Surprisingly goopless (and disturbingly harsh to its protagonist), but Kuei Chih-Hung truly was Bava’s manifestation in Hong Kong’s cinema cauldron. A ludicrous plot of phantom optometrists and haunted hypnosis contact lenses is carried entirely by a masterclass of camerawork, staging, and mood.

And then the dub just gives him the same voice as this guy and makes him significantly less scary.

Perfect Blue (1997)

Me watching Kuei Chih-Hung’s Ghost Eyes (1974), an insane and coarse Shaw Brothers giallo of a woman’s slow mental and physical disintegration: “RAAAAAIDAAAAAAA JUMP!!!! RAAAAAAAAAIDAAAAAAAA KICK!!!!! KAMEN RAIDA, KAMEN RAIDA, RAIDAAAA RAIDAAAAAAAAA”

my read on the end has always been that Michael Myers is absolutely dead when Loomis shoots him and something else gets up, this animated shell brought to life by the mass hysteria around him, a shape if you will

That fuckin' face. John Logie B invented this medium for that face. #PatrickTroughton #DoctorWho #TheEnemyOfTheWorld

Watching one of the historical Dr Whos that are set in the past.

YES! Corman was so cool, and it's really special how accessibly and passionately these were made. Makes my brain buzz how they clearly impacted Mario Bava as much as any Hammer or Hitchcock.

#Watched Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan Also known as The Ghost of Yotsuya -1959- Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa #horror #FilmSky

The Ghost of Yotsuya, Nobuo Nakagawa (1959)

This is incidentally one of the best ghost films ever made, is astonishingly cruel, a really great example of color spectacle in 50s and 60s Japanese horror, and SOOOOOO much better than the other adaptation released the exact same year.

This desire to make “art film for the drive-in” correlating with Japan’s color spectacle horror (The Ghost of Yotsuya, Kwaidan) and Mario Bava laying the foundation for Suspiria. It’s one of my favorite harmonizations of global cinema ever. COLOR. COLOR, BAYBEE.

Astonishingly important artistic context, alongside Corman’s Poe Cycle, for where Suspiria and Inferno’s colors came from.

A much more obvious reference that often gets lost is the tub that brings the monster to life in Curse of Frankenstein

I've never seen anyone else mention it, but it feels fairly obvious to me that Frank-N-Furter is supposed to be inspired by Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1936.

You’d think it’d feel like such quaint subversion now, but it’s still such a thunderclap that this pulled Whale’s duology into such a brutal retelling that firmly turned Frankenstein into the inarguable serial killing, sociopathic villain.

Have to skip The Thing screening tonight because my newlywed friends have surprised me with a haunted house visit this evening 😍🥰

funny how no one brings up the spectre of Nazi Germany hovering over this one

Perfect Blue’s got me thinking about Magnetic Rose and I still think the crew of the Corona definitely fuck each other hard on those deep space missions

Really cannot recommend enough taking advantage of this. The 4K on the big screen highlights so much gate weave, cell dust, and layered artifice that just adds so much tangibility and good crunch to the incredibly smooth storytelling and razored editing.

I’ve said it before and I think it’s a fun inevitability of how influential Fire Walk With Me was on Japanese artists, but it’s so crazy how much Lost Highway and Inland Empire harmonize with J-horror and Y2K Japanese psychological thriller.

The heartbeat from Angel Dust to Cure and Perfect Blue, but then the tether between Perfect Blue and Pulse, but then the fascinating alignment between Perfect Blue and Inland Empire… 😩

ugh never thought about how it plays into the artifice of it all but yes I LOVE how you can see the shadow and lint fibers on every cel

Celluloid Nightmares (1988) /// Perfect Blue (1997) /// Serpent’s Path (1998) /// A Snake of June (2002)

Perfect Blue (1997), Satoshi Kon /// Lost Highway (1997), David Lynch

SATOSHI KON’S GIALLO. DISCUSS.

The restoration highlighted so many wonderful little wobbles and seams in the animation, the layers and tricks and cheats, that was so compelling to see so tangibly. Masterful cartooning, masterfully fluid storytelling. The thing’s editing is fucking nuts. The action is timed like a mousetrap.

Sorry, it's gone on long enough and I have to say something: it is highly unlikely that a professional media distributor like Criterion only has one closet.

Celluloid Nightmares (1988) /// Perfect Blue (1997) /// Serpent’s Path (1998) /// A Snake of June (2002)

Perfect Blue (1997), Satoshi Kon /// Lost Highway (1997), David Lynch

Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon (1997) /// Cure, Kiyoshi Kurosawa (1997)

Perfect Blue (1997)

Still titularly perfect!

SATOSHI KON’S GIALLO. DISCUSS.

Now seated for the remaster with @derekbgayle.bsky.social!!

I genuinely believe they are chock-fuckin-stuffed with some of the best ideas to ever grace the IP, a phenomenal imagination of sci-fi, but thematically and spiritually they are like trying to drink gravel. Great music, though.

It’s unloved, perched as it is on the changing tide of Hong Kong’s martial ballet into CGI maximalism, but I kind’ve adore Wellson Chin’s The Era of Vampires (2002)? Seeing jiāngshī realized so seriously, godlike and godless, is a true delight. The vampire king’s a fucking incredible movie monster.

It’s nowhere near as dour or lacking in comedy as described elsewhere (it’s actually quite funny?), but the fiendish bloodsucker at its heart is truly something of an utter nightmare, and the choreographic excellence giving way to disturbing splatter and gore so viciously rocks and rocks hard.

Tsui is so tangible and apparent in the scripting (though the character work is a little flat). The movie is just a super charming (messy, sure!) sense of trying to recapture the glory days of the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy while paying lip and love to Summo Hung and Ricky Lau’s hopping undead.

The End of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno and Kazuya Tsurumaki (1997) /// Nightmare Detective, Shinya Tsukamoto (2006)

The End of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno and Kazuya Tsurumaki (1997) /// Nightmare Detective 2, Shinya Tsukamoto (2008)

Yeah this is just correct

Please continue to support my friend Eslam. Because Bluesky continues to delete all of her accounts, donations are slow moving for the daily needs her family is counting on her for. Please repost if you cannot donate chuffed.org/project/1282...

Eslam has once again had her account deleted. Please share and support her direct fundraiser link to get her help today. chuffed.org/project/1282...

Jaafar has requested I share this new Chuffed fundraiser for weekly withdrawals for his family. Again, I have verified him to the best of my ability. chuffed.org/project/jaafar

This family messages me nearly every day for help I cannot always provide. PLEASE share and support, repost if you cannot donate. www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-...

Please share and support this family’s fundraiser. They reach out to me several times a week, they, like so many, constantly need help. www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-...

I would like to boost the Nidal family’s fundraiser. They need resources to evacuate. Please repost if you cannot donate chuffed.org/project/1212...

Octoberber… Ween!!! 🥰