with my life.

Drew Struzan Merges With The Infinite

 

Artist Drew Struzan, who painted the iconic posters for a wide, wide range of favorite movies during my lifetime, has passed.

I include the poster for Big Trouble in Little China above as, if Jamie would tolerate it, we'd most certainly have it up in the house.  Not only does it feature tremendous likenesses of Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall, reason enough to have such a poster, it really captures the spirit of the film, full of action, supernatural nonsense, and two dopes caught in the middle.

Hallo-Watch: The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Watched:  10/12/2025

Format:  Prime

Viewing:  First

Director:  George Miller

I checked Roger Ebert's review of The Witches of Eastwick (1987).  Look, some movies are a product of their time, and this is one.  Ebert found it an edgy, sexy romp.  And that was how I remember the movie being discussed in 1987.

I finally got to the movie here in 2025, and in short, all of the interesting bits are left off-screen.  We hear about them, can infer or guess other bits.  But we're still in 1980's America here, and if you want to not wind up in the midnight movie ghetto, you keep it polite so Mom and Dad have a movie they can sneak off to go see and leave you alone with a rented copy of Beastmaster.  

The Witches of Eastwick is about two divorcees and a widow (Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher) who live in a small Rhode Island town where they are hit upon by married men and saddled with lives they don't want.  The three get together on Thursdays to eat processed crap food, drink, play cards and have someone listen.

During one such session, they describe what they want in a man, and, lo and behold, these three women - with what X-Men comics would call latent magical abilities - seem to summon exactly that man to their town in the form of Jack Nicholson/ some light version of Satan.  

Nicholson buys a massive mansion (think Newport on steroids) and proceeds to be an ass around town and impresses everyone he meets.  

He swiftly seduces Cher, Sarandon and... in front of the other two, Pfeiffer.  

Chabert Hallo-Watch: Haul Out The Halloween (2025)

Watched: 10/12/2025

Format:  Hallmark+

Viewing:  First

Director:  Maclain Nelson

Job: Copywriter/ Children's Book Author

Location of story:  Evergreen Lane - which I think is in Salt Lake City

new skill:  it's an old skill remembered - how to draw and write kid's books

Man:  Wes Brown

Job of Man:  Architect

Goes to/ Returns to:  stays in same place (this is the 3rd installment)

Event:  Halloween street fair

Food:  Cookies

Well, Ms. Lacey Chabert has released a new movie upon the Hallmark channel, and so we're back!

This is the third installment in the Haul Out the Holly Saga, a movie series which is about people who are absolutely nuts for holidays, their HOA and rules.  We've abandoned Christmas for Halloween this go-round, which - given the first movies are about going over the top with traditions - seems appropriate.  

This is, I should mention, a wacky comedy series with everything about the 'burbs heightened and zany, so don't take it too seriously.  It's a departure from Hallmark's usual "the characters are all smiling to let you know a joke happened" style of comedy, and, instead, works more like an 00's-era comedy - complete with joke-every-15-second pop culture referencing and a rap by Octogenarians.  

Hallo-Watch: Hereditary (2018)

Watched:  10/12/2025

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Ari Aster

I really liked Midsommar by the same director, and I'd heard about 75% good things about Hereditary (2018) and maybe 25% meh to bad.  

Alas, the only scary thing in this movie is the pacing.   I get trying to build a mood, but holy cats, the mood should not be "for the love of Mike, get on with it".  The two hour run time felt like more than three.  And it just wasn't my bag, baby.  

I guess maybe if I hadn't already seen Midsommar, this might have been more effective, but that is not how things transpired.  Frankly, I was shocked at the audacity of Aster to have two movies with such similar endings back to back.  

The premise is fine, I guess.  Weird, controlling mother dies.  Daughter is accidentally killed.  Whoops, there's a secret cult worshipping an off-brand demon who has inhabited the daughter/ is merged with her? and now, in a ghostly fashion, slowly bothers this family to death.  And it's one of those movies where the evil wins (dramatic music).  Which would mean something if I cared what happened to any single character is this movie.  Temu Satan is going to take over the world because of these dopes?  I guess we got what we paid for.

