Final Girl #7

Movie sideblog for my rants. Hit me up with yr opinions i love to discuss stuff

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

Hot, sweaty, stifling movies

I am currently dying from experiencing yet another historicly highest temperature records and so my way of coping is watching other people on screen also suffering from the heat. These are some propositions that feel not like a hot summer day on a beach or near lake but rather like you're trapped in a city during heatwave with no escape, no wind, no water to jump into. Just you in your tiny appartment with a barely alive fan, feeling like you're two degrees away from a murder spree.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Imagine you're trapped in bank during a failed robbery in a middle of august with no AC. Everyone is so sweaty they're about to drown. Literally the movie that inspired this post.

The Seven Year Itch (1955) - A man stays in a city, while his wife and kid are going to the seaside. A girl living upstairs starts visitng him because her appartment is too hot. This is where that photo of Marilyn Monroe is from.

In the Heat of the Night (1967) - After being falsely accused of murder, a black police detective helps the local sherif with the investiagtion.

12 Angry Men (1957) - An absolute classic but it is very hot, sweaty and humid.

Barton Fink (1991) - A writer is contracted to write a screenplay for Hollywood and rents a room in an old, moisty hotel. Things start happening and it gets difficult to distinguish what is real.

Korean thrillers - very general and maybe it's not a thing but i feel like there's something in the combination of very hot and very humid climate of this region and the brutality of this genre.

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

What the hell's up with Frankenstein's ending?

I love Guillermo del Toro and how he deals with portrayal of monsters in his stories so I trusted he would treat Frankenstein with the understanding he deserves. And maybe that's why I'm so dissapointed with the ending?

95% of the runtime it's great, I really like how GDT led the story, especially how he portrayed Elizabeth and her relationship with the Creature. I like how Victor is somehow even worse than in the book (while remaining a pathetic drama queen) because in book, at least he had some conscience, his actions were still horrible but he acknowledged the wrongness of meddling in life and death. Whereas in movie he never feels any guilt over what he did, only the anger at the fact that the results weren't what he wanted them to be. He is not disgusted at himself for creating something "monstrous and against god", only the fact that in his eyes, the Monster was a scientific failure. Additionaly, there are no other reasons to "justify" (this is obv in big quotation) his actions later in the movie as there were in the book, like the grief over his murdered family.

And so, in my eyes, in GDT movie there is both more evil in Victor and more goodness in Monster compared to the book characters. And thats why the last 10min or so irk me so much. You can disagree with me but I hate how Monster forgave Victor for everything he did. Firstly, I don't belive in Victor's change of heart, he spend the whole movie being a horrible person, repeating his fathers abuse, not feeling any guilt over anything that happened. And then he just. Does. In 5 minutes screen time. There was no reflection over his actons whatsoever and yet I am supposed to believe he changed completly in this 5 minutes when he couldn't over fucking years. I dont buy it.

Secondly, even if I did believe that he felt all this remorse over his treatement of Monster, I dont think he earned forgiveness. This may be my personal view but i dont believe in this "you have to forgive your abuser to heal the trauma" rhetoric. You don't. Accepting an apology does not mean you owe your forgiveness, some people don't deserve that, and not giving it to them, does not mean you're not healing. Even if they genuinely changed and understand how they have hurt you it does not erease the fact that they did. And in this instance, I feel like the forgiveness is more for the benefit of Victor than Monster, to clean his conscience before he dies. I understand Monster's need to have this closure with his father but I hate the way it was done because I feel it sends this message that in order to move on from your trauma, you have to forgive and absolve the abuser. And I dont agree with that.

[age-ent-of-fangorn]

Maybe the monster forgives because he realizes the anger/hatred is taking more life from him. I personally think one can "forgive" in the sense of realizing everybody is only human and imperfect, and that hurting is only human, but I don't believe that should mean the hurt should be absolved. No matter what apologies and reparations are made towards a hurtful action, the wound still exists and always will. It's unfair to deny yourself forgiveness in the sense of sitting there pulling that wound open, simply by disallowing understanding. However, acknowledging those things for your own healing and peace, and perhaps your empathy towards them, should not mean trading in your own justice for their comfort.

