Suburban Screams, Phone Stalker
We’ve reached the last episode of John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams. And now that I’ve seen the entire season, I’d like to say something directly to John Carpenter if I may. Mr. Carpenter, I’m a big fan. Have been since I was a child. So I ask this with all due respect. Did you lose a bet? Do you owe people money? Is that why you did this? Because otherwise, I’m entirely confused.
The story
Our last episode tells the story of a woman named Beth Spierer. Her life is shattered when someone starts to call her and deliver horrific, violent messages.
These calls and texts get worse and worse. They often include pictures of her with scratches over her eyes or pictures of a dildo. The calls start coming to her work as well.
Beth tries to change her number, blocks calls and even goes to the police. But no matter what she does, she can’t escape the horrifying calls from the violent stalker.
What worked
The acting in this episode was fairly good. At least when compared to most of this season. It isn’t good when compared to most other shows, but for this episode it was fantastic. All of the actors involved knew what they were doing. And they are not part of the criticism I’m going to levy in the next few paragraphs.
What didn’t work
I can honestly say that this episode of Suburban Screams should not have been made. Full stop, this episode should have died before it breathed its first breath.
My reasons for saying this are twofold. The first is that the story just isn’t that interesting. Please understand, that I’m not being dismissive of Beth’s plight. What happened to her, and what continues to happen to her, is horrible. I have nothing but sympathy for her. But her story, while touching, isn’t unique. Lots of people are stalked, harassed, threatened. A content creator I follow had someone try to break into her house with a screwdriver. My husband had a stalker before we were dating. A friend of mine had to stay in a shelter for a while because she was being harassed. And I don’t know a single person, man woman, or nonbinary, who hasn’t gotten an unwanted genital pic on social media.
It’s like finding out someone you don’t know and have never heard of before has cancer. It’s sad, but it’s not news.
Again, this isn’t at all to say that I don’t care about care about what’s happening to Beth. I care about her, and her wellbeing. This is the second reason why this episode should never have been made.
There is no doubt in my mind that if Beth’s stalker is still alive, they know about this episode. They probably have a Google notification set up for Beth’s name. And we just do not know how this stalker is going to respond. Maybe they’ll get off on it. Maybe it will enrage them and they’ll do something even worse to Beth. Maybe they’ll feel so much shame for this they’ll decide to take out themselves and Beth in one go.
There was no effort to hide Beth’s name. Or the names of her friends. There was no effort at all to protect her from whatever fallout there was from this.
This is not Beth’s fault. She has had to do enough to protect herself. This was irresponsible of the showrunners. And if God forbid, something happens to any of these people, the showrunners will have to bear some of the responsibility for that.
I liked it so much better when we were talking about wet ghosts and pizza box ouija boards.
Is it real?
This question for this episode is, unfortunately, a no-brainer. Yes, I believe that Beth Spierer was stalked and harassed by an unknown assailant. Yes, I further believe that when she went to the police the detective probably sexually harassed her.
This is why we chose the bear.
In short, of course, this episode is real. I honestly wish it wasn’t.
All in all, this whole series was a huge disappointment. And threatening the wellbeing of a stalker survivor was just the last straw. I don’t know if another season is planned. But if it is, I doubt if I’ll be tuning in.
(1 / 5)
Season four of Amazon Prime’s The Boys launched on June 13th of this year. Having now watched the first episode, I believe I can safely say that this season is going to be bonkers.
Let’s discuss.
The story
When this episode begins, things aren’t going great for Homelander. He’s irritated at everyone around him for constantly agreeing with everything he says. He found a gray hair and is finally facing his own mortality. Oh, and he’s on trial for murdering a man last season.
Homelander decides he needs someone around him who will tell him the truth. Someone who can help him build a legacy. So he seeks out a sup named Sage, whose superpower is being the smartest person in the world. And what does he want with Sage? He wants her to help him destroy America.
Meanwhile, The Boys aren’t doing so well. They’ve been tasked with assassinating Neuman because she is the presumptive VP. But Neuman manages to avoid their assassination attempt by being literally bulletproof.
Unfortunately, The Boys aren’t bulletproof. And as we find out in this episode, one might not last much longer.
What worked
In fiction as in life, it is the little things that matter. It’s the small details that make the difference between a fine show and an exceptional one. This episode was full of such little details. One such detail was Homelander finding gray pubic hairs.
The reason why this distinction is important is because later in the episode we find out that his stylist has been dying his hair. She’s been intentionally hiding the fact that he’s going gray. This is important because it’s just one more person in Homelander’s life who is being dishonest with him. And I think that is what’s going to finally crack him.
The timing of this season is something I’d like to shed some light on. It is so fitting that this came out during an election year. Because of course, The Boys is mimicking the very real infighting we’re experiencing in America. We’ve all seen protests break out into violence. We’ve all seen important trials spark controversy. This is just so much like our real experience, except that in The Boys, the megalomaniac blond man baby is competent and good at things.
Finally, I was amused and impressed with the evolution of Neuman’s character. She is a politician, through and through. The way she can smile at someone while threatening them, and then make a pithy quip at their expense is fantastic. She made me laugh almost every time she was on screen.
What didn’t work
If I have one complaint about this episode, it’s that a lot happened in this episode. We have a whole bunch of plotlines going on here. Like, so many things. Butcher’s health, Homelander’s aging, Ryan’s future, Frenchie’s new boyfriend, Annie’s charity, Sage’s plotting, Butcher’s old friend, A-Train and The Deep growing discontent. And I’m sure I’m forgetting a few. This is just a lot to keep track of. And I just hope they have enough time and space to do them all justice.
