We’ve got two amazing new releases and three fun oldies this week. We’ll start off with the critically acclaimed “Sinners” that’s just come to streaming. We’ll then stop for a snack with “Cannibal Mukbang,” another tasty new release. We’ll do a couple of comedy-horrors next, “Hot Fuzz” (2007) and “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” (2010). Lastly, we’ll go way back in time and meet “The Man from Planet X” from 1951.
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Mainstream Films:
2025 Sinners
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Written by: Ryan Coogler
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Saul Williams
Run Time: 2 Hours, 17 Minutes
Get it here: https://amzn.to/45Vl2s8
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s very much a humanity and period drama with magic and horror in the background, at first. Then things get crazy toward the second half. The cast, direction, music, and effects are all excellent. Especially the use of music. It’s on the long side but worth it.
Spoilery Synopsis
It’s 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. A man with a broken guitar walks into church, and the preacher gets really upset, changing the sermon to talk about men who are full of sin. He wants Sammie to give up his sinful ways. We get flashes of violence and blood.
We flash back to the cotton farm, where all the black people work in the fields; it’s after slavery, but the echoes of it are still strong. We then cut again to two brothers, Smoke and Stack, who are dressed up with a fancy car. Mr. Hogwood shows up and shows them some property. It gets a little tense, but they’ve got a bagful of money and buy it.
Sammie argues with his preacher father about going out for the evening. “You keep going out with the devil, sooner or later, you’re gonna bring him home.” He goes off with Stack and Smoke, saying he’ll be back for service tomorrow. They’ve got big plans for the day and night.
The three are planning on putting a juke joint together, with lots of drinking, at the old sawmill they just bought. Stack runs into Mary, an old jilted lover, and a white looking woman as well, so she could be trouble. The harmonica player, Delta Slim, tells a story about why black folks shouldn’t get too successful.
Smoke goes to see Annie about cooking at the juke joint tonight, and they have a long history. We get a montage of everyone setting up for the party, including the cooking.
Elsewhere, a dirty-looking and injured white man beats on a door and asks a white couple for shelter from the Choctaws. He offers them money to let him inside, and they invite him in. A short while later, a Choctaw scout with others shows up, and he says he’s looking for a dangerous man who’s not what he seems. She lies and says she hasn’t seen him. They soon leave, and the strange man kills the couple, who should’ve never invited him in. Before long, all three of them are vampires.
Mary shows up to the big party, and she looks a little out of place there. Stack wants her out of there before trouble breaks out; she’s part black in the family, but has been passing for years, a prime target for lynching.
Delta Slim finishes his piano set and introduces Sammie, who plays the guitar. The magic of music fills the room. We see a guy playing an electric guitar and half the crowd is dressed like anachronistic rappers, ancient Africans, and even Asian musicians and dancers thanks to the Asian grocer and his wife. (I guess the Blues are timeless?). They are having a goooood time.
And then the three vampires, Bert, Joan, and Remmick, show up outside. They talk to the doorman/bouncer and want it. They pull out instruments and start playing; they say they just want to join the party, and they’re pretty good bluegrass singers as well. Smoke does not want to let them in.
Smoke gives Sammie some career advice; he wants to keep his young cousin out of trouble, but Sammie thinks he might want to go to Chicago like the twins did.
Mary wants to talk to the white trio about coming back; the twins are going to need every dollar they can get. She finds them playing their music right outside the barn. They’ve very friendly– until they aren’t.
When Mary returns to the party, she needs an invitation to come inside. The vampires start picking off people as they go outside to pee. As Smoke deals with a cheating gambler, Stack and Mary make out; she’s drooling. We see that yes, they did turn her outside. By the time Smoke and Sammie come in, they’re both covered in Stack's blood. Smoke wastes zero seconds filling her full of lead, but that doesn’t even slow her down.
Stack bleeds out as everyone watches; the party is over. Annie talks to Sammie, and she seems to know what they’re dealing with– she wants to move Stack’s body outside for a while. They end up locking the room he’s in.
Cornbread comes back from peeing and needs an invitation back inside. Annie accuses him of being a haint now, and the others don’t interrupt her at all. It gets so obvious that he needs an invitation that they all know something’s up with him.
