Reviews
[REVIEW] The Devilish Delight Of ‘Southbound’ (2016)
Southbound follows five stories, each connecting to the larger whole. Two murderers are on the run from floating, reaper-like creatures. A rock band finds themselves in the company of weird cult members. A distracted driver must do surgery via directions from a 911 operator. Someone will enter a world of horrors to save his sister’s life. And a family plans one last getaway before their daughter heads to college. What could go wrong?
Sometime in 2011/12, Bloody Disgusting founder Brad Miska had the brilliant idea to gather a group of filmmakers to make a found footage anthology film. Now, 12 years later, the V/H/S franchise would boast five more entries and two spin-off films. The seventh installment, V/H/S/Beyond, will include prominent genre names like Mike Flanagan, Katie Siegal, and Justin Long. Three years after the creation of V/H/S, Brad Miska and Roxanne Benjamin would jump back into the producer’s chair with the inception of Southbound. Like V/H/S, Southbound would tell an anthology story with a wraparound story to tie it all together. Unlike V/H/S, the wraparound story for Southbound would find itself more easily explained and palatable.
A Look at Southbound’s Interconnected Anthology Structure
Southbound follows five stories, each connecting to the larger whole. Two murderers are on the run from floating, reaper-like creatures. A rock band finds themselves in the company of weird cult members. A distracted driver must do surgery via directions from a 911 operator. Someone will enter a world of horrors to save his sister’s life. And a family plans one last getaway before their daughter heads to college. What could go wrong?
The filmmaking team Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream V) will tackle the opening and ending vignette. While Roxanne Benjamin (Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, Body at Brighton Rock), Patrick Hovarth (The Pact 2), and David Bruckner (The Ritual, The Night House) would do the heavy lifting by filling in the pieces. And Larry Fessenden is the Cine Film Cement that holds the celluloid together. Interestingly, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin would be the only Radio Silence member to handle the writing for their two segments
Why Southbound Rewards Repeat Viewings
This is a second time watch for me, and part of my overall enjoyment was pointing out bits and bobs from each story that tied together the overall story. A singular watch of this film can tell you the whole story, but a film like Southbound is a film that’s more enjoyable after a second watch. (Who knows, maybe even a third!) Anthology films usually have a segment that isn’t great or doesn’t work, but that’s a conversation for another time. Southbound is one of the few anthology films that doesn’t have a bad segment. Moreover, each segment acts as its own entity set to exist in this hellscape, rather than being about this horrible town. You could pick any one of the segments out of Southbound and thoroughly enjoy it as its own short film.
The biggest issue of Southbound is an overreliance on digital effects. Throughout the film, we get some pretty gnarly and fun practical kills. When it comes to the floating reapers, on the other hand, that’s when things get a bit unfortunate. The floating reapers look decent when they’re in the distance, but when they get close to the characters, it just looks hokey. A kill toward the end of the film with the reapers just looks plain bad. If it’s a budget or time issue, I get it, I just wish it had been handled more practically.
Take the surgery scene. When Lucas (Mather Zickel) attempts surgery [spoiler alert], you get one of the most intense and visually disturbing scenes in ANY anthology film. Writer/director David Bruckner pulled out all the stops with his segment “The Accident.” Maybe Bruckner ate up all the practical effect money with the surgery scene.
Why Southbound Remains a Standout Anthology
The majority of anthology films quickly lose their luster. Anthology films like Southbound make rewatches a rewarding experience. The scenes of horror and gore still worked on a second watch. Honestly, it just felt good to rewatch Southbound. It’s the perfect film to pair with something like V/H/S. It could also be the perfect film to recommend to a friend who couldn’t get into the camera style of the V/H/S films but still wanted to see something in the vein of those films.
Most people find that stretching their dollar still barely gets them by in today’s economy. I am very particular about what I spend my spare money on regarding extracurriculars. And no one likes to feel like their money is wasted. Madame Morbid Trolley Tours wasn’t an experience I had been familiar with. Maybe that’s because I’m chronically offline for most of my life. So this leads to the perfect question: in today’s turbulent economy, is Madame Morbid Trolley Tours worth the price? The short answer is unquestionably, yes. But it’s more than just a simple yes.
My wife and I arrived at the designated meeting point 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. A handful of minutes later, a gorgeous, e-candle-lit trolley pulled up to the side of the road. We were greeted by impeccably on-brand Allison Chase, our tour guide, and trolley driver ‘Mad’ Matt Zaller. The wonderfully cheery duo invited us on the trolley, and the tour was set to begin.
400 Years of Death, Destruction, and Infrastructure
After a welcoming video intro from someone who knows a thing or two about busting ghosts, we set off on the inaugural Madame Morbid Trolley Tour in its ninth year of operation. From the Brooklyn Naval Yard all the way to Dumbo, and more, this tour magnificently chronicles 400 years of history, the good and the bad, expertly. No matter how much you think you may know about Brooklyn history, I can bet there will be something new learned within the first 15 minutes of the tour. From the first-ever plane crash to one of the worst theater fires in history, this tour covers tragedies that the greatest horror writers couldn’t conceive.
The Deadly [Charming] Docent
Allison Chase led the fascinating tour in character from the moment we stepped on the trolley until our departure. But Allison’s character was not forced or fake; you could feel Allison’s passion for not just morbid history, but the accuracy of it. Some of the stories we heard were steeped in historical context, and it was not boring for a single second. The Madame Morbid Trolley Tour is not your standard full-talking tour. It’s a mixed-media adventure of some of Brooklyn’s darkest moments.
