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We Saw Footage From ‘IT: Chapter 2’, ‘The Nun’ and ‘La Llorona’ at New Line’s ScareDiego

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New Line Cinema descended Wednesday night to San Diego Comic-Con with their second annual ScareDiego event, to present our newest nightmares. James Wan, mastermind behind The Conjuring cinematic universe, lead the charge of directors and presenting both a new entry in the movie world of the Warren family, and a film adaptation of the folktale of La Llorona. Oh, and the Loser’s Club also had a small but significant presence with It: Chapter 2.

While none of the cast could make it to ScareDiego, director Andy Muschietti introduced a “making of” montage via video message. “Bring your adult diapers to the theater”, said Muschietti before showing some behind the scene clips showing a few new and disturbing images of everyone’s favorite dancing clown. Then they showed and a certain scene at a Chinese restaurant where the adult version of The Losers Club meets for the first time in decades. We see Bill Hader as Richie banging a gong before he says “’Sup losers? So what do you want to talk about”? Muschietti also promised that they would “crank up the horror aspect” this time. It: Chapter 2 comes out on September 6, 2019.

Then we got to the main event. The film no one really knew anything about until a few days ago, the James Wan-produced film (there were a bunch of those), The Curse of La Llorona (previously titled the Children). Directed by Michael Chaves and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, La Llorona is based on perhaps the best-known latino folktale, about the ghost of a weeping woman who terrorizes and snatches children to claim as her own. Chaves came to ScareDiego to introduce some clips of the film, together with stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, and Patricia Velasquez.

We saw three extended clips of La Llorona, all of them featured children being terrorized by the weeping woman, one being almost drowned by her. The film certainly lives up to James Wan’s signature love for jump scares and practical monsters that will make characters miserable. Director Michael Chavez compares the film to a 70’s crime thriller, with a supernatural monster. The cast went on to talk about creepy occurrences that happened while making the film. Cruz had an unbreakable bracelet suddenly break in half, while Velasquez said she saw the real La Llorona at her home. “She is very real. Ask one Latin person at 60, even 70 years old if they stopped believing in La Llorona, they will say no.”, says Velasquez, who promises the film is very respectful to the Hispanic legend. “We grew up being scared shitless of La Llorona,” said Cruz. “Now we can share that with you.” There was also a joke about La Llorona separating children from their parents way before Trump. The Curse of La Llorona is scheduled for release April 19, 2019.

Then came time for the latest installment in The Conjuring universe, The Nun. Director Corin Hardy and stars Taissa Farmiga and Ingrid Bisu introduced a clip show that featured a man being buried alive, a nun hanging herself after being haunted by the film’s titular nun, a snake coming out of a kid’s mouth and lots of upside-down crosses and nuns being scared. Hardy says the film is their origin story for everything that comes later in the franchise, and spoke about filming in castles and villages in Romania, which was a treat for Bucharest-born Ingrid Bisu. “We will finally be known for something other than Dracula! We are ready for something fresh.” And Farmiga praised the performance of Bonnie Aarons, who plays the nun, “She gets so much joy out of scaring the shit out of you.” After showing an extended trailer for the film, Corin Hardy brought a little nun doll to the stage, a group of nuns showed up at The Horton Grand Theatre to scare everyone in the room. The Nun will be released September 8, 2018.

Finally, James Wan came back on stage with writer/director Gary Gauberman to officially announce the third Annabelle film. While they couldn’t say much, he said the film was a coming home for the haunted doll, as it will show when the Warrens brought her back to their museum. “She activates all the artifacts in the Museum and sets out to terrorize the Warrens’ daughter, Judy,” said Gauberman. James Wan called it “A Night at the Museum with Annabelle.” Though it sounds more like Goosebumps. Annabelle 3 will be released July 3, 2019.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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