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“I don't know how much movies should entertain. To me I'm always interested in movies that scar. The thing I love about Jaws is the fact that I've never gone swimming in the ocean again.” --- David Fincher ::::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

WHAT REMAKES SHOULD BE MADE?

July 9th 2010 01:07
The Thing spider-head
I’ve done it before and I’m doing it again: playing devil’s advocate, since for the most part I don’t really believe in remakes. That said, however, there are some excellent remakes out there that I’m glad were made, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Nosferatu (1979), The Thing (1982), Cat People (1982), Dawn of the Dead (2004). However, I must re-iterate how much I love the originals too, with the exception of The Thing from another World (1951).

If the original movie had a great premise or synopsis, but didn’t have the production values (or director and actors) behind it to make it as convincing as it should’ve been then a remake is a good call. On occasion, the direction and acting might’ve been fine, but the budgetary constraints and maybe the morality of the time made the movie more of an atmospheric gem, thus a remake allows the story’s true potent carnal viscera to be unleashed, such as the original Cat People (1942). On many occasions the movie was simply too trashy to be taken seriously, yet from a modernised perspective could be updated to spectacular effect!

In the case of Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead, a zombie carnage cult classic , he made sure the special effects were state of the art (as much as I love SFX guru Tom Savini, his work on Romero’s original is more graphically cartoony than genuinely shocking). In some cases, it might just be the “updating” from black and white to colour, and the performances less stylized, that gives the movie some much-needed zing, although that artistic and technique decision is arguable of course.

So, with remakes given the Horrorphile green light (I wanted to say crimson or scarlet light, but that suggests halting), but under strict conditions, what movies should be remade? Here are (another) five movies I think could be remade and turned into an exciting contemporary cinema experience for the hungry horrorphile. However I must mention that I’m in no way saying the originals of the first two are inferior movies, on the contrary.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari movie poster
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Germany, 1919)
The original: Robert Weiner’s silent, black and white expressionist masterpiece about a story being related that concerns a traveling carnival and the doctor and his sideshow clairvoyant, a somnambulist, who predicts a murder, then abducts a girl.
The remake: In a small European modern day township a young couple being embroiled in the sinister goings-on of a deranged traveling carnivalist and his entranced serial killer.
The new director: David Lynch (The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks)

Dark Star 1974 movie poster
Dark Star (USA, 1974)
The original: John Carpenter’s super-low budget sf black comedy about a small crew of men onboard a claustrophobic spaceship whose job it is blowing up unstable planets. Along the way they encounter a bizarre alien creature and a temperamental bomb.
The remake: Ditching the comedy to make a creepy and disturbing thriller of cosmic madness and impending doom when an onboard bomb activates and can’t be disengaged, whilst an outlandish and disturbing alien stalks the frazzled crew.
The new director: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego (King of the Hill)

Eaten Alive movie poster
Eaten Alive (USA, 1977)
The original: Tobe Hooper’s very-low budget, almost theatrical, chamber piece concerning the dodgy affairs of a disgruntled Louisiana hotel owner, his annoying guests … and his very hungry pet crocodile in the swampy pit next door.
The remake: A modern grindhouse experience with loads of sleazy sex and gruesome reptilian carnage using state of the art prosthetics and CGI amidst a heavy, humid atmosphere of pure menace.
The new director: Xavier Gens (Frontiers)

Zombie movie poster
Zombie (Italy, 1979)
The original: Lucio Fulci’s shameless cash-in on Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (originally called Zombi 2, although it’s not a sequel, but more widely known under its UK title Zombie Flesh Eaters), concerns the search for a woman's father at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.
The remake: An all-out zombie apocalypse on a lush tropical island, featuring eye-popping gore and a bunch of spunky, charismatic actors getting munched, and including an outrageously over-the-top battle between a zombie and a great white!
The new director: Michele Soavi (Stagefright, The Church, Dellamorte, Dellamore)

Death Warmed Up movie poster
Death Warmed Up (NZ, 1981)
The original: David Blyth’s made-on-the-smell-of-an-oily- rag shocker about a man who was hypnotized as a kid by a mad scientist to kill his parents and ends up in a mental institution, and as an adult he returns to seek revenge.
The remake: A surrealistic psychopath on the rampage with a tunnel vision perspective from the killer’s point-of-view. A boundary-pushing 3-D experience unlike anything you’ve ever seen … or felt!
The new director: Gaspar Noe (I Stand Alone, Irreversible)



So what movies do you think could/should be remade?
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WHO SHOULD DIRECT THE HOBBIT?

