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2008
19 articles from 2009
Finals Week: 'Monstrous Feminism and the Avenging Amazon'
18 December 2009 7:34 PM, PST
| Pretty/Scary
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Monstrous Feminism and the Avenging Amazon By Paula Graham
On the whole, feminists and lesbians tend to treat the figure of the Amazon as a positive trope for lesbianism and/or feminism. On the one hand, she has the 'masculine' characteristics of strength, physicality and activity and, on the other, she is female-oriented. Her combination of male and female characteristics apparently undermines the exclusivity of gender categories. Her 'chastity' combined with her 'phallic' physicality has obvious lesbian implications. She is perceived by many lesbians and feminists as both 'positive' and 'subversive'...
Representations of the Amazon or female warrior in patriarchal culture, however, may acknowledge a perceived 'threat' of female aggression and seek to neutralise it. Narratives of female militancy tend to enjoy a resurgence in Western patriarchal cultures precisely at historical moments in which there has been an exceptional opening out of gender categories under pressure of social change and political contestation.
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- Superheidi
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The White Ribbon Review
13 December 2009 3:48 PM, PST
| ReelLoop.com
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Michael Haneke is celebrated as one of the most confrontational currently active film makers in Europe. His films Hidden, The Piano Teacher and Funny Games all actively try and engage their audiences with Haneke’s polemic ideologies, his films rather violently placing the director’s world view on the screen. Funny Games even had the gall to break the fourth wall to hammer home its points, literally pointing a finger at the audience. The White Ribbon, however, is a different kettle of fish. Rather than directly telling the audience what to think, Haneke allows for several ambiguities to arise and, as such, the film is a more rewarding experience. This does not mean that Haneke has abandoned all his trademark styles though. The White Ribbon, his Palme D’Or and European Film Award winning picture, is as sinister, as misanthropic and as ideologically driven as anything he has committed to celluloid thus far.
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- Kieron
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The Sound of Fright Night: An Interview with David Chackler
2 December 2009 1:54 AM, PST
| Fangoria
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A few weeks ago I peeled open my rib cage to reveal my raw, beating heart and the sound of that heart was (to the tune of “thump-thump, thump-thump”) : Fright-night, Fright-night, Fright….
Yeah, I worship writer/director Tom Holland’s 1985 vampire gem and I fly that fanged flag with pride.
But outside of the ace performances from Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowell, outside of Holland’s sharp, affectionate script and tense – yet playful – direction and outside of Richard Edlund’s gorgeous special effects, one of the major hooks that Fright Night jabbed into me was the soundtrack, a sexy, atmospheric synth score by Brad Fiedel and a motley collection of 80’s pop and metal tunes that fit the material perfectly, almost as if they were written specifically for the action on screen.
Well, it turns out for the most part, they were.
See, shortly after I published
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- no-reply@fangoria.com (Chris Alexander)
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Tom Holland and David Chackler Bring Horror Fans Dead Rabbit Films
30 November 2009 12:33 PM, PST
| DreadCentral.com
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Horror buffs beware! A new production company has been formed by a couple of the most influential minds in the entertainment industry.
Dead Rabbit Films reunites Tom Holland, the legendary writer/director responsible for some of the most successful films in the horror genre such as Fright Night and Child's Play, with music biz empressario David Chackler (Queen, Buckingham/Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and 2Live Crew), whose resume also includes film production credits such as John Carpenter's Village of the Damned for Universal. Dead Rabbit Films will develop and produce feature films as well as scripted episodic television for emerging networks and mobile platforms.
The combination of the Holland and Chackler resumes reads like an insider's list of who's who in Hollywood. With associations from Stephen Spielberg to Stephen King, Tom Holland serves as the creative genius behind Dead Rabbit Films.
"Tom was at the forefront of creating and directing the contemporary horror genre.
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- Uncle Creepy
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Tom Holland & Chackler Form Dead Rabbit Films
30 November 2009
| shocktillyoudrop.com
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A new production outfit has hopped onto the horror genre radar and it looks like it's going to be "one to watch." Shock received the following details this morning and we're thrilled to see this endeavor involves a good friend...
Dead Rabbit Films reunites Tom Holland ( Fright Night , Child's Play ) with music biz empressario David Chackler, whose resume also includes film production credits such as John Carpenter's Village of the Damned for Universal.
