By Erik Piepenburg
This month’s picks include a silent killer, a demonically possessed painting and a hellish queer romance.
‘In a Violent Nature’
Lots of horror movies are told from a killer’s point of view, from “Peeping Tom” to “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.” But none of them ever made me wonder: What would a maniac do on his way to a slaughter? Now I know, thanks to Chris Nash’s glorious and genre-crushing take on the slasher film.
The story is as old as “Friday the 13th”: A masked hulk methodically stalks young campers through the woods and butchers them one by one in unthinkably gruesome ways. Here’s the twist: Nash tracks the silent monster’s steady strolls closely and almost entirely from behind, making the viewer complicit in the hunt and perversely giving evil no motive beyond a vague bloodthirst. The deaths are cartoonish, but because they take place in a verdant, tranquil landscape — a violent nature indeed — their absurd brutality bumps against serenity with shockingly formal elegance, hardly the stuff of typical slasher films.
The film’s unwillingness to play by horror rules makes it singular, and a must-see for adventurous horror fans. It is daring and assured, stomach-churning yet pastoral, and one of my favorite horror films of the year. (Stream it on Shudder.)
‘The Exorcism of Saint Patrick’
As in “Sheeps Clothing,” one of this year’s under-the-radar horror gems, Quinn Armstrong’s “Exorcism of Saint Patrick” is a tender but unflinching examination of the relationship between a manipulative and unscrupulous Christian pastor and a trusting, vulnerable acolyte.
Pastor Pat (Steve Pinder) gets hired by religious parents to cure their 17-year-old son, Trick (Michael J. Cline), of homosexuality. The pastor’s conversion methods for the chubby and soft-spoken teen include prayer and hikes but also, in the film’s most horrific scene, aversion therapy using an emetic, gay porn and a bathtub. A jolting twist upends the pastor’s plans, but the devil steps in and finishes the job.
Armstrong is a crafty storyteller here, layering science fiction and sexual tension over exorcist conventions to deliver a sinister but thoughtful meditation on religious fanaticism and sexual repression. (Too bad the ending drips with excess syrup.) The film is part of Armstrong’s ambitious new three-feature anthology horror series, and if this small but powerful entry is any indication, he’s a talent to watch. (Rent or buy it on major platforms.)
‘Love Lies Bleeding’
In 2021, Rose Glass wowed me with “Saint Maud,” her chilling feature debut that explored the obsessive relationship between a dying dancer and her young nurse. In Glass’ latest film, she again explores a female bond. But here she calls on urgent Sapphic desire and the supernatural fantastic, tying them together with tumbleweed town eccentrics, roid rage and gun nuts in 1989 America.
Kristen Stewart stars as Lou, who runs a gym in small-town New Mexico where she falls for Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a bodybuilder passing through town. As the lovers navigate their sizzling but doomed relationship — past traumas get in the way — Glass goes all out narratively and visually to explore what it means to live with monstrous love. (And I do mean a monster.) The result is a sensuous and combustible noir that feels like a throuple of “The Greasy Strangler,” “Blue Velvet” and “Desert Hearts.” Ed Harris gives a nutso supporting performance as Lou’s criminal father with badass bad hair. (Stream it on Max.)
‘The Well’
I don’t know if Federico Zampaglione intentionally made a campy horror movie about witchcraft and a cursed painting. If he did, bravo. If he didn’t? Bravo anyway.
Lisa (Lauren LaVera, the terrific final girl of “Terrifier 2”) is a young American art restorer who travels to the home of a wealthy duchess in a small Italian town to work on a medieval painting that was damaged during a fire. As Lisa carefully scrubs the blackened-over piece, the spirits of the small demonic figures that peek from under the paint come alive to haunt her and, in the film’s too-busy secondary story, a group of young travelers she befriends.
As in the recent paranoia thriller “Outpost,” the film tiptoes the line between being dead serious and deeply tongue in cheek, coming this close to melodrama but maintaining an effective undercurrent of terror. There’s gore galore too, including flesh frying, organ extractions and a nasty eyeball gouging. If James Wan and Lucio Fulci had an awkward date that nonetheless ended in great sex: That’s the vibe. (Rent or buy it on major platforms.)
‘The Demon Disorder’
This breakneck Australian family drama centers on Graham (Christian Willis), who returns home to be with his two estranged brothers, Jake (Dirk Hunter) and Phillip (Charles Cottier), after learning that the bloodthirsty ghost of their father (John Noble) still haunts their rural home. Among the signs that Phillip, the youngest brother, might be possessed by his demonic dad is when he coughs up a wriggling, snail-shaped tongue-looking creature that glistens with what looks like beef fat topped with dollops of marshmallow. That’s just the first of many creatures, and hand-to-hand battles, to come.
I wish the director, Steve Boyle, and his screenplay, written with Toby Osborne, had done a better job of nailing down the parameters and purpose of the possession at play. The why and what got muddled for me. The performances, though, are terrific, especially from Willis as a man trying to keep his sanity and fragile familial bonds intact.
The main reasons to watch this scrappy film are the Ozploitation-ish FX brought to life by Boyle’s own Formation Effects. (He has worked as an effects artist for decades.) Good luck keeping your stomach steady when a veiny, goo-oozing fist claws its way out of a chest to reveal a father figure monstrosity underneath. (Stream it on Shudder.)
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