You’d think after writing about a million or so posts about this topic, I’d run out of things to talk about. Well, I thought that too!
"Scream 4" opens nationwide this Friday.
But, with this being perhaps one of the most anticipated horror films of the year, there is a lot of excitement in the air and a lot of buzz as Friday’s opening night gets closer.
Speaking of opening night, I will be one of the many in line to see the fourth installment of the Scream franchise this Friday. I’m extremely excited to see the film on opening night because this will be a milestone for my horror nerddery. When I see the movie Friday night, I will have seen all four of the Scream films on opening night. What does this useless piece of information mean for you? Well, I’m glad I asked…
Whose blood is on that knife?
Opening Night Review
The particular showing I will be going to is at 9:40 pm.; so, for those of you who are not able to see the film opening night (or those of you who are still on the fence of whether or not to see it at all), I will be writing and posting a review of Scream 4 right when I get back from the theater.
Not only will I be posting a written review of the film, but I will also be posting a short video of my personal reaction to it and how it ends up comparing to the previous three installments.
Will this new group of stars be able to keep up with the veterans?
Fan Reactions
As a devout horror fan and follower of the Scream movies since childhood, I will also be doing my best to stalk my fellow opening-night psychopaths and get their own reactions right after the end credits roll.
…This is shaping up to be a big night for fans of the horror genre and many (including myself) are extremely excited to see the series return. And, to keep the countdown going, I will be providing more and more content to you in order to keep the buzz going all the way through opening night.
So, for those of you going to see Sydney, Dewey and Gale battle Ghostface for the fourth time, put on your masks and I’ll see you there!
I always find myself at least a little bit skeptical with every movie rumor that floats its way onto the Internet, especially with remake news. So, needless to say, when I found this out I was a tad bit shocked.
On the home page of IMDb this morning, I spotted a strange headline. Under the “newsdesk” section of the page, I saw the headline that read: “Bradley Cooper in talks for ‘The Crow’ remake.”
Initially, my gut reaction was probably the same as yours is right now: “What the Hell?!” Bradley Cooper can’t play Eric Draven! That’s like Steve Buscemi playing Judge Dredd (Okay…not exactly like that, but it’s still not right).
Is Mr. Hangover bad-ass enough to fill Brandon Lee's shoes?
Though, after some careful consideration I remembered one thing that continues to keep me grounded when I read even the most ridiculous or bizarre casting information: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.
Given the miracles that Hollywood and its filmmakers have been known to produce, it IS quite possible that if Bradley Cooper is cast as Eric Draven, he could do a decent job; but for now, I’m very skeptical. I just don’t see it. It’s true that there have been amazing casting decisions before that nobody would’ve expected, but I only see this being a huge mistake. I’m sure there are plenty of actors out there good enough and talented enough to pull off a stellar portrayal of the iconic character.
A problem I see with remakes now-a-days is that it is all about casting big-name actors to fill the old roles. This is a very common technique being used in the realm of reboots and there is a good reason why: lack of confidence.
The filmmakers aren’t confident in the script alone, so they feel the need to put another big actor in the role so it won’t seem as bad. I’m not saying all of these cases are bad. Look at Robert Rodriguez’s A+ reboot of Predators. As much as I doubted Adrian Brody as the type of action hero to fill the Governator’s shoes, he did a fairly good job (despite the horrible, Christian Bale-esque growl). Then again, that could be because he wasn’t playing Arnold’s actual character. If he were to have, however, I do not think the quality of the character would’ve been the same because Swarzenegger’s character in the first Predator movie was iconic. That is the dilemma plaguing directors of all these Hollywood remakes. Instead of hiring an actor to portray an original character with potential for growth, they must fill the iconic shoes of characters that great actors portrayed many years ago.
And, in this case, Bradley Cooper won’t cut it.
Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let me know.
Would Mr. Hangover be a good replacement for the late Brandon Lee or do you have somebody else in mind?
As if their movies aren’t making them enough money, movie distribution giants Bob and Harvey Weinstein have recently announced plans to launch a gaming division for their film brand, The Weinstein Company.
The Weinstein Company has been a major film distributor since the early 1990s.
The gaming branch will be called TWC Games and representatives of the newly formed company have said they are confident about entering the world of video games. In the press release sent out by The Weinstein Company regarding the new division, Bob Weinstein and one of the new execs at TWC Games outlined the plan of attack for the future of the company:
The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today a new initiative in the video game space by launching TWC Games. The TWC Games label will utilize The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films’ strong and recognizable properties, and work with external partners to develop and publish video games for mobile, social, and console platforms. Properties in The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films catalogue include SCREAM, HELLRAISER, HALLOWEEN, SCARY MOVIE, and CHILDREN OF THE CORN, among many others.
TWC CO-CHAIRMAN BOB WEINSTEIN EXPRESSED EXCITEMENT ABOUT THE NEW INITIATIVE. “The video game marketplace is changing at such a rapid rate. With all of the digital platforms, there are so many opportunities to broaden our audience with compelling, high quality, cost-efficient, video game entertainment.”
