I Saw the TV Glow - The scoop and digest

Jane Schoenbrun writes and directs the standalone follow up to We're All Going to the World's Fair.

Justice Smith - Owen

Brigette Lundy-Paine - Maddy

Ian Foreman - Young Owen

Helena Howard - Isabel

Lindsey Jordan - Tara

Summary

In 1996, awkward teenagers Owen and Maddy are avid fans of TV series The Pink Opaque, which follows psychics Isabel and Tara battling supernatural monsters sent by big bad Mr. Melancholy, who aims to rule the world by trapping them in the Midnight Realm.

When Maddy disappears the following year, The Pink Opaque is cancelled.

Eight years later, Maddy shows up at a grocery store and takes Owen to a bar, claiming she's been inside The Pink Opaque for almost a decade.

Luna juice

Visually appealing and genuinely absorbing, peculiar psychodrama largely sparkles.

Even though Mr. Melancholy ripping Isabel and Tara's hearts out isn't shown on screen, sequence was still unsettling.

For all the good, the bad (and even ugly) was the final 10 minutes.

After having a breakdown, Owen enters a bathroom and cuts his chest open (exposing a TV screen).  He then apologises to people for his recent behaviour.

As everybody ignores him, I guess he's no longer part of common reality.

Whatever, it didn't land.

'Probably' everything that ripped off Flash Gordon, Altered Beast and The Exorcist

Normally I'd focus on one, but rulebook is ripped up.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Commando (1985 arcade flyer) vs poster

Li Jen - Yie-Ar Kung Fu II vs Max van Sydow - Ming the Merciless

Strider - Mega Drive cover art vs Sam J. Jones

Contra III: The Alien Wars vs Hawkmen (led by Prince Vultan)

Star Wars title crawl vs Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

Altered Beast (1988)

Rise from your grave!

Thor: Ragnarok poster vs arcade flyer

WHAT?

1989 home computer art (recycled for subsequent budget re-releases) lives long in the memory.

Here comes a few 'coincidences'.

Viking Wolf (2022) and Beartooth  - Aggressive (2016 album)

And worst of all.

Mark Chadwick - Moment (2014 album)

Former Levellers frontman was definitely On The Fiddle.

The Exorcist (1973)

William Friedkin's adaptation largely follows William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel of same name, but like Regan's obscenities, content is toned down.

The crucifix scene was nasty in the film, but compared to the book...

Anyway, the power of Christ compels me to begin.

Films

Seytan (1974)

Abby (1974)

The Devil's Female (1974)

Beyond the Door (1974)

The Eerie Midnight Show (1974)

The Antichrist (1974)

Exorcism (1975)

Exorcism (2003)

Joshua John Miller's The Exorcism (2024) centres around Russell Crowe's washed up alcoholic actor playing Father Arlington in The Georgetown Project, with film within a film being a remake of...

Naked Exorcism (1975) aka Return of the Exorcist, was released at some point in the 1980's on VHS as The Exorcist III: Cries and Shadows.

Check out Father Merrin in poster.

Miscellany

Dark Shadows (2012) vs pea soup

The Shrine¹ vs Pazuzu²

¹ntbcw 1983 James Herbert novel Shrine, adapted as The Unholy in 2021.

²Film never mentions the name of fictional demon, but at the palace of Ashurbanipal, written word describes limestone statue as having a bulbous, jutting, stubby penis and a mouth stretched taut in feral grin.

Spider walk

Cut scene wasn't restored until 2000.

"Gliding spiderlike, rapidly, close behind Sharon, her body arched backward in a bow with her head almost touching her feet, was Regan, her tongue flicking quickly in and out of her mouth while she sibilantly hissed and moved her head very slightly back and forth like a cobra."

Shit caught on.

Hellboy (2019)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes

The Thing (2011)

The Void

Anything for Jackson

Evil Dead

Fede Álvarez's re-imagining of Equinox, sorry The Evil Dead, was really impressive.

But some aspects (other than profanity) felt familiar.

