Back Up Mick's Creek

The Wolf Creek horror franchise is so underrated that I don't think most people even think of it as a "franchise" -- the original 2005 film is a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned but I feel as if most people's connection stops there when it shouldn't, since the film's 2013 sequel is a blast and the 2016 series that lasted two seasons is also fantastic. They're all good to great! Every bit of it! Anyway that makes me excited to read the news this morning that they are making another Wolf Creek movie -- horror icon John Jarratt will play the savage Outback serial killer Mick Taylor once again, while being joined by Laura Gordon and slab-o-man Jay Ryan, seen above. (Funny enough I actually went looking for a photo of Ryan to use for this post and realized I'd ogled him here before when he got cast as the older version of Ben in the second film of the It franchise.) Director Greg McLean will only be producing the film, not directing -- Sean Lahiff, whose work has mostly been in editing (he edited Wolf Creek 2 as well as Natalie Erika James' killer 2020 horror movie Relic) will be directing. Oh and its title is Wolf Creek: Legacy. Here is how they describe the plot:  

"Wolf Creek: Legacy follows a family of American tourists who wander innocently into Mick Taylor’s hunting grounds…. when the parents sacrifice themselves to save their children, the kids find themselves alone, lost and hunted in the vast Australian wilderness."

Okay so what I am realizing from reading that is we might not want to get too attached to Jay Ryan's character haha. But Mick versus kids! That already sounds deeply fucked up, given what a horrific sadist that character's been over the years.  I'm in!

10 Off My Head: Putting the Wild in Wild Life

So who went and saw Cocaine Bear this weekend? I did, I did. It was fine. I'm surprised I can't rave more about a movie where Margo Martindale gets her ass gnawed on but the movie really needed some punching up, I thought -- it came up slightly short on everything it was aiming for. It wasn't scary enough, it wasn't funny enough, it wasn't camp enough. It was a little bit of those things, and it had moments. But there was a tension in the film between how straight director Elizabeth Banks wanted to play it and how far off the deep-end she wanted to go and the movie never quite resolved that.

Still I'm glad it exists (PS hey Alden Ehrenreich's biceps in that last scene) and I hope its success at the box-office sets off a "When Animals Attack!" craze, because that's one of my favorite sub-genres of movies. Indeed for no other reason than I felt like thinking about these movies this morning, here is a list of ten of my totally random favorites, all of which totally get the balance right between bonkers and bite, and which are all streaming right now. Cuz why not? it's Monday dammit.

10 of my Favorite "When Animals Attack!" Movies

Slugs (1988) -- streaming on Tubi

I've posted about Slugs on this here website more than Slugs could possibly deserve, but it was partially filmed in my hometown when I was in Junior High; how could I not be obsessed with it? I didn't see it until I was adult though and thankfully it's a blast -- over-the-top gross and totally knowing about how ridiculous it is. You'll never look at chopped lettuce the same way again!

Day of the Animals (1977) -- streaming on Shudder

Not only does this movie star 70s horror icons Christopher George and his lady Lynda Day George -- the royal couple of Pieces, wherein she delivers the greatest line reading in the history of cinema -- but this movie also features Leslie Nielsen playing a wicked creep who dies topless wrestling a grizzly bear in the pouring rain. Look up "cinema" in the dictionary and it is just a photo of that. 

Frogs (1972) -- streaming on Pluto

Sam Elliot. Versus frogs.

Rogue (2007) -- streaming on Prime

This was director Greg McLean's follow-up to his masterpiece Wolf Creek and I feel like I remember it undeservedly falling through the cracks at the time and you never hear people talk about it anymore, but god it's a blast. Definitely tilts toward the scary side over the funny side, but Greg McLean does scary really well! I haven't seen this in awhile, I think I might revisit it myself. 

Food of the Gods -- streaming on Plex

With these older ones you do have to warn people about real animal cruelty happening on-screen, and yes this movie does kill a ton of rats on-screen in its big finale. But it's still one of my faves -- gigantic chickens and mosquitoes, man! You can't go wrong. 

