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Cronenberg is like fine wine: he gets better with age

Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, UK/Canada, 2007)
Dir. David Cronenberg; starring Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen

David Cronenberg is like fine wine: he gets better with age. His early genius saw his anger and obsession portrayed in his body images and visual dysfunctions of human life. His films (which became known as the sub-genre Body Horror) had at their core sexual frustration and experimentation, a bleak but open look on the future of life as we know it, and the type of edgy, youthful angst and creative freedom only available to young, up-start directors untainted by the Hollywood machine.

Indeed, Cronenberg throughout his career, would steer clear of Hollywood intervention - both financially and geographically. His films have remained low-budget and financed by independent production companies. And he's shot many of them away from the allures of Los Angeles: predominantly staying in his homeland Canada or more recently shooting in England.

His early work was graphic and affecting. Many remember the exploding head in Scanners, the worm-like rape in the bath tub in Shivers, or James Woods pulling a gun out of his stomach in Videodrome. Cronenberg films were unique: they simultaneously examined our worst fears and our most rampant desires. He gave the horror film world depth largely unseen before, while developing a niche for his own whim to discover over the following years.

But, like most youthful endeavours, Cronenberg was still learning to hone his craft in films like Shivers, Rabid, and Scanners. Videodrome was littered with great moments, while The Brood showed the director had style to go with his ideas. It wasn't until 1986's The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, that he hit the mainstream. The Fly, which married Cronenberg's inherent fascination with the disfigurement of the human body and a bigger budget and recognised actors, put the director firmly in the minds of not only horror aficionados but movie-lovers of all kinds.

Yet I've always felt, aside from the brilliant Dead Ringers (arguably his best film) in 1988, he hasn't always found a way for his characters to fully blossom amongst his more prevalent themes and symbolism. This was down to an inability to coax the best performances out of his actors, but this was more easily rectified when he began employing more experienced performers. It was a problem with his early films and has affected later films too. However, recently, with Spider, A History of Violence and Eastern... [READ FULL REVIEW HERE]

Halloween 1978 v Halloween 2007: No Contest!

Aside from the great gulf in quality between John Carpenter's classic 1978 slasher and Rob Zombie's post-Scream back story-cum-remake, the new film couldn't be more different from the original.

The original Halloween was a benchmark in horror. It set new standards that would become convention in movies that followed like Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street. Heavily influenced by Bob Clark's Black Christmas, Halloween became the trend-setter of slasher movie lore. Essentially, to remake Halloween - a classic film loved by so many - was an impossible task. It's like trying to remake Citizen Kane or The Godfather: you'd be fighting a losing battle.

Halloween circa 2007 is more a quick-fix marketing ploy, intended to hit a ready-made audience than an artistic cinematic endeavour. Employing the limited talents of Rob Zombie - the pin-up of MTV generation trash - to not only write but direct the new film, indicated the studio (read: the Weinsteins') weren't interested in remaking quality just inventing box office profit.

I suppose you can give the movie's producers credit for providing viewers with something new. Every remake, after all, has to add something to up the ante (that's why I've always ignored Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho). Halloween 07 adds back story to Michael Myers. Unfortunately, back story to one of the genre's most iconic and frightening monsters is the worst thing you could have done for the series. Would The Exorcist be more interesting, indeed more effective, if we knew the entire history of the demonic presence possessing Regan? Of course, not.

The new Halloween neglects to acknowledge what made the original so effective. This is, without doubt, the film's cardinal sin. What made Michael Myers such a frightening character was the lack of reason in his monstrous actions: the idea that terror can come from anywhere - indeed, from the secure, middle-class family home. Zombie's back story makes a mockery of the working class, depicting Myers as a product of a broken family home: his anger built on years of abuse and neglect from his father. But the frightening aspect of the original Michael Myers is the sense that his killing is based on uncontrollable evil that even he has no power over. The new Michael Myers is just a deeply trouble psychopath with a brutal distaste for the family that failed him.

