Greg and Jared Butler have some interesting ideas about zombie movies, and how to make one like you’ve never seen before. They just need $45K to make it happen.
The Butler brothers want to film a movie about heroic zombies in a post-apocalyptic world fighting against evil human oppressors. The zombies are immortals who’ve lived for a hundred years or more, and use various bio-mechanical bodges to hold their deteriorating bodies together. The movie is called Undying. And while I was skeptical at first (whenever someone says they want to “redefine” something, I think, “I’d rather see an old idea done well than some half-baked innovation.”), but the immortal concept is pretty interesting. You could even argue that they’re not really zombies.
Other than the killer concept, the Kickstarter pitch offers very little about the characters and the story. Mostly there’s a shopping list of cool stuff they want to put into the film: Mad Max-esque cars, a guy who does crazy bullwhip stunts, a hot blonde zombie chick, and a detailed miniature set. Those all sound like fun, but they’ll be pointless if the story sucks.
There is one thing to get very excited about: make-up effects will be handled by our favorite Face Off contestant, Eric Fox. He can be seen in the Kickstarter pitch video doing some test make-up. Hopefully if this gets funded, they’ll let Foxy run wild so he can create some outlandish zombies.
Undying is seeking a modest budget of $45,000. If that seems ridiculously low, they’re only planning an initial 10 to 15 minute film. That isn’t made very clear on the Kickstarter page. If you’re interested in helping them make it happen, you can jump in at a bunch of different contributor levels, from a digital copy of the movie to a role in the film itself.
Do you like your zombies with a little bit of humanity and heart? If you do, you’ll love Warm Bodies. It’s the tale of a zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) that is going through his mundane existence of shuffling, grunting and eating brains until he sees Julie (Teresa Palmer). It’s love at first sight for R, and an unexpected side effect of his newfound feelings is that R starts to become alive again. The hard part is convincing Julie’s father, General Grigio (John Malkovich), the leader of a group of human survivors, that he is becoming alive. As the two of them discover their love for each other, there are humorous and sweet moments, plus some good ol’ brain munching zombie action. Add in a nasty, skeletal, non-discerning and insatiably hungry type of zombie called the ‘bonies’, and you have a fun zombie apocalypse tale.
It’s never easy picking out a top 10 for horror, for me that is. I love so many that it feels like an injustice to put them in order. Alas, my duty is to bring you just that list, so below are my picks for the top 10 horror movies of 2012. Enjoy and run out to watch them today if you haven’t already.
1. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS – It is my favorite of the bunch. You couldn’t tell with the number one placement, could you? This movie has held a special place in my heart since I watched it in a small theatre by myself in Greenesboro, North Carolina as I was visiting a friend. This small theatre allowed me to express my support of the main characters, yell in an adrenaline-filled release of tension, and yes, jump up and writhe around to the Nine Inch Nails that blared at the end. I have no shame. But to be fair, the out of the way, small theatre was empty save for me. Just how I like ‘em. This movie employs so many ideas and themes present in horror films, but is able to do so in a fresh and innovative as well as entertaining way. The effects were fun and the horror was never so dark that it pulled in a hopeless undertow, always pulling back in a never-ending balancing act of gore vs. witty dialogue. The actors were top notch, picked perfectly for their parts. The token reefer smoker was my personal fave, but I might be biased due to his creative use of an expandable thermos bong. This one will be talked about for years to come, deservingly so. Oh, and it was co-written and produced by Buffy mastermind, Joss Whedon. Need I say more?
2. THE GREY – A powerhouse of emotional undercurrents and monstrous scenes, THE GREY is equal parts action, drama, horror and suspense. The monsters are not always the wolves as the instinct for survival kicks in. Set in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness, a pack of survivors make it through a horrendous plane crash only to face a territorial and hungry pack of wolves. Man vs. beast compels this movie toward its shocking ending. The reality and raw realism of the movie elevate it, but it meets and exceeds expectations. Liam Neeson is wonderful as the lead, John Ottway, with his gruff and take no shit attitude. He carries a quiet danger that matches the stalking, deadly creatures in the darkness. Here, the roles of hunter and hunted are reversed. There is more to what is unsaid than the dialogue in this movie, but they do supply a decently creepy poem that ties the beginning to the end nicely. I was exhausted at the end from the emotional roller coaster it puts you on. This is a strong film that is deserving of the praise it received and more.