June 18th 2010 01:18
The Hobbit
It’s a pertinent question indeed, since Guillermo Del Toro has pulled out of the equation. It’s dreadfully disappointing that Del Toro will no longer be delivering us the journey There and Back Again, but at least he’s still on board as co-screenwriter and his awesome conceptual design team are still working on it.

Who can blame Del Toro when it became clear due to intense financial wrangling beyond his control that the production of the two movies (Part 1 & 2) would consume six years of his life? He didn’t sign on for that kind of duration, he’s got too many other projects on the boil (including adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Mountains of Madness, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) , and the career clock’s a-ticking.
The Hobbit Bilbo and Smaug
But why does The Hobbit need to be split into two halves anyway? It’s not a long novel, barely 300-pages. I read somewhere that Peter Jackson, who is co-writing the screenplays with Fran Walsh, Phillippa Boyens and Del Toro, was interested in extending the narrative beyond the end of The Hobbit in order to bridge the gap between it and the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. That’s taking a few liberties isn’t it?

There’s reports that David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix/Half-Blood Prince/Deathly Hallows) may direct, and even rumours that Jackson may resume the director’s chair, but in the meantime (following inspiration from my good buddy Captain) I’ve put together a list of directors who I think would make for a very interesting choice at the helm of this hugely anticipated production. I initially had a contentious and overwhelming list of twenty names, so I’ve ditched nearly half down to my Horrorphile rule of thumb: thirteen, in alphabetical order.

Dario Argento
Key movies: Suspiria, Inferno, Phenomena
Stylistic forte: Phantasmogorical nightmares that feature the wicked realm of witches.

Ralph Bakshi
Key movies: Heavy Traffic, Wizards, The Lord of the Rings
Stylistic forte: Bakshi made an animated adaptation of Tolkein’s opus (albeit only The Fellowship of the Ring) back in 1977.

Timur Bekmambetov
Key movies: Day Watch, Night Watch
Stylistic forte: The convoluted merging of humans and demons in a battle for domination.

Tim Burton
Key movies: Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes (2001), Alice in Wonderland
Stylistic forte: Gothic imagination that toys with the middle ground between children’s fantasy and adult phantasy.

David Fincher
Key movies: Alien3, Se7en, The Game
Stylistic forte: Nail-biting suspense, deep characterisation, and dramatic intensity.

John Hillcoat
Key movies: The Proposition, The Road, The Man From Black Water
Stylistic forte: Gritty, grim, apocalyptic vision … with heart and soul.

Alejandro Jodorowsky
Key movies: El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre
Stylistic forte: Spiritual mysticism and surrealist fables.

David Lynch
Key movies: Eraserhead, Dune, Lost Highway
Stylistic forte: Existentialism horror and science-fiction from a parallel universe.

Sam Raimi
Key movies: The Evil Dead, Darkman, Drag Me to Hell
Stylistic forte: Kinetic nightmare action like an outrageous rollercoaster ride.

Ridley Scott
Key movies: Alien, Legend, Gladiator
Stylistic forte: Elaborate design, large-scale production, and meticulous execution.

Zack Snyder
Key movies: Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen
Stylistic forte: Violent, sensual comic-book action for discerning adults.

Richard Stanley
Key movies: Hardware, Dust Devil, The Island of Dr. Moreau
Stylistic forte: Mysticism, mutation, madness and murder.

Jan Svankmajer
Key movies: Faust, Alice, Little Otik
Stylistic forte: Adult fairie tales made with stop motion animation and live action.

So who do you think should direct The Hobbit? One of these directors, or someone else entirely?

In case you’re unfamiliar with the synopsis of the novel, first published in 1937, here’s an abridged version taken from wikipedia; it’s a rollicking, frightening, haphazard quest full of mirth and mayhem (and I actually prefer it over The Lord of the Rings):

Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for Thorin's band of dwarves, who sing of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. Gandalf unveils a map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that Bilbo and the dwarves steal the treasure.

The group travels into the wild, where Gandalf saves the company from trolls and leads them over the Misty Mountains where they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground. Although Gandalf rescues them, Bilbo gets separated. Lost in the goblin tunnels he stumbles across a mysterious ring and encounters Gollum. With the help of the ring Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves. The goblins and Wargs give chase but the travellers are saved by eagles before resting in the house of Beorn.

