My Review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

 

Written by Kim Henkel And Tobe Hooper

Directed by Tobe Hooper 

Hitchhiker: "My family's always been in meat."

For the month of Halloween, I knew I was going to get around to this one. Yeah, it's not a Halloween movie but it's an iconic horror movie (with a lot of mediocre to bad sequels) that I haven't covered on this blog until now.

There's five teenagers -  Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), Jerry (Allen Danziger), Pam (Teri McMinn), Kirk (William Vail), and Sally's brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain), who was a paraplegic. These characters were our protagonists but most were also fodder when they made the mistake of picking up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal).

As the film would reveal, this wasn't an ordinary hitchhiker. He was Nubbins Sawyer and he was unstable and a cannibal to boot. The rest of the Sawyer family weren't exactly model citizens either. Drayton (Jim Siedow), Grandpa (John Dugan) and of course, there's Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) himself.

Leatherface undoubtedly became the most memorable member of the Sawyer clan. He was handy with a chainsaw, physically intimidating and rather slow witted. He made for a truly terrifying presence but also was the most tragic member of that family.

As the movie went along, all of the teenagers suffered at the hands of the Sawyer clan and they suffered brutally. Sally of course was shaped as the Final Girl but she's not the type that most expect these days.

Sally barely survived this movie as she went through absolute hell seeing her friends and brother die, losing a finger and being tortured by the Sawyers. I can't say she's one of my favourite Final Girls but it's hard not to feel for her throughout this film.

- Parts of this movie were influenced by the real life crimes of Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley.

- John Larroquette did the narration for this film.

- Standout music: Roger Bartlett and Friends Fool For A Blonde.

- Chronology: Set in 1973 in the fictional town of Newt, Muerto County, Texas. 

I'll admit that I'm not as enamored with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as many horror fans but I do like this first movie and Leatherface made for a terrifying presence with the screen time he's had.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Gerald's Game (2017)

 

Written by Mike Flanagan And Jeff Howard

Directed by Mike Flanagan 

Jessie: "This monster was real, real as they come. As real as the cuffs, as the dog. As real as the eclipse."

It came to my attention that I had missed something out in my overall viewing of Mike Flanagan's filmography. Yup, there was this Netflix adaptation of a Stephen King book in movie form, featuring some of his regular players.

In this movie, you've got Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood. They're a married couple named Jessie and Gerald Burlingame. Their marriage was on the rock and a weekend away at a lake house was needed to get things back on track for the pair.

Throw in a bit of roleplay, bondage and a scenario that Jessie was growing increasingly uncomfortable with and it appeared that both her and Gerald had much bigger problems to deal with head on. Then Gerald had a heart attack and died at the worst possible time.

For the majority of this film, Jessie's handcuffed to a bed with her dead husband on top of her, a dog that alternated between friendly and feral and worse than that, Jessie's past. With no rescue in sight, she spent a lot of time taking a trip down memory lane while being confined to a bed.

In flashbacks her younger self (Chiara Aurelia) had siblings named Maddie (Adalyn Jones) and James (Bryce Harper) that she wasn't as close to. Jessie also wasn't close to her mother Sally (Kate Siegel) but she was also a victim of abuse at the hands of her father, Tom (Henry Thomas).

Yes, Jessie's past with her father isn't that dissimilar to what Stephen King previously tackled in Dolores Claiborne but there's also the addition of the sinister Moonlight Man aka Raymond Andrew Joubert (Carel Struycken). The character's menacing enough but felt rather underdeveloped in this particular adaptation. 

- There's also a plot with the eclipse in flashbacks. Jessie hallucinates versions of herself and Gerald talking to her.

- Carla Gugino would work with Henry Thomas and Kate Siegel a year later in The Haunting Of Hill House.

- Standout music: Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home To Me.

- Chronology: Set in Fairhope, Alabama with a six month jump towards the end of the film.

