Cinefantastique Online

You are browsing the archives of 2008 April.

Moran Atias as Mater Lachrymarum
It took Dario Argento – Italy’s horror icon – thirty years to complete the “Three Mothers” trilogy he began with 1977’s SUSPIRIA, his biggest international hit. A mere three years later, he gave us the first sequel, INFERNO, but since then fans have had to wait while he pursued other interests: [...]

This week’s home video offerings include a a big-budget disappointment, the further adventures of Japan’s most famous mon-star, the early adventures of a long-running soap opera, and the bloody adventures of a couple of psycho killers. The high-profile release is THE GOLDEN COMPASS, New Line’s failed attempt to create another blockbuster fantasy franchise in the [...]

FACEBOOK OF “FEAR ITSELF”: There is now a Facebook entry for the upcoming NBC series. Five photos from Stuart Gordon’s episode “Eater” have been posted there.
SAFE AS HOUSES: Arbogast on Film offers an intriguing review of THEM, the 2006 film from French co-directors Davdi Moreau and Xavier Palud. It sounds worth checking out, even if [...]

The Orlando Sentinel has an interview with Jon Favreau, who directed IRON MAN, the big-budget film adaptation of the Marvel Comics Superhero. Though Favreau’s previous credits (ELF, ZATHURA) are not encouraging, he says he learned from those experiences (dealing with special effects, etc), and it sounds as if he had a plan for how to [...]

In an interview plugging his latest movie, writer-director John Sayles briefly talks about some of his genre work. Before moving into independent art-house films, Sayles wrote scripts for low-budget exploitation efforts like THE LADY IN RED and ALLIGATORY. More recently, he has contributed drafts to big-budget fantasy films like THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES.
Of course, the drawback [...]

Contrary to the joy expressed by fans over the news that Guillermo Del Toro will be directing two HOBBIT films, Salon.Com’s Andrew O’Hehir thinks the whole thing is a bad idea. After expressing admiration for Tolkein, Peter Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS films, and Del Toro, O’Hehir asks:
First of all, hasn’t anybody noticed that del [...]

I didn’t make it down to the Fangoria convention, but you can read all about it at these links from Horror Movie a Day:

Fango Con – Day 1
Fango Con – Day 2

If (like me) you are too lazy to click through links, here are the highlights:

Producer Rob Tapert says that BOOGEYMAN 3 is in the editing [...]

With no new sci-fi, horror, or fantasy films in wide release, two debut comedies, BABY MAMA and HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY,  jumped to the top of this weekend’s box office, knocking last week’s winner, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, down to third place.

FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, the martial arts fantasy starring Jacki Chan and Jet Lie, [...]

The Los Angeles Times brings us the sad news that pioneering electronic composer Bebe Barron has died, at the age of 82. Along with her then-husband Louis Barron, Bebe scored the 1956 science-fiction classic FORBIDDEN PLANET. Before the modern synthesizer, the duo created music using tubes and circuits that emitted tones, which they would record [...]

“Do They Ever Return to Possess the Living?”
That was the question asked in the advertising for this adaptation of Henry James’ classic novelette, The Turn of the Screw.It is a question that goes unanswered by the film itself, which true to the source material leaves the existence of ghosts unclear, forcing audiences to debate whether [...]

This is a modern horror film with an old-fashioned touch, relying on suspense and the suggestion of the supernatural to generate a disturbing sense of the Uncanny. In the manner of classic haunted house movies like THE INNOCENTS (1960) and THE HAUNTING (1963), THE OTHERS uses a deliberately steady pace to increase tension, gradually drawing viewers [...]

Writer-director Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel has earned a reputation as one of the greatest horror films ever made. It is easy to understand why: this is a serious effort that gradually and carefully constructs a mounting sense of paranoia that climaxes in a horrible final-scene revelation. The setting and performances are completely [...]

So, you’re a horror movie maniac. You just can’t get enough of ‘em. You love the thrill of fear, the scream of terror, the sight of blood. But you have a problem: Your boxed set of BLIND DEAD movies does not enamor your girlfriend. Your Lucio Fulci collection does not send your paramour swooning with [...]