While it’s been a terribly busy and sick week around here, I had to make sure to pull all the winners names out of my fancy hat. There was a great response this time and plenty of thanks goes out to LAMB and to Win Free Horror S**t. Both those blogs helped put out the word and a big thank you to them. I recommend you check both of them out. Seriously, go, now! Actually, you should wait to see if you win first!

I’ll be sending out all the emails to the winner’s today and tomorrow and the quicker I get responses from everyone, the quicker I can get all those shiny DVDs sent out. And now for the winners!

Contest 1 for The Shining – 2 Disc Special Edition goes to Fitz! Check his blog here.

Contest 2 for A Nightmare On Elm Street – 2 Disc Special Edition goes to Shane Brown! Check his work here. Seems he has quite the project lined up right now.

Contest 3 for Alien goes to Cello! Check his blog here.

Contest 4 for High Tension – Unrated goes to Teresa W!

Contest 5 for The Stuff goes to Heather! Check her blog here.

Contest 6 for Bigfoot: I Not Dead goes to April!

Congratulations to everyone. Those are all great movies and if I didn’t own them before the contest than I bought myself copies.

On a side note, I know there’s been tumbleweeds blowing through the blog lately. I was without a computer for a few days, I got really sick for another couple of days and the strain of October took its toll on me. But now I’ve got a shiny new computer (minus all my shiny programs I used!) and some pretty drugs from the doctor to heal my sick mind! Everything is coming up Milhouse!

Under the marquee – Will

The government is naming 27 areas which it says need intensive support because of pressure from recession, migration and social change…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: recession articles. The blog is also related to: recent recessions.

That’s right, I went out today and stocked up on some of my favorite flicks to share with everyone. It’s a big one this time with 5 movies and 1 book up for grabs. The Shining, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Stuff, Alien, High Tension and the book Bigfoot I Not Dead.

Head over to the contest page for links on all those items, especially the Bigfoot book. It’s freaking hilarious and I laughed out loud over and over again reading it. I know it’s not exactly the most Halloween geared book but it’s Bigfoot! He’s kinda scary right?

This contest is gonna take some work on your part as well. You’ll have to let me know which prizes you would like to get. Every prize is numbered so when you comment on the contest page you have to let me know which number prizes you want to be entered for or if you’d like to be entered for them all. If you just want The Shining then just say Number 1. If you’re a lover of free things like myself, just say ALL OF THEM!

Somehow I think this is less confusing than I imagine but I’m tired and it’s not all making sense to me at the moment. I’m sure it will be more clear tomorrow! HAHA! Good luck in the contest and it will be over on Oct. 23rd, that should give me enough time to get all the movies out to everyone and have them there by Halloween night when you can sit back and enjoy them at the proper time!

Under the marquee – Will

VERDICT:
6/10 Psycho Girlfriends

Without a doubt one of the most brutal and unsettling horror movies I’ve ever seen. Too bad it gets so damn stupid.

High Tension is about two lovely ladies in France that go for a road trip in the countryside to meet the parents. Everything goes off without a hitch, then a homicidal truck driver shows up, kills the parents (buzzkill), and starts hunting down the two lovebirds, you know, so he can kill them, too.

Meet the Parents doesn’t seem so bad now, does it. That Greg Focker had it easy.

So this here movie is directed by one Alexandre Aja. Now, I’ve seen interviews with Aja and for the most part he seems like a pretty ordinary guy; and that is reason enough to never trust ordinary guys. You may now Alexandre better from his other two movies – The Hills Have Eyes remake (featuring what may well be the most disturbing and vile family murder/rape scene ever put to celluloid) and Mirrors (which, according to a clip I’ve seen, features Amy Smart ripping her own head in half at the mouth).

What a charming fellow, this Alexandre Aja.

Just to give you fair warning, a lot of what happens in High Tension really doesn’t stray far from the degree of brutality that those other movies display. It’s not the scariest jump-out-of-your-seat experience, but it will shake you the hell up. I’ve got pretty thick skin and have gotten really good at taking horror movies lightly, but sweet sassy molassy, this mofo takes it to a whole ‘nother level. Right from the get-go, even before that crazy bastard shows up to the house and starts poppin’ heads, this is one jaw-dropping ride. Man, I think I might have showered after seeing this.

Alright, so as a horror movie, I think it’s clear High Tension gets it done. But then again, there’s still the story…

The story starts out well enough and maintains the intensity without a hitch for a good hour or so, it might not be the most original story for a horror movie, but whatever, no points deducted. But then the Third Act comes along and Aja decides this movie sure could use a twist. Why? “Why the fuck not!” laughs Alexandre. Not gonna give it away, but the so-called twist is beyond absurd, makes absolutely no sense, more or less negates the plausibility of anything that happened in the movie before the “reveal”, and nearly forces the movie as a whole to do a hard nosedive from freakin’ awesome to laughably stupid.

But then Aja brings out the big guns (aka: a buzzsaw) and shuts his audience right up. Funny how buzzsaws seem to have that effect on people.

Still, there aren’t a whole lot of horror movies out there I’m tentative to recommend just because they’re so hard to take, but the Alexandre Aja collection sits right up there with the greatest hits of Takashi Miike (the Japanese king of sadism, but a pretty good director nonetheless). The acting is pretty solid, the score is great considering it’s comprised entirely of the sounds of high tension wires (fun fact!), and even though the story more or less blows, High Tension is one utterly horrifying movie.

I need to start reviewing more romantic comedies. This kind of stuff can’t be good for me.

Of all the recent horror remakes, “The Hills Have Eyes” is the first of the bunch where I hadn’t seen the original film.

