1968 saw the arrival of both Doctor Who and The Wheel in Space in which the Doctor battled the Cybermen and Kubrick’s science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, a movie that challenged audiences and film makers’ approach to sci fi flicks.

The rest is sheer poetry.

Make sure to watch through to end for the surprise ’space baby.’

this is a rare case in wich we give credit for a “so called” remake (still…based on a book) rather than the original version by tarkovsky. we think that tarkovsky is overrated and that the american version based on the same book is the best. it’s an atmospheric one with a diferent approach and we think it suits the film better.

(ps: my opinion: i don’t like sodenbergh but this movie rocks )

anyway wiki:

Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney.

It is based on the science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem (which also inspired the critically acclaimed 1972 Soviet film of the same name, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, and a 1968 TV film).

The Time Out Film Guide describes this version as superior to the Tarkovsky version. However, the overall critical reception and popular votes do not share this opinion. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 64 percent fresh approval rating, which is a positive score but far from that of the Tarkovsky’s adaptation, which earned a 97 percent rating. The Internet Movie Database user ratings (as of April 2008) for the two versions are 6.2 and 8.0, respectively.

Lem himself, even though he did not see the movie, called Soderbergh’s film a “remake of the Tarkovsky movie“, sharing the opinion of many movie-goers, and criticized it as departing far from his original intentions in writing the novel by focusing almost exclusively on the psychological relationship between the two main characters:

wiki:

Evil Dead II (also known as Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn) is a 1987 American cult comedy horror film. Standing as a sequel to 1981’s The Evil Dead, the film was directed by Sam Raimi, written by Raimi and Scott Spiegel, produced by Rob Tapert and starred Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. The film was followed by a sequel of its own in 1993 entitled Army of Darkness.

Evil Dead II received very positive reviews from critics and audience members; it has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Empire magazine praised the film saying “The gaudily gory, virtuoso, hyper-kinetic horror sequel/remake uses every trick in the cinematic book” and confirms that “Bruce Campbell and Raimi are gods” and Caryn James of the New York Times called it “Genuine, if bizarre, proof of Sam Raimi’s talent and developing skill”. Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #19 on their list of “The Top 50 Cult Films”.^[2] Sight and Sound ranked it #34 on their 50 Funniest Films of All Time list. In 2008, Empire magazine included Evil Dead II in their list of 500 greatest movies of all time, ranked #49.^[3]

CLICK HERE TO WATCH MOVIE ONLINE

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD TORRENT

wiki:

The Brood is a 1979 Canadian horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle. It was filmed in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario. In 2004, one of its sequences was voted #78 among the “100 Scariest Movie Moments” by the Bravo Channel.^[1][2] The Brood was named 88th on the “Chicago Film Critics Association’s 100 Scariest Movies of All-Time”.^[3] The film was Cronenberg’s first major success.

Cronenberg has condemned the censorship of the climactic scene, “trimmed” in the United Kingdom, in which Eggar’s character gives birth to one of the monsters and starts tenderly licking it clean. “I had a long and loving close-up of Samantha licking the foetus… when the censors, those animals, cut it out, the result was that a lot of people thought she was eating her baby. That’s much worse than I was suggesting.”^[4]

CLICK THERE TO WATCH THE MOVIE ONLINE

wiki:

Nirvana is a science fiction film, produced in Italy in 1997 by director Gabriele Salvatores, starring Christopher Lambert, Diego Abatantuono and Stefania Rocca. It was screened out of competition at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.

Nirvana is one of the rare Italian science fiction films to use extensive computer generated special effects. The director, Gabriele Salvatores, shot the movie mainly in “Portello” the old Alfa Romeo assembly plant in Milan. The whole place was converted in this sci-fi set where many ethnic sides of the city are shown. From the Indian to the Japanese to the Chinese, the movie moves around the dynamic and the futuristic realms that the future created.

The storyline itself exemplifies several main themes of cyberpunk, such as the Philip K. Dick quote “Living and unliving things are exchanging properties”, meaning computers are becoming human, and humans are becoming less so, both by the influence of technology.

Despite a poor box office reception amidst accusations of weak plotting and simplistic rendering of the main themes, Nirvana has achieved something of a cult status, especially in Europe. The title of the film is key to understanding its comparison of reincarnation with being endlessly reborn in a video game.

here is the only version of the original trailer that i found, it’s in french but the movies is in english

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TORRENT

from wiki:

Bubba Ho-tep is a 2002 horror-black comedy film starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley – now a resident in a nursing home. The film version also stars Ossie Davis as Jack, a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy (explaining that he was patched up after the assassination in Dallas, dyed black, and abandoned by Lyndon Johnson.) The film was directed by Don Coscarelli. The title comes from a novella by Joe R. Lansdale which originally appeared in the anthology The King Is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem.

TO WATCH ONLINE CLICK HERE

from wiki:

Alien Trespass is a 2009 science-fiction comedy film based on 1950s sci-fi B movies. It stars Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day).

TO WATCH THE MOVIE ONLINE CLICK HERE

Dando una pequeña vuelta, me encuentro con esta película tan interesante a priori, que sale en dvd el 24 de Noviembre (en dos días). Leo la sinopsis y unas cuantas anécdotas sobre ella y me deja un gran sabor de boca.

Posterirormente, sigo ibuscando  más y más, y nuevamente, encuentro cosas que me empiezan a decir,  davidgore, esta película tienes que comprarla. Y así será amgos/as. Ya tengo el primer regalo para Navidad anotado en la lista.

