July 2007
Monthly Archive
SAW IV - Darren Lynn Bousman Interview
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 31 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Interviews, Movies
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you have to admit one thing about the SAW franchise: it has managed to avoid the pit that sucks so many horror sequels down into box office oblivion. The first SAW was a sleeper hit, considered a success because its tiny $1-million investment netted nearly $50-million at U.S. theatres; both SAW II and SAW III expanded on that number, each earning over $80-million.
This trajectory is of considerable consequence with SAW IV in the can. Graphic horror is having a rather weak year at the box office, and recent results (the disappointment of GRINDHOUSE, the bomb that was HOSTEL PART II) suggest that splatter appeal no longer draws viewers, who may be turning toward more traditional, spooky horror (witness the relative success of 1408). Despite these ill omens, SAW IV director Darren Lyn Bousman (who has been with the franchise since Part II) thinks he has nothing to worry about. Continue Reading »
Simpsons Have a Cow at the Box Office
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 31 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Box Office, News & Views, Movies
I must admit I’m surprised at the success of THE SIMPSONS movie, which made its debut at #1 with $74-million. Yes, the popularity of the TV show indicates there was an audience, but did they all really feel the need to run out opening weekend like Homer chasing after doughnut?
I was almost equally suprised by the dismal performance of I KNOW WHO KILLED ME. Sure, it didn’t look good, but when has that interferred with success? At the very least - working on the theory that there is no such thing as bad publicity - you would have thought that television coverage of star Lindsay Lohan’s drunk driving arrest would have lured a few more curiosity seekers.
I also wanted to mention that 1408 is just shy of $70-million at this point, makes it the most successful supernatural horror film of the year. (DISTURBIA, which might be considered a horror film, although it’s more of a thriller, earned over $80-million.)
In case you’re keeping count, THE MESSENGERS, which was reviled by both critics and fans, was the second biggest horror “hit” of the year, with $35.4-million. Joel Schumacher’s muddled THE NUMBER 23 managed $35.1-million. ZODIAC topped out at $33.1-million. 28 WEEKS LATER ran out at $28.6-million. THE REAPING harvested only $25.1-million. GRINDHOUSE ground out at $25-million. THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 earned $20.8-million. VACANCY took in just shy of $19-million. HOSTEL PART II slaughtered $17.6-million. DEAD SILENCE shouted up $16.6-million. THE HITCHER recycled $16.5-million. PRIMEVAL chomped down on $10.5-million. BUG managed $7-million in limited release.
That totals approximately $441-million. For a point of comparison, SPIDER-MAN 3, the year’s top film, earned $336-million all on its own.
I think it safe to say that the high profit ratios from churning out low-budget horror films have fallen off considerably, but it is probably not a good idea to conclude too much from these figures. Horror films are not the only ones that have under-performed this year, and all that’s missing here is one or two blockbusters (like THE RING or THE GRUDGE) to lift the genre’s fortunes and erase the disappointments. For instance if we had stretched the definition of the genre enough to include GHOST RIDER, that would have added a nifty $115.8-million to the totals. Hopefully, Hollywood horror will abandon torture-porn and look for new ways to attract audiences.
Ingmar Bergman & Michelangelo Antonioni, R.I.P.
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 31 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Obituaries, News & Views, Movies
Within days, two of the most famous names in the world of European art house filmmaking have passed away: Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni.
Both men were known for making unique, highly personal, ambitious, symbolic, even confusing films with a reputation for appealing to sophisticated audiences and critics (although both of them occasionally met with derision from the intelligensia for going too far).
Death plays chess with a knight in Bergman’s THE SEVENTH SEAL
What I want to add to the conversation is to point out that, despite their reputation for rarified high-brow intellectualism, both Bergman and Antonioni made entertaining films that in various ways influenced the horror genre. Continue Reading »
I Know Who Killed Me - But Don’t Tell the Critics
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 27 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: News & Views, Movies
I KNOW WHO KILLED ME - the new mystery-thriller starring Lindsay Lohan - remained a mystery to critics on Friday, who were not permitted to screen the film in time to have their reviews tabulated at Rotten Tomatoes.
