Feels good to be a wolf

 WOLF (1994)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Mike Nichols is not a director ever associated with horror (or with the slapstick shenanigans of "The Birdcage" either, for that matter) but it doesn't mean that the great director of "The Graduate," "Working Girl" and "Carnal Knowledge" can't veer from his normal slate of sophisticated comedies or dramas. What is most amazing about "Wolf" is that it is a sophisticated werewolf picture in addition to an alert and savvy look at the cutthroat business of book publishing. The drama is all there in spades, including an increasingly tense albeit brief exchange of hurtful words between the main character Will Randall, a senior book editor (Jack Nicholson), and his cheating wife, Charlotte (Kate Nelligan). There is also the arrogant, lying and aspiring protege of Will's, Stewart Swinton (James Spader), who is eager to climb the corporate ladder and rise to the top no matter who gets hurt. And we can't leave out Michelle Pfeiffer in one of her finest roles as Laura, a modern woman who has seen it all and sees through the facade of her billionaire father (Christopher Plummer) and his control of the book publishing firm. 

"Wolf" is not a standard werewolf movie although there are the expected tropes - the killing of a deer, Nicholson's Will howling at the Moon, an old lycanthropy expert - but rather a movie about a man who loves being a wolf and is not sure if he is one. After getting bitten in the opening scenes on a lonely Vermont road, Will's bald spot becomes full of hair. He doesn't need glasses when he reads through manuscripts and his hearing and sense of smell become extraordinarily acute, to the point that he can hear conversations and smell people's breath "from a mile away." I can't say how much better is his sex life - he grows more amorous around his wife but then there is Stewart's scent all over his wife's clothes! Uh, oh. 

Will eventually finds solace and some measure of self-recognition with Laura - their first meal together is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Will sees through Laura's facade (and she is more self-aware than he might think) yet Laura finds a good man in Will, although she can't see the wolf he's slowly becoming. Can Will beat his werewolf transformations during those endless moonlit nights? Will Will get his job back and get Stewart fired? Is urinating on a man's suede shoes enough to show prowess? 

"Wolf" works as a slight satire on the book publishing business and the werewolf metaphor works in tandem as Will regains use of his ruthless maneuvers to show who is boss. This is Nicholson at his most subtle and nuanced role during the 1990's, exuding charm, elegance, anger and line readings delivered with polished comic timing. This is not the madman on overdrive acting of one of his most relished roles in "The Shining." The witty screenplay by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick gives Nicholson a chance to do something rare in horror - relish the beast yet simultaneously show revulsion over his actions (he finds severed fingers in his pocket at one point). As a horror flick, don't expect copious amounts of gore. The finale with two werewolves going at it in a horse barn feels a bit off, at least in terms of execution (slow-motion lycanthropy jumps do not work for me). Still, James Spader is a maniac in fur, Plummer shines as a man who can't fathom Will's change in attitude, and the luscious, almost phantom-like presence of Pfeiffer at the end gives the ending a touch of melancholy. Some wolves prefer to howl at the moon.  

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.  

Red Riding Hood's emerging sexuality

 THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Never say hello to strange huntsmen and never stray from the path to Grandma's house. This applies to Rosaleen in Neil Jordan's most peculiar and horrific fairy tale, "The Company of Wolves," one of the few films that really looks and feels like a Grimm fairy tale and, perhaps, does true justice to the famous Red Riding Hood tale from centuries past. 

The film begins in modern times where Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) lives in a country house, though there is already something peculiar about it. Her parents return home and Rosaleen's older sister climbs quite a few stairways to get to the top floor where Rosaleen is sleeping. Her room is locked and Rosaleen is having some sort of fever dream. I am no expert in British homes but it looks to me like there are several circuitous stairways to get to a loft, or an attic perhaps. I felt I was already in a strange fairy tale. 

Rosaleen dreams of herself as Little Red Riding Hood in a Hammer-horror environment. The setting is a small village where it is seemingly always overcast and houses a close community of peasants. Rosaleen lives with her parents (David Warner, Tusse Silberg) and she misses her older sister who was killed by a wolf, or more likely a werewolf. The peasants fear those vicious wolves in those endless moonlit nights. Rosaleen's dear old grandmother (Angela Lansbury, ideally cast) has a dim view of men and of wolves and is unsure there is a difference. She tells her granddaughter old wives' tales that turn out to be true, and to always be skeptical of men who grow their fur under their skin as much as outside of it. When Rosaleen recounts these tales to her mother, the mother tells her: "There is a beast inside every man, he meets his match in the beast inside of every woman." Ouch, very true. 