The original 1977 film was one of the earlier Wes Craven films and followed the cult-classic 1972 horror film “The Last House on the Left” which launched the legendary career of Wes Craven. “Hills” came between “Last House” and 1982’s “Swamp Thing” and predated 1984’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. The film also spawned an inferior sequel in 1985, just a year after “Elm Street” exploded.

Why go back to the one of the original films that launched a legend? Why not? They just seem to be remaking every horror film under the sun these days.

Conceived and re-envisioned by Alexandre Aja, the disturbed mind behind the 2003’s surprise hit “High Tension”, the new version of “Hills” is masterfully shot and the cinematography is quite gripping for a film of this size.

The flaw here is the story and how these disturbed individuals ended up in the desert in the first place. The origins are all based entirely in the fear of the time, a nuclear explosion. “The Red Scare”, “nuclear experiments” and “radiation” were all the backbone of popular culture during the Cold War. “Hills” was a perfect example of that surge in the culture of the time. Today, it just doesn’t really register as much.

One thing I really liked about this film was that it lets the film’s central hero be a hero. In so many of recent horror films like “Saw” and “Hostel” there is such a focus on grueling gore and a praising of the film’s nihilistic killer. I like the fact we have someone to cheer for and finally all the people in the film aren’t just body-parts waiting to be dismembered.

The hero in “Hills” is played by Aaron Stanford, who is probably best known for playing Pyro in “X2: X-Men United”. Stanford is not your typical hero and I could see some of me in him. I liked cheering for a hero I could relate to.

I felt that Kathleen Quinlan and Ted Levine were wasted in this film and used more as shock value. It’s a shame but that’s kind of what this film is.

The more horror films we get recently the more graphic and disturbing is the gore. “Hills” continues this new tradition but unlike some of the more recent films it does it for shock and it works.

I have read that there were some scenes omitted from the cut of the film I experienced. One of those extended scenes involved a rape and as the film stands now I am not sure including that scene would have helped traumatize the character any more or aided the plot. So it probably wasn’t necessary just overkill. Pardon the pun.

There were some scenes and textures I felt went too far but as a whole I felt that “The Hills Have Eyes” is one of the better horror films to come out this year, thus far.

3.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

À l'Intérieur (dir: Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo, 2007)

À l’Intérieur (dir: Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo, 2007 Francia – título americano: Inside), fue una de las grandes sorpresas del Festival de Sitges 2007, quizás por la poca información que disponíamos sobre la película, pero que como en muchas otras, la campaña prévia al film (en este caso, no creo que fuese la típica campaña de marketing) nos aseguraba que en los pases se producían desmayos, la gente se salía de la sala, e incluso, llegaba a vomitar del espanto.

Y por primera vez, acertaron!

No sé que está pasando en nuestro país vecino, pero últimamente, todo lo que nos llega de ahí, en cuanto a pelis de terror se refiere, es sobresaliente. uno de los referentes más cercanos, es sin lugar a dudas Alta Tensión (dir: Alexandre Aja título francés Haute Tension – americano: High Tension, 2003), una gran película, y que desde el momento que empiezan los asesinatos, nos pone como una moto, es decir, cumple con su cometido, la tensión. Además, la trama se desarrolla correctamente y el giro argumental del desenlace es muy bueno, sorprendiéndonos a todos, o a los que no estuvimos lo suficientemente atentos desde un buen principio. Y el último ejemplo, mencionamos a Martyrs (dir: Pascal Laugier, 2008), pero sin duda alguna, À l’Intérieur est supérieur, Superb!

La película empieza con un aparatoso accidente de tráfico, donde dos vehículos chocan. En uno de ellos vemos a Sarah (Alysson Paradis), una joven embarazada y Matthieu, su pareja que fallece en el mismo accidente. Además vemos escenas intercaladas, del interior de la barriga de Sarah, para que podamos ver lo que le pasa al feto. Pasa un tiempo, y vemos a Sarah en la consulta del ginecólogo ultimando los preparativos para el alumbramiento, dándole las últimas instrucciones, pero Sarah tiene una actitud bastante pasota y despreocupada por lo que al bebé se refiere, pues no ha pensado ni el nombre.

Durante la presentación de la trama, quizás los momentos más lentos, vemos otros personajes que intervienen en la vida de Sarah, Louise (Nathalie Roussel), su madre, que evidentemente, tendrá un papel protector debido a la situación de Sarah. Y el segundo personaje, Jean-Pierre (François-Régis Marchasson), el jefe de Sarah, mostrando una relación de amistad más que laboral entre ambos. Pero estos dos personajes nos enseñan que están pendientes de ella, y se preocupan.

Sarah vive sola, con un gato negro, en una casa de dos plantas en un barrio bastante apartado a alejado (quizás la periferia de París). La casa está llena de recuerdos de Matthieu, que desestabilizan emocionalmente a Sarah, prueba de ello, un sueño inquietante donde aparecen su gato negro y su feto, de una forma perturbadora e inquietante. Pero en ese mismo instante de la pesadilla, aparece un elemento mucho peor… Alguien toca el timbre, y exige que abra la puerta. Sarah mientras mira por la mirilla, viendo solo una sombra en la penumbra, se excusa de que su marido está durmiendo, y la voz femenina, le afirma que le abra y que su marido está muerto. Patam! Sarah se queda de piedra! No pudiendo ver con claridad quién la está molestando opta por asegurar la casa, y en la parte trasera, descubre de nuevo a la extraña mujer. Esta actúa con absoluta y total frialdad, incluso se le enciende un cigarrillo, sin dejar entrever ningún rasgo de su cara, y le rompe un cristal. Acto seguido, Sarah coge el telf y llama a la policía, cogiendo además la cámara para con la esperanza de sacarle una foto de la cara con la ayuda del flash. Nuestra misteriosa mujer decide marcharse… pero no quizás del todo!