They enter the black forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf. Bilbo saves the dwarves from giant spiders and from the dungeons of the Wood-elves. The travellers are welcomed by the human inhabitants of Lake-town. The expedition travels to the Mountain; Bilbo scouts the dragon's lair and steals a great cup. The enraged dragon sets out to destroy Lake-town. A noble thrush knowing of Smaug's vulnerability reports it to Bard, who slays the dragon.

When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, an heirloom of Thorin's dynasty, and steals it. The Wood-elves and Lake-men besiege the Mountain and request compensation for their aid. Thorin refuses, reinforces his position and banishes Bilbo, and a battle seems inevitable.

Gandalf reappears to warn all of an approaching army of goblins and Wargs. The dwarves, men, and elves band together, and with the arrival of the eagles and Beorn they win the Battle of Five Armies. A mortally-wounded Thorin reconciles with Bilbo. The treasure is divided, but Bilbo refuses most of his share. Nevertheless, he returns home wealthy.

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The Hunger Catherine Deneuve
The SFF is over for another year. Sigh. Thirteen glorious days with around 160 films in the programme. I earmarked more than fifty movies. I got to see twenty-eight features and one short. Not too shabby. It helps having your days free and a media pass. My hit/miss ratio was excellent this year; I only saw two movies I could’ve quite happily missed. I reviewed fourteen movies across three websites, with a couple more still to add. It was a close call, but overall my favourite was probably The Temptation of St. Tony and the documentary Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (which I'll review soon).

Near Dark Bill Paxton
I loved "Immortal Seduction – The Vampire Movie" retrospective of cult favourites and classics. A big severed head nod to curator Richard Kuipers for an inspired selection, right up my dark high art/deep trash alley. Although I had seen most of those movies, and have them in my own collection, I had not seen them on the big screen before (with the exception of Nosferatu and The Hunger). It was a real shame the print of one of my favourite vampire movies Daughters of Darkness was in too bad a shape to be played. Richard told me the audience would’ve surely demanded their money back, it was that risky. Apparently it’s the only 35mm print in the world left. C’est la morte.

So, here are my ten SFF highlights, keeping in mind, this is Horrorphile, this is my pleasure of nightmares. In some semblance of order:

The Temptation of St. Tony
The Temptation of St. Tony
From Estonia, a surreal black and white odyssey following one man’s descent into a Hell of sorts, where lust and betrayal mark his every step. Will he be consumed by his own dark desires? Or will his onerous dream finally consume him? Fellini meets Bergman meets Lynch meets Tarkovsky.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed
A fantastic screenplay, sensational cast of three, and suspense and tension so taut you could walk it like a tightrope. Debut feature that brilliantly plays on trust and deception, with superbly engineered plot twists. The best UK thriller in years.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed Gemma Aterton

The Hunger
From 1983, this was the festival delight for me, since I went in with low expectations, having spent the last 25-odd years thinking of the movie as pretentious, over-produced twaddle, but seeing it on the big screen after all these years, the experience was a lush slow-burn rush.

Dance of the Vampires Sharon Tate Ferdy Mayne
Dance of the Vampires
Supposedly the original cut of Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers from 1967. Well, actually no. Despite the running time being listed in the SFF programme as 124 minutes, this cut was the 107 UK cut which ended up being released on DVD by Warnervideo in 2004. However very curiously the title card of “Dance of the Vampires” had been inserted in where the US re-title cut used to appear. Still, it was wonderful to see this thoroughly entertaining movie wide on the big screen.

Near Dark
Another of my favourite vampire movies, and one that I’ve seen numerous times, originally on rented VHS, and then on DVD once I possessed it for myself. It was never released theatrically in New Zealand back in 1987, as far as I’m aware, so it was a treat to see it in a packed cinema auditorium, and it held up very well, the roadhouse scene in particular.

City of Life and Death
City of Life and Death
A powerful WWII drama filmed in stunning monochrome (very unusual for a Chinese feature) that told of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese when they took siege of Nanjing in 1937-38. This will be come to be regarded as one of the great war movies, depicting the horror and courage of those who perished and those who survived, yet still managing a dark poetry.

Nosferatu Max Schrek
Nosferatu
I know this movie like the back of my hand; a truly sublime example of cinema. F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic freely adapted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This packed screening of ultra-hip cinephiles at the Opera House was accompanied by a curious live performance from experimental outfit Darth Vegas, who provided familiar themes to juxtapose against the light-hearted scenes, and original incidental music for the more dramatic and creepy scenes. I didn’t agree with the use of well-worn themes such as Mission Impossible and The Pink Panther which turned the vibe far too comedic, however the overall experience was enjoyable, and the digital restoration of the movie was extraordinary, putting my own Kino Video supposed restoration to shame. Miss Death provided amusing sound effects. And the banter between curator Richard Kuipers and guest host Jay Katz was almost worth the price of admission alone.