La historia de Performance cuenta como un un violento ganster llamado Chas (James Fox), decide esconderse de sus enemigos, en la casa del que fue una vez una mega-estrella del rock, el misterioso Turner (Mick Jagger).
Allí conoce entre otros curiosos personajes, a las dos amantes de Turner.
Chas descubre, gracias a Turner, un psicodélico mundo lleno de drogas, juegos perversos, sexo liberal, música underground, y el cariño a la muerte y al suicidio…

Performance es una película de culto, dirigida por Nicholas Roeg y Donald Cammel. Un proyecto reivindicativo y critico sobre la sociedad británica de finales de los 60. Psicodélico donde los haya y lleno de estilismo experimental.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ONLINE: http://stagevu.com/video/usmrbhjdbqcs

I’ve been fighting off buffalo plaid and anything flannel for at least three years, but the more I see it, the more the bad dresser in me thinks I should have a black-and-teal boyfriend shirt to wear with my black jeans. The Hellz Bellz holiday jackets are pulling me to the plaid side, too, and I’m running out of excuses. (Except the “I have no money” excuse. That one seems to always work.) Thoughts on possible sources of inspiration for Miss Lawn below the cut.

Can I be honest? I didn’t particularly like The Breakfast Club. I find it somewhat suspicious that so many people who weren’t in high school during that time can identify so much with that film. I’m not knockin’ John Hughes. I’m just saying, I wasn’t a White teenager rebel/jock/dandruffball/prep/recluse, but the suburbs thing – the suburbs thing I get!

I didn’t see Heathers until this year, and I really enjoyed it! Its storytelling style must have stood out so much against all the other eighties movies popping out at that time. I’d only wear a shoulder-padded jacket as a Halloween costume, but iconic? Yes it is.

While I don’t think the Hellz Bellz holiday collection makes any direct reference to A Clockwork Orange, the inclusion of that black bowler-looking hat and the model’s icy glare in that particular pic remind me of Alex DeLarge & Co. When I think “cult classic,” my mind goes straight to Clockwork Orange. Largely (Hah.) because it remains to be the single allegedly must-see film that I could not stomach watching.

The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto

AÑO: 2009
DURACIÓN: 77 min.
PAÍS: Estados Unidos
DIRECTOR: Rob Zombie
GUIÓN: Tom Papa, Joe Ekers (Cómic: Rob Zombie)

El film narra la tortuosa historia de El Superbeasto (voz de Tom Papa), una especie de antiguo luchador enmascarado con fuerza sobrenatural, quien en estos momentos se dedica a la producción/dirección como estrella del Beastoworld Enterprise, pero que cuando puede pasa el tiempo luchando contra el mal junto a su Super-Sexy hermana, Suzi X (voz de Sheri Moon Zombie). Una noche, el Superbeasto, decide salir de fiesta en busca de sexo y diversión. Conocerá a una streapper de la que se enamorará al instante, pero ésta será secuestrada por un mono inteligente que está bajo las órdenes del Doctor Satán, que éste a su vez, quiere vengarse del el Superbeasto. El Superbeasto entonces, hará una llamada de urgencia a su hermana, para que entre los dos, den con la chica y puedan rescatarla de las temibles manos de este maíaco descerebrado.

Con un trepidante y delirante comienzo, rozando, me atrevería a decir incluso, sobre pasando la barrera de lo absurdo y llenándonos los ojos y la mente de un contenido totalmente salvaje, obsceno, sangriento y en resumidas cuentas, un mundo el que ha creado Rob Zombie, completamente disparatado.

Tendremos la oportunidad de ver zombies nazis detrás del rescate de la cabeza de su líder. Seremos testigos de los momentos más ácidos, surrealistas, violentos, ultrajantes y pornográficos que jamás hayáis visto en una película de animación, bueno, lo de pornográficos, sin contar el “Hentai”, claro. Pero eso es otra historia que no tiene nada que ver aquí.

En The Haunted World of  El Superbeasto, nos toparemos con personajes tremendamente inverosímiles y diálogos de virtuosa grosería. Podremos ver muchos personajes conocidos de las películas de Rob Zombie,  como muchas ortas sorpresas. Película recomendable encarecidamente a todos aquellos que quieran pasar una hora y diecisiete minutos de auténtica diversión y a esos/esas, que busquen otras cosas totalmente diferentes.

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto está basado en el cómic de Rob Zombie, y el film fue lanzado directamente a DVD con la calificación R. No es para menos queridos/as lectores.

Eso si, se la veis en V.O.S.E como la vi yo. Prepararos de lo lindo, porque  seréis torturados y avasallados por una velocidad casi imposible de seguir.

Otra información

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The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto

Imdb

Trailer

]]> http://cinefrikiterror.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/ink-ciencia-ficcion-y-fantasia-de-ordago/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:24:02 +0000 davidgore http://cinefrikiterror.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/ink-ciencia-ficcion-y-fantasia-de-ordago/

No sabía nada en absoluto de esta cinta (todos los días descubrimos cosa nuevas) y me he llevado una gran sorpresa. Empiezo a leer y descubro una sinoposis bastante interesante, pero para colmo, cuando llega la hora de ver el trailer, mis sentidos se suben por las nubes. Un film lleno de Ciencia Ficción y fantasía exquisita. Soberbio

Película dirigida por el estadounidense Jamin Winans, que también es a la vez, escritor, editor, productor y compositor. Sus trabajos anteriores son: 11:59 (2005), Spin cortometraje (2005), The Maze cortometraje (2003), The Blanston cortometraje (2003).

