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Henry Spencer
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Works: Halloween
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Five Themes to Scare Your Ears
City of The Living Dead: Main Theme
If you've read this blog for very long, you'll realize that most of us love a good zombie movie. While most prefer the rough and rugged American style (Night of the Living Dead, etc), we have a soft spot for the Italian flicks as well. They are usually a little gorier, and normally have a weird reason for the dead to roam the Earth.
City of the Living Dead, a film by horror master Lucio Fulci, is a perfect example of the genre. In the film, a priest's suicide opens the gates of hell and beckons the dead to arise. A psychic witnesses the events in New York and the main characters travel across the pond to stop hell from spewing forth.
The music is the epitome of soundtracks of Italian horror. Gentle at times, pounding at others, City's main theme will have you watching your back for the living dead!
Phantasm: Main Theme
One of the best things about horror films of the 70's is that they often took old ideas and made them weird. Cemeteries had been used in scary movies since the invention of the genre itself. Yet, the makers of Phantasm took the idea and turned it on its head. The result was one of the strangest, unsettling films of the period. (They even scared us by just having a guy walk down the street!)
The music to Phantasm is equally impressive. It features a simple pattern repeated over a warbling organ/synthesizer. The effect could almost be comical if left to the wrong hands. However, the composers knew exactly what they were doing. Playing this piece with the lights turned low will surely have you ducking under the covers in terror! (Although, that didn't work out so well for the kid in the first film....)
Suspiria: Main Theme by Goblin
Italian Horror legend Dario Argento's frequent collaboration with rock band Goblin produced a number of outstanding, if unlikely, scores. Perhaps the best one of the bunch is the theme from Suspiria. The music begins with a loop that is reminiscent of The Exorcist (or even Phantasm). But don't let the intro fool you. Other instruments slowly begin to creep in. Soon, a demonic voice is added. The music builds to crescendo before the band flies into full swing. The music instantly switches from soundtrack to prog/punk.
The music works much like Argento's directing style. He allows space to fill his scenes, almost to the point of dullness, before lashing out with a gory effect. The theme to Suspiria performs exactly the same way. It is one of the most unusual scores, to be sure, however it is definitely one of the most effective.
Martin: The Calling/Main Theme
After the success of Night of the Living Dead, director George Romero branched into broader territory. His film, Martin, tells the story of a young man who is convinced he is a vampire. He moves in with his religious relatives so that they may execute him in the traditional ways. The film updates the vampire lore for modern times. Martin doesn't bite his victims, he drugs and drains them. One of the strengths of the film is that it leaves the final decision of Martin's identity to the viewer. Is he really a creature of the night, or a young man suffering mental disabilities?
The film is shot much like Night: in a stark documentary fashion. The music, contrasts the film's look with an elegant piano based score. Other instruments are brought in (woodwinds) as well as a haunting vocal. The dichotomy of the film's look with its sound illustrates the main character's other worldliness. He appears to be one thing, while just underneath, there is something entirely different.
The score is beautiful and enchanting. Though definitely not one of the greater known pieces in horror films, the soundtrack will have your skin rising at the setting sun.
28 Days Later: In the House/In A Heartbeat
By the early 2000's, the zombie genre was pretty much, er..dead. Sure, the occasional film would be made, but there were no television shows, games, or much else to be found that dealt with the undead. People had grown tired of watching characters run from slow moving, mindless creatures. Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later changed all that. Suddenly, zombies weren't slow any more. They were the crazed, blood thirsty animals they had always been, however they could run just as fast as the humans. The film was a huge success and relaunched the genre in a big way.
Not only did the film deal with the grim subject in a flashier, more compelling way, it handled the music in a similar fashion. Instead of relying on the usual orchestral score with massive hits meant to make the audience jump, Boyle uses ambient artists like Brian Eno to set a more human mood. The main theme of the film, is a triumphant in horror music. It is unnerving, to say the least, however, it holds the sadness of the situation within its simple piano and guitar strumming. You can picture a lone survivor walking down the road to this music. As a figure reveals itself in the distance, a steady pounding of bass is added beneath the guitar. The figure eventually lunges for the survivor; his teeth gnashing and clawing for blood. At this point, the music becomes a frantic mesh of distortion and drums. There is no way not to feel anxious once you start playing this theme.
