Trick or Treat ’21: Another Evil

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Welcome to Chillerpop’s inaugural Halloween 2021 Trick or Treat! For this project I asked friends far and…well, far…to pick a movie for me to cover in a blog post.

My friend Allan was the second person to reply to my prompt, but he’s going first! “Chef Al,” as he’s known on the excellent podcast Kiss The Goat, is armed with exceptional culinary skills and a vicious wit aimed straight at the throat of nasty-ass consumerist chain restaurant food.

Chef Al would like you to listen to the podcast Decoding the Gurus, for anyone needing to navigate or vet any “guru” they’re considering following or trusting – which is a fit for the film he chose, the 2016 horror comedy Another Evil.

“If you’re not averse to going low key,” he added.

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Demonnecticut!

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As The Conjuring 3 has it’s box office and streaming premiere this weekend, I am dusting off this old blog post about the first filmic adaptation of Brookfield, Connecticut’s infamous ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ case. I was a young middle schooler growing up in a town 15 minutes away by car, in the thick of the satanic panic haunted 1980s, and this looms large in my psychic landscape.

I will also reiterate my belief in, and support of, Carl and David Glatzel. Exploitation by the Warrens is a thing, satanic panic has ruined lives, and I hope the Conjuring crazed public will leave them alone.

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Around the World in 31 Days: Mexico

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Movie poster.

Feliz Dia de los Muertos! I hope this day gives you much wonder, and that you remember – or commune with the spirits of – your loved ones beyond the veil.

Since I began my correspondence with the folks at It’s Playing, Just With Research, I’ve been obsessive about chasing down every last possession/exorcism movie out there. That’s how the terrific Mexican horror film El Habitante (The Inhabitant), came to my attention. I had a deep fear as I began this movie: that it would be as rote and derivative as 99.6% of all modern exorcism films since the release of The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

I was happily wrong. Continue reading

Around the World in 31 Days: South Africa

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The House on Willow Street is a Netflix original whose production credits originate in South Africa. If that fact wasn’t in the film’s IMDb credits, I’d probably be clueless. None of its mostly white cast speak with any sort of accent (perhaps one member of the central team of thugs?) and there were no specific references to the location where most of the action took place – except for one.

As I understood it, the house where the demonic evil was spawned is “at the exact opposite geographic location as the Vatican.” I guess, if you were to dig that hole to China at the Vatican, you would end up at the titular Willow Street residence. If that’s as spooky to you as an inverted cross or a religious blasphemy from a demon, this movie might be your jam. It wasn’t mine.

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Around the World in 31 Days: South Korea

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Gokseong, or The Wailing (2016) has been staring at me from my Netflix queue for the better part of two years. It came to my attention from correspondence with the academics behind the book Possessed Women, Haunted States: Cultural Tensions in Exorcism Cinema, who seek to catalogue every instance of an exorcism scene in a feature film. At 2.5 hours of running time, it was always daunting to start it, but it is worth the time.

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Five Modern Exorcism Films to Watch

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source: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498519090/Possessed-Women-Haunted-States-Cultural-Tensions-in-Exorcism-Cinema

October 13, 2017 – When I first stumbled onto the blog It’s Playing, But With Research, I was jealous. Jealous! With envy as green as the pea soup streaming out of Regan’s mouth! Academics CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and Christopher J. Olson not only studied exorcism cinema for a living, but they compiled a comprehensive list movies featuring an exorcism (the list is continually revised).

What?! Someone has watched more exorcism cinema than me?? Impossible – I wasn’t having it! So I went on a bender thanks to their list, and we began a correspondence that ended with me having a credit on their book Possessed Women, Haunted States. What a lovely honor. I urge you to read the book (which analyzes the tropes of exorcism cinema and puts them in sociological context), check out their blog and listen to their podcast, Pop Culture Lens. Continue reading

That Sow Could Still Be Mine (The Chillerpop Exorcist Retrospective, Part 6)

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ETSOctober 11, 2017 – This will be a short one, and please be warned that there are heavy SPOILERS for Exorcist The Series. Season 2 has already begun airing on Fox.  I started an “Exorcist Retrospective” on this blog and I’ll take this opportunity of the 31 Days of Halloween to catch up by covering last year’s Season 1. Continue reading

Am I Perfection? (The Chillerpop Exorcist Retrospective, Part 5)

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Perhaps not, but you’re fascinating and worthy of the Exorcist legacy. Continue reading

Pink Pazuzus: The Chillerpop Exorcist Restrospective, Part 4

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“The possessed person looked and acted just like Linda Blair – in ‘Repossessed'” – Ain’t It Cool News

We’re on the day of the premiere of The Exorcist TV series on Fox (I’m frustrated that I can’t currently access it).  And as I figure out how to view it, I continue my retrospective of The Exorcist series with what I consider to be the true shame of the franchise- Exorcist: The Beginning.

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Wonderfull Lives: The Chillerpop Exorcist Retrospective, Part 3

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Plot summary: “Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer cheer each other up on the anniversary of the death of their mutual friend, Father Damien Karras, by going to see “It’s a Wonderful Life” at the local theater in Georgetown, near Washington D.C. But there’s no cheering Kinderman while a particularly cruel and gruesome serial killer is at large. His murders, which involve torture, decapitation and the desecration of religious icons, is bad enough; but they also resemble those of the Gemini Killer, who has been dead for fifteen years. (SOURCE: IMDB.COM andWritten by J. Spurlin)

 

In this Washington Post article, William Peter Blatty, director of “Exorcist III and author of the novel it’s based on, “Legion,” makes a few salient claims, one of which is that he “hates horror movies.”

That’s all well and good, but he directed two of the most curdling, shocking horror movie scenes I have ever seen in my life.

In the film’s opening scene , a Catholic confessional is used to stage a nightmarish murder.  One where you hear a croaking, teasing infantile voice chuckle as its owner is about to commit something unspeakable.  You only see the violent aftermath later, but that image pales in comparison to what comes before, where you see nothing but are left unnerved beyond belief. Continue reading