This week, we’re looking into Gerard Johnstone’s follow-up to her robo-killer doll, M3GAN. Plus, we’ve got our three-pack horror recos.
Enjoy, and sorry for being M.I.A., but we’re so backkk!
HORROR CINEMA’S SASSIEST killer robot got an unfortunate patch in M3GAN2.0, a soulless do-over that seems content in becoming a cheap parody of what made the original an instant classic.
To be that isn’t new either. Outside of horror, original films have long been riddled with insipid sequels. Film bros from Woodsboro would call this the “film but it’s [blank]” sequel epidemic, but would also fondly cite outliers: Aliens is obviously a poster film for this, and it’s that sort of sequel that M3GAN 2.0 tries to be — but fails.
Some time after the events of the original, the titular killer robot has been shut down by its creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), a robotics tech whiz and reluctant guardian to her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). She’s become some sort of anti-singularity sherpa, protesting against anything that might keep the door ajar for A.I. sentience and eventual singularity. But when a deadlier tech-threat emerges, Gemma is forced to reboot her Shelleyan monster (literally).
There’s an intriguing plot somewhere in 2.0, especially one about the A.I. arms race, but any semblance of that is lost in the shuffle of messy screenwriting and haphazard direction. There’s barely any cohesion in the themes it tries to tackle, and you get the sense that these themes can be somewhat interesting if unspooled in a better film.
Plus, whatever happened to Scream 2’s rules on sequels? Number one: the body count is always bigger. Number two: the death scenes are always much more elaborate. This new film criminally nerfs the appeal from which M3GAN sprung as a household name. When your villain literally kills off an elementary kid off-rip, it’s tough selling her as an anti-heroine, robotic voguing (roboguing?) or not.
The film scatters reminders of what made the original great. I think, maybe, to convince viewers that the “yess-gawd-camp-slay-mawma” of it all is somehow still intact. Yet, when the titular droid clad in preppy Victorian outfit tells us to hold onto our collective vaginas, the thrill just isn’t there anymore.
Two years after M3GAN's rampage, her creator, Gemma, resorts to resurrecting her infamous creation in order to take down Amelia, the military-grade weapon who was built by a defense contractor who stole M3GAN's underlying tech.
Horror recs this week
Every FIELD NOTES FROM HELL dispatch includes a three-pack of horror recs: 1.) recent horror, 2.) horror classic, and 3.) guilty pleasure/underrated horror.
Here are this week’s recommendations.
1️⃣ New Horror: Missing Child Videotape (2024, dir. Ryota Kondo)
Borrowing plenty from early-aughts J-horror, Ryota Kondo’s debut feature is engulfed in the same beguiling atmosphere that enshrouded audiences in Takashi Shimizu’s Ringu and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Kairo. The film follows a young man plagued with feelings of guilt when he receives a strange VCR tape showing his little brother’s final moments before his disappearance. Kondo’s flourishes here peg him to be a deft student of early-Kurosawa sensibilities. The intense yet understated sense of dread is such a thrill. Easy recommend.
Missing Child Videotape premieres at last year’s TIFF. No word yet on PVOD or streaming, but seeing the hype it’s having, I’m sure it will have a proper release soon.
2️⃣ Classic Horror: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986, dir. Tobe Hooper)
A lesson on making a 180-turn sequel (and making it work), Tobe Hooper’s follow-up to one of if not the most horrific films is…well, a darkly comedic take on it. But what makes this ‘80s cult classic work despite the drastic tonal shift is its insistence on refusing to give its baddies any redemptive shots, regardless of how amusing they are to watch (Chap-Top Sawyer says hi!). Purists will hate the tonal whiplash from the original, but it will go down — in my book, at least — as one of the better horror sequels of all time.
3️⃣ Underrated Horror:Demon Seed (1977, dir. Donald Cammell)
Rosemary’s Baby by S4T4N-T3CH. I’ve oscillated on the decision to feature this technophobic chiller from the ‘70s. Personally, proto-feminist horrors rarely go the necessary distance to warrant their inclusion in discussion, at least in my book. Plus, the promotion for this film seems skewed in a way as unnerving as the themes it depicts: “Julie Christie carries the Demon Seed” is plastered on every film poster. Yet, its fifty-year-old fears about male-coded obsessions about control and legacy encroaching female bodily autonomy feel uncannily relevant and topical today. Plus, Christie delivers such a nuanced performance that the film feels like her own creation. It’s a film that doesn’t sit right sometimes, but I’d say it’s worth delving into, especially for people who just can’t see the damn obvious.
Demon Seed is available on PVOD and streaming in the U.S.
Upcoming horrors this week
Every week, we’re listing down upcoming horror films and television series. We’re also throwing in some notable horror news to keep you all looped in.
Here’s what’s new in horror this week.
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s long-awaited requel, I Know What You Did Last Summer, is in theaters this week.
Aussie shark-week serial killer romp, Dangerous Animals, is hitting PVOD on Tuesday, July 22nd. Directed by Sean Byrne and starring Jai Courtney.
Fresh off the box office success of Superman, James Gunn confirms that DC’s upcoming Clayface movie is a proper horror film directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan — Source: CBS
This week on #TerrorTrinkets: Not that I’ll buy it with my own money, but we have JWA’s kitsch-iest contribution to Dior so far (I mean this positively, if that’s even possible). Plus, new merch for pre-order from A24 and Neon.
I’ll do this once a month, but let me know if you want this to be a weekly thing!
From left to right, here are the products featured:
Dior Book Tote (Dracula) — technically just a preview and not for sale (for now); typical Dior Book Totes go out for $3-4K.
That’s it for this week’s digest! Thank you so much for reading through.
ABOUT FIELD NOTES FROM HELL
FIELD NOTES FROM HELL is Deep Cuts’ weekly email digest. Dispatches go out every weekend, with handpicked capsule reviews, news updates, and horror recommendations.
