Halloween 2022: October 28th

Watcher (2022)

While reviewing “V/H/S/99” the other night, I couldn't help but reflect on the previous entry in that series. The stand-out segment in “V/H/S/94” was “Storm Drain,” which introduced Raatma to the world. Newcomer Chloe Okuna directed that one, announcing herself as a talent to watch. Okuna wasted no time getting her follow-up in the pipeline. That alone would've made me interested in “Watcher,” yet there was another reason to look it up. Maika Monroe has been working steadily since the one-two punch of “The Guest” and “It Follows” in 2014. I haven't really noticed though, because it hasn't been in movies I've seen. With her lead role in “Watcher,” Monroe has reestablished her modern scream queen status.

Julia has recently moved to Romania with her husband, advertising exec Francis. He often leaves her alone in their apartment, deep in a city where she doesn't speak the language. That's when notices a man, in the building across the street from them, looking out his window at her. Julia is certain she sees the man following her around the city. This dovetails with reports of a brutal serial killer, known as the Spider, decapitating women not far from the apartment. Growing increasingly paranoid, Julia begins to obsess over the idea of being watched and the fear that she might be the Spider's next victim. 

“Watcher” was originally written to take place in Brooklyn. Presumably the location was changed to Bucharest for budgetary reasons but it ended up serving the film. Early on, Julia is surrounded by people speaking Romanian. She doesn't speak the language herself and the dialogue goes unsubtitled. This leaves the viewer feeling just as isolated and alone as she does. She's stuck in a city, unable to ask for help. The apartment building is large and cavernous, with every sound thundering through the hollow walls. This just makes Julia feel more alone. “Watcher” builds on this sensation of isolation to create a mood of chilly unease. 

Julia feels even more alone because her boyfriend isn't much help. He's concerned – the movie nicely plays him as well-meaning, not a total asshole – but he still doesn't take her fears seriously. The only person who really relates to her is next door neighbor, Irena. Irena works as an exotic dancer, swaying inside a glass booth while men stare at her. This all speaks to a specific fear women feel. When a woman goes out in public, she has to be aware of men looking at her, observing her. While ducking into a movie theater, a guy comes up behind her in the seat and breathes on her neck. This leads to her walking through a grocery store, pursued by the same guy, growing more panicked as she goes. “Watcher” feeds into this sense of being watched, the cinematography often floating outside the windows, looking in on Julia. The film puts us in the seat of a woman who, much like every women, has to stay aware of the men watching her. 

“Watcher” is the definition of a slow-burn thriller. Not too much happens throughout its runtime. It's mostly devoted to Julia falling deeper into her isolation and paranoia. There's this creeping suspicion throughout that maybe nothing actually is happening. Perhaps Julia really is just feeling shaken up by being in a new city. Maybe it's all a big misunderstanding and the man seemingly stalking her is just coincidentally in the same places as her. Yet Julia, the film around her, can't escape this sense she's right. That mood of uncertainty allows Okuna to create some startling sequences. Such as a frightening nightmare or an intensely uncomfortable encounter on a train. It all builds towards a climax of prolonged suspense, “Watcher” getting bloody and fierce in its final moments. Okuna is also smart enough to end shortly afterwards, cutting the film off on a hell of an exclamation point. 

“Watcher” proves that the success of “Storm Drain” was not a fluke. Okuna knows her stuff. The film expertly uses cinematography, sound design, and a finely tuned script to build tension and create a disquieting ambiance. Okuna already has her next movie lined up – a project inspired by Rodney Alcala, the infamous “Dating Game” killer – which sounds right up her alley. As for Monroe, she's great here and had a couple other interesting projects set-up this year. I don't think any actress should be defined by working in one genre alone but I do enjoy seeing her in horror movies. She clearly has great taste when it comes to selecting projects. [7/10]

Murder in the Blue Room (1944)

It's time to, once again, ask the question of why Universal Studios was so obsessed with remaking “Secret of the Blue Room.” That's a 1932 German mystery movie. Universal would remake it in 1933 as a relatively routine old dark house thriller, distinguished by its expressionistic direction. That would be enough for most movie studios but, for some reason, Universal decided to remake the movie again just five years later. 1938's “The Missing Guest” was totally forgettable. Yet the studio would decide to tell this exact same story for a fourth time after another six years. 1944's “Murder in the Blue Room” would, at least, stand apart from the other versions on account of being a musical. And how often do I get to write about a Golden Age musical during October, even if it's an extremely obscure one? 

