Loud bangs and dusty wheelchairs

 THE CHANGELING (1980)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A loving husband and father who lost his wife and daughter in a horrible car collision should probably not move in to a spacious, multi-leveled mansion and live by himself. This mansion has one elegant drawing room after another, several bedrooms, three floors, a chandelier, and a sealed attic to boot. Loud bangs are heard at 6 am. The emotionally shattered widower is a classical music composer and the piano in one drawing room is missing a key string, which ultimately appears to be working when he's not around. Yep, that kind of movie.

"The Changeling" is a chilling. sometimes nerve-wracking haunted house movie and the house depicted seems exceptionally uninviting compared to the one in 1963's "The Haunting." What I appreciate about this film, in context with the silliness of "The Amityville Horror" which was an unruly horror flick released not long before this one, is that it harks back to a time when floating ghostly manifestations were not always present to scare us. Other than a dusty wheelchair that moves on its own and attacks a member of the Historical Preservation Society (Trish Van Devere, George's real-life wife) as she runs from it, one long staircase at a time, the movie doesn't rely on more than thumps and loud bangs to make its hair-raising points. A ball thrown in a lake, belonging to the composer's deceased daughter, makes its appearance bouncing down the stairs. A cobwebbed attic room looks creepy enough until we see flashbacks to an intentional drowning of a kid in his tub. 

George C. Scott doesn't overact here and that is a blessing (unlike "The Exorcist III" where he practically chews and spits out the scenery). He seems larger-than-life and able to take on unholy spirits, seemingly unfazed at first and then gradually haunted by them. Same with Trish Van Devere whose shock at seeing something unexpected in one scene was enough to give me goosebumps.   

This is the kind of mystery horror flick where you want to have a cup of hot chocolate while watching it. If you spill some on yourself, at least you will remember that your stained clothing was a result of watching George C. Scott trying to reason with a house. 

Protect school children from unwanted threats

 WEAPONS (2025)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Weapons" is pure unadulterated, nonlinear mystery-horror that I love. The narrative is all told from different character perspectives and revisits certain individual moments of time that work wonders. Nothing feels contrived and it is all of a piece. The best thing about "Weapons" and the director Zach Cregger, whose astonishingly and distastefully pungent horror flick "Barbarian" caused a stir a couple years back, is that it brings back an element of surprise. There is no way you can anticipate anything that happens here and that is shockingly good and scary news for horror and film fans alike.

"Weapons" begins with an anonymous voice-over from a young girl, presumably a third-grader, who recounts the story of 17 third-graders who ran from their homes at 2:17 am right out into the streets. Nobody knows why and the kids all had their arms outstretched while running. Where did they run to and why did these students leave from only one specific class? Aspersions are cast on the teacher, Justine (Julia Garner), and many of the concerned, angry parents are certain she had something to do with it. Unable to teach, Justine starts drinking again and calls her ex-boyfriend to meet her (someone also vandalizes her vehicle with the word "WITCH"). One angry parent who wants answers, Archer (Josh Brolin), discovers odd details in ring camera footage and gets a town map where clearly the kids all ran to the same destination. The questions linger. And what about the one solitary student, Alex (Cary Christopher), who attends Justine's class - why didn't he run from his house?

The beauty of "Weapons" is that it is so damn intriguing, so uniquely strange and so damn entertaining and spooky. I have seen enough movies to show someone alone in their house hearing knocks on their doors. It is easy to scare the audience with intricate sound design where the knocks sound louder than they would in real life. When it happens to Justine, we fear that the parents are coming after her and that would be a real potential threat. Her nightmares of some clownish face appearing on her ceiling (don't expect the mad clown from "It" - this is not that kind of movie) are indicative of something but we don't know what that is. Archer has similar nightmares so we think there's a kinship but what does it entail? 