The Uninvited -- streaming on Shudder

This is a recent acquisition unto my heart -- I only saw it for the first time a few months ago, thanks to its presence on Shudder. But as that gif above tells you,  I have chosen my heart's path wisely. About a cute little kitty-cat who gets exposed to radioactivity and then starts puking up a demon cat that kills a bunch of basic bitches (and George Kennedy!) onboard a yacht, this movie completed me.

Squirm (1976) -- streaming on Tubi

We've reached the point in the proceedings where I just feel the need to gesture wildly at the images and say, "LOOK! LOOK AT THAT! HOW COULD YOU NOT WANT TO WATCH THAT MOVIE???" But seriously. I don't remember much about Squirm's plot -- I should say "plot" -- but do I remember the scene pictured above? You bet your bottom dollar I do. You don't forget mountains of earthworms swallowing people up easy. 

Razorback (1984) -- streaming on Apple

I could have filled this list with nothing but movies from Australia, land of the demon animals -- indeed 1978's Long Weekend isn't on this list today but it's a must-watch and not just because its leading man wears the shortest-shorts I have possibly ever seen on-screen. But Razorback is also a classic and it's FINALLY getting a big blu-ray upgrade in just a couple of weeks -- this movie didn't have to go as hard as it does, but it's absolutely gorgeous in that very specific 1980s way and I can't wait to watch the upgrade to relish in its weird beauty.

Eaten Alive (1976) -- streaming on Shudder

Speaking of going hard -- Tobe Hooper's wackadoodle gator-romp fever dream sure is something else, innit? Set at an isolated swamp hotel that's as artificial looking at anything in Querelle this movie has wigs popping off and swamp-hookers and the most annoying dog ever put on-screen. It's about as bonkers as these movies go, and covered in that sleazy gunky feeling that only Tobe could muster. God I adore it.

Black Sheep (2006) -- streaming on Tubi

I gave this movie about deranged people-eating sheep a mixed-review when it came out in 2006 but I've been dying to re-watch it and haven't gotten around to it, so me including it here is really just me reminding myself to re-watch it. But I bet I'll be more forgiving of what bugged me about it now than I was then; I didn't used to be as delighted by goofiness + gore as I am today -- obviously I've regressed as a human being, but time will do that to you. 

------------------------------------------

So what are your favorite Animal Attack movies?

My Favorite Horror Movies! Of Ever!

It's the day I've been waiting for slash dreading -- over at Final Girl my beloved pal Stacie Ponder has shared with everyone my Top 20 Favorite Horror Movies list! Actually my list is actually 21 because I changed my mind after sending it and she gave me the bonus. On that note I say "dreading" because there's nothing more difficult in all this world than narrowing down this sort of thing, and my list could have been one thousand titles long. You make all sorts of qualifications in this sort of whittling down process -- you want to represent yourself, as a whole person, so entries that feel redundant get excised in an effort at a larger vision, if that makes sense? 

Anyway click on over, see my 21 picks with a few rambling thoughts about each one tossed in for good bad measure, and make sure you keep checking Final Girl all month long as Stacie's annual "Shocktober" celebration keeps churning out the quality content. And make sure you're listening to Stacie's podcast Gaylords of Darkness (with the wonderful Anthony Hudson) too! It is literally -- I'm not even exaggerating -- the only podcast I listen to. I'm not a podcast person. But Gaylords got me through quarantine and I'm now a hardcore addict to their weekly fix.

10 Off My Head: Actor Hunter Killer

. 

Thrillingly for me at least David Fincher's serial killer series Mindhunter starring Jonathan Groff (showering, seen above) is back on Netflix this Friday for its second season. But that's not the only time the subject of "serial killers" has dropped itself into my lap this week -- on Monday I posted about the 1995 thriller Copycat with Sigourney Weaver, which is screening here in NYC this weekend. And on this upcoming Tuesday Arrow is releasing a stellar special edition blu-ray of Cruising, William Friedkin's controversial 1980 gay murder fantasia that stars Al Pacino. Basically, serial killing is having a real moment! (Sorry you blew your load a little bit early, Zac Efron.) 