There’s a knocking at the locked storeroom door; only Stack’s dead body was in there. He’s feeling much better now and busts down the door. Annie splashes him with a bottle full of pickled garlic, which makes him sizzle and run out. And then she knows they aren’t haints, they’re vampires. She says that they all need to hold out till sunlight. She explains all the rules of vampires to the group.
They find someone lying in a pool of blood. When the men carry a body outside, they see that there’s a whole bunch of vampires out there dancing as Remmick sings very Irishly. It’s a whole big musical number, and the vampires apparently not only get immortality and bloodthirstiness, but also a talent for Irish singing and dancing. Clearly in many ways they are an extension of Remmick.
Inside, everyone eats some garlic to prove they aren’t vampires, and Remmick comes to the door, making it clear how things are going to turn out for all the people in there. The Klan was already planning to come and kill them all. The mill was a trap by Hogwood that’s been used more than once, to get a bunch of black folks together in one place. The vampires are much nicer, or so they say. Stack talks to Smoke, and he makes a good case. Eternal life in one big happy family.
One of the crew finally breaks and dares the vamps to come inside. Remmick perks up - was that an invitation? Good enough! There are a lot more vamps than humans already, so the fight is a little one-sided. Smoke ends up staking Annie, which upsets Mary.
Remmick wants Sammie’s songs and wants to absorb his musical talent. Meanwhile Stack and Smoke fight inside. Sammie whacks Remmick with his guitar that has a silver disc that ends up embedded in his head. That really hurts, and all the vamps feel the wound. Smoke comes out of nowhere and stabs Remmick all the way through with a stake as the sun rises. Most everyone burns in the sunlight, especially Remmick.
Smoke tells Sammie to go home and bury that guitar. They seem to be the only ones left alive.
Smoke unpacks his old army rifle and goes after the Klansmen who arrive to shut down the juke joint. He’s got a machine gun and grenades too, and he takes out all of the evil white men. He gets shot, dies, and yet still has a happy ending.
Back in the opening scene, Sammie walks back into his father’s church with the broken guitar. We see that Sammie’s got a big clawmark on his face. Instead of dropping the guitar fragment and turning his back on music as his father urges, we see him driving away with it.
We flash forward many years and see that Sammie is old and has made a long career from singing the Blues. He runs a club of his own now, and one night, he gets some very strange visitors who need to be invited in… Stack and Mary.
Stack tells the story of how they survived and asks Sammie to play for them; he’s repaired that same old guitar.
Brian’s Commentary
The vampire effects toward the end are really good, but they aren’t overbearing through the rest of the film. This is the kind of vampire story that makes you wonder how there aren’t already billions of vampires all over the world.
It’s got a big budget, and the historical setting and context are just about perfect. It’s really slow getting to the action bits; there’s only one quick scene about vampires in the first 70 minutes, much more a period drama than anything else, but once the sun goes down, it gets pretty crazy.
The magical realism during the first musical act stands out from everything else [The Blues are forever?]. The singing vampires are a little weird as well, but not as much as the first musical number.
It’s long, but it’s really excellent.
Kevin’s Commentary
Remmick must restrain himself and his minions to keep a reasonable clan size. It’s very easy to convert others to loyal vampires. It was cool how the vampires seemed to be extensions and connected to Remmick while still retaining much of their original personalities. I really liked the long stretch without much vampire action as we got to know the characters and the world they are living in. Then the vampire action kicked in nicely. The use of music was great. And I was impressed with how flawlessly Michael B. Jordan played twins, both his acting and the special effects. This one is a winner.
2023 Cannibal Mukbang
Directed by: Aimee Kuge
Written by: Aimee Kuge
Stars: April Consalo, Nate Wise, Clay von Carlowitz
Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes
Watch it here: https://amzn.to/4e0cVN0
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
So, how much would you put up with in a relationship? This movie takes the question to the extreme. The cast is good, the script is well written, and the effects are realistic. It’s heavy on strange romance with a heavy dose of gore and horror. We liked it quite a bit.
Spoilery Synopsis
Mark stares at the redhead at the convenience store. He soon finds a way to talk to her, but he’s too shy to stick around. He leaves the store and gets hit by a car. He wakes up in the redhead’s house; she’s Ash, and she’s the one who hit him. She feeds him, and it’s delicious. She’s fascinated by the metal plate in his head that he’s had since he was a kid.