Ink nos adentra en una ciudad que cuando  la luz se apaga y la ciudad se dispone a dormir, dos fuerzas emergen. Son invisibles para nosotros excepto por el poder que ejercen en nuestros sueños. Estos dos grupos combaten por nuestras almas en nuestros sueños. Una de ellas da soporte a nuestras esperanzas y nos da fuerzas para tener sueños placenteros y la otra nos lleva hacia la desesperación en nuestras pesadillas. Hay otras fuerzas en el mundo que desconocemos, entre ellas un brutal mercenario llamado Ink, que tiene la misión de ser quien nos traiga las pesadillas, pero él tiene su propios propósitos que nadie conoce. Esta noche la ciudad duerme, pero la niña de 8 años Emma despierta en el mundo de los sueños. Antes de que pueda recobrar el aliento, es raptada por Ink de su cuerpo durmiente. Ink llevará a la niña por las muchas dimensiones del mundo de los sueños mientras que los que dan el sueño utilizan todos sus recursos para liberarla.

Lo dicho gente del underground. Una película que al parecer, va a ser todo un éxito (esperemos esperemos que si)  en este blog. Por lo que leído, las críticas de la gente que la ha visto, son muy buenas. Y para celebralo, en el apartado Directo al reproductor, os dejo el enlace en descarga directa del  film.

Trailer

El Imaginario del Doctor Parnassus

Dirección: Terry Gilliam

País: Uk, Francia y Canadá

Año: 2009

Duración: 122 min

Reparto: Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrel, Mark Benton, Peter Stormare

El imaginario del Doctor Parnassus me ha facilitado mucho más ese camino de los sueños, pero no sueños de aburrimiento, sino, esas pequeñas y geniales fantasías que nunca dejan de recorrer tu cabeza. Esos alucinantes viajes repletos de monstruos, formas raras, lugares extraños y como no, situaciones nunca antes vividas. Parnassus es un facilitador a tus sueños jamás experimentados.

La película nos sitúa en el Londres actual, donde el Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), su hija Valentina (Lily Cole) y sus dos ayudantes, Antón (Andrew Garfield) y Percy (Verne Troyer) el enanito amigo del alma del Señor Parnassus. Conducen un viejo circo ambulante tirado por dos caballos. Los cuatro irán recorriendo las calles de la ciudad ofreciendo su desconocido y viejo espectáculo que anda en horas muy bajas. Una noche, a la vuelta de un espectáculo, salvarán la vida de Tony (Heath Ledger), que estaba colgado de un puente y que después de recuperar el conocimiento, no recordará nada. Tony se ofrece a unirse a ellos e intentar sacar el negocio para adelante. En dicho espectáculo,  Parnassus facilitará  a la gente que se atreve a cruzar el cristal, el poder sumergirse en esos sueños que siempre han anhelado. Sueños imposibles de realizar en ningún otro lado y que se magnificarán de manera asombrosa, fascinante e increíble. Pero no solamente lo mal que marcha la función es lo que preocupa al viejo Parnassus. Su hija está a punto de cumplir los dieciséis años y el Doctor arrastra un malestar enorme desde hace mil años.

Paranssus, un viejo apostador y aficionado a la bebida, apostó ser mortal (anteriormente y en otra apuesta, pidió ser inmortal, cosa que el diablo (protagonizado por Tom Waits en un papel excelente) le adjudicó) para poder enamorarse como es debido, de una joven dama. Pero posteriormente, volvió a apostar, jugándose esta vez la vida de su hija. Valentina debería de ser entregada al diablo, cuando esta cumpliera los dieciséis.

El imaginario del Doctor Parnassus es una historia por momentos compleja, véase el cambio de identidad de Heath, cuando cruza el espejo en cada uno de sus viajes. Pudiendo ver el espectador el juego tan rocambolesco pero perfecto que tuvo que hacer Gilliam con el personaje, debido a la muerte del actor. Es aquí cuando vemos  a Johnny Depp, Jude Law y Colin Farrel, haciendo de Heath Ledger. Un reconocido y meritorio homenaje dentro del propio sueño de Ledger. Sobresaliente.

En la película veremos absolutamente de todo. Idas mentales del director, pero eso es una cosa que el seguidor del cine de este señor debe de estar acostumbrado, es más, creo que siempre lo espera y con ganas. Mucha música, incluso canciones escritas por el propio Terry, como la parodia de los policías travestis (abrumadora). Cine más abierto a otros espectadores, no como su anterior trabajo, Tideland. Una película bastante cruda.

El Doctor Parnassus es una historia muy bien contada y de muy fácil degustación. Sus dos horas están completas de arte, diversión y una entrada para el gran sueño de tu vida. Terry Gilliam nos empuja a una piscina llena de magia y fantasía. Una historia muy entretenida, colorista, delirante (de lo que más me gustó) y visualmente perfecta.

La historia del Doctor Parnassus es técnicamente una delicia (por lo menos para mí). Desde un primer momento podemos disfrutar de planos difíciles o atípicos a lo que mucha gente pueda estar acostumbrada. Muchas secuencias con escasez de luz, valiéndose de lo que la naturaleza le ofreció a Gilliam en ese momento y así, minuto tras minuto, hasta el final.

Me llamó muchísimo la atención el exagerado contraste que hay entre el misterioso mundo que engulle al Doctor Parnassus y el resto de la ciudad y sus residentes. Es fantástica la mezcla que conforman unos y otros, tanto en la oscuridad de la noche, como a la plena luz del día. Buenísimo.

Tengo que finalizar, diciendo que el trabajo de Terry con los actores, como con el resto del equipo y el mismo, es de una calidad aplastante Demostrando una vez más, que sus ganas de contarnos sus extraños sueños, van durar muchos años.