There are many surprises in "Weapons" and one of the neatest is the rare casting of Amy Madigan in a horror film (apparently she's appeared in two horror films in the past) - she plays the sickly great aunt of Alex. I cannot reveal much of her role but she is completely unrecognizable, wearing colorfully garish wardrobes, smeared red lipstick and fiery red hair. The underrated Alden Ehrenreich appears as a married cop who used to date Justine and is trying to stay sober. His attitude towards his job seems to be nonchalant until he runs into a young homeless drug addict. And we cannot leave out a brief solid turn by Benedict Wong as the principal of the school who needs to talk to Alex's parents - the cheerful great aunt will not do. And major kudos to Josh Brolin, an increasingly fantastic and subtle actor, who brings true urgency to his role and to the proceedings. Julia Garner should not go unnoticed as the defamed teacher who tries to remain calm amidst wrongful accusations. She also does her own investigating of Alex and his home. Garner's Justine never begs for sympathy, only for understanding of her present uncontrollable situation.

"Weapons" is disturbing and scarily prescient, focusing on family trauma and possible tragedy in a small Pennsylvanian town as it relates to current problematic ills in our own times. I can't say too much without spoiling it so, suffice to say, protect your own kids at all costs. 

Clingy and co-dependent is already cause for worry

 TOGETHER (2025)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Call it David Cronenberg-lite. "Together" is the latest serving of body-horror-crossed-with-relationship tale that doesn't go nearly as off the rails as Cronenberg might have. That is not a disservice to the movie which is spectacularly acted with brio and urgency by its two married leads, Dave Franco and Alison Brie. Without them, there is no movie and thus this couple will not stick like glue.

Tim (Dave Franco) has a fractured, uneasy relationship with his partner, Millie (Alison Brie). You know times have changed when, in our current century of uncertainty when it comes to romantic principles, Millie can't refer to Tim as a boyfriend but only as a "partner." This couple is ready to move and experience country living where Millie has a job as a schoolteacher and Tim has aspirations of performing his music with a possible label and tour ahead. In one of many uncomfortable moments between the couple (and us the audience), Millie bends on one knee and proposes with a pantomime gesture of opening a box with a ring in front of their friends. Call me old-fashioned but I always thought men were supposed to do this but, as I said, times have changed. Nevertheless, Tim takes one extra beat before he responds and all I could think was, AWKWARD.

After settling in to a country home, things get even more awry. Tim finds some dead rats in a ceiling light that brings up uncomfortable past memories. Tim is unresponsive to sleeping with his own "partner," but he does relent when asked by Millie to go on a small hike through the outside woods. During this hike, the twosome fall through a hole in the ground with a nearby pool of ultra clear water that probably should be avoided. Millie refuses to drink from it yet Tim doesn't listen and situations go from bad to worse. Call it clinginess to an extent most couples do not usually endure. I mean, how often are your hands fused with someone else's accidentally? And let's not get started on what goes on between two people going at it in a restroom stall. 

"Together" is the type of unrelenting, nerve-frying horror film that leaves your stomach in knots. It starts out as a horror film (with more than little nod to Carpenter's "The Thing") yet it is also a domestic drama of a codependent relationship and that adds to its raw power. Still, nothing that occurs on screen is for the faint-hearted (and not even the nuanced, disquieting performance by Damon Herriman as Millie's colleague and neighbor). There are scenes that are unsettling and awkward dialed up to 111, especially some queasy nightmare moments that had me grabbing my seat. Aussie director Michael Shanks pulls all the stops here for horror enthusiasts yet he also shows a welcome modicum of restraint for body-horror fans (are there that many?) Shanks recognizes the cardinal rule in any horror flick - you must empathize with the victims before they are shanghaied into unimaginable terrors. Color me impressed by Dave Franco and Alison Brie who make a credible codependent couple who have trouble making an emotional and physical connection. Brie's Millie wants to get closer to Tim yet his memories of finding his dead father with his conscious mother has him all riled up and closed-off. The water he consumed has made things worse for his anxiety and inexplicably made him closer to Millie. Maybe a tad too close for comfort.