#Horror Documentary

[objectspod]

Surprise! We're on hiatus while Greg and Dana are on tour, but to give you some Haunted Objects Podcast in the meantime and to celebrate some news about "The Unbinding", our live special on The Curse of the Catskills Crone just dropped!

While hiking off the beaten path in New York's Catskill Mountains, two hikers stumbled upon a disturbing statue hidden inside a cave. Then, all hell broke loose.

To celebrate Tubi's free-to-watch debut of our scary-as-hell documentary "The Unbinding", join us for this special LIVE episode of The Haunted Objects Podcast! Featuring previously unreleased footage, interviews with the cast and crew, and more surprises, this episode is stuffed with exclusive insight into the making of Planet Weird's first feature-length film... and our most frightening paranormal investigation yet. Plus, the Brotherhood of Magicians returns with a limited edition merch drop set to disappear faster than you can say "abracadabra".

Time to lace up your hiking boots and prepare to suffer a witch, because we're heading into the mountains to break the curse of the Catskills Crone!

Watch "The Unbinding" for free on Tubi:

[cowboycannibalism]

watching horror documentaries always gets me so emotional because there is so much love. you can see it on the faces of cast and crew when they talk about their part in horror history. They light up, they remember the good and the bad and still smile. it's a legacy that is full of love. Horror is love in its most gruesome form, but it's still love.

[sarah1228]

watching on Tubi

[scary-movies-on-netflix]

SATAN WANTS YOU (2023)

“Michelle Remembers” was published in 1980, purportedly about the abduction and abuse of Michelle Smith as a child by…Satanists!  Her psychiatrist, Larry Pazder, was co-author.  This well-produced  documentary follows the duo and their families as they cope with the book’s fallout and also traces the influence of the book upon popular culture, leading to…the Satanic Panic!

Anyway, Larry had previously counseled Michelle, and, after she suffers a miscarriage, she returns to his care after suffering a bad dream.  Using some technique that is “beyond hypnosis,” she begins to recount horrifying childhood memories involving her mother handing her over to Satanists so they can…torture her?  It’s not quite clear.  With the help of a grant from the local Catholic church, Larry compiles the taped sessions into a book, which becomes a hit!  The pair do a publicity tour, appearing on TV shoes, being interviewed, where breathless journalists ask Michelle about her experiences.

Michelle and Larry's marriages are ruined.  Michelle calls him constantly and follows him around.  Larry's wife, Marylyn, divorces him and says that she can’t believe anyone believed “that stupid book.”  Michelle likewise divorces her own husband, and she and Larry get married!  Which sounds highly suspect!

The documentary traces the influence of the book as it works its way through popular culture.  Law enforcement and therapists hold seminars on “Satanic ritual abuse.”  These lead to scared people and then to actual criminal charges and even to convictions, based on the testimonies of children.  Even later, we have “adult survivors” of Satanic ritual abuse.  Boosted by the media and daytime talk shows, these people recount outrageous stories of torture and human sacrifice, sometimes birthing babies just for the purpose of sacrificing them! Where is the proof of this abuse? Oh, the Satanists destroy such evidence, naturlich.

Larry’s ex-wife, Marylyn, begins to perform research to debunk Michelle’s stories.  Michelle provides a specific time frame when her mother handed her over to the Satanists, but Marylyn goes to Michelle’s school and finds a picture of her in the yearbook.  Other details like this discredit the tale, even as the Satanic Panic begins to burn out in society.  The therapists uncovering buried memories are debunked.  Those accused are found innocent or their convictions are overturned.  However, the various talking heads then describe how stories of a similar nature keep percolating through society, pointing in particular to the ridiculous “Pizzagate” conspiracy of 2016.  (Interestingly, the shooter from that incident was recently shot and killed by cops.)

The film ends with the families again.  Larry dies of a heart attack in 2004, and his family is glad that they no longer have to deal with Michelle.  Meanwhile, Michelle’s sister says, “I think she’s living in hell, because the story has haunted my family for years…how could you do the damage you did by telling a story that wasn’t true?”  She continues, “Whether she made it up or whether Larry and her made it up together, I don’t know.  She was able to do it.  She had a motive.  The motive was she wanted Larry as her husband.”  The documentary ends with a montage of creepy images flashing whilst we hear some of the taped interviews, in which Michelle ponders the nature of memory.  An upside-down cross floats over the table.