Friday, October 5, 2012
E is for...
For the movie, Moran is played by Barbara Hershey. The character is a young mother who seems to be randomly attacked one night. Though there is physical evidence, Moran's charges go unheeded. She can not identify the assailant, and people begin writing her off as crazy. The attacks continue, growing more violent each time. Moran is finally approached by paranormal researchers who take her seriously. The ending of the film is pretty over the top (obviously a film invention rather than actual occurrence.)
Like any movie involving rape, The Entity can be a little rough to sit through. It is creepy, to be sure, probably more so for women. The film essentially rests on Hershey's acting ability; luckily an actress of her caliber is quite capable of supporting the weight. The film even features some effects work by Stan Winston who would go on to great fame with the Terminator films, and a number of others. The word "fun" doesn't spring to mind with this film, however, it will send a shiver down your spine.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
D is for...
When you think of child actors, Leif Garret may not be the first to spring to mind. He made a name for himself through his singing career, as well as a number of film and television roles. Perhaps his strangest was in a film originally titled Peopletoys. The film, which eventually was re-titled Devil Times Five follows the exploits of a bus full of children, on their way to a mental institution naturally, who survive a crash. They make their way through the snowy mountains of somewhere until they find a group of adults vacationing in their lodge. The adults take the children in, and generally ignore them in favor of their petty arguments. This leaves the kids with plenty of time to indulge in their murderous deeds. One by one, the grown ups succumb to their traps.
Devil is a rough and gritty film. Though the violence is not as graphic as some of the other films of the period, it is shocking, never the less, to watch children kill people. The fact that each child is an archetype of cuteness (the young innocent girl, the cowboy loving boy, the flashy pompous child, and an albino nun..yeah, really) only adds to the horror. The movie, which was fairly low budget, holds up pretty well. Sound and picture are fine; the acting is actually pretty decent. I would expect no less from the child star, his mother, his sister, and the guy that played Boss Hog. If you like slashers from the 70's, and have a tendency to avoid day cares, then this is the film for you.
Monday, October 1, 2012
B is For:
Blood Feast became the first gore movie, setting the stage for nearly all horror films to follow. The plot is fairly simple: a killer stalks the streets of the city. He preys upon young women and chops them into pieces; removing limbs and organs for an unknown purpose. The police are baffled, and the town in a panic. Meanwhile, a rich woman decides to throw an extravagant dinner for her daughter's birthday. Little does she know, the mother hires the killer to cater the event. Guess what all those body parts were for?
There is little about this film that is actually very good. The acting is wooden, the cinematography consists of a stationary camera and one bright light. The sound recording is pretty crappy, too. At the time of its release, however, Blood Feast caused quite a controversy. In three short years, audiences had come from being spared the grisly images of Psycho through black and white film (and chocolate syrup) to watching a woman's tongue being ripped out in glorious technicolor.
The film earned five times its budget and established Lewis as the premiere shock director for a number of years. To this day, Lewis' name is still synonymous with graphic imagery.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
A is For...
The three men set out for the country, making a pit stop at a convenience store along the way. The thugs humiliate and terrorize the employees, all the while getting off on it. The third man once again feels guilt weighing him down, though he feels helpless to do anything.
Eventually, the men find a secluded farm house where a young girl, Lisa, cares for her paralyzed grandfather. Though Lisa is just a girl, she has lived a tough life that has matured her beyond her years. She spends her days killing chickens for food, and taking care of the small farm she lives on.
As soon as they arrive, the men begin unleashing hell upon Lisa. They force her to cook and clean after them, they mistreat her, and even sexually assault her. Drawing upon her animal slaughtering skills, Lisa avenges herself using the titular weapon on the men.