Based on the short story by Angela Carter, "The Company of Wolves" is a fever dream with a deliberate feeling of anxiety and trepidation - not too many moments ever feel purely safe. In one instance, Rosaleen (who is undergoing a sexual awakening) catches her parents making love and she senses that her dad might be hurting her and asks her mother to elaborate the emotions she felt. Love and pain seem inseparable to this young girl. Rosaleen is unsure of kissing the naive young boy who wants to go on walks with her. Somehow, though, an older huntsman who confronts her and almost kisses her seems less threatening. Rosaleen is take in by certain unnamed desires yet she doesn't follow through with them. Well, that is until the huntsman ends up in grandma's house and let's say that there are twists here that stray far beyond this oft-told fairy tale of a plucky young girl.

Director Neil Jordan fastens this story with unforgettable images such as the porcelain babies inside of hatched eggs! There are the mirrors Rosaleen often finds in the wild woods, and sometimes lipstick - she's seeking adulthood and knows what attracts men. The young kid that is presumably her age is not half as interesting as the huntsman. Rosaleen feels a kinship with the wolves and that is not quite to her detriment. Then there are the werewolves, one in particular shows a canine's snout emerging through a human mouth, a famous image used in the posters. But this is not so much a horror film as it is a fanciful folk tale told with distinctly humorous touches (especially the wedding banquet where everyone turns into a werewolf). It is also Rosaleen's coming-of-age story where she learns to care and sympathize with wolves, seeing their weaknesses and their emotions. "The Company of Wolves" is a true fairy-tale treating its young leading lady in red with a mature brush of development. A most unusual film. 

Have Gunn, Superman Travels

 SUPERMAN (2025)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Superman is one of our greatest comic-book heroes because he stands for truth, justice and the American way (implied in that last bit is that we are all Americans and all cultures are celebrated). The most political Superman flick has always been "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" where Supe baby decided to get rid of all nuclear weapons around the world (in real life, this would have been a problematic issue for the UN). James Gunn's "Superman" is certainly political and apropos to the turbulent times we live in with not-so-subtle nods to immigration and wars in the Middle East. This is also a wondrously fun movie and very vibrant and alive with action scenes and special-effects that will leave your jaw dropped. Newcomer David Corenswet as Superman is also ideal casting and gives the role the oomph you expect. 

The opening scenes took me, to my extraordinary delight, back to my 1978 screening of "Superman" with Christopher Reeve. Superman falls from the sky and lands near the Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica (in some versions, it is the Arctic) and he's bleeding from having battled some supervillain known as the Hammer of Boravia. Superman delivers an earth-shattering whistle to his attentive superdog, Krypto, and after being dragged for miles, the Fortress of Solitude emerges from the ground. Keep in mind, this fortress is always underground and emerges when Superman needs to enter (and is greeted by dutiful robots). Is all this silly? Yes, indeed, and I had a wide silly grin face all through this movie. 

Superman has saved many lives after intervening on the fictionalized nation of Boravia from invading the neighboring country of Jarhanpur. There is criticism from Boravia's wildly boisterous, white-haired President Vasil Ghurkos (Zlatko Burić) and from, gasp, supersmart reporter Lois Lane (a sharp Rachel Brosnahan). Meanwhile, nerdy Clark Kent (David Corenswet) is getting the skinny from Superman while Lois hopes to interview the superhero. This banter between Clark and Lois is fake because it turns out, no surprise, that Lois is having a love affair with Superman and knows his secret identity! When Lois finally gets to do an interview in her cramped Metropolis apartment (a far cry from Margot Kidder's luxurious penthouse in the Chris Reeve versions), she tries to determine his ethical and moral dilemmas after intervening in a foreign war without consulting the Department of Defense and so on. I was so glad to hear that someone would dare question a costumed hero's actions and that said hero has little to say on such a discourse other than simplistically saving people from getting killed. "Superman IV" could have used some of that.