TWC Games has formed a strategic consultancy with Beefy Media, a video game production company, to foster relationships with publishers and create high quality games. Beefy Media President, Adam Boyes, will work closely with Matthew Signer, TWC Vice President, Production and Creative Affairs, to foster strategic partnerships and oversee all production aspects of the games.
“The Weinstein Company is an incredible entertainment company, and I share their vision for creating very high quality content for the marketplace,” said Boyes. “We plan to combine our extensive video game developer relationships with the impressive catalogue of properties to create and produce content made by gamers for gamers.”
Now, having read that. Are you as nervous as I am?
Well, if you’re a loyal horror fan and avid gamer, you should be. What would you think of a Halloween game? A Scream game? How about Hellraiser?
I'd like to see TWC Games to a better job than this
I was thinking about those very questions a couple of days ago and I came to the conclusion that: I’m not so sure horror can make a run at gaming.
I know what you’re thinking, Resident Evil did it. So did Silent Hill. Both of which proved to be extremely successful franchises; however, two major differences exist between those situations and the ones we’ll be looking at in this case: The games came first and the studios did it right.
The Games Came First
While this may only seem like a minor detail, it makes a whole world of difference. With game-based films like Resident Evil and Silent Hill having much success, it can be noticed that there IS potential out there for horror-based games that have a connection to film; though the most successful cases of this have been where the games came first. So, why exactly does the “chicken and the egg” argument make such a difference in this situation? Creative Freedom.
"Resident Evil" is a video game franchise that has been successful since its beginnings.
For those of you who are familiar with the Resident Evil franchise, you all will not need to be told that the movies are nothing like the game series. That much is obvious. So, if that is a fact, why are the movies still successful?
The answer: the plot is the same, despite the other differences.
Despite the possibly annoying addition of a main character that doesn’t make sense, the plot of the Resident Evil films are pretty accurate to those of the game franchise. That makes it much easier for the filmmakers to have more creative freedom because the audience will be willing to accept more of those changes.
Now, if Hollywood would’ve completely changed the story and only just kept the name Resident Evil, us fans would have probably stormed the gates and raided the studio in a firey. Something as simple as keeping the basic story the same can offer enough freedom to make some other changes in order to Hollywood-ize the game.
Well...look who it is. The annoying main character that doesn't make any sense.
This can only be achieved, in my opinion, if the games come first. If Silent Hill was originally a movie, chances are the game would have been a lot different. What I mean by this is, the game for the Silent Hill movie might not have been good if the film came first. This is because the formula for video game success differs from the formula for movies.
With movies, the audience is asked to only have limited interactivity. All we as movie-goers have to do is sit in a theater and engage our minds (not always even that) while watching an entertaining film. Video games are very different.
Video games, especially with our rapidly growing technology, demand a much larger scale of attention from their target audience. They require a lot more interactivity with the audience. Instead of simply sitting in a theater screening room or sitting in front of a TV, gamers must entertain themselves by actively picking up the controller and playing the game. If a movie is made first and then turned into a game, it runs the risk of not being as fun to play because it was not originally made to be played like a game.
If done right, this could possibly be the best game based off of a horror movie ever.
That is the situation I find the Weinsteins in. Can a video game based on horror franchises like Scream and Halloween be entertaining enough to be truly successful and not damage the films? The only way that can happen is if…
The Studios Did It Right.
This is pretty self-explanatory. In order for the Weinstein’s to make commercial successes out of their horror-based games, both their company and the game developers they hire must put in a lot of hard work and effort to do it right.
The movies that The Weinstein’s have made over the years are not ones I would normally assume would be good video games; but, there is some potential there. The trick is not to get too involved with the movie. It is okay to keep the basic story the same, but do not dip into the movie realm too much.
Take Scream for example. That could potentially be a very interesting game; though, the only way I see it happening is if the developers keep the basic plot but come up with completely original characters unique to the game. Personally, I do not want to play the movie itself. I want something new. That is what I think should be done. The Weinsteins need to work with the developers to offer something new and exciting so the gamers do not feel like they are being cheated.
We already know Billy Loomis is the killer. We don’t need to play a game to figure that out.
The Unknown Future
I can sit here and type my thoughts and speculations about what TWC Games is going to do until my fingers rot off, but in the end it won’t do any good. All we can do is just sit and wait and hope everything works out for the best.
Video games have come a long way and people are getting smarter with their creativity. So, let’s hope something good comes of this. After all, I wouldn’t mind turning on my X-Box and making some prank calls as Ghostface for a little while.
“Fan Film of the Month” seems to be starting an early trend. And, much like last month’s choice, this one could even make John Carpenter a little bit jealous.
This time around, independent filmmaker and voice artist Dave McRae brings us his vision on Carpenter’s classic ’78 slashfest, Halloween.