I feel that that gets blurred very often and has throughout time, that many people think accepting compassion means abandoning your own justice. It's a complicated thing. It's one of things I love about The Count of Monte Cristo. The protagonist who was wronged realizes he has also done wrong with his desire for revenge, but he still slain his enemy, it's justice regardless of true compassion. "What happened to your mercy? I'm a Count, not a saint."

(I'm still working on the original novel, and they're may be differences compared to the 2002 movie I'm referencing)

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying, this vengence/forgiveness is a complicated thing and often depends on what the victim needs to do in order to move on, whether it's forgiving their abuser or enacting a revenge. I think my biggest problem is that watching that scene felt like the forgiveness was granted in order to make Victor feel better, not Monster. Maybe it wasn't intentional on GDT part, but that's how it felt like to me.

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

What the hell's up with Frankenstein's ending?

I love Guillermo del Toro and how he deals with portrayal of monsters in his stories so I trusted he would treat Frankenstein with the understanding he deserves. And maybe that's why I'm so dissapointed with the ending?

95% of the runtime it's great, I really like how GDT led the story, especially how he portrayed Elizabeth and her relationship with the Creature. I like how Victor is somehow even worse than in the book (while remaining a pathetic drama queen) because in book, at least he had some conscience, his actions were still horrible but he acknowledged the wrongness of meddling in life and death. Whereas in movie he never feels any guilt over what he did, only the anger at the fact that the results weren't what he wanted them to be. He is not disgusted at himself for creating something "monstrous and against god", only the fact that in his eyes, the Monster was a scientific failure. Additionaly, there are no other reasons to "justify" (this is obv in big quotation) his actions later in the movie as there were in the book, like the grief over his murdered family.

And so, in my eyes, in GDT movie there is both more evil in Victor and more goodness in Monster compared to the book characters. And thats why the last 10min or so irk me so much. You can disagree with me but I hate how Monster forgave Victor for everything he did. Firstly, I don't belive in Victor's change of heart, he spend the whole movie being a horrible person, repeating his fathers abuse, not feeling any guilt over anything that happened. And then he just. Does. In 5 minutes screen time. There was no reflection over his actons whatsoever and yet I am supposed to believe he changed completly in this 5 minutes when he couldn't over fucking years. I dont buy it.

Secondly, even if I did believe that he felt all this remorse over his treatement of Monster, I dont think he earned forgiveness. This may be my personal view but i dont believe in this "you have to forgive your abuser to heal the trauma" rhetoric. You don't. Accepting an apology does not mean you owe your forgiveness, some people don't deserve that, and not giving it to them, does not mean you're not healing. Even if they genuinely changed and understand how they have hurt you it does not erease the fact that they did. And in this instance, I feel like the forgiveness is more for the benefit of Victor than Monster, to clean his conscience before he dies. I understand Monster's need to have this closure with his father but I hate the way it was done because I feel it sends this message that in order to move on from your trauma, you have to forgive and absolve the abuser. And I dont agree with that.

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

Ok so june may be ending but I wanted to do something small but still meaningful for this year Pride to remind us that even though the world is kind of going to shit, we are still here, we were always here, and we are not going anywhere.

So this is a list of some of my favourite queer movies that i offer to you🌈✨️🏳️‍🌈

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - One of my favourites ever, it's so beautiful and complex. It's not a full blown romance like in Brokeback Mountain but it captures the depth of male friendship/realtionship like no other.

Cabaret (1972) - Yes, it's queer and poly! And just a really great and important story like right now...

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Based on a real story, which is quite interesting on its own, it's great thriller about man trying to rob a bank in order to pay for his partner's transition. And Al Pacino is amazing!

Paris is Burning (1990) - There's some problematic stuff concerning its production but i still think it's an obligatory watching if you're interested in drag. Its a documentary, all the interviews are with real drag queens and it's both informative of drag history and works fantastic as a story.