Dead Rabbit Films will develop and produce feature films, as well as scripted episodic television for networks and mobile platforms.
"Tom was at the forefront of creating and directing the contemporary horror genre. He was in the vanguard of filmmakers who opened the doors for recent releases like Twilight
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In the village of the damned
14 November 2009 4:06 PM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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Michael Haneke's Palme D'or winner offers a spellbinding tale of bigotry and brutality in a pre-Great War rural German community, says Philip French
Numerous novelists, dramatists and film-makers have been attracted to the period immediately preceding the outbreak of the First World War to give their work a touch of nostalgia, irony or historical resonance.
Jb Priestley, whose life had been transformed by his experiences on the Western Front, was among the earliest with his 1934 play Eden End, set in 1912 Yorkshire. Isabel Colegate's novel The Shooting Party (filmed by Alan Bridges in 1984) takes place at a grand country house in 1913. István Szabó's movie Colonel Redl cuts straight from its eponymous antihero's death to the Austro-Hungarian army going into battle, though it was as early as 1916 that the Austrian wit Karl Kraus launched one of the last century's greatest cliches by having a newsboy enter a Viennese cafe shouting: "Extra!
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- Philip French
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The White Ribbon | Film review
12 November 2009 3:00 PM, PST
| The Guardian - Film News
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A superb and disturbing film, Michael Haneke's vision of pre-first world war Germany offers no easy answers. By Peter Bradshaw
The White Ribbon is a ghost story without a ghost, a whodunnit without a denouement, a historical parable without a lesson, and for two and a half hours, this unforgettably disturbing and mysterious film leads its viewers alongside an abyss of anxiety.
It has chilling brilliance and icy exactitude, filmed in black and white with the lustre of liquid nitrogen, and its director, Michael Haneke, achieves a new refinement of mastery and audacity. He has created a film whose superb technical finish and closure seems to me in contrast to its status as an "open" text, a work which resists clear interpretation. It reminded me of the group-guilt dramas of Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Max Frisch, and also the 1980 novel Wie Deutsch Ist Es? by Walter Abish, in which the son of a 1944 anti-Hitler plotter,
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- Peter Bradshaw
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Villains We Love: Rhoda Penmark, 'The Bad Seed'
29 October 2009 4:15 PM, PDT
| Cinematical
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I usually don't like kids in the movies all that much. Maybe I'm missing that maternal gene, or maybe I'm just not that into the little rugrats. But suffice to say that I sometimes have a pretty dark view of children, and that's why I love The Bad Seed -- and I especially love little Rhoda Penmark. The Bad Seed was based on William March's novel about a murderous little girl who terrorizes her family and friends, and by the time it's all said and done, she comes up with relatively respectable body count. The 1956 film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred Patty McCormack as the pigtailed terror, and in spite of a tacked-on ending to satisfy the Hays code at the time, the film is still considered on of the penultimate 'creepy kid' flicks.
But what set Rhoda apart is that usually when you have murderous kids,
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- Jessica Barnes
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Top 10 Horror Films of 2009
22 October 2009 2:08 AM, PDT
| SoundOnSight
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1- The Children
The concept of killer kids is nothing new, but The Children can safely join the list of great horror movies like The Omen, Home Movie, The Exorcist, The Innocents and Village of the Damned. The film is directed by Tom Shankland who also adapted the script form a story by Paul Andrew Williams the director and writer of London to Brighton and The Cottage. Shankland delivers a simple film, with a simple set up and a simple pay off. What’s not simple are his sublime directorial flourishes. Shankland might add a few jump scares, but avoids genre clichés and wisely chooses an effective slow burn. The journey is unnerving, relentless, packed with suspense with a terrifying and brutal atmosphere. Easily one of the best horror films of the decade and destined to become a Brit Classic.
Listen to our review from podcast #140 [1]
2- The Loved Ones
Sean Byrne’s debut feature,
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- Ricky
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[DVD Review] The Children
18 October 2009 8:00 PM, PDT
| JustPressPlay.net
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I wanted to hate this movie, I really did; in fact, the first thing I did before I even watched the thing was brainstorm some high-larious jokes regarding the hokey tag line, which solemnly reads, "You brought them into this world...they'll take you out." How pleased I was with myself, chuckling quietly as I armed myself with a veritable battalion of besmirching, scathingly funny material. What a fool I was. All of that haughty posturing quickly slipped away after I got about half an hour into the film and was promptly Drop-kicked In The Face With Nausea-inducing Terror.
