Horror Movies - Horrorphile

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SAW VII - THE TORTURE FINALLY ENDS!

July 30th 2010 05:20

According to Reuters:

The Saw horror movie franchise is getting a place in the Guinness World Records as the Most Successful Horror Movie Series.

“I'm still in shock," said Mark Burg (producer), "The fact that we beat out Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a testament to our cast, crew and our partners at Lionsgate.”

Collectively, the Saw films have made over $US73O million at the worldwide box-office and sold more than 30 million DVDs, according to distributors Lionsgate.

Burg said it was during the production of Saw 2, that the producers decided to “etch out” one long story spanning seven films. Therefore, after the seventh movie, there will be no other movies, including spin-offs or prequels. “We are done; this is it,” he said. “We don't want to be that boxer who fought one too many fights.”

Burg said the seventh chapter was always “anticipated” by fans as the final one. “In every Saw movie, we left questions open and in this movie we answer every question the audience has ever had,” Burg said, adding that even new viewers will be able to follow and “get caught up to speed.”
The seventh, and final, installment is due out October 29th and will be screened in 3D.

Hmmmm, looks like Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) who supposedly died in the first movie might have been in cahoots with Jigsaw … But hey, not that I really give a flying fuck.

Game over.

Here’s a teaser trailer:

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Q&A WITH JULIEN ZENIER - DIRECTOR OF SNIP

July 30th 2010 03:13

Julien Zenier was born and raised in France, but has lived in Madrid, Spain, since 2003. He cut his teeth on commercials and "Making Ofs" before completing his first short film, Snip, in 2008. I saw Snip at the 2009 A Night of Horror International Film Festival and was suitably impressed. I look forward to more movies from this talented filmmaker.

Horrorphile: What are your thoughts on the current new wave of European horror, in particular, French and, of course, Spanish filmmakers?

Julien Zenier: Well, I don’t know if we can speak of “new wave” for the Europe horror genre. I’ll say, firstly, that the French and the Spanish movie, although close, are different. France’s conception is a little more “arty” while Spain is maybe more “hand-crafty” (in a traditional, pure cinematographic way). For instance French production companies sometimes seem to risk more (Vinyan by Fabrice Du Welz or Gaspar Noe’s features) but are often unable to produce a good genre flick. In Spain films are generally produced in a way that is similar to the Hollywood studio system, without its economic potential. On the other hand, they’ve got this great sensibility and knowledge in making interesting genre movies. We have some great emerging and experienced directors, and that’s fantastic because it develops a kind of a healthy “competition”. I think it strongly stimulates you to do something of your own, and maybe one day be a part of this adventure.

H: When were you first seduced by the horror genre? What are some of the first movies that caught your attention?

JZ: I’ve been a huge fan of horror films since my adolescence, but everything began in my childhood: My father had this big VCR and I remember watching (while hiding myself) entire sequences of Alien, The Shining, The Terminator, and Blade Runner. I was completely mesmerized by those images! Later The Exorcist really disturbed me for a long time; I love the film and at the same time, watching it was always a painful experience.

H: What directors’ work, either living or dead, do you particularly admire, or that provides you with inspiration?

JZ: I particularly admire Verhoeven’s work and audacity, the movies of Mikhail Kalatazov... Aronofsky, Antonioni, Cronenberg, Kubrick... Jonathan Glazer and Gaspar Noe are also in “my” top list.

H: The sound design in Snip is very prominent, almost abstract. How important is sound in a movie? Describe the differences between sound design and a musical score and how they should work together?

JZ: The audio represents more than 50% of the whole movie experience. I think the sound design holds and lets breathe the images when a musical score takes more “space” and interacts directly with the emotions. All is about finding the best alchemy, knowing when the sound design or the score must be pointed up; a very subtle work.

H: Are you able to tell me a little about the special effects work in Snip? Was it all entirely prosthetics? Which special effects make-up artists are you favourites and why?

