Good and Spooky – 10/21/21
Whether you like extreme scares or less intense frights, this Halloween season has some-thing for everyone. Check out this guide to kid and family events, adult happenings, trick-or-treat times, haunted attractions and more.
ALSO ON THE COVER, teenage angst and an accidental murder are mixed with ’80s rock music in Cue Zero’s dark comedy Heathers the Musical, p. 20. Get your tickets now for the Nov. 4 Fall Festivus in Concord, p. 30. And hit the one-day drive-thru Gyro & Baklava pop-up in Nashua, p. 31.
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Triple bill leans to heavy sound As a genre, mathcore occupies the intersection of punk, metal and jazz. Among its ...
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Industrial night
Triple bill leans to heavy sound
As a genre, mathcore occupies the intersection of punk, metal and jazz. Among its practitioners is Willzyx, a Manchester quartet with influences including industrial rock pioneers Ministry, late-stage John Coltrane, and modern exemplars like Daughters and French avant-prog trio PoiL.
Willzyx’s latest EP, i don’t feel anything, was released in September. With six tracks clocking in under 15 minutes, it’s at times relentless, as on the whisper to a scream “Feed Your Feelings,” and “Flexible Lies,” which echoes Red-era King Crimson. “We Can Live Our Deaths in Peace” closes out the new disc perfectly, with Ian Seacrest’s screamo vocals soaring over a progression always on the verge of exploding.
For the curious, their name is pronounced Will-Zee-Ack and comes from the killer whale character in a 2005 South Park episode that parodied Free Willy. In a recent phone interview, Willzyx guitarist Alex Hunt and drummer John Funk talked of plans to tone down the band’s wildness.
“When the pandemic hit, we decided to record stuff we hadn’t done yet … in between the next stage of where we’re going sound-wise,” he said. “What we’re working on is branching toward a more choreographed and organized effort, instead of trying to be heavy and chaotic for the sake of being heavy and chaotic.”
Though based in Manchester, Willzyx hasn’t done many local shows lately, with Boston, Providence or Portland, Maine, more frequently on their calendar, with an occasional New York City gig.
“I think we just kind of want to branch out, try to space it,” Funk said. “All of our friends are here, so when we play, it’s fun for everyone to come hang out, but we also want to share with people who don’t know who we are, so we try and go outward.”
The band’s formative period happened in its hometown, however. They’ve appeared at Shaskeen, and a key venue was the now-shuttered Bungalow.
“The whole thing started almost as a joke,” Hunt said. “It was … free experimentation and trying not to repeat riffs, things like that. We tested all of that at Bungalow; it was the main place for us at the beginning.”
They’re back home on Oct. 23 for a show at Candia Road Brewing Co., with two other acts joining in.
Tweak also hews toward a heavier, industrial rock sound.
“They’re kind of in a similar vein to us in that I feel like we listen to a lot of the same music and share a lot of similar kinds of ideas of why we make music,” Hunt said.
Rounding out the night is Doth, the latest moniker for an ambient band that’s gone by Cain Sauce and Sugar Potion, among other names.
“It’s all the same people; this is just one formation,” Hunt said. “It’s a more sparse, electronic kind of thing.”
The event is a bit of a departure for the craft brewery, which frequently hosts solo singer-songwriters, and it’s also the final appearance of Tweak’s current configuration, as one of its members will soon relocate to Chicago.
“They’re definitely an experience I think people should come and see,” Hunt said. “It’s part jump-scare, part dissonant ambient, and part you can’t really follow the rhythms, but you know they’re there somewhere.”
Willzyx members Hunt, Funk, Seacrest and bass player Colin Ward are pleased to present a diverse night.
“There aren’t a lot of shows that cross genre boundaries,” Hunt said. “There’s the metal scene, there’s the songwriter scene, and they don’t really interact very much. Doth is totally not in the same sound as us, but they have the same mentality of bridging those gaps, exposing people to different things that they might not have known they were interested in. It’s cool to have those different styles on the same bill.”
Willzyx / Doth / Tweak
When: Saturday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m.
Where: Candia Road Brewing Co., 840 Candia Road, Manchester
Tickets: $5 – see facebook.com/WillzyxBand
Featured photo: Willzyx. Courtesy photo.
The Music Roundup 21/10/21
Local music news & events
• Join together: After a months-long pandemic delay, an evening with Patty Griffin & Gregory Alan Isakov is finally happening. Griffin is the touchstone for many female singer-songwriters, the debut Living With Ghosts has attained near Blue renown, and her eponymous 2019 album won a Grammy for best folk album, coincidentally beating out Isakov’s Evening Machines. The two each perform solo sets. Thursday, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $50 and up at ccanh.com.
