Don't blame the BBFC!!!

04/13 2006, 12:11 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

 

Bad news Candyman fans…the Collector’s Edition DVD IS cut, although this time its through no fault of the BBFC. Bernard Rose’s fine adaptation of Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood” short “The Forbidden” got into trouble with the American ratings board the MPAA, who forced the distribution company to cut out several gory scenes, including the graphic death of the doctor. As a consequence the rest of the world has to suffer with the distributors seemingly unwilling to stump up the cash to provide the BBFC with an uncut version.  As a consequence we’re left with the strange situation where a film that hasn’t been cut by the BBFC is actually cut. Fans of the “Friday the 13th movies will be well aware of those frustrations.Candyman

            However, on a brighter (red) note, Andy Warhol’s “Flesh for Frankenstein” has been passed totally uncut, including 7 minutes of footage not present in the cinema version. All previous DVD releases have been cut, the most recent 1996 release suffering to the tune of 56 seconds. Not really my cup of tea, but if sex and violence is your thing, you’ll lap it up.

            Anyway, both proving that not everything is the BBFC’s fault (though I’m still seething at the fact they seem reluctant to release an uncut “Re-Animator”, what harm can the sight of a severed head tongue raping a young woman possibly do to a disturbed mind!) we can all live in hope that all is good world.

 

“Beware the moon and stay on the path”

British Blog Directory.

Comments (30) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Great news "Masters of Horror" fans...

04/10 2006, 12:13 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

Great news for “Masters of Horror” fans with Anchor Bay making the decision to stop releasing the 13 episode series of standalone stories in double packs.

Masters of Horror TV Show - Masters of Horror Television Show

The series, being shown on UK TV by Bravo, has only seen one release on DVD so far, the double set of stories directed by John “Halloween” Carpenter and Stuart “Re-Animator” Gordon. Anchor Bay’s decision will please fans upset at the value, £19.99 for two, one hour long episodes, although each programme came complete with a decent selection of extras including commentaries, short documentaries, interviews and galleries.

Masters Of Horror - Cigarette Burns / Dreams In The Witch House

            Also Bravo have also confirmed they will be showing Takeshi Miike’s controversial episode “Imprint”, banned on US TV. The Director of “Audition” and the hugely controversial “Ichi The Killer”, saw the episode from Showtime’s run in the states but will shown on Bravo in May, presumably to end the series.

            A second season has already been given the go-ahead with Stuart Gordon to direct an episode entitled “The Black Cat” and Dario Argento taking on “Pelts”, other confirmed directors include John Carpenter and John Landis.

"Beware the moon and stay on the path..."

British Blog Directory.

Comments (25) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Avoid this movie!!!

03/31 2006, 11:40 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

                                                                        

It’s not often a movie makes me feel angry, but I must offer a warning to anyone thinking of renting, watching on TV or, god forbid, buying “Day of the Dead 2: Contagium”. There isn’t a single redeeming feature about this movie, a complete waste of 103 minutes that could be better spent having a poo or watching Lincoln vs Grimsby in League Two.

            Lets start with the budget. There are rumours this movie cost £9million to make although more conservative estimates put it at £2million. One can only assume that the film-makers tried to double this by putting it on a horse that finished second because none of that money is on screen. The acting, effects, story, directing and set design are as blank as a sheet of A4 and half as interesting.

            The premise sets itself as a sequel and prequel to Romero’s vision, where a virus is accidentally released in 1968 (when “Night if the Living Dead” set), turning the inmates of a hospital into rampaging zombies. The Army arrives and typically blows up the hospital, leaving behind one canister of the virus by accident. Fast forward 20 years or so (in one of the most bizarre captions that says “Five days previously!) the hospital has incredibly re-materialised brick for brick but is now a mental hospital. Conveniently forgetting that Romero’s original trilogy pretty much brought an end to humanity, this little detail doesn’t seem to have filtered through to the staff and inmates at the hospital. Of course the canister is found, unleashed and the “horror” continues.

            The zombies become the living dead by one of the worst CGI effects where a luminescent light that resembles Tinkerbell, enters a person’s body. They also have a telepathic ability, presumably through this experience that means they share each others pain…you’ll know how they feel. With dialogue like “Even the fastest deer will get knocked down if it crosses the road too many times”, it’s a wonder it wasn’t nominated for a Worst Original Screenplay Razzy.

            The effects are some of the worst you are ever likely to see, exemplified by the gunshot effects. There’s no flash effect from the gun barrel to signify a shot’s been fired, instead the actor unconvincingly jerks the gun back whilst a strange popping sound is added to the soundtrack. The bullet is then seen to have hit someone by the simple method of someone off screen throwing some red liquid in their general direction (in the funniest moments they miss!). Either that or the actor (a term used in the broadest possible sense) clasps a clear bag full of the aforementioned liquid that bursts on impact.

            The fact that this is a crap film is one thing but the biggest failing is that has the bare faced cheek to call itself “Day of the Dead 2: Contagium”. The first problem is that Contagium isn’t even a word, the second is it’s comparing itself to the third part of what’s now one of the greatest Quadrilogies ever committed to celluloid by calling itself a sequel. Of course it has nothing to do with the Romero classic, instead trying to cash in on the name, even using the same style font for the lettering on the poster art. The third problem is it isn’t even a zombie film, having more in common with “28 Days Later” as the living dead are really infected with a virus.

            And the final hurrah for the DVD release is that it looks very good. Anchor Bay in the US has even given it a making of documentary and commentary track which is the DVD equivalent of building a lavish music hall and then getting The Tweenies to perform in it.

            Don’t get me wrong I like bad movies as much as the next person, but there’s bad and there’s BAD. If “Plan 9 From Outer Space” is like smelling your own farts, then “Contagium” is like being asked to smell someone else’s, far from a pleasant experience. Definitely avoid!!!!!

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory. Vote For Us @ DarkTopSites - The Best Horror Sites On The Net

Comments (28) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Peter Jackson

03/28 2006, 11:15 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

When Peter Jackson embarked on his first full length film project all those years ago, could he ever have imagined he’d go on to helm three of the most successful movies of all time? His first effort was miniscule in budget and acting ability but huge in ambition and laughs, enough to make “Bad Taste” a cult hit the world over.

            With obvious influences from Monty Python, “Bad Taste” is a triumph in enthusiasm and imagination over big budget, telling the story of an alien invasion to make human flesh the new taste sensation in the universal kitchen. It took four years to film; one of the cast wasn’t allowed to shave for the duration after beginning film with a full chin of hair! Most of the actors played more than one part, Jackson himself playing the demented Derek and alien Robert (who’s murdered “by some real arseholes!”), all chipping in with the special effects (the alien masks were all baked in his mum’s oven!)

            The imaginative gore effects include several chainsaw eviscerations, an exploding sheep, disembowelling, head crunching and a house that blasts off into space! Rightly regarded as a classic, it propelled Jackson into horror folklore in the same way “The Evil Dead” did for Sam Raimi.

            His next project, “Meet The Feebles”, wasn’t quite as well received. A bizarre mix of horror, porn and the Muppet show, it features more than a few unusual musical numbers such as “Sodomy” and “One Leg Missing”. The Muppets shoot each other, throw up, murder and pass sexually transmitted diseases to each other, not quite the uneasy love affair between Kermit and Miss Piggy we’re used to. With lines like “Didn’t you notice you were sitting on his face?”, “Well it was a little uncomfortable but I thought it was my Haemorrhoids.” You can’t fault it.

            Things didn’t get any more sophisticated with “Braindead”, a 100 plus minute zombie gore epic that really has to be seen to be believed. I’ve gone into the this movie in a little more depth in a previous blog so I’ll gloss over this to talk about a change in direction as Jackson first entered Oscar territory with a surprisingly sensitive and restrained minor classic.

            “Heavenly Creatures” tells the true story of Pauline Rieper and Juliet Hulme who’s friendship broke most boundaries as they created their own fantasy world that broke into reality with the murder of Rieper’s mother. The true crime shocked 1950’s New Zealand and Jackson handles the relationship between the two girls expertly. We get into the minds of the pair and are allowed access to the imaginary world via some startling clay effects and extraordinary vision. The one moment of violence hits much harder than the uber-violence in his previous movies because of its far more serious nature. This is an underrated classic and was nominated for a best original screenplay Oscar.

            The film highlighted Jackson’s potential as a major player, he was brought to Hollywood to direct his first studio movie, another underrated movie starring Michael J Fox that is only now getting the recognition it deserves. “The Frighteners” stars Fox as a fake Psychic, not fake in the sense he can’t contact the dead, but fake in the sense that he’s recruited two ghosts to haunt people and then conducts a fake cleansing. Surprisingly complex, Fox gets the blame for a series of murders performed from beyond the grave by a serial killer looking to boost his murder count by posing as death. Equal parts funny and scary, with the emphasis more in laughs, there is one very disturbing flashback scene showing a hospital massacre. Recently released in a director’s cut on DVD, it’s well worth checking out.

It was probably no surprise to those who followed his work that he would be picked to direct the “Lord of the Rings” movies with his unique directorial traits and affinity for the fantastic, comedic and frightening. The camera angles and acting styles featured in the films recount some of his earlier movies (Sir Ian McKellen was quoted as saying the scene where one of the Hobbits knocks a severed head into a Well was straight out of “Bad Taste”), ensuring the movie would be adult enough for older audiences without alienating the younger ones. Proving he’s equally adept with a big budget as with no budget, like his “Evil Dead” adversary, he’s refused to change his directorial style or approach to movie making with the extra cash.

More to come over the coming weeks and months, including the next part of the Argento overview and the merits of “Halloween” over “Friday the 13th”, or will it be vice versa! Only one way to find out…

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

      British Blog Directory.     Vote For Us @ DarkTopSites - The Best Horror Sites On The Net

Comments (29) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Vote for this site

03/11 2006, 05:29 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

Just a swift new post to let you know that a new link is being added to each post I make, allowing you to vote for my site on a leading horror website. Just click on the Hellhorror.com top sites vote button below, you'll be directed to the site, then just click on their 'Vote for this site' button a link will be posted to your left to visit the site in due course. So if you enjoy reading my posts and are a like minded fan of all things horror, please vote for my site...many thanks!

"Beware the moon and stay on the path..."

British Blog Directory.           Vote For Us @ DarkTopSites - The Best Horror Sites On The Net

Comments (29) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

When is a horror movie not a horror movie?

