Noteworthy On Netflix - 8/22/13

     Since we've been revisiting some neglected regular features recently, it seemed like a good time to take another look at the movies available on Netflix streaming.  These are by no means the only worthy genre movies on Netflix, just a sampling of movies that I'm familiar with that I think might otherwise be overlooked.  I've included a couple of newer releases this time that I've yet to watch because I was pleasantly surprised to find them available already.

     Availability changes often, but all of the following titles were available to stream from Netflix at the time of this posting.  The genre listed after the title (Documentary, Horror, Comedy, Foreign, Action & Adventure,  or Sci-Fi & Fantasy) describes where you'll find each movie in your onscreen groupings.  Try doing a manual search if one seems to be missing.

     If you have recommendations of your own, please share in the Comments section below.  You can check out a trailer for each entry by clicking the title.


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The Bay (2012)
Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy / 1hr25min / R / HD

     Veteran director Barry Levinson said this depiction of a deadly outbreak of mutated isopods was 80% true.  If so, we have yet another great reason to stay out of the water.

     Anchored by a great deal of 100% true factual information regarding the pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, Levinson's eco-horror makes effective use of the found footage conceit to lend credence to his fictional narrative.  The fact that such an outbreak isn't entirely implausible makes for a genuinely creepy and compelling thriller.  Watch this and then Google search images of the real-life beasties this story is based upon.  I guarantee you'll be skeeved out.

     The Bay slipped beneath a lot of radars, but it's easily one of my favorite genre movies of the last year or so.

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Antiviral (2012)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy / 1hr47min / NR / HD

     Regulars here at the Dog Farm know of my affinity for the films of director David Cronenberg, so I was thrilled when I heard his son Brandon was tackling thematically similar material for his directorial debut.  Antiviral tells of a celebrity obsessed near future when customers pay to be injected with pathogens collected from ill celebrities in a bid to feel an intimate connection with the stars they admire.

     Icky, yes, but Cronenberg effectively examines this notion with an appropriately cold and clinical eye.  Clearly, he's his father's son.  Watch Antiviral in the company of someone with whom you wish to swap bodily fluids, and you probably won't be in the mood afterwards.

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Mad Monster Party (1967)
Comedy, Horror / 1hr34min / NR / Standard

     What do you get when you mix Rankin/Bass stop motion "Animagic", the voice talents of Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller, and character designs by EC Comics artist Jack Davis?  Well, you get the gloriously dated and infectiously fun creature feature Mad Monster Party.  It's mild enough for the kiddies, and the grown-ups will get a kick out of hearing Karloff - not Bobby "Boris" Pickett - croon his own musical number.  This monster rally is a no-brainer for Halloween, and it was a well kept secret to me until only a few years ago. 

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Errors Of The Human Body (2013)
Foreign, Sci-Fi & Fantasy / 1hr42min / NR / HD

     Here's one of those recent releases I was surprised to find streaming already.  I've not seen Errors Of The Human Body yet, but haunted genetics researchers and lethal viruses sound promising.  This made a splash at Montreal's Fantasia Festival as well as Austin's Fantastic Fest while touring the festival circuit last year, with many critics singling out an impressive performance by star Michael Eklund.  Love that title . . .

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[Rec] 3: Genesis (2012)
 Foreign, Horror / 1hr20min / R / HD

     I'll cop to being disappointed with [Rec] 3: Genesis when I first saw it last year, but I now realize I was judging this second sequel to a harrowing original as the movie I wanted it to be, not the movie it is.  While it still exists in the same world as the first two movies, [Rec] 3 drops the handheld camera conceit utilized in the first two after only twenty minutes or so.  It then becomes a more traditional horror movie that's still more entertaining than most.  Had [Rec] 3 gone by any other name, it probably would have been more warmly received by horror fans, myself included.  Hey, everyone loves Halloween III: Season Of The Witch now, right?

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 Super (2011)
Action & Adventure, Comedy / 1hr36min / R / HD

     James Gunn wrote and directed this tonally odd movie about Frank Darbo (Rainn Wilson) assuming the heroic identity of The Crisom Bolt and later taking on Libby (Ellen Page) as his sidekick Boltie.  Sounds a bit like Kick Ass, huh?  Don't be fooled.

     Super takes an often disturbing look at the psychosis that underlies the compulsion to fight crime as a costumed superhero.  It also addresses - finally - the largely unexamined sexual component of a hero's relationship with his sidekick.  Had Gunn not allowed his bad guys to become so cartoonishly broad (his Troma roots are showing) he could have had a grim and pessimistic winner.  As it is, Super is a flawed but fascinating spin on the superhero origin story that still deserves more exposure than it's gotten.

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YellowBrickRoad (2010)
Horror / 1hr40min / R / HD

    Ambiguity has its place in the movies, but there's a fine line between "ambiguous" and "obtuse for the sake of being obtuse".   YellowBrickRoad has a great setup - the best thing about it, so I won't ruin it here - but it ultimately becomes so frustratingly vague that it's hard to still care much by the time it meanders to its spectacularly unsatisfying denouement.

