FANGORIA®
Deaditorial: Streaming Services are Killing Horror (And What They Can Do To Save It)
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Deaditorial: Streaming Services are Killing Horror (And What They Can Do To Save It)
In Defense of Joel Schumacher’s 8MM
Shock Till You Drop
In Defense of Joel Schumacher’s 8MM
It’s as good a time as any to scribble about a motion picture that I cite as one of the most underrated genre films of the past quarter century and certainly, the most undervalued in the Nicolas Cage cannon. It’s a movie that positions itself as a noir-steeped murder mystery but goes so deeply into phantasmagoria that it becomes, almost imperceptibly, a full blown horror film. And while there isn’t anything explicitly supernatural in the film, there is a leather-clad Frankenstein monster-esque porn stud-cum-gimp named “Machine” who acts as the angel of sexual death for an egomaniacal snuff film pimp named Dino Velvet. Isn’t that element alone reason enough to make it SHOCK friendly? I think so…
Perhaps some of you have gleaned that the movie I’m raving about is the Andrew Kevin Walker (SEVEN) scripted psychodrama 8MM. The film was released in 1999 and is directed by the Hollywood gun-for-hire hack Joel Schumacher, he of slick and empty entertainments like THE LOST BOYS, FLATLINERS, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and the despicable BATMAN FOREVER and the even more dire BATMAN AND ROBIN. Outside of the latter two pictures, however, I actually rather like Schumacher. He’s a sleazier Tony Scott in some ways, making glossy, easily packaged product that nonetheless has covert personal kinks splooging around on the peripheral and often, palpable heart at their cores. I believe 8MM to be his his masterpiece and certainly, it’s further evidence that Cage is one of the great dramatic screen presences when used properly and when dialing down his patented eccentricities (though I am indeed a huge devotee of said eccentricities).
The film sees Cage playing Tom Welles, an affluent and easy going Private Investigator living a life of domestic bliss with his supportive wife (an unfortunately wasted Catherine Keener) and beloved infant daughter. Welles’ beat is cheating wives and insurance fraud and rarely does he take on any sort of case that would put him – or his family – in harm’s way. He thinks he knows the dark side that lines the hearts of most men. He thinks he’s better than it. He think that he’s mastered it. But unbeknownst to him, that protected world view is about to get stained with all manner of fluids and truths.
One night Welles is summoned to the looming mansion of his latest client, a rich widow (Myra Carter) who, while sifting through her late husband’s estate, is disturbed to discover an unmarked 8mm film loop. The mourning woman had been devoted to her late husband, a man who was, by all accounts, a wonderful, loving husband and cherished father. Except the film in question seems to indicate otherwise. Welles obliges to watch the picture in the drawing room, the projector sputters to life in the dark and unveils the most sickening sights imaginable: a young girl, glassy eyed and starring into the lens, is beaten, raped and viciously murdered by a zipper and leather-decorated monster.
Shaken and drained, Welles confirms the widows suspicions that this indeed appears to be a legitimate snuff film however, as many of these legendary loops have historically been proven to be fakes, he takes the case on, promising to not only uncover the identity of the girl in the film but determine whether or not she is indeed alive or dead.
Kissing his family goodbye, Welles begins his investigation, a serpentine quest that first leads him to the lonely home of the girl’s emotionally ruined mother (Amy Morton in a haunting turn) and then, eventually into the seediest depths of LA’s porno underworld (with a quick stop off to meet the girl’s shithead ex-boyfriend, played by a young Norman Reedus). He picks up a partner, a seemingly world weary, but ultimately sweet and gentle, adult video store employee (deftly played by Joaquin Phoenix) who ushers him deeper into the belly of the beast and straight into the lair of cult fetish porn filmmaker Dino Velvet (a reptilian Peter Stormare) and his arguably more despicable partner in exploitation, Eddie Poole (a pre-Sopranos James Gandolfini, who has never, ever been better than he is here). For better or for worse, Welles becomes bound to his targets, his world view changed, his life inexorably altered as he sinks deeper and deeper into a world of privilege, pain, perversion, pornography and the lowest, most insidious distortions of humanity to ever slime their ways through city streets.
