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Halloween Special: Top 5 Horror Movie Sequels That Don’t Suck

traviswoods — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:05:36 +0000

Most horror movie sequels, and let’s be honest — suck. Essentially a rehash of what made the originals so successful, the average sequel will throw in a few extra kills, gallons of blood, and maybe try to create an unnecessary mythology that explains all the spooky, mysterious stuff that happened the first time. But sometimes (just sometimes), filmmakers manage to get it right, and craft a film that feels like a legitimate continuation of the story. They may not always be perfect, but still worthwhile. As we slide into the Halloween weekend, here’s a list of five sequels worthy of any scary movie marathon. If you plan on hitting up Netflix or your local video store (remember those?), you must check these out!

5. Halloween II (1981)

I know what you’re thinking—isn’t Halloween II (the original Halloween II, not the Rob Zombie abomination), with its extra kills, extra blood, extra nudity, and expanded mythology, exactly how I described a bad horror sequel above? Well, yes, it has each of those elements in abundance… and yet it somehow manages to wholly not suck! Beginning literally seconds after the first Halloween ended, Halloween II features wounded, yet unstoppable, psychopath Michael Myers as he terrorizes the hospital where Laurie Strode (the only survivor from the first film) is now recuperating.

Along the way there are the prerequisite slasher sequel tropes (more boobs, blood and backstory) but what saves the movie from bad sequel-dom is the fact that it features much better acting and pacing than your average guy-with-a-knife sequels (or originals, for that matter), and it features some genuinely unsettling moments, such as when Myers’ troubled psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis wanders into the local high school with a police officer, and finds that the always-silent Myers has already been there, and has written the word “Samhain” in blood on a chalkboard. “What does it mean?” the cop asks. “It’s a Celtic word,” Loomis replies, in resignation, aware of the darkness that lies ahead. “It means Lord of the Dead.”

4. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

The original A Nightmare on Elm Street—a film about a child killer so evil that when the parents of his victims discovered his crimes and burned him to death, he came back as a demon to murder the remaining children in their dreams—is a horror classic. A Nightmare on Elm Street Parts 2 through 6, though? Those sucked—each film featured Freddy Krueger somehow resurrecting himself, only to be put down again and again at the end of each film, and with each successive sequel, filmmakers made him less and less the horrifying child killer of the first film, and more a wisecracking pop cultural icon who mildly resembled a pepperoni pizza. That all changed, though, when Wes Craven, writer/ director of the first film and creator of Fred Krueger, decided to save his creation from sequel hell and craft something truly unique, and far, far darker than the other sequels.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare takes place in the “real world,” and is about the lives of the actors and actresses who starred in the first film. Turns out, evil demons do exist, but they are captured and held prisoner by the stories we tell to frighten each other, including horror films—and, since the final Nightmare sequel was entitled Freddy’s Dead and meant to end the series, the demon that was held prisoner by the story of Krueger is now loose, in Freddy’s form and in our world, the real world, and he has his sights set on killing everyone involved in the film franchise, starting with Wes Craven and Heather Lagenkamp (star of the first film), to keep them from making anymore Nightmare films to capture him. It’s a wild, genre-busting meta-movie that now seems like an obvious warm up to Craven’s other meta-horror commentary, Scream. It also allowed Freddy Krueger to be a dark and scary badass again. Praise be.

3. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

A masterpiece of classic horror, The Bride of Frankenstein may be the first sequel, of any genre, that is actually better than the original film. A truly, truly horrifying tale, The Bride of Frankenstein finds the Monster surviving the events of the first film, and demanding a mate with whom he can live with and love. Yet another mad scientist promises to animate a corpse lover for him, and, wouldn’t you know it, all hell breaks loose again. However, this isn’t more of the same—The Bride of Frankenstein is about internal terror, not outward shocks, and concerns the horrors of loneliness, and the realization of how alone one person can truly be. Disturbing, disturbing stuff.

2. Evil Dead II (1987)

A sequel which features the forever-cool B-movie star Bruce Campbell chopping of his girlfriend’s head as an act of love, fighting the walking dead once again by replacing his right hand with a chainsaw, and climaxing with Campbell and his ’73 Oldsmobile time-travelling to 1300 A.D.? Oh, you had me at hello, Evil Dead II, you had me at hello.

1. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

How do you top one of the greatest horror films/ zombie movies/social satires (Night of the Living Dead) of all time? You take the sequel and drop it in a shopping mall, that’s how. This sequel (and not the horrid Zach Snyder remake) takes place shortly after the events of the original film, and finds humanity crumbling in the face of a plague in which the dead rise up to kill the living. A small band of four people group together and hide out inside a shopping mall—where the sight of dead bodies walking around to Muzak within various shopping centers is a not too subtle jam at American consumerism)—until the zombies finally overrun their sanctuary.

