The Return
- Back from a 6-month break (Levi's "summer slumber")
- Spooky season timing couldn't be better
- Beer of choice: Maharaja IPA from Avery Brewing ("battery acid in a can")
Phantoms (1998)
- Directed by Joe Chappelle (Halloween: Curse of Michael Myers)
- Written by Dean Koontz, adapting his own novel
- Starring baby-faced Ben Affleck as a sheriff/ex-FBI agent
- Features Peter O'Toole bringing gravitas to exposition dumps
- Rose McGowan and Joanna Going in peak Miramax era roles
Plot Discussion
- Small Colorado town mysteriously empty (before it was cool)
- Ancient enemy that's basically primordial ooze meets ChatGPT
- Lovecraftian influences mixed with The Thing vibes
- Pacing issues: "It's a four-act movie pretending to be three"
- CGI that aged like milk left in the sun
Peter O'Toole Appreciation Corner
- From Lawrence of Arabia to... this
- Survived pancreatic cancer in the '70s (absolute legend)
- Professional drinker, occasional actor
- Died in 2012 at 80
October Horror Plans
- Pumpkinhead (Kentucky hillbillies and monsters)
- Witchfinder General (Vincent Price at his cruelest)
- Discussion of recent releases: Sinners, Weapons, The Long Walk
Random Tangents
- SSRIs and their gill-growing properties
- The bridge troll health guru phenomenon
- Why cigarettes are actually good for you (they're not)
- Ben Affleck's chin as a character unto itself
Rating: Mixed bag - great concept, questionable execution, worth it for Liev Schreiber's creepy giggle alone