3. PARANORMAN – For the kid in all of us, such and such film company and director brought us PARANORMAN. The story goes beyond kid stuff and broaches a subject of tolerance that can be applied no matter what your age is. Part comedy, part horror, the 3D stop-animation feature, this one goes the distance. Norman Babcock can talk to and see the dead. His ability has caused him to be alienated from his peers and even his family. There is one boy who wants to be his friend, Neil, who is bullied about being overweight. It turns out that the town is in danger from a witch who was killed centuries before. The witch turns out to be a girl his age that has the same abilities he has and was executed for them. In the end, employing an ironic twist, Norman must use his powers to save the town. Different is not always a bad thing.
4. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER – Abraham Lincoln and vampires. Who knew this wouldn’t be a straight to DVD movie lost in the annals of bad horror. This one was far from it. Excellent sets, wardrobe, effects and story are just a few of the things that make this one so successful. Abraham’s story and his transformation as the years passed was done with taste, and the vampires were vicious, bloodthirsty creatures, as they should be. No sparkling here. With a little history and a lot of violence, this film was entertainment all the way through. Benjamin Walker portrays Lincoln with a sense of gentility and quiet strength. A vampire kills his mother and Lincoln witnesses it as a child. This sets the stage for a lifetime commitment to vanquishing the monsters. My favorite parts included his training (oh boy, that axe) with his friend who turns out to be a vampire and the Civil War Gettysburg battle that now includes vampires with the troops. Lincoln didn’t only use an axe to chop down trees (man, that axe). There is also a pretty fun train scene that also pits Lincoln against the vampires again. I left that movie wanting an axe so bad (I really liked the axe action) and drooling a little bit at the way he handled it. Tim Burton co-produced this movie and the author of the novel, Seth Grahame-Smith, also wrote the screenplay. Ok. Enough about this one. And axes.
5. THE WOMAN IN BLACK – Great setting, great atmosphere, cool house. Oh, and a grown up Harry Potter. Honestly, Daniel Radcliffe does a great job playing Arthur Kipps, the movie’s protagonist who has lost his wife and single parents a four year old son. He is sent to a small, spooky, mist enshrouded town to sell the Eel Marsh House, a large, scary house. I’m a sucker for a haunted house story whether it’s in a movie or a book. His moments in the house where he is alone are spooky and filled with noises and quick sightings of an apparition. Add in that he has to be driven out to the house and the road becomes covered with the tide, and you have a man cut off from civilization in a haunted house with no way to leave. The Gothic story centers on many of the small town’s children dying, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, there appears to be a ghost, the Woman in Black, who is the culprit. There is a quiet, brooding sense and the times that you think the ghost scenes are frightening, but the tragic story is just as horrifying. An added fright, dolls and toys can be scary enough left alone, but when they move of their own accord, consider me freaked out. Tragedy and tone set the mood for this film, which was a box office success, even taking the title of highest-grossing British horror film in twenty years. The movie was based on a novel by Susan Hill. Check it out for your Gothic horror fix.
6. V/H/S – A found-footage homage, this film is also an anthology of sorts with separate films by separate directors included within the main story. Some young criminals accept a new job to go steal a VHS tape, but it turns out to be the worst job of their short lives. When they get to the location, they find an old man dead and a whole lot of tapes. They start to watch the tapes, and in between the different films, we see what is going down at the house. With separate movies all containing horrific elements, many tropes are explored. There are would-be rapists who encounter a woman that turns out to be a winged man eating creature, a psychotic honeymoon, something scary in the woods, aliens (enough said), and my favorite, a Halloween night gone wrong. While the films roll, the group experiences death and mayhem at the hands of the zombified dead man. There’s enough excitement and variety in this movie to keep horror fans happy for a long time. Oh, beware if the found-footage films and their shaky, realistic quality make you sick.
