Historically the greatest film sequels have always taken the best aspects of the prior film and accentuated all of the best features for the follow up. Prime examples of this approach can be seen in Aliens, Terminator 2, and The Godfather 2. Some film follow ups take the easy way out and merely recycle the original flick’s script with new cast members replacing stars that refused to return for another go. Check out the regrettable and forgettable Teen Wolf 2, Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, or Roadhouse 2 for further evidence of this phenomenon. Then there’s the dreaded “everything old is new again” format where they just take the first film and move the plot to some asininely contrived location. Speed 2: Cruise Control is a prime offender of this plot device.
For better or worse Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds is a hybrid of all three of these sequel archetypes. None of the name actors return, (yes I realize that I’m referring to Balthazar Getty, Navi Rawat and Henry Rollins as name actors) and it’s the same plot as the original but this time it’s different…instead of a bar it’s an entire town that’s trapped. See, different! But for the better part of it’s 100 minute run time Feast 2 enters into the good sequel range by going off the deep end with gross out humor and insane over the top gore.
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REC is one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen, it is terrifying, fast paced and refuses to adhere to many of the clichés that plague modern horror. Sure, there’s several telegraphed jump scares here and there, but they never felt forced or out of place. Actually, the fact that in the back of your mind you knew it was going to happen just improves the overall sense of dread that runs rampant through the film. I’ve been watching fright flicks since I was a child, weaned by my mother on Alien, John Carpenter’s The Thing and anything else I could get my tiny hands on. From there I’ve spent the majority of my thirty plus years watching every horror film I can get my eyes in front of and it’s extremely rare that any movie ever scares me. I’m not saying this to sound like a badass, but to express how desensitized I am to “scary movies.” That being said REC scared the fucking shit out of me. I was up until two or three in the morning following my initial viewings (I watched it twice, back to back) convinced that every creak of the ceiling or neighbor’s cat was one of the zombies breaking into my house. Thank god I don’t live in an apartment complex or I may have ended up shooting one of my neighbors in the face.
Sid Haig was at the excellent Horror/Sci-Fi convention “From the Land Beyond in Sacramento this past weekend and was kind enough to talk to Horror Yearbook’s Tyler Shainline about his bid for president, the status of “Galaxy of Terror” on DVD and his upcoming projects.
At this point poking fun at Uwe Boll and his collection of shitty films is akin to making fun of President Bush or kicking the arm braces out from under some palsy kid. It’s just too easy, so why bother. Boll has spent the last five years cementing his place in film history as the Ed Wood of this generation. He makes crap films based off of lower tier video games such as House of the Dead, BloodRayne and Alone in the Dark and by taking advantage of German tax shelters his films rarely lose money. I suppose I should be upfront and admit that I’m a bit of a fan of Boll; admittedly it’s of his “Fuck You” attitude towards the generic Hollywood machine then his films. But I’ve picked up every single DVD he’s put out in the states and I’ve enjoyed all the shit he’s smeared across celluloid since appearing in American markets back in 2003. Sure the enjoyment I’ve experienced is in the “so bad it’s good” vein which is why I was surprised that I truly enjoyed his latest flick Seed with slightly less irony than I expected.
First and foremost it should be made known that this Death Race has almost nothing to do with the 1975 Roger Corman produced classic. Other than a handful of character names, the film’s title and the fact that there are cars involved there is little connecting this remake to the original. Truthfully, this race has more in common with video games like Mario Kart and Twisted Metal than it does with the black comedy it’s supposed to be a remake of.
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army isn’t just the most exciting, interesting and all around engaging movie of the summer, so far it’s also the best thing I’ve seen in the theater all year. To say that Hellboy 2 is the best movie of the summer is a severe understatement. A more accurate description would be to say that Hellboy 2 uses its right hand of doom to bitchslap the entire summer line up of 2008 into submission. It has the heart and intelligence that was completely missing from Wanted, it’s got better fights than The Incredible Hulk, it’s overflowing with the humor that’s missing from The Dark Knight and has better special effects than Iron Man and Hancock combined. Plus its not Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Metamucil or that shitfest known as Speed Racer that alone is a huge checkmark in the plus column. Simply put, if you don’t get off you lazy butt this weekend to go see Hellboy 2 in the theaters you must be an asshole who hates anything great. I hope you enjoy sitting through Meet Dave and your second viewing of “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.”
“The Incredible Hulk” smashes away all the painful memories attached to Ang Lee’s hopelessly melodramatic take on the Jade Giant and continues to uphold the mark of excellence created by Marvel Studios “Iron Man.” Where the 2003 film featured a Hulk that was a lumbering baby faced loser with daddy issues, the 2008 flick showcases an energetic, angry Hulk smashing his way through anything and everyone that gets in his way. Another thing that distances this new take on the Hulk from the prior shitfest is the appearance of an actual villain. In the last film he faced off against “hulked out” dogs and Banner’s father who was kind of an amalgamation of the classic Hulk foes Zzzax and The Absorbing Man. This time around he’s actually got a great villain to face off against in Tim Roth’s portrayal of Emil Blonsky AKA The Abomination. Basically, this is the Hulk movie fans have been waiting their entire lives for.
