Mike Staum – Google

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Freaks

Very creative unique take on revenge slasher even though it was familiar to Jason Voorhees but unique enough to stand on its own especially since the audience gets to tag along with the serial killer perspective and it’s quite the effective experience let me tell ya! Also the use of no soundtrack/score (which I loved) made for more of a suspenseful and raw yet realistic feel to the whole film. And wow what creative , gore-tastic practical effects! Some of the best since evil dead rise and talk to me. This movie is definitely worth checking out. It honestly made me uncomfortable in the theater which is a good thing! Hope there’s a sequel.

In A Violent Nature

46 likes

Just rewatched Hellraiser 2022 for third time. I like it more and more every time I rewatch. A sequel from Hulu and Bruckner is a must! PLEASE! Clayton and A’zion were spectacular actors with memorable performances. I don’t think fans or audiences understand how well done and written this movie is. The main characters are fully realized. Pretty sure Clive Barker gave it a high approval as well. The Priest and Centibites, a team of female demonic angels from hell (great new twist) were visually amazing, beautifully grotesque, and the prosthetic make up and gore were quite impressive and unique. I grew up as a middle schooler in mid 90s discovering Hellraiser (therefore being scared outta my mind!) and have been intrigued ever since. This revamp stands among the best of the franchise with high potential to possibly reach what Hellbound Hellraiser II accomplished. Im a movie collector and eagerly purchased the visual Hellraiser collectors 4 movie box set from Arrow (which is worth the cost!) but had to resort to buying Hellraiser 2022 blu ray on eBay from China, the slipcase is great but bluray visuals were a tad sub-par overall, would love to see a Hellraiser 2022 4k at some point. Please Hulu green light a Hellraiser sequel! Us Centibite fanatics are anxiously awaiting!

Hellraiser

6 likes

Control

I’d say it’s 4.5-4.75 on the rock out/blow your mind scale. Not as good as they’d first three historic hard rock psych metal albums but right there with Era Vulgaris and Clockwork. I very much liked but didn’t love the genre bending Villains but this new effort on Times New Roman showed the band’s and producer Mark Ronson’s true power and potential. Again it’s more of a dark groove progressive rock based album than their usual stoner metal bangers but that’s a good thing since Times New Roman reminds me of Led Zep’s underrated dark groove masterpiece Physical Graffiti. Can’t help but think Times New Roman will be Josh & the boys’ most underrated gem of their catalog. It has a dark, addicting tone musicality and lyrically (which mirrors the rough few years Josh and his family has had recently and now it was reported Josh is fighting cancer no! ugh! Can’t imagine). You can tell this album was very cathartic for Josh and the boys with themes of megalomaniacal world leaders of today (Putin etc etc etc) mirroring past tyrants (Nero) and simply just how bad and inhumane humans are today. I saw Villains as a fun hard prog glam experience where as now Times New Roman makes me head bang while also about a lot of serious things on every listen like what the hell is going on in our world today exactly but also not to be afraid to call people out on their hypocritical and ignorant bs (leaders and critics especially). My highlights are: Made to Parade (thick heavy hard pounding beat and rabid barking guitar), Paper Machete (my personal fav), Peephole Say (metaphor for how grossly toxic and invalid social media is! you agree?!!, Emotion Sickness (post pandemic trauma and stress anyone???) the catchy toe tapping jam Time & Place, Straight Jacket Fitting (a little too tight!! 😆) and of course Carnavoyeur. Some of Josh’s best lyrics and overall album writing since Clockwork and it’s great to see he hasn’t lost is sarcastic dark humor. Best wishes and my heart goes out to Josh during his challenging journey medically and with mending his family. Just hope they can find solace.

In Times New Roman...

10 likes

A fun groove focused hard rock album. I’d say it almost had a goth-glam feel to it at times. Overall really like this Bowie/T-Rex-esc album. Josh was quoted saying hewanted made an album that he and their fans would want to dance to”. Hells My kids even dance around to a few of these well crafted jams. Highlights: Evil Has Landed, Domesticated Animals, Unreborn Again, Villians of Circumstance, Way ya used to do, Feet Don’t Fail Me Now. A nice change of creative sound & pace from Clockwork (which is a dark hard psych rock masterpiece) and compliments their overall catalog. I appreciate them trying something new but admittedly do miss the hardcore riffs, witty spacey stoner vibes and insane drums of the early days

Villains

3 likes

The Ritual

An unexpected horror gem. (SPOILER) I’m a big HP Lovecraft fan and am a sucker for a good horror monster movie and this doesn’t disappoint and exceeded my expectations since I randomly rented the movie. I Absolutely loved the ending and Kristen Stewart was a great complex lead of the film. She definitely channeled her inner Sigorney Weaver’s Ripley Which some fans didn’t like but thought it was effective and she owned her role, her plight and the film in general. If you like Aliens and Godzilla films and the Abyss then check Underwater out. It also sounds like there could be a sequel which would be a lot of fun.

Underwater

9 likes

Very well executed suspense filled thriller. An intense, unique ride lead by Moss’s great lead performance of an abused woman who evolves into one of Hollywood’s best transformative characters in a long time. Her performance is inspired. Talented directing, special fx , writing and acting. I love horror movies so I really enjoyed this unique take on the Invisible Man. My wife also really enjoyed it and she doesn’t usually Like Horror. It’s definitely violent but no gross gore or glorifying violence. Just a well done thriller! A must see.

The Invisible Man

3 likes