A chilling, existential look at a world in which death, not survival, is inevitable, Dawn of the Dead somehow managed to not only match the horrors of the first film, but to expand them in an original and entertaining way. Oh, and it’s spooky as all hell. Plus, when a movie’s tagline is “When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth,” you know you’re in for a serious horror film ride.

What are your favorite horror sequels?

Top Five Worst Horror Sequels

Damon Houx — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:00:36 +0000

With the release of Scream 4, this weekend we will surely see some debate about what are the best and worst Scream sequels. In the scheme of things, Scream only has four movies, which in a horror franchise is small potatoes – if a horror film works it usually gets a numbers of sequels and nowadays reboots (and sometimes sequels or prequels to those). For those that think this is something new, just look at the old Universal monster movies. They were made until the well ran dry and then they appeared with Abbot and Costello. But what’s the worst of the more recent sequel-crazy horror films? Take a look…

#5

The Franchise: Friday the 13th

Series Total: 11 Films, including one reboot

The Worst:

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Why:

Though the Friday the 13th series was fairly basic in terms of plotting – in that what normally happened was that teens would smoke pot, have sex, and get killed – the films can be satisfying in a low-rent sort of way. And though previous films could disappoint by being edited mercilessly by the MPAA, or have terrible acting (actually most did), or go too supernatural, the thing that makes Jason Takes Manhattan worse than Jason Goes to Hell (the closest competitor) is that the title promises an awesome movie. Jason Vorhees, wandering around the streets of New York, perhaps going into a 42nd street grind house that would play one of his films, that sounds like a kick ass flick. Instead, the film spends more than half its time not in Manhattan (on a boat), and when Jason does hit the big city, it’s mostly Vancouver, Canada substituting for the Big Apple. Like Bart Simpson and friends sneaking in to see Naked Lunch, this was a terrible mislead. Make no mistake, Jason Goes to Hell is pretty bad, but it was done a couple years after the fact and by a different studio. It’s bad but not disappointingly so.

#4

The Franchise: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Series Total: 6 Films, including a remake and a prequel to the remake.

The Worst:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)

Why:

The first two Chainsaw movies were made by Tobe Hooper. The first is an indisputable masterpiece that had influence over both Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott. The second film is a fascinating mess of a movie that is charming but was in theaters less than two months after principle photography was completed. The third film was chopped to bits by the MPAA, and the fourth film was basically a remake of the first (but with Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey). The remake lacked the brilliance of the first and yet managed to be effective just the same. The reason why the sequel to the remake is the worst of the lot is because it’s a prequel. Not only is going through the motions (which pretty much all but the first two were), it has the unenviable task of not having a satisfying ending. And at the end of the day, who wants their monsters explained to them? The reason why the demented cannibalistic hillbillies in the first couple films are terrifying isn’t because of the economic crises that may have led them to dine on human flesh. What’s scary about them is precisely that we know nothing about them. The problem is that this film does a horrible job of mythologizing. It’s insulting that it wants to tell us how Leatherface came to be Leatherface, but then when he finally does pick up a chainsaw, it’s just sorta there. Woo-wee.

#3

The Franchise: Nightmare on Elm St.

Series Total: 8 Films, including a remake.

The Worst:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Why:

Arguably the remake is the worst film of the lot, but it isn’t exactly a sequel. The problem with Nightmare 4 is that by this point the filmmakers and cast had embraced the fact that Robert Englund’s Freddy Kruger – with his over-exposure at that point – was no longer scary. So instead of making a horror film, in the fourth film Freddy shows up like a comedian to deliver bon-mots before he kills the secondary cast members. Though the next two films were not much better, this was the straw that broke Freddy’s back and turned him into James Bond (by director Renny Harlin’s own admission), and then turned each kill and their make-up effects into the only reason to watch the film. This is doubly disappointing because the second film is interesting (if terribly flawed), while the third film got the series back on track (and may be on par with the first in terms of quality). The fourth film may have been the only direction left to go, but down is not that much fun to watch.

#2

The Franchise: Halloween

Series Total: 10 Films, including a remake, and a sequel to the remake.

