The Horror Movie Genre - Part 3

 

Body horror makes me uncomfortable; even while writing about it.
So it is time to look at another more modern version of Horror films.

Found Footage.


Yes i've got The Blair Witch Project headlining this segment but Cannibal Holocaust was the first Found Footage film. I havent seen it. Read a lot about it and i have scrolled through it. It is the most controversial film ever made yes; but it is a landmark film. No humans were killed; but the animals were. I will leave it at that as a discussion on Cannibal Holocaust can go on forever.

Found footage films are not exclusively horror. This year had two releases in Project X and Chronicle that were raunchy and fantasy respectively; even if some people call Chronicle horror.

There was Zero Day in 2003. While not a horror it shows two boys planning to shoot up their school like the events in Columbine.

Another film that pre-dates The Blair Witch Project was Man Bites Dog. The excellent French film follows a film crew making a documentary of a serial killer.

Undoubtably it was The Blair Witch Project that made this genre so popular. Everyone has seen it; and everyone has freaked out. And everyone has copied the 'nosey-dripping' scene. While some of the success of the film is down to promoting it as having actually happened; it is well made.

There isnt a lot of leeway you get here. With handheld cameras having to be used the special effects and large sets are (mostly) cut out. Budgets are less and most of the acting has to happen for the camera. With everything having to appear natural there isnt any need for established actors as well.

Having hand held cameras means the camera can act itself. The camera can be jerked around; hit; dropped and each of these actions on the camera has an effect on the audience as in such films the audience themselves feel they are holding it and recording the situations. Plus such motion does increase the horror quotient.
It may go against the film-maker though; as you may remember that a number of people threw up at screenings of Cloverfield in the theaters because the camera moves about a hell of a lot in that film.

Now to the films that really got us scared.

When i saw REC i was blown away. As my love for movies and especially horror movies increased i became a test subject of sorts in college. It began with Saw (yeah people are too scared to see Saw). I cleared a number of films for my friends to watch and while i just told them this was scary i felt later i should have told them it wasnt. I had to walk out of my room when the characters entered the room at the top of the building (was it the attic? I cant remember) because of the religious undertones the film had developed then - I am an athiest by the way but i find religious horror pretty darn good - and i dont do that often. When my friends watched it in a group a couple of rooms away there were a number of screams and cool down walks and even a 'Paris Hilton' joke when the night vision comes on to ease the tension.

This is a brilliant film. It is one of the best; one of the 5 best horror films i have seen. When you have a pretty (Manuela Velasco is pretty) lead actress - maybe in a later post i will deal with the weak female lead that makes the movie scarier - and some very good and unexpected (not necessarily jump) scares you have a great movie. Scary children; the falling fireman; and the best use of the camera in Found Footage films.

REC 2 wasnt a disappointment and i liked it. The fact that the third film moves away from this genre into a normal cinematic perspective (although it starts as a hand held) is also a let down but its still the original creators making it.

The American remake expectedly wasnt as good. Jennifer Carpenter on screen always will remind me of The Exorcism of Emily Rose and here she isnt the one scaring you as she was there. Also the girl in the attic in the American one isnt half as scary as in the Spanish Original. That was incredibly creepy.

$15000.

Yes 15 thousand Dollars is all it took to make the film that has made almost 200 million dollars at the box office. Paranormal Activity was a blockbuster. A fad. Marketed with people's reactions in the screenings and almost wholly done virally.

I wont go into the complete logistics but it had a limited release earning half a million dollars. After viewers were asked to vote/demand for a wide release it got one to commercial and more importantly critical acclaim.

The director's own house; the actors' real names everything about the film was 'home-video'. But what else had Oren Peli done right? How could a film that cost about the same to make as your average car be such an unprecedented success - well i wont go into pornography but surely those films are major money spinners and this was almost on that level.

Like I mentioned before; when I posted about Alien and The Thing; the atmosphere in a horror film is a critical component. Roger Ebert (renowned film critic for those of you who dont know) sums up Paranormal Activity perfectly. He said most of the film has nothing happening on screen; but you dont get bored.
He even mentions - and i am of the same view - that silence and tension have the same or even more entertainment than frantic breaks and visual effects.

