The Last Horror Movie

I've had a long, arduous, and adventure-less week, so tonight is going to be mellow. Since LP is out of town for the night, I've taken it upon myself to eat Doritos and drink Sam Adams while I watch movies on Netflix Instant Queue. If I'm going to be geared up for the remainder of the weekend - and with projects for G. School due next week, I will be - then I have to recharge the old batteries tonight.

Watching movies on Friday nights may sound lame, but it's an activity I've held somewhat sacred since childhood. My mother gave me free rove of the video store, and in the late 80s and early 90s, that meant something. Movies, especially horror flicks, were rented based on the covers as much as the quality (or lack thereof) of the movies themselves. It's the ONLY reason I ever rented Sleepaway Camp. If not for the cover of Sleepaway Camp II - which deceitfully showcased Freddy's glove and Jason's hockey mask on the box - no movie in that series would have ever been rented.

But back to he present. What I happen to be watching right now, The Last Horror Movie, though pretensiously titled, revolves less around the cool factor of the agent of demise than the horror experience itself. While subtly creepy and more 'real' than most, it's shot faux-documentary style, a meta-movie, much like 'The Poughkeepsie Tapes' (which, to my knowledge, hasn't seen the light of day), and features a psychopathic protagonist (reminiscent of Christian Bale from American Psycho) who hires a camera man to detail his self-indulgent murderous exploits.

It's short and British and tongue-in-cheek, the latter of which seems to be both poorly and overly done these days in horror. And, to a very distinct extent, the movie is about as postmodern as horror films have ever been or will ever be (at one point, the protagonist invites the camera man [i.e. the audience] in on the fun). There is one scene in which Kevin Howarth (Max) tells a dying victim that "We're trying to make an intelligent movie about murder. We're actually doing the murders," which, to me, is about one of the most chilling lines from a movie I've ever heard.

'Last Horror Movie' is not for the squeamish, because the violence is not stylized whatsoever. It is frank and realistic and disturbing and purposefully, almost satirically, brutal in a way that most films cannot be, so view it at your own risk. And, also, just a side note, that's not to say the movie is groundbreaking in the quality department, either. If you saw and enjoyed 'Behind the Mask' or 'Blair Witch' give it a shot. Next up: Plan 9 From Outer Space.