Abomination flicking out tongue

Before urinating on a rug in her nightgown, Regan makes a chilling threat:

"You're gonna die up there."

Filmmakers 'attempt' to throw us off the scent.

Mia: "You're all going to die tonight."

After briefly passing out, Mia vomits a copious amount of blood on Olivia.

Olivia succumbs to possession and pisses herself.

Miscellany

V/H/S (2012) - Tuesday the 17th segment

Wendy: "You're all going to fucking die up here."

Resident Evil (2002)
A holographic representation of the Red Queen states:
"You're all going to die down here."

Homage?

No fucking idea.

Video games

Pickings are surprisingly slim, but whatever.

Quiz Dai Sousa-sen: The Last Countdown (1991)

Finally, a few more spiders.

Koudelka (1999)
Elaine acts as the end boss.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014)

Euryale knows how to get around.

For shiggles.

Her sister Stheno scurries like an insect.

Until next time.

Deadpool & Wolverine - The scoop and digest

Shawn Levy directs and co-writes screenplay with Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Zeb Wells.

Can the MCU climb out of the doldrums?

Ryan Reynolds - Wade Wilson/Deadpool/Nicepool

Hugh Jackman - Logan/Wolverine

Emma Corrin - Cassandra Nova

Matthew Macfadyen - Mr. Paradox

Blind Al, Negasonic et al return from previous films, and a shitload of others join the party.

Summary

After the events of Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson travels to Earth-616, the 'Sacred Timeline', and Happy Hogan rejects his bid to join the Avengers.

Six years later, the TVA (of Loki TV series fame) capture Wade and present him to Mr. Paradox, who reveals that his timeline is fading away because of the death of 'anchor being' Logan.

Refusing to let his 'family' die, Wade steals Paradox's time device and makes his away across the multiverse, returning with the worst Wolverine variant.

Paradox banishes Wade and Logan to the Void, who along with Johnny Storm, are captured and brought before Charles Xavier's megalomaniac twin sister Cassandra Nova.

Following their escape, Wade and Logan team up with resistance members to prevent Nova from destroying respective timelines.

Post-credits

Deadpool returns to the TVA and plays back an unseen moment of Johnny spouting humorous verbatim he denied saying about Cassandra.

Rant appears to rape the principle of Edgar Friendly's speech in Demolition Man.

Coincidence?

Educated wish

Far from perfect, but still an enjoyable ride.

Whether they're shooting, stabbing or insulting each other, Reynolds and Jackman share great chemistry.

Gags can be genuinely funny, but poking fun at Fox, Disney and Marvel gets tedious (as does relentless profanity).

Action sequences are bloody great, boasting choreography tighter than a new pair of shoes.  The highlight being Wade and Logan vs the Deadpool Corps.

X-23 and Elektra excepted, the appearance of Blade and Gambit caused the cinema to erupt with rapturous applause.

Yeah, I joined in.

Longlegs - The scoop and digest

Writer-director Osgood Perkins' latest horror is scored by his brother Elvis Perkins, under the pseudonym of Zilgi.

Maika Monroe - Lee Harker

Blair Underwood - Agent Carter

Alicia Witt - Ruth Harker

Michelle Choi-Lee - Agent Browning

Nicolas Cage - Longlegs

Summary

Film is divided into three parts.

In 1974, a mysterious voice leads a young girl to a pale-faced man, telling her it's almost her birthday.

1995.

Special agent Lee Harker is assigned to investigate a series of murder-suicides, which began nearly 30 years ago.

At every scene, a letter written in cryptic coding is left, signed Longlegs.

Harker realises that each of the ten families had at least one 9-year-old daughter born on the 14th day of whatever month, with murders occurring within six days before or after.

Whilst interacting with a doll buried in one of the houses, Lee experiences psychic visions, connecting her to Longlegs.

X marks the spot

There's probably too much going on (mind manipulation, crime procedural and creepy dolls infused with Satanic magic), but shit still works.

