Editorials
Was ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’ Really That Bad?
Younger comic-book fans might be surprised to learn that there was once a time when Marvel Comics was on its last legs and willing to do anything to keep the company afloat. Before underdog blockbusters like the X-Men and Blade films put Marvel heroes back on the map, they were desperately trying to experiment with their comics in order to attract a wider audience.
One such experiment was the Marvel Knights imprint, a collection of stand-alone stories that initially focused on less-marketable heroes and gave artists free-reign to tell unique and more adult-oriented stories unshackled by decades of garbled continuity issues. While these stories didn’t always succeed in revitalizing characters for a new generation (and often contained the worst kind of late-90s/early 2000s edge), they were almost always incredibly stylish and memorable.
That’s why I think it’s very appropriate that Neveldine & Taylor’s film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opens on a Marvel Knights logo instead of the traditional red intro that we’ve seen since the ’90s – almost as if the film itself is trying to let viewers know that this is meant to be a different take on a familiar property. And while the completed project wasn’t anything groundbreaking, I do think that the filmmakers having the guts to try something different makes this 2011 sequel worth revisiting.
Despite the first Ghost Rider’s middling critical reception, Nicolas Cage’s memorable performance and the character’s popular appeal basically guaranteed a sequel to the 2007 adaptation. However, Spirit of Vengeance was originally meant to be an R-rated thriller that would address complaints about the first movie’s goofy tone and put our favorite flaming skull in a high-octane story. That’s why the studio looked towards Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor to helm the sequel and take it in a darker direction.
However, like many Sony projects about horror-adjacent comic-book characters, producers inevitably got cold feet after having already commissioned the script (which was penned and reworked by Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman and David S. Goyer) and ended up scrapping many of the flick’s edgier elements while also slashing the budget to about half that of the original. Thankfully, they didn’t completely get rid of the edge, with the finished film still following a haunted Johnny Blaze (Cage) in Eastern Europe as he reluctantly partners with alcoholic French priest Moreau (Idris Elba) in order to protect a child from the latest incarnation of the devil, “Roarke” (with Ciarán Hinds replacing Peter Fonda).
AND WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
With such a rocky road towards the big screen, it’s easy to assume that Spirit of Vengeance became yet another Marvel-based misstep in Sony’s catalogue (and you wouldn’t be completely wrong, judging by the flick’s 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but while I admit that a large part of the sequel’s negative reception is likely due to a half-baked script filled with embarrassing dialogue, I also think that 2011 simply wasn’t a great time to be a unorthodox comic-book movie. With the Dark Knight films redefining what audiences wanted from adaptations and The Avengers looming on the horizon with promises of comic-accurate fun, a horror-inspired standalone B-movie was never going to be a critical darling.
This is a huge shame, as there’s a lot to love about this incarnation of Ghost Rider even if it’s not a revolutionary thriller or a faithful love-letter to the comics. For starters, the flick is absolutely bursting with style, making frequent use of odd angles, humorous cutaways, exaggerated split-screen effects and even bizarre Mortal-Kombat-Fatality-inspired shots where we focus on certain action-heavy moments against a black background. It doesn’t always work or even feel coherent (especially when it comes to the humor), but it is consistently interesting to look at.
Obviously, the cool visuals also extend to the film’s action scenes. While there’s a recurring issue where both the main hero and main villain are so ridiculously overpowered that some of the so-called “fights” become awkward (which was also a recurring problem in the comics), the imagery almost always kicks ass and I appreciate the use of practical effects-work during vehicle chases – especially that last one.
And while Spirit of Vengeance benefits greatly from its cast, with Elba, Johnny Whitworth and an unexpected Christopher Lambert standing out as exaggerated yet fun caricatures, we all know that the real star of the show here is Nicolas Cage. The filmmakers really decided to let the man loose here as he portrays Blaze as a traumatized maniac desperately trying to contain an eldritch force that’s burning him alive from the inside. From his over-the-top line delivery to his cartoon-like mannerisms once the flaming skull takes over (you can easily tell that it’s still Cage during the motion-capture sequences), I can’t imagine not being entertained by this wild performance.