This was good, overall.  It tells a tight story about the book and its effects upon the principals of the story, Michelle and Larry and their families.  There’s a decent mix of talking heads and interviews with family members and documentary footage, and the individuals are generally engaging.  (Michelle did not participate.)  We see some of the line between “Michelle Remembers” and the greater Satanic Panic, as Larry helped to train others (counselors and law enforcement) on “Satanic ritual abuse,” and Michelle and Larry were consultants in at least one criminal case.  Even so, this movie does presuppose some knowledge of the Satanic panic of the 1980s.  A greater contextualization of that period with the arc of American history would have been intriguing, as that history repeatedly features episodes of paranoia and violence focused on a false threat being directed against children.  (Sound familiar in the 2020s?) Tied in to that, the documentary does touch on the role of journalists in spreading the Satanic panic, as too few seemed to express any skepticism toward Michelle and Larry during their interviews.  This trend is even worse now, in the face of a truly atomized media landscape.  Journalists, of a certain stripe, have no motivation for any skepticism at all, as rage induces clicks, and children in danger produce the most clicks of all.

[gyarucoded]

Noroi: the Curse is an AMAZING movie that i am never gonna watch again 😀 (probably, for the best)

the demons from the conjouring or insideous movies have absolutely NOTHING on Kagutaba

[jessicafangirl]

Representing my fellow HorrorHound's in ISOD the 90s. The pre sale ends in two days to get your name in the credits and snag it first. Here's the link: https://90shorrordoc.com/?sca_ref=7218948.PmEGJ5UgUV

[hannahwatcheshorror]

AMANDA KNOX (2016)

Decent documentary, didn't need the reporter in it, he was probably just so happy to be recognized again, the blood thirsty prick. Honestly, he only took away from it. It's a fine documentary as they go, a little too much with the would-be-murderer (even though she is the titular character) and her final lines were so contrived and stupid. Honestly. 

⭐⭐⭐.5

A girl who reminds me of an old mess of a friend I used to have goes to Italy where she finds love but also her roommate is murdered which is way fucked. Amanda didn't even notice all the blood in the bathroom? I don’t trust it is her. Either way she's off free now because of a contaminated crime scene. Whole thing was shady as fuck and left a bad taste in my mouth though. RIP to the victim Meredith Kercher, I am so sorry real justice will never be done for you.

[norirosewrites]

Horror Documentary Review: Sharksploitation

Subgenre: Documentary

Gore Level: None (though animal lovers might be upset by some of the footage)

Do you remember the first time you saw Jaws? I was eight years old, and I watched my mother’s VHS copy on the floor in our living room with a bowl of sour cream and onion potato chips and a bottle of lemonade. I couldn’t help feeling unsettled (who doesn’t feel at least a teeny bit apprehensive while watching Jaws?), but more than anything, I was fascinated by it. Maybe it was because my household also had a VHS of a Discovery Channel documentary about sharks and their importance in the oceanic ecosystem that I loved watching as a kid, so I already had a pretty solid appreciation and healthy respect for sharks. I went on to read the novel for a bit of light summer reading before my junior year of high school, and I agree with Speilberg wholeheartedly: in Peter Benchley’s version of the story, the shark should have won. (Seriously. All of the other characters in the book are terrible.) All that’s to say, I’ve always thought that sharks are pretty cool. You’ve got to respect a species older than the dinosaurs that have survived multiple mass extinction events. (One of my favorite memories from summer trips to Galveston growing up was seeing a little bonnethead hanging around one of the fishing piers looking for tasty morsels.) That being said, I’m not generally a fan of shark films. Almost all of them are piggybacks of Jaws with horribly written storylines and terrible CGI. (Laugh at the “cheesy” mechanical shark all you want, but no one will ever convince me that CGI is better than the craftsmanship that goes into making physical props and effects.) Shark documentaries, on the other hand, are always on my radar – no pun intended – and a documentary on the subject of sharks and film and sharks in film was a natural choice. Sharksploitation delivered on my expectations.

