Apologies to all for the lack of editorials since
September. I’ve been trying to finish the opus that is A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. It’s all fingers on
keys as I intend to finish the (spec) script by year end. Normal services will
resume on Boxing Day when I’ll begin to publish the year ends list. This
interruption in blog posts has been made easier by the absolute dearth in
quality horror.
The lazy journalist will cite Psycho1960 as a horror film. His
inept colleague will describe it as ‘the first slasher’1. Psycho is
not a horror film. It can be touted as a psychological thriller à la The
Silence of the Lambs1991 but
it is best described as a psychological drama à la Blue Velvet1985. The best definition
for the movie is ‘an Alfred Hitchcock film’2
however the best subtitle for the movie is ‘the harbinger of modern horror’.
2 Hitchcock directed 54 features3. That qualifies as a subgenre. So too do the
respective films of Spike Lee, Martin Scorcese and Oliver Stone, amongst
others. This can be called the ‘auteur clause’.
Modern horror began with George A Romero’s Night
of the Living Dead 1968. It
was the first film to place horror in a contemporary setting and have an impact
at the box office[4][5]. It put an
end to the prevalence of gothic and inspired the horror bastards6 of the 70s. Those horror bastards were soon to
become horror meisters.
Meisters at work: John Carpenter and Wes Craven
5 There were contemporary-set horror films before Night of the Living Dead
– such as Village of the Damned 1960. None of them had the immediate cultural
significance the former had. Ironically Village
of the Damned was remade by
John Carpenter in 1995.
6 Thrill Fiction uses the term ‘bastards’ as an affectionate
counter to the celebrated movie brats7 who were nascent at the same time. Whereas a brat
is tolerable and ultimately controllable a bastard is shameful and lives in the
ghetto with his whore mother. Horror remains the bastard child of Hollywood. It
lives in the ghettos of DVD and VOD.
Psycho inspired
the horror meisters with its plot, suspense, thrills and reveal (as well as
themes and imagery). Its influence can be seen in Tobe Hooper’s The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974; the deserted, gothic,
haunted house inhabited by a lunatic family. Wes Craven used this motif in The
Hills Have Eyes 1977. He
would later revive the Janet Leigh prototype in Scream1996. John Carpenter
stripped Psycho of
its story and exacerbated its plot;
he took the Psycho paradigm
and created the Halloween1978 template. To cement
the connection between the two films he cast Janet Leigh’s daughter. Psycho had
a knife wielding killer, it enhanced the woman-in-peril, it hinted at the ‘final
girl’. Halloween
perfected these tropes. It is the first slasher film. Psycho is
its progenitor.
This is where the misconception arose. The
horror meisters worship Psycho in interviews1. They talk of its significance and cite it as
a horror film.As well they should as
this is how they see it but it is the lazy and inept journalist who then takes
that citation and repeats it as fact. Prior to the 1970s no one described Psycho as
a horror film[8][9].
The Psycho inspired
Halloween
template remains the horror standard 35 years later. That standard was
challenged byLa Casa Muda2011. If Psycho was
flesh and Halloween
bone then La
Casa Muda is bone with its marrow eviscerated. What
remains is an empty shell; a concept – and 86 minutes of filler.
In order to market this naked emperor the
filmmakers employed gimmick. The Blair Witch Project 1999 gimmicked the
audience. La
Casa Muda gimmicked the festivals and it worked. The
American remake Silent House 2012 wrapped
before the original Uruguayan film was released Stateside.
The American production hired a husband and
wife already versed in torpor. Writer Laura Lau and director Chris Kentis made Open
Water 2003, a
film with a concept with no story to tell. So it is with Silent
House. Nothing was lost in translation because nothing was said
in Spanish. The attempt to pad this non-event with narrative is akin to a
toddler with a colouring book.
The American filmmakers didn’t have the
gimmicks of the original. What they had was the rising starlet Elizabeth Olsen.
This is an interesting personality to become a movie star. In America she has
famous twin sisters. The press have long boasted about the twins being
billionaires10 which inadvertently
questions the credibility of younger sibling Elizabeth.