03/11 2006, 04:23 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

Horror films are often looked down upon, mainly because a significant proportion of the output is fairly cheap and nasty. The number of low budget rip offs of big budget horrors that emerge lowers the genres reputation, has anyone seen the front cover of the movie “Infested”, bears a striking resemblance to “Eight Legged Freaks” doesn’t it! Ten sequels to “Friday the 13th”, eight sequels to “Halloween”, seven sequels to “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, I think you catch my drift! So what about the horror films that become successful, what happens to them?

            I can’t think of a single horror movie that’s won a best picture Oscar, one of the only major genres not to have done so. The closest was “Silence of the Lambs”, featuring two cannibalistic serial killers, severed heads, entrails, flesh eating and murder. Sounds like a horror film, but due to its success it was quickly labelled a thriller, even though “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer”, which also chronicles the exploits of a serial killer is firmly labelled a horror. The difference apparently is down to exploitation but I wonder which is the more exploitative.

            “Lambs” made a hero out of a cannibal; it’s shot in a very lavish style, some might say beautiful. It’s also a little strange we’re invited to hate Buffalo Bill but sympathise and even like Hannibal the Cannibal. In “Henry”, we get right into the gutter to try and find out what makes a serial killer do what he does. There’s no flashy visuals or sleek one liners, it’s all stark and laid bare, showing his indifference at murder is as casual as a shoplifter’s to stealing. There’s much more realism to “Henry”, based on a true story, which begs the question which is the more exploitative? A mega-bucks Hollywood production where you’re invited to like a Cannibalistic murderer, or a straight down the line portrayal of an everyday man who has a penchant for murder with no apparent motive?

            “Jaws” is another case in point. If “King Kong” can be labelled a horror classic (incidentally I’ve never seen Peter Jackson’s re-make referred to as a horror movie), then “Jaws” has the same basic criteria. They both feature a monster out of control, both feature on screen death (“Jaws” goes a step further by showing the graphic devouring of a child), both set out with the aim of scaring you (Spielberg even went back to re-shoot the scene with the head popping out of the boat because he felt it wasn’t scary enough) yet it’s the giant ape that gets categorised as a horror movie. “Jaws” is once again referred to as a blockbuster thriller, despite my best attempts to convince my mates it’s a horror film they disagree.

            Other movies like “The 6th Sense”, “The Others”, “28 Days Later”, “Psycho” and “Lord of the Flies” are referred to as thrillers whilst “Deep Red”, “The Haunting”, “Land of the Dead”, “Deranged: Confessions of e Necrophile” and “Battle Royale” are labelled horror movies despite obvious content and subject matter comparisons. It’s almost as if the more successful a movie becomes, the further it gets distanced from the genre. I’ve even heard “The Exorcist” referred to as a supernatural chiller in recent reviews!

            The truth is horror films will always get critical acclaim for how frightening it is, the quality of acting and mis-en-scene is almost always secondary. In “Scream” you always here about how terrifying the opening scene is, not how well filmed or acted the sequence is. You always hear about the outrageous gore scenes in Argento’s films but not about the superior camerawork that has its base in the experimental early works of Hitchcock and arthouse cinema. As a consequence it will always be looked at as a genre for cheap thrills and quick fixes, very quickly lowered by a sequel as the studios look to bring in easy money with a by-the-numbers follow up or rip-off. Just look at the recent craze for re-makes, its too easy and the subject of an earlier piece that can be found in the archives if you wish to take a butchers!

            Maybe one day a horror movie will win best picture (“The Exorcist” was robbed after sweeping the board at the Golden Globes), although I seriously doubt it! Still, a small golden statuette still hasn’t convinced me that “Titanic”, “Driving Miss Daisy” or “Forrest Gump” are anything other than lightweight Hollywood crap!

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.                

Vote For Us @ DarkTopSites - The Best Horror Sites On The Net

Comments (31) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Dario Argento - Part 2

03/08 2006, 08:47 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

Having looked at the early career of Argento, the movies that saw him dubbed The Italian Hitchcock, time to look at the movie that saw him re-dubbed “The Master of Horror”.

            “Suspiria” hit cinemas two years after “Deep Red” and is rightly considered a horror masterpiece, a nerve shredding 92 minutes that has a quite staggering soundtrack, also created by Argento with rock group Goblin. It tells the story of a ballet school that holds a dark secret of witchcraft and represents the first of an, as yet, unfinished trilogy referred to as “The Three Mothers”, but the plot is secondary to the insane visuals and set pieces that Argento constructs.

            Often referred to as the closest thing to a nightmare ever filmed, one girl is chased by an unseen killer and locked in a room before jumping into another room filled with barbed wire, maggots rain from the ceiling, the geography of buildings change from scene to scene. In one scene a blind man has his throat ripped out by his own guide dog, the inference being the canine is influenced to do so by a statue of a bird. The colour used in the film is a distinct red, mirroring the flow of blood and increasing the sense of danger throughout the film. In fact the film was processed using one of the last 3-Strip Technicolour Processing machines to give it a unique look.