In A Nutshell:

Sharksploitation is an original documentary produced by Shudder and Sharksploitation, LLC, that follows the timeline of shark films from the early 20th century to the present and explores how the representation of sharks in cinema both reflects and influences their relationship with humanity. While Jaws is at the heart of the film, it features commentary on sharks in folklore, visual art, and film long predating the classic film, as well as contemporary depictions in the post-Jaws era, from experts ranging from filmmakers and marine biologists to actors and horror film historians, and Wendy Benchley, ocean conservationist and wife of Peter Benchley.

Sharksploitation begins by examining why so many people are drawn to shark movies and why sharksploitation films have such universal appeal that other exploitation genres don’t enjoy. Dr. Emily Zarka, professor and monster expert, defines sharksploitation as a genre that focuses on the idea of the “meta shark” – essentially, a monstrous, exaggerated idea of sharks with very little basis in actual reality. Roger Corman, producer of She Gods of Shark Reef (1958), Piranha (1978 – which, fun fact, was filmed here in Texas), and Sharktopus (2010), comments that people are drawn to shark movies because sharks are natural monsters, not fictional creations. As a land-lubber species, humans have a primal fear of being in the water and having something unseen grab hold of us. Sharks also contribute to thalassophobia – the fear of the ocean or large, deep bodies of water – to say nothing of the natural fear of being eaten alive. Mario Van Peebles, director of USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016) and actor in Jaws: The Revenge (1987), sums it up: “[Sharksploitation] reminds us how frail and vulnerable we are, but ignites something in us on the adrenaline level that makes us feel alive.” This is likely a huge part of why Jaws was such a hit and continues to be exalted as a classic. While it was not the first film to feature undersea monsters (an early example is 1930’s The Sea Bat, which features a giant manta ray as the murderous marine star), it was the first to cast a shark in the villainous spotlight.

The film then explores how the image of sharks in media has evolved throughout human history. For centuries, sharks have been depicted as divine or ancestral spirits in the folklore of the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and Africa, sometimes offering help and protection to humans and often having the ability to shapeshift into a humanoid form. (A well-known example is the Hawaiian myth of Nanaue.) Even early films featuring sharks didn’t always portray them as evil; in Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931), the shark character is a god who protects the ocean (and also holds the distinction as the first rubber shark used in a film). These ancient folkloric tropes can still be seen today in films like Moana (2016) and Suicide Squad (2016). However, Dr. Zarka points out that when Western filmmakers began looking at sharks as cinematic exploration, they looked at real sharks rather than the rich body of folklore surrounding them.

Sharks began to be depicted in a more sinister light in the Enlightenment era of the eighteenth century. British artist J.M.W Truner painted them attacking African victims of the Zong massacre who were thrown or jumped from the ship (The Slave Ship, 1840), and the infamous oil painting Watson and the Shark (1778) by John Singleton Copley sensationalized the real-life story of an unfortunate cabin boy’s run-in with a shark in the waters near Havana, Cuba.

The 1916 Jersey Shore bull shark attacks lent credence to these unsettling depictions. Meanwhile, surfing was gaining popularity in Australia, inevitably leading to more human-shark interactions. World War II brought about the tragic USS Indianapolis incident. And during the filming of Shark! (1969), a stuntman who got too close to one of the real sharks in the water was killed on camera. In a tragic reversal, a shark was killed by the crew out of Blue Water, White Death (1971) out of fear and without provocation.

Peter Benchley wrote Jaws as “fiction based on fact” based on a story he heard about a fisherman who caught a 4,550 lb great white. At that time, the “rogue shark” theory – the idea that a shark who tastes human flesh will develop an appetite for it and stake its territory in waters where humans are known to participate in recreational activities – was popular among marine biologists. (The theory has since been discredited by most scientists, but it has contributed to controversial and largely ineffective shark control measures that have caused harm to shark populations around the world.) According to his wife, ocean conservationist Wendy Benchley, Peter did not subscribe to the theory, but director Stephen Spielberg DID run with it in the film adaptation.

