AMG Blog of Terror: A Preview of Horrors to Come
October 17th, 2008 | 12:28 pm est |
As a die-hard horror fan, one of my favorite things is to walk into a movie theater and witness something truly unexpected and terrifying. To me, the thrill of gazing up at the screen and being rattled to the core by something I’ve never seen before is what makes it all worthwhile. It’s a bit of a rarity these days, but it still happens on occasion, and it’s reassuring to know that some filmmakers are still interested in exploring our fears by telling great stories — rather than simply remaking one of their favorite films or cashing in by churning out an endless series of uninspired sequels.
Looking ahead towards the dark horizon of horror, it appears that there are some sinister treats in store for macabre-minded moviegoers in the coming months. Though it’s impossible to tell whether any film will ultimately live up to the hype that precedes it (it is, after all, fairly easy to cut a great trailer for a crappy flick), here is a list of promising horror films that have gotten some recent buzz while making the festival rounds and setting the blogs ablaze.
Please keep in mind that given the genre and subject matters, many of these trailers are NSFW.
Fans of filmmaker Frank Henenlotter know that few directors are willing to go quite as far over the top as the man behind such highly original horror classics as Basket Case and Brain Damage, and though his directorial filmography may not be quite as extensive as some of his colleagues’, few genre aficionados would deny that he’s a true visionary with some fascinating things to say about our society. Despite the fact that it’s been over fifteen years since Henenlotter last stepped behind the camera to direct a feature film, his latest effort looks every bit as extreme and darkly hilarious as his unforgettable early efforts.
The plot is fairly simple and straightforward: an outlaw fashion photographer with seven clits and a violent sex drive finds romance with a man who injects animal tranquilizers into his mutated, muscular penis in order to prevent it from rampaging out of control.
Yeah, it’s a love story.
Here’s the trailer…
Over thirty years after The Exorcist first shocked moviegoers into a state of satanic panic, contemporary filmmakers are still striving to produce the frightener that will take its place as the most terrifying films ever unleashed. Some, like the blaxploitation classic Abby, have been content just to rip it off, though others, like the recent The Exorcism of Emily Rose, have attempted to take things a bit further by injecting the familiar storyline with a compelling dose of ambiguity. This one looks to fall into the latter category, and if the trailer is to be trusted it might just hit the mark.
To be completely honest, I’m still not entirely sold on this flick in which a man awakens in a darkened cave and attempts to navigate a strange underground maze while being pursued by a mysterious creature. Perhaps the concept just reminds me too much of The Descent, but sometimes the simplest concepts yield the most effective films, and since it’s been getting quite a bit of hype on ye ole innerweb I’ve decided to include it in the list so you can draw your own conclusions.
The belated big screen comeback of Brazilian boogyman Coffin Joe, The Embodiment of Evil concludes the trilogy that began with 1964’s At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul and continued three years later with This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse.
Forgotten by the masses after being locked away in the mental ward of the State Penitentiary for decades, malevolent gravedigger Zé Do Caixão has been released back into the general public. He’s still searching for a bride to bear his child, and he’s still willing to go to sickening extremes in order to find her.
Like his early efforts, this looks like an atmospheric shocker with hallucinogenic style to spare.
The trailer can be viewed here.
Juan Antonio Bayona’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Orphanage is still fairly scarce, though with a plot that finds normal people being infected with a virus that transforms them into psychotic killing machines, it does sound like a far cry from his slow-burn first flick.
Sure it’s been done in everything from Shivers to 28 Days Later, but it still might be a good chance to promising newcomer Bayona to display his versatility as a director and with the success his first film there’s still good reason to remain optimistic.
As with Hater, The Horde is still in the early phases of pre-production. So while there’s precious little information out there about The Horde, a decent poster has recently found its way to the web as has a tantalizing storyboard. And despite the fact that producer Xavier Gens still hasn’t really proven himself as a great (or even good) filmmaker at this point, co-directors Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher could still very well deliver the goods.
Besides, the concept of having to escape a zombie infested high rise is another one of those plots that’s so simple that it could make for some fast and gory fun in the hands of a competent filmmaker (or two). If you’re one of those people who automatically begin formulating a zombie escape plan every time you walk into a new building, it’s always fun to see someone else’s take on the matter.