I am not a big fan of the over-the-top action and fantasy films. There are exceptions obviously but Michael Bay films have never been my idea of a movie day out. Watching a horror films with stalkers - and not necessarily Slasher films - is my idea of a good movie.

I had heard a lot about Paranormal Activity before i got down to watching it. I am glad to say i watched it after midnight with head-phones on to accentuate the tension and I would suggest you do the same. With headphones on it does increase involuntary signals to your head that you should be hearing something and in most of the film there is silence so you get uneasy; a tactic I use for all non-gore horror films as people screaming their lungs out in my ears isnt something i want. I first saw it with the alternate ending involving the police officers and then with the widely released ending.

The sequels to the film; Paranormal Activity 2 and 3; the latter being a prequel; lose the charm the first film had but are still worth watching. The budgets are $3 million and $5 million now as special effects have come into the picture (literally). But the anthology will go strong as a fourth film is complete and a fifth in the works.

Some other movies that fall into this genre that deserve a mention - not necessarily for quality - are -

A woman who wants to bring up her child needs money. So she becomes a stripper and in one of her first jobs she is kidnapped by a religious fanatic trying to cure her. On paper it sounds nice but the execution is pretty amateurish. There are a number of scenes in this film which are hard to forget; notably the self-castration scene. You heard that right.

Troll Hunter was a smart Norwegian film; Megan is Missing had a very pretty Megan (Rachel Quinn - In fact have you heard of a Rachel who isnt pretty?) and is based on a true story of an internet predator stalking girls. The Tunnel was a scary Australian film with another smart plot with a creature similar to The Descent (Ill get to that in the future). The Poughkeepsie Tapes was another film that promised a lot but was found wanting in substance towards the end. It was a documentary style film about the tapes found at the house of a serial killer.

How about this to end this section?

I liked watching the television show Ghost Hunters; even if they never actually found much in the name of ghosts but then again it is all about the tension isnt it? I would feel then that wouldnt it be a good idea if someone made that into a movie? You could do whatever you want with it and it is easy to show something like an episode of a show that went wrong.

Then up pops Grave Encounters!

What a creepy trailer! Will be some movie?

Not.

The biggest problem with Grave Encounters was that almost all the major scares in the film were in the fucking trailer. The concept of time lapse was well thought of but ends up being shallow. Still; worth the scares and there is a sequel coming up.

So; To conclude the Found Footage Genre -

Found footage allows you a lot of room to use the camera itself to provide scares.

It invokes a sense of real world occurences more than cinematic perspective films; which adds to the intrigue.

The simpler it is; the better it is. Special effects should not be a big part of such films but just should maybe increase the magnitude of an event that could be shown normally.

Because it doesnt cost much to make such films there are a lot of cheap; amateurish ones popping about.  

But there are some films worth waiting for. Like this one



The Horror Movie Genre - Part 2

The Body Horror Genre is a difficult one to come to terms with. I dont know what David Cronenberg is reaching for inside James Woods but it isnt good.

Yes Body Horror is all about special effects but tell that to the number of people who get nauseated at the sight of these things.

What is Body Horror?
Body Horror is where the horror parts are all something to do with something going visibly wrong with the human body. These films have no jump scares but the scares are undoubtedly visual and mental.

I have not been a big fan of the genre as the earlier films I've seen of Cronenberg repulsed me. But i consider it necessary that i mention all the horror genres here and of the few films i have scene that fall in this category i can come to a sort of conclusion.

I saw Brian Yuzna's Society as i was curious about the 'shunting' scene that has a lot of mentions in this genre. Boy was it gross. It is the sort of scene that makes you forget everything else that happened in the film.

Other films like Slither in 2006 and even Altered States in 1980 can also count as Body horror. Even The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers as there are alterations to the human body in them.

But it is almost exclusively Cronenberg. I havent seen Re-Animator (yet) and i dont know anyone else except maybe films like Basket Case and Brain Damage.

Firstly Cronenberg stopped making such films since his 1999 film eXistenz which wasnt even a horror movie in itself but had the weird disfiguration/ something entering the body scenes.

