Life’s small horrors
my flat is collapsing, micro-reviews, and career developments
Housekeeping (literally)
This week, I experienced the miraculous turn of events that is having a broken shower and broken refrigerator at the same time. My bathroom ceiling then began to leak brown water the day after the refrigerator was replaced. Simultaneously, my upstairs neighbors commenced a total floorboard renovation. The handyman came to ‘fix’ the shower unit, but now it emits electrical pops whilst making the water alternate between freezing cold and scalding hot.
IT HAPPENED
Sabrina Carpenter notwithstanding, we are in an era—an epidemic—of low-budget music videos. Can somebody explain to me what is going on at these record labels? Are things really that dire that Latto needs to shoot the video herself? Fly me out to LA: I’ll handle it.
If your label is lowballing you, your creative team needs to go the Lana del Rey route, and Kacey Musgraves got the memo. Finally, my favorite Miss Musgraves song off the album gets a visual. I only had to wait eight years.
I go big on Argentina
I know most have had their fill for Argentinian horror, but the World Cup simply gave me a taste for more. So I watched When Evil Lurks, a 2023 Argentinian horror film about demonic possession in a farming village.
Whenever I find myself interested in a country, I usually start by viewing a horror film. Horror is the best medium for exploring social malaise; when you explore a country’s horror offerings, you gain a visceral sense of what makes its culture tick. What did I learn from watching When Evil Lurks? That pesticide poisoning in rural Argentinian rural communities is a huge problem! As per an interview with the director, the film is an allegory for pesticide-induced illness, and more generally for corporate evils and the inadequate responses of public officials to public health crises. The film also provides excellent commentary on machismo and fantastic special effects. I am not into extreme violence, and I think that this film treads the line tastefully whilst still being loads of fun.
This being said, I do hope Argentina has better horror films to offer. It was not my favorite. But I do think it is worth the watch, as is Latin American horror more broadly—there’s more to life than needlessly disgusting French sexploitation horror flicks! I will never forgive you lot for convincing me to watch that one about the girl who FUCKS CARS!!!
