CARRIE- THE REMAKE. 2013. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

I enjoyed Sandra Harris' review of the 2013 Carrie.  She kindly allowed me to repost her review here.  Check out Sandra's blog, it's full of some great movie reviews.

reposted with permission:  
sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com

CARRIE- THE REMAKE. 2013.
BASED ON THE BOOK BY STEPHEN KING.
DIRECTED BY KIMBERLY PEIRCE.
STARRING CHLOË GRACE MORETZ, JULIANNE MOORE, JUDY GREER, GABRIELLA WILDE, ANSEL ELGORT, ALEX RUSSELL AND PORTIA DOUBLEDAY.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

This is the reworking of Brian De Palma’s classic 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, CARRIE. The book was Stephen King’s first major success and some people still regard it as one of his best works, along with THE SHINING, PET SEMATARY, SALEM’S LOT, IT, MISERY and CHRISTINE.

Sissy Spacek was unforgettable and perfectly cast in the original film as the lonely, socially awkward Carrie White, whose single mom Margaret is a religious fanatic with violent tendencies and mental problems that have clearly gone untreated for some time.

While Sissy Spacek is a hard act to follow, newcomer to the role Chloë Grace Moretz certainly gives it her best shot. She’s a beautiful young woman with a fabulous head of strawberry blonde hair and I actually think she does a good enough job in the remake, which seems to be a straightforward take-for-take reimagining of the original movie.

Julianne Moore plays Mommie Dearest this time around. As I’m a big fan of hers, I actually prefer her to Piper Laurie. It’s nothing personal, I just love Julianne Moore, that’s all. She’s gorgeous and I loved her in such films as HANNIBAL, THE END OF THE AFFAIR and JURASSIC PARK 2- THE LOST WORLD.

She really works the role of the self-harming Margaret White. It’s horrible to watch her banging her head off the wall, hitting herself in the face and stabbing herself in the leg with scissors. The two leads also really look like mother and daughter, which certainly helps.

What I don’t like about the remake is the fact that it’s inevitably set in a much more modern and technologically-advanced world than the one in which Stephen King initially wrote it, but that’s not the film’s fault. It’s now the era of boring old cellphones, so the remake is full of the bloody things.

The famous scene in which an hysterical Carrie gets her first period in the school showers after gym class is actually filmed by the little bitches in her class on their cellphones and uploaded to the Internet. They all think that Carrie’s ignorance of what’s happening to her body is a big hilarious joke and they can’t wait to share that joke with the rest of the world.

They don’t know, of course, that they’re sealing their ultimate, terrible fate with every act of nastiness they commit against the telekinetic Carrie, who has the power to move people and objects with the force of her mind. Her powers have been considerably ramped up for this remake. Books and knives and all sorts of households objects spend half the film flying around the place.

Carrie can fly now too, a little bit, and she has the ability to fling her crazy mom through the air and slam her into the wall or into the dreaded ‘prayer-closet,’ the one with all the Jesus statues and pictures, etc. Carrie’s extra powers are accompanied by a lot of arm-waving, finger-pointing and mad facial expressions as little Chloë hams it up big-time in an effort to do the job well. She ends up looking a bit like Kate Bush in one of her early videos, but she still gets the job done, I think.

The ‘bucket of pig’s blood at the prom’ scene lacks a little of the sheer power (there’s that word again!) of the same scene in the first movie, and I prefer the original Tommy Ross and Billy Nolan to the chinless wonders (sorry, guys!) playing the parts this time around. The teacher, Miss Desjardins, is maybe slightly less effective than the teacher in the first film and, overall, I think I prefer the film when it’s set in the ‘Seventies. It has a grittier, more authentic feel to it, somehow.

Still, if a remake was unavoidable and seemingly it was, haha, I think that this is a perfectly decent effort. It does everything the first film does, just with a different cast and a more contemporary feel. Of course there’s a loss of atmosphere and it’s not as frightening, but I’m happy with the two female leads and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them take on these two iconic roles. I don’t know what more you can ask for, really.

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.

Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based performance poet, novelist, film blogger, sex blogger and short story writer. She has given more than 200 performances of her comedy sex-and-relationship poems in different venues around Dublin, including The Irish Writers’ Centre, The International Bar, Toners’ Pub (Ireland’s Most Literary Pub), the Ha’penny Inn, Le Dernier Paradis at the Trinity Inn and The Strokestown Poetry Festival.

Her articles, short stories and poems have appeared in The Metro-Herald newspaper, Ireland’s Big Issues magazine, The Irish Daily Star, The Irish Daily Sun and The Boyne Berries literary journal. In August 2014, she won the ONE LOVELY BLOG award for her (lovely!) horror film review blog. She is addicted to buying books and has been known to bring home rain-washed tomes she finds on the street and give them a home.

She is the proud possessor of a pair of unfeasibly large bosoms. They have given her- and the people around her- infinite pleasure over the years. She adores the horror genre in all its forms and will swap you anything you like for Hammer Horror or JAWS memorabilia. She would also be a great person to chat to about the differences between the Director’s Cut and the Theatrical Cut of The Wicker Man.

reposted from: 
sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com

Will There Really Be A Running Man 2?

cinemablend.com and digitalspy.com are citing Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent comments that he might be returning to the role of Ben Richards in a new Running Man movie.

Cinemablend writes:

The Austrian-born actor is currently in London, and it was while speaking during a Q&A that he revealed talks of a possible Running Man 2 in the works. According to Digital Spy, Schwarzenegger didn't exactly elaborate on what might be happening with the property or if he is actually attached to a project, but he did say that there have been rumblings about a return to the 1987 sci-fi film. This comment was looped in with a lot of other talk about in-development sequels, including The Legend of Conan (the actor saying. "It's an honor to be asked back after all these years, back to the franchise. This is really wild") and the Twins sequel, Triplets (the script for which Schwarzenegger says he's read the first draft). 

Wait. . . Twins 2?  Or, to put it another way -- Hollywood is now officially out of ideas.  Between sequels and remakes, there aren't a lot of original stories.

Of course, we are also enduring talk of a single movie version of The Stand.  King suggested maybe this would not just be one movie.  And there's the IT remake.

If they're looking for something great to film, here's some ideas:
1. THE DARK TOWER
2. The Talisman
3. Duma Key
4. Rose Madder
5. From a Buick 8

Really need to remake something?  How about getting on that IT project?  I watched the miniseries recently and thought, "This could be a lot better than it is."

Of course, no one is really looking to remake or do anything with the Stephen King property, The Running Man.  The movie had very little to do with the novella.  I loved the novel -- and the movie, not so much. The book had an almost 9/11 type ending.  The movie was actually less suspenseful.

the MIST on Google Maps

Hey, check out the shortlist.com article, "Horror Movie Locations On Google Maps."  Interesting to see where  things were filmed. And YIKES -- the poltergeist house is in Southern California.  Actually, most of these are in California.

Included is The Mist with these notes:

• Location: Tom's Market, Vivian, Louisiana
• Known for: The supermarket where a variety of nightmarish creatures attack

Also mentioned are: 

The Omen, All Saints Church in Fulham, London

Rosemary's Baby, The Dakota, New York

Halloween, 1530 N. Orange Grove, Los Angeles

Poltergeist, 4267 Roxbury Street, Simi Valley, California

Scream 2, The Rialto, South Pasadena, California  (I've been there)

Drag Me To Hell, 1031 Everett Street, Echo Park, California

The Fog, Point Reyes lighthouse, Marin County, California

The Birds, 17110 Bodega Lane, Bodega, California

Shaun of the Dead, Monson Road at Balborough St, London

(thanks Fans Of Stephen King)

King and Carpenter: A Match Made in Hell?

King and Carpenter: A Match Made in Hell?
by Brandon Engel

The most compelling monsters are the ones who illicit our deepest sympathies. John Carpenter’s The Thing, however, elicits sympathy in a surprisingly pathetic way: he got his ass handed to him by E.T.! The fearsome shape-shifter of Carpenter’s misanthropic visions just couldn’t hold his own in the box-office against Hollywood’s favorite doe-eyed, feeble weakling (no, not Spielberg, but the alien).