The Worst:

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Why:

Most of the big 1980′s slasher icons were spared the Scream treatment. This is partly because they had worn out their welcome, and/or were seen as old hat. But Scream did lead to Halloween H20 (probably because Miramax owned the franchise), which brought back Jamie Lee Curtis as a mother trying to protect her son from the loosed Michael Myers. The film was played serious, but more than winked at its predecessors and the genre itself, and for the most part (at least at the time) was harmless fun. The follow-up became more invested in modern times, with Busta Rhymes acting as a TV show producer trying to create an internet reality show that leads to Blair Witch ripping-off. Though it’s hard to argue the fifth or sixth film are much better, they do not feature a character using karate on Michael Myers and living to see the next day. It also killed off Laurie Strode in the pre-credit sequence. F this movie.

#1

The Franchise: Alien

Series Total: 4 Films, and one upcoming sort of prequel

The Worst:

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Why:

Other than Friday the 13th (which peaked with its fourth or sixth entry), every film on this list starts with the best film of the franchise, and like those other three, Alien is the sort of film that not only terrified audiences, but inspired film makers and inspired others to want to be filmmakers. As we will be seeing this weekend, with a lot of fourth films in four-film series there’s an audience who think the worst is the third film, and those who see a progressive downhill slide. But where the third film in the Alien franchise is inarguably flawed, David Fincher brought a singular vision to the material that was somehwat undone by having a bunch of same-y looking bald guys running around sewer tunnels in the third act. But his vision of despair is a complete thought. The problem with the fourth film is that between Joss Wheadon’s script and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s direction, the film wants to be anything but a horror film, even if it runs through the motions of the Ten Little Indians-style killing off of supporting cast. The most horrific thing about the movie is saved for the final act, when there’s a half-human, half-alien creature that strikes a note of terror more in being a mutant bastard. Whatever the film wants to be is totally at odds with the whole, and while it tries to deliver more familiar notes than Alien 3, in doing so it becomes the least interesting of the lot. Like Scream 4, or which ever “return to form” sequel you can think of, the apology tour ends up needing an apology tour of its own.

Note:

To be fair, there’s other horror franchises, from the Night of the Living Dead films, to Chucky, to Saw to Paranormal Activity that could easily make this list. As for the Saw films, the author must note he’s only seen the first. Some things…

Happy Halloween! All the Best Halloween Stories, Videos, Reviews

Mali Elfman — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:03:36 +0000

Happy Halloween everyone! For those of you planning on doing more than just drinking and hitting on a sexy Mary Poppins check out some of the best ways to get a great scare this weekend! From editorials and reviews to interviews and amazing internet videos, there’s plenty here for everyone! Check out it out!

Halloween Editorials:

The 9 Scariest Short Internet Films - The videos in this post freaked me out so much that one night I had to stop editing and uploading these videos and start again during the day.
Ten Great Films for a Horror Movie Marathon – For when you need a good, old classic horror film to settle down with.
10 of Greatest Non-Iconic Slashers – Tired of the same old horror villains? Find some new scary slashers to keep you up at night!

And of course reviews, interviews and previews of the top horror films and TV programs:

Saw 3-D Review – They’re even more dead than before!
Paranormal Activity 2 Review Round-Up – You can also check some red carpet interviews with the director of the original film Oren Peli and the star of the film Katie Featherston. And if you enjoy laughing at people, you can check out a video of fans freaking out while watching the film opening night.
Monsters Review- If you’re looking for a more subtle, indie horror flick that is more intellectual than scary this is a great film for you! Watch the trailer for Monsters to get a little taste.
And the opening 5 minutes of “The Walking Dead” which premieres tomorrow on AMC – Definitely a great pick!

Music Related Posts:

Halloween Special: 10 of Greatest Non-Iconic Slashers

Will Kriegshauser — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:30:31 +0000

Creating a great cinematic slasher/serial killer isn’t rocket science. Certain irreducible components must be accumulated—traits, if you will. Traits to explain why they don’t just stop hacking up teenagers and get a real job. Since teenagers are bratty, emotional little buggers to begin with, you don’t have to go overboard to explain why somebody would rather see them with a tamping post in their gullet. This usually means giving a slasher a traumatic childhood, and watching him/her go.

Slashers like Jason, Freddy, Michael Meyers, Leatherface, Candyman, Pinhead, Chucky, and (unfortunately) Leprechaun each have their own little space in our pop-culture lexicon. Everybody who’s ever owned a TV knows them on a first-name basis, which makes them iconic. But there are a lot of slasher films out there, and the difference between what makes these slashers awesome and the marginally-known slashers is pretty thin.