Ignoring the obvious similarities to The Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac, this was basically Seven wearing supernatural pants.

Heck, even end credits scroll down rather than up.

This isn't unique to David Fincher's classic, as tactic was earlier employed by Carnosaur (1993), Bird on a Wire (1990), Caravaggio (1986) and more recently, Polish horror Hellhole (2022).

Fascinating, right?

Ha ha ha!

Cutting a long story short, Lee's mother Ruth was Longlegs' accomplice all along, since January 13 1974 no less.

Longlegs (real name Dale Ferdinand Cobble) returned on said night and forced Ruth to decide to either let Lee die or carry out the murders herself.

Before committing suicide by bashing his head against a table several times, geezer defiantly proclaims "Hail Satan!"

When Browning misquotes the Book of Revelation (13:1) as Revelations, Harker rightly corrects her.

Satisfying.

A decoded birthday card reads "Stood upon the sands of the sea", referencing the King James version:

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."

But the actual revelation (clever pun intended) - is Nic Cage.

Fleeting performance takes all the memes, mannerisms and jokes, and makes them terrifying.

Knowing that Cobble's triangle will be completed if Carter's daughter Ruby is killed, Lee races to Carter's already possessed family, shooting superior and her mother dead.

For reasons unexplained, Lee's gun doesn't go off, leaving latest doll untouched.

Ending was a bit meh to be honest.

Despicable Me 4 - The scoop and digest

From a screenplay by Mike White and Ken Daurio, Chris Renaud co-directs the sixth instalment overall with Patrick Delage.

Steve Carell - Gru

Kristen Wiig - Lucy

Will Ferrell - Maxime Le Mal

Joey King - Poppy Prescott

Sofia Vergara - Valentina

Steve Coogan - Silas Ramsbottom

Pierre Coffin - Minions

Summary

After Ramsbottom tells Gru that his arch nemesis Maxime Le Mal (who has enhanced his body with cockroach parts), has escaped from prison, family is forced to relocate to the quiet town of Mayflower until Maxime is recaptured.

With femme fatale girlfriend Valentina by his side, Maxime plots to kidnap Gru Jr. and transform bambino into a human-roach hybrid.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Maybe I'm being harsh, but useless characters and rubbish villain was frustrating.

When Minions become Mega via serum, superheroes causing collateral damage in a city was admittedly pretty funny.

The only other thing of note is a woman chasing Lucy through a supermarket like Terminator 2's the T-1000.

I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Gru and co, but slapstick needs to seriously up its game.

Kinds of Kindness - The scoop and digest

Yorgos Lanthimos directs and co-writes latest slice of absurdist pie with regular collaborator Efthimis Filippou.

Emma Stone - Rita, Liz and Emily

Jesse Plemons - Robert, Daniel and Andrew

Willem Dafoe - Raymond, George and Omi

Margaret Qualley - Vivian, Martha, Ruth and Rebecca

Hong Chau - Sarah, Sharon and Aka

Mamoudou Athie - Will, Neil and morgue nurse

Yorgos Stefanakos - R.M.F.

Summary

Each story is loosely connected.

The Death of R.M.F.

Robert's life is controlled and monitored by his boss and lover, Raymond.

Bastard even secretly paid doctors to abort his children.

When Raymond orders Robert to kill a man called R.M.F., he refuses, and his life goes down the pan.

R.M.F. is Flying

Police officer Daniel mourns the disappearance of his wife Liz, who went missing at sea x amount of time ago.

One night, he receives the news that R.M.F. rescued her via helicopter.

However, Daniel grows suspicious of Liz's disturbing behaviour, leading him to believe that she might not be his wife after all.

R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich

Emily and Andrew seek a woman with the ability to reanimate the dead.

Cult leader Omi gives them information on a possible candidate, only to find that she's already dead.

Emily believes the woman they're looking for appeared in one of her dreams.  While dining at a restaurant, a woman named Rebecca resembles the woman she dreamed about approaches them, and says her twin sister Ruth is exactly who they're looking for, but Andrew isn't convinced.

