A sense of decorum had engulfed me in a metaphorical Cone of Silence, preventing any unseemly self-promotion, but now it looks like the cat is out of the proverbial bag. A news item at Fangoria.com lists the details of eight upcoming DVDs that Lionsgate will be releasing on October 14 under their Ghost House Underground banner, including:

ROOM 205:

• Audio commentary by director Martin Barnewitz and film critic Steve Biodrowski
• Behind-the-scenes featurette

That’s right: after years of raging against “Access Journalism” (in which journalists lose objectivity by getting too cosy with their subjects), I am participating in an endeavor which will taint anything I write about the Danish horror film ROOM 205. Feel free to call me a hypocrite when you read my positive reaction to the film  (which I saw at Screamfest last year) and my interview with Barnewitz.

All joking aside, both the review and the interview were completed months before the subject of the audio commentary came up; the fact that I responded favorably led to my being asked to do the commentary, not the other way around. Consider this revelation as simply a ”Full Disclosure,” to be taken into consideration when evaluating my coverage of the film.

Read details on the other DVDs below the fold. Continue Reading »

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The American Film Institute has compiled its lists of the Top Ten Films in 10 different genres. Among the genres considered were Fantasy and Science Fiction but not Horror. (Animation was one of the categories, even though it is a technique, not a genre.)

Not surprisingly, most of the winners are familiar from the AFI’s previous Top 10 lists; they have simply sliced the pie up in a different way. Although some obviously worth titles made the grade, several of the winners were dubious choices at best.

Read the lists below the fold. Continue Reading »

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Media attempts to chart the rise and fall of Shyamalan’s career overlook his message. 

In anticipation of THE HAPPENING, the new film from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, we have, typically, seen a series of TV appearances and articles to promote the film’s release. Atypically, this article in the Los Angeles Times says next to nothing about the film itself; instead, writer Rachel Abramowitz attempts to give an assessment of Shyamalan’s career in the fall-out of the bomb that was LADY IN THE WATER: When Disney, which financed his previous films, objected to the screenplay, Shyamalan took the project to another studio, then complained in Michael Bamberger’s book The Man Who Heard Voices that Disney “no longer valued individualism.” This perceived arrogance resulted in a certain Schadenfreude in the hallowed halls of Hollywood when the film turned out to be not a triumph of artistic independence but a self-indulgent mess. Continue Reading »

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Wing-nuts* live in an fascinating fantasy land. It is a strange alternate dimension in which reality barely exists, and the greatest threat to humanity lies not in nuclear holocaust, global warming, or terrorism but in an unlikely alliance between East Coast liberal elite Academia and West Coast Hollywood hucksterism. An entertaining if absurd example of this is Noel Sheppard’s ignorant screed in News Busters, in which he whines about M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming movie THE HAPPENING. Continue Reading »

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That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt. Noel Sheppard says, “Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen.” I guess he feels ignorance and illiteracy are OK when the country needs cannon-fodder. I guess he also feels that the war in Iraq has nationwide approval. Well, it doesn’t have mine. It is a waste of national resources. . . and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded. I live in a national guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career—military or otherwise. If you agree, find Sheppard on the internet, and send him an email: “Hi, Noel—Stephen King says to shut up and I agree.”

Continue Reading »

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Over at the Classic Horror Film Message Board, it’s “Robert Quarry Appreciation Week.” Quarry is the fine actor who appeared in a handful of entertaining cult films in the early ’70s: COUNT YORGA - VAMPIRE, THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, and MADHOUSE. Quarry seemed poised on the verge of cult stardom when the bottom dropped out of the low-budget horror film market and companies like American International Pictures turned to making blaxploitation pictures. (Quarry was in one of those, too, the zombie-gangster flick, SUGAR HILL.) The post at the Classic Horror Board contains information for fans who want to express their appreciation, including an address where you can purchase autographed photos from the actor. Continue Reading »

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In my recent interview with Dario Argento, the horror auteur remarks that today’s critics are “absolutely not important,” because audiences no longer pay attention to them. Although this might sound like sour grapes, coming from the director of critically reviled horror movie MOTHER OF TEARS, it is actually a statement with some validity. In the recent article “Critics, Know Thy Audience,” Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein gives a rundown on the deteriorating state of criticism in general and film criticism in particular. Goldstein offers a hit list of reasons for film critics losing their readership and their jobs. Basically, they are out of touch with the audience - a complaint often voiced by fans of the horror genre, which is typically viewed with disdain by the mainstream media. Continue Reading »

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In the Wall Street Journal article “Can These Heroes Save Summer,” Lauren A. E. Schuker and Peter Sanders take a look at the upcoming summer movie season and note that it is filled with superheroes, who Hollywood hopes will save them from low attendance and sagging receipts. On the list of big-budget releases is IRON MAN, HELLBOY 2, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and THE DARK KNIGHT. Moving away from comic books, we also have larger than life heroes in INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, HANCOCK (starring Will Smith), SPEED RACER, and CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. And let’s not forget the X-FILES sequel. Continue Reading »

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The Vault of Horror has a post regarding the allegedly racist content of the upcoming RESIDENT EVIL 5 game, the trailer for which generated negative comment from Newsweek’s game critic. I already dealt with this topic months ago here, but I did want to deal with a couple things.

1. Brian Solomon blames the perception of “racism” on “these days of political correctness.” I have a long history of disdain for this term, which is usually used by people who want to avoid having to cop to their racist/sexist/otherwise prejudiced attitudes.
2. He suggests that, although the trailer can be viewed in racial terms, he does into believe that was the intention of the game makers. To paraphrase THE WILD BUNCH, what the makers meant shouldn’t concern us; what they actually did is the issue. 

The larger issue here is context: How you interpret things depends on your cultural background, education, etc. People who make movies and games can pretend that history and racism do not exist, but they are fooling no one. Even without malicious intent you can tap into troubling veins that might disturb some people, and noticing these disturbances is not a matter of political correctness. As I said before:

When people object to branding some work of art as “racist,” I suspect they are defining the term very narrowly, to include only the most vile of prejudicial hatred. Racism, however, can exist in far less virulent forms, such as the (relatively) harmless stereotyping seen in popular art. To label such work “racist” is not to imply that the creators are clandestine members of the Nazi Part and/or the Klu Klux Klan; it is simply to point out that they are trafficking in stereotypes.

The other important thing to remember is that cultural artifacts do not exist in a vacuum; they exist within a culture with a certain set of beliefs, attitudes, background assumptions, and prejudices. Whatever the original intent of the creators, their work is going to be seen by people who will interpret it according to their cultural background. Thus, George Romero can insist that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is not making a conscious statement about racism, but the sight of the lone black protagonist - gunned down by white policeman who mistake him for a zombie - cannot help inspiring interpretations along those lines.

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In a heartfelt essay titled “Clarke and Kubrick Glimpsed the Future,” Jim McDade compares 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, the epic science-fiction collaboration between Arthur C. Clark and Stanley Kubrick, to an epochal event in history and ruminates on the implications of Clarke’s philosophy for the future of the human race. Endorsing Clarke’s optimistic view of technology’s impact on the future, McDade concludes that we must choose between “space as an extension of the human domain” or “certain extinction…by denying ourselves the survival opportunity that awaits us above the atmosphere.” Continue Reading »

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Since the current version of Cinefantastique Online went live last August, we have concentrated mostly on current news and reviews, while only occasionally dipping into the vast reservoir of material available in back issues of the magazine. Gradually, we plan to post more of that material into our online archives, making it accessible to fans who have not been able to find their favorite back issues in used book stores. When possible, we may include updated or extended versions of the articles, including material that had to be cut for length when printed.

Today, we take our first step in this direction with “FARSCAPE: Season Three.” Anna L. Kaplan’s in-depth article, which details the trials and travails of the Sci Fi Channel series, was originally intended as a cover story, but appeared in the June 2002 issue of Cinefantastique (Volume 34, Numbers 3-4), with Spider-Man on the the cover. Enjoy!

UPDATES: We had added this interview with actress Claudia Black, who played Aeryn Sun on the show. And this interview with actor Ben Browder, who played John Crichton. And this interview with executive producer David Kemper. You can find more in the Archives for June 2002.

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I did not bother to watch the Oscar telecast last night, because as a lifelong devotee of cinefantastique, I just could not summon up the enthusiasm to care about an awards show that almost totally ignored the great work seen in science-fiction, fantasy, and horror films last year (which I detailed in this post). Barely any genre films were nominated, and of those the only winners were THE GOLDEN COMPASS for visual effects, SWEENEY TODD for art direction, and RATATOUILLE for animated film. Well, at least they gave SWEENEY something - it was only the best film of 2007, after all. Continue Reading »

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With the Academy Awards show coming this Sunday, and everyone wondering which films will be selected as the best of 2007, now seems a good time to look over the films that the Oscars overlooked. It is no secret that cinefantastique is typically shut out of consideration in the major categories, seldom even earning nominations in anything other than technical areas like special effects and sound design. This tendency does not always hold true - witness the Best Picture win by LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING - but Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic remains the exception rather than the rule. Genre stigmatization is still evident in the way that several obviously Oscar-worthy films were ignored or slighted in this year’s nominations.

To be fair, the Academy did offer a handful of nominations to films that were either hybrids (the horror-musical SWEENEY TODD) or borderline cinefantastique (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, which features a villain easily as horrifying as THE HITCHER).  Also, 2007 was an uneven year for the genres: the studio blockbusters that pleased audiences worldwide were not necessarily magnificent works of art, and the handful of great science-fiction, fantasy, and horror films did not sell enough tickets to generate the kind of momentum (a la RETURN OF THE KING) that can break down the barriers to Oscar acceptance. Nevertheless, there are some titles, some performances, some screenplays that simply cry out for recognition. Hence, we offer this tour of an alternate universe in which science-fiction, fantasy, and horror films receive the respect they deserve. Continue Reading »

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Well, it certainly seems as if nothing - not even diminishing box office returns - can stop the wave of horror remakes - in particular, remakes of Asian horror films. The latest entry in this trend is THE EYE, starring Jessica Alba, which opens today. A remake of the excellent 2002 co-production from Hong Kong and Singapore, the new film is unlikely to match the excellence of its progenitor (although the trailer suggest that it sticks close to its source material).

Despite our doubts about the film (which seem confirmed by a 26% rotten rating at Rotten Tomatoes), we thought we would take this opportunity to examine the original and its sequels, all of which are available on DVD; hence, we offer up reviews of THE EYE, THE EYE 2, and THE EYE 10 (a.k.a. THE EYE: INFINITY). Also included is a review of THE MESSENGERS, the American debut of the Pang Brothers, who applied their patented visual skills to a formulaic Hollwyood horror story, with mixed results.

To top it off, we provide a Brief History of Remaking Asian Horror. We had considered doing a “Best of Remaking Asian Horror” but decided the list would be too short.

Enjoy!

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Over at the Classic Horror Film Board, the nominees for this year’s Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards have been announced.

These awards are by and for the fans - meaning: You can vote if you want to! Just check out the ballot here, and e-mail your votes by March 8 to taraco@aol.com.

Winners will be announced March 9 at the Classic Horror Film Board and at the Rondo Awards’ official website.

By the way, Cinefantastique Online is a nominee in the Best Website or Blog category. The competition is stiff, with lots of worthy rivals, so don’t hesitate to help us out with your votes.

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