7. THE INNKEEPERS – It’s a ghost story, or is it? According to Lee, an alcoholic ex-actress turned healer and her pendulum played by Kelly McGillis, erm and a crystal, there are no ghosts, just different states of being. It is a slow build, but the film amps up with intensity and keeps going to a pretty fun and tragic last 20 minutes. Creepy EVPs are just the start. A woman’s cries, eerie and sad piano music coming from dark rooms, and enough humor injected to keep you interested are just some of the tricks up THE INNKEEPERS sleeves. Yankee Pedlar Inn. There’s a typical ghost story with Madeline O’Malley, the resident specter that hung herself after her fiancée stood her up on her wedding day. The owners hid her dead body in the root cellar for 3 days until they smuggled her away because they thought it was bad for business. Who knew? After it came to light, they sold the Yankee Pedlar Inn and it stayed empty until the 60s. O’Malley now roams the hallways waiting for her lover or maybe looking to take up a new one. The two kids running the inn are dying to get O’Malley on tape before the place shuts down after this fated weekend. The girl, Claire, played by adorable Sara Paxton, is a hilarious scaredy cat spaz, jumping at every noise. She comes complete with asthma inhaler. There are amateur paranormal investigations and a scary basement/root cellar. The moral of the story, kids, when a healer tells you not to go into the basement, don’t go. A decayed, dead eyed bride is pretty scary, but the old man is the winner in the freakiest ghost department. This one is a fun and sometimes intensely scary flick. (Yes, I know this movie came out in 2011 and not 2012, but the DVD probably came out in 2012, so we’re keeping it. I like it.)
8. LOVELY MOLLY – It is a complex and complicated film, and a treasure of scary moments, this movie depicts the descent into madness coupled with paranormal elements. I needed two viewings to soak in all of the information. A young just married couple moves into the childhood home of the bride, Molly. Molly used to be addicted to heroin, and as time goes by in the house, it seems that Molly has relapsed. Her erratic behavior raises the suspicions of her husband and sister. From her seeming obsession with a neighbor and her child, Molly has taken to videoing them and other odd things such as dead deer. She sees and hears unseen presences. Deer and horses carry a main theme in the film, and even though it somewhat comes to light in the end, there is still a bit of mystery surrounding them, which makes them more spooky. Childhood trauma is at the root of it all, and Molly is truly a tortured soul. The director, Eduardo Sanchez, does seem to like to keep things just out of sight, leaving the viewer to imagine their worst nightmares coming to life, and when we do finally see during the harrowing ending, it’s not much less unsettling. I prefer to have my imagination provide the monsters. That’s a big part of why I enjoyed THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT so many years ago, but I do understand that many others do not appreciate this. Give this film a shot. It is a little known gem. (Okay, this isn’t 2012 for the initial release either, but I like this one too.)
9. SINISTER – With a premise of an ancient deity named Bughuul who kills families in order to take the children and their souls to his dimension forever, SINISTER is a horror movie that preys upon the heart of parents everywhere. Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a used to be famous writer who is looking for his next big novel. He moves his family to a home where a murder occurred, but doesn’t tell them. Hoping for inspiration, he instead finds a series of movies that show families being murdered. But that’s not all they have in them. They also have a scary, demonic figure that Oswalt soon finds out is Bughuul. Working with the police and a professor, he finds out the entities motivation. After a particularly upsetting visit from some of the children from the crimes, Oswalt decides to move back to their original home, but before they can make it, well, you’ll have to watch it and see. Full of creepy and at times shocking material, this movie pulls out the shocks just when you think there will be no more.
10. THE COLLECTION – A sequel to 2009’s THE COLLECTOR, this film is really geared toward the horror fan. Full of gore and deaths, this follows along with the idea of a Collector who kills everybody but one person as he “collects” them. This movie takes it one, or two, or maybe five steps farther with the Collector’s twisted traps, and human experiments, and shows how he has mutilated and drugged people he has captured in order to use them in case his hideout is found. Arkin, the man who was collected at the end of the first movie, returns and escapes the serial killer. Now the Collector has the daughter of a wealthy man. With the resources and the police accompanying, Arkin leads them to his hideout, where the real horrors abound. It’s fast paced, full of blood and hideous creations and in your face fear. Watch it if you dare.
For 2013 I have been hearing about some wonderful, horrible things to come. I’m keeping my fingers crossed they live up to the hype. Either way, I will still enjoy the tense, edge of your seat, hold your breath, eyes wide open, kick ass surprise that makes me love horror (even if I have to pull out an oldie but a goodie to get it). Long live Horror!