• Soar again: Celebrating 50 years since the release of Blows Against the Empire, The Airplane Family will play the 1971 album in its entirety over two sets, with multimedia accompaniment. The record introduced the Starship moniker, with science fiction themed songs like “Have You Seen The Stars Tonight” and “Let’s Go Together.” It’s a satellite band; only guitarist Peter Kaukonen was an Airplane member at any point in time. Friday, Oct. 22, 8 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $40 and up at tupelohall.com.
• Pre-fright: Both crowd and performers will masquerade at a Halloween Bash in downtown Manchester, with headliner Gaslighter & Martial Law paying tribute to Slipknot in full jumpsuit and mask regalia, after a set of Deftones music done by Girih & At The Heart of It, Bleach Temple playing Vanna, and Hawthorne Heights done by members of Robinwood and Aversed. Come in costume for a $5 day-of-show discount. Saturday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m., Jewel Music Venue, 61 Canal St., Manchester, $12 in advance at eventbrite.com.
• Local troubadour: Taking cues from Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, singer-songwriter Tristan Omand spent lots of time on the road early on, venturing to Kentucky, Tennessee and other far-flung locales while making spare gems like 2011’s Toiled Stories. He’s more settled these days, though still pursuing the artist’s life with vigor. He made So Low in 2019 and released the all-instrumental treble revisions last year. Sunday, Oct. 24, 5:30 p.m., Spotlight Room at the Palace, 96 Hanover St., Manchester, $19 at palacetheatre.org.
• En Español: On a pair of upcoming dates The Mavericks will feature songs from their first all-Latin album, along with hits that helped cement the band’s country rock bona fides, like “What A Crying Shame” and “Dance The Night Away.” Lead singer Raul Malo called the recently released disc “a whole new beginning … uncharted territory.” It includes seven covers and five originals. Tuesday, Oct. 26, and Wednesday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, $48 and up at themusichall.org.
At the Sofaplex 21/10/21
There’s Someone Inside Your House (TV-MA)
Sydney Park, Théodore Pellerin.
Based on a book, this Netflix high school horror film feels far more classic than its modern setting: There are some 1970s and 1980s slasher and YA vibes, some knowing (I think) Scream-ness and some spiritual and tonal similarities to Netflix’s recent Fear Street trilogy. High school students start dying in this Nebraska town but not only are their slayings gruesome, so are the secrets revealed before their deaths. A popular football player and his participation in the vicious beating of a fellow student; the goodie-goodie student president’s secret racist podcast. Quickly the teens become afraid not only for their lives but for their reputations as well.
Recent transfer Makani (Park) has so much to hide she has even changed her name. She is traumatized by the secret she thinks could lose her her new group of friends, which includes cool “outsider” kids like the outspoken Alex (Ashja Cooper) and the NASA-hopeful Darby (Jesse LaTourette). Ollie (Pellerin) is so outsider-y that even those kids think he’s a weirdo — making him an instant suspect for the popular kid murders. One of Makani’s tamer secrets is that she and Ollie are sort of together.
I’m sure “aw, this movie full of violent slashings is plucky and cute” is not necessarily what the movie was going for — but it is! I like these kids, with their mash of trying to do better, normal teen awfulness and earnestness. Without being Scream jokey, this movie has a sense of humor about itself and its characters and has affection for them too.
The Last Duel (R)
The Last Duel (R)
Matt Damon and Adam Driver fight one-on-one but all I’m going to remember is Ben Affleck’s very blond hair in The Last Duel, a movie that takes, like, two hours and 32 minutes to say “gaaah, the patriarchy, amirite?”
Which, yes, movie, gaah, the patriarchy. Thanks for really underlining this one example. See also most of recorded history, which this movie doesn’t seem to think I’m aware of.
For a movie this long and full of Stuff, it has a rather simple plot. Ambitious blowhard Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) rapes Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer), wife of ambitious blowhard (but not as good at it) knight Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), in medieval-times France (1386). We see the incident and a lot of context around it from each person’s perspective — first de Carrouges, then Le Gris and then Marguerite. (We are forced to see the actual assault twice. Even though one time is supposed to be from Le Gris’ perspective, I don’t think the movie ever really tries to convince us that we’re not watching a violent and unwanted encounter.) The two men paint themselves as the blameless hero of their versions. In Marguerite’s version, which the movie tells us is the truth (but also even from the men’s own point of views we can guess as much), we get the unvarnished picture of just how unpleasant life is for Marguerite in particular and women in general.
