Winter Kills

Winter Kills (1979)

Runtime: 97 confounding minutes

Directed by: William Richert

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Huston, and MANY others, albeit usually in small roles

From: AVCO Embassy

A movie watched because it’s leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the month, the cast is astounding, and about time I checked out a movie I’ve known about for years. Thus, what a massive letdown this was that I didn’t find this “funny” movie really all the funny or even entertaining. “Off-putting” and “weird” are terms that I’d use, as unpopular as this opinion will be for many.

As suspected, it was “inspired” by the JFK assassination-my opinion on that case will not be discussed in public-there’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down nor a hornet’s nest I want to kick. Jeff Bridges is the brother of Not JFK, who was gunned down in Philadelphia on February 22, 1960 (if I’d known, the movie would have been reviewed last weekend). He learns from Joe Spinell-on his deathbed-that a second shooter killed Not JFK. Considering the cast and that the film was purported to be a comedic satire, my two main takeaways shouldn’t have been “Wow, was this weird & off-putting” and “You know, Belinda Bauer is a pretty gal.” That second point sounds like I’m a degenerate considering she had a scene of loud sex w/ Bridges then went full frontal nudity at one point. However, if you’re a degenerate who ever wanted to see an old John Huston wear a pair of bright red briefs… you’re in luck!

It's a shame I didn’t enjoy the bizarre story and didn’t laugh at most of the “humor” in a movie w/ (among others) Bridges, Bauer, Spinell, Huston, Toshiro Mifune-albeit for one scene, and what a pointless scene it was-Tomas Milian, Eli Wallach, Ralph Meeker, Sterling Hayden, and even Elizabeth Taylor for a minute. I’m glad most of you got more or even far more out of this farce than I did. To be fair, there’s an interesting score from Maurice Jarre & as the cinematography was from Vilmos Zsigmond so it looked great & featured a few stunning landscape shots.

The movie can be rented from Amazon or viewed on Tubi-as of course Tubi has the film. Hopefully any future viewer can better connect w/ Winter Kills than I did. There were some amusing moments-you probably won’t agree that a great moment was seeing Bridges drive a bright yellow Ford Pinto-so I can’t give the film a rotten rating-I was just disappointed overall. It’s the sort of movie where the troubled making-of sounds more interesting than the finished product and is worthy of a deep dive by me. Among other details, they ran out of money more than once, and the producers were drug dealers where one was murdered and the other went to prison for 40 years! Most evidently weren’t paid their full salary; Ms. Taylor was the smart one who asked for her $100,000 up-front for her cameo.

The Devonsville Terror

The Devonsville Terror (1983)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Ulli Lommel

Starring: Suzanna Love, Robert Walker, Jr., Donald Pleasence, Paul Willson, Mary Walden

From: New West Films

Wake up chat, a new streaming service just dropped… well, rather, a great service was discovered by me via an ad on Instagram, of all places. Somehow, I had never heard of Eternal Family, a platform devoted to a cornucopia of film oddities & obscurities, meaning it is perfect for my esoteric tastes. Its name is a little curious but just a cursory glance at its catalogue & its availability as a Roku app made joining the easiest decision of the month. There are films FAR more obscure than this Ulli Lommel picture available but Devonsville will give me plenty to discuss.

The film will seem modern today; it presents men (both from 1683 and 1983) as terrible. In the 17th century, an event analogous to the Salem Witch Trials occurs. Women were killed due to hysteria-one was accused of being a witch. A curse placed on the town has existed ever since. In the 20th century, a trio of new women arrive in town, including Jenny-the director’s then-wife, Suzanna Love, sporting a short, dyed hairdo that presumably would rile up a small, conservative town, at least in 1983.

Well, the descendants of the past don’t like that the new women are “liberated.” In both time periods, the males are awful pigs so I am confident that everyone (especially those that identify as female) will be quite delighted when the dumb 1980’s males are punished. At least the characters portrayed by Robert Walker, Jr. (he looked a lot like his dad) and Donald Pleasence weren’t vile… well, perhaps Ol’ Donald as a doctor shouldn’t have asked Jenny to take her shirt off as he took her blood pressure then did a session of hypnosis… otherwise, there’s little complaint w/ his character.

As Bill Rebane was a producer and they filmed in his home territory of Northern Wisconsin, some may be shocked that this movie was intriguing & worthwhile. It may help some with the foreknowledge that deaths aren’t sprinkled throughout and viewers should be patient for the finish, which does deliver. The pacing felt appropriate for a film set in a tiny rural town out in the woods; there are quite a few establishing shots which displayed the area-no complaints as not only did the pastoral beauty of the area charm me, the remoteness of the area was established-important for when the events of the final act occurred.