JZ: Snip was all entirely shot with prothestics for a simple reason: I don’t believe in CGI for those kind of effects. It often looks synthetic and your eyes automatically detect it. I needed it to look as real as possible; if the prosthetic work was fucked, the audience would have laugh and that wasn’t the purpose. I remember the work was barely done in one month by Gorka Aguirre and Cristina Iglesias from Quimera FX. We’d spent hours talking about making it the most realistic, with me repeating like a protecting mantra the words “visceral” and “organic”. We also checked a lot human anatomy books ... and they’ve made a fantastic job. As for special effects make up artists, I don’t have a favourite one.

H: Can a horror movie operate purely on visceral terms, or does it need to manipulate an audience on a psychological level just as strongly? Can you give me some examples of movies that you appreciate on a visceral level and/or on a psychological the other?

JZ: There are no rules. Ideally a good horror movie should operate both on a visceral level and on psychological level. The perfect example is what David Cronenberg did with his horror tragedies The Fly and Dead Ringers.

H: What are your thoughts on the current Hollywood trend of making tame horror movies i.e. PG-13 rated movies aimed at a much broader demographic?

JZ: Today’s movies are the result of the lack of good idea, economic pressure and the lack of time; it’s easier, safer and faster to remake or reboot something known by the audience than create something new. These are strange times, creatively speaking. You know, Hollywood movies are funded by The Majors. The Majors want to make a lot of money, so what they are doing is making sense.

H: Are there any taboos in cinema? If so, what are they, and should they be broken?

JZ: Of course, there are taboos in cinema! The taboos you can see in theaters are generally the same you can observe in our societies. Each year plenty of films talk about racism, incest, explicit sex, full nudity, war blunders, etc, but how many of them are doing it well and frankly? I tend to say that yes, taboos exist to be broken; at the very least we should try to play with them.

H: Too many horror movies rely on the use of CGI simply because it’s cheaper. What are your thoughts on the use of CGI in horror movies? Should CGI be employed in a horror movie at all?

JZ: I’m neither a hardcore fan of classic sfx nor an enemy of the CGI. As a filmmaker, you just have some different tools and try to use it the best way. The main criterion must be the story: How do I see this sequence? Does it work better with physical effects or can we do it with CGI? Again and again, I think it’s all a matter of balance.

H: Have you had any negative reactions to Snip from film audiences and/or critics?

JZ: I’ve read some negative reactions, for sure, but in general film audience and critics reactions have been, surprisingly, very encouraging.

H: It’s a very powerful, but very confronting film, what movie-watching experience has been the most confronting for you?

JZ: Aftermath by Nacho Cerda, without a doubt. Pasolini’s Salo made me also feel very uncomfortable.

H: What plans for a feature do you have?

JZ: Since Snip, we’ve been busy working for almost two years on a script adapted from Jim Thompson’s Child of Rage novel.

H: Would you be interested in being a hired hand for a big budget Hollywood movie (for example the remake of Hellraiser, which Pascal Laugier pulled out of), or would you prefer to make a movie from your own original screenplay?

JZ: I would be very glad in being a hired hand for a big budget Hollywood movie. It could be a fantastic opportunity! You can tell them I’m interested! More seriously, I’d like my first feature to be something smaller, but who knows?

You can discover more about Snip at the official website here

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FREE TICKETS TO SEE SPLICE!

July 29th 2010 02:29

The lovely folk at Madman Entertainment have given me ten free tickets as giveaways to see the new sci-fi-horror-thriller, Splice (2010), which opens in Australia in a couple of weeks.

If you're keen to see the movie drop me a comment telling me your favourite sci-fi-horror movie. The first lucky ten comments will receive two tickets in the post, just like that!

