MIDSOMMAR — SHOCKTOBER!

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Writer/director Ari Aster's brilliant horror/social satire is a film that would make M. Night Shyamalamadingdong jealous, very jealous.

"Midsommar" is everything that M. Night imagines his movies to be, but are not. Namely, being truly terrifying, albeit with a keen wit regarding theme and plot development. Smart.

Bold.

You want "character-driven"?

Well here it is.

Carried by Florence Pugh's flawless performance, "Midsommar" could have yet been improved upon with a good 12 minutes of editing.

Nonetheless, Ari Aster isn't afraid to shock his audience into submission. If ever there was a Halloween movie guaranteed to shock you, "Midsommar" is it.

Prepare for the worst.

This is one brutal movie. Not for the faint of heart.

"Midsommar" will not be everyone's cup of tea.

That said, if you're down with Aster's nuanced restraint, even his graphic depictions are engaging.

The violence is just literal enough, but you can clearly make out rubber from flesh.

The cycle of life, as carried out in a dystopic Swedish cult community, is the social Petri dish that Ari Aster uses to examine death, for the complex confusion and fear that it instills in all humanity.

Indoctrination is an essential part of the cult plan.

There's even a slasher-film aspect to "Midsommar" that tips its hat to black comedy.

All you need to know going into this transgressive (if surrealistic) film is that it covers: animal abuse, cannibalism, incest, suicide, matricide, homicide, and some serious fucking.

My work here is done.

Get thee thinking cap on.

Rated R. 148 mins.

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE — SHOCKTOBER!

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Arriving in 1973, the same year that "The Exorcist" was released, "The Legend Of Hell House" is a barn-burning horror movie.

Many of the plot and design elements used in this influential genre film went on to be quoted, if not expanded on, by budding young horror directors in love with its artfulness.

The "Hell House" production designers went all out in creating a rich Gothic environment for our four intrepid ghost hunters to converge in the week before Christmas.

Physicist Dr. Lionel Barrett is hired to investigate ghost behavior at Belasco House, the "Mount Everest of haunted houses."

The home's millionaire owner was a sadist engaged in all sort of off-the-rails debauchery.

"Drug addiction, alcoholism, sadism, bestiality, mutilation, murder, vampirism, necrophilia, cannibalism, not to mention a gamut of sexual goodies. Shall I go on?"

The lost soul's of Emeric Belasco's sex-crime victims now want their own sexy-time payback.

The good doctor brings along his wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), and physical mediums Ben Fischer (Roddy McDowall), and Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin).

Erotic dreams turn into hot reality as the week twists with demonic possession, and more effed up stuff than you can laugh your ass off at.

There's a black cat that does a lot more than just cross paths.

Dark, twisted, and embellished with dated "modern" touches that make it all worthwhile, "The Legend of Hell House" is a minor masterpiece.

Roddy McDowall's not-camp-enough performance redeems him if only somewhat, when McDowall goes full Nic Cage for his big finale monologue.

If only Anthony Perkins had played the role. If only.

"The Legend of Hell House" is a hoot and a half.

A devious electronic music score by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson adds to the movie's creepy atmosphere.

Rated R. 90 mins.

POOR THINGS

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When I met Yorgos Lanthimos at the Fox Searchlight party for his film "The Favourite," I told him that I thought that film fell short of being as bawdy as it should have been, that he needed to lean into being much bawdier with his movies. Yorgos seems to have followed my advice.

Working from a novel by Scottish novelist Alasdair Gray, and with artistic input from the film's lead actress Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos presents a captivating journey of self-discovery that necessarily involves sex, lots and lots of sex.

Oh how refreshing to see characters fucking, rather than shooting each other.

"Poor Things" coincides with Emerld Fennell's "Saltburn" in confronting Hollywood's gun-happy format with something considerably more grounded, namely the sex urge that drives people, and the social curiosity that comes along with it.

Rapturous in its outrageous designs, "Poor Things" is a wonder to behold and a balm for the soul.

Emma Stone is fearless. Willem Dafoe is exquisite, as he always is. Mark Ruffalo provides the comic timing.

Brilliant social satire arrives in spades with a movie that you may want to watch a few times, for obvious reasons.

The not-so-obvious reasons are good too.

Rated R. 141 mins.