To give away more about 8MM’s downward spiraling narrative would be to rob you of the picture’s mesmerizing power. Suffice it to say, this is a grim, unpleasant movie (as would be expected with Walker’s name on it) and with subject matter this lurid and horrific, it needs to be. The tone is decidedly bleak from the get go due in no small part to cinematographer Robert Elswit’s shadowy, lurid color pallet, Gary Wissner’s austere production design and especially, Canadian composer Mychael Danna’s nightmarish, Middle Eastern tinged and smothering score. The violence and sex is sleazy and suitably exploitative but never graphic to the point of being gratuitous. Schumacher’s direction is measured, cool and assured when it needs to be and stylized to the point that, in my original review of the film, I claimed that “this is the best horror movie Dario Argento never made”. When I told Cage this he responded favorably, being an Argento fan (and horror fan in general) and he also told me that, although the film flopped and was a North American critical disaster, Europeans, especially the French loved it and embraced it. Take from that what you will…
As Welles, Cage is in almost every scene and he’s nothing short of magnetic. This is Cage at his best: haunted, hurt (his hangdog face and wounded eyes are the films’ greatest special effect) and driven by an ever increasing moral outrage that sparks an equal teeth gritting anxiety in the audience. The scene where, while mulling over a decision to commit murder, Cage calls the little girl’s mother and asks her for permission to “hurt the people who hurt her daughter” is emotionally leveling.
But as shattering and frightening a film as 8MM is, there are enough kinky and colorful quirks in it to push it into cult film territory, which over the past decade and a half it has slowly been recognized as. Stormare’s preening Velvet is as campy as he is vile and the world he inhabits is, again, a very stylized vision of the mythical snuff underworld. Phoenix’s cheeky presence adds much levity as well, but it’s a real performance with a very real and tragic heart beating within his characters’ glib exterior.
There’s so much more to say about this strange movie’s sick spell but really, my hyperbole can’t properly do it justice. If you’ve seen this movie and dismissed it, I strongly advise you to re-evaluate it. If you haven’t seen it at all, you as a horror film fan are doing yourself a grave disservice and are wasting time reading this essay when you should be watching it. And if you still resist, because you’re one of the select cineastes who can’t stand Cage, again, this picture might just make you understand and appreciate the man a bit more.
The post In Defense of Joel Schumacher’s 8MM appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
FANGORIA Podcast Network: “THE HORROR SHOW” Dissects “HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH”
FANGORIA®
FANGORIA Podcast Network: “THE HORROR SHOW” Dissects “HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH”
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Horror-Comedy Garden Party Massacre Wraps Principal Photography
AnythingHorror Central
Horror-Comedy Garden Party Massacre Wraps Principal Photography
The horror-comedy GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE recently completed principal photography and is currently in post-production. The film is written and directed by Gregory Blair and stars Andy Gates, Nichole Bagby, David Leeper, Lise Hart, Dawna Lee Heising, Matt Weinglass, and Marv Blauvelt. Check out the press release, which also contains the plot crunch:
Comedy/Horror Film GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE Wraps Principal Photography!
Gregory Blair’s hilarious new film has wrapped and heads into post production.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Oct. 26, 2015 – PRLog — Just in time for the Halloween season, Gregory Blair’s hilarious new film GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE has wrapped principal photography and heads into post production for a 2016 release. With his award-winning psychological thriller DEADLY REVISIONS making its marketplace debut via SGL Entertainment, fans are eagerly awaiting Blair’s next film. With editing about to go under way, the wait is now just a little shorter.
GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE is a fast-paced, hilarious romp in the vein of Shaun of the Dead and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, telling the tale of a backyard gathering of friends that goes horribly awry when an unexpected guest arrives. With a pickaxe. And an attitude.