NB: This giveaway is only open to readers who live in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

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Session 9

July 27th 2010 23:18

Director Brad Anderson’s impressive debut feature, Session 9 (2001) deals with the slow-burn wrath of insanity, the pickled psyche ruined by the error of one’s ways, aggravated by circumstance and surroundings … and possessed by something beyond the realm of the natural. Session 9 is a chamber piece superbly acted and directed and shot on an expertly realised low-budget. Anderson would go on to direct another impressively disturbing portrait of madness and despair, The Machinist (2004) starring Christian Bale. Although Session 9 doesn’t have the slick look of the follow-up feature, it’s drenched in an assured command of atmosphere and dread, enough for a half dozen features.

David Caruso as Phil

Danvers State Insane Asylum, Massachusetts. Phil (David Caruso) and Gordon (Peter Mullan) take on the job of asbestos removal from the mental hospital, a massive building which has been closed since the mid-80s. They recruit three others to help; Mike (Stephen Gevedon), Hank (Josh Lucas) and young Jeff (Brendon Sexton III). If they get it down in a week they each get a $10,000 bonus. Game on.

Peter Mullan as Gordon

Stephen Gevedon as Mike

During lunch break on the first day Mike spills the beans on the building’s closure: a demonic possession and sex-abuse scandal which involved a patient by the name of Mary Hobbes. This story places a quiet shroud of dread over the group. Further complications arise with Gordon’s preoccupation with his wife and baby; a breakdown in the marriage and Phil’s concern over Hank’s liability (and resentment that Hank stole his girlfriend). It doesn’t help that Mike discovers the taped doctor’s interviews with Mary Hobbes, and having done law school he can’t help his fascination, so secretly starts making notes. Meanwhile Hank uncovers a hidden stash of valuable old coins stashed in a crumbling wall and sneaks back after dark to loot. Instead he’s confronted by something else

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VAMPIRES SUCK

July 27th 2010 07:04

I actually discovered the trailer to Vampires Suck (2010), a super-trash spoof of the Twilight series and other pop-culture, purely by chance. It's from the same guys who gave us the Scary Movie/Date Movie/Epic Movie/Disaster Movie, etc lampoons ... Ummmm, yeah, I know.

Hey, maybe you'll smirk some, you might have a chortle, indulge in a snigger even, hell, you might even laugh out loud

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Coffin Rock

July 27th 2010 01:13

Jessie (Lisa Chappell) and Rob Willis (Robert Taylor) are married and living in a small fishing community charmingly known as Coffin Rock, in South Australia, probably not too far from Adelaide. They are a happy couple if perhaps a little on edge. You see they’ve been trying to conceive for a while now without much luck. Jessie’s feeling desperation scratching at her biological door, and Rob’s feeling the pressure. Enter young Evan (Sam Parsonson), a drifter from the city looking for work, but as it becomes quickly apparent, looking for love, and not just love from anyone, he’s looking for love from Jessie. He’s taken quite a shine to her; a shine with the dark gleam of the psychologically unhinged.

Lisa Chappell as Jessie

Coffin Rock (2009) is the debut feature from writer/director Rupert Glasson and it’s a solid little horror-thriller indeed. Great cast, taut script, and tidy direction, and if perhaps the movie loses steam during the last third, it’s still an entertaining, but familiar ride. This is your poor man’s Fatal Attraction, but still well worth investing 90 minutes into. The performances are uniformly strong, especially Lisa Chappell and relative big screen newcomer Sam Parsonson, who delivers a convincing portrayal of a man on the edge of the abyss and losing his footing.

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I Spit on Your Grave

July 26th 2010 04:07

One of the most vilified horror movies ever made, I Spit on Your Grave (1978), has garnered a cult following in the years since it was released on VHS, and since its release on DVD in more recent years, it’s enabled the director to offer a commentary, his first “defence” since a magazine interview he gave back in 1984. I saw the uncut version in the mid-80s, and hadn’t seen it in its entirety again until the other day (it had been banned in Australia from 1997 until 2004). With news of a remake playing festivals in America, I decided it was time to give my two cents on this notorious rape-revenge flick.