Mark works in customer service; Ash eats stuff online while people watch. He knows all about mukbanging since he watches them all the time. They have a good time, and she drives him home.
Mark’s job isn’t much fun. He watches Ash’s videos and then fantasizes about her, but he’s weird about it, cutting off his own nose for her. Mark’s older brother, Maverick, gives Mark some advice about women, and he’s clearly no expert.
Ash finally gets back in touch with Mark and invites him over. She’s made a blanket fort, and it’s all really cozy and romantic. He explains that as a hobby, he writes horror movie reviews [Who does that?!], and she’s impressed. They talk about where they came from, and this leads to kissing and lots more talking.
Another day, Mark takes Ash to a vegan place, and she doesn’t look happy; she’s rude and distracted throughout the whole date. A creepy-looking man comes in, and Ash looks worried. “You need to leave now,” she warns him.
Mark goes to hang around in the park and accidentally watches as the creepy man attacks Ash. He’s about to hit her when she reaches up and breaks his arm in half. She bites the man in the throat, killing him, as Mark walks up to talk. “You’re eating him.” He offers to help her move the body.
When Ash shows Mark to her “butcher’s table,” he wonders what were in the nachos he ate the other night. “You don’t even know what hot dogs are made of,” she counters. “I only kill the people that society could do without.” He recognizes her as a serial killer, Alexandra Rouge, he’s read about. No, Alexandra was Ash’s sister. She cuts the dead man up and saves the pieces for later.
This leads Mark into more weird fantasies. Maybe Ash is the stable one in this relationship? He starts going into convulsions, and she says his hunger may be starting. He goes over, and she’s prepared a charcuterie board, fully decorated with a skull. He’s still freaked out, but he’s coming to terms with it.
Ash tells us about her little sister, Allie, and how they lived in Louisiana. A man kidnapped them and put them in a cage. He eventually killed Allie and made Ash eat her. Ash soon turned the tables on the swamp man and killed and ate him.
Ash runs errands in the morning, leaving Mark on his own, and he has breakfast. He loves cannibalism now!
Ash talks about a child molester that she’s been tracking, and she wants to kill him tonight. That goes off really well, and they do it over and over; cue the killing and eating montage!
After quite a long time, Ash asks about sex. Are they ever gonna do it? He’s still very uncomfortable, but he finally goes for it– in the butchery room. Afterward, they argue, and he leaves.
Maverick, Mark’s brother, breaks into Mark’s house, worried about not hearing from him in so long. The smell is terrible, but Mark’s in there, asleep, and he doesn’t look good. He hasn’t seen Ash in two weeks, and it’s tearing him up.
Mark goes back to Ash and apologizes. She says they have important business to attend to tonight; she’s got another victim in mind. The victim tonight turns out to be… Maverick!
Maverick knocks Ash out and gets to work raping her as Mark hides in the closet and waits for her signal. He comes out and confronts, much to his surprise, his brother. Ash had no idea they were related. The pair tied up Maverick and put him in the basement to discuss the situation. There is much begging and yelling. “If you love me, you would kill him,” Ash says.
Mark releases Maverick and gets accidentally stabbed in the process. Ash bites Maverick’s ear off. Mark lets him go yet again, and Ash is not happy. She kills Mark with an axe as Maverick runs out the door, his ear in hand.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s very slow getting to the action, but it does eventually get there. We saw the “twist” coming long before it did; Maverick was just too much of an ass to be allowed to live.
It’s an allegory for toxic relationships, but it’s still fun to watch. It’s almost more of a romantic drama than a horror film, but it’s got cannibalism and gore, so it’s got that working for it.
It ended with Maverick getting away. That’s not going to end well for Ash, but we don’t see any of the fallout from that, which should have at least been an after-credit scene.
Kevin’s Commentary
It’s a weird romance. I thought the acting and chemistry between the two main characters were great. I enjoyed everything right up to the ending, which I thought was a little abrupt and didn’t quite seem finished; it didn’t quite satisfy. But it’s good overall and definitely worth watching.
2007 Hot Fuzz
Directed by Edgar Wright
Written by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
Stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman
Run Time: 2 Hours, 1 Minute
Watch it: https://amzn.to/3SSp6BS
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a cop buddy action mystery thriller comedy with just the tiniest pinch of horror hints. That said, it's got a lot of laughs with a decent body count, and the pieces of the mystery coming together are very clever.
