“It Was The Boogeyman.”



International Cinema: Phone

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I know, I know! He just compared Wolf Creek to House of Wax... Please forgive him, he's young and innocent! Time for my first film review, of course being older and far more cultured I'll be specialising in reviewing International Films, let's get to it then.

First up for review (contains spoilers - pay attention because this film is rumoured for a US remake) in the 'International Cinema' section of We Belong Dead is Byeong-ki Ahn's 2002 film Phone ("Pon"). In this film from South Korea, A reporter called Ji-won is forced to get a new cell phone when someone beings threatening her. Figuring it has to do with the under-age sex scandal story she wrote, Ji-won asks her sister if she can stay at her new house. She agrees and Ji-won moves into the spare bedroom, even though the whole house is empty. The calls continue on her new phone and her sisters six-year-old daughter, Yeong-ju, answers the phone accidental one time and immediately begins screaming in terror. Ji-won tries to find out who's calling her from the phone company but the records show no strange numbers. Then Ji-won's stalker suddenly confronts her. However, just as he's about to attack her he too answers her cell phone and drops to the floor, dead. Now with no clue as to who is phoning her, Ji-won digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the numbers first owner, a high school girl named Jin-hie. As Yeong-ju's behaviour becomes increasingly alarming, she confesses to being in love with her father. Researching further, Ji-won discovers Jin-hie was in love with an older man. Before she can find out anymore, eerie goings on at the house she's staying at lead her to uncover a body behind the wall... Jin-hie's body. It all transpires (through flashbacks, who's having them I'm not sure) that Ji-won's sister murdered Jin-hie when she found out her husband was having an affair with Jin-Hie. So what you gonna do? Well, Ji-won's sister decides to murder her husband first than her sister. Although as she's pouring petrol over a bound and gagged Ji-won the vengeful spirit of Jin-Hie can finally seek her revenge - By murdering Ji-won's sister. Of course when Ji-won unties herself it's all over, and now it really is all over. Ji-won takes a walk to the beach and chucks the haunted phone into the ocean. With a tremendously fast plot and hardly enough scares, Phone won't be the Korean choice of film for everyone (especially when there are so many others to choose from, a lot more gripping than this). Still, in the end it's not a bad film, I just felt it tried to tell the audience far too much, and that meant that in the first hour you've got to take in a lot of information, some of it inevitably pointless. This may be the first ever Asian film which would actually suit a Western-remake! Ditch some of the sub-plot and concentrate on the fact that a ghost is stalking you through the phone!


Scary AND Sexy?

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The WB's 'Supernatural' starring Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles - Sunday's at 9pm on ITV2As if you didn't already know ITV have bought one of America's latest supernatural shows, adequately titled "Supernatural". It's one of many spooky themed shows that have rolled out on US Networks over the past few months, some doing better than others (I don't think we need to name names, coughAmberTamblyncough). Given that it's on The WB (home of Buffy, Angel, Smallville and Charmed) you know it's probably either going to rock your socks off or suck complete ass. I'm thinking based on ITV's advertising, it's going to rock my ass! Here's what the officials say:
Sam Winchester has done his best to escape his family's eerie history. Unlike his older brother Dean, Sam rejected their father's obsessive quest to uncover the evil forces that claimed the life of the boys' mother, Mary. Putting as much distance as possible between himself and his family, Sam left home right after high school and went away to college. His new life includes a beautiful and loving girlfriend, Jessica, and plans to enter law school. Dean, however, took a very different path, following their father, John, into the "family business." When Dean arrives on Sam's doorstep with the news that their father has vanished, Sam has no choice but to put his personal plans on hold and join Dean on the road.
Sound familiar? While the plot probably has been done time and time again (most successfully in The X-Files), The WB are the kind of network to turn what would be a dull show into something extra-ordinary. Although I'm attracted by the plot and the hype (and James is attracted by the Jared and the Jensen), it remains to be seen if I'll continue to tune in after tonight.


Ch-Ch-Ch-Ha-Ha-Ha!

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Weird old day this, of course only for the people who suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia. Damn, try saying that 10 times fast! Paraskavedekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th is perhaps more common than just the silly superstition you would think it to be. It's reported that over 21 million people in America alone suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia, sometimes staying inside for a full twenty-four hours. A sort of amalgamation between the fear of the number thirteen, triskadekaphobia, and the day when it is believed to have been Christ's crucifixion. Of course, none of this has anything to do with "Friday The 13th", it just happens to be the name of a bloody great horror film. Hurray for Mrs. Voorhees and her son Jason, happy holidays!


Cinema Goers Want Brains, Grr-Arg!