You can probably guess what this means. As if to confirm our cynicism, the one lucky (?) reviewer who did get a pre-release glimpse was notably not impressed:
- “The filmmakers don’t trust viewers to think for themselves. In case you didn’t see enough dismemberment and gore during the first few minutes of the movie, they cheerfully expand on the carnage in additional flashbacks. Because the film is downright torpid between hackings, this may be a type of blessing. […] There is no way that Lohan was in her right mind when she signed the contract for this one.” - Dan Lybarger, EFilmCritic.Com
Nimoy Back as Spock
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 26 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: News & Views
In a nice rundown of news from the San Diego Comic-Con, Variety tells us that Leonard Nimoy will return as Mr. Spock in the upcoming Star Trek film being developed by J. J. Abrams. Zachary Quinto (Heroes) will play a younger version of the character, suggesting that the script by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Transformers) will indeed be a prequel showing the origin of the original crew of the Enterprise. Abrams says he is “desperately trying” to squeeze William Shatner into the film. Paramount plans a release on December 25, 2008.
Also mentioned in the article are news of Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4, and the “tentatively titled Cloverfield.” The latter is a monster movie that Abrams is producing, which is scheduled to bow on January 18. The teaser trailer recently generated quite a bit of interest when it appeared before Transformers; by not identifying the title, the trailer created an air of mystery that had fans on the Internet desperately trying to figure out what the movie was.
“We need our own monster movie,” said Abrams, adding that he conceived the idea for the pic after seeing how popular Godzilla still is in Japan. “King Kong is adorable, but I’ve wanted a great monster movie for so long.”
Abrams declined to disclose pic’s actual title, but shot down online rumors that it will be called “Monstrous.”
THE HOST: An Interview with Bong Joon-ho
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 24 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: DVD, Interviews, Movies
THE HOST, which reached U.S. video store shelves today after an art house release in March, is – first and foremost – a great monster movie. However, it achieves greatness by striving to work as a good movie in all departments. The Korean film introduces its monster early – in broad daylight – yet much of the horror comes from watching the film’s protagonists, a family whose daughter has been snatched by the creature, fight against numerous obstacles, including their own government, to try to effect a rescue. There is a heavy dose of political satire in the film, which plays almost like a 1970s conspiracy movie (e.g., THE PARALLAX VIEW), with military and government forces shown as at best indifferent and at worst corrupt and outright hostile to the concerns of the citizens.
This element of political satire may be confusing to American viewers, who know of the Republic of Korea (popularly called “South Korea”) as a democracy partitioned off from northern half, which has remained under communist control since the end of the Second World War. However, South Korea has its own history of political turmoil and quasi-totalitarianism, hiding behind the façade of democracy – a history that THE HOST obliquely addresses in the character of a former student protestor who laments that he wasted his youth fighting for democracy in his country, only to see the government turn against his family in their time of need.
Earlier this year, I got the chance to talk to Bong Joon-ho, the creator and director of THE HOST (he conceived the story and co-wrote the script with Hah Joon-won and Baek Chul-hun). I took the opportunity to address some of the issues that might not be clear to Western audiences. Hopefully, this little primer will fill viewers in on the context, so that they can sit back and enjoy the thrill ride without scratching their heads. Continue Reading »
American Cinematheque’s 7th Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 24 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Hollywood Gothique, News & Views, Movies
The American Cinematheque has announced their schedule for this year’s annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction, which will be screening at both the Egyptian in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. The fest starts on August 2 and continues through August 26..
Highlights include:
- The week-long debut engagement of TRAPPED ASHES, an anthology horror film featuring contributions from Joe Dante (THE HOWLING), Sean Cunninham (FRIDAY THE 13TH), and Ken Russell (THE DEVILS).
- GHOST SON, the newest film from director Lamberto Bava, and SHOCK, the last film from the late, great Mario Bava.
- Roger Vadim’s BLOOD AND ROSES (based on Sheridan LeFanue’s “Carmilla”) and KISS OF THE VAMPIRE
- Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS, plus BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.
- A Peter Lorre double bill of THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGES and MAD LOVE. Thursday, August 9 at 8:00pm
- ZEDER, director Pupi Avati’s atypical Italian zombie flick that de-emphasizes the gore in favor of a creepy, metaphysical conspiracy story.
- THESE ARE THE DAMNED, Joseph Losey’s excellent sci-fi tale of a secret government project traiing radiated children to survive a nuclear holocaust.
- The U.S. debut of ULTRAMAN MEBIUS AND ULTRA BROTHERS
- INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS - the 1956 original.
- A double bill of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
- “A Gathering of the Ghouls,” live performances in the Egyptian Theatre courtyard on Saturday, August 18 at 9:00pm
Box Office: Harry knocked off by Chuck and Larry
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 23 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Box Office, News & Views, Movies
It was a rare summer weekend when the #1 slot at the box office was not occupied by a fantasy film. Last weekend’s winner HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX was knocked into second place by the arrival of the Adam Sandler comedy I KNOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY.
ORDER OF THE PHOENIX still managed to earn $32.2-million in its sophomore session, for a whopping two-week total of $207.5-million.