Spoilery Synopsis
Nicholas Angel introduces himself. We see that he’s some kind of supercop, excelling at everything. He’s so good that he makes all the other cops look bad, so they transfer him to a tiny town out in the country. Also, they’re not going to take “No” for an answer. He tells his ex, Janine, who doesn’t really care since he cares more about his job than anything else.
So Nicholas moves to Sandford, a quiet village in the English countryside. He’s… not thrilled to be there. He goes to the pub and meets the Porters, the owners, as well as PC Danny Butterman. He immediately starts causing trouble when he finds a bunch of underage drinkers in the pub– he clears out the whole place. He’s maybe a little overzealous for this kind of posting.
In the morning, he meets Simon Skinner, who owns one of the big stores in town. Next, he goes to the station and meets Inspector Butterman, his new boss, who says this is the safest village in the country. He meets all the other cops, who show him that things aren’t the same outside the city.
That evening, Tom Weaver, the old man who thinks he runs the town, throws a party for Nicholas for the Neighborhood Watch group. The old man has a grudge against “The Living Statue,” a street performer whom no one else cares about at all.
After an awful presentation of “Romeo and Juliet,” Nicholas and Danny walk right past a mysterious hooded figure who later viciously murders the stars of the stage play. Two decapitations are not something that the town cops are really equipped to deal with. But it’s staged to look like a car accident, and Angel is the only one suspicious.
The duo gets called out to an old man with a whole barn full of guns and weapons, which they confiscate. They celebrate later and then carry a drunk home. The hooded killer gets the man immediately after.
At the big church fundraiser, the town reporter tries to talk to Nicholas, but is killed by the masked killer who knocks a pointed piece of masonry down on him.
Nicholas tells his boss that he thinks all the recent deaths are connected, but the inspector prefers to think they were all just accidents. Cue the research montage as the pair discuss all the characters we have met.
Not long after, Nicholas hears all about a big real estate deal in the town from the local florist, who is killed as Nicholas watches. He chases the killer through the greenhouses. All the police still insist that there are so many accidents.
The whole police force goes to arrest Simon Skinner at the grocery store. Nicholas has a whole convoluted theory about Simon and the real estate deal. Except, according to security footage, Simon has a perfect alibi. Now, Nicholas looks like an idiot to everyone.
That evening, Nicholas goes back to his hotel room, and the killer is waiting for him. It’s Michael, Simon’s not-so-smart assistant. He and Simon were working together.
Nicholas runs to the castle, where Simon is there with a whole coven of witches that includes a lot of the townspeople we already know. It’s the whole Neighborhood Watch group! Nicholas walks in and tells them they’re all under arrest.
The Inspector Butterman shows up, and he’s all in with the cultists. This is all about winning the “Best Village” award again. Danny seems to be with them as well, and all Nicholas can do is run away. He falls into an underground pit and sees the bodies of all the people in town that the cult considered bad and killed.
He runs up to Danny for help, and Danny stabs him. But he just faked it to get Nicholas to safety; he doesn’t know anything about the big conspiracy or his father’s involvement.
Nicholas buys some supplies and then comes back in the morning. He goes to the evidence room and stocks up on all the weapons he could ever want. He rides into town on a horse, and everyone sees him coming. We see that all the quaint little villagers are armed to the teeth.
One by one, Danny and Nicholas take out the crazy villagers. The other police show up, and Nicholas tries to explain everything to them. Danny and the Inspector have their family moment, but the rest of the police start to believe him.
Everyone runs to Simon Skinner’s store for the final battle. Butterfield and Simon make a quick getaway, and it’s time for a high-speed chase as the award judges look on in astonishment.
Nicholas and Simon fight in a miniature version of the town like big silly kaijus. Nicholas has a very painful finish. Frank Butterfield makes his escape, but the town swan takes him out instead.
The London police want him back now; they’re numbers are slipping. Nicholas decides to stay in the little town now, where he’s learned to have a good time…
Until crazy old Tom shoots Danny and gets trapped under the sea mine and blows up… everyone. But it’s a comedy, and none of our heroes are hurt too badly. There are way more survivors than there should be, and one year later, Nicholas is the new police chief.
Brian’s Commentary
Nicholas’s supercop has no sense of humor or much of a personality, and he reminded me immediately of the main character in “The Wicker Man” from 1973, which is probably not a coincidence.
