Jason goes to Holehead--Day 12

Two more movies last Tuesday, starting with THE MIDNIGHT GAME by Alejandro Calvo (who also did HOUSE OF DUST.) Once again it's "inspired" by true events, in this case the urban legend around a game that some high school kids play. There are a series of steps, and rules you can't break (see the rules here.) The punishment if you break the rules--you will be haunted by your worst fears. Or maybe you'll be stuck in an eternal loop reliving your fears (and dying from them) over and over again. So a group of high school kids play this game. And of course they break the rules. And of course bad things happen. Like with HOUSE OF DUST, this is mostly PG-13 horror (not rated yet, and there are one or two scenes that could--but probably won't--get them an R) and relies on atmosphere and performance to make the movie, not blood and guts. And again, Calvo does a pretty good job with it.

By the way, both of his movies are slated to be released by Anchor Bay in 2014, so look for them.

And then some really gross shit (literally) with SEPTIC MAN. In a small Canadian town, the water supply is tainted and everyone is getting sick and literally shitting themselves to death. So the town is evacuated and quarantined. But one man, Jack the plumber, is approached by a guy named Phil Prosser who works for the mysterious "Consortium." He's been impressed with Jack's plumbing skills, and wants him to stay behind and get to the root of the problem. And he'll pay him handsomely for it. So Jack stays. Jack finds the problem. Jack gets trapped in an old sewage holding tank. And Jack also finds a couple of psychos who have been dumping bodies there. And they won't let Jack out. So over days (weeks? Time is uncertain down there) Jack slowly morphs into Setpic Man, crusted with shit and sores. And...that's the whole story (sorry, I guess that's spoilers.) But that's the problem. The gross effects were great, but I want more of a story than "guy is stuck in a hole for days." It's like it's all set up for a sequel where Septic Man--a grosser, more serious version of the Toxic Avenger--actually...you know...does something (for the record, I would totally want to see that sequel)

Total Running Time: 157 minutes
My Total Minutes: 345,914