            The movie was written by Argento, in collaboration with his then wife, and star of “Deep Red” Daria Nicolodi based on an experience she once had, though what this experience was, based on the ferocity of the film, it’s a wonder she wasn’t insane. The original script for the film involved the story unfolding at a children’s school until it became apparent the content of the movie would more than likely lead to it being banned. The end result though is a complete assault on the senses, including a soundtrack that scares the hell out of you even before the terrifying images emerge on screen.

            “Suspiria was followed by its sequel, “Inferno”, two years later, the worst you could say about this film is that it isn’t as good as its predecessor. The second part of the “Three Mothers” trilogy has even less of a coherent plot than “Suspiria”, but also lacks the pounding soundtrack, instead plumping for a more classically piano-influenced backing with orchestral operatic music used as the packdrop to one particularly violent scene.

            If “Suspiria” is red in colour, “Inferno” is definitely blue, one of the opening set pieces is set underwater in a flooded basement as a woman loses a key, dives in to retrieve it only to encounter a corpse! Argento has a knack of finding the gloom in any location, one scene involving a man eaten by rats was set and filmed in New York’s Central Park, despite baring no resemblance to any area of the location you’ve ever seen before. The movie lends itself even more to the dream world with cause and effect seemingly thrown out of the window with no explanation given for much of what goes on. Even taking this into consideration the movie doesn’t look as disjointed as this may sound, although there are suggestions Argento rushed filming after spending the best part of two years formulating a script from multiple ideas. The film possibly suffers as a follow up to “Suspiria” due to the magnificence of the former, but it’s still a wonderfully inventive, artistic and visually stunning piece of work.

            Next up came “Tenebrae”, often mistakenly referred to as the conclusion as the final part of the “Three Mothers” trilogy, this one was inspired by a fan who stalked Argento. Here he returns to his Giallo roots with another bona fide classic of the genre, big in virtually every way. Telling the story of an author who comes under suspicion when people are murdered with pages of his latest whodunit stuffed into their mouths. The author is also accused of inspiring and influencing killers, a common attack on Argento’s own work, particularly from Feminist critics who regard his movies as misogynistic.

            Once again Argento shows his preference for the artistic in the murder of the two lesbian characters. Instead of showing the killer on the prowl, the camera moves out of the building and proceeds to give us a tour of the building’s exterior before moving back into the house to watch a woman sliced and diced, framed by her own ripped T-Shirt. The mystery within the film is cranked up by a flashback involving a young boy being sexually humiliated by a woman in a red dress, we don’t know who it is or what it’s all about until the blood-soaked finale.

            The violence in “Tenebrae” is relatively restrained for an Argento movie, most of it aimed at women, until the explosive climax that rivals “Taxi Driver” in terms of ferocity. The infamous arm chop scene that sees blood sprayed all over a newly painted white wall, followed by a double whammy of a plot twist, the end credits played over a hysterically screaming Daria Nicolodi as the screen is tinged red, a la “Deep Red”.

            There’s plenty to come from me on Argento, including a third part where I’ll look at “Phenomena”, “Demons” and “Opera” as Argento’s string of masterpieces continued into the 80’s. Until the time comes again…

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.       

       

Comments (22) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Zombie Movies

03/01 2006, 12:21 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

Very few movie monsters have endured in the same way as the zombie, giving us a movie history spanning more than 70 years without a single one of them becoming famous in their own right. Vampires have Dracula, slashers have Jason or Michael Myers, monsters have King Kong, Lychanthropes have The Wolf Man, who do zombies have…Bub! But that doesn’t mean they havn’t brought us some of the most memorable movies to scare us silly.

The zombie made its first notable appearance in 1932 with “White Zombie”, starring Bela Lugosi. Set in Haiti, the early living dead were mainly portrayed as slaves and born out of a fear of the voodoo religion, considered a dark art in those days. It was followed by a sequel, “Revolt of the Zombies”, four years later, both movies playing on the early horror theme that the threat was far away from American society and not a bout to overspill onto their values. 1943’s “I Walked With a Zombie”, directed by Jacques Turner from the Val Lewton stable of horror movies carried on that theme. A re-working of sorts of “Jane Eyre” it featured the first infamous zombie as 6ft 7” Darby Jones played the terrifying looking but placid ‘Carrefour’. Wonderfully executed, it’s a classic to this day.

Very little action in the 50’s as invasion fears and the threat of Communism saw Sci-fi flicks flourish but it was us Brits who produced the next notable entry in Hammer’s “Plague of the Zombies”. Very spooky and atmospheric it still portrayed the living dead as objects of control who strangled their victims, we didn’t see any flesh eating until George A. Romero sat down in the directing chair.

“Night of the Living Dead” was a watershed in horror in general, not just as a zombie flick, when it was released in 1968. Very few horror flicks featured on-screen gore, let alone the sight of a young girl eating her father before killing her mum with a garden tool! It raised deep questions of how to deal with the dead and many social issues including racism, the threat of scientific advancements and the belief that man will contribute to his own downfall. It can be viewed as an anti-war movie, if ever there was a warning to stop the killing, it’s the fear they’ll come back to life and eat us whole! Horrific sights were also becoming more common due to the televised coverage of the Vietnam conflict.