Camille Keaton as Jennifer

The plot is very basic (as is with any movie of this ilk); a NYC writer, Jennifer (Camille Keaton, Bustor’s granddaughter no less!) drives to a country retreat in Kent, Connecticut, where she is terrorised and repeatedly raped by three thugs and their simple-minded friend. She survives the ordeal, and sets about offing the four men in gruesome fashion.

Eron Tabor as Johnny

This was writer/director Meir Zarchi’s first feature. He made only one other in 1985 (Don’t Mess with My Sister!) which was a critical and commercial bomb. Seems the director has been resting on his laurels, I muse with my severed tongue is lodged firmly in my cheek. But enough of the comedy, I Spit on Your Grave is no laughing matter. Originally released as Day of the Woman (an appallingly pretentious title if ever there was), but forever known as I Spit on Your Grave. Its opening montage/credit sequence gives the impression one is watching a 70s porn flick; low-budget, washed out, hand-held, pedestrian. It doesn’t get any better ...*
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Centurion

July 23rd 2010 00:34

AD 117. A splinter group of Roman soldiers meet up with a lone centurion, Quintus (Michael Fassbinder), the sole survivor from a devastating attack on a frontier fort. Together they fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack under General Virilus (Dominic West) who is taken prisoner by the savage Scots Gaelic tribe known as the Picts.

Writer/director Neil Marshall makes a (slight) return to form after the absurd mish-mash of Doomsday (2008). Nowhere near as nightmarish as The Descent (2005), nor as novel as Dog Soldiers (2002), but just as lean and mean as them both, Centurion is a blood and thunder sword and sandal thriller that moves with the ferocity of a hungry wolf and packs the punch of a battering ram. It’s tough as rustic nails with more than enough entertaining gusto to please those who found Gladiator too smooth around the edges

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Inception

July 22nd 2010 02:13

“Death and nature illuminate, elevate. Love ventures under, the rest all never.”

Ideas as parasites, and the architecture of the mind as the scene of corporate crime, where the infiltration of dream layers is a labyrinthine gauntlet of projections and deceptions, and the fabric of reality becomes as fragile as footsteps in the surf of time. Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) is one of the truly great science fiction movies of all time

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After.Life

July 16th 2010 04:51

What a preposterous movie this was! After.Life (2009), starring Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, and Justin Long, is the debut feature from an ex-pat Polish woman named Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo who studied film at NYU and made an acclaimed 30-minute short called Pâté in 2001. Apparently her influences were Roman Polanski and Dario Argento, but I failed to see any aspects or elements from either of those two masterful directors. Instead I saw a decidedly dull and lifeless “existential” account of one woman’s nightmarish journey through the limbo of consciousness at the hands of a deranged mortician.

Christina Ricci as Anna

Anna (Christina Ricci) is a middle school teacher trapped within her own manifested realm of boredom and frustration. Her fiancé, Paul (Justin Long), means well, but puts his foot in his mouth, and fails to fathom his lover’s malaise. At a dinner date Paul breaks news of a job offer in another city, which swiftly upsets Anna, and before Paul can rectify the situation Anna has stormed off and is driving dangerously fast on the rain-swept highway. Tragedy strikes.

Liam Neeson as Eliot

Anna awakes on a mortuary slab with a fatal gash on her forehead and the mortician, Eliot (Liam Neeson) staring down at her about to administer a funereal injection. But Anna isn’t dead, well, so she claims. She looks pretty alive, but Eliot begs to differ, yet doesn’t really justify the reasons. He only tries to console Anna, telling her that everything is how it should be. And so the rest of this far-flung tale of unreasoning beyond the fleshy fabric of mortality unfolds

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SAW VII - THE TORTURE FINALLY ENDS!	Q&A WITH JULIEN ZENIER - DIRECTOR OF SNIP	FREE TICKETS TO SEE SPLICE!
Session 9	VAMPIRES SUCK	Coffin Rock
I Spit on Your Grave	Centurion	Inception
After.Life	BRING BACK THE GRINDHOUSE DOUBLE-FEATURES!	Darkroom
WHAT REMAKES SHOULD BE MADE?	Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters)	Splice