Archive for October, 2008
Home is Where the HAUNT Is. Hollywood’s Scare Affair with the Haunted House
Callaghan
Hollywood’s Scare Affair with the Haunted House By Callaghan
Every community has one, or so the rumors say. Surely you’ve heard tell of your own hometown’s version. You know the “condemned convalescent home” or the “slice ‘n dice bed ‘n breakfast”, or even the “vexed axe lady”. Whatever it was.
It didn’t take Hollywood long to realize that the INT. HAUNTED HOUSE - NIGHT was a setting that audiences would keep coming back to. And they would not have to spend the night inside (as their neighborhood chums as doubled-dared them to back home.) No sir, here in the theatre’s dark spooky auditorium, those brave souls would only have to spend an hour and a half, maybe two…
From The Cat and the Canary to What Lies Beneath - from Old Dark House to Session 9…
How do you know which phantasm flat you’ll want to visit? Which spectral suburbs are not to be missed? Welcome to Callaghan Haunted Tours. If you’ll look out the window to your left, you’ll see…
The Essential Ten
Haunted House Films
The Shining
#1 The Shining (1980)
The Overlook Hotel does act as a temporary residence…Which is good enough for me, but not so much for the Family Torrence.
Haunted By:
-Lloyd the Bartender
-The Grady Family
-Bathtub Broad (shivers)
-Bear Suit Guy (shivers harder)
Poltergeist
#2 Poltergeist (1982)
“They’re here,” said Carol Anne way back in 1982…and “they” subsequently never left our collective consciousness.
Haunted By:
-The “T.V. People”
-Evil Clown Toy
-One Crazy Tree (that used to scare me shitless)
The Haunting
#3 The Haunting (1963)
Director Robert Wise showed the Haunted House fable in all its chilling glory…Quite the departure from his films “The Sound of Music” and “West Side Story”.
Haunted By:
-The Hill House Posse
The Changeling
#4 The Changeling (1980)
One of the scariest films ever, I kid you not…Carried on the acting shoulders of one George C. Scott.
Haunted By:
-Girly girl
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, !
#5 Beetlejuice (1988)
One of Tim Burton’s most bizarrely bad ass creations, Beetlejuice has the unusual power to scare the laugh out of you.
Haunted By:
-I can’t say (seeing as that would be three times)
-Adam
-Barbara
The Legend of Hell House
#6 The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Considered the “Mount Everest” of haunted houses, Hell House is well worth the climb.
Haunted By:
-My Man Belasco
-A Surprise Guest
The Others
#7 The Others (2001)
Proof positive that lackluster remakes are not the way to go if you want to tell a good Haunted House story today.
Haunted By:
-A Great Big Spoiler Alert
The Innocents
#8 The Innocents (1961)
A How-To for crafting good, rounded gothic ghost tales on-screen is this.
Haunted By:
-Miss Jessel
-Peter Quint
-Eerie Atmospheric Filmmaking
Burnt Offerings
#9 Burnt Offerings (1976)
Who woulda thunk that a Bette Davis, Oliver Reed and Burgess Meredith flick could be so disturbing?
Haunted By:
-One Bitch of a House
House on Haunted Hill
#10 House on Haunted Hill (1959)
With this being a Haunted list, I was enticed…to include the irreplaceable Vincent Price.
Haunted By:
-B Movie Goodness
-Things That Go Awesome in the Night
Happy Halloween From Cineobscure!!
Cheers,
Callaghan
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If you like this then please subscribe to the De Palma’s THE BOSTON STRANGLER and more Inglorious Basterd’s Pics !
This morning story courtesy AICN via Jenna Busch and UGO Movie Blog.
It’s been quiet since THE BOSTON STRANGLERS was announced last June as a vehicle for Brian De Palma, but, according to producer Gale Anne Hurd (Terminator 2, The Abyss, Aliens, The Terminator and De Palma’s Raising Cain), it’s still in the pipeline and slated for a Spring production. The screenplay is based off the book “The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders,” by Susan Kelly.
The Master.
It’s based on Susan Kelly’s book called The Boston Stranglers, because everything that we think we know is wrong. There was a film made right after the events called THE BOSTON STRANGLER starring Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. And it posits that Albert DeSalvo was the Boston Strangler, but the truth is, if you scratch beneath the surface, Albert DeSalvo was never charged with the crimes. He was actually incarcerated for another series of assaults, and there was not one shred of evidence linking him to the crimes. So the film is very much (about) how did things go so wrong, that to this day we all think Albert DeSalvo was tried and convicted as the Boston Strangler?
The screenplay draft by Alan Rosen went over 160 pages starts off with DeSalvo’s first foray into the crimes as he talks his way into the homes of desperate women pretending to be a modeling scout and then dramatizes the police investigation, the intense media scrutiny, and DeSalvo’s jailhouse confession to convicted murderer George Nassar. It’s kinky and bloody and chalk full of conspiracy; standard faire for De Palma, a certified master of the genre. I personally loved The Black Dahlia and if Brian’s name is on it, I’ll be satisfied just watching the direction and visual tour de force he commands. No one, and I man, no one understands films visual language better than De Palma, cut from the cloth of Hitchcock, he is a master.
Spring of 2009 with a 2010 release date is the projection on this one.
You can read the Busch interview with Gale and for up to date news from the best De Palma site on the net, check out De Palma Ala Mod and you can talk about Brian in our own forums Here.
In other cinejunkienessism news; what’s another post without some Inglorious Basterd’s news ? And before you message me to let me know I spelled the title wrong again, it has been confirmed that Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming WWII-spaghetti western remake of Enzo Castellari’s Inglorious Bastards (which filming began this month), that QT’s “misspelled” title is official.
