Editorials
8 Terrifying Uses of Technology in Horror Films!
We are all incredibly reliant on technology. Be it cell phones, social media, television or even our own automobiles, we use technology every day. It makes perfect sense that horror films would use technology against us in an effort to scare us. Here are eight films that used technology as the focus of at least one major scare (or even centered the whole plot around it).
A Nightmare on Elm Street – Telephones (Land Lines)
Leave it to Wes Craven to turn a land line into one of Freddy Krueger’s nightmarish playthings. While the mouth-phone may not be deadly, it certainly provides quite a shock (and a little bit of playfulness) to the proceedings.
Ringu – VHS Tapes
Ringu really used VHS and televisions to scare the crap out of people in 1998. You think you’re going in to watch a movie about a cursed tape and then BAM! Out comes Sadako from the TV screen and you’re scarred for life. I would argue that the 2002 American remake is even scarier, but that seems to be a point of contention with many horror fans.
One Missed Call – Telephones (Cellular)
Takashi Miike’s One Missed Call may have come after the phenomenons that are Ringu and Ju-On, but it is no less frightening. In his 2003 horror film, victims receive a voicemail on their cell phones dated two days in the future. The voicemail is a recording of the victim’s own screams and eventual death. While the notion of a killer cell phone is a frightening one, the character’s deaths are also pretty twisted. The characters are killed in various ways, but the death always concludes with the victim spitting out a red candy and dialing a number on their cell phone. Natsumi’s (Kazue Fukiishi) death by contortion (below) is particularly gruesome.
Unfriended – Skype
Unfriended sure was a divisive movie, wasn’t it? While it’s not one that I would call scary, it was a helluva lot of fun! Sure, none of the characters were likable, but the whole point of the movie was to see these five awful teenagers meet gruesome ends. Be it by bleach, curling iron or blender, they all met some gory fates, and it was all by way of a ghost using Skype or some form of social media (it was nice to see a film actually use Facebook and not some $0.99 version like Bookface or something like that) against them. I don’t really understand the people who don’t enjoy this movie at least a little bit. It’s a bunch of millennials getting butchered by a social media ghost. What’s not to enjoy?
Kairo – The Internet
In case you couldn’t tell, Japanese horror was all about technology at the turn of the century. Kairo uses the internet to ignite one of the most depressing apocalypse stories ever told. In the film, ghosts enter the physical world through the internet, Upon coming into contact with these spirits, humans get a glimpse into the afterlife (it’s nothing but loneliness) and lose the will to live. They become nothing but black stains on the walls.
Videodrome – Television
David Cronenberg’s Videodrome is one messed up movie. Other than the fact that there’s a scene with a stomach-vagina-VCR hybrid, you get a living, breathing TV that draws you into its screen. In the film, the titular television series is supposedly being broadcast from Malaysia (but not really) and it depicts the brutal torture of people in a small room. It turns out that “Videodrome” carries a signal that causes viewers to develop a malignant brain tumor. Now that’s something that will make you never want to turn on your TV again.
Christine – Car
Leave it to Stephen King and John Carpenter to make a car terrifying (King would try this again just three years later with Maximum Overdrive). While the basic plot of Christine (a car is possessed by an evil spirit) is fairly silly, Carpenter is still able to make it somewhat scary.
The Den – Chatroulette
One of the biggest surprises of 2014 was The Den, an absolutely terrifying (and underrated) film about a graduate student (Melanie Papalia) who starts a Chatroulette-type social media site called “The Den” in an effort to talk to as many strangers as possible. It turns out that this isn’t the best idea, as she eventually witnesses a murder during one of her sessions and becomes the target of a psychotic killer(s). You’ll never want to video chat again.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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