Shauna from Cinema of Screams & I were in a knockdown dragout fight over a bag of Doritos outside my favorite Aldi when we started to realize that her visit to Chicago had gone a bit off the rails, and the whole ugly situation was in need of a complete top-to-bottom reappraisal. Perhaps mine was not the calming influence she was in need of, or indeed looking for. In a moment of divine intervention, we noticed an ad on the Doritos bag for a horror film festival @ The Music Box featuring a complete franchise run of the operatic cosmic romance body horror featuring a face that was never supposed to be, a title that arrived last minute, a DS9 mainstay, a super realistic filleted rat, and a deadass dude fucking his sister-in-law while wearing the skin of his recently murdered brother- Hellraiser. No tears please, it's a waste of good suffering. Also the bathrooms at the Music Box don't have enough paper towels. You'll have to grit your teeth as we wail about the amazing gore & makeup effects, wax philosophic about the extra-dimensional implications, wane on & on praising the cast, the style, the design, and whine about the fact that a beloved franchise w/ 11 films & counting has to be stuck w/ only 2 truly great entries. As we swapped popcorn, fun facts, and a shared ice pack, Shauna & I reflected on how rare & special these moments of connection really are. In that moment of trust, she confided in me that while she'd never seen the porn parody, she'd always been curious. I flashed a devilish grin & said, I have such sights to show you...

Read Shauna on Film Focus Online: https://www.filmfocusonline.com/post/whistle-review

Find Shauna: @CinemaOfScreams (Twitter/IG/YouTube)

Watch: The Philosophy of Hellraiser - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZBFxX5Obyk