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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by Dan Persons

No, that title’s not a typo. It’s missing an article, maybe as a favor to multiplex managers who have to conserve marquee letters.

For that matter, I’m not sure what “Adventures” is doing in there either, since Johnny (Matthew Twining) doesn’t do all that much adventuring. The son of one-hit singing wonder Jimmy Dow (get it?), whose magic guitar hangs in the museum/shrine at the back of Johnny’s small-town gas station, the kid takes back seat in a number of the earlier fight sequences, while most of the kick-ass onus falls on agile actress Chris Yen, Continue Reading »

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by Dan Persons

One of the more curious entries in the profile-of-a-serial-killer pantheon, They Pushed Him Too Far subcategory. Shot in Denmark¹, CRAIG suffers from some typical, direct-to-video maladies, including time-padding longueurs in the dialogue, sloppiness in the audio mix (room tone, guys — record it, catalog it, cut it in), and an occasional lack of imagination when it comes to a limited budget (a coma victim winds up in a hospital where the staff seemingly feels no need to hook her up to all that pesky monitoring equipment). Continue Reading »

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By Dan Persons

You get the sense that this whole thing kicked off when somebody got a look at all the spikes, picks, hammers, crampons, grapples, etc. used by ice climbers and said, “Shit, this stuff’d be great for killing people!” They would, actually, so points to the producers for that. Unfortunately, instead of taking this relatively inspired idea and placing their insane, spectral mountaineer in a suitable setting (and, really, how much would it’ve cost to mock up a tent interior and a couple of snow banks?), the producers have decided just to resurrect the old reality-webcast-gone-horribly-wrong scenario from 2002 and have quit with it. Continue Reading »

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THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN was released on May 16 of this year and quickly shot to the top of the box-office… for one week. Can’t fault it too much for a single week at the top of the pyramid, though. In a summer of mighty stiff competition even INDIANA could not hold the top spot for more than a week (heck, he even got stomped by a bunch of girls). Besides, THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE only lasted one week at number one. However, it did make approximately $10,000,000 more during its opening weekend: $65,000,000 as opposed to $55,000,000. In the sequel, C.S. Lewis’ four heroes - Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley) -are brought back to the world of Narnia, but something’s very wrong. The land they helped save and rule now lies in ruins, overgrown by foliage. Eventually they—and we—discover 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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SPEED RACER is just latest Wachowski effort to misfire with critics and audiences. After the tremendous success of THE MATRIX everyone’s gotta be wondering why. Well, as far as SPEED RACER is concerned, from one person’s perspective (mine) there are three main reasons: 1) the film was too long for a cartoon concept of its nature; 2) the race sequences were far too messy and similar in construction; and 3) EGO. Ultimately, where the Wachowskis are concerned, most everything can be boiled down to ego. However, these are not just SPEED-related issues. With slight variations they can apply to just about every Wachowski film since THE MATRIX. But we’ll get to these issues in a moment. First I’d like to offer up another observation… 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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