Mid-credits

A now revived R.M.F. munches on a sandwich, spilling ketchup on his shirt.

Misanthropic madness

According to director, initials R.M.F. (film's original title, later changed to And) references nothing.

People can theorize meaning all they want, but what's the point?

Triptych fable is a chore, but absorbing.  Personally speaking, I enjoyed Flying the most.

Composer Jerskin Fendrix (returning from Poor Things), mixes dissonant piano strokes with haunting vocalisations, fitting mood like a glove.

Performances are consistently solid, but Plemons is the glue holding shit together.

MaXXXine - The scoop and digest

Sequel takes place six years after X.

Mia Goth - Maxine

Elizabeth Debicki - Liz Bender

Moses Sumney - Leon

Kevin Bacon - John Labat

Summary

"In this business, until you're known as a monster, you're not a star." - Bette Davis

Tinseltown, California 1985.

Adult film star Maxine Minx (Miller) accepts fuck flicks have taken her as far as they can.

After smashing her audition for horror The Puritan II, she lands the lead role of Veronica Rutland, with character described as Clint Eastwood meets Charlie Bronson.

Meanwhile, satanic serial killer the Night Stalker is murdering other female porn stars, brandishing victims with a pentacle.

As the bodies pile up, Maxine begins to realise that she's the ultimate prize.

Divine intervention

The inference that the Night Stalker is responsible for reducing members of the porn industry turns out to be a red herring, as copycat killer (Maxine's father Ernest) sees dearest daughter as the 'Devil', and plans to use her sinful ass in his film to expose Hollywood's exploitative nature.

So victims and primary characters are fictitious.

The eventual apprehension of the real Richard Ramirez (identity unconfirmed) is shown through archival news footage.

Coincidentally (or not), Ramirez killed Maxine Zazzara and her husband, Vincent at their home on 27 March 1985.

Anyway, compared to X and Pearl, I was disappointed.

Slasher action thriller takes over an hour to get going and even when shit does, it's pretty meh.

There's some impressive gore, but apart from Maxine depriving mugger of joy department, kills are uninspiring.

Goth puts in another great performance and until he's crushed inside his car by a junkyard compressor, Bacon's private detective was good fun.

Prior to blowing Ernest's head off, Maxine imagines her at the glitzy premiere of The Puritan II, revealing in an interview that Bender will direct biopic The Maxine Minx Story.

One month later, she continues to work on her film, hoping success will never end.

Ti West has confirmed this isn't the end of series, so it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

The Exorcism - The scoop and digest

Joshua John Miller's directs and co-writes screenplay with life partner M. A. Fortin.

Oh, this is not a sequel to The Pope's Exorcist.

Russell Crowe - Anthony Miller

Ryan Simpkins - Lee Miller

Sam Worthington - Joe

Chloe Bailey - Blake 

David Hyde Pierce - Father Conor

Adam Goldberg - Peter

Summary

In New York City, an actor perusing the set of supernatural horror The Georgetown Project is mysteriously killed.

Subsequently, the film's director Peter hires washed up alcoholic actor Anthony to portray priest Father Arlington, whose wife died from cancer a few years ago.

As days of shooting pass, Anthony's estranged daughter Lee becomes increasingly concerned over her dad's bizarre behaviour, including sleepwalking and soiling himself.

A few days later, Anthony suddenly attacks Lee and disappears.

The monster in you

Film in the film is a remake of The Exorcist, with production inviting a demon called Molech.

Err, what the fuck?

I suppose idea is based on the curse that surrounded the set of William Friedkin's seminal classic.

And yeah, I don't care that director is the son of Jason Miller.

Want to know something rather incredible?

Great.

The statue of said demon (spelled Moloch here) is pivotal to Chapter 3 of excellent indie horror video game Faith: The Unholy Trinity.

Psychological slow burn is initially quite watchable, but things go to absolute shit once the spectacularly boring exorcism stuff begins.

For his own sake, Maximus should cast dog collar to the nearest bin.