I think the thing we're supposed to be impressed by are moods and the kooky connections we see, like Charlie, the girl, meaningfully cutting the head off a dead bird.  And oh boy, will decapitation ever be a motif.  Or her wanting to build effigies (much as her mother does in her own way).  

The selling point is supposed to be the family trauma.  Which, okay.  But... I didn't know these people at any point when they weren't brooding or gnashing their teeth or both.  So that's it - that's how I know them.  Unhappy people who become increasingly unhappy.

Meanwhile, the music is doing a lot of heavy lifting to insist scenes are intense or scary as we just kinda sit there as an audience waiting for the next piece of movie plot track to get laid down.  

I dunno, I just feel like I've seen one too many cult movies, and this one sort of just was that mixed with the 2010's horror trend of "the unknown" bothering nice white folks in their semi-rural house.  I didn't care about what was happening at any given moment, which is a weird way to feel when you're watching a movie.  If I'd turned it off and read the Wikipedia synopsis, I think I would have gotten the same amount out of the experience.

 

DC Studios Universe Watch: Peacemaker Season 2

I'm pretty sure we didn't talk much about Peacemaker Season 1 around here.  Which is too bad, I quite liked it.  

Peacemaker Season 2 just finished on HBOmax.  And, man, are the reactions online weird.  

And, look, I want to be a kind person, but sometimes it's really clear that

• once a show moves beyond a certain number of episodes/ duration, and therefore snowballs in complexity, some viewers don't know how to watch a movie or TV show without being spoonfed what is happening
• in 2025, people are still actively worrying about their fan theories and judging a show based on whether or not the show matches the story they told themselves.  Why would you watch a show so predictable you know exactly where it's going?
• a lot of folks think that if something is character driven, nothing has happened, which just blows my gourd
• a lot of people who consider themselves experts on "the comics" don't seem to actually know anything about the comics.  And I say this as someone who knows nothing about Peacemaker other than that he's a Charlton character with a very oddball helmet.

Diane Keaton Merges With The Infinite

Diane Keaton has passed at the age of 79.

I think for a lot of folks, across a few generations, this one is going to hit hard.  Keaton as an actress played some of the most important roles of the 20th century with her titular role in Annie Hall and in Allen's Manhattan.  And, of course, she's Kay Adams/ Corleone in three Godfather films.  

She was in innumerable other films, of course.  Father of the Bride, Something's Gotta Give, First Wives Club, Baby Boom.  She carved out a place for a sort of intellectual, independent, often quirky woman as a character on screen, but also in real life.  She was also a producer and director, from time to time.  And generally beloved by film aficionados from the 1970's to the current era.

It is odd... I was just thinking this week that I hadn't heard anything about Diane Keaton in a while, but hadn't been concerned, exactly.  I'd just observed I hadn't seen her name attached to anything in a bit. 

Condolences to her family and loved ones.  She'll be very missed.

Berkley-Watch: Showgirls (1995) - w/ Elizabeth Berkley at the Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX - 10/09/2025

Watched:  10/09/2025

Format:  Paramount Theatre

Viewing:  I don't know, man

Director:  Verhoeven

I kinda knew going to see Showgirls (1995) in a theater in 2025 was going to kick-ass, no matter what.  There is a self-selected group of fans of this movie, and I guess I'm now part of this unruly mob.  

As (a) someone who crushed hard on Jessie Spano in high school and graduated with the Bayside High gang, and (b) who was a bit goggle-eyed that Berkley made her pivot into major motion pictures with Showgirls, (c) and who felt she got a raw deal from deeply ingrained misogyny of the 1990's (maybe I didn't feel that so much in 95', but it was a growing realization later.), and (d) has delighted in how Elizabeth Berkley seems to have embraced this thing that could have wrecked her...  

An idea I had that ultimately was part of what killed the PodCast was "I want to watch Showgirls with people and ask them what they think.  Over and over and over."  Because, truly, the movie is a mirror to the viewer and a Rorschach test.  While I have ideas about what I think it says about dreams, the American dream, showbiz dreams and what all of them cost (as well as plenty to say about sex and how it is offered and used as a commodity in entertainment) - that's me, man.  I wanted to sit down and have other folks work through the movie.  But to a person, when I suggested it, they said they would not do that.  And, so, my podcasting dreams were dashed.

