“It Was The Boogeyman.”
Grindhouse... again, I know!
Published Wednesday, February 28 by James..
As if the upcoming flick Grindhouse wasn't enough, Quentin Tarantino has got yet more awesome plans to continue the buzz the film has generated, and give the grind house cinema of the 1970s a brand new fanbase!
3/4-3/6 - The Mack, directed by Michael Campus; The Chinese Mack, directed by Lai Chien.
“Grindhouse” movies invade the New Beverly Cinema and Quentin Tarantino leads the attack. From March 4th - April 30th, 2007, Tarantino turns the New Beverly Cinema into a 70s “Grindhouse” wonderland with non-stop programming of double and triple features.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker programs 58 titillating days of shocking “Grindhouse” Cinema, showcasing over 50 sexy and terrifying flicks to celebratethe opening of Dimension Films’ Grindhouse on April 6th
LOS ANGELES, February 28, 2007 – In anticipation of the eagerly-awaited theatrical release of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s double feature Grindhouse on April 6th, the New Beverly Cinema will host Quentin Tarantino Presents the Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival 2007 from March 4th – April 30th, 2007, it was announced today by creator and curator Tarantino. The event will be a showcase for the risqué films exploiting sex, violence and extreme subject matter from the 1970s that inspired Grindhouse, with prints directly on loan from Tarantino’s private collection, many of which are unavailable on DVD and have not screened for the public in theatres in decades. With double and triple features of roughly seven different films in rotation per week, the ground-breaking fest will screen over 50 historic films throughout the eight-week run, all personally selected for audience re-discovery by the director.
“Grindhouse is a tribute to the movies I have loved for decades that have mostly been under-appreciated and forgotten,” states Tarantino. “I’m thrilled to have this chance to show the original works for a new generation to discover, and to give Los Angeles the rare opportunity to see these gems on the big screen.”
During the course of the festival, Tarantino has scheduled various theme nights including the "Euro Sex Comedies Triple Feature,” which will feature screenings of Sex with A Smile, Sex on the Run and The Oldest Profession; “Back-To-Back Kung Fu Superstar Angela Mao Double Feature,” presenting two of the actress’ greatest classics Return of the Tiger and Stoner; “Regional Double Feature,” with screenings of Hot Summer in Barefoot County and Redneck Miller; and the "All Blood Triple Feature," showcasing Blood Spattered Bride, Asylum of Blood and Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary.
Favorite filmmakers of Tarantino’s highlighted during the festival include famed cult director John Hayes with the double feature Grave of the Vampire, written by David (“The Sopranos”) Chase and Jailbait Babysitter; sexploitation filmmaker Roger Vadim, who will be represented by his Pretty Maids All in a Row; Al Adamson, whose Female Bunch will screen; Fernando Di Leo’s Wipeout and Cirio H. Santiago, director of the classic The Muthers.
This whirlwind festival features many uncensored and uncut, not to be missed cinematic experiences such as the sexploitation films The Girl From Starship Venus and The Legend of the Wolf Woman; the blaxploitation films Brotherhood of Death and The Mack; the teen summer comedies The Van, Pick-up Summer and Summer Camp; and the martial arts classics Fearless Fighters, Super Man Chu, Chinese Hercules and Black Dragon; as well as the ultra rare 35mm prints of Slithis, Shame Of The Jungle and Chinese Hercules, just to name a few.
In addition to showcasing the “Grindhouse” films from his own vault, the New Beverly Cinema will exhibit a number of original posters and lobby cards of the films from Tarantino’s personal collection as well throughout the run of the festival.
For show times, check local listings or visit the New Beverly Cinema website at http://www.newbevcinema.com/ or call for program information (323) 938-4038.
