Old Birthday Cake

I was just going through some of my old pictures and noticed this cake a friend did for me for my 23rd birthday. It was a delicious ice cream cake made by Amy Anglin portraying the rose cross.

the horror, the horror

Wow. I have seen some bad horror movies in my days, but I have to say Darkness Falls was one of the worst. I posted this at the Home Theater Forum several years ago.

I found it to be horribly predictable. While I understand the concept of fantasy and am a great fan of surrealism, there were so many contradictions through the film that I stopped questioning rationality at all by the end. However, toward the end of the movie you could tell from dialog and bad acting which character was going to die next. The end followed the same worn formula that so many "horror" and action films have been following since the early 90's. It truly seems that most new horror films are being made by dispassionate directors that will make a film of any genre to get a chance at their first big break. I am a big horror fan (especially Romero and Argento), and it sincerely breaks my heart to see a movie like this joining the rest of the garbage polluting my favorite genre.

What makes me post this? Fangoria online has let it be known that the director of Darkness Falls is directing the new Friday the 13th movie. I guess it can't be much worse than Jason X or Freddy Vs. Jason.

Lord of all fever and plague

Last week I was pretty sick. I had the time to do a few constructive things while enjoying the convenience of actually being able to call into work. It is a luxury I have not been able to exploit for many years due to lack of decent income and hatred of doctors that distribute thy holy work excuse. Now I come to a crossroad where my job is not the be all/end all definition of my existence and I can afford the time off (and a doctor visit). The sickness held me a victim to my own delusions and opened the door to bizarre synchronicities. Being a fan and follower of Discordianism I have eaten this strange situationism up with the proverbial spoon (mmmm.... wordy). Without being too specific, during by beloved call in days I was able to get into contact with a few old friends through strange circumstances and events.

I have ended up listening to a lot of Broadcast, David Cross comedy and discovering Mr. Show. All very productive and enlightening. I also had the opportunity to read 4 trade paper backs of the comic series Y: The Last Man about an interesting young man who discovers himself to be the last living male mammal on the planet along with his monkey Ampersand. The art and the story are magnificent and highly creative. I must read more!

Also, I have forgotten to mention The Fountain. I read the graphic novel a few weeks ago out of anticipation for the new Darren Aronofsky film. The book is very nice, yet I almost found it to be rushed. I was able to devour it in two sittings. It follows the parallel story of three characters searching for the fountain of youth in the name of love during 3 different time periods: past, present and future. After seeing the trailer and reading the book I am very excited for this movie to come out. Darren worked very hard to manifest this story in all of its mediums.

new horror

I have found myself making a lot of posts lately on other blogs about the watered down nature of new horror. I really haven't focused on this with my own blog. This is really a shame because I have a lot to say on the matter.

First, there is the the remake issue. At first I saw this as a harmless novelty. I found no harm in young directors reinterpreting classic horror movies. I thought maybe they would bring more attention to the classics. Unfortunately, the trend continued. It continued to such a level that it became overwhelming. Now, almost every week I hear about a new remake project coming into light. I suppose I wouldn't have a problem with this if the remakes were good, and, unlike my desire of bringing the classics into the light, ended up pushing the original films into the shadows. I hate turning on my television and seeing movies listed like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of the Dead only to find out they are exclusively showing the new remake. Since these new movies have been released I have yet to see the originals on cable. Not that they were frequently played prior to the remakes, it is still horrible to get your expectations up only to find these sub-par movies playing regularly. That is only a minor inconvenience for me though, because I have the movies I want on DVD if the craving gets to overwhelming. The problem really is that the younger audience who has not seen the originals are being exposed to these new movies without being given the opportunity to see the original movie with the same ease. I have problems with all of the remakes I have seen so far, but my most hated has to be the Texas Chainsaw remake. I have really tried to forget this remake... but really, it was so bad. Every good element of the original movie was neglected in favor of doing a character profile of uninteresting young actors in a pseudo-gore film. The original movie was able to achieve cinematic perfection that sent chills down your spine without the use of gratuitous gore. Don't get me wrong, I love gore, but when you have to rely on it to make your film interesting, you are in serious trouble. That goes double if your movie is a remake. I hate to say it, but I think Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses ended up accidentally being a better remake of Texas Chainsaw than this movie ever could have been. You can see that Rob at least has love and passion for the genre.

Now I would like to discuss this new wave of reality torture films. I have to say when I first saw the trailer for Saw my mouth hit the ground. I thought, wow, an uncompromising horror film that is full of new original terror techniques. I was very excited. Tammy and I went to see it on Halloween and we were filled with anticipation. As the movie went on I was gradually becoming more and more disappointed with the lame ass acting that was continuously coming from every corner. The pain and originality of every scene was becoming over shadowed by the discomfort of the acting. Danny Glover's overacting alone was enough to make this movie a bad joke. Then there was Hostel. I thought that maybe since Quentin Tarantino was producing it, the movie may have some value. How wrong I was. For a while I thought I had mistakenly ended up in a theater showing a new National Lampoon's movie, but patience brought me to some gore. At this point it was too little, too late. These horrible uninteresting characters should have all died early in the movie to save us all some grief. And a hint to the writter/director, if you want to make a revenge film at least let us care about the character who is getting their retribution. After seeing movies like those of the Guinea Pig series and August Underground, films like Saw and Hostel are like watching Girls Gone Wild when there is free porn everywhere. It is just a half ass approach that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I am truly embarrassed to have contributed to their box office gross.