Overall, I have high hopes for this season. And Amazon must too, because it appears that season five is already in the works. But for now, we’ll be back very soon to discuss episode two of The Boys.
(4 / 5)
By the way, if you like my writing you can get my short story, Man In The Woods, on Smashwords and Amazon.
Computers are all the rage. Of course, you already knew that. But did you know that scientists, those denizens of deep throaty maniacal laughter and storms brewing over dark brooding castles, are building tiny brain computers now? So apparently this is what all the zombies are being used for… They’re the lackeys getting the goods. No surprise there, though, zombies do make good lackeys.
16 Mini Brains
It’s catchy. Like a jingle. And those sixteen mini brains are getting all sorts of attention nowadays. Apparently they’re all over social media. We don’t know what truths they think they’ll find there, but it has been said they do like to play Pong, so maybe some of those other kind of mindless clicker games will have similar appeal. Anyway, we’ve caught a rare glimpse of these little items of incidental intellect, through our prompting of the NightCafe AI art generator. And they’re kinda cute. See these renditions of the tiny brain computers for yourself.
Mushrooming Mayhem
It’s not just tiny brain computers though. Those sneaky scientists have also been experimenting with mycelium, harnessing the fungal power of mushrooms to make mental machine magic. Or create computer craft as it were. So what happens when the tiny brain computers and the mushroom computers start talking? Well, we aren’t sure, but we suspect the manifesting motherboard mushroom man would know. You’ll have to ask him. We hear he’s a fun guy.
So What Do the Ethicists Think About All This?
I have to admit, I don’t know any ethicists to ask about the topic, but that career path sure beats archaeology. All we know is that the scientists are at it again, and they haven’t had the best track record for working with ethicists, though morality has been a kind of touch and go subject through the course of human history anyway.
And the whole idea has been a big influence on AI generated art, with all sorts of people prompting all kinds of crazy combinations of computer creatures crawling with creepiness into the realms of dystopian nightmare. In fact, more of these stories seem to be illustrated using AI art generation than including actual images of the real life results, perhaps because the reality is that petri dishes of cells and fungal fragments really aren’t that interesting visually, just kind of snotty looking kin to the Blob…
Movies n TV
Howling VI: The Freaks, a Film Review
Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) is a supernatural horror directed by Hope Perello, starring Brendan Huges, Brace Payne and Michele Matheson.
Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) is a supernatural horror directed by Hope Perello. This R-rated film stars Brendan Huges, Brace Payne, Michele Matheson, Jered Barclay, and Gary Cervantes. As of this review, Howling VI: The Freaks remains available to Amazon Prime and fuboTV subscribers.
A drifter (Brendan Hughes) finds himself in a small town, quickly making himself useful despite the town’s hesitance. When a circus rolls into town, the drifter acts strangely, revealing a mysterious history with the owner (Bruce Payne). As tension builds, his secrets become exposed one by one. But he’s not the only one with dangerous secrets.
What I Like about Howling VI: The Freaks
Howling VI: The Freaks takes some notes from the novel, The Howling III: Echoes. It claims to take inspiration from all three, though that remains a loose concept. Still, it’s the only entry that pulls anything from the third novel.
Bruce Payne’s R.B. Harker remains a stand-out villain in the whole series. While that has never been the focus of the series, he’s easily the best part of the film. While the role is far from a revolutionary villain, Payne gets the most to work with and chews every scene.
Howling VI: The Freaks evokes a campy horror with comedic elements. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s funny or haunting, but it’s certainly a watchable B-horror that balances these elements.
Much like Howling V: The Rebirth, Howling VI: The Freaks provides a strong episode of a horror chronology in both cinematography and acting. While that’s far from a negative, I will say it doesn’t exactly earn its runtime.
Tired Tropes and Triggers
As the name and concept suggest, this film delves into the freak show attraction. However, the owner remains the film’s antagonist, abusing his power without any hint of complexity. Despite this, most performers are willing participants in their master’s schemes, which doesn’t allow much room for complexity.
As the above point suggests, there are roots of ableism within the film. This criticism remains evident in both the good and bad characters alike, with no clear point or message to either perspective aside from the villains being more manipulative.
A character can be viewed as a transphobic or perhaps intersexual caricature. It’s not my place to comment too far on this representation other than to point out that this character remains shallow and one note. However, if the intention is an intersexual person, then there’s certainly a lack of research or care put into accuracy. No, it’s not surprising, but it remains worthy of mention regardless.
What I Dislike about Howling VI: The Freaks
Frankly, I struggle to understand how this earns an R-rating. One instance of nudity and some foul language likely meets the threshold but hardly deserves the limitations that come with an R-rating. Removing those scenes or playing further into that R-rating instead of keeping this final cut seems more effective, but that’s not the film we have.
As mentioned earlier, the film doesn’t earn its runtime, throwing in a montage that ruins the tone. Unnecessary drama and absurd character decisions artificially add to this runtime problem. Poor writing and character development amplify this problem further, making it a struggle to care.
Final Thoughts
Howling VI: The Freaks doesn’t deliver much worthy of mentioning but remains a watchable B-horror. If a viewer has already invested so far into the series, this film hardly merits the worst rating. The villain alone deserves a mention for the flare matched only by Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf. I only recommend managing your expectations with the limitations provided above for a better viewing experience.
(2.5 / 5)
