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Reviews
Late Night with the Devil (2023)
I knew it was going to be good. But it was still even better than I thought it'd be!
I knew from reviews and my love of retro era fashion and film that I'd enjoy this. Me and my mother (who does NOT like horror movies) went to see it theatres. And I'm very glad we did! We both really, really enjoyed it.
First off, the actors really get the 70s late night show and guests vibe down perfectly. It's hard to imagine they're anyone else in real life. The costuming is great and they got the 70s vibe down better than most other film recreations of a time period accurate setting and/or recording. Fantastic work.
The special effects (a lot of practical stuff BTW) were actually better than I thought they looked in the trailers. They're obviously a smaller, lesser known effects team on a smaller budget who worked very hard even on things that don't usually look very good, being closeups of unrealistic gore. But everything is well made, well executed and both entertaining and unnerving to watch. I'll definitely be looking into the effects artists on this film to see if they've done other films!
And the story. The story was probably the main focus of the film and I really appreciate it. They obviously made this film with love and cut very few corners for time. I don't want to give any spoilers here but I'll say the way they wrapped everything together was something I didn't expect but was very satisfied with. I had no idea how they'd end off and the ironic end of Jack's story is better than anything I could come up with thinking to myself in the theatre. Man got what he worked for, I guess :( Poor Jack.
If you have a basic level of literacy comprehension and surface level understanding of how many people see demons and Lucifer as tricksters who do give you what you want but at a price then you'll be able to understand the ending.
I'd recommend this both to new horror fans who need something more low key on the jumpscares and prefer something more supernaturally bloody than hyper realistic and grounded gore. To old horror fans who are excited for a refreshing entry to our recent gold age of horror. And to anyone who can handle a few scares and a bit of blood who loves a good spooky story.
Being R13 I'd say it's a good introductory horror for younger viewers as well! A level above Goosebumps and Hocus Pocus, definitely, that'll stick with them for their childhoods without actually y'know... traumatising the poor kids like you get with 'Cannibal Holocaust' or 'Saló, or the 120 Days of Sodom'.
I hope this review convinces someone to give it a try! At theatres, at home, etc. Huddle up with a few friends or family members with some blankets and snacks. You're almost guaranteed to enjoy it.
Kiss of the Tarantula (1975)
Not the best, but definitely not the worst
There's a lot of potential here and it wasn't a struggle to get through it. A perfectly decent watch. The only big issues are really the questionable plot details.
1) When 3 of 4 teenagers at the drive in are scared to death, they only show the funeral of one of them. They only ever talk about one of them, never the other 2. I questioned for a bit if they were even dead but no, they're never seen alive again and look pretty damn dead in the scene.
And 2) the way most of them die is strange. They're scared to death by the spiders. The mom, I could understand since it was sort of established she had a fear of spiders so waking up with one on your chest right by your face would be horrible. Enough of a set up that I could suspend my disbelief that fear could kill her at all. But later in the film, a man dies of fear when he's trapped in a vent shaft and has spiders crawl over him. But he isn't afraid of tight spaces or spiders as far as we ever see or hear. They may be common fears but unless you, personally, are actually afraid of it it's not actually a 'fear'. For example I'm not scared of clowns at all. So why would one standing around doing nothing unusual scare me to death?
But most of the film, including the general plot of a spider loving girl, incestous pedo uncle (who definitely got what he deserved at the end, even it was one hell of a punishment) and ignorant but adoring father is pretty interesting :)
There's good, there's bad writing and there's weird. I'd recommend it to someone who isn't fond of gorey or graphic kills, definitely, but of course you should check if they're okay with spiders or not. Haha.