I watched a LOT of movies this weekend.

Monday is movies. And sometimes TV. Today it's films. Film, films, films! I watched A LOT of movies this weekend. So now you get to read about that!

Okay, so that is not entirely unusual, but it felt like a real treat to get stuck in to some old classics and a few brand new releases almost all at once. I should say that I managed to fit in plenty of family time, an evening meal out, a band rehearsal, some exercise and dog-walking, domestic duties, and all the usual weekend things. I just wake up early and/or stay up late. I just like movies!

Recently, I’ve felt I’ve been watching more TV than films – and so this weekend I made an effort to get back to the DVD player. I’ll scroll through streaming sites and get nowhere fast. I’ve built up a wonderful DVD collection (again) and many of them are films I’ve yet to see.

Anyway, let me take you through the weekend’s watching:

Babylon (2022)

Friday evening’s first film was the long – Long! – Babylon. And though I liked its beginning and end, it was definitely too long for me, too unwieldy, some delightful Bacchanalian absurdity at various points, but not enough to keep me hooked. Someone else will tell you it was a potted history of cinema, but those same people thought La La Land reinvented and reinvigorated the musical. And I hated that film. I’m curious about Damien Chazelle, which is why I watched Babylon in the end, but he’s yet to live up to the special promise I saw with Whiplash.

Snowbeast (1977)

When I can’t sleep, a curse that hits me most weekends – right when I want to sleep-in – I now turn to the bedroom TV and my Bluetooth headphones. I watch a trashy film (or two) and usually via YouTube or Tubi or Amazon Prime. This weekend it was Snowbeast, a TV movie from the late 70s. I’ve had my eye on it for a while. It’s one of the many poor cash-in attempts at a then-modern Creature Feature in the wake of Jaws. But if you know what something is before you watch it you are able to view it differently. It’s pointless to tell you that Snowbeast is not a good film. What feels important to share is that I loved it. Bring back made-for-TV horror movies. This was slow and hammy and wonderful. But when the titular beast gets it in the end – sorry for spoilers/not sorry – I almost applauded out loud. The family all tucked up in bed for their sleep-in would not have been impressed. So instead I started a rewatch (one of thousands) of The Toxic Avenger…

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

More on this some other time. But I love this film. So much. I’ve watched it so often. It is so silly. And yet, it felt so profound the first time I saw it. It was, I’m sure, my proper introduction to TRASH!

Pearl (2022)

I was looking forward to this – and the Blu-Ray has been waiting patiently for a couple of weeks now. I loved X, one of my favourite films of last year, and, like many, I was a bit gutted that we couldn’t see its prequel, Pearl, in the cinema here. Particularly since it was shot in New Zealand. The wait was worth it – Pearl is in many ways a better film than X, it’s also a proper prequel. It works best when watched after the film that was made first, it’s not just a desperate device to continue the story (there’s an actual sequel to X, it’s called MaXXXine, and it’s coming soon). Pearl tells us that character’s story, which allows us to reconsider X – and I’ll like be returning to it for another viewing. I’m a huge fan of Ti West’s work in general, he’s a super-great modern filmmaker. One of the great horror directors working today. Pearl is full of great tension and is a virtuoso effort from Mia Goth (a Scream Queen already) and it also might work for people who don’t usually love horror. It’s so beautifully filmed.

Rabid (1977)

I’d never seen this classic Cronenberg Body Horror all the way through. I know the poster so well from childhood trips to the video store. I know some of its key scenes, and I’ve seen just about every other David Cronenberg movie. So it was time – finally – to sit down with this. A mate had borrowed my Blu-Ray that collects up the first three feature-length films from DC. Rapid is quintessential late-70s horror. Squeamish, outlandish, hilarious. A beautiful mood develops across it. A zombie film with a difference. And one of the best. I absolutely loved properly discovering this film so late in my Horror-Junkie life.