Of his films the ones i have seen are The Fly; Videodrome and Dead Ringers. And Crash obviously.

The final two are not horror films as Crash is overtly sexual with some crazy sex (and i mean crazy) and Dead Ringers is just a drama in which Cronenberg couldnt help but put one trademark scene of Genevieve Bujold biting off a cord connecting the twin Jeremy Irons' characters in a dream.

The thing about Cronenberg's films is they always get straight to the fuckin point at the start. No need for a build up. Crash starts off with the sex and The Fly with Seth Brundle asking Geena Davis' character to come home so he can show her something.

Lets stick with The Fly. When i saw it first on TV in parts; my brother called the developing Seth Brundle 'Chocolate man' and my father would tell us to sleep or Chocolate man would come. That was effective for nealry 4 years.
I finally got down to watching The Fly in full 3 years ago and i could appreciate it.

Cronenberg's films were in the late 70s and 80s and people must have been very uncomfortable and grossed out watching these things happening to the human body - before the magic of computerized animation.
It is great that his latest films from A History of Violence to his latest A Dangerous Method are all very good but completely different from his early offerings.
BUT apparently his son Brandon just directed his own film Antiviral which is a body horror. In the genes?

The Horror Movie Genre - Part 1

Horror movies are not everyone's cup of tea.
It isnt even a case of you either love them or hate them.
People watch horror films because they want to get scared; i guess. And horror movies are rated in two ways.

The first way to rate horror movies is how scary they are. Jump scares is what people relate to horror movies; for me it is more psychological horror - more on that later.
The second way is by the ending. No matter what happens before the ending defines the movie. That is the case with thrillers as well; but horror movies HAVE to end in some way or the other and definitively. The ghost/spirit/murderer has to meet some sort of end.
Great build up poor/cliched ending = bad film.
Terrible build up great ending = good film.

As a fan of the genre it sickens me. As someone who aspires to become a film director but hasnt the means or the contacts it hurts to see a great idea wasted.

I wonder; the person who makes these films has to have an idea what he wants to show the audience. Then how can the final product go so wrong? Believe you me it is rare these days to find a good horror film; in fact the 70s and early 80s had some brilliant films which laid the foundation for the present directors; and most of the new horror films are unoriginal/ cliched or just remakes of those glorious years. These days the Far East make good horror films and they are remade almost always substandard.

I will start off with the Slasher subgenre.

What is the Slasher subgenre. To make it as simple as I can; it involves multiple murders of generally typecast teens by some unknown person who ends up being someone they know.
The murderer can be one of the teens themselves or someone's parents or some escaped convict. Even movies that involve sharks and other predatorial animals and aliens fall under the Slasher genre.
Wikipedia has a page dedicated to Slasher films and is an interesting read. I will not be rehashing anything from there and this will just be my views.

I will start with the Bad.

I have yet to see the original Prom Night. I did see the remake recently that was hyped up and i was disappointed. It was bleeding obvious who would die (almost in what order too) and who wouldnt by the time the characters were established. Lead white couple; black couple and secondary white couple. If you havent seen the movie; there are spoilers of sorts here but dont worry it wont do you any harm.
Ok so the secondary white couple will die first. Since the lead here is a woman; she will either survive or die last. So - from the black couple the guy will either survive or die second last. (not being racist here btw). It is just so obvious.

Thought i would mention Shark Night 3D here; when we saw the trailer we laughed as it showed an attack on the lead black guy and we felt that he didnt even survive the fuckin trailer! As it turned out he did.
Another point about Shark Night 3D is that the film could have been much better than it ended up. The idea was original for once but the acting - which is almost always below par for horror films - and just the way it was played was a real let down. It's like ordering your steak well done and finding it red in the middle.