Anyway all of this made it seem like a good moment to count down our favorite Serial Killer Movies. But then I started making a list and you know what? Depending on your definition of "Serial Killer Movies" -- do you count Slasher Films? -- I seem to like a hell of a lot of Serial Killer Movies. Too many to narrow down to just five, or even ten. My list runs into the dozens. So I decided to be a little more specific and narrow it down to performances as Serial Killers in Serial Killer Films. I still had to up the number to 10, but this is more manageable!

10 of my Favorite Serial Killer Performances

Anthony Perkins in Psycho

Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs

Charlize Theron in Monster

Christian Bale in American Psycho

Jeremy Renner in Dahmer

Kathleen Turner in Serial Mom

John Jarratt in Wolf Creek

Peter Lorre in M

Karlheinz Böhm in Peeping Tom

Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers

-----------------------------------------

I could name twenty more, but I'll let y'all

name some of your faves in the comments!

.

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 2005

.

I accidentally took a couple of weeks off from our "Siri Says" series but that's okay - I recently crossed the halfway mark on these posts and it's getting harder and harder to get Siri to randomly give me a number that she hasn't given me before. The odds are not in our favor! I usually have to ask her for a number about a dozen times now before we get a fresh 'un. And anyway it'd be a shame to run out of these posts too fast - I like doing them too much.

Anyway today Siri, after a few tries, gave us the number "5" and so today we're going to choose our favorite movies from THe Year 2005. (My apologies to the year 1905 but you know what you did.) Some very good stuff is becoming a teenager this year! Let's take a look see at my favorite thirteen-year olds...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 2005

Brokeback Mountain

(dir. Ang Lee)

-- released on December 6th 2005 --

Wolf Creek

(dir. Greg McLean)

-- released on December 25th 2005 --

A History of Violence

(dir. David Cronenberg)

-- released on September 30th 2005 --

War of the Worlds
(dir. Steven Spielberg)
-- released on 2005 --

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

(dir. Park Chan-wook)

-- released on September 30th 2005 --

-------------------------------------------

Runners-up: King Kong (dir. Peter Jackson), Munich (dir. Spielberg), Constantine (dir. Francis Lawrence), The 40 Year Old Virgin (dir. Judd Apatow), Pride & Prejudice (dir. Joe Wright), Cache (dir. Haneke), Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (dir. Mike Newell), Match Point (dir. Woody Allen), Me and You and Everyone We Know (dir. Miranda July), Serenity (dir. Joss Whedon)...

... ... Jarhead (dir. Sam Mendes), The Devil's Rejects (dir. Rob Zombie), The New World (dir. Terrence Malick), Red Eye (dir. Wes Craven), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-rabbit (dir. Nick Parker), The Constant Gardener (dir. Meirelles), In Her Shoes (dir. Hanson), A Bittersweet Life (dir. Kim Jee-woon)

Never seen: Cinderella Man (dir. Ron Howard), 

Memoirs of a Geisha (dir. Rob Marshall), 

Melissa P. (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

-------------------------------------------

What are your favorite movies of 2005?

.

Do Dump or Marry: The Lost Boys

.

So did any of you watch Greg McLean's new movie Jungle this weekend? As I told you on Friday it's suddenly available for you to watch, so I hope some of you did. I did! It's not bad! Not the world's most ringing endorsement, I know - it wasn't at all the movie I went in expecting; it's much closer to 127 Hours than it is Wolf Creek. I probably shouldn't have been expecting Wolf Creek anyway, but given McLean's tendencies towards the fantastical Jungle's general true-to-life realism (at least until the hallucinations start in in the last act) was unexpected.

Anyway Daniel Radcliffe gives a solid and convincing performance of mental and physical disintegration in the movie, and the rest of the cast - which includes Alex Russell and Joel Jackson (seen here) as well as Thomas Kretschmann (who you sadly do not see here; since when are you shy, Thomas?) - round it out nicely. Give it a whirl! And besides the good old-fashioned storytelling you'll be rewarded with this skinny-dipping scene. (See more here.)

Left to right that Joel Jackson (in the glasses), Dan Radcliffe in the middle, and Alex Russell on the right. (Click these gifs, they embiggen.) Now give 'em a good long look and tell us in the comments who you'd DO DUMP or MARRY!

