One day we’ll all look back at 2021 with fondness. Instead of remembering the pandemic’s unnecessary sequel, we’ll remember how we spent most of the year still “stuck” inside researching and watching a ton of movies. Sure we missed going out with friends, missed shouting across a noisy bar, and maybe even missed seeing family across the country. But at some point, after all this is behind us, we’ll get enough distance to remember the stuff we didn’t miss. Mainly getting vaccinated. Oh, and also, The Cat.
In 2021, we nervously stepped out of our homes for the first time and even caught a movie in an actual theater. We learned how to be social again and hugged actual humans. We also discovered genuinely incredible titles that kept us glued to our couches, even as the world started opening up again. We dug up black-and-white outsider homages to Homer’s The Odyssey, learned about the dangers of drunk driving (spoiler: don’t do it), and discovered an ancient spider-god from Ghana that is definitely not Spider-Man because that’s copyrighted and using any likeness would be obviously totally illegal and no one should ever do that ever. We confirmed, once again, that kids can be murderous, possessed assholes and revelled in a Lifetime drama starring D.J. Tanner and a blue filter. Oh, and also, The Cat.
This year we also released Bleeding Skull! A 1990s Trash-Horror Odyssey with our friends at Fantagraphics. This was a book years in the making, and now it’s finally out in the world wreaking havoc. In what other book will you find a movie about Hare Krishnas who crash a barbecue and get eaten by a dinosaur?
But wait, there’s more! With our friends at the American Genre Film Archive, we released the high-octane, roundhouse kick-powered films of William Lee and Boardinghouse, which will be the only film you ever need starring a shirtless heavy-breathing psychic in a leopard-print thong. We also re-released Jungle Trap, Renee Harmon and James Bryan’s final collaboration together. It’s a film near and dear to our hearts and we’re thrilled that it’s out once again terrorizing and delighting new audiences.
As we do every year, we’ve selected ten of our favorite first-time watches of the year. This list was particularly hard to whittle down, so we confirm that each title is an absolute head-spinning gusher. All these films moved, shocked, delighted, and confused us, and they all reaffirmed that there are, and have always been, great people doing even greater things.
We can’t thank you enough for all your support. We’ve been able to do what we do because of you, pandemic be damned. We look to 2022 filled with optimism, with a renewed joy of finding films lurking well under the radar. Thank you for joining us as we dig deeper. We hope the next year will be filled with everything you love: gratuitous blood, pearl-clutching violence, bloodthirsty beasties, and, obviously, Satan.
Ananse: Parts 1 + 2 (Rockson Emmanuel, 2010)
DVD-R / Full Review
“In addition to the movie’s inconceivable star — a murderous, ultra-no-fi CGI Spider-Man who moans like a ghost and makes the bootleg Spider-Man in 3 Dev Adam look like Tobey Maguire — Ananse radiates acid-tinged mayhem. Axe murders, disembowelment, smoke bombs, and teleportation are all depicted through the magic of cartoonish CGI. A man with glowing red eyes shoots people in the face. There’s a recreation of the “bullet time” scene from The Matrix, and the spirit of a dead girl leaves her body so that it can destroy criminals. Ananse takes a lot of time to ramp up. But once it does, the movie places your soul onto a magic carpet ride that doesn’t end until divine elation settles in.”
Beware! The Vanishing Family (Luca D’Andrea, 2021)
Streaming / Full Review
“Written and directed by non-binary filmmaker Luca D’Andrea and available to watch for free on Vimeo, Beware! is filled with overlays that look like Game Boy Advance cutscenes on acid, droning Casio dirges, ketchup gore, flanged-out guitar feedback, desolate locations, and phantasmic demons. But the movie also has an emotional core; it’s not just a no-fi Halloween tone poem. This is an intoxicating video experiment that deals with the loss of innocence and trauma without alienating the viewer. In fact, Beware! has the opposite effect. When someone opens up emotionally, we’re more likely to share something of ourselves. That’s not something that happens after watching Trash Humpers. But it happens after watching Cecelia Condit’s Possibly in Michigan. And it also happens here.”
The Boy From Hell (Mari Asato, 2004)
DVD / Full Review
“The Boy From Hell is unlike anything else in Asato’s filmography. Cheap, reckless, and fueled by comic book gore, the movie grafts a Universal horror template onto a public access soap opera. We end up with an unexpected voyage to a grotesque subconsciousness, one that’s just as electric as the manga that inspired it. Green screen inserts and animated transitions melt into beautifully composed shots of barren landscapes. The soundtrack photocopies Goblin’s electro-harpsichord soundtrack for Deep Red and puts it to good use during a bizarre tangent involving pigeons. The unhinged violence, histrionics (“One more brain transplant will save him!”), and lightning-fast pace all culminate in a literal trip to hell. It materializes as an acid-tinged, CGI nightmare zone that’s almost as shocking as the one in Spawn. But bubbling below the madness is a hint of what would define Asato’s work in the future—a sincere, emotional core.”