Orlando (1992) - Something for our nonbinary, trans and gender fluid friends. Based on Virgina Woolfs novel it explores life of young man (Tilda Swinton) who cursed with immortality, finds himself to be of different gender with the passage of time. Great movie about finding ones identity and unexpectedly funny at times.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) - A real feel good movie about family and identity and being who you are. Really progresive for its time even though there were no trans actors, the characters are still great and respectful to community, not just a joke.

The Birdcage (1996) - Same as with Priscilla, just a great comfort movie, amazingly funny and with great performances.

Wilde (1997) - Biography of Oscar Wilde, good way to learn about him (and this guy is just amazing) and just a fun movie. Also I'm sorry but Jude Law is insanely hot here.

But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) - lesbian classic, what else to say. If you don't like it we cant be friends.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) - I thought it was a classic but many ppl don't know it? Anyway great musical and really interesting exploration of gender and transness, dealing with stuff like dysphoria.

Tangerine (2015) - Another one of my faves and this one everybody needs to see imo. It's a story about trans sex workers and while majority of the plot deals with drama it also shows the closeness, the trust and love in queer community. It's so bold and original and fun while still remaining moving (Yes, I cry like a baby at the end).

Summer of 85 (2020) - All of the best Call Me by Your Name vibes but without the icky parts.

Down Low (2023) - Not well known but so good, it's a comedy about a middle-aged man embracing and exploring his sexuality for the first time. There aren't many coming out movies about adults so it's interesting to see this perspective. It was really funny but at the same time I did not expect the emotional gut punch at the end.

Bottoms (2023) - we absolutely need more horny gay comedies especially with insane lesbians. Thats that on that.

This Filthy World (2006) - Best at last, I couldn't not put John Waters on this list so I decided on sth you might not know. Its a recording of Waters live show as he talks about his movies and his life. I did not expect it to be so good but it's super funny and crazy and all the stories are so insane they could only happen to Waters himself.

So that's it! I wanted to choose something less known than Brokeback Mountain but still not totally obscure, both older and newer, something for everyone to relate to. Hope you enjoy🏳️‍🌈

[lillyviarabbit]

rotting

[lillyviarabbit]

still rotting

[lillyviarabbit]

currently rotting

[lillyviarabbit]

rotting again

[coat]

Fridge vegetable push notifications

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

Too much plastic, not fantastic

So. The Barbie hype calmed down a little bit. I think. So i hope you guys won't lynch me for this post. First, I want to say, that I did enjoy the movie. The costumes and scenography are fucking amazing, I loved Ken obv. and my wife Margot. It was just a lot of fun. But like... that's it. Fun. I don't really have a problem with the movie (well i do have some thoughts about plot and such but that's a different matter) but I do have a lot of them with basically everything surrounding it.

To start, I KNOW, not every movie has to be a deep parabole about existence, it's ok for it to be just fun, hell, I love awful, fun, bad movies. I didn't expect Barbie to be some ground breaking feminist epopey. My problem is that some of you DO think it is one. And like... it's not. I'm sorry. It is a cute story with a moral and a good message but it's not saying anything new or particulalry radical. And I know it is not all director or screenwriter's fault, it's hard to make a film criticizing a brand that's literally paying for it, but it still pisses me off. And I'm even more pissed that people don't seem to see this and just treat the movie like it single handedly abolished patriarchy.

Let's look at mr Mattel CEO whatever's his name. He's presented in a way that suggests he's gonna be the big villain and he kinda is. For a bit. Becasue at the same time he's also a little bit incompetent and adorable and funny, just enough to seem harmless after all. He's evil enough that Mattel can say "hey! look at that! We're so funny and self aware!" but also likeable enough that you still buy their products. That you buy even more because after all, they are so girl power, you know.

And products. Ohhhh the products, the merch, clothes, cosmetics, fucking dumplings (yes they exist). Fuck! You go to any chain store and it's Barbie everywhere. That's the capitalism in its finest babe and people just eat that up. I don't even have anything more to say about that.