Like all versions of the “Blue Room” story, “Murder in the Blue Room” revolves around a mansion where a mysterious blue room with a reputation for murder resides. Nan's grandfather was murdered in the room years before. Her father just recently reopened the mansion, which he's celebrating with a big costume party. Nan invites three of her friends, who are singers and dancers, to be the night's entertainment. When a man dares to stay in the Blue Room overnight, he vanishes the next morning. This ignites a mystery, which soon uncovers the secret of the home and Nan's family.

How much you enjoy “Murder in the Blue Room” will depend entirely on your tolerance for fast-paced forties dialogue and comedy. The film is a vehicle for a female comedy team known as the Three Jazzybelles, made up of Grace McDonald, Betty Kean, and June Preiser. The trio spend all their scenes trading wacky dialogue, often throwing out circular conversations and silly puns about whatever is happening at any given time. There's other forms of silly comedy too, in that Grace has repeated run-ins with a ghost in a derby. These are definitely the movie's silliest scenes, though a moment where the girls are drugged, their vision getting blurry, is a close second.

Knowing “Murder in the Blue Room” was a musical, I wasn't sure what to expect going into it. You never know when a musical from the forties is going to be fun and exciting and when it's going to treacly tedium. Luckily, “Murder in the Blue Room” is more on the upbeat, jazzy side. The opening number, with Anne Gwynne's voice dubbed over by another singer, is pretty but forgettable. The Jazzybelles are introduced with a pretty amusing number, incorporating their comedy into their dance moves. The song they performed, “A Doo-Dee-Doo-Doo,” is exactly as meaningless as it sounds but is also catchy. The best moment in the film occurs when the girls lower the lights and do a number called “The Boogie-Woogie Boogeyman,” for the enjoyment of a bound butler. (There's a plot reason for that.) Their shadows are cast large on the wall and the song is enjoyable. There's also a surprisingly acrobatic dance number later on, the ladies rolling around on the floor and leaping into the air. 

You'll notice I'm talking more about the comedy and music in “Murder in the Blue Rooms' than the mystery elements. That's because the Jazzybelles' scenes are largely disconnected from the standard old dark house story. Anne Gwynne, as heroine Nan, has her scenes with even more unimportant male characters as they speculate about the mystery of the Blue Room. There's secret passageways through the house, as well as a piano playing by itself and other spooky trappings. Like all versions of the “Blue Room” story, this concludes in a secret chamber under the house. This one has some nice shadowy imagery down there, while a climatic shoot-out happens. The film also begins by copying the best moment from “The Missing Guest,” which is a first person perspective shot of a man in a costume opening a door and scaring a maid.

“Murder in the Blue Room” is definitely an oddity. Running all of an hour, it's zippy and entertaining as a musical. As a mystery/thriller, it does absolutely nothing that the previous versions of this story didn't do. The mere presence of the Three Jazzybelles make this a lot more memorable than “The Missing Guest.” Gwynne, a minor star from Universal's forties flick, is cute and charming. Even if she's given nothing to do here. I'm glad I watched all these movies, just to say I did, but they have to rank among the least memorable of Universal's horror/mystery output in the forties. I may never know why Universal was so obsessed with this story but at least I don't have to watch them anymore. [6/10]

The Twilight Zone (2019): Meet in the Middle

CBS was really determined to make the 2019 version of “The Twilight Zone” work, even though critical and audience reaction was mixed, at best. They gave it a second season, sight unseen, and that season kicked off with “Meet in the Middle.” It concerns Phil, a neurotic man who is unlucky in love. While out on another unsuccessful date, he begins to hear a woman's voice in his head. At first disturbed by the presence, it soon becomes clear that the woman – named Annie – is psychically communicating with him. The two begin a strange courtship of sorts, falling in love over the course of several weeks. After deciding to meet in-person, Phil begins to learn that his dream woman's intentions are not what they seem.

