Sequels get a bad rap, and rightfully so – most of the time. The horror genre is especially rife with sequels, with many franchises so heavily spun-off that they have stopped being numbered. Not all sequels suck, and to prove it we found ten that are at least as good as the original – if not better.
Dawn of the Dead
The second of George Romero’s original zombie trilogy, Dawn of the Dead is inarguably the best of the three. A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall, but eventually decide to make a break for it. While not a sequel in the strictest sense, it is a damn fine movie.
Hostel II
A surprisingly good follow-up to the unimaginative original (which, in turn, was a rip-off of Saw), Hostel II focuses less on the slaughter of nubile coeds, and more on the men who buy the opportunity to do the slaughtering. While no less violent or gruesome, it offers a different perspective than most slasher flix.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
The seventh installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street series is a case study in twisted post-modernism. Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, and Wes Craven play themselves in the real world. Heather gets threats that echo Freddy Krueger’s M.O., and she needs to reprise her role as Nancy to defeat Freddy. Again. One of the most imaginative horror movies, sequel or otherwise.
In the spirit of Halloween ‘09, we’re breaking out reviews (some new, some old) of some Fall Frights you may want to work into your monthly viewing.
“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
This was the tag line for the 1986 film, THE FLY. This was also the first theatrical film to have its broadcast premiere on Fox. To be honest, it’s not very often that I find a film so remarkably made that I can go back and watch it years later and still have a great time doing so, especially when the film is a remake and I don’t usually like remakes. However, when it comes to David Cronenberg’s 1986 film THE FLY, not only do I still love this film, but I honestly believe that THE FLY is the best film ever made. No, let me rephrase that. THE FLY IS the best film ever made period. Not to mention the best remake ever. I say this with no smile on my face. This film isn’t just a remake or reimagining, but it became its own film and was far better than the corny original. Don’t get me wrong the 1958 classic is great and without it David Cronenberg’s THE FLY wouldn’t exist, so I respect it in its own right. Agree with me or not, you all know deep down that I’m right.
THE FLY stars a young Jeff Goldblum as eccentric scientist Seth Brundle who has just created his greatest invention, a pair of teleportation pods that will change the face of the world. He just has a hard time making them work correctly. Sure, the pods work fine for non-organic material such as dinner plates, but unfortunately they have the ability to ruin food and turn monkeys inside out, which, by the way, is one of the most emotional and goriest moments in movie history. When Seth finally does get the pods to work right, he decides to try the process on himself. Too bad a single housefly happens to be inside the pod with him and thus begins all the nasty terror. Scientifically speaking, it makes perfect sense. When Seth and the fly teleported to the other pod together, their genes splice together to create a hybrid of sorts. Slowly, Seth begins to lose his humanity and his mind, not to mention his skin and fingernails. The transformation process in this film is handled with extreme care and perfected in a way only David Cronenberg can pull off.
From Horror Hacker Maitland McDonagh on Jennifer’s body:
What are those strange drops of blood on Jennifer’s body? OK, the Giallo geek in me couldn’t resist, and to be honest, they’re less like drops than pools of blood. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
“Hell is a teenage girl,” observes Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) in Karen Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body. Needy has more than earned her nickname through years of playing Betty to Jennifer Check’s (Megan Fox) bitchy, vixenish Veronica. It’s always been the two of them against the small-town world, bantering in their own slang (a variation on writer Diablo Cody’s Juno-speak) and thrilling to the fact that their friendship (toxic though it may be) baffles the cliquish sheep who can’t see beyond labels like “cheerleader” and “science geek.” Without bossy Jennifer taking the lead, Needy’s life would be a whole lot duller. Jennifer is well on her way to being too hot for their tiny hometown (pop. 7083) to handle, even if it is named Devil’s Kettle. But as long as Jennifer sticks around, Needy is happy to tag along, even it means going to a backroad dump because Jennifer is crushing on the lead singer of Low Shoulder, some cooler-than-thou indie band she saw on MySpace.
Of course, that particular adventure doesn’t turn out so well: The bar is destroyed in a freakish fire that litters the charred ground with grotesquely burned corpses, and Jennifer follows cocksure rocker Nikolai (Adam Brody, of TV’s The OC) into the band’s grody van, only to reappear hours later blood-streaked, bedraggled and vomiting black goo.
Jennifer seems fine the following day; in fact, she looks even better than usual, aglow with feral energy that draws boys like moths to a flame. Only Needy notices that those very same boys are the ones who show up later as cannibalized corpses. But who would believe that Jennifer has crossed the line from high-school evil into real evil?
Think about it: If witches were all warty hags, how much damage could they do? When it comes to corrupting the weak and luring the suggestible on the path of righteousness, there’s nothing like luscious lips and insinuating hips. Which is why so many witchy women are hotter than hell; that and proximity to the lake of fire or something. So without further ado, let’s have a look at the most alluring of Lucifer’s luscious lady friends.
Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter), Harry Potter Series (2007-2010)
Yes, Bellatrix is mad, bad and dangerous to know, but she’s working that belle dame sans merci vibe for all it’s worth and she’s the closest thing the Harry Potter series has to a full-blooded fatal femme.
Mary, Helen, Jill and Irene (Carlee Baker, Eryn Joslyn, Eve Mauro and Robin Sydney), Wicked Lake (2008)
Inbred, white-trash sex fiends besiege the isolated lakeside cabin rented by a quartet of smokin’ hot Wiccans in slasher-expert Alexander Rockoff’s (Going to Pieces) self-conscious pastiche. Suffice it to say that the ladies’ faith in the power of sex magic is not misplaced.
Gillian and Sally Owens (Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock), Practical Magic (1998)
You probably don’t know “Sister, Sister,” the old song that goes “Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister,” but trust me: Those are words to the wise. It goes double when the sisters are witches, and triple when the poor little witch girls are shadowed by a curse that kills any man who truly loves them. But if it’s just a little fun you’re after, well, those Owens gals are mighty cute.
Sarah, Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle (Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell and Rachel True), The Craft (1996)
OK, they’re Catholic schoolgirls and they’re witches: Does it get any hotter? Granted, they’re not so sizzling at the start — they’re actually the school outcasts. But as soon as they start casting spells and channeling their inner mean girls, dam
In the spirit of Halloween ‘09, we’re breaking out reviews (some new, some old) of some Fall Frights you may want to work into your monthly viewing.
GOING TO PIECES – FANGORIA Archives: Originally Published 10/2006
When a documentary tackles a subject as specific, and with such specific appeal, as slasher films, the challenge lies in conveying that attraction to the unconverted while not simply feeding the fans a buffet they’ve already fully sampled. The Starz original GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM is more successful in offering devotees a gorenucopia of clips and talking heads (still attached to bodies) recounting the subgenre’s history than it likely will be in convincing non-fans that this grisly strain of cinema is a worthy one.
The hour-and-a-half show is based on Adam Rockoff’s book of the same title, which stands as the single best study of stalker cinema ever published. Weaving revelatory interviews with both luminaries (John Carpenter, Sean S. Cunningham) and the less celebrated (Joseph Zito, Tom DeSimone) throughout his text, Rockoff combines the enthusiasm of a fan with clear-eyed assessments of the individual films (it’s nice to find someone else who thinks that SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE, for all its claims as a feminist satire on the subgenre, is no less formulaic and exploitative than many others of its ilk). The Starz adaptation, directed by Jeff McQueen, is less critical, but gives equal face time to the filmmakers listed above (including Carpenter, pictured) and others as it tracks the progression from HALLOWEEN through the many holiday horrors it spawned, the supernatural variations of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series and the resurgence in SCREAM and its own derivations.
The interviewees, who also include Fango’s own Tony Timpone (and who are frequently, for some reason, taped while walking toward the backward-tracking camera), relate a number of stories that will be familiar to die-hard fans, but a few fresh nuggets are shared; Paul Lynch, for example, reveals that Paramount was outbid for his film PROM NIGHT by Avco Embassy, inspiring the former studio to go after FRIDAY THE 13TH. And for those buffs, there’s an inherent appeal in seeing faces and voices put to names like MY BLOODY VALENTINE and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME producer John Dunning and GRADUATION DAY director “Rabbi Herb Freed.”
Read the rest by clicking the link below.
One of the foremost arguments against horror movies is that they desensitize people to real-life violence. There may be some truth to that, but not for me.
While man’s inhumanity to man depresses me, I find the aberrant human mind fascinating. I’ve spent years watching Jason Voorhees go nuts with his machete, but I don’t want to be “entertained” by footage of real-life murder. I watch some crime shows, I read some true crime books and I talk with people who like the remake of April Fool’s Day better than the original. It’s sociological: What makes these wackadoos tick? That may be an unanswerable question, but filmmakers have tried for years to open a window into the serial-murdering mind. While the accuracy and inspiration may vary from movie to movie, there’s no denying that these reel killers are more frightening than Freddy Krueger could ever be, because they’re all real.
Ed Gein
“The Butcher of Plainfield” may have inspired more cinematic psycho killers than any other murderer, and with good reason: When police searched his property in connection with the disappearance of a local woman named Bernice Worden, the first thing they found was her body strung up in his barn, gutted like a deer carcass. More horrors waited inside Gein’s farmhouse: He’d been stealing corpses from a local cemetery and… well, literally decorating with viscera. Lampshades, masks and shade pulls made from human skin, skulls used as soup bowls… Gein was judged insane (you think?) and committed to a Wisconsin psychiatric hospital. He died of cancer-related heart failure in 1984.
Films: Psycho (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Deranged (1974), Ed Gein (2000), Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007).