I love scary movies and I love blood and guts and severed heads and tangled up intestines everywhere. I guess tangled-up intestines are kind of the same thing as guts, but, wow, do I love grisly gore. It seems like older horror movies often focused more on the psychology of how horrifying a situation or act was and newer horror movies put more attention into convincingly showing every stab and every spurting artery on camera. For example, especially when you factor in what audiences of the time were used to, Last House on the Left was really shocking in 1972. It’s slogan was “To avoid fainting, keep repeating it’s only a movie, only a movie, only a movie.” Most of the most horrible events in the movie, you hear the suffering, but you can’t really see what is going on. By contrast, the 2009 version seems to be shot somehow higher quality, partly just due to the technology of modern cinematography. To my modern eyes, the color palette is more pleasing in the 2009 Last House on the Left. More of the gruesome parts are visible, although they could still go more extreme with that, for my taste. But the new one somehow loses some of the aura of menace, while at the same time vastly improving special effects and general overall look. Partly I suppose Aaron Paul just didn’t seem very scary to begin with and he already seemed like a tragic hero to anyone who had seen him play Jesse in Breaking Bad. You can research more about both the 1972 film version and the more recent 2009 remake at Wikipedia and you can read a bit about Last House on the Left distribution channels for horror at Blue Blood.
Horror special effects definitely have come a long way since the seventies. Now though, the special effects are, not to sound ironic, to die for. Trust me, if the quality of movies were still the same as they were a few decades ago, you can bet that I wouldn’t drop what I was doing over at http://www.partybingo.com just to watch some crappy special effects, and acting that we will just label as sub-par. Thank god though, that isn’t the case! To prove my point, just go watch one of the many (I think there are eight) movies in the Saw series, or if you are really up for some cringing, then watch Hostel.
So, in conclusion, I’ll watch the seventies movies for the acting and the newer ones for the special effects, but the special effects really have to be pretty impressive. I’m thinking about going to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D. I figure, even if the acting is all Disney Channel, the special effects on that have to be worth a theater ticket.
A number of Gothic.net staffers spent the week around New Year’s in Las Vegas. There was no Mayan apocalypse, but we got a little apocalyptic on our own. Besides staying up late, gambling, and drinking unusual mixed beverages, we also went to the DoubleDown to see some band I never heard of. The DoubleDown is this tiny little club, which seems to contain most of the Las Vegas dark club life, at least the portion which does not include domination upsells. I go to a club to hear cool gothic music and maybe dance a little bit, but not whatever. Anyway, one of the people we were with was talking about the first time they came to Vegas and didn’t know the area, so they reserved at an off-Strip motel. Apparently, it was very locals-only and the locals all seemed very zombie-like.
So, as we were off the Las Vegas Strip already for the night, we ended up driving around Las Vegas, looking for the most gross places we could find. At each one, we played a game where we tried to associate a horror movie with it. A plus of this activity, aside from deepening my already-excessive knowledge of horror movies, is that all my practice over at www.partypokerbonuscodes.co.uk really paid off extra at the off-Strip places. Anyway, without further ado, here are the top most appalling horror movies set in Las Vegas:
Leprechaun 3
You know any straight-to-DVD release with a 3 in the title has to be quality entertainment. Little green killing machine Leprechaun is going to administer payback to the people at the Lucky Shamrock Casino. This movie is in the so-bad-it-is-good zone and I would stay at (or at least party and gamble at) the Lucky Shamrock, if it were a real place.
Resident Evil Extinction
Yeah, yeah, the plot might be a bit both repetitive and incoherent, but it has zombies and Mila Jovovich in great outfits. Resident Evil: Extinction is one horror flick which is very very very easy on the eyes.
Hostel III: Hangover in Vegas
I am not sure whether the third (and non-Eli Roth) movie in the Hostel series was actually subtitled Hangover in Vegas. A lot of people reported that it was when it first came out, but maybe the comedy Hangover movie people objected. When would those movies ever come up together though? The subtitle does not appear on the DVD packaging anyway. I would describe this movie, but Wikipedia has that covered, if you must know and can’t bear to watch. Pretty much, it is a Hostel movie. Only the victims did not have to pay for international airfare to be horribly tortured.
The Hangover
You wake up with no memory, missing a tooth, with somebody else’s baby and somebody else’s tiger, some dim connection with Mike Tyson, and having to see Zach Galifianakis IN HIS UNDERWEAR. Sounds like horror to me.
