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Episode six of The Boys was one of the most surprising episodes of the series so far. And that is certainly saying something. Because this season has so far been bonkers.

The story

Our episode today revolves around a party at Tek Knight’s lovely mansion. Yes, it does look just like Wayne Manor.

The Boys know that Tek Knight is working with Homelander on something, but they don’t know the details. So they decide to send Hughie in to bug the mansion.

Because that’s worked so well the other two times he’s tried to hide a bug!

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It should surprise no one that this time goes no better. Hughie finds himself in Tek Knight’s basement. And by that I mean his BDSM dungeon.

Meanwhile, the party upstairs is no less disturbing. Homelander and Sage are trying to convince some well-off political donors to support a cue after the election. When pressed for details on his plan, Homelander freezes. He looks to Sage for help, but she wasn’t recently shot in the head and still in the junk food stage of her healing.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, Neuman jumps in and saves the day.

Claudia Doumit in The Boys.

What works

If I’m going to say one thing about this episode, it didn’t hold back at all. I didn’t expect them to show a character masturbating, sitting their bare behind on a cake, or spraying breastmilk into someone’s face. But every time I thought they’d cut the scene and let something be left to our imagination, they did not do that.

Derek Wilson in The Boys.

This is a dangerous move. Whenever you show the monster, you run the risk of them not being scary enough, or gross enough. As Stephen King says in Danse Macabre, to leave this sort of thing to the imagination if the reader makes things so much worse. So when they finally experience the monster, they might say that this isn’t so bad. It could have been so much worse.

But in this case, they managed to avoid that by making the scenes, especially the ones in Tek Knight’s dungeon, so much worse than I imagined it would be.

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What doesn’t work

While this was a deeply disturbing episode in many ways, there was one really innocent and sweet moment.

And yes, I did have a problem with it.

Confronted by Firecracker, Annie decides to apologize for spreading rumors about her when they were kids. She tells her that she is genuinely sorry.

And I believe her. I don’t think Firecracker did, but I did.

So why is this an issue? Because I’m starting to think that Annie is maybe too nice. She is too good.

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I know that Annie is our good guy. But every one of the other good guys has flaws. Hughie let his pride get in the way and took Temp V. MM hid himself from his daughter instead of teaching her to work through her emotions. Kimiko is far too closed off and has a hard time trusting others. Frenchie numbs himself with drugs. And well, what hasn’t Butcher done?

It is unrealistic that Annie is just so kind and so flawless. We all have shadows in our personalities. We all have weaknesses, we all mess up. We all do things we wish we could take back. The fact that Annie doesn’t seem to have anything like that is not just unrealistic. It’s infantilizing.

Give her some deep dark secrets. Give her something real to regret.

This was a shocking episode, even for someone fairly jaded like me. I wasn’t expecting the sort of weird sexual depravity, though I guess maybe I should have seen it coming. It was dark, upsetting, tense, and funny as hell. And with just two episodes left in the season, I can imagine the stakes are only going to get higher.

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4 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

By the way, if you like my writing you can get my short story, Man In The Woods, on Smashwords and Amazon.

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Movies n TV

Street Trash: A Mind-Melting Masterpiece of Mayhem

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Holy crow, folks! Buckle up, because we’re about to dive headfirst into the gloriously gooey world of “Street Trash” – the 2024 remake that’ll make you question your life choices and possibly your sanity. Trust me, this ain’t your grandma’s horror flick (unless your grandma’s into melting hobos and alien smurfs, in which case, I probably swiped right on that one and you’re out of milk.)

Street Trash still courtesy of Lightbulb Films

What’s the Deal with Street Trash?

Picture this: a bunch of homeless misfits discover a sinister plot to wipe out every street dweller in the city. Cue the chaos, the melting, and enough WTF moments to make your brain leak out of your ears. It’s like if “They Live” and Cheech’s “Born in East LA” had a love child, and that child was raised by a family of radioactive dumpsters.

Yes, even the damn credits are worth watching. Marvel, eat your heart out. – Jim Phoenix, HauntedMTL

From the Twisted Mind Behind Fried Barry

Remember “Fried Barry”? That mind-bending trip from 2020 that left you questioning reality? Well, the same madman is back, and he’s cranked the insanity up to eleven. If you thought “Fried Barry” was a wild ride, “Street Trash” is like strapping yourself to a rocket made of hallucinogens and blasting off into a dimension of pure, unadulterated chaos.