Though, this fan-film is a little different version from what we saw last month with Chris Notarile’s Halloween: Season, it sticks to the very same formula the Prince of Darkness himself used when he made the original. That, to me, is what truly makes this film work so well.
The short fan-film is called Halloween: Fall Stalking and it was released to YouTube on October 28, 2009. This is the second of the four fan-films based off the Halloween franchise that he produced under his YouTube name “Mystery31.”
Photo courtesy of Dave McRae
This short tells the story of a man who is obsessed with stopping Michael Myers before it is too late and he kills again. The man does everything he can to alert police that Myers is in Haddonfield but he knows it is up to him to put an end to the killings.
And, like any good horror movie of this generation, the hero and the villain engage in a cat- and mouse-like struggle that ends in a showdown to end it all. Though, as any fan of the Halloween series knows, this particular evil can never be stopped.
One aspect of Fall Stalking I found especially fascinating was that McRae had absolutely no help in the actual filming process. Everything from the camera work to the acting was all him. He not only wrote and directed the short, but he starred as both the main protagonist and Michael Myers himself.
While this fact both surprised and impressed me, he said it wasn’t that hard for him to do.
“It wasn’t as difficult as you’d think” McRae said. “I have experience both in-front of and behind the camera, so falling into each role was very comfortable.”
McRae said while he originally made the films to keep himself creative, his decision to do all four comes from his love of the first two movies in the series.
“My inspiration comes from being a huge fan of the original two Halloween films,” McRae said. “It was actually to just keep my creative juices flowing while I write and create more original productions.”
McRae, 31, said one of his goals in the production of his fan-films was to show fans of the series that a big budget is not needed to make a high-quality scary movie.
“I wasn’t a big fan of the 2007 remake of Halloween, nor it’s sequel in 2009, so I wanted to show fans that it’s not about how big your budget is, it’s about what you do with what you have,” he said. “I feel, in my opinion, that I have been able to create something pretty special with virtually nothing.”
That is exactly what I felt when watching the films for myself. McRae was definitely able to do something special with this vision because he kept it simple. There was no reliance on an in-depth, complicated story involving paranormal curses or family members; McRae’s film stuck to the basic foundation for what gives horror films that creepy, uneasy feeling that made the original so great.
That basic foundation is mood and atmosphere. Those are two elements McRae said tries to include in any film he does in this genre, especially in Fall Stalking.
He said this is because the atmosphere of not knowing where the killer is makes the movie so scary. McRae said he wanted to make the audience fear what they thought was there as opposed to the obvious.
Photo courtesy of Dave McRae
“With Fall Stalking, I wanted to capture the slow movement of something menacing approaching, something evil,” McRae said. “I firmly believe that is what made the original Halloween so intensely popular… It’s all about what we ‘think we see’ that truly frightens us.”
McRae said Fall Stalking did not take long to make. He said it took one weekend to film and only one week for editing. He also said the film was shot entirely in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada because he is from the Toronto area and tries to keep his filming locations in close traveling distance.
McRae, 31, has been making films for the past 17 years but said he has only been doing them professionally for the last decade. He said he went to college for Broadcasting but began making his professional films after he left in 2001.
“I attended Niagara College in Welland, Ontario, but I never graduated,” McRae said. “I learned a lot in my two years there, but I struggled to keep up. I found the work load was just too much and I had a very hard time staying focused. So, I left in 2001 to pursue my career from a different angle.”
McRae said he has had the opportunity to work with many talented actors and filmmakers throughout his career. One of which is visual artist and independent filmmaker Bruce Dale.
Dale said he met McRae 19-years ago when the two were still in grade school. Since then, he said they have worked on anywhere between 30 and 40 different creative projects together.
When it comes to McRae’s movies, Dale said he has had many important roles both in-front of and behind the camera; though, he said the main roles he has played in the majority of McRae’s films are those of producer and cinematographer.
While he had no part in the production of Halloween: Fall Stalking, Dale said he has a lot of respect for McRae and he enjoys working with him in every project he has the chance to.
Photo courtesy of Dave McRae
“He’s a lot of fun to work with,” said Dale. “It’s easy to get excited and remain motivated about a film with him. He likes to put in a good prep time so that things run smoothly on set.”
McRae said he is currently hard at work on another horror-themed short film titled The Intruder. He said this film is similar to Fall Stalking in that is pays tribute to another horror classic.
“It’s paying tribute to the classic film When a Stranger Calls, in which a woman is home alone baby sitting, and is haunted by a stranger on the telephone,” McRae said. “Except in my film, the woman isn’t babysitting, but house-sitting instead. I hope to go to camera on the film sometime in this spring, maybe May.”
While I do look forward to seeing what McRae can bring to the table with The Intruder, I encourage you all to sit back, grab some popcorn and a cold soda, and watch one of the best fan-films I have ever seen.
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