Cinefantastique Online

For a major summer movie, the promotional campaign for THE HAPPENING hasn’t exactly been burning a brand into the American consciousness, but there have been some TV appearances and articles. Premier.com has a brief interview with actress Zooey Deschanel, who gives her view of the film’s message:

The film raises questions more than it [answers them]. A lot of people are saying that it has a message, and in a way it has a message, but I think the message is more like a question, like, “What would you do in this situation? Does this seem possible to you? Like, think about it.” It’s more of a “think about it” kind of message than anything. And I like that about it. It doesn’t feel too preachy.

It’s been awhile since we’ve checked in our our favorite critic down under, the lovely Liz of the And You Call Yourself a Scientist website. Her latest reviews are of ROBOT MONSTER and GOJIRA. Take our word for it: even if you think you’ve read anything you ever want to about either or both of these, she will have something new and interesting to say.

Vault of Horror frets over whether a proposed sequel to 30 DAYS OF NIGHT will go direct-to-video or not. Considering what a disappoint dud the first film was, we wonder why anyone would care. And when you think of it, exactly what are they going to make a sequel about? Certainly none of the human characters are worth carrying over, and the only interesting vampire was killed off, so there’s not much left on which to hang a sequel, unless it’s the concept.  So what’s it going to be? Let’s find another small town above the arctic circle? Or maybe just another isolated human population where help cannot arrive for some weird reason?

Arbogast on Film offers an appreciation of Michael Rennie, the actor who starred in the 1951  sci-fi classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. He also tells you everything you might want to know about FRONTIER(S), the blood-soaked French shocker, which he declares to be a “family film!”

Dinner with Max Jenke fondly recalls DEADLY EYES, a killer rat movie based on James Herbert’s somewhat less cryptically titled novel The Rats. I saw the film only once, decades ago, and I recollect it was a real hoot – not really good, but fun. My favorite moment was when one high school chick was wondering why her friend was wasting her time pining for her high school teacher. The first chick’s objection to this behavior was absolutely irrefutable; it ran something like this: you’re a cheerleader, and you’re boyfriends the star football player; what more could you want out of life? With moments like this, I’m glad I’m not the only one with a soft spot in my heart for DEADLY EYES. Which, by the way, was directed by Robert Clouse, whose most famous film is ENTER THE DRAGON, with Bruce Lee.

Sci-Fi Japan is giving away two free tickets to the New York Asian Film Festival. The fest will feature the U.S. premiere of ALWAYS SUNSET ON THIRD STREET – it’s a comedy, not a sci-fi film, but it includes a cameo by Godzilla (seen in a film within a film).

This has been around for awhile, but I missed it till now: Exploding Kinetoscope offers an impassioned defense of SPEED RACER – an apparent attempt to rescue the film from its dismal box office. An attempt doomed to failure, it turned out. Chris Stangl seems to blame the poor box office on critical reaction, then declares further down that the success of THE MATRIX was a fluke. MATRIX was too ”fetishistic, brainy, brain-fried and stylized” for ordinary people, who should have “stayed away in droves.” Maybe so, but then why should we blame critics if audiences stay away in droves from SPEED RACER?

The Groovy Age of Horror is taking a fine-tooth comb to Freud’s famous essay, “The Uncanny,” to determine whether the father of psychoanalysis really proves his point, that fear of the uncanny is rooted in the return of the repressed.

And finally…

I’m not sure I like this League of Tana Tea Drinkers – a loose collection of bloggers who write about horror. I mean, I enjoy the individual blogs, but they do this thing where they all get together and decide to blog on the same topic

What this means is that when I’m out surfing cyberspace, looking for something new and interesting - I SEE THE EXACT SAME TOPIC EVERYWHERE I GO! It’s like being trapped in some David Lynch movie, where lines of dialogue are said by one character then repeated an hour later by someone else in a different context. I don’t need it and I don’t want it. I want something different, not the same thing I just read at the last place.

Anyway, the current topic is evil kids. You can read a post about this at Zombo’s Closet of Horror.