I can't say I really dug Gerald's Game as an adaptation. It's fine I suppose. Carla Gugino did give a good performance as did Bruce Greenwood but it's themes have explored better in other works by both Stephen King and Mike Flanagan respectively.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

Glee - Reboot Ordered By Hulu/Disney+

 

Last month, I reported that Ryan Murphy had planned a reboot of Glee and now, a month later, it's been confirmed that Hulu and Disney+ have ordered a revival series for the popular musical drama that ran for six seasons on FOX, between 2009 to 2015.

As of now, it's early days and no cast members have been announced but chances are, we'll know exactly who'll be involved over the next few weeks. Not sure how I feel about this tbh.

Press Release: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/glee-revival-series-disney-plus-hulu-1236736950/

Glee is available to watch on Hulu and Disney+

My Review of Crystal Lake - Season 1 (2026, Peacock Series)

 

Written by Bryan Fuller And Brad Caleb Kane And Jen Silverman And Pia Wilson And Evan Endicott And Josh Stoddard And Karl Taro Greenfeld And Laura Marks And Arthur Imperatore

Directed by Michael Lennox And Celine Held And Logan George And Quyen Tran

Pamela (to Levon): "I don't want to heal. I just want to find my son." 

It's certainly been a month for horror and we've still got a week and a half left before Halloween itself. When it comes to horror franchise, I'm not gonna lie - Friday The 13th can often be very hit and miss for me.

If you think of this eight part series from Peacock as an alternative prequel to the popular horror franchise, you may like it a lot more. Even if you don't, the question would be - is it any worse than the sequels we've had? I'd argue it's better than most of the sequels.

For instance, it's biggest strength would be Linda Cardellini. The decision to cast her as Pamela Voorhees by far was the best thing the show did. She's more perfect from start to finish. A woman with a shady past, all she wanted to do was to provide a loving environment for her son, Jason (Callum Vinson/Jonathan Tison). Taking him to Camp Crystal would end up being her biggest mistake.

The opening episode didn't waste time in killing Jason off due to hedonistic counsellors Barry (Phoenix Parnevik) and Claudette (Danielle Kotch) being more into each other than doing their jobs. Of course, there's a twist to Jason's origins and even his death and aftermath.

Jason had made a friend in a girl named Grace (Gwend Sundstrom) and she's a major player in the show. She came from a crappy home with an abusive mother named Valerie (Tonya Glanz), who'd get one gruesome death upon annoying Pamela. Anyways, Grace witnessed Barry and Claudette failing Jason and she's part of their big death scene in the fifth episode wheb it should've been Pamela's moment alone.

Then there's Jason's origins itself. Pamela being involved with Elias Wittering (Hamish Linklater) saw Jason being a product of a scientific experiment that was supposed to test human endurance. Bellflower are the villains of the season and it only took the finale for the family reunion from Hell.

Keeping in with Pamela's chaotic world, there was a slew of decent supporting characters. Pamela had allies with Chief Levon Brooks (William Catlett) and his reporter sister, Briana (Devin Kessler). Levon was also a love interest for Pamela while Rita (Joy Suprano) and Officer Dorf (Cameron Scoggins) had their moments as did the reclusive Ralph (Nick Cordileone).

Episode titles are Camp Crystal, Part 2, Part III, A New Beginning, The New Blood, Kill Them Mommy, Friday and The Final Chapter.

- I liked that the title sequence evoked many of the title sequences from the movie.

- Pamela wore her iconic blue sweater in the fifth and sixth episodes. Some of her lines were reworked a bit.

- The last scene with Steve Christy (Dan Thompson) talking to the campers about Jason as the latter watched them.

- Standout music: Harry Manfredini provided the theme but the composer for the series was Giosuè Greco.

- Chronology: 1971 in Crystal Lake. The seventh episode was set in Houston.

Crystal Lake isn't a perfect prequel to Friday The 13th but it's a damn sight better than expected, although it's more of an alternative version tbh. Linda Cardellini delivers one of the best performances on TV/streaming this year and there's some rather great kills. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of 3 From Hell (2019)

 

Written And Directed by Rob Zombie 

Otis: "Hello America. Did you miss me?"

The last two days I watched and reviewed the first two installments of Rob Zombie's Firefly trilogy and now I'm at the very end of said trilogy. It's certainly been a bumpy set of movies.