Tonight is the night I and millions of fans have been waiting for — the season two finale of “True Blood.”
I thought season one was innovative and brilliant. As for season two — beyond my expectations, with the small exception of Maryann. She really has been a focal point of this season, but I’m hoping tonight she will get her comeuppance, and the writers will get rid of her once and for all.
For the complete interview with Charlaine Harris continue reading below:
Q. How did you come up with the idea for the Sookie Stackhouse novels?
A. My other books had done well, but I wanted to broaden my readership base, I wanted to appeal to a broader audience. I decided to write about a young woman who was dating a vampire, rather than just writing about vampires. Obviously I am using vampires as a metaphor for other things, that’s what makes the books more interesting for me. It give the books more depth, though writing about vampires is fun!
Q. What do you think about the HBO series “True Blood”?
A. I love the series! I am very fond of Alan (Ball), he is a genius at casting. I’ve really enjoyed watching the series.
Q. What was it like meeting the cast members of the show, that play the characters you have created?
A. I had met them all (the cast) previously. Filming the finale was kind of like a reunion. When I first met them I was very nervous because I didn’t know too many actors. We got along great … we are all people that have the same goals.
Q. What was it like filming the finale and being on the set?
A. It was very interesting. I feel like I learned a lot about how much it takes to produce each minute of a TV show. I was really impressed with how hard people work and how many people are involved in the process.
Q. Is your cameo appearance in the finale an important scene?
A. I’m not important at all, but they did give me a line!
Q. Has Alan Ball stayed pretty true to the story lines in your books and how has he deviated?
A. He has had to elaborate on the secondary characters in the series because my books are written in first person, all told by Sookie. Alan has stuck to the outline of the books, with the first novel in the series corresponding with the first season of the series, same with the second.
Photo Courtesy of HBOWho is the most-loved vampire? Charlaine Harris likes them both, but fans are torn!
Q. Do you have any favorite characters on the series?
A. I’m certainly enjoying all of it. … I’m really enjoying the character of Jessica who is not in the books. A brilliant addition, I wish I had thought of it.
Q. How long do you plan on writing the Sookie Stackhouse series?
A. I just turned the 10th book in the series in to my editor. I don’t believe in outstaying my welcome. But my publisher has signed me on for three more books.
Q. Fans are constantly discussing which vampire is the best or their favorite — Eric or Bill. Who do you like the best?
A. They both came from my brain, so I’m really fond of both of them.
Q. Regarding the main character of your books and “True Blood” — Sookie Stackhouse. What do you think of Anna Paquin’s performance?
A. I’ve lived with Sookie for so long … it took me a little while to get into Anna’s portrayal of Sookie because her physicality is different. Anna is doing a marvelous job and now, I can’t imagine anyone else as Sookie.
Q. What has been the best part about writing the series?
A. It has been wonderful to get in touch with fans through book tours and my Web site. It is good to see so many people excited about reading.
The Internet has democratized information and given us the ability to “poke” each other on Facebook. Now it has brought that same decisive dissemination to filmmaking, as the first feature film created entirely by an Internet community is set to debut in January.
The film, called Perkins’ 14, is a horror story about kidnapped children who are dehumanized for evil. Whether or not a horror flick is your cue to break out the popcorn, Perkins’ 14’s more interesting story lies in its creation. The film is the product of Massify, a film production community that provides tools for members to share ideas, collaborate on projects, post résumés and portfolios, secure funding through grants, and ultimately find an audience through distribution companies.
Massify gave its members control over Perkins’ 14 every step of the way, from voting on the initial concept pitches, to picking the cast, and even a contest for the poster. Pitches were solicited in February this year, and Massify members were allowed to vote on them through the middle of March. Once Perkins’ 14 was chosen by the community, casting auditions began in March, screen tests followed the next month, and pre-production began at the end of May.
Massify partnered with After Dark Films, the production company behind the yearly HorrorFest (warning: link resizes browser), to bring Perkins’ 14 to life. The film will debut in just a few weeks during HorrorFest III, which runs from January 9-15 ,2009.
Cofounder Brett Icahn (son of Yahoo’s outspoken investor-turned-board-member Carl Icahn) told the New York Times in March that Massify is “more a production network than a social network, because it’s driven by a creative purpose.” The company is making a name for itself in part for being a useful collaboration tool for film makers and various talent, but Kenneth Woo, Massify’s other founder, hopes to also make money from advertising by “building an audience before the film is made.”
Fangoria has a trailer for Perkins’ 14, and Massify features a number of behind-the-scenes clips and information about the film’s production and its actors. Even if only mildly successful, it is almost certain that more projects like this are on their way, harnessing democratic tools like Massify’s to produce major films.
Long may your haunted hills…err…wave.She rules, plain and simple! Here’s an interview I did with her…man, I had to work to control myself so I wouldn’t geek out severely. I miss Movie Macabre like nobody’s business.
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