Axe is a low budget, no plot, gore film from the early 1970's. The characters presented here are overwhelmingly one dimensional (with the exception of the sensitive gangster.) The purpose of this film is simply to show blood and guts, with the after thought of entertaining an audience. I have to admit, they achieve these goals in spades. Axe is a brutal little film, to be sure. However, it is the epitome of the slasher genre. Though it's not as highly regarded as Last House on the Left, or I Spit On Your Grave, it's also not as graphically disturbing. You can watch this revenge story without feeling dirty afterwards.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Thrill Me! A Tribute to Fred Dekker
Dekker grew up in San Francisco, where he spent his time reading comic books and watching old comedies and horror films. He devoted himself to the works of the Universal monsters, Abbot and Costello, and a slew of B rated pictures. Inspired by those movies, he applied to UCLA as a film student where he was rejected. He then applied to USC, where he was denied as well. He was finally admitted to UCLA as an English major, where he interjected himself into the film program.
During his time in college, Dekker decided to make a movie using his parent's Victorian house. He decided to put it to good use and develop a film that could be shot in the one location. His friend and classmate, Steve Wiley, wrote the script and Steve Miner directed.
Originally meant to be a true terror inducing film, House takes on a sort of comic surreal tone. There are scenes of gore and splatter, but there are also plenty of laughs. The film did well at the box office, and established Dekker as a credible member of the filmmaker community.
Determined to indulge himself in his true goal of directing, Dekker wrote his next film and attached himself as director. Night of the Creeps, as the film came to be called, would become one of the most entertaining, genre bending films ever released. It cemented Dekker's vision as a writer/director, and became one of the most unique movies of the decade.
For Creeps, Dekker wasn't convinced he would be able to direct a second film, so he decided to include homages to every genre he had grown up watching. The film begins in outer space, with a rogue alien running through a ship, holding a canister. The alien is pursued by others of his kind; they attempt to stop him? from stealing whatever is in the canister. With nowhere to run, the alien ejects the object out of an airlock. That canister just so happens to fall to a little planet called Earth.
On the planet, it is the 1950's. Sorority girls make themselves up in preparations for their hot dates that night. At this point, the picture is black and white. The camerawork mirrors drive in flicks of the time period, and the music is appropriate for the year. As a couple park their car in lover's lane, they hear a radio report about an escaped convict who is headed towards the area. The woman wants to go home, but her boyfriend decides to check out the meteor that has just landed nearby. Bad idea.While the woman waits, a young police officer approaches the car to warn her about the killer. To her surprise, it's her former boyfriend. The two have an awkward exchange as his unrequited feelings are apparent. He leaves the woman in peace, only to be called back a short time later. He is horrified to find the killer hacking the woman into pieces. He kills the murderer and hides the body.
Flash forward to 30 years later. A couple of college nerds are attending their first party. They try to join a fraternity and are given the task to stealing a corpse. They poke around the science building and find a young man who has been cryogenically frozen. (Yep, it's the kid from the 50's.) They try to take the body, though it comes to life during the process. The kids take off running and leave the body to wander on its own.
Having discovered the alien canister, the 1950's guy was infected with creeping worms that bring turn people into zombies. He lurches through the college, infecting multiple people, and starting a small plague. The corpse even infects the hidden body of the mass murderer, which is conveniently buried under the dorm mother's house. Our young cop, now a bitter older detective, must help the nerds take on the fraternity of zombies that are attacking the town.
Night of the Creeps is one of those films that you can't believe was made. There is such a mixture of styles and events, that it doesn't seem possible that a studio could have greenlit the project. At times, it is apparent that this is a first time director's film. Mostly, though, it really hits the marks it aims for. Detective Cameron is one of the most memorable character's in recent history. He is a tough shit talker, haunted by the events of his past. He careens on the edge of justice and suicide throughout the entire film. He seems to understand something that no one around him does and it terrifies him. Not to mention, he's got the greatest catchphrase ever: "Thrill Me."
Though Creeps wasn't the biggest hit at the box office, it did well enough to allow Dekker to write and direct his next feature. Honing his story down to one genre this time, Dekker takes inspiration from one of his favorite films: Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
On the other side of town, Dracula and friends are preparing to steal a magical amulet which has been hidden away for centuries. If they are successful, they will rule the Earth in darkness forever. The one thing they are missing is Van Helsing's diary, which now resides with the Monster Squad.