The movie is bookended by the actual duel between de Carrouges (who is demanding “justice” for the wrong which, as he sees it, was done to him) and Le Gris, where the winner will be presumed to be the truthful party about the charge. If de Carrouges loses, Marguerite will be judged as having lied about the assault and will be burned to death. To get us to the big duel, the movie jumps around a lot in time as it shows us the men’s relationship over the years and their dealings with Pierre d’Alencon (Ben Affleck), their nobleman boss. He takes a shine to Le Gris and deeply dislikes de Carrouges, both on a personal level and for his assorted military failures. Le Gris clearly prizes his relationship with d’Alencon, which wins him prestige and property, but he also has a longstanding friendship with de Carrouges.
I’m not entirely sure what the movie thinks it’s doing with the long setup between de Carrouges, d’Alencon and Le Gris. D’Alencon is painted as a prosperous and powerful man who gives in to his every whim (many of his scenes would put Game of Thrones to shame with their sexposition) and who has a wife who knows her role and plays it and probably isn’t d’Alencon’s biggest fan. Le Gris seems to think of himself as cultured and sensible but is also vain and petty — not as petty, though, as de Carrouges. De Carrouges is desperate for respect and position but is brittle, unlikeable, not terribly bright and has absolutely no social intelligence. I think the movie maybe thinks it’s putting us on de Carrouges’ and Le Gris’ sides during their versions (or at least giving them layers) but there is never really a point when any of these people is presented as all that complex or compelling or as having any kind of self-awareness.
Marguerite is painted as a smart, well-read woman who gets stuck with her unpleasant husband due to some poor choices by her father and is at her happiest when de Carrouges is off losing battles in Scotland and she’s running the estate well enough to afford a fancy new dress. But even when she isn’t saddled with de Carrouges’ company, she’s stuck dealing with his bitter mother (Harriet Walter).
Look, this movie bugged me, presenting some obvious observations about gender politics as though they were blindingly brilliant insights and taking minutes and minutes to give us information about characters when small moments and details would have done it better and smarter. But. But there is a dark sense of, well, not humor exactly but maybe wit in the dialogue and in some elements of the story — which I credit to Nicole Holofcener, who co-wrote this movie with Damon and Affleck. Holofcener, writer of movies like Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Enough Said and Please Give, is really good at moments between characters and little details that give us insight into someone. There is some of that here — often drowned out, like a sea of ranch dressing smothering a few slices of cucumber, by a bunch of just dumb business with, like, de Carrouges’ pride or Le Gris’s self-importance or every single thing to do with d’Alencon. Actually, I kind of enjoyed all the Affleck d’Alencon stuff. It’s such an Affleck-y performance (with such a hilarious hair/beard situation), so entertainingly, goofily sleazy. I don’t know about anybody else, but Affleck seems to be enjoying himself.
Doing actual good work is Comer, managing to present a recognizable human person in the medieval garb. She brought something to what could have been a real cardboard cutout role, particularly in the scenes where we’re seeing the two men’s versions of her. Even then we manage to see the person and her thoughts that they’re not picking up on.
The Last Duel is frustrating. It is way way too long for what it’s doing. It’s very impressed with itself for some real “book report written the night before it’s due” level examination of issues. And the performances by its trio of male actors are frequently daffy. But some of that daffiness is purposeful, I think, and it’s in those moments when the movie is, if not enjoyable exactly, quite watchable. C+
Rated R for strong violence including sexual assault, some graphic nudity, and language, according to the MPA on filmratngs.com. Directed by Ridley Scott with a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener & Ben Affleck & Matt Damon, The Last Duel is two hours and 32 minutes long and distributed by Twentieth Century Studios in theaters.
Halloween Kills (R)
Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode in Halloween Kills, the latest in a franchise that feels like it’s run out of ideas.
Actually, Jamie Lee Curtis largely gives us Laurie from a hospital bed, where she ended up due to a stab in the gut received in the last entry of this series (2018’s Halloween, which is available for rent or purchase and via Hulu and Sling TV). Sometimes Laurie is even unconscious. File this under “nice work if you can get it” and full respect to Jamie Lee Curtis for saying I’m going to stay in bed for a chunk of this one.
As you may dimly recall, Halloween ended with Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and Karen’s daughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) trapping Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle, credited on IMDb as The Shape), the mask-wearing knife-wielding extremely-serial killer, in the basement of her fortified cabin, which was then on fire. And thus dies Michael.
Ha.
Because they haven’t seen the previous movies, in this outing, firefighters arrive at Laurie’s house to put out the fire and are then, naturally, murdered gruesomely as a freed Michael sets out to continue his evening of ambling menacingly and murder. We also get some glimpses back at 1978 and the original spate of killings to weave in stories of the now late-middle-age survivors and cops including Officer Hawkins (Will Patton), Lindsey (Kyle Richards) and Marion (Nancy Stephens). Allyson’s boyfriend, Cameron (Dylan Arnold), and his father, Lonnie (Robert Longstreet), who had a run-in with Myers back in the day, are also mixed up in the night of murder, which is still Halloween. Tommy decides that enough is enough and riles up the townsfolk with the easily chantable “evil dies tonight” call to action to hunt down and kill Michael Myers once and for all.
