Alone
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Blood Tea and Red String (2006)
Blood Tea and Red String WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.7 27 ratings
克里斯蒂安·塞加夫斯克 actor: Christiane Cegavske
other title: 血茶与红线 / 血茶与红绳 …
The aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak battle over the doll of their hearts' desire.
Watched
Oct. 26, 2026
I think the "folk" aspect of this is the dreamy fairytale-like setting that makes up what I believe is the "horror" part, a fable about the commodification of art or self or beauty or womanhood or all of the above.

Beyond the movie: If there's a theme or takeaway to the disc (which also houses Litan) this is on in the All the Haunted Be Ours Vol. 2 box set, for me it would be that with a strong will or an idea and someone who believes in you, you can do or create anything, and I think that's a lovely thought.

To tie that idea into this title: It took Christiane Cegavske 13 years to make this beautiful, touching, heartbreaking - yet often fun - movie. I'm glad it exists.
Blu-Ray Owned Alone All The Haunts Be Ours 2
Oct. 26, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Blood Tea and Red String
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Litan (1982)
Litan WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
让-皮埃尔·莫基 actor: 玛丽-若斯·纳特 / 让-皮埃尔·莫基 …
other title: 莉坦 / 리탕 …
There is no movie like Litan This is probably the best movie from Mocky. There is his weird humor, a fantastic story. The images are also something you can't forget. I'm just waiting to find it on DVD, in a few hundred years.
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The Last Voyage of Demeter (2023)
The Last Voyage of Demeter
★ 5.2 24 ratings
André Øvredal actor: David Dastmalchian / Aisling Franciosi …
other title: 得墨忒耳号的最后航程 / 得墨忒耳号的最后航行 …
2023 film directed by André Øvredal
Watched
Oct. 25, 2026
It's a little boring, and I immediately thought of a thousand different and better ways that it could've ended, and it probably could've been about 10 or so minutes shorter, BUT I thought it was beautifully shot and that the actors did their best with what they had.

Cool looking Count helps, just what a blah ending, though, gah!
Alone Peacock
Oct. 25, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The Last Voyage of Demeter
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Dracula (1979)
Dracula
约翰·班德汉姆 actor: 弗兰克·兰格拉 / 劳伦斯·奥利弗 …
other title: 드라큐라 / Drácula …
Romanticized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 classic. Count Dracula is a subject of fatal attraction to more than one English maiden lady, as he seeks an immortal bride.
Watched
Oct. 22, 2026
Still working my way through my list of 13 Dracula/Nosferatu movies that I made, and after watching this I discovered a minor misordering on my part: This movie starts with the ship that Count Dracula was on running aground; I should've watched The Last Voyage of the Demeter> (2023) first.

At any rate, it's been a fun experience watching so many of these in such a short time and really being able to pick up on the differences and seeing what each writer and director wanted to focus on, as well as how each actor (in every role, really) wanted to play it.

I didn't think I would like Frank Langella's portrayal of the Count going into this, and it did take me a while to get used to how fluffy his hair is, but he actually turned out to be a really great Dracula. I also found him and Kate Nelligan's Lucy to have pretty palpable chemistry. A later scene between them takes a bit of a psychedelic turn I wasn't expecting, but it was so well done that I'd recommend watching this for that alone.

I feel like Willem Dafoe may have taken some of what Laurence Olivier did with Van Helsing here and injected his von Franz in Nosferatu (2024) with it. Not a bad thing!

No one will remember me bringing up Donald Pleasence's choice to eat in every scene in Nosferatu in Venice (1988), but interestingly it seems that he's done it here first (different character, but still).

