Welcome to another week, and welcome to another daily horror digest. I have a couple of movies for you today, an interesting anecdote about Day of the Dead, and something different for the news section.
What I Watched Last Night
Last night was a catch up night for a couple of movies I unfortunately missed in theaters earlier this year. They’ve been streaming for a while, but I was waiting for their rental prices to drop from premium to normal. They did so recently, so I rented them both. I started with Drop.
Around the time Drop first came out, I remember someone saying it was a little like Wes Craven’s Red Eye. I can totally see that, and I agree. Though I prefer Red Eye, Drop has a similar feeling to how the plot plays out. It’s about a single mother, Violet, who goes on a date for the first time in ages. She starts getting anonymous messages on her phone that threaten her son and sister with death if she doesn’t perform a few specific tasks.
Drop isn’t horror, but it is a pretty good thriller. The setup of the date is nicely done in a whodunit kind of way. It obviously sets up a bunch of characters as the potential culprit, and the progression of the messages Violet receives escalates well. The middle of the movie starts to bog down, like it’s just treading water, or maybe stretching for time without actually adding to the suspense. But then the ending redeems itself in a fun and slightly cheesy way.
The other movie I watched last night was Hell of a Summer. This is a summer-camp slasher comedy written and directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk. I enjoyed it, but I think I liked it less than Drop.
The comedy in Hell of a Summer is as important as the slashing, but a lot of the comedy didn’t work for me. A fair amount of it was amusing, but it never reached the level any higher than just amusing. And then a portion of the goofs just didn’t land at all. But hey, comedy, like horror, is totally subjective. As for the horror, it was pretty good. There wasn’t as much blood as I was hoping for, but it has its moments. I did enjoy how they handled the big reveals towards the end.
I’d give both Drop and Hell of a Summer a decent recommendation. If you like the genres they’re in, then you’ll probably enjoy the movies fine. Both are available as digital rentals and purchases on platforms like Prime Video. Drop is also out on physical media. Hell of a Summer is on Blu-ray July 8th. I’m sure both movies will hit subscription streaming at some point, so if you’ve waited this long to see them (like I did), then a little longer won’t hurt.
Birthdays
I mentioned White Zombie (1932) in yesterday’s birthdays, and I have to mention it again because on June 30th, 1899, Madge Bellamy was born. Madge played Madeleine Short, the woman at the heart of the story. She is turned into a living zombie by Murder Legendre (Bela Lugosi) in a plot involving love, obsession, and power.
Lizzy Caplan was also born on this day, in 1982. Lizzy’s horror appearances include Cloverfield (2008), Cobweb (2023), a few episodes of True Blood (2008), and as Annie Wilkes in Castle Rock (2019).
Other horror-related birthdays today are Tony Musante (1936) who played the lead role in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Nestor Paiva (1905) who was Captain Lucas in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature, Josh Ruben (1983) who starred in A Wounded Fawn, and David Alan Grier (1956) who played Carl in the segment “Boys Do Get Bruised” in Tales from the Hood.
Events on This Day
On June 30th, 1985, Day of the Dead was given a special one-night premiere in Hicksville, New York. The screening was part of a promotion by a local radio station, WBAB. If you dressed as a zombie while attending the premiere, you’d also be given a special Day of the Dead jacket. Horror fan David Brudie shared his story about the premiere with Dread Central back in 2017.
Also on June 30th, in 2015, the Scream television series aired its first episode on MTV. The show lasted for two seasons on MTV, then it moved to VH1 for a short 6-episode third season.
In the News
It was another slow news day for horror yesterday. So slow in fact, that I don’t have anything to report. So instead, I’ll highlight an independent movie I found on Indiegogo that looks good and needs some support to get across the finish line.
The Deep South Death House is a revenge splatter film made in an exploitation-movie style. Check the campaign video above for more information about the project and a trailer for the movie. Just be aware that it does get very bloody towards the end. The campaign is almost over, so if you’re at all interested in what you see, then you should take a look now.
I’ll probably pick up a Blu-ray of The Deep South Death House. That’s my usual Indiegogo perk pick. Hopefully I’ll keep finding new indie horror projects to share!
