Creature: Wha Happon'?

The BEST-HORROR-MOVIES.com podcast featuring Director Fred Andrews got me curious about the 2011 film CREATURE. For those who are not aware, Creature was a somewhat low budget (ok, really low budget) horror film that got a major studio release. So major that it failed miserably, dying on the vine and earning a mere $327,000 from the 1507 screens it was shown on. Evidently, it was the lowest grossing first weekend ever for  film being shown on over 1500 screens and the second worst per location...ever. I had to see it.

FROM MOVIELINE:  $220 per screen and 6 people per showing

Now, in the interest of the new mantra of THE HORROR SHOW, there will be no bashing of this film. On the contrary - it's really not as bad as some I've seen.

The plot is super basic. Group of 20-somethings go off for an outing. Said trip sees them wandering too far off the path. There's a monster and "hillbilly bad guys". ::::shrug:::  Stop me if you've seen this before. And, they start dying. Nothing new. Nothing major. The monster design and makeup were fine. I mean, it's a dude in a suit and it's obvious and the lighting doesn't help in hiding the fact. This film is lit up all sorts of ways and in all sorts of dramatic styles. I'm not saying that they work for this film, but...they are there. The story was interesting - a good mix of reality and "it just happened through some sort of magic" that appealed to me. No need to go into the micro-details of how a sad man became this alligator monster man. I'm good with magical unknowns. Sure! Why not? It's an alligator man for cripes sake.

The cast is...there....being the cast. Sid Haig Sid Haigs things up as usual - always fun. "That black dude from True Blood" Mehcad Brooks and "That hot brunette girl...from something I've seen before" Serinda Swan (turns out it was SUPERNATURAL) turn in performances. There's another girl that I'll call "NOT the delicious Linda Cardellini" Amanda Fuller and Lauren Schneider who couldn't hang on to her accent, but was intriguing in that redhead showing her breasts sort of way. The rest, like I said, were there being the cast and saying their lines. :)


Everything was going along just fine as I watched Fred Andrews work his directorial magic and the plot unfolded before me. It was going so well that I found myself saying, "Man, this film REALLY got a bad rap! I bet it was just marketed incorrectly - it's not bad at all."  Then it happened. Everything started to fall apart in a rather spectacular way. 

People were taken away and tied up to be offered to the creature...and their foot was cut off? Um...why? Why did they do that? I...

There were six people in the group. Two couples and a brother and sister. The guy and girl from the couples were brother and sister as well. When the S goes down, the guy asks his buddy to save his sister...but doesn't seem to remember that he had a friggin GIRLFRIEND there as well! LOL "Get my sister safe! To hell with the girlfriend. I can always get another girlfriend!" No, he didn't say it, but he thought it! :)



WHOLE GROUPS OF PEOPLE APPEAR...then just WALK THE F AWAY and DISAPPEAR. People that might have been able to DO something had they stayed. And...where did they go? They just wander away into the swamp area.

The creature bites NUMEROUS people through the film, but proceeds to punch and pummel the guy who fights him in the end instead of just...eating him, really.

It goes on. I'd love to go on as well, but it starts to get mean after a while. :::grin:::  Above all, I was not mad about the time I spent watching this film. (Granted, I was doing other things as well most of the time) I had some laughs. I had some WTF?! moments. I found myself talking at the screen like crazy at the end with a big smile on my face saying things like, "Wait...they keep leaving these women around for the creature to find..." and "HA! POP GOES THE CREATURE! Didn't see THAT coming, did you, Buddy?!"

I had a good time, but I'd NEVER think about sending this thing off to the masses in a friggin theater! A few small theater showings around Halloween - sure, maybe. heheheh

WHAT the HECK was the studio thinking here? It's really their fault that this film failed in the theater. It shouldn't have been there. This would have done well released to DVD and Netflix, doing it's thing and being fine. If anything, it might have done better with more camp and less seriousness, but that's just a personal opinion.