The kids soon learn of Dracula's plan and recruit cool kid Rudy, creepy German guy, and even Frankenstein's monster to help them defeat the evil creatures. The film culminates in a monster bash in the town square.
Monster Squad was the coolest film I had ever seen when I was young. Growing up, I had watched my share of horror films and sympathized with the kids in the movie. I liked the same things they did, talked the same way they did (sorry Mom!), and would have loved to have gone on the same adventure. My friends and I watched it every time it was on cable, and when we were older, it became almost a legendary tale.
For years, the only way you could see Creeps or Squad was on old VHS tapes or home recordings. It seemed that Dekker's career had taken a down turn, and these films had been forgotten. In deed, Fred's last big film was a Robocop sequel which halted the franchise. For the next decade, Dekker was relegated to a few episodes of Tales from the Crypt and Star Trek: Enterprise.
Though it seemed unlikely for either a new Dekker film, or even a DVD release of his older ones, something was brewing behind the scenes. Kids that once watched these movies on their parents' televisions had grown up to work in the film industry. They turned their attention onto the forgotten flicks of the 1980's and something magical happened. Both Night of the Creeps and Monster Squad were given full fledged special edition treatment on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Dekker's films were restored in high definition with fantastic image and sound quality. Gone were the third generation VHS copies, or burned bootleg DVD-Rs. Fans could finally see the movies in their original widescreen glory. As if that wasn't enough, the producers even tracked down cast and crew members for documentaries on each film. Each runs a at least an hour each, and provides actual insight into the making of each picture. (Rather than those 20 minute promotional junkets many discs feature.) It seems as if Dekker was finally getting the credit he deserved.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that there is a new Fred Dekker film on the horizon. It's a shame that these DVD releases haven't caused more executives to take notice and give him a second chance. Dekker was one of the most visionary directors of his time. Perhaps the material and genre he chose to work in has limited his credibility. With the resurgence of interest in the 1980's, as well as the success of similar writer/directors as Joss Whedon, it would seem that a Fred Dekker resurrection should be in the works.
If it never happens, at least we have Night of the Creeps and Monster Squad to thrill us.
T is For...
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So begins the opening narration to a fun little film nearly lost to the sands of time. If you are old enough to remember music, you are probably familiar with the "Greatest Hits" albums. Normally, when a band wanted to make extra money (or get out of a contract) they released all their biggest hits on one disc. Terror in the Aisles is sort of the scary movie version of that.
Released in 1984, the film collects sequences from numerous popular horror films of the time. There are clips from Halloween 1 and 2, some Friday the 13th's, Jaws, some Cronenberg, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and dozens of other films. The segments are narrated by Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen. They sit in a fake movie theater, filled with other audience members, and discuss the various reasons for people to enjoy the films.
At first, the concept may seem completely ridiculous. What's the point of watching a string of clips sewn together, eh? What really makes the film work is the editing. Key sequences from several films will be tied together as an example of a particular horror theme. The sequences are then edited together to increase the flow of suspense and build tension. For example, Pleasence discusses unearthly evil infiltrating our bodies. Clips from The Exorcist, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Fog, The Thing (1982), and Jaws form a narrative that illustrate the concept.
Terror in the Aisles was long out of print on VHS and Laserdisc. The expense of leasing the rights to each of these films (all from different studios) seemed cost prohibitive to ever believe it would be released again. Surprisingly, the film has turned up, in high definition no less!, as an extra on the Halloween II Blu Ray. It also appears to be headed for release on its own through Universal's On Demand service. The film will appeal to the same audience who enjoys watching trailers as much as the actual movies. It's a charming little oddity of film history that has finally surfaced from the sticky popcorn floor of obscurity.
K is For
Kolobos is an independent film made during the time period of this nascent genre. At the beginning of the film, the camera acts as the point of view of a woman who has been mutilated and traumatized. She is accidentally hit by a car and taken to the hospital. During her stay, she flashes back to the events that have brought her to this point.
