this is the third Movie Dairy! The second dairy was short and rushed but this one is better (more like the first). I added more movies and tried to speak more about each one like I did the first time.

October Movie Dairy

*spoiler warning*

Vamp
[1986 - Horror/Comedy]

Three college students go to a strip club with the intention of hiring a stripper for a college fraternity. The stripper who impresses them turns out to be a powerful vampire, as do many of the other inhabitants in the part of town they're in.

The version of Vamp that I could find was quite grainy but I still got the plot. I didn't find the visuals particularly interesting, there were colours and lights but not much and it wasn't anything new. The best part of Vamp is obviously Grace Jones who plays Katrina (iconic) the dance scene, the outfits she wears, and the choice she made to not speak and use acting inspired from silents makes a great performance. The acting from everybody else in the film are also good but something about the movie, to me, feels very average? I'm not sure whether it's a plot hole or a deliberate choice that just isn't explained but Allison is hinted at being a vampire as she doesn't have a reflection and she drinks a small bit of Keith's blood but at the end of the movie she goes out in the sun without any problem, even though we just established that the sun kills vampires. Also at the end of the movie Keith abandons AJ, which felt weird to me given he was willing to die for him when he was first turned.

Grace Jones is great in Vamp and I think it's good to watch for her alone. This isn't really my thing but I see how it could be a favourite for somebody else.

Bones and All
[2022 - Horror/Romance]

After being abandoned by her father a young woman travels for thousands of miles through the backroads of America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter, but despite their efforts all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts.

I felt like everyone had seen Bones and All by now and I knew that it was one of these things that people mention when they talk about "performative women", those sorts of conversations always spark my interest so I thought I should watch it myself. I love psychological horror but can't handle gore which I expected more of given the cannibalism. This was beautiful and melancholic at parts which is my thing so I enjoyed this movie even though I don't really like romance. usually the reason I don't like romance is due to how boring they can be but Bones and All wasn't boring. I don't think I need to talk much about this one since so many people have seen it already. Didn't at all expected the whole mother eating her own hands thing so that really freaked me out for second, lol.

I can see why this got so popular and I liked it. I often see it labeled as a "femcel movie" but I don't see why although I don't really get the whole femcel thing in general.

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The Velvet Vampire
[1971 - Horror]

A married couple are invited to the secluded desert house of a mysterious woman, Diana LeFanu. Tensions rise when the, at first unaware, couple realize Diana is a vampire and they are both her objects of seduction.

When I write these I check the Wikipedia page (if there is one) for it, and this one says that The Velvet Vampire is also referred to as Cemetery Girls. I think The Velvet Vampire is a much better title for this movie. Lesbian Vampirism was thriving in the 70's so I always like watching new sapphic vampire films from then although this one didn't have much sapphism Diana and the wife kiss but that's about it (aside from the dream ig). Throughout the movie the married couple share this dream; a luxurious bed is the middle of the desert with nothing else but a full body mirror, while they are making out  Diana in a red gown appears from the mirror to pull lee (the husband) away and replace him on the bed the atmosphere in this scene is quite intriguing and dream-like (obvi) There are a number of other scenes/stills in this movie that are visually beautiful(a scene in the graveyard, before/when she kills lee, ect). Like a lot of the Horror I've been watching for these dairies The Velvet Vampire wasn't scary and felt more like (Erotic) Thriller than anything else, but I don't think that makes it any less good.

Overall the cinematography was good I thought the acting fell short often, something I felt especially when Diana was burnt by the sun.

Strawberry Mansion
[2021 - Surrealist Fantasy/Si-fi]

In the near future (2035), an all-seeing surveillance state collects taxes and conducts audits on the populations dreams. Dream Auditor James Preble travels to a remote countryside house to audit the dreams of Arabella Isadora, an eccentric, aging artist.

At it's heart Strawberry Mansion is a love story. Bella's dreams are stored on VHS tapes and while going through them James falls in love with the younger version of Bella who exists in her dreams; although real-life elderly Bella dies James can still see young Bella in his dreams. The idea of memories being controlled or having ad's forced into them isn't new but I haven't seen it done like this before. There are lots of colours and interesting visuals (bc it's surrealist). I was expecting a more "serious" movie given the whole taxes and surveillance state thing but it was quite fun! My favourite parts are when James is like narrating all of his different dream-lives with Bella after he gets hit in the head.

I loved Strawberry Mansion! I never know how to talk about the things I like lol but if you're able you should definitely watch it!.

Pink Flamingos 
[1972 - Dark Comedy/Crime]

The notorious Baltimore criminal and drag queen Divine who is living under the name Babs Johnson faces off with a sleazy married couple Connie and Raymond in a competition to be the "Filthiest Person Alive".