The new film differs from the original completely in the first half. We see Michael Myers in a difficult...[Read full article HERE]

CLICK HERE to Read my full review of Rob Zombie's Halloween remake

Rob Zombie's new Halloween is terrifying for all the wrong reasons

If there's one thing you learn from watching Rob Zombie movies apart from what your insides look like, it's: don't watch Rob Zombie movies. Zombie is the picture postcard of MTV-generation trash that has spilled into the cinematic mainstream. His films are eye-candy to the uninitiated (or should that be uneducated), appealing largely, and unfortunately, to the mass teen market bred on quick-fixes, episodic action-orientated TV shows, and, seemingly, naked girls.

It's a shame Zombie should turn his creative-eye to the Halloween franchise. It would appear that, even though the series hardly requires any more instalments, Hollywood (more precisely, the Weinsteins) is happy to tread well-worn ground in the hope of appealing to a ready-made audience. The series as a whole had already lost much of the shine made by John Carpenter. His Halloween film from 1978 was not only one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but a defining moment in horror movie lore. Some of the sequels were also entertaining in their own right, especially Jamie Lee Curtis' return to scream-queen action in Halloween H20, but as more and more movies came out, Michael Myers became just another hokey anti-hero in the mould of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

Why make another is a question for the marketers. Since there seemed little more to add to the continuing story, somewhere along the line Zombie must have had the thought: remake the classic original. What he didn't take into consideration was: remaking a film known and loved by so many is almost impossible. He also forgot to remember (probably on purpose) he didn't have the writing or directing talent to make it work.

In Zombie's remake, we begin by witnessing the would-be killer in childhood, living with his abusive father. Myers is an understandably troubled child, locking himself in the bathroom where he dissects the family pet. He's also getting into trouble at school, and, unfortunately for one school bully, beats him dead with a tree branch. After killing his father and sister, he's... [Read Full REVIEW HERE]

Ridley Scott's Alien changed the face of science-fiction forever

My introduction to Ridley Scott's space opus came sometime after being bowled over by James Cameron's sequel. I guess it must have been around 1990, before David Fincher released the third instalment of the Alien saga. My ignorance of Scott's sci-fi horror had to do with the fact I wasn't born when it was first released in 1979, and partly because my mother had withheld the video from her impressionable son's eyes; possibly fearing permanent psychological damage. This fear didn't last long, since my determination to witness the Alien's first cinematic adventure far outweighed her parental guidance. Coupled with the fact Alien was one of my Mum's favourite movies, it wasn't long before I was another devoted fan of Alien, Ripley, and the space-horror franchise. And, for the sake of not undermining my mother, I can safely say there was no psychological damage causedat least, that's what my shrink tells me.

My first impression of Alien was one that appears the going trend. Quite honestly, it was one of the most frightening experiences of my movie watching life. Director Ridley Scott concocts a claustrophobic, uncompromising cinematic experience that bottles up all that is good about the haunted house movie and delivers it with teeth sharp enough to cut through the screen and take your arms and legs off. From the minute the opening credit sequence starts (bringing you out of your home comforts - that include a reassuring open fire and a locked door - into the unending expanse of outer space), the hieroglyphic letters appearing slowly and methodically onscreen offering no sense of hope, you're left exposed, alone, vulnerable.

Alien was developed in the mid-1970s, the brainchild of film school graduate Dan O'Bannon. O'Bannon had worked with John Carpenter on what would become simultaneously the most successful student film and the worst professional film ever released theatrically - Dark Star. The film, a precursor to O'Bannon's Alien, saw a group of astronauts bidding to stay alive aboard a spacecraft housing a rather nasty but ultimately timid looking alien creature. After O'Bannon left film school and saw his next project fall flat on its face, he turned to friend and producer Ronald Shusett for help. Together, they fleshed out O'Bannon's concept and started shopping it [full review HERE]

Time to be scared: Top 10 scariest scenes

The horror genre produces some of the most iconic movies to grace cinema as well as some of the most derided. It might have been dismissed as low-grade entertainment, satisfying the darkest fetishes of society's social outcasts and degrading our youth, but horror gives audiences the sort of frenzied adrenaline rush other forms of cinema cannot achieve. In effect, fictional entertainment should take you out of yourself and into the satisfying and gratifying world of the make-believe. Horror achieves this like no other genre because it breaks down those inherent defence mechanisms by focusing on our primal instincts.