The Cat (Ngai Choi Lam, 1992)
DVD / Full Review
“The Cat is epic. That’s really the only word for it. Everything about this film is larger than life, from the endless, fiery explosions to the throbbing alien that digests bodies until there’s nothing left but grisly skeletons. The practical effects are nonstop, each more stunning than the last. There are melted bodies, oozing eyeballs, and severed limbs. Also a cat. There are stop-motion alien beasties, writhing tentacles, and a gun deal that goes horribly right. Also a cat. There are countless men set on fire, diarrhea that gushes into a hobo’s mouth, and a woman who serves a giant tray of crabs in slow motion. Also a cat. And just when you thought the movie couldn’t get any better, a slobbery, sleepy dog shows up. He’s a very, very good boy. This leads to what is definitively the best dog-and-cat fight ever committed to film. This is it, friends. Strap in. It can’t be missed, and it can’t be oversold. This is what you’ve always wanted.”
Corruption of the Damned (George Kuchar, 1966)
DVD-R / Full Review
“The Kuchar brothers are legends. Their genre-bending, subversive, proudly queer films are filled with melodrama, intrigue, sex, absurdity, and endless joy. You can see how their work inspired other fringe filmmakers, including Sarah Jacobson (I Was a Teenage Serial Killer) and national treasure John Waters. Corruption of the Damned is an absolute delight—from the campy vamps hungry for love to the scene where two lovers cut each other’s clothes off with a pair of kitchen shears. In addition to The Odyssey, the film is also a subversive take on the melodramatic romance films of the 40s. Corruption of the Damned is silent and shot on beautiful black-and-white 16mm, with hand-written intertitles that move the plot forward (and backward). There’s also an ever-changing moody orchestral score ripped straight out of a library. You’re just waiting for a distressed damsel to be tied up to some railroad tracks by a mustached villain. But instead you get two ladies wearing nothing but cardboard boxes fight each other on a dolly. You read that sentence correctly.”
Half Past Midnight (Wim Vink, 1988)
DVD-R / Full Review
“Half Past Midnight is a splattery slasher crammed into 32 short but epic minutes. The first 25 minutes are the mundane details we’ve come to expect from Vink. Debbie eats breakfast, she reads, and she goes on a date with her teacher, which is definitely not appropriate but maybe things are different in the Netherlands. The final seven minutes of the film are what the people call a good time. Legs are sawn off and torsos are ripped apart. It’s a rainbath of blood and guts and mayhem.”
Horror (Dante Tomaselli, 2003)
DVD / Full Review
“It would be easy to dismiss this movie. There isn’t a prominent protagonist to follow. Most questions aren’t answered. The last third suffers from padding. But if you approach with patience and empathy, there’s a lot to appreciate. Shot on 16mm in New Jersey, Horror feels like a precursor to the A24 house style as seen in films like The Blackcoat’s Daughter (slow pacing, cryptic meanings, beautifully damaged imagery) mashed together with the extraterrestrial tone of a Neil Breen movie. In other words, it’s a galaxy away from anything else that was happening in horror during the early 2000s. Tomaselli swaps out Papa Roach songs and the butthead tone of movies like House of 1000 Corpses for hallucinatory visions and deeper themes. This forces us to process what we’re seeing as we watch, making the experience more active than passive. It’s a welcome feeling. And that, combined with plenty of blood-barfing and cheapazoid Spirit Halloween store make-up effects, is what endears the movie. This is low-budget arthouse horror with heart, ambition, and a lovely wintery mood. Sometimes, that’s all I need.”
The Last Prom (Gene McPherson, 1980)
DVD / Full Review
“The Last Prom is a 16mm classroom scare film that traumatized teens across the country throughout the 1980s. It was shot in Ohio, but could have just as easily originated in Stephen King’s fictitious town of Castle Rock. Previously made in 1954 and 1972, this haunted remake by writer-director Gene McPherson combines the melodramatic camp of The Shangri-las’ “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” with the moody vibe of The House on Sorority Row and a ghastly climax that would make early gore F/X queen Allison Louise Downe proud. Unlike Signal 30 and Mechanized Death — two infamous driver’s ed films — The Last Prom doesn’t deflate your soul with ghoulish footage from real-life car wrecks. Instead, the movie uses slasher ambience, fake gore, and a faux documentary style to tell a story — one that’s outrageous, hilarious, exploitive, and sad. And that’s what makes it so brilliant.”
Nightscream (Noel Nosseck, 1997)
VHS / Full Review
“NightScream is a classic TV thriller that’d fit somewhere between the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime in 1997. The acting is big, the cliffhangers are bigger, and the drama is turned up to the level of Days of Our Lives, which is to say real high. There’s a nosy journalist, a greedy landowner, and a really crappy boyfriend. The plot, melodrama, and surreal dream sequences are pages ripped savagely from the Twin Peaks playbook. There’s even a Chris Isaak rip-off closing theme. Wicked game indeed.”
Possessed II (David Lai, 1984)
DVD-R / Full Review
“Possessed II pretty much has everything you’ve ever wanted out of a Category III Hong Kong film. There’s gore, nudity, exploding TVs, a literal bucket of blood, a dead cat that may or may not be real, and a scene where someone literally tears off their own face. Heads melt, monsters rise, an actual owl eats an actual rat, and a chubby kid bullies a girl on the playground and says, ‘I’m Superman and I’m going to make you eat all your boogers.’ He then proceeds to stick his finger in his nose and bring it dangerously close to her mouth.”