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance may have been billed as a superhero flick, but you only need to watch a few minutes of it to realize that this is really a monster movie disguised as an action-heavy thriller. I mean, the first half of the film presents the Rider as an unstoppable killing machine striking fear into the hearts of criminals, with Whitworth’s Carrigan even going so far as to quote Bruce Campbell before shooting at the demon with a shotgun.
And though it’s a shame that Sony ended up neutering the film’s gore and more overt horror elements, there’ still plenty of genuinely horrific imagery to be found here – and almost all of it revolves around the titular character and his grisly transformations. In fact, Cage actually seems to be channeling The Wolfman throughout the flick, with Blaze knowing that an uncontrollable dark force lurks inside of him and could escape at any moment to hurt those he cares about the most.
Blackout’s decay powers are genuinely terrifying even if the film decides to mostly play them for laughs, and the idea that Blaze is actually protecting the possible antichrist is a fun horror-adjacent premise. Plus, I’m a big fan of the reveal that the “demon” inside the Ghost Rider is actually an angel that was driven mad after being exposed to hell.
Ultimately, Spirit of Vengeance is a midnight B-movie in every sense of the word. The script may be about as deep as a kiddie pool and only Cage really gets the chance to shine, but the stylish presentation and a handful of poignant moments like Blaze confessing his sins to Moreau or bonding with Danny make this a much better experience than you might initially expect.
And while I’m still waiting on a proper Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider movie where Cage returns as an older Blaze to pass the proverbial torch onto the younger hero, I’m glad that there’s at least one fun Ghost Rider adaptation out there. I can’t exactly call Spirit of Vengeance a great movie, but if you ask me if it’s worth experiencing at least once, my answer is yes. Hell, yes.
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
Director Sébastien Vaniček has been set to helm the next Evil Dead movie, and it’s easy to see why with his feature debut, the spider horror movie Infested. Playing like a cross between Attack the Block and Arachnophobia, Infested makes you care about its characters while delivering no shortage of skin-crawling spider horror moments.
Available now on Shudder, Infested follows Kaleb (Théo Christine), a lonely 30 year old who’s estranged from his best friend and at odds with his sister over their crumbling apartment. His dreams of opening a reptile zoo get drastically thwarted when he brings home an illegally acquired desert spider, one that happens to be gravid, and it gets loose. One hatched egg sac gives way to hundreds more, plunging the apartment building into a visceral arachnophobic nightmare.
It’s not just that Infested employs real spiders for many of the skin-crawling horror moments that make it so effective, though that certainly is a factor. Or in the way the spiders’ venom inflicts a painful, grotesque demise. It’s in the constant escalation of the horror and the way Vaniček captures the arachnids on screen. These eight-legged terrors may not exist in the real world, thankfully, but the movements look authentic enough to make you squirm. That authenticity, the high octane energy, and the constant rise and fall of palpable tension as the spiders skitter about and wreak devastation are enough to leave viewers curling into the fetal position.
While Infested offers no shortage of arachnophobia-inducing moments, from tiny shoebox origins to giant garage encounters, we’re counting down six of the most skin-crawling moments of spider terror. Warning: some plot and death spoilers ahead…
6. Shoe Babies
Poor Toumani (Ike Zacsongo). He finally gets a shiny new pair of coveted sneakers after wearing his to the point of falling apart, only to get bit by a spider when he tries them on. It’s a move straight out of Arachnophobia. Director Sébastien Vanicek draws out the tension in this unsettling scene; the audience knows there’s a spider somewhere in that box as Toumani struggles with the light switch (hell, foreshadowing) before finally giving up to test his new kicks on the stairwell. That his sweet canine companion is with him heightens the suspense as we wait for the metaphorical shoe to drop. Vanicek doesn’t give his audience a reprieve when Toumani smashes the culprit behind his bite, though. A second look inside the shoe reveals the spider had a host of small babies that skittered across Toumani and inflicted even more spider trauma.