I could probably be talked up to a 4.5! This was better than I expected it to be, to the point of me wondering why it seems as though this isn't as popular as others.
Alone Netflix
Oct. 22, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Dracula
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Count Dracula (1970)
Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht
★ 6.0 5 ratings
赫苏斯·弗朗哥 actor: Christopher Lee / 赫伯特·罗姆 …
other title: 德拉库拉之夜 / Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht …
Jess Franco's version of the Bram Stoker classic has Count Dracula as an old man who grows younger whenever he dines on the blood of young maidens.
Watched
Oct. 19, 2026
I'm probably closer to a 3.75 really, but this has a great score that accompanies some decent visuals (almost-but-not-quite-as-good as (Horror of) Dracula's). Christopher Lee once again provides a decent Drac, but I found I didn't care so much for Van Helsing here (he's no Cushing, that's for sure) and Klaus Kinski felt wasted as Renfield.

Pretty good mostly faithful adaptation!
Alone Kanopy
Oct. 19, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Count Dracula
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Horror of Dracula (1958)
Horror of Dracula
★ 6.9 17 ratings
Terence Fisher actor: Peter Cushing / 彼得·库欣 …
other title: 恐怖德古拉 / 古堡怪客 …
After Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula at his castle, the vampire travels to a nearby city, where he preys on the family of Harker's fiancée. The only one who may be able to protect them is Dr. van Helsing, Harker's friend and fellow-student of vampires, who is determined to destroy Dracula, whatever the cost.
Watched
Oct. 18, 2026
This one's great(!), though enough liberties were taken with the basic Dracula story that I prefer the title on the movie's title card, Horror of Dracula.

The colorful visuals don't detract from the gothic setting, but instead give this a bit more of a fairy tale look that I really enjoyed. Everyone is great in their roles (shout-outs to Christopher Lee's Count, John Van Eyssen's Harker, and Peter Cushing's Van Helsing), and the visual effects (neck bites, bloodshot eyes, burning up into ash in the sun) were quite effective.

Worth watching if you can!
Got It From The Library Digital Versatile Disc Alone
Oct. 18, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Horror of Dracula
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The Vampire (1932)
Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey
★ 7.1 63 ratings
卡尔·西奥多·德莱叶 actor: 朱利安·维斯特 / 莫里斯·舒茨 …
other title: 吸血鬼 / Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey …
A student of the occult encounters supernatural haunts and local evildoers in a village outside of Paris.
Watched
Oct. 15, 2026
A vampire movie mostly comprised of beautiful imagery and gothic vibes, the story is sort of an afterthought. A bit slow and sleepy, but not necessarily dull.
Alone Criterion Channel
Oct. 15, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The Vampire
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Renfield (2023)
Renfield
★ 6.1 82 ratings
克里斯·麦凯 actor: 尼古拉斯·霍尔特 / 尼古拉斯·凯奇 …
other title: 雷恩菲尔德 / 吸血鬼特助：雷菲爾 …
Having grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula's lackey, Renfield finds a new lease on life — and maybe even redemption — when he falls for feisty, perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy.
Watched
Oct. 15, 2026
I'm not usually a "voice over narration is lazy writing" type of guy, but I am here.

Having just watched Tod Browning's Dracula (1931), where Bela Lugosi is the Drac we all know and love, and which is Renfield's jumping-off point, I really dug the beginning where Nic and Nick recreate a couple of the scenes, but this device is quickly abandoned and the movie becomes a sort of crime action self-help comedy mish-mash that is only okay at all of those things.

I'm not mad that I watched it, but it could've been better (especially when Cage starts off with a pretty good Lugosi that devolves over the course of the movie to just a Cage being Cage-a-thon; I'm fine with that in short bursts, but it became a bit played out by the time things wrap up).
Peacock Alone
Oct. 15, 2026 Review A Review - a review of Renfield
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Dracula (1931)
Dracula
★ 7.1 44 ratings
托德·布朗宁 actor: 贝拉·卢戈西 / 尼古拉斯·贝洛 …
other title: 德古拉 / 吸血鬼 …
1931 film directed by Tod Browning
Watched
Oct. 11, 2026
There's a part of me that feels like this would've worked better as a silent movie, but then I think "Well then we wouldn't get to hear Renfield's utterly insane laughter or what would become the standard for how a Count of such renown should sound," and so I'm left feeling mixed.