Then, a short while ago, Berkley said she was coming to Austin of all places for her 30th Anniversary screening of the opus, and, yeah, buddy, I was in.

Parker Watch: Play Dirty (2025)

Watched:  10/09/2025

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Shane Black

Between 1962 and 2008, author Richard Stark (real name: Donald Westlake) delivered 24 Parker and Grofield novels.   Between sometime around 2010 and 2017, I read all of the Parker and Grofield books, mostly in order.  And I've re-read some since, including this year.  That's not a guarantee of anything for you, but it is a sign of something that this was the series I actually stuck with it.

Over the years, the books have been adapted here and there, but during Stark's lifetime, he had a rule that the studios not use the name "Parker" in their adaptations.  Likely because the studios always made changes, and he was protecting the essence of his character.

With Stark/ Westlake's passing, his wife allowed the studios to try another go at an adaptation, this time using the Parker name.  And, thus, we got the 2013 mid-tier film, Parker, starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez.  We talked about it here and here. 

But now we have a new take... and I do not know who this is for.

Hallo-Watch: Jakob's Wife (2021)

Watched:  10/07/2025

Format:  Shudder

Viewing:  First

Director:  Travis Stevens

During the Q&A for the screening of Re-Animator, star Barbara Crampton mentioned she'd produced and starred in a horror movie recently, Jakob's Wife (2021).  I recalled the name from last year's mini-dive into Crampton's work, but didn't get to the movie.  But we've fixed that.

One fun thing about horror is that even when you say "vampire movie", it only really means a potential set of rules and maybe a gentle push a few directions.  Eggers' Nosferatu is not Coogler's Sinners is not Garrard's Slay.  You can change up the rules, and change up the look, as long as you do a few key things, usually involving blood consumption and slow discovery of evil.  But not always!

The high concept of vampirism can be used to explore themes well beyond "a foreigner has moved in next door, and probably brought rats with him".  To that end, Jakob's Wife digs not just into the traditional roles of men and women, but of women as they reach a certain age, denied a life of their own in prescribed servitude.  

Our titular Jakob (Larry Fessenden) is a pastor of a church in a dying southern town.  He's leading his diminishing flock, preaching traditional values of a man's role in his family.  His wife, Anne (Barbara Crampton) is the dutiful pastor's wife.  She's past the point of youth, married thirty years and feeling life passing her by as the perpetual prop to her husband.

Hallo-Watch: Re-Animator (1985) - w/ Crampton and Combs at the Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX - 10/06/2025

Watched:  10/06/2025

Format:  Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX

Viewing:  unclear

Director:  Stuart Gordon

Well, what a spectacular evening.

Last year I watched Re-Animator (1985) for the first time in forever, and was reminded of (a) what a great movie Re-Animator really is, (b) fired up a new appreciation for what the movie is doing, and (c) was reminded that Barbara Crampton is just an excellent idea all around.  

She's on socials, and she does not disappoint.  And so it was that I learned she and Jeffrey Combs were traveling to some cities to hype up the 4K restoration of Re-Animator on its 40th Anniversary.  And, fortunately, they were coming to Austin.

Musical Watch: Les Girls (1957)

Watched:  10/04/2025

Format:  TCM

Viewing:  First

Director:  George Cukor

Les Girls (1957) is what happens when someone sees Rashomon, likes the notion of the same story told from different angles, but lacks the ability or skill to write a story that pulls off the Rashomon-effect.  And, so, Les Girls is three different stories with the same characters that seem like they take place completely divorced from each other.  Because of this, and because none of the three stories is very interesting (and because my mind drifts when movies are dull), it is, I think, somewhat of a confusing watch.  

But if you read about Gene Kelly, Les Girls gets mentioned all the time, so I wanted to check it out.  