Otra información

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El imaginarip del Doctor Parnassus

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Trailer

Carnival of souls
Director: Herk Harvey
Guión: John Clifford
Intérpretes: Candance Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison, Stan Levitt, Tom Mc Ginnis, Forbes Caldwell, Dan Palmquist, Bill de Jarnette, Steve Boozer, Pamela Ballard, Larry Sneegas, Cari Conboy, Karen Pyles, T.C. Adams.
(EE.UU, 1962)

Olvidada o desconocida seguramente por la gran mayoría de los adeptos al cine de terror y también creo, por los cinéfilos en general. Bien sea por sus cuarenta y siete años, por su bajo presupuesto, por su estreno tan poco esperanzador, malas críticas o simplemente, porque sus creadores eran hasta entonces unos desconocidos en este campo. Su director Herk Harvey y su guionista, John Clifford, realizaban películas industriales y educativas, siendo Carnival Of Souls, su primer largometraje y único.

Carnival Of Souls comienza con una carrera entre dos coches por las afueras de Lawrence (Kansas). Una carrera ilegal y con un  trágico final, donde uno de los coches que es pilotado por una chica y dos amigas como acompañantes, cae por el puente desapareciendo entre el agua y el exceso de barro que lleva el rio. Al rato, la policía da por imposible la recuperación del coche y menos todavía, la de su gente que iba a bordo. Pero es en ese momento cuando surge del fango del río, Mary (Candance Hilligoss), la única superviviente de las tres. Mary parece estar totalmente aturdida, perdida en espacio/tiempo y no recuerda absolutamente nada de lo sucedido.

Pronto, Mary abandona la ciudad y se traslada a Utah, donde trabajará tocando el órgano de la iglesia. Durante el viaje a Utah, verá la cara de un ser desconocido a través del cristal. Un señor  con aspecto deteriorado y muy extraño. Además, en su viaje pasará por un antiguo Pabellón abandonado donde se celebraban los Carnivals (lo que aquí en España se le viene a llamar, ferias ambulantes o circos). Este lugar, como las dos apariciones del señor, no dejarán de rondar la mente de Mary para el resto de su vida.

Una vez instalada en Utah, concretamente,  en un edificio donde únicamente vive la dueña y un tipo que no dejará de cortejarla. Continuarán las apariciones extrañas, persiguiéndola por todos lados y parando siempre en ese viejo Pabellón abandonado, el que parece ser, el epicentro de esas sensaciones y visiones tan horrendas que no dejan de acosarle.

La película empieza y continúa con un ritmo algo moderado, aún con esos sobresaltos de la protagonista y ese viaje al pabellón abandonado, ( Saltaire es como se le llama en la película) no deja de ser interesante, todo lo contrario. Te sumerge en un mundo de pesadillas, oneirismo, intriga y de pura fantasía, del que no podrás ni querrás parpadear un solo segundo. Y que para culminar, nos ofrece unos últimos veinte minutos, que es de verdad cuando podemos ver un auténtico carnaval  de fantasmas, zombies, planos perfectos (toda la película está rodada al milímetro, cuidando absolutamente todo), secuencias mágicas y una fotografía, sinceramente, impecable.  Es todo un espectáculo poder disfrutar de una película así. Un placer ver un b/n tan impoluto, un baile final magistral y un viaje hasta la muerte, tan delicioso.

Es extraño todo esto, si sabemos que Carnival Of  Souls es la casual idea que fluía tras la visita del director a unas ruinas cuando volvía de vacaciones. Un lugar abandonado en la América profunda, que le llamó y fascinó lo suficiente como para realizar una película en ese lugar. El trabajo de Herk Harvey y John Clifford es inmejorable, majestuoso. Una película con muy pocos medios económicos,  poco personal para encarnar los papeles de actores y actrices, incluso, el propio Herk Harvey desempeñará un papel fundamental en la película.

Carnival Of Souls es una pieza de culto única, una pieza de coleccionismo, una obra maestra que se adelantó a muchos de los clásicos hoy alabados por todo el mundo dentro del género de terror. Una película que no debe faltar en tu lista de películas vistas, una película que se debe disfrutar al máximo. Simplemente, una maravilla

Otra información

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Imdb

Otro punto de vista

Otro punto de vista 2

Trailer

Grandes y buenas noticias. Alejandro Jodorowsky, parece ser que  se lanza definitivamente a por un nuevo proyecto. Sin rodar aún esa paranoia King Shot que lleva en mente y  donde estará de invitado David Lynch ahí es nada. Ha confirmado su nuevo trabajo. Abel Caín, creo que solamente con el nombre ya podemos adivinar que será algo gordo, extraño, etc…

Jodorowsky, además, sabe perfectamente cómo bajar la guardia de su audiencia y, como el que no quiere la cosa, se ha referido a este proyecto como Los hijos del Topo…

Sinopsis

La cinta narrará el viaje de dos hermanos al paraíso prohibido, una isla donde yacen los restos de su padre, y donde ahora pretenden dar sepultura al cuerpo sagrado de su madre. Sin embargo, no son los únicos que se dirigen a la isla: Lo más bajo de la naturaleza humana está siendo atraído por los tesoros que ésta guarda en su seno.

Todo esto será posible, si al final los queridos productores no se echan para atrás. ¿Por cuanto empieza la apuesta?.

Pronto algo sobre King Shot. Esto si que es rizar el rizo

The anti-hero has a certain European flair to it. Therefore it should come as no surprise that the character of Fantomas should be so enduring in underground art culture. Pervading the film world as well as the comic book medium the masked criminal genius known as Fantomas has impacted many art forms over the decades. Praised by absurdist painter set, film maker Jean Cocteau and novelist Umberto Eco. A sadistic killer and master of men, the character was thrust upon the world in 1911. The star of numerous novels, Fantomas employs similar techniques to supervillains of Marvel Comics to come many years later. A combination of Fu Manchu and James Bond, he is a master of disguise and appears to be timeless.