We're all familiar with the concept of creepy killer kids. It's done entirely too often (Joshua, The Good Son, Orphan, Children of the Corn, Village of the Damned) and only rarely is it done well (The Bad Seed, The Omen, Pet Sematary). Luckily, The Children manages to hold up amongst the best,
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- Inna Mkrtycheva
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FEARnet's Top 10 Creepiest Kids
7 October 2009 9:13 AM, PDT
| FEARnet
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Let's face it: kids are scary. They have those big eyes and little bodies and they always seem to be sticky. Throw in some demon possession, religious zealotry, or sociopathic tendencies, and you get our list for the ten scariest tykes the screen has ever seen.
The Grady Twins - The Shining
Kids are creepy. Double them up, and you are in for a pants-wetting experience. Though Lisa and Louise Burns had barely a minute of screen time in The Shining, their scene as the Grady Twins is one of the most memorable in the film.
Youngsters - The Village of the Damned
It's every kid's dream, every parents nightmare: kids who rule the adults with a cold stare, iron fist, and
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Fantastic Fest Review: The Children
28 September 2009 5:40 PM, PDT
| FilmSchoolRejects.com
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Children have been used with a polarized range of convention in horror film. On one end is the perception of childhood innocence, using children as an emblem of hope to put a finishing touch on many a horrifying movie involved in exploring ruthless despair up to that point. On the other end on the pendulum is the frequent cliché of the creepy, sometimes evil child, a convention that only works because of the previously established perception of children as innocent. Films ranging from The Omen to Village of the Damned to their respective remakes to the cinematic miscarriage that was The Orphan play off the idea that turning something perceived to be innocent turning evil is one of the scariest things of all. However, we’ve seen it in so many movies by this point that this convention has lost its ability to be effective.
The UK horror flick The Children gives a nice fresh tweak to
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- Landon Palmer
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Blu-Ray Review: ‘Fall of Fear’ HD Titles Including ‘Army of Darkness,’ ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ More
16 September 2009 1:03 PM, PDT
| HollywoodChicago.com
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Chicago – Universal is getting an early jump on the annual wave of horror-themed titles that usually hit stores in the week before Halloween with new Blu-Ray editions of three horror-comedy classics and, well, one stinker that surely looks good in HD if nothing else. Add “An American Werewolf in London,” “Army of Darkness,” “Shaun of the Dead,” and “Van Helsing” to your collection.
The “Fall of Fear” promotions actually includes 31 re-promoted titles with Halloween-themed wrap but only four are available on Blu-Ray and were sent for review. But the standard releases include reissues by two of our favorite directors and influential filmmakers in the genre - John Carpenter and Wes Craven.
For Carpenter, repackaged titles include “The Thing,” “Prince of Darkness,” “They Live,” and “Village of the Damned”. Personally, we would suggest picking them up in that order. As for Craven, the titles are “The Serpent and the Rainbow,
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- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
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Weekly DVD & Blu-Ray Chopping List 9/15/2009
12 September 2009 10:00 PM, PDT
| Fangoria
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Curious to know what frightful films and devilish discs will be available to view in the privacy of your own digital dungeon this week? Fango's got you covered.
It's a stellar week for fright-fare in the home market, especially for those that prefer Blu-ray, with some pretty big titles hitting the format for the first time.
Below the jump you'll find the full list of titles arriving in-stores this Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in our weekly version of the famous Fangoria Chopping List - updated with all the last-minute additions and deletions.
Note: Clickable links lead to Amazon.com
An American Werewolf In London (Full Moon Edition, DVD & Bd)
Re-discover one of the most gripping horror films of all-time with the cult classic An American Werewolf in London. Blending the macabre with a wicked sense of humor, director John Landis (National Lampoon’s Animal House) delivers a contemporary take on the classic
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- no-reply@fangoria.com (James Zahn)
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Fangoria Week in Review 08.23.2009
23 August 2009 2:57 PM, PDT
| Fangoria
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Happy Sunday, Fangorians! It's time for another look back at the past 7-days of blood-soaked horror goodness.
We've got the entire week broken down by category so that you can catch up on anything you might've missed. It was a pretty big week, with Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Hugo Weaving, and more spilling their guts to Fango, and how about that Wolfman?