Dimension Films’ Grindhouse consists of Tarantino and Rodriguez’s two feature length films screened back-to-back: Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Tarantino’s Death Proof. For more information on the film Grindhouse, please visit http://www.grindhousemovie.net/
Films scheduled at the Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival 2007 include:
3/4-3/6 - The Mack, directed by Michael Campus; The Chinese Mack, directed by Lai Chien.
3/7-3/8 – “Italian ‘70s Crime Films.” Machine Gun McCain, directed by Giuliano Montaldo; Wipeout!, directed by Fernando Di Leo.
3/9-3/10 – Triple Feature of The Van, directed by Sam Grossman; Pick-up Summer, directed by George Mihalka; Summer Camp, directed by Chuck Vincent.
3/11-3/13 –Rolling Thunder, directed by John Flynn; The Town That Dreaded Sundown, directed by Charles B. Pierce.
3/14-3/15 –Chinese Hercules, directed by Choy Tak; Black Dragon, directed by Chin-Ku Lu.
3/16-3/17 – "Euro Sex Comedies Triple Feature.” Sex With A Smile, directed by Sergio Martino; Sex on the Run, directed by Franz Antel; The Oldest Profession, directed by Claude Autant-Lara and Mauro Bolognini.
3/18-3/20 –Brotherhood of Death, directed by Bill Berry; Johnny Tough, directed by Horace Jackson.
3/21-3/22 –Autopsy, directed by Jose Maria Forque; Eyeball, directed by Umberto Lenzi.
3/23-3/24 – Triple Feature of Coonskin, directed by Ralph Bakshi; Shame of the Jungle, directed by Picha Boris Szulzinger; Tunnel Vision, directed by Neal Israel and Bradley R. Swirnoff.
3/25-3/27 –Pretty Maids All in a Row, directed by Roger Vadim; Revenge of the Cheerleaders, directed by Richard Lerner.
3/28-3/29 – “Kung Fu Double Bill.” Fearless Fighters, directed by Man-Hung Mo; Super Man Chu, directed by Yang Hsiang.
3/30-3/31 – "All Blood Triple Feature." The Blood Spattered Bride, directed by Vicente Aranda; Asylum of Blood, directed by Fernando Di Leo; Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary, directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma.
4/1-4/3 –The Lady in Red, directed by Lewis Teague; Bare Knuckles, directed by Don Edmonds.
4/4-4/5 –The Female Bunch, directed by Al Adamson; Wonder Women, directed by Robert Vincent O’Neill.
4/6-4/7 –White Line Fever, directed by Jonathan Kaplan; Return to Macon County, directed by Richard Compton.
4/8-4/10 – “Sexploitation Night.” The Girl From Starship Venus, directed by Derek Ford; The Legend of the Wolf Woman, directed by Rino Di Silvestro.
4/11-4/12 – “70's Low Budget Horror Combo.” Slithis, directed by Stephen Traxler; Screams of a Winter Night, directed by James L. Wilson.
4/13-4/14 – “Regional Double Feature.” Hot Summer in Barefoot County, directed by Will Zens; Redneck Miller, directed by John Clayton.
4/15-4/17 –The Muthers, directed by Cirio H. Santiago; Fight For Your Life, directed by Robert A. Endelson.
4/18-4/19 – Dragon’s Vengeance, directed by Ng Loo; Kung Fu: The Punch of Death, directed by Chai Yang-Min.
4/20-4/21 – Triple Feature of The Swinging Barmaids, directed by Gus Trikonis; The Swingin’ Pussycats, directed by Alexis Neve; The Swinging Cheerleaders, directed by Jack Hill.
4/22-4/24 – “John Hayes Double Bill.” Grave of the Vampire and Jailbait Babysitter, both directed by John Hayes.
4/25-4/26 – "Back-To-Back Angela Mao." Return of The Tiger, directed by Jimmy Shaw; Stoner, directed by Feng Huang.
4/27-4/28 – “Barbara Bouchet Double Feature.” Death Rage, directed by Antonio Margheriti; Cry of the Prostitute, directed by Adelchi Bianchi.