Fantomas from the 1964 film

A kind of bizarro phenomenon of the French pulp literary world, the character of Fantomas starred in several silent films. Having influenced the modern world years later, the villainous Fantomas influenced the Fumetti character Diabolik and Sadistik (also masked invulnerable and faceless supervillains). In 1964, Fantomas made his big-screen debut directed by André Hunebelle. The movie followed Fantomas’ revenge on a journalist who wrote a scathing article on him. The out-matched Inspector Juve is determined to stop him but seemingly one step behind all along the way.

The French answer to the Bond franchise, it was the first of a trilogy. Part comedy, part dark action drama, the movie today seems like a cross between the Pink Panther and The Abominable Dr. Phibes films.

Fantomas has influenced many writers from novelist to comic book script writers. In 2002, Igor Kordy and Grant Morrison introduced their homage to Fantomas in New X-Men with Fantomex.

Grant Morrison's homage, 'Fantomex'

A product of the same top secret government program that turned Logan into Wolverine, Fantomex was shown as more of a riff on Diabolik (with a love affair between the hero and his sentient UFO). Clad entirely in white with only his expressive eyes showing and armed with a pair of futuristic handguns designed to kill mutants and a hard to understand superpower of ‘misdirection,’ the character appeared in a few stories then was forgotten until the latest Dark Reign: The List special on Wolverine by Jason Aaron.

What’s next…? Check out this news piece from May 2009.

Thomas Langmann’s La Petite Reine is fast-tracking Fantomas, a big-screen makeover of the French fantasy detective novels, Variety reported. The budget looks set for 45 million-50 million euros ($60 million-$70 million).

Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) is writing the screenplay with David Martinez from an original story by Langmann. Gans also will direct. (This throws into question whether Gans will be able to helm Conan, as rumored by C.H.U.D.)
The 43 Fantomas novels, written by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre and first published in 1911, follow Fantomas, an ingenious but amoral master of disguise and sadistic killer. The literary franchise is also a Gallic national crime-fiction treasure, having yielded multiple big- and small-screen and comic-book adaptations.

Influenced by The Dark Knight, Gans’ adaptation sees Fantomas facing off with a villain of equal or even more dastardly dimensions. The movie will shoot in French and English, and begin casting shortly.

Do you ever find yourself sitting around, watching the Toxic Avenger, thinking that nobody is making good cult movies anymore? I mean, sure, Lloyd Kaufman is still around. Charles Band. John Waters. All the old guys are still doing their thing, and there are a lot of people out there making copies of the shit these guys were doing decades ago, but where are the cult movies of the 2000s? Yeah, there’s some neat stuff coming out of Japan, but what about the United States? I caught the premiere of Klownboy Circus of Gore last night at the Riverview Theater and found an answer to that question. Check this out:

Klownboy is the epic and tragic saga of a confused clown who is just trying to get through life without the people around him sucking all of the fun out of him. Of course, his idea of fun is biting old ladies at the liquor store, fucking corpses that he finds in the woods and rocking out to Impaler, but that’s neither here nor there.

Two impressive feats that should be pointed out. First, the character of Klownboy is much stronger than you’d expect to find in this sort of movie. His shifts from pathetic sniveling to violent dementia hold every disjointed and delirous scene together.

Second, the special effects are fucking weird. There’s no other way to explain it. They may seem obviously fake at times, but they’re used in such a way that they still manage to accomplish gross-outs effectively. It’s not even that they look fake, it’s that they look bizarre and cartoonish. They are so over the top that it keeps eyes glued to the screen, wondering what the fuck is going to happen next.

I seriously hope Troma or somebody picks this up and puts it out on DVD so the world can experience this insanity.

The type of trailer I detest the most is the “audience reaction” ones, where the screams and flinches of people who look like they stand in line for every Carrot Top theatrical release are supposed to convince me to watch the next “great” horror film.  Seriously, this is an audience in Hollywood. It’s already pre-fucked up.

'The Tall Man' from Phantasm... and his ball

The 1979 Don Coscarelli film is near legendary thanks to its bizarre visuals, creepy dwarfs and terrifying villain known only as ‘The Tall Man.’ The movie may appear to be typical of the late 70’s/early 80’s horror genre on first glance, but it’s actually far weirder than that. The film whirls around the near mythical view of death as the young Mike tries to deal with the loss of his parents and is drawn to the activities of the nearby mausoleum and its creepy caretaker. After talking his older brother into investigating, they discover that there is a gateway to another dimension where bodies are being stacked like cord wood by demonic killer dwarfs.

The entire affair is overseen by the acrobatic eyebrow bearing Tall Man who is harvesting the bodies of the departed for his own nefarious ends. All in all, pure unbridled nightmare fuel.

Phantasm spawned a fair share of sequels and is currently in the ‘remake queue’ that movie-goers have grown so used to, but the original film is so brilliant that it reads like a fever dream. The terrifying spheres that the Tall Man employs to do his dirty work shoot through the air and sprout a number of deadly weapons designed to eviscerate his targets. The mausoleum is so spooky and sterile that it makes the viewer feel like a child visiting a place where s/he should not be. Actually, the entire film has a childlike sense of wonder and horror that is so vivid that I’m still amazed that it exists.

The crew of Digital Bits met with director Don Coscarelli to discuss the inner workings of the film and its three off-shoots:

I was in my teens, and what I can remember had mainly to do with my fleeing down endlessly long marble corridors, pursued by a chrome sphere intent on penetrating my skull with a wicked needle. There was a quite futuristic “sphere dispenser” out of which the orbs would emerge and begin chase. As far as I can remember, the spheres never caught up with me. They still haven’t.