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Welcome to Wednesday. I'm sorry if yesterday's post ended weird, I forgot to include a link to The Soup's Debt Reduction Drive! That video clip is doubly awesome because it mentions Blossom, a show I dearly miss. Anyway, back on topic. Did you know that 2005 saw an dramatic decline in US cinema audiences? In fact, the films that made the most money (in terms of how much was spent to make the movie and how much the movie earned back) were Comedies and... Horror films. Movies specifically mentioned included Saw II and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, both expected to hit UK shelves around March. I hope that means 2006 can only improve in the box-office.


Paris Is Burning? That's Hot!

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Paris Hilton's horror film debut in the 2005 remake of House Of WaxParis Hilton, now there's a name you never see in the tabloids. So to kick start the WBD-Blog I thought I'd post an article that was printed in last weeks Sunday Express about her transition from Reality TV to the Movies and then back to Reality TV and now into Music.



Music fans who saw in 2006 with cheerful optimism were dealt a blow this week with the news that heiress Paris Hilton it launching a pop career. Major record label Warner Bros is investing a considerable sum of money in promoting her as the new Kylie Minogue, while the Aussie pop princess completes her recovery from breast cancer.

The label has made the 24-year-old heir to the Hilton hotel fortune a priority for this year and her forthcoming album is slated for April.

Reportedly entitled 'Paris Is Burning', it has already committed a faux pas in the light of the recent French riots. It also illustrates a classic tactic used by record companies; take a famous, attractive girl, give her the best songwriters, throw money at her, stir in some saucy pictures and wham - big profits.

Does anyone remember Naomi Campbell's short lived pop career? How about lads' mag favourite Caprice? Few can have fond memories of Jordan's Eurovision debacle. The fact is, no amount of money has ever been able to buy talent or long-term success.

After elevating her titles of "socialite" and "celebutante" to the status of professions, Paris, in her recent Autobiography, Confessions Of An Heiress, offered the following sage advice: "Always tell everyone what they want to hear. The do what you want."

Paris became notorious when a video of her having sex with her then boyfriend, Rick Salomon, when she was 19, was splashed all over the internet and subsequently came out on DVD.

Paris seems to have been busy, signing up Kylie Minogue's team. She has hired pop songwriter Cathy Dennis, who wrote 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', and Kara DioGuardi, writer of 'Spinning Around', has written Paris's debut single 'Screwed'.

Paris describes it as "a girl who really falls for a guy and knows she's emotionally in too deep and in trouble, so she's 'screwed'". She goes on to say that having heard it before recording it, she didn't think about the song's double meaning.

Perhaps the reason Paris had heard the song before is that it had already been recorded by Haylie Duff for her debut American album. Paris gazumped her by recording her own version. The record was "leaked" to a radio station and from there to the internet, beating Haylie to the punch.

Paris pulled a similar trick with one of her friend's boyfriends recently. After calling off her engagement to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis she took up with another Greek shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos. Until then he had been the long-term love of actress Mary-Kate Olsen. Actress Sophia Bush last week blamed Paris for the break-up of her marriage to actor Chad Michael Murray (who co-starred with Paris in her horror film debut 'House Of Wax').

In Paris's Reality TV show 'The Simple Life', she gained a catchprase of sorts - "that's hot!" - as if no one had ever uttered the words before. She has reportedly applied to trademark "that's hot!" and plans to print in on merchandise.

Joel McHaleThe Express goes on to say that Paris will be aiming to launch her music career Stateside and over here in April. It then cruelly warns readers to lock up their boyfriends and shield their ears! While I too suggest that one should listen to her music with an open mind, I thought her transition from TV to Film worked rather well and her role as Paige Edwards in 'House Of Wax' wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Gaining many fans through her Reality TV show 'The Simple Life', along with Lionel Ritchie's daughter Nicole, the series was recently cancelled by Fox but subsequently picked up E! Entertainment Television. E! regular Joel McHale is now making regular reminders to viewers of his show 'The Soup' that the price tag attached to such a show is probably high and most likely E! will either need to cut back or raise some extra cash, which is where Joel comes in...

We can only wait and see if Paris becomes a hit over here or, like so many other American actresses-cum-singers have, Crash and Burn... Now that would be hot!


Welcome Post

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And the journey begins! Welcome to "We Belong Dead", a blog created by Tom and (hopefully) regularly updated by James. Me and him have been talking about doing a blog together for a while now and I'm glad we decided on horror as the main subject. Although the blog won't just be about horror, because that's boring. Like for instance James could post something about Celebrity Big Brother... Which I would technically class as Horror, so you see how it all works out in the grand scheme of things! Anyway, make sure you come back for another visit. By that time I hope to have added James, he'll be the resident post whore, and I hope there will be some posts that grab your attention. If not we'll just post naked pictures. Yay nakedness!


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