Quote of the Day

Everybody say thank you to Interview Magazine today because they got Tony nominees Mia Farrow and Cole Escola to chat with each other and you've got to go read it right now -- I promise you it's a gay movie nerd's slice of heaven. Cole's a Classic Hollywood nerd of course and they get Mia to dish all sorts of stories from her storied Hollywood past hanging with Bette Davis, George Cukor, and in the best passage of their chat an incredibly strange and hilarious series of happenings with Joan Crawford which I must share in full...

FARROW: You’re a real movie buff. Are you seeing enough big emotions in movies these days?

ESCOLA: No, I like melodrama and high stakes that maybe don’t make sense. Silent movies, I find particularly moving right now. Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid or even Joan Crawford in Dancing Daughters.

FARROW: She’s scary. And she was scary in person as well.

ESCOLA: Oh, did you meet her?

FARROW: Yes. I more than met her. I forget what movie was shooting, probably that one with Betty Davis, the scary one. 

ESCOLA: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 

FARROW: If that was shot at Fox, then that was what they were shooting. And for whatever reason, she started sending a whole refrigerator of Pepsi Cola for my trailer ’cause I was in a TV series called Peyton Place. I don’t particularly like Pepsi Cola, but a lot of Pepsi Cola kept coming to my trailer, more than anyone would ever want. And then she came over to see me and I got a strange vibe from her. So I’m back in New York, and she knew my mother. I hung up people’s coats for my mom when they came into the house. And I hung her coat and out falls a flask of alcohol. She grabbed it like that, and she put it in her handbag. She drank quite a lot. Then she invited me to her apartment. I thought it was a party, but I arrived, and I was the only one there. 

ESCOLA: In New York? 

FARROW: Yes. I was 17, and everything was green in her apartment. It just had very low lighting. And there were no other guests, just Ms. Crawford and me. And I just wasn’t very comfortable. 

ESCOLA: Of course. 

FARROW: So I just made up a lie that I wasn’t feeling very well and I didn’t want to give her any diseases. I think I said the word “diseases” as I walked out of the room. I was scared of Ms. Crawford.

Do we think Joan was coming on to baby Mia? I've heard many a bisexual rumor about Joan before and this feels like Joan was hot for the little girl. I laughed so hard at Mia saying "I think I said the word 'diseases' as I walked out of the room" lol. What a life. 

The Poster Next Door

The poster for Pedro Almodóvar's The Room Next Door has arrived and in the grand tradition of Pedro Almodóvar Movie Posters it's a work of art that any sane person should want to hang on their wall. The obvious reference is of course Bergman's Persona, with two women's faces intermingling, but them being down at the bottom laid out like a landscape, like mountains, makes me think of the poster for Rosemary's Baby as well. I'm sure that was also thought of. Anyway I'm also including the Spanish version below just to prove that the font design on these is beautiful in any language...

Pics of the Day

There is a nice big piece on the forthcoming Rosemary's Baby prequel Apartment 7A over at Vanity Fair today with pictures and some words from director Natalie Erika James (see my previous post on the film here) -- James made a truly great horror film in 2020 with Relic so I am not as down on this as you might think, given Rosemary is my favorite film of all time. There's also the cast -- Julia Garner and m'f'ing Dianne Wiest. Wiest is indeed playing Minnie Castavet, the neighbor-from-hell role that rightly won Ruth Gordon an Oscar, while Garner is playing Terry Gionoffrio, the gal Mia Farrow met briefly in the 1968 film in the laundry room (and you can see that scene being reconstructed above, this time from Terry's perspective) before she "falls" out of a window. (How Putin-esque of her.) Anyway who knows? I will go into this with an open mind given the level of talent involved -- we only know a little bit about Terry's story so the film could have some surprises, although yes, we do know where all it's headed. Open minds, open hearts, and plenty of room for chocolate mouse. Apartment 7A hits Paramount+ September 27th; y'all hit the jump for a few more photos...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from 

Chinatown (1974) 

Noah Cross: You see, Mr. Gittes, most people
never have to face the fact

that at the right time and the right place,
they're capable of ANYTHING.

