I love film but most of all, I love horror film. And Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is the best thing I've seen in a long time. I've now watched 6 of the episodes and 2 of them are outstanding. Three are excellent. One was well-made but ill-advised. It is the only good reason I know of to subscribe to Netflix.

Stuart Margolin, better known as Angel on The Rockford Files, just died at the age of 82. I think of him more as a director. But I did see him in a lot of stuff. He had "that guy who was in that thing" aspect to him. His death was related to pancreatic cancer, which had had suffered with for the last 10 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Margolin

I just watched the first episode of the original Fantasy Island TV show. And it was... pretty good! There are lots of things you could criticize like predictable plots. But it works quite well. Even had some effective horror. Tubi has all 7 seasons!

https://tubitv.com/series/300006868/fantasy-island

I just watched Night of the Comet (1984) for the first time in a long time. What a wonderful film! It is exactly what it attempts to be. And features an absolutely perfect script. I watched it on Shudder, but it's available for free on Tubi

https://tubitv.com/movies/432267

My capsule review from before

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/n/

Capsule review of A Comedy of Horrors, Volume 1 (2021)

Very good film by the crew who brought you The Night Watchmen.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/c/#comedy-of-horrors

Capsule review of The Aftermath (1982)

This is a weird one. I can't say whether I'm alone in finding it charming. It's just so damned earnest. But also kind of cool. And it features Forrest J Ackerman!

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/a/#aftermath

I never would have thought that Rob Zombie would grok The Munsters. But based on the trailer, he absolutely does. I probably won't see the film for that very reason, however. The original show, and especially the movies, are almost unwatchable today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw5T0V3_hlU

Capsule review of The Wretched (2019)

A very well-made and effective horror film. Gorgeous to look at with some nice effects. Reminds me of Disturbia for some reason.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/w/#wretched

Capsule review of Mandrake (2022)

Even though it's from Northern Ireland, it's still Nordic Horror -- but far better than most.

https://psychotronicreview.com/short-takes/m/#mandrake

I see a lot of discussion of Jordan Peterson's criticism of postmodernism. Most are very critical but no one seems to be willing to say the obvious: Peterson doesn't know anything about postmodernism. His entire critique is lifted undigested from Stephen Hicks. And Hicks is just a Randian loon who understands philosophy no better than Leonard Peikoff. There is nothing in Peterson to critique. He just read a book by an ideologically rigid "thinker" who doesn't understand postmodernism himself.

I just watched Mandrake (2022), which I avoided because it seemed too much like Nordic horror (even though it's Northern Irish), which has gotten pretty boring. But this was outstanding with two amazing lead characters.

It's like The Babadook (2014) in terms of looking at the complexities of motherhood. Otherwise, not at all the same. But similar in quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovVsjMkJk6c

A contrast to this is the English dub of Bloody Mallory (2002) where the voice acting is so bad, it's almost unlistenable. Sad because if any film could use a good dub, this would be it. Visually stunning. But the film loses most of its charm with the terrible dub.

I just watched French Kiss (1995) and I decided to watch some of it with the Fench dub. Wow! It's rare to see dubbing done well outside of older Italian films. This one was great. Interestingly, when the original has French dialog, it is English here. But there are generally weird things like where she says, "Do you speak English?" But in French. Still well done!

I just got an ad for Thursday Boots (which look awesome) on the day I purchased almost $400 dollars in shoes because I need special ones because my feet are messed up. I paid in cash. But I did text a friend about it. I'm not saying I'm being spied on, but it certainly seems like I'm being spied on.

I cannot find my copy of Bloody Mallory (2002 and it isn't streaming anywhere!

Ronald Klain said of this headline, "It's almost self-parody at this point." I think that's true if you remove the word "almost."

I've been watching Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. It's very good. But I just watched the third episode, "The Autopsy." Wow. Amazing stuff. It's what I watch horror for!

The Werewolf of Washington (1973) is a great film. But good luck finding a decent print. Kino has released a widescreen Blu-ray, but I haven't gotten my hands on it. Everywhere else (streaming, DVD) it's a terrible cropped print.

Psychotronic Problems

Just found @joshtpm on here, which is good, assuming he starts using it. One of my main uses of Twitter is reading his TL.

Last nigh,, Dr Oz said, "Tomorrow morning.. I want you to contact ten people.. do it before the Steelers game."

The Steelers are off this week.

I don't blame anyone for not liking football. I'm not a big fan myself despite it being a big part of my job. But I'm struck by this pretense of being a "regular guy." Oz, Trump, Cruz, and many other MAGA leaders are elitists. The fact that their followers can't see it is amazing.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/pennsylvania-senate-race-takes-bizarre-turn-thanks-steelers-football