Scream was a much better film. While it does fall short when compared to some of the great Original films like Halloween; Friday the 13th; Nightmare on Elm Street and the kind it is clearly the best of the latest bunch of Slasher films. Even the first sequel and the 2010 movie Scream 4 were well made.
What made Scream better than the others was it had smarter characters; especially Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott while most Slasher films have dumb teens who do not even strike a chord with the audience. When a character is strongly made then the audience wants the character to survive as well. I mean; who cared if Brittany Snow died in Prom Night? Or Paris Hilton in House of Wax?
Also; Scream created an iconic new villian in Ghostface. I wanted a Ghostface mask. The acting was good as it was a stellar cast if you consider the age group that the actors had to be; the scares were good and you genuinely did not know who the killer was. Kudos to Wes Craven and Scream deserved the plaudits and the money it earned.

But who can forget the movies that began it all? Halloween still is the best pure Slasher film ever made. It made a legend of Michael Myers as the masked truck driver who terrorizes a young Jaime Lee Curtis who needed a full ten years to diversify from her scream queen title in A Fish Called Wanda. Four years before that Tobe Hooper made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Another pioneering film based loosely on Ed Gein that was a major success.

 Or these two films; so popular they spawned a ridiculous number of sequels you couldnt keep up. There even was a (horrible) crossover and they have both had reboots. The concept of Freddy Kruger killing you in your dreams in A Nightmare ... and the hockey mask of Jason Voorhees are memorable hallmarks of this genre.

 

 Ah!
For me the best horror films are those which dont just fuck with your eyes but fuck with your mind as well. Ridley Scott's Alien in 1979 and John Carpenter's The Thing from 1982 (albeit a sort of remake of 1951's The Thing from Another World) are both films that do not fall exclusively in the Slasher genre. But that is what they are.
People are killed. And you dont know who is killing them.
But - in this case it is not 'Who' is killing them; but 'What'.
Both films have strong leads- infact even the 2011 prequel of The Thing had a very good performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and was a much better film than what people said - and they have a watertight plot.

What makes The Thing such a solid horror film is despite the plethora of visual scares the main sense of tension that the film creates is that the 'Thing' could be any one of the people in the film as it metamorphosises into the person or animal it consumes. They dont know who it could be and you dont know who it could be.

Both Alien and The Thing have a killer that makes you go - 'What the fuck is that thing?'.
Critical to the films is that you hardly see the creature. The thing in The Thing is only shown a couple times and H.R. Giger's Alien is never shown in full which leaves it to the audience to imagine what the whole thing looks like - This was a major source of disappointment in the poor David Fincher directed Alien 3 which has an amateurly animated Alien that looks like it had been pasted on the screen. In Alien 3 the alien is shown in full and it looks like a lizard bringing down the curiosity and hence the fear to almost nothing.

Also key to both films is the settings. While The Thing is set in Antarctica Alien takes it a step further and is set in space - the Tagline for Alien 'In outer space no one can hear you scream' is one of the best ever made. These are both claustrophobic settings and that transcends into the audience. These are clear signs of a well thought out production. Alien is to the alien genre what 2001: A Space Odyssey is to the science fiction genre; well ahead of the times and films so good that they are almost impossible to better despite being 33 and 45 (incredible) years old.

In conclusion; slasher films these days ask you to leave your heads at home and watch as people get killed. They want to scare you with someone popping up from somewhere and try to be smart by making the killer one of the cast. The best Slasher films are those where who does the killing doesnt matter - you know who the killer is in Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and you know something is killing people in Alien and the Thing. Or even if you dont know who the killer is; the development of the characters is important.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?

I want to be a gentleman one day. Till then its raven haired women for me.
I am a big big fan of Mia Kirshner BTW.

 Well, it is quite clear that i prefer black hair. I had to do a lot of digging to find Mia in Blonde, which is from a 2000 movie called The Innocents. I don’t like that blonde hair (May be a wig).

Mia in brown hair, also acceptable, which is an understatement.

Lets look at some other people in different colored hair.

Emma Stone is first. And i must say, even i couldn’t believe she was naturally blonde. (I must add however, that the new photos are quite nice)

Ready for a shock?

Hollywood’s most famous actress is a natural blonde. Now i bet you didn’t know that (neither did I frankly)

So is everyone’s favourite ummm ... vampire lover? This you might have known. Again, brunette always.

I saw a movie recently called Columbus Circle, and in that Amy Smart had dyed her hair black in the end. Maybe i am used to seeing Amy Smart as a blonde.

