Editorials
We Need More Killer Shark Movies
If you’ve been paying attention to horror news this week, you may know that Universal announce the Blu-Ray releases of all three Jaws sequels (Jaws 2 fans unite!). Columbia Pictures also released a terrifying new still from the new Blake Lively thriller The Shallows. If you’re a regular reader of my posts, you may know that I’m a huge fan of aquatic horror (it’s my favorite sub-genre after slashers), so I’m particularly excited about all of this news. It may be is too early to declare this a renaissance for the killer shark film, but it does make me hopeful that if the Jaws sequels sell well and The Shallows can turn into the sleeper hit of the summer (it won’t be a blockbuster, but Columbia must have a lot of confidence in it to be giving it a theatrical release it in the heart of summer), then we may see more killer shark movies getting released in the future.
Once in a while, a really good killer shark movie will come along. After Jaws was released in 1975, it was followed by a slew of copycats with films like Piranha and Orca. The 80s saw a lack of shark films after Jaws fatigue set in with Jaws 3-D and Jaws: The Revenge (slashers became the name of the game with mainstream horror releases at that time). Sharks made a return in the 90s with films like Deep Blue Sea and (sort of) the Shark Attack films. In the 2000s we saw Open Water make sharks terrifying again before SyFy came around in the 2010s with films like Sharknado, Sharktopus and Jersey Shore Shark Attack, making jokes of the animals.
With a serious shark film getting released in the summer and Universal finally (finally) releasing the Jaws sequels on Blu-Ray (Jaws 2 is amazing. I don’t care what anyone says), it seems like the perfect time for the ocean’s deadliest predator to make a return to mainstream horror and be scary again. Let’s face it, sharks are terrifying, and the fact that they’ve become a joke in Hollywood is fairly depressing. We must now rely on Jaume Collet-Serra to revive the sub-genre and make it relevant in the eyes of the audience. No pressure though, Mr. Collet-Serra.
The issue with many killer shark films is that it becomes difficult to keep coming up with reasons for the characters to go back in the water. The most recent well-reviewed killer shark films Open Water and The Reef fixed this problem by having their characters stranded in the middle of the ocean, and the Australian film Bait 3D trapped its characters in a flooded grocery store after a tsunami. The Shallows will follow this trend by having Blake Lively stranded on a rock 200 yards from shore.
It’s understandable that major studios are afraid to dip back into killer shark territory. The aforementioned SyFy films have most likely scared them into thinking they won’t make any money (thanks, Syfy). If they would just give a script a chance, then a talented director could really make a fantastic killer shark movie. There really isn’t much more that needs to be said on the subject. Basically, I’m just tired of sharks being the butt of whatever joke Hollywood is making. Maybe some big wig will read this and thing “Hey, maybe that guy is right. Let’s finance a killer shark movie!” This is highly unlikely, but a man can dream, can’t he?
What are your thoughts on killer shark movies? Do you feel that it will be impossible to make them scary again? Or does the right movie need to be made? Will moviegoers flock to the theater to see a horror movie about a shark even in a post-Sharknado world? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or shoot me a Tweet!
I was never against Sony’s initial idea to produce solo movies based on Spider-Man’s most memorable supervillains. After all, a hero is only as good as his Rogues’ Gallery is intimidating, so it stands to reason that there were plenty of dark stories to tell here.
While rushed productions like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped, it’s a relief to see James Gunn and the DC Extended Universe learn the right lessons from Marvel’s flops by investing in supervillain stories that aren’t afraid to step into the horror genre.
The new trailer for James Watkins’ upcoming Clayface movie is a great example of this, as the new footage confirms our suspicions that the movie is set to be a full-on piece of body horror focusing more on telling a standalone scary story than setting up a brand.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer in order to find out what we can expect from this highly anticipated comic-book adaptation from hell.
So without further ado, here are four things we learned from the new Clayface trailer!
4. Matt Hagen is a Club Vesuvius Regular
A seedy nightclub owned by “former” mobster Johnny Sabatino, the comic books have established Club Vesuvius as a hotspot for criminal activity and metahuman action since 2009. Throughout the years, the club has seen everything from an attempted arson by Firefly to magical acts performed by Zatanna herself.
The trailer for Clayface appears to suggest that Vesuvius will feature prominently in this story as well, as the footage shows us several shots of Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) casually attending the club as well as a couple of more concerning moments where Gotham City Police roll up to the establishment to deal with some kind of emergency.
3. The Movie Will Not Adapt Any Single Specific Comic
As I mentioned before in my Clayface primer for horror fans who aren’t all that familiar with the character, the initial teaser for the film had me convinced that the project would be more of an adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series’ two-part episode Feat of Clay rather than any specific comic-book.
This latest trailer has only confirmed my suspicions, with Hagen’s predicament here feeling much more in line with Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves’ sympathetic vision of the character than the more traditional criminal that we usually see in the comics. That being said, I’m curious to see how the filmmakers intend to connect this tragic version of Clayface to the more unpleasant monster we saw in Creature Commandos now that it’s been confirmed that these are indeed the same person.
2. James Watkins is Combining Practical and Digital Effects
I’ll always prefer a well-executed practical effect over CGI simply because the former is closer to the stage magic that inspired early moviemaking. That being said, there’s an undeniable artistry to well-crafted visual effects, and I’d argue that a character like Clayface requires the best of both worlds in order to be convincingly brought to life on the big screen.
I’m clearly not the only one who thinks so, as the trailer has shown us that Watkins is combining digital imagery with prosthetics and plenty of flesh-colored goop to depict Hagen’s unique brand of monstrous body horror. James Gunn had already promised us that the film would feature plenty of old-school practical effects wizardry, so it’s exciting to see that this approach in action.
1. Hagen Will Eventually Transform into Clayface’s Iconic True Form
In the comics, whenever Clayface isn’t pretending to be someone else, the character spends most of his time in his “natural” form resembling a gigantic golem-like monster. This look has certainly evolved over the years, but, at this point, most artists have settled on a vaguely humanoid shape accompanied by a gaping maw (though the villain’s terrifying re-imagining in DC’s Absolute Universe is a bit more complicated than that).
While fans were initially skeptical regarding whether or not the upcoming adaptation would even feature this admittedly outlandish design, the trailer has basically confirmed that Hagen’s condition will get progressively worse until he finally resembles the hulking monstrosity from the comics!
Be sure to comment below if you think we overlooked any interesting details in the trailer, and keep in mind that Clayface will be hitting theaters on October 23.
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