Again, from the MOVIELINE article found here:
"Chalk the failed experiment, perhaps, to the elder Sheinberg's past successes; while at Universal Pictures, Sid Sheinberg released the game-changing Jaws and in the process birthed the blockbuster by forgoing small-scale roll-outs in favor of national release. Creature seemed to similarly attempt to launch a wide-scale release with but without sufficient awareness efforts among a proportionate audience, and as a result the film arrived without enough of a trumpet blast and lacking enough of a draw (great reviews, buzz) to make the gamble work."

I hope that Fred Woods recovers and makes more films. It looks like he's still going strong as a production designer. 

CREATURE is not the problem here and is well worth taking a look at over pizza, beer and popcorn on Netflix some rainy night for fun. It's just a shame that it was pushed out into the world like it was.

Grabbers

What a fun little film! Is it SHAUN OF THE DEAD level horror comedy? Mmmmm...no, but nothing is, right? :) This is a load of fun and rolls along at a funny and fun pace for sure.

The long and the short is that something has fallen from space near a small, Irish island. The residents start dropping like flies as the grabby, tentacled monsters start feeding off of them. The one way to protect yourself from their attack? Being completely drunk, thus rendering your blood toxic to them. Silly, right? Oh yes, it really is. But, it's SO MUCH FUN.

Jon Wright's Direction is grand as well. I'll need to check out the film he did before this - a nasty little number called TORMENTED from 2009 and his new outing OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS due out in 2014. 

It's a fun ride, but it doesn't let the horror go to get giggles. There are some nasty little bits of grabber goodness in this film that had me laughing for different reasons. Some of the kills are shocking and well played. And, while this is a lower budget affair, the computer work and practical effects work doesn't suffer. They manage to pull off some grand effects and I never found myself rolling my eyes at what i was seeing. 

I imagine this would play well as a drinking game of sorts as well, though if you drank like they drink in the film, you might not remember most of the film come morning! 

Check out GRABBERS. It's a hoot!

Crying Wolf: Nov 06 Update

The folks over at Tirana Films passed me the latest and greatest trailer and images for their upcoming feature CRYING WOLF and I have to say that I'm excited about seeing it. We're not talking "mega-blockbuster-horror" here. We're talking "they love horror" here and that shines through in the trailer. There's a heart and soul to this feature and it has a style and look that I find very appealing. 


CRYING WOLF    https://www.facebook.com/cryingwolfthemovie



Now, let's really look at this trailer and what it offers. Fans of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, UNDEAD, DOGHOUSE, or more specific werewolf films like AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON or THE HOWLING should be able to appreciate this effort. You can see that the filmmakers are not dealing with AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF budget, but that they are all in and really trying to present something that will entertain. It's working for me for sure. 

The acting stands out for me. I want to compare Crying Wolf to many other films right now, but I don't want to bash the others due to the new HORROR SHOW policy and standards for reviewing. (If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.) Suffice it to say that I've seen many films of late that don't have this level of talent. This crew seems to be all in when they are working their roles. 

The way the film was shot is getting me more excited about this production. This doesn't look like they broke out a single Lowel light kit, a Sony HD pro-sumer cam and a prayer. There is some attention to framing and lighting here and makes me very happy. The color and picture quality takes this film to the next level. 

And they have some good old "werewolf human" practical effects going here. Prosthetics and real world effects work with some light computer work tossed in for flavor. That makes me happy as well. I love seeing this sort of effects work in film. (Why Greg Nicotero makes me so happy with THE WALKING DEAD - not a lot of CGI work) I'm a sucker for a biped werewolf. It's why I love the Howling wolves better than David in AMERICAN WEREWOLF. I love seeing this style of wolf growling around. :)



And lastly, they look like they are having a damn good time making the film and that energy is coming through in spades. It takes me back to a happy time for me. That time back in the 80s or so where people were excited about making films and really trying to not only get something on film, but to make people excited and happy that they watched the film in the first place. The golden time for me where my "internet" was Fangoria Magazine which I would buy religiously and read from cover to cover until the next issue would come out.

