Author | Lightnews

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

It cuts just about every corner possible with regard to quality and is an amateur production throughout, and yet somehow I totally enjoyed this thing. Kudos to Raven Warwick and Leslie Lance for keeping it especially sexy!

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

But he’s all too real, and leaving a trail of murder behind him in bathtubs wherever he goes.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

The connection involves a ‘dream motif’ shared by multiple subjects, a claim to have been terrorized by a perverted clown with crazy eyes.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

The story of this one does differ somewhat though, as this one is about Stacey Jaros, a researcher who’s investigating an odd connection between insomnia patients. She enlists the help of Professor Jessup, an expert she’s worked with previously.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

The influence of Halloween (1978) is evident in practically every frame, and who can blame them?

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

Ah humble beginnings. To think that this was the same Jerry Williams who wrote and directed Catnado in 2022! Oh how far he’s come. This one’s about as low-budget as low-budget gets, shot on video in 2006 but looking significantly older than that.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 5h

Movie of the Day:

Purvos (2006)

* This film was released in the US on August 15, 2006.

* This was the directorial debut of Jerry Williams, who wrote it as well.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 12h

On November 6, 1967: Phil Donahue began hosting his own TV talk show in Dayton, Ohio. The show remained on the air for 29 years.

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

“It’s like somebody else looking back at me.”

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

Despite whatever low-budget constraints this film had working against it (and there were plenty of them), there was an insistence to emote and exorcise grief here that I respect the hell out of. They didn’t do it by removing the pain of loss, they did it by confronting it.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

This film had an über-indie feel about it which may turn off those who aren’t into small productions, but I loved the concept and there were some genuinely effective moments in it that are impressive considering the limitations.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

Kevin’s behavior becomes more erratic as the film progresses, acting oddly, experiencing debilitating headaches, and having sudden emotional bursts of anger and frustration that spill out of him and onto Vickie.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

Some of the moments during the shoot were rather touching as Vickie and Kevin remember back to particular events from the past and realize how much they miss their kids now that they’ve grown up and moved out on their own. Things change.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

She instead agrees to use a new smaller rig that Kevin obtained for her, but quite honestly, all I could pay attention to during that scene was that glorious cat back there on the sofa. 😻

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

Robin tries to walk his mom through some of the basics that she needs to know about vlogging, and Kevin rigs up some professional gear for her to use but she’s reluctant to accept the idea of carrying that thing around as it complicates her process.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

We then flash back to the events that led up to the intro. We see Kevin hard at work, interrupted by his wife Vickie who figured out what she wants for their 25th anniversary: a video of footage she’ll shoot that they can give to their kids.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

This film opens with a rather startling confession from Vickie: “I killed him. I killed my husband… but it wasn’t him.” And then BAM- opening credits sequence with some killer rhythmic accompaniment. I definitely liked how it started.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

The whole small family-run production company vibe of the Hicks family reminded me very much of the Adams family (John, Toby, and Zelda), who’ve produced some wonderful indie flicks. I went into this one hopeful as a result.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

Movie of the Day:

Doppel (2020)

* This film was released online in the US on April 14, 2020.

* This film was a family affair, directed by Kevin Hicks, written by Kevin and his wife Vickie Hicks, and starring both of them along with their children, Michelle and Robin.

1 1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 1d

On November 5, 1935: Parker Brothers began marketing the board game known as Monopoly.

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 2d

The Exit 8 tells the story of The Lost Man, The Walking Man, and The Boy, and yet it tells *our* story. It’s a poignant and cautionary tale that warns us of the system in which we find ourselves. It’s about the illusion of the individual in the maze-machine of society. Brilliant!

1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 2d

I mean, the rules seem straightforward enough. 🤷‍♂️ However, while the ‘find the way out’ concept of the film seems basic, this is a film with significant psychological depth and symbolism everywhere. It’s a film you could watch countless times and still keep noticing new things.

1 1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 2d

Now add *this* to the equation, and we’ve got ourselves some serious freaking horror. Bizarre shit continues to happen and ramps up as The Lost Man wanders about the passages of the station. Every so often, he notices that some small detail has changed.

1 1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 2d

If not being able to find the exit wasn’t bad enough, he appears to be caught in a time loop, with the passage he’s in repeating itself over and over again as if circular, and with a particular man (played by Yamato Kôchi) walking by him right on cue every single time.

1 1

Vasuri 🧐 @vasuri.bsky.social · 2d

The premise is real simple, but that simplicity is rather misleading. Basically put, a man (played by Kazunari Ninomiya) is in an underground subway station somewhere in Tokyo, heading on his way to his new job. The problem is, he can’t find his way out of the station.

1 1