Hell House LLC (2015) and Breathing New Life Into the Found Footage Film

It's fascinating how much creativity can be harvested from a subgenre many now find uninspiring and lifeless. The found footage film, which can be traced back as far as the early 60's, was a very novel branch of filmmaking that amounted to much more than being a mere gimmick. Producing such genre staples as Cannibal Holocaust, Man Bites Dog and The Blair Witch Project, the found footage film carved a permanent home in the cinema landscape (particularly in Hollywood) after the release of the long-shelved, DIY frightfest, Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity is seen by many as the subgenre's popularity reaching its peak, as the subsequent deluge of sequels and hackneyed ripoffs soon flooded the market to the disdain of many. And, while I will personally go to bat for the first three Paranormal films, I can't argue that my eyes rolled so far back into my head once the fourth, fifth, and finally sixth installment came out. This is a perfect example, much like the Saw films before (and during) it, of an original horror idea being literally dragged out behind the shed and beaten senselessly.

Despite all this, I (and many others) are endlessly drawn to these kinds of films. While there have been more than a handful of recent gems, such as Trollhunter, Creep, The Sacrament, and Willow's Creek, there have been countless films that have amassed to no more than a big ol' stinky pile of cow manure. We're talking about those films you tried to forget, like Alien Abduction, The Devil Inside, Apollo 18, The Last Exorcism, and Quarantine. It's very easy for these kinds of films to fall into its genre tropes, such as knowing just about everyone is going to die, that the case will forever remained unsolved or closed (thus leaving room for the inevitable sequel), and the countless, pointless, downright stupid jumpscares. It's when the horror is crafted to be subtle, much like the gems and staples listed above, that a found footage film achieves more than just being a subpar roller coaster ride. And that's exactly the kind of horror Stephen Cognetti creates in his first feature film, Hell House LLC.

The film follows a small documentary crew trying to piece together the tragedy that unfolded over opening night at Hell House, a haunted house attraction put together by a small team who scare people for a living. Only one member of this founding team lived to tell the tale and it's through her accounts and bag of security video tapes that we get to see the full extent of the story. And this is Hell House LLC's strongest suit: slow, unraveling horror over the course of a few weeks. Again, the horror here is very subtle and thus proves to be incredibly effective. It's a found footage horror film shot almost entirely inside an old, haunted building that's being rented by a group of people who decorate it as an old, haunted building. The disintegration of friendship and subsequent paranoia of living in a place withholding a sordid history starts to creep in. It's a setup so easy, so simple, so effective that it's almost mind-boggling that no one thought of this before. It's like Grave Encounters by way of Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse.

We see horror by way of inanimate props being positioned in ways that are impossible. The slight turn of a clown's head. The banging of piano keys from a stuffed dummy. The figure of someone (or something) lingering in a doorway. There are so many secret entrances, claustrophobic corridors, strobe lights and black curtains housing the next room's attractions that it's easy to get lost in here, even after having explored the whole building with the characters for over ninety minutes. And, to top it all off, there's an absolutely terrifying clown. Clowns are something that never truly unnerved me. I like my Killer Klowns from Outer Space and It well enough but they never creeped me out the way they do for many people. Until now. As of 9/22/18, I am now afraid of giant, inanimate clowns. Seeing it at the foot of the staircase that led up to the crew's sleeping quarters is easily one of the most unnerving scenes I have seen all year.

Seriously, fuck this clown.

We live in a time where cheap horror movies are being cranked out and dumped on streaming services at an alarmingly fast rate that it's easy to be overwhelmed while browsing. And while the idea of a near endless supply of cheapies seems fun there's also a downside to all of this: that, along the way, new voices and creativity will unfortunately get lost in the mix. Hell House LLC is a title I have passed over countless times, always assuming that it was the kind of garbage that got dumped into the recesses of Amazon Prime for a reason. Luckily, I was wrong, and wound up finding such a gem that I can't wait to spread the word to everyone I know. The film is flawed, sure, and perhaps the climax leaves a little to be desired, but the haunted tour Stephen Cognetti guides us through is unforgettable. This is easily going to become one of my new favorite Halloween movies.

Mandy (2018)

Can new life be squeezed out of tried-and-true genre tropes? History says yes and if you look the evidence is literally everywhere. One has to look no further than the horror film, whose multitude of subgenres have all been receiving its fair amount of attention due to new filmmakers overhauling the limitations and expectations of its very classification. The slasher film, famously reinvented in the 90's thanks to Wes Craven's Scream, has once again been jolted back into life thanks to films like The Guest, Hush and You're Next. The possession film has taken hold again, mostly thanks to indie stalwart The Witch and this year's incredible Hereditary. Monsters and boogeymen are still terrorizing people in films like The Babadook and It Follows. Films detailing psychological horror personified as serial killers is now best seen in television series such as True Detective and Mindhunter. But, much like trying to classify the serial killer subgenre (does it ultimately belong under horror or thriller? Is thriller an offshoot of horror?), the revenge film can fall into multiple categories. A film like Last House on the Left is undeniably considered to be a staple of the horror genre, yet at its heart it's truly a revenge film. Horror, grindhouse, cult, revenge... all these films usually get cast under the same umbrella, most likely because, at some point, you know you're going to see something grotesque, violent and probably fucked up.