The masterpiece Chinatown is turning 50 in June and Paramount is doing the wise thing and dropping the film on a beautiful 4K remastered edition for the anniversary -- pre-order it right here. It really looks like the edition to have -- not only is it loaded with the usual kinds of special features (as if the film itself isn't all the special feature one needs) but the set also includes Jack Nicholson's 1990 sequel The Two Jakes, which he directed on top of reprising his role of the notorious private dick Jake Gittes. I know its reputation isn't a shadow of the original film's, but I can't remember whtether I have ever seen The Two Jakes or not -- if I did it was decades ago when I was too young to really pay attention. Have you seen it?

5 Off My Head: Top Vamps

With André Øvredal's Dracula film The Last Voyage of the Demeter hitting theaters this weekend (which I wasn't able to see a screening of so no, I have no idea if it's any good or not) I've got Vampire Movies on the brain. Which is exactly where they should be, at all times. And so I made a list! Well I made it first on Twitter, but I figured this is the kind of thing that needed to be immortalized here on the site, and y'all could then tell me in the comments your picks. Anyway these were my picks today -- tomorrow I might choose differently, but today is not tomorrow. So without further ado...

My 5 Favorite Vampire Movies

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) by Francis Ford Coppola

Thirst (2009) by Park Chan-wook

Near Dark (1987) by Kathryn Bigelow

Let the Right One In (2008) by Tomas Alfredson

Daughters of Darkness (1971) by Harry Kumel

Runners-up: From Dusk Til Dawn, Blade and Blade II, Vampyr, Nosferatu 1922 and Nosferatu 1979, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Let Me In, What We Do in the Shadows, Once Bitten...

... The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Vampire Lovers, Twins of Evil, Byzantium, Shadow of the Vampire... and I am sure there are a million more that I'm forgetting. 

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What are your favorite vampire movies?

All of Them Will Be Witches

Well file this under "potentially intriguing slash possibly horrifying, we shall see" -- and yes, I've got an entire filing cabinet full of things that fall under that banner -- we might be getting a Rosemary's Baby prequel? Now that information alone is the "possibly horrifying" part, because nobody should try messing about with Rosemary's Baby. It's a perfect movie -- heck it's literally my favorite movie. People have basically remade Rosemary's Baby a thousand times now -- once officially, to terrible results, and a million other times with vague spins on the material. There's also a nutso TV movie sequel called Look What happened To Rosemary's Baby that is fun insomuch as it's terrible and Ruth Gordon reprises her role.

Anyway setting that aside the rumor gets interesting when you look beyond the initial shock of it because of who's attached to the thing right now -- it will star Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest and it will be directed by Natalie Erika James, the director of 2020's phenomenal horror flick Relic (that one starred Emily Mortimer and I reviewed it right here). Oh and the story will be about the character of "Terry d'Onofrio" (played by Victoria Vetri in Polanski's film), who's the young woman who lives with the Castavets and ends up "jumping" out their window toward the start of that film, after befriending newcomer Rosemary (Mia Farrow) in the laundry room.

Thing is nothing has been stated about any of this officially -- the movie on IMDb is called Apartment 7A and no plot has been released. Bloody Disgusting just says they "have it on good authority" ... and then some incredible sleuth went and noticed that a bunch of the character names on IMDb are characters from Rosemary's Baby, lol. Like how actor Kevin McNally from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is listed as playing "Roman Castavet" and relative newcomers named Amy Leeson and Scott Hume are playing "Rosemary Woodhouse" and "Guy Woodhouse" for example. 

So point being if those character names are indeed authentic to the film then I can't imagine that BD is reaching here, saying this will be involved with Rosemary's Baby. And perhaps we should be open-minded! Natalie Erika James turned out one hell of a film with Relic, and Garner is one of the most exciting actresses coming up. And does this mean that national treasure Dianne Wiest is playing Minnie? Or maybe she's playing the old woman who owned the apartment before Rosemary & Guy move in, the one who grew all the "tannis" herbs? Either way I dare to say...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Tenant (1976)

Stella: Why don't you take your tie off?

You look like you're choking to death.

Trelkovsky: I found a tooth in my

apartment. It was in a hole.