Answering an ad in the newspaper for 5 outgoing actors, Kyra and others arrive at a large house that is wired for video and sound. Her and her new roommates will be allowed to do whatever they want, as long as they are filmed doing it. The house is filled with a bright alternative chick, a moping college guy, a B movie actress, and a failed comedian. During their first night at the house, it becomes apparent that things aren't going so well in Kyra's head. She is having hallucinations and hearing voices. Meanwhile, the others are watching a cheesy slasher flick starring our actress.
When they become bored with the film, fun alterna girl runs to the kitchen for a soda. Out of nowhere, she triggers a booby trap with ends up with her holding her entrails on the kitchen floor. The doors and windows suddenly become shuttered and the lights turn off. It seems that someone has a bigger show in store than they first thought. The group panics as they try to escape their entrapment. They dodge traps and a mysterious man who picks them off one at a time.
The film is an independent, i.e. low budget, but it actually manages some strong cinematography and plenty of gore. The acting, while not Oscar caliber, gets the job done. The biggest thing preventing this film from achieving any sort of success is the cover box. I passed by this DVD a hundred times because it looked like some late night Skinimax movie that might have a kill or two in it. Don't let that fool you. Kolobos is actually a pretty entertaining film.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
N is For...
Once Upon A Time there was a man named Robert who had a job cleaning up dead bodies. On this particular day, Robert arrives at a car accident scene and begins to bag the dismembered limbs. Robert has a strange fetish, however, and keeps one of the bags for himself. After work, Robert takes the limb home to his girlfriend, who also happens to share his fetish. The two use the limb during their lovemaking and all is well.
A short time later, our hero is called to dispose of an entire corpse. The body, belonging to a murdered man, has been hidden in water for some time. The skin has turned black, and the body has nearly turned to mush. (Imagine the smell!) Our friend Robert has just hit his own jackpot. Rather than dispose of the body, he also brings it home to his girlfriend. Ecstatic, the two get it on. The girlfriend even goes so far as to break off a piece of a chair and plant it where the corpse's junk should be. She then rides the rotting body like a princess on a unicorn.
Things soon turn ugly in our magical kingdom, for Robert loses his job. It seems that his bosses don't appreciate Robert's unusual interests and can him. Upon hearing the news, Robert's girlfriend throws a fit and leaves him. She also takes the body that Robert has so lovingly brought her.
Depressed and angry, Robert gets drunk and kills a prostitute in a graveyard. He has sex with body and passes out next to it. Unfortunately, he is found by a gravedigger and is forced to murder him, as well. Unable to control his joy, Robert runs through the hills and skips.
He eventually returns home to the empty apartment. With no corpse and no girlfriend, Robert decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to his yearnings. (Warning: I'm about to give away the ending, so stop reading if you don't wanna know.) Robert lays on his bed and jams a knife into his own stomach. He becomes highly aroused and his massive erection (in full view) begins spewing jizz. As he fantasizes about all the death he has experienced, the semen turns to blood and our hero dies. The last scene presents Robert's headstone. Suddenly, a shovel stabs the ground; impaled by a woman's foot.
Still a better love story than Twilight.
M is For...
Martyrs begins with a punch to the gut. A young girl, Lucie, has just escaped from a slaughterhouse where she has been held and tortured for a year or so. She is found by police and assigned to an orphanage for disturbed youth. She has lost all communication abilities, and continues to inflict lacerations and other injuries upon herself. She experiences terrifying hallucinations and falls off the deep end. She makes one friend at the orphanage, Anna, and the two grow to adulthood together.
Fifteen years later, a suburban family sits down to breakfast. They laugh and talk about the day they have planned. Mom and Dad are amused by their son and daughter; they are typical siblings who have petty arguments designed to annoy each other. The doorbell rings and the smiling Dad goes to answer it. A shotgun blast instantly kills him; Lucie and Anna rush in and massacre the entire family. Having spent her entire life in fear, Lucie has reconciled the family's murder as her only means to escape her experiences. The audience begins to wonder if these really were the people that held Lucie, or if she has finally gone over the edge. The rest of the film takes a shocking turn that I don't want to give away.
