Editorials
Which Horror Film Will You Be Seeing in Theaters This Weekend?
This October surprisingly doesn’t see that many horror films getting a theatrical release, but a good chunk of the ones that are are coming out this weekend. And by “good chunk” I mean three of them. Of your three options, two are legitimate horror films. The third film is a Tyler Perry comedy. Pick your poison and let us know which one you’ll be seeing in theaters this weekend!
Ouija: Origin of Evil
I had a chance to watch the first Ouija this weekend, and I actually didn’t hate it like so many other people seem to. Sure it’s painfully generic and not particularly scary, but it’s not offensively bad or anything. It’s just a cookie-cutter horror film for tweens. Director Mike Flanagan (Hush, Oculus, the always-delays Before I Wake) hopes to improve upon the original by bringing his own unique talent to the prequel, which he also co-wrote with Jeff Howard, his writing partner on Oculus and Before I Wake. The prequel delves into the story of the Zander family, the family of women who featured prominently in the backstory of the Ouija board in the original film. The fact that Origin of Evil is a prequel essentially means that you know how it is going to end (unless you haven’t seen Ouija), but Flanagan undoubtedly has a few tricks up his sleeve to keep the film from being a bore.
Boo! A Madea Halloween
So this is a thing that exists. Tyler Perry is making his first attempt at horror comedy (which, let’s be honest, is just comedy) with Boo! A Madea Halloween. It is only the second Madea film of his to not be adapted from one of his own stage plays. Interestingly enough, the idea for the film came from the 2014 Chris Rock movie Top Five, which featured a clip from a fake Madea movie called Boo! After that film’s success, Lionsgate approached Perry about making the film for real. Two years later and here we are! In the film, Madea (Perry) is stuck babysitting her great-niece (Diamond White) on Halloween night and must fend off zombies, ghosts and serial killers.
31 (Limited)
It’s likely that many of you have already seen Rob Zombie’s latest film (our review). After a moderately successful Fathom Events screening last month, the film was released on digital OnDemand platforms, making the film readily available for anyone with an internet connection. Fathom Events had another special screening last night, but according to the film’s website it will supposedly be getting a limited theatrical run starting today. In the film, a group of carnival workers must play the game of “31” by surviving 12 hours in a maze-like set of rooms. The catch is that they are being stalked by a horde of murderous clowns for the duration of those 12 hours.
What are you going to be seeing this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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