The average income of an actor in the UK is £6k-£60k11. Needless to say it is bottom heavy. Most
actors struggle to earn a living. It is the same in America. In Los Angeles
they famously wait on tables. Elizabeth Olsen comes from money. She is taking
the spot of a working class kid who needs the gig. She is taking the spot of a Fairuza
Balk, Demi Moore or a Sarah Michelle Gellar and she’s doing it in the indies;
the job centre of the starving actor. Olsen is being primed for stardom because
lazy journalists are bewitched by her last name and physical resemblance to her
sitcom star sisters. If Olsen wants to be an actor she should fund her own
movies. Her typical insipid performance in this one is reminiscent of Bridget –
not Jane – Fonda.
Hollywood royalty: Elizabeth Olsen
Silent House was
not made to entertain. It was made to exploit on the back of La Casa
Muda. The former has a reputed production budget12 of $1million and it took $13m13 in its theatrical run. Internet scams target
the proletariat. Bernie Madoff targeted the rich. Silent House
targeted the art house and Elizabeth Olsen was the Trojan horse. This is what Psycho
looks like in the hands of the inept. The lazy journalist will cite Silent
House as a horror film. It is so far removed from horror that
the best definition for the movie is ‘a film starring Elizabeth Olsen’■
fall's final girls: Scout Taylor-Compton and Caitlin Gerard
Here
comes the fall with Christmas to follow. It’s the beginnings of the nine month
football season here in the UK and the Americans have a presidential election
to look forward to – or to dread. UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jonny ‘Bones’
Jones will fight and defeat Vitor Belfort1.
Welterweight champion GSP will do the same to Carlos Condit2. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva can then
pick and choose which of the two he will destroy in a super fight.
It’s good times for sport fans. Not so good
for horror. There’s a third of the year left but nothing much happens after
Halloween. The studios dump their Oscar® cringe worthy fare for
senior citizens and atheists celebrate Christmas. January 1st –
October 31st is the Horror calener and at this point there hasn’t
been a Scream1996, The
Exorcist1973 or even a Candyman1991.
This fall will see television bring the genre
into disrepute with the third season of TheWalking Dead and second season – egad – of American Horror Story. Mitt Romney will concede defeat and Kim
Kardashian will announce her new reality show starring the fast losing
credibility Kanye West.
In the meantime here are ten films to watch
to keep out the white noise.
Films
mentioned in The Top 10 Coming Soon Horror Movies of 2012 are not repeated. All
release dates are American and wide unless otherwise stated. Each date is
subject to change at an executive’s whim.
When the Lights Went OutSep
14 UK (Limited)
The reason Spanish and J-Horror are
successful outside of their countries is that they offer foreigners a look at
their cultures as story. British horror used to do this in the 60s and 70s. Today
British horror offers The Woman in Black2012 and The Awakening2012as
picture postcard propaganda.
Along comes When the Lights Went Out. It
is set in the 70s but is cultural specific. This is northern working class
terrain. It was a hardscrabble life then and it isn’t that different now. If
this film is successful then ‘kitchen-sink horror’ could be the next big
export.
Jack and DianeSep
27 US (Video-on-Demand)
Those over 40 may remember this title as a
John Cougar Mellencamp song.
John Cougar what?
Rob Zombie directs horror films. Dr Dre is
producing a horror film3. John Cougar
Mellencamp belongs in an 80s nostalgia barn musical off off Broadway.
Broadway in Seymour, Indiana.
The 80s musical connection doesn’t end there.
Kylie Minouge, a onetime Britney
Spears without the sex appeal and scandal,
co-stars. The subject matter of this film would be daring if it had been
released in the 80s. It’s a lesbian film – with werewolves.
Sounds like the LGBT are jumping on the
horror bandwagon. Next stop; the Tea Party hires Taylor Swift to star as a
minuteman fighting off an invading horde of Latino zombies.
SinisterOct
5 US & UK
In 2005 Ethan Hawke said “Training
Day (2001) was my best experience in Hollywood”4. It won Denzel Washington an Academy Award®.