A longtime fan of horror comedy, Blair was eager to make his own contribution. “I think horror easily lends itself to comedy because the emotions are so high and the situations are often outrageous. I love films that successfully walk that line between horror and comedy, whether it’s witty and referential like the Scream or giddy low camp like Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness.”
The film stars actors from film and television, both horror and comedy. Andy Gates (“The Young and the Restless”) and Nichole Bagby (“Stupid Bitch”) are the harried hosts and the guests include Lise Hart (“Deadly Revisions”), Dawna Lee Heising (“Legend of the Red Reaper”), David Leeper (“Fifth Helena Drive”), Matt Weinglass (“Hitchcock”) and Blair (“Ooga Booga”).
Until the release, fans can get involved and get updates at http://www.GardenPartyMassacreFilm.com. There’s also a fun Playbuzz.com quiz “Which GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE Character Are You?” where fans can choose between personality traits, weapons and more to reveal the character from the film they are most like. The quiz can be found at https://www.playbuzz.com/gregoryblair10/which-garden-part…
GARDEN PARTY MASSACRE is coming your way via PIX/SEE Productions and writer/director Gregory Blair promises it will be–pun intended–a scream.
— End —
Stay Bloody!!!
Filed under: Breaking News, Independent Horror Scene, New Posting, Upcoming Releases
Stephen King Previews His Latest Book THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS
Shock Till You Drop
Stephen King Previews His Latest Book THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS
Stephen King has partnered up with Walmart (we don’t make this stuff up!) to give his fans a sneak peek at his latest literary shocker, THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS, by rolling out the foreword exclusively via the retail giant’s website.
You can read that foreword by going HERE.
Additionally, you can hear reading portions of the tome via his audio-book below:
THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS is King’s 6th collection of short stories (arguably, King is at his most potent in the short story format) and it releases everywhere on November 3rd. To celebrate, Walmart is discounting all King titles (including BAZAAR) by 40%.
To learn more about the book and for all things Stephen King go to King’s Official Site.
The post Stephen King Previews His Latest Book THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
SHOCK’s Top 10 Horror List…of Horror Lists!
Shock Till You Drop
SHOCK’s Top 10 Horror List…of Horror Lists!
Lists are an integral and important part of modern journalism. As Halloween rolls around, readers are inundated with lists of the top horror films, including top horror film deaths, horror films of the last year, horror films of the last decade, horror movie villains…it can be overwhelming to know which lists you should be reading when there are so many on such different websites. That’s why here at SHOCK we have put together the ultimate list of horror movie lists so you don’t have to wade through the muck yourself. Some of these lists come from websites dedicated to horror movies, while some are from general film and entertainment sites. Still, others are websites specializing in lists and rankings. We feel this is a well-rounded list of lists that represents the best of horror lists from around the web. If you feel we may have missed a list that belongs on this list, don’t hesitate to write it in the comments section. Enjoy! We hope you have as much fun reading each and every list on this list as we had making the list of the lists.
11) HitFix’s Ultimate Horror Movie Poll
HitFix did the unthinkable and asked over 100 of the most important horror writers, directors, authors, actors, critics, bloggers and scholars (except me) to pick their top ten greatest horror films of all time. Then, they used a special algorithm designed by NASA to tabulate the results thus making the definitive, ultimate, 100-film-long list of the best horror movies ever. The best horror movie ever? THE EXORCIST.
Check out the science by going HERE.
10) Crave Online’s 50 Best Horror Movies of the Century (So Far)
This beautiful list, co-curated by SHOCK’s own resident horror experts Alyse Wax and Chris Alexander, and with input from renowned film genius William Bibbiani, lists the 50 best horror movies of the past 15 years. That means that 3 and 1/3 horror movies from every year from 2000-2015 ended up on this list! Accidentally, John Carpenter’s GHOSTS OF MARS (2001) ended up on this list (accidentally, my ASS – ed), but everything else is extremely accurate.
Check out the GHOSTS OF MARS-heavy list HERE.