And it’s really too bad that the film didn’t enjoy a more dignified theatrical run, because a.) it deserved to and b.) the rumor is that if Carpenter’s film hadn’t tanked, he was going to be brought into direct a big-budget film adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter. And it’s really too bad, in a way, because the Firestarter film that ultimately was released was an enormous let down.

It didn’t prevent Carpenter and King from teaming up, however. Not long after the release of The Thing, Carpenter was recruited to direct a feature length adaptation of King’s Christine (1983), which tells the story of a bloodthirsty 1957 Plymouth Fury. This was perhaps, the most appropriate King story for a collaboration between the two men, and I say this for a couple of reasons. For one, King’s stories can become so involved, with so many characters introduced, that, in many situations, it would be impractical and distracting to compress all of them into a single film. One of the things that distinguishes Carpenter’s work on the whole is that he’s capable of telling captivating stories with very few principal actors (think Halloween, Dark Star, Starman, The Thing). Christine is a story with relatively few characters, and with much of the narrative tension borne out of the intensity of a few key relationships. For another thing, Carpenter is versatile in that he has shown a facility for both visually driven narratives (The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York) and narratives that downplay the importance of intense visuals and make economic use of what is not seen (Halloween especially). King has an extremely colorful imagination, and while there are certain images that he evokes successfully through his writing, attempts to translate these images directly to screen have in some instances, fallen short.

One of the things that becomes clear looking at the work of both men, is that Carpenter and King spoke the same language, and had many of the same cultural reference points. Both men drew liberally from the influences of EC Comics. Both men, in fact have spoken in interviews about the significance of those horror comics, and both men have paid tribute to them: King with Creepshow (1983) and Carpenter most directly with John Carpenter’s Body Bags (1993). Both men were also huge admirers of Ray Bradbury, who might have, in some way,s provided the seedling for the idea that would blossom into Christine. Ray Bradbury was a pre-eminent purveyor of cold-war era technophobia. Themes of rapidly evolving technology (amplified by the arms race between the states and the former U.S.S.R.) are prevalent in his work, and King and Carpenter have integrated elements of this into their work also.

While critical response to Christine was mixed up its initial release, the film has aged pretty well in many ways. After all, we live in an age of cars that can drive themselves, and wireless home security monitoring systems that control everything. One of the things that has perhaps kept it relevant to modern audiences is the fact that technology is still creepy. It’s creepier now than it’s ever been.

With Halloween season upon us here again, let’s toast to two masters of menace! And here’s to hoping that King will manage to pull Carpenter out of semi-retirement and provide him with a decent script to work off of (something that Carpenter, sadly, has been lacking for a few decades now)

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Brandon Engel is a Chicago-based blogger with a keen interest in all things horror. Among his favorite Stephen King novels are: Firestarter, Cujo, The Shining, Carrie, Hearts in Atlantis, and Misery. Follow him: @BrandonEngel2

List of Good Movies Ruined By Bad Endings

Andrew Dyce posted an article at screenrant.com titled, "10 Good Movies Ruined By Bad Endings."

The List:
10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
9. The Ninth Gate (1999)
8. Signs (2002) (HEY!  I liked that ending!)
7. The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
5. The Wolverine (2013)
4. High Tension (2003)
3. I Am Legend (2007)
2. Sunshine (2007)
1. Superman (1978)

Why did this list catch my attention?  Because the yahoo link had an image of The Mist.  So where's the Mist on this list?

Robin Williams

We'll miss you, Robin.

According to Lilja's Library, Robin Williams were considered for the part of Jack in Kubrick’s The Shining. Lilja writes, "That would have been interesting!"  No kidding!

A few of his movies.  I highlighted my favorites.  What is your favorite Robin Williams movie?

•  2014  Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (post-production) , Teddy Roosevelt 
• 2014  Merry Friggin' Christmas (post-production) , Mitch 
• 2014  The Angriest Man in Brooklyn , Henry Altmann 
• 2014  Boulevard , Nolan Mack 
• 2013-2014  The Crazy Ones (TV Series) , Simon Roberts 
• 2013  The Face of Love , Roger 
• 2013/ Lee Daniels' The Butler , Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• 2013  The Big Wedding , Father Moinighan 
• 2012  Louie (TV Series) , Robin 
• 2012  Wilfred (TV Series) , Dr. Eddy 
• 2011  Happy Feet Two , Ramon / Lovelace (voice) 
• 2009/ Old Dogs , Dan 
• 2009  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian , Teddy Roosevelt 
• 2009/ World's Greatest Dad , Lance 
• 2009  Shrink , Holden 
• 2008  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) , Merritt Rook 
• 2007  August Rush , Maxwell 'Wizard' Wallace 
• 2007  License to Wed , Reverend Frank 
• 2006  Night at the Museum , Teddy Roosevelt 
• 2006  Happy Feet , Ramon / Lovelace (voice) 
• 2006  Man of the Year , Tom Dobbs 
• 2006  Everyone's Hero , Napoleon Cross (voice, uncredited) 
• 2006  RV , Bob Munro 
• 2006  The Night Listener , Gabriel Noone 
• 2005  The Big White , Paul Barnell 
• 2005  Robots , Fender (voice) 
• 2004  Noel , Charlie Boyd / The Priest (uncredited) 
• 2004  House of D , Pappass 
• 2004  The Final Cut , Alan Hakman 
• 2003  Life with Bonnie (TV Series) , Kevin Powalski 
• 2003  Freedom: A History of Us (TV Series documentary) 
• 2002  Insomnia , Walter Finch 
• 2002  Death to Smoochy , Rainbow Randolph 
• 2002  One Hour Photo , Seymour Parrish 
• 2001  A.I. Artificial Intelligence , Dr. Know (voice) 
• 1999  Bicentennial Man , Andrew Martin 
• 1999  Jakob the Liar , Jakob 
• 1998  Patch Adams , Patch Adams 
• 1998  What Dreams May Come , Chris Nielsen  
• 1997  Good Will Hunting , Sean Maguire 
• 1997  Flubber , Professor Philip Brainard 
• 1997  Deconstructing Harry , Mel 
• 1997  Fathers' Day , Dale Putley  
• 1996  Hamlet , Osric 
• 1996  The Secret Agent , Assassin (uncredited) 
• 1996  Jack , Jack Powell 
• 1996  The Birdcage, Armand Goldman 
• 1995  Jumanji , Alan Parrish 
• 1995  Nine Months , Dr. Kosevich 
• 1994  Being Human, Hector 
• 1993  Mrs. Doubtfire , Daniel Hillard / Mrs. Doubtfire 
• 1992  Toys , Leslie Zevo 
• 1992  Aladdin , Genie / Merchant (voice) 
• 1991  Hook , Peter Banning 
• 1991  The Fisher King , Parry 
• 1991  Shakes the Clown , Mime Class Instructor (as Marty Fromage) 
• 1991  Dead Again , Doctor Cozy Carlisle 
• 1990  Awakenings , Dr. Malcolm Sayer 
• 1990  Cadillac Man , Joey O'Brien 
• 1989  Dead Poets Society , John Keating 
• 1988  The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , King of the Moon (as Ray D. Tutto) 
• 1987  Good Morning, Vietnam , Adrian Cronauer
• 1986  Seize the Day , Tommy Wilhelm 
• 1986  Club Paradise , Jack Moniker 
• 1986  The Best of Times , Jack Dundee 
• 1984  Moscow on the Hudson , Vladimir Ivanoff 
• 1983  The Survivors , Donald Quinelle 
• 1982  The World According to Garp , Garp 
• 1980  Popeye , Popeye 

and, of course. . . Mork and Mindy

If Frozen Was A Horror Film. . .

Is Oculus A Pattern For The Next IT Movie?