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Body Horror That’ll Make You Hurl (In a Good Way)

Let’s talk gore, baby! This flick kicks off with some of the most stomach-churning body horror I’ve seen in years. We’re talking face-melting, blood-spewing, organs-on-the-outside kind of nastiness. It’s so gross, it loops back around to beautiful. You’ll be disgusted, amazed, and possibly a little turned on (no judgment here, folks).

Not Just Gore – There’s Heart (and Other Organs) Too

But wait, there’s more! “Street Trash” isn’t just about turning people into human slushies. It’s got heart, humor, and even some genuinely touching moments. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wonder why that blue alien demon thing is so damn adorable. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, if rollercoasters were made of meat and powered by existential dread.

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The Visuals: A Trippy 80s Fever Dream

Visually, this movie is like someone took the 1980s, stuffed it into a blender with a bunch of neon paint and psychedelic mushrooms, and hit “puree.” The colors pop, the effects are mind-blowing, and every frame is a work of demented art. It’s the kind of movie that makes you want to lick the screen (please don’t, though – trust me on this one).

Why You Need to Watch This Cinematic Acid Trip

Street Trash still courtesy of Lightbulb Films

It’s batshit crazy: In the best possible way. Every time you think it can’t get weirder, it does.

  1. The effects are insane: Practical effects that’ll make you go “How the fuck did they do that?”
  2. It’s got layers, man: Like an onion, but if that onion was sentient and trying to kill you.
  3. The blue alien thing: Seriously, it’s like if the Smurfs went on a bender and decided to star in a horror movie.
  4. The credits: Yes, even the damn credits are worth watching. Marvel, eat your heart out.

Final Verdict: Five Out of Five Motherfucking Fives

Look, I don’t throw around perfect scores like confetti at a serial killer’s birthday party. But “Street Trash” deserves every single one of those fives. It’s the best way to close out 2024’s cinematic offerings, a tour de force of weirdness that’ll stick with you long after the credits roll (which, again, you need to watch).

5 out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

So, do yourself a favor: grab some popcorn (and maybe a barf bag), turn off your brain, and let “Street Trash” melt your face off. It’s a ride you won’t forget – no matter how hard you might try.

Remember, kids: Stay in school, don’t do drugs, and for the love of all that’s holy, watch “Street Trash.” Your eyeballs will thank you (right before they try to escape your skull).

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Movies n TV

Little Shop of Horrors – Musical Madness Review

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So I can’t believe that no one has reviewed Little Shop of Horrors the Broadway musical here on Haunted MTL. We have seen the old 1960 Roger Corman version in a Joe Bob Briggs special here, but not the Broadway smash hit and movie. This surprises me given its cheeky sense of humor and quirky colorful but dark themes. I personally love this musical, but then again I’m probably biased seeing as how I’m a Disney Renaissance kid, and Howard Ashman was influential in that movement as well. And the movie version is directed by Frank Oz, so you know the puppetry is top notch.

Little Shop of Horrors movie poster
Little Shop of Horrors movie poster

Spoiler alert: I hate revealing too much in my reviews but I will touch on some topics that reveal themes from within. So if you somehow managed to completely miss this under whatever rock you’ve been hiding since 1982, I’d recommend watching it. Right now. What are you waiting for, like seriously? Here’s a link to Amazon Prime even. Feel free to come back afterwards and read the rest of this review. And you’re welcome.

Little Shop of Horrors focuses on a flesh-eating plant. Whether it came from outer space or is a weird hybrid of some kind of souped up Venus flytrap is actually not that relevant. Hell, it could be a Burp special, as featured here previously. The plant’s origin story doesn’t actually matter all that much. What’s important is that it convinces protagonist Seymour to care for it, which starts off a little more innocently and ends in a killing spree that claims even the lives of both Seymour and his beloved Audrey by the end. Because it’s a hungry plant and it needs blood and fresh meat.

As you already know, my father was a dentist. So reactions to Orin Scrivello DDS could go either way. But in the movie version Steve Martin does an excellent job portraying the sadist, and you can’t help but kind of love him for it (especially in the scene with Bill Murray as the masochist patient) for all that you’ll still cheer a little when he gets fed to the carnivorous flesh-eating plant. The Broadway death by laughing gas is his just desserts and well portrayed, and just one of the beautiful dark comedy blossoms within this musical foray into inappropriate humor that ranges into such taboo topics as unintended suicide, relationship abuse, and socioeconomic disparity.

Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors
Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors

Anyway, I give the musical and movie 4.0 Cthulhus. 4 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

The main reason I wanted to review this was actually because the Smoky Valley Theater high school recently presented Little Shop of Horrors in Lindsborg, Kansas in November 2024, and I wanted to give them a shoutout. The actors and actresses did a fabulous job with it. I especially liked that they further explored the Audrey II character of the plant by casting it as an actual actress, saving on large-scale puppeteering and bringing new life to the musical. This worked much better than I had anticipated when I’d heard of the change, with superb adaptive costuming that evolved over time. I would kill for that flytrap cape complete with its red and emerald satin and toothy accent trim. Maybe at the next solar eclipse…

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Dexter Original Sin Fender Bender, The Perfect Mix of Comedy and Sadness

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Episode four of Dexter Original Sin was an interesting one. It was equal parts funny and upsetting.

It also brought up an issue I’ve always had with Dexter.

Let’s discuss.

The story

Our story doesn’t waste any time, starting with the kidnapped boy, Jimmy Powell, hanging dead from a bridge.

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This crime scene turns out to be a little too much even for Dexter. So, he decides to go hunting. He discovers a killer for hire called Mad Dog. And let me save you the Google. Yes, that is Joe Pantoliano who played Cypher in The Matrix.

Christian Slater and Patrick Gibson in Dexter Original Sin.

So desperate to feel better, Dexter maybe rushes things a little bit. Which, it should surprise no one, leads to a hilarious and disastrous result.

What worked

There has always been a part of the later seasons of Dexter that bothered me. Spoilers ahead.

When Deb learns about Dexter’s Dark Passenger, she goes right off the deep end. This includes, among other things, heroin use. Which always seemed out of character for me. Now, finding out she was experimenting with drugs as a teen, that makes more sense. While I won’t say this is as good as Deep Space 9 retconning the infamous stage hand incident in Troubles with Tribbles, it was nice.

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I also really enjoyed Joe Pantoliano’s character, Mad Dog. He was funny in just the right way. Not slapstick. Not over the top, because that never would have fit here. But he’s animated and joyful in a way that no other character is. He’s clearly got his priorities right, as we can see when he begs Dex not to smash his guitar. He was just so fun. And this episode needed this levity since the rest of it was so heavy.

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Joe Pantoliano and Patrick Gibson in Dexter Original Sin.

As we discussed, this episode started with a poor dead boy. This caused both Dexter and Harry to completely ignore Deb. Furious, she shouts what must have been the best and most emotionally devastating line in the series so far.

“How am I supposed to compete with a dead kid?”

Now the question I’m left with, the question that I’m sure the writers intended to leave us with, is this. Does she mean the dead boy her dad’s investigating? Or does she mean her dead brother?

Does she know she has a dead brother?

I felt like these two elements, the levity brought by Mad Dog and the heavy death of the little boy worked really well together. It keeps the story balanced, keeps it from being too much.

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What didn’t work

While this episode cleared up something about Deb for me, it also brought to light something I’ve never appreciated about the character Dexter.

He’s not a sociopath.

A sociopath is a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. They would not, generally, have a different response to a child being killed than an adult. But Dexter has always had that issue.

It makes him a better person, but it shows a misunderstanding of the character in the books. And, frankly, a misunderstanding of the condition.

I also need to complain about the melon scene. Normally, everyone knows the point of smashing a melon in forensics. Whether accurate to the real world or not, melons are used to show what might happen if someone’s skull is crushed. The point is to see the difference in different heights, and where the blood splatter might go.

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If one is going to spray blood where they want it to be or put a little metal plate on one melon so that it doesn’t break naturally, then it defeats the whole purpose of dropping them.

Now, some of you might think this was the point of the scene. Dexter is very new at this. Maybe he was doing it wrong, showing a lack of understanding of the process. I have two issues with this. One, Dexter is pre-med, he should have known better. And two, Masuka is not new. And he was standing right there the whole time. Why didn’t he say something? This was just a clumsy and confusing scene in an episode that was otherwise well done.

All in all, this was another good episode. I loved the blend of funny and heartbreaking. I loved the special guest star. And I loved the cliffhanger ending. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

4 out of 5 stars (4 / 5)

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