In their honor, we present a list of the ten greatest slashers you might not have heard of…

**10. Cropsy – The Burning (1981)**

Cropsy is the demented anti-hero fantasy we presume every caretaker conjures up every once in a while. He’s a boozing, grumpy caretaker at a—you guessed it—summer camp who falls victim to a prank gone horribly wrong by some punk kids, leaving him horribly burned and disfigured. Proving that caretakers are gomers in all walks of life, Cropsy uses a gardening shear as his weapon of choice.

**9. Ann Thomerson – Happy Birthday To Me (1981)**

The old saying goes ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’. In the case of Ann Thomerson in Happy Birthday To Me, we have an even better saying: ‘hell hath no fury like a girl whose birthday party nobody showed up to’. Instead of stewing and writing in her diary, Ann up and kills all the members of an obnoxious clique all for the sake of her half-sister.

**8. Madman Marz – Madman (1982)**

Unlike other slashers, Madman Marz doesn’t have a history of abuse that might elicit a little sympathy on our parts. He’s basically just a hulking dick-wad who axed his family to death and miraculously escaped a good old fashioned lynching by running off into the woods. Skip to present day, and anybody who says his name above a whisper is destined to get the same axe, anybody meaning camp teenagers.

**7. Asami Yamakazi – Audition (1999)**

Audition had its fair share of audience walk-outs when it premiered in Japan in 1999, so grisly and disturbing were its torture scenes. The slasher behind those torture scenes is Yamakazi, a former ballerina dancer/hot piece who justifies it as a way of demonstrating true love to her sugar-daddy would-be husband.

**6. Satan – Satan’s Little Helper (2004)**

In Satan’s Little Helper, the titular Satan is more than just a slasher in a kooky costume. As you can see, he’s also a cocksman with a Jersey Shore libido. Although it’s safe to assume Satan really wouldn’t care if a girl was dtf or not before he hauled her back to his lair for some demonic smashing, it’s still nice to know that even slashers sometimes get lonely down there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ztS_Pop0Hc

**5. Billy Chapman – Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)**

Billy Chapman was once a normal kid, until he witnessed his parents get murdered and his mother raped around Christmas time by a dude in a Santa Claus outfit. Billy, however, didn’t have the wealth to go don a bat suit, seek the means to fight injustice, and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful.

Instead, he got sent to an abusive orphanage that buttered him up well for his career as a Santa Claus slasher. The PTA actually lobbied to have Silent Night, Deadly Night removed from theaters due to its content upon its release.

**4. The Prowler – The Prowler (1981)**

Slashers are typically motivated by some humiliation from their past, and the prowler is no different. After heroically serving his country in WWII, he comes home only to have his girlfriend break up with him. Break up with a guy after he spends a couple years stiff-arming Hitler so you can enjoy the most basic of freedoms? Oh, that’s just low.

Naturally, the prowler rectified the breakup by stabbing his ex and her boyfriend with a pitchfork at a graduation dance, and returns thirty-five years later to do pretty much the same thing to many more locals who try to hold the dance, again.

**3. Angela Baker – Sleepaway Camp Series (1983)**

Angela Baker is so committed to chopping up whorish teenagers and naughty camp counselors secluded in the woods that she undergoes a sex change operation just so nobody would recognize her between parts I and II. You see, she was actually born a he. Hey, when you’re not immortal or blessed with superhuman strength, you use whatever modern medical technology affords you.

Electric drills, baseball bats, flagpoles, arrows, battery acid, beehives…Angela proves you don’t need to have 20-inch pythons to rack up a high body count at a summer camp. All it takes, kids, is a little creativity and imagination. Suck on that, Bear Grylls.

**2. Victor Crowley – Hatchet (2006)**

If Jason and Michael Meyers were a family of escaped slasher-convicts who used an abandoned seaside restaurant in Oregon as their hideout, Crowley would be the other, more hideously deformed brother they chain to a dungeon room in the basement, except he would probably eat Chunk and the rest of the Goonies instead of helping them escape.

In case you can’t tell, Crowley kills anybody unlucky enough to wander near his house deep in the Louisiana swamps, preferably with a hatchet.

**1. The Creeper – Jeepers Creepers (2001)**

If all the slashers on this list were dropped onto the Aggro Crag and had to machete their way to the top to earn the GUTS gold medal, The Creeper would probably get the win, and then maybe crucify Mike O’Malley upside down. Not only is The Creeper supernatural, but he can fly, too.

The Creeper regenerates by feasting on human body parts, and instead of taking the easy way out by hacking up a few old ladies and an occasional Spaniard, he breaks into a prison and dismembers all the degenerates on the cell block.

Do you think there are more deserving unknown slashers for this list?