.

Rise With Radcliffe

.

I had no idea until director Greg McLean just tweeted this - his new movie, the survival drama Jungle starring Daniel Radcliffe and Thomas Kretschmann and Alex Russell that we've told you about several times (watch the trailer here), is out on demand here in the US today! Here's a link to the Apple Store, which is the only one I can find - that will open iTunes, so be prepared for that. Anyway I should've been paying more attention - McLean's been posting links to reviews of the film all week long and somehow I missed all of that noise. I hope it's good - I liked McLean's last movie (the nihilist corporate melee of The Belko Experiment) quite a bit so it'd be nice to have him on an upswing.

Welcome to the Jungle

.

Thanks to Collider for that there first poster for Greg McLean's upcoming movie Jungle, which we shared the trailer for back in June. In case you couldn't tell it stars Daniel Radcliffe, but besides him there's also Alex Russell and Thomas Kretschmann on board the tale of sweaty survival. There is also a pile of new stills from the movie right here. It's out on October 20th.

And hey did somebody say Thomas Krestchmann? It's Tom's birthday - the German actor is turning 55 today! Click on back through our archives for him (or just click here if you want to get right to the point) if you know what's good for you. And here just for fun are a couple cute pictures of Thomas hanging out with South Korean superstar Song Kang-ho and Ryu Jun-yeol on the set of their new movie A Taxi Driver. (click to embiggen)

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 2017

.

Sorry our "Siri Says" series (say that five times fast) has been a bit off the past couple of weeks - today is not the day we usually do this (they normally fall on a Tuesday) but we were busy with other things yesterday, and I wasn't planning on having the time today but on a whim I asked Siri for a number and she gave me something too interesting to pass up - she gave me 17. Now I'm not even going to go near picking movies for 1917 because that's a lost cause, but what about picking my favorite Movies of 2017 so far? 

I can do that! And since I'm always so bad about getting my awards out on time, this might actually stanch that bleeding. And we're talking the calendar year here, anything I have seen between January 1st through the present, or thereabouts - so nevermind the lopsided Oscar season, and a few listed below haven't actually come out yet (one is out on Friday!) but I saw them at festivals (several from Tribeca) or early screenings.

My 5 Favorite Movies of 2017, So Far

A Ghost Story

(dir. David Lowery)

-- released on July 7th, 2017 --

Beatriz at Dinner

(dir. Miguel Arteta)

-- released on June 9th, 2017 --

Good Time

(dir. The Safdie Brothers)

-- released on August 11th, 2017 --

The Lovers

(dir. Azazel Jacobs)

-- released on May 5th, 2017 --

Get Out

(dir. Jordan Peele)

-- released on February 24th, 2017 --

--------------------------------------

Runners-up: Lady Macbeth (dir. William Oldroyd), Thirst Street (dir. Nathan Silver), Permission (dir. Brian Crano), My Friend Dahmer (dir. Marc Myers), Nobody's Watching (dir. Julia Solomonoff), Hounds of Love (dir. Ben Young), A Quiet Passion (dir. Terrence Davies)...

... Raw (dir. Julia Ducournau), Personal Shopper (dir. Olivier Assayas), Frantz (dir. Ozon), The Belko Experiment (dir. Greg McLean), Colossal (dir. Nacho Vigalondo), Free Fire (dir. Ben Wheatley), Sleight (dir. JD Dillard), Prevenge (dir. Alice Lowe)...

... Wonder Woman (dir. Patty Jenkins), It Comes at Night (dir. Trey Edward Shults), Beach Rats (dir. Eliza Hittman), The Beguiled (dir. Sofia Coppola), Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho), The Little Hours (dir. Jeff Baena), Atomic Blonde (dir. David Leitch) 

-------------------------------------- 

Haven't seen: T2: Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle), My Cousin Rachel (dir. Roger Michell), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (dir. Luc Besson), Girl's Trip (dir. Malcom D. Lee), Detroit (dir. Kathryn Bigelow), Columbus (dir. Kogonada)

-------------------------------------- 

What have been your favorites of 2017 so far?

.