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[Remember This?] What Movies Are You Afraid Suck Now?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on May 24, 2013 @ 12:00pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

There are some films that exist as sacred experiences in our memory, and it’s likely that our memory is the only place where they can exist in such a fashion. I’m talking about those horror films from my childhood that still trigger my pleasure neurons when I think about them, but if I take the time to realistically gauge what my reaction to them today would be like – I’m filled with a specific and undeniable brand of seething uneasiness.

For instance, I adored Fright Night 2 as a kid. I remember it as a raucous romp wherein Charlie Brewster had a sexier girlfriend who could even make studying at the library look hot. I also seem to remember that, this time, Peter Vincent is the one who has to do the convincing – which is an interesting reversal. I also remember being mildly disappointed that Evil Ed didn’t return (as promised) but I felt like the bowling scene somehow made up for it.

I imagine if I revisited the film today I’d feel differently. First of all, it’s out of print – not a great sign of its enduring cultural longevity (there are some films where it’s like a crime that they’re out of print, this doesn’t feel like one of them – tell me if it is). Secondly, all of the things that made the movie a plus when I was in the 5th or 6th grade would likely bog it down with silliness now. I almost feel like a new viewing would turn me into Charlie Brewster at the beginning of the sequel, a once-believer who is now throwing away all of his crucifixes. READ MORE

[Remember This?] Oren Peli’s ‘Area 51′?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on February 13, 2013 @ 6:13pm
Category: Movies / News

Hot off the success of Paranormal Activity, director Oren Peli embarked on his second outing behind the camera, Area 51. That was four years ago.

Isn’t it strange that the above paragraph could easily be the opening crawl for its own found footage movie? Of course, Oren Peli didn’t disappear. Paranormal Activity 2, 3 and 4 have since been released (he was involved with all of them to varying degrees). He’s had a big network TV show, “The River.” He wrote and produced The Chernobyl Diaries and he’s also a producer on Rob Zombie’s upcoming Lords Of Salem.

His producing partner on Area 51 (and the PA films), Jason Blum, recently had some massive success with Insidious and Sinister and is currently shooting Insidious: Chapter 2. Back in 2011 Blum went on record about the project and the duo’s very busy dance card seemed to be interfering a bit with its release, “Area 51′ is like ‘Paranormal Activity’. The additional photography for ‘PA’, we went back 50 times. The great thing about doing extra shooting for inexpensive movies is that the cost is low, so we screen and shoot and screen and shoot. Oren and I were pulled away from ‘Area 51′ a lot for the second ‘PA’. Once that came out, we ramped up on ‘Area 51′ again. I anticipate the movie will be mostly done in about three or four months.”

Those three or four months have come and gone. So… what do we know about the film? READ MORE

[Remember This?] When Being Dead The Whole Time Was A Twist?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on February 08, 2013 @ 3:15pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

I didn’t have enough room in the headline for this article’s subtitle, which is And Remember When “They Were All The Same Person” Was A Twist? This whole thing has been buzzing around in my head since a recent argument regarding the ending to Haute Tension, which I found sort of ridiculous. It’s the standard “The Protagonist Is Insane And Actually The Killer” (aka “The Split Personality” twist). But I have to say it got me thinking that this trope actually doesn’t bug me as much as the other two, since it usually says more about the characters at hand.

Still, I’m not sure what happened to our brains over the past 14 years, but you can’t call something a twist if everyone knows it’s coming. I feel like horror needs to widen its bag of tricks beyond the “they were dead”, the “split personality” and “the protag is crazy” tropes which seem to be the only three ploys in regular use for filmmakers seeking to pull the rug out from under their audience.

The “dead” thing worked for The Sixth Sense, and it sort of worked two years later with The Others. It also worked in 1962′s Carnival Of Souls. But we’ve seen it employed at least twice more recently in Passengers and The Devil’s Ground. I’m not denigrating those films necessarily, but it should probably end there. Similarly the “split ” angle didn’t even quite work in Identity and it certainly didn’t work in The Ward. It was sort of used in Shutter Island as well, but it worked there because it was actually source of catharsis for its character.