Hallo-Watch: The Invisible Man (1933)

Watched:  10/04/2025

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  James Whale

Jamie had just read the book of The Invisible Man by HG Wells a month or so ago, so when we went to pick our first Halloween movie, this was her seasonal request.

comfy villainy

I've already seen The Invisible Man (1933) maybe five times since this blog was founded, so I thought, instead of writing it up, I'd just point out that our villain/ hero has the right idea.  Given his newfound power, when he isn't going around buck-ass naked in snow storms, he's wearing super cozy pajamas and lounge outfits.

Now that's how I want to be a diabolical mad man - in a cozy housecoat and slippers, and wearing bandages rather than having to comb my hair.

Horror Watch: Possession (1981)

Watched:  10/05/2025

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Andrzej Zulawski

Possession (1981) is one of those movies you see get routinely mentioned, but very rarely with *specifics* as to why it's on lists and recommended. 

Look, this is not a movie where one bops along with an A-B-C plot.  It's absolutely one of those movies - maybe like Inland Empire - where folks sure seem certain about what it is about but nobody agrees, including critics.  It is an easy movie to get engrossed in and like, mostly because it falls just on this side of adding up, and your brain is working overtime trying to stitch the pieces together.  Is it religious symbolism?  Is it not?  Is this a commentary on Berlin or using Berlin to make a point about divorce?  What's with...  you know...  the, uh... creature, I guess?

Dr. Jane Goodall Merges With The Infinite

Dr. Jane Goodall, scientist, primatologist and conservationist, has passed.

In 1960, Jane Goodall was not even a trained scientist when she was first sent for education and employed by the famed primatologist Louis Leakey to observe chimpanzees in the wild.  Goodall would spend years in the Gombe Preserve.

Goodall's research informed much of what is now common knowledge regarding chimpanzees, from their social bonds and communication to their use of tools and quick study.  She also observed and described the intelligent hunting and sharing behaviors of chimpanzees, previously unknown.  

For the last few decades, Goodall has crisscrossed the globe sharing her good reputation, wit and incredible mind in order to further the causes of conservation - especially for great apes.  

If you ever get a chance, watch an interview with Goodall.  A truly remarkable human.

Happy Birthday, Lacey Chabert

those aren't balloons, they're bubbles of Hubba Bubba

Well, we watched 70-something Lacey Chabert movies in the last year, so we'd be remiss not giving a birthday shoutout to the Hallmark Queen of Christmas.  

As of yesterday, we've also now seen all of Chabert's reality show, "Celebrations".*  And, I guess, Chabert's holiday collection has now dropped at Hallmark.com.   So I guess make Chabert happy and line her pockets by buying some stuff.

*It was a slow weekend as Jamie was not feeling great. 

Doc Watch: Lilith Fair - Building a Mystery (2025)

Watched:  09/28/2025

Format:  Hulu

Viewing:  First

Director:  Ally Pankiw

First - it's remarkable how messed up the music industry was in the 1990's that I realize I kind of disliked some of the music from the artists in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (2025) not because of the music, but because if a song was any good in the 1990's, you kind of couldn't escape it for months at a time.  I think half of why I got weird about music in college and decided "I'm gonna go listen to Cole Porter standards" was because if I heard Hootie and the Blowfish one more time, I was going to shove pencils through my ear drums.  On the whole, radio, Muzak and MTV had a real "you like ice cream?  Great.  We're force feeding you a gallon of mint chocolate chip every hour for the next two months" sort of vibe.

It did not help that I was working in a Camelot Records during the period when the artists who would become the headliners at Lilith Fair in the first years were releasing their music.  (So tired were we of Paula Cole's  "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" that, behind the counter we would whisper to each other in response to Cole's query, "Up my butt".  But almost 30 years later, that song is a-ok, Paula Cole.)  

The documentary of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery charts the origins, rise, challenges to, and eventual final wrap-up of the initial go at Lilith Fair, and its place in culture in the 1990's.  It shows how the very suddenly popular Sarah McLachlan parlayed both her position and organization into recruiting other female artists and playing multiple summers of tours from the mid-90's to 1999.  Along the way, luminaries like Patti Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu, Emmylou Harris, Suzanne Vega and countless others joined McLachlan on the road to help change perceptions of how women fit into the music industry.  