After the second film, there was an uncertainty towards the fates of Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), Otis (Bill Moseley) and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig). It turned out that they got caught, gained public support but still ended up serving life sentences.

Because Rob Zombie clearly had a thing for those exploitation prison movies, there's some emphasis on Baby's prison time. Yup, she got to be subjected to a rough time, dealing with characters like Greta (Dee Wallace) and Slackjaw (Dot Marie Jones) before she's eventually freed.

Spaulding didn't fare as well as he was given lethal injection off screen while Winslow Foxworth "Foxy" Coltrane (Richard Brake) helped break both Otis (his half brother) and Baby out of the slammer. Foxy also replaced Spaulding in this depraved line up of main characters.

Anyways the trio ended up in Mexico and it's a place where they partied and even bond with some of the locals. Baby in particular had a nice connection with Sebastian (Pancho Moler) and this film managed to give us a character slightly worse than the Firefly clan.

Yup, Aquarius (Emilio Rivera) and his men wanted to take Baby, Otis and Foxy out and they very nearly succeeded. For a family as evil as the Firefly clan, it's almost a miracle that I was rooting for them against Aquarius. Of course they were victorious. I wasn't expecting otherwise.

- Sid Haig died before this movie's release, hence the addition of Foxy to the family.

- Danny Trejo appeared in the previous film and also appeared in this one.

- Standout music: Suzi Quatro's The Wild One.

- Chronology: Ten years since the events of the second film.

3 From Hell marked an okay ending to a generally okay trilogy of films surrounding a pretty nasty family. Probably not a trilogy I'll revisit but could've been worse.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Twice-Told Tales (1963)

Written by Robert E. Kent 

Directed by Sidney Salkow

Beatrice: "Your daughter is a fine specimen, too, isn't she father? A specimen of the most deadly thing that was ever given life."

My need to watch Vincent Price horror films this month has extended beyond Poe adaptations. I caught up with this gem last night,which saw him tackling three different roles.

The movie might called Twice -Told Tales but there's actually three of them, based on some rather infamous stories. In each of them, Price had something of an antagonistic role to play.

The first one was Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, in which Price was Alex Medborne. Both him and his friend, Dr. Carl Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot). They're celebrating the latter's 79th birthday and were playing around with water that had preservation properties. It was enough to make both men young.

It was also enough to resurrect Heidegger's fiancée, Sylvia (Mari Blanchard), who's been dead for 38 years. Throw in a very toxic love triangle between the three and this segment saw no one getting out alive as the water only temporarily restored people.

The second one was the best. A take on Rappaccini's Daughter, this one had Price as Giancomo, who kept his daughter, Beatrice (Joyce Taylor) prisoner in a poisonous garden. Beatrice herself too was poisonous but also in love with university student, Giovanni (Brett Halsey).

Giacomo was desperate to keep both Beatrice and Giovanni away from one another but then infected Giovanni in order for his daughter to have her lover. Again, none of the characters from this one made it out alive.

The last story, The House of the Seven Gables was the weakest of the bunch but still pretty decent. Price took on the role of Gerald Pyncheon. Both Gerald and his wife Alice (Beverly Garland) return to the former's family home and it's a home with it's own secrets and lies.

There's also a family curse, which involved Jonathan Maulle (Richard Denning), who was a descendant of the original curse maker. Throw in a rivalry between Gerald and his sister, Hannah (Jacqueline deWit), attempted murder and the collapse of a family home and it's a suitable ending for this anthology.

- There's a comic book version of this movie that you can enjoy.

- Vincent Price previously played Clifford Pyncheon in the 1940 version of The House Of The Seven Gables.

- I liked the skeleton hand used to turn the page on each story.

- Chronology: 1859 for the first story, Padua for the second story and the 19th century for the final story.

Twice-Told Tales told three different stories, all of which Vincent Price at the helm. They're good stories with the middle one being the best of the bunch.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of House Of Usher (1960)

 

Written by Richard Matheson 

Directed by Roger Corman 

Narration: "And the deep and dark tarn closed silently over the fragments of the House of Usher - Poe."

