The Cat Cave Cinema

Bleak Films Reviewed From A Dark Place Home of the Cat Cave Cinema Podcast and all that doesn't fit in said podcast. Film reviews from an aging vegan punk and his cats. Special focus on horror (new and old) with a side of radical politics.

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On this episode we dive into Richard Shepard's 2019 horror film The Perfection. Join us as we talk plot twists, consent issues, intersectionality, and whether this film can handle the weight of the issues it takes on.

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Continuing our masochistic quest to ingest this cultural phenomenon, this week we are dissecting The First Purge, a prequel that somehow proved even more divisive than the previous installments. Join us as we delve into exposition dumps, our theories about abandoned plot lines, plot holes, prequel future tech (that disappeared in the more distant future), and so, so much more. Skeletor give us strength.

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On this mini-episode we get to hear the moment when Pierce breaks and just can't purge anymore. That right, next week we go back to our least favorite franchise to discuss The First Purge. Should you watch it? Is it better? Is it worse? Listen to this mini to get a hint.

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Taking it all the way back to our first ever recording session, Pierce and J dive into the horrors of the internet as we dissect the sequel no one needed or wanted. Join us as we talk awkward transitions, bad writing, and the shame we felt when parts of this film actually sort of hooked us despite all the flaws.

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You know the drill, a short musing about our next episode along with some quick rants about upcoming horror projects and recent horror news. Is it useful content to our listenership or just perfunctory filler? You be the judge.

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J and Pierce dig into Andre Ovredal's 2016 horror film The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Join us as we talk about dead bodies as characters (as opposed to just props), practical effect, and whether this is ultimately a film about the failure to make amends or about some things being so broken that they just can't be fixed at all.

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Mini as mini gets! Give us 5 min and we will give you a movie to watch this week. 

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Pierce and J break down the best and worst of 2018 (let the controversy begin) and make some bold proclamations about plans to get back on a regular podcasting schedule. Enjoy!

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On this vault episode, J and Pierce are joined by special guest Lizz Mazer to discuss the John Landis classic American Werewolf In London. Listen in as we talk werewolves, Jewish identity, WWII, and whether this horror comedy is actually an incredibly bleak meditation on the utter meaninglessness of existence. But you know...in a fun way.

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We have such sights to show you. That's right, Jay and Pierce get analytically kinky on this one with a deep dive into one of Jay's favorite horror films, Clive Barker's classic Hellraiser! Join us as we discuss inverted slasher tropes, the magic of 80s practical effects, and the importance of all things in moderation.

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On this mini-episode, in addition to teasing our next film, we talk about some horror shows we have been enjoying, some upcoming films that have us excited, and even dip our toes ever so lightly into the horror gaming world.

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Pierce and J get uncomfortable watching bad babysitter Emelie being very bad at her job. Join us for the discussion of discomfort based horror, getting out acted by a 4 year old, and how a few tweaks could have made this film the indie darling of 2015.

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We're back! After another long hiatus (fingers crossed the last one but no promises) J and Pierce returned to the Cat Cave to tease out our next film, make excuses for our absence, and ponder just how long its actually been since we made an episode.

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A Quiet Place (2018)

When I first saw the trailer for this one, I remember thinking I would never see this film. The logistics of a life of silence just seemed too silly to work in the abstract and I couldn’t imagine Kohn Kransinski pulling it off. While I admit to being charmed by Krasinski in The Office, I made the mistake once before of assuming that his charm would carry him in other projects when I saw his first foray as a writer/director, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Needless to say, that was a poor choice on my part and I was determined not to be burned again. 

But you can only read so many good reviews before you have to swallow your snap judgement from a trailer and decide to see for yourself what all the hype is about. Well, I get it now...up to a point. A Quiet Place is a totally competent monster film with some solid jump scares and enough of a story to keep you invested in the story. So yes, I agree with the general consensus that it is a good film.  

This isn’t groundbreaking cinema though. There is nothing here that lingered with me long after I left the theater. There is no reason to run out and see it the first chance you get. Its good...that’s about it. I’d watch it again with friends who hadn’t seen it on Netflix, but only after spending 25 minutes looking at other stuff and finally just deciding to go back to it as we can agree on it. 

In fact, if one wanted to nitpick, it would be very easy to tear this film apart. While I won’t give you any spoilers, just know that for the climax to work requires a very generous suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience. Its just good enough that I was willing to put my skepticism aside and accept it, but even now the urge to dig into its flaws calls to me like a siren...NO ONE THOUGHT TO...no...I said no spoilers so I’ll resist the thrall of internet snark and just let you experience the “but wait” moment for yourself.

3 out of 5 cats. 

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Friend Request (2016)

Amazingly, the tagline on this horrible poster is actually better than a lot of the other choices they went with. When compared with “Be careful who you click with” or “Like, Comment, Kill”, I see why “Evil is trending” went on the final poster. All those mediocre taglines are, however, solid choices and do a good job of signaling exactly the quality of the film you are going to endure when you decide, against all odds, to sit down and watch Friend Request. 

In essence, this is just like every other social media horror film (Unfriended and Smiley come quickly to mind) in that it simultaneously hopes to prey on our belief that horror may have something interesting to say about the era of social media and then delivers us nothing but gimmicky montages that come across less like nuanced critiques and more like Baby Boomers railing against Millennials for “always looking at their goddamn phones!” 

Now credit where credit is due. This film does at least try to provide a plot to hold on to. The lonely, isolation of exclusion in the era of social media gets mixed with a techo-pagan revenge tale that, in different hands, might actually have given us something interesting (or at least fun). Unfortunately, it doesn’t go anywhere. Rather than developing an interesting story, we are forced to endure a hackneyed creepy pasta article come to life and stretched into 90 minutes of unearned jump scares, bad cgi, and uninspired kills. Don’t get me wrong, the 5 minute animated short in the middle and the creepy gifs scattered throughout were kinda cool and would likely earn a like click from me on Tumblr or Facebook, but a good gid does not a film make. Honestly, if you want to be terrified by a story of social media, watch Ingrid Goes West instead. It packs more tension, scares, and social commentary into a dark comedy than Friend Request does with a formulaic horror film that seems to assume its target audience is too unintelligent and distracted to realize they are being insulted.

1 out of 5 cats. 

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Trigger Warning: this week's episode contains a lot of discussion of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and the #metoomovement in relation to the film we watched.

This week our journey through the video nasties brought us to an awkward and unforeseen confrontation with the worst elements of Hollywood and horror movie culture wrapped up in one neat little package. In the midst of the #metoomovement, we suddenly found ourselves sitting down to watch Harvey Weinstein's 1981's confession...uh, I mean, "film," The Burning. Gotta be honest, this one broke our spirits a little bit (which may explain why it took us two months to getting around to actually talking about it) and, weakened by its truly abysmal political sentiments, sent us careening into a long and pessimistic diatribe about whether we are in a watershed moment of change, or just a momentary glitch in the patriarchal matrix of horror that is America (and the world more generally). But somewhere in there I think we talked about the film as well, but its all a blur of rage, confusion, and genuine disappointment. So have fun listening to our super upbeat and fun horror podcast!

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WE'RE BACK! Life has been crazy, but that's when you need horror the most. Join us for our months late year in review, our excuses for the months of hiatus, and our tease of what the next film we will be discussing from the video nasties list will be (its a real fucking rough one for this day and age).