Ten Great Films for a Horror Movie Marathon

Joseph Oliveto — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:00:23 +0000

Halloween is right around the corner, and in between stocking up on candy and feeling sorry for diabetics, it’s the duty of any dedicated film fan to prepare a classic horror movie marathon for the month of October. This year, we’re going to help you by selecting ten of the best scary movies ever made, each one representing a different subgenre of horror.

10. Night of the Living Dead (Subgenre: Zombies)

Even in the post-28 Days Later world, no one does zombies like George Romero. Although many fans will insist that Dawn of the Dead is his masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead is far more appropriate for the Halloween season. This movie, about a group of strangers caught in an old house besieged by the living dead, was made for next to nothing, and it’s all the more effective for that reason. The black and white photography and intimate setting crawl under your skin and stay there long after the credits have rolled.

9. Let the Right One In (Subgenre: Vampires)

While the American remake from director Matt Reeves is winning the acclaim of critics and fans, this Swedish film is a modern classic that is definitely worth visiting. In an age where vampires have become sex symbols for hormonal teenage girls, Let the Right One In reminds viewers that there is a lot more to be scared of than attracted to in these beings. A villain that can kill you is scary. A villain that can turn you into a killer is even scarier.

8. The Fly (Subgenre: Science Gone Wrong)

David Cronenberg’s B-movie update is shocking not only for its unrivalled make-up effects, but also for its sensitivity. Most directors would be content to scare audiences with the physical transformation that Jeff Goldblum makes, but Cronenberg truly disturbs us by exploring the way the person underneath it all is changed. The monologue on “insect politics” is heartbreaking, as we see that a monster has replaced the soul of this kind and innocent man.

7. The Thing (Subgenre: Aliens)

Sure, Alien may be the definitive picture in this subgenre, but John Carpenter’s The Thing is still a brilliant and innovative film in its own right. With a prequel on the way, it’s probably time to give this one another look. Rob Bottin’s effects may be somewhat dated, but they still make for a scarier creature than any we’ve seen in recent years.

6. Jacob’s Ladder (Subgenre: Psychological Horror)

Some may object to this film being placed under “psychological horror,” but that’s merely a testament to how undeniably original it is. Few films are truly unclassifiable, but this one is an exception. On paper, it isn’t the most unique story in the world: traumatized veteran is plagued by horrifying visions (and anyone who is familiar with the twist knows that it’s been done many times before and since). However, it’s the nature of those horrifying visions, courtesy of director Adrian Lyne, that make this film so deeply unsettling.

5. The Host (Subgenre: Monster Movie)

This South Korean film proves that there’s still room for a good old fashioned monster movie in modern cinema. Cloverfield was certainly entertaining, but The Host is superior because, like so many great horror films, it is allegorical, commenting on environmental concerns and the influence of the United States overseas.

4. The Vanishing (Subgenre: Suspense Thriller)

Stay away from the dreadful American remake; this French-Dutch film provides low-key scares without the easy Hollywood resolution. It’s simple enough: a couple goes on holiday, the girl goes missing, and the guy spends the next few years desperately hoping to discover what became of her. The twist is that we meet the villain fairly early in the film. The question here is not “who committed the crime?” It’s “what exactly was the crime?” The answer is satisfyingly chilling.

3. The Exorcist (Subgenre: The Devil)

This classic may have lost some of its punch for modern audiences, but the effects still hold up almost as well as the performances and direction. Too often, horror films are made on the cheap with less-than-talented directors and a cast of attractive but unconvincing young performers. The Exorcist is proof that, when taken as seriously as an Oscar-bait drama, a horror film can escape the boundaries of its genre and be acclaimed as one of the greatest films of all time.

2. The Shining (Subgenre: Ghosts)

Sure, this film is more about the mental breakdown of Jack Nicholson’s character and the horror of being a victim to a member of your own family, but there’s no denying that the ghosts occupying the Overlook Hotel (or the minds of its caretakers) play an important role in this film. Whereas most movies that actually show the ghosts end up disappointing us, Kubrick is able to populate his setting with some very creepy spirits that never fail to terrify. Don’t pretend that you weren’t crapping your pants when that woman in the bathroom turned into a decaying old hag.

1. Halloween (Subgenre: Slasher)

We’re damn lucky that the movie named after the scariest holiday of the year (next to Valentine’s Day) also happens to be one of the scariest movies of all time. It may not have invented the slasher movie—that honor belongs to the original Black Christmas—but it certainly perfected it. Attractive young women? Check. Killer in a scary mask? Check. Creepy musical score? Check.

Who knew that’s all it would take to make a definitive horror film?

Do you agree with this list? Did we leave out your favorite horror movie? Tell us about it in the comments.