More on that movie at another time, it was a surprise that, barring a few Spanish movies, most notably “Tombs of the Blind Dead” that I must do a piece on and “The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue”, it took “Night’s” sequel “Dawn of the Dead” to inspire a host of cash-ins from the Italian market. Lucio Fulci was the main culprit who created his Zombie Quartet of “Zombie Flesh Eaters”, “The Beyond” “House by the Cemetery” and “City of the Living Dead”. All quite different in their own way and varying in quality (steer well clear of “City”, it’s crap!), “House” is worth a mention as featuring a single zombie, Dr Freudstein, using the blood of the living to keep his rotting corpse alive. Some outrageous gore scenes and a surprisingly complex but coherent plot (surprising if you’ve seen “The Beyond” that is!) this really is worth tracking down.

The Italian’s carried on the trend with Bruno Matthei’s “Zombie Creeping Flesh”, Andrea Bianchi’s “Nights of Terror” and Marino Girolami’s insane “Zombie Holocaust” that featured a pitch battle between zombies and cannibals just to up the gore content! They’ve even had a go at merging genres with “Dawn of the Mummy”, avoid that one, please!

            The rotting ones had a quiet time of it in America with notable entries from Sam Raimi, George A. Romero and a spoof  in the “Return of the Living Dead” series as the zombie took a back seat to werewolves, serial killers and vampires for the latter half of the 80’s. That changed with Peter Jackson bringing them back in the 90’s with a vengeance with the utterly outrageous “Braindead”. If you think you’ve seen gore films, you’ve not seen any until you’ve seen this splatter-fest that goes for Monty-Python style laughs rather than scares. Going down the “Evil Dead” route of total bodily dismemberment rather than Romero’s “Shoot ‘em in the head” method, you get it all here. Beheadings, entrails, zombie sex, gnomes in the head, vicars who “Kick arse for the lord” and a two minute scene involving a lawnmower and a room full of zombies that has to be seen to be believed.

            It brings us back to Romero, allowed a fourth bite at the cherry with “Land of the Dead” thanks to the “Dawn” remake, Dawn inspired “28 Days Later” and “Shaun of the Dead” and a decent script. Where next for the zombie? Judging by the sight of a port chop coming to life in 1988 buddy/horror movie hybrid, anywhere!Recommended viewing: Romero’s zombie quartet, “Evil Dead 1+2”, “House by the Cemetery”, “Braindead”, “Tombs of the/Return of the Blind Dead”, “Demons”.

Avoid!: “”Nights of Terror”, “Dawn of the Mummy”, “Raiders of the Living Dead”, “The Supernaturals”, “Zombie Island Massacre” (not even a zombie movie!), “Redneck Zombies”, “Mutant”, “Oasis of the Zombies”, “City of the Living Dead”.

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.         

         

Comments (28) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Calling all budding writers...

02/21 2006, 12:15 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

I’ve created a new link to a website that’s been brought to my attention courtesy of an e-mail that I thought would be of interest. It’s relatively new and, from what I can gather, it’s been up and running for a couple of months now and can be found to your left called “Masters of Horror”. It features some stories sent in by contributors and reviews of new movies and events and they’re inviting contributions.

            I’ve been in touch with the webmaster who returned the favour of putting this blog on his links page and seems a genuine guy. They’re keen to accept submissions of most types, as long as its horror, and from what I’ve read on its forum page it may well build up a decent following. The few stories that are on there at the moment seem to have captured the imagination of other forum, some of whom have already expressed a desire to check back on a regular basis in case of new content.

            So if you fancy a chance of getting your work published and reviewed by like-minded folk, that’s the place to go! Good luck if you do, I’m off home for steak and chips as a birthday treat!

 

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.      

Comments (32) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

My 30th Birthday!!!

02/21 2006, 11:17 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

I’ve seen hundreds of horror films of varying degrees of intensity and been on white knuckle rides that teeter on the edge of extreme sports. I’ve been to haunted houses and talked to the spirits of dead people at the site of suspicious industrial accidents and taken photographs that appear to show figures and mists where there were none to see with the naked eye. I’ve stood up and performed a best man’s speech in front of 150 people all expecting me to be funny and played football in front of a crowd at a league ground for charity. I’ve popped the big question to my gorgeous girlfriend and abseiled down a cliff face where you’re expected to lower yourself to a 90 degree angle to the rock. I’ve left home to venture out on my own and bought a house with full knowledge of the big financial commitment ahead.

            All of these things filled me with dread and trepidation as to what the outcome may be, but none more so than the timescale milestone that is my 30th birthday. But like all those things, once the moment has passed and the experience has become just that, an experience, I’m much the better for it. It’s not as bad as first feared and I feel no different, if life begins at 30 there must be plenty of it left inside me just now. Age is just a number, although it takes a little longer to recover from a night out and do they have to play the music so damn loud!

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.       

Comments (28) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Stephen King Movies

02/20 2006, 12:03 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

You can count the number of decent Stephen King movies on one hand! The man’s produced so many best sellers it’s inevitable the movie deals would come rolling in but did we have to be subjected to so much rubbish? Why do his stories constantly fail to draw the big directors, even after some big celluloid hits? The only films ‘based on a story by Stephen King’ I can honestly say were thoroughly enjoyable were “The Shining”, “Stand By Me”, “Carrie”, “Misery” and “Creepshow”. What’s the one thing they all have in common? Good directors!

            Anybody who’s had the misfortune to site through “Cat’s Eye”, “Silver Bullet” or the truly awful “Sleepwalkers” will know that a good story does not make a good movie. So why do his books get adapted for the big screen by no-hopers? Probably because there are so many of both!

