OSCARS '75: The Day of the Locust

DO NOT RECOMMEND.

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STRONG CONTENT WARNING: Attempted rape/sexual assault, child abuse, alcohol use, drunkenness, violence, cockfighting, alcohol, child murder, surreal horror, trampling, repeated use of racist and sexist language. Please don’t watch this movie.

We, uh, did not end this series on a high note. In the least. Look, we’re not above watching uncomfortable films that shock and disturb, but what happens when there’s no story or motivation to back up that horror? What do we do with a movie refuses to tell a story, can’t decide whether it’s a horror movie or a satire, and devolved into surrealist tone poetry because the director thinks he’s smarter than us? We throw it right in the trash, friends. It really is a shame, because buried in all of this garbage is a fascinating, dark, difficult satire about fame and Hollywood that deserves telling. But it’s not going to be this film, for sure. Burn this movie down like the city of LA burned down the premiere of The Buccaneer as we wrap up our Oscars ‘75 series with the absolutely dreadful film, The Day of the Locust.

PLUS: Reviews of the new film Minari.

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Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpt taken from “Day of the Locust” from the film of the same name, written and composed by John Barry. Copyright 1974 Long Road Productions.