I cannot for the life of me recall how or why this got onto my Netflix queue. Nor do I remember what made me look through that mountain of movies (most of which seem “good for you” and thus remain ever-hopeful numbers 100-300 out of my ridiculous 462 films lined up) to spot this little gem. But it is a great, small film. (more…)

none of them are scary. at least last house on the left, which we watched a week or so ago, and night of the living dead, which i watched last night, are not. last house is horrifying, however, in a way that living dead is not. perhaps these films were scarier to audiences in the late 60s/early 70s but now they read more like material for sociology theses. in craven’s film the flower-power kids get it from the working class, and the bourgeois parents turn into monsters to get revenge (while the law bumbles around outside). (sunhee remarked on the resemblance/difference to lady venegeance in terms of the parents’ revenge.) in romero’s film the dead rise up as a result of government science gone awry, and a black man has to survive not only the “ghouls” but also the white survivors.

[spoilers follow]
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