LIBRARY JOURNAL has reported the 20 top-selling, most requested horror titles by public libraries during the six months preceding May 26, 2023. EPISODE THIRTEEN ranked at #16!
Check out the list here.
HELLBENDER (2021)
In HELLBENDER (2021, Shudder), a mother and daughter live in peaceful isolation in the woods, but they harbor a dark secret. Shot on the fly during the pandemic and indie to the hilt, the film nonetheless holds together as a solid story about witchcraft and matriarchy. I liked this one a lot.
In the forest outside a small town, teen Izzy lives with her mom. They appear happy together, playing music together in a band they named Hellbender. But something isn’t right. They eat only what they find on the forest floor. Told she has a severe illness, Izzy isn’t allowed to leave the property. Mom appears to have strange powers. A chance meeting leads Izzy to understand who and what she is, the supreme power available to her and how to tap its reservoir, and how the cycle of life must continue.
The movie is extraordinary in it was produced by family and bandmates Toby Poser, John Adams, and their kids Lulu and Zelda Adams during the pandemic. The frequent improvisation, leaning into the band playing, and low production quality sometimes puts it a little off kilter, but overall this movie worked for me. I found the approach to witchcraft to be engaging, believable, and filled with terrific lore. I loved the natural confrontation it set up. Overall, the lore feels deep, as if what we’re shown is only a glimpse of so much more.
Overall, HELLBENDER was one of those delightful surprises you find by taking a chance on something new that’s a little raw and slow but compelling. Recommended for folk horror fans looking for something a little different.
THE DAYS
Rivaling HBO’s CHERNOBYL in terms of raw drama, Netflix’s THE DAYS is a powerful story that cements the adage that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. In 2011, Japan suffered a triple whammy: a devastating earthquake, resulting 14-meter-tall tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disaster that rivaled Chernobyl in terms of danger. Sticking as close to the facts as possible, THE DAYS presents a gripping tale of the tragedy as experienced by the workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
As for the disaster, it could have been even more devastating. The earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to the nuclear reactors, resulting in the workers being unable to cycle water to manage the reactor temperatures and resulting pressure. They couldn’t even use their instruments to monitor what was going on. As the fuel rods became exposed and melted down, they released radiation and triggered catastrophic explosions. In time, they threatened to spread radiation across Japan, making at least half the country uninhabitable for generations. Luckily for the world, they didn’t, though for days the reactors were almost fully out of control, and important mechanisms to fix the problem weren’t even approachable for humans due to high radiation levels.
The Japanese miniseries follows an ensemble cast of actors playing various workers, managers, and executives at the power company managing the plant, along with politicians and military personnel trying to stave off disaster. The script masterfully portrays people and institutions in crisis, showing them coming to grips with the disaster and working to solve unprecedented problems with ingenuity, only for cascading effects to thwart them and create new, even bigger problems. The politicians and company executives often get in the way, sometimes out of frustration for lack of information and other times for optics, until they realize what all of Japan is facing and pull out all the stops to help.
Similarly, the managers and workers at the plant slowly realize how hopeless their situation is and struggle emotionally to remain on duty and fight to the last possible second despite the odds and growing risks to dying horribly. One of the things that I loved about CHERNOBYL was the incredible heroism involved in preventing an incredible national and global disaster, and this is on full display in THE DAYS. Also the realism in depicting the reverse: the horror and despair, people cracking under the strain. In one scene, a nuclear expert watching an explosion erupt at the plant falls to his knees keening like a dying animal, and I think he was speaking for all of them, what was going on in their heads.
Overall, I loved this one. A disaster miniseries that is gripping, horrifying, inspiring, and true.
BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2022)
After watching Colin Farrell chew the scenery in THE NORTH WATER, I was so impressed I figured I owed him another movie, whatever next movie I chanced on next that he was in. That turned out to be THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2022). I liked it, in particular due to the terrific heavy lifting by Farrell, the great Brendan Gleeson, and the rest of the stellar cast, though its themes were lost on me.
The movie has a simple premise, which is during the Irish Civil War in 1923, on a small fictional island off the coast of Ireland, fiddler Colm (Glesson) decides to end his friendship with his bestie and drinking buddy Padraic (Farrell). Colm is getting old and has decided not to waste his time anymore on anything except his music, which he feels will endure. This rejection and resulting conflict leads to extreme repercussions.