And, it's impressive who was willing to show up and speak on camera about the festival.  All of the women listed above, minus Smith.  Jewel.  Joan Osborne.  Cole.  Natalie Merchant.  Liz Phair.  Sheryl Crow.  Indigo Girls.  And plenty more.  

35th Anniversary Re-Watch: Miller's Crossing (1990)

Watched:  09/27/2025

Format:  Criterion Disc

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Coen Bros.

In late summer 1990, I saw the trailer for Miller's Crossing (1990) at my local cinema in Spring, Texas.  I don't remember what movie I saw that day, but I remember seeing the lush, lyrical trailer for a movie that seemed to jump off the screen with its imagery, language and violence.  Coming off of my first high of mob movies with The Godfather around that time, as well as seeing the guys who had made Raising Arizona were behind the movie, I was ready to see the film on opening day.  

But the Coen Bros. were not yet famous, and Fox, which had distribution rights, didn't really push the movie.  I kept looking for it in show listings.  But it played downtown Houston, not out in the 'burbs, and I was still something like eight months away from my license.  And, so it was that I missed the film until it came out on VHS.  

Television Watch: Alien - Earth (Season 1, 2025)

I'm the first person to say Alien and Aliens are two great films, each for different reasons.  And while I understand people love Alien3, I just wasn't onboard.  And it's safe to say, I've wrestled with the subsequent sequels, including Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.  The desire to combine the Alien storyline with the Predator franchise, with the wink-wink connections to Blade Runner strikes me as a curious obsession in sci-fi fandom - even if I shared the excitement of everyone else when Predator 2 came out.  

And then I saw Aliens vs. Predator, and I thought "never mind".

I'd skipped the last Alien movie.  If Ridley Scott couldn't make me care, I'm not sure who could.  

But part of that was, even as Romulus was in post-production, I heard Noah Hawley got his hands on the franchise and had a TV show coming.  

For those unfamiliar, Hawley is the person responsible for Legion, maybe the most interesting superhero adaptation (loosely based on the Marvel X-character Legion) to hit a screen, big or small, and which ran on FX for three seasons.  But, more important, Hawley has helmed Fargo for five seasons and across ten years.  And, in this blog's opinion, it's one of the best shows to have graced screens, full stop.

Fargo is an oddball spin-off of the Coen Bros. film of the same name.  And I won't get into it here, but if Legion showed Hawley knew how to take a nut of an idea from source material and grow something fascinating with it, Fargo took the well-defined themes and characters of a Coen Bros. movie as inspiration and exploded their stories into multi-faceted noir epics, borrowing elements and ideas from across the Coen Bros. filmography.

So... yeah, I was jazzed when I heard Hawley was getting his hands on Alien.  And eight episodes later, I feel like my trust was warranted.

New Parker Movie Trailer: Play Dirty

One of the only book series I've read in its entirety, and re-read multiple volumes, has been the Parker series of books by Richard Stark (aka: Donald Westlake).  I tend to think of Parker as a criminal project manager, and that works for me in my world.

A while back I'd read of the casting of Robert Downy Jr. for the role of Parker in the Shane Black helmed film, but that seems to have gone away with Avengers stuff back on RDJ's slate.  To my surprise, the role here is occupied by Mark Wahlberg.  I'm not anti-Wahlberg, but after spending 20-something books with Parker, I was of the opinion that RDJ could do it, but he wasn't my first choice.  Look, Parker is supposed to be a towering figure and RDJ Is like 5'9".  I am a bit baffled by the casting of Wahlberg, but no one asked me. We have a whole Dave Bautista out there.

There have been many adaptations of Parker books to film, and all of them make the mistake of wanting Parker to have... feelings.  He does have feelings, like anger, mild-irritation, general crankiness...   but he's not a joker or hugger.  He does not quip.  And that's hard for folks writing him or playing him, and why Lee Marvin's take in Point Blank was probably closest.  He's largely amoral, and will put a bullet in you if you cross him, even if he's known you for years as a colleague.  He *does* have unspoken feelings and maybe even what he considers friendships, if Butcher's Moon is any indication.  

So, long story long, the trailer doesn't reflect the novels.  

Nor is it, exactly, one of the books.  It seems to be melding elements from The Handle and another book or two. But it's its own thing, in the end.