Which is why trying to classify what Mandy really is... is kind of hard. Director Panos Cosmatos has crafted something totally new here, a monolithic ode to genre that utterly transcends its individual limitations (the revenge film, the cult film, the... fantasy film?) and becomes this whole new beast. At its core Mandy can be sold as a revenge film: a cult kidnaps Mandy and her husband proceeds to murder everyone who destroyed their life together. But that's boring and I'm not interested in talking about the plot of the film. I'm more fascinated in how completely transcendent the films is. Remember that YouTube show, Every Frame a Painting? Well, consider this Every Frame a Prog Metal Album Cover. Some filmmakers have to pad out their runtime to make sure their movie meets a certain length. That is not the case here, as you can tell that every single scene- no, every single frame has been meticulously crafted to serve a very particular need. Not a single second is wasted here which ultimately creates a stunning portrayal of grief that is, at the same time, serenely surreal. It's honestly a very calming film throughout its first act.

The film feels like a hallucinatory collage of cosmic wizardry, prog rock, dinged-up fantasy paperbacks, Ralph Bakshi cartoons and heavy metal. Scenes of this seem like they were lifted off the side of an 80's Chevy van depicting an epic chainsaw fight with biker demons. Or, as Cosmatos has stated here, they feel more like what one thought the contents of an off-limits VHS tape would hold. There's something about 1983... the date first stood out to me when Flying Lotus (another artist who revels in the past to create works that are absolutely and stunningly original) used it as the title for his debut album. It's also the year that saw full-length debuts from artists such as Metallica, Slayer and, most importantly, Dio. Ronnie James Dio is the grand wizard who first wove fantasy and heavy metal to such dizzying heights and his influence can absolutely be seen here.

The film literally opens with King Crimson's Starless and segues into a beautiful, ethereal score from the late Johann Johannsson with assistance from famed Sunn O))) guitarist, Stephen O'Malley. Top it off with the added guidance of producer Randall Dunn, whose work with atmospheric hard rock/metal bands like Earth, Sunn O))) and Wolves in the Throne Room (among countless others) and, well, you're left with a score that helps accentuate the action on screen to the 666th degree. It's a metal/industrial hybrid that absolutely works and sticks in your mind long after the film ends. Mandy is literally the ultimate heavy metal movie.

It's so rare that a movie you've been hyping up in your mind for well over a year not only delivers but literally tramples over any and all expectations you may have held. Upon it's release in 1970, El Topo became an immediate cult success and thus became known as the first "midnight movie". And while Mandy is a very different kind of film, it still struck a cord with its audience. A very specific cord, one that will guarantee it the cult status it deserves while also allowing it to join rank with the midnight masters who are still seen on the big screen today, decades after its original release. May Mandy live on forever.

Demon Wind (1990)

The current health and cultural resurgence of genre cinema is reliant on many things, but none so heavily as nostalgia. Though much has been said about the culture surrounding "toxic nostalgia", particularly in our instant gratification informational age, nostalgia has also done a whole lot of good for the genre film. The signs are everywhere. A cursory glance at what is on slate for 2018's genre offerings highlights films such as the ethereal and transcendent Mandy, throwbacks such as Summer of 84 and Let the Corpses Tan, and new iterations of horror mainstays like Suspiria, Hellraiser and Halloween. Hell, even the upcoming film, Death Kiss, worships nostalgia so much that they cast a man who looks almost identical to the late Charles Bronson (though if that's a benefit really depends on who you're asking). And it's not just filmmakers solely benefiting from this. Enough time has passed that a whole new generation of historians are adjusting their rose-tinted glasses and putting out essential tomes dedicated to the field's more esoteric bits, like Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell or Michael Gingold's upcoming Ad Nauseam: Newsprint Nightmares from the 1980s (which debuts early next month). And with these new set of eyes comes new reevaluations of forgotten and overlooked films.

Enter the physical media distributors, who are the true champions of this realm. For without them, many of these titles would remain semi-lost or forgotten forever. I'm talking about labels like Arrow Video, Scream Factory, Vinegar Syndrome and many, many more. By offering second chances to films almost lost by time, many of these new scans eventually make their way to the theatrical circuit, much like Suspiria's critically lauded 4K scan from famed company Synapse Films did last year. (Though Suspiria has left enough of a cultural mark that it's unlikely it'll ever become forgotten, much less lost.) While labels like Scream Factory and Arrow Video offer a lot of fan favorites, it's companies like Vinegar Syndrome, it's subsidiary Intervision Picture Corp, Bleeding Skull and more that are truly paving the way in offering genre fans a look at the deeper cuts.