Sarah - À l'Intérieur

Al cabo de un rato, una patrulla de la policia acude a casa de Sarah para confirmar su llamada y tomarle declaración. Desgraciadamente, las fotos tomadas no revelan nada, y para tranquilizar a Sarah, los polis le dicen que la patrulla de noche se pasará un momento. Lo que no sabe Sarah es que tras la marcha de la patrulla, la mujer conseguirá entrar en la casa y es aquí cuando empieza el espectáculo de terror y violencia.

A partir de ahí, no contaré nada más de la trama, dejando que el espectador compruebe en propias carnes, una de las películas más bestias y violentas que he visto hace tiempo. Todos sabéis que me gusta el gore, pero a veces las películas gore se resumen en gore por el gore, es decir, las típicas escenas de desmembramientos, destripamientos, descuartizaciones, pero en cambio con A l’Intérieur, las imágenes se convierten en reales, crudas, despiadadas, y de una violencia inusitada… Y todo ello, con la absoluta frialdad de nuestra mujer de negro (Béatrice Dalle), que hace un papelón! Nunca una mujer se había presentado así de sádica y calculadora! Sólo se me ocurre un precedente, La Naranja Mecánica (dir: Stanley Kubrick – A Clockwork Orange, 1971), otra gran muestra de violencia. Pero con A l’Intérieur vamos más allá, y si ya de por sí, la peli es cruda, uno de los temas que toca todavía lo es más: una mujer embarazada! Otro referente que me vino a la mente fue La Semilla del Diablo (dir: Roman Polanski – Rosemary’s Baby, 1968), pero me quedo corto!

Evidentemente, esta película no es apta para personas sensibles, ni embarazadas, ni cardíacos; primero por tocar un tema tan poco común, y que puede suscitar el enfado de algún visionador despistado; y segundo, por el hecho de mostrar las imágenes violentas tal cual, sin ningún tipo de corte ni miramiento. Además las secuencias donde sale el feto, es como si fuera un personaje indirecto, pero que también está presente en el film, mostrando su propio sufrimiento y dolor. Otro de los puntos positivos que quiero destacar, es la sensación de agobio y claustrofobia que se genera al focalizar todas las escenas fuertes en la casa, y otro aspecto, es que hasta último momento no sepamos o adivinemos quién es la extraña mujer de negro, al menos en mí caso, y eso que barajé una posibilidad pero me salió mal.

En fin, no os puedo decir más, incluso escribiendo esta reseña me estoy quedando corto en elogios. Quizás pensaréis que estoy tarado o soy un sádico… sí, no vais muy desencaminados, pero sin lugar a dudas, À l’Intérieur se ha convertido en un icono para mí… Violencia en estado puro, sadismo por doquier y desvinculación emocional a la hora de cometer una atrocidad. Una Joya!

Compel – To force to a course of action

Some of my favorite books are the ones the keep me turning the page.  I devour them, unable to put them down.  If something causes me to stop reading, I find myself thinking, stewing, obsessing over the book.

So, what is the key to such a book?  What is it that compels me to turn the page?

For me the key is in the characters, the plot, and the placement of the chapters. 

Characters are the first important ingredient in a compelling novel.  The MCs need to been well developed, three-dimensional characters that are authentic.  I want to believe in them – their feelings and their actions.  I want to care about them – even if they are despicable people.

Next is the plot.  The story needs to also be fully developed.  It needs to take the characters beyond their comfort zone.  In my favorite books, the story takes the characters to a place beyond all hope, and has the characters claw their way back to some sort of resolution.

Finally, compelling novels are “structured” to be that way.  Chapters end with a cliff hanger,  forcing the reader to turn the page.  New chapters begin with high tension, compelling the reader to continue on.  In short, there are simply no good places to STOP reading the story.

So, in my YA novels, I apply this process and hope to craft something as compelling as my favorite reads. 

What about you guys?  What compels you to turn the page in your favorite books?

Them or Ils (2006)

Olivia Bonnamy as Clementine

Them or Ils is a French horror film released in 2006. A quasi-remake came out last year called The Strangers, a film I have not seen but I probably will if only to make the comparison. Them claims to be based on a true story, and whether true or not, any speculation from the audience works to the film’s advantage. It follows a woman named Clementine and her husband named Lucas. Clementine is a teacher who recently moved from France to a rural part of Romania. The film opens with a scene that will tell you right off the bat what the film’s intentions are but this only serves to heighten the degree to which the film’s suspense is a massive success. Clementine and Lucas are disturbed at their quiet and isolated home late in the evening and the disturbances escalate gradually and intensely. Them seems like a 45 minute movie and I mean that as a huge compliment. There hasn’t been a more effective thriller in a few years and it’s all done with very little violence, at least when compared to some of the other films that make up this recent wave of solid French horror films (i.e. À l’intérieur, Haute Tension, and Frontière(s)).

Michael Cohen as Lucas

The French have always made great films and we’ve seen transgressive French films surface more and more frequently over the last ten or twenty years (I think of Irreversible and some of Catherine Breillat’s work). To see French cinema excel in this particular genre is no surprise and although Them’s themes of paranoia and isolation are certainly in tune with this, it notably lacks the shock-factor that the more obviously violent associated films have. It makes up for all of that by serving up top-notch suspense. In fact I’d rather see horror go this route than the gore and splatter-fests that clean-up at American box offices this time a year on an annual basis.