At the beginning there was no master plan. The original Phantasm was intended to be a stand-alone film. However, after seeing how Phantasm II worked (starting the sequel the moment after the original ended), and the power of the fan response to the sequel and their speculations, the pattern of the storyline evolved easily. I now understand that the Tall Man is even more enterprising than I could ever have imagined, as I have come to believe he wants nothing less than world domination and the annihilation of our species.

The component of orphaned brothers, with the younger terrified that the older would leave him, was very important from the beginning. Many of the other themes were added as we were shooting and editing the film. Keep in mind that Phantasm was photographed and edited over a year and a half period, and some of the decisions, especially as to the ending, weren’t made until we were very well along.

Getting movies made is difficult for everybody, independent or mainstream. I’m not sure the Phantasm films have had much impact on the mainstream potentates who run the business. There was one studio head that was a fan, and he financed Phantasm II. That’s about it. So consequently, the offers I get are pretty low-end horror sequels. I’ve always had an aversion to doing sequels to other people’s films, and have turned down some interesting offers over the years, including Conan the Destroyer (bad script), and Nightmare on Elm Street II (seemed like bad karma at the time to do it). More recently, I’ve passed on another Warlock sequel and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2000. Of course, I’m still hoping they’ll throw me an Alien sequel someday…

If you are not familiar with this classic, I highly recommend you seek it out.

Amer, dentro del apartado Nuevas Visiones del Festival de Sitges, concretamente, dentro del apartado “Discovery” es el debut en el largometraje de Hélène Cattet y Bruno Forzani. Se dice que es una película de sensaciones, un relato vital narrado a través de la exacerbación de los sentidos.

Se erige como uno de los homenajes más hermosos y sorprendentes a un subgénero, el giallo que, aunque en los últimos tiempos se haya prácticamente diluido, en esta ocasión hunde sus raíces en sus orígenes setenteros para ofrecernos una muestra en estado puro que es a la vez tan original como copia de los presupuestos estéticos sobre los que se asentaban las bases constitutivas de esta particular manera de rodar cine

Una impostura visual que nos remite a los mayores maestros del género, Sergio Martino, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci y Dario Argento, como he dicho anteiormente (aunque también se intuyan ecos que nos acercan al surrealismo de Buñuel o a la fuerza expresiva de Antonioni) y un experimento formal avasallador, una cult movie de inmediato regocijo para los aficionados.

Sinopsis:

El deseo siempre ha ido vinculado a la mirada. Y el cine también. Eso lo sabía muy bien Luis Buñuel cuando filmó el corte de una navaja sobre un ojo en plano detalle. Hélène Cattet y Bruno Forzani recuperan esta imagen en una película de corte experimental y factura impoluta. Alguien observa a una niña a través de la cerradura de una puerta. El viento levanta tenuemente la falda de una mujer bajo la mirada de un grupo de hombres. La fantasía de un vestido que se desgarra. Compuesta por fragmentos –de ojos, luces, sombras, gestos— y sin diálogos, Amer se adentra en la vida de Ana, a camino siempre entre lo real y lo imaginario. Un filme de sensaciones, filmadas siempre a flor de piel.

Sobre sus directores:

Nacieron en 1976 y se conocieron en Bruselas, donde co-dirigieron y produjeron cortometrajes financiados de su propio bolsillo. Filmografía seleccionada: Chambre Jaune (02, presentado en Sitges) y Santos Palace (06). Amer es su primer largo.

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Ron Ely as Doc Savage

When talking about comic book movies, there are always films that fall between the cracks. It’s understandable given the wide berth of quality in these projects. Even between 1979’s Superman and 2009’s Dark Knight there are gradients of brilliant to cringe-worthy comic book flicks. Part of the problem is that many of these properties do not translate to the big screen without some adjustments to the source material. This is why Rogue is a teenage girl in the X-Men films and Tony Stark is an industrialist of the modern age rather than during the Vietnam War, etc.

The other problem, rarely seen, is when the source material is regarded as a blueprint to the finished product with no real regard to the differences between movies and comics. Watchmen is a good example of this rarity where a 12 issue comic book series is presented nearly intact as an incredibly long movie not missing any details that the original creators put in the printed work.

Somewhere in-between is 1975’s Doc Savage. A pulp icon in the family of the Shadow and Dick Tracy, Doc Savage was a natural for a big motion picture treatment at the time. Legendary director George Pal (the Time Machine) was brought in to breath life into the character and his colorful world of adventure. The end result is… odd.

For those unfamiliar with who Doc Savage is, he is the central hero of several pulp novels and radio dramas of the 30’s and 40’s. Trained by a brain trust of geniuses from birth, Doc is a brilliant adventurer well-versed in various forms of scientific and medical study. He is also impervious to harm due to his bullet-proof skin. Assisted by a colorful array of experts known as the Fabulous Five, he lives in a sky-rise citadel decked out with all manner of state of the art crime-fighting gadgets.

Sounds like the ideal character to be adapted into a film, doesn’t he?

The dedication to mirroring every slight detail of the pulps is maddening, from trademark banter to signature characteristics that readers were used to seeing their hero exude. The plot was a mish-mash of vintage Doc Savage material, showing a faith in the character and his entertainment power. The star, Ron Ely, looked the part and enthusiastically promoted the film (and even took part in activities behind the camera). So what is wrong with Doc Savage the movie?

The problem is one word that has plagued superhero projects since they first jumped from the page to the screen, camp.

Despite the straight approach in the script and production, it seems like someone else was in the editing room adding goofy musical cues and sound effects as if this were a production of Sid and Marty Krofft. There are some that say the camp value in Doc Savage is what makes the film memorable, but the level of cheap laughs are an insult to die-hard fans, infuriated that their hero was so misrepresented. Besides, the potential for a pulp-style action story set in the 30’s is just mesmerizing. Look at the Shadow to see what I mean.

A planned sequel was not an option due to the negative critical and financial response. The much rumored and rather brilliant script by Philip José Farmer regarding a team-up between Doc Savage and a retired Sherlock Holmes in 1936 also went the way of all things. Political plans put an end to an Arnold Schwatzenegger reboot but there is now rumbling that Sam Raimi may be interested in bringing back the pulp action heroes of the Doc Savage, the Shadow and others such as the Avenger.

If anyone could do it, Sam Raimi could really make a film franchise based on these pulp characters work. In many ways, it would be an easier fit for him than the Spider-Man movies and it would offer an opportunity for him to utilize the skills he learned working on the web-spinning movies for Sony. But would Raimi also be tempted to add a touch of high camp? Given that he already did so in Spider-Man 3… I hope that he has learned his lesson and would refrain.

La contundente ganadora del Festival de Sitges 2009, Moon (Mejor película, Mejor actor, Mejor guión y mejor diseño de producción), es la primera película de Duncan Jones (Hijo de David Bowie) y escrita por el primerizo Nathan Parker basándose en una idea del propio Duncan. Moon nos cuenta la historia de Sam Bell (Sam Rocwell) enviado a la Luna por un periodo de tres años, lo que su contrato reflejaba para una serie de investigaciones y pruebas, con el fin de de mandar helio 3 a la Tierra, la nueva fuente de energía de la que se vale el ser humano. Cuando apenas quedan dos semanas para su regreso a casa, Sam comienza a experimentar extrañas sensaciones, llegando al punto de ver visiones que van deteriorando poco a poco su estado mental y físico.

En una de las salidas a suelo lunar  para inspeccionar la maquina encargada de recoger  tan preciado suministro, ocurrirá algo que cambiará por completo su futuro más próximo.

Moon es pura Ciencia Ficción, demostrado queda en cada una de sus secuencias, planos, imágenes, música, etc… Duncan Jones se mueve a la perfección en este terreno demostrando que tiene un gran futuro dentro de este campo. Moon, aparte de regalarnos momentos mágicos, nos obsequia con miradas al “pasado” de la Sci-Fi. Gerty, la maquina que acompaña al impresionante Sam Rockwell en esta aventura tan desquiciante como sofocante, nos recuerda a Hall 9000 de 2001: una odisea del espacio. Y también, Solaris de Andrei Tarkovsky, otro gran referente.

La película produce aflicción, de ritmo flemático e incertidumbre. Una inquietud por saber el resultado final si Duncan y su amigo Nathan no hubieran hecho a “x” duración del metraje, lo que hacen. No sé, pero pienso que no es lo correcto.

Moon es una buena película, una muy correcta producción y elaboración en general del todo el film. Yo tengo ese pero (el que comentaba antes)  pero aún así, es una película que no debe de perderse nadie que sea amante del cine y sobre todo, del cine de Ciencia Ficción. Duncan nos regala momentos cargados de una belleza visual incuestionable, como incuestionable, cada uno de los minutos en los que podemos ver a Sam Rockwell en pantalla.

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Moon

Trailer

I had originally intended to space out my articles on Videodrome and Existenz, but here it is. After seeing Videodrome at a young age, I became enamored by Cronenberg’s film work. As such, I distanced myself from his 1999 film, Existenz, as it sounded like a flop and was released close to a similar film, 13th Floor. Building on themes that he had introduced in his previous works such as the aforementioned Videodrome and Naked Lunch, Existenz poses a number of questions on the nature of reality and our place in it.

The plot involves an assassination attempt on the life of award-winning game designer Allegra Geller(played by Jennifer Jason-Leigh) as she is about to unveil her latest immersive video game on a group of test subjects. Running wild into the outside world, she randomly falls into the care of unassuming marketing trainee Ted Pikul (played by Jude Law). The assassin is a member of a movement determined to wipe out immersive video gamers. While Geller plays the tough bitch in public, she actually suffers from mild social anxiety and reluctantly trusts Pikul to protect her while she attempts to scavenge what remains of her game from its unusual player. To make sure that the game is still in working order, she asks Pikul to co-pilot a test run with her, and after the pair plug in, they fall down the rabbit hole of fantasy.

Trailer

The role of the game, where the player must decipher what s/he is meant to do in certain situations with little prompting was a timely statement in 1999. Not as overly flamboyant as the Matrix, Existenz portrays the modern gamer escaping reality for a custom-made one where s/he gets to re-invent themselves in whatever way they choose. As Internet chat rooms and the like were coming into fashion at the time, this was a rather bold statement that might have been viewed as obvious and pretentious. The line between the game and reality becomes soft, at one point the two characters that we have been following come out of the game to find themselves not as the characters that we have accepted them to be, but instead a pair of beta-testers trying out a new game. The testers joke about their outlandish behavior in the game as actors would after a performance, adding another layer to the film.

Metaflesh Game Pod

The gamepod itself is an oddity, looking more like the breathing typewriters from Naked Lunch. The Metaflesh Game Pod isn’t constructed at all, but rather it is grown from ‘amphibian embryos.’ The device looks almost pornographic as it undulates information the the player through a Umbycord. Rather than switches or buttins, nipple-like protuberances are used to interact with the Game Pod. Not only does it breath, it coos when it is stroked. In the real world, the term ’sexy’ is placed on technology every day and many of is spend more time with a keyboard than our loved ones… so Cronenberg ain’t far off with this idea.

