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Haunted (2018)
It's Convenient-A Long Form Critique
As the title says, this show has a lot of convenience in key parts. There are some elements that to me are profoundly disquieting, and not in a good way. Firstly, I'm not going to get into whether or not the supernatural or the paranormal are real, I'm trying to objectively critique on the show's believability for claiming real life stories and subjectively critique on its entertainment value. I'll first start with the doubts and credibility, then weave entertainment and personal feedback in by the end.
#1: everybody is on about "The Slaughterhouse" so I'm not going to touch it for long. Even if the producers declined involvement, the father was implied to be a serial killer and he had at least one "confirmed" body from the family telling the story. You'd think the law would be involved in some capacity after the release of this episode.
#2 "Alien Infection" was dubious for obvious reasons, but what I'm holding onto is a lack of news to corroborate this story, even though it was mentioned. The storyteller said she of course wasn't believed after being abducted, but that word has later come out in print, yet there's a lot of missing information about alien sightings in Shreveport and no visible signs of odd surgery on the woman's exposed skin. She claimed it would disappear quickly, but that's a convenient story to think all of her surgery marks magically vanished. Aliens are wholly plausible and we have the Fermi paradox, but it's inconceivable and highly doubtful that she was experimented on without any trace.
#3 "Cult of Torture" is actually going to be my main point of criticism, this episode is a little convenient but more believable than the rest. A man details his teenage years abuse, sexual assault, rape, and physical and psychological torture in the name of exercising a "gay demon" to save his soul by an evangelical doomsday cult. To start, I found it a bit odd that he was pegged as gay as early as age 5, but in fairness the torture dungeon he spent time in and the religion were both very real. He also mentioned he was gay in the episode. My first point of criticism is there's virtually no link to the paranormal in this episode whatsoever. This is more along true crime and scandal, with one tangential remark being that during his excruciating anal rape, he saw a demon's face. I'm not a doctor, but it is known people sometimes hallucinate under extreme pain and stress, and him being a 15 year old at the time and partly believing in the doctrine himself makes it too shaky even by junk science standards to call it paranormal. Though I don't question this story as much, I do question the inclusion of a man's horrific abuse and lifelong trauma in a show about ghosts for entertainment on a cool October night. He told his story well, but it makes me wonder if they had his interests at heart when this clearly isn't a ghost story.
Final doubts: the show has no epilogue, no summary, and with very limited exceptions (cult of torture) no easily found links to reality. The storytellers don't show their special objects from hauntings, no scars, no screening of prior mental health history, and some of the dialogue with family and friends while believably authentic in how it's disjointed sometimes seems melodramatic, especially with the "Clarence" episode. The minimalist format while intimate and immediate doesn't provide any written details, contradictions, sources, or discrepancies. While some of these stories may indeed be "real" with producers prominently asserting their validity on social media, the very format and their lack of evidence doesn't help that case. Like all "true" paranormal shows, it does a disservice in the efforts to validate the paranormal.
Entertainment: I've written a lot already so I'll be less thorough here. Highlights: I like the moody, gritty atmosphere. Lack of censors means you can see and hear more things true to life in this format unlike the sterile melodrama of "A Haunting", which wore out its welcome by 2012. It's dramatized not to the point of looking like plastic but signs of budget do appear, just not as bad is Travel channel shows. Comparing those shows, it feels less superficial and at least a slimly committed and earnest portrayal. On the aforementioned format, the intimacy is a con for validity but plus for mood and atmosphere. It does come off as more authentic and adds emotional weight to the grimness of these accounts if you're watching by feel. The acting is nothing to write home about, but it's not aggressively bad either so you can comfortably immerse yourself into the drama bits. I chose this looking for something dark and heavy and I got it. The episodes I feel are reasonably consistent and don't usually drag on a lot.
Closing: I like its feel, I like much of what it wanted to do, the production wasn't too Hollywood or amateurish, but it suffers from credibility even when ignoring debates about the paranormal, and it sometimes felt exploitative of genuine trauma survivors who needed help and not a camera. Whether or not there is a supernatural, these shows will always be fodder until and if a legitimate presentation establishes itself. Not the best, but I liked it enough to keep watching.
My Gym Partner's a Monkey (2005)
Sometimes Clever, A Little Flat
I was a kid when this one aired and used to watch it after school. The nostalgic vocabulary for a time I wasn't alive in, some of the premises, and even the animation were some high points but a lot of the time it fell flat or a bit stale, even when I was a kid. There was some character acting and guest characters I liked quite a bit such as the nod to Samurai Jack with I Didn't, who was later renamed Larry, and recurring character, Principal Pixiefrog's dynamic with his secretary but it wasn't enough to really save the show. Fun to have on some of the time and a few catchphrases I still use to this day ("two words: soap"), but nothing more.
Touch of Evil (1958)
Stupid, But Fun
Don't get me wrong: this is well shot, has a sleek aesthetic appeal, and is decently acted for much of it. I'm not sure what audiences really thought back in 1958, but to me it came off as immensely silly. A few bullet points:
* I don't mind if non- Mexican actors are cast in Mexican roles, but Charlton Heston is unbelievable. He was sincere and delivered well, but that makeup was laughable and it was funny to see all the actors take him seriously like that's exactly what he is. The accent didn't do favors either.
* Uncle Grande was quite a goofball, rather cartoonish and exaggerated. A lot of the dynamics with him and his nephew had a screwball type comedic appeal.
*Most of the scenes in the motel are also worthy of mention as characteristically silly.
* Marlene Dietrich is gifted and pulls off a great vampish look, but the illusion is rather superficial when she speaks with a thick German accent.
More to a serious point, I did enjoy the intensity of the ending and its tension. It had good style, good atmosphere, and overall the feeling of a good noir film. The main criticism I have is if you're remotely familiar with Mexican culture. I get that it was the 50s, but even back then if you knew, you would have to suspend a lot of disbelief. Welles to his credit builds good film work and I liked the monstrousness of his character, but he evidently had no idea what he was working with. For me this movie was great as a very surreal, sort of comedy drama to zone out to in a Mexico of the imagination, rather than a serious noir film. It did have mystery and suspense, but be it accidental comedy or jokes thrown in with a poorly aged set that you can then laugh at, it functions just as much an oddity as a mystery.
Will you be entertained? Most likely, just so long as hackneyed stereotypes don't bother you.
Matt Houston: The Nightmare Man (1985)
Pretty Bleak and Well Done
Matt Houston came to find a piece of his troubled past yet again in this grim and monstrous episode. The plot starts when he suspects a previous tormentor from his childhood had victimized another little boy. The chase leads him to a mental hospital and from there, a powerful final confrontation at a dog pound culminating with nightmare sequences and a bitter sweet resolution.
The subject is rather heavy and a hair gritty, even for the time period. It explores trauma in a profound and evocative way and balances comedy and seriousness fairly well, save for what I felt to be a few lulls. It's not light fair despite the somewhat cheesy and dated feel of the show, and Bart's actor was well cast for the role of a kidnapping murderer.
Overall good episode for a less slickly done show that's successful in its atmosphere and message.