Bonnamy and Cohen in a scene from Them

This film makes no direct commentary but there are small voices denouncing Them as an indirect commentary and example of French fears regarding European Union expansion. An interesting angle and critique of a film that may or may not actually even know better. No worries; here in the states and perhaps everywhere else, the film will for the most part serve its purpose of sitting you down and taking you for a ride. The film’s ending also hits very hard and it surprised me in a unique way. I’d recommend this over a lot of junk that will no doubt be heavily advertised to the mainstream in the coming weeks.

My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.

Care-i treaba cu filmele de groaza? Nu reusesc sa ma uit la unul fara sa-mi pun palmele la ochi si fara sa trag din cand in cand cu ochiul printre degetele rasfirate… Cand mi se pare scary rrau, imi pun mainile la urechi si inchid ochii si intreb persoanele care sunt de fata daca s-a terminat faza (se intelege de la sine ca nu pot sa ma uit la un film horror singura!)…
In filmul asta, Haute tension (High Tension), lucrurile o iau razna de la jumatate incolo, in sensul ca telespectatorii au parte de o surpriza de proportii, care intoarce sensul peliculei cu 360 de grade. Eu inca incerc sa ma lamuresc ce s-a intamplat de fapt, de aia am si postat articol. Este si asa greu de crezut ca un om poate fi schizofrenic si psihopat, iar faptul ca un asemenea personaj face subiectul unui film (efecte speciale, scenariu recte imaginatie fara limite, tipete, expresii de groaza etc.) nu ma determina decat sa ma sperii si mai mult si sa urasc si mai mult filmele de genul.
Prin urmare, daca a vazut cineva filmul asta sau il vede ca urmare a recomandarii (?) mele, hai sa ne lamurim impreuna: ce era cu capul cela de moarta de la inceput, din camioneta? Ce cauta bruta aia in casa oamenilor, noaptea? Care a fost faza cu uciderea mamei lui Alex (actrita Oana Pellea, actually, cu o franceza perfecta)? Cat si-a imaginat Marie si cat a fost realitate? And so on…
Anyway, prost film. Foarte sangeros (deh, regizorii sunt francezi), dar cat de cat original (nu am mai vazut nicaieri o asemenea metoda de decapitare…).

Vizionare placuta…

“Do you know there’s not one kid who has died in Iraq who wouldn’t be alive today if there never was a Monica Lewinsky. Monica Lewinsky changed the world. Had there been no Monica Lewinsky, Tipper Gore wouldn’t have insisted that she didn’t want her husband campaigning with Bill Clinton; they would have won two more states if they had allowed him to campaign with them in the South. …I think [Monica] did more to change the world than Cleopatra.”
–Don Hewiit, in an interview with journalist Carol Felsenthal, in September 2006

“He had a great sense of what the people would take on television and he knew what they ought to know.”
–Andy Rooney, regarding Don Hewitt

“Don understood the power of question. If you put it to someone it in a very clear and precise way, and made them ask themselves, “How do I respond?” – you would get the most compelling kinds of TV you’ve ever seen….His solitary genius was in the editing room.  It was about story. And understanding of story and understanding a narrative – and that is what everything is about today. That is what politics is about, what communication is about, it about how to best tell a story.”
–Charlie Rose, regarding Don Hewitt

“Don Hewitt was a man who changed TV news , and in the process it affected some of the great events of the 20th century by coming up with a broadcast that attracted millions and millions of people….There isn’t a show on television – I don’ t care what variety news show – that didn’t have Don’s DNA. I’m talking about camera angles – the close tight shots when you are doing interviews, the way to ask questions, the ambush interviews….
–Steve Kroft, regarding Don Hewitt

“He always worked at high tension, at peak performance. Horrible temper tantrums. But when he settled down: brilliant. Absolutely brilliant….Don Hewitt really in a certain way created guys like me, Mike, and Ed. And the others. He really did. He is the father of us all.” 
–Morley Safer

High Tension
After murdering the father in such a manner, I feared how the killer would kill anyone else. I feared so long, I eventually wanted to see someone die: why I’m watching. The dead head was morbid and Alex’s father’s decapitation was surprising, but I’m about halfway through and nothing’s impressed or entertained as much as those brief moments.
Second act is boring. Cat and mouse can be suspenseful, but it isn’t here, and all I find myself wanting is a view of Alex being maimed, that two-dimensional generic victim bitch!
The twist shows me I’ve wasted time, but not as much as The Machinist. I could’ve seen the main character’s pre-twist journey without the game of hide-and-seek. It would’ve been easier to follow and make sense afterward. Should’ve been 30 minutes long.

Otis
A torture film with a summer comedy sense and style of humor probably makes easygoing audiences feel “hardcore” for laughing at images of pain and death the way indie zombie fans do. Doesn’t stick to comedy and drama, tone shifts without warning. I don’t care about any of the characters, least of all the easily identifiable teenage victim, except, very slightly, do I get a flicker of connection with Otis and his brother. All of the payoffs for enduring the film are comedic, and in a knockoff Caddyshack “hyuk, hyuk, it’s irony” kind of way.
I’ll probably delight in the thought of never seeing this again.

Feast
I like it when I see kids die in film, and this one delivers. Fun, until I’m faced with the uncomfortable position of watching two survivors sacrifice a bound, defenseless woman to rape by monster and death by explosion so they can escape. Her death was a little cartoony, but too terrible for me to even think of as a joke.

Paul Tassi at Unreality compiles his list of the Ten Best Horror Movies of the Last Ten Years, and I’ve got to say that it’s a pretty decent list.