Perhaps the single most anticipated horror film of the year, director Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of author/screenwriter John Ajvide Lindqvist’s best-selling novel details the friendship between a picked-on twelve year old boy and his mysterious new neighbor – a young girl who appears to be about his age, but is in fact a 200 year old vampire. As the bodies around town begin piling up and the sympathetic bloodsucker teaches the boy how to stand up to his tormentors, their relationship grows increasingly intense.
Advance word on Let the Right One In has been almost overwhelmingly positive, ultimately promoting an inevitable English-language remake directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and set to hit screens in 2009.
After seeing this fantastically atmospheric trailer and reading the glowing endorsement by Guillermo Del Toro, my money is on the original.
Christened with an 18+ rating (the French equivalent of “NC-17”) when released into French theaters in September of 2008, Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs has been mired in controversy from the very beginning. After the film screened at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, rumors of viewers vomiting and fainting in the theater quickly began to circulate on the internet.
The plot involves a kidnapped girl who escapes her captors and befriends another abuse victim while recovering in the hospital, only to unleash hell when she tries to reenter society fifteen years later.
It would seem that Martyrs is a film that’s more experienced by the moviegoer than simply seen, and between the facts and the rumors it’s fairly obvious that anyone with reservations should probably just take a pass on this particular flick and go see Saw V.
There are two trailers for Martyrs, one short and punchy, and the other much more grueling, and with more plot details. I’ve included them both, because that’s just the kind of sick bastard that I am.
As with Hater and The Horde, Andrew van den Houten’s adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s original novel is still in the works, meaning that not co much as a poster has been released at this point. As a fan of Ketchum and a lifelong resident of Michigan, where the film is being shot, this one is especially close to my heart. It’s a curious film in that the novel it’s based on is actually a sequel to Ketchum’s own, groundbreaking horror novel Off Season, and that production on a film version of Off Season (set to be helmed by none other than notorious director/screenwriter Eric Red) wasn’t announced until after shooting on Offspring had already wrapped.
Still with me?
Either way, I have read Off Season, and I can attest that it is a truly brutal tale of survival horror that’s something along the lines of The Hills Have Eyes. Ketchum is an author who’s well known for pushing the boundaries of the horror genre, and if the Fangoria set report from Synapse Films president Don May, Jr. is any indication of things to come, fright fans will be in for a sick shocker with this one.
On a somewhat lighter note, viewers in search of some nostalgic scares may do well to seek out this long-delayed “official” sequel to Sleepaway Camp when it’s released to DVD in early November of this year.
If the trailer is any indication, this tale of a camp bully who gets his just desserts should be just as much nasty, trash-talking fun as its legendary predecessor.
This one is a bit of a wild card, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued so I decided to include it on the list anyway. Despite the fact that I had to write it up, I’m still not entirely sure of what Sea of Dust is actually about, but seeing that it’s a stylish homage to Hammer Films and Mario Bava and features legendary scream queen Ingrid Pitt, it may be worth giving first-time feature filmmaker Scott Bunt’s labor of love the benefit of the doubt.
One of the early entries on the latest wave of powerful French shockers, Calvaire (aka The Ordeal) took the Deliverance-style, rural horror flick to frightening new extremes. Fans of that film have no doubt been eager to see what director Fabrice Du Welz would cook up next, and four years later, we finally have our answer.
The plot concerns a couple who miraculously survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, but whose young son was apparently swept away by the rampaging waters. Despite the fact that he most certainly drowned, his body was never recovered and the boy’s devastated mother refuses to accept that is most likely dead. Instead, she becomes convinced that he was abducted by traffickers, and abandons her former life to remain in Thailand and search for him. As she ventures into dangerous territory alongside her skeptical husband, the couple quickly discovers that their greatest horror is still to come.
The film looks to be just as horrifyingly bleak as it’s heart-wrenching premise, and it would appear that fans who prefer their horror served with a heavy side of drama are in for a genuinely powerful journey into a parent’s blackest fear.