Timothy Dalton, as Skinner, was an obvious villain, but also a sort of red herring, since the whole town was really the baddies here. Other than him, there are lots of familiar faces here, so that’s a lot of fun in itself.
Still, there’s very little horror here. There’s a serial killer who wears a black robe and looks like Death, as well as a whole group of cultists/witches.
It’s very good, but don’t watch it as a horror movie.
Kevin’s Commentary
This is probably my favorite of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's movies. And it’s really too much of a stretch to call it horror, but that’s okay. It’s really funny and entertaining.
2010 Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Directed by Eli Craig
Written by Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson
Stars Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden
Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
Watch Now: https://amzn.to/4jUkM01
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is an excellent horror comedy. It takes the idea that the killer hillbillies in a horror movie are actually the misunderstood good guys. So much depends on your point of view. It’s bloody and violent and very fun.
Spoilery Synopsis
We cut to a couple of true crime podcasters, but they’re both very quickly killed. The credits roll as we shift to a car full of teenagers in West Virginia. Chad makes a hillbilly joke. Their car is passed by two sketchy-looking rednecks in a pickup truck. When they stop to buy beer, those same two guys are there. It all looks very “Deliverance”-y.
At the store, Tucker and Dale, the hillbillies, admire the young college students. Dale likes the girls, but he doesn’t have the self-confidence to talk to them. He walks over to the girls while absent-mindedly carrying a huge scythe; he laughs nervously, and the kids all think he’s some kind of maniac.
Tucker talks to Dale about his self-confidence problems. We soon see that these guys are really deep in the region of “It’s not what it looks like,” when they get pulled over by a cop. They get to the “vacation home” that Tucker just bought, and it’s quite the fixer-upper. It’s a cabin in the woods, to be sure. There are bones hanging from the ceiling and news clippings about serial killings on the walls. They narrowly avoid a booby trap, and we see just how ignorant these two are about what they’ve stumbled into.
Not far away, Chad and the gang talk about “The Memorial Day Massacre” twenty years ago that happened right here. We get a flashback to when that all happened. It’s like every serial-killer-in-the-woods movie we’ve ever seen.
Tucker and Dale are out on the lake fishing. A bunch of the campers go skinny dipping. One of the girls has an accident, and Dale rescues her. One of the other campers sees this. “We’ve got your friend,” Dale yells, and they all run away.
Allison wakes up in the morning at the cabin, and she’s terrified of Dale and his pancakes. The teenagers walk through the woods and blow the whole thing out of proportion.
Dale explains what really happened to Allison, and she understands. They make friends and start playing board games together. Meanwhile, Tucker is outside working with his chainsaw as Mitch, one of the kids, approaches. Tucker cuts into a bee nest and reacts badly, terrifying everyone with his chainsaw antics. Mitch gets impaled on a tree branch and dies. The body is soon found by the other kids, who assume the hillbillies are murderers; Chad says, “It’s us versus them!”
Tucker walks back to the cabin, and he’s covered in bee welts. Dale pulls the stingers out, one by one, and Tucker talks about how afraid Mitch looked when he saw the bees.
The kids hide and overhear Dale talking about “beating the crap out of Allison and finishing her off.” He means, of course, at their trivia game, but they don’t hear that part. Then Tucker starts working on cleaning up the dead wood around the cabin with their wood-chipping machine. Dale and Allison dig an outhouse hole, and the kids think they’re making her dig her own grave. Two of the college students attack the men, and that goes hilariously badly for both of them. Allison is knocked unconscious in the action.
Tucker is amazed that one of the college students ran and jumped into his wood chipper (he tripped when aiming to attack Tucker). Dale talks about one of them impaling himself on a spear right in front of him. “This is a suicide pact,” Tucker speculates. They could call the police, but what would they say? Who would they believe?
Out in the woods, Chad suggests that this is an amazing opportunity to kill some rednecks. The rest of the kids run into the sheriff, and they drive back to investigate. Meanwhile, Tucker and Dale try to unplug the wood chipper.
Tucker tells the cop, “We have had a doozy of a day. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, these kids started killing themselves all over my property.” They go inside, and the sheriff runs right into the booby trap from before. Chad starts shooting at the guys, and Tucker blames the whole thing on Dale.
