Movies
Hey Fox, Forget ‘Prometheus’ – Hire Neill Blomkamp To Direct ‘Alien 5’…
I’m still mystified at the negativity surrounding Neill Blomkamp‘s latest sci-fi actioneeer, Elysium, which took the top spot at this weekend’s box office. Personally, I thought he delivered one hell of a punch for his sophomore effort, which carried over various devices and themes from his breakthrough District 9.
Behind all of the gloss, digital camerawork, and insane CGI work, there’s a single element that ties both Blomkamp’s District 9 and Elysium together – and that’s his inspiration derived from his intense love for James Cameron’s Aliens.
If you pay close attention to the not only the story structure, but also the editing, pacing, characters, score, and even sound design of both films, you’ll see a plethora of homage given to the 1986 classic.
Blomkamp is primed to direct the long-talked about Alien 5, which has always been rumored to see an older Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) head back to the Xenomorph planet to destroy the bugs once and for all.
If I were a betting man, I’d bet everything that Blomkamp is basically campaigning for his dream gig – to make an Alien sequel. While Twentieth Century Fox continues to dick around with the Prometheus franchise (I love the first film, but would clearly rather have a new Alien not titled AvP), the best candidate since James Cameron and Ridley Scott is slipping right through their fingers.
I can only pray that the top Fox brass have seen both District 9 and Elysium, and have realized that Blomkamp is the man for the job. While they struggle through Prometheus sequel pitches, they could easily have Blomkamp developing out the finale to the Alien franchise (with the character work he did with Sharlto Copley in Elysium, can you imagine what he’d do with Ripley?!).
What do you guys think? Even if you haven’t seen Elysium yet, D9 should have given you enough of a taste to get behind the idea…
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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