I wish these folks well and I hope that I'm on the short list when it comes to announcements in the future. I can't wait to get my soda (...or whiskey, depending on the time of day....:::grin:::), my popcorn and snuggle up with this good ole werewolf flick. BRING IT ON! I'll be looking for Tony Jopia's CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS as well! 

Feel free to toss me a screener, Mr. Jopia - I'll review it with gusto! :) I really want to see this film. It just looks like tons of fun. 

CRYING WOLF:

"From the director of Deadtime and the greatly anticipated comedy horror Cute Little Buggers Tony Jopia, comes the British comedy horror Crying Wolf.


Produced by Tirana Films International and Great Dayne Entertainment,  ‘Crying Wolf’ stars Caroline Munro, Gary Martin, Joe Egan, Kristofer Dayne and Ian Donnelly.


Due for release in 2014, the comedy horror movie, ‘Crying Wolf’ starts its tale in the small village of Deddington where prankster Andy is bitten by a werewolf that kills his friend Charlotte. Andy tries to warn his friends, but winds up turning them into a pack of werewolves. Enter a pair of hapless journalists doomed to a grizzly end, then add a pair of hard boiled vigilantes hot on the heels of the werewolf pack and before you know it, everyone’s ‘Crying Wolf! during a bloody camping holiday in the Cotswolds."

Remakes: The Thing

Whew, THE THING. THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD.  Both films shaped my love of horror films for different reasons and both were equally amazing and powerful works in my mind.

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD - 1951
Howard Hawks really brought the  John W. Campbell short story "Who goes there?" to life with his Direction. There are Howard Hawks moments throughout the film and it's SO WONDERFULLY 50s. (( I ALWAYS mess this up.  Christian Nyby was also a Director on this film, but I always leave him out. Sorry Chris. :)   ))
Quick dialog and some grand play with the camera and character interactions makes this one of the biggies from my childhood. Mom would make a huge bowl of popcorn and we'd sit and watch the afternoon movie back in the ye old 1970-somethings and we'd never miss THE THING when it was on.

You know the story. A team of scientists in a remote, arctic outpost pair up with the Air Force to investigate a U.F.O. crash site. They discover an alien occupant and bring it back to the base to check out. Said occupant thaws and mayhem ensues as the small outpost wages war against the alien to save the planet from being taken over.

There are little things in here that make me smile time and time again. Conversations are like machine gun fire - rattling off quickly and smoothly with some cute, 1950s moments that are just awesome. Some good writing there. Then there are things like doors opening and closing. Watch the film again. You'll see doors opening and closing, people going in and out and people talking about doors throughout. But why? Oh...you'll find out! HA! And the James Arness monster makeup is grand.

The story goes that test makeup was done on a stand-in offsite before shooting started. Jack Pierce did the makeup, I believe. When the effects artist got the perfect THING, he tossed the stand-in into the car to drive him over to the studio to show the execs. On the way over, a women in another car looked over and started SCREAMING at the top of her lungs in her vehicle. The makeup artist knew this was the one after that.

I just love this film.






THE THING - 1982
Now, I went a long while wanting to kill every remake with fire. They could never make me happy.
But....wow. Walking into the theater, sitting down and having this film unfold before me like it did - even with pages and pages of FANGORIA magazine pre-press committed to memory - just completely blew our minds.

Here you have two people (my Mother and I) who not only loved the original, but had all these huge,  emotional ties to it as well. The film had to be amazing to make us come anywhere close to liking it as much as the original film. We sat there at the opening copter scene and were interested. This was different and we were ok with it and wondered where it would lead.

Turns out it lead to some of the most impressive effects work we'd seen and we'd seen a lot being genre film lovers for years and years. Rob Bottin took things up to screaming standards with his practical effects work and blew us away. It was fantastic.

The script was grand as well, taking the original storyline and adding some super details and game changing plot points into the mix that made this an update well worth sparing from the flames of hatred. They basically kept the whole of the story and added this mystery element of who was good and who was bad in that ramped the game up to new and fantastic heights.


