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Willow Catelyn Maclay

@willowcatelyn.bsky.social

Film Critic (Film Comment, Reverse Shot, etc). GALECA. Co-Author of CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS

17,319 Followers  |  718 Following  |  5,024 Posts  |  Joined: 03.05.2023
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Posts by Willow Catelyn Maclay (@willowcatelyn.bsky.social)

np. Enjoy the disc!

01.03.2026 17:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

oof hope you get to feeling better soon!

01.03.2026 17:37 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Castration Movie Anthology I. Traps 2026 Subscribers: This is NOT included in your Subscription. If you'd like to purchase it, you will need to login to view your special 50% off SRP pricing. This special limited edition slipcover

The first in Louise Weard's CASTRATION MOVIE anthology is available on blu ray today. If you want to own this movie I suggest that you buy it right now. The print run has nearly sold out since becoming available today.

vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/...

01.03.2026 17:31 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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We’re thrilled to launch Muscle’s home video line this month with the blu-ray release of @weard.moe's CASTRATION MOVIE ANTHOLOGY I. TRAPS, which is now up for preorder and will be released at the end of the month.

Preorder:
vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/...

01.03.2026 17:18 β€” πŸ‘ 47    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 7

The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

28.02.2026 12:42 β€” πŸ‘ 15735    πŸ” 4869    πŸ’¬ 123    πŸ“Œ 100
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James O'Barr's THE CROW (1998) A film adaptation of James O’Barr’s graphic novel, THE CROW, was created from 1994-1998. A year after his own tragic death, a young man rises from the grave to seek vengeance for the brutal murder of ...

letterboxd.com/film/james-o...

01.03.2026 16:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

That's the stuff right there

01.03.2026 15:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I am so into borderline illegal remakes of classic movies. This, People's Joker, that S.O.V. remake of The Crow. It rules.

01.03.2026 15:41 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Loved NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE. It's great when I can walk home after a movie with my husband and our entire conversation is "and then that part of the movie, and that part and that part", and we don't run out of things to say. I miss Toronto lmao

01.03.2026 15:38 β€” πŸ‘ 37    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

thank you so much!!! That was a fun one

01.03.2026 15:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Transgender Chicago man hospitalized after saving baby from drowning in Lake Michigan β€œI wasn’t going to let that baby die,” Lio Cundiff said.

This 30-year-old transgender man, who can’t swim, jumped into Lake Michigan after a wind gust blew a baby in a stroller into the freezing water.

He’s being called a hero. But now he has medical expenses, and people are donating to a fundraiser to support him.

www.advocate.com/news/lio-cun...

26.02.2026 22:50 β€” πŸ‘ 4151    πŸ” 2630    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 92

wishing you and your adorable cat all the best <3333

27.02.2026 17:12 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
A review of The Last Winter (2006) Larry Fessenden makes tragedies disguised as horror movies. His films soak in the malaise, and his characters are usually passerby witnesses to things getting worse. He’s an optimist who comes to inev...

I'll be announcing my horror project for March in the coming days. I may pick back up with Fessenden in the fall. He's great. Go check out his movies on Shudder or seek out that Vinegar Syndrome box set of his work.

letterboxd.com/catelyn/film...

27.02.2026 16:59 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Larry Fessenden makes tragedies disguised as horror movies. His films soak in the malaise, and his characters are usually passerby witnesses to things getting worse. He’s an optimist who comes to inevitable conclusions, but there’s always a tension of hope that powers his characters forward. In The Last Winter, his apocalyptic and forward thinking picture about climate change, it’s already too late for everybody, but unlike Lucio Fulci, who begins from that same endpoint, he doesn’t relish in conceiving of set-pieces to show audiences all the vicious and surreal ways that his characters might meet their fate. Fessenden imbues the arctic frame with a palpable sense of unease, as an unsolvable problem of warming permafrost ushers in the loss of ecological balance. He doesn’t pity his characters. It feels like he’s always wishing there was a way out for them to reach a broader understanding of one another. The deep down barbarism of mankind takes root, and paranoia unfurls with the realization that the end is nigh. While comparisons to John Carpenter’s The Thing are inevitable with their shared arctic landscapes, and their doom, Fessenden’s Last Winter behaves very differently. There’s no Hawksian siege, or genre excesses, or anti-heroes with swear words. His characters are people at their wits end, failing in the way that people always seem to fail, and he finds ways to turn the knife without it seeming exploitative or crude.