4/29-4/30 – The Real Bruce Lee, directed by Larry Dolgin and Jim Markovic; Lee Lives Within, directed by Tam Kai.
Grindhouse to be split in two!
Published Monday, February 19 by James..
Just a few days after my post about the upcoming Grindhouse, the news that the film might be split in two in some countries has been reported online!
Is "Grindhouse" an old-fashioned double feature or two separate films?
It depends on where you live.
Since the double-bill concept is alien to many filmgoers around the world, "Grindhouse" will be going out as two pics in some parts of the globe, while the U.S. and a few other English-speaking territories will see it as one singular experience.
The pic -- with a finished cost of $53 million, not the much higher figure incorrectly reported last week -- consists of two segments directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. It was envisioned as a salute to double- or triple-bills of the 1950s and '60s.
But most non-English-speaking territories have little tradition of a grindhouse double bill. So the central conceit of the film -- two short exploitation films, separated by faux trailers for upcoming cheapies -- would be lost.
When split, the two pics will be titled "Grindhouse: Planet Terror" (Rodriguez's seg) and "Grindhouse: Death Proof" (Tarantino's).
With the split, some additional footage could be added to each one.
Glen Basner, prez of Weinstein Co. international distribution, was at the Berlin fest discussing release patterns. The general plan is that the two films will be released three-five months apart, but there's no decision yet on which will be first.
They're also weighing the logistics of the faux trailers -- what will be attached to which pic. (In the united version, the pseudo-trailers will come between the two segs.)
The project was presold in a number of territories, including the U.K. (Momentum Films), Spain (Aurum), France (TFM), Germany (Senator Intl.), Italy (Medusa), Australia/New Zealand (Village Roadshow) and Thailand (Major).
In the non-English-speaking areas, the split pics will allow the Weinstein Co. and the local distrib to harness income for two pics, rather than one.
Source
So, where does this news leave the UK version of the film? I really don't want this film to be messed with, as it basically goes against the whole point of why Tarantino and Rodriguez made the film in the first place! As soon as the official word on the UK release of the film is announced, be sure to find out here.
Is "Grindhouse" an old-fashioned double feature or two separate films?
It depends on where you live.
Since the double-bill concept is alien to many filmgoers around the world, "Grindhouse" will be going out as two pics in some parts of the globe, while the U.S. and a few other English-speaking territories will see it as one singular experience.
The pic -- with a finished cost of $53 million, not the much higher figure incorrectly reported last week -- consists of two segments directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. It was envisioned as a salute to double- or triple-bills of the 1950s and '60s.
But most non-English-speaking territories have little tradition of a grindhouse double bill. So the central conceit of the film -- two short exploitation films, separated by faux trailers for upcoming cheapies -- would be lost.
When split, the two pics will be titled "Grindhouse: Planet Terror" (Rodriguez's seg) and "Grindhouse: Death Proof" (Tarantino's).
With the split, some additional footage could be added to each one.
Glen Basner, prez of Weinstein Co. international distribution, was at the Berlin fest discussing release patterns. The general plan is that the two films will be released three-five months apart, but there's no decision yet on which will be first.
They're also weighing the logistics of the faux trailers -- what will be attached to which pic. (In the united version, the pseudo-trailers will come between the two segs.)
The project was presold in a number of territories, including the U.K. (Momentum Films), Spain (Aurum), France (TFM), Germany (Senator Intl.), Italy (Medusa), Australia/New Zealand (Village Roadshow) and Thailand (Major).
In the non-English-speaking areas, the split pics will allow the Weinstein Co. and the local distrib to harness income for two pics, rather than one.
Source
So, where does this news leave the UK version of the film? I really don't want this film to be messed with, as it basically goes against the whole point of why Tarantino and Rodriguez made the film in the first place! As soon as the official word on the UK release of the film is announced, be sure to find out here.
