Richard Street

Have the dates been confirmed for August
@frightfest.bsky.social yet? Just checking for accommodation purposes...

Was NOTLD 90 in the final lineup? I was there but I don't remember it showing, but according to my lists WITCH FROM NEPAL was. I do remember that BRAINDEAD had the reels in the wrong order!

Question: is SHELBY OAKS the film with the most credited producers? Five producers, 40 executive producers, 39 co-producers and 152 associate producers. For a movie running just 91 minutes, what the hell did they all do all day?

My #LetterboxdWrapped stats: disappointingly my top star and director are the same as 2024!

My Movie Resolutions for 2026:

[1] No Bond, Agatha Christie, Carry Ons (except Don't Lose Your Head at Christmas, as our tradition), 80s slashers, all-time favourites. Give them all the year off.

[2] A 3:1 ratio of first-time viewings to rewatches.

[3] Avoid the obvious crap.

This the time of year when, like everyone else, I'd normally list my top and bottom movies of 2025. But the fact is: I haven't seen more than a handful of the year's films, and I can't honestly say that the ones I did see deserve to be on a Top Five anyway....

I know it's a long shot and very late in the day but if there's anyone out there looking for a full pass to this weekend's #FrightFest @frightfest.bsky.social

It's October now, and Amzon Prime have just put up a ton of 80s horror movies: THE HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS, CREATURE (TITAN FIND), GHOULIES 1+2, DOLLS, MONKEY SHINES, HOWLING II, CELLAR DWELLER, NECROPOLIS, THE VIDEO DEAD, I MADMAN, SCARECROWS...

Tonight's double bill of British 80s horror junk: BLOODBATH AT THE HOUSE OF DEATH + DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS. In the 30 years or so since I last saw them on VHS tapes, I had forgotten just how sheerly bloody awful both of these films are.

On the train for Christchurch for Grindfest....
@dirtinthegate.bsky.social

Tonight's double-bill of Slasher Sequels Where The Wheels Fell Off The Wagon: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 4 was absolutely terrible and full of imbeciles, while FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 5 was just a routine set of toned-down slayings. It was my first F13 so I always had a soft spot for it... but no more.

#FrightFest scores so far:

Day Four

213 BONES - 6/10
TOMB WATCHER - 4/10
HELLCAT - 4/10
BONE LAKE - 8/10
REDUX REDUX - 9/10

#FrightFest scores so far:

Day Three

THE RED MASK - 6/10
PIG HILL - 4/10
SELF-HELP - 5/10
THE HAUNTED FOREST - 4/10
JIMMY AND STIGGS - 0/10
HOLD THE FORT - 6/10

#FrightFest Scores so far:

Day Two

APPOFENIACS - 7/10
WHAT SHE DOESN'T KNOW - 4/10
DON'T LET THE CAT OUT - 7/10
A SERBIAN DOCUMENTARY - 5/10
THE CONFESSION - 5/10
FLUSH - 6/10

#FrightFest Scores so far:

Day One

THE HOME - 7/10
COGNAITIVE - 7/10
NIGHT OF VIOLENCE - 5/10

On the train to #FrightFest and will be posting ratings, thoughts and reviews on Letterboxd every night at letterboxd.com/streetrw/ .

Marking the start of this year's @frightfest.bsky.social tonight with probably my favourite closing double. I wasn't happy at all back in 2008, but the wild one-two of MIRRORS and DEATH RACE was exactly what I needed and cheered me enormously.

So: with fingers crossed that I get a Your Host ticket on the day, this is my planned @frightfest.bsky.social lineup (Disco films in pink):

Finally settled on my @frightfest.bsky.social choices. Now it all depends on my getting the Disco tickets....

So I'm starting to get my @frightfest.bsky.social schedule together but I have some clashes....

TRANSCENDING DIMENSIONS / DON'T LET THE CAT OUT
IN A COLD VEIN / CONFESSION
MARSHMALLOW / PIG HILL / FIVE
SELF-HELP / CARETAKER / BLOOD SHINE
BONE LAKE / NOSEEUMS
REDUX REDUX / DEATH CYCLE

Help!

Giallo double-bill tonight: MY DEAR KILLER + SEVEN BLOOD-STAINED ORCHIDS. First one's definitely the better of the two but both were good fun; I'd seen them both before but had forgotten much of them over the years. The picture quality of MY DEAR KILLER on Prime was excellent.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but there's a second screening of BAMBI: THE RECKONING at @frightfest.bsky.social : Thursday at 11pm in Discovery 2.

In exactly two weeks' time I should have my #FrightFest pass sailing into my inbox and I should have a nice coloured spreadsheet with titles chosen and intervals timed.

Hot milk is, indeed, a ghastly thing and shouldn't be allowed. BUT: where do you stand on custard? Hot or cold?

Like Woody Allen's "early, funny ones", I have a preference for Cronenberg's "early, gloopy ones". My top two are always VIDEODROME and RABID, followed by SCANNERS; possibly THE FLY as well but I haven't seen it in a long time.

Since everyone else is doing one, here's my NYT Best Films of the 21st Century list: all you people have seen far more recent movies than I have.

I rewatched COBRA last week and laughed pretty much the whole way through: yes, it's morally very dubious, but damn if it isn't frequently hilarious. And the action sequences are pretty decently staged.

There's another genre they don't make these days: the wisecracking cop action buddy comedy, eg Peter Hyams' RUNNING SCARED. Outside of the occasional BAD BOYS sequel, where are they?

AGE OF KILL, probably. WRATH is pretty awful as well. But Kumquat Of Solace (as we've been calling it since release) has grown on me.

Watched ANORA yesterday. That was Best Picture? Really?