During “downtime” (the times between locations), we were edutained by mini documentaries (that were quite funny). Some of the “downtime” was filled with traffic trivia (I won a needle pen!). And other times were show-and-tell-like, with objects passed around for us to examine. But there was never a moment of silence that wasn’t purposeful. All in all, Allison’s knowledge and passion shone like the luminosity of a full moon.
Is Madame Morbid Trolley Tours Worth It?
The Madame Morbid Trolley Tour was not just a fun night out for my wife and me, but it was a delightfully dark night of edutainment. It should also be noted that ‘Mad’ Matt’s driving skills were fantastic. There was a time when I had become enamored with how Matt handled the narrow streets of Brooklyn before realizing that I needed to refocus my attention on Allison. The Madame Morbid Trolley Tour is an exceptionally fun evening of horror and history that will make you think twice next time you walk down the streets of Brooklyn. It is worth the money, and then some. There’s no better activity for a cold, dark October night than the Madame Morbid Trolley Tour.
For more information on Madame Morbid Trolley Tours, and to get your tickets, click here!
I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should have watched the Stephen King adaptation Cujo a million years ago. First of all, I was a voracious King reader in middle school. The other thing I was obsessed with during those years was Friends. You know, the show that hinges a major episode’s subplot on Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) watching Cujo for the first time. Whatever the reason was, I never got around to it, but I’m rectifying that oversight now.
What is Cujo About?
Cujo tells a relatively simple story. Donna Trenton’s (Dee Wallace) a housewife who’s cheating on her husband Vic (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) with local handyman Steve (Christopher Stone). There’s no accounting for taste, because Vic is 10 times hotter and Steve doesn’t own a bed frame. Look, Donna. I know Vic has that awful David Hasselhoff hair, but I promise the 1980s will end sooner or later. It’ll be OK.
Donna’s attempted termination of this affair ultimately leads to its discovery. Amid this drama, her car breaks down at a mechanic’s isolated farmhouse, trapping her and her son, Tad (Danny Pintauro). You see, the mechanic’s dog, Cujo, freshly christened with rabies, is patrolling the area and attacking everything in sight.
Dee Wallace Is Cujo’s Not-So-Secret Weapon
It would be impossible to start a worthwhile review of Cujo without praising Dee Wallace. The woman is a genre icon, naturally. Think about this: She had only appeared in seven theatrical movies before starring in Cujo. Four of those movies are The Stepford Wives, The Hills Have Eyes, E.T., and The Howling. But this woman didn’t become an icon simply by accidentally stumbling into some iconic titles. She is simply terrific as Donna, using her darting eyes and taut expression to deliver oodles of subtext. You instantly get the sense of how trapped she feels by marriage and motherhood without her uttering a single word.
A good performance is vital, here. Because there’s a hell of a lot of drama to get through before she’s trapped in that damn car. But Wallace instantly shoves you into Donna’s perspective, whether you like it or not. This makes it all the more potent when she is menaced by Cujo. Her desperate attempts for survival, also impeccably performed, have true weight because she seems like a real person. She is also given an incredible scene partner in Danny Pintauro. The future Who’s the Boss? star, who was only six when shooting Cujo, has a perfect everychild quality. His innocence heightens the peril. But so does that fact that he is just as irritating as every six-year-old you’ve ever met.
This movie truly captures how annoying it must be to be stuck in a life-and-death situation with a child. This is a compliment, I swear! Donna is worn down by every aspect of the situation, including her own son’s inability to cope with it. And this ratchets up the tension even further, to an almost unbearable degree.
Cujo Is a Mixed Bag, But Worthwhile Overall
The movie doesn’t work if Cujo himself doesn’t work, and at first I was real worried that he wouldn’t. In the first half, the St. Bernards that play Cujo onscreen are often shown to be wagging their tails in delight. Which kind of undercuts the reality of the situation, I’d say. But the editing and the special effects step in to fix what animal training couldn’t. The attack scenes in the second half are constructed with quick cuts that never let you get too much purchase. It’s a good approach for keeping viewers off-kilter.
Also, Cujo becomes less and less recognizable as a cuddly canine the further the movie gets. It’s a simple trick, really. He ends up getting coated with more and more slime. Saliva, pus, blood, and what have you. This is good for making him feel like a true movie monster. Plus, it’s a good mirror for the sliminess inside the car as it gets covered in sweat, blood, and grime.
The second half of the movie ultimately works like gangbusters. It’s a shame that Cujo is too cowardly to get Donna and Tad in the car before the halfway point. This decision is somewhat faithful to the book’s structure as I remember it. However, it diminishes the weight of the long days that they spend in the car. We really need to feel that crushing stretch of time, and we don’t. When Tad is suffering from dehydration, it’s not a gut punch. Honestly, I just found myself asking, “Already?” It’s good that they gave the movie a happier ending, because the classic grimdark Stephen King finale wouldn’t have landed.
Is Cujo Worth Watching in 2026?
At the end of the day, Cujo is a solid movie and I’m glad I finally watched it. However, it’s not such a stone-cold classic that I’m not at least a little intrigued by that upcoming Netflix remake…
