Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Midnight Meat Train
Last night I had the opportune chance to view a screening of Midnight Meat Train in an actual theater. It was playing in a double feature bill with Candyman at The New Beverly Theater in West Hollywood, Ca. Clive Barker was there to participate with a Q&A from the audience and introduce the film.
The film was originally planned for release in May but due to politics over at Lionsgate Films, the movie was pretty much shoved aside and eventually came out in August. This happened when a new big wig took over Peter Block's job. Mr. Block was in charge of getting Midnight Meat Train out there to the many movie theaters it would play at. Well this didn't happen and it was subsequently released in about 100 movie theaters across the country without any advertisements or trailers played anywhere. You can read more about this HERE
Anyway, I have to say it was a refreshing night for me to actually see a true horror film on the big screen. With all the watered down teen scream flicks out these days, obviously just to make money, it was really nice experiencing a Clive Barker movie in a theater. I haven't had that experience since Lord Of Illusions....even though the movie really let me down. That, too, was a movie adaptation of a Clive Barker short story. With short stories, you only have so much material to work with, so I was happy with the length of the movie and vague explanation of the turn of events in the movie towards the end. To me, this movie was all about the experience. The director, Ryuhei Kitamura, seemed to be quite fond of putting the audience in the perspective of the victims on screen. There were a few moments where it was very successful. I haven't really seen this type of camera work done before. Don't take my word for it, if you watch the movie, you'll understand what I mean with the eyeball scene in the subway.
I'm hopeful we'll get the horror genre back on track. This movie gave me hope even though it was literally thrown under the bus by it's own movie studio. There can only be so many Saws and Hostels before people feel oversaturated with violence and gore without there being any real story or reason in the plot to justify its use.
Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of gore and violence in this movie but to me it didn't seem like it was gore for gore's sake. That's Eli Roth territory. Between that and the endless supply of remakes, things have gotten quite grim for original ideas to get their time of day and audience appreciation.
Anyway, I've gone on a bit of tangent of my issue with the state of horror movies today.
I give the movie 4 out of 5, if I had em. Stars, that is.
Hellraiser Remake News
'Hellraiser' redo in Laugier's hands
Writer-director to help realize Dimension's relaunch
By Borys Kit and Gregg Goldstein (story taken from www.thehollywoodreporter.com)
Oct 29, 2008, 01:00 AM ET
Pascal Laugier, whose horror film "Martyrs" stirred controversy in his native France, is in final negotiations to write and direct Dimension's re-imagining of "Hellraiser," one of horrormeister Clive Barker's best-known creations.
Released in 1987, "Hellraiser" told the story of an unfaithful wife who attempts to assist her dead lover in his escape from hell. The movie introduced viewers to a race of demons called Cenobites, most notably one nicknamed Pinhead -- who became one of the most enduring horror characters of the decade -- who was summoned using an antique puzzle box.
Dimension has been hoping to relaunch the franchise for the past couple of years, first hiring Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo to write and direct a remake then tapping Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton to write a new draft.
ICM-repped Laugier at least seems to have thematic sympathies with the material, with his "Martyrs" beginning as a revenge movie then entering the grounds of spiritual horror, with torture figuring as a focal point. Torture -- though not the so-called horror subgenre of torture porn -- also is a key point in "Hellraiser."
"This is a dream project for me," Laugier said. "I know Clive Barker's work very well, and I would never betray what he has done. Fans are expecting a definitive 'Hellraiser,' and I don't want to take that away from them."
"Martyrs" has been dividing audiences since appearing at the Festival de Cannes because of its unrelenting violent nature. The movie was hit with a 18+ rating -- a rarity in France and an equivalent of NC-17 in the U.S. -- sparking a protest by the country's Society of Film Directors.
At the Toronto International Film Festival, several people reportedly fainted during its midnight screenings. The Weinstein Co. is the domestic distributor, but no dates have been announced.
The remake is part of Dimension chief Bob Weinstein's master plan.
"If I could make all my films from franchises, I would," the Weinstein Co. co-chairman said at the recent Media and Money conference in New York. At the event, presented by Dow Jones and the Nielsen Co., parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, he rattled off a list of other films that he hopes to continue sequelizing, including "Scream" and "Scary Movie."
Borys Kit reported from Los Angeles; Gregg Goldstein reported from New York.
And just because I wanted a taste of what this new director can do, I rewatched the trailer for Martyrs. Here it is.
This Hellraiser remake gives me hope. Hope that it won't suck balls like the Halloween remake.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
It's trailers like these...
....that give me hope for the Horror movie genre. I'm so utterly sick and tired of the ultra saturated horror porn torture snuff crap that has been the thing to go see in recent years. Fuck Saw. Fuck Hostile. Fuck Touristas.
There should be more original works being greenlit.
The Strangers
Midnight Meat Train
Yes. More movies like these, please.
Anyone? Anyone?
.....Beuller?
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