Movies
SPIKE TV’s ‘SCREAM’ 2008 WINNERS
Last night Bloody-Disgusting was on hand at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles for the live taping of Spike TV’s SCREAM 2008, the third annual event that combines horror, sci-fi and comic elements. The show is slated to air on Spike TV this Tuesday, October 21 at 9PM, but if you want to know who won, read on. Some highlights of the event included live performances by The Smashing Pumpkins (performing G.L.O.W.) and Kerli (performing Walking on Air). George Lucas also made a surprise appearance to accept a special Comic-Con Icon Award.
Scream 2008 Winners
The Ultimate Scream Movie – The Dark Knight
Best Fantasy Movie – Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Best Horror Movie – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber
Best Science Fiction Movie – Iron Man
Best TV Show – Dexter
Best Superhero – Christian Bale as Batman in The Dark Knight
Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie/TV Show – Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Best Actor in a Horror Movie/TV Show – Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Breakout Performance – WALL-E in WALL-E
Best Actress in a Horror Movie/TV Show – Liv Tyler in The Strangers
Best Villain – Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight
Best Actress in a Fantasy Movie/TV Show – Angelina Jolie in Wanted
Best Supporting Performance – Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight
The Holy Sh*t! Scene of the Year – The Big Rig Flips Over in The Dark Knight
Most Memorable Mutilation – Bitten by Vagina with Teeth in Teeth
Best Screamplay – The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David Goyer
Best Scream to Comic Adaptation – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight
Best Sequel – The Dark Knight
Best Director – Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Best Remake – Halloween
Best Actor in a Science Fiction Movie/TV Show – Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man
Best Actress in a Science Fiction Movie/TV Show – Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil: Extinction
Best F/X – The Dark Knight
Best Comic Book – Y: The Last Man
Best Comic Book Movie – The Dark Knight
Best Comic Book Artist – Gabriel Ba, The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
Best Comic Book Writer – Grant Morrison, Batman, Final Crisis
Most Shocking Comic Book Twist – The X-Men Disband After Professor X is Shot in the Head by Bishop
Best Line – “I believe whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger” by The Joker in The Dark Knight
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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