            There was a time when the name Stephen King became synonymous with horror and his name on the front cover of a video or a cinema poster was box office gold. Films like “Pet Cemetery” and “Cujo” already had an audience who’d read the book and already wanted to see the film. Do you honestly think film producers and studios were bothered about the movie’s quality? Not a chance, they just wanted to churn out a movie with a King title and adaptation and they were guaranteed a hit. Not any more, we’ve wised up and so has King after he asked for his name to be taken off the well below average “Lawnmower Man”!

            It’s possibly no surprise that two of King’s biggest film adaptations have been non-genre adaptations. Rob Reiner’s under-rated “Stand By Me”, adapted from the short story “The Body”, did modest box office business but was a big video hit due to word of mouth and a young cast that was beginning to blossom (Corey Feldman, Keifer Sutherland, River Phoenix, John Cussack and a cameo and voice over from adult star Richard Dreyfuss) that gives the film a fresh look today and a look that won’t date because of its flashback setting. It was also more of a character study than horror movie, of interest to adults and teenagers who were both able to identify.

            The over-rated “Green Mile” was also adapted from a series of King short stories, serialised in six volumes. Not so much a horror move as a fantasy moulded with a prison movie, it has a TV movie look about it for me and dragged. It also suffered from unfair comparisons to the immense “Shawshank Redemption”, but was always going to be a hit due to the cast, interesting subject matter and continuing popularity of King. It’s rumoured King allows any budding film maker to adapt his short stories for next to nothing, strange that these three movies were all adapted from shorts instead of the novels that generally result in poor films.

            Then of course there’s King’s own attempt to direct, not quite following his horror writer rival Clive Barker into film folklore. Whereas Barker fully realised his novels in “Nightbreed” and “Hellraiser”, King’s “Maximum Overdrive” has a claim to be the worst horror film ever made. The idea is enough for a ‘Twilight Zone’ episode at best as a Comet that brushes past Earth causes all electrical appliances to develop a mind of their own, including trucks! He also felt the need to remake Stanley Kubrick’s haunting version of “The Shining” with one of his own that, whilst admittedly sticking closer to the novel than Kubrick, wasn’t a patch. King once described Kubrick’s movie as “A big shiny Mercedes with no engine”, presumably “Maximum Overdrive” could be described as a small dirty tractor with a flat tyre.

            This isn’t to say King’s novels aren’t good. Most of them have good, if rather one dimensional, stories that appeal to a mass audience by not becoming bogged down in complex plots and metaphysical ramblings that prevent a lot of Clive Barker’s books reaching a wider audience. It may be for this reason that many of the adaptations fail to live up to the novel’s successes, there’s not as much substance for a director to get his or her teeth into. There’s very little else to “Christine” than a car possessed by the devil, hence a film that does nothing more than feature a car that drive’s off by itself (shopping trolley’s do this all the time without the devil’s help and they’re not scary!). Or it could just be that directors such as Mary Lambert (“Pet Semetery”), Daniel Attias (“Silver Bullet”), Lewis Teague (“Cujo”) and Ralph Singleton (“Graveyard Shift”) could never reach the heights of George Romero (“Creepshow”), Kubrick, Reiner or Brian De Palma (“Carrie”) in getting the best out of King’s visions.

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

 British Blog Directory.      

Comments (25) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Battle Royale

02/16 2006, 11:08 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

With the Americans seemingly intent on re-making every Japanese horror film under the rising sun it’s a comfort to know that one of the recent classics will remain untouched stateside. Partly because many Americans still can’t see it, but also because of the subject matter. If a Hollywood studio went anywhere near “Battle Royale” it would be tantamount to corporate suicide. This is no conventional horror flick, but a wicked and violent satire on youth violence and the drastic measures the Japanese government take to stop it spiralling out of control.

            The film starts, Paul Verhoeven style, with pop-culture visuals relaying government statistics about the state of society and the levels of youth violence and gives you the basic points of the BR Act. Each year a school class, picked by impartial lottery, will be taken to an island (in this case drugged whilst being told they’re going on a school trip) and forced to take part in the Battle Royale, a fight to the death lasting three days where only one person can survive. Basically the kids have to kill each other, if there’s more than one left by the time the game’s over, everyone is killed. The theory is that this will act as a deterrent against youth violence.

            Seen as a cross between “Lord of the Flies” and “The Running Man”, this is so much more than a shoot ‘em up which was what I was expecting. What director Kinji Fukasaku ( author of the original novel and was 70 years old when the film was released) delivered is a character driven action movie with a soul that uses the kid’s back-story to explain their actions within the confines of the island. Whereas some look to survive in packs, others go it alone. Some commit suicide, others refuse to fight and elect to try and beat the system.

            It’s difficult to establish a standalone villain in the movie as the kids are thrown into the situation of kill or be killed by an adult society bullied by the youngsters. By the same token, the kids former teacher who overseas the game was stabbed by one of the class in the past and seems to gain enjoyment from their situation, even killing one of them himself. The perceived hero of the film, Nanaharo, may even have murdered the teacher himself early on as a result of this death had he not been restrained by his friends. Despite this the director tries hard to instil certain morals into the script.