Best Halloween Film: The Shining, The Ring or…?

Mali Elfman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:00:45 +0000

If you’re the cinephile I’m guessing you are, Halloween won’t be spent next to some slutty naughty nurse at a party downtown, it will be spent on the couch with 2-3 great horror films and a bucket of chocolate for the trick-or-treaters that you’re hoping will never show up because they will A. Interrupt your movie B. Steal your precious chocolate.

The question is, what will you be watching? Something classic like The Shining or something more mainstream like The Ring? Or maybe something completely different like Saw or even Carrie? Are you more likely to look for something by a horror innovator such as Hitchcock, Polanski, and Romero or something that has the most blood splatter? Do you go for something classic or something new? Let us know…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I just found out that at the moment, The Shining is the most searched for horror film which to me seems unexpected but amazing. Luckily I have my own copy otherwise I would be worried about a Shining-shortage. There are a number of great films that have been left off this list, what’s your favorite?

If you have any horror film suggestions make sure to leave a comment and let us know what you’ll be watching!

Halloween 3-D Shut Down?

Krystal Clark — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:56:55 +0000

Oh no, how can this these be? According to DeadlineHollywoodDaily, the Weinstein Co. has stopped pre-production on the upcoming sequel, Halloween 3 in 3-D! The cause for the abrupt decision, was due to a combination of scheduling issues, creative differences, and budget concerns. What does this mean for the future of the franchise?

According to Nikke Finke’s sources, the Halloween 3 script was sent over to Dimension last Friday, and it was the first draft the studio had ever seen. Also, we’re nearing October and the Weinsteins are pushing for the film to start production in November, because director Patrick Lussier needs to be free by January to work on another project.

Speaking of Lussier, there’s a rumor going around that he was in a budget battle with the studio over 2.5 million dollars. As of late, the Weinstein Co. hasn’t exactly been rolling in dough, so that story’s not so far fetched.

With all of these factors involved, it’s no surprise that Bob Weinstein pulled the plug on the film’s pre-production because he felt it was “being rushed too fast.” Halloween is now scheduled to begin shooting after Lussier is free, and no longer under such strict time constraints. Therefore, this isn’t the end of the franchise, the studio is just moving around their schedule. I don’t personally care for this series, so my hopes were kind of high on this, but Michael Myers will be back and in 3-D.

What do you think about the decision to reschedule Halloween?

Children of the Corn, Halloween 3-D Updates

Krystal Clark — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:53:54 +0000

After the lackluster performance of Halloween II at the box office, the film’s studio decided to jump on the 3-D movie train. As previously reported Rob Zombie will not return for a third film, but another director will. Not only will Halloween get new life, but the Stephen King classic Children of the Corn will as well! A writer has been hired to update the 1984 horror film.

According to Variety, Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3-D) is in talks to direct Halloween III. This shouldn’t come as a shock considering his previous work. He’s currently in negotiations to write and direct the film for The Weinstein Company.

Children of the Corn was a franchise that began 25 years ago, and was based off of the terrifying Stephen King novel of the same name. A new writer has been hired to revamp the story for the screen and it’s Ehren Krueger. The story will still center on a boy preacher who convinces the children of a small Nebraska town to kill all the adults as a form of religious sacrifice.

I heard about a remake of Children of the Corn being done for television (SyFy to be exact), but I wasn’t aware that they were doing a big screen adaptation as well. I don’t really understand the point of a remake, because the original wasn’t that great. Sure, it had some campy and fun elements to it, but it was nothing compared to King’s other work.

What do you think of these two horror developments?

Halloween 3-D in the Works

Krystal Clark — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:55:53 +0000

This weekend, the Rob Zombie directed Halloween II got trumped by the fourth installment of the never ending Final Destination franchise. Apparently, moviegoers are no longer interested in seeing people killed the traditional way. They need outlandish deathtraps and 3-D technology to sweeten the deal. According to the LATimes, Halloween will be following suit with another sequel that will also be laced in 3-D.

Halloween II may have not been the box office champion this week, but their competition did teach its studio a lesson. The Weinstein Company’s co-chairman Bob Weinstein said today that “the 3-D sequel, titled, appropriately enough, “Halloween 3D,” is in development.” It turns out that 3-D movies are the way to go if you want a successful horror movie. The site pointed out that “for The Final Destination, theaters with at least one 3-D screen earned 3.25 times as much as those that showed the movie in 2-D only.”