Exploring the Characters of SNK's Neo Geo

After covering so much:

https://nukesandknives.blogspot.com/2020/04/smells-like-samurai-spirits_26.html

https://nukesandknives.blogspot.com/2022/04/probably-everything-that-nam-1975.html

https://nukesandknives.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-stunning-world-of-snks-neo-geo.html

https://nukesandknives.blogspot.com/2022/12/video-games-lifting-likeness-act-ii.html

It's time to go out with a BANG.

Fist of the North Star

Hayate - Savage Reign vs Kenshiro

The King of Fighters '95

Heidern vs The Colonel

When Kyo (or the Japan team) defeat a brainwashed Saisyu, we get a unique cut scene, which is stunningly similar to a sequence with Kenshiro and Rei, prior to fighting Raoh.

Kenshiro: You bastard!

Kyo: Rugal, you slime!

Unlike Rei, Saisyu is shown to have survived.

As a side note, dude in question is immediately comparable to Claude/Zan in Irem's Undercover Cops.

Dragon Ball Z

Blue Mary - Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory vs Android 18

Master Roshi

Tung Fu Rue (powered up) - Fatal Fury

Chung - Savage Reign

Miscellany

Heavy D - The King of Fighters '94 vs Colonel Shikishima - Akira

Takuma Sakazaki vs Mas Oyama

Ryo's father founded the fictional Kyokugenryu Karate, which is a nod to Oyama's own Kyokushinkaikan.

White¹ - Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind vs Alex - A Clockwork Orange

¹End boss is exclusive to Japanese only PS1 port of Real Bout Special.

Duck King - Fatal Fury vs 2P - Forgotten Worlds

Both and/or either may have been based on:

Bonebreaker - The Uncanny X-Men #229 - May 1988

Robert Garcia - Art of Fighting vs Terry Silver - The Karate Kid Part III

I don't know anybody who likes him (as an action star or person), but I do get the Steven Seagal thing.

Geese Howard - Fatal Fury

Southtown kingpin resembles King in first-person beat 'em up The Super Spy.

Another King would debut in Art of Fighting.

I may be wrong, but geezer rings loud bells of Gustafson in Bloodsport.

Just look at those outrageous pantaloons.

World Heroes

Most characters are fictional, but some are based on actual historical figures, such as Rasputin (Grigori Rasputin) and J. Carn (Genghis Khan).

Muscle Power vs Hulk Hogan

Dragon vs Bruce Lee

Brocken vs M. Bison/Vega

The deal breaker.

Brocken Jr. - Kinnikuman

Gee Gus is able to shapeshift at will (like Mortal Kombat's Shang Tsung), but is basically the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

World Heroes 2

Dio vs Ikuro Hashizawa aka Baoh

Multiples

For reasons that will soon become obvious, portraits are from World Heroes Perfect.

Choi Bounge (The King of Fighters) combines Jack² and Master Roshi.

²Debuted in World Heroes 2 Jet.

Alfred - Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers vs Hanzou³

³Before translators fucked up, ADK's version of Ryu was originally Hanzo.

Final round

Now we get a bit crazy.

G-Mantle vs V - V for Vendetta

Mixing shit up.

Eve - Shin Megami Tensei NINE vs Freeman⁴ - Garou: Mark of the Wolves

⁴Unrelated to Yō Hinomura, aka Crying Freeman.

Whether coincidence or not, British serial killer smacks of:

Remy - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Fight for the Future

Finally.

Benimaru - The King of Fighters

It's widely speculated that geezer is modelled on Jean-Pierre Polnareff of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fame.

Perfectly understandable.

But I'm suggesting something way more obscure.

Erg - X-Men: The Animated Series - S1 E5 (January 1993) 

Dude reappears in the fifth episode of X-Men '97.

After some professional editing...

Thank you!

Fucking AMAZING, right?

For shiggles, hair was shorter in debut.

Power Pack Volume 1 - issue 12 (July 1985)

Acta est fabula.