            One lone girl seems incredibly ruthless, killing one unarmed girl after stealing her weapon and massacring several others. We later learn her mother pimped her out as a child and she learned life’s lesson to look out for yourself as no-body else will “I don’t want to be a loser anymore”. Another, the boy who stabbed the teacher, only went on the school trip because the girl he fancies asked him to – his best friend tells her he died happy because, in a flashback, he revealed to him that it was nice to be wanted by somebody. There are countless moments like this, often set against the backdrop of a basketball game showing the kids enjoying themselves united, that reveal what drives the characters and their angst, really no different to any other child’s in any other society. This is the reality behind the fantasy that makes the film so compelling and more than your usual action flick.

            In each case the characters are let down by authority figures, adults, the very adults who seek to punish them for the way they’ve turned out. One of the boy’s father’s commits suicide, there’s the mother who pimped her daughter, the teacher who sends them to their deaths and a government that uses violence to condemn violence, a strange message to send out. In the end it’s revealed the teacher, played by legendary Eastern actor ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano is a lonely man who can’t keep his own house in order and pays the price.

            The film is given an arthouse feel through slow motion dream sequences and the excellent use of classical music that gives added emotional impact and potency to the violence. The scenes of murder and blood aren’t throw away moments that you’d see in a “Die Hard” flick, they linger long in the memory. In some cases it could surprise you by reducing you to tears, you know their history and the problems they’ve had to deal with as a result of the adults failings. You may even recognise certain characters as friends of yours and ask yourself what you might do if placed in the same situation. It might sound ridiculous but how far away are reality shows from this kind of situation where people truly are eliminated? The tag line for this movie is “Could you kill your best friend?”, Just keep that thought as you watch the characters do that very thing and cast your mind back to senior school. It puts a whole different slant on this unique film.

 

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.   

Comments (23) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Clive Barker

02/09 2006, 10:39 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

A major player in the horror industry, Clive Barker’s had success in the film, publishing and gaming industries but is best known as a novelist and artist. He burst onto the scene with his six “Books of Blood” volumes that harked back to the good old days of Poe and Lovecraft with a distinctly modern twist. Blending the horror story with romance, melodrama, crime and fantasy it marked a new benchmark in horror anthology work that was quoted by Stephen King as “The future of Horror”. He wasn’t wrong.

            His debut novel “The Damnation Game” was an international best seller and won universal acclaim for its pot-boiling build up and twist on the Faustian legend. It served as a precursor to many of his latter novels in that it worked towards a suggestive climax of other worlds and dimensions that would be explored in future projects.

            “Weaveworld” came next and marked the transition from horror to adult fantasy, telling the story of an ancient world protected from mankind by existing within the weavings of a rug. This sounds ridiculous but marks one of Barker’s themes of another world kept hidden from us despite being under our noses. What sets Barker’s second novel apart from many other fantasies is their firm grounding in horror. This is a graphically gory novel with some horrific goings-on alongside some of the beautifully realised descriptive prose of Weaveworld itself. The wraiths stick in the mind, as does Shadwell’s twisted relationship with Immacolata, and the mental image of a magical world imprinted onto Liverpool never leaves you.

            “Cabal”, to be filmed by Barker himself as “Nightbreed”, brought in another common theme of mankind as the monsters. The title village is ‘a place where the monsters go’, the souls of societies misfits live again in a place where they can show their ‘true face’. Hunted down after death by men who don’t understand them and can’t see past their inhuman appearances and shapeshifting abilities, the novel doesn’t quite live up to the ideas. However, it’s another example of a barker work that juxtaposes the disgusting with the beautiful in one moment and has more than enough moments to still stand as a superior work.

            Other works of note include the Books of the Art starting with the truly incredible “The Great and Secret Show” and its inferior sequel “Everville”, the Tolkien-esque epic “Imajica” and “The Hellbound Heart” that became “Hellraiser”, all cemented his reputation as a metaphysical author capable of taking you to worlds you never dreamt of, and scaring you at the same time. It always seems strange to me that Barker’s reputation is that of a horror author when few of his novels beyond the short stories can be put into that category.

            Unlike many of his counterparts, Barker has also delved into the world of the children’s novel, creating three compelling works perhaps a little too dark and complex for today’s “Harry Potter” generation. “The Thief of Always” reads like a Grimm Fairy Tale crossed with a Terry Gilliam film, telling the story of a young boy seduced by the sinister Mr Hood’s promise of magic and miracles at his holiday house. A cautionary tale that would no doubt frighten young readers, but isn’t that what it’s all about? Illustrated throughout with glorious sketches of mutated wonders and bat-like creatures, this is a moral tale, a modern day fable that will delight youngsters and adults.

            Then of course there’s “Abarat”, the first two parts of a planned quartet, the subject of an 8 million pound deal with Disney that was offered without a page being written. Adapted from 400 original paintings by Barker, it deals with another youngster, Candy Quackenbush, bored with life and goes in search of something more exciting, she finds it. In true fantasy fashion she winds up in the magical world of Abarat, a land of 24 islands, each representing an hour of the day with a mysterious 25th island shrouded in darkness. She discovers she’s been there before and has a pivotal role to play in the future of the world as she holds the key to preventing the Abarat being taken over by the Lord of Midnight. Incredible stuff that once again displays the theme of monstrous looking creatures being far from villainous, and of a world within our world of which we are not aware. All this with the glorious full colour paintings that inspired the novels.

