brendan halpin

Got vaxxed for the ol’ vid the other day, which meant a couple of days of watching horror movies in bed. I made a kind of thematic double feature sort of unintentionally and of course have some thoughts!

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)— Directed by Larry Cohen, who brought you It’s Alive and The Stuff, neither of which I’ve seen. But anyway—delicious early 80’s New York ambiance—pretty much the dying gasp of the old, gritty Manhattan, so that’s fun to see. David Carradine phones in his performance as a seen-it-all New York cop, Richard Roundtree chews the scenery as a cop with an attitude, and Michael Moriarty….seems to think he’s in a different movie. I don’t mean this as a putdown—he turns in an absolutely fantastic performance as a down-on-his-luck loser petty criminal that really elevates what is otherwise just a fun movie about a rubber snake eating people off of Manhattan rooftops. It’s, like, especially admirable because he had to know he was never going to get any recognition for this, and yet he really acted the shit out of a role that didn’t really need it. So, yeah, a fun movie about how some human sacrifices bring about the return of Quetzelcoatl in New York. Horrible special effects. Great fun.

Skull: The Mask (2020) An expedition finds a Pre-Columbian skull mask in the Amazon and a shady businessman who is keeping some children captive arranges to have it brought to Sao Paolo. Well, you know somebody’s gonna put it on, and a string of gory murders ensue. Can sullen cop Beatriz Obdias stop the killings? What the hell is that severed hand about? How do you survive getting shot in the chest while only treating your wound with a scavenged tampon? This movie asks the important questions. A very fun slasher with a plot that is maybe a bit too convoluted, but when the priest pulls on the giant crucifix and Christ’s hand comes free because it’s the hilt of a hidden sword…well, maybe you could resist that, but I definitely couldn’t.

Overall, a great kickoff to spooky season!