When Chad takes Dale’s dog as a hostage, the guys fight back with a nail gun. He’s only a distraction as Tucker frees the dog, which leads to another chase through the woods. They soon catch Tucker and hang him upside-down from a tree.
Allison wakes up, and Dale tells her what’s been going on as he cries. She offers to clear up all the misunderstandings and goes outside, where she sees the carnage. She finds Tucker’s shirt with a couple of fingers inside. He soon tracks down Tucker, who says, “This vacation sucks.”
Chad and the other kids show up, and Allison explains it all to them, but Chad just wants to kill some hillbillies. They think she’s got “Stockholm Syndrome.” Chad’s just a psychopath.
Allison gets Chad and Dale to sit down and talk, all diplomatic-like. Chad explains how his parents were attacked in the Memorial Day Massacre twenty years ago. The rednecks of the time captured his mother and killed his father.
Outside, Jason and Chloe have been waiting to come inside and save the day with a weed whacker. They break in and kill Naomi by accident. Chad accidentally sets Jason on fire. The whole cabin ends up exploding, much to Tucker’s dismay. “I’m a terrible therapist,” whines Allison.
Chad gets up and comes outside with his axe. Tucker, Dale, and Allison run to the truck and drive away– right into a tree. While they’re unconscious, Chad takes Allison away.
Tucker gives Dale a rousing speech about how Dale’s not as stupid and ugly as he thinks he is. Tucker’s badly hurt, so it’s up to Dale to save Allison.
Chad has Allison literally tied to a lumber mill saw; he’s burned and crazy now. Dale decides to embrace his inner “killer hillbilly.” Chad starts up the buzzsaw as he and Dale fight.
Allison finds a newspaper article that explains that Chad’s parents were the Memorial Day Murderers; it’s all genetic! “Chad– you’re half hillbilly!” Dale then kills Chad with chamomile tea.
The news reporters are calling it a “mass suicide,” and also that there was a killer who was never found. Tucker, in the hospital, asks Dale about Allison. They’re going bowling, so it’s a date! Also, Dale has learned not to help people now.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s all a comedy of misunderstanding, of course, but it uses all the horror movie tropes. The gore and deaths are really well done, and always funny. It uses all the killer-in-the-woods tropes, but it’s totally turned around since the kids are the bad ones.
Tucker and Dale are hilarious, and we absolutely should have had half a dozen sequels by now. It’s very possibly my favorite horror-comedy.
Kevin’s Commentary
This is really excellent. There are lots of laughs, and I liked it even better this second viewing. The script is great, and Tucker and Dale are perfectly cast.
1951 The Man from Planet X
Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
Written by Aubrey Wisberg, Jack Pollexfen
Stars Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Raymond Bond
Run Time: 1 Hour, 11 Minutes
Trailer:
Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FiB6t9
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is mainly a classic example of early 1950s science fiction, but it’s got some horror elements with alien scares, peril from space, and conniving humans. It’s certainly dated, but that adds to the fun. We enjoyed the watch.
Spoilery Synopsis
In the dark castle on the hill, a man wonders what happened to the girl and her father. He expects that he’ll be dead by morning as well, but he intends to fight. He’s a reporter, and he writes down his story about meeting a man from Planet X face to face. We flash back…
A new planet has arrived from nowhere, and it’s all very mysterious. John Lawrence and Professor Blaine talk about mysteries from the sky. The new planet isn’t going to collide with the Earth, but it’s going to come really close. Professor Elliot discovered the new world, and he’s gone to Burry Island, the place that’s going to be closest to the new planet.
John goes to the remote Scottish island where Elliot is staying. He’s met by Enid, the professor’s daughter. They drive up to the old castle on the hill, where he meets Elliot and Dr. Mears, whom John doesn’t like. Mears just showed up two weeks ago, one of Elliot’s former students. Elliot admits he’s not sure what’s going to happen as the planet gets really close in a few days.
John and Enid go for a walk on the foggy moors, and John likes what he sees, in all the meanings of the word. They find a strange metal thing on the ground that looks like a bomb or missile. Dr. Elliot can’t explain it either, but he thinks it may have come from outer space, as the metal is unknown. Mears points out how important that metal is to science.
After dropping John off at the inn in town, Enid gets a flat tire on the foggy old country road. She sees a flashing light out on the moor and finds a space rocket that has landed out there. She looks in the window and sees an alien face inside. She screams and runs all the way back to the castle.
