31 Days of Dread--Day 13

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer; 1986; written by Richard Fire & John McNaughton; directed by John McNaughton

Thirty-plus years have only added to the air of grime and desperation that pervades Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. This is not a shortcoming, since it only serves to make this tale of a murderous drifter that much more brutal and disturbing.

Michael Rooker stars as Henry, who shares a dingy apartment with his prison pal, Otis, and his sister Becky, on the run from an ugly divorce. All three occupy society's lowest rungs and are doing what they can--and must--just to hang on.

If there's a fourth major character in the film, it's the city of Chicago itself, which appears to be in similarly bad shape. It's a city of perpetually cloudy skies, rusted-out cars, cheap diners and run-down gas stations, all of it captured in low-budget grainy images reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Henry's murderous impulses form a vortex at the story's center, one that soon pulls in the other two--Otis as an apprentice, Becky into a dark romance. To say that neither survives doesn't really give anything away. By the film's end, we understand that Henry's time in Chicago was just a stop along a bloody trail, one extending far behind and ahead of him.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is available on Amazon Prime and streaming rental.

31 Days of Dread--Day 12

Manhunter; 1986; written by Thomas Harris and Michael Mann; directed by Michael Mann

Manhunter, based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon, has very little in common with two other, more famous Thomas Harris adaptations, 1991's The Silence of the Lambs or 2002's Red Dragon.

And that's not a bad thing. Because thirty years after it was released to mixed (at best) reviews, Mann's version has since emerged as a hyper-stylized time capsule of the 1980s, a candy-colored kaleidoscope that makes both Silence and Red Dragon look somewhat, um... lifeless by comparison.

The dissonance between Manhunter's slick production and its tale of a police detective losing himself in a serial murder investigation makes the viewing experience that much more jarring and memorable. It's like seeing a human heart, still beating, under the glow of neon lights.

Manhunter is available on streaming rental.

31 Days of Dread--Day 11

The Invitation; 2015; written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi; directed by Karyn Kusama

There's a moment near the beginning of The Invitation that not only tees up everything that follows, but puts the audience on a razor's edge as well. I won't say what it is, because that would ruin the fun. And it's that element of suspense--and its eventual release--that makes The Invitation work so well.

The initial premise is simple enough. Following an absence of two years, a couple invites a group of friends to dinner at their Hollywood Hills home. But from there it gets more complicated and weirder.

Among the assembled is Logan Marshall-Green, the female host's ex-husband. From the moment he arrives things seem off. There's a missing guest. Two odd friends no one has met before. An awkward party game. And a self-actualization movement called The Invitation that the hosts really, really want to share with the others.

The need to observe social niceties as the evening heats up leads to some excruciating tension and shocking reversals. If I have any complaint about The Invitation, it's that the film does such an outstanding job of increasing the anxiety and encouraging your  imagination to run away with itself, that by the time things boil over it seems just a tiny bit anti-climatic. 

But only a little. Because then there's that final shot, with its helicopters overhead and dogs barking in the distance. It's so unanticipated and unnerving that you might not enjoy dinner at a friend's house for some time.

The Invitation is available on Netflix and streaming rental.

31 Days of Dread--Day 10

Creep 2; 2017; written by Mark Duplass & Patrick Brice; directed by Patrick Brice 

In the original Creep, Mark Duplass played a man with terminal cancer who wants to make a "day in the life" documentary and plays next-level mind games with his unsuspecting videographer. 

In Creep 2, Mark Duplass plays a serial killer who wants to make a "day in the life" documentary and plays next-next-level mind games with his unsuspecting videographer. 

And so, given all that, you'd be perfectly within your rights to ask why in the hell Creep 2 is on this list. 

1. Because Duplass delivers an amazing performance. By turns charming, sinister and terrifying (sometimes all in the same scene) he navigates some treacherous emotional terrain without a stumble. 

2. Because his co-star, Desiree Akhavan, delivers an amazing performance as well. Not only does she refuse to be intimidated by the antics of a serial killer, she proves to be every bit his equal. 

