Table of Contents
Welcome back the Creepy Catalog’s daily horror digest. This digest might be a little more brief than usual, but the movie of the day is the best one I’ve written about in a while. So let’s get right to it!
Movie of the Day
Today’s movie is Et Tu. It’s a new movie written and directed by Max Tzannes, the filmmaker behind Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project (which I loved). Found Footage was released on streaming about a month ago, and Et Tu was released this past Friday (July 25th), but I believe Et Tu was made first. Regardless of the order, these two films mark Max Tzannes’s debut as a writer and director of feature films, and they’re both wonderful!
Et Tu stars Lou Diamond Phillips (Young Guns, Longmire) as Brent, the stressed-out director of a regional theater production of Julius Caesar. Brent’s high standards aren’t being met by all of his actors. Worst of them all is his Brutus, played by an obnoxious and untalented actor by the name of Marcus (Brennan Keel Cook). Marcus’s understudy for Brutus, Terrence (Antwone Barnes), is perfect for the role, but Brent can’t take Marcus out of the performance because his father owns the theater. However, fate offers Brent a chance get be rid of Marcus for good, and he takes it. This leads Marcus down a very dark path of finding permanent solutions for any and every crew member who is not performing up to standard.
Et Tu is great! First and foremost, Lou Diamond Phillips is fantastic. He plays Brent with exasperation and thinly-veiled anger in the beginning, slowly building towards a more methodical and cold-blooded swagger as his sanity slips away. He’s so much fun to watch, and he’s supported by a superb cast. In addition to the people playing Brent’s cast and crew, Malcolm McDowell is featured in a supporting role as a janitor who gets into Brent’s head about many things. His exact role is layered and interesting enough that I don’t want to discuss him too much here, because analyzing the janitor’s presence in the movie is part of the fun.
Et Tu is a black comedy, and as we get deeper into the story, the dark humor of the situation takes over more and more. It becomes almost ridiculous at a point, but it all works extremely well. After all, it’s a movie about putting on a play, a form of art where suspension of disbelief is required to a relatively high degree. So even though things might not be realistic all the time in Et Tu, it’s all an intentional part of the production. By having us actively engage with and believe in the reality of the characters, the dark (and very bloody) humor hits harder. This is a very theatrical movie, not just in its subject, but also in its presentation. I love that.
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Max Tzannes has a knack for creating art about art, and filling it with heart and humor. He did it with Found Footage, and he did it with Et Tu. I recommend Et Tu to anyone, really. But especially for fans of dark comedies about murder, and for fans of the theater. If you’re familiar with Julius Caesar or just William Shakespeare’s work in general, you’ll notice some of his themes seeping into the story. I’m not saying Tzannes is Shakespeare, but I am saying that he’s really good at what he does.
In the News
Robbie Barsamian, the Vice President of Horror Inc., said this at Comic-Con: “I can tell you that a new sequel movie and new sequel game are at the top of our list. It’s where most of our energy’s going right now. And I can tell you finally we’re in a position to deliver on that.” (Bloody Disgusting)
Birthdays
Takashi Shimizu was born on July 27th, 1972. Takashi created the Ju-On franchise. Of the feature films in the series, Takashi wrote and directed the first four (Ju-On: The Curse 1 and 2, and Ju-On: The Grudge 1 and 2), and he directed the first two American adaptations, The Grudge 1 and 2. Other horror films he’s directed include Tomie: Re-Birth (2001), Marebito (2004), Reincarnation (2005), The Shock Labyrinth (2009), and Howling Village (2019).
Actors born on July 27th:
- Alyvia Alyn Lind (2007) – Lexy in the Chucky television series
- Cliff Curtis (1968) – Sunshine (2007), Fear the Walking Dead (2015-2017)
- Park Gyuyoung (1993) – Kang No-eul in Squid Game seasons 2 and 3, the soldier who helped player 246
Events on This Day
The Amityville Horror opened in US theaters on July 27th, 1979. Starring Margot Kidder and James Brolin, the film was a financial (if not critical) success. It’s now regarded as a classic of the haunted house genre. You can stream The Amityville Horror on HBO Max.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully tomorrow there will be a little more news or more interesting trivia for the date, but I do hope you check out and enjoy Et Tu!