Cinema Blend brings up an interesting point in its review of Mike Flanagan's OCULUS.  Noting that Occulus is a possession story, the article then points out that it "that bears striking similarities to Stephen King’s It (and provides filmmaker Cary Fukunaga with a template on how to juggle King’s sprawling text when he attempts that adaptation later this year)." (cinemablend.com)

I've been a bit worried about the IT remake when I heard they were moving the timeline up the the 80's.  I really (REALLY) liked the trip back to the 50's.  I didn't grow up in the fifties, so it's not that I have sweet memories of the era.  But the novel was good -- really good -- at bringing the era to life.  I did grow up in the 80's.

William Castle and Stephen King

William who? William Castle! Shock horror director of the 50's and 60's. He was known for his gimmicks. Castle was the king of promotion. He really thought he'd made it when he got Robert Bloch (Psycho writer) and Joan Crawford (Mommy Dearest). Castle's long time dream was to equal Alfred Hitchcock.

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There's a great documentary on William Castle titled "Spine Tingler! the William Castle Story." He invented Emergo. . . one step beyond 3D. Some films allowed for a "punishment poll" which allowed the audience to vote on the movies ending. Of course, there's no evidence they movies actually had multiple endings, because an audience will always vote for the bad guy to get knocked off.

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So what movies would make great William Castle movies? Well, I'd like to see what he would do with Christine. How about giving him a shot at Children of the Corn, everyone else has messed with it!

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You know a lot of Castle's movies, they include: The House on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts, I Saw what you did.

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Castle didn't just direct B-movies. He also produced Rosemary's Baby. His desire was to direct the film, but that honor fell to Roman Polanski.

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Carrie-Carrie- Castle Scary?

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So I guess the real question is: What kind of gimmicks would Castle put with a Stephen King movie? He once offered life insurance for every person going to see his movie -- giving their beneficiary a real check if they died of fear during his movie. He put buzzers in the seats of the theaters to jolt certain audience members and scare them all the more. Now imagine getting shocked at the end of Carrie when that hand comes grasping out of the grave!

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Some King movies frustrate me enough that I think: Might as well give them to someone who would at least know how to ham it up and create some hype. Langoliers comes to mind -- but that's not scary enough for Castle, so I withdraw the nomination. How about Needful things.

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King On Castle

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Stephen King wrote in Danse Macabre about Castle's film Macabre: "This William Castle feature Macabre -- his first, but unfortunately not his last -- was perhaps the biggest "gotta-see" pictrue of my grammer school days. Its title was pronounced by my friends in Stratford, Connecticut as McBare. "Gotta-Ssee" or not, very few of our parents would let us go because of the grisly ad campaign. I however, exercised the inventiveness of the true aficionado and got to see it by telling my mother Iwas gong to Davy crockett, a Disney film which I felt I could summarize safely because I had most of the bubble-gum cards."

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King spends some time in Danse Macabre describing Castle's gimmicks. (Page 182 of the hardcover). King then says about The Tingler, "a film so exquisitely low budget that afera thousand people had seen it, now escape me, but there was this monster (the Tingler, natch) that lived on fear. When its victims were so scared they couldn't even scream, it attached itself to their spines and sorta . . well . . . tingled them to death. I know that must sound pretty stupid, but in the film, it worked (although it probably helped to be eleven years old when you saw it. )As I remember, one sexy miss got it in the bathtub. Bad news.

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But never mind the plot; let's get on to the gimmick. at one point the Tingler got into a movie theater, killed the projectionists, and some how shorted out the electricity. At that moment in the theater where you were watching the movie, all the lights went out and the screen went dark. Now as it happened, the only thing that could get the Tingler to let go of your spine once it had attached itself was a good loud scream, which changed the quality of the adrenaline it fed on. And at this point, a narrator on the soundtrack cried out, "The Tingler is now in this theater! It may be under your seat! So scream! Scream! Scream for your lives!!" The audience was o course happy to oblige, and in the next scene we see the Tingler fleeing for its life, vanquished for the time being by all those screaming people.

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The Difference

There is a massive difference between Stephen King and William Castle -- quality. We can laugh at some of King's movies, because he didn't do them. But King never feels the need to give us gimmick's. In fact, he sometimes seems a little annoyed at over priced gimmick's -- the work can stand on its own two feet.

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So when my Pretty Pony came out, with a clock embedded in the book, King didn't express a lot of excitement. Unlike Castle, there's not a confidence issue with King. He doesn't try and get the reader to buy the book just because of a gimmick.

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Now, that's not to say publishers don't offer gimmick's! Anyone remember the nightlight that came with Desperation and Regulators? How about a Blockade Billy baseball card? How about a Pennywise magnet? A toy Christine car? And so on.

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King doesn't fill his work with gimmick's, either. That is, there is more than just blood and guts to a Stephen King story -- it's always about the characters.

Classic Movies That Still Make You Jump

Picture credit: pigswithcrayons.com

Cheat Sheet posted 6 Classic Movies That Still Make Jump.  What's interesting about the list?  It's headed up by King's 1984 film, Children of the Corn.  And, what's more, Pet Sematary also made the list.  Now this is pretty cool, since there are only 6 films listed.  For King films to find their way to a list like that twice is pretty awesome.

Athea Mitchell writes about one of my favorites, Pet Sematary,

What do you get when you combine Cujo and The Omen? You guessed it — Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, which is misspelled, for those who are wondering, to imitate the mistakes of a child. It’s very much the type of horror movie that has you shouting at the characters, “Don’t do that!” as they proceed to make every possible wrong move. Don’t play with the powers of life and death, don’t bring your cat back from the dead, don’t bring your son back, and don’t get stabbed with that scalpel. The list goes on. 

Ultimately, feeling that helpless — combined with the corruption of everyone’s childhood memories of dead cats, dogs, birds, and turtles — leads viewers to a pretty fantastic horror experience. The Creeds move into a new house with a dangerous expressway going right by it. You’re already frustrated, right? Don’t let your pet so close to the road! Cue strange neighbor who shows Mr. Creed where to bury the family cat so that extra Fancy Feast doesn’t go to waste. Eventually, the power of this odd little cemetery gets out of hand, and the resurrected cat — who is of course evil — is just the start.

So what movies still pack a punch?  Mitchell suggests these:
1. Children of the Corn, 1984
2. Rosemary's Baby, 1968
3. The Omen, 1976
4. The Exorcist, 1973
5. Pet Sematary, 1989
6. What Ever Happened To Baby Jane, 1962

The full article is HERE.

Movies With Terrible Endings

I enjoyed the chacha.com article, "Which Movies Have the Most Terrible Endings?"  by Allison Weaver.

Some I agreed with, some I hadn't seen, and some left me going, "WHAT?"

Return of the Jedi was a bad ending?  Actually, there is an explanation, "When I say Return of the Jedi, I'm referring to the re-released version of the film, in which George Lucas felt the need to edit the bejesus out of the movie until the whole thing was a laughable mess."  Ah, got it.

Other offerings include Castaway, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Signs.  I liked the ending of Signs!  A lot.

Also, Weaver listed as a bad ending.  Okay, now they're messin' with Hitch!  What's wrong here?  The Birds was great, and the ending was dark, heavy and wonderfully open.  It's how the Mist should have ended.

Titanic.  Uh, I would love to see an alternate ending to that one.  The boat sails into New York harbor?

And then there is THE MIST.  I hate  this ending.  So, even if I disagree with every other entry in this article, I think this is right on.

Did anyone actually enjoy the ending of 'The Mist'? I don't believe it's possible. Who could be happy after watching the main character give up, shoot his own son, and then head off in search of the perfect way to kill himself? 

Honestly, though, even if it ended there, it would've been more acceptable than what really happened. Instead, he discovered that he and the rest of his family and friends could have survived the entire ordeal if they had just waited a few moments longer. Oops! Tough break. 

What movie endings do you hate?