10. The Hills Have Eyes remake (2006). This one wouldn’t make my list; I’d substitute one of the alternates listed below. As these things go, it was a passable remake, but it didn’t stick with me, and the ostensible satire/message (the mutants are US, man!) was laid on a bit thick.

9. 28 Days Later (2002). Great choice. An instant classic. The sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was quite good as well.

8. Saw (2004). This one wouldn’t make my list, but it’s an arguable choice. Given the utter degradation of this series through an endless series of increasingly absurd and slapdash sequels, it’s easy to forget that the first one was a cleverly plotted thriller with genuine twists.

7. The Descent (2005). Another instant classic. I’d put this one very close to the top of the list. Perhaps the most claustrophobic movie I’ve ever seen. I was on a caving trip once and the guide had the nerve to mention it. Not a movie to think about while you’re underground.

6. High Tension (2003). Another by Frenchman Alexandre Aja (along with the Hills Have Eyes) and another I’d leave off the list. It was an effective (if excessively gory) slasher flick utterly ruined by a ridiculous twist ending that annulled everything that came before it.

5. Audition (1999). Oh my, what to say about this movie? I only saw this last week, and for the first hour or so, I thought perhaps I’d gotten the wrong movie. Everyone talked about how disturbing this movie was, but here I was watching a rather slow but deeply engaging domestic drama about a Japanese widower and his son.  There is no way that an American horror movie (or whatever genre this is) would allow this much screen time to elapse without something ostensibly scary (or at least portentious) happening. Then I got to the last half hour, and I understood. It’s odd, unique, and masterfully made but also deeply, deeply disturbing. Viewer beware. From director Takashi Miike.

4. The Sixth Sense (1999). Okay, jest all you want about the killer trees and merpeople that M. Night Shyamalan has subjected his ever-dwindling fan-base to in his last few outings, but this one still holds up. The best twist ever, and a damn scary movie in the early scenes to boot.

3. The Blair Witch Project (1999). What needs to be said about this phenom? It worked for me at the time. Haven’t seen it again, so can’t speak to its staying power. If only it hadn’t spawned so many imitators.

2. The Ring (2002; Gore Verbinski’s American version). I have to confess that I haven’t seen the Japanese version, but this one gets everything right.

1. The Orphanage (2007). A great choice for number one. Juan Antonio Bayona’s eerie masterpiece is the perfect response to the criticism (which I heard earlier today) that horror today is all blood and gore, with no atmosphere or subtlety. This one is all atmosphere and subtlety, and boy is it effective. I think it works so well because Bayano and screenwriter Sergio Sanchez never forget that ghost stories ultimately are about grief, loss, and redemption.

Alternates and Honorable Mentions:

The Others (2001). Another one that relies on old-school atmosphere to deliver the goods on a classic ghost story.

The Signal (2008).

The Grudge (2004; American version). Genuinely scary.

The Devil’s Backbone (2001). Director Guillermo del Toro has called the vastly more successful Pan’s Labyrinth a ’spiritual sequel’ to this early horror movie. Another one that takes place at a Spanish orphanage. Geez, don’t they have Child Services over there?

Let the Right One In (2008). Fresh take on the vampire genre. Currently being remade for Americans who can’t read subtitles.

Session 9 (2001). An overlooked gem of psychological horror.

by The Great White Gypsy

Public Enemies – Directed by Michael Mann, Written by Michael Mann and Ronan Bennett
I may not have liked Miami Vice, but Michael Mann is one of the best directors ever, and this epic 1930’s crime drama looks fantastic. The story of Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson has been portrayed on screen a million times, but this cast is amazing, and the cinematography looks great.
Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Emilie de Ravin, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, Leelee Sobieski, Billy Crudup, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff
July 1

The Girl From Monaco – Written and Directed by Anne Fontaine
The story of a lawyer who travels to Monaco to defend a criminal, and gets involved with a seemingly innocent girl via his bodyguard. Fontaine is celebrated in France, and the film won two French Academy Awards last year (I know, I know, but give it a chance).
Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zem, Louise Bourgoin
July 3

Blood: The Last Vampire – Directed by Chris Nahon, Written by Chris Chow
Based on a popular anime, this is basically Blade, if he were a Japanese schoolgirl. If you liked House of Flying Daggers, Fearless, and Blade, you might enjoy the bloody katana action with the undead.
Gianna Jun, Allison Miller, Masiela Lusha, Koyuki
July 10

Bruno – Directed by Larry Charles, Written by Sacha Baron Cohen
Borat was an awful, awful, awful movie. And I freaking loved it. I still call people gypsy. This will not be as popular, and probably not as funny, but two hours of uncomfortable riotous laughter is always worth $11.
Sacha Baron Cohen
July 10

Streets of Blood – Directed by Charles Winkler, Written by Eugene Hess
Winkler and Hess are both fairly new to film, and the casting is somewhat unexpected, but the story of corrupt cops in The Big Easy during Hurricane Katrina might be one of Kilmer’s better films of late. It won’t be Spartan, but I’ll watch it.
Val Kilmer, 50 Cent, Sharon Stone, Michael Biehn
July 13

500 Days of Summer – Directed by Marc Webb, Written by Scott Neustadtler and Michael H. Weber
I’ve been very impressed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt since Manic, and Deschanel is always good. Music Video-director Webb’s first big feature about a man reliving his relationship with the love of his life after she dumps him. Looks like The Break-up meets Definitely, Maybe, but the animated bird has me skeptical, and both writers followed this project with The Pink Panther 2. I’ll wait for on-demand.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
July 17