When the script (which you can download here) made its onto the internet (accident, I’m sure) this summer, many simply thought he was a poor speller but according to the Weinstein Co. and Universal Pictures, who confirmed the title after releasing a new synopsis for the film:
“Inglourious Basterds begins in German-occupied France, where Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.
Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” Raine’s squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own…”
Tarantino’s international cast includes Brad Pitt Diane Kruger, Mike Myers, Eli Roth, Cloris Leachman, Rod Taylor, Daniel Brühl (The Edukators), Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks), Til Schweiger (King Arthur), B.J. Novak (The Office), Michael Fassbender (300), Mélanie Laurent (Days of Glory), Michael Bacall (Death Proof), Omar Doom (Death Proof), Julie Dreyfus (Kill Bill Vol. 1), August Diehl (The Counterfeiters), Richard Sammel (Casino Royale), Christian Berkel (Black Book), and more. The film reunites Tarantino with Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 cinematographer Bob Richardson, longtime production designer David Wasco, Oscar-nominated editor Sally Menke (Pulp Fiction), and producer Lawrence Bender.
And here is another pics from the set of the newly constructed French farmhouse that will open Inglorious Bastards in a soon-to-be-classic and nail-biting fashion. The window on the far right will presumably frame and foreshadow a showdown between the female main character and the Jew Hunter
The Farmhouse from the scripts opening scene.
That’s all for today. I have some writing to do and then it’s off to work.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - REVIEW
Callaghan
Show East is already abuzz this year, before it has even officially begun. Of course, those in the film distribution and exhibition industries are getting ready to be dazzled by the latest and greatest “picture show” technologies, same as every year. Sure, the studios are sending some of their best star power (and above-the-line talent) down to Sunny Florida for a week of hobnobbing with theatre owners. Nuthin’ new there either. What is different this year is the fact that an “NC-17” film is being peddled and promoted…well as close to an NC-17 flick as veteran Show Easters (or is it “Show Easterners”) have ever experienced, anyway. And that is exciting; or more appropriately that is titillating.
Enter “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. A few days prior to the screening, I was asked by a member of the Weinstein Company team what my favorite Kevin Smith movie was up to that point. Seldom being at a loss for words (as many of you can attest to), I played along.
“Mallrats,” says I, “Mallrats represents what Smith does best. It shows that he knows how to tell a good dirty joke, and I am a man who loves me a dirty joke. I honestly think he may have swayed a bit too far from that ranch with his last couple a’ three films. I, for one, wish he would come full circle and be that Kevin Smith again. ”
Perhaps it was more of an answer than he was expecting. Okay, definitely it was more of an answer than he was expecting. Regardless, he smiled a big company man smile and said simply, “You won’t be disappointed.” What can I say…he wasn’t lyin’.
Yeah baby.
Zack and Miri has put the wind back in its Captain’s sails. I can only hope that Skipper Smith follows this wind to the next creative island or archipelago. But I digress.
Porno is easily one of the funniest comedies to come along in a coon’s age. Keep in mind, I have been something of a Comedy Curmudgeon for the last several years, saying everything short of “the genre is dead” (Okay, maybe I did say that after all). In any case, if this film is any indication, comedy is bouncing back. Set in the ‘Burg, the story follows platonic flatmates Zack and Miriam (Miri) who just can’t get seem to break free of the funk that they’re in. This all changes when they attend their 10 year high school reunion, which acts as the inspirational catalyst they need to end their woes by making a, you guessed it…porno.
Seth Rogen, with all do respect, has been party to some of those very comedies whose overall punch-line I just did not get (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc.) But after seeing him shine as title character Zack, I gotta say I’m now a big fan. I see him being a comedic force to be reckoned with for some time. His no-bullshit delivery as Zack was a bull’s eye for me. He was able to keep the character in check, never letting it get too over-blown (which would have been so easy to do.) Rogen proves that he has real comedic chops and tip-top timing.
Zack and Miri.
Elizabeth Banks (as the adorably desperate Miri) also won my heart faster than you can say “Iron City Beer”. Her performance is well-crafted yet subtle. In a funny way, Rogen and Banks together reminded my of a vintage screen comedy duo (think Burns and Allen) with their set-up/pay-off banter. Nice chemistry all around. Don’t be surprised if this is the beginning of more co-starring gigs for them. Not to mention Miri’s moment of bliss…wow, what acting! I know what you’re thinking…what woman doesn’t know that little bit of theatrics. But I shit you not, I don’t think Stella Adler herself could have taught that any better.
The cast is rounded out by Craig Robinson (the heir apparent to Bernie Mac); View Askew regulars Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson; and Traci Lords (yes that Traci Lords). Justin Long and Brandon Routh also are along for surprisingly successful turns at comedy. I couldn’t help but think that Routh sounded more like Clark Kent here (as gay former-classmate Bobby Long) than he did in Superman Returns. Weird. Anyway, the entire cast pulls together very well as an intracule ensemble. Oh, and you’ll never think about Glengarry Glen Ross the same way again.
So, go see this flick. It is a fun and exciting communal experience. Like I said, I like a good dirty joke as much as the next guy…and “the next guy” to me was choking on the free Snowcaps that the Show East cats were handing out for the screening. That’s just how funny Zack and Miri Make a Porno really is. So here’s to you, Kevin Smith, for going back to that voodoo that you do so well..now, let’s go ahead and 86 that Jersey Girl Part II idea that’s rolling around in your head. Now Mallrats 2 on the other hand, hmmmm….
Cheers,
Callaghan
Cine Rating: 
