Tag: Horror

David Lynch + Werner Herzog = New Horror Film?

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What a MAJOR announcement for movie geeks world-wide … two of the greatest indie film auteur’s working today will apparently be collaborating on a new movie. The film is titles My Son, My Son and is a horror-thriller based on a true story.

Werner Herzog wrote the script, “loosely based on the true story of a San Diego man who acts out a Sophocles play in his mind and kills his mother with a sword. The low-budget feature will flash back and forth from the murder scene to the disturbed man’s story. A guerrilla-style digital video shoot on Coronado Island is tentatively set for March.” — Gregg Goldstein, The Hollywood Reporter

Review: ‘Black Sheep’

Recently I rented the movie Black Sheep.

This is where you say, “Oh, the one with Chris Farley? Yeah, I’ve seen that, it’s a classic!”

And I say, “Nooo, This is a movie that was made in New Zealand about man-eating sheep. IT’S AWESOME!”

At least that is the interaction I have had with every person that I have spoken to about this particular movie. But it really is AWESOME! Imagine, the beautiful New Zealand countryside full of fat contented sheep. But on one particular farm there is illegal genetic engineering going on that, once it gets out of hand, causes 50,000 sheep to run-a-muck tearing innocent people limb from limb because of their sudden and insatiable appetite for human flesh. The heroes of this movie are a an attractive pair (of course). One is a young man with a preexisting sheep phobia and the other a young female animal rights activist named Experience.

The movie, with it’s wonderfully over the top gore is played out completely straight faced while still embracing how ridiculous it’s story is. If you enjoyed Dawn of The Dead or Slither, you will enjoy this flick as well.

Meet the Makers: Early Films of David Cronenberg

When “David Cronenberg” is uttered, of the people who recognize his name, most will associate him with his most recent and more widely appealing films like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Within this group of movie-watchers, many will recall his more recognizable films like The Fly and Dead Zone. If we dig even deeper, some of these film enthusiasts will even acknowledge an awareness of more controversial films like Naked Lunch and Videodrome. However, only the true movie geeks will be familiar with his early works, which ultimately defined Cronenberg’s later work to a very influential extent …

Continue reading Meet the Makers: Early Films of David Cronenberg

Review: ’30 Days of Night’

Zac:

David Slade’s adaptation of the vampire graphic novel quickly becomes mess and while having one or two decent moments, it is for the most part and unmemorable failure.
Josh Hartnett stars as the police chief of a small Alaskan town that doesn’t see the sun for thirty days every winter. As he investigates a series of seemingly random acts of vandalism and violence, something a miss begins to figure in his head, but by then it is too late. Upon arresting a drifter he suspects of the crimes, (the always stellar, and best part of this film, Ben Foster) the drifter begins preaching their demise and how there is nothing that can stop them. ‘Them,’ are a pack of vampires who have come to feast for thirty days on the town that is cut off from the world.
The film from here is just all over the place. The vampires are running around town killing everyone, yet the pack of survivors that matter are just sitting in a diner oblivious to the carnage and vampires outside. They show us streets filled with rampage everywhere, yet Hartnett and Melissa George (his separated wife, wonder if they reform their bond, hmmm?) move from building to building and drive the streets with little to no opposition. Hello continuity problem, and this is just the first of many issues the same as this that crop up throughout the entire picture.
The film has a chance to redeem itself as a whole party of people magically is able to cross the town and successfully hide from the pack of vampires running the streets in a well hidden drop ladder attic. Now the film could have played up the character development, shown the people slowly go crazy with cabin fever, and they touch on this briefly, but instead decide to magically move the party of people who decide to go to another location so we can try and be scarred again by this new locales threat of being unknown.
After a couple of other magic locale transfers, one kind of cool scene in the supermarket, a couple of fallen comrades, and a pretty good scene with a giant tractor and a ready to fight driver, we get to the preposterous finale where
**Spoiler**Hartnett injects himself with Vampire blood to be strong enough to fight, putting a punch through the leading Vampires skull and scaring the rest off. Why don’t they bum rush the fool and then kill the remaining survivors; just horrible. Then Hartnett and George finally realize they love each other and spend their last moment watching the sun rise as Hartnett burns to death from the now deadly light.**End Spoiler**
I mean it is all laughable and how horrible it is and just cements this film as one of the worst from the last year that I saw.
The actors actually don’t do a horrible job and are more or less handicapped by the atrocious exposition laced script that was written towards the intelligence of a three year old. Also, I am curious as to why such a talented actor like Danny Huston took the lead vampire role; just odd choice, though he did bring a little something to the character. The look of Slade’s film is actually pretty good, besides the crappy CGI, outside the last shot which looks pretty solid, and he does some fine work with the camera. Besides that the film glazes over everything, doesn’t explain anything, or even try to get us to care about these characters. I can’t recommend you to see this film as it is a weak horror film that does little to nothing well.