The Brotherhood (1968)

Buoyed by the thrill of Rabid, I decided I needed to double-feature with another cult/ish classic that I hadn’t ever seen. Thumbing through some of the Imprint collection Blu-Rays that I’ve been saving, I arrived at The Brotherhood. This Kirk Douglas mafia film tanked when it was released, so much so that the studios wouldn’t touch that topic again for four years. Then they did. And The Godfather still hangs heavy across any mafia-related TV or cinema. The Brotherhood is tight, and beautifully scripted. It has a wonderful energy to it and a terrific premise, the loyalty of two different types of brotherhood: actual brothers and the mafioso – I think we know who is going to win there before we even dive in. Sealing the deal for me was a lovely Lalo Schifrin score. He’s one of my all-time favourite film and television composers (Mission Impossible, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Enter The Dragon, and many others).

Prom Night (2008)

Things had been going so well that late on Saturday night I decided it was finally the right time to watch the remake of Prom Night. I’m a fan of the original because I love the slashers of the 1980s – so even the ‘bad’ ones are somehow ‘good’! I’m also, curiously, somewhat obsessed with the always-terrible horror remakes across 2005/ish-2015/ish. In that decade of so we saw every major horror franchise rebooted, and plenty of the minor one-off films got a pointless remake too. I bought the 2008 Prom Night in the closing down sale when Amalgamated Video went out of business in 2017 or whenever it was. I have been slowly working through a bag of trashy movies I bought (50 for $15). Prom Night – the 1980 film – is watchable, and kinda fun. Its 2008 remake is soul-crushingly bad. Idris Elba sleepwalking through yet another weak movie choice. Usually I love when a film is bad, almost as much as when it’s truly great. But this was merely a chance to tick something off a very long list.

To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story (2017)

I know what you’re thinking. You’re rolling through this list and judging me as someone obsessed with horror and violence. Well, I’m also a huge fan of documentary-cinema. So, early on Sunday morning, my slumber broken, I sat up to watch this very good doco about the stuntman most famous for playing Jason Vorhees in the weaker Friday The 13^th films from the tail end of the franchise. He almost died from an infection after being burned on screen for a 45-second sequence. He almost died a few more times actually. So, yeah, more horror. And I couldn’t expect this to appeal to anyone who isn’t a horror fan, but as someone obsessed with the Friday the 13^th franchise, I genuinely loved this film. It’s an interesting story of a stunt performer’s life and work. Hodder has probably been in a bunch of films you’ve seen, even if you’re not a horror fan. He even pops up in front of the camera as an actual actor from time to time. His biggest claim to fame? Sharing a scene with Charlize Theron in the movie Monster. As Kane points out, she went on to win an Oscar. Not bad for a guy that just loved cheating death in front of his friends as an awkward, bullied teen.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

This is really the only film on the weekend’s viewing-list that I’d already seen. (Well, this and Toxie…) But what a movie! I love this film so much. I first saw it in the late 1990s when I was getting hooked on the work of Neil LaBute and was seeking out more Mamet-styled dialogue and more horrible humans; characters that feed off one another in a delightfully negative way. A video-store recommendation had me watching this black’n’white classic – and I was instantly hooked. I watched it twice through that weekend way back in what almost feels like another life. I straight away ordered the Edward Albee playscript and read that a couple of times, and have rewatched the film a couple of times since (I’ve yet to see a theatrical production; would still love to). And so, last night, we invited the in-laws around for our new Movie Club. We’ve just started a monthly classic cinema club with them, where we’ll each take turns choosing a film. It was super-fun to watch this with people that hadn’t seen it previously. It still hits hard. So many great themes, such wonderful performances, such immaculate direction from Mike Nichols. An amazing first film from him.

Terror Train (1980)

Well, I’m up early on Monday morning to write this – and I’m also watching a film. It has been a big weekend of movies, so before another week starts I quite like the treat of watching something in the background around 5 or 6am. Terror Train is yet another early 80s slasher that has been on my list forever. It features Jamie Lee Curtis in one of her quick follow-up cash-ins after Halloween’s success. This is when she was, briefly, as Scream Queen. It also features a cameo from David Copperfield. Which had me laughing. His TV specials felt like a disproportionately huge part of my childhood. Terror Train is fun, easy, light trash. Which was most of the mood of the weekend’s watching, admittedly. But I’m glad to have finally seen it – so many nights when I’ve thought to watch it and figured it could wait for another time. Well that time was now.

So, there you go. Anything on that list that you’ve also loved? Or that you’re meaning to see?

And what did you get through in your weekend of watching? Or what’s on your list of must-sees from recently?