We watch several movies a week. Every Friday, we'll talk a little about some of the movies we watched that we felt were Worth Mentioning.
A Wes Craven TV movie, rideshare thrills, an elderly psycho, and revenge.
SUMMER OF FEAR (1978)
A Nightmare on Elm Street creator Wes Craven made several TV movies during his career, a fact that seems to get largely overlooked. His first came around just one year after he made The Hills Have Eyes, and it gave him the chance to work with The Exorcist star Linda Blair - who he would give a cameo in Scream nearly twenty years later.
Based on a novel by I Know What You Did Last Summer author Lois Duncan - with Glenn M. Benest and Max A. Keller handling the adaptation - Summer of Fear (also known as Stranger in Our House) stars Blair as teenage equestrian Rachel Bryant, whose life is shaken up in a major way when her mom gets a call notifying her that Rachel's aunt, who the family hasn't been in contact with for ten years, has been killed in a car accident, along with her husband and housekeeper. Thankfully, Rachel's teenage cousin Julia Trent (Lee Purcell of Valley Girl) was not in the car at the time. Since Julia has been orphaned, Rachel's family decides to take her in... and then things gradually get weirder and weirder.
While Rachel's family fawns over Julia (and her brother even develops a crush on their cousin), Rachel can tell there's something off about her, and so can her horse Sundance. Whenever Julia comes anywhere near him, Sundance goes nuts, even going so far as to trap Julia in a truck - and during that sequence there's an amusing shot where it looks like the horse purposely punches a front hoof through one of the truck's windows, trying to hit Julia in the face. Of course, Sundance going nuts doesn't go over well with Rachel's parents. And it doesn't go over well with Rachel when Julia manages to seduce her boyfriend. (Her brother, who wanted to be kissing cousins, isn't so pleased by that turn of event, either.)
But this isn't just a story of wild horses and teenage hormones, there really is something seriously weird going on with Julia. Sundance reacts to her presence because of that ability animals have to sense evil. Rachel is able to deduce that she's using black magic, casting spells, and becomes determined to bring an end to Julia's low-key mayhem. The Rachel character is kind of shrill and annoying, but we're still on her side in this endeavor, especially when Julia's shenanigans cause injury and death. It helps that Purcell did a great job of playing this villain and making her someone to root against.
There were some cool genre TV movies made in the '70s, and Summer of Fear is one of them. It can get goofy at times, but it's interesting and engaging for the entirety of its 92 minutes, and it really goes off in the rails into crazy town during the climax. Watchers of '90s sitcoms may also want to check this one out to see future comedy star Fran Drescher in an early role as a friend of Rachel's.
RIDE (2018)
Judging by a mention in the end credits, it looks like writer/director Jeremy Ungar's 2018 thriller Ride is a feature expansion of a short film called Lift, and the expansion was a brief one - Ride has a running time of just 76 minutes. Most of those 76 minutes are rather captivating, though.
Jessie T. Usher stars as James, a young man who works as a rideshare driver in Los Angeles, where he's seeking an acting career. On the night we catch up with James, his first fare is Jessica (Bella Thorne), who he develops a crush on during the drive to her destination. Jessica invites him to meet up with her again later - and in the meantime, James picks up another passenger, Will Brill as an eccentric, very talkative fellow named Bruno. Bruno is a bit of a pain and doesn't know exactly where he wants to go, but as the ride goes on it seems like he and James might be able to be buddies. And Bruno encourages him to keep that meeting with Jessica.
Not long after Jessica joins James and Bruno in the car, Bruno reveals himself to be a gun-toting maniac, and he proceeds to make the rest of their night very uncomfortable.
Ride isn't on the level of a Quentin Tarantino movie, but I did get a Tarantino vibe from it occasionally. It's in the way the characters banter about the entertainment industry and various random topics (coffee and yak butter), it's in the way Ungar shows an affection for L.A. that's similar to the affection Tarantino showed for 1969 L.A. in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and in the fact that this is a very dialogue heavy movie. Most of it consists of James, Jessica, and Bruno talking to each other in the car.
James and Jessica make some dumb decisions and I wasn't satisfied with the ending, which happened way too quickly and felt like it was open to a sequel (which we're probably never going to get) in a way that didn't reflect well on the film's heroes. But those issues didn't bring the film down for me too much. I enjoyed watching it, and the lead actors all did great work in their roles.