“Meet in the Middle” seems to be, at first anyway, a metaphor for a long-distance relationship. Phil and Annie are separate by a distance of four hours. They don't see each other in person. Instead, they communicate with just their words. This doesn't stop them from developing feelings for each other. In fact, that they communicate with only their words, talking for hours on end about every topic under the sun, somehow makes their bond stronger. As someone who has seen a long-distance relationship grow into a close, intimate one, I found myself relating to this deeply. It helps that Jimmi Simpson has the right balance of sweaty neurosis and genuinely charm to make a character like this work. Likewise, Gillian Jacobs as Annie has the kind of personality – snarky but vulnerable, feminine softness but smart – that a man can easily fall in love with.

But this is “The Twilight Zone,” so things don't stay whimsical for very long. Director Mathias Herndl generates some tension during the train ride, when things really start to go wrong. The device that Phil can only hear what Annie is thinking, not see or be able to physically help, is a great way to generate tension. Simpson also has a quality that makes the character's eventual slide towards unhinged violence believable as well. Yet I ultimately came away from “Meet in the Middle” a little pissed at it. The twist ending, required for these “Zone” reboots, is mean-spirited. It turns what we've seen before on its head but not in a meaningful way, just in a way that pulls the rub out from under the viewer. Made me kind of hate an episode that was otherwise doing it for me, truth be told. At least Jordan Peele is a good host. I do enjoy his segments. [6/10]

Home (1998)

Two years ago, I reviewed Douglas Buck's “Cutting Moments,” an incredibly disturbing fusion of suburban existential dread and graphic bodily mutilation. As unsettling as that short was, I was morbidly curious about the rest of his American Trilogy, of which “Home” is the second. It follows Gary, a deeply religious man with a wife and young daughter. He often thinks back to his childhood. His mother was prone to depressive episodes and his father, an imposing man, was emotionally walled-off and violent. Gary practices self-flagellation to control his own violent impulses but, inevitably, they boil over.

“Home” is definitely abreast with “Cutting Moments.” By which I mean it's an incredibly uncomfortable watch.  Like Buck's previous film, “Home” exists in the tension-filled pauses of a family that can't communicate. Gary's parents sat in painful silence, never discussing what they were really thinking. He grew into a man who does the same thing. When Gary asks his daughter what she does while he's at work all day, it's a moment full of skin-crawling implication. It's only a matter of time before that simmering discomfort overflows into full-blown violence. While “Cutting Moments” dove right into bloody release, “Home” keeps the violence largely off-screen. It denies us even the catharsis of self-destruction. It's all awkward silence and meaningful glance, full of repressed feelings and withheld rages. 

As in “Cutting Moments,” there's also a distressing undercurrent of aberrant sexuality here. As a child, Gary watched his parents, not having sex, but in some sort of sadomasochistic ritual. As an adult, he suppresses his sexual desires into religion and literal self-abuse. (Which is made evident in a highly symbolic shot of him using a wrench on a water heater.) Yet there's no denying that his flagellation provides a sexual release of some sort. When he sees his young daughter whispering into a boy's ear, it makes him immensely uncomfortable. “Home” never verbalizes its theme of a man so sexually repressed, he can only release his passion through violence. It's all expressed through visuals and unsaid implications. 

It's clear that Buck is talented at creating a quietly unnerving ambiance in his films. “Home” lacks a musical score. It focuses on the unbearable silence it characters live in. Gary Betsworth, who played the pedophilic father in “Cutting Moments,” also stars here. He's practically playing the same character, just a dad who is disturbed in another way. While they are definitely not for everyone, Buck's films present a distressing vision of suburban hell. I want to make some joke about how his movies are for “people who think Todd Solondz films need less comedy and more mutilation.” But I enjoy – in so much as they can be enjoyed – these, so I guess I'm that demographic. [7/10]