It was difficult picking ten scary moments from the countless horror movies I've seen. Regrettably, my order will probably change from day to day, and I'm sure there's a few outstanding moments I'm forgetting but below I present what I believe to be a pretty close representation of the ten biggest frights I've had during a horror film.

#10 THE VANISHING (George Sluizer, France/Holland, 1988)
The Vanishing is a peculiar movie. It was badly remade by Hollywood when it should have been left alone. Alas, as a foreign movie with subtitles, it is still largely undiscovered outside of horror aficionados and foreign film buffs but I'd recommend anyone with a passing interest in psychological horror to check it out.

I say the film is peculiar simply because it has the sort of tone and doom-like quality that really gets under your skin. It's also peculiar, and in many ways innovative, through its depiction of the killer. You see, the story begins when a couple on a travelling holiday stop at a petrol station. The girl disappears, beginning a long and desperate attempt by her boyfriend to find her. In films of a similar nature the identity of the killer or kidnapper is hidden from the audience in order to provide the element of 'whodunnit'. Director George Sluizer actually tells us who the killer is, giving us a fairly good indication that the girl has been killed. The interest lies in both the boyfriend and the kidnapper's lives - how they interact and eventually meet, and perhaps some inkling to their motivations, one in search of lost love, the other their drive to commit atrocity.

The scene that provides the biggest scare is the film's climatic sequence. In the boyfriend's attempts to find his girlfriend he eventually tracks down the kidnapper. We as the audience know he's found the right person but he is unsure. The kidnapper actually tells him he did take his girlfriend but doesn't say whether she's alive or what he did to her. He simply tells the boyfriend that if he really wants to know what happened to his lover, he has to show him. There's a powerful sequence when the boyfriend has to make the decision. He's searched for his lost love for a long time and now, maybe, he has the chance to finally find out what happened to her. But he doesn't trust this man, and he doesn't know what will happen to him if he agrees. His overriding obsession to learn the truth of that day at the petrol station when she disappeared colours his decision and he says yes to the kidnapper's demands.

The scene that follows is my tenth scariest moment in horror cinema. The kidnapper gives the boyfriend a drink which puts him to sleep. He awakes in darkness. He fumbles for the lighter in his pocket, which eventually produces a flame. The dim light shows him exactly what happened to his lost love, and simultaneously his own demise. He's lying in a coffin, buried in the ground, left to die. There's no escape and no one's going to save him. The effect on the viewer is harrowing and long-lasting.

#9 THE EXORCIST III (William Peter Blatty, USA, 1989)
The Exorcist, my favourite horror film is, as you'd expect full of great scary moments. I've kept myself down to just two moments in my top ten but I've had to include this brilliant scene from the second sequel.

Directed by The Exorcist novel and screenplay writer William Peter Blatty, Exorcist III was his retort to John Boorman's sequel, which he hated. It tells the story of a police officer who - having investigated the events of the first film, including the mysterious death and beheading of the film director who fell from Regan's window - falls onto another religiously-inspired murder plot. Seeing chilling similarities between these new events and what went before, he's drawn to Father Karras who is now holed up in a mental institution.

The scene that never fails to deliver is more a jump-out-of-your-seat moment than the scene in The Vanishing. It takes place in a hospital where some strange goings-on have taken place. In the middle of the night, the only nurse on duty is doing her regular checks on the hospital beds. There is a security guard on duty so it seems safe. The camera just watches down the corridor. The security officer walks out of sight for a moment. The nurse heads back to the reception station. Again, everything seems fine but now she's well and truly alone.