And in this case it's all thanks to the good folks over at Vinegar Syndrome, a company so dedicated and passionate that they even fund their own scans at their homebase (check out this great interview with co-owner Joe Rubin!). Whenever VS drop a new title it's time for a celebration. Aside from the painstakingly new transfers and boatload of bonus content included in the overall package, they also provide our revival/repertory culture with a new film to foam over. Sometimes the films are great and prove to be essential viewing. Sometimes they're just okay. And other times they're a whole lot of fun, much like Charles Philip Moore'd Demon Wind.

Demon Wind is essentially a riff/homage of Evil Dead/Night of the Demons mixed with the gross-out attention to detail seen in the films of the great gore maestro, Lucio Fulci. I mean, really, there's some disgusting pus/bile bubbling out one character's mouth within the first five minutes of the movie. The setup is familiar: a young man is "called" via dreams to come to an old farmhouse where his grandparents mysteriously died and his father committed suicide in while accompanied with enough friends to offer enough victim fodder to keep the viewer happy.  And that's basically it. You have your mad gas station attendant who tries to ward off the young group, you have your incantations written in Latin smeared across the walls, and... wait, a woman who turns into a baby doll that erupts into flames? An old woman who drops a snow globe which results in her house exploding in a great big ball of fire? A weird, tongue-like tentacle unfurling from the mouth of a cow's skull? How has nobody been talking about this?

Released on home video on VHS but entirely missing during the DVD boom, Demon Wind finally finds it new home and audience with this VS Blu-Ray release. As for the movie? It's okay. Definitely not essential viewing but also not worth missing out on. For those fans who have seen it all, I would recommend seeking this one out. It has enough practical effects and fun characters to keep you entertained and would be a great addition to anyone's month-long Halloween binge that is just around the corner.

Creepshow 2 (1987)

The horror genre is ripe with anthology films. Mileage varies, but these package films have delivered some all-time greats that have made their way into the horror canon: Dead of Night (1945) and Kwaidan (1964) are both considered to be stone cold classics, not just by horror fans but by films buffs in general. And while there are a handful of greats from the late 70s to the early 90s (think Trilogy of Terror, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie or even Tales from the Hood), ask anyone what their personal favorite is and I can guarantee you that most will refer to 1982's Creepshow. A wickedly funny, disturbing and hammy ode to the EC Comics of their youth, George Romero and Stephen King created something special with the first Creepshow. But can lightning strike twice?

Directed by Michael Gornick (who shot the first one), written by George Romero (who directed the first one) and based on stories by Stephen King (who wrote the first one), Creepshow 2 tries it's damned best to recapture the glory of its predecessor but ultimately falls a little short. It's not the directing that's bad. Nor is it the dated animation or cringey racial/sexual tensions that arise in all three stories (which would make for a great analysis piece, somebody please do this). It's really a case of the budget, which was drastically scaled back on this installment for better or for worse.

For worse, there are only three stories this time around compared to the five told in the previous film. One of them, "Cat from Hell", eventually made its way into the Tales from the Darkside movie while "Pinfall" unfortunately just never came to fruition, here or elsewhere. On top of that some of the effects, particularly the oil-slick-goop-puddle-blob-monster, looks like a giant trash bag covered in jello. And that's where my criticisms end because the other effects in the film are great! The animated statue of "Old Chief Wood'nhead" looks deceptively rustic and seeing the black blob in action is quite a sight. Seeing one character get his body jackknifed through the raft into the lake or the woman whose body comes up for one last bout of air, her body literally a moaning skeleton covered in goop, is all B movie gold. And let's not forget the undead hitchhiker, who, once he finally catches his prey, is content with just slobbering all over her should while his eyeball is slowly popping out. It's an absolute blast.

I first saw Creepshow 2 on TV when I was a wee kid. Everyone has their own version of this story, but it was one of those moments where you're flipping through the channels and just stumble upon a movie you know you're not allowed to see. Watching this old ass, gigantic wooden statue slowly walk around murdering people is exactly what a little kid wants to see, but it's the oil slick blob that really screwed with me. Growing up swimming in a lake every summer... this was the last thing I'd ever want to see... so of course I watched the whole thing, horrified, and thought about it for years afterwards. My parents were very against horror movies when I was young, so I would relish any chance I could to sneakwatch them. I have a lot of fond memories from this time, and aside from my first viewing of Evil Dead (or, more like a "scene" from Evil Dead: I was so terrified after a couple of minutes that I actually left my friend's place and ran home), this segment featuring horny teens being mutilated and devoured by this sentient oil slick-blob just really freaked me out.

Horror anthology films have come back into fashion in recent years and honestly it's a jolt that is desperately needed. What better way to show off the budding talents of filmmakers with films like the V/H/S/ series, XX and Southbound, all of which made waves upon their release. And let's not forget those anthologies credited to a single filmmaker, like Trick r' Treat or this year's (albeit a tad bit underwhelming) Ghost Stories. It's a format that deftly suits the horror genre and one that I really hope doesn't go away. Honestly, in today's nostalgia-steeped zeitgeist, I can't wait for the next filmmaker(s) to create something like Creepshow: a self-aware love letter to the horrors of old... complete with a decrepit bow and puns galore.