Watch it now: ‘1922’, ’78/52′, Dana Carvey, and ‘Dealt’
Four films from 2017 still hold up for different reasons, whether you want to dissect craft, revisit a King adaptation, laugh at a spectacular flop, or meet a magician who made limitation into an advantage. Each one keeps its original logline and verdict structure, with a few updates for accuracy and later developments. The focus stays on the work itself and what it still tells us about storytelling, performance, and audience memory.
78/52: A deep dive into the most infamous scene in cinema
Logline: Secrets scooped in the Psycho silver screen shower scene. Verdict: 78/52’s title is a reference to the 78 camera setups and 52 cuts that occur during the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). The documentary catalogues the laborious, deliberate nature of filmmaking, but it’s also about the celebration and canonization of great film. 78/52 consists primarily of entertainment biz talking heads (such as Elijah Wood and Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh’s daughter), all of whom discuss the shower sequence in Psycho as a tectonic shift in filmmaking history. Director Alexandre O. Philippe (Doc of the Dead) celebrates the power of audience over author, suggesting that the way you interpret a film reveals more about yourself than anything else. While its core message still remains worthwhile, this movie’s singelmindedness struggles to rivet the audience. But what could have been a Kafkaesque hall of mirrors is ultimately a celebration of a hallowed corner of cinematic history. The overarching takeaway: content can create community, and one person's creativity can spark endless conversations. Diamond memories indeed.
The Enduring Technique of the Psycho Shower Scene
The shower scene’s 78 setups and 52 cuts remain foundational in slasher subgenre discussions, and 78/52 keeps showing why. The film emphasizes suggestion over explicit violence, a choice that still shapes how modern horror withholds and reveals. Directors and editors continue to cite the sequence for its rhythm and restraint, and the documentary’s breakdown of coverage and sound design still functions as a working textbook. The lesson holds: what you do not see can define a genre for decades.
1922: An engrossing take on Stephen King’s pastoral killer novella
Logline: An egocentric farmer conspires with his son to steal his wife’s inherited land. Verdict: Zak Hilditch’s take on Stephen King’s story follows farmer Wilfred James (Thomas Jane) and his struggling relationship with wife Arlette (Molly Parker) as his pride of land is threatened by her machinations. Their son Henry (Dylan Schmid) is a pawn in a game between husband and wife, as Wilfred’s own conspiracy takes on violent proportions and sprawls out of his own control. 1922 is packed full of gruesome imagery amid pastoral plains. The camera weaves in and out of the utterly dull depictions of the farming lifestyle, before dipping into good old horror cinema, a fantastic juxtaposition. Stephen King is having a super year thanks to the likes of It storming the box office, with 1922 happily joining the ranks of enjoyable horror. The latter film’s not afraid to juggle tones either, as it has its fair share of classic black comedy moments. Thomas Jane plays the central role with utter plainness, teeth gritted for every weirdly midwestern-inflected line, but doesn’t shy away from showing the violent temptations and guilt at work underneath Wilfred’s surface. 1922 is replete with disturbing imagery, but it’s all thankfully given human weight. The flow is unfortunately disrupted among a rushed ending and utterly laughable final note that fail to capitalize on the recurring creepy imagery permeating the film.
Zak Hilditch's Evolving Horror Vision
Hilditch followed 1922 with patient, rural-rooted storytelling that continues to balance dread and dark humor. His later feature We Bury the Dead, released in 2024 and 2026 and starring Daisy Ridley, extends the same measured approach to landscape and character. The director’s willingness to let tension build without rushing payoff shows a consistent signature, and the tone juggling that marked 1922 remains a strength across his work. Stephen King expressed satisfaction with the adaptation, and the film still reads as one of the more faithful transfers of his voice to screen.
Too Funny To Fail: A hilarious view into comedy’s greatest failure
Logline: The Dana Carvey Show was literally too funny to fail – or was it? Too Funny To Fail is a documentary from Josh Greenbaum (Becoming Bond) that takes a deep dive into the absurd world of 90s comedy, featuring interviews with Stephen Colbert (Strangers with Candy), Steve Carell (Battle of the Sexes), Jon Glaser (Human Giant), and Dana Carvey (Wayne's World) as they attempt to untangle the mess that was The Dana Carvey Show. The brief run of the 1996 series was a critical and ratings failure that grabbed a small, die-hard fandom through its edgy absurdist sketches. For any geek of nineties comedy, and for anyone interested in a history of television, this documentary is pretty much a holy text. The Dana Carvey Show opened with a sketch about Bill Clinton taking hormonal therapy to breastfeed to puppies. Given a huge boost of support including a time slot following dull-eyed family “comedy” Home Improvement, it was expected to be a knockout success of the year. Instead, The Dana Carvey Show highlighted the line between executives and comedians over creative control, and how far comedy could go before the plug was pulled. In the eight-episode lifespan of the show, Dana and the team of writers headed by Robert Smigel presented a complete fuck-you to corporate television. Showing oddball footage and clips, the documentary applauds such actions with almost childish glee. It’s hard not to get caught up and be proud of this completely nonsensical achievement. Too Funny to Fail finishes with a note from Dana: “It’s just a television show.” He’s right – but this documentary shows off just how far a comedy television show can stretch.
The Dana Carvey Show's 30-Year Influence
Thirty years on, the show’s cult status and creative risks still draw discussion in 2026 retrospectives. The alumni went on to major successes in late-night and film comedy, and the documentary captures the exact moment when boundary-pushing sketches met network caution. The eight-episode run remains a case study in how far writers and performers can push before the system pushes back. The lesson is simple: the best comedy often arrives before the executives figure out what they bought.
Dealt: the small story tracing the big talent of a blind magician
Logline: Visually impaired card mechanic prepares for the big time. Dealt is a documentary about sixty-two-year-old close magician Richard Turner and his incredible life story. Visually impaired from a young age, Turner turned his disability into “a blessing” and burrowed his focus down to the art of card tricks. Directed by Luke Korem (Lord Montagu), the documentary details Turner’s daily life, career, karate achievements, and involvement in the wider world of magic. With the help of his family, Turner practices his card tricks for over “16 hours a day” – and you don’t quite believe it until you see it. His tricks are mind-boggling, and whatever techniques he does reveal are stunning. The documentary explores how, as a young kid, Turner turned to the “tactile” nature of card mechanics to deal with a frustrating world. There’s a fascinating thread throughout about the relationship between Richard and his disability. Korem skips the sob story about a disabled guy who does incredible tricks, but frames it as a triumphant tale not of overcoming adversity but embodying it. Whether it’s winning his karate black belt, or being accepted into the world of professional magicians, his blindness doesn’t hold him back. In his view, it propels him. Dealt is a fascinating documentary that inspires us all to maximize whatever we’re given in life. Deal with it.
Richard Turner's Later Years and Legacy
Born in 1954, Turner was 62 or 63 during filming and continued performing at the highest level for years afterward. He earned two Close-Up Magician of the Year titles and induction into the Magic Castle Hall of Fame. His final performances took place at the Magic Castle in May 2024, and he passed away on May 1, 2026. The documentary’s portrait of discipline and focus still stands as the clearest record of how he turned a limitation into signature technique.
These four titles keep delivering because they treat craft as the story. The shower scene stays a master class in suggestion. The King adaptation holds its rural dread. The comedy documentary records a rare moment when the writers won the argument, even if only for eight weeks. And the card mechanic shows what happens when talent meets obsession without apology. Watch them again and the lessons still land clean.
