The Checkout Counter #47
October 2026

Suspiria

Dead Talents Society

The Devils

i feel like i spent half of october at the movies! i had a good time volunteering at the local film festival and it reaffirmed to me that, yes, watching movies on big screens with other people is very fun. it was also very fun to create eight new webpages for this year's weird web october and see the cool pages everyone else was making.

goodbye, october! thanks for reading 😊

Film

  • Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, 2026i liked little death more than anything else here, which is maybe unfortunate considering their relatively small role. i like that their design clearly evokes old timey divers but instead of those clunky antique helmets, their head is encased in a ceiling vent cover. clever!

    …which is kind of the only thing i got from the movie. it's clever! i get what it's doing with reality and fantasy but that didn't work for me a lot of the time (the "i feel like there's about to be jumpscare" line particularly stuck out). but i love little death and i saw a little death costume on halloween night, and i'm sad i wasn't able to get a picture. they were raising their spear triumphantly and everything!
    Comedy, horror, romance. When a young filmmaker is given the chance to revive her favorite slasher franchise, she travels to meet with the reclusive star of the original movie.
  • Dead Talents Society (鬼才之道), 2024FUN! i love this weird consumerist and bureaucratic world of the dead. really charming cast of characters and the earnest on-the-nose messaging works with the silly tone. the coriander joke got me real good.
    Comedy, horror. A young ghost must learn to survive the world of the dead with the help of an optimistic talent agent and washed-up celebrity.
  • Suspiria, 1977production design heaven! it's funny how quickly the dance angle is dropped.

    i wasn't expecting this movie to have such a straightforward plot, but once i learned the screenplay was originally about ten-year-olds, everything clicked for me. a school becoming the whole world and overwhelming its students makes so much sense when it's a boarding school for children rather than an academy for adults. their powerlessness is magnified, as are the dreamlike and fairytale qualities—of course this is what a faraway boarding school would look like to a little girl. whispering about your teachers being witches is an extremely ten-year-old activity.
    Mystery, horror. After a series of grisly murders, a ballet student comes to suspect that her prestigious dance school is a front for something sinister.
  • The Devils, 1971AWESOME. amazing production design, amazing sets, amazing character styling. the deliberate visual anachronisms reminded me of caravaggio, so i was happy to learn that caravaggio's director, derek jarman, did the production design for this. a true feast for the eyes.

    i knew pretty much nothing about this movie save for its controversial nature and that there's nuns, so i was really pleasantly surprised by how funny it is! the audience at my theater was having a blast. the first shot of the witch hunter made people laugh SO hard, just because his look is so ridiculous and unexpected. i'm also obsessed with the mean priest with a bowl cut. they're all like cartoon characters that turned into real people. i also managed to get the true 1971 experience when the old man sitting behind me couldn't help but mutter, "what kind of demented person made this". cinema!
    Drama, horror. In 17th-century France, a charismatic priest becomes the target of witchcraft accusations.
  • Seven film festival movies that are all worth checking out
    My personal favorites are Elephants in the Fog, Mouse, and Tangles

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