The Movies I Wish They'd Make

Kinda sad, isn't it -- no one asks constant reader what King books we'd like to see brought to the big screen.  Instead we have to stomach a parade of remakes.  News of a Pet Sematary remake is alive once again, and an IT remake, and a trilogy promised of The Stand, and a Running man remake, and there was that recent Carrie remake, and let's not forget the Salem's Lot remake and then there was that dreadful Children of the Corn remake (shiver.)

We cringe at a lot of these remakes because they are just so unnecessary.  I'll watch them, and probably enjoy them, all the while wondering what happened to Cell, From a Buick 8, Rose Madder, and all those gems in Four Past Midnight.  It seems someone buys the rights, and then they disappear into a dark hole.

So, here's  my top 10 list of Stephen King adaptations I'd actually like to see:

• The Dark Tower
• 11/22/63
• Eyes of the Dragon
• Duma Key
• Cell
• The Talisman
• A Good Marriage
• 1922
• Doctor Sleep
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Yes, I do know some of those are actually being made right now.

Remakes I would be just fine with:
IT (ONE season series)
Needful Things (as a mini-series please)
The Running Man
The Tommyknockers

Ramakes: Hate them or love them?

With my thoughts on remakes today -- I wonder what the general consensus is.   Are they worth while?

Here are some remakes I hated:

• Amityville Horror.  Oh yeah, they said they were going back to the book.  They didn't.  But the book is pretty awesomely stupid.  It's like kids telling a story; ". . . and then she was levitating off the bed, and then we saw a ghost, but the ghost was a pig, and then there was black goop, and then the pig left tracks in the snow, and then we found a secret red room, and then. . . "
• Psycho.  Using the same script as Hitchcock used, and the same pacing -- the only thing different was  that it was in color.  And something just didn't feel right. 
• Annie.  Did we need to remake that?  No.
• Miracle on 34th Street.  The remake is sweet, but the  magic couldn't be reproduced. 
• Mr. Deeds was petty good for its time in 1936.  It wasn't so good for its time in 2002.
• Freaky Friday.  Did it need an update?  Maybe, but it had already been redone in so many ways. 
• The Parent Trap.  Disney does this to get new viewers, but I think they had a strong story the first  time.
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  In the first one leatherface runs around with a chainsaw, as opposed to the new one where leatherface runs around with a chainsaw.
• I Spit On Your Grave.  Roger Ebert refused to give it any stars the first time around.  Why remake it?  I don't know.  Might as well remake Plan 9 From outerspace. 

Here are some remakes I liked:

• The Man who Knew Too Much.  Did you know Hitch made this film twice?  Of course,  I think we are more patient when the director himself is remaking his own work. 
• Carrie.  This was a solid film that brought Carrie into  the modern age.  And it deserves to be moved up, since the story itself is pretty ageless.
• The Shining miniseries.  Not a Kubrick remake at all, it actually went back to the book.  I liked it.
• The Ten Commandments.  It was a silent film first.  Now I understand remaking films so they have sound!  And why doesn't someone put the words at the bottom of the screen  on silent films instead of blacking out the entire screen?  We can do it with subtitles now.
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Which was also a silent film first. 
• Superman.  I like them all.  Really.  Even Superman Returns, which had lots of openings for sequels.
• Spiderman.  I think the term is "reboot" these days, but it sure feels like a remake.  Anyway, I like it each time it comes around.
• Cheaper by the Dozen was a lot more fun than the first go-round.   Though, it was far from the book the second time!
• King Kong remake was fun in 2005.  Long, but I liked it that they went back to the 30's.  The 1976 version was just boring.  In that version, Kong climbed the world  trade tower.
• Red Dragon was originally put to screen in the form of "Manhunter."  Then when Harris got super famous, they remade it --  and this time it was scary!
• Father of the Bride.  I like the remake with Steve  Martin better.
• The Time Machine.  Two very different movies, as the updated version made some pretty radical new turns.  Our family likes both incarnations.

What I notice going through remakes is that a lot of horror movies get  remade.  I'm not sure why. How many times have we done Frankenstein and Dracula?

By the way, I didn't know until today that Don Knotts The Shakiest Gun In The West was a remake of Paleface. 

What remakes do you like, and which ones do you hate?
Here's a list: wikipedia.org

The Lone Ranger -- Learn To Have Some Fun

I almost reluctantly went with my daughters to watch the Lone Ranger this fourth of July weekend.  I loved what I'd seen of the previews, and I love the Lone Ranger, but the bad reviews had me doubtful.  Reviews for this film have been pretty bad.  The New Yorker has declared it a major flop, and it seems most reviewers pretty much hate the film.

This pretty much proves the point to me, critics don't like fun.  They like serious movies, or movies with deep historical roots, or films with a message; but they are left dumbfounded when a movie is simply meant to be a lot of fun.

Here's what you should know at the get go: The Lone Ranger is a comedy.  I didn't know that going in!  I thought this was a serious western with maybe a few jokes.  No sir!  This is comedy.  At points it is slap stick comedy.  The action sequences are complex, brilliantly timed and come off as something that would have made the three stooges proud.  Can the Lone Ranger and Tonto best the Three Stooges?  Well, what I saw on screen was pretty brilliant.  But people come to see the Lone Ranger give us a moral message or a serious western -- and that's just not what this film is.  Give the thing room to breathe on its own without squeezing it into the box of the past.

I would be hard pressed to give a detailed plot synopsis, but the story telling was once again, just fun.  I see reviewers complaining that it's supposed to be Texas, but looks like (fill in the state) and so it isn't very realistic.  I think, "Really?  That's what you're worried about?  It looks more like Arizona than Texas?"

When the Green Lantern came out, a friend asked if I was going to go watch it.  I said no, it looked pretty stupid.  "Of course it's stupid!" My friend laughed.  "It's a movie.  Just go enjoy yourself."

Do we Americans take story telling so serious we've forgotten how to have a good time?  Ultimately, the Lone Ranger is about a guy with a mask, his Indian friend and a horse as they fight bad guys.  This isn't meant to be taken serious.  It's meant to entertain.  Life is serious enough right now.  I wonder this with Stephen King books, movies and other media.  I see folks getting awfully serious about Under the Dome instead of just enjoying it.  When everything is picked apart, it doesn't make a critic look any smarter -- it just makes him look full of himself and a little judgmental.

One complaint has been that the Lone Ranger is boring.  The thing is full of action, humor and -- well, that's it, action and humor!  Was the movie everything I would want it to be?  No.  The Lone Ranger is a bit weak for me.  And at times Tonto's bad-Indian personality is overkill.  But that  doesn't kill the movie for me.

I like this bit from Mr. Cosby,

Read a review that talked as if this new movie had stolen something from their childhood.  As King would point out, the old stuff is still there.  You can go buy the old TV shows at Walmart, or watch them on Youtube.  You'll discover they weren't really very good.  But they were fun.  We have fond memories of it because as kids, we were just looking for a ride to a good time, and the Lone Ranger was the the friend that got us there.

My kids liked the movie a lot.  It wasn't like some movies where we spent all day after  the film talking about it.  It was just a joy while we watched it.  My ten year old leaned in at one point, as the Lone ranger jumped from one railroad car to another, and said, "Dad, this is a lot like that game subway surfer."

Sometimes a movie that is just looking to entertain is well worth the alternative of something like The Piano or The English Patient.  Give me Cowboys and Aliens any day over Tron.  And that, my friends, is why I will never get a job reviewing movies.  I enjoy them too much.  Well, some of them.

There are movies that stir our minds or deeply move our hearts, like Maximum Overdrive; movies with depth and passion, like Children of the Corn; and there are movies that call us to true new intellectual heights, like Needful Things.  And  then there are some movies that are meant to do little more than make you laugh and give yous some deep, "YES!" moments.  No politics.  No religion.  Not even a lot of attempts at being politically correct.  The movie just aimed at fun.  I think it hit the target just fine.

SMITH: THE EXORIST TURNS 40

image credit: Stephen Whitmore from DirectTVDeal.com

This is by Alex Smith -- hope you enjoy it, I did.