IT'LL TEAR YOU IN TWO!
Published Friday, February 16 by James..
April 6th, 2007 can’t come soon enough.
Making up one half of the film is Quentin Tarrantino’s Death Proof. The film is based around a fictional movie shoot. An up-and-coming actress Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead; Final Destination 3, the Black Christmas remake), her make-up artist Abernathy (Rosario Dawson; Sin City, Josie and the Pussycats) and stunt girls Zoe (Zoë Bell; who doubled Uma Thurma in Kill Bill) and Kim (Tracie Thoms; Rent, The Devil Wears Prada) are enjoying the shoot and having a blast together, but is this before a killer stuntman called Mike (cult film veteran Kurt Russell; Escape From New York, Escape From L.A., The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China) begins the stalk them!
Why is that? Grindhouse, the horror double-feature from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, is finally unleashed into cinemas everywhere!
So what is “grindhouse cinema”? Grindhouse cinemas became popular in America culture in the 1970s. They were known for showing exploitation films, often in double-feature slots. “Exploitation films is a loosely defined term to describe a genre of films that typically sacrifice the traditional notions of artistic merit for more sensationalistic display, often featuring excessive sex, violence and gore.” (Yeah, Wikipedia, sue me!) These kinds of films still have a strong influence on the films of today, for example, Kill Bill is just oozing with exploitation influence! The Last House on the Left, Thriller: A Cruel Picture, Assault on Precinct 13, Zombi and Cannibal Holocaust are all perfect examples on the genre.
Tarantino and Rodriguez’s love for the genre led them to come up with the idea for Grindhouse, and as soon as Dimension Films’ came on board, the film was ready to go.
Making up one half of the film is Quentin Tarrantino’s Death Proof. The film is based around a fictional movie shoot. An up-and-coming actress Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead; Final Destination 3, the Black Christmas remake), her make-up artist Abernathy (Rosario Dawson; Sin City, Josie and the Pussycats) and stunt girls Zoe (Zoë Bell; who doubled Uma Thurma in Kill Bill) and Kim (Tracie Thoms; Rent, The Devil Wears Prada) are enjoying the shoot and having a blast together, but is this before a killer stuntman called Mike (cult film veteran Kurt Russell; Escape From New York, Escape From L.A., The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China) begins the stalk them!In between the two features, a load of fake movie trailers will be shown… the same as way back in the 70s when trailers for upcoming grindhouse films would be shown. Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devils Reject’s and that upcoming little remake called Halloween) is directing the trailer for a film called Werewolf Women of the S.S. The fake trailer stars pretty much the whole cast of the Halloween remake (well, Sheri Moon Zombie, Udo Kier and Sybil Danning) as well as Nicolas Cage as Fu ) is also involved in making a trailer for the film, however no details have been announced yet. Actor Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado) has revealed that he will be starring in the fake trailer for a fick called They Call Him Machete.
Next up is Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. The film is about two doctors, William (Josh Brolin; The Goonies, Into The Blue) and Dakota Block (Marley Shelton; Valentine, Sin City) who find that their town is overrun by people covered in mysterious sores. They come across a wounded woman called Cherry (Rose McGowan; Scream, Charmed and who also appears in the Death Proof segment of the film), a stipper who lost her leg in a creature attack, along with her boyfriend Wray (Freddy Rodriguez; Harsh Times, Poseidon). As the apparent zombies become stronger and more aggressive, Wray and Cherry lead a full on battle, in an attempt to rid the world of them!