Are we becoming a culture for gimmicks? Does 3-D technology better a script or the acting of a film in any way? I highly doubt it, but I can’t knock the Weinsteins for striking the iron while it’s hot. Rob Zombie already stated that he is done with the series, and won’t be returning for the third. Therefore, get ready for a fresh face to pimp out some 3-D Michael Myers mayhem.

What do you think about Halloween III being in 3-D?

Weekend Box Office: More Blood, More Money

Mali Elfman — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:17:15 +0000

Once again, the teenage horror market takes over the box office with two gory sequels, The Final Destination and Halloween II coming in at numbers 1 and 3, only to be separated by a more sophisticated but the equally bloody film Inglourious Basterds. Sadly, our readers predicted that the wrong film would take the lead this weekend, but I like to see that you all went for good old fashioned quality blood over the new wave 3-D guts. Apparently upping the budget for the last film in The Final Destination series from $22-25 million to $42 million paid off.

Check out all the numbers below…

The Final Destination | New | Weekend Gross $28,335,000 | Average Per Theater $9,079 | Total Gross $28,335,000 | Production Cost $40 | Week 1
Inglourious Basterds | LW 1 | Weekend Gross $20,041,000 | Average Per Theater $6,332 | Total Gross $73,760,000 | Production Cost $70 | Week 2
Halloween II (2009) | New | Weekend Gross $17,405,000 | Average Per Theater $5,754 | Total Gross $17,405,000 | Production Cost $15 | Week 1
District 9 | LW 2 | Weekend Gross $10,700,000 | Average Per Theater $3,365 | Total Gross $90,813,000 | Production Cost $30 | Week 3
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | LW 3 | Weekend Gross $8,000,000 | Average Per Theater $2,307 | Total Gross $132,436,000 | Production Cost $175 | Week 4
Julie & Julia | LW 5 | Weekend Gross $7,400,000 | Average Per Theater $2,956 | Total Gross $70,992,000 | Production Cost $40 | Week 4
The Time Traveler’s Wife | LW 4 | Weekend Gross $6,745,000 | Average Per Theater $2,278 | Total Gross $48,193,000 | Production Cost $39 | Week 3
Shorts | LW 6 | Weekend Gross $4,870,000 | Average Per Theater $1,568 | Total Gross $13,565,000 | Week 2
Taking Woodstock | New | Weekend Gross $3,749,000 | Average Per Theater $2,691 | Total Gross $3,769,000 | Production Cost $30 | Week 1
G-Force | LW 7 | Weekend Gross $2,845,000 | Average Per Theater $1,477 | Total Gross $111,801,000 | Week 6

It seems that the end of August, people have gore on the brains. Either that or they want to see Julia Child cook them.

And in non-blood-n-guts news, the new Ang Lee film, Taking Woodstock, in which we get to see a lighter side of the director, made it onto the top ten, with a solid limited release. Let’s keep it on the list and get it into more theaters!

What do you think of this weekends numbers? Do you agree that The Final Destination was the best film to see?

Halloween 2: Movie Review

JC — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:00:54 +0000

He’s baaaaack. After an eighty-million dollar box office success in 2007 with Halloween, Rob Zombie will re-introduce everyone’s favorite neighborhood whack job: Michael Meyers. Halloween 2, starring Scout Taylor-Compton, picks up where the last film ends, but this time there’s even more blood, screaming, and senseless killing. Shocker.

Check out the plot, the good, and the bad…

The Plot:

Zombie’s second installment of Halloween features the torturous aftermath of Laurie Strode’s near-death encounter with Michael Meyers. That’s really all you need to know…

The Good:

Brutal honesty. I am struggling to form concrete opinions in the “GOOD” department. Here are my generous conclusions:

ACTING: The performances, on the whole, were impressive. Scout Taylor-Compton (who just wrapped The Runaway’s with Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning) reprised her role as Laurie Strode, which was surprisingly emotionally demanding…even for a slasher film. Typically, the blood-curdling screams and flooding displays of tears from every horror film’s protagonist are a direct result of them being chased with a dagger or power tool. Laurie’s character, however, is slowly discovering the magnitude of her fractured state of mind since having witnessed the brutal death of her parents one year ago, by our pal, Mr. Meyers. Taylor-Compton is playing a deeply traumatized teenage girl battling her own sanity. That being said, I applaud her painfully honest portrayal of Laurie.

The Good/Bad

(Depending on your preference)…

The Gore: Yes, it’s a Rob Zombie film, so unwarranted slaughter-scenes come with the territory. But there were probably about 10 minutes of tape, in total, that weren’t speckled with blood. For eighty percent of the screening my eyes were staring at the back of their lids. Since press screenings are free, I endured the cinematic nightmare. Will the general movie-going audience willingly muster up the stamina required to get through this two-hour circus of executions??