Pretty to look at, though, and props to Lucy for being kinda into Drac's whole thing.
Peacock Alone
Oct. 11, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Dracula
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Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Shadow of the Vampire
E. Elias Merhige actor: 约翰·马尔科维奇 / 威廉·达福 …
other title: 뱀파이어의 그림자 / シャドウ・オブ・ヴァンパイア …
Director F.W. Murnau makes a Faustian pact with a vampire to get him to star in his 1922 film "Nosferatu."
Watched
Oct. 10, 2026
Everyone knows that Max Schreck played Count Orlok in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu. What this movie presupposes is: Maybe he actually was Count Orlok?

I made a list of 13 Dracula/Nosferatu movies and put them in an order I thought would be fun to go through this month. I don't think I'll be able to get through all of them in the order I've prescribed for myself (I shared my idea with my wife who was quick to nope out), so I'm just watching what I can as I can instead.

Since, in the past two years, I've seen the main Nosferatus (Murnau, Herzog, Eggers), and the first two movies on my list were a rewatch of Murnau's Nossy and then a first-time watch of Shadow of the Vampire, I decided to skip the rewatch and go straight to this. I kinda loved it!

Shadow is a brisk and often funny 90 minutes that I absolutely think is worth someone's time if they think they'd be into such a thing. Seeing Murnau's Nosferatu first isn't necessarily a pre-requisite, but I think one's appreciation for Shadow would be greatly enhanced by going in that order.

Sure, Dafoe is incredible and Malkovich is good, but to me Suzy Eddie Izzard stole every scene they were in - what a joy! Udo Kier was also great.

I don't know, man...I just really clicked with it.
Alone Tubi
Oct. 10, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Shadow of the Vampire
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A Sigh from the Depths: 40 Years of Suspiria (2017)
A Sigh from the Depths: 40 Years of Suspiria IMDb
Daniel Griffith actor: Robert V. Galluzzo / Rebekah McKendry …
This documentary brings together a small assortment of genre fans and scholars to discuss the lasting legacy of "Suspiria," which everyone seems to recognize as the pinnacle of Dario Argento's career. The gang discusses story origins and influences, cinematographic achievements, the film's thematic reach and dream logic, casting issues, murder sequences, Goblin's scoring accomplishments, the oddball marketing push in America, and the picture's continued hold on viewers 40 years after its release. (Blu-ray.com)
Watched
Oct. 9, 2026
I'm made to understand that the hour-long doc on the 25th anniversary release is a more significant source of information than this half-as-long retrospective comprised of a few well-informed/educated talking heads, but having never seen that and without access to it currently, I'd say this was still relatively informative.
Alone Blu-Ray Owned
Oct. 9, 2026 Review A Review - a review of A Sigh from the Depths: 40 Years of Suspiria
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November (2017)
November WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.1 12 ratings
雷纳·萨尔奈特 actor: 蕾雅·莱斯特 / 乔根·里克 …
other title: 魔鬼时光 / 十一月 …
2017 film directed by Rainer Sarnet
Watched
Oct. 3, 2026
A stunning, folkloric fairytale of a film from Estonia that is equal parts heart-filling and heart-breaking. There's a fair amount of humor sprinkled throughout this sad tale of loves unrequited and lost, and who doesn't love a witch and a werewolf, plagues and the devil, ghosts and anthropomorphic farm tools?

I loved this movie and can't wait to watch it again, and soon.
All The Haunts Be Ours 2 Owned Alone Blu-Ray
Oct. 3, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of November
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Midwinter Sacrifice (1946)
Midvinterblot WikiData IMDb TMDB
Gösta Werner actor: 甘纳尔·布耶恩施特兰德 / Henrik Schildt …
other title: Midvinterblot / Winternachtswende
A mythic depiction of a pagan sacrifice in prehistoric Sweden.
Watched
Oct. 1, 2026
Beautiful images (thanks to beautifully lit, stark black & white) make up this short about the pagan ritual of sacrificing a man to bring an end to wintertime in Sweden.

