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Review of Night Vision (1987) by screenqueeen: 👍 3.5/5

the thirteenth night in the lonesome hooptober day 23 film 19 cat: 1 (never shown, mentioned only as an animal sacrifice)

70/100

Michael Kreuger came in with special inspiration with this one. i've seen MIND KILLER quite a few times (i think i watched it over and over nearly 6 times while writing the hamburger theatre episode on it) and while i love that arena of schlock, this has a lot more going for it. i liken it to how Gorman Bechard's PSYCHOS IN LOVE speaks my language in every moment but DISCONNECTED and TWENTY QUESTIONS are altogether stronger endeavors. this turns out to be more of a conspiracy thriller with elements of referentially goopy horror, only in some early digital/analog hybridization of how it manifests.

something about how we follow Andy as a writer reminds me of John Paizs's CRIME WAVE but less internalized in how the world fits within Steven Penny's eyes and Paizs's insistence that we see through that. the core mechanic of the video tape influences what Andy writes in whatever form his story takes (we never learn if it's a script, a short story, a novel, what) and creates some very interesting unintentional acts of coercion that, in the wake of OBSESSION, presents a far more compelling argument than Curry Barker ever did and yet Krueger openly pursues a different avenue instead of examining that. what eventually comes from this is a unique exercise in meta narratives that has an unapologetic hand drawing from John Carpenter's deck of cards. i was very pleasantly surprised by this!