     Why am I recommending it then?  Well, that great setup as well as a haunting, off kilter tone save it from being a total loss, and it's hard to fault the filmmakers for obviously striving to make something a little different.  I'd be curious to hear how it strikes others.  Movies are a visual medium, and much of what I saw in YellowBrickRoad has stuck with me.  That's gotta count for something.

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The Devil's Rock (2011)
Horror / 1hr26min / R / HD

     I pretty much said all I have to say about The Devil's Rock here.  It's a solid little horror movie that aims a bit higher than most.  It's not the campy shlockfest that the unfortunate key art to the left suggests.  The Devil's Rock is a good one for the wee hours of the morning.

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The Last Will And Testament Of Rosalind Leigh (2012)
Horror / 1hr20min / NR / HD

     . . . and here's yet another pithy entry, since The Last Will And Testament Of Rosalind Leigh is the other movie on this list that I haven't watched yet but was surprised to find streaming already.  Written and directed by Rue Morgue Magazine founding editor and president Rodrigo Gudino, it seems to be dividing viewers right down the middle.  I usually find that movies with sharply divided critical response are worth a watch if only because that's pretty much a guarantee that at least it's not vanilla.  Gudino has been stumping for this in the pages of Rue Morgue for a long while now - it's the cover story this month - so my curiosity is piqued.

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Galaxy Of Terror (1981)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy / 1hr21min / R / Standard

     Yes, this is that Galaxy Of Terror, the Roger Corman production that's home to the infamous trimmed-to-avoid-an-X "Taaffe O'Connell raped by a twelve foot long maggot" scene.  If that's not enough to make it a must see, check out the B movie cast to die for:  Erin "Joanie Cunningham" Moran, Ray "Mr. Hand" Walston, Robert "Freddy Kruger" Englund, and Sid "Captain Spaulding" Haig.  How about the fact that future super director James Cameron was the Second Unit Director and Production Designer?  No?  Geez, people, what more do you need?

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American Scary (2006)
Documentary /1hr31min / NR / Standard

    American Scary is a documentary about the history and legacy of the horror movie hosts like Zacherley, Svengoolie, and Vampira that once littered the broadcast television landscape.  Filled with interviews and vintage clips, American Scary catalogs nearly sixty horror hosts, as well as providing commentary from talking heads like Forrest J. Ackerman, Bob Burns, Joel Hodgson, and Tom Savini.  Damn, but I love me some horror documentaries!

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John Dies At The End (2012)
Horror, Comedy / 1hr39min / R / HD

     Did I save the best for last?  I had a blast with John Dies At The End, although the person I watched it with thought it was a huge waste of time.  She's wrong, of course.

     Admittedly, though, I have a huge appetite for the brand of cinematic goulash that director Don Coscarelli serves up so well.  If Phantasm V is never going to happen - and why isn't it? - I'd be happy to make due with a second chapter in this universe.  John Dies At The End was the first movie I'd seen in a long while that made me think, "I'd really like to see a sequel to that."  Fingers crossed.

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The Devil's Rock (2011) - Nazi Worst

     The Devil's Rock (2011) is definitely "Nazi worst" World War II occult mash-up ever, though I suppose that atrocious pun is probably punishable as a war crime.  What can I say - it's been a long week, and several consecutive nights of too little sleep is catching up with me.  This was put on with the intent that it would serve as "white noise" to mask my tinnitus and hopefully lull me to sleep with its hopeless inadequacy.  Seriously, look at that poster . . .  I really thought I was about to be served something way sillier and more exploitative than what I got.  Then I got sucked in by this tale of Nazis, double-crosses, and scheming succubi.  Who knew?

     First time director and co-writer Paul Campion masks his modest budget well by using limited locations and a cast of only about half a dozen performers.  There's nothing wrong with that if you can tell a compelling story with limited resources, and he does.  One Nazi, one Kiwi, and one succubus summoned forth in the service of an occult driven German master plan to unleash Hell on Earth - what more do you really need to make a solid, pulpy little thriller?  Figure in solid, serious minded performances from the three principals and a fun demon design provided by the Weta Workshop, and you've got yourself a pretty solid little B movie.

What lonely soldier wouldn't fall for this?

     Campion sprinkles in a sufficient number of allusions to actual events to lend the The Devil's Rock authenticity, but what really sold it for me was a central narrative built around the conceit that the demon feeds upon the loneliness inherent in wartime.  You see, being separated from loved ones - or worse yet, losing loved ones altogether - leaves the grunts on both sides of the ideological spectrum easy prey for the succubus.  No one wants to be alone, right?

     The older I get, the more sensitive I become to that theme.  Being, I suspect, well past middle age now, the notion of growing old alone terrifies me more and more with every passing year.  Would I be tempted by an offer of even the semblance of happiness?  Would I sell out my principles for the opportunity to grow old with a cherished other that I thought was gone from my life forever?  That pause for reflection keeps getting longer . . . Like the succubus herself, The Devil's Rock economically preys on that most human of  weaknesses.  What a vile and insidious weapon that would be - and it can work even when you know it's being used against you.

A Nazi giving head to the demon.  This relationship is doomed to failure.

       Of course, getting your head bitten off is bad, too.  The Devil's Rock works on a lot of levels.