And Carpenter was SPOT ON POINT with all his work on the film with a cast that took everything and played it real and deadly serious. That's why this remake stands out among many as a work that can not only stand on it's own, but one that people really can't see being without in the horror community.



And, this is what I really want out of a remake. I really don't mind them anymore, but...make an effort. That's all I ask. Try something interesting. Update the sucker with something cool and new. Maybe do some writing. :)

I suppose I should take a look at the 2011 THE THING (...that we couLd not come up with a better name for)  but, I don't really wanna. :)

I'll be looking at some other remakes that do just that. And...some that don't, but give it a shot.

Our recent MANIAC compare and contrast takes a look at the remake.   Take a look if you have not already.

Devil

Well, color me surprised. I liked DEVIL. It's not without it's faults, but they are outweighed by what the film has to offer.

The plot is super simple. There is a group of people trapped in an elevator. No one can get it working again despite the efforts of the security staff and maintenance people. The lights flicker...dim...and go dark. And that's when the incidents start to occur. Will the detective on the scene be able to calm them down enough so they won't hurt each other so he has time to sort out what's going on? And, will that one security guy STOP going on about...the Devil?





This is a classic "lifeboat" situation with a twist. We're not just dealing with trapped people on edge here. It's a pressure cooker with a supernatural bent. A great "Who dunnit?" plot line with some great reveals and fun edit work. There's a flickering light element that is a lot of fun. It was a fun gag that had me giggling at one point.

The detective work within the film works, too. There's nothing flying in from left field. Everything seems to work and flow naturally. And the way the story unfolds really had me engaged.

Now, the film isn't without it's "faults". The screenplay was based on an M. Night Shyamalan story, so it has some heavy handed themes about good and evil. But, that aside, the story is also a lot of fun and packed with great, rolling set pieces that lead the viewer along nicely.

John Erick Dowdle's direction is pretty dern good as well. Looking back on his other efforts, he does have some shining moments in the darkness. 2007's The Poughkeepsie Tapes was all the rage. In 2008, he was handed Quarantine. While the film SHOULD have worked due to the success of the original...released in the same year...it didn't have the same success as the amazing Spanish original. Two years later, Devil came and received ok reviews, but I think people were not ready to see this claustrophobic horror mystery unfold - a tale told in one space, basically.



Much of what works here is Brian Nelson's script. It's a lot of fun and moves quickly. Seeing as he was involved in HARD CANDY and 30 DAYS OF NIGHT - two more films that take place in basically the same area in a closed in way, it's not surprising that this film worked so well. 

I had this in my list on NETFLIX for a while and hovered over it several times. But...to be honest...M. Night being involved made me shy away. It's sad, but true. I was so into him when he first showed up on the scene and now I see his name on something and shy away. Personally, DEVIL has me back in the M. Night camp.


If you're in the mood for a good story, interesting situations and some fun acting, give DEVIL a go.

Phenomena Behind the Scenes Footage

A great horror find from the STIGMATOPHILIA HORROR BLOG !

Rare behind the scenes footage from Dario Argento's 1985 film Phenomena.

It Came From My Childhood

I was just thinking back on a few films that shaped my childhood love of horror. Sitting on the sofa on a Saturday afternoon or evening watching some great black and white goodness. Now, mind you, I wasn't around when these originally came out. :::grin:::  However, these were the films of the 50s-ish era that I was comfortable watching as a child. And I'd watch them over and over and over again.

What are your favorites from childhood?

The Thing from Another World

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Them!

Tarantula!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The Mole People

The Deadly Mantis

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Night of the Demon

The Blob

The Fly

The Tingler

Mr. Sardonicus

13 Ghosts

The Birds

Day of the Triffids

Dementia 13

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Mephisto Waltz

Twins of Evil

The Asphyx

Trilogy of Terror

Alice, Sweet Alice

Kingdom of the Spiders

...and a little later in life...

Jaws

Alien

Phantasm

Prophecy

Tourist Trap