TimorTally
Horror Haven for Highbrow Hedonists
Timor Tally Recommended Viewing
Timor Tally approved for your viewing pleasure! The list is constantly growing so keep checking back for new recommendations!
Titles with a red pen have been given a full review that you can read on the "home" page or the "reviews" page.
Stephen Sommers' 1998 creature feature, DEEP RISING is a not so guilty pleasure of mine. Boasting a whopping 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, this film is a giant wad of 90's cheese that I just can't get enough of. While loaded with bad CGI that has aged about as well as a bottle of warm milk, it also includes some great practical gore effects. The characters are lovable cardboard cutouts transposed from just about every other 90's monster movie (think ANACONDA or LAKE PLACID) and the plot marches forward with comforting predictability. This may sound like a bad review but I truly can't recommend this movie enough. If you want to shut off the old noggin for ninety minutes and just have a good time this is definitely not one to miss.
Say it with me, kids: Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers! Douglas Cheeks 1984 C.H.U.D is a film couched in nostalgia for me. As a child I simply could not watch it enough. Upon recently rewatching it, though, I was surprised by how much there was to appreciate about it. With an excellent performance from John Heard, solid creature design and a heavy subtext about societies ostracization of it's homeless populace and the subsequent fear of catching poverty like a plague, C.H.U.D is a killer creature feature that is wrongly thrown into the "bad 80's movie" pile and commonly underappreciated.
Based on the short story by Daphne Du Maurier, DON'T LOOK NOW is oeneric, disturbing and possesing of a kind of talismanic power that will have you obsessing over it for days. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play a couple lost in grief after the death of their daughter. The couple heads to Venice, Italy in an attempt to run from the pain but instead they find the threshold of a psychic rabbit hole that will threaten their marriage, their sanity and their very lives. Directed by Nicolas Roeg and released in 1973, this film resists aging with the sheer power of its haunting imagery and stunning performances. A must see.
Earlier this year Stephen Susco gave us his directorial debut, UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB. Honestly, I passed on this film without even giving it a chance. It is a story told completely through video chat and 99% of the film has you staring at a computer screen (an offshoot of the "found footage" format tailor made for the age of the internet). How wrong I was, though. This is a tense, well acted picture with a tight script that utilizes the FaceTime format beautifully. The pacing of this film is masterful, ratcheting up the anxiety in unexpected ways. Definitely not one to miss!
MANIAC (2012) goes beyond being a great remake; it stands on it's own as an elegant example of what a tight script and inventive camerawork can achieve. Elijah Wood is brilliant in the role of Frank ( played by ursine Joe Spinell in the 1980 original) and his wounded, fragile demeanor adds a disturbing depth to what could have been another mindless lady stalking lunatic. Directed by Franck Khalfoun and written/produced by Alexander Aja, MANIAC is a must see.
The 2014 film LATE PHASES is a hidden gem. Blind war veteran, Ambrose McKinley (Nick Damici) is moved into a retirement community at the edge of the woods by his son, Will (Ethan Embry) and immediately experiences a werewolf attack that takes the life of his seeing eye dog, Shadow. Abandoned by his family, laughed at by police and wrestling with the enfeeblement of old age, Ambrose awaits the next full moon, recalling his army training and praying he has enough fight left in him for one more battle. Directed by Adrian Garcia Boglano and written by Eric Stolze, LATE PHASES is a low budget werewolf flick with copious blood, great creature design and a whole lot of heart.
Philip Brophys 1993 body horror bonanza, BODY MELT is a delirious foray into the repulsive and absurd... and I f**king love it. The narrative clings LOOSLY to the following plot: a disgraced pharmaceutical company is operating under the guise of a health farm, continuing its amoral research tactics by using their fitness seeking patrons as guinea pigs. They also set their sights on a Rockwellian cul de sac community called Homesville, mailing sample packets of "vitamins" to the residents. Little do they know that when they fired one of their chief scientists years ago he took with him a key component to the syrum, and without it the body cannot handle the miracle cure. The symptoms are as follows: the patient experiences hallucinations, then organ failure and finally BODY MELT!!!! This is an absurdly disgusting picture that you really have to see to believe.
Written and Directed by Kevin Kolsch and David Widmyer, STARRY EYES is a blood drenched love letter to Los Angeles that is at once cynical and full of heart. With it's brutally honest depiction of youthful dream seekers in an often unforgiving city who wrestle with their own desperate need for actualization while their social lives are whittled down to polarities of competition and superficial support of one another, STARRY EYES sets the stage for one hopeful starlet to sacrifice everything, body and soul, to achieve stardom. This film pays homage to films like ROSEMARY'S BABY and CARRIE in that a relentless slow burn eventually builds to a satisfying crecendo of hyperviolence and character transformation. Leading lady, Alex Essoe gives a performance that carries this low budget effort into the eschalon of the serious horror film. Definitely not one to be missed!
MANDY is a blood soaked revenge film painted in the style and color palate of trippy 80's rock n' roll van art...and it is awesome. Nicholas Cage is a lumberjack who's life turned around for the better after meeting the love of his life, Mandy ( played by Andrea Riseborough). Little do they know that just miles from their romantic, storybook home in the mountains there is an acid fueled religious cult led by a washed up rock star wanabee who found his true calling as a Manson-esque messiah. After catching a glimpse of Mandy this manipulative maniac decides that he needs her...and will go to any lengths, including commissioning the talents of a murder happy biker gang on an eternal bad trip, to have her. Directed by Panos Cosmatos who gave us BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW in 2010, MANDY is two hours of artistic mayhem dedicated to the beautification of hyperviolence and the grim satisfaction of revenge. A definite must see!!
Luca Guadagnino's remake of SUSPIRIA is a matrioshka doll of sociopolitical observation and commentary told through an uncompromising, blood soaked feminist lense. Pulling the political dissent of divided Berlin into the spotlight and juxtaposing it with a power struggle amongst a coven of witches who preside over an elite dance academy, Guadagnino offers an unforgiving reflection of modern culture where the antiquated tacticts of patriarchal rule are likened to the Nazi party and where one generation of women must pass down the secrets of self actualization to the next but in doing so, walk a thin line between perpetuating hate and guiding towards empowerment. This film is as thought provoking as it is horrifying and it demands multiple viewings.