In the year 1973, society, as we now know it, was shaped in ways that, at the time, were almost unimaginable. Countries around the word experienced a plethora of financial hardships, most notably caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) restricting oil flow, which caused gas prices to increase nearly 200%. Roe vs. Wade made abortion a constitutional American right. Student riots caused Greece to fall under Martial Law. American troops withdrew from Vietnam and Watergate hearings began, placing then-President Richard Nixon in the forefront of public scrutiny.

1973 also ushered in a new era of mainstream film, with the release of one of history’s most terrifying and socially-influential cinema masterpieces: The Exorcist.

Inspired by the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, and released to $66.3 million in initial revenue, the Exorcist deals with the demonic possession of 12-year-old Regan McNeil. The story was based upon, reportedly, a true-to-life account which took place in Maryland in 1949. Casting Linda Blair, a relatively unknown child-actor, the film established a new “norm” and set the bar for further horror films. To this day, it remains the foundation by which the genre was built and bears the mark of being the standard by which all others are judged.

Upon its release, The Exorcist ignited a firestorm of religious backlash for what many Catholics believed was a brazen attack on their faith. Its gruesome, grotesque and, sometimes, eerily-realistic footage and plotline, dealing with the rarely-discussed topic of satanic possession, caused many Catholics to renew their faith. The movie was so religiously controversial, in fact, that revered preachers, such as Billy Graham and the Pope, himself, were highly critical of its release, going so far as to refer to it as religious pornography.

The Exorcist, at the time, was also seen as a representation of youth rebellion and women’s revolt. The female protagonist, played by Blair, while possessed by the devil, rebelled against parental authority and the commands of moral character, portrayed in the form of Father Karras. Viewing her possession as a kind of manifestation of the ‘70s teenager, Blair’s character displayed strong sexuality, violent rage and feminist traits, which can be seen in overtones throughout the film. This connotation was also mirrored by famed horror writer Stephen King, who stated in his non-fiction essay collection Danse Macabre that it was The Exorcist was very much of its time, being “aptly suited in the wake of the youth upheavals of the late 1960s and early '70s.”

To date, the film which thrust director William Friedkin into movie history, has grossed over $441,071,011, worldwide. It has become known as the “Scariest Movie of All Time,” as selected by several popular trade organizations and has influenced popular culture in ways that continue to reverberate throughout the changing times. Friedkin’s masterpiece was, for lack of a better description, a true work of art. To this day, critics and fans continue to revere The Exorcist as one of film’s most iconic works, and one of horror’s scariest masterpieces.

............................................

Author Bio: Alex Smith is a freelance entertainment and film blogger for DirectTVDeal.com. When he isn’t blogging, Alex spends his free time watching horror films and assuring his neighbors that the screaming is not an actual person in his apartment.

Man Of Steel rocks. . . then dries up

I took my daughters -- and wife -- to see Man of Steel yesterday.  We loved it! -- mostly. 

Krypton is great!  In fact, I felt like I'd taken a step inside the Star Wars universe.  The references to Christ and parallels are numerous -- and it seems they are there on purpose. 

One big  complaint we all had, it gets kinda boring watching endless fight scenes where you know the outcome.  Typical Superman set up is that he comes to earth, deals with lots of minor problems and criminals -- and you cheer him on all the way -- then in second half of the movie he deals with one final problem.  In Man of Steel, we didn't get all those little extra scenes where Superman confronts petty criminals and fights for truth, justice and the American way.  Instead we have a long (LONG) fight scene with General Zod. 

I did not catch any Stephen King references.  -- but, not to be hindered. . . I whispered to my wife that a young Clark Kent reminds of Carrie White with the right parents.  Superman is what Carrie could have been (well, Supergirl).  Instead of making him miserable about his powers, his parents fill Clark with a sense of purpose and mentor him through some pretty tough situations. 

Also, in the world of SK -- we did catch a big screen preview of Under the Dome.  I actually don't know if I've seen that preview before, but it was great!  Something about the big screen and surround sound made it really powerful when that dome came down and planes began smashing into it.  Good stuff!

The storyline is excellent.  I liked t he changes to the Lois/Clark romance and both of his fathers.  Keven Costner is a great Jonathan Kent.  This father  is a man of real conviction, willing to give up everything for what he believes is right. 

Superman's boyhood is told in flashback, which is a creative way of keeping the main story flowing.  I like Superman's joy when he first flies -- and the viewers are taken on that ride with him. 

I'm ready for the next episode in this series.  Hopefully, more story and less buildings getting knocked down!  The movie makers have proved they can tell a good story, build strong characters and move  the audience.  My hope is that next time they trust their story telling abilities a little more.

And, one last question. . . why isn't his red undies on over his tights?  Did he throw  them in with papa Kent's white's and turn them all pink?  Am I the only one sitting there wondering, "Dude, where's your underwear?"

Christine and Rebel Without A Cause

I just watched the 1955 classic, "Rebel Without A Cause."  I was surprised to find I liked it a lot. The movie reminded me a lot of another car movie about a troubled young man -- Christine.  

Consider, both Christine and Rebel Without A Cause. . .

• Are about troubled youth.  
• Involve an outcast teenager.
• Include a love triangle. 
• In the movie Christine, Arnie wears a red suede jacket like James Dean.
• Introduce parents  who are weak and unable to connect with their teen.
• Include a car as a major part of the plot.  And the car, in both tales, brings death.

This made me wonder -- did Rebel Without A Cause play any role in the formation of King's idea for Christine? Laura Wright at Haunted Masters Club says that King is rumored to have written Christine based on James Dean's Porsche Spyder.  (hauntmastersclub.com cars and curses)

Wait a minute!  So the thrust of the movie itself is not what interested King, but James Dean and his personal car?  That's what Wright is saying.  And Wright is not alone. Consider this from Under World Tales, 

A lot of people would swear that there wasn't a curse at all, but that there was a malevolent spirit in that Porsche--a spirit that had been there all along. Or the car itself might have been evil, similarly to the Chrysler Fury in Stephen King's Christine. 

It turns out that James Dean's car, a 1955 Porsche Spyder, has quite the haunted history.  Was King aware of this and basing Christine on the spooky legacy of Dean's Spyder?

Consider a few things about James Dean's car -- Wright says that people in Dean's social circle were "anxious" (spooked?) when they were around the car.

Famed car designer and Dean’s personal automobile customizer, George Barris, stated the vehicle gave, “weird feelings of impending doom.” Actress Malia Nurmi, better known as Vampyra, is reported to have been horrified by the car and begged him to get rid of it. Dean was frequently warned against driving the vehicle, but chose to ignore the words of friends and business acquaintances. 

Wikipedia offers the following encounter with actor Alec Guinness (of Star Wars fame),

When Dean introduced himself to British actor Alec Guinness outside the Villa Capri restaurant in Hollywood, he asked him to take a look at his brand new Porsche Spyder. Guinness thought the car appeared 'sinister' and told Dean: "If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week." 

The encounter with Guiness took place September 23, 1955.  Seven days after that conversation, September 23, 1955, Dean died in a terrible car wreck on the way to race his Spyder.  It was a head-on collision that was the result of Dean driving too fast. (September 30,1955)


From there the story gets even more interesting.  This is from Wright's article, "Christine Syndrome: Cars and Curses" (www.hauntmastersclub.com)

The wreckage was purchased and taken to a garage where, on arrival, the broken heap of metal slipped from the trailer and broke a mechanic’s leg.   

The engine and drive train were each purchased by one of two doctors. The two physicians were friends and racers themselves. The first placed the engine in his racing car while the other installed the drive train in his vehicle. They raced their newly renovated cars together on October 2, 1956. The doctor who used the engine hit a tree and died instantly. The other was seriously injured when he went too fast into a curve and his car rolled.   

Two of the Spyder’s tires remained in good condition and were sold. The purchaser returned them the next week and claimed they both blew, at the same time, while he was driving and he went in a ditch. Two souvenir thieves attempted to take parts from the wreckage and both were injured. One thief had a more serious injury when trying to reach inside the vehicle. A shard of metal gashed his arm open lengthwise.  