I say good luck to all involved.
Alone Owned All The Haunts Be Ours 2 Blu-Ray
Oct. 1, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of Midwinter Sacrifice
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Journey Through Setomaa (1913)
Retk läbi Setumaa WikiData IMDb TMDB
Johannes Pääsuke
other title: Retk läbi Setumaa
Estonia's first ethnographic film. Made by Johannes Pääsuke in 1913 on his expedition to Setomaa, the South-Eastern region in Estonia.
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There Will Be Blood (2007)
There Will Be Blood
★ 8.5 486 ratings
保罗·托马斯·安德森 actor: 丹尼尔·戴-刘易斯 / 巴里·德尔·舍曼 …
other title: 血色将至 / 黑金企业(台) …
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.
Watched
Sept. 28, 2026
Been meaning to revisit this one for a while now.

Honestly pretty cool that Dillon Freasier (child HW) was like "I'll never top this" and stopped acting - he's so good here!

Danny Day and Pauly D are also pretty good here.

The whole movie...it's pretty good!

(Neat to watch this after Robert Altman's Short Cuts> (1993) and see the dedication at the end of the credits.)
Alone Owned Blu-Ray
Sept. 28, 2026 Review A Review - a review of There Will Be Blood
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Short Cuts (1993)
Short Cuts WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 8.2 93 ratings
罗伯特·奥特曼 actor: 安迪·麦克道威尔 / 布鲁斯·戴维森 …
other title: 银色·性·男女 / 人生交叉点 …
1993 film by Robert Altman
Watched
Sept. 28, 2026
I'd seen this only once before, a long time ago, after seeing Magnolia (1999) for the first time and thinking "Okay, I see where Paul may have taken...inspiration..." It was crazy to see how much of this I remembered and how I'd thought about some of these moments a lot over the years without realizing it.

And now, having watched so much Altman over the past 12 months, it was nice to come back to it. So much happens and so little happens at the same time, and it's just really great to be a fly on the wall (😉) to see all these characters live through 48 hours of their lives and how they all intersect and how, no matter what happens, things just keep on keeping on.

A real treat.
Alone Owned Blu-Ray
Sept. 28, 2026 Review A Review - a review of Short Cuts
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Frank (2014)
Frank WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 7.8 363 ratings
伦尼·阿伯拉罕森 actor: 多姆纳尔·格里森 / 迈克尔·法斯宾德 …
other title: 弗兰克 / 法蘭克 …
2014 film directed by Lenny Abrahamson
Watched
Sept. 27, 2026
It's been a while since I've watched this, and while I'm sure it was always there, I was struck this time by the idea of how art flourishes in dysfunction and how sometimes the families we choose to be a part of are the dysfunction we need for that art to flourish.

I don't know, I've been under the weather all weekend and this was my take away this time while on meds and unable to fall asleep last night.
Alone Netflix
Sept. 28, 2026 Review A Review - a review of Frank
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The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
The Ballad of Wallis Island
★ 6.1 9 ratings
James Griffiths actor: 凯瑞·穆里根 / Tom Basden …
other title: 더 발라드 오브 월리스 아일랜드 / One For The Money …
Eccentric lottery winner Charles lives alone on a remote island but dreams of hiring his favourite musician, Herb McGwyer, to play an exclusive, private gig. Unbeknownst to Herb, Charles has also hired Herb’s ex-bandmate and ex-girlfriend, Nell, with her new husband in tow, to perform the old favourites. As tempers flare and old tensions resurface, the stormy weather traps them all on the island and Charles desperately looks for a way to salvage his dream gig.
Watched
Sept. 27, 2026
A very sweet movie that zigs into some expected directions and zags into others one mightn't culminating in a bittersweet and tearful ending.

I liked it!
Alone Peacock
Sept. 27, 2026 Review Initial Review - a review of The Ballad of Wallis Island