The old professor thinks she’s imagined it all, so she takes him out there; Mears skulks along behind them. When Elliot looks in through the window, there’s no one inside. A beam from the ship shines on the old professor, who goes into some kind of trance. He feels better later and tells the whole story to John.
When John sees the spaceship, he says it looks like “A big diving bell,” and the professor says there’s not much difference between water and space, so why not? Then they see the spaceman, who appears to be holding a gun. It collapses as the alien tries to adjust his space suit.
The alien soon recovers and gets up. They try to communicate, but that doesn’t work, so it follows them home to the castle, much to Enid’s surprise. Dr. Mears wants to use math to communicate with the alien. John doesn’t trust Mears, and Mears knows it.
Alone, Mears works his math with the creature, hoping to learn something he can use for profit. He has no plans to share his knowledge with anyone else. He overpowers the very weak alien and turns down the gas it breathes. He goes in and tells Elliot that he’s had no luck.
Enid goes into the room with the creature and screams.
John returns and finds Enid missing, as is the creature. He and Mears walk back to the spaceship to see if they are there. They aren’t there, so John goes back to the castle, leaving Mears there.
The constable and another man arrive to talk to Elliot. Some men from the village have vanished. John’s not willing to tell them the story, but he’s willing to take the constable out to the moor and show him. They go back to where the spaceship was, but it’s not there now, and neither is Mears.
Back in the village, the second villager shows up and says that Professor Elliot went off with the alien and Mears. John says what he knows, which sends all the villagers off in a panic. The constable reports that the phone lines are out, so they try to signal a passing ship.
Meanwhile, more villagers are starting to work for the alien, all mind-controlled. John finds more men out by the alien ship, digging.
Scotland Yard sends two men; the ship did get their message. They want to bring in the military. John says he has a plan, and the police decide to go along with it. They give him until eleven o’clock– the planet will be at its closest at midnight.
We cut to the opening sequence, as John writes out his story before time runs out. He goes to the ship, where he encounters Elliot and Mears. He tells Elliot to walk back to town. Mears explains what the alien is doing; there’s going to be an invasion since the alien’s planet is dying. He tells the mind-controlled slave workers to walk away, and they do it.
The alien comes outside, and John tackles it, turning his valve off. It soon dies. He sends Enid and Mears to safety, but the alien, not as dead as it would appear, gets back up. Mears decides to run back to the ship as the army starts shooting at it. Mears get shot in the back by the soldiers before the ship explodes.
Meanwhile, Planet X gets really close to the Earth, and everyone watches as it passes harmlessly. John and Enid discuss how the government is going to cover it all up. Enid thinks the creature was friendly, and Mears was lying about the invasion.
Brian’s Commentary
The 1950s were known for their atomic horrors and flying saucer movies, but this is one of the early ones, and it was very influential in what followed.
We don’t know what Mears did back in the day for John to distrust him, but the feeling is obvious. Any planet that came that close to Earth would be a much bigger deal than the film suggests. Also, we don’t know for sure at the end what the creature’s motivations were, invasion or just exploration? Mears is the only real death in the film, and the soldiers did that.
The alien is possibly the least emotive creature ever filmed. It’s just a fixed head inside a glass helmet, no moving mouth, blinking eyes, or anything. Well, I guess that does make it pretty alien. The acting is good, the pacing is fine, but the alien really makes it hard to take seriously.
Kevin’s Commentary
The science is pretty bad, but it’s a decent watch for entertainment. The alien and effects are simple and dated. It was a great year for science fiction: “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “The Thing From Another World,” and “When Worlds Collide” were all released in 1951, too. This is one to either relax and enjoy for what it is or make fun of it mercilessly. It depends on the mood you’re in.
Short Films:
2023 Short Film The Fisherman’s Wife
Directed by: Jared Watson
Written by: Jared Watson
Stars: Kelsey Carthew, Cairlin Riley, T. Ryder Smith
Run Time: 8:11
Watch it:
What Happens
A fisherman wanders the deserted beach, scrounging for whatever he can find, which is mostly garbage. He continues on with his futile search until he sees a woman lying in the sand. No, not a woman– a mermaid caught in a net!
He carries her home, but she’s gasping and having difficulty breathing. He boils water in a pot and then pulls out the butcher’s knife… No, it’s not what it looks like. Is it?