It became clear the vehicle, and its parts, would not be used for driving again. It went on display with the California Department of Transportation. The vehicle showed the dangers of racing and driving recklessly. It was carried throughout the country, but the “bad luck,” started after only two exhibitions.  

The third exhibition was in Fresno, California. While the car was being stored in a garage, the building went up in flames. The entire structure, and all equipment, was consumed and scorched in the fire. Except the Spyder, it survived with only minor paint damage.

Later when the car was on display at a high school, misfortune hit again, a high school student was injured when the bolts holding the displayed wreckage broke. There are conflicting reports as to what happened to the student. One report states his legs were crushed, while the other claims his hip was broken.  

As if that weren’t enough, the vehicle soon found itself in the middle of tragedy again. While being transported via truck, the driver lost control of his automobile. He was thrown from the vehicle, but survived, until the Spyder fell from its place onto him. He was crushed.

WHOA!  That makes me think all the more of Christine.  So what happened to the Spyder?  It disappeared!  When being shipped from Miami to LA, it just disappeared!  Wright says, " When the boxcar arrived and was opened, the crate was there, but no car. No one knows what happened to infamous automobile."

I cannot find any comments by King about Christine and any influence James Dean's car or the movie Rebel Without A Cause might have played in the formation of the novel itself.

Will You Be Spooked At The Stanley Film Festival

The Stanley Hotel is debuting the Stanley Film Festival May 2-5.

What is the Stanley Film Festival?  examiner.com contributor Claudia Carbone explains that it is a "A full slate of films, panels, student competitions, audience awards and parties are on tap, with all events at the hotel."

Hold on!  The Stanley Hotel is hosting a film festival?!  HOW COOL IS THAT?  Yes, I knew about this -- but somehow the sheer coolness of it hadn't sunk in.

One of the films to be featured is Room 237

Carbone writes:

A fitting venue for the horror film genre, the Stanley Hotel enjoys its reputation for being the inspiration for Stephen King's book The Shining and the location for the TV mini series based on the book. And, the historic hotel is rumored to be haunted since its opening in 1909. Visitors flock to the iconic hotel six miles from Rocky Mountain National Park to take the haunted tours, learn of its fascinating history, dine at its gourmet restaurant, and enjoy its old world charm in overnight stays.

Carbone quotes Festival Director Jenny Bloom, “It’s an honor to join the Stanley Film Festival team in its inaugural year and build a prestigious cinematic event specifically for the horror genre. The Stanley Hotel's history with Hollywood and real paranormal activity makes it such a natural fit for an annual celebration of film."


FILMS:

• 100 BLOODY ACRES: A trio of fun-loving tourists on their way to a music festival fall into the hands of two crazed brothers with sinister plans in this madcap comedy about trying to survive.
• AFTERSHOCK: Modern horror maestro Eli Roth co-wrote, produces and stars as a mopey tourist whose wild vacation in Chile turns gruesome. Ravaged by a vicious earthquake, he and his friends desperately struggle to survive a living nightmare. Closing Night film with Eli Roth in-person. 
• ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE: Resurrected after a several year hiatus, this legendary splatter-fest is finally making its way back to the big screen. When the most sought after girl in school is invited to a weekend outing with friends on a secluded farm, a mysterious suitor begins to pick off the other boys one by one.
• BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO: Winner of five British Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Actor, this creepy love letter to the classic “Giallo” period details the complications befalling a motion picture sound designer as he quietly descends into madness.
• BIG BAD WOLVES: An obsessed cop, and the father of a victim take justice into their own hands when they capture a suspected killer of children. In their genre-bending follow-up to Israel’s first horror film Rabies, Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado explore an unimaginable terror.
• BLACK ROCK: Three childhood friends have their weekend getaway on a secluded island transformed into a brutal game of cat-and-mouse with a trio of trained predators. Katie Aselton (The Freebie, star of “The League”) directs from a script by husband Mark Duplass.
• Bobby Yeah: Bobby Yeah is a petty thug who lightens his miserable existence by brawling and thieving stuff. When he steals the favorite pet of some very dangerous individuals, he finds himself in deep trouble. 
• Broken: Sarah is haunted by a tragic accident that leaves her fighting between reality and the terror in her mind. Part of the Stanley Dean’s Cup Student Competition Submitted by University of Colorado Denver
• Broken Things: This dark fairy tale, blending live action and stop motion, explores what happens when misfits fights back. Part of the Stanley Dean’s Cup Student Competition Submitted by University of Colorado Denver
• Bydlo: An allegory of mankind heading for disaster, Bydlo is a tragic vision inspired by Mussorgsky’s music. 
• CABIN FEVER: The inaugural Stanley Film Festival Visionary award recipient Eli Roth will present his directorial debut. This modern horror classic centers on a group of college graduates who rent a cabin in the woods, only to fall victim to a flesh-eating virus. Eli Roth in Person
• Dance Till You Drop: The Girl is a newly single dancer that is tasked to watch her best friend’s house. After deciding the place needs a clean, she cranks up the tunes and decides to show off her nifty moves. And that’s when things get really weird. 
• FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY: Near the end of World War II, a platoon of Russian soldiers are given a secret mission that leads them into the lair of a Nazi mad scientist and his frightening creations in this cinematically inventive take on the monster movie. 
• Haunted Castle: For our very first festival, we proudly present the very first horror film in recorded history. Master of silent cinema Georges Melies directs for your enjoyment. 
• Haunted Love: Jane and John explore the subtle – almost tortured – feelings they hold for each other. 
• Hell No: Hell No is a short movie trailer that explores what would happen in horror movies if smart characters made quality logical decisions. Spoiler alert: everyone lives. 
• HENGE: Following treatment for violent spells, a young man returns home to his loving wife. But as his seizures intensify, it becomes clear something inside him is trying to get out. Part domestic drama, part sci-fi thriller, this ambitious micro-budget tragedy heralds the arrival of a bright new talent
• HENLEY: Meet nine-year-old Ted Henley, budding motel manager and roadkill entrepreneur. 
• Here After: A young girl investigates an ghostly apparition in a fimilar locale, The Stanley Hotel. Part of the Stanley Dean’s Cup Student Competition Submitted by Art Institute of Colorado
• HERE COMES THE DEVIL: Argentine director Adrían García Bogliano (Cold Sweat, Penumbra) returns with a shockingly gory erotic horror film about a couple whose children mysteriously disappear while on vacation in Mexico.
• Hundred Waters “Boreal”: Hundreds of years before the first Europeans land in Florida, a young Tequesta boy goes hunting in the Everglades. Meanwhile, his prey longs for deeper fulfillment. 
• IN: A man is asked by a friend to retrieve something lost inside a train tunnel where an unknown terror lies in wait. 
• In Hanford: This heartbreaking true story of a town poisoned by Cold War–era nuclear-arms manufacture is told through firsthand accounts and fantasy scenes, which empathize with the victim’s plight. 
• Lazarov: Refusing to accept the decline of the U.S.S.R., a handful of Russian scientists work secretly to resurrect Soviet power through the mysterious program Lazarov. 
• Legend: Claudia, a ten-year-old girl, leaves with her family to spend the weekend out of town. At an abandoned gas station, the appearance of a strange woman will reveal her true fate.
• Macabre: A group of friends traveling together are lured to a house of evil run by an ageless matron and her bloodthirsty offspring. The rarely seen directorial debut of Indonesian horror-hounds The Mo Brothers delivers carnage in spades.
• MANIAC: Elijah Wood shines in this remake of the horror classic about a psychotic stalker with a habit of scalping his objects of desire. Reimagined in mostly point-of-view shots, this revolutionary horror hit from Cannes is part camp, part art and all fear.
• Meadowcroft: After a failed suicide attempt, a depressed teen seeks the help of a former classmate, Charlie Meadowcroft. Part of the Stanley Dean’s Cup Student Competition Submitted by University of Colorado Denver
• No One Lives: Gore master Ryûhei Kitamura (VERSUS, THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN) tells the story of a brutal gang of thieves who get more than they bargained when they attempt a typical highway robbery of what appears to be an average vacationing couple. 
• Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise: Terrifying and strange happenings descend on a 1970’s high school. 
• Peak of Terror: When a Monster terrorizes a small town a woman must confront her past to protect the people she loves. Part of the Stanley Dean’s Cup Student Competition Submitted by Colorado Film School
• Pet Peeves: Is a film about Victor, a cereal killer thats motivation for murder is based on her P.e.t P.e.e.v.e.s. Part of the Stanley Dean’s Cup Student Competition Submitted by University of Colorado Denver
• ROOM 237: In 1980 Stanley Kubrick released his classic horror film, The Shining. Over 30 years later, viewers are still struggling to understand its hidden meanings. A wild exploration into the heart of obsession, this cinematic essay is one that you will want to see at The Stanley Hotel. Filmmaker in Person
• Shorts Program I: This program contains the following films: THE APOCALYPSE DIRECTOR Andrew Zuchero Four uninspired friends try to come up with a terrific idea for how to spend their Saturday afternoon. HUNDRED WATERS “BOREAL” Director Lucas Leyva & Jillian Mayer Hundreds of years before the first Europeans land in Florida, a young Tequesta boy goes hunting in the...
• Shorts Program II: This program contains the following films: IN DIRECTOR Adam Berg A man is asked by a friend to retrieve something lost inside a train tunnel where an unknown terror lies in wait. Hell No DIRECTOR Joe Nicolosi HELL NO is a short movie trailer that explores what would happen in horror movies if smart characters made...
• SIGHTSEERS: Ben Wheatley, director of the cult hit KILL LIST, returns with this hilarious horror comedy about a couple vacationing in rural England who can’t seem to shake the series of graphic deaths that follow them wherever they go. 
• The Apocalypse: Four uninspired friends try to come up with a terrific idea for how to spend their Saturday afternoon. 
• The Bungled Child: There’s nothing easy about mending a bungled child. 
• The Cub: Wolves make the best parents. 
• The Event: Love and a severed foot at the end of the world. 
• The Purge: In the near future, a daring new edict keeps the nation safe. Called simply The Purge, it is a 24 hour release from all laws. When vicious outsiders break into an innocent family’s home on the one night that crime is legal each year, everyone will find out how far they would go to protect...
• THE RAMBLER: Director Calvin Lee Reeder (The Oregonian) utilizes his unique style of psychological horror and surrealism to adapt his acclaimed short about the man known only as “The Rambler” and his bizarre journey through the back roads of America. 
• The Root of the Problem: In the candy-colored world of 1950s suburbia, a reluctant young housewife suspects that the friendly neighborhood dentist is hiding a horrible secret. Is it just the anesthesia at work, or is there something more sinister hiding below the surface? 
• The Unliving: Thirty years after a zombie outbreak, people are taming the undead and using them as cheap labour. Katrine catches ‘em and Mark lobotomizes’em. They’re an awesome team, but work is starting to bleed into their relationship. 
• Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon: A Texas Sheriff uses his cowboy logic to recklessly defeat a race of thumb-snatching, cocoon dwelling robo critters. 
• TOWER BLOCK: When bullets start flying into an isolated tenement building, no one is safe from the faceless shooter who has trapped the residents there for reasons unknown. The traditional slasher film is taken to its extreme in this taut psychological thriller.
• Two Fingers "Vengeance Rhythm": This is the story of a very very angry teddy bear. 
• V/H/S/2 : The latest installment to last year’s successful found-footage short anthology series aims higher, bigger and scarier with new visions from the deranged minds behind some of independent genre’s finest offerings (The Blair Witch Project, The Raid, Hobo with a Shotgun, You’re Next).
• VANISHING WAVES: A hypnotic, erotic, and wildly thought-provoking cinematic odyssey into the unknown realms of the mind, this operatic sci-fi vision highlights the development of a strong psychic link between two patients in an experiment gone awry.
• When The Zombies Come: At a remote hardware store, fans of the walking dead have turned their love of zombies into an obsession, warping the way they see the store and its customers. 
• WITHER: In the grand tradition of EVIL DEAD and it’s progeny, this tale of a group of vacationing friends who encounter an infectious creature from the unknown delivers on the gore in this impressively made low budget screamfest.
• Yellow: A reclusive older man is on the hunt for a vicious serial killer in neon-lit Berlin in this neo Giallo short by Jon Britt and Ryan Haysom.

