Rants & Raves Archive

This isn’t a review, for that check out The Devil’s Manor, I doubt you’ll find a better review anywhere on the web. This is just me having a little rant about what went wrong in the hopes of getting it out of my system, after all Halloween is one of my favourite horror films and I can’t let someone fuck it up this badly without some comment. You should be aware before you read on that there are a couple of spoilers, so don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Rob Zombie is obviously a fan of the original (there are numerous references to it) and yet he seems to have no understanding of what made Michael Myers work as an iconic horror character. When the original Halloween came out the idea of a suburban kid killing his sister was shocking and, while it wouldn’t seem as horrific today, it would still have more power than a stereotypical trailer trash kid doing the same. Even upping the body count doesn’t change that. By developing the Michael character (at the expense of Laurie and friends) he de-mythologizes him. Loomis may deliver virtually the same line at the end of the film but this isn’t the bogeyman, he’s just a man, albeit a big, nasty, brutal one.

The day got of to a bad start as I missed the first film, Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, due to unforeseen technical difficulties getting to London (the details would make it sound like the plot from a horror film but it was no where near that exciting). So my planned three films for the day were cut down to just two – Botched and WAZ.

Botched was a British comedy horror (with a touch of heist movie thrown in) from first time director Kit Ryan. It delivered the requisite amount of gore and a few laughs as well. Some wavering Russian accents (Sean Pertwee as a Russian mob boss) didn’t detract too much from the fun and this was a pleasant enough timewaster, if nothing really special. Special would come later in the day.

Planning to skip the Uwe Boll double-bill if favour of seeking out a zombie mask for tomorrow’s zombie walk I headed off for Forbidden Planet. At 6pm I returned to Leicester Square, my search unsuccessful, and decided I might as well go and see Seed.

Nothing exceptional today but no duds either. First up Cold Prey showed that a change of locale and some genuinely likable characters could breathe new life into the slasher film even if the end result felt a bit like Jason takes a holiday in Norway. Director Roar Uthang did a pretty good job although keeping the identity of the killer a secret was pretty pointless as anyone into this kind of film will know who it is by the end of the credits. He did a short Q&A after the film and told us the film had been a big hit in Norway and another horror film (not directed by him) was in production there.

Next came a new entry in the creepy kid sub-genre. Joshua brought back memories of Rosemary’s Baby and other films of that era, its slow burning atmosphere a nice change of pace from the usual fare. Vera Farmiga impressed as Joshua’s mum, who after giving birth to a second child, a little girl, goes a little nuts (with more than a little help from young Josh). Sam Rockwell as the father gets better as the film goes on, but the real star of the film is Jacob Kogan as the titular character. Playing the part with so little emotion can’t have been easy, particularly with the histrionics of the other actors but he never falters throughout. This wasn’t a film I was really looking forward to but I was pleasantly surprised.

Having skipped the Hatchet DVD commentary (not having seen the film before I didn’t fancy having someone talk all the way through the film) the day started with The Sword Bearer. It wasn’t the greatest start. A love story with characters you don’t like and don’t care about and a score so overblown you’d think it was an opera. You can get away without explaining a lot in genre films (The Signal that followed this is a case in point) but a guy with a fucking sword that shoots out of his arm isn’t one of them. Worst film of the festival so far.

Things picked up big time with The Signal, a film that owes more than a little to Romero’s Crazies but had enough originality to keep it fresh. I’m assuming the three directors each did one of the segments (or Transmissions as the film refers to them) and whichever one handled the middle section is the pick of the bunch. There’s a lovely streak of black humour running through it that’s mostly absent from the other parts. In fact one of the films main problems is its a little pretentious and has a climax that’s far too drawn out.

Next up 1408 based on a Stephen King short story. It’s well made, well acted but a little to over the top. It feels like they’ve thrown every possible scare tactic into the film, including that perennial favourite, bleeding walls. Still, Cusack is on good form and Sam Jackson steals the film (and delivers the best line) in what amounts to an extended cameo. This may have made more money than any other King adaptation but it’s far from the best. This was followed by a short Q&A with the director, Mikael Hafstrom.