9) MFF Reader Poll: 21st Century Horror Films That Don’t Appear On “Best of” Lists
Horror films that don’t appear on any lists? There’s a list for that. Moviesfilmsandflix.com lists really good films like DOG SOLDIERS (2002) and SLITHER (2006) and the list makes you go, “Why aren’t those on any of the other best horror movie lists? Those are really good movies.” It’s a thoughtful and well-written list with input from 5,300 voters and voting options scoured from obscure Reddit posts and the comments on AV CLUB articles. I’m pretty sure the author of this list is an autistic genius, as I have never seen this level of thought and care and intelligence go into any list before.
Dig into the Mensa-approved list HERE.
8) Here’s 8 Of The Scariest TV Horrors From Yesteryear
Oh look! It’s one of my own lists that I made for another horror website. This amazing list of TV horror from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s is just so amazing. This list has such thoughtful insight, such a great sense of concise knowledge, such art to it. This writer is so knowledgeable. Hey, did you ever hear of LATE NIGHT HORROR? This writer must be so smart to know about all this stuff. Even noted cynic Shade Rupe said of this list, “I was sad at first, but this is a thoroughly informative article.”
Learn what Shade learned by going HERE.
7) Six Amazing Non-Genre Halloween TV Episodes You Must See!
It’s a horror list about Halloween that has nothing to do with horror at all. It’s Alyse Wax’s list of must-see Halloween TV episodes of non-horror things! (Definitely click this link because it’s also on Shock Till You Drop.) Do you remember when Roseanne and Dan turned their house into a spooky Tunnel of Terror on their lower middle-class income budget? I do too! What a great episode. Their couch was so ugly.
Help SHOCK get more hits by going HERE.
6) Ten Horror Movies That Hurt So Good
No list of horror movie lists is complete without a list from Stacie Ponder, who is The New York Times’ resident horror expert and has actually testified in court as an expert on horror films. Her palate is so refined that she can actually distinguish between the bad kind of horror movies that cause pain, and that good kind of bad horror movies that hurt so good. This list, which was commissioned by AMC, answers the question once and for all so we all know which bad horror movies are safe to watch, and which are poisonous.
Masochists can go HERE.
5) Top Ten Cheesiest Horror Movie One-Liners!
This fun little list from Bloody-Disgusting points out the best bad writing in silly horror movies. In this list, however, not only do we get the cheesy one-liner itself, but we get the context and level of cheesiness rating from the dedicated writer. The movies they list are ones that don’t normally appear on any lists at all, like FEARDOTCOM (which I actually love lots – ed), and the list ends with a classic cheesy one-liner that all horror fans honestly do love and quote incessantly.
To sample the film-y fromage hit HERE.
4) Horror Movie Mistakes So Scary You Missed Them (PHOTOS)
This list of photos showing horror movie mistakes comes to us from Moviefone, which is not a phone system of any kind, but used to be back in the 1980s. Now it is a website, and they made this list of horror movie mistakes as one of those photo slideshows that you can flip through, but the page reloads every time you click on one of the photos and ads will reload on the page too. I wanted to make sure to include one of those in this list, and this one in particular is pretty nit-picky, so die-hard horror aficionados will enjoy it immensely.
Check out all the bloody bloopers HERE.
3) Top 10 Horror Movies No Pregnant Woman Should Watch
There’s an entire website devoted to Top Ten Lists called top10hq.com, and while their business model is questionable, we wish them the best. They host a horror film list of movies that should scare the crap out of pregnant women and so they should not watch them, like Paul Solet’s GRACE (2009). Most impressive about this list is the inclusion of the segment Z IS FOR ZYGOTE from THE ABCs OF DEATH 2, which, in my opinion, is probably the best short in that entire anthology.
Get knocked out by thems who is knocked up by going HERE.
2) The 32 Best Death Scenes In Horror Movie History
This tasteofcinema.com list has a pleasant little intro paragraph discussing how different film genres elicit different reactions from the audience and sets up the 32 film scenes nicely. What I like best about this list is that it provides YouTube links to watch all of the death scenes it describes so in- depth. Thirty-two death scenes take a lot of room to write about and embed, so this list ends up being four Internet pages long. It really won me over when it included the crazy hanging death scene in SUSPIRIA as number 8.