The movie is billed as a tragicomedy, though the comedy is in the conceit. Overall, the story is pondering, deep, and resting on the characters and the actors playing them far more than the plot. Most of the delights in this deep film are in the brooding country, quirky villagers, and in the terrific performances. The characters are wonderfully drawn, from Padraic’s voice-of-reason sister to the village clown and the town gossip. As things escalate to the end, I found I’d quite enjoyed the ride, though I’m not sure where I ended up. The theme appears to be the Irish Civil War, but I could be wrong, and in any case it was largely lost on me, though to the Irish of course it still resonates.
Overall, I’m happy to recommend THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, though it’s definitely not for everyone. As for me, I owe Farrell another movie.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES (2023) turned out to be a surprisingly good time. From the source material to comedy to action to finding an emotional core, this movie strikes an almost perfect balance, offering plenty and demanding nothing.
The plot is fairly simple. Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) was once a Harper, an order of peacekeepers, but after arresting disciples of a Red Wizard, the wizards take revenge. Destitute and raising his daughter on his own, he turns to selfishness, thieving with minor magic user Simon (Justice Smith), barbarian warrior Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), and con artist Forge (Hugh Grant). After they’re betrayed, he leaves prison on a mission to recover his daughter and set things right, only the Red Wizards have other plans.
I played some D&D back in the day but didn’t live and breathe it, so I missed a ton of Easter eggs planted throughout the movie for the fans. What really works for the adaptation is it embodies the spirit of the source material–just a good time having quests, exploring dungeons, fighting evil wizards–while making it accessible for everyone.
Otherwise, everything just works, rolling out like a fantasy version of a Marvel movie but reining in the cuteness and showing remarkable restraint and balance. The actors all do a great job with their parts, particularly Pine who brings a lot of depth to the lead, Rodriguez who really looks like she’s kicking ass in the fight scenes, and Smith who makes you root for him. In terms of storytelling, all the right notes are played, making this kind of like a live-action SHREK but with a lot more action. While nominally light fare, there’s an emotional core to the story, though it is accomplished again with a solid balance and without pandering or trying to make me feel anything.
Overall, I loved D&D. From what I hear, there are no plans to make it a franchise–though there may be a TV spinoff in the works–but I hope they do. It might just get me back into the theater. Barring that, I’d like to see more movies like it.
YELLOWJACKETS, Season 2
The second season of YELLOWJACKETS proved a disappointing departure from the incredible heights the first season achieved. The second season ate its potential by mostly treading familiar waters.
First, let me gush again about that incredible first season. In the 90s, a high school all-girl soccer team flies to a national competition only for their plane to crash in the wilderness, forcing them to survive on their own for more than a year. Now it’s years later, and we follow several women (strong veteran actors) from among the few who survived. The story unfolds in two storylines, one where we see what happened in the wilderness, and the other where we see the adults struggling to live normal lives, messed up in the conventional sense but somewhat fearless and capable of anything when it comes to surviving. The result teased this is a modern grrl version of THE LORD OF THE FLIES, revealed slowly through the lens of the girls now all grown up. If you’ve read my novel THE CHILDREN OF RED PEAK, you know this is my kind of story, and I was happily surprised at how subtle, nuanced, and compelling they told it.
The second season continues the story, and I think most viewers started the season anticipating seeing the girls devolve into savagery in the wilderness, as the end of the first season brought us to the edge of it. Unfortunately, the second season feels far different than the first. They strongly introduce a paranormal element, which would work but ends up a deus ex machina for every weird or bad thing that happens. The adult storyline treads water, endlessly seeming to try to tie off the first season, and even the compelling wilderness storyline meanders. Otherwise, we get the sudden car collision trope, the I wake up and did bad things while I was blanked out trope, a lot of cuteness, and other service tropes. Solid opportunities are squandered, like Coach’s role in the group and a natural devolution into savagery to survive.
Unfortunately, the result is that despite some salient great dramatic moments, there is a general lack of focus, where most of the episodes feel like filler, and contrived and phoned-in conflict, particularly the atrocious police storyline. I really hate coming down on this show. As a writer, I know how much hard work goes into producing something you think people will like, and the result is always heavily subjective. But I was bitterly disappointed with this. I really, really hope they turn things around with the third season and get back to that sharp, compelling, intriguing storytelling that made the first season such a surprisingly great watch.
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