MSN: Carrie Tops The List Of "Worst dates in film history"

Check  out the MSN article, "Bad Dates."

"Carrie" (1976)
"Sunset Blvd." (1950)
"Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986)
"Pulp Fiction" (1994)
"Taxi Driver" (1976)
"The Birds" (1963)
"After Hours" (1985)
"When Harry Met Sally" (1989)
"The Graduate" (1967)
"Diner" (1982)
movies.msn.com

Can you think of some bad dates in film history?
. . . CHRISTINE!

Interview With Bev Vincent part 1

Do you read Cemetery Dance?  I do!  And the first place I turn is to Bev Vincnt's column.  Even when there's a Stephen King story.  I was absolutely thrilled when Mr. Vincen allowed me the opportunity to ask him a series of interview questions.  This was really a gift of time on his part and I am supremely thankful.

On a personal note, this was exciting for me for two reasons.  First, Mr. Vincent is one of my favorite authors about Stephen King.  I've been using his book The Road to the Dark Tower as I read through the series again and have found it very helpful.  His book The Stephen King Companion is all out fun!

Second, this gave me an opportunity to ask some questions about the Dark Tower and the Stephen King Universe that I've thinking about ever since I read The Dark Tower 7.

Bev Vincent's The Stephen King Illustrated Companion was nominated for a 2010 Edgar® Award as well as  the 2009 Bram Stoker Award.

THE INTERVIEW

Talk Stephen King: Tell me a little about yourself. Do you focus primarily on King, or do you also write fiction? 

Bev Vincent: I’m originally from eastern Canada, though I’ve been living in Texas since 1989. In 2012, I became a dual citizen.

I write just about everything: non-fiction, book reviews, essays, blogs, short stories and novels. After a long hiatus from writing, I started working on short stories in 1999 and had my first one published the following year. In 2001, Rich Chizmar at Cemetery Dance asked me if I would consider writing the Stephen King news column that appears in each issue of the magazine, and I’ve been doing that ever since. I’ve written three books to date and edited one (The Stephen King Illustrated Trivia Book). I’ve published over 70 short stories, hundreds of book reviews and dozens of essays.

Talk Stephen King: You have a doctorate in chemistry – which suggests you do a lot more than just write books about Stephen King! What else do you do?

Bev Vincent: I have a Ph. D. in chemistry from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. My specialty is a type of analysis known as X-ray diffraction—specifically, X-ray crystallography. We shoot X-ray beams at crystals and analyze the scattering pattern to determine the molecular structure of the compound and how the molecules pack together to make the crystal. This type of analysis has many uses, and may practitioners have won Nobel Prizes for determining the structures of biologically interesting molecules using the method. The company I work for manufactures and sells the equipment and software used for a wide range of X-ray analysis techniques. That’s my so-called day job. I’ve worked for the same company for 23 years.

Talk Stephen King: I’ve been reading The Road to the Dark Tower as I read through the Dark Tower novels. I saw you have a new companion book to the Dark Tower coming out (The Dark Tower Companion). How is it different from The Road to the Dark Tower?

Bev Vincent: When King published an eighth Dark Tower novel, The Wind Through the Keyhole, people asked me if I was going to update The Road to the Dark Tower to incorporate the new volume. I thought that sounded like a good idea, but my agent suggested that a completely new book would be even better. The Road to the Dark Tower is intended for people who have read (or are reading) the series. It looks at the series as a whole and explores it in detail. I liken my role to that of a tour guide escorting someone through the series, pointing out all the links, details, connections and references that a casual reader might otherwise have missed, especially on a first reading. The spoilers come early—only Chapter 1 is spoiler free. That was the only way I could see to do it at the time. You can’t talk about what happens at the Way Station after Jake and Roland leave, for example, without referring forward to Wolves of the Calla.