But what I have heard twice now is that the movie is not the Ocean's 11-vibe that I'm getting from the video above.   In my humble opinion, the closest to the vibe of the books is probably Payback with Mel Gibson, or the aforementioned Point Blank.  

If I may... Amazon is doing the wrong thing here in general, and should just make 3 Parker movies per year for maybe 3 years, and just stick to the books, setting the movies in the era in which the novels were released.  Stop at The Rare Coin Score, I think.  Bring in Claire and then decide if it's worth continuing.

Claudia Cardinale Merges With The Infinite

Actress Claudia Cardinale has passed at the age of 87.

Cardinale, who hailed from Italy, appeared in a handful of American films.  She's most famous for 8 1/2 and one of my personal favorite films, Once Upon a Time In The West, where she plays Jill - a deeply complicated woman arriving on the frontier just as industrialization arrives on the front porch.

Here's one of my favorite sequences in cinema, featuring Cardinale (with an American voiceover, because Sergio Leone).

Signal Watch Reads: The Midnight Assassin - The Hunt For America's First Serial Killer (2017)

Author:  Skip Hollandsworth

Narrator:  Clint Jordan

Some time around the turn of the century, I was an avid reader of Texas Monthly, a periodical covering a wide range of topics which I considered to have some of the finest writing one could come by in that era.  And in one issue appeared the odd story of a serial killer, pre-dating Jack the Ripper, who had lurked in my own backyard - killing women and girls in Austin the mid-1880's, when Austin was the capital, but still just sprouting up as a municipality.

I was stunned.  

Like a lot of young folks with too much time on their hands, I was aware of details around particularly famous serial killers, having read up on Jack the Ripper as far back as middle school.  And I recall being aware of Henry Lee Lucas, Ted Bundy, and a handful of other killers by the time I graduated high school, back when all of it was sort of an abstraction.  So to find out that Austin had it's own Victorian-era killer, and that we had our famed Moontowers because of the killer?  That was mind-boggling.  

Since that article, the general knowledge that Austin had a 19th-century serial killer has become more pronounced.  And, these days, if you want to go on one of those Ghost Tours of Austin, I believe there's some that cater to hitting up the spots where folks were killed.  

But I'd never read Skip Hollandsworth's follow up to the article, his 2017 book The Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for America's First Serial Killer.  I'd planned to read it in October as my Hallow-read, but... I get excited and jump the gun sometimes.  And here we are.   And, yes, I took the book in as an audiobook read by Clint Jordan.

Trailer: Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Bride"

Longtime readers will know that The Bride of Frankenstein is, full stop, one of my favorite movies.  And Frankenstein is such a favorite book, I think I'm starting a re-read soon.  

I'm not really much of a purist, as these things go.  The book is 200+ years old, and folks can do as they please.  What *does* bother me is when folks either have never seen Bride of Frankenstein or gravely, somehow, against all odds, misunderstood the movie.  In either case it's believing that the movie is not 100% about the folly of believing you can make someone love you.  (in this case, make someone to love you)  And so we get all the cutesy merch with Franky and The Bride as a cute couple, and...  well, I have to remind myself it's all in good fun.

So, I could care less if someone does *an entirely new story* that doesn't just bobble the 1935 movie.  Take those basics of the Frankenstein movies and/ or book and go bananas.  And, this looks bananas.  Good on director Gyllenhaal.  I'm in.  I could care less that we already had Poor Things and Creature Commandos recently.  Keep it coming.

Your guess what this will be is as good or better than mine.  

Super Re-Watch: Superman (2025)

just some punk-rock kid from Bakerline

Watched:  09/21/2025

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Fourth

Director:  James Gunn

So, before I forget...  surely James Gunn was referencing The Simpsons' Radioactive Man in the first minutes of Superman (2025) when Number 4 says he'll have Superman "up and at them", right?  

Hallmark Christmas Movie Schedule 2025 Drops

Ms. Chabert, set to grace Christmas screens this Holiday season, seen here having pulled this man's finger

Well, Hallmark has released their schedule for the Christmas movies coming in 2025.  Despite the fact it's September and in the 90's where I live, over in Hallmark HQ, it might as well be time to rock around the Christmas tree.