Head inside for more… READ MORE

[Remember This?] When ‘Livide’ Was Supposed To Come Out?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on February 05, 2013 @ 3:00pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

September 2011. Two months after I started working here at Bloody-Disgusting, I found myself pulling news duty while Mr. Disgusting was reporting in from TIFF. I wasn’t very familiar with the way the festival worked at the time and had no idea that its Midnight Madness section was such a traditionally fertile ground to introduce great new horror films to the marketplace.

One film that had a lot of heat going into the fest – and not necessarily a lot of heat coming out – was Livide (now Livid) from Inside directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo. Their gory debut film had people primed for another bloodbath, but what they got was something much, much different.

From Mr. Disgusting’s (quite positive) review, “Livid is not going to make fans of Inside happy. In fact, I expect most of you to despise it with pure venom. But I implore you all to manage your expectations, shift your thinking, and go in with a clear mind. My hope is that you’ll find a place in your heart for this moody art house horror pic, one that’s sure to be trashed across the board.”

More inside… READ MORE

[Remember This?] The Multiple Endings Of ‘Jaws 4: The Revenge’!!

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on January 21, 2013 @ 3:23pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

I remember when I was a wee tyke, I begged my Dad to take me to the highly age-inappropriate Jaws 4: The Revenge. It took some doing but finally, either out of fondness for the original film or a desire for me to shut up, he relented. I remember seeing Michael Caine’s name on the poster and asking my Dad why it had a rectangle around it when none of the other actors’ names were highlighted. He said something to the effect of, “Oh, he’s a really good actor.” I entered the theater buoyed by that added legitimacy factor – I was taking my Dad to a classy movie.

Because I was young and stupid, I remember walking out thinking I had just seen a masterpiece. Then I made the mistake of making eye contact with my Dad. One glance at my father’s stunned, pained and defeated visage and it was clear – he had just been through hell. I don’t remember much else from that screening, except for the fact that Mario Van Peebles died (and I liked the scene where Lance Guest’s wife flung her underwear at him).

I caught up with the movie on VHS (which going by the release patterns those days might have been almost a year later), and was surprised to find that Mario Van Peebles lived in the home video cut. This was almost as upsetting as having all of the curse words edited out of the 1986 Transformers when it hit Blockbuster. I didn’t remember any huge differences outside of that, but I was obviously pretty dumb because they changed the entire manner in which the shark decided to die after being rammed by captain Lorraine Gary.

Head inside to check out two endings and vote for which awful one you prefer! The shark roars in BOTH of them! READ MORE

[Remember This?] When People Lost Their Shit In Theaters?

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on December 12, 2012 @ 2:05pm
Category: Movies / News

Your job as a filmmaker is to create the illusion of reality, a place where a filmgoer can lose themselves in and forgot about their real life troubles. As easy as that sounds, creating a believable and immersive experience isn’t that simple.

Each and every year I dream for that impactful horror film, the one that makes me “feel” something. While I don’t necessarily believe in the notion of being “scared”, I do very much think that some films can be physically effective.

So, with the above title, I’m not asking if you remember a time when people lost their shit in theaters, but more-so if you recall the last time you had that experience. There’s literally nothing better than watching hundreds of people around you stand up, and scream and yell in terror right before your eyes.

We’ve all grown up to stories about how effective William Friedkin’s The Exorcist was back in 1973, but what has rocked the boat since then? Personally, one of the best experience I had was in viewing a “sneak peak” of DreamWorks’ The Ring back in 2002. I will never forget the audience reaction to Samara coming out of the television screen – you’d have thought she was literally in the theater. And while there was quite the reaction to Paranormal Activity in 2007, it wasn’t even close to what I witnessed back in 2002.

So I ask for you guys to tell me about your crazy theater experience. What movies had such an impact on patrons that they lost their shit? READ MORE

[Remember This?] “Werewolf” The TV Series!!!

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on December 10, 2012 @ 7:13pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

“The Walking Dead”, “Dexter”, “American Horror Story”, “True Blood”. Horror is almost more popular on TV these days than it is in cinemas. There’s something about the small screen that seems to “legitimize” the genre for casual viewers. Maybe it’s an ingrained expectation that television’s historically strict standards and practices will save them from the nasty bits (which is of course no longer true in the days of HBO and AMC), or perhaps it’s just the simple equation that smaller screen = less scary.

My mom had to be a subscriber to at least one of these theories because she let me watch “Werewolf” at an exceedingly young age. I can even remember her enabling my efforts to get from where I was to where I needed to be to watch it. I had to see it. The funny thing is, I’m pretty sure I was sort of bored by it – I only really remember getting excited when the wolf was onscreen, which wasn’t very often. But I was so addled by my love of An American Werewolf In London that, if it had werewolves in it, I was glued to the screen.

The show ran for 28 episodes on Fox from 1987-1988. I was too young to retain any real specifics, but the internet tells me that it was similar to “The Fugitive” in structure – so it has that going for it! If nothing else, the werewolf design is actually decent.

Head inside to check out a few teasers!! READ MORE

[Remember This?] What Was Your First “R” Rated Horror Movie?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on November 06, 2012 @ 4:01pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

This question sounds pretty juvenile, I’ll admit. I know a lot of you guys are hardcore rating hounds, and it’s something I don’t always agree with. I don’t think the quality of a film lives and dies based on whether it gets a PG13 or an R rating. Hell, even Jaws – one of the best horror films of all time – is PG (though it would likely get a PG13 today). A good movie is a good movie regardless of its MPAA designation, horror or otherwise.

That being said, there’s something about seeing your very first R-rated movie. If you look back to when you were a kid, it was probably a total rush. I remember being nervous, “are these things ‘R’ for a reason? Am I going to see something that will seriously f*ck me up?” Strangely enough, that movie for me was Down And Out In Beverly Hills which isn’t even remotely horror (though Nick Nolte and Bette Midler having sex is fairly scary). But, a few months later, my first R-rated horror experience came to me in the form of Aliens. I suppose my Mom (a psychotherapist) could be considered fairly liberal by taking me to these movies at such a young age, and I remember the thrill of walking in that theater not knowing what to expect. Not only had I never seen Alien, I didn’t even know what atrocities “adult cinema” (obviously not the kind of “adult cinema” I would come to discover later) was capable of! My mom had warned me about the chest-bursting in the original, but I had no way to really conceive how it might play out visually! Of course I had a blast, and I was temporarily spoiled on movies that didn’t kick as much ass as that one did.

A strong second place for me was A Nightmare On Elm Street, which I had to sneak a viewing of on cable sometime after that. That was something my mother would not allow me to see, it was an actual slasher movie with none of the blockbuster/James Cameron/Sigourney Weaver safety nets of “legitimacy” that Aliens benefitted from. I snuck downstairs, nervous as hell (I had seen a TV Spot with Freddy’s gloves scraping against the pipes of the boiler room) – and steeled myself for the experience. Needless to say, I was fine. But I was never the same.

What’s YOUR first R-rated horror experience? READ MORE

[Remember This?] When Nobody Went To See ‘Slither’?!

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on October 26, 2012 @ 8:22pm
Category: Movies / Editorials

As I was fighting to stay awake through Silent Hill: Revelation last night, I was wondering where the fun was. Why was I being served this as entertainment? And then I remembered… it’s partially my fault.

I mean, every community has its upsides and downsides. Do you want to know what the downside to being a horror fan is? We bitch and moan about how we’re never given anything original, fresh or inventive. That’s not true. We’re typically given a few great wide releases each year. Do you want to know why we’re not given more than that? Because we don’t go. Not until it’s too late, anyway. Sure, there are lots of variables. Perhaps a film doesn’t have the best or most extensive P&A campaign. Or it’s opening on a crowded weekend. Or the economy’s bad (even though the entire success of the Paranormal Activity franchise occurred after the bottom fell out). Whatever the excuse may be at the moment, it’s almost a constant. Remember how John Carpenter’s The Thing tanked in 1982? We’ve been dodging gifts for decades. And in this day and age, we can be savvier than that.

Case in point? James Gunn’s Slither. Most of you have probably seen it by now, but I bet hardly any of you saw it in a theater. It opened to a $3.88 million weekend in early 2006. Its domestic gross topped out at $7.8 million. In a world where some of the worst – and most boring – horror films can make $30 or $40 million on an opening weekend, one of the best horror comedies of the decade made only a fraction of that during its entire run. Don’t worry, I’m not pointing the finger just at you. I wasn’t there either (I lamely caught up with it on DVD in December of that year).

Head inside for more… READ MORE

freddy-vs-jason-vs-ash-the-nightmare-warriors

[Remember This?] New Line Cinema Was Developing ‘Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash’

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on September 25, 2012 @ 1:22pm
Category: Movies / News

On Friday, October 22, 2004 Bloody Disgusting was sitting on major news that New Line Cinema was in final talks to acquire the rights to the “Ash” character (donned by Bruce Campbell) from Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead franchise (The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness). By that Sunday, October 24, Ghost House Pictures’ J-Horror The Grudge remake had pulled in a whopping $39 million. Our sources tell us that Raimi didn’t even courtesy call New Line before immediately announcing that he’d next be producing a remake of The Evil Dead, his 1981 cult classic that started his career. The New Line deal died the second the remake announcement hit, which will finally come into fruition on April 12 when FilmDistrict releases the Fed Alvarez-directed reboot.

After that cringe worthy news broke, I was slipped the official treatment for New Line Cinema’s Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash (penned by New Line executive Jeff Katz), which was to be the sequel to their 2003 (August 15) blockbuster Freddy vs. Jason, which pitted A Nightmare On Elm Street‘s Freddy Krueger against Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees. While the movie died that day, Wildstorm, Dynamite Entertainment, and DC Comics backed a six-issue comic book limited series that was released in November 2007 and ran until March 2008. The comic book series was written by James Kuhoric and illustrated by Jason Craig.

But before the comic was developed, Bloody Disgusting was, and still is, the sole source of the official treatment for Freddy vs. Jason. vs Ash, a film that should have become a horror fan’s new genre Bible. READ MORE

[Remember This?] When You Were Scared To See ‘Hostel’?

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on September 08, 2012 @ 11:43am
Category: Movies / Editorials

“Remember This?” is a new feature that highlights cool anecdotes from the horror genre’s storied past. It’ll pop up from time to time, giving your brain a spark of an insane memory before you move on with your day.

Let’s clear up any initial misunderstandings – I still really like Hostel (even if I’m one of the rare few who prefer Hostel 2). This isn’t some retroactive review of the film. Rather, it’s a brief musing on the last time I was able to get swept up in hype to a degree where I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle the actual movie.

I blind bought Cabin Fever when it came out on DVD and rather enjoyed it. It didn’t scare me per se – I responded more to the Deputy Winston stuff than anything else – but it put Eli Roth on my radar. In the ensuing months I kept hearing about his next movie, Hostel. Reader reviews on various sites, on AICN especially if I recall, touted how extreme the movie was. I read about the film’s “hardcore” bona fides over and over and over again. This went on for months (like many of you – I had a group of film sites that comprised my daily routine of web browsing). Then, suddenly, it was January 2006.

It was actually time to see the thing. My girlfriend at the time, who I realize now was an actual insane person far scarier than any horror movie, agreed to accompany me to a matinee showing of the film at the Grove. So here I was, on January 6th 2006, in my 20′s and somehow unsure if I’d be able to handle a movie. Let’s talk more inside… READ MORE

[Remember This?] When Horror Movies Were Fun!

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on August 28, 2012 @ 7:03pm
Category: Movies / News

A few weeks back I was feeling a little soul sick. Not in a hugely existential way, but the movies I was watching were getting me down. I had watched a bunch of screeners and, while I loved many of them on a critical level, an emotional level and even a visceral level, they just weren’t much fun. I’m not complaining, I know I’m immensely lucky and I wouldn’t trade a “bad” week of watching screeners for a “good” week anywhere else. But after watching a seemingly endless parade of movies that were either incredibly serious, post apocalyptic, or just brutally depressing – I needed a palate cleanser. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for bleak horror, but there are so many other colors to our gruesome tapestry that have increasingly gone unused.

I’m not sure what it is but I sometimes feel like a lot of modern horror filmmakers are trying to “out hardcore” each other in terms of sheer dourness. That’s an odd competition to me. I’d rather see more writers and directors try to top each other in inventiveness, scares, characters, plotting and good old fashioned splatter.

That Friday night, I happened upon Chuck Russell’s 1988 The Blob remake. Written by Frank Darabont (it’s Russell and Darabont’s followup to their success with A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors) and starring Shawnee Smith and Kevin Dillon – it was just what I needed. An amazingly fun 1st act, a 2nd act that flew by and a 3rd act that went absolutely apesh*t (with added conspiracy theory)! Lots of gore, interesting characters, a good sense of humor and near perfect pacing. It was such a breath of fresh air.

What about you? There’s all kinds of room for more serious fair, but what are some horror movies you think are truly fun? And are there enough of them?

[Remember This?] DreamWorks Was To Remake Oren Peli’s ‘Paranormal Activity: Evidence of a Haunting’!

Movies
Posted by MrDisgusting on August 17, 2012 @ 8:25am
Category: Movies / News

While the Slamdance Film Festival takes credit for the big discovery (that’s complete bullshit), the Los Angeles Screamfest Film Festival World Premiered Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity on October 14, 2007 to a select few horror fans all unaware of its soon-to-be glory.

Room 101 producer Steve Schneider and Jason Blum (of the now-formed Blumhouse) had the foresight to know what was on the horizon, all the while DreamWorks/Paramount had acquired the Found Footage horror solely with the intent of remaking it. Peli, a San Diego video game designer, was to direct the reboot of his micro-budgeted indie originally titled Paranormal Activity: Evidence of a Haunting.

Even though DreamWorks was moving forward with remake plans, Schneider, Blum and Peli paid out-of-pocket for multiple test screenings (they also created new sound design, score and reworked the finale) and proved that the actual film was more terrifying than anything the studio could do with millions of dollars.

“DreamWorks, under Paramount, bought it with the intention of remaking it with the original director,” Schneider told Variety years ago. “We had test screenings built into the deal, so we could discern what needed to be redone in the remake. But the movie tested so well, they decided that it would be the height of folly to remake a mock-doc-type film with unknown actors.”

Paramount eventually took the risk (obviously spending quite a bit of marketing dollars) On September 25, 2009, and the rest is history. With only three films under their belt, Paramount’s franchise has already earned $576.6 at the box office worldwide. Paranormal 4 scares theatergoers on October 19. READ MORE

[Remember This?] Spielberg Dumps JoBeth Williams In A Pool With Real Skeletons In ‘Poltergeist’!

Movies
Posted by EvanDickson on August 15, 2012 @ 11:10am
Category: Movies / Images

“Remember This?” is a new feature that highlights cool anecdotes from the horror genre’s storied past. It’ll pop up from time to time, giving you a brief look at something cool before you move on with your day.

This isn’t exactly a well kept secret, but it’s weird to think sometimes that some of those skeletons in Poltergeist are real. Towards the end of the film JoBeth Williams‘ character is thrown into a swimming pool flooded with dirt, rain and actual human remains (their house is built on a burial ground after all).

While the jury is still out on who directed the film between Tobe Hooper and producer Steven Spielberg, there’s no doubt that both of them were aware of their “authentic” props. What’s even stranger is that Williams was pretty much cool with it (stating that she was far more concerned about being electrocuted)! One thing’s for sure – this would not happen today. Hollywood is much less renegade in spirit than it was back then, and talent is more “finicky”. I was recently on the set of a horror film and watched the young female star – who had not heard this story – shudder in horror and disbelief as I relayed this tidbit.

As a germaphobe – I’m really hoping these things were thoroughly sanitized. Head inside for more pics! And decide for yourself if any of these are the real skeletons (dressed with fake rotting flesh) in question, or if the actual guys are somewhwre in the background. READ MORE