October 5
"Modest ambition" is the name of the game that
The Boogens is playing. Not much more than a harmless mash-up of old fashioned B-movie tropes with some then-modern concessions like more graphic makeup effects, some swearing and a bit of skin, it aims to differentiate itself with its dopey yet earnest charm. With a cast that won't be winning acting competitions, it has to rely more on their rapport with one another, which does work well. Rebecca Balding has long been an inherently welcome sight in anything she pops up in, but I'll give due credit to the other three for making their roles feel like people that would hang out together, making them feel quite likable. Surprisingly, the best actor in this is however many dogs they got to fill in the role of the pet dog in this, who gets what are probably the best scenes in the film with the director staging some nice little bits of comedy and suspense with our canine friend as focus, almost as if it's a more adorable version of our hero from
The Hills Have Eyes. It's a nice setting, too: the wintry aspect of the abandoned mines does get some brief but welcome moments of desolation to add a bit of atmosphere to a straightforward creature feature. The film wisely holds back on a full reveal of the title beasties until the last 15 minutes or so, partly because they don't look particularly terrifying (the general design is promising, a kind of eldritch turtle, but they needed a much bigger budget to pull it off), but it does allow for some effective "fill in the blanks" moments as the attacks are carried out through their perspective. Overall, it's not an exemplary film by any stretch, but it is actually more difficult to find a lot wrong with it, as it succeeds at virtually everything it sets out to do in a competent and coherent fashion. Not the world's most exciting film, but it is the kind that no one would mind having on.
Film for October 6: Oh shit, it's that cursed day again! While I avoided the hell out of falling for it last year with
Deliverance, one can never be too sure what and how it will strike. So let's live a little dangerously once again this year with a film that, quite honestly, I haven't been able to find out much about from just about anyone.
Ghost Money is a Thai film from the early 80s with a trailer for a recently restored version that boasts a reputation for being one of the scariest films for at least for its home audience, but other than that, there's really not much dialogue about it from what I've seen. In any event, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out when there's no one or nothing to relate it to, making this potentially the deepest dive I've ever done for a marathon.