            It’s impossible to give a full run-down of each novel in the small space a blog can offer but this should help as a guide to Barker’s work: RECOMMENDED: Weaveworld, Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, Thief of Always, Books of Blood.  Abarat, VERY GOOD: Damnation Game, Abarat, Sacrement, Hellbound Heart, Cabal AVOID: Everville

            I may return to the subject of Clive Barker either through his films or a retrospective on one of his novels, there’s so much scope it’d be difficult to leave alone. Until next time, keep safe and hope you find something here to facilitate the bedtime reading.

 

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.

Comments (23) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

Candyman Uncut!!!

02/06 2006, 12:21 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

Candyman’s just been re-released over here in good ol’ Blighty and there’s a possibility it could be the uncut version this time. The first DVD release was released with several scenes cut after a pre-cut version was submitted to the BBFC by accident, who naturally passed it uncut. This was despite the movie being shown on TV several times during this period in a completely uncut version.

            The confusion stems due to MPAA intervention stateside who ordered Columbia Tristar to censor the movie, it seems this version was released by them on our shores. The scenes cut include the death of the Psychiatrist just over an hour in, missing some of the initial tearing of skin and blood spurts onto Virginia Madsen’s face. A lot of the blood spurting and the hook emerging from his stomach are also missing.

            The murder of the doctor is also heavily edited, including turning down his screaming to reduce the impact of the scene. The new version released, complete with commentary and documentaries on the myth and Clive Barker, who wrote the original short story entitled “The Forbidden”, is listed on the BBFC website as some 30-odd seconds longer than the previous release which suggests these scenes are intact.

            If this is the case then it’s great news all round and represents the first true release of Bernard Rose’s classic adaptation on shiny disc. Happy days!!!

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

 British Blog Directory.

Comment | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)

What scared you as a child?

01/30 2006, 10:26 | Posted by simon towers ( Personal )

When people think of horror they think of adult situations, blood, gore and violence without thinking about its most ardent followers…children! Some of the most famous stories and monsters originate from kids stories, including the witch in “Hansel and Grettel”, the goblin in “Rumpelstiltskin”, the Troll in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” and the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood”. The Daily Mail and other ill-informed rags always holler the argument “What if a child saw this movie?”, and for the most part they’re quite right, would you allow your child to watch “A Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Hellraiser”? Of course not, but without a second thought you’d read one of the aforementioned stories of kids in peril, at risk from a monster that wants to eat, kill or maim them within the stories.

 The simple reason for this is kids love to be scared and know the difference between fantasy and reality all too well. Just ask yourself what you were scared of when you little? When was the first time you were really scared? Did you shiver at night from listening to these stories? Me neither!

I’ll share something with you about the first three times I was really scared…

1. I remember watching the TV, it was one of those early afternoon detective programmes and I must have been younger than 5 because I was living in Newark, Notts, we moved shortly before my 5th birthday. A woman pulled back the blinds and a burglar with suckers on his hands and knees was staring back at her, upside down. This terrified me and the fear of opening the curtains to see someone staring back is still with me today.

 

 

2. Again I was in Newark and my parents were out, we had a babysitter in. I was in bed and could see a shadow behind the wardrobe that appeared monstrous to me and I began to cry. The babysitter came in and asked what was the matter, I said there was a monster behind the wardrobe; she moved something out of site. When I woke up and looked behind the wardrobe, the only thing there was my moneybox, shaped like an eagle. I still get frightened by films and noises that keep things hidden and out of sight, the suggestion that something’s wrong.

 

 

3.I had moved to Harrogate but every summer spent a week with my best friend from Newark, Darren, and one particular year there was a big news story. A man nicknamed ‘The Fox’ was breaking into people’s houses and killing them, I was scared out of my mind he was going to attack my parents when I was away.

These three things, for me represent REAL fears, not monsters or blood, not violence or gore but real fears that stop you from sleeping. The fear that something from out there is going to come in here and make bad things happen. You take a look at some of the biggest movies and stories that children watch and enjoy and they all have an element of horror. “Harry Potter”, “Goosebumps”, “The Demon Headmaster” and “Lord of the Rings”, blockbusters from my day such as “Indiana Jones”, “The Goonies” and “Star Wars” all had monstrous villains and frightening scenes that allowed us to forget about those genuine fears that keep us awake at night, a safe outlet to channel our anxieties and worries.

As adults we try hard to protect youngsters from horrific images, but read scare stories to send them to sleep, the same stories packaged in a different way. Hannibal Lector and The Big Bad Wolf both eat people but one’s for adults and one’s for kids. Children know there’s no such thing as The Big Bad Wolf, but as I found out as a child watching the news, Hannibal Lector does. These stories help prepare the next generation for the horrors of the real world and prove that kids know the difference between what’s real and what’s fantasy. There’s a certain irony that a paper like The Daily Mail can lambaste horror movies for corrupting kids on one page and show gruesome images of war and graphic photos of murder victims on the other, something truly horrific and very real. Until they realise that people kill people and not horror movies, these films will always be looked at with contempt…but then everyone loves a villain!

“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”

British Blog Directory.

Comments (27) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)


1 2  Next»