A short trailer for a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes of failed Theranos fame was two days ago. And it looks... scary.
It was a huge scandal when it happened, and it led to Elizabeth Holmes being sentenced to 11 years in prison. Beginning around 2003, with her company Theranos Inc., she had been developing a medical blood testing device that was supposed to deliver results incredibly efficiently and quickly. It made her a business superstar, but in the end she couldn't keep the promise, faked results to keep everybody happy, received lawsuits, was charged with fraud, and Theranos was shut down in 2018.
Shortly before she went to prison in 2023, filmmakers Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim were invited to document her life, and continued to do so for a while.
The resulting documentary titled "You Can See Everything" premiered on Sept. 6th, to be released in theaters on Sept. 16th. According to early reports, it is spectacular. Viewers at the premiere were asked to keep quiet about the details and the revelations in it, so we don't know a lot about it yet.
Which is great. Because the teaser trailer that was just released is very short, but it gives you the creeps, and clarifies why you should not reveal too much about the film when you've seen it. (At least not yet.)
From what we heard so far, it plays with your mind a little bit. Maybe in an attempt to decipher Elizabeth's?
It looks very exiting. Scary, actually. Well, see for yourself.
Jazz pianist Marcus witnesses a murder, and becomes deeply involved with the investigation of the case. Something is odd, something feels wrong, but he just can't figure out what it is... This is a review of the original, unedited widescreen (2.35:1) version of "Profondo Rosso", with a runtime of 126 minutes. Avoid all other versions.
Ah, beautiful deep red. Meaning yellow. "Profondo Rosso" is among the most giallo of gialli. It's the last movie of Dario Argento's initial row of classic mystery thrillers, and it's probably the best one. Maybe his older ones are a tad more cozy to watch, maybe Mario Bava's "6 Donne Per L'Assassino" ("Blood And Black Lace", 1964) is more spectacular in terms of visual style, "La casa dalle finestre che ridono" ("The House With Laughing Windows", 1976) is more subversively scary, and Sergio Martino's "Torso" (1973) is more viscerally effective - but "Profondo Rosso" is just the perfect mix of all of these attributes.
It begins with a hint of the supernatural, which sets the uncanny undertone for everything that is to come. So what is going on? Are we watching an actual horror movie? No, it's a giallo, it just very cleverly avoids the obvious, plays with some unusual characters, and some very creepy sets, turning the mystery element up to 11. It's really quite elaborate and presents the evidence in episode-like chunks, but it still feels dense and harmonious. It's not just mere storytelling - some effort was put into fleshing out some of the characters. Daria Nicolodi gives a nice performance as the quirky, but bright and charming reporter, and David Hemming's character has neat soft side, that is quite uncommon in giallo movies.
There is a bit of a "pure" horror element in "Profondo Rosso" - maybe pointing towards Argento's next movie projects ("Suspiria" (1977), "Inferno" (1980)) - and it works great in the context of the movie. A glimpse of gothic horror, a touch of the surreal...
Accompanied by some nicely unsettling music composed by Giorgio Gaslini and prog-rock group Goblin, "Profondo Rosso" has everything you'd expect from a good giallo, only it's more polished, it has a little more range and finesse, the writing is more detailed, and everything a little better tied together than in pretty much any other comparable production. The visuals aren't as daring and psychedelic as in some other films, but beautifully and very precisely composed clues to the mystery. When the gruesome murders happen, it's more than just an effect, it's another piece of the twisted puzzle you and the protagonists are trying to put together.
Some releases featured the tagline "Scarier than Jaws!" written on the cover artwork. That was probably a bit of a publicity stunt, but if you have only a tiny bit of love for giallo cinema, then this tagline is probably accurate. "Profondo Rosso" masterfully merges the classic, more grounded crime mystery story with some more horror, bizarre elements, and keeps you guessing, sweating, biting your nails until the hair-raising revelation. It's without a doubt in the top five of the genre.
As a sidenote, Salvatore Baccaro, of "La Bestia In Calore" (1977) (in)fame, makes a short appearance in it.
It's awful to see a fancy modern trailer for this great classic movie featuring Christopher Lee in a somewhat career- and genre-defining role. The flashy rhythm, and focus on one-liners of modern editing is totally inadequate for a more than 60 years old production.