Get caught up below the jump!
Fangoria Entertainment Updates:
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Fangoria #287 Sneak-Peek!
Win a Wild Man Of The Navidad/Texas Chainsaw Massacre Prize Pack!
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From The Files Of Fangoria: First Weekly Caption Contest
Fearful Features:
Series Retrospective: "The" Final Destination?
Exclusive Interview: Hugo Weaving on The Wolfman
Exclusive Interview: Quentin Tarantino: One Helluva Basterd
Exclusive Interview: Fangoria Comic Screams talks with David
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- no-reply@fangoria.com (James Zahn)
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Stephen King’s Cell will now ring as TV miniseries
13 July 2009 10:40 AM, PDT
| Fangoria
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Fango’s Tony Timpone just called up from Montreal’s Fantasia film festival with a hot scoop: John Harrison, whose Clive Barker-based feature Book Of Blood is premiering at the event, is writing a four-hour miniseries based on Stephen King’s Cell. The 2006 novel sees the population of America transformed into mindless, rampaging killers by a signal sent through their cell phones.
Harrison is scripting Cell for the Weinstein Company, which had originally planned to turn the book into a theatrical feature (with Eli Roth attached at one point to direct), but decided to abandon those plans and will be shopping the project to networks instead. Having served as assistant director/composer on the King-scripted Creepshow and helmed Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (including an adaptation of the author’s “Cat from Hell”), Harrison considers Cell one of King’s best recent books, with opening chapters that will
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- no-reply@fangoria.com (Michael Gingold)
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More young actors join Nightmare On Elm Street remake
23 April 2009 10:19 PM, PDT
| Fangoria
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, a trio of young actors have been added to the ensemble of the Nightmare On Elm Street remake being produced by Platinum Dunes for release by New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. They'll join previously announced Jackie Earle Haley, taking over for Robert Englund as dream slayer Freddy Krueger, and The Haunting In Connecticut's Kyle Gallner, in the role played in Wes Craven's original by Johnny Depp.
Two of the thesps already have heavy genre experience. Kellan Lutz (pictured above), who'll play a high school jock, was Emmett Cullen in Twilight and is currently reprising the role in New Moon; he also co-starred in another slasher redux, Prom Night, and is in this summer's DVD release Ghosts Of Goldfield. And Thomas Dekker stars on the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles series, has been seen recently in the features From Within and Laid To Rest
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John Connor Versus Freddy Krueger
19 April 2009 6:45 AM, PDT
| www.ohmygore.com/
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There are still plenty of roles left to fill in the upcoming "A Nightmare On Elm Street" reboot. Jackie Earle Haley and Kyle Gallner are officially locked, the former playing Freddy Krueger.
ShockTillYouDrop.com has learned Thomas Dekker is in final negotiations to join the cast as "Jesse," a jock on the swim team.
The star got his start in the horror biz as young David in John Carpenter's "Village Of The Damned", later he landed the coveted role of John Connor in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on Fox. On the features-front, he appeared in From Within and will be seen in next week's DVD release "Laid To Rest", directed by Rob Hall. He recently wrapped the horror-comedy "All About Evil" in San Francisco.
Platinum Dunes is overseeing the production of "A Nightmare On Elm
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In Brief: Jonah Hex, The Crazies, Day Of The Triffids
31 March 2009 11:54 PM, PDT
| Fangoria
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The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Michael Shannon (Dead Birds) have joined the cast of Jonah Hex. Both actors previously appeared together in the 2006 comedy Let's Go To Prison, and will join a cast that includes Josh Brolin (Grindhouse: Planet Terror), John Malkovich (Shadow Of The Vampire), and Megan Fox (Jennifer's Body, Transformers). The adaptation of the popular DC Comics horror/western begins shooting this month.
The UK site Broadcast Now has snagged the first image from the BBC's remake, The Day Of The Triffids. This is the third time that the John Wyndham novel has seen a live-action adaptation, following a 1962 film, and a 1981 Australian mini-series. Wyndham also wrote The Midwich Cuckoos, the source material upon which Village Of The Damned was based. 'Midwich has also been adapted three times. The latest 'Triffids stars Brian Cox, Jason Priestly, Dougray Scott, and Eddie Izzard
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19 articles from 2009
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