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Rubber (VOD, then limited)

Art and horror collide in Quentin Dupieux’s Rubber, a clever and uniquely interesting “f*ck you” to Hollywood…It’s a triumph of filmmaking that earns the right to be a pretentious prick.

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Art and horror collide in Quentin Dupieux’s Rubber, a clever and uniquely interesting “f*ck you” to Hollywood.

The film opens with a car driving towards a group of people, and as it approaches, it veers left and right knocking down a bunch of chairs littered across the dirt. The car parks and out from the trunk comes the narrator. He talks about film, and asks the audience why things are the way they are in movies (“Why is E.T. gray?” he rants. “Why doesn’t anyone stop to wash their hands in Texas Chainsaw Massacre?”). The answer: No reason.

In an exercise in filmmaking (directing a movie without the intent on making money; the biggest f*ck you to Hollywood), Rubber takes the simple concept of “no reason” and attempts to tell an engaging, one-of-a-kind story.

This bizarre black comedy horror is completely self-aware, combining never-before-seen narration with a cute, yet terrifying narrative story about a tire that likes to kill…for no reason. Manned with a pair of binoculars, the narrators watch the same thing that the audience is shown: the life and death of a serial killer tire. A tire wakes in the desert sun only to learn that it has the ability to blow things up with its new-found psychic ability. Bottles explode, birds pop, and human heads splatter across windshields. It’s funny, gory and downright INSANE.

Rubber’s biggest accomplishment isn’t that it’s weird, it’s that it’s visually striking; like true art, it’s a story told with pictures, not words. The tire doesn’t talk or breathe yet Dupieux gives life to this inanimate object. You can tell it has thoughts, feelings, and desires (watching it play peeping tom with a girl in the shower is hilarious).

The biggest challenge Rubber presents is daring you to get your jaw off the ground. It’s a triumph of filmmaking that earns the right to be a pretentious prick. Most of Hollywood is all talk and no do; Dupieux came, saw and conquered. Hollywood better watch out.

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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Kristen Stewart Doesn’t Want to Make Any Marvel Movies But Does Want to Make a Scary Horror Movie

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Love Lies Bleeding featurette
Pictured: 'Love Lies Bleeding'

If you haven’t yet seen A24 and Saint Maud director Rose Glass’ new movie Love Lies Bleeding, you should definitely get out there and support it in theaters while you can. The critically acclaimed romantic thriller is one of this year’s best movies so far, driven by incredible lead performances from Katy O’Brian and the always compelling Kristen Stewart.

Katy O’Brian just landed a huge role in Mission Impossible 8, but what’s next for Kristen Stewart? Well, for starters, don’t expect to see her in any Marvel movies anytime soon.

Stewart tells the “Not Skinny but Not Fat” podcast, “I will likely never do a Marvel movie … it sounds like a fucking nightmare, actually.” She further explains, “You would have to put so much money and so much trust into one person … and it doesn’t happen.”

And so therefore what ends up happening is this algorithmic, weird experience where you can’t feel personal at all about it. So likely not,” Kristen Stewart continues in her chat with the podcast. “But maybe the world changes, that’s what I’m saying.” She notes, however, “if Greta Gerwig asked me to do a Marvel movie, then I would do it.”

So what DOES Kristen Stewart want to do next? Chatting with Variety on the red carpet just a couple months back, she indicated that she’s far more interested in horror than Marvel!

I’d like to make a good scary movie,” Stewart answered when asked what she’d like to do next. “Like something a little more psychological. Yeah, a really good horror movie.”

Kristen Stewart is of course no stranger to the horror/thriller genres, getting her start as a child actor in David Fincher’s Panic Room. From there, she starred in 2007 horror movie The Messengers, as well as the Twilight movies, ghost story Personal Shopper, and 2018’s Lizzie. And don’t forget 2020’s Underwater or David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future.

The ball is in your court, filmmakers. Let’s make it happen.

Kristen Stewart horror

‘Underwater’

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