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Review: THE EDITOR is a Bloody Good Time!
Giallo, the beloved Italian horror sub-genre that served as the predecessor to the Slasher movie, continues to permeate in popular culture. Influencing auteurs from Brian De Palma to Hideo Kojima. Throwback films like Berberian Sound Studio and The Strange Color Of Your Body’s Tears continuing to drop within the last few years. The Editor serves as the culmination of any genre: the satire! Fittingly from the Canadian film collective Astron-6, the demented/hilarious minds behind the exploitation/revenge film salute Father’s Day and the 80’s fueled sci-fi/action parody, Manborg. Now they set their sights on Giallo and 70’s thrillers, with The Editor.
The story concerns Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks, co-writer/director), a brilliant film editor who lost his prodigious career when he accidentally lopped off the fingers on his right hand when the pressure became too much while editing. Presently with prosthetic fingers, he’s doomed to edit low-budget Giallo movies while stuck in a loveless marriage with his former starlet wife, Josephine (Paz de La Huerta) while pining for his enthusiastic assistant, Bella (Samantha Hill). When the oft-annoying cast of the film Rey is editing start dropping like flies on grey velvet, with their fingers cut off like his own, he becomes the main suspect in the killings. Inspector Peter Porfiry (Played by co-writer/director Matthew Kennedy) investigates with increased obsession and incompetence due to his own connections to the case. Hounding Rey to no end, sure either due to his own malevolence or madness, the editor is the true culprit. Now, Rey must prove his innocence… unless he actually is insane and on a murderous rampage!
The film hits upon just about every Giallo trope with blunt force strength. The killer being the atypical masked, trench-coat wearing figure with leather gloved hands. Glowing eyes in the dark. An absolutely delightful prog-synth-score ala Goblin or Fabio Frizzi. Every character seems to have a razor on them. Inexplicable sex scenes, the funniest involving Inspector Porfiry, his wife, and an anniversary cake. Political incorrectness is the norm, with women being slapped by men as casually as a high-five. Many scenes serving as well placed homages to the repertoire of Argento, Bava, and Fulci. Especially in the increasing surreality and illogical nature of the story, which in itself becomes a focus of the plot. Like Rey says, “We are all editors of our own reality” and what our eyes and ears see cannot be trusted. His editing station soon becomes a window to nightmarish visions, and every character involved without he mystery seems to have a different recollection on things…
The genre-centric supporting cast makes for a great backbone to the tale. Udo Kier appears as a succinctly creepy sanitarium doctor who describes most things as ‘weird’. Astron-6 co-writer Conor Sweeney plays Cal, the eccentric supporting actor for the film within the film. He has a large collection of knives/blades, and with each death, seems to get a bigger shot at the spotlight. Laurence R. Harvey stands out as a soft-spoken priest (Or ‘wizard’ as he’s repeatedly called by Porfiry) who knows a dark supernatural history to the world of editing. All make for players that fit different archetypes, with many acting strange for the sake of creating red herrings and clues that lead nowhere. As is typical in these sorts of mysteries.
The Blu-Ray/DVD comes packed with interesting special features. Such as a making-of documentary showing the hard work and effort that went into making such a film. As well as a short explaining the bizarre origins of one of The Editor’s posters, audio commentary, and several deleted scenes among other featurettes.
On its own, The Editor stands as a horror-comedy that can rely on eccentric characters, splatstick, and purposefully over-the-top dialogue (“It’s all so stupid, it makes me want to shoot you!”) to make a film that can be enjoyed even by casual horror hounds. The comedy is affectionate to the absurdity of the genre, and moviemaking itself. Much of the humor simply amping up the bizarre tropes and cliches to their illogical insanity. The movie is a bit more slowly paced than previous fare, but if you’re a fan of Astron-6 and Italian horror in general, the pay-offs are always worth the violent results. The Editor is a fun watch for fans, and those who are looking for a gateway into the crazy, bloody, sexy world of giallo!
The Editor comes out September 8th on Blu-Ray/DVD from Scream Factory!
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News
Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role
Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.
Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.
“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”
Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.
While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?
The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.
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Editorial
7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch
The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.
The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.
We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.
Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?
Scream Live (2023)
Ghostface (2021)
Ghost Face (2023)
Don’t Scream (2022)
Scream: A Fan Film (2023)
The Scream (2023)
A Scream Fan Film (2023)
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Movies
Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month
Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.
Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.
According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.
Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.
Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.
Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.
While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.
According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”
The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.
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