Hallmark isn't completely ignoring the rest of the year.  They're currently showing movies with a fall theme on the channels (although it's not officially autumn until September 22nd).  And they're even getting spooky this year as Ms. Chabert and Hallmark stalwart Wes Brown will appear in the Halloween themed third chapter in the "Haul Out the Holly" saga.  

Meanwhile, Hallmark ornaments are coming in waves for 2025, with an official Lacey Chabert ornament coming in October.  (I am well aware of the Superman ornament, thanks).  

Here's the Hallmark checklist of new content:

Happy Birthday, Cassandra Peterson

Today is the birthday of Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

Peterson doesn't actually get dressed up as Elvira anymore for conventions, etc...  but she's managed to just be herself, and it turns out, people really like Cassandra Peterson.  

We highly recommend her memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira.  

Robert Redford Merges WIth The Infinite

Robert Redford, actor, producer, director, activist and all-around okay guy, has passed.

I'll say it:  I've never seen Redford deliver anything but a great performance, and I'm not sure I've ever genuinely disliked anything he's been in.  Of course, I've only seen a fraction of his filmography, but I'll stand by the idea.

In an industry full of people trying to dumb things down, Redford exploded during the 1960's and 70's where he took on challenging roles in complicated films, whether we're talking something like a clockwork political thriller like Three Days of the Condor or the exploration of the myth of the west in Jeremiah Johnson.  But his list of classic roles is as long as your arm.  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The Sting.  The Great Gatsby.  The Natural.  Etc... et al.  Heck, he played one of the best villains in a Marvel film.  Who knew?

He'd go on to direct critically acclaimed films, including Quiz Show (which is still stunningly good).  

Far from just a handsome actor to slot into parts, Redford carved out his own world within Hollywood, using his box office draw to get attention for numerous causes.  He helped found Sundance as a film festival and market for independent film (when that meant something) and he supported efforts to save Barton Springs here in Austin, Texas - where he swam as a kid.

Flat out, this site thinks Redford is cool AF, and salutes the man.  He'll be missed.

Nunsploitation Watch: To The Devil A Daughter (1976)

Watched:  09/15/2025

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Peter Sykes

It's hard not to see To The Devil a Daughter (1976) as existing due to Rosemary's Baby's wild success, a dash of 1970's-style Satanic Panic, and a dollop of Hammer's latter-era horror output like The Devil Rides Out (this is a Hammer co-production).  It's based on a novel by Dennis Wheatley from the 1950's, so good on the printed word leading the way here.

For reasons that kinda make sense if what I understand about Hammer's financial state in the 70's, a German company was involved in financing and production.  

The movie stars an American, Richard Widmark, who made his name in noir - especially with Kiss of Death, with which he's still widely associated - and then went on to participate in a wide-range of movies and roles.  Widmark plays a writer who has written a sensationalistic best-seller about Satanism, who is represented by former Bond-girl Honor Blackman, his pal in London,* and her boyfriend, David.

Nunsploitation Watch: Behind Convent Walls (1978)

Watched:  09/13/2025

Format:  Criterion

Viewing;  First

Director:  Walerian Borowczyk

Uhm.

So.

Yeah.

And.

Right.

So.

Behind Convent Walls (1978) is a lot more what I had in mind when the word "Nunsploitation" entered my vocabulary a few weeks ago.  For good or ill.

Signal Watch Reads: Project Hail Mary

Author:  Andy Weir

Audiobook read by:  Ray Porter

I read The Martian by Andy Weir a bit before the movie was released, and thoroughly enjoyed the Ridley Scott/ Matt Damon film that followed.  I skipped Artemis, and somehow just sort of missed that Project Hail Mary had been released until the movie trailer dropped and saw that the film was based on a book by Andy Weir.  

Jamie, who loved the The Martian, picked up Project Hail Mary, and plowed through it in a couple of days, recommending the novel.  Also, I am now listening to audiobooks in one ear while I walk Emmylou in the mornings before work, and this seemed like a good one to listen to after The Godfather.