Meanwhile, evil billionaire Lex Luthor (a most volatile Nicholas Hoult) is something of an oligarch as he is sponsoring Boravia and has ideas of real estate property in Jarhanpur (what is it about Luthor and his affinity for beach front property?) Luthor has the powerful Ultraman (also played by Corenswet) who has superpowers like Superman yet needs to be controlled by Luthor's team of technicians who, I suppose, are video-game enthusiasts and every punch and kick is administered and controlled by them. What? Can't Superman find a way to destroy this most advanced technology and all those micro drone cameras? That's for another time. 

"Superman" is fantastically fun, colorfully goofy and purely comical (a scene involving Luthor gunning down a falafel vendor is Snyder-like, though). Some of the members of the Hall of Justice are shown including tech-savvy Mr. Terrific (a commanding performance by Edi Gathegi); a golden-bowl haircut version of Green Lantern (hilariously played by Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (Isabella Merced) who rolls her eyes at any of the cocksure remarks made by Green Lantern. We get a mostly goofy Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and a squeakier-version of Miss Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) who is selfie-driven (and for a good cause). There are too many villains I suppose and maybe too-muchness yet this James Gunn movie is less overstuffed than his "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy. It is nice to see a revisit to comic-book movies that are colorful and colorfully designed and can also manage current political hot takes as slightly subtle subtext. I do wished for more time spent on Lois and Superman yet I must say that since the much maligned "Captain Marvel," I have not had this much merriment at a comic-book movie. This "Superman" soars.

I am not a drawing!

 PAPERHOUSE (1988)

An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia

A pubescent, stubborn girl with intense dreams that mirror her drawings and real-life, Bernard Rose's "Paperhouse" leaves you thunderstruck with its potent imagery and emotionally grounded real-life drama. It is "Nightmare on Elm Street" except there is no burned jocose villain and no mortality factor in the slasher vein. It is a kid's idea of nightmares where a clear-eyed view of their world makes sense only to them, not to the adults who can't comprehend such horrific visions of wonder. Real-life and dreams seem to intersect and the joy of the film is in its ambiguity and its simplicity. 

Charlotte Burke is Anna, a very stubborn, rebellious young girl who is consistently in trouble at a private school and feigns fainting spells and ill health. The girl is as healthy can be - it is just her birthday and she just wants riding lessons. In a moment of ringing truth and those awkward moments where you start to hate your parents, Anna's mother (a sprightly Glenne Headly) is upset that her rambunctious daughter lied and takes her back to school. Almost immediately, something haunted this way comes. Anna begins having strange dreams of that very house she's been drawing. Eventually, she succumbs to her drawings and decides that a young boy (Elliott Spiers) should live there. Unfortunately, there are no stairs and the kid has no mobile use of his legs in a bedroom bereft of furniture. When she draws some legs, we get ceramic legs with no body exterior. Anna tries to erase some details of her drawings but is unable to. When we see the results of her scribbling over these finer details in her constant visit to this forlorn house, it leaves you unprepared and there is a chill felt in your bones.  

"Paperhouse" is not like any film I've ever seen before, even from a child's point-of-view. When I first saw it years back, it haunted me in ways that reminded me of "The Changeling." A notable added plus to director Bernard Rose's film is that there are barely any special effects, mostly creepy, mildly stark art direction and a spare-looking, empty, abstract and colorless house that looks like no house you would ever see except in a child's drawing. The walls look like they are made of papier mache. The window's view of a grassy field with ominous clouds and, in one truly terrifying sequence, a blind man appearing with a hammer left me shivering with fright. He resembles Anna's own absentee dad and these scenes are as scary and simplistic in their staging as anything from the Elm Street series. A scene involving the details of a photograph and reliving the moment will make you jump from your chair.

Anna's father is played by Ben Cross, who has the right side head for this film. It may sound strange but I saw a parallel between his rather swelled-looking head and that mysterious house. Perhaps I have had nightmares of this sort (and still infrequently do) about my late father appearing in them and seemingly angry at something I did. Those dreams were inexplicable, frustrating and left me breathless. "Paperhouse" taps into those interminable child-like insights that can fester for a long time.