Twin Peaks: The Return

  The esoteric semiotic imagery and the surrealism inspire imagination.

After 25 years, the strange tale of Twin Peaks finally continues.

This time, David Lynch directs all of the 18 episodes, and it shows. The direction and mood of this third season are typical for his standards, where some of the episodes are some of the most outlandish and bizarre products created by him.

The overall plot is a faithful and an interesting continuation of Laura Palmer’s situation, Dale Cooper’s situation, the recognizable old cast and the surrealism of this series. With more creativity and gore, Twin Peaks’s old cast is almost entirely reunited, while the new cast and new locations make for an intriguing and diverse ride.

Dale’s split persona of an evil Cooper and a retarded, mimicking Cooper is perhaps my famous concept of this season, as the latter version especially hilariously let me laugh plenty of times, with the casino scene where he wins over 25 jackpots being the standout for me.

(HELLLOOOOOOOOOOO!!)

Location wise, it goes around various states of the U.S.A. instead of just Twin Peaks, Washington state. Other than my favorite comedy scene as described above, this third season is fucking hilarious in general, and nudity is also involved, but there's also a very emotional child accident scene that touched my heart.

However, it can also be one of the darkest cinematographic journeys, and Lynch is a master when it comes to mind fucks, as one episode in particular is almost entirely dedicated to the bizarre, the abstract and the unknown, and I can easily guess that this is where most viewers might have second thoughts or stop right there and say this is too much.

The vibes, script, dialogue and cast of the early 90’s are still here, while main actresses/stars from Mulholland Dr.(2001) and Inland Empire(2006) are also featured here. There are also plenty of long take scenes where Lynch deliberately wants to suck the audience into evoking a certain kind of emotion.

Arguably, The Return has the most horror found inside Lynch's filmography. In overall, Twin Peaks Season 3, The Return or the 2017 version(however you want to call it) was worth the very long wait, and with a confounding ending, it might or might not be the end of the overall story line.

It's a very familiar yet different kind of beast compared to the first 2 seasons from so long ago.

Rating: 8.5

And with all of these numerous horror articles posted for this month, I bid October 2018 goodbye, and I wish myself and all of us a Happy Halloween!

The Night Comes For Us

My God, what a gory action flick!

Directed by the man who gave us the Safe Haven segment of V/H/S 2(2013) and Macabre(2009)already, An elite member of a Triad family, Ito, one of the Six Oceans, has a violent insurrection and revelation once he spares a little girl, who is the only witness of a genocidal town massacre.

Ito and the girl are hunted down by the family’s crime lord, henchmen and the other members of the Oceans, while some of his former colleagues/friends decide to rebel with him. The Night Comes For Us is an incredible amazing combination of martial arts with gore, and as far as the latter goes, it goes much further than The Raid movies.

Speaking of which, Iko Uwais is also starring here as Ito’s former partner, and he is on a vengeance too to punish and replace him. The plot is very violent, and this Indonesian flick is my favourite horror, and thus martial arts horror movie of 2018.

From throat slashes to bone breaks to blood pumping out of large wounds towards facial stomping, the list of bloody and “Oh SHIT” moments is high, and I can’t wait to re-watch this! Timo Tjahjanto is a talented upcoming horror director, is he becoming the next James Wan?

Rating: 8.0

Lisa the Pointless & the Hopeful

 

These fan games are formidable when it comes to loyalty and joy.

Lisa the Pointless is the first noteworthy one taking place on Garbage Island, Olathe, starring Alex Churchland and Joel, who go on an adventure featuring the same gameplay as used and seen with Lisa the Painful and Lisa the Joyful.

Their bromance is perhaps the highlight of the story presented. The art style is intact as are the core gameplay features, and all of the NPC's are unique. Some of the themes used in this interquel are futility, trash, and everything being pointless.

However, the high difficulty curve eventually turned me off, resulting in me not finishing the game.

Rating: 6.6

Another interquel of the LISA trilogy, the mood is quite different though.

You now play as 3 simple henchmen called Beltboy, Lanks and Cyclops, who develop partner and friendship throughout the journey. You might even care for them in the end, granted that your attention can keep up.

As their gas runs out, the quest begins. They will fight all kinds of groups in order to get back on the track, including mutants, addicts, gangs and quirky fellows. The NPC's are again, unique, which is a spoiled gift for the gamers, but Hopeful is more of a linear experience than the others.

Like Yume Nikki, it looks like we haven't seen the last of Lisa fan games yet, as they are just starting. It's also cool to see the creator Austin Jorgensen labeling Pointless and Hopeful as canon, indicating that their overall quality are worth to experience for the fan community.

And of course the bleak atmosphere, the gore, the freaky nature of the drug JOY, depression, horror and especially the weirdness are all factors still intact!

Rating: 7.2

Halloween (2018)

I decided to re-watch only the 1978 original before this one, as it retcons and ignores the rest of the sequels.

The blissful return of Michael Myers, his William Shatner mask and the butcher knife, they are all a surprise to see return towards the franchise and anno 2018, the formula still works.

Directly(well, 40 years later) a sequel towards the original, Halloween(2018, they should had called it The Shape or Michael Myers instead) is a well done slasher horror as the kill count is high, the suspense is present, Jamie Lee Curtis is kicking ass for a third time in this series spanning 4 decades and the original soundtrack is also intact.

The movie also plays nods and references to scenes of the original, even going so far as mirroring some of them, such as Laurie Strode disappearing from the ground as Michael watches from the balcony, or when Laurie is stalking him instead of her.

Halloween(2018) is a commercial success, it redeems the franchise, and it’s one of the best entries. Who knows, it just might be start of a return to form for all of our beloved horror icons, and perhaps even crazier, would a shared universe work?

Rating: 7.0