But the good news is that the film looks better than ever, and apparently contains some very rarely seen footage. According to the video description, this director's cut is the same as the original 1958 Japanese theatrical release, including some scenes "deemed too shocking for UK and US audiences at the time". It'll be interesting to see what these scenes are, because there have been previous releases that claimed to restore the film to its uncut form. Are we talking about footage that has already been available outside the UK and US? Are we talking about actual unseen scenes, or mere seconds, maybe just frames that have been restored?
Anyway - what has certainly been restored, is the picture quality. This is probably the closest you'll ever get to a perfect master copy of the original film strip. Great stuff, for both the Hammer-horror-newbie, and the adept Dracula-geek!
Bear decides to confess his love to his co-worker "Freaky" Nikki. But he's a bit of an insecure person, and messes up the situation. Out of frustration over his failure, without much thinking, he resorts to the little present he wanted to give to her: A "One-Wish-Willow", a toy that's supposed to grant a wish. Exactly one - no more, and certainly no less...
A woman's obsession can sometimes be freaky. "Obsession" takes a somewhat default setting involving some young people and their dating habits, and turns it into a real tour-de-force.
On first sight, it looks a bit like a romantic twentysomething low-budget movie - which it is, in a way - but after just minutes of runtime you realize there's something brooding beneath the surface, in both form and function. This is most obvious in Inde Navarette's stunning acting performance as Nikki, effortlessly shape-shifting back and forth between very nice and not so nice. But Michael Johnston's performance is equally convincing, and it applies to the entire production: Few times, if any, before, has the rushed energy of generation social-media mixed so well with a serious implementation. "Obsession" carries a bit of the quickly shot, just-your-average-buddy, snappy, casual approach of many internet videos, but it doesn't get lost in that kind of appeal. The production quality is flawless, and it takes its time, using such moments just as a starting point for some quite astounding developments. "Obsession" could easily be just 15 minutes long, and still contain the same amount of material. But director Curry Barker fleshes out the characters and connections so nicely and tastefully, it becomes way more than just going through the motions. Nikki is way more than just her funny faces, Bear is way more than just a crybaby. It all leads somewhere, it matters, in the context of the movie.
A nice example of this is the color palette of the film. It's mostly toned down, a somewhat muted indoor atmosphere, the kind that's often used to convey exaggerated bleak realism. This is easy to achieve, and perfectly in line with nowadays' casual approach. It has been done thousands of times before, it could've looked boring or even bad - but thanks to some extra tricks with lighting and in post-production, "Obsession" delivers some really creepy, unsettling visuals, turning the cliche into individual style.
The same goes for the dialogue. It could've been just some chatter, unhinged or politically correct, whatever required to get some attention. But it's the quality of the implementation, in writing and delivery, and how it's placed in the film, that makes it so much more powerful than the mere shot or scene.
Regarding the function, the content, "Obsession" can be read in multiple ways. Who's the obsessed one? Where did it come from? What was the actual intent? It doesn't give a definitive answer, partly because it doesn't want to, partly because it just can't. But it is still nuanced, it has actual depth and provides enough hints for you to chew on for a good while. Many viewers will be able to relate to both Nikki's and Bear's actions, both actively and passively.
And so on. "Obsession" is anything but dumb. If you dig a little deeper into the production, you'll find out that it has a certain degree of improvisation. Not every little detail in it was planned, or works out perfectly. You may find a little plot-hole, it looks a bit juvenile here and there, and Meryl Streep is still the better actress, but it's also proof that Gen-Z isn't a generation lost. Something has evolved underneath the flashy, hectic, short, and short-lived doom-scrolling videos flooding the internet these days. If used with care, eye-popping facial expressions, meme-ready voices, nervous youngsters, and a little bit of short-sighted chaos can be effective in a horror movie. "Obsession" uses the aforementioned to outstanding effect, embedded in a tragic story about love (obsession?), set in a charmingly authentic environment, with a handful of proven working horror tropes thrown in, and a couple of previously unseen ones.
"Obsession" could've easily been a failure, but it works brilliantly, it has soul and purpose. Thanks to thoughtful writing, sensitive directing, amazing acting, stunningly effective moderate lighting, camera work and special effects, and last but not least great sound design, it's a tremendous success. Oh, and is it scary? You bet.