This is my first film festival experience and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Reaching the head of the cue I picked up my weekend pass and proceeded to find my seat (which was rather a good one, not to close to the front and almost dead centre, although there is a guy with a rather large head in the seat in front. This could present a problem with the subtitled films). I could see why people cued outside when the tickets first went on sale though, the rear seats are bigger and wider than the others and when you’re going to be sitting for so long I’m sure it makes all the difference. I came armed with a cushion (I’d done my research!) but decided not to use it one day one, although I’ll definitely be getting it out today.

So what about the films? Well first up was Black Sheep, a comedy horror from New Zealand. The screening was sold out (the guy in front of me in the cue for tickets was disappointed to find there were none left) and it was nice to see the film with such an appreciative audience. It’s a fun film, playing things straight and all the funnier for it, but I did feel that all the best bits were in the trailer.

Things have been a little quiet on Mine Was Taller of late. I’ve not been completely inactive though, with plenty of articles appearing on the Blogcritics Magazine site. So what have the none-BC readers been missing? Well for starters there have been several pieces celebrating the centennial of a couple of movie greats.

Laurence Olivier Centenary: The Greatest Actor of the 20th Century? takes a look at one of England’s finest exports and there are also reviews of The Boys From Brazil, Sleuth and Bunny Lake is Missing.

John Wayne, My Dad, and Me or How I Learned to Love The Western goes back to my childhood to explore the beginning of my fascination with John Wayne and there’s also my pick of his films from the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, ’60s and ‘70s. The Wayne celebration concludes with a look at Warner’s John Wayne Film Collection box set.

Then there’s Cinema Macabre Issues 3 & 4.

Issue 3 takes a look at werewolves in the movies -

Iloz Zoc spotlights the Lon Chaney Jr. classic The Wolf Man (1941).

Daniel Woolstencroft watches one of the best Stephen King adaptations, Silver Bullet (1985).

Tony Woolstencroft enjoys the dog vs. werewolf film Bad Moon (1996).

Sticking with the dog theme Chris Beaumont celebrates the British horror movie Dog Soldiers (2002).

Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt (2004) is my pick and it’s shocking not least for having a good performance from Julian Sands.

One of comics’ great unsung heroes passed away on Sunday. Dave Cockrum had been unwell for many years, suffering from diabetes and related illnesses.

Dave’s first professional comics work was on Vampirella for Warren Publishing in 1971. Later that same year he did his first work for one of the big guns, working as inker on DC Comics’ Superman title. He soon progressed to penciling a memorable run on Legion of Superheroes.

A couple of years later he moved to Marvel, once again starting out with an inking job, this time on The Avengers. But bigger things were just around the corner…

When Cockrum and Len Wein created the new X-Men in 1975 the team was hardly the top seller it is today. In fact it had been on hiatus for several months and for months prior to that had been surviving on reprints.

Giant Size X-Men 1 changed all that. Building on the mutant team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 they added new heroes who would become staples of the title for years to come. Several would even make the leap to celluloid in the three hugely successful X-Men movies.

Colossus, Storm, Mystique, and Phoenix are just a few who owe their look to Dave Cockrum. But his greatest creation must surely be Nighcrawler, a character he’d created years before and even offered to DC for their Legion of Superheroes.

In August 1975, BBC2 started showing late night horror movie double bills; these ran for a couple of months every year until 1981. Some of the fondest memories of my childhood are watching these with my Dad. He wasn’t a big horror fan but seeing these films with him was how my fascination with the genre started.

That year I was ten and Saturday not being a school night, I was allowed to stay up a little later than normal, much to my younger brother’s annoyance. The movies usually started somewhere between ten and eleven; the first was a ’30s or ’40s classic while the second was of a more recent vintage and was considered too adult for my tender years. This probably had more to do with sex and nudity than violence and gore.

The only film I remember seeing from that first season was The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) and while I remember it having a very creepy atmosphere it is most memorable for introducing me to Peter Lorre. His twitchy, nervous performance is easily the highlight and I’ve been a fan ever since.