[rating: 1.5/5]

InsomniFest: the ONLINE Horror Film Festival …

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Insomnifest is the first of its kind, an exclusively online film festival geared to the horror crowd. If you’re interested, go to  www.insomnifest.com  and check it out.  

Here’s the 411 straight from the site:

“Insomnifest is the first ever online horror film festival where twelve movies will be shown over a period of two weeks.†¨The movies will be streamable online for a price of $4.99 each but not downloadable due to security reasons.†¨Spreading of these movies is ILLEGAL and we WILL be taking legal actions against anyone who tries to†¨capture, spread or download any of the films on the website.

We hope that you instead support us so that we†¨can keep doing this every year.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨

In case you are interested in purchasing the rights to any of these movies you will have to contact the†¨sales agency representing the title in question. We are not allowed to work as sales agents and have†¨no intention of doing so but you may email us in case you want us to forward you to the sales agency†¨in question. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨

Submitting a movie for next years festival is not yet allowed due to the fact that we still don’t know†¨whether or not we’re going to do a festival next year. It all depends on how big of a success it is†¨this year so hopefully you will help us to spread the word so that we can arrange this festival†¨for many years to come.”

So, what are you waiting for? Go support something that’s not only really cool, but a great boon for independent filmmakers.

Only at  www.insomnifest.com  

Review: ‘I Am Legend’

Zac:

Will Smith’s newest blockbuster works really well for about 75% of the time and the other 25% is just good. Robert Neville is the last human in NYC, is accompanied by his German Sheppard Sam as they hunt for food and go through their daily routine everyday during the daylight. At night they are forced to lock themselves in their home and hope that the vampire like creatures that roam in the darkness do not find and break in to their house.
The sole survivor narrative inters cuts with a flashback to the day the island was evacuated as Neville tries to get his wife and son out of the city. We also learn that Neville is a military scientist that worked on the virus that caused the pandemic and he tries to find the cure as he moves through his life of solitude.
The movie takes place over the course of only a couple of days and to say anymore would ruin the tension and point of seeing a mysterious thriller like this. The movie though is extremely tense at times and is almost always interesting. When you aren’t on the edge of your seat as director Francis Lawrence takes us through dark and eerily quiet stair wells, you are intrigued by the story to try and figure out how everything went so bad. The movie fails to fill a couple of holes that I would have liked answered but they are forgivable as they aren’t necessarily essential to the story we are watching unfold.
My main gripe with the film is the last 20-30 min or so just don’t work very well. The action set piece is pretty good and works ok, but after a significant game changer (you’ll know what it is), the movie just doesn’t work as solidly as the rest of the material beforehand. But with that said, it’s still entertaining, if not a bit rushed.
The movie as a whole will tug on every emotion you have and will keep you on the edge of your seat through out. Will Smith easily carries the film by himself with special mention to the dog Abby who played Sam as she does a great job at selling the relationship between the too and is character you truly care about in all of this mess.
It would have been nice to have seen a bit different approach to the ending and to divulge a bit more into the mind of a man all alone for so long, but the movie is more than worth seeing in the theater and is an entertaining popcorn flick for the holiday season.

(4 out of 5)

Travis:

Serving as the third movie adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel, I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Dr. Robert Neville, the last surviving human being in Manhattan. He finds himself mysteriously immune to the man-made virus intended to be a miracle cure for cancer, but rapidly turns to the dark side and ultimately destroys the human race as we know it. All that is left is a world populated with hyper-aggressive, primitive minded savages, driven by violence and rage. Determined to undo this living apocalypse, Neville searches for survivors by day and diligently seeks a cure from his blood by night, barricaded in his reinforced house while the creatures thrive, safe from the sunlight.

I Am Legend is entertaining, carrying itself with a creative new twist on the twice-told story and with a great performance from Smith. However, the movie is by no means flawless. The action is superb, but do not seek this movie out as a fast-aced, action-packed joyride. The story is wonderfully slowly-paced and deliberate in its careful, day-by-day progression of the life of one man alone in a massive city with only his German Shepard Sam to keep his company. I actually believe this is the movie’s saving grace, but heed this warning to avoid potentially disappointing expectations.

I shall diverge momentarily by jumping straight to the heart of the film’s flaws. I often state with great conviction the following mantra: Just because you have the capability to do something, does not mean it is always the most effective method for accomplishing the task at hand. What does this mean? Applied to I Am Legend, (and, understand that this is not the first movie to receive this criticism) this specifically refers to the subtle overuse of CGI special effects. Here we have a story that is primarily dealing with two basic human phobias; that of being alone and that of the unknown, combined naturally with the fear of the dark. With this in mind, a story such as this plays most effectively on the suppressed exposure to that which we fear. In other words, bring the antagonist to our direct view at a minimum, and as late in the story as possible. Basically, it is simply a matter of less being more.