Martyrs is a brutally disturbing film. There are visceral images displayed here in both shockingly graphic and jarringly blase fashion. There are ideas presented here that both rattle and offend. This is not a slasher film or a scary movie. It is a statement and declaration. If you can stomach the events portrayed here, then Martyrs should be high on your "to watch" list.
Six Horror Trends That Should Vanish
Here are six trends of recent horror films that need to scare themselves away in a hurry.
I'll admit that I liked Paranormal Activity the first time I saw it. Though it was repetitive, I liked the new take on the classic haunted house film. A lot of the effects were so simple, yet very effective. (The digital effects added once the film was purchased by a studio were another story...) Before the credits could even roll at the end of the film, a hundred other "found footage" movies began flooding the market. From the moment this film made money, other filmmakers took well tread stories and filmed them with shaky POV. Some have tried to pass themselves off as a documentary, but the concept is the same. Handle held cameras and bad zooming make the horror so much more "real."
Why it Should Go:
It's been overdone. As of now, there are 3 (or is it 4? I lose count) Paranormal Activity films and a host of knock offs. The gimmick doesn't add to our enjoyment of the film, it distracts us. The shaking camera gives the audience a headache, and the long static shots just get boring. Not to mention, most of the reasons that are given for why the characters are filming in the first place are very contrived. Getting from point A to B in a narrative is a lot more difficult to pull off when someone is supposed to be running and filming at the same time.
You know this one. It's where the character is creeped out, thinking they see or hear something. So, they slowly walk towards the door that's ajar or the window to the back yard. Everything is quiet except for the low hum of the soundtrack when suddenly BAM! The cat jumps out, or the sink spits water, or a rat runs by, or anything at all that's not scary.
Why it Should Go:
For starters, it's over used. As in every horror film released in the past ten years has used this. Hell, maybe even the past 20 years. The biggest reason it should go, however, is because it's just effing lazy. Seriously, I just paid 10 bucks to get into the theater (or a dollar at redbox...ahem) and the only way you can scare me is by having a cat jump out? Come on. That's not real tension. That is the lowest common denominator in terror.
Being trapped in a confined space with a ghost/killer/young child can be a great setup for a good horror film. It can also be a really lame premise for a ridiculously contrived movie. Be it an elevator, ATM booth, or store, spending too much time in one set can lose an audience fast. You start adding a number of characters, and you've got a lot of logistical (and narrative) problems piling up.
Why it Should Go:
The biggest problems with these types of films are the questions they pose to the audience. Why are all these people trapped here to begin with? Why don't they break a window? How come they can't all three run in different directions or tackle the guy in the coat? Why the hell am I still watching this? Usually, there aren't any decent answers to these questions. Just a bunch of dumb characters who probably deserve whatever fate becomes of them.
If you've even glanced at this site, you know that we love horror films from the 1970's and 80's. They were daring and original. Or at least cheesy and entertaining. Hollywood has noticed audiences' love for those films, too. And they have remade damn near every one of them. Year after year, we are forced to sit through a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Halloween. While it's easy to blame Michael Bay for most of these disasters (his production company has helmed most of them lately)..... Yeah, let's just blame him. You suck, Michael Bay.
Why it Should Go:
I'm not against the idea of a remake. If someone can take old material and bring new life to it, then so be it. There are great remakes: The Thing, The Fly, even Savini's Night of the Living Dead. Unfortunately, for every good reboot, you get five terrible, uninspired pieces of garbage. While it's hard to defend the sequels to the original films, the first ones were driven by spirit and the desire to do something outside of the mainstream. All of these recent remakes come from the studios that own the rights to them and are being made simply to make money. The young rebellious directors who blazed their own trails with the originals have been discarded in favor of committee scripted music videos with pretty people in bright even lighting. They lack any sense of unique vision; relying solely on the gimmicks. Audiences will gladly watch new villains and franchises, if just given the chance.