Death in Love – Written and Directed by Boaz Yakin
Yakin directed Remember the Titans (surprisingly good) and Uptown Girls (why would I watch that?), but this is a much more serious film about a concentration camp survivor who has a relationship with a Nazi soldier. As she gets older, she watches her sons’ lives and relationships get progressively more complicated and unsuccessful. I have a hard time taking Josh Lucas seriously, but it looks intriguing.
Jacqueline Bissett, Josh Lucas, Lukas Haas, Adam Brody
July 17

The Answer Man – Written and Directed by John Hindman
Jeff Daniels plays a writer still riding the 20 years of success brought by his book about God and life’s answers. However, he’s a recluse and kind of a dick. Then he meets an attractive chiropractor, and starts to open up. If anyone but Daniels was in this, I would pass, but I like his work. First film for Hindman.
Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Lou Taylor Pucci, Kat Dennings
July 24

Deadgirl – Directed by Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel, Written by Trent Haaga
Not to be confused with Brittany Murphy’s lackluster thriller, Deadgirl is the story of two teenagers who ditch school to hang out in an abandoned mental facility. They find a woman in a locked room, barely alive, and decide to keep her there and have some…fun. Looks really, really twisted, but I’ve never heard of anyone involved.
Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan
July 24

In the Loop – Directed by Armando Iannucci, Written by Jesse Armstrong and Simon Blackwell
I usually don’t go in for British camcorder-comedies, but this looks genuinely funny, absurd, and relevant. About politicians in Britain and America weighing the pros and cons of going to war.
Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Anna Chlumsky, Steve Coogan
July 24

Orphan – Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Written by David Johnson
Little white girls are scary, Peter Sarsgaard is a solid actor, and Vera Farmiga is hot, and not a half bad actress. Need I say more? Probably. A couple adopts a 9 year old who’s a little…off. By off I mean psychotic. Same director as House of Wax, but Paris Hilton isn’t in it, so it might be cool.
Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard
July 24

Shrink – Directed by Jonas Pate, Written by Thomas Moffett
Kevin Spacey is one of my favorite actors, and he hasn’t done nearly enough work in the last few years. So I’m excited to watch him play a celebrity therapist who suffers a mental breakdown. Newbie writer and director, but the cast looks respectable, and Robin Williams is in there somewhere.
Kevin Spacey, Saffron Burrows, Mark Webber, Keke Palmer, Pell James, Robert Loggia, Robin Williams
July 24

Bakjwi (Thirst) – Written and Directed by Park Chan-Wook
What little I’ve seen of Korean cinema has impressed me; lower budget, but just as much violence as Japan. I’m also a huge vampire fan, so this tale of a priest-turned-vampire trying to maintain his humanity sounds pretty sweet. Chan-Wook also directed Oldboy, which was an instant Korean classic.
Song Kang-Ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Kim Ok-bin
July 31

Funny People – Written and Directed by Judd Apatow
It might seem like Apatow has directed every movie since 2005, but this is only his third, and it appears to have a bit more substance than the first two. Sandler plays a comedian with a terminal illness who makes his peace with death, only to be given a second chance. Several Apatow regulars, and some new additions, I’m just not sure about his pairing with Sandler yet.
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann
July 31

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

Last Ride – Directed by Glendyn Ivin, Written by Mac Gudgeon
Australian film about a father who runs from his past, and brings his son along through the outback. Supposedly Weaving’s best performance yet, it looks like another underappreciated hit from down under. It hits theaters in Australia July 2, but no other releases are scheduled so far, so it might be on DVD by August, it might hit festival circuits in 2011. Who knows?
Hugo Weaving, Tom Russell
July 2 (Australia)

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane – Directed by Jonathan Levine, Written by Jacob Forman
Horror movie about a girl every guy wants to get with. Then someone actually goes crazy and tries to kill everyone to get to her. The preview reminds me of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and High Tension. Levine’s latest was The Wackness, which was really good, but this one actually started at festivals in 2006, and hasn’t gotten an officially U.S. release yet. Which is surprising, because Amber Heard is really sexy.
Amber Heard
July 17 (Possible Limited Release)

Fifty Dead Men Walking – Directed by Kari Scogland, Written by Nicholas Davies and Martin McGartland
This is the true story of Martin McGartland, an undercover civilian in the IRA. He actually wrote the book himself a few years ago, and is still in witness protection. Screened at Canadian festivals in 2008, came to the Seattle festival in May, but I can’t find a solid date. I actually saw this movie a few months ago, and I highly recommend it. It’s not the most exciting movie ever, but the acting is good, and the fact that it all really happened is crazy.
Jim Sturgess, Ben Kingsley, Rose McGowan
July 31 (Possible Limited Release)

Martyr

1: a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion2: a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle3: victim ; especially : a great or constant sufferer <a martyr to asthma all his life — A. J. Cronin>

Recently I watched the film Martyrs(2008). I’ve been mulling over what to say about this film for a few days. I thought I was getting a revenge movie. I assumed this film would be along the lines of Saw and Hostel. It appeared to be maybe similar to High Tension. Needless to say I thought I was getting a gore-fest.  After much thought I found this movie to be much deeper than most in its genre. Don’t get me wrong it is ultra violent and borders on just being sadistic. It is like watching two very different films. The first portion is very violent and at times terrifying. Once the second half kicks in the first half seems less scary and the movie becomes complex. I was enthralled with this movie. I cant say I enjoyed it but I couldn’t turn it off.

I wanted to understand the characters and their relationships with each other. I found myself questioning almost every aspect of this movie. At times I thought maybe my simple American brain could not wrap around this complex French film. I wanted answers. I’m purposely not giving away any information about this film because I think its very important to have no preconceived notions before watching. I found this movie more appalling than shocking. I think the director may actually be a little genius or just sick.