I love the constant streams of non-sequiturs in The Tenant, don't you? I've seen that movie half a dozen times at this point and it still manages to disorient me with every view. Anyway a happy 67th birthday to Isabelle Adjani today! I know she works plenty but I feel like I myself haven't seen her in a movie in awhile, so I'm pretty excited to see her in François Ozon's next one, the Fassbinder-riffing Peter Von Kant. I mean I'd be excited to see Ozon riffing on Fassbinder no matter what but Isabelle being there's a plus! Here's an image of an album cover (via) involving Isabelle's character: 

13 Needles of Halloween #5

There's really not much of anything in terms of physical violence in Rosemary's Baby -- we do see Terry Gionoffrio's bloodied dead body on the sidewalk after she's leapt out of the Bramford building, but that's after the fact -- it's all emotional and psychological. Maybe that's why the scene where the coven closes in on Rosemary, holds her down on the bed as she flails and shrieks, and inject her with a sedative, does continue to hit so viscerally until this day. It's the only scene where we see Rosemary physically attacked -- such things are hinted at during the demonic rape sequence of course, but the witches were decent enough to feed Rosemary that doped-up chocolate mouse there so that sequence remains hazy, unlike this. Add onto it Rosemary's obvious frailty, so stick-thin with that gigantic pregnant belly heaving to and fro as she convulses, add on Mia Farrow's enormously effective performance, and well this scene stands out to my eye as the scariest single moment in the entire film. 

10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1965

It's somehow been four months since we've done one of our "Siri Says" posts! And that's a darn shame. I know y'all enjoy them, and I do too, so let's reboot the season this week (although no promises we'll keep any momentum going given how I've got several film festivals lining up real quick for our immediate future) with a look at the Movies of 1965, after the lady who lives inside my telephone whispered the number "65" in my ear when I asked her for a number between 1 and 100.

One, I am surprised I hadn't done 1965 yet -- there are still good years left scattered about, although the pickins have admittedly gotten as slim as Jean-Paul Belmondo's waist. And Two, I was surprised by how many damn good movies there are from 1965 when I got to digging; movies I truly adore. So instead of our usual five movies I chose ten faves. And it's almost all foreign cinema? Foreign or genre film, anyway. The 1960s have all sorts of gems to offer once you escape Hollywood's bloated lameness.

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1965

War and Peace 

(dir. Sergey Bondarchuk) 

-- released on July 1965 --

Darling

(dir. John Schlesinger) 

-- released on August 3rd 1965 --

Pierrot le fou 

(dir. Jean-Luc Godard) 

-- released on November 5th 1965 --

Juliet of the Spirits

(dir. Fellini) 

-- released on October 19th 1965 --

The 10th Victim

(dir. Elio Petri) 

-- released on December 2nd 1965 --

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

(dir. Russ Meyer) 

-- released on August 6th 1965 --

Doctor Zhivago

(dir. David Lean) 

-- released on December 22nd 1965 --

Gamera the Giant Monster

(dir. Noriaki Yuasa) 

-- released on November 27th 1965 --

Planet of the Vampires

(dir. Mario Bava) 

-- released on September 15th 1965 --

Repulsion

(dir. Roman Polanski) 

-- released on May 19th 1965 --

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Runners-up: Die! Die! My Darling! (dir. Silvio Narizzano), The Nanny (dir. Seth Holt), My Hustler (dir. Andy Warhol), Invasion of the Astro-Monster (dir. Ishirô Honda), Bad Girls Go To Hell (dir. Doris Wishman), The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise), War-Gods of the Deep (dir. Jacques Tourneur) 

Never seen: Sandra of a Thousand Delights (dir. Visconti), Who Killed Teddy Bear (dir. Joseph Cates), What's New Pussycat (dir. Clive Donner), Simon of the Desert (dir. Bunuel), Up to His Ears (dir. Phillipe de Broca), That Darn Cat (dir. Robert Stevenson), Cat Ballou (dir. Elliot Silverstein), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (dir. Martin Ritt), Help! (dir. Richard Lester), The Naked Prey (dir. Cornel Wilde)

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What are your favorite films of 1965?

Good Morning, World

When Mare of Easttown ended on Sunday night -- and as an aside I'd love to hear what y'all thought of that show! I loved it, while acknowledging that plot-wise it sometimes leaned too hard on conventions, but I didn't really care because the performances were all so deeply moving -- I decided to finally start watching the 2013 run of Broadchurch, a British small-town whodunit starring Olivia Colman (and our new favorite big-eared gay-boy Jonathan Bailey, seen in these gifs) that I saw a lot of people compare Mare to. Well I started it on Monday (it's on Netflix)  and... I already have just one episode left? Which is to say it's scratching my itch and then some. 