Possessed
Possessed
South Korean ghost-fest told with consummate skill and buckets of dripping dread. The atmosphere was thick, the chills palpable in this tale of supernatural interference and demonic possession. I can almost hear the Hollywood executives arguing over which A-listers and B-listers will star in the US remake.

Red Hill
Debut feature from the very talented Patrick Hughes who not only wrote and directed, but also produced and edited this modern western set in the hills of Victoria, a small one-horse (well, maybe two or three) town called Red Hill where a local Aboriginal man has escaped the nearby prison to return and wreak bloody vengeance on the townsmen who wronged him, burned him, raped and murdered his wife, and left him for dead. Despite an inherent hokeyness, Hughes has made an instant cult movie that taps into classic Boorman/Carpenter elements with gusto and style to burn. Stay tuned for a full review of this closer to its theatrical release.
Red Hill Tommy Lewis


Black Sunday
Black Sunday
Mario Bava’s dark gem from 1960 featuring the one and only Barbara Steele in a dual role as a witch princess and her aristocrat ancestor, Black Sunday AKA The Mask of Satan, was another of the big screen treats from the vampire retrospective. I’d been meaning to see and review this for quite some time, and I’m glad I held off watching my DVD.

Special note goes to Dream Home from Hong Kong, which was the most gore-spectacular of all the movies I saw, but was seriously hampered by a wildly uneven tone and clumsy narrative structure. I haven’t been that uncomfortable watching horror violence – in particular an attack on a pregnant woman - in quite some time.

Also The Killer Inside Me from director Michael Winterbottom, which had a great cast and some really strong performances, but looked and moved like a television movie, only with added extreme violence, and a silly ending. I’d like to read the Jim Thompson noir novel perhaps. My problem with Winterbottom is that by being the new Alan Parker - every movie is completely different in style and content from the last - he lacks any distinct style and thus becomes an unpredictable and characterless voice that verges on bland. He's made some undeniably good movies, but he lacks distinction.
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3rd Annual Horrorphile Hall Of Infamy 2010: The Contenders
Third year in and I’ve decided to change tack once again. I’ve opted for a more self-indulgent route, but one that truly expresses the True Believin’ attitude and passion of my blog. I’ve selected thirty modern horror movies from George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) to Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs (2008). This is a list of what I think are some of the very best modern nightmares ever committed to celluloid (I've reviewed them all except one). Of course it was very hard containing the selection to just thirty, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

I was intending for the poll to be embedded in my post, but frustratingly it was one of those "really long links". So instead click on the first link and from the selection choose your THREE favourite movies in no particular order
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The Beyond

In no particular order.

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YOUR FAVOURITE ZOMBIE MOVIES

April 6th 2010 04:25
He’s back! Orble’s prodigal black sheep returns after a month’s hiatus, well holiday actually, but a blog hiatus by default. I hope all my True Believin’ followers missed me. Sometimes it can get lonely in the Dark, I know.

So without further adieu, let me announce the favourite zombie movies as voted by you! There was no competition for Romero’s monochromatic masterpiece, the seminal low-budget shocker that spearheaded the modern horror genre. I’m talking, of course, about Night of the Living Dead (1968), in the top position


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Ex-pat South-African director Richard Stanley, an auteur of sorts, burst onto the scene back in 1990 with his rogue sf-horror Hardware, a low-budget shocker that quickly gained a cult following. He followed up with an hallucinatory desert vision of a demon in human guise, Dust Devil (1992), however the movie was plagued with executive interference and distribution hell, yet still gained a fervent cult following.

Hardware Mark and Jill
In 1996 Stanley was hired to direct the big budget remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau, a cautionary tale of human-animal hybridization. It starred Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando (and an unrecognizable Eric Roth under elaborate makeup). Legend has it that Brando, playing the extreme eccentric, clashed with the director so swiftly and profoundly that Stanley was fired from production after only a handful of days shooting. Apparently Stanley snuck back onto the set disguised in a dog-man mask


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Wolf Creek Cassandra Magrath
I was given the best book for my birthday, The Book of Lists: Horror, which was published 2008. One of the three authors, Amy Wallace, co-edited the original bestselling The Book of Lists with her brother and father back in 1977. I love lists, and as an adolescent I relished reading the weird and wonderful selections published by the Wallace family; one that stands out in my memory was the macabre list of Possible Jack the Ripper Victims (in gory detail).