Commentary
This is one messed-up family.
It’s all very dark and depressing, lonely and filthy. It’s post-apocalyptic even, but it’s still hilarious in its weirdness. It’s very ponderous and slow-moving, and that just adds to the oddball charm here.
It’s very cool!
2024 Short Film The Noise Next Door
Directed by: Christopher Cox
Written by: Christopher Cox
Stars: James Sanger, Scott Bolger, Natalie Polisson
Run Time: 13:09
Watch it:
What Happens
Jay just moved into a new, small apartment, and he’s not too impressed with it. As he talks to his mother, he hears someone bumping into the wall from the other side. He knocks on the neighbor’s door, and the man inside apologizes for watching his movie too loudly.
The thumping continues, and it’s clearly not a movie. He looks through his door’s peephole and sees a woman crying. When he opens the door, no one is there. He checks with the neighbors again, and it’s not her. They have no idea what the sounds are, and they’re also tired of being bothered.
He calls the apartment manager to report it. He’s not about to let it slide without investigating further, and he soon learns he shouldn’t have…
Commentary
It’s time for a new apartment!
From the neighbor’s point of view, Jay is just a nut. From his point of view, he’s trying to help. We don’t know until the end what’s really going on. I kept waiting for someone to say, “Oh, it’s THAT apartment,” like they knew– it took a while, but that’s exactly what happened.
This is very nicely paced and fast-moving. It’s very well done and makes perfect sense. It ratchets up the tension right up to the end. Excellent!
2023 Short Film Eyestring
Directed by: Javier Devitt
Written by: Alena Chinault, Javier Devitt
Stars: Jeannie Bolet, Alena Chinault, Erin Grant
Run Time: 8 Minutes
Watch it:
What Happens
Veronica talks on the phone, and the phone-in therapist on the other end talks about balance and her getting out more. As she talks, she starts to pull a little hair out of her eye. Except the hair pulls and pulls… Credits roll.
She’s out driving now, and the eye-hair is hanging down the side of her face. She calls her “concierge” from earlier, but she can’t talk to the same guy from earlier– the “therapists” are all assigned randomly.
She decides to go to the store and pick up some “eye care products,” including scissors…
Commentary
Wait– people actually call those phone-therapy lines?
Ew. Nothing’s worse than stuff in your eye. Except maybe something coming out of your eye.
It’s well shot and well acted. None of this goes the way you’d expect, which is the best part!
2025 Short Film Play or Die
Directed by: Luca Zanzlorenzi
Written by:
Stars: Silvia Barattini
Run Time: 6:17
Watch it:
What Happens
A woman sits alone in her room at night and looks at the “Play or Die” screen on her computer. After deliberating for a moment, she clicks “Accept.” It’s a one-million-dollar challenge, and it's worth the risk for her. She looks at her bank account, and the money is suddenly all there. She has to follow the rules exactly, or “you’ll lose it all.”
The rules say, “Turn off all the lights, lock the door, and do not look behind you.”
It’s not going to be pretty, is it?
Commentary
Not following the rules is one thing, but she did as instructed in the end, so why did they kill her? Half of the short film was a black screen, so we’re left to imagine what happened.
I can live with the darkness, but the game broke its own rules, which is a cheat.
Nope. Didn’t like this one.
2022 Short Film Searchers
Directed by: Isaac Ruth
Written by: Isaac Ruth
Stars: Michelle Lukiman, Christine Renaud, Ash Yap
Run Time: 12:36
Watch it:
What Happens
A woman wakes up from a nightmare of bones. She’s asked to search for a missing six-year-old, and she tells her contact, “This is the last time.”
Liv drives out to Salton Sea, a mostly dead community in the desert. She goes to see the girl’s mother, who is evasive and paranoid about her kidnapped daughter. She tells the story about finding that her daughter was missing one night.
It wasn’t the garden-variety kidnapper. It’s also not just one missing kid– it’s six, just this year…
Commentary
It’s one of those “what’s really going on here” type of stories, well acted and well shot. The locations and scenery here are really good. There’s no resolution to the story, and we’re left with a couple of mysteries. The director calls it a “Proof of concept” film, and I’m intrigued, but it’s not a story in itself. I’d totally watch a feature-length film expanding on this.
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