5. Air Duct Infestation
Madame Zhao (Xing Xing Cheng) is introduced as the tough building custodian who tirelessly works to get the crumbling building in order, which is no easy task. That makes her one of the first to notice the infestation as she carefully picks up a smashed spider and arms herself with bug spray, and she notices telltale signs of webbing. Zhao uses caution when handling the carcass and even more when attempting to clear the vents with her spray. In a normal world, the pesky spider problem would’ve been handled or at least slowed until professionals could show up. But this isn’t a normal spider situation and the moment Zhao pokes her head up into the vent to check the aftermath, she’s face hugged by a venomous arachnid. Vanicek ensures this terrifying moment comes with maximum suspense. We know what’s going to happen, and that makes it all the more excruciating to watch.
4. Never Put Your Face in a Spider Hole
Vanicek paints a visceral picture of what happens when you put your face in a spider hole in the film’s opening sequence. That brutal lesson lingers as Infested unfurls one of the most intense spider invasions on film in a long while. Seeing the consequences of an illegal trapper getting face hugged in the intro makes what happens to Moussa (Mahamadou Sangaré) all the more skin-crawling. His attempt to squash a giant spider lurking on his bedroom wall creates a hold in the wall, and Vanicek again slows time to an unbearable degree to let Moussa discover the hard way why some dark crevices, holes, and hidden spaces are better left alone.
3. Prime Time TV Watching
When the infestation has fully taken root, and the dire situation has convinced the protagonists to finally flee, Kaleb insists they also attempt to save the long-term residents that were there for him and Manon (Lisa Nyarko) when their mom died. It heralds a harrowing montage that demonstrates the physical and emotional devastation the spiders are causing. Most unsettling of which highlights the fate of Claudia (Marie-Philomène Nga), a parental figure to the siblings. Kaleb and Mathys (Jérôme Niel) enter her dimly lit apartment and find her seated in front of the TV. Though she appears to be sleeping peacefully, Vanicek terrifies with the sudden burst of spiders from the back of Claudia’s head. A quick shot later reveals that Claudia was infested from the inside out, and the image is pure nightmare fuel.
2. Bathroom Attack
Lila (Sofia Lesaffre) is deeply arachnophobic, so she understandably freaks out when she spots a giant spider while she’s using the bathroom. She screams for her boyfriend, Jordy (Finnegan Oldfield), to rescue her, who gallantly brings a glass to collect it. Of course, it doesn’t go well. Jordy eventually gives up and smashes it, scattering the babies on its back everywhere, just in time for dozens more to bubble up from the shower drain. Vanicek dials up the intensity of this scene from the start by showing the audience that there are far more spiders lurking about than an oblivious Lila knows. Keeping her in the dark lends unpredictability, but the anxious screaming from everyone, including nervous friends in the hall, only increases the stress of the unexpected attack. The constant misdirection and frenetic camerawork ensure this sequence gets your heart pumping out of fear.
1. Bad Timing in the Webbed Corridor
Early foreshadowing made it clear that the building’s broken timer on a crucial light switch would become a problem later. And boy does it. When the protagonists come upon it in their bid to escape, they find it now transformed into a webbed tunnel filled with an obscene amount of venomous spiders. The only path forward is through it, but the faulty timer leaves them vulnerable to death when the lights go out. Naturally, Vanicek wrings as much dread from this scenario as possible, leaving Manon (Lisa Nyarko) very nearly caught. The group hits a dead end, forcing them right back into the webbed corridor, which leads to one of the film’s most emotionally painful scenes. Everything about this particular hallway is a skin-crawling nightmare, from the close brushes with spider bites to the dizzying way Vanicek captures the sheer scale of the infestation within this hall alone.
Infested is now streaming on Shudder.
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