TRANSFORMERS mutated into fourth place, just behind the weekend’s other big debut HAIRSPRAY, which landed in third. The Transformers film added $20.5-million to its three-week total of $262.9-million.
RATATOUILLE scampered from third to fifth place, where it cooked up $11-million. Including leftovers, that comes to $165.6-million after four weeks of release.
The only other genre title in the Top Ten was 1408, which closed its doors on another $2.6-million, good enough for eighth place, down from sixth. After five weeks, the film has earned $67.5-million in U.S. theatres.
Read the complete Top Ten here.
Scaredy Cats: The Black Cat
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 20 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Scaredy Cats, Television
Stuart Gordon’s MASTERS OF HORROR episode “The Black Cat” came out on DVD this week (I reviewed the film here), so it makes sense to make that the focus of this week’s episode of Friday Cat Blogging.
This is yet another adaptation of Poe’s story, more faithful than most, i which a man is driven by a “spirit of perverseness” that eventually leads him to murder. His crime is betrayed by a black cat named Pluto - or actually a cat that looks just like Pluto, the original having been hanged to death.
Pluto (named after the Roman god of the underworld) is a kind of black hole in the story, an enigma that could symbolize either supernatural revenge or psychological guilt. Does the cat really come back from the dead? Is the story’s drunken protagonist haunted by the monster, or is he simply delusional, seeking a scapegoat for his own self-destructive behavior? Either way, Pluto cuts a striking figure, glaring balefully from his good right eye or yowling triumphantly astride the murdered Viriginia’s head. He truly is one of the screen’s great scardy cats.
See more of Pluto in the Cat Blogging section of our Photo Gallery.
TV Review: Masters of Horror - “The Black Cat” (2006)
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 18 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Reviews, DVD, Television
Today sees the release of the DVD for MASTERS OF HORROR - THE BLACK CAT. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story has inspired numerous adaptations, but director Stuart Gordon’s version is a rare exception that tries to stay true to the source material. Adapted by Gordon and Dennis Paoli, the teleplay’s most obvious conceit is to place Poe himself in the lead role; otherwise, the story plays out much as the author wrote it, with some additions to fill the required one-hour running time.
Poe (Jeffrey Combs, who also faced a fearsome cat in Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR) is driven to drink by poverty and his consequent inability to care for his ailing wife, Virginia (Elyse Levesque, middle left). His attempt to earn money by writing a new horror story is interrupted by his wife’s cat, Pluto, who has a penchant for attacking the other family pets, including a goldfish. Enraged with frustration, Poe plucks out Pluto’s eye, then later hangs the cat. Later, on his way home, he is shadowed by another cat (top) that looks exactly like Pluto, down to the missing eye and a mark around its neck that looks like the trace of a noose. Poe’s attempt to ax the interloper is interrupted by his wife, who receives the fatal blow instead. Poe bricks her body into the cellar, but a strange wailing alerts police to the hiding place - Poe had accidentally walled in the cat as well. There is a twist ending that I won’t give away, except to say that it is well set up by preceding events and makes sense out of placing Poe as the lead in his own story. Continue Reading »
Vincent Price DVD Box Set On the Way
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 11 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: DVD, News & Views
E-Splatter.Com informs us that MGM is planning to release a box set of Vincent Price horror titles on September 11:
- MGM owns the best Price titles and a box set of them all is long overdue. It looks like, however, this will be the first of two volumes. The set will include “The Abomininable Dr. Phibes,” “Dr. Phibes Rises Again,” “Tales of Terror,” “Twice Told Tales, “Theater of Blood”, “Madhouse” and “Witchfinder General” — all of which have been available before except “Witchfinder” which hits streets the same day. A bonus disc will be the documentary “Vincent Price: Renaissance Man” and two featurettes
This is good news, particularly regarding 1967’s WITCHFINDER GENERAL, which has only ever been available in the U.S. under its alternate title THE CONQUEROR WORM. (The U.S. distributor, American International Pictures, was famous for making films based on Edgar Allan Poe, so they slapped the title of one of his poems onto the British film when they released it here.)
Over two years ago, Phillip Wadilove, one of the film’s producers, announced that MGM had prepared a definitive DVD version that would feature director Michael Reeves’ original cut, the original title, and the original music (which had been changed for previous home video release). Then MGM put its Midnight Movies label on hold, and no more was heart about the WITCHFINDER DVD, until now.