I was very impressed that Amy Wallace had the inclination to delve into the Darkness and compile a thoroughly delectable array of inspired tastes and insightful opinions from a small pool of horrorphilic staff writers and numerous renowned figures from the horror arts and entertainment (chiefly writers and directors). And the gallows humour is mixed beautifully with scholarly indulgence


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BLOWING MY OWN TRAFFIC HORN

January 27th 2010 05:51
traffic
It’s always curious to see where your readers are clicking around your blog. So here are a few Orble stats for the record. The Hit Count is the raw page views (although I’m not entirely sure what “raw page views” actually are), the Individual Readers are the number of individual readers as measured by the number of IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, basically an indication as to how many people are actually reading my blog. The Link Readers are those that arrived at my blog after clicking on a link, or who clicked on a hyperlink within my blog.

Apparently if a reader types in a web address, uses their favourites list, or clicks on a link in an email (like most subscribers do) they won't register as a click (link) reader. Therefore the true number of real people who are reading your blog is somewhere between the number of click (link) readers and the number of individual readers and is usually closer to the latter


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Nosferatu Max Schreck
With Twilight angst still hanging in the air, and Daybreakers science fiction breathing at the door I thought I’d put a poll together to find out just what are my True Believers’ favourite vampire movies. But let’s face it, there are at least 170 movies featuring Bram Stoker’s character Count Dracula, let alone the number of movies featuring simply vampires and those that like to drink the blood of others.

I’ve put together a list of sixty-one titles, with an option of “other” for any title(s) I’ve not included that any reader wishes to vote for (there may be two or three I suppose). Vote three points for your top favourite movie, then two points for the next favourite, and one point for your third favourite. Type your selection with the points in brackets beside it ie Let the Right One In (3), 30 Days of Night (2), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1


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The Descent
Blood Disgusting, probably the most popular horror movie site in the world, has posted their top twenty movies of the past decade as compiled by their freelance writers and in-house staff. It’s not a surprising list in the slightest, in fact it’s about as safe as houses. I even predicted the top three as I moved into the top ten (which were being revealed in groups of five from bottom to top).

Audition
I’ve seen them all except for Session 9, which has yet to be released on DVD down under. Takashi Miike’s masterpiece Audition would’ve featured very highly in my own selection had it not been released in 1999. It’s included in the Bloody Disgusting list because it wasn’t released in the US until 2000. I really enjoyed May, but it didn’t quite make my selection. I also really enjoyed the Hollywood remake of Ringu, The Ring, and agree with their comments, but I still think the Japanese original commands a wholly unique nightmarish atmosphere that Hollywood cannot replicate


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The Broken
Despite having worked as a film critic for more than fifteen years I’ve never compiled a decade’s best of list. I was resident film critic for Sydney street press magazine Revolver (now The Brag) for several years and bridged the new millennium, but I never got to publish my best of selection for the 90s, however I did get to make a list of important films of the century, so there you go.

My criteria for selection for Horrorphile - Pleasure of Nightmares’ best of the decade was pretty straight forward: the movies that have burnt their imagery onto my retina, atmospheres and textures which have permeated my skin, the nightmare tone and elements lingering in my mind long after the movie had finished


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HORRORPHILE'S BLOODY BEST OF 2009

December 28th 2009 03:50
The Broken Richard Jenkins
With so many film festivals around the world and DVD/Blu-ray a distribution force to be reckoned with, a movie's release date becomes more and more of a grey area. Let the Right One In was my favourite movie of 2008, after seeing it at the Sydney Film Festival in June. It was released theatrically in Australia earlier this year. One of my other favourites, Los Cronoscrimines (Timecrimes) which also played the 2008 Sydney Film Festival, hit the video store shelves this week. Paranormal Activity first played Screamfest in 2007, then Slamdance the following year, and finally an on-demand US release from September this year.