I will never watch this film again. Nor will I recommend it, say it was good, or bad. I imagine I will never quite know how I feel about this film. It was defiantly an experience.

Se que la vivo quejándome de que en México no nos traen buenas películas de genero para estrenar en el cine, nos abarrotan los cines con la mierda de “parodias” gringas y dejan fuera muchas buenas películas.

Tambien creo que la mayoría de la gente que me conoce supo de mi emoción al ver el cartel de la excelente “El Despertar del Miedo” (Haute Tension) fuera de los cines, después nos volvieron a sorprender con otra joyita de el cine francés estrenando “La Frontera del Miedo” (Frontier(s)); en esta semana toca el turno a la brutal “Instinto Siniestro” (Inside/À l’intérieur).

Me sorprendí al leer esta noticia hoy en el periódico, ya que es una película esperadísima por los amantes del gore y que ahora tendremos la oportunidad de ver en pantalla gigante. El titulo, bueno considerando como manejan y traducen los títulos no les quedo del todo mal.

Película que vale completamente la pena y que en Monterrey esta siendo proyectada (al menos por el momento, espero que la estrenen en mas cines) en los Cinemas Rio Molinete, en horarios medio cachondos.

Una mujer que lo ha perdido todo, tras un accidente ocurrido cuatro meses atrás en el que murió su esposo, se aferra a su embarazo para seguir adelante. Cuando está a punto de dar a luz, aparece una extraña en su casa para perseguirla y torturarla en su propio hogar. La desconocida parece que no descansará hasta robarle al hijo no nato y entre las dos mujeres comienza una batalla que terminará con funestas consecuencias para más de uno de los involucrados.

Con: Béatrice Dalle, Alysson Paradis Nathalie Roussel, François-Régis Marchasson, Jean-Baptiste Tabourin

Direccion:Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury

Click en el poster para ver el trailer para México… Y si lo reconozco, estoy emocionado.

Via poster

Nothing Sacred is a new Horror/Fantasy film by writer/directors Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme.  The film synopsis is: To avenge their mother’s death, a pair of twins must kill their father before he can become immortal.

The special effects in the film help to move the plot along.  I especially liked a scene in which a creepy puppet seems to come to life and another involving a woman being possessed by a snake spirit. 

Makeup Special Effects artist Anthony Pepe worked on this film and did a great job!  Filmed on location throughout the United States, France, and Belgium, was released in both English and French versions.

The film stars French box-office sensation Thierry Lhermitte (The Dinner Game, French Fried Vacation), Philippe Nahon, the star of High Tension, and famed scream queen Debbie Rochon (Terror Firmer), alongside newcomers Alan Barnes Netherton and Naama Kates. Actor William Sadler is cast as the film’s villian.  Sadler is known for his roles in such films as Die Hard 2, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey and The Shawshank Redemption.

http://www.nothingsacredmovie.com/

I’m a guy, and guys aren’t supposed to cry during movies right? We’re supposed to be the ones comforting our girls when they start bawling. We’re supposed to be the tough ones. Nothing is supposed to affect us. That’s bullshit though. Movies, more than any other art medium, are able to affect us a human beings. They can challenge us, stimulate us, and push us to the very brink. And I will fully admit to crying during certain movies. No, I did not cry during The Notebook, and frankly I don’t understand why anyone did. This isn’t about weepie romances or tragic tales of love gone awry. This is about movies that stare you in the face and then punch you in the gut. They’re emotionally devastating because of their ideas, not because of overly dramatic strings playing in the background. Some are documentaries, some are features, but they all had one thing in common. They all got my guard down enough so that tears were unashamedly streaming down my face by the end.

Martyrs

This is a movie I’d been dying to see for a long time. As I’ve previously written, it’s one of the new wave of French horror films that combine intelligence and actual suspense in with copious amounts of blood and entrails. However, after finally viewing it, I can truthfully say that you shouldn’t believe everything you read or hear about it. It’s not really a horror film at all, at least not in the usual sense. Apart from a few scenes in the first half hour or so, there’s nothing that will really make you jump or scream, or be frightened at all. What it will do however, is completely destroy you. In that sense, it’s maybe the most horrific film of all.

Unlike other modern French horror films (High Tension, Inside, etc.), this isn’t a fun movie. Those films were graphically violent, but they still had elements of a traditional stalk and slash. They were entertaining if you didn’t mind the blood. Martyrs isn’t. To fully experience it, if you still want to, I’d advise you to turn off all the lights, make sure it’s late enough so that it’s dark outside, and either watch it alone, or make it a rule that no one is allowed to speak during it’s hour and a half running time. Then just push play.

The great thing about Martyrs is that you never have any idea of where it’s going. The first 40-45 mins or so are almost a completely seperate movie from the next 45 mins. The set up is like many other films of it’s type. A young girl escapes from a home where she was chained up and ritualistically beaten. She grows up in some sort of state facility with other abused girls, and never fully recovers from her early imprisonment. When she reaches adulthood, she decides that she needs to find and get revenge on the people who made her this way. Sounds not too unique right? Again, that’s just the first half. Where the film goes from there, I’ll never tell. As MrDisgusting from the horror site bloody-disgusting.com said in his review of the film, “The only negative thing about Laugier’s film is that once you see it, you’ll never be able to see it for the first time ever again…” Just know that the film’s examinations of life, death, and everything in between, will affect you, and they will affect you hard.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to A Son About His Father

If this movie doesn’t leave you in uncontrollable tears by the end of it’s 95 min. running time, then you have no heart. That seems like a bold statement to make, but I stand by it. Yes this film is manipulative. Yes it’s one-sided. But damn if it isn’t heartbreakingly effective.