Time is just relentless: Tim "Frank-N-Furter" Curry has passed away.
He was a versatile artist, who played in many different types of films, lots of stage plays, and recorded some very nice music. Horror fans know him as the super iconic, androgynous Frank-N-Furter in the super legendary "Rocky Horror Picture Show" of 1975, maybe as the impressive Darkness character in "Legend" (1985), and certainly as horror-clown Pennywise in the first adaptation of Stephen King's "It" (1990), made for TV.
Tim Curry was a bit of a secret weapon among actors. He'd be the slightly odd character, sometimes the very odd character, sometimes the Devil himself, filling the role with actual life, whatever that may be given the respective setting. Where other actors may have made such a character look ridiculous or overblown, Tim Curry made it look nonchalant and bold.
After 2010, his stage and film acting roles became rare, and he mostly only provided voice acting to movies of various genres, including animated films.
Beloved 1996 Playstation game and (somewhat) zombie movie franchise "Resident Evil" gets yet another treatment.
Sony Pictures just dropped the full official trailer for the new "Resident Evil" 2026 reboot. It's a noisy trailer with heavy, annoying editing - but otherwise it looks actually pretty good. The movie was directed by Zach Cregger of "Barbarian" (2022) and "Weapons" (2025) fame, and it seems to be a real quality production. That's a reasonably interesting looking protagonist, the way the new story ties in with the original Resident Evil universe doesn't feel forced or blunt, there's a bit of tasteful quirky humor, some eerie first-person camera view in the dark, snowy woods, a bizarre multi-armed and multi-legged creature creeping though the empty door frame... and so on, this doesn't feel wrong at all on first contact.
Of course it remains to be seen how well it works as a feature length film, but this is great stuff so far, check it out!
The year is 1499. When a woman is falsely accused of witchcraft, and burnt at the stake, her two daughters watch in horror. In her last moments, she curses the people and the land, and while her younger daughter is taken into custody of a baron with some outrageous manners, her older daughter vows to restore justice beyond the grave...
Phew. Ok, the opening section of "I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte" is
quite intense, but it's still only a fraction of what the movie has to
offer. It's Anthony M. Dawson aka Antonio Margheriti, it's Barbara Steele, it's Italian, it's witches, fire, castle, revenge...!
So this is a gothic horror movie, the very iconic vintage kind, set at the end of the Middle Ages. Traditional religion and folklore serve as a background for a nicely crafted story of injustice and guilt. There's not a huge amount of intellect here, as isn't too much graphic violence, but a heartfelt dark fairy-tale about morale and decency, which ends in tragedy and redemption. The visuals basically match the content: No fancy experiments, just the usual vocabulary of brick walls, spiderwebs, candles, dark hallways, secret passages, a damsel in distress, a gentleman at her side, and so on. It's not groundbreaking, but it looks and feels just perfect, moody, spooky, dark and fateful.
On top of all of this are some details in "I Lunghi Capelli..." that really raise it above off-the-shelf material. It starts with quite a bang, and from there, it works its way through the storyline, with some very decent acting by Ms. Steele, some exceptionally beautiful black-and-white picture composition (The cross and the ashes... whoa!), some amazingly dynamic camera sweeps and fluent editing, some scares and some suspense, to a bone-chillingly grim conclusion.
Especially the ending section is so dark, and so beautifully directed and filmed, it is the most obvious sign that actual thought and passion went into the production of the movie. Someone really cared for this, and it pays off. "I Lunghi Capelli..." has some lengths here and there, and, obviously, it's not meant to start endless debates about human existence (or... maybe?) (no, probably not), but even in its weakest moments it's still good enough to nicely carry on, and in its best moments it's pretty spectacular and scary.
It's one of those
movies that completely delivers on its promise, easily as much as Mario
Bava's even more iconic "La Maschera Del Demonio" ("Black Sunday", 1960). You want gothic? Fasten
your seatbelt, "I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte" doesn't waste much time - it almost literally throws
you directly into the hell of a burning at the stake!
Verdict: As dark, beautiful, and solid as a 500-year-old castle! 6.5/10