The gorgeous Rachel McAdams is also a natural Blonde. Looks really nice as a brunette.

Lindsay Lohan is Naturally Blonde as well, and you would know from her antics. In the middle picture, with black hair, she looks distinctly like Mila Kunis.

Katy Perry is also a natural blonde. I would like to add that i really like the second picture here.

In Sucker Punch, Emily Browning began blonde-ing, only to begin browning again, albeit slightly first for Sleeping Beauty.

 

If there ever was an exception to the rule of blondes being hot, there is Amber Heard. Did you know that this uber hot bisexual (LESBIAN!!) is actually a brunette? That is why some people should dye their hair blonde. Megan Fox should try it too.

Then there is the crazy awesome Milla Jovovich. I have no clue what her natural hair color is, i think black. And she dyed it blonde. Well Milla Jovovich can do anything she wants, and it will still be awesome. Apt photo the second one. Milla Jovovich is the standout example of how you can be super hot without having fake tits, see, even Maynard James Keenan agrees with me. Considerately, Killing me.

I am really bored aren’t I?

A Woman List

There aren’t many things i like to do more than to find new women in all walks of life that are in the public eye. Ill try and mention only those i have come to like recently and those i wouldn’t have put in any of my prior lists.

Michelle Williams really impressed me in her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, and with 3 films releasing soon (maybe?) and with short hair, Mia Kirshner is also alive and kicking but they aren’t on this list as these are the others.

Elena Anaya – Sex & Lucia and Room in Rome, but those are just titillation. I am not one to like the latin American, Spanish actresses but i like her, and Paz Vega. The two movies mentioned are fixtures on my hard drives, but then for an actress, acting is what counts. I really liked the 4 hour, two part Mesrine and maybe that is why i decided to keep her in this list. And she shares her birthday with ... ME! Remember that clearly as she was the only person i knew who had the same birthday as me when i made that list of celebrity birthdays. Another fact – related to Mesrine – is that the other lead actress in the first film, Cecile De France, also shares her birthday with me. Funny. Pedro Almodovar is the most renowned of the Spanish directors and he casts only the main actresses, hence Penelope Cruz is a fixture. His latest, The Skin i Live in, has Elena Anaya, and it was nominated for Best Foreign film. Downloading.

Isabelle Adjani – She doesn’t look pretty now at all, but in the late 70s and 80s she looked amazing. And she is a Two time Academy Award nominee. Similar to most of my favourites, it took one film. Here it was Andrej Zulawski’s surreal Possession, which i was raving mad about in college. Her performance won the acting award at Cannes. Plus she had a child with Daniel Day-Lewis. I have a new found admiration for French women & I really hate it that people have to age.

Ludivine Sagnier – Maybe you all know her. Water Drops on Burning Rocks? Some actresses sign these ‘Non-Nudity’ clauses for films but this one here definitely signs a Nudity clause. Just five minutes after she appeared in Mesrine, naked. Scrolled through this year’s ‘The Devils’ Double’, naked. Swimming Pool – half the film naked, and these are the English Language films only! If god exists, thank you for these women who are unashamed of their bodies. Maybe the best looking of all these French actresses, or maybe the hottest since i love Marion Cotillard.

Charlotte Gainsbourg – French! Her parents were very famous, mother British actress Jane Birkin and father Serge Gainsbourg was a famous French singer. Serge Gainsbourg was a womanizer and dedicated one of his songs to Isabelle Adjani, also on this list, and in 1984 released a song called Lemon Incest, which contained references to paedophilia and incest, featuring his then 13 year old Daughter! Talk about controversy! Charlotte Gainsbourg is possibly the finest example of an actress known because she can act and not for how she looks, which isn’t great. Plus she is a singer as well, and her song featured in FIFA 11 for that matter.  A fixture of late under Lars von Trier, ive decided to watch every movie of hers, but then i need the time.

