Movies
Fear(s) of the Dark (limited) (Fr)
“Even though the film deserves props and is quite an achievement, it fails on the most important level – entertainment value. I understand most artists create the work for themselves, but when you’re making a movie you have to have the audience in mind.”
When I found out that Celluloid Dreams (Inside) was behind the Sundance animated horror film, FEAR[S] OF THE DAR, I was standing in line in sheer excitement. Over the years I’ve learned to trust in many studios and their films, which is what I was hoping for here, but unfortunately DARK is a jumbled mess of ideas that’s better suited for night of drinking and talking than a focused experience.
The film is an ambitious project uniting six graphic artists and cartoonists who have breathed life into their nightmares, bleeding away color only to retain the starkness of light and the pitch black of shadows. Their intertwined stories make up an unprecedented epic where phobias, disgust and nightmares come to life and reveal Fear at its most naked and intense.
Literally the first act of the film is extraordinary on both a story level and a technical level. Early on in the film, with the concept still fresh and invigorating, we see some outstanding animation and are taken through one hell of a horrific story. The only story that I really dug was one about a boy who meets the girl of his dreams in college. One night while sleeping over she is bitten by a d bug and becomes a living insect/mantis using the boy as a host to lay eggs in. I cheered in excitement and figured I was about to be taken on a TWILIGHT ZONE/TALES FROM THE CRYPT journey, only that was the end of it. Maybe the fact that the film was fragmented by six directors is where it fails, and maybe if I had a DVD with six shorts films on it I might have enjoyed them one at a time on different nights, but watching them in sequence was tiring and extremely boring.
FEAR[S] is more for that artist looking to be inspired by some astounding creations. I would love to talk to the filmmakers and find out exactly how they achieved what they did. One of the shorts looked like it was three-dimensional and as the camera panned or zoomed in we could see more surfaces on objects – it was INCREDIBLE. Also working in all black and white is tricky, especially working in night and day with lights flipping on and off. The artwork constantly needed to reflect the atmosphere and it was beautiful watching the black and whites switch from positive to negative.
Even though the film deserves props and is quite an achievement, it fails on the most important level – entertainment value. I understand most artists create the work for themselves, but when you’re making a movie you have to have the audience in mind.
Toho has just dropped another teaser for their highly anticipated sequel to 2023’s monstrous hit, Godzilla Minus One. While the confirmation that Takashi Yamazaki is returning for another round of emotionally resonant kaiju action is exciting enough, fans have also noticed a not-so-subtle detail hidden away in the trailer’s accompanying poster/promotional imagery.
The upper right corner of the newly released image initially appears to show golden rays of sunlight peeking in through the clouds behind Godzilla, but the unnatural bursts of lightning and hurricane-like winds surrounding the monster (not to mention the light’s vaguely draconic shape) may actually be teasing something far more dangerous.
Die-hard kaiju fans are more than aware that Godzilla’s arch-enemy King Ghidorah is a flying golden monster often associated with storms, with this three-headed dragon also being capable of breathing out lightning-like “Gravity Beams” to counter his mortal enemy’s atomic blasts. That’s why it seems like the imagery is hinting at a second kaiju threat this time around.
Combine this information with what we see in the teaser itself, and it appears that Godzilla Minus Zero may very well involve former weapons engineer Kenji Noda using nuclear weapons to awaken another giant monster capable of defeating Godzilla for good – a decision that could have disastrous consequences for our protagonists and the rest of Japan.
This is all just speculation at this point, but Minus Zero’s tagline, “There is no third time. Everything ends here,” and official synopsis make it clear that humanity will stop at nothing to end the kaiju threat once and for all. Yamazaki has also gone on record saying that he’s a huge fan of GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, the only Godzilla movie where Ghidorah is portrayed as a hero – though I doubt that will be the case this time around.
Either way, we’ll have to wait a little longer before we know for sure. However, in the meantime, don’t forget to comment below with your own theories about where Yamazaki intends to take the story next, as we’d love to hear what our fellow Monster Movie fans have to say!
The first Japanese film to be filmed for IMAX, Godzilla Minus Zero releases November 6 in theaters around the globe.
Godzilla chomps down on King Ghidorah in ‘GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’
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