Various themes were addressed: the sins of the past, not learning from the past, the isolation of the town resulting in outdated viewpoints, etc. Considering the feminist themes, no surprise that Ms. Love was one of the credited screenwriters. As I theorized during my review of The Boogeyman last fall, perhaps it was his divorcing of Love (to echo the comment of a Letterboxd mutual, Not Daisy Edgar-Jones) in 1987 was why his career devolved so badly the past few decades.

The Devonsville Terror was an intriguing early 80’s horror picture which was different from the norm, not peppered with death throughout but rather saved death (and the few gory bits) to the conclusion, while covering a topic unique for the era. This was a pleasant surprise & a reason why I’m not only happy to view films from regional genre filmmakers (as a diamond could be found among the rough), but that Eternal Family is a streaming platform available for people that have tastes as esoteric as me. Expect some reviews of bizarre cinema in March.

Welfare

This is a 1975 documentary from a famed director who recently passed away: 

A belated RIP to Frederick Wiseman; he passed away a week and a half ago at the age of 96. I’ve known of him for years-I “tracked down” 2013’s At Berkeley not so long after its release. That was a 4 hour (!) documentary covering seemingly every aspect of the University of Cal-Berkeley, a prestigious school. It was a great example of his filmmaking style: lengthy documentaries filmed passively with no narrator or text but rather the footage selected, the editing, and the order help present a facet of American life through the people shown on screen. It was a passive fly-on-the-wall style which served him well for decades.

Due to their length and the requirement of tracking them down via “less than ethical means” for streaming, despite my desire to see more from Wiseman and my having “acquired” more than one of his films in my physical collection, the only other movie I’d seen from him was 1970’s Hospital, only 83 minutes yet still a nice time capsule of life in a run-down New York City infirmary.

Before I discuss Welfare the film, I of course must mention that my opinion on the American welfare system will NOT be discussed here-while not the hottest topic of contention among those in the United States the past decade or so, it’s still a hot-button issue. Instead, I’ll note that at least during the time of filming-in a New York City welfare office, the system was a real quagmire, full of confrontation and arguments between those employees & the welfare recipients. It’s only fate that made me born into a family that never required welfare and thus I’m ignorant to the process or how difficult it is for those that necessitate assistance.

The implication-presumably understood by many seeing this-is that the system is a real bureaucracy, full of red tape and a runaround w/ people going around in circles. Perhaps the term “Kafkaesque” is used too often; however, IMO that word is incredibly apt to describe the film. As at least one mutual noted, one of the workers comes off poorly, yelling & arguing with multiple people during the conclusion of the documentary as those multiple people had reached their breaking point at the same time, same place.

It’s exercises in frustration featuring many different ethnicities, including (unfortunately) a white war veteran blatantly racist-to the faces of Black people. Those are two LONG, uncomfortable scenes. There is also discussion of religion in one scene; this is one of several conversations shown between people that (at least according to appearance) are wildly different from one another yet that isn’t a hindrance to their discussions.

I don’t remember where or when I heard this statement, but at least one person noted that you can’t fully understand America & its people until you see more than one Frederick Wiseman film. There are regrets in not seeing more from him before his passing; on the other side of the coin, more people than before on Letterboxd that are followers-currently, just over 5,400!-can read about a filmmaker that I fear will forever demand more attention than he’ll ever receive.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

EpiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2025)

Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann

Starring: Elvis, tremendous backing bands, and enthusiastic audiences

From: Universal/Neon

At one point, the film plays sinister music then the song (You’re the) Devil in Disguise is heard… over footage of Colonel Tom Parker!

This review will be even lengthier than usual; that’s not for all tastes but if nothing else, you can skip to the last two paragraphs to read why this was one of the most memorable theatrical experiences I ever had. The only other Baz Luhrmann picture I’ve tackled was his Elvis, which was flawed. Even I know his worst instincts; after the opening-a precursor to the concert footage-most of those moments disappear. I was interested to see & hear outtakes, including those from two 70’s concert films I’ve seen before… Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (the Special Edition) and Elvis on Tour, both worth seeing if you dig Elvis the music and the performer.

Yeah, I know that Elvis the person had his issues and more than one unsavory detail; that can be said about many entertainers—I’ll just focus on him as an entertainer-what an incredible star he was, full of charisma and presence—even during “the fat years” that was the final years of his life when he wasn’t completely ravaged by drugs. This plus the two mentioned concert films are great examples of media either for Elvis fans or those that want to learn why he was a huge 20th century figure and still beloved today.