So yeah, that's the gist of it I think. I'm not annoyed it wasn't a feministic masterpiece, I don't think it should be really. I don't think it even could be, considering Mattel's involvement so I'm not gonna blame the safe approach on creators.

What I am mad about, is the way people, Mattel, producers, fans, treat it like this ultimate feminist Graal while igonoring all the hypocrisy.

Go and watch Barbie, enjoy it, I did! Just remember that it's not Barbie fighting for womens rights, Barbie's a doll, she's not real. What's real, is the company and people behind it, that don't give a fuck about you, as long as you bring them profits.

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

[armandeos]

video essays about horror, fear and dread

Films That Feel Like Bad Dreams

The Nightmare Artist

Fear of Big Things Underwater

Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House

House of Leaves: The Horror Of Fiction

Monsters in the Closet: A History of LGBT Representation in Horror Cinema

The History of Insane Asylums and Horror Movies

The Saddest Horror Movie You’ve Never Seen

Fear of Forgetting

Slender Man: Misunderstanding Ten Years Of The Internet

The Real Reason The Thing (1982) is Better than The Thing (2011)

The Bizarre Clown Painting No One Fully Understands

The Little Book of Cosmic Horrors

The Disturbing Art of A.I.

Fear of Depths

Goya’s Witches

David Lynch: The Treachery of Language

The True History That Created Folk Horror

The Existential Horror of David Cronenberg’s Camera

Keep reading

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

[mothmanssecretgirlfriend]

Skinamarink is not that scary, change my mind

Ok, so, I have some feelings about Skinamarink i need to get out of my head.

I didn’t like it, I’m sorry y’all. I was honestly really excited when I saw that a cinema in my city is showing it and I KNEW what I was getting into. Didn’t want to spoil myself anything but I’ve read that 1) it’s pretty slow and artsy (well duh it’s a festival film) and 2) it’s fucking terryfing. And while 1 thing is obv true, I just don’t get the 2 point.

Honestly it was kinda boring. I don’t usually have problems with slow movies but it’s cause usually if the story is slow, there’s sth else that keeps your intrest in it, even if nothing is happening story wise and I just didn’t see it in Skinamarink. There was just no tension at all. For the first about 30 min I was pretty into it and kind of on edge. The atmosphere was cool and I just kept waiting for something that would tip it from “kinda unsetteling” to “what the actual fuck” but. It never happens!!! I thought it would be the scene in the parents bedroom, when dad tells him to look under the bed, honestly it was really good, I got chills. But then. nothing. happens. Like, you get this really creepy scene, the tension fucking sky rockets ...and then it goes back to the way it was. And it was propably the moment it lost all the tension to me. To be honest it got kinda relaxing even. Sometimes when I can’t fall asleep I do this thing where I try and look at the inside of my eyelids and watch the dots and shapes and colours and it’s really similiar to the dark shots in Skinamarink. So I spent the rest of the movie just kind of chilling in my chair. (guy next to me just straight up fell asleep after like 20 min)

And that also brings me to the thing I just hated and that’s the jump scares. I just hate jump scares in general so I was pretty mad when I got two, after I read a comment that literally said that the movie is so good because it relies on the overall atmosphere and more psychological kind of fear rather than jump scares. Where?! I’m sorry but that was so dissapointing. You create this hole creepy scenario, in a weird dark house, you try to make the viewer uncomfortable just by the vibe that you made, and then, instead of using this feeling of dread to really get under the skin, you just go for a jump scare. It just felt so cheap to me.

Overall, I really think it would be so much better if it was like 4 times shorter. I’ve read that this guy actually makes (or used to) short yt videos in a similiar vibe? And honestly that sounds so much better. I think I’m gonna check out Heck cause it’s a similar idea, from what I’ve heard, but shorter. I think it could be pretty cool because imo the general plot and the way they filmed Skinamarink is really interesting as a concept. But 2 hours is way too long and making shortening it to like half hour would prevent it from losing the tension.

If you don’t agree, feel free to tell me, I’m honestly so curious why is it so scary to some people.           

[prideprejudce]

my favorite tweets about the new skinamarink movie