Vegas Vampires
Okay, Vegas seems like the perfect city for vampires. People are awake around the clock and there are lots of transients. The only good thing in the movie Vegas Vampires, however, is that Tiny Lister is actually given the opportunity to show off his acting chops and he is clearly really talented. I guess there are not a lot of roles for a posthuman-looking 6’5″ blue-eyed black guy. I mean, besides the supernatural prison guard kind of thing he is usually cast as. Other than that, the plot is terrible and much of the dialog is groan-worthy. Although they make much of Daniel Baldwin being in the movie, apparently the producers of Vegas Vampires couldn’t afford even the most economical of Baldwins for more than a few minutes. It is basically a cameo appearance, not a box cover one.
Vampire in Vegas
Yes, I know I’m using a non-USA boxcover to illustrate Vampire in Vegas, but it is better designed than the American one. The scariest thing about this vampire horror film is that its promotion seems designed to cause confusion with Vegas Vampires. Although Tony Todd was great as Candyman, I really doubt anyone confuses him with Tiny Lister, without the kind of excessive Photoshop attempted on the Vampire in Vegas posters. Basically, Vampire in Vegas wishes it were a better movie, like Vegas Vampires. The mind boggles. Oh, it is about some vamps who are allergic to the sun trying to do something about their affliction or something. It is all pretty murky.
I’m allergic to the sun, but I’m good with that.
Note: I did not forget Zombie Strippers! as that fine piece of cinema actually takes place in existential Sartre, Nebraska and not Nevada at all. Even though that would have been more logical. No doubt, we will also need to revisit this list when Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead comes out. You know that is going to be all kinds of wretchedly bad.
Any other Vegas horror movies you feel should be included?
A number of Gothic.net staffers spent the week around New Year’s in Las Vegas. There was no Mayan apocalypse, but we got a little apocalyptic on our own. Besides staying up late, gambling, and drinking unusual mixed beverages, we also went to the DoubleDown to see some band I never heard of. The DoubleDown is this tiny little club, which seems to contain most of the Las Vegas dark club life, at least the portion which does not include domination upsells. I go to a club to hear cool gothic music and maybe dance a little bit, but not whatever. Anyway, one of the people we were with was talking about the first time they came to Vegas and didn’t know the area, so they reserved at an off-Strip motel. Apparently, it was very locals-only and the locals all seemed very zombie-like.
So, as we were off the Las Vegas Strip already for the night, we ended up driving around Las Vegas, looking for the most gross places we could find. At each one, we played a game where we tried to associate a horror movie with it. A plus of this activity, aside from deepening my already-excessive knowledge of horror movies, is that all my practice over at www.partypokerbonuscodes.co.uk really paid off extra at the off-Strip places. Anyway, without further ado, here are the top most appalling horror movies set in Las Vegas:
Leprechaun 3
You know any straight-to-DVD release with a 3 in the title has to be quality entertainment. Little green killing machine Leprechaun is going to administer payback to the people at the Lucky Shamrock Casino. This movie is in the so-bad-it-is-good zone and I would stay at (or at least party and gamble at) the Lucky Shamrock, if it were a real place.
Resident Evil Extinction
Yeah, yeah, the plot might be a bit both repetitive and incoherent, but it has zombies and Mila Jovovich in great outfits. Resident Evil: Extinction is one horror flick which is very very very easy on the eyes.
Hostel III: Hangover in Vegas
I am not sure whether the third (and non-Eli Roth) movie in the Hostel series was actually subtitled Hangover in Vegas. A lot of people reported that it was when it first came out, but maybe the comedy Hangover movie people objected. When would those movies ever come up together though? The subtitle does not appear on the DVD packaging anyway. I would describe this movie, but Wikipedia has that covered, if you must know and can’t bear to watch. Pretty much, it is a Hostel movie. Only the victims did not have to pay for international airfare to be horribly tortured.
The Hangover
You wake up with no memory, missing a tooth, with somebody else’s baby and somebody else’s tiger, some dim connection with Mike Tyson, and having to see Zach Galifianakis IN HIS UNDERWEAR. Sounds like horror to me.
Vegas Vampires
Okay, Vegas seems like the perfect city for vampires. People are awake around the clock and there are lots of transients. The only good thing in the movie Vegas Vampires, however, is that Tiny Lister is actually given the opportunity to show off his acting chops and he is clearly really talented. I guess there are not a lot of roles for a posthuman-looking 6’5″ blue-eyed black guy. I mean, besides the supernatural prison guard kind of thing he is usually cast as. Other than that, the plot is terrible and much of the dialog is groan-worthy. Although they make much of Daniel Baldwin being in the movie, apparently the producers of Vegas Vampires couldn’t afford even the most economical of Baldwins for more than a few minutes. It is basically a cameo appearance, not a box cover one.
