Scott Pellico

Good news: there is, loosely speaking, a better version of Strange Days -- African-centric, super-stylish, international tech intrigue, shootouts, pure/twisted romances, even a New Years sequence -- and it's somehow less preachy despite having a literal preacher exposit in it.

Full Review: boxd.it/gZObbh #HalloweenWatchList #14–16 The curly-haired blond boys in Wes Craven’s *Deadly Blessing*, Michael Laughlin’s *Strange Behavior*, and Jim Gillespie’s *I Know What You Did Last Summer* exemplify healthy male sexual appetite—signifying American freedom. The films’ transgressive monsters seek to crush it with fascist mercilessness. #HalloweenWatchList #15 Two paternal influences shape Pete (Dan Shor) in *Strange Behavior*. Arthur Dignam essays totalitarian condescension in a brilliant dual role, recalling Joseph Kahn’s clue in *Detention*: the villain’s dark cynicism betrays his identity. Michael Murphy portrays Pete's father, who relentlessly pursues vengeance for Pete’s mother. Pete inherits erotic confidence before confronting the sexual source of impulses dictated to him. This shocking twist shames the meaningless conflict in 2026’s *Obsession*. #HalloweenWatchList #14 In *Deadly Blessing*, Jeff East brings Superbly luster as a young Hittite itching to escape suppression. Transgender-Munchausen-by-proxy produces a killer who stamps out his first taste of liberty’s consummated pleasure. This utterly dismantles *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma*. #HalloweenWatchList #16 In retrospect, *I Know What You Did Last Summer* captures Ryan Phillippe as rich boy Barry—those lips! those tits!—ascending into movie history as an incandescently beautiful Adonis: an indispensable time capsule. Gillespie demonstrates superior craft and moral seriousness about guilt than *Backrooms*. Yet the story papers over its protagonists’ crime by contriving a greater crime. The boisterous heterosexuality Phillippe initially claims constitutes the privilege Barry intends to protect. Before Barry’s death, however, Phillippe’s look of love attests to his character’s precious humanity. Phillipe supplies the most harrowing sequences.