Now Scream This: Prepare For ‘Overlord’ With These Finely Polished Modern B-Movies
(Welcome toNow Scream This, a column where horror experts Chris Evangelista and Matt Donato tell you what scary, spooky, and spine-tingling movies are streaming and where you can watch them.)Matt:Having already injectedOverlord’sglowing serum into my eyeballs at Fantastic Fest, let me assure you lovely readers that genre content this wild (typically) doesn’t get blockbuster treatment these days. Nazi experiments, bone-crunching body contortions, tough-as-nails military action blended withRe-Animatorafterlife tampering?Overlordgoes for it, and despite a lengthy attic stay during the film’s second act, delivers on making Nazis even more evil than history books profess. With that in mind, Chris and I decided to honor some other big-budget horror titles that embrace the lunacy of B-movie patchworking on the largest screen possible. Infected school lunches, snarling zombie clowns,Michael Rookerwith tentacles. You know, the usual!Chris:I’ve yet to seeOverlord, because I don’t get out as much as Matt (I’m basically a shut-in, folks; get off my lawn). That said, I do love when B-movie sensibilities slip through into mainstream cinema. I was hoping to include M. Night Shyamalan’sThe Happening– the ultimate big budget B-movie – on this list, but sadly, it’s not streaming anywhere. Because life isn’t fair. So I had to include another M. Night movie instead. A side-note: some of the films on this list aren’t “big-budget” compared to something like a Marvel movie, but they’re certainly more well-funded than your standard, ultra-low-budget B-movie.
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Matt:Am I already cheating with my first pick? Yes. 100%.Mike Mendez’sDon’t Kill Itis low-budget as dirt but deserves maximum exposure. The concept is simple: don’t kill “it.” What’s “it?” An ancient demon who terrorizes Mississippi townies. The problem is when you kill the demon – eviscerating whoever’s currently possessed – another nearby body becomes the new vessel.Dolph Lundgrensaunters into frame as evil hunter Jebediah Woodley,Kristina Klebehis reluctant partner, and B-Movie hijinx sufficiently coat smalltown innocents in dummies-and-prosthetics gore when caught in this demon hunter vs. unstoppable foe meat grinder. On second thought, you want a tie-in to this week’s “big-budget B-movie” theme? Here’s my plea to grant Mendez a massive budget and full creative liberties with a mainstream sequel/revamp/remake/reimagining ofDon’t Kill It. Click, click, BOOM.Chris:I have no idea what this is. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Matt.
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Matt:When genre buffs discuss outbreak horror,Cootiestoo often gets forgotten in conversations.Jonathan MilottandCary Murnion’s horror comedy about “infected” children rebelling against authority figures is an absolute blast of playground face-chewing and brutal black humor.Leigh WhannellandIan Brennan’s script first ruins your appetite for chicken nuggets, then launches into a world where only children can contract a spreading rage virus. Teachers played byElijah Wood,Rainn Wilson,Alison Pilland more fight back through R-rated methods against waves of knee-high zombies. Laughs are steady, carnage kid-(un)friendly, plus Pepijn Caudron (aka Kreng) supplies lollipop-sweet synthwave beats on par with my favorite original scores that year. A hilarious frenzy of bloody kickballs and horrified educators. That’ll earn a passing grade any day.Chris:Cootiesis one of those rare horror flicks that isn’t afraid to bump-off zombie children. What more do you want? How about a really great cast, and co-writer Leigh Whannell stealing the show in a weird supporting performance?
Matt:Real talk: I caught some flak online for my “Battle RoyalemeetsOffice Space” pull-quote adorningThe Belko Experiment’s poster and home release cover, but truly, my stance onGreg McLeanandJames Gunn’s dystopian conspiracy is exactly that. Blame this critic’s sense of humor, but scenes had me laughing. It’s conceptually bonkers – 80 American employees find themselves trapped in their Bogotá, Colombia office with instructions to kill one another – appropriately paranoid, and blow-up-brains vicious when it comes to Worksploitation horror. Those looking for something more straightforward in horror comedy realms should favorJoe Lynch’sMayhem, and while I preferMayhemas well,The Belko Experimentnails that pitch-nasty “humankind is doomed” vibe with “Black Site” intrigue. Sue me.The Belko Experimentis the mean, cynical, smoking-gun kind of exploitation gunk this critic craves.Chris:I am one of those folks who prefersMayhemtoBelko, but I do appreciate how unapologetically nasty this movie is.
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Matt:No disrespect towardsRuben Fleischer’s direction – he’s the glue who holdsZombielandtogether – butRhett ReeseandPaul Wernick’s screenplay is one of the most essential mainstream contributions to horror in the 2000s. No, really! Theirs is proof that audience-pleasing horror comedies can exist with a balance between gut-check laughs, zombie gore, and sneaky-but-slick worldbuilding. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin the shotguns-and-banjos family we never knew we needed. Bill Murray the surprise cameo standout every movie needs. Twinkies, Harrelson’s emotional backstory, awkward teen romantics in a time of undead scourges – and yet the film never loses its B-movie grin. Rule #1? Never sleep onZombieland.Chris:I haven’t seenZombielandsince it played in theaters, and there’s a part of me that worries it won’t hold up. But I did enjoy it at the time, and appreciated how funny it was.