The Bad:

Zombie made the choice to give this installment more depth, sure. The dream sequences and sub-conscious visits from “young” Michael Meyers were an attempt to feature a back-story of some sort. Lovely. Elaborating on Laurie’s story to highlight her madness gave her character some potential substance. Even lovelier. But the excessive, sickeningly vivid, overtly gruesome slaughter scenes every six minutes served as an enormous deflection. Nobody in the audience cared about these fresh character explorations – they were trying to anesthetize their nausea.

Overall:

Again, it’s a Rob Zombie picture – an audience should know what to expect. This is not my favorite genre, so I admit, it was not my cup of tea. If you’re into the guts, go for it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Rating: 5/10

Watch the bloodbath in theaters August 28th!

Further Reading:

Scout Talyor-Comptom Interview for H2

JC — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:15:49 +0000

The innocent (?) face behind Halloween 2, Scout Talyor-Comptom, returns to the big screen as an even deeper mess of a human being. We just posted some of the highlights from director, Rob Zombie at the press conference, here is a brief rundown of what Talyor-Compton had to say!

Were there any primary differences from the first installment?

Scout Talyor-Compton: I didn’t get to much the last time. On the first one it was kind of the same thing over and over and over. I always knew the same thing I was going to do when I showed up to set. This time it was a lot more for me to work off of. A lot edgier.

Was it a challenge to drop into some of Laurie’s darker places?

STC: Yes. It was challenging at times. Really draining, at times. I definitely felt like I was going crazy while filming this. Like this messed up, bi-polar girl. Sometimes going back to my hotel I’d have to take a bath and have a little breather. It was draining.

You haven’t seen a cut of the film?

STC: Bits and pieces when I was in the ADR room with Rob.

Are you nervous to see it?

STC: Completely. I’m nervous about seeing the whole thing because I know what I felt while doing these scenes. It;s going to be tough to see. But I know it’ll be great. And disturbing. Knowing that the disturbing parts have ME in it.

You’ve aged a lot since the last film..

STC: I watched the 4 hour documentary of the first one, and I was like ‘ah that’s how I was on set? I was a baby’ and my relationship with Rob was definitely different. We really trust each other with what we’re doing. And you need that between the actor and the director. The first one we really didn’t know each other. We didn’t know how each other worked and how much we could push ourselves. And with this one Rob knows how much he can push me, and I can always go talk to him as a friend and say I’m not comfortable with something and be ok with it. When you have that relationship with a director it makes it so much easier.

Most challenging scene?

STC: There were two. We filmed a scene for about 8 hours. 6 p m and night til 7 pm in the morning doing the same goddamn scenes. There were about 10 rain machines. And I’m running through the parking lot and its freezing cold in Georgia and im screaming and crying and going through a window and at 7 o’clock I just said “rob, my body is numb. I can’t do another one, I can’t feel my toes.”

The scene with Danielle Harris when I’m just holding her. I couldn’t get out of it. It was the first time I felt that in my whole acting career. And I ran downstairs crying. It was the first time I ever felt vulnerable in my own body. It was crazy. It was crazy to talk about it.

Would you do more work in the horror genre?

STC: Of course! I’m a fan of horror films myself. I love their stories. They’re all completely different. The fact that I’m now in the Halloween family is over-whelming.

Are you contracted to so another movie?

STC: No. And I wasn’t the first time, but that tells you something. But if they ever asked me to do another and it’s a great script, going in the right direction, and not going to upset the Halloween fans I’d gladly be apart of it.

Even if Rob wasn’t attached?

STC: I’d love for him to be involved, but I know he’s done. But me and rob will work again in the future on different stuff.

Check out Halloween 2 in theaters August 28th!

ScreenCrave.com » halloween

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1. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

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The Franchise: Nightmare on Elm St.

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The Franchise: Halloween

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Halloween 2: Movie Review

The Plot:

The Good:

The Good/Bad

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 5/10

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Scout Talyor-Comptom Interview for H2

**10. Cropsy – The Burning (1981)**

**9. Ann Thomerson – Happy Birthday To Me (1981)**

**8. Madman Marz – Madman (1982)**

**7. Asami Yamakazi – Audition (1999)**

**6. Satan – Satan’s Little Helper (2004)**

**5. Billy Chapman – Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)**

**4. The Prowler – The Prowler (1981)**

**3. Angela Baker – Sleepaway Camp Series (1983)**

**2. Victor Crowley – Hatchet (2006)**

**1. The Creeper – Jeepers Creepers (2001)**