Jaws was groundbreaking on multiple fronts. It was the first summer blockbuster, one of the first films to show trailers as TV commercials, and the first film to have promotional merchandise on a mass-market scale. Jaws was also unique in that it made the shark itself a character in the story. It not only kickstarted the modern sharksploitation genre, but it also influenced other “animal horror” films like Orca (1977) and Grizzly (1976). Unfortunately, marine biologists and conservationists knew it spelled disaster for real sharks. Fishermen and vigilantes took it upon themselves to kill sharks as a preventative measure, mistakenly believing they were making beaches and fishing grounds safer, and some species have never recovered from that era. Subsequent films like Shark’s Treasure (1975), Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976 – which, oddly enough, is about a man who discovers he is telepathic with sharks and attempts to save them), and Tintorera (1977) involved the brutal on-camera deaths of real sharks to get the desired shots.

Sharksploitation films died out a little in the 90s in favor of sci-fi flicks (including a personal favorite of mine, 1993’s Jurassic Park), but 1999’s Deep Blue Sea brought the genre back into the limelight by combining sharksploitation with actual science (at least, what was accepted science at the time). Open Water (2003), loosely based on the true story of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, was a more realistic film that piggybacked on the found-footage style of the Blair Witch Project (1999). Dr. Zarka comments that more contemporary films like Sharktopus (2010), Sharknado (2013), Ghost Shark (2013), and The Meg (2018) show an interesting evolution of the genre: “It’s like sharks can get you anywhere – pools, sinks, buckets of water, even fire hydrants on the street.” Dr. Zarka believes these films also speak to our modern desire to reconnect with the supernatural; “The idea that scientists could somehow find an ancient creature like the megalodon hiding out there is terrifying but also thrilling.”

Unfortunately, profit sometimes often gets in the way of distinguishing sensationalized fiction from reality. Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week, once a celebrated educational program, broke the public trust in 2013 with the mockumentary Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, which falsely suggested that the extinct prehistoric shark could still be roaming the world’s oceans today. In Sharksploitation, marine biologist Vicky Vasquez discusses how this misleading programming, alongside other pseudo-documentaries such as Animal Planet’s Mermaids: The Body Found (2012), has damaged marine conservation efforts by directing public attention away from real oceanic conservation efforts in favor of fantasy.

The film wraps up by acknowledging that the impact of Jaws on human-shark relations was not all negative. The original sharksploitation blockbuster inspired many young fans to pursue careers in oceanography and marine conservation. While it may have made some viewers scared to step into a bubble-filled bathtub, let alone the ocean, Jaws remains a beloved film to this day and is still considered an important piece of cinematic history. “In a way,” Dr. Zarka states near the film's end, “campy sharksploitation has made sharks less scary because of their ridiculousness. If we approach it as fun and an exaggeration and not as reality, I think we can appreciate it.”

The WOW:

– Hands down, my favorite thing about this documentary was the way it traced the history of sharks in folklore, art, and film in almost a narrative arc. I haven’t seen many shark documentaries that acknowledge the important role of sharks in non-Western cultures. As someone passionate about folklore and mythology, I appreciated that this was addressed early in the film. Showing that sharks’ relationship with humanity has not always been negative was a thought-provoking and wise way to open the documentary.

– The vintage film and documentary footage were fun to watch and a great way to visualize the evolution of sharks in cinema. I think the commentators did a good job of making thoughtful comparisons between different films and film eras.

– What I appreciated the most about this documentary was that it featured a vast array of experts weighing in on the nature of sharksploitation. It may not seem like horror film historians, marine scientists, and action film actors have much in common, but I found each speaker had something insightful to share that contributed to the cross-disciplinary conversation. I was also pleased that Peter Benchley’s wife, Wendy Benchley, was given a spot in the film to speak about her late husband’s work as a writer and his subsequent career as a marine conservationist. I had always heard that Mr. Benchley later regretted writing Jaws due to the novel and film’s negative impact on sharks, and Wendy Benchley confirmed this to be true; before her husband died in 2006, he told her, “There’s no way I could write Jaws now.” The Meh:

– I don’t have too much in the way of criticism about Sharksploitation. If I had to offer one piece of critique, I would have liked to have heard more from the horror film historians featured in the film and their thoughts on how depictions of sharks in cinema might reflect the real-life social and political anxieties of the audience (one of my favorite topics to discuss concerning the horror genre, and especially now that eco-horror – which Jaws subsequent sharksploitation films could arguably fall under – is currently having a huge moment).

