Writer’s block sucks. Sorry folks. Anyways, let’s get these bad boys out of the way. Apologies if these may seem somewhat short, but I’ve been in a terrible place mentally these past few days and was dangerously close to stopping this for good. Ironic since The Substance reinvigorated my interest in keeping this silly concept alive. For this entry, we’ve got a Shudder-tastic bunch courtesy of……well, streaming service Shudder. Sometimes I can’t come up with clever puns.
I’ve had a pretty hit-or-miss history with the (surprisingly)
long-running “found footage” V/H/S series. For every segment that hits
the mark like a prime Will Ospreay, they have one that misses like vintage
David Flair. It’s very rare to find any entry in this franchise that is
consistent the whole way throughout their running time. Thankfully 2024’s V/H/S/Beyond
may very well have solved that issue, as I feel that there isn’t a single
story in here that would qualify as a “stinker” (the wraparound story by documentary
filmmaker Jay Cheel is arguably the weakest of these, but still presents itself
as being compelling nonetheless) and the “tapes” here seem to have a bit of
Science Fiction flair this time around. If I had to rank the segments, I would
say that the fourth short titled “Fur Babies” (written and directed by Christian
and Justin Long…yes, THAT Justin Long) was the one that stood out to me the
most, as its twisted sense of humor and often unsettling machinations (slight spoilers:
time spent on the set of Tusk must’ve warped Justin’s brain) presented
in the second half were enough to stay in my mind for the rest of the year.
Behind that would be the very first story titled “Stork,” a search-and-destroy
tale which is written by Jordan Downey & Kevin Stewart (with Downey serving
as director). I’m pretty blown away by seeing the growth of those two in
particular, seeing as how they gave me one of my least favorite horror pictures
in the form of Thankskilling, but afterwards delivered the EXCELLENT The
Head Hunter and superb fan film Critters: Bounty Hunter (a.k.a the best
thing in that franchise in nearly 35 years). Behind those would be Ben Turner
& Justin Martinez’s frenetic skydiving-gone-awry story (the cleverly titled
“Live and Let Dive”), Virat Pal and Evan Dickson’s “Dream Girl” (where amateur
paparazzi discover more about a pop star in Mumbai than they ever wanted to find
out), and Kate Siegel’s extraterrestrial-based “Stowaway,” which is written by
her husband Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and SO many more
solid projects). Side note: I had no idea Siegel was from Silver Spring, MD (where
I spent half of my years growing up) and grew up in Rockville (where I
currently reside). Small world.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by V/H/S/Beyond. The
consistency never really drops, and it highlights some extremely promising
filmmakers. Even as someone who is pretty burned out on the “found footage”
genre, I’ll almost always check these out until they decide to stop making
them.
It occurred to me while perusing older reviews on the blog that
I apparently missed last year’s annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode from The
Simpsons. Seeing as how the latest entry for that has yet to air as of the
time of this review, I figured I’d prep myself for it by watching episode 34 on
Disney+. Was it worth catching up and taking a quick break?
Nope. It’s terrible. Arguably one of the very worst ones they
have done since that yearly tradition began back in Season 2. All of these
shorts are bad. The first segment is a Snowpiercer parody with Marge
jumping into a digital world to rescue Bart while fighting off NFTs. It is
utter garbage and serves as further proof that the showrunners need to let Julie
Kavner take a bow and finally give her voice a rest. Our second story contains
an appearance from fan favorite villain Sideshow Bob (and serves as a parody of
the now-defunct Mindhunter series) was perhaps the best of the three,
but is still overall weak. This is all the more shocking when you discover that
this is a “what if” alternate ending to classic episode “Cape Feare.” The final
segment centers on the town of Springfield suddenly being filled with Homer
Simpson clones after he consumes a hazardous donut, and his toxic burps cause
everyone he encounters to mutate into variations of him. We’ve seen a take on
this in season fourteen’s “Send in the Clones,” and (Lemmy I can’t believe I’m
typing this) in a friggin’ “FAMILY GUY” episode where Peter Griffin gains the
ability to turn everyone in town into Robin Williams. You know your segment is
lacking when Seth MacFarlane of all people does a better job with it.
Avoid this one if you cherish any good memories of older seasons. In fact, just go re-watch any of those first ten-or-so “Treehouse” episodes instead.
The nicest things I can say about 2024’s Destroy All Neighbors,
a horror-comedy about a struggling musician who accidentally murders
the new, eccentric tenant next door, are that I like most of the performers involved
(Jonah Ray, Alex Winter, Thomas Lennon, and Kumail Nanjiani), and I’m sure that
it was a blast to work on. There’s some fun practical effects work on display as
well. But goodness knows why I just couldn’t vibe with this at all. Maybe I
needed to watch this with friends or in a better state of mind, as I found that
a large chunk of its jokes missed by a mile and after some time, I just said “oh,
I’ve seen these bits done better in at least half a dozen other
horror-comedies.” Perhaps I’ll revisit this again sometime down the line, but
this was the first true disappointment of the season.
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What did NOT let me down, however, was one of this year’s more
highly anticipated horror films to make it to select theaters: the slow burn slasher
known as In a Violent Nature. Though the slasher genre can feel archaic
and stale during these modern times, when you get something that comes along that
tries something out of the ordinary such as say, Happy Death Day or the
underrated Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, it is such a
sweet treat. Nature’s concept is one we’ve seen before, with a mute, resurrected
killer stalking a group of people who may or may not be in possession of something
that means a great deal to him. What helps separate this from the pack is that
a large chunk of the flick is seen from the murderer’s perspective, and it often
moves at his pace. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to walk in Jason
or Michael’s footsteps (perhaps literally)? Well, the filmmakers are happy to
provide you with that answer. For better or worse, this bloody affair is
telling the audience to remain as patient as our villain does, because the
payoff is going to be oh-so satisfying. Without going into too many details, I
wouldn’t be surprised to discover that most of the people working behind the
scenes were unabashed fans of the newest Mortal Kombat video games,
because the kills are GRUESOME. In retrospect, I’d say that my only real
complaint would have been about its ending, but even then, I feel as though it’s
rather fitting considering its somewhat more “grounded” pace.
In a Violent Nature lives up to its name, and though
it isn’t going to appeal to everyone, I had a remarkably good time with it. It’s
mean and unforgiving, but quite rewarding.
Anyways, go watch something dope on Shudder. We are really
lucky to have it.
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