The whole movie is like a Gordian knot as the line ‘are we in the game’ becomes something that was initially spoken in excitement but later turns into a statement of anxiety and fear. After Pikul and Geller gun down the beta-testers in cold blood, revealing themselves to be anti-game terrorists in strict defiance to the drug-like effect that Existenz has on humanity, the last victim does a double take, his reaction changing from horror to confusion, ‘are we in the game?’ If we are not in the game, then what are we doing is the question asked. Who are we? Why are we doing anything at all? And is the real world so bad that escapism is the only answer? In a world where real live people are married online in MMORPGs and would rather spend an evening pretending to be someone else, it’s a valid question.

A forgotten gem to some, Existenz nonetheless garnered several awards including the Saturn award for best sci-fi film of 2000. If you have not seen it, give it a shot.

Years Of The Dog Films ha producido una serie de cortometrajes en los últimos años y ha habido una gran cantidad de proyecciones  a través de festivales de cine nacionales e internacionales. Las tres películas  Gasoline Blood, Creeping sed y Howling Brat componen The San-Gwyn City Trilogy y se han seleccionado de manera oficial en los festivales de gran relevancia como Cannes, London Short, Frightfest, etc…

Tres historias cortas, escritas y dirigidas por David Pope. Basadas en el mundo ficticio de San-Gwyn City . La primera de ellas “Gasoline Blood” (2006): Verano de 1979. Una joven, su novio y su hermano menor llegan a la mitad de la nada para encontrar un almacén en desuso, como un lugar ideal para una película de terror que uno de ellos está filmando. Sin embargo, pronto se encontarán con algo que jamás podrían haberse imaginado. Una banda de zombies locos. La segunda historia, “Creeping sed” (2007): Dos hermanos están fuera de la ciudad celebrando el cumpleaños del más joven de ellos. Pronto se reunirán un par de mujeres calientes que les invitarán  a un piso para un poco de diversión y juegos. Por desgracia, cuando llegan allí, las cosas no van muy acordes al plan … Y la tercera historia de esta peculiar trilogía se titula “Howling Brat” (2008): Una joven se ve obligada a llevarse a su hermano menor al cine, en una cita que esta tiene. Una vez allí, el hombre con el que se ha citado, tiene una reacción instantanea nada más ver  al niño. los cambios de luna llena serán cruciales para su supervivencia.

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Before going on to remake the Fly, Canadian director David Cronenberg made a name for himself with bizarre outlandish films designed to both expand the mind of his viewers while simultaneously causing feelings of revulsion. In other words, he is a consummate horror director. Released in 1983, his film Videodrome remains both of its time and ahead of its time all at once. A bold statement on the human condition as it relates to the media and the distancing of nearly any event through the media, Videodrome is sure to completely miss many people as it relates its message through sporadic bursts of extreme violence and perversion. Trying to understand the meaning of Videodrome is actually a lot like trying to find meaning in late night television.

The film follows the steady decline of cable TV producer Max Renn (played by James Woods) who comes across a stray transmission one night while looking for new program ideas. Having established himself as a shock TV personality, Renn is not satisfied with the base material he has to work with and is hungry for something new, something raw. Harlan, Renn’s soft-spoken his cohort who is assisting him in obtaining new programs using a pirate satellite dish, shows him Videodrome and Renn is lovestruck. The program consists of subjects being strapped to a wall and tortured, something that Renn seems hypnotized by rather than disgusted. This is something real, something raw, that he can use. In watching the film, I don’t think it really occurs to Renn that what he is seeing is not intended for entertainment at all.

During his TV appearances as a minor celebrity, he is pitted against a sexy psychologist named Nikki (played by Blondie’s Debbie Harry) whom he not only disgusts with his theories but propositions as well. The third interviewee, the eccentric Brian O’Blivion, is more concerned with the future of humanity through TV rather than what we accept as real. Exposing Nikki to Videodrome, Renn finds another convert. Nikki is determined to audition to be on the program and after finding that it is not transmitted from some obscure third-world country but Pittsburgh, she immediately boards a plane. Desperate to find out more, Renn encounters softcore porn magnate Masha who tries her best to put Renn off the scent by explaining that Videodrome is part of a political mission that has very violent aims… only to make him even more interested. The threads lead back to O’Blivion’s Cathode Ray Mission and soon Renn finds himself a tool of Videodrome and a vanguard of ‘the new flesh.’

Renn experiences several hallucinations throughout the film, such as the famous living flesh television set that urges him to interact as if it were his lover Nikki’s willing body and the horrific handgun that becomes fused to Renn’s hand. The nature of perceived reality becomes soft and pliable, much as Renn himself becomes twisted from a voyeur into an active participant in the horrific images that he is so attracted to.

When I first saw this film, I appreciated it on a surface level, recognizing it as an odd twisted film from a deranged director. As I grew more enamored with Cronenberg’s work, I could more easily appreciate the subtle touches that he placed in this film alongside the moments that both shock and repulse me as a viewer. Renn’s reaction to the torture chamber of Videodrome as entertainment speaks volumes of our society’s disassociation with reality as it has grown more accustomed to fiction. Even reality television has turned viewers into leering creatures peeking in on others if only to laugh at their expense. Videodrome exposes that truth for what it is and its message as a film is a brutal one.

Turner Classic Movies will be replaying Videodrome this Friday and offer a preview on their Underground mini-site. Honestly, I cannot imagine what this film will look like on cable, even at 2AM. Make no mistake, this is not a movie for the faint of heart. But it is also one of the most unique movies you’ll ever see.