Editorials
2011 HORROR MOVIE PREVIEW: VARIOUS FILMS
My favorite of the preview pieces is always the random studio releases. This year there are so many crazy films getting limited releases, courtesy to IFC Films and Magnet Releasing/Magnolia Pictures. Then we’ve got Mother’s Day and the remake of Fright Night from other studios, not to mention 11-11-11, The Troll Hunters, A Horrible Way to Die, The Howling Reborn and MANY more! What are you most excited for?
–VARIOUS FILMS 2011 HORROR MOVIE PREVIEW–
PARAMOUNT / UNIVERSAL / DIMENSION / RELATIVITY / VARIOUS
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Dates Subject to Change
When a massive power blackout causes the population to inexplicably vanish, a small handful of survivors (Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo) band together inside a desolate tavern struggling to survive as the darkness hones in on them. From director Brad Anderson (Session 9, The Machinist, Transsiberian) comes an apocalyptic thriller with a terrifying vision of our world’s end and a story that wrestles with the nature of existence itself.
Medieval England has fallen under the shadow of The Black Death. In this apocalyptic world, filled with fear and superstition, a young monk called Osmund is charged with leading a fearsome knight, Ulric (Sean Bean) and his group of mercenaries to a remote marsh. Their quest is to hunt down a necromancer – someone able to bring the dead back to life. Torn between his love of God and the love of a young woman, Osmund discovers the necromancer, a mysterious beauty called Langiva. After Langiva reveals her Satanic identity and offers Osmund his heart’s desire, the horror of his real journey begins….
When a spell is cast on a handsome egocentric young man (Alex Pettyfer) that physically transforms him into everything he despises, he has one year to find a young woman (Vanessa Hudgens) who will love him despite his hideous form or the spell will last forever.
Hilary Swank plays a doctor who moves into a Brooklyn loft. Becoming suspicious that she’s not alone in her new home, she discovers her landlord is a stalker.
From Saw II-IV director Darren Lynn Bousman, three brothers on the run from the law head for home, only to discover that their mother lost the house in a foreclosure. Mother ingeniously orchestrates her sons’ escape, teaching the house’s new owners and their guests a few lessons along the way.
Described as an origin story, Apes is set in present day San Francisco and deals with the aftermath of man’s experiments with genetic engineering that lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Franco will play a driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes.
Senior Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all going on: he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the most coveted girl in his high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend. But trouble arrives when Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right–but everyone, including Charlie’s mom (Toni Collette), doesn’t notice. After observing some very strange activity, Charlie comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on the neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone, Charlie has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic.
From Saw II-IV director Darren Lynn Bousman, on 11-11-11 a gateway will open and something from another world will pass into ours.
42 high school students are forced to kill each other on an uninhabited island.
Sarah is starting life over. After her last relationship ended with a revelation that sent her boyfriend, Garrick, to a life sentence in prison, Sarah had no choice but to leave her past behind. Now that she’s been relocated to a small town and given a new identity, Sarah’s embracing the opportunity to start life fresh. Unfortunately for Sarah, the past won’t let go. Garrick escapes prison and discovers Sarah’s new location, then blazes a violent trail across the country to track her down and disrupt her seemingly perfect new life.
When the lights go down … The Moon will rise … And a Legend will be REBORN. On the eve of his high school graduation, unremarkable Will Kidman finally bonds with the girl he has long yearned for, reclusive Eliana Wynter. But he also discovers a dark secret from his past… that he is about to become a werewolf. Now, in an effort to fight destiny and save their love as well as their lives, they must battle not only Will’s growing blood lust but an army of fearsome beasts bent on killing them… and then, us all.
A hard-boiled thriller, I Saw The Devil stars Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) as a psychopathic serial killer up against Lee Byung-hun as a special agent whose fiancée becomes one of his victims. Lee’s cool-headed and intelligent character in turn becomes a monster in order to avenge the killing.
Shot in a vérité style, The Troll Hunter is the story of a group of Norwegian film students that set out to capture real-life trolls on camera after learning their existence has been covered up for years by a government conspiracy. A thrilling and wildly entertaining film, Hunter is said to deliver truly fantastic images of giant trolls wreaking havoc on the countryside, with darkly funny adherence to the original Norwegian folklore.
One family left destitute when her father and leader, from the time his three sons and his widow facing a storm. The four will have to face him his worst nightmare: getting food into their own hands. Continue with its rituals is vital to eat human flesh to survive. Now, by decree, the eldest brother, a teenage misfit, must lead his people to preserve their cannibalistic tradition, unaware that, in the attempt, will have to sacrifice their own lives.
A 12-person centipede. The only information IFC Films and the producers are revealing is that this time there is a new villain on the scene named Martin, and that the premise is 100% medically inaccurate!
Cheng Lai-sheung, a young, upwardly mobile professional finally ready to invest in her first home. But when the deal falls through, she is forced to keep her dream alive — even if it means keeping her would-be neighbors dead. Pang Ho-Cheung’s disturbingly imaginative violence unfolds against a backdrop of lifestyle fetishization and the housing market crisis in this metropolitan spin on Guignol horror.
A group of kids encounter a crazed preacher (based on Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church) who gives a whole new meaning to the term “extreme fundamentalism.
Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creatures who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths, she must convince Alex and Kim that it’s not a fantasy–before the evil lurking in the dark consumes them all.
An American Werewolf in London director John Landis’ Burke & Hare is a comedic take on the true story of the 1828 Edinburgh body-snatchers William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis). These two Irish entrepreneurs discover that a dead body can fetch a hefty price when the demands of the leading medical professors Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson) and Dr. Monroe (Tim Curry) reach beyond that of the local supply.
The Woman in Black follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the client’s isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, and his unease grows when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black.