Next up is Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. The film is about two doctors, William (Josh Brolin; The Goonies, Into The Blue) and Dakota Block (Marley Shelton; Valentine, Sin City) who find that their town is overrun by people covered in mysterious sores. They come across a wounded woman called Cherry (Rose McGowan; Scream, Charmed and who also appears in the Death Proof segment of the film), a stipper who lost her leg in a creature attack, along with her boyfriend Wray (Freddy Rodriguez; Harsh Times, Poseidon). As the apparent zombies become stronger and more aggressive, Wray and Cherry lead a full on battle, in an attempt to rid the world of them!To prove how excited I am about this movie, I’ve got 4 clips from good ‘ole You Tube below! The first clip is of Quentin and Robert talking about the film came to be, as well as their love of grindhouse cinema. The second is the preview for the film that was shown last year on Spike TV, during the Scream Awards. The final two videos are the official trailers for the film, which I think are fucking awesome!
It's coming, and on April 6th, Grindhouse will tear you in two!
The lucky ones die fast.
Published Sunday, February 11 by James..
In The Hills Have Eyes 2, the sequel to last year’s hugely successful remake of The Hills Have Eyes, a group of young and inexperienced National Guard trainees stop by an isolated outpost to deliver some much needed equipment to the military scientists stationed there. Upon their arrival, they discover that the camp has been mysteriously abandoned, with no living soul anywhere in sight. When they hear a distress call come through on their walkie-talkies, they set off on what they assume will be a routine rescue mission. They make their way into the nearby hills, unaware of the ravenous group of mutants that live there.The film is being released on March 23rd.
Below you can watch the trailer for the movie, as well as the video for The Finalist's "Leave Those Broken Hearts", which was featured on the soundtrack to the first movie. Enjoy!
MSNBC on the current state of horror.
Published Saturday, February 10 by James..
Oh good. “Hannibal Rising” is here. Finally. I was waiting for that, hanging by a thread, begging for Hollywood to give me more and more and more Hannibal Lecter, to strip every last bit of meat off a bone that’s already been gnawed to the marrow. Because, you know, we needed teen Hannibal in our lives. Hot, Euro, CW-ready teen Hannibal. So tormented. So misunderstood. The Molly Ringwald of serial killers. And “Hannibal Rising” is his “Pretty in Pink.”No, I haven’t seen “Hannibal Rising” yet, but I have a kind of ESP about this sort of thing. It’s a talent I’ve honed from watching too many horror movies to count. And my ESP tells me that, promise of R-rated gore aside, this is not a cannibal I’ll care about, much less be scared of.
There were two decent movies featuring this character. One was “Manhunter.” The other was “Silence of the Lambs.” In neither of them was he the actual killer. He was just a consultant. This is a man for whom the chomping of human flesh is as effete an exercise as going to the ballet. He is so not-scary that bad comics the world over think they’re being witty when they impersonate him. They’re going to make a talking doll out of him soon if they haven’t already. So can we just say goodbye to this cat? He’s turned into Chucky. In fact, I take that back because Chucky is still more entertaining.
And it’s not all Hannibal’s fault, either. Horror movies, in general, kind of suck right now. Hollywood makes more of them than ever before, it seems, but the results are like eating a stale, severed thumb when what you’re really in the mood for is a fresh human brain. So I have a tiny handful of makeover tips for all future screen killers and their screenwriters, producers and directors. Abide by them, dear maniacs, and you may be allowed to keep your ticket-buying audiences from turning on you like starving zombies.
1. Final chapters: make them so
This is the hardest one for me to write, because I love Jason Voorhies more than some members of my own family. But it has to be done. Retire him and Lecter, Freddy, Chucky (I know, I just said he was entertaining, but if he gets to stay then everyone will want one more moment in the sun), Candyman, Jigsaw, Leatherface and the people who run that European hostel. I know all your tricks and you know that it gets harder and harder, with every passing sequel, to frighten the audience.
And really, how much more baroque can the “Saw” movies get? Probably much more, yes, but does that make it right? No, it does not. These guys are not scary anymore. They’re just adorably eccentric now. Finish them off. Rip the bandage off completely, in one go. If you’re creative you’ll find new characters to murder hapless teens and those revenue streams will once again flow like sweet, sweet blood.