3. Because together, Duplass and Akhavan are doubly amazing. Throughout the film they play a non-stop cat-and-mouse game--with each other, the audience, and the serial killer genre itself. It's genuinely thrilling to watch as their characters push each others' buttons and boundaries, keeping everything and everyone dangerously off balance, right up to the end. 

Creep 2 was one of the best times I've had watching a movie this year. And I saw A Star is Born this past weekend. 

Creep 2 is available on Netflix and streaming rental.

31 Days of Dread--Day 9

Falling Down; 1993; written by Ebbe Roe Smith; directed by Joel Schumacher

Occasionally, what once passed for a conventional film when it was released can, with time, turn into something more than its creators intended. Deeper. Weirder. Scarier.

Marketed in 1993 as "the adventures of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world," today Falling Down reads more like "the adventures of a mediocre white man at war with everything he blames for taking away his privilege."

Michael Douglas stars as the aforementioned ordinary man. In his Eisenhower-era glasses and white shirt and tie, he looks like a refugee from what he surely considers "a better time." Beginning with the film's opening scene, it's clear to 2018 viewers he sees himself as someone done wrong by an out-of-control world. 

It's probably no accident that world includes lots of people of color: the kids on a school bus, a Korean convenience store owner, a group of Latino men and women. The list goes on. (To be fair, Douglas's character is often provoked, but he definitely makes matters worse and his reactions are grossly out of proportion. He also vents on some white people, including his terrified ex-wife, but only after he's dispatched several examples of the city's ethnic populations.)

However, it's when Douglas brings a duffel bag of guns to his war against perceived injustice that the film achieves its most shocking moments. Because we live in a world in which aggrieved men shoot up public spaces on the regular, what might have been intended as "stand up and cheer for the little guy" scenes in 1993 now come across as dangerously unhinged and deadly. You simply can't watch Douglas shooting up a fast-food joint and not think of how horribly wrong it could go, and has before.

To say about Falling Down that "they just don't make 'em like that any more" is an understatement. Twenty-five years later, they just couldn't--and wouldn't dare--make 'em like that today.

Falling Down is available for streaming rental.

31 Days of Dread--Day 8

Cropsey; 2009; written by Joshua Zeman; directed by Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman 

A documentary can be scarier than even the most vampire/zombie/demon/alien/slasher-infested fictional film. Because documentaries are, after all, based on facts. And that can mean the difference between something that's scary in a girl-don't-go-in-there! kind of way and something that makes a reasonably solid case for sleeping with all the lights on. Or not sleeping at all. 

Case in point, Cropsey, which has everything your favorite horror film has and more. Creepy old abandoned asylum with a dark history of atrocities? Check. Series of brutal murders terrorizing a tight-knit community? Check. Wild legends about an escaped mental patient responsible for the mayhem? Weird old guy who's finally arrested for the crimes? And the possibility that something still stalks the woods in search of new victims? Check, check and check. 

Plus, Cropsey's creeping mood of dread will not only crawl up and down your spine while you're watching it, but stay there for days (and yes, long nights) afterward. You won't forget the experience of watching it, even though you'll probably wish you could. 

 Cropsey is available on Amazon Prime and streaming rental.

31 Days of Dread--Day 7

This is the End; 2013; written by Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg; directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogan

Do you really need me to tell you that This is the End is both laugh-out-loud scary and scream-out-loud funny? Or that sometimes it's the other way around?

Are you not already aware that it stars Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride (plus dozens more) all playing themselves? Or that it involves an incredibly debauched party at Franco's house that goes horribly wrong when the apocalypse occurs, unleashing all manner of hell?

Have you somehow missed the fact that it's one of the smartest and funniest skewerings of Hollywood douch-baggery in years, if not ever? Or that it somehow also manages to be a sweet tribute to the power and joys of friendship? Has no one yet told you that it boasts some of the goriest special effects and the filthiest jokes anyone, anywhere has probably ever seen and heard?

No? Well, now you have a great reason to see This is the End for the first time. And if you already knew all of the above, now you've been reminded why it's worth seeing yet again.