I did say that I wasn't going to review these Vincent Price/Roger Corman adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories in order, so I went back a few movies to review this one.

A couple of years, I really enjoyed the Netflix adaptation of this particular story and this version also turned out to be very enjoyable too. As usual, Vincent Price would turn in a fantastic performance.

In this adaptation, he's Roderick Usher and he comes from a cursed family bloodline. As a consequence of that, he's incredibly overprotective of his sister, Madeline (Myrna Fahey). This was something that didn't go down well with her betrothed, Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon).

In fact despite Roderick and even the butler, Bristol (Harry Ellerbe) trying to warn Philip about the cursed bloodline and the madness, Philip wouldn't take any warning to mind. He was determined to bring Madeline back to America with him. Of course, fate had other ideas for her.

She suffered from catalepsy and was buried alive. She got out of her coffin and went absolutely mad and ended her own bloodline along with Bristol. It's a very brutal but suitable ending for this incredibly dysfunctional family.

Of course, it's more devastating for Philip. All he wanted was to be with Madeline and didn't get to have that. It's a very bittersweet ending but fitting in consideration to the source material.

- This was the first of these eight movies. I've got four more of these to go.

- The opening and ending credits had a nice smoky colour effect.

- The film also went by the title of The Fall Of The House Of Usher.

- Chronology: The Usher manor was in the worst place near a murky swamp.

House Of Usher is a glorious adaptation of the source material. Note perfect performances from the three leads, superb direction and cinematography. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The Devil's Rejects (2005)

 

Written And Directed by Rob Zombie

Otis: "I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil's work."

Yesterday I wrote my review for House Of 1000 Corpses. That film struck a chord that a sequel came out two years later. The focus being on the Firefly family and the absolute carnage that they caused.

Mostly, the focus was on Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), Otis Driftwood (Bill Moseley) and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig). Their antics from the previous film had the law going after them, in particular the rather overzealous and excessively violent Sheriff John Quincey Wydell (William Forsythe).

The film quickly killed off Rufus (Tyler Mane) while taking Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook) into custody and the latter absolutely revelled in being as vile to Wydell as best she could. She even took delight in reminding Wydell that her family were responsible for the death of his brother George (Tom Towles). Let's just say that Mother seriously underestimated how psychotic Wydell really was.

Don't get me wrong - the Firefly are psychotic scumbags who deserve to die but it's like this movie tried to make them sympathetic by making Wydell as unhinged as they are. When Baby, Spaulding and Otis are captured, it's almost sweet seeing them trying to protect each other. Even Tiny (Matthew McGrory) saving Baby was an oddly sweet moment.

Then there's the fact that for no reason whatsoever, the on the run Firefly family randomly target a family - husband and wife Roy (Geoffrey Lewis) and Gloria Sullivan (Priscilla Barnes) along with their daughter, Wendy (Kate Norby) son in law Adam (Lew Temple) and roadie Jimmy Cracker (Brian Posehn). None of those people deserve what they're subjected to and none of them made it out of the movie alive either.

The Firefly family really do spend this movie adding victims, enemies and even allies into their twisted world. The ending being one drawn out car chase with their fate left unknown would've been a decent way of closing this family out but a third movie would come out fourteen years later. 

- Wydell gets angry about a lot of things and disrespecting Elvis Presley was one of them.

- Characters from the Groucho's were used as aliases here. Not surprised the Firefly family kept photos of their victims.

- Standout music: Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird.

- Chronology: Took place during May 18th 1978.

The Devil's Rejects has some horrible moments and a racist chant that even in 2005 should've been removed but it's a solid enough expansion on the Firefly family and the people that crossed their path in this one.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of The Masque Of The Red Death (1964)

 

Written by Charles Beaumont And R. Wright Campbell

Directed by Roger Corman 

Red Death (to Prospero): "Why should you be afraid to die? Your soul has been dead for a long long time."

I'm continuing with my Vincent Price/Roger Corman Edgar Allen Poe and not strictly in order. I went for this one yesterday as I do like Price in villain mode and he's pretty dastardly here.