Pink Flamingos is the first movie in the the John Waters "Trash Trilogy" which also includes Female Trouble (1974) and Desperate Living/Punk Story (1977). The only other John Waters film I had seen was Cecil B. Demented which I like so although I was nervous I was also exited for this one. I had been putting off watching this movie because all I knew about it was that Divine eats real dog shit (?) in the movie but since I wanted to watch the other two movies in the trilogy I thought that I probably should see it first. Since that shit eating is spoken about so much I thought that it would be a major part of the plot? but it's just thrown in at the end, I guess to end with some shock value. At times I found Pink Flamingos unentertaining and at others gross or unnecessary although I do understand that this movie (And most of Water's filmography) is intended to be shocking and transgressive. In one scene the spy that Connie and Raymond send has sex with Divine's son Cracker and he hits her with a chicken and kills it, like actually, so I didn't like the animal cruelty bit. The acting is mostly (or entirely) bad but it isn't intended to be a "typical good movie with good acting", just a shocking one.

Pink Flamingos is one of those movies that people either absolutely hate or love, personally I didn't enjoy it much but it is still very much iconic. 

Crimes of Passion
[1984 - Erotic Thriller/Romance]

Fashion designer Joanna Crane leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute that specializes in fetishes who has attracted the attention of a sexually frustrated private detective, and a psychopathic priest.

Like most of the movies I watch, I watched Crime of Passion because I saw a still of Pinterest that looked cool visually and I think the movie holds up to that most of the cool imagery is filmed in China Blue apartment. The priests storyline confused me slightly I feel like if would have been good to explain how the toy/weapon worked to understand why/how the girls were dying, also why he wanted to kill the girls or more specifically China Blue.

This is a neo-noir made on what I think is a really interesting idea but the actual execution isn't incredibly entertaining to me although, I wouldn't say it was bad.

Videodrome
[1983 - Horror/Si-Fi]

Max, a television programmer, stumbles upon a snuff film show that leaves a subliminal impact on it's viewers. As he attempts to uncover the origin of this signal he begins to lose his grip with reality through a series of increasingly intense hallucinations.

Videodrome is very much a cult film and everyone I've seen speak about it has said that is one of the films to form what the body-horror genre is today which makes sense since the body-horror in this actually made me so uncomfortable. I found this quite intriguing it's quite weird, psychosexual, and surrealist (while not being too colourful/overwhelming). but I didn't find it "life-changing" in the way I've heard it spoken about, I think that's a me problem though tbh. Everything about Videodrome is done well; the acting is good, the plot is interesting, and the effects/body-horror is good (for the 80's? i think?). 

I feel like there isn't another film like Videodrome (that I've seen at least) but i don't know if there's much to talk about for this one, although I really like it.

Barbarella
[1968 - Si-Fi/Comedy]

Barbarella, an astronaut from the future and representative of the united earth government, is sent on a mission to find and stop, Durand Durand, an evil scientist who's invention could destroy the galaxy

Barbarella, or Barbarella: queen of the galaxy, is based on the French comic book series also named Barbarella that began being published in 1962. The film definitely has a comic book vibe to it, being surrealist and fun. Barbarella is supposed to be a comedy but I don't think it was particularly funny this could be because it was released so long ago. The look of this movie is amazing the sets and outfits are super interesting, elaborate, and colourful and the actress that plays Barbarella (Jane Fonda) is absurdly pretty. The only negative thing is the apparent sexism, Barbarella is an astronaut and has single-handedly been assigned to the protection of the galaxy yet she can't fix her own spaceship? and has to rely on the random men she's just met to fix it/save her. she also has sex with these men as a repayment although this is comic-book accurate as Barbarella is supposed to be highly sexual.

I quite liked Barbarella, obviously it would be better if Barbarella was portrayed as more capable but if you can get past that for an hour it's fun although I am mostly judging based on my favorite aspects which aren't the plot/acting but the aesthetics of it. ALSO unrelated but apparently the author of the comics has a self-insert character that has children with Barbarella??(This is not in the film).

The Watermelon Woman
[1996 - Romance/Comedy Drama]

A black lesbian filmmaker researches an obscure 1940s black actress dubbed "The Watermelon Woman" who played Mammy archetypes.

The Watermelon Woman widely considered vital lesbian cinema so going into it I had high expectations. This is was such a landmark movie as it was one of the first movies about black lesbians and it was made by a black lesbian. We follow the main character Cheryl who is making a documentary about "The Watermelon Woman" and her friend/co-worker Tamara. The Romance part is because while researching Cheryl gets involved with a white customer name Diana. The acting was good and there's a real indie feel to the movie. I'm not sure if it's because the website I was using or because The Watermelon Woman was made in the 90s but it was pretty grainy at times which was sort of annoying, I would love to see this movie with clearer footage.

I see the cultural relevance but personally this wasn't groundbreaking for me, probably since I'm younger and have grown up with these ideas being normal to me.

 The website I was using (Nunflix) got shut down :(( it's not surprising since it was acting up before but I'm so sad and now I need a new website so if you know any please tell me!