My music tastes will always be retro but it was tremendous to hear covers of everything from gospel songs and his biggest hits to Polk Salad Annie (where the bass was the heaviest; that’s a compliment by my standards), Bridge Over Troubled Water, more than one Beatles tune & You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling. The TCB Band that backed Elvis during this era: as the kids would say, they were fire.

This will be released in all cinemas starting on Friday but the IMAX experience was transcendent. The sound quality: excellent, picture quality: tremendous. It was a great restoration-as it’s me, I marveled at the incredible clothing throughout-not just the Elvis jumpsuits but also the clothing full of wild patterns & many different colors. It will give everyone even further appreciation of how film looked & how astounding it can present in a format like IMAX. Beforehand, a trailer played and this floored me: for two days next month, IMAX screens will play… Tommy. Yes, the movie from Ken Russell-no relation. Unless my schedule prevents it, expect a review for that experience.

Some in the crowd were excited over the Tommy news. What a crowd it drew: people of all ages and ethnicities. This includes some senior citizens and my personal favorite: as the trailer for The Odyssey played, an incredible woman walked in: a brunette a bit younger than me was dressed in a 50’s pink outfit & a five star black satin Elvis jacket that was beyond belief. That lady was at least 6 stars and afterwards I would have complimented her on her ensemble but aside from her possibly wondering why some random creep was talking to her…

Something far better occurred. As I left the men’s room after the screening, that dame was by the women’s room, chatting with a group of senior ladies. I did not mill about as that would make me a creep; however, I overheard her talking about her Elvis nails (!) and phone case, and the older women wanted to take photos with her. That was at least a 10-star experience. With how divisive everything is in the United States now, it warmed my heart to see this film draw a mixed crowd, have people besides me stick around for the entirety of the end credits, have some applaud at the end of the end credits (a rare feat) and most importantly, see different generations bond over a shared love. The enhanced format plus the audience experience does play a role in my rating but at least in this case, I’m happy to have that factor into a high rating as last night’s experience I’ll never forget.

 

Why Don't You Just Die!

Why Don’t You Just Die! (Papa, Sdokhni) (2018)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: Kirill Sokolov

Starring: Alexander Kuznetsov, Vitaly Khaev, Evgeniya Kregzhde, Michael Gor, Elena Shevchenko

From: White Mirror Film Company

This seems like a typical day in Russia to me! As there are a few mutuals on Letterboxd who write their reviews in Cyrillic because they are Russian, my comment is in jest. I’m OK with watching Soviet and Russian movies despite what’s happened in recent years-and I’ll say no more on that topic. 

In this special early Tuesday posting, the reason I saw this movie on Arrow’s streaming platform: director Kirill Sokolov went to Hollywood & directed the upcoming They Will Kill You, starring Zazie Beetz & set to release late next month. That trailer has been seen a few times, although the trailer that I can't escape is the one for Scream 7.

Presumably, Kill won’t be quite as dark and acerbic in its pitch-black comedy, as this was DARK-and honestly, the movie just turned me off so I’m not as over the moon for it like most are. I was a fan of the opening act-a young dude with a hammer goes to the apartment of his girlfriend’s parents. Dude and dad (the latter the most Russian-looking middle-aged bald dude you’ll ever see; he plays a cop) engage in an extended brawl that wrecks several different parts/items in the apartment. The arrow description invoked several comparisons… Tarantino, Wright, and Raimi. Well, this is sometimes non-linear and the movie features blood spraying/plenty of blood lost, so this plus the dark comedy explains the comparisons.

At first the movie was interesting, full of creative moments and laughs were had. Then, for my esoteric, peculiar tastes, Die became too unpleasant, not that enjoyable, and deliberately ludicrous to boot. Of course, there are my biases against modern cinema so YMMV. The dad is a cop who you can call a bastard-in fact, “evil” is a better term; that character alone might be a problem for some.

I don’t hate Die and despite my complaints, the film overall was still fine due to its creativity and amusing moments. The movie at least wasn’t mainstream nor did it feel “safe” so that does deserve some credit in this modern landscape. Heck, there’s inventive camera movements done in place of constant cutting, which is another positive. However, if I ever do see They Will Kill You, more likely than not it will be reserved for streaming viewing.

Hi, Nellie!

Hi, Nellie! (1934)

Runtime: 75 minutes

Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy

Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Ned Sparks, Robert Barrat, Berton Churchill

From: Warner Bros.