Hollywood wants to know why the box office is doing so bad. They want to blame downloading and piracy for the low attendance, but in essence the movies they are producing are lacking style, form and originality in favor of the hot new actors, bastardized remakes and endless pop culture references to try to play on the audiences sense of nostalgia. Don't revisit the past - create a new better future. There are good horror films out there that aren't getting the distribution they deserve. High Tension, now that was nice. While not the most original movie I have seen, it had the feel and essence of a true horror movie. I don't want to give a lot about this movie away because I really think it is worth watching for any horror fan, but it plays on formula and taboos just enough not to sicken the viewer with over saturation. Another good horror film that I have seen recently is Night Watch. Hopefully this movie will end up getting a wider theatrical release then High Tension, but I doubt it. The studios only want to spread crap on the screens. Night Watch is a nice fresh look at the fantasy horror genre focusing on the classic battle between good vs. evil, while adding a nice humanistic spin to the story. Both movies have, in my opinion, good solid acting. Maybe it is because I have not been over saturated with the presence of these actors in film and other forms of media. That is enough of my rant for now. I always have more to say about the subject because I love horror. I just hate seeing the genre being treated so badly.

technorati tags: horror

Recently I saw a really good trailer for Silent Hill. From what I have seen it looks like it will capture the tone and story of the video game really well (hopefully more so than Resident Evil). If only Sonic Youth was doing the score. I remember the first Silent Hill game being loaded with strange references to the band... Speaking of music I found a really cool project while exploring iTunes last night. The name is Dabrye and it is some of the nicest glitch/trip-hop music I have heard in a while. Well, that isn't true, I hear a lot of good new music frequently, but I still highly recommend checking out their stuff at iTunes anyway. It is very rhythmic and hypnotic.

The Mirrormask of Vendetta

Tonight Tammy and I watched the long awaited MirrorMask. Living in an evil place like we do we have been unable to see this movie until now. We had promises from a local theatre and even a "scheduled" Theatrical Release Date from this local establishment, but it never showed. This independent theatre had a good history with showing quality films and giving regular midnight showings, but ended up neglecting two good recent opportunities. They also didn't show Thumbsucker which has me worried they have neglected to renew a contract with Sony Pictures Classic.
Nevertheless, this movie has been well worth waiting for. It is the story of a protagonist named Helena, who works in a Circus with her family, to journey through her images and dreams to find the enigmatic MirrorMask. I found the story to be a fantastic parable reflecting the journey through self identity and handling crisis. The trials and tribulations of the journey are very identifiable being a long time fan of the creative work of both writer Neil Gaiman and Director/designer Dave McKean. The film was an odyssey to the land of myths and images presented by two of the most prominent, innovative storytellers of the modern comic era. I feel that it would be safe to say that if you were ever a fan of the Sandman comic series from Vertigo or any of the works of Neil Gaiman you would definitely, or at the very least appreciate, if not absolutely love, MirrorMask. I find it difficult to find anything wrong with this modern masterpiece aside from the smallest detail. While a small detail, like the score could destroy other movies, somehow MirrorMask stands above this problem. While I do not hate said score, and some will probably disagree, I feel that the horns and freeform jazz influence was a bit to much for an already overwhelming visual feast. I think there are two options that were not achieved with the score as it was. First, it could have been minimized to bring a greater focus onto the images and story at hand (not to mention the very strong voice and effect tracks that were magnificent). By minimized I just mean removing the horns. The second option would be to bring the story together with an orgasmic, symbiotic score that blends the visual exploration with a reality distorting analysis into sonic ecstasy... unfortunately, anything that awe-inspiring was sorely lacking. In the movies defense, this is only my opinion and other may disagree, finding the music to fit the movie like a well tailored glove. Believe me when I say that the score does not hurt the viewing pleasure of this movie enough to neglect seeing it. Now, I have to say it leaves a great deal of expectations from the Vertigo story V for Vendetta. While MirrorMask is not directly related to Vertigo comics, it's creators have a long standing history with the D.C. owned company. After showing how disastrous a Vertigo story can be when translated to film by a big by a major studio with Constantine, MirrorMask shows that sometimes good work, by intelligent artists can still slip through the cracks. It is unfair to base expectations of a major studio blockbuster on a limited release like MirrorMask, especially when there wasn't a preconceived story that is already familiar to the viewers. Still, my hope is there, and I have given the segue to discuss what may now be my favorite graphic novel since Arkham Asylum (illustrated by the great Dave McKean). Though it was written in the 1980's V for Vendetta is a timeless comic series that explores a world where everyone is watched and controlled by an evil Big Brother like entity, until it is challenged by a masked renegade that has his own agenda. Another high recommendation, but I am in fear of how it translates to the screen.

Do not attempt to adjust your computer screen...

Do not attempt to adjust your computer screen...
Just a really cool site I found. More to come soon...