In 1971, William Peter Blatty released his book, The Excorcist. Two years later, it was turned into what has been called "the scariest movie of all time." The film featured a young innocent girl who had been possessed by the devil. Her mother hires a priest, with demons of his own, to combat the evil. In the film, the daughter inflicts pain and violence upon herself, curses, and performs unnatural feats of strength.
The film was an instant success, causing several controversies and scaring the shit out of people at the same time. Of course, the inevitable sequels followed; though they never did as well as the first. For a number of years there were no other films released on the subject. Lately, however, there has been an explosion of them. Two new Exorcist sequels, The Last Exorcism, The Devil Inside, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Rite, etc have all popped up in the past ten years.
Why it Should Go:
Have you seen the Exorcist? Then why do you need to see any other exorcism film? The latter movies do nothing more than repeat they style of the Exorcist while retaining none of the substance. The characters in these films are one dimensional rather than the deeply troubled humans in the original. These recent additions rely on shock and jumps rather than anything psychological. If only the power of the box office could compel them to stop.
I'm not gonna lie. This one pains me to write. I love a good zombie film. Who doesn't? The problem is that there haven't really been any good zombie films released in a number of years. Even Romero's latest films have been lackluster.
Why it Should Go:
The genre is simply played out. In the 40 years since the original Night of the Living Dead, nearly every scenario involving people running from zombies has been done. We've seen them in the streets, in apartments, in hotels, on islands, yada, yada, yada. The parody films have been done. Hell, there's even a television show (which I still love.) Because they have been so successful in the past, studios are willing to snap up any piece of shit filmed by a guy with a decent camera, Party City makeup, and a couple of dumb ass friends.Each month, there are more and more low budget versions of these things that add nothing to the genre. There just doesn't seem to be any new ground to cover. It's time to let the dead rest for a while.
L is For...
Released in 1972, Boggy Creek is a documentary about a Sasquatch stalking a small rural community.The filmmakers travel around the area, interviewing people who have had encounters with the beast, and re enacting several encounters. The film is based on actual reports from locals, many of whom play themselves in recreations.
Though it may have inspired films like Blair Witch Project, Boggy Creek is never once scary. In fact, the movie is down right comical. The people in the film have little to no acting experience, and their performances take on a wooden, though slightly surreal quality. The narrator of the film sounds like an old country fella who should be discussing the advantages of dry lures over wet ones. There is even a country folk song about the Sasquatch featured in the film.
Legend of Boggy Creek was a fairly big hit, especially at drive ins. One has to suspect that the film's success was more ironic than genuine. It was also probably a favorite of teens to make out to once they got over their case of the giggles. The movie spawned two sequels (one featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000) as well as a remake. If you need a break from heart pounding terror, check out Boggy Creek. I guarantee you'll visit again and again.
I is for...
Insidious begins like a lot of films. A young couple buy a big house and move in with their children. The wife begins looking through photo albums and realizes there are no childhood pictures of her husband. One of the children, the young boy, complains about strange things happening in his bedroom. Initially laughed off as an overactive imagination, the boy's fears suddenly become reality when he slips into a coma. The couple rush him to the hospital, with no results. The wife soon begins experiencing frightening occurrences and becomes convinced that the house is haunted. With no other options, the couple abandon the house in favor of a new suburban life. They bring their son home, though his condition has not changed. Unfortunately for them, neither have the hauntings.
After a few more terrifying encounters, the family seeks help from spiritualists. They soon discover that the husband's childhood has a connection to what is happening to their son. The only way to save the child, they are told, is for the husband to travel the astral plane to reclaim the boy's soul.
Perhaps the most mainstream film highlighted this month, Insidious nevertheless provides some solid scares. The beginning of the film is filled with a mix of jump scares and subtle terror. Ghosts hide just out of view, alarms go off for no reason. Things jump from the shadows or appear in broad daylight. The last act of the film unfortunately changes directions and loses the fright factor the film worked so hard to earn. It abandons the realistic approach in favor of highly stylized visuals that pull the audience out of the movie. In any case, the beginning is enough to justify watching Insidious. You may wanna leave the lights on, while you do so.
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