So after much deliberation and indecision I finally realised the only way to come to a satisfying Best Of list this year was to include movies that had had a premiere festival screening, or been released theatrically and/or on DVD in Australia during 2009. This meant including movies that may have been released overseas in cinemas in 2008, but arrived in Australia for the first time on DVD in 2009, or played in Film Festivals in Australia in 2008 and 2009 but did not receive a theatrical release, or went straight to DVD bypassing a theatrical release altogether, or – as in the case of Wake in Fright – enjoyed a re-release after thirty years of gathering dust


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Innocent Blood aka A French Vampire in America
With the New Moon upon us, and the scourge that is the Twilight Saga sucking the vampire and werewolf sub-genres dry of any truly palpable supernatural menace and carnality, it was time to unleash my own definitive selection of vampire movies (and a clutch of werewolf ones too). No doubt there’ll be a few frilly collars ruffled and a few pale cheeks reddened with rage, as I completely disregard any vampire movie that dares to dance around in tight pants and a self-important, angst-ridden gaze.

Have I actually seen Twilight (2008)? No, of course I haven’t, it’s not my cup of adolescent, melodramatic romantic twaddle; I call a spade a spade, and Twilight needs burying. Of course by the middle of next week New Moon will probably have broken some kind of box office record, and that’s sweet irony


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MATURE CONTENT
   


Paranormal Activity Katie Featherston
It's not often I have to adjust a definitive list, but a situation has arisen. I was looking at my list of 13 Scariest Movies Ever Made which I compiled a year ago, and realised there was now a glaring omission. Of course I hadn't actually seen the movie back when I made the list, but having seen Paranormal Activity in the Sydney Film Festival earlier this year, and the recent hype for the movie filtering through the media (it's currently #1 at the American box office, which both pleases me that it's kicked Saw VI's ass, but frustrates me that an essentially underground movie will end up being over-hyped a la The Blair Witch Project).

Paranormal Activity was shot in one week in the director's home for $US15,000! It has currently grossed $US22 million!! Apparently the original ending was changed at the suggestion of Steven Speilberg. I wanna know what the original ending was, and what exactly was Speilberg's suggestion? I do like the released version ending, but I'm curious if it was a compromise in any way


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Night of the Living Dead
Movie critics love making film lists. I love making lists, period. There are dozens of lists claiming the best ever zombie, werewolf and vampire movies. After viewing the list of the ten greatest zombie movies compiled by Billy Chainsaw at cult fetish magazine Bizarre, and finding his selection left chunks to be desired, I decided it was about bloody time I spilled my own dark blood on the fleshy matter.

The Bizarre list is in no particular order (always the safe option, but a bit of an opinionated cop-out if you ask me), and it’s only half as visceral as a top ten list should be; basically it simply isn’t hardcore enough. Call me old-fashioned, but zombie movies should kick fucking ass, and rip bloody shreds. Here's their selection


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Frankenstein's birthday
It’s that time of year again! I’m celebrating a third year under the Orble blog umbrella in the Darkness of my Pleasure of Nightmares. Happy Birthday Horrorphile!

In the three years I’ve been hosting and moderating this rather popular blog I’ve waxed lyrical over more than 370 movies (and slated a dozen or so), I’ve indulged in the exhibition of more than twenty movie poster and art galleries, concocted nearly thirty quizzes, and spouted vitriol time and time again about the Hollywood remake/sequel machine. But as my loyal readers will know, I keep it real, and I keep coming back to the classics, or to be more precise, my favourite nightmare movies


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Horrorphile 2nd Annual Hall of Infamy - art by Steven Stahlberg
The time has come again to find out which nightmare movies are your favourites. Last year’s inaugural list was decided from a list of 69 titles I compiled and then voted for by my readers. Five selections could be be voted for, and my rule of thumb determined the final list: thirteen movies made up the 1st Annual Hall of Infamy.

For the 2nd Annual Hall of Infamy the voting system has been adjusted slightly. The existing Hall of Infamy titles automatically receive 10 points each. You can vote - via comment - for any movie you like, including any in the Hall of Infamy, giving your top selection 5 points, your next 4 points, then 3, 2 and 1. When I tally up the votes any movies with tied points it will be my prerogative to decide which title wins the tie


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Almuric by Robert E. Howard cover art
Rather than remaking classic movies, what about adaptations of novels that haven’t yet been done? There are dozens of brilliant novels aching to be filmed. Of course whether or not they’d turn out to be decent movies is an entirely different matter, dependent on too many variables to mention. But let’s daydream for a moment, shall we?

These six novels had a profound effect on me. I’ll list them in the rough order I read them, which, coincidentally, happens to be the rough order in which they were written. A couple of them I’m sure have come very close to being filmed, but for some reason or another the circumstances haven’t been right; usually creative differences between producers, directors and screenwriters, or the funding simply fell through


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Moderated by Bryn
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