DERANGED GRANNY (2020)
After decades of watching Wendie Malick in comedy projects, I never thought I'd see her take on the role of a homicidal antagonist in a Lifetime thriller - but I'm very glad I did see just in that, especially since the thriller in question has the incredible title Deranged Granny, and Malick is the deranged granny!
Her character's name is Barbara, and the woman is way too into the idea of becoming a grandmother. When her son Ethan (Josh Ventura) becomes engaged to single mother Kendall (Amanda Righetti of Friday the 13th 2009), Barbara dives right into a mission of trying to look like the most amazing grandma of all time. She spoils Kendall's two children like crazy, saves one of the kids from dying of a nut allergy thanks to the EpiPen she happens to have handy (never mind that she had to spike the kid's food with ground-up nuts to set off the reaction so she could look like a hero), and takes deadly action to make sure Kendall's ex won't be taking the kids away to a different city for three months every year.
Malick is always great in every role she plays, so of course she's great at playing this psychotic senior citizen. Deranged Granny was exactly the movie I was hoping it would be, a mindless good time.
Directed by Jennifer Liao from a script by Vicky L. Neal, this movie was apparently shot under the title Grandma Dearest, but Lifetime gave it a much better title.
THE DEVIL TO PAY (2019)
Many viewers may be drawn to the revenge thriller The Devil to Pay due to the fact that it was written and directed by Lane and Ruckus Skye, who were two of the three screenwriters on the recent instant cult classic Becky, but when they do watch this film they'll find that it is quite different from Becky. The two films do have some similar elements, but while watching The Devil to Pay I got the feeling that is something that's aching to be included in the legendary Joe Bob Briggs' "How Rednecks Saved Hollywood" presentation. This movie would feel right at home playing drive-ins alongside films like Deliverance, Gator Bait, Southern Comfort, etc.
The action takes place deep in the Appalachian mountains, where we're introduced to a couple families, the Runions and the Knoxes, that have been calling this area home since their ancestors sought refuge there in the 1700s. We're told that these people are self-sufficient and self-governing, and don't want anything to do with the outside world. They follow their own rules, have their own code of honor: their creed. The Runions and the Knoxes have a troubled history with each other, but in recent years have had a truce in place. Now, due to a rather ridiculous perceived transgression, that truce is in danger of crumbling, and local woman Lemon Cassidy (Danielle Deadwyler) is caught in the middle of the whole mess.
Deadwyler turns in a great performance, although you may need to switch on the subtitles to understand every line she delivers. Lemon has quite a thick accent, and when you couple that with the vernacular the characters use, it can sometimes be a little tough to keep up with everything she's saying. Despite occasionally having to wonder "What did she say?" I was very impressed by Deadwyler's dramatic skills, and she made it easy to side with Lemon as she navigates her way through some heartwrenching, strange, and violent situations. She's in over her head, but the character has a strength and a cleverness that makes her a captivating heroine.
With members of the Runion family threatening the life of her young son Coy (Ezra Haslam), Lemon is forced to complete tasks for the Runions that her missing husband was supposed to be handling. Not only does this put her in danger of being killed by people from either family, it also inadvertently brings her into contact with a strange commune populated by "city folk" who follow the word of a fellow called The Fire Keeper and hold the belief that men can gain spiritual wisdom through a ritual involving "vitriol" (sulfuric acid). The visit to the commune is bizarre, but there's a good payoff to having this group of weirdos on the mountain.
Eventually Lemon has to stop following orders and start trying to take control of the situation out of the hands of the Runions, and her attempt to do this results in some acts of violence that are sometimes shocking, sometimes satisfying.
Deadwyler had a solid supporting cast to share her scenes with, including Adam Boyer, composer Brad Carter, Luce Rains, Parisa Johnston, Charles Black, and The Walking Dead's Jayson Warner Smith. A standout is Catherine Dyer as Runion matriarch Tommy. Dyer is able to make her character detestable while speaking in sweet tones and baking a variety of delicious foods.
A good new addition to the redneck thriller sub-genre, The Devil to Pay is an intriguing, low-key film that makes for an entertaining 87 minutes. In the end it doesn't feel like there was a whole lot to it, but it's interesting enough while it's going on, and the performances are involving enough, that I was glad I sat through it. Danielle Deadwyler makes it worth checking out all on her own, everything else is a bonus.
The review of The Devil to Pay originally appeared on ArrowintheHead.com
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