Larry Fessenden makes tragedies disguised as horror movies. His films soak in the malaise, and his characters are usually passerby witnesses to things getting worse. He’s an optimist who comes to inevitable conclusions, but there’s always a tension of hope that powers his characters forward. In The Last Winter, his apocalyptic and forward thinking picture about climate change, it’s already too late for everybody, but unlike Lucio Fulci, who begins from that same endpoint, he doesn’t relish in conceiving of set-pieces to show audiences all the vicious and surreal ways that his characters might meet their fate. Fessenden imbues the arctic frame with a palpable sense of unease, as an unsolvable problem of warming permafrost ushers in the loss of ecological balance. He doesn’t pity his characters. It feels like he’s always wishing there was a way out for them to reach a broader understanding of one another. The deep down barbarism of mankind takes root, and paranoia unfurls with the realization that the end is nigh. While comparisons to John Carpenter’s The Thing are inevitable with their shared arctic landscapes, and their doom, Fessenden’s Last Winter behaves very differently. There’s no Hawksian siege, or genre excesses, or anti-heroes with swear words. His characters are people at their wits end, failing in the way that people always seem to fail, and he finds ways to turn the knife without it seeming exploitative or crude.

a still image from Larry Fessenden's THE LAST WINTER of an environmentalist out in the snow running a test. It's a wide frame, with the horizon line squeezed into the top of the frame, John Ford style, and the lower part of the frame is snow, a blanket of white reaching high.

a still image from Larry Fessenden's THE LAST WINTER of an environmentalist out in the snow running a test. It's a wide frame, with the horizon line squeezed into the top of the frame, John Ford style, and the lower part of the frame is snow, a blanket of white reaching high.

I wrote about Larry Fessenden's ecological horror film THE LAST WINTER. It's the final essay in my Fessenden series, and I hope that you've all had fun with these.

www.patreon.com/posts/monste...

27.02.2026 16:53 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

There should be a church, but when you go inside all of the stained glass portraits are of Patty Mullen in Frankenhooker

27.02.2026 16:22 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

They don't tell you this, but John Waters is actually wholesome

27.02.2026 16:14 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Soho Press has announced a special fifth anniversary edition of RED X for US readers, on sale June 2026. The cover features a handsome young man’s face, blurred out, entirely in shades of red - with a die cut circle where his left eye should be. In the cut out is the title and the author name.

Soho Press has announced a special fifth anniversary edition of RED X for US readers, on sale June 2026. The cover features a handsome young man’s face, blurred out, entirely in shades of red - with a die cut circle where his left eye should be. In the cut out is the title and the author name.

So here’s the thing.

23.02.2026 20:14 β€” πŸ‘ 129    πŸ” 25    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 10

The next essay in my Larry Fessenden series should be online tomorrow. It'll be on THE LAST WINTER. It is tragically funny that I'm publishing this essay a little late due to a prolonged severe weather event that I believe could be attributed to the climate crisis lmao.

26.02.2026 20:44 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

bsky.app/profile/swee...

I wrote up a script for people unsure what to say or who have anxiety about calling. fellow cis people, you have no excuse to not put your lives on the line for trans people. we are past the point of simply hoping things improve.

26.02.2026 13:53 β€” πŸ‘ 492    πŸ” 389    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 6

Random things I remember signing on year one of the tour:
Sisters of Dorley
No Exit (or maybe a different Sartre)
Freddy Got Fingered
Gravity’s Rainbow
House of Leaves
Dune
Corpses Fools and Monsters
On the Art of Cinema
Twin Fantasy Plushies
T/E Vials

26.02.2026 03:28 β€” πŸ‘ 48    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

I love the taste of fans of Castration Movie

26.02.2026 18:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Last night at a NIN show Trent Reznor urged the old motherfuckers (like himself) to keep the candle burning for David Bowie and David Lynch and to encourage younger generations when they fall in love with the art of older artists. It was lovely. The old weirdos must support the young weirdos

26.02.2026 17:48 β€” πŸ‘ 102    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I cackled when you sent me this text lmao

26.02.2026 17:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Much love to you Neil. That's so hard. I hope you can find a new place soon <3

26.02.2026 17:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Meiko Kaji: A Retrospective Recruited at the twilight of Japan’s studio era, actress and singer Meiko Kaji emerged in 1965 as a contract player for Nikkatsu, Japan’s oldest film studio. Outspoken and tenacious, she resisted the ...

if you're in New York, you must go see Meiko Kaji

26.02.2026 06:01 β€” πŸ‘ 94    πŸ” 25    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 5

A few words on DIVINE HAMMER. I'll write a full piece at a later date so my words are vague in this blurb, but be excited for this one, y'all.

letterboxd.com/catelyn/film...

24.02.2026 23:00 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Get more from Willow Catelyn Maclay on Patreon creating Film Criticism

Happy Twin Peaks day!!!! I wrote about every single episode of the series on my patreon and you can currently access that entire archive for the low price of $4.

www.patreon.com/c/willowcate...

24.02.2026 22:00 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If you haven’t read this masterpiece, this is gonna be the way to experience it. I haven’t read many books multiple times but this is one of them, and I’ll be happy to do it again.

23.02.2026 20:37 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I would love if queer/trans cinema headed in the direction that DIVINE HAMMER proposes. Small, but free of the limitations of accepted language and form of what makes a good movie (CASTRATION MOVIE does something similar). DH feels so modern even while using analog technology. It's cool as hell

24.02.2026 21:15 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

DIVINE HAMMER is fucking awesome. Do yourself a favor and check out this film if you live in any of these cities. xoxo

24.02.2026 20:54 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0