Strangely enough I had basically finished this review before the re-watch of the series itself…which ended up being one day after the news of Lynch’s death.
Got way more emotions about that than I anticipated but, that said, I guess this review ended up being a time capsule of the last thoughts I had on one of my favorite filmmakers just before he died.
So here they are:
This is my second time through The Return and this time I…
lynch:
what does mean? i don’t think it really means anything, in the way people say something means something, you know, umm, because a meaning is a thing that—
everyone (yelling through cupped hands):
IT MEANS YOU WERE SCARED OF PARENTHOOD, MARRIAGE, AND THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, DAVID
Honestly the worst thing about “so bad they’re good” movies is inevitably they have a huge section that drags and is super boring and this *certainly* did not suffer from that.
Felt like it fully committed to a very intentional B-movie campy sense of humor…while also definitely not succeeding in what it was trying to accomplish.
But what can I say—I love me a good weirdo genre mash.
In alternate timeline there’s a version of this by Dante or Carpenter and it’s an un-ironic classic.
Fully taps into two things at the core of what makes King’s work so unique and impactful…
(1) Zany absurdist comedy, and
(2) Deeply evocative surrealism
That’s why, despite the heavy content, King's books are both so resonant and so much fun. Because he creates fictional worlds that externalize all the humor and the horror of what it feels like to be a human...without getting too self-serious about it.
And that’s what Perkins gets with this film.
Definitely not gonna be…
The Facts—
1) CGI was invented approximately 50 years after the making of this film.
2) Buster Keaton jumped through a man’s stomach.
3) Buster Keaton was a witch.
FOLK HORROR YOU SLY FOX YOU TRICKED ME INTO WATCHING A MUSICAL
