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rynlingI broke my stupid foot and spent the past week in bed. Playing Bloodborne again would have fixed me; but, since the game is a PlayStation exclusive that’s not available on Steam Deck, I settled for the next best thing and watched a few movies that promised a similar vibe.
It Follows (2014) is a horror movie about an eldritch creature that stalks teenagers in a suburb of Detroit. The conceit is that the creature can look like different people, and its target can only notice it at the edges of their attention.
I live in Philadelphia, and this would not work on me. Is someone strange following me? No they are not. I respectfully do not see them. Along with other Philadelphia lore, such as where to get good Asian food, “you respectfully do not see it” is something I actually teach in my classes every semester. It’s a good icebreaker.
Anyway, I got bored with this movie and dropped it about 45 minutes in. I was expecting the setting in Detroit to have more of a specificity of place, but it looks and feels generic. I wanted the ruins of monumental architecture, and what I got was teenage relationship drama. Boo.
Dark City (1998) was released a year before The Matrix, and it’s very close to the same story.
While The Matrix is classic cyberpunk, Dark City is more Punk Noir, with the entire movie being set in a 1950s film noir fantasy city where it’s always night. The vibes remind me a lot of Sin City (2005), but Dark City is less about stylish violence montages and more about atmosphere and mystery.
Unfortunately, I had to drop this movie about an hour in due to extended periods of strobe lights. Even for people who aren’t photosensitive in the same way I am, these scenes are super intense and clearly meant to upset the viewer. I wish there were a way to use AI (or something) to edit out the intermittent strobe effects, because the movie looks amazing otherwise.
The Head Hunter (2018) is an hour-long art film that I discovered by reading a Reddit thread about “movies like Dark Souls.”
And yes. This is Dark Souls. The Head Hunter is about a lone armored warrior who hunts monsters, one of whom is sapient and extremely dangerous. The imagery is fascinating but extremely gruesome. I could only watch this movie in five-minute intervals, but being able to bask in the atmosphere is worth the gore tax.
Also I want Christopher Rygh to turn me inside out like a sock in the dryer.
The Ninth Gate (1999) is a supernatural mystery in which Johnny Depp pieces together a demonic ritual for a wealthy client by tracking down and comparing the last surviving editions of a forbidden book.
I don’t particularly like Johnny Depp, and the acting in this movie isn’t great. The story? Also kind of silly. Still, I am always here for dark academia mysteries, and I appreciate that this movie is essentially an excuse to show a character visiting different private libraries in Europe. Living the dream tbh.
I want to say that The Ninth Gate is kind of like if The Da Vinci Code (2006) had less of an emphasis on Hollywood action scenes and didn’t take its dumb cryptography bullshit so seriously. The pacing is good, and this movie is surprisingly fun to watch.
It Follows (2014) is a horror movie about an eldritch creature that stalks teenagers in a suburb of Detroit. The conceit is that the creature can look like different people, and its target can only notice it at the edges of their attention.
I live in Philadelphia, and this would not work on me. Is someone strange following me? No they are not. I respectfully do not see them. Along with other Philadelphia lore, such as where to get good Asian food, “you respectfully do not see it” is something I actually teach in my classes every semester. It’s a good icebreaker.
Anyway, I got bored with this movie and dropped it about 45 minutes in. I was expecting the setting in Detroit to have more of a specificity of place, but it looks and feels generic. I wanted the ruins of monumental architecture, and what I got was teenage relationship drama. Boo.
Dark City (1998) was released a year before The Matrix, and it’s very close to the same story.
While The Matrix is classic cyberpunk, Dark City is more Punk Noir, with the entire movie being set in a 1950s film noir fantasy city where it’s always night. The vibes remind me a lot of Sin City (2005), but Dark City is less about stylish violence montages and more about atmosphere and mystery.
Unfortunately, I had to drop this movie about an hour in due to extended periods of strobe lights. Even for people who aren’t photosensitive in the same way I am, these scenes are super intense and clearly meant to upset the viewer. I wish there were a way to use AI (or something) to edit out the intermittent strobe effects, because the movie looks amazing otherwise.
The Head Hunter (2018) is an hour-long art film that I discovered by reading a Reddit thread about “movies like Dark Souls.”
And yes. This is Dark Souls. The Head Hunter is about a lone armored warrior who hunts monsters, one of whom is sapient and extremely dangerous. The imagery is fascinating but extremely gruesome. I could only watch this movie in five-minute intervals, but being able to bask in the atmosphere is worth the gore tax.
Also I want Christopher Rygh to turn me inside out like a sock in the dryer.
The Ninth Gate (1999) is a supernatural mystery in which Johnny Depp pieces together a demonic ritual for a wealthy client by tracking down and comparing the last surviving editions of a forbidden book.
I don’t particularly like Johnny Depp, and the acting in this movie isn’t great. The story? Also kind of silly. Still, I am always here for dark academia mysteries, and I appreciate that this movie is essentially an excuse to show a character visiting different private libraries in Europe. Living the dream tbh.
I want to say that The Ninth Gate is kind of like if The Da Vinci Code (2006) had less of an emphasis on Hollywood action scenes and didn’t take its dumb cryptography bullshit so seriously. The pacing is good, and this movie is surprisingly fun to watch.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-30 10:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-01 11:19 am (UTC)I was trying to decide whether The Ninth Gate has aged well, and I couldn't make up my mind. It's not bad or problematic, necessarily, but it definitely feels like a product of its time (especially in terms of the character tropes). "I would watch a remake of it" expresses my thoughts exactly, thank you.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-02 10:18 am (UTC)