This is another Mervyn LeRoy film that until this month-when it was added to the Criterion Channel-was difficult to track down. Someone on Letterboxd is probably waiting to hear what I thought of this film-that’s why I didn’t want to delay & leave them hangin’, you know.

The two most famous faces are the leads: Paul Muni (thankfully not playing an ethnic character this time) as the managing editor of a newspaper-one of several in New York City-and Glenda Farrell playing-as typical-a sassy, confident dame. He received “the ballyhoo sack” (i.e. fired) after he wants to stick up for a lawyer dude named Frank and refuses to believe he embezzled from a bank-his boss sacked him as every other paper had it as a big front-page story.

However, due to legal reasons he can’t be fired; instead, the boss has him replace Farrell as the writer of an advice column for lovers under the pseudonym Nellie Nelson. Everyone writes to the column w/ the phrase Hi, Nellie! That phrase is heard often so prepare to point at the TV like Rick Dalton. Muni’s character is a “stubborn bull-headed jackass” and he threw a temper tantrum in his new office one day but that made it hilarious that he got ribbed for his new job, even by the 1930’s version of Charles Hawtrey. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have his funny moments, such as apologizing to the “rat poison” hard liquor for Farrell insulting it along with him for his drunken ways.

Of course, he starts to take the job seriously and the column suddenly packs a wallop. And of course, a case related to the columns proves to be related to the Frank/alleged embezzlement scenario. Muni was good as the lead and among the supporting players, Ned Sparks was delightful as SHAMMY, the exact sort of guy you’d expect a Shammy to be. 

However, of course it was that little dynamo Farrell who was the highlight, a bold, confident blonde who was more than just a pretty face and always adept at delivering witty banter/snappy patter. Another highlight: the Merry Go Round Club, a hip joint which has a rotating bar in the middle that goes 360 like a merry go round.

This was the typical solid WB programmer that was an easy watch, especially at only 75 minutes.

Psycho Killer

Psycho Killer (2026)

0% on Rotten Tomatoes; yes, zero percent (out of 24 reviews)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Gavin Polone

Starring: Most of this is just Georgina Campbell and James Preston Rogers, although there’s also Malcolm McDowell for a few minutes

From: 20^th Century Studios

“Qu'est-ce que c'est?” is my review of the film! In 2026, I saw the trailer for Psycho Killer on the big screen more than once-it seemed decent and hey, the script was from the writer of Se7en. Then, I saw that it received a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes & even the audience score was only 35%. As there’d be no reason for review-bombing, that left me perplexed as to what went so wrong. I should have faced up to the facts… as a random aside that'll be of interest to only a few readers, I was astonished that a co-producer was Constanin Film, the German company around for ages and who made all those 60's krimi and Winnetou movies I've reviewed in the past.

The first two acts weren’t that bad. Sure, it is silly that the Satanic killer is a hulking brute who is conspicuous and wears either sunglasses or a distinctive mask yet the FBI can’t track homeboy down (but a vigilante cop from Kansas who is looking for revenge due to PK killing her cop husband) & the CG is rather putrid & those looking for creative kills will be crestfallen. But, the movie was at least watchable, had some suspense (if still predictable; I wasn’t tense nor nervous) and such decisions as never fully showing PK’s face-often, there are reflections from his sunglasses-was fine, along with the unexpected potshots at modern Satanism. It then made me realize that the final act must have soiled the bed—it did!

When I heard a line of dialogue proclaiming that it was “the 28th anniversary” of a famous event that occurred in 1979 yet the movie had modern tech & cars (although some period cars also), I was massively confused. No matter the explanation, that’s just bad. A key detail is that the script is like 20 years old-in the multiverse, FRED DURST would have directed this in 2009, no lie. If you were expecting PK’s killing spree where a few dozen were off’ed to lead to, say, an epic ceremony to bring demons to Earth or a similar cataclysmic event… nope.

What the viewer saw instead: lame, bewildering, and pathetic. I honestly wasn’t sure why the murders happened, unless it was for funsies! The final scene was especially insulting. I won’t make a joke about “run, run, run, run away” from Psycho Killer yet I couldn’t believe how badly this fumbled the bag. Malcolm McDowell was fine in his small role, as was Georgina Campbell in the lead. No one else will agree, but Barbarian also had a terrible third act; it wasn’t her fault that both movies left a sour taste in my mouth.

I can’t end the review without addressing the obvious question: no, the song isn’t heard in the film, whether the original or a modern cover I would inevitably find to be atrocious.