by Nathaniel R
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) © MGM
Each of us has heaven and hell in him.
As many of you have gleaned your host here has been struggling this past month. So as ever we take solace in the movies and we've been gorging of late so time for another streaming catch-up. We've realized of late that in attempting to do too many things here at TFE -- we are after all not Variety or The New York Times -- we do too little. So we have to streamline / simplify. Our first victim is Streaming Roulette. Rather than a monthly series in which we try to highlight EVERYTHING that's new to streaming on all the services, we're going to recommend a handful of titles weekly just for an excuse to talk about them. We'll keep the "roulette" part which is to say we'll freeze frame randomly on the scroll bar and that's the image we'll share as visual (What? We like our gimmicks).
4 Things to Watch This Week...
[Oscar Wilde] created the myth of what happens with repression. Ultimately repression will eat you up inside and you will become the monster.
QUEER FOR FEAR: THE HISTORY OF QUEER HORROR (2022) on Shudder
The first episode of this limited doc series from Shudder is a total winner. The graphics are clever and coherent, the film clips expertly chosen, and there are multiple fascinating insights from a bevy of LGBTQ celebrities and critics (including Emily St James and Leslye Headland who've both guessed starred on our Supporting Actress Smackdown in the past!). The first episode centers on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula & F W Murnau's Nosferatu, and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (which is what director Kimberly Peirce of Boys Don't Cry fame is discussing above). New episodes each Friday.
Oh, bartender. That'll be a double shot of your very best watered down shit!
NEAR DARK (1988) on Criterion
Between their "80s Horror Collection", "Vampires", and "Universal Horror Classics" programs the Criterion Channel has curated 50ish films for the spooky month including multiple splashers (not our cuppa) auteur films like Scanners (1981) and Bride of Frankenstein (1931), lesbian vampire classics like Daughters of Dracula and The Hunger (1983), critical darlings like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and Vanishing (1988), and cult oddities like The Lair of the White Worm (1988) and Vampire’s Kiss (1989). One of TFE's favourites in two of these three collections is Kathryn Bigelow's western 80s /vampire flick Near Dark. If you've never seen that, fix it! Bigelow's masterful command of über tense setpieces happened long before The Hurt Locker. The divar bar sequence in this film is unforgettable... even if you want to forget it. Which you might!
Do you like what you see?
THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011) on Hulu
This undervalued mad scientist gender-fuck thriller is the closest Pedro Almodóvar has ever come to making a horror film. Antonio Banderas is wonderful as per usual but the MVPs are the production and costume designers.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017) Netflix
I forgot all about this nose bleed scene with Elio racing to the freezer for some frozen meat/ice. NOT HUMAN MEAT. With the cannibal romantic drama Bones and All on the way, it's a good time to revisit the last Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet collaboration, Call Me By Your Name. Saw Bones and All last week. Let's just say it wasn't for me but a lot of you will love it judging on the reactions from the audience around me.
Alternate notables streaming at the moment (links go to previous articles)...
THE COLOR PURPLE (1985) Spielberg's beloved adaptation of Alice Walker's classic on Netflix
SCARFACE (1983) Michelle Pfeiffer's pfirst Oscar worthy performance on Netflix
AUDREY ROSE (1977) Marsha Mason in a reincarnation drama on Prime
Streaming premieres this coming weekend
• MONSTER HIGH THE MOVIE (Paramount+) Friday October 6th
When will the magical school trope ever end? Not anytime soon. This one is about a werewolf girl and high school for creatures like her that's in danger.
• CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY (Prime) Saturday October 7th
Lena Dunham's medeival comedy starring Andrew Scott as a father trying to marry off his teenage daughter Birdy (Bella Ramsey) has received promising festival reviews
• HELLRAISER (Hulu) Saturday October 7th
Trans actress Jamie Clayton (of the much-missed Sense8) stars as supernatural killer Pinhead in this reboot of the Clive Barker horror franchise
• WEREWOLF BY NIGHT (Disney+) Saturday October 7th
Gael García Bernal and Harriet Samson Harris (among others) star in this spooky tv special that occupies space in the horror pocket of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
• SIGNIFICANT OTHER (Paramount+) Saturday October 8th
Maika Monroe (It Follows) and the perpetually busy Jake Lacy (The White Lotus) star in this sci-fi drama about a couple trekking through the Pacific Northwest and facing something sinister.