Ranking "Dragula: Titans" S1.E1 (and learning to love Horror)

by Nathaniel R

The Boulet Brothers, hosts of Dragula

Do any of you readers watch the Shudder drag competition Dragula? Though horror has never been the most natural fit for yours truly, other members of Team Experience are much more into the genre. That said I have grown more fond of the spooky stuff over the years, largely due to recommendations from my teammates. There's also the not so small matter of my own actressexuality that has converted me; It's hard to stay averse to Horror when great actresses keep delivering in transcendent ways within the genre. In the past ten years alone the Film Bitch Awards right here (my own annual prizes) have thrown three medals to such performances: Toni Collette in Hereditary and Lupita Nyong'o in Us both won Gold and Essie Davis took silver for The Babadook. Through careful exposure therapy (ha) I've learned which kinds of horror films are absolutely not for me without having to risk visual trauma. So the rest I can sample freely and enjoy!

So it was that last year I subscribed to Shudder where I ended up watching season four of the drag competition Dragula.  This week the new sidebar season (essentially "All Stars") Dragula Titans began. All drag or lipsynch competitions will of course be endlessly compared to the phenomenally successful  RuPaul's Drag Race. That's unavoidable...

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Links/News

• NYT Fun Avatar Way of the Water discussion with James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña, and Sam Worthington
• Mashable a list of family-safe horror movies if you like spooky but hate gore (this describes me!)
• IndieWire first gushing reactions to Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• Parade Comprehensive Jessica Chastain interview. She wants to remake Death Becomes Her which... sorry, why not just a legacy sequel with new character? Streep & Hawn are still with us

More after the jump including Paul Mescal, Lupita Nyong'o, James Gunn, Jennifer Lawrence and Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar campaigning...

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Almost There: Anthony Hopkins in "Magic"

by Cláudio Alves

This fall will be a lovely time for Anthony Hopkins fans. The actor co-stars in both Armageddon Time (Oct 28th) and The Son (Nov 25th), playing important grandfather figures in both films. While he's said to be a warm presence in James Gray's movie memoir, the actor's second collaboration with Florian Zeller (The Father) seems better positioned to showcase the bitter and biting side of Hopkins' screen persona. After a few decades in less than stellar projects, it's a great joy to see the thespian return to form in such interesting endeavors, regardless of the mixed reactions both films have garnered. Though another Oscar nomination feels unlikely at this point in the season, watching Hopkins thrive in his 80s is its own reward.

Because spookiness is in the air, let's remember when Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins was neither a knight nor an Oscar nominee. We're going back to 1978 when Richard Attenborough's Magic saw him play a creepy ventriloquist and maybe come close to his first Academy Award nomination…

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Review: "Piggy" is a visceral nightmare

by Cláudio Alves

© Magnet Releasing

Somewhere in the Spanish countryside, in a small town of Extremadura, Sara lives the kind of earthly hell familiar to many of those who grew up as fat teens. Judgment comes from every direction, shame inflicted upon her until it curdles the spirit. It's not just strangers that hurt, for a casual remark from one's mother can be so lacerating it leaves a scar. Still, there's nothing worse for Sara than her peers, cruel kids who couch their hatred in vacuous assertions that they mean well, that it's for her own good. A trip to the pool for Sara becomes another opportunity for torment at the hands of mean girls, including former friends.

Nearly drowned, her clothes stolen, a humiliated Sara walks home half-naked under the summer sun. It's then that a mysterious van appears, looming ominous in her path. Inside, the girl's tormentors lay powerless, victimizers turned victims at the hands of a kidnapper cum killer. Sara sees it all, the man in charge sees her, and they both do nothing – the van drives away…

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"Barbarian" opens well while the nation waits for fall film season

by Nathaniel R

The nation's taste for horror just won't quit as Barbarian takes the top spot in its first weekend. Pair that with the superhero genre and it feels like maybe... just maybe (theorizing incoming) everyone feels both scared and powerless so horror is cathartic and superheroes are prime aspirational escapism. If this theory is accurate it doesnt say great things about the shape of the world right now! Bollywood picture Brahmastra Part One also opened well though the violent period drama Medieval couldn't drum up interest. Anyway the charts...

Holiday Weekend Box Office  September 9th-11th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended links if we've written about it
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
BARBARIAN	AFTER EVER HAPPY

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