Secondly, be sure that once we do get a healthy and vivid view of the monsters, make it worth our while. As an audience, if we are going to get an eyeful of a movie monster, it had better be good and yes, it had better be believable. To illustrate my point, I suggest revisiting two great classics of the horror genre; the original Alien movie, and the first installment of the Jaws franchise. In both films, the monstrous antagonists were hardly seen at all until much later in the movie. Once we did get a good dose of the creatures, the effect was far more successful, and ultimately more believable. On that note, I will just briefly mention that I felt the overall execution of the character design was acceptable and rather effective in its simplicity, save one element involving the creature’s leader frequently roaring with such ferocity that his jaw opened and widened to an extent of being absurdly comical. When speaking of the plot itself, I Am Legend carries very well. With this said, there is one major plot element at approximately two-thirds the way into the story, which drew the viewer out of the story. In an effort to avoid spoiling the movie, I will vaguely state that the plot device utilized to introduce the only other surviving human characters into the story is clumsy and distracting. At one point during Neville’s daytime excursions, a surprising revelation is made of the creature’s leader, resulting in Neville’s near death. As a result of this event’s consequences, he seeks to put an end to his misery, only to be saved by a young woman named Anna and a boy named Ethan. From here, the story quickly realigns itself with its previous storyline, ending with a fairly typical, yet effective mainstream Hollywood finale.

I Am Legend succeeds at entertaining the audience as a psychological horror film with the moral essence of science-fiction. The sporadic use of tense action sequences is excellent, accompanied by the type of crowd-pleasing performance we have come to expect from Will Smith. The cinematography and sound are perfectly appropriate, the flashbacks are remarkably well-placed to develop the back story, and if you don’t become thoroughly and emotionally attached to Neville’s perfect canine companion, then I am sorry†¦ you just simply aren’t human.

(4.25 out of 5)

[rating: 4/5]

p.s. the alternate ending really works better for this film on DVD and it would have been nice if it would have been maintained, even if it was a downer of sorts.

Review: ‘The Mist’

Zac:

The Mist, the third Stephen King adaptation by Frank Darabont, is a pretty good suspense horror film that is constantly engaging and remains pretty much unpredictable; which is a good quality for horror suspense fair.
Thomas Jane plays David Drayton, a successful movie poster painter living in a small Maine town that is hit by a violent thunderstorm. The storm does some significant damage to the town and knocks out the electricity so Drayton along with his son and neighbor, the stubborn as hell Andre Braugher, head into town, leaving his wife behind looking upon a strange mist rolling out over the lake there house sits on. The trio heads to the grocery store to pick up supplies to find it full of people with the same idea of stocking up supplies when Dan Miller, played well by Jeffrey DeMunn comes screaming into the store, “Something in the mist!” As the mist rolls over the parking lot the supermarket patrons hear screams and the shop violently shakes as it is engulfed in the mysterious haze.
Now to tell you much else would rob the movie of it’s entertainment value in “what’s going to happen next?” Just know it keeps you tensed up and engaged, be it from the terrors outside or the insanity fear brings to some of the people in the supermarket. And that leads me to another point, if you are expecting a balls to the wall creature flick with gory grisly deaths, which there are some, you will be disappointed a bit. There is some of that but the real drama revolves around the people inside the shop and how they react to one another in this desperate time.
A few of the actors deserve some deserving credit for there work in this film. Toby Jones is just great as the smart and witty Ollie who works in the store. Jane is good as always and is criminally under used in Hollywood; he could be a mega star if given a big break. Frances Sternhagen plays is great as an elderly woman who is fighting for her life as hard as anyone in the movie. Sam Witwer is a nice find as a homegrown military boy that just misses getting out of town, while Alexa Davalos is solid as the cute girl next door cashier. Laurie Holden is also pretty good as the mother figure for Drayton’s son during the crisis and has some great back and forth with Marcia Gay Harden who is phenomenal in this film.
Harden owns every scene she is in as the fire and brimstone bible beater and you will love to hate her as the film goes by. Her character’s arc in the film is the most interesting and compelling and sadly is probably fairly accurate if people were in a similar life or death situation. She spouts off to people and just raises everybody’s blood temperature throughout the film and you just dread, in a good way, every time she comes on screen.
Also to note, this film is quite funny at times with some good lines through out. Also the film does a good job of making sure you feel nobody is safe and they aren’t. The special effects at times left a bit to be desired, but Darabont was working with a smaller budget and considering that they are more than good enough most of the time. The mist is also extremely well done but it must have been a pain in the ass to work with.
All in all, this is a solid effort from Darabont and crew and while it isn’t the best thing in the world, it is a fun way to spend a couple hours if you are up for some scares and human drama.

[rating: 4/5]