Vampire in Vegas
Yes, I know I’m using a non-USA boxcover to illustrate Vampire in Vegas, but it is better designed than the American one. The scariest thing about this vampire horror film is that its promotion seems designed to cause confusion with Vegas Vampires. Although Tony Todd was great as Candyman, I really doubt anyone confuses him with Tiny Lister, without the kind of excessive Photoshop attempted on the Vampire in Vegas posters. Basically, Vampire in Vegas wishes it were a better movie, like Vegas Vampires. The mind boggles. Oh, it is about some vamps who are allergic to the sun trying to do something about their affliction or something. It is all pretty murky.
I’m allergic to the sun, but I’m good with that.
Note: I did not forget Zombie Strippers! as that fine piece of cinema actually takes place in existential Sartre, Nebraska and not Nevada at all. Even though that would have been more logical. No doubt, we will also need to revisit this list when Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead comes out. You know that is going to be all kinds of wretchedly bad.
Any other Vegas horror movies you feel should be included?
It wouldn’t be that notable that someone watched Billy Bob Thornton and some other people playing evil Santas. Except it is kind of hilarious that ABC News did this segment on how Santa is the most satirized good guy in horror after clowns. Are clowns not supposed to actually be scary now too? Is this part of, not only the War on Christmas, but also the War on the Circus?
Bad Santa: Hollywood’s Favorite Christmas Villain
From a not-so “Silent Night” to “South Park,” what happens when St. Nick goes naughty.
Do you like mystery, intrigue, and movies that make you think? If so, The Imposter is for you. It is the tale of a 13 year-old boy, Nicholas Barclay, who is abducted. His family, who live in Texas, frantically search for him. Three years later, he is found. Or is he? Someone claiming to be Nicholas turns up in Spain and gives the story of captivity and torture. When he arrives back with the Barclay family, all is not as it seems. Beyond his appearance, other things have changed. In this documentary, the story is delivered in a way that leaves the audience to decide for themselves what really happened to Nicholas. This is more than a case of possible identity theft, and individual social and psychological impacts have to also be addressed. With the incongruities and disparities present in the morose events, there are inevitably more questions than answers. What do you think really happened?
The Imposter
(Indomina)
A gripping thriller straight out of real life, THE IMPOSTER is an original film experience that walks the razor’s edge between true-crime documentary and stylish noir mystery. The twisting, turning tale begins with an unsettling disappearance – that of Nicholas Barclay, a 13 year-old Texas boy who vanishes without a trace. Three and a half years later, staggering news arrives: the boy has been found, thousands of miles from home in Spain, saying he survived a mind-boggling ordeal of kidnap and torture by shadowy captors. His family is ecstatic to have him back no matter how strange the circumstances – but things become far stranger once he returns to Texas. Though the family accepts him, suspicion surrounds the person who claims to be Nicholas. How could the Barclay’s blonde, blue-eyed son have returned with darker skin and eyes? How could his personality and even accent have changed so profoundly? Why does the family not seem to notice the glaring differences? And if this person who has arrived in Texas isn’t the Barclay’s missing child . . . who on earth is he? And what really happened to Nicholas? Director Bart Layton fuses confessional interviews and suspenseful storytelling into a film that asks the audience to play detective – as they ferret out the blurred evidence between a family who seems desperate to believe, a private investigator obsessed with resolution and a lonely thief whose only loot is human identities. Yet, just when it seems the puzzle of Nicholas Barclay has come together, another corkscrew twist turns everything upside down – and draws the audience deeper into THE IMPOSTER’S lacerating questions about truth, perception and why people are so tempted to pretend, to fib and, most of all, to fool ourselves. A&E Indie Films, Film 4 and Channel 4 present a RAW production in association with Red Box Films and Passion Pictures, THE IMPOSTER. The film is directed by Bart Layton and produced by Dimitri Doganis. The executive producers are Simon Chinn (PROJECT NIM, MAN ON WIRE) and John Battsek (ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, RESTREPO, THE TILLMAN STORY, PROJECT NIM).
Sinister is a disturbing movie that piles horror upon horror, with eerie snuff footage and a brutal soundtrack that builds to an ending that, if not shocking, certainly offers no respite for the viewer. In short, it’s one of the best horror films I’ve seen in years.