Over the past twenty years Director and Screenwriter Stuart Gordon’s name has become synonymous with cosmic horror author H.P. Lovecraft. While Gordon has been involved with no less than four Lovecraft projects over the years he also wrote the story for “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and created guilty pleasures like “Robot Jox” and “Space Truckers.” More recently though Gordon has found himself branching out and crafting tales based less upon supernatural horror but more the horrific actions one human being will do to another. This is best shown in Gordon’s most recent film “Stuck” that’s not only his best film since “Re-Animator” but one of the best films of the year.
Stuart Gordon has one of the most eclectic resumes for anyone ever dubbed a “Master of Horror.” He originally made a name for himself in the horror community with the iconic “Re-Animator” back in 1985 and followed it up with other noteworthy genre entries such as “From Beyond,” “Dolls,” “Castle Freak” and “Dagon.” In addition to gore and sex filled flicks he’s also helmed kid’s movies (”The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit”) and silly yet enjoyable Sci-Fi fare like “Robot Jox,” “Space Truckers” and “Fortress.” His past two films “Edmond” and “King of the Ants” traded in the supernatural and Lovecraftian origins of his popular films for edgy drama. While his adaptation of Mamet’s one act play “Edmond” was a bit to over the top to be taken seriously (mostly due to Mamet’s notorious one-dimensional characters)”King of the Ants” was a disturbingly effective piece of work. Gordon keeps that gritty theme alive in his newest film “Stuck” that is not only his best directorial effort since “Re-Animator” but also one of the best films of the year.
“Teeth” revolves around Dawn (Jess Weixler) a teenage girl on the verge of adulthood who discovers that she’s not like the other girls in at her high school. While the rest of her class is concerned with the average teenage issues: acne, college, boyfriends, etc. Dawn’s problem’s a bit more sensitive, for while the other girls might be worried about having to get braces on their face, Dawn might have to get a set for her crotch. That’s because she has “Vagina Dentada” which I think is Latin for “a cunt full of teeth.” You see, Dawn’s the type of girl that can spread her lips and smile a toothy grin that only a midget can appreciate.
At the end of last week Scream Queen extraordinaire Tiffany Shepis found Horror Yearbook’s Tyler Shainline hiding in the bushes by her house. He had just gotten done digging through her garbage can looking for tossed out memorabilia from “Tromeo & Juliet,” “The Hazing,” “Delta Delta Die!” or any of the fifty plus projects she’s worked on since entering the horror world over ten years ago. Rather than call the police she agreed to answer some questions about the After Dark Horrorfest film “Nightmare Man,” her upcoming projects, other freaky fans she’s found in her driveway, the uncomfortable nature of low budget films and just why her Fridays are so “Fabulous!”
Dead” is one of the most mediocre horror films I’ve ever seen. It takes no chances and never veers off the well-trodden path made by the thirty years of slasher movies that came before it. The intent of first-time filmmakers George Bessudo and Daniel P. Coughlin is fairly obvious: they wanted to create a “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” for this generation. Honestly, their endeavor was a success; the only problem is that “Lake Dead” mirror’s the shitty 2003 remake and not the original Tobe Hooper classic.
“The Deaths of Ian Stone” is a recipe of familiarity. It shamelessly takes the best parts of “Jacob’s Ladder,” “The Machinist,” and “Groundhog’s Day,” throws them into the garbage can, and then uses the leftovers to create an underwhelming cinematic meal. It’s an ambiguous film that never gives its viewers a chance to latch onto any of the characters. It makes every one of the many deaths that Ian Stone “lives” through utterly pointless for the audience. Who gives a shit if he’s going to die? You already know he’s going to be reborn again into another boring life.
When 2006’s “Crazy Eights” played in theaters last fall as one of the eight films picked to be part of the nationwide, second-annual After Dark Horrorfest, the movie was marketed as “The Big Chill” meets “Silent Hill.” And for once, the generally misleading folks who write such ad-copy bullshit were right. “Crazy Eights” is just as annoyingly whiney and over dramatic as “The Big Chill” and even more boring and devoid of plot than “Silent Hill.” I just don’t know why After Dark films paid somebody to make these comparisons. I thought they wanted people to pay to see their movies. Wait, they included the comparisons as a compliment?
Even though “Diary of the Dead” was made in 2007 and we’re only a month or so into 2008 I have to say that it’s my favorite horror film of the year (so far) and easily the most entertaining zombie flick to hit the screen in awhile. Honestly, if “Rambo” wasn’t so fucking brilliant in its excessive violence “Diary” would be my number one flick of 2008 with a bullet. Or perhaps I should say with an arrow.