Final Thoughts:

If you’re a fan of Jaws, the horror genre, film history, or are interested in sharks in any capacity, I think you’ll enjoy Sharksploitation. It’s a well-made and fun documentary that will make you think differently about shark movies and why their appeal has endured for so long. And if somebody out there gets inspired to write a better screenplay than most of the shark films that have come out since Jaws – and bonus points if anyone is willing to build actual props for it – I will be the first one to buy tickets!

[thedukeofdormont]

Today's Movie - October 29 - Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street

[beelzebub-barbie-art]

2 years ago my women in horror documentary Girls with Guts premiered. You can watch it for 3 bucks here: https://newvillagevideo.com/girls-with-guts/

[halloweenhundreds]

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau collects all the horror stories you’ve heard about making this flick or any famous disaster or fraught genre picture into one place. Even this movie is so weird, like Thewlis never comes up at all…a bananas chapter from start to stop.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/12/2023: RINGU, GOJIRA

I rewatched both of these movies in preparation for an event that my org hosted at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies has a lecture at the fest every year, and this time I got someone really great to accompany their Japanese programming. Actually, you can read the original paper that my speaker Sigmund Shen based his talk on, and I highly recommend it!:

He has something very compelling to say about how RINGU and GOJIRA (among other things) reflect the ongoing struggle to expose suppressed national histories, which inflict shame and trauma on a populace who are unable to fully process events that have been protected by censorship and taboo. Because this is a speed run season of Blogtober, I'll leave the analysis to Professor Shen--you won't be disappointed!

The film festival featured a slate of Japanese fare to coincide with a new documentary called THE J-HORROR VIRUS by Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp. When they were asked "Why now?" about this investigation into a mode of production that was extremely hot in the early aughts, and which has seen virtually no new growth in recent years, the answer seemed to be that only this much hindsight has clarified what it all meant--and they're right. The doc is really interesting and surprising, even to someone like me who remembers how hard J-horror hit the American festival circuit back when. The founding filmmakers share insights and inspiration that I never would have guessed at, but I have to say that my favorite part was the interview with Rie Ino'o who played Sadako in RINGU and RING 2. Despite her silent and basically faceless performance, she infused her character with a vivid personality that made Hideo Nakata insist that she return for the second film, and you can really see what made her so irreplaceable. I think I'm in love with her now. Anyway, see THE J-HORROR VIRUS if you can, it's really good.

[splatteronmywalls]

[iamcinema]

Drive-In Massacre (1987)

[horrorpatch]

Official Trailer - GEORGE A. ROMERO'S RESIDENT EVIL, A Documentary!

Why didn’t the long-planned Resident Evil film by legendary director George A. Romero ever get made? That question has long been wondered. Now, we have the official trailer for GEORGE A. ROMERO’S RESIDENT EVIL, A Documentary, that might answer that question. Get all the details below. From The Press Release Uncork’d Entertainment is set to release George A. Romero’s Resident Evil, an…

[mediamixs]

Nosferatu Documentary: the true story

Robin Bextor's documentary, Nosferatu: The Real Story aims to delve into the historical and cultural significance of the iconic 1922 silent horror film, Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau.

The documentary explores various aspects of the original film, including its production, influence on the horror genre, and its legacy in cinema. It promises to provide insights into the life of Murnau and the challenges he faced during the creation of this groundbreaking work, which was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

This documentary is part of a series by Bextor that also includes titles like Wicked: The Real Story and The Exorcist: Untold, showcasing his commitment to exploring the untold narratives behind classic films.

The documentary explores how Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, which led to significant legal battles that nearly destroyed all copies of the film. This context is crucial in understanding the film's creation and its impact on copyright laws in cinema.

The documentary delves into the existential themes present in Nosferatu, such as isolation and the nature of evil. It posits that Murnau’s vision was not merely to frighten audiences but to explore deeper psychological and metaphysical questions through the lens of horror.

Bextor discusses how Nosferatu has influenced countless horror films and directors over the decades, establishing archetypes that persist in modern cinema. The documentary highlights its role in shaping the vampire genre and its enduring legacy as a masterpiece of silent film.