The Blackcoat's Daughter and Serial Mom
Spooky buds! It’s day two of the anxiety marathon! I watched two more movies, again two movies that make no sense together.
First though I want to share some more about anxiety. So, the worst part of anxiety aside from literally everything about anxiety, is the obsessive thoughts. It’s slightly similar to Tourette’s or OCD where you get the compulsion, and if you don’t do the thing, it won’t go away. So, I’ll get what I call an obsessive thought, which will be a negative thought about something in my life. And I can’t get rid of it. It loops in my brain and if I focus on it, it expands. And expands. And expands some more. Until it becomes my new reality and I struggle to remember it wasn’t real in the first place. And that usually leads to depression.
When the obsessive thoughts kick in, I try a few different things to get rid of them, most of which are usually harmful. Hence why I am going to a therapist next week. Those things can be scratching my arms until they bleed, picking at the skin around my fingers, braiding my hair until my fingers cramp, cracking my knuckles repeatedly etc etc. Not great coping methods. But usually pain will direct the brain from the obsessive thought to the “ow that hurts” thoughts.
So obsessive thoughts are super fun ~~~ and just one of the many wonderful things that come with severe anxiety.
ANNYWAYYYY – let’s talk about movies!
THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER (2015)
Released in 2015 originally, but not really seen by most until last year, The Blackcoat’s Daughter was written and directed by Oz Perkins. It stars Lucy Boynton, Emma Roberts, and Kiernan Shipka. It also got released under a bunch of different names including February and The Devil’s Daughter.
It’s set during a wintery February at a Catholic boarding school. All the students are getting picked up by their parents for spring break. Kat (Shipka) dreams her parents die in a car crash, and when they fail to pick her up for the break, her paranoia is confirmed. Another student, Rose (Boynton), is also stuck at school because her parents aren’t coming until Friday. Rose is tasked with watching Kat but instead sneaks out to be with her boyfriend. When Rose returns, she finds Kat in the boiler room acting hella weird.
Jump to another story and there’s a young girl named Joan (Roberts) who has just arrived at a bus station and is tearing off a hospital bracelet. While she is waiting for a bus, a man approaches her and offers her a ride with him and his wife.
SPOILER TERRITORY
I will be completely honest, because obviously that’s why I’m here talking to no one anyway….this movie was kind of boring. It was beautiful, creepy, perfectly shot, and all the performances were spot on. BUT it was super confusing until the last like 5 minutes and kind of boring. And it wasn’t confusing in the fun way like Hereditary but more in the Castle Rock way.
And honestly, what was the deal with Joan and Kat? Like I get that Joan IS Kat a few years later, but why is it a completely different person?! Did Satan possess Kat and change her face completely? I just….did I miss something?
BUT…again, the movie was beautiful. When the movie is flashing back a little bit from Kat’s perspective and you start seeing the devil imagery everywhere, that was super cool.
I think I’ll give it another watch down the line. Ironically, the film actually gave me a bit of anxiety.
SERIAL MOM (1994)
Goddamn I love this film. This is my second watch and I wished I owned it so I could watch it all the time. Released in 1994, Serial Mom was written and directed by John Waters. It stars Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard. There’s also some great cameos by Patty Hearst and Joan Rivers.
Beverly is a mom of two kids and a wife to her loving husband. She runs a strict household where she doesn’t allow swear words or chewing gum. And she spends her spare time bird watching. But Beverly has a dark side that no one knows about. She loves horror movies and has a secret photo of Charles Manson next to her bed. Oh yeah, and she kills people.
Kathleen Turner is perfection. Like actual perfection in this role. She plays Beverly so cleverly on the line of loving mother and complete sociopath. She loses her shit over people not recycling, people stealing her parking spot, and spends her morning viciously prank calling her neighbors. But she always has a home cooked meal ready for her family, and supports her kids in every way. Beverly is one of my favorite characters ever.
Matthew Lillard is another stand out performance, as always. He plays the son, Chip, who is obsessed with horror movies and is the Assistant Manager at the video store.
Serial Mom is the perfect horror comedy – it has so much humor, so many nods to the genre, and a tone of gore. It’s an absolute favorite of mine and a must watch for any genre fan.