I'll hold off on casting a final judgement until I've finished the first run of episodes -- and I've heard the second season isn't nearly as good? -- but if I thought Olivia Colman was incapable of delivering a performance that rang anything but astonishingly, painfully true in every single movement and facial expression (and I did think that) I only think it doubly so far. This is going to sound frightfully like Roman Castavet describing Guy Woodhouse's performance in Rosemary's Baby, I know that going in, but she does this... not an "involuntary reach" exactly, as Roman puts it, but in the scene where the boy's body is discovered on the beach in the first episode and the mother comes down and freaks out, Colman presses her hands on her forehead in one of the most genuine expressions of overwhelming dismay I have ever seen an actor put on-screen. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that precise movement before? And watching her do it I was like, "That is what I do in those moments." She's just so goddamned good you guys. We did her right, giving her an Oscar. Also...

Has anybody seen BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, the 2008 series about Simon Doonan's childhood starring Olivia Colman as his mum? I can't fathom I didn't know about this until right now, which makes me worry about its quality... but OH MY GOD THIS PHOTO pic.twitter.com/asTtv0V3dc

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) June 2, 2021

... did y'all know that? Why didn't I know that? I have got to find that show, Anyway back to Broadchurch I was locked in from there on and have flown through it over the past couple of nights and will presumably finish it tonight. If I've got fans in the house please share your love, although I do ask y'all refrain from spoilers since like I said, one episode left. For now here's more of our big-eared gay-boy Jonathan Bailey flashing some meaty bum, after the jump...

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.

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1962

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Last week's edition of our "Siri Says" series -- where I ask my phone to give me a number between 1 and 100 and then list my five favorite movies from the year that corresponds to that number -- was a tough one, sending us tumbling into Silent Film, so I was relieved this week when, after about a dozen or so tires (the years we've got left are getting scarcer and scarcer) Siri plunked us down into a decade I've seen many more movies from, the 1960s, with the number "62." And then I started looking at The Movies of 1962 and I realized that my likes from that precise year -- which featured both the height of the Cold War and the birth of Spider-man -- tend towards outside-the-mainstream. Meaning that there are big beloved movies from that year that I feel very little towards! 

It's a terrific year of movies but an odd inconsistently-matched batch, including big swings between challenging international cinema which was booming, bargain-basement cult oddities from the likes of Roger Corman & Co, and of course the smooth pretty product line that was rolling out of Hollywood. The latter's where my interest wanes, and so as I skimmed through all the titles for the year I found myself wanting to (mostly) highlight the weirder stuff at the expense of the more popular titles.  But then the weirder stuff is my brand! As is, apparently, the black-and-white in the time of color stuff...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1962

Knife in the Water

(dir. Roman Polanski)

-- released on March 9th 1962 -- 

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

(dir. Robert Aldrich)

-- released on October 31st 1962 -- 

The Manchurian Candidate

(dir. John Frankenheimer)

-- released on October 24th 1962 -- 

Carnival of Souls

(dir. Herk Hervey)

-- released on November 2nd 1962 -- 

The Exterminating Angel

(dir. Luis Bunuel)

-- released on May 16th 1962 -- 

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Runners-up: La Jetée (dir. Chris Marker), Dr. No (dir. Terence Young), Cape Fear (dir. J. Lee Thompson), Day of the Triffids (dir. Steve Sekely), L'eclisse (dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni), Jules and Jim (dir. Truffaut)...

... Panic in the Year Zero (dir. Ray Milland), Lolita (dir. Kubrick), Long Day's Journey Into Night (dir. Lumet), Vivre sa Vie (dir. Godard), Lawrence of Arabia (dir. David Lean), To Kill a Mockingbird (dir. Robert Mulligan)

Never seen: The Music Man (dir. Morton Dacosta), The Miracle Worker (dir. Arthur Penn), The Longest Day (dir. Andrew marton), All Fall Down (dir. John Frankenheimer), A Kind of Loving (dir. John Schlesinger), Billy Budd (dir. Peter Ustinov), Cleo From 5-7 (dir. Agnes Varda)...

... The Intruder (dir. Roger Corman), How the West Was Won (dir. Henry Hathaway), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (dir. John Ford), The Trial (dir. Welles), Cartouche (dir. Philippe de Broca), Days of Wine and Roses (dir. Blake Edwards)

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What are your favorite movies of 1962?

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