It's medieval Italy and Price in this film was cast as Satanic Prince Prospero. He's a mean spirited bastard who took delight in burning down a village as an old woman who had the Red Death (aka anthrax) died. On top of that, Prospero's ways of dealing with villagers also left a lot to be desired.

He's smitten with village girl Francesca (Jane Asher) and took her prisoner. He also Francesca's lover Gino (David Weston) and her father, Ludovico (Nigel Green) prisoner too. Prospero spent some of the movie trying to get Gino and Ludovico to kill one another and when he couldn't, he came up with a plan to cause despair to both men and Francesca.

Satanism played a huge role in this film. Prospero was a devout follower of the Dark Lord and wanted everyone to know that. His mistress Juliana (Hazel Court) took her devotion a further step in proving herself worthy. Let's just say she got married but not in a way that I'd recommend to anyone.

There's also the presence of the ghastly Alfredo (Patrick McGee). His abuse of dwarf girl Esmeralda (Verina Greenlaw) brought out the vengeful side of her lover, Hop-Toad (Skip Martin) and he's given quite the comeuppance. It's really satisfying to watch if I'm being honest.

Of course what was also satisfying was the reveal of Red Death himself and how he factored into the downfall of Prospero. It's beautifully depicted with a great dual performance from Vincent Price. The ending as well with the other cloaked figure was suitably chilling.

- The cloaked figures were white (Tuberculosis), yellow (Yellow Fever), orange (Scurvy), blue (Cholera), violet (Influenza), and black (Bubonic Plague). 

- Corman wanted to adapt this story as it was his favourite after House Of Usher (1960).

- Hop-Toad and Esmeralda appeared in the short story, Hop-Frog but were added to this adaptation 

- Chronology: Medieval Italy for the entire movie.

The Masque Of The Red Death is a fabulous adaptation of the source material with Vincent Price truly playing such a reprehensible prince. There's something truly satisfying in watching Prospero's comeuppance play out and the final scene gave chills.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of House Of 1000 Corpses

 

Written And Directed by Rob Zombie 

Otis: "It's all true. The bogeyman is real and you found him."

It's less than a fortnight to Halloween and I found myself revisiting this one late last night. It's the first in a trilogy centred on a depraved family of serial killers and a taste of the kind of filmmaker that Rob Zombie would turn out to be.

I'll admit that Zombie's tastes are often trashy for my liking and there's definitely moments in this film that I found pretty cringe in pastts but as a debut, it's not without it's merit.

Our unfortunate victims are a group consisting of Jerry Goldsmith (Chris Hardwick), Bill Hudley (Rainn Wilson), Mary Knowles (Jennifer Jordyn), and Denise Willis (Erin Daniels). They chose Halloween of all nights to go and explore the legend of Dr. Satan (Walter Phelan). Local clown Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) took delight in messing with them. He'd also be the least of their problems.

Having the misfortune of encountering the rather foul mouthed Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) would put these four into severe harm's way. If Baby was too much to handle, then the rest of her family - Mother Firefly (Karen Black), adopted brother Otis Driftwood (Bill Moseley), half brother Tiny (Matthew McGrory), Rufus (Robert Allen Mukesh) and Grandpa Hugo (Dennis Fimple) would only make things so much worse.

We're barely halfway into the film where the Firefly family have kidnapped and terrorised cheerleaders, murdered cops and turned Bill into a grotesque Fiji Mermaid and they almost got off easily. Jerry, Mary and Denise have their suffering prolonged as the Firefly family upped the sadism and even revealed the true story behind Dr. Satan.

This isn't a movie where a survivor would emerge. Mary got brutally stabbed and Jerry ended up being vivisected. Denise almost escaped until she didn't and her fate at the hands of Dr Satan and Earl (Jake McKinnon) sure as Hel looked bleak as anything.

- Although it was necessary to the film, I did find the cutting to the film bits rather annoying at times.

- The movie would spawn two very different sequels in The Devil's Rejects and 3 From Hell that would expand on the Firefly family.

- Standout music: Rob Zombie's Everybody Scream!

- Chronology: October 30th and 31st 1977.