See all the big screen bucket-kicking by visiting HERE.
1) Dread Central’s List Section
Last but not least, for those who want to do some horror list exploration on their own, DreadCentral.com has an entire tab on their menu devoted to listing their horror lists. I am extremely impressed that the staff is posting several lists a week, minimum, and even a recent ranking of Michael Meyers’ various masks throughout the franchise, from 1 through 9. Dread Central definitely wins the number one spot for horror lists for its list of horror lists.
For the List-o-Mania go HERE.
The post SHOCK’s Top 10 Horror List…of Horror Lists! appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
Comic Review: Action Lab’s TRANCERS
Shock Till You Drop
Comic Review: Action Lab’s TRANCERS
TRANCERS is the type of movie that dives straight into its world with little warning. With a tagline of “His name is Deth, he hunts Trancers, even in the 20th Century”, the audience is warned that they are in for a trip, a promise that it fulfills in every sense of the word. It’s definitely a trip alright. This low-budget sci-fi wonderland about a detective who travels through time to stop a dastardly villain has spawned five sequels and a thirty minute short, creating a fan-base that is as committed to its infinite continuation as it is to the B-movie fun that every subsequent film seems to release in spades. So, is it any wonder that in our age of nostalgia that TRANCERS has once again seen the spotlight? Thanks to Action Lab Comics, TRANCERS the comic is back, this time shining a bit of backstory on our hero’s obsession with villain Martin Whistler.
Much like the movie, the comic is heavily shadowed with Jack Deth’s internal monologue. It begins as he races his way down the streets of New Vegas on the resort planet of Mekon Seven. Per movie mythos, will not end well for Whistler, but we finally get a glimpse of what led up to their eventual confrontation. Deth narrates who he is, the tragic story of him and his wife, and why exactly he’s there to kill the man that took everything away from him. As he reaches his destination, there are more than just bad feelings standing between the two and as the blood begins to flow, a battle of the mind is soon to follow.
Though it’s obvious to fans of the movie that there was a bit of budget issue (which perhaps helped solidify into its cult status), comics have no such limit but the imagination, and this comic feels like the movie that the creators wanted to make. Fast paced action in a uniquely sci-fi setting, the reader gets a front row view of Deth’s one minded pursuit to destroy the man who destroyed him. As a prequel to the first TRANCERS movie, it’s fun to see the places only mentioned in the film and get a little more into the protagonists head. Unfortunately, there is no indication if the follow up issues are going to be different from the initial movie as the first issue literally leads into where the movie started off on. Perhaps we’ll see some between-the-scene’s scenes or a further exploration of the TRANCERS world?
Also, this is very much a TRANCERS comic, the story is very particular to this work, including using phrases and technologies only seen in the series, and might be a turn off to new readers. While this may not be an issue for bigger 80’s nostalgia works such as BOOM! Studios BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA or IDW’s BACK TO THE FUTURE, because TRANCERS is so low flying, it’s hard to really embrace the entirety of the work without having to hunt down the movie.
As stated, this is not the first TRANCERS comic to have been released, the first one having come out in 1991 via Eternity Comics. Both series are the product of Full Moon Entertainment and explore different aspects of Deth’s life, though the current incantation is planning on beating the previous run by one more issue (the original series got cut off at two issues). The writers, Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn, All-Star Western) and Justin Gray (All-Star Western) weave a story that is solid homage to the movie series, from the heavy sci-fi opera to the technological goofiness such as giving Whistler wings on his suit. Deth’s personality mirrors actors Tim Thomerson’s original portrayal, albeit, perhaps a tad bit less wise-cracking. The art does get a bit scrunchy in places, especially when the action bits are in play, but it’s not so distracting as to take away from the work as a whole.
TRANCERS the comic continues on the cheesiness and attempted seriousness of its originator, but might turn off readers who are not already initiated into the overall series…
The post Comic Review: Action Lab’s TRANCERS appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)