Since then Hawke has divorced Uma Thurman and disappeared from the multiplexes.
He’s now headlining a horror film. Once upon a time people in his position used
to headline TV shows. This could be a case of movie-star-go-home or – judging
from the trailer – movie-star-elevates-genre.
Welcome back Hawke.
#HoldyourbreathOct
5 US (limited)
A gimmick can circumvent a saturated market.
The hashtag before the unpunctuated title means #Holdyourbreath
will appear as number one on every horror list – as long as that list is in
alphabetical order.
The premise is of an urban legend no one has
ever heard of – because it is bespoke to the film. This is acknowledged in the
trailer thus the filmmakers are sending a pre-meta message; this is the type of story where the audience goes on discovery
with the characters. It’s a slasher in 80s tradition.
Disclaimer: in the 21st century women in peril don’t show their
tits.
The Arrival of WangOct
8 UK (DVD Premiere)
Every so often there comes a film with
promise and intrigue. Such a film is validation for the fans - for the horror
genre touches and provokes core emotion, curiosity and intellect beyond all
others.
The Arrival of Wang is validation.
BedevilledOct 9 US (DVD Premiere)
J-Horror,
in this case by way of South Korea,
is an acquired taste. One has to accept subtitles. One has to accept cultural
idiosyncrasies in the art of storytelling.One of those idiosyncrasies can be called ‘torture porn’.
Debutant director Chul-soo Jang is a former
assistant director to Kim Ki-duk. The latter directed The
Isle2000 and whilst not
torture porn The
Isle
had its moments.
There are moments in the trailer when Bedevilled
looks like The
Isle.
That’s high praise..
SmileyOct 11 US (ltd)
Keith David dominates the start of this well
executed trailer the way he dominates in John Carpenter’s The Thing1982.
The score inflates the tension of the interrogation scene and the soundtrack
punctuates the enthusiasm of the filmmakers.
This trailer promises a lot – but as good as
it is it fails to cover the flaws:
the movie is shot on DV, the premise sounds like Candyman1992,
Keith’s role looks suspiciously like a cameo, the monster is revealed in the
trailer – to limp effect.
However, when the final girl looks like
Caitlin Gerard everything else might fall into place. Flaws and all.
247ºFOct 23 US (DVD Prem)
Scout Taylor-Compton is most famous for her
role in Rob Zombie’s contribution to the Halloween
franchise. It is with that notoriety that 247ºF
arrives all the way from Georgia (the country not the state). Perhaps
Taylor-Compton is a competent actress who was smothered by Rob Zombie’s
‘vision’. Her performance in this by-the-numbers looking genre piece is yet to
be seen.
All things considered the premise actually looks
good.
Wrong Turn 5Oct 23
US (DVD Prem)
The gap between Wrong Turn 42011 and
the designated release of Wrong Turn 5 is
53 weeks. It is unofficial: Wrong Turn
is the new Saw.
It wasn’t always like this. Wrong
Turn 2003was a vehicle for then
rising star Eliza Dushku (10 years later that star is now a guest on television
shows).The first two sequels were good
enough to exceed expectations for a Straight-to-Dvd franchise. Last year’s
entry was a crash landing in a video nasty cesspit.
Wrong Turn 5 is
a last chance to rescue the series. The franchise can broaden its scope and
flourish or it can flutter to extinction – like Eliza Dushku’s career.
The CollectionNov
30 US
To describe The Collector2009 as
torture porn is to repeat the same mistake of describing Saw2004 as
such. The two films have more in common than misconception; they are puzzle
movies in the vein of Cube1997 and
to a lesser extent Se7en1995.
This sequel has gestated a perfect three
years (it takes 18 months to write a screenplay, three months to shoot a
feature, and 12 months in post production including editing). This should
succeed where the Saw sequels failed.
October
is top heavy but it is the September release When the Lights Went Out
that holds most promise. However, with capitalism teetering on the brink of the
abyss, the coming horror may well surpass anything imaginable.