2. Kids are stupid: let them read “Goosebumps”
I saw “Boogeyman” with a bunch of 12 year-olds. You know why? Because it was rated PG-13. And I felt like the creepy old guy sitting in a multiplex full of middle-schoolers. (I resent having to explain myself in the first place, but in my defense I had to go see it because I review movies for a living and “Boogeyman,” like almost all the others, wasn’t screened in advance for press, so off I went to the mall on opening day, and yes, I wasn’t happy about it).
As much as tired franchises, this horrific horror development is doing its best to kill off the genre: PG-13 is a marketing stance, not a creative one. And it’s not even really about gore, although gore is awesome. The fact is that serious fear is almost always rated R. It just is. And everyone knows it. So you can take “The Messengers,” “Stay Alive,” “Pulse,” “The Grudge,” “Grudge 2” and “The Return” and whatever other Sarah Michelle Gellar movie is opening this week and stop trying to bore me to death with them.
3. If it’s too loud then you’re too lame
Speaking of “The Messengers” — the rural “Barn of Terror” movie that opened last week and somehow made more money than anything else — I sat in front of a group of rowdy teenagers (PG-13! Whoo-hooo! Let’s skip school!) who openly mocked the film when the following sequence of events went down:
And it’s not all Hannibal’s fault, either. Horror movies, in general, kind of suck right now. Hollywood makes more of them than ever before, it seems, but the results are like eating a stale, severed thumb when what you’re really in the mood for is a fresh human brain. So I have a tiny handful of makeover tips for all future screen killers and their screenwriters, producers and directors. Abide by them, dear maniacs, and you may be allowed to keep your ticket-buying audiences from turning on you like starving zombies.
1. Final chapters: make them so
This is the hardest one for me to write, because I love Jason Voorhies more than some members of my own family. But it has to be done. Retire him and Lecter, Freddy, Chucky (I know, I just said he was entertaining, but if he gets to stay then everyone will want one more moment in the sun), Candyman, Jigsaw, Leatherface and the people who run that European hostel. I know all your tricks and you know that it gets harder and harder, with every passing sequel, to frighten the audience.
And really, how much more baroque can the “Saw” movies get? Probably much more, yes, but does that make it right? No, it does not. These guys are not scary anymore. They’re just adorably eccentric now. Finish them off. Rip the bandage off completely, in one go. If you’re creative you’ll find new characters to murder hapless teens and those revenue streams will once again flow like sweet, sweet blood.
2. Kids are stupid: let them read “Goosebumps”
I saw “Boogeyman” with a bunch of 12 year-olds. You know why? Because it was rated PG-13. And I felt like the creepy old guy sitting in a multiplex full of middle-schoolers. (I resent having to explain myself in the first place, but in my defense I had to go see it because I review movies for a living and “Boogeyman,” like almost all the others, wasn’t screened in advance for press, so off I went to the mall on opening day, and yes, I wasn’t happy about it).
As much as tired franchises, this horrific horror development is doing its best to kill off the genre: PG-13 is a marketing stance, not a creative one. And it’s not even really about gore, although gore is awesome. The fact is that serious fear is almost always rated R. It just is. And everyone knows it. So you can take “The Messengers,” “Stay Alive,” “Pulse,” “The Grudge,” “Grudge 2” and “The Return” and whatever other Sarah Michelle Gellar movie is opening this week and stop trying to bore me to death with them.
3. If it’s too loud then you’re too lameSpeaking of “The Messengers” — the rural “Barn of Terror” movie that opened last week and somehow made more money than anything else — I sat in front of a group of rowdy teenagers (PG-13! Whoo-hooo! Let’s skip school!) who openly mocked the film when the following sequence of events went down:
a) Teen heroine, in close-up, fills half the screen. The soundtrack is unnaturally silent. The other half of the screen is empty and waiting for a ghost to jump into frame, a bird to fly into a window, a toy to spontaneously animate without human help, anything to fill the frame all surprise-y and boo!-ish.
b) That other thing fills the screen after approximately three to five beats.
c) The soundtrack erupts in a digital thunderclap so loud that the audience in the next house watching “The Queen” all jump out of their seats.
