Welcome to Dubious Consumption, a video essay channel that explores movies, books, games, as well as anything that grabs my attention. I make roughly 7-15 minute videos that engage in deep dives into my favorite things.
I tend to describe the things I like as “more interesting than good.” Everyone has run into a horrible movie, a la The Room, Sharknado, or near misses such as The Ninth Gate, YellowBrickRoad, or Daybreakers. I’m here to celebrate the ideas that were good on paper but fell through in the creative process.
Learn more about us at www.patreon.com/justindherd
I finished the book today after wanting to read it for over a year. The part about Daisy wanting to play "always", and the subsequent "many don't realize that Always is a mispronunciation for hallways. It also echoes it" gave me chills. It has been forever since a book was able to do that.
I remember renting this movie sometime after it was released and not liking it at all. I might revisit it in the future, but I really don't remember it being good at all.
Want to add something quickly: Mark not wanting an adaptation isnt ENTIRELY true; he was helping with a teleplay of a limited series adaptation, but it fell through due to creative differences
The ending wasn't good, but fade to black, roll credits would also have been bad. So many indy horror films just stop rather than end, it's got to the point you basically expect them to end suddenly now.
Just wanna say, love the editing choices, mate! The number 23 and sinister both feel appropriate for visuals, but dang, I'm always surprised and delighted to see Stay!
You're right about the movie's old-fashioned vibe. Even its flaws feel vintage. It's actually what I love about it: we're getting old-school storytelling from a master craftsman. I will watch this movie any number of times just to hear Frank Langella's voice on the telephone, and my god Lena Olin. The actress who played the Baroness is amazing, especially when you know she had zero time to prepare for the role. One note about the ending: I always saw Corso's shooting of Balken as a mercy killing. He was burning to death, which is no way to die. Of course, if the Devil is real, where Balken's going next may not be much of an improvement!
House of Leaves is the only other piece of artwork that gave me the same feeling I had watching the Shinning. I don't know what that feeling is but I know when I feel it
I just rewatched this film for the first time in close to 20 years. I had forgotten large swaths of what happens in the the movie aside from the ending, so it was almost like watching it for the first time. I'm shocked at how good it is despite being a fairly simple and at times odd story/sequence of events. The scene where Corso accidently punches the Girl causing her lip to bleed, and then later she smears his face with her blood and he just kinda lets it sit there on his forehead felt like to me that she was making him her familiar. Or maybe not. A lot of it is open to interpretation. I love the idea that the Girl is Lucifer since we rarely get an interpretation of Satan that's female that's not also comical. It's almost like she chose him to be the one to open the 9th gate.
_Se7en_ always struck me as gratuitous and pretentious. Brad Pitt's acting during the climax is simply atrocious. _Fallen_ is Oscar-worthy in comparison, although there are some things I don't understand about it. Stanton's sudden antagonism towards Hobbes after he digs up the Milano case is just bizarre. You get the impression that there's some kind of history between them, but no exposition is given about it. It isn't clear why Stanton is so keen for the case to stay buried. If it is such a stain on his reputation, wouldn't he be enthusiastic about a chance to clear Milano's name? I also thought it was odd that only one body, that of Milano, was discovered at the cabin in 1965. Shouldn't there have been another body, that of whomever Azazel had possessed during the showdown? Milano had lured Azazel out there, trying to get him stranded in the wilderness without a host. In what guise did Azazel meet him? Whoever it was, they would have had to die also, presumably by Milano's hand. I guess his host could have been an animal, simply observing Milano in silence until he finally shot himself in despair. Maybe he didn't even show up at all. Finally, the narrator is revealed to have been Azazel all along, but there are some things said by the narrator which, while they could at a stretch be interpreted as the perspective of Hobbes or Azazel, don't really sound right coming from Azazel. “I think the most basic question for humans is just to figure out what the hell is going on. Why was Greta Milano so scared, and why did she ask about God?” and “Nobody likes to get the shit kicked out of them. Nobody likes to get hit from every angle. But evil just keeps on coming, you know what I mean? You've seen it before, but now it's in your face, laughing at you.” This doesn't sound like Azazel, unless it's him trying to think like a human.
The girl is actually the Harlot that rides the 7-headed Beast, in the Book of Revelation. That is what how the 9th Illustration depicted her. And she "rode" Corso at the end, making him the beast, or at least a type of the beast.
I only had a problem with Hobbs killing Jonesy. That was completely unnecessary as he was going to die and there would’ve been no way for him to scramble for another body
The moment when Navidson pulled up the book I WAS READING and it was described that it had the exact page count that the actual, real book has... that really did something to me man. Never has a 4th wall break tripped me up this bad
That part hit me like a truck at 4am. Navidson is a fictional character in a fictional documentary told by a blind man, transcribed by Johnny who is himself a fictional character in our own reality. I think what made this hit so hard is the fact that it breaks the fourth wall within the wall, wall-ception
I must admit It is one of my favorite films, and I have a soft spot for Corso. I agree on the comparison with the Book vs. Movie, but Arturo Pérez-Reverte's other books are quite good. "The Fencing Master" is quite engaging and well written.
Hello? SCP foundation? I think we found the current location of scp 184!! Please send a mobile task force to retreave it. And dont amnestize me. Please...
No the ending wasn't crap, to each their own but this movie is way better than modern horror crap we get nowadays. Yall are too used to cut and paste Hollywood endings.
Needed something like this for closure after reading, the footage you choose is so perfect. Leaves a lot still to the imagination which I appreciate! Also love the PT reference :) satisfying to see the impact of house of leaves in so many things I didn't know had been inspired by it.
I can concur, this book isn't ideal as an ebook. Been looking for a physical copy for years but living in a third world country has made that a bit difficult
I have a theory that green eyes actually follows the book, maybe because that book holds the crucial ninth (albeit forged) engraving, where she herself is the final piece to the puzzle and ultimate waypointer, so she is probably in charge of anointing the one worthy of entering pretty failsafe system, wouldn't you say? :)
I don't know why, but I like time travel movies that hurt my head. Primer is the best example, but Tenet confuses me also. I have always loved 12 Monkeys, BTTF of course. Been on a kick lately for time travel flicks, Predestination is the best one I came across, but Time Crimes is all right, and Safety Not Guaranteed is pretty good.
MacReady = John Carpenter Garry = Howard Hawks Fuchs = Steven Spielberg Blair = Don Siegel Doc Copper = Roger Corman Bennings = Paul Bartel Windows = George Lucas
Thanks for this. Below is my attempt to do a deep dive to the Ninth Gate. Just a shameless plug really. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-k6M23kvj7Ho.html
It seems in its basis a movie about breaking free of conventions. The rituals the herd behavior, the books themselves, the goal is not too be the devil but to have an individual mind, which is what Corso has which is why he is rewarded with the supernatural powers (it seems) which he not desperately looking for. It is true imho that if you tell the universe what you want it will get out of the way. Polanski himself is of course a person who has lived his own life, not one of imitation.
One holiday in France I visited the locations including the castle in Puivert. It was supposed to be bought by someone but there was nothing going on. Spend the night there because its on a hill with a steep road so you can easily sleep in your car without getting noticed..No devils appeared but the castle is interesting, it has very hard stone with high pitched ring. Have considered trying to buy it as its not being used..