Andrew Bagby was murdered in 2001 by Shirley Jane Turner who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution. There, she gave birth to a son, Zachary, unknowingly fathered by Bagby. Because of this, Bagby’s friend Kurt Kuenne, a filmmaker, decided to make a documentary about Bagby’s life and his Zachary’s grandparent’s attempts to obtain legal custody of him, to show to Zachary when he got older.

If you don’t already know anything about the actual case before watching the movie, don’t look it up until afterwards. Since Kuenne was filming and editing while legal wrangling was still going on, the film takes several twists and turns that are terrible anyways, but devestating if you’re finding out about them as you watch.

Grimm Love

Another film based on a true crime case, except this one is fictionalized. In real life, Armin Meiwes was arrested in Germany for his part in the killing and eating of Bernd Jürgen Brandes. He’s currently serving life in prison after a long legal battle stemming from the fact that Brandes wanted to be eaten.

Meiwes had posted an ad for a willing victim on a cannibal chat room and Brandes had answered it. On the night the two of them met, Brandes was drugged with alcohol, sleeping pills, and pain killers, and systematically killed and chopped up for storing. The whole thing was filmed.

Grimm Love takes this now famous case and jumps forward a few years. A psychology student in Germany is doing her thesis on Oliver Hartwin (the Meiwes character) and Simon Grombeck (Brandes). The film jumps back and forth between the present and past before recreating the tape Meiwes had made of the event at the end. As Keri Russell’s psych student sits on her couch crying while she witnesses the events taking place, I cried with her. It’s almost impossible not to.

The reason this film works so well is because it isn’t exploitive.  The topic of cannibalism isn’t handled violently. In fact, I’m pretty sure not a single act of violence is actually shown on screen. Instead, the film is a psychological study on these characters. At it’s heart, as the title implies, it’s a love story. It explores what made these men different from the rest of us. What made them want to eat, and be eaten. How they, like so many other onscreen couples, were perfect soulmates in their own twisted way.

Deliver Us From Evil

Another doc, this one about a Catholic priest, Oliver O’Grady, who “sexually abused potentially hundreds of children between the late 1970s and early 1990s.” Filmmaker Amy Berg follows a few of his victims around as they try to cope and live normal lives, interviews their families, and even travels to Ireland, where O’Grady was deported to after serving only seven years in prison.

Berg doesn’t just target O’Grady though. She aims at the entirety of the modern Catholic Church. Over the years, as allegations against O’Grady began to pile up, the diocese, instead of turning him in or excommunicating him, just moved him around California, from parish to parish, enabling him to abuse more and more children as the years went on. Berg questions the whole structure and hierarchy of the Church, and comes to some startling conclusions about why priests aren’t allowed to marry (originally they were, until the Church realized they would be the sole inheiritors of a priests accumulated wealth if there were no family to be taken care of in the event of death).

The entire movie is horrifying, from the individual testimonies of O’Grady’s victims to the broader statistics on Church sexual abuse at the end of the film, but two sequences stand out. In one, Mr. Jyono, the father of one of the victims, breaks down in despair and anger at the world, at the church, at O’Grady, and at God himself for allowing this to happen to his daughter. Seeing this man renounce his faith on camera was just too much for me. In the other, O’Grady confesses his sins to Berg, and yet is obviously unrepentant. He smirks and winks and talks about inviting his victims to Ireland for a chat, oblivious to the fact that they don’t want to have anything to do with the man that ruined their lives. All you can really do while watching this is stare at the screen in anger at what O’Grady has done and essentially gotten away with, and with the Church for knowingly allowing him to do it.

thx Videogum, however, this is not a video post..

I’m a self-professed horror movie junkie. I can’t deny it. But most horror movies that come out in theaters or on DVD suck. It’s a fact of life and something every genre fan has to deal with. Sometimes however, one comes out that makes everyone who sees it talk about it incessantly to anyone who’ll listen.

Recently, a lot of these movies have been coming out of France of all places. The New French Extremity as they’re called, started with Alexandre Aja’s Haute Tension (High Tension) which was called one of the most violent movies ever made. Unlike American ultraviolent movies however, it’s actually scary and well crafted in addition to being gross. Then a few years ago À l’intérieur (Inside) upped the ante even more, creating the most extreme slasher movie in ages.

Then a little film called Martyrs debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last year and became one of the most divisive films to ever play there. It suckerpunched the midnight crowd that had gathered to watch it, and everyone in the horror community started counting down the days till it’s eventual release.

It still hasn’t come.

Dimension Films bought the film in Nov. 2007 and decided to release it on DVD but a date wasn’t set for a long time. Then a date of Feb. 24, 2009 was set for a DVD and Blu-Ray release and horror fans rejoiced. That’s in two weeks, and guess what, it’s not happening.

First the date was moved to March 24, then April 28. And to top it off, the Blu-Ray release was dropped completely.

So the question remains. Why Weinsteins? Why?

Dimension Films is a specialty label that’s a part of The Weinstein Company, the independent studio formed by Bob and Harvey Weinstein when they split from Miramax/Disney. The Weinsteins have a history of buying the distribution rights to interesting foreign movies and then either sitting on them for years, never releasing them, or cutting them to pieces before putting them out.

This had appeared to change when they formed the Dimension Extreme DVD label, releasing uncut genre films like Teeth and the aforementioned Inside. But I guess the Weinsteins just cant help pissing off genre fans one more time.