Ha.
There are a couple of instances in this movie of people saying that Michael Myers isn’t a normal man, he has strength beyond a mere mortal. In how it portrays Myers, the movie goes way beyond that into “completely unkillable by any means” — and here lies the problem. If nothing can kill Myers and you can never really get away from him, then where’s the tension? There isn’t even much question of how Myers is going to kill everybody because popping up behind them and stabbing them is almost always the answer. The 2018 Halloween seemed to deal with this by adding in some making fun of true crime podcasts and by giving Laurie a hand-built arsenal to fight Myers with (though, looking back at my review, I say that it’s still mostly stab-centric). Here, the only new idea seems to be “what if a bunch of people tried to kill Michael Myers at once” and something that feels like “yada yada mob anger, point TK” but even that feels only half-heartedly applied, what with lots of instances of a group of people going to search for Myers and then approaching him one by one. (Also, this mob attempts to hunt a known slasher largely with baseball bats as their primary weapon. It’s a weird choice.)
The best part of Halloween Kills is its extremely retro visuals (from the font of the title cards to all the cars and wardrobe choices that would feel right at home in the late 1970s) and score. It creates a mood, sets out the building blocks of familiar movie and story-telling elements and even manages to get some actors doing solid horror-movie work (including some moments when it seems to have a little fun with some one-scene slashee characters). I just wish Halloween Kills would do something more exciting, energetic, unexpected, funny or even goofy with its premise and characters. C
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, grisly images, language and some drug use, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by David Gordan Green and written by Scott Teems & Danny McBride & David Gordan Green, Halloween Kills is an hour and 45 minutes long and is distributed by Universal Studios in theaters and via Peacock.
FILM
Venues
Bank of NH Stage in Concord
16 S. Main St., Concord
225-1111, banknhstage.com
Chunky’s Cinema Pub
707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com
The Flying Monkey
39 Main St., Plymouth
536-2551, flyingmonkeynh.com
The Music Hall
28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth
436-2400, themusichall.org
O’neil Cinemas
24 Calef Hwy., Epping
679-3529, oneilcinemas.com
Red River Theatres
11 S. Main St., Concord
224-4600, redrivertheatres.org
Rex Theatre
23 Amherst St., Manchester
668-5588, palacetheatre.org
Wilton Town Hall Theatre
40 Main St., Wilton
wiltontownhalltheatre.com, 654-3456
Shows
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (R, 1984) on Thursday, Oct. 21, 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre. Tickets cost $10 ($8 with student ID).
• Frenzy (1972) screening on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres in Concord.
• Halloween (R, 1978) Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Music Hall. Tickets cost $15.
• 21+ Trivia Night for Rocky Horror Picture Show at Chunky’s in Manchester on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. Reserve a seat with the purchase of a $5 food voucher.
• The Velvet Underground (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres, Friday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Oct. 24, at 1, 4 & 7 p.m.
• Bergman Island (R, 2021) (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres, Friday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Oct. 24, at 4:30 p.m.
• Lamb (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres, Friday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Oct. 24, at 1:30 & 7:30 p.m.
• On the Beach (1959) screening Friday, Oct. 22, and Saturday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at Wilton Town Hall Theatre.
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Friday, Oct. 22, and Saturday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at Wilton Town Hall Theatre.
• Fire Shut Up In My Bones — The Met Opera Live at the Bank of NH Stage in Concord on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 12:55 p.m. Tickets cost $26.
• Huckleberry Finn (1974), a musical adaptation, on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 2 p.m. at Wilton Town Hall Theatre.
• Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone (PG, 2001) at Chunky’s in Manchester and Nashua on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. Dressing in costume is encouraged.
• The Bridges of Madison County (PG-13, 1995) as well as the presentation of a new documentary film, at Wilton Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m.
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (G, 1971) on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 3 p.m. at the Rex Theatre in Manchester. Tickets $12.
• Beetlejuice (PG, 1988) at O’neil Cinemas in Epping with multiple screenings Monday, Oct. 25, through Thursday, Oct. 28. $5.
• The Great Gatsby (PG-13, 2013) Baz Luhrmann’s high-energy take at Rex Theatre on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $12.
Vintage railroad melodramas
The New Hampshire Telephone Museum will present two train-focused silent films on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m. at the Warner Town Hall in Warner. See The West-Bound Limited (1923), starring Ella Hall (pictured), and Transcontinental Limited (1926) with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. Tickets cost $10; see nhtelephonemuseum.org.
Featured photo: The Last Duel. Courtesy photo.