The HYPE of horror
November 1st 2006 00:13
One of my regular readers, a maiden of the macabre, brought my attention to a horror movie festivalplaying in the United States next month; 8 Films To Die For.
A relatively unknown studio distribution company called After Dark has garnered the movies and over one weekend is playing them in 500 cinemas in 35 cities (November 17 – 19th). You can even enter into a Miss Horrorfest competition where After Dark is looking for the next “Scream Queen” to be the public face for promoting the weekender festival. You can check out some of the committed finalists here.
After watching the main festival trailer and then six of the eight individual flicks’ trailers (two are not available) I came to the impression this is one slick package, “package” being the operative word. It smacks of the Hype Machine big time.
A typically deep and menacing male voice states emphatically: “Each year there are movies produced that are never seen by the public, their content is considered too graphic, too disturbing, too shocking for general audiences.” Whoa! Now if that isn’t a come hither call to all the gorehounds, terrorfreaks and horrorphiles out there I don’t know what is. Could a horror tagline be any more provocative?
“Now one studio will defy the system …” Righto. You go Final Girl!! Break all the rules! Push the boundaries! Shock us out of our horror complacency!
I don’t believe a word of it. Sure, some of the flicks look kinda cool, but I doubt very much they’re any more horrific or intense than other theatrical releases. In fact my guess is these films were “saved” from straight-to-video release by After Dark who thought a stabbing umbrella weekend festival could be hugely beneficial for the films financial returns.
Mostly the movies look like hack jobs (pun intended) by ex-television directors (using television actors) looking for a big screen break. “Hmmm, horror seems to be kinda chic at the moment”. The two notable directors are Japan’sTakashi Shimizu (The Grudge movies) and Spain’s Nacho Cerda (Aftermath, Genesis) who are capable of fairly confronting and original imagery.
Shimizu’s Rinne (The Reincarnation) plays with ghosts (again), and although he looks to be using a lot of familiar visual motifs, I’m sure he’ll have a few serious scares up his sleeve. Cerda’s The Abandoned (also plays with ghosts), unfortunately doesn’t have a trailer available to watch. But knowing the macabre tone and visual intensity of his previous short films I’m sure his feature will provide audiences with some alarming shocks and an genuinely frightening atmosphere.
The other movies seem very old crumpled hat, or are trying to put a new hat on an old dog; Unrest (don’t play with corpses), Penny Dreadful (watch out for psycho hitchhikers), The Gravedancers (avoid grave pranks), The Hamiltons (keep an eye on those dodgy neighbours), Dark Ride (Ghost Train joyrides are not always fun), Wicked Little Things (some children are best left alone).
It’s great some horror movies that normally wouldn’t see much light of day are given some serious exposure, but one has to take a large grain of salt with the sell that these are eight films to die for.
A relatively unknown studio distribution company called After Dark has garnered the movies and over one weekend is playing them in 500 cinemas in 35 cities (November 17 – 19th). You can even enter into a Miss Horrorfest competition where After Dark is looking for the next “Scream Queen” to be the public face for promoting the weekender festival. You can check out some of the committed finalists here.
After watching the main festival trailer and then six of the eight individual flicks’ trailers (two are not available) I came to the impression this is one slick package, “package” being the operative word. It smacks of the Hype Machine big time.
A typically deep and menacing male voice states emphatically: “Each year there are movies produced that are never seen by the public, their content is considered too graphic, too disturbing, too shocking for general audiences.” Whoa! Now if that isn’t a come hither call to all the gorehounds, terrorfreaks and horrorphiles out there I don’t know what is. Could a horror tagline be any more provocative?
“Now one studio will defy the system …” Righto. You go Final Girl!! Break all the rules! Push the boundaries! Shock us out of our horror complacency!
I don’t believe a word of it. Sure, some of the flicks look kinda cool, but I doubt very much they’re any more horrific or intense than other theatrical releases. In fact my guess is these films were “saved” from straight-to-video release by After Dark who thought a stabbing umbrella weekend festival could be hugely beneficial for the films financial returns.
Mostly the movies look like hack jobs (pun intended) by ex-television directors (using television actors) looking for a big screen break. “Hmmm, horror seems to be kinda chic at the moment”. The two notable directors are Japan’sTakashi Shimizu (The Grudge movies) and Spain’s Nacho Cerda (Aftermath, Genesis) who are capable of fairly confronting and original imagery.
Shimizu’s Rinne (The Reincarnation) plays with ghosts (again), and although he looks to be using a lot of familiar visual motifs, I’m sure he’ll have a few serious scares up his sleeve. Cerda’s The Abandoned (also plays with ghosts), unfortunately doesn’t have a trailer available to watch. But knowing the macabre tone and visual intensity of his previous short films I’m sure his feature will provide audiences with some alarming shocks and an genuinely frightening atmosphere.
The other movies seem very old crumpled hat, or are trying to put a new hat on an old dog; Unrest (don’t play with corpses), Penny Dreadful (watch out for psycho hitchhikers), The Gravedancers (avoid grave pranks), The Hamiltons (keep an eye on those dodgy neighbours), Dark Ride (Ghost Train joyrides are not always fun), Wicked Little Things (some children are best left alone).
It’s great some horror movies that normally wouldn’t see much light of day are given some serious exposure, but one has to take a large grain of salt with the sell that these are eight films to die for.
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Can't wait for Tarantino & Roderiguez's Grind House double whammy (Terror Planet and Death Proof) to be released next year!
Comment by Damo
Comment by Terry
MysTerry's Mansion
Theatre of the mind
Hurdy Gur
Terry
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile