News
AFI Fest Review: Peter Strickland’s IN FABRIC Is A Nightmare Brought To Life
Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s Kevin Murphy described David Lynch’sĀ Eraserhead best in his book, A Year At The Movies. “David Lynch has managed to do what few other filmmakers can accomplish: To present on film a dream, or in this case a nightmare.” Much like Lynch, director Peter Strickland has managed to do the same with his latest work,Ā In Fabric.
The story is set in a vague time period of yesteryear South England during a busy season of winter and season of shopping. Women by the score are flocking to the department store known as Dentley & Soper for their extravagant and high-end clothes. The movie is split in two, with the first part following Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a down-on-her luck bank teller dealing with divorce, her rebellious son (Jaygann Ayeh), and his rude and sexually active girlfriend (Gwendoline Christie). Sheila finds herself attracted to D&S, and specifically, a gorgeous and hypnotic red dress that is sold to her by the curious and elegant clerk (Fatma Mohamed, a recurring actress in Strickland’s films). At first the dress seems to brighten Sheila’s mood, even being able to fit her despite being a size 36- what should be far too small for her. Strangeness follows as the dress makes the washer go haywire, attacks her son’s girlfriend, and causes a bizarre rash to appear upon her. With Sheila digging into the deadly history and roots of the dress and the fate of the model who wore it before her…
The second tale involves the dress ending up on nebbish washer repairman Reg Speaks (Leo Bill) for his stag party as he prepares to wed his betrothed, Jill (Sidse Babett Knudsen). Both spouses end up wearing the cursed crimson dress, and reap the horrors that come with it.
The movie is a visual force. While featuring more substance of character and dialogue than most surrealist horror fare,Ā In Fabric features enough scenes of inexplicable and ambiguous terror to keep its dream logic and fantastical elements in tact. The influence of which is clearly Euro-Horror and the style of such directors like Dario Argento. Dentley & Soper featuring a neon rainbow of colors, from their clothesline to their bizarre commercials that feel like a cross betweenĀ Halloween III‘s Silver Shamrock and Ken Russell’sĀ Tommy. Explanations for the weirdness is few and far-between, but we’re all the better for it. There is no reason for a nightmare, you simply go along for the ride, which makes such seemingly innocuous things like a dress, a mannequin, or a washing machine scary as hell in the context.
The cast is brilliant as they either deal with, or are in some strange way a part of the madness of In Fabric. A personal favorite being the recurring scenes of bank managers Stash and Clive (The Mighty Boosh‘s Julian Barratt andĀ Sightseers Steve Oram). They’re quirky and affable, and they don’t seem to have anything to do with the main horror of the story, yet there’s an overbearing element of menace behind their smiles and niceties. While the movie is split in part, there are threads that connect them, between characters and locations. I’d need to see it again just to try and put all the pieces together. The unifying thread of course being Dentley & Soper and their occultist staff. Fatma Mohamed’s clerk character leads a practical coven of fashionistas in bizarre and explicit rituals after hours. But as to their goals and origins, we are simply left to ponder what is the true evil nature of the store.
Peter Strickland’s In Fabric is definitely not for everyone. At two hours in runtime, the story rolls at a snail’s pace. But great in setting up and building on the tension. A scene of slicing vegetables had me on edge, wound up so high on tension. While there are no clear answers or explanation, it only makes the terror all the more visceral. Peter Strickland has taken a nightmare from his mind and put it on screen.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the SĆ©bastien VaniÄek upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.ā
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abramsā Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turowās 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?
Follow our new YouTube channel "Mysteries and Movies" here.
-
News6 days ago
Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film
-
Movies6 days ago
Spider-Man With a Cronenberg Twist in This Fan-Made Short
-
News3 days ago
Perhaps the Scariest, Most Disturbing Series of The Year
-
Movies5 days ago
New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie
-
News4 days ago
Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel
-
Lists3 days ago
Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody
-
Movies5 days ago
‘Founders Day’ Finally Getting a Digital Release
-
Movies4 days ago
New ‘The Watchers’ Trailer Adds More to the Mystery
You must be logged in to post a comment Login