Letterboxd Recap: February!

February consisted mainly of Valentine’s Day horror, late 90s/early 2000s slashers, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Here are my thoughts!

Spring (2014)

“You never get lonely?”
“Not since I met you.”
Spring is not your typical love story, but it’s the closest thing to a romantic film that I’ve watched in a while. It is a beautiful, but strange romance that includes elements of body horror and creature features to intensify its mystic. It’s an extreme demonstration of one’s resilience to love another no matter how fucked up or dire the circumstances are.

The Love Witch (2016)

“According to the experts, men are very fragile. They can get crushed down if you assert yourself in any way.”
I’m still not certain of how I feel about this film, but someone described it as how she imagined Lana Del Rey living her life and I agree LOL. I love the 60’s technicolor aesthetic and everything about Samantha Robinson. She is fucking STUNNING in this film… her hair, wardrobe and makeup deserve an award on their own. I was hypnotized.

My interpretation of the film is that the main character, Elaine, is a practicing witch who is desperately searching for love in her own little fantasy, but is very much a victim of the patriarchy and gender essentialism. She thinks she can get the love she desires by performing “womanly” duties that Elaine thinks men want from her, especially utilizing her sexual power over them.

However, Elaine gets rather disgusted with these men when they can’t seem to control their emotions and become too clingy after she has drugged them with her love potion. This film is classified as a horror movie, so you can imagine what happens to all these men lol. I’m generally confused about the directors’ views on feminism and if this film is supposed to be satire, but I’m not interested enough to do more research. It’s exhausting reading some of these reviews on Letterboxd of people who are, essentially, very poor writers.

My Valentine (2020)

“Look, that chick is an abused Polly Pocket, not a ninja.”
This film is fun. Is it very dumb? Yes. However, someone said this movie was saturated in cotton candy colors, and I love it. I am obsessed with the popstar elements to this movie. The song, The Knife, is a bop, and I’d download it if I could. I also thoroughly enjoyed the stylistic music videos that they added into the movie.

It’s obvious this movie is an on-screen interpretation of the Poppy-Mars Argo-Titanic Sinclair saga. A pop singer’s entire identity (Mars Argo) and song catalog is stolen by her abusive ex-boyfriend/manager (Titanic Sinclair), in which he passes on to his new girlfriend and protégé (Poppy). Luckily, Poppy has escaped from Titanic Sinclair’s grasp, and moved on to her new pop-metal sound. Unfortunately, in this episode of In the Dark on Hulu, the fake Titanic Sinclair suffers more dire consequences for his shitty abusive actions at the hands of fake Poppy.

Valentine (2001)

“Roses are red, violets are blue. They'll need dental records to identify you.”
I thought this was in the collection of low tier early 2000s horror, but it’s actually NOT that bad. It’s a fun slasher flick with a brutal killer and an interesting twist at the end. I loved all the disturbing Valentine’s Day cards he was sending to all his victims. I also thoroughly enjoyed the nu-metal soundtrack. They played one of my favorite Deftones songs of all time, Rx Queen.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

“Jodie Foster tried this and the skin-ripping serial killer answered the door.”
Contrary to Valentine, I Know What You Did Last Summer isn’t really top tier of late 90s/early 2000s slashers. I actually enjoyed the Amazon TV series far more than these movies. However, can we have a moment of silence for how gorgeous Sarah Michelle Gellar is?

Cherry Falls (2000)

“Girls have to do everything. Boys are totally clueless when it comes to sex. It starts with them trying to unhook our bras, fumbling around, and it never changes. Wait until they try to put their dick into you.” 
“Please don't say they need help with that.” 
“Always."
One of my horror advisors on YouTube mentioned Cherry Falls being available on Shudder, so I decided to check it out. In this 2000s slasher, the killer is targeting virgins ironically, which leads to teenagers throwing a sex party to avoid becoming victims. It’s a highly amusing post-Scream horror film starring Brittany Murphy (I miss her) that I actually enjoyed.

This is saying a lot because I’m not really a fan of Scream and the slasher revival that occurred afterwards. I don’t always love the aesthetic during this time for horror. I’m surprised I wasn’t aware of this film back when I was a teen, and it isn’t mentioned much in comparison to other slashers of the era. I’m not sure why because Brittany Murphy is always a draw for me.

Queen of the Damned (2000)

“She takes pleasure in only one thing: destroying life.”
I’m surprised I haven’t seen this film sooner because Jonathan Davis (along with Richard Gibbs) wrote the soundtrack to this film, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I’m still upset, after all these years, of Aaliyah’s passing. Ironically enough, she’s not in the majority of the film.

I’m not a fan of Vampires, but this was a decent movie if you can look past the horrible special effects of the early 2000s. This film is full of nu-metal nostalgia too. Static-X, Deftones, Kidneythieves… I forgot how much I love “Before I’m Dead.” I did find it strange as a Korn fan though that they used Davis’ singing vocals for Lestat, who after a 100-year slumber decides to front his own rock band as a publicly outed Vampire. It seems unnatural.

Honorable Mentions:

Dark and the Wicked (2020) - This film still scared the shit out of me twice…

Incident in a Ghostland (2018) - This film gives me Sucker Punch vibes the way the victim dissociates from her current traumatic situation.

It Follows (2014) - One of the best horror films if you want to feel constant anxiety for two hours straight.

The Exorcist (1973) - I didn’t know several scenes were added into this film after its release in 1973 until I realized I was watching the original version on Netflix. I was ready to be terrified by the infamous backwards spider walk, but it never happened.


TV Shows/Documentaries:

Book of Boba Fett (2022)

I never really cared for Boba Fett in the Star Wars franchise. His character is rather dull in both The Mandalorian and his own show. Fett doesn’t really have a valid reason for taking over Jabba the Hutt’s position as Crime Lord of Tatooine. Any plan he puts into place fails, inadvertently killing people. However, this series makes more sense when you realize Boba Fett is actually the villain in the story. This Polygon article (Click here) by Tasha Robinson describes the logic behind this perfectly.

My main motivation for watching The Book of Boba Fett happened when I saw spoilers with Mando. As we all know, where Mando goes, Grogu is sure to follow. After complaining about not seeing Grogu in over a year, my protests were quelled momentarily. The last few episodes of the series were really about the Mando and Grogu reunion in my eyes. This is the way.

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (2022)

This documentary will make you never want to step foot on a Boeing ever again, but you know you will because you want to go to Disney. So, basically you’re just gambling with your life.

Love is Blind (2022)

I was stupidly excited for Season 2 of Love is Blind, and I’m sad it’s already over. The first season was a guilty pleasure for me during the lockdown in 2020. I just love trashy reality TV. I recommend it, if you’re looking to rot your brain with Netflix garbage.

To be continued…