Matt:James Gunn’s name is listed twice on a piece discussing B-movies? Color me surprised! Wait, don’t. This Troma graduate oozes exploitation and midnight markings, all of which squirm out in his cult-beloved 2006 invasion flickSlither. Universal pictures should be awarded a medal for releasing this gross-out, massively effects-driven creature feature bolstered by an amazing cast includingNathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, andElizabeth Banks. Quaint backwoods locals must defend against slimy slug creatures who turn victims into mutant monsters, and it all gets so artfully outrageous as only Gunn’s vivid – grotesquely deformed – creativity can achieve. Fun with a capital “F-U.“Chris:Before James Gunn graduated to blockbusters (and then got fired), he delivered this wonderfully cheesy monster movie, full of great practical effects. It’s a hoot.
Chris:Cloverfieldtook the events of 9/11 and spun them into the framework of a giant monster movie. Yes, the shaky cam might be distracting. Sure, the main characters are kind of dumb. But there’s a genuine sense of danger and dread here. The action – which involves a kaiju-like monster destroying New York, as filmed by a group of friends – feelsreal. We’re sucked into the world of this film, and there’s never a moment where any of the mayhem feels phony. DirectorMatt Reevesis drawing on giant monster B-movies, and adapting them into the post-September 11th age, with chilling results.Matt:Cloverfieldis a masterpiece not of found footage, but cinema itself. Viral marketing redefined PR hype vehicles, Slusho’s legacy grew, and the movie that followed wasn’t half bad! By that I meanCloverfieldtransplants viewers into modern Godzilla destruction rich in scale that makes us feel so tiny and insignificant. Exhilarating, a technological pivot point, and one of the best science fiction offerings of my generation.
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Chris:I’ve seen some people suggestShutter Islandis a “lesser Scorsese” work. Nuts to that!Martin Scorsesetakes a twisty noir that could’ve easily played out as a generic thriller and injects it with style and poetry. Drawing on Jacques Tourneur films likeI Walked With a ZombieandCat People, Scorsese crafts a nightmarish tale of a man haunted by his past.Leonardo DiCapriois a federal marshal investigating the escape of a patient from a mental institute located on a secluded island. Once on the island, however, DiCaprio starts discovering secrets that hint at a nefarious plot, possibly involving Nazi experiments. Or maybe not. Scorsese draws on genre trappings and cinematic language from the past to tell the tale, and is clearly having a blast doing it.Matt:Two for two, Chris! Leo and Marty unite for a spooky noir that may run a bit long, but if those jagged puzzle pieces don’t fit diabolically in place…
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Chris: Night Shyamalan’sSplittakes an age-old B-movie premise – multiple personalities! – and uses it to create one heck of a thriller. Shyamalan had already crawled his way back from director’s jail with the gnarly found footage filmThe Visit, but withSplit, he proved he was back for good. This is Shyamalan’s most confident movie in years, complete with a unique visual style that differs it from almost all of his other movies.James McAvoyis fantastic as the villain afflicted by 23 separate personalities, andAnya Taylor-Joyis remarkable and sympathetic as one of the young women he kidnaps. Yes, the film eventually builds towards a twist that ties it toUnbreakable, but ignore that.Splitstands on its own.Matt:If people try and tell youSplitis M. Night’s comeback, they didn’t seeThe Visit- but James McAvoy puts on an acting showcase that deserves all the attention it garnered. “The Beast” earns his notoriety.
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Chris:Joel Schumacher’s8MMfeels like a film that time forgot, which makes it worthy of being revisited now that it’s streaming on Shudder. A trashy, sleazy story about a private eye (Nicolas Cage) trying to determine if a snuff film is real,8MMgoes to exceedingly dark places. And yet, Schumacher doesn’t seem willing to go as dark as Andrew Kevin Walker’s script wants, which creates a strange yet fascinating atmosphere that makes8MMboth cheesy and dreary at the same time. Cage is fine, and subdued. Joaquin Phoenix steals the show, however, as the porn shop clerk helping Cage infiltrate the underworld of illegal pornography.Matt:“Goddamit Matt, how haven’t you seen8MMyet,” he can hear Chris mumble while admitting not having yet watched8MM.
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Chris: Sam Raimileft superhero cinema behind to return to his horror roots with 2009’sDrag Me to Hell. The result? A goofy-as-shit spook-o-blast movie full of constant screams, flying goo, over-the-top jump-scares, and a talking goat puppet. I’ll confess that this isn’t my favorite Raimi horror film, and I actually think it goestooover-the-top for its own good. But it’s still fun to watch Raimi go nuts and pull out all the stops. When bank clerkAlison Lohmanrefuses to help an elderly woman with her home loan, the woman curses Lohman’s character. Afterwards, Lohman is besieged by all sorts of demonic nonsense, all while trying to break the curse. Raimi hasn’t helmed a horror movie sinceDrag Me to Hell, and that’s a darn shame.Matt:A bile-spewing Sam Raimi flick complete with talking possessed goat? ‘Tha hell are you waiting for! An invitation from below?