House Of 1000 Corpses certainly set the bar for the aesthetic Rob Zombie would go for as a director. There's moments of brilliance, there's a homage to grislier horror of old and certain moments that you'd question the man's taste but it's a rather good debut nonetheless.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Psycho Beach Party (2000)

 

Written by Charles Busch

Directed by Robert Lee King

Florence: "I've never been to an orgy before. What do I wear?"

I'm half way through October and I'm trying to keep this blog as horror themed as possible. I'm also using this as an opportunity to catch up with old horror films that I've not seen before. This would be one of them.

Pre-Six Feet Under, I was aware that this movie was a cult favourite that had Lauren Ambrose playing the main role of Florence "Chicklet" Forrest. Its a pretty interesting role for her as Chicklet turned out to be a rather multifaceted character.

As Florence, she was kind of unpopular with only Berdine (Danni Wheeler) as her only friend. As Chicklet, she was the only girl in a surfer gang. Her presence in said attracted the attention of both Starcat (Nicholas Brendon) and the much older Kanaka (Thomas Gibson). Though the latter was more attracted to the fiery Ann Bowman.

Yes, Florence suffered from multiple personalities and her others ones were playful, violent and snobbish, much to the confusion of everyone around her. Except her mother, Ruth (Beth Broderick), who knew more about Florence's psyche than she was letting on.

Anyways there was a spate of murders throughout the community and it really did look like Florence was responsible. Of course, it turns out that the mild manner Lars (Matt Kesslar) was the real killer and it's a good rug pull moment until the ending also turned things on its head.

The film's filled with some vibrant characters. You get typical mean girl types like Rhonda (Kathleen Robertson) and Marvel Ann (Amy Adams) but the standouts were Captain Monica Stark (Charles Busch) and B horror movie actress, Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies). Both characters light up the movie with their scenes.

- There's a slew of hunky actors in Nicholas D'Agosto, David Chokachi and Andrew Levitas to name a few.

- Florence had a younger brother who died when she was looking after him. The Ann Bowman persona was a nod to Ruth's promiscuity.

- Standout music: Ben Vaughn's P-S-Y-C-H-O (Psycho).

- Chronology: This seemed to have a very 1950s feel to it overall.

Psycho Beach Party might be one of the strangest movies I've watched in a while and it's not even a new one. It mostly worked but some stuff didn't quite land. Lauren Ambrose unquestionably was the best thing about this film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of American Horror Story: 13 - The Prodigal Son

 

Written by Ned Martel And Charlie Carver And Brad Falchuk

Directed by Gillian Robespierre 

Mr. Nas (to Ben): "So, are we going to do this nicely or is daddy gonna have to give you a spanking?"

Personally, I'm disappointed that Ben didn't get a spanking in this episode and I don't apologise for that. All of a sudden, our mild mannered hospice caretaker developed a bratty sub side to him and all because his daddy turned out to be Satan of all things.

Yes, Ben is the son of Mr. Nas but as I suspected, he's not Devan Campbell from the events of Apocalypse. If he were, this would've been the place to have confirmed that. Ben basically had daddy drag him around the Apollyon and bind him to a chair without the bondage aspect of it all. 

I'm going to blunt here. Joey Pollari and Paul Anthony Kelly found their best scene partners this season in each other that it's almost a shame Ben and Nas are related. There was a time when these two would've played enemies who hate fucked each other. Sadly that's not this time. Oh, well.

Mr. Nas was pretty blatant about wanting Ben to join the family business. Now, this was where the episode lost me. Nas's big plan all along was to go back to Hell and let Ben take over the Earth. That seemed really dumb. Surely, Nas would want to rule both Hell and Earth and keep Ben under control. Going by the way this episode ended, I can't tell what Ben has chosen to do.

Ben conveniently appeared at the Academy during the end, offering himself to the witches who only just learned he existed. Is he going to be a Trojan horse and destroy the witches from the inside? I can't rule it out. Or will Ben actually rebel against Daddy Dearest and help them send Nas back to Hell and relinquish any claim to ruling Earth? Ben did talk about wanting to do good.