There's a certain sameness to Project Hail Mary that you'll feel if you read The Martian, and while that's certainly the author's voice coming in strong, it almost feels like the same character from The Martian at times.  And I suspect that was a return to form after Artemis, which had a female lead and was a bit more space-adventurey from what I heard, didn't get the same good notices as Weir's freshman effort.  

But, like a band whose first record you liked, it's not all bad to get that third album and hear that the band was just finding their way on the sophomore effort, and now they're back in their groove.  

An astronaut awakens on a craft headed to a nearby star - his memory is wiped and the other two crew members are dead.  As he stumbles about, pieces of memory come back to him.

Earth had a problem - the sun was fading.  If a solution isn't found, the planet will drop into an ice age that will kill a whole lot of life on Earth.  

SPOILERS

I really liked Project Hail Mary.  I don't know that it will be taken for great literature, but it certainly makes for an interesting page turner of a read.  Slowly revealing what happened on Earth, how middle-school science teacher Ryland Grace winds up as one of three astronauts sent to save the Sun/ our Solar System is a great engine to propel the story, pushing forward the sturdy chassis of the story of the actual work done to save the planet and teamwork needed to get there.

Horror Watch: Alucarda (1977)

Watched:  09/08/2025

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Juan Lopez Moctezuma

Now that's how you make a horror movie.

Start with a base of Carmilla, the pre-Dracula vampire story about sapphic vampires (or 1970's The Vampire Lovers), sprinkle in some Dracula, add in some The Exorcist, probably three or four movies I'm not thinking of or aware of, and then a dollop of Carrie for the finale.  

A Mexican-produced film, Alucarda (1977) is just batshit from the first scene and then cranks it up to 11.  I'm not sure it's in any way scary - any more than a Hammer film ever feels frightening - but it's a crazy spectacle - and never fails to be *interesting*.

80's Art-Sploitation Film Watch: Ms.45 (1981)

Watched:  09/06/2025

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Abel Ferrara

Criterion Channel currently has a collection of "Nunsploitation" movies, and of their 7 offerings or so, I'd already seen three in my life (Haxan, Benedetta, The Devils) and I'd been meaning to catch Ms. 45 (1981) since seeing something about it a few years ago.  So here we are.  

And, yes, if I can watch 70+ Lacey Chabert movies, I can watch the remaining Nunsploitation movies.

Director Abel Ferrara was kind of a big deal when I was in film school, coming off of The Bad Lieutenant (worth seeing once, at least) and following up with The Addiction, with the Body Snatchers remake in between.  Unfortunately, I kinda stopped tracking indie film a while ago and lost sight of him, but he's been out there making movies all along.  He was not afraid of what was too much for an audience, and seemed not just to push margins but lived there.  

So this early film is a pretty good indicator of what he was capable of.  

Superman 2027 Announced - "Man of Tomorrow"

Well. 

Seems James Gunn, director of this summer's fun-fest Superman,  has not just finished the script for the sequel, he's announced the release date of the next installment in the Superman saga over at DC Studios.

Coming July 9, 2027, we can expect The Man of Tomorrow.   

TL;DR - Pop Culture Fade-Out: What Happens When No One Remembers Lassie?

Liz is also easily distracted by squirrels

A while back I read the book Rin Tin Tin: The Life and The Legend by Susan Orlean (recommended).  The book is a biography/ history of how one American soldier on the front lines of World War I found a stray dog, and how that dog became, literally, the biggest movie star in the world.  

There's a possibly apocryphal story that at the first Academy Awards they had to re-do nominations and/ or voting because Rin Tin Tin, a skinny German Shepherd, came up as "Best Actor" (everyone kinda thought the awards were a bit absurd at the time).  But what is true is that dog was also one of the biggest box office draws in Hollywood for a few years there before the movies learned how to talk.

While the original Rin Tin Tin passed and was buried in France, various other dogs took on the name and role, and through the 1950's, Rin Tin Tin was still a major pop culture fixture - a sort of family-friendly action star, now re-imagined for television as living on the frontier and starring in his own cavalry-themed Western.

Now...  I'm not sure even my peers could tell you what breed Rin Tin Tin was with any certainty.