Movies
Young Summer Pays Tribute to John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ with Spooky ‘Undone’ Video [Premiere]
John Carpenter’s Halloween has influenced everything from other slasher flicks to even music videos. With her new visual “Undone,” indie-pop artist Young Summer rips images from the iconic 1978 film for a tension-splitting story that guarantees to creep under the skin.
Young Summer (real name Bobbie Allen) stars in the video as a woman unaware of her surroundings. While out walking her adorable pooch Scrappy, a stalker (Miloš Šarenac) wearing all black lurks from the corners of each frame.
Everything about the brand new “Undone” music video, on which she worked with frequent collaborator and cinematographer Seth Dunlap, feels very 1970s. From long lens shots to a vibrant but muted color grading, Allen (director/editor) masterfully laces suspense by using various classic film techniques and equipment – namely the telephoto Canon FD 50-300mm T/4.9 zoom Lens.
“I knew using that long zoom for the spy shots would make the stalking scenes feel truly voyeuristic and build dread,” Allen shares with Bloody Disgusting. “I also used the ‘Iris in’ transition to allude to the filmmaking of the past but also allude to being watched. I never provide relief from the suspense built, as one would usually bookend the use of an ‘Iris in’ transition with the ‘Iris out’ at the end. I purposefully let the feeling of fear go unimpeded – the thing is still out there, coming towards you.”
“Focusing on the construction of the shots, how long or not long to hold on a moment is what makes all the difference, which is also why I love editing so much,” she continues. In other aspects, such as color and lighting, Allen draws upon not only Halloween but Rosemary’s Baby, The Wicker Man, and David Fincher’s Zodiac.
“These movies have a distinct color that while vibrant also feel limited or muted to an extent which I associate with filmmaking from the ‘70s,” she elaborates. “Very importantly, there’s a glow and halation within [those] films. While being beautiful and of the time period, the softness and glow in those movies give a subliminal false sense of security or comfort.”
From its moody exterior to the funeral march rhythmic base, “Undone” feels primed for a Halloween tribute. But why reference such a groundbreaking slasher? Allen explains, “There is a visual simplicity to ‘Halloween’ that allows for it to be utterly terrifying as it relies on what is universally terrifying – the idea of someone murdering people at random with no real explanation ever given.”
She adds, “I have the man in black less visible in some scenes so the audience has the same experience that the girl in the video is having which is to not realize he’s there, watching her. For example, in the window seat scene, he’s outside and you can see him if you look for him.”
In the video, premiering today, Allen dons Laurie Strode’s signature look (baby blue button-up over bell-bottom jeans) and pops popcorn on the stove just like Annie did on that fateful Halloween night. “I love Jamie Lee Curtis very, very much. The costuming is another reason this movie is legendary. There weren’t flashy costumes, practical effects, or expensive locations. The fear comes from the narrative, the building of suspense, and the score,” she says. Allen also includes a Michael Myers plush toy and a licensed ‘Halloween’ prop knife in the sequence’s climactic third act.
When it comes to horror movies, Bobbie Allen isn’t new to the genre. Growing up, there were several classics and out-of-the-box genre picks that chilled her most. “I am very lucky my parents knew I loved to be scared and would let me watch scary movies,” she recalls. “The movie ‘Return to Oz,’ starring a very young Fairuza Balk, has to be mentioned as one of the first because The Wheelers (the city of Oz’s antagonistic gang) were and are absolutely terrifying. And what a movie it is! I have seen it probably 60 times. I used to watch it every day after school.”
“But the first two that would be classified as horror and had a huge impact were ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1990), directed by the legendary Tom Savini,” she continues, “which my sister and I watched so much that when I recently re-watched it I remembered each and every zombie as they entered a scene and it felt like reuniting with old friends. It filled me with so much joy and nostalgia.”
The other movie? The People Under the Stairs. “That movie is so weird,” she says. “As a huge David Lynch fan, I would like to mention that Wes Craven chose the actors who play the parents after watching ‘Twin Peaks.’ They are none other than the legendary Everett McGill and Wendy Robie!”
Young Summer’s “Undone” is lifted from the deluxe reissue of her 2023 self-titled album.
Check out Young Summer’s Letterboxd for a list of her favorite horror movies.
Movies
‘Dante’ Review – A Paramedic’s Night Shift Turns Into A Blood-Soaked Nightmare [Tribeca 2026]
There’s something very special about horror stories that depict a single night that gets progressively out of hand and covers a lifetime of woe by the time the sun rises.