The impetus for The Dark Tower Companion was the news of a possible film adaptation of the series, together with the Marvel graphic novel adaptations. It seemed to me that there might be people who came to the series from sources outside the series books themselves. People who’ve read Insomnia or Hearts in Atlantis, too, who might be curious about who the Crimson King is, or what Breakers are. The new book is less analytical in some ways, although there are several chapters at the end where I wax philosophical about what it all means.

However, it starts off generally. What is Mid-World? What is the Dark Tower? Who is Roland? What is the nature of his quest? Questions of that sort. The chapters on the individual books are more self-contained, without much by way of forward-reaching spoilers.

The book has a comprehensive glossary of people, places and things, separated by those that are part of “our world” and those from Mid-World. It isn’t a Concordance (like Robin Furth’s). It doesn’t tell you on what pages you can find every mention of a character, although it does list the books in which a character (or place or thing) appears. The glossary tells you everything you might want to know about these entries, though.

This is the first book to address the Marvel adaptations and their place in the canon (or not). I look at each graphic novel series and underline the places where it provides new scenes or material, and the places where it diverges from or contradicts King’s novels. I also provide summaries of the extra material found in each issue for people who haven’t read the graphic novels.

I interviewed a lot of people for the book. Stephen King told me a few things about the series that he’s never said before. Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman explained in detail how they plan to adapt the books to film and television if they can find a partner willing to fund the project. Brian Stark discusses the Discordia interactive game on King’s website. I also interviewed Robin Furth about the Marvel adaptation, as well as most of the major artistic contributors: illustrator Jae Lee, colorist Richard Isanove, scripter Peter David and several artists who stepped in after Jae Lee left the project.

There’s a chapter on the history of Mid-World and another on its geography. I tried my hand at creating a map of the parts of Mid-World that we know from the books, and I was surprised at how neatly it came together. Information from The Wind Through the Keyhole helped place a lot of it in context (the relative location of Gilead, for example) and, despite some contradictions within the text and the variable nature of direction and distance in Mid-World, it all came together nicely. I’m nobody’s cartographer, but I think people will be interested by the map. I also created a Dark Tower tour guide to Manhattan, which points out as many of the places in the city that are mentioned in the series as I could, along with a second map.

The book is 50% longer than The Road to the Dark Tower and, unlike the first book, is completely footnote-free! And it’s all new text.

Talk Stephen King: My favorite Stephen King companion book is The Stephen King Illustrated Companion. Not only is the text great, but it is full of reproductions of first drafts and early copies of the manuscripts. How did that book come together?

Bev Vincent: That was a fascinating and fun project that came to me out of the blue.  The book chain Barnes & Noble had published reader’s companions to Poe and Jane Austen and decided they wanted to do one on King. They reached out to the same book packager who had done the previous books, a company called becker&mayer! that specializes in design-heavy books. Their editor contacted me on the strength of The Road to the Dark Tower and asked if I would be interested in writing the book’s text.

The challenge was to write something meaningful that combined the concepts of biography and light literary analysis. Given the limited page count, I clearly couldn’t cover King’s entire bibliography (nor would I have wanted to—that would be a person’s life work!). I worked from a few governing principles: I wanted to focus on books that almost everyone has heard of, even if they aren’t King fans. I needed to pick books that spanned his writing career to that point (otherwise I could have gotten bogged down with the famous books from the 1970s and never made it to the 2000s). And I wanted books that either had a significant autobiographical or semi-autobiographical aspect to them, or ones that were written when there was something interesting going on in King’s life.

Once I chose the books and had my outline approved by the editor and Barnes & Noble, it was simply a matter of writing the text, which took about six weeks. I finished ahead of schedule, which meant that the documents specialist had the full text to work from when selecting the photographs and other accompanying materials that are a hallmark of their reader’s companions. These books aren’t simply read—they’re experienced. You can spend hours with one and never read a word of the text! We obtained King’s permission to search his archives at the University of Maine and reproduce anything we wanted. King had veto power, but he never employed it. He also provided access to a personal photo album. The book became a real treasure trove of never-before-seen material. The fact that it was so handsomely produced and inexpensive means that it was available to anyone who wanted it. It sold so well, there was a second printing within about a year. Sadly, it’s now out of print, but I have hopes that B&N will bring it back out again in the future.

One interesting spin-off from the book is that I was interviewed extensively for an updated version of the King profile for the Biography Channel. The person who interviewed me for it drew a lot of material from the book. Her copy was full of post-it notes and book marks. This version is only available internationally—it never airs in the US.

Talk Stephen King: Do you have some favorite non-King writers?
Bev Vincent: Indeed I have many. So many that my mind freezes whenever I’m asked the question. I read a lot of crime fiction by authors like Ian Rankin, Jonathan Kellerman, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, Kate Atkinson, George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane. I read Alexander McCall Smith’s novels to my wife, along with the humorous essays of fellow Canadian Stuart McLean. I don’t read a lot of horror and very little science fiction and fantasy these days, though I once did.

I’ll read anything Peter Straub, Dan Simmons, Ian McEwen and Graham Joyce publish. I’ve lately become fond of foreign crime writers like Jo Nesbo, Steig Larsson, Natsuo Kirino and Keigo Higashino. I’m currently reading NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, and I really liked Owen King’s debut novel, Double Feature, which will be out in April. I’ve been enjoying Justin Cronin’s trilogy, am a fan of Stephen R. Donaldson’s fantasy series, and am challenged by the novels of Umberto Eco. To get an idea of what I’ve read over the past several years, check out my review page: www.onyxreviews.com

Talk Stephen King: Do you have a favorite Dark Tower book? 
Bev Vincent: I have a hard time making top ten lists or picking favorites. My mind doesn’t work that way. However, that said, I would have to choose The Gunslinger as my favorite.

Talk Stephen King: Why?
Bev Vincent: I know that wouldn’t be the obvious choice—a lot of people haven’t gotten into the Dark Tower series because that can be a difficult book—but I love it for the overall mood it casts. I first read it in 1984 and for a number of years it was the only Dark Tower book. I’ve read it many times over the years. It’s compact and dense, the protagonist isn’t terribly likable, but it has this haunting aura that charmed me.

Talk Stephen King: A favorite non-Tower King book? 
Bev Vincent: When I’m asked this question, I almost always think of Bag of Bones, his first book with Scribner, and its bookend partner, Lisey’s Story. I consider them a matching set. The writer without his wife; the wife without the writer. There’s a lot going on in Bag of Bones that makes it feel like a highly personal novel. I was also impressed by the writing process—how King wove in a crucial subplot that wasn’t present in the first draft. It becomes one of the most important facets of the story, but King put it in like an artist painting highlights on a nearly finished works. Little daubs of paint here and there. It was a lesson in the craft of writing.

Talk Stephen King: Is there any Stephen King book you just don’t like or couldn’t make it through? 
Bev Vincent: None that I couldn’t make it through, but a few that I dislike. I enjoyed the opening section of The Tommyknockers. I liked Bobbi and Gard a lot and was frustrated when King abandoned them for hundreds of pages to tell us about all these other people about whom I cared not a whit. I kept wanting to get back to Bobbi and Gard, which made it feel like I was just flipping pages. King thinks people missed the point on Needful Things, but my problem with the book is that it was missing the key element present in the rest of his work: likable characters. I hardly liked anyone in that book. And the wonky pseudoscience in Cell wrecked the book for me. It’s fine to have wibbly wobbly bits in a book so long as the story doesn’t rely on them. The whole “save to disk and reboot” concept didn’t hold water, so I couldn’t enjoy the book.

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PART TWO WILL POST JANUARY 2, 2013

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Check out Bev Vincent's website at www.bevvincent.com