As for the other titles, most of them have been available on home video in various forms for years, but it would be nice to get them all packaged together. Hopefully, they will all be definitive editions. Unfortunately, WITCHFINDER was not the only Vincent Price movie to suffer the indignity of a botched video release. For example, the VHS tape of DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN substituted an inappropriate piece of background music over the final credits (taken from elsewhere in the movie), omitting the quirky, campy original music, which consisted of Price warbling “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” (That may not sound so funny when you read it, but there was something deliciously amusing about seeing Price’s demented doctor triumph at the end, and that particularly musical accompaniment was perfectly suited to the scene; deleting it left a flat anti-climax at the end.)
Sense of Wonder: Horror Porn and Prick Flicks
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 10 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Sense of Wonder, Movies
“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare asked. Apparently quite a lot, as I happened to run across two posts recently (one by Chris Stangle, one by Gloria Steinem), both of which object to particularly labels applied to certain films. First, Chris Stangle, at the Exploding Kientoscope, objects to the term “torture porn,” even though he did not particularly like HOSTEL and has little interest in HOSTEL PART II. His objection is that the phrase is not a “meaningful genre designation” but a way for critics to dismiss a film without bothering to engage it in any meaningful way.
Elisha Cuthbert in the “torture porn” flick CAPTIVITY
Stangl may have a point, but I don’t think he quite makes the case that “torture porn” movies deserve to be engaged. More important, from my point of view, is the fact that words “torture porn” have a fairly clear meaning. As a general rule of thumb, if a phrase is recognized and understandable, then it is useful. I don’t think one can object that “torture porn” is too vague; it describes a fairly clear sub-genre of movies that include not only HOSTEL but also TURISTAS, SAW, and the upcoming CAPTIVITY. Continue Reading »
Chewbacca wanted by police
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 09 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Hollywood Gothique, News & Views
It’s a sad day for STAR WARS fans as everybody’s favorite wookiee finds himself on the lam from the law.
That’s right: Chewbacca is wanted by the police - for molesting Marilyn Monroe.
Well, actually it was a Chewbacca impersonator, wanted for molesting a Marilyn look-alike:
- The Chewbacca impersonator was wanted on suspicion of grabbing the Monroe impersonator’s hand and placing it on his groin about four weeks ago, said Sgt. David Torres, spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood division.
Apparently, Marilyn let the first incident pass, but she called the police today after a second incident occurred. According to an article in the Daily News, the “brown, hairy Wookiee fled just as police arrived at about 12:30pm on Hollywood and Highland Boulevards.”
Thought not necessarily an everyday event, similar incidents have happened in the past. Lots of celebrity look-alikes beat the sidewalks in that area of Hollywood (as you can see from the photo below). Grauman’s Chinese Theatre attracts lots of tourists, especially in the summer, and apparently there is some competition for their attention. Two or three years ago, someone in a Freddy Kruger costume was accused of cutting a competitor during an argument. I guess sidewalk space is at a premium.
Film & DVD Review: War of the Worlds (1953)
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 07 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Reviews, DVD, Movies
Producer George Pal’s 1953 movie version of the H.G. Wells novel is lavishily mounted and visually stunning, thanks to imaginative production design and impressive technical effects — a rare example (along with FORBIDDEN PLANET) of a big-budget ’50s science-fiction film from a major Hollywood studio, made during an era swamped with low-budget B-pictures and independent productions.
Taking the basic concept from the book, Pal produced a popular Hollywood entertainment, complete with a love story played out against the backdrop of the devastation of Earth; fortunately, the devastation still packs a wallop. A nicely structured build-up leads to scattered initial encounters, and only gradually does it become apparent that Earth is helpless against the invasion. The sense of futility is nicely conveyed, especially in the riot-like mass exodus in the third act, and director Byron Haskin manages to wring a few horror-movie type scares (the old claw-on-the-shoulder gag, nicely done in a dark, abandoned farm house), thanks to the creepy-looking Martians, who are seldom more than glimpsed. With humanity unable to save itself, it’s up to our microscopic accidental allies to do the job for us -perhaps the only time in film history that a deus ex machina ending has really worked. Continue Reading »
Film Review: Transformers blows things up real good
Posted by Steve Biodrowski on 03 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Reviews, Movies
This sci-fi action flick featuring Good and Evil robots based on the famous Hasbro toys promises to be another WAR OF THE WORLDS or INDEPENDENCE DAY. Although it strives to appeal to the whole family, it winds up emerging as a kiddie flick on steroids - a big-budget, effects heavy, feature film version of a Saturday morning cartoon. The good news is this means that the film is relatively restrained in its use of graphic carnage. The bad news is that the juvenile tone undercuts the suspense, so the film has to sustain itself on spectacle and bad jokes for its two-and-a-half hour running time. Continue Reading »