Sinister concerns a writer, Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke), who has moved to a new house with his wife, 12-year-old son and young daughter. He writes true crime novels, and has moved to this particular house to research a bizarre murder and disappearance – an entire family drugged, tied up, then hung from a tree in the back yard, the youngest daughter vanished without a trace. Tracy (Ellison’s wife, played by Juliet Rylance) doesn’t realize that they’ve actually moved into the house where the murders occurred.
Ellison soon discovers a box of 8mm film reels in the attic, each one innocuously labeled. “Family BBQ.” “Sleepy Time.” “Family Hanging Out.” “Yardwork.” As he watches them, he discovers that each film documents the murder of an entire family.
The films themselves are a major part of the horror of Sinister. The 8mm stock gives them a very gritty, snuff film feel, and no punches are pulled when it comes to offing entire families (kids included) on-screen. Even the most jaded horror fan is going to feel disturbed watching them. The movie also plays a clever trick – at times, as Ellison is watching the films, it becomes too much for him. He looks away at just about the point when most viewers would. This creates something of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre effect, where nothing truly graphic is shown on-screen, but you may remember seeing it all the same.
As Ellison uncovers the connections between the murders, he realizes that a strange figure and symbol appears in all of the films. A professor eventually provides the necessary exposition, explaining that the symbol represents an ancient demon that eats children. This is something I’ve grown to dislike about American horror films, this frantic urge to explain everything. We can’t just have a mysterious evil entity, no. Time to crack open the Monster Manual and learn that it’s all couched in Native American folklore, Judeo-Christian mythology, or, as in this case, some kind of vague Babylonian/pagan legend.
Ellison’s actions become increasingly ludicrous as the movie goes on. They seemed illogical to me, at times. There were classic moments of, “Get out of the house you idiot!” But I realized that part of the story is how the movie manipulates your feelings about Ellison. At first, he seems driven to write a good book, recapture his past glory, and uncover the truth behind a mysterious murder. He doesn’t call the police because they’ve proven themselves to be intolerant jerks. His wife seems shrill and unsupportive. But with each terrible decision, your sympathy shifts away from Ellison. He morphs into an alcoholic clod, driven by a strange mania to research the mystery, regardless of the toll it takes on his family.
The best part of Sinister is, without a doubt, the sound editing. I’m not talking about violin stingers that signal a jump scare. I mean, the sounds in this film were a major part of the horror. Each snuff film is accompanied by a piece of music. Each one was intensely difficult to listen to – discordant synth drones, staticky drums, backmasked voices, off-kilter rhythms. It’s difficult to explain, but several of them made me physically uncomfortable. It was an amazing effect.
At other times, as Ellison is blundering around his darkened house (real, disorienting, claustrophobic darkness, by the way – none of this “blue light masquerading as nighttime stuff), the sounds create tension and unreality. Are you hearing atmospherics, or the weird music from the films playing in Ellison’s head? At one point, the soundtrack is filled with a low drone. You don’t even notice it until a key moment, when the drone stutters and stops. In this case, the resulting silence was the sound effect. Honestly, the Oscar for sound editing is a cinch for this crew.
Taken as a whole, Sinister is a brilliant horror film. It creates a lasting, oppressive feeling of dread and unavoidable doom. Yet if you stare too long at some of the individual parts, you’ll find flaws. Bughuul, the strange demonic creature, looks like a Juggalo on a Faygo bender. The “creepy children slowly turning to face you” trope falls flat. One of the sheriff’s deputies veers dangerously close to caricature.
But mostly, this one scared the crap out of me.
[Note: The second feature at the drive-in when I saw this was The House at the End of the Street. We left about 45 minutes in because it was so boring.]
A routine flight from Los Angeles International Airport bound for Tokyo goes awry. The passengers and crew are subjected to a supernatural force as the nighttime flight makes its way over the Pacific Ocean. The movie is directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also created the Ju-on horror film series. The cast includes Amy Smart, Ryan Kwanten, Jamie Chung, Johnathon Schaech and Leslie Bibb. The film had an original release date of August 12, 2012, but was later postponed until 2013. Screenwriter Craig Rosenberg, who was a writer for the 2009 film “The Uninvited”, scripted the movie. Little is known about the details of the movie, and the mystery serves to amp up the anticipation well. Keep your eyes open for this one sometime next year.
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Passengers aboard a flight across the Pacific Ocean encounter a supernatural force.
