HIM (2025)

This review has been crossposted to my letterbox. Posted 09/25/25.

Let me begin by saying that this film contains extended sequences of flashing lights with very little build-up. Please be aware that if you or a loved one has epilepsy that you may need to avoid this film.

HIM is a gorgeous film with cinematography that will leave you off-kilter. The film's editing and music are good, if a bit unsuited to a theatrical release; my husband and I saw this in a theater, and there were several scenes including a climactic confrontation where we couldn't tell what a character was saying over loud music. The use of color, lighting, and shadow were also very good and added to a tense, tight atmosphere particularly at the beginning of the film.

The effects were somewhat of a mixed bag for me. There were some sequences where I laughed out loud and others where I felt nauseous. The film really relies on what I can only describe as a skeleton-view CGI effect that looks really silly. It's implemented in multiple otherwise very tense scenes and can make some sequences pretty hard to follow, especially a certain fight.

Its story will also leave you entirely off-kilter, as it seems to have dodged any cohesive editing. The first two-thirds of the film are largely a psychological commentary on hazing, the cycle of violence as perpetuated by men, and male-male abuse patterns and how those relate to sports. The last act seems to discard any subtlety, instead becoming consumed by the 'football-is-religion' metaphor without actually saying anything about what that means. Football has a lot to critique! If you're going to do that, then do it. Any themes or messages about football's role in society and its many flaws as an institution are either absent or discarded by the final act.

Supernatural elements are introduced without being explained; this isn't necessarily inherently a bad thing, as over-explaining is the death of tension in a horror film. I have no desire for the film to stop and tell me why all this is happening instead of the story moving forward. What I want is some kind of motivation or through-line for the antagonists of the film to be doing any of the things they're doing. Why is Elsie involved in this? What does she get aside from the fame and fortune she already has? It's implied the team's management has a deal with some kind of entity, but that's never elaborated on. You're left guessing why any of this is happening as Cameron's manager explodes during the ending sequence. This lack of reasoning makes the back third of the film and particularly the ending feel divorced from the relatively grounded beginning.

I would have also enjoyed seeing more of Cameron's interiority. We get hints of it when he calls his family, or when he has (what seems to be) a panic attack or seizure as he gets overwhelmed in the first part of the film. I particularly liked the moment when he picked up Isaiah's packages and brought them in; it paints the picture of Cameron being thoughtful and responsible, someone who hasn't had fame go to his head. I would have liked to see more of that. His character in the film is largely defined by his relationship to his father and to Isaiah, which can make him feel a bit reactive in parts.

The acting was overall quite good, with Tyriq Withers delivering an appropriately understated performance right up until he goes fully off the rails at the end. Marlon Wayans is hamming it up, but it feels right for the role. Everybody else is fine.

Overall I had fun. I could imagine that if you liked football you would hate this, but thankfully I am not afflicted with that particular disorder. HIM isn't a masterpiece, but it is pretty fun and campy and I would watch it again.

Tokyo Gore Police (2008)

This review has been reposted from my letterboxd and was originally written 03/23/2025, expanded 8/17/2025.

Tokyo Gore Police lives up to its name in every way. It's shocking, gory, sensual, and nearly erotic in some scenes, with over-the-top violence used to convey its themes of police violence, the power of the capitalist class, the commodification of violence, and the othering of undesirables. The themes are somewhat overshadowed by its poor acting, questionable effects, and all-over-the-place plot, but at its core it does have something to say.

Tokyo Gore Police contains extensive self-harm imagery, sexual violence, body horror, and one scene of antiblack racism. It is definitely an extremely fleshy experience.

Nosferatu (2024)

This review has been reposted from my letterboxd and was originally written 01/02/2025, edited 8/17/2025.

First off, this film is beautiful. Every scene is gorgeous, with immaculate editing and cinematography. Lily Rose Depp is fantastic as Ellen with a wonderfully understated performance.

The plot is a very straightforward Dracula retelling, almost to a fault, and it struggles to balance its psychosexual themes with the narrative it binds itself to. While I think ultimately the writing is fine, I wish Ellen had more of an inner world. I found myself spending most of the film wondering what Ellen actually wants, as she spends half the runtime convalescing.

While there are certainly many ways to interpret Orlok, I think the explicit framing of Orlok as being "desire" works counter to the themes of the film. Either Ellen is being pressed upon by the desires of others, and the ending of the film is Ellen submitting herself to a sexually aggressive man, or Orlok represents Ellen's own desires, in which case Ellen's desires explicitly cause harm to others. The metaphor is strained either direction. To me, the push and pull between Ellen, Thomas, and Orlok only makes sense if you interpret Orlok as being representative of not only Ellen's repressed desires but her repressed inner world—her fears, trauma, and yes, her desires for both sex and death.

Circling back to Ellen's lack of agency in the narrative, her association with Orlok is framed as an innate quality, a sort of divine feminine that is juxtaposed against Willem Dafoe's Eberhart's scholarly pursuits. Ellen isn't allowed to research Orlok; she intuits while Eberhart investigates. This results in Ellen spending most of the plot doing nothing except getting pushed around by others. The themes of desire are easy to find lacking when the female protagonist isn't allowed in the context of the story to desire anything or even to have agency in the uncovering of her own problems. Desire becomes something that happens to Ellen rather than something Ellen experiences actively.

I did find Nosferatu an interesting narrative with striking visuals and excellent acting, but no matter how well you tell a mediocre story, it's still mediocre.