Am I terrible person for saying that anything Coven related was my least favourite aspect of this one? I didn't miss them in the last episode and while their screen time was essential, I kept wanting to go back to Ben and Mr. Nas. On the plus side, at least everyone found out about Mallory taking out Michael Langdon and reacted accordingly. Cordelia in particular handled the reveal a lot better than expected.

- I can't wait for Ben to find out that Constance is his half sister. I wonder how he'll take that bit of news.

- If you thought Ben's overuse of AI was bad, then some of Nas's choice in dialogue was a lot worse by comparison.

- Ben has shown no actual powers whatsoever for someone being earmarked to rule Earth. How come Michael did?

- I did slightly laugh at Coco's offering of Captain Morgan's to Papa Legba and Madison having to be the rational one after the big reveals this episode.

- Standout music: Fleurie's Sirens at the end of the episode.

- Chronology: From the previous episode left off. Also a 1939 Vatican flashback where Pope Pius XII learned about the Antichrist from the box.

The Prodigal Son might have somewhat disappointed with Mr. Nas's overall plan being rather idiotic and almost destined for failure but I had fun watching him and Ben get to know each other. Joey Pollari and Paul Anthony Kelly had some good moments together. I really hope these last three episodes can bring the whole thing to a satisfying conclusion.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of American Horror Story: 13 - The Devil Is In The Details

 

Written by Ryan Murphy And Ned Martel And Charlie Carver

Directed by Adam Penn

Constance: "Why the fuck did you choose me?"

Mr Nas: "I always knew this moment would come."

An episode of two halves with two characters linked by two other characters to boot. First, let's talk about Constance Langdon, shall we? She's been more than happy to serve Mr. Nas aka Satan himself, but it's now that she's starting to have doubts.

It's less to do with the moral implications of serving the Devil himself and more to do with the fact that Constance felt she was continuing a pattern of following influential men who she was smarter than. Constance believing that she's smarter than the Devil himself felt on brand enough. Even Mr. Nas could see the funny side in Constance's assertion.

Nas for the majority of this episode was played by both Fedor Steer and Paul Anthony Kelly. The latter got to wine and dine Constance whilst dressed as a matinee idol. Nas was more than happy to point out Constance's numerous misdeeds but also loved her for being a bad girl. Constance tried to seduce Nas but he turned her down. The reason being something that even I didn't see coming.

Constance being the daughter of Mr. Nas might be one of the biggest mindfucks in the show's history but it oddly worked here. Oh and that young man that Constance has been gaslighting and drugging? He's only her half brother. Yup, I'm talking about the bloke who recently discovered 616 branded above his backside a few episodes. 

Ben and the rather tedious Ashley went to a tattoo parlour to get some answers from a rather unhelpful artist. Ben got more flashbacks and realised he was raised by Satanists. He also went back to using AI to draw a rather obvious conclusion about Mr. Nas and we even got a slight glimpse of a darker side to Ben.

Ben attempted to kill the older Nas until the younger one revealed himself to the flustered hospice caretaker. It's a solid enough cliffhanger as Ben got to be in the same room with two very different versions of his real father. Ben's probably gonna need a lot of therapy if he gets out of this season alive.

- I knew Ashley wasn't to be trusted. In the least shocking reveal, she was working for Constance and Mr. Nas.

- Ben's nicknames expanded this week to Doogie Howser and Chicken by Mr. Phibes and Benny Brown Eyes by Mr. Nas.

- Taylor Dorium Nas or I'm Your Lord Satan. Ben literally needed his AI app to tell him that.

- Constance suggested Adelaide for the postal service and Tate for FOX News to Mr. Nas. Are we going to see either of them again before the season ends?

- Michael Langdon was finally mentioned and in the most deadbeat dad of ways by Mr. Nas. Constance's "grandson" was also a half brother. Bloody hell.

- Chronology: Set during the night for the whole episode.

The Devil Is In The Details provided a huge information dump for both Constance and Ben as characters. I think I like Constance being Nas's daughter more than I like Ben being his heir apparent. At the same time, I'm just happy the story moved along faster with this one and the next episode.

Rating: 7 out of 10