It’s a difficult balancing act, but one that’s magical when it’s properly executed, and this claustrophobic structure connects. Hugo Ruiz (One Night with Adela) rises to the challenge with Dante, a chaotic experience that’s pumping adrenaline, burning rubber, and snorting drugs from frame one and then rarely lets up. It feels like it starts in the middle of a film’s third act and then pushes itself to go to even more radical and exciting places.
Ruiz’s Dante is even more confident and accomplished than his freshman feature. It feels like a spaghetti western that’s trapped in a slaughterhouse. It’s Bringing Out the Dead by way of Quentin Tarantino after he’s come off a giallo binge session. It’s a white-knuckle, blood-soaked ride into hell that keeps its audience on edge until the credits roll.
Ruiz accomplishes something quite remarkable with Dante, a subversive take on Dante’s Inferno in which a paramedic ambulance driver, Eduardo (Chino Darin), gets embroiled in a vicious crime caper that pushes everyone involved closer to salvation. Dante, as its title suggests, isn’t exactly subtle with its allusions to Dante’s Inferno. That being said, none of the film’s efforts to match its source material’s themes and tone ever feels forced. It’s a bold, risky adaptation of the classic 14th-century epic poem, but it’s also a distinct film that stands on its own and becomes an incredibly satisfying sophomore entry in Ruiz’s career.
Eduardo innocently responds to a standard emergency call, only to find himself tending to a crime boss’s wounds and caught in the middle of a deadly feud between two erratic rival kingpins. Dante digs into an impossibly tense situation with a small cast of larger-than-life characters who really feel like they’re trapped in some layer of hell. Every minor victory is met with yet another physical trial and morality test for Eduardo to overcome. It also distills this harrowing encounter down to its most exciting elements so that Dante is a fast, easy watch that’s beautifully paced and always finds the right moment to heighten its mayhem.
There’s a shocking brutality here. It’s a visceral, gross, oozing horror film that’s often hard to look at. It’s a movie that lingers on not just pain, but how the human body can become such a disgusting mess. Ruiz lingers on gross visuals that reduce people to raw meat and emotion. However, this screaming, bloody mess is also an intimate chamber piece and character study. All this extreme subject matter serves a grander purpose and builds to a sweeping salvation rather than purely existing to be sensational. Dante is vicious, but it’s the film’s heart that stands out the most when everything is said and done.
Among the criminal capitulations is a deeper commentary on faith, passion, and identity. Eduardo is repeatedly confused for a doctor throughout, which is just one of several instances that reflect its themes regarding duality and labels. Eduardo’s wild night highlights life’s transactional nature and how everyone is the same in death. It’s the ultimate equalizer. Alternatively, Dante looks at the weird, unpredictable places in which people can find humanity, connection, and purpose in life, even if it’s surrounded by death and darkness. Everyone is looking for that spark and light that helps us heal.
In a film full of strong performances, Darin’s work as Eduardo is really spectacular. It’s a performance that’s so deceptively layered that it makes you want to immediately watch the film again as soon as it’s ended. Ruiz’s film is also really smart in response to when it digs deeper into Eduardo’s life and personality. It’s easy to picture Dante beginning with Eduardo carrying out several normal rounds to get a better sense of who he is before danger strikes with Mario. The film also excels as it asks the audience to make their own conclusions on this blank slate before the film begins to pull back the curtain on him.
Eduardo is a compelling moral compass throughout this dark night of the soul, albeit a character who is hardly infallible. Some of Dante’s strongest moments are when Eduardo’s mental state is unclear, and the audience is left to wonder if he’s actually getting a rush from this on some level. Eduardo is left to process many heightened emotions on his own. However, there’s also a real camaraderie between Eduardo and Mak (Ester Expósito) that’s genuinely sweet and progresses in a very natural, effortless manner. Their chemistry helps power the second half.
At one point, Eduardo muses that “a director must take risks.” This is a film that certainly adheres to its own advice.
Dante reaches a satisfying conclusion that feels like the natural endpoint of this story, only to then launch into such a wild turn that transforms the film into something considerably darker and a powerful meditation on the pervasiveness of pain and suffering. The ending guarantees that this is a movie that’s destined to be debated by both its lovers and haters.
There’s thankfully a lot more going on here so that Dante doesn’t live or die based on its ending alone. It’s just a brave step forward that reiterates why Hugo Ruiz is a filmmaker to look out for.
Dante made its world premiere at Tribeca 2026; release info TBD.
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