Let’s be clear: I don’t think Rob Zombie is a very good director. In fact, his movies on one level can be seem to be primarily vehicles for employing his wife, Sherri Moon Zombie; which I have nothing against because such nepotism in Hollywood–or anywhere else for that matter–isn’t exactly unusual.
Judd Apatow gives his significant other roles in his movies consistently (his daughters have also boarded the gravy train), as does Stuart Gordon.
The difference is that both Apatow and Gordon can direct, though the whinefest that is “This Is 40” makes me want to reconsider Apatow.
After Zombie cut his teeth on “The House of 1000 Corpses,” “The Devil’s Rejects,” and two Halloween films he moved on to his latest project, “The Lords of Salem.” (I need to see ‘Rejects.’ That’s supposed to be all sorts of awesome).
The trailer is less any sort of narrative than a bunch of odd, disjointed images linked by the apartment building where the action seems to take place. If that’s what the director was going for, then perhaps I could see it, but for some reason I doubt it.
Now this is interesting news. The original “Poltergeist,” directed by Tobe Hooper (or Steven Spielberg, depending upon how deeply you look into things) was not exactly in need of a remake, mainly because the original film, from 1982, holds up surprisingly well, in my opinion.
That being said, with the whole found footage trend that’s so popular today (sometimes, much to my dismay), I think that you could do some really interesting things. The possibility for something really cool increases exponentially when you consider that Sam Raimi may be the director.
Many new fans to his work may not be aware of what he has done, other than three Spider-Man films, though he has an extensive resume of some really interesting films.
Such as his first movie, “The Evil Dead,” which is also going the remake route, though without Raimi in the director’s chair.
His most recent horror film, 2009’s “Drag Me To Hell,” I thought was too reliant on CGI and more restrained than his earlier films. I understand that as one ages they tend to mellow (though no one appears to have told Stuart Gordon) though I would really enjoy seeing a full-throttle creature feature from him.
I haven’t seen much in the way of imagery from Guillermo Del Toro’s giant robots versus monsters epic, “Pacific Rim,” so I am posting the Comic-Con poster for the film. I like that the robots appear to be the stars of the film, which is what nature intended.
I am also hoping that Del Toro’s film is more in the vein of Stuart Gordon‘s “Robot Jox,” as opposed to the Transformers films.
This is a safe assumption because the giant automatons in “Robot Jox” are more like the “Shogun Warriors,” in that they aren’t autonomous, instead requiring a human pilot; which is a trait that they appear to hold in common with the Jaegers, as the robots are know in ‘Rim.’
Guillermo Del Toro has never been overly dependent on CGI in his films–I know that the Golden Army from the second Hellboy film was computer generated, as was the elemental earlier in the film, but both felt remarkably solid somehow–so let’s hope he keeps up the trend.
Here’s the trailer for “Robot Jox.”
Sometimes it’s difficult to be a horror fan because, to paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield: “We don’t get no respect.”
I don’t know what what other conclusion to reach when studios are turning out drivel like “Hellraiser: Revelations.”
We want nuance. We want character development. We want pathos. And sure, we want some gore and violence accompanying that nuance and character development, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want substantial, weighty movies (at least sometimes).
And there are directors out there that know what we want, and take us seriously. A few personal favorites are Stuart Gordon, Ernest Dickerson, George Romero, David Cronenberg, and Frank Darabont.
And while it’s too early to tell if Ole Bornedal will join such august company, at least his latest film, “The Posession,” looks like it at least has the potential to generate a few scares.
Even if it doesn’t, at least it has Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who’s a great character actor and isn’t afraid to tackle genre (which is why it surprises me that “The Resident” was barely watchable despite Morgan AND Christopher Lee in the mix).
image courtesy of IMDb
Guillermo Del Toro seems so concerned about Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” being similar to his (aborted?) version of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness,” that he appears to be considering abandoning what would be his passion project, a film that he has literally worked years to bring to the screen.
What I have to say is: DO NOT DO IT!
I haven’t seen “Prometheus” yet (a deficit I intend to remedy this Saturday), but I have read Lovecraft’s short, and the role that alien beings play in the development of humanity is a relatively minor point, though that’s not to say that the screenplay written by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins may not have played up those particular elements.
So, let’s say that now “At The Mountains Of Madness” is somewhat similar to “Prometheus.”
If that happens to be the case: So what, especially if Prometheus is as profitable as it appears that it might be.
Hollywood is notorious for capitalizing on successful films with imitators–which “At The Mountains Of Madness” isn’t since it has probably been some stage of development long before “Prometheus” was a glimmer in Scott’s eye–but I am sure that some will consider ‘Madness’ somewhat an also-ran.
‘Re-Animator’ Special Effects: Simple But Effective
There have probably been a handful of films based upon the books of the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft, though two of the best are “Re-Animator” and “In The Mouth Of Madness” (IMOM was not, per se, a “Lovecraft” film, though the title character of the film, Sutter Cane, was more Lovecraft than Stephen King). Mexican-born director Guillermo Del Toro in “Hellboy” evoked similar Lovecraftian themes (the world imperiled by beings beyond our comprehension; Man reaching out beyond our known reality, and finding only terror and insignificance, etc).
‘Why Guillermo Del Toro Is Awesome’ Or ‘There There Will Probably Be An ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ Feature
image courtesy of IMDb
Guillermo Del Toro rocks. Why, you ask? Sure, it has more than a little to do with him being the director of “Hellboy,” “Hellboy 2,” “Blade 2,” The Devil’s Backbone,” Pan’s Labyrinth, among others.
It also has to do with tenaciousness, and following your dreams, no matter how bleak things may seem (it also never hurts to do the right sacrifices, at the right time.
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!).
As I posted a few months ago, Universal abandoned Del Toro’s passion project, a movie based upon H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness,” a part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos (an interconnected series of stories that revolve around a common thematic element: horrific alien beings intent upon reclaiming the earth and oftentimes subverting everything that makes us human).
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