Milosh, a retired porn star, now leads a normal family life with his beautiful wife Maria and six year-old son Petar, in tumultuous Serbia, trying to make ends meet. A sudden call from his former colleague Laylah will change everything. Aware of his financial problems, Laylah introduces Milosh to Vukmir – mysterious, menacing and politically powerful figure. A leading role in Vukmir’s new production will provide financial support to Milosh and his family for the rest of their lives. Milosh is hesitant at first because the contract insists that he know nothing about the script before they shoot. But finally, he agrees. From then on, Milosh is drawn into a maelstrom of unbelievable cruelty and mayhem devised by his employer, ”the director” of his destiny – Vukmir, relentless in his attempt to make an ultimate artistic porn film. Vukmir and his cohorts will stop at nothing to complete his vision. In order to escape the living cinematic hell he’s put into and save his family life, Milosh will have to sacrifice everything – his pride, his morality, his sanity, and maybe even his own life.
The pic is centered around the final two employees working in a haunted hotel before it goes out of business. After over one hundred years in business, The Yankee Pedlar Hotel is about to close its doors for good. The last remaining clerks, Claire (Sara Paxton), a twenty something that has come to terms with her lot in life, and Luke (Pat Healy), a computer-smart loner, are convinced that the hotel is haunted and are determined to prove it. As time ticks down to the final days of operation, mysterious guests check in including Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis), a former TV actress turned psychic, and an old man insistent on staying in room 353. As several strange occurrences begin to add up, both Claire and Luke must make the crucial decision on what to believe and what not to believe…
Shortly after moving into their ideal new home, a couple grows concerned when their young daughter begins encountering mysterious strangers that no one else can see. The couple’s greatest fear is realized when they themselves begin to witness terrifying phenomena in and around the house, providing clues that could unlock a chilling mystery that has remained a closely guarded secret for generations.
The home video market used to be a chaotic industry wedged neatly between theatrical releases and television productions. It was where indie filmmakers could experiment with and profit from low-budget bangers while big studios could also squeeze extra money out of beloved properties without necessarily investing in blockbuster sequels.
There were plenty of cinematic duds during this time, and you never really knew whether you had just picked up a legitimately fun low-budget endeavor or a quick cash-grab from the rental store, but I’d argue that the good outweighed the bad because these flicks were allowed to be weirder than their big-budget counterparts – especially where sequels were concerned.
In honor of these home video hidden gems, today I’d like to recommend five underrated direct-to-video horror sequels that are still worth tracking down!
For the purposes of this list, I’ll be defining direct-to-video productions as films that were exclusively released on video/DVD, so no limited theatrical releases or TV movies that later made it big on home video. That means avoiding popular recommendations like Curse of Chucky and Wrong Turn 2 in order to focus on less-discussed horror flicks.
That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite sequels if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)
The success of Ron Underwood’s original Tremors was lightning in a bottle that can’t ever be replicated, so as much as I understand the love for the second film and its campy thrills, Tremors 4 remains my personal favorite sequel simply because it dares to do something different with the franchise.
Directed by series co-creator S.S. Wilson, The Legend Begins is a surprisingly effective prequel that tells the story of how the town of Perfection earned its name after a terrifying 1889 encounter with the graboids. This horror western may not live up to the original, but it doesn’t really have to, with the period aesthetic and fresh story making it one hell of a standalone adventure.
4. Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995)
There are those who argue that there are no good Children of the Corn films, but I think the series has something to offer for every kind of horror fan if you’re willing to deal with low budgets and strange creative decisions. In fact, I’m of the opinion that the initial trilogy of Children films only got better over time, with the third entry being the most entertaining despite having the least to do with Stephen King’s original story.
In this urban horror romp, we follow a pair of siblings who enter foster care after their abusive father is transformed into a scarecrow by He Who Walks Behind the Rows. What follows is an effects-heavy descent into madness as the kids bring their particular brand of religious fury to 90s Chicago – with deadly results.
If that’s not enough to convince you to give this flick a try, you should know that this is the only entry in the series that King himself has admitted to liking. Not only that, but it also marks Charlize Theron’s feature film debut.
3. Boogeyman 2 (2007)
Jeff Betancourt had his job cut out for him when he was first contacted to helm the sequel to 2005’s Boogeyman. Not only was the first film a critical bomb, but the sequel was set to be produced for a mere $4.5 million – less than a fourth of the budget of the original flick.
Yet, Jeff decided to use this direct-to-video sequel as an opportunity to improve on the generic aspects of the flick’s predecessor by making the monster more uncannily human and focusing more on the script than elaborate set pieces. The best part is that Boogeyman 2 isn’t limited by a PG-13 rating, meaning that the deaths are more interesting in spite of the lower budget.
2. Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
The original Maniac Cop is a legitimately entertaining slasher even if it can’t compete with some of the other great franchises from the 80s, but fans know that the direct-to-video sequel is way more fun to revisit despite its shoddy production value and rushed script.
In fact, this rental store hit features more elaborate death sequences while also exploring more of what it means for a community when a police officer goes rogue. Director William Lustig also looks back on this project fondly, claiming that he considers it his personal favorite film of his career and a “terrific B-movie”.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
1. Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
More of a middle part of a sprawling trilogy than a standalone horror romp, Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies II is still the pinnacle of the auteur director’s vampire series and a great example of why it was often worth diving into the bargain bin in order to pick up a Full Moon Features VHS tape.
This fast-paced sequel takes place immediately after the events of the 1991 original, meaning that Subspecies II wastes no time in getting to the lovable practical effects that likely motivated you to purchase the flick in the first place. Nicolaou and Anders Hove (who plays Radu, the iconic vampire) are also much more sure of themselves in this sophomore effort, and that’s why I’d argue that it’s worth watching even if you’re not a fan of the first movie.
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