Now, okay, yes, a shock-cut and a loud noise can work if it’s a ghost. Being ghosts, they’re capable of anything, including jet-engine-style decibel levels. But birds knocking on windows, cats jumping out of dark closets, toy tractors rolling forward out of the dark really fast and scary? That stuff doesn’t warrant this sort of thing. It’s cheating. It’s bad filmmaking. It’s so laughably been done a million times and then a million times more that even the truest, purest burnouts of the educational system who’d sooner ditch class and come watch your movie than get an education, even they know its coming. And they’re laughing at you. So why do you bother anymore? I know, I know, you have their money and you don’t care.
4. Declare moratorium on remakes
I wrote about this once before on this very site. A whole article about it. I believe it was called “I Spit On Your Horror Remakes and Sequels.” It was pretty good if I do say so myself. Here’s the gist of it if you’re too lazy to go back and read it: remakes, save for “Dawn of The Dead” are no good. Ever. Never ever. They offer a cheap moment of almost-entertainment. Sometimes. But that’s it. Like PG-13, they’re not about making anyone happy, they’re about making money. Yeah, I know that makes the filmmakers happy. But I don’t care about them. I care about me. So knock it off.
5. Think fear
Some recent horror films that I thought were pretty decent? “The Descent.” And … um ... hang on, still thinking ... yeah, “The Descent.” You know why? Because it upended the teen-star paradigm by featuring an ensemble of (admittedly interchangeable) adult women, it focused as much attention on the tense, suffocating claustrophobia and giddy panic of being trapped in a pitch-black cave as it did on the herky-jerky eyeless monsters that lived there, it was gory but didn’t rely entirely on fake guts splattering every square inch of screen to make its point and, at least in its original UK release version, it came back-loaded with a bitter, brutal ending.
“The Descent” knew what all truly frightening movies know: that darkness and what happens there, especially when it’s inches from your face (think Jodie Foster being trailed with night vision in the final sequence of “Silence of The Lambs” or any real-life Manson Family “creepy crawl”) is the most terrifying stuff of all. To be trapped in that darkness is everyone’s greatest fear. But until another well-made horror film comes along, one that understands what moves to make in that darkness, audiences are going to remain trapped in a crashingly dull day-for-night.Source
"I'm not going to be your friend."
Published Sunday, February 4 by James..
Lucky Mckee’s May is, put plain and simple, a fucking amazing film.
The plot revolves around an awkward, lonely young woman named May Dove Canady. She had a troubled childhood, as her lazy eye kept her from feeling normal. Thus, her mother suggests an eye patch for her to wear. Although this does nothing, except encourage the other children to make fun of her. Having very little social interactions with people throughout her life, her only "true friend" is a doll, named Soozy that her mother made and then gave to May for her birthday. As she makes an attempt to interact with the people around her, she finds Adam, a local mechanic, the perfect guy. As she gets to know Adam and the other people she lives and works around, she finds that people are not always 100% perfect. Just parts of them. This drives her to create the perfect friend. But not in the way you would think. So, "If you can't find a friend, make one."
Is it wrong that this film touched me? I don’t know. I suppose you can make that decision for yourself. But seeing May lose her mind and her sanity, just because she wants a friend, along with the brilliant portrayal of the character by Angela Bettis, is so sad and painful to watch. But oh so great.
I also liked the movie’s use of dark humour. You’ve seen Ginger Snaps right? It’s that kind of humour. And I love it!
The film really amazes in it’s last scene. Everything in the film builds up to this twisted, fucked, and in a weird way… heart warming scene. I found it kind of hard to watch. But it really is perfect. Yes, I said it. Perfect.
May is perfect.
May.
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