Oh these French women. Take Lea Seydoux (MI 4, Midnight in Paris) , Clemence Poesy (Fleur DelaCour, In Bruges), the wonderful Juliette Binoche, the pretty Elodie Bouchez, Audrey Tautou, Laetitia Casta, Marion Cotillard, the most beautiful news reporter of all time Melissa Theuriau, Alizee Jacotey, ex-pornstar Clara Morgane,   Berenice Berjo (The Artist), Berenice Marlohe (Skyfall – the next bond film) and even  Eva Green, who is of Jewish descent and an atheist. American actresses can suck it.

BTW, apart from Berenice Marlohe, there is an English women playing one of the bond girls. Her name is some Naomie, and she was Calypso in the Pirates films (if you don’t remember just check, seriously). That is a high profile role really.

Bryce Dallas Howard – I really liked her in Manderlay, and having seen The Help & 50/50 as well, it’s been a nice introduction to Ron Howard’s daughter. After a role like Manderlay she should have got some starring ones, and you cant judge the acting talent of anyone based on one film alone.

Jessica Chastain – just realised she wasn’t in my earlier list. One of my favourites now, and i am backing her for an Oscar win in the near future. Al Pacino cast her in Wilde Salome – yet to be released – and recommended her for Tree of Life. She is in India right now, shooting for Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film. Thats the third closest ive got to one of my favourite actresses. (Sienna Miller was in Mumbai once and Camilla Belle was a block away at the Marriot).

Anna Kendrick – I haven’t seen Up in the Air, or the Twilight films. I have only seen 50/50 and as expected, it took one film. My word her face is spotless, like a mannequin for fuck sake. Downloaded Up in the Air and if she got an Oscar nomination for that, im going to love it, DESPITE George Clooney, who i don’t like, even though he acts well. Dating Edgar Wright, who directed the brilliant Nick Frost – Simon Pegg duo in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. And why do these actresses like to do voice-overs for animations, come in front of the camera with a face like that!

Evan Rachel Wood – well you’ve got to be barking mad to get engaged to Marilyn Manson, but who knows what he is like actually? I take it all of you have seen 11:14, and picture Evan Rachel Wood there and now, she looks like she’s lost half her weight. Has a number of movies under her belt (not figuratively) that i like, and there are a few i have and have to see yet, like Thirteen, S1m0ne, The conspirator, etc. Plus my interest was refuelled because of The Ides of March & Mildred Pierce – if you know what i mean. And - the kicker – cane out as bisexual. We love these confused girls. Keep em coming.

Rooney Mara – Didnt notice her in Social Network, although i read she got the plum role on that basis. Nightmare on Elm Street passed me by and all i said about the remake was that Jackie Earle Haley made a good Freddie Kruger. The original “Men Who Hate Women”, more commonly known as the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, had Noomi Rapace, who was wonderful in the role. But, you didn’t know Noomi Rapace. Yes ive flicked through some of her films but she seems a versatile actress. You watch Rooney Mara in these two films, or just look at her fucking face and you wonder – how the hell will she pull off that role? When you go into something expecting very little, if you get a few positives you feel happy. But what if you get the whole fuckin nine yards? I was immensely impressed – yes one film i know – and despite Meryl Streep and my fondness for Michelle Williams i would have planted the Oscar on her lap. If you saw The Fighter, you would see the role that Amy Adams played was one of a bitch of sorts, and Amy Adams plays Disney characters with aplomb as she is the happiest face in Hollywood. That was fantastic character acting and this performance exceeds that, as the role is complex, of a deranged female who has had a terrible foundation. You need to weigh in everything when it comes to appreciating a performance and on one side you have a Meryl Streep, who can play any role and has done it time and on the other you have a young actress who everyone presumed to be one of those one-dimensional, one trick ponies pulling this off. Maybe the fact that a movie with such adverse thematic content did garner Rooney Mara an Oscar nomination is testament to the appreciation she deserves. Fincher has signed on for the two sequels as well, and i am waiting eagerly. (There even is a Mia Kirshner connection here, as they both acted in successive episodes of The Cleaner)

Plans for this Blog

I have decided to take this seriously.

This post is more for myself than for anyone who reads this blog.

I would like to have three sections here.

The first will be movie related. Maybe a movie review or some movie related thoughts.

The second will be a people list of the kind i have made before.

The third will be of a particular movie person - an actor/actress or director.

Hopefully I will start posting here more often.