We've seen her entering and exiting rooms with no alarm. She checks on another room, exitsthen suddenly is tracked by a masked killer preparing to stab her. The scene is beautifully paced and through its simplicity, frighteningly real.

#8 ROSEMARY'S BABY (Roman Polanski, USA, 1968)
When picking this list I kept thinking I'm forgetting great scary moments in film's that aren't very good. It's easy to remember those great films and scenes within them, but it's more difficult to remember those poor movies you've purposely drained from memory. For example, there's some odd moments and a great ending in that Oliver Reed haunted house flick Burnt Offerings but the film isn't up to much. My choice for No. 8 scariest moment is, however, not in that category. Rosemary's Baby is not only one of the best examples of the genre, it's one that stays with you long after the credits have rolled.

Rosemary's Baby is another mood piece. Roman Polanski hides the macabre, chilling undertone under a surface of domestic dysfunction. Mia Farrow is superb in the role of Rosemary and her pregnancy is one of the most iconic in horror cinema. The scene that stands out for me is what can only be termed 'The Devil's Rape'.

In the scene she is on a bed surrounded by her strangely over-protective neighbours. She can't move or escape, and her disorientation caused by poisoning makes it difficult to decipher what is occurring. But she knows she's been raped. It's only when Polanski gives us a single frame image of the rapist's face that we discover it isn't a man or a woman forcing them selves upon her. It's the Devil.

#7 THE OMEN (Richard Donner, USA, 1976)
The Omen was one of those horror films I saw when I was probably too young to watch it. I remember seeing it in my parent's VHS collection and knew instinctively it was out of bounds. Firstly, it had the UK rating of 18, and secondly, it had that horrid image of a boy clad in black with a jackal's shadow. The poster is brilliantly conceived but it's one hell of a scary proposition.

The scene I refer to as my seventh scariest horror movie moment is perhaps the film's most famous. When the father of a child he believes to be the son of the Devil travels to mainland Europe with his photographer friend to investigate the child's mysterious birth, things take a turn for the worse. Director Richard Donner sets up the scene in question perfectly with a haunting sequence in a graveyard where the father discovers the mother of his child was an animal. From here we head back into town where a truck with sheets of glass is backing onto a construction site. The photographer, already pre-warned that his death will have something to do with his neck, has no time to save himself when a sheet of glass slides off the truck, through the air and, unfortunately for him, through his neck. The severed body part spins in the air before coming to a final resting spot.

#6 THE EXORCIST (William Friedkin, USA, 1973)
William Friedkin's The Exorcist is the greatest horror movie ever made. Therefore, I can't help but choose two moments for my top ten list. The first of which is the head-spinning-foul-language-cr ucifix-masturbation sequence. There aren't any more words required other than that. Disturbing, graphic, and stays with you long after the scene ends.

For Top 5 Read my full article HERE

Iron Man proves there's life left in the modern superhero

Iron Man, partly through sheer entertainment but more so through quality, highlights the deficiencies of Spiderman and its ilk. There is little hiding my dislike of Sam Raimi's Spiderman franchise, a set of films which, along with X-Men, Hulk, Ghost Rider, Superman Returns and a long list of others, have turned me away from Hollywood's penchant for the superhero. Small mercy's aside - Hellboy, Batman Begins/The Dark Knight, Fantastic Four, Unbreakable - the new breed of superhero lacks the sort of creative muscle Superman and Batman were brandishing back in the 1970s and 1980s. What Jon Favreau's Iron Man highlights is the fact superhero films can still be good movies under the merchandised gloss of their action set-pieces. It also examples the glaring flaws of the Spiderman franchise, a set [Read More]

READ MY FULL REVIEW - posted on helium
Iron Man (Jon Favreau, USA, 2008)
Dir. Jon Favreau; starring Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb