21st Century Terrors, Part 8: 2007

The year 2007 is a special one here in the Vault, because it was the year this blog first got off the ground. And boy, did I pick an interesting year to get things started. There was a lot going on in 2007 in the world of fright flicks, and I was definitely fortunate to have some of these films around to write about at the very beginning.

The remake and sequel craze was in full swing by this point, but luckily there was also a lot of fascinating and original material being put out on the market as well. Interestingly enough at the time, a great deal of it was coming from overseas.

In particular, the one movie that will always come to mind for many when 2007 is brought up is Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's [REC], which many would consider among the most downright terrifying films of the entire decade, if not the most terrifying. From Spain came this unique, mockumentary take on the zombie subgenre, featuring a team of TV reporters and firemen trapped inside a quarantined apartment building during an outbreak of some sort of disease which turns the living into bloodthirsty undead.

Visceral, straightforward and extremely realistic in its presentation, [REC] became an instant sensation. People from all over the world clamored to see this (formerly) little movie that had emerged from Spain, a country many hadn't thought of as much of a horror haven since the heyday of Paul Naschy. It also managed to keep the zombie resurgence going strong roughly half a decade after it first exploded.

Spain also produced a very different kind of horror film that same year in Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (El Orfanato), a movie that was helped along in its overseas exposure by the blessing of Guillermo del Toro, who was understandably taken with it. A very unorthodox combination of ghost story and psychological thriller, The Orphanage takes its place amongst the likes of The Uninvited, The Haunting and The Changeling as one of the finest motion pictures of its kind.

Meanwhile, from just a few miles to the northeast in France, came Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's Inside (À l'intérieur), a deeply disturbing and shockingly violent motion picture that became another international sensation and immediate film festival darling. The 2000s gave us quite a few depraved horror films, but Inside has to be very near to the top of the pile in terms of subject matter and the unflinching portrayal of said subject matter.

Following a nine-months-pregnant widow on the eve of her induction, as she fends off a psychopathic intruder bent on stealing the unborn child from her body, the film struck a nerve with even the most jaded horror viewers. As dead serious as the genre gets, Inside delivered extreme tension and extreme violence in equal doses, resulting in one of the most unsettling viewing experiences imaginable, and a movie that literally challenges the definition of entertainment.

And yet, while in most any other year, Inside would win hands down as most disturbing French movie, in 2007 it was a toss-up! There must have been something in the water in France that year, because the French also gave us the equally grim and harrowing Frontière(s). Xavier Gens' story of fugitive thieves held prisoner by demented neo-Nazis is another film that helped propel France to the cutting edge of international horror cinema.

But the Americans certainly weren't sitting on their hands while the Europeans had all the fun, either. Rather, some of the best and brightest filmmakers around were delving deep into the genre. Tim Burton took a crack at the beloved Stephen Sondheim splatter musical Sweeney Todd, putting his go-to star Johnny Depp in the lead, and adding wife Helena Bonham Carter to the mix to produce a typically sumptuous and subversive slice of cinema reminiscent of some of his best work.

Genre junkies Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez joined forces to create Grindhouse, a one-of-a-kind 21st century double feature that paid homage to the sticky-floor movies of old. Though greatly hyped, it did not quite live up to box-office or critical expectations--nevertheless, Rodriguez' contribution to the effort, Planet Terror, is a balls-to-the-wall, over-the-top zombie trash epic that certainly has its fair share of avid supporters. If anything, RR has to at least be recognized for having a great deal of fun with the subgenre, in the grand tradition of Dan O'Bannon. Plus, we also got the infamous line, "I'm gonna eat your brains and gain your knowledge..."

Steve Niles' acclaimed 30 Days of Night vampire graphic novels were adapted by director David Slade in highly bloody fashion--and although the slickly stylized film divided many fans, its unapologetically brutal approach to the bloodsucker mythos was at least an effective alternative to the Twilight-mania just tightening its grip on popular culture. Another film which divided fans was The Mist, in which Frank Darabont, director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, turned his attention to his first Stephen King horror story. A monster movie in the tradition of classic 1950s fare, with a modern twist and a gut-punch ending, it may not have pleased all the King fans out there, but it had to be considered better than the other King adaptation of 2007, Mikael Håfström's 1408.

As alluded to previously however, we were also bombarded with more than our fair share of remakes and sequels in 2007. And although remakes and sequels are not necessarily bad by definition, looking at the catalog of releases from that year, one could not be blamed for coming to that conclusion.

With long-time favorites like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Hitcher served up in tepid "re-imagined" form, it was a tough year for some long-time horror fans. Most egregious of all would have to be Rob Zombie's Halloween, a film which managed to enrage the legions of fans of John Carpenter's 1978 original, with its post-modern deconstruction of the Michael Myers character, and less-than-creative regurgitation of much of the material of its predecessor. Although the extensive Myers' backstory added depth and was appreciated by some, in the end, the film sometimes unaffectionately termed "Zombieween" came off as a largely unnecessary affair.

On the sequel front, it seemed like every notable film/franchise of the decade was being pumped for all it was worth by the studios desperate for the next fix of genre-derived revenue. There was Saw IV, Hostel 2, and The Hills Have Eyes 2, each of which either killed off, or should've killed off, their respective series.

George Romero followed up 2005's Land of the Dead with Diary of the Dead, a fresh, cinema verite approach to his zombie series which unfortunately came off poorly thanks to being released in the wake of [REC] and, to a lesser extent, Cloverfield. Although this blogger enjoyed the film, most felt it to be the nadir of Romero's revered zombie cycle to date. As far as zombie sequels go, 28 Weeks Later was received a bit better, with some (including yours truly) finding it to be superior to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. Once again, it seemed that Uncle George had been beaten at his own game--a game which, in 2007, also gave us such less-than-memorable fare as Resident Evil: Extinction and Flight of the Living Dead.

An erratic year of highs and lows, and perhaps a bit of a comedown from the heady days of the mid-2000s, 2007 was still a very good year to be a horror fan, with lots of quirky, soon-to-be cult classics emerging as well, such as the vagina dentata chestnut Teeth, the Australian giant crocodile picture Rogue, and the cheesy send-up Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. One could certainly never say that there wasn't a little bit of something for everyone, and all in all, I'd have to say that The Vault of Horror picked a pretty cool time to be born!

Also in 2007:

• Dead Silence
• The Deaths of Ian Stone
• I Know Who Killed Me
• Mother of Tears
• Primeval
• The Signal
• Vacancy

Part 1: 2000
Part 2: 2001
Part 3: 2002
Part 4: 2003
Part 5: 2004
Part 6: 2005
Part 7: 2006

21st Century Terrors, Part 6: 2005

The first decade of the new century was half over, and right in the heart of it, horror hounds were being treated to arguably the greatest bumper crop of gruesome greatness since the heyday of the 1980s. There can be no doubt about it--a golden age was upon us. It was the year we got a new subgenre with a naughty sounding name, Rob Zombie got serious, some English broads went down a well, and even good old Uncle George had to get into the act. This was 2005.

The previous year had given some indications of where we were headed. For example, viewers who went to the movies to see Saw were given just a taste of the sickness and depravity that would come to full bloom this year, when Eli Roth, late of the offbeat horror comedy Cabin Fever, would turn out a film that would divide fans, start a new movement, and definitely get everyone talking.

Hostel was a film that literally pushed the boundary of what fans would consider to be entertainment. Revolving around a series of torture-filled set pieces, it drew the nickname of "torture porn"--a name derived from accusations that it sought primarily to titillate through the depiction of gratuitous scenes of methodical violence. Some would find it distasteful; others believed it gave the genre a much-needed visceral shot in the arm.

Whatever the case, Hostel was a touchstone, the kind of movie that sets the tone for much of what came after it. And we're still feeling the aftereffects of it to this day, for better or worse.

As much as the movies of the '70s and '80s pushed the envelope for violence in film, and the '90s reigned things in a bit, by this point in the new decade, the pendulum had swung completely back the other way. Thanks to Hostel and others, we were now seeing films arguably more graphic than just about anything we had witnessed before. Another filmmaker at the forefront of this movement was Rob Zombie.

If his previous House of 1,000 Corpses had caught some flak for being campy and cheesy, Mr. Zombie remedied the situation with a much bleaker, more serious sequel in The Devil's Rejects. The Firefly family, with Sid Haig's Capt. Spaulding at the lead, was more iconic than ever, and horror fans by and large embraced this film with open arms.

Zombie's grindhouse aesthetic and appreciation for the grittiness of '70s horror brought to the genre what guys like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were doing with more mainstream cinema. As a result, The Devil's Rejects would become one of the most popular horror films of the decade with actual horror fans, as opposed to the mainstream audience that was eating up confections of a very different variety.

Those confections consisted of the near-endless stream of remakes Hollywood was (and is) churning out with breakneck speed. This might very well have been the year we all stood back for a second and said to ourselves, "Damn, there sure are a lot of remakes coming out!" We got House of Wax, in which Vincent Price was replaced with Paris Hilton; The Amityville Horror, which proved just as mediocre as its originator; The Fog, starring Superboy...

And in case you were looking more for sequels rather than remakes, we also got the disappointing The Ring Two, and the vastly more disappointing back-to-back direct-to-SyFy Channel atrocities, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, and Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave. The less said, the better. Peter Coyote, how could you? To think, I trusted you in E.T.

But sequels weren't by definition a bad thing, and in fact, 2005 gave us two very interesting ones in particular, which continued two venerable horror franchises. One of these was Dominion: Prequel to Exorcist, the original Paul Schrader version of the film that had been released the previous year as The Exorcist: The Beginning (directed by Renny Harlin). The result was flawed yet provocative, and definitely more daring than the previous studio-approved version.

The other long-awaited sequel was something that had previously seemed as if it would never happen: George Romero got back in the saddle and made another zombie movie, his first in 20 years. With the zombie movie craze raging for a few years, everyone was wondering if the man who invented the whole movement would ever get his chance to do what he does best once more. And thanks to Universal, he did.

Land of the Dead was the most mainstream of Romero's efforts, with actual marketable movie stars (namely john Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper and an almost-famous Simon Baker); it was also the first to be released with an MPAA rating, and the first to use CGI effects. It was definitely a new era, but fans were delirious with joy that their hero would finally be getting the opportunity to pick up where he left off with Day of the Dead in 1985.

In the end, there were folks who thought Uncle George lost his touch a bit, and that the years had put some ring rust on the old master. Just as the original Return of the Living Dead, a zombie comedy, had overshadowed Day of the Dead, many felt that Shaun of the Dead had overshadowed Land of the Dead and made it feel a bit obsolete.

Nevertheless, I think history will look kindly on Land of the Dead, just as it did on Day of the Dead eventually. It was a welcome return for one of horror's most beloved directors, exploring the territory he first pioneered. And in a project that had been high on everyone's ultimate fantasy lists for many years.

But if original concepts were still what you craved, then English director Neil Marshall, who had previously turned heads in 2oo2 with Dog Soldiers, really gave you something to write home about with the film that many consider to be the finest horror film of the contemporary era--including the amalgamation of horror bloggers who voted it the number-one horror movie of the past 20 years, right here in The Vault of Horror. I'm talking about The Descent.

Whether or not it's the very best is, of course, open to debate, but there can be no question that The Descent is one of the most highly regarded horror films of the past decade. Original, powerful, and downright terrifying, it is a 21st century horror film that will undoubtedly be added to the "canon" of classics moving forward into the future. Not to mention the fact that it's all-female cast of protagonists in and of itself makes the film highly intriguing, and one-of-a-kind.

There's a reason why horror fans have generally preferred the past decade to the one which came before it, and a glance through the body of material released in 2005 helps crystallize that perception. Thanks to the likes of Marshall, Zombie, Roth, Romero and many others, it was a banner year for the genre.

Also from 2005:

• An American Haunting
• Boogeyman
• Constantine
• Dark Water
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose
• Feast
• The Gravedancers
• Santa's Slay
• The Skeleton Key
• 2001 Maniacs
• White Noise

Part 1: 2000
Part 2: 2001
Part 3: 2002
Part 4: 2003
Part 5: 2004

21st Century Terrors, Part 4: 2003

A Happy New Year to one and all--and what better way to commemorate the end of the Aughts than with another installment of 21st Century Terrors, The Vault's look back at the last decade in horror? This time we look back on a year that saw the genre in full bloom, both in the U.S. and abroad.

If for nothing else, 2003 will be remembered as the year that a grunge rocker who made his name on the alternative scene of the early 1990s would step into the horror world full-time. Rob Zombie had long incorporated horror motifs in his music and his well-crafted stage persona, but this time he was throwing his tattered cowboy hat into the directorial arena, taking aim at making his very own horror film.

The result would be House of 1,000 Corpses, one of the defining horror movies of the 2000s. A synthesis of the '70s exploitation horror that had mesmerized Zombie in his youth, the movie was a quirky, surreal blend of dark black comedy and the most grisly, brutal violence. House of 1,000 Corpses gave us the diabolical Firefly clan, and most memorable of all, one of the decade's greatest horror icons--Captain Spaulding, played to sinister, uproarious perfection by B-movie veteran Sid Haig.

Zombie's love of exploitation horror meant appearances by Karen Black and Bill Moseley--and who could forget the infamous Dr. Satan? Despite its derivative nature, in some ways Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses was one of those kinds of movies that epitomizes an era in the genre.

In a way, this was also the year that gave birth to another 2000s horror mainstay, Saw. Love it or hate it, no one can deny the importance of this film, its magnitude and the impact it had on horror this decade. It was this year that director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell produced a short film--nine minutes to be exact--that would reveal their groundbreaking concept to the world. The short would become the seed for the decade's most dominant horror franchise. The following year, Wan and Whannell would literally change the face of horror by turning it into a feature film.

Meanwhile, around the world, the genre was truly thriving. France, soon to be a major player on the terror scene, gave us Alexandre Aja's High Tension, considered by many to be among the finest fright flicks of the decade. Japan brought forth Ju-On 2, the sequel to the original version of The Grudge; South Korea gave us 4 Inyong Shiktak, which would later be remade in the U.S. as the dreadful The Uninvited. Also in Japan, the brilliant Takashi Miike created Chakushin Ari, which would also later be remade in America as the awful One Missed Call.

From another corner of the English-speaking world, namely Australia, came Undead--the year's big contribution to the recently exploded zombie rebirth. And although it was a somewhat lackluster film overall, you have to give the Spierig brothers an E for Effort. They brought a ton of enthusiasm to the zombie subgenre, and generated a lot of buzz in the process, keeping people interested in those nasty flesh-eating ghouls.

But speaking of remaking horror movies, that whole trend would continue in 2003. Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes, now infamous for pumping out cynical remake after cynical remake, would make some waves with one of their earliest efforts, a redo of the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre. More slick and stylish than the early '70s grindhouse favorite, the new TCM also provided more backstory to the movie's characters--some would say to the story's general detriment. The pattern was officially set for so many groan-inducing remakes to come...

Other past genre icons returned in different ways. We'll always remember 2003 as the year that Freddy finally met Jason in the most highly anticipated horror smackdown since Frankenstein battled the Wolf Man. It had been a long time coming, but this fun monster mash-up finally came to fruition, returning Krueger and Voorhees to the screen for the first time in years (especially Freddy, who hadn't reared his scorched head in nearly a decade). If not taken too seriously, this far-from-scary flick turned out to be one hell of a fun ride.

Two of the 2000s primary franchises, Final Destination and Jeepers Creepers, cranked out their first sequels--some would say they were superior to the originals, particularly in the case of FD. And another franchise would take off--namely Wrong Turn, an effective entry in the "cannibalistic inbred lunatic" horror subgenre. Some innovative kills and the lovely Eliza Dushku made this one a cut above, and it quickly became one of the decade's cult faves.

Horror was indeed in full bloody bloom in 2003, taking a darker, gorier turn than ever. By now, fans had a feel for what they could expect from the decade that would see a return to the more visceral, intense horror of yore, while still taking it in innovative new directions.

Also from 2003:

• Beyond Re-Animator
• Gothika
• House of the Dead
• The Toolbox Murders
• Willard

Part 1: 2000
Part 2: 2001
Part 3: 2002

* * * * * * * * * *

On a side note, I just want to take the time out to belatedly thank Marc Patterson, editor of the superb Brutal as Hell. A month ago, BAH kicked off a new series called "Horror Bloggers We Love", and yours truly was the very first to be profiled. Thanks again, Marc! As for the rest of you, pay BAH a visit--it's chock-full of excellent horror goodness from the likes of Marc and talented horror savant/grammar nazi Britt Hayes...

And while I have your attention, please be so kind as to head over to Wired.com's 2009 Sexiest Geek Contest and cast your vote for loyal Vault dweller and Fandomania.com writer Paige MacGregor. That is all.

Hump-Day Harangue: BLOB-ZOMBIE? Say It Ain't So!

Dear Rob Zombie, you made a couple of good songs back in the day, and a couple of good horror flicks, too. So why must you be the source of so much agita for me, two days in a row? Fresh off my rant on the many sins of Halloween II, I've now caught my breath sufficiently to tackle the latest news rocking the horror interwebs--that Mr. Zombie's next project is going to be a remake of The Blob.

What gets under my skin the most, as I think it did with others, is Rob's assertion that he wants to stay away from a giant red blobby thing in his version of the movie. How that may have scared 1950s audiences, but today's audiences would laugh at it.

Let's get a few things straight here. Firstly, the original 1958 Blob is by no means a classic horror film. It is no more than a fun, popcorn drive-in flick. I also have news for Zombie: It was never meant to be taken completely seriously as a horror film. Not even in 1958. Anyone who's ever seen the goofy opening title sequence, complete with cornball Burt Bacharach tune, can attest to that. It was always a camp film.

Secondly, the whole gimmick of trying to actually make the blob itself scary and not just a giant red jello mold has been done as well. Familiar with the 1988 remake, Mr. Zombie? You know, the one that is actually way better than the original? The one that your version won't be as good as? Yeah, that one.

OK, so what we're dealing with here is a remake of a film that's already been remade. At the moment, I can't even think of any other time that's happened, except for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (and look how that turned out). I mean, how derivative can you get??

All we're going to get with Zombie's version is the blob invading a town populated by sleazy white trash, as the grizzly director attempts oh-so-ironically to comment on the squeaky-clean '50s teens of the original. We get it, Rob. We get it.

Of course, this new version will have some great creature effects and some very creative and entertaining kills... But a remake of a remake? Do I even need to say any more?

Believe it or not, I do think that Rob Zombie is a talented director. I'm one of those who loved both House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. That's why I think the guy needs to lay off these retreads and focus on original material again. Rob Zombie once notoriously said in an interview that remakes were the worst things any director could do. If only he had heeded his own advice...

The Tuesday Top 10: Worst Things About Halloween II

I'm an angry blogger tonight, folks. Yes, I'm that guy. I just can't help it. Why? Because I saw Halloween II, that's why. Ever see a movie you hated so much it actually made you angry? Well that would be this disaster for me. I wanted to hold off till tomorrow and make it my Hump-Day Harangue, but I can't wait. I need to get at it tonight. And so, I'm making it the theme of my Tuesday Top 10. So here goes, let's dissect the ten major reasons why a colon irrigation would be preferable to seeing this film again...

10. Homeless-Looking Heroines
Rob, why must you make every character in your movies look like they've spent the past week hanging out at the Port Authority--especially the girls? The female leads may be OK on the eyes, but it seemed like Zombie did all he could to make them look as skeevy as possible.

9. The Best Part Never Even Happened
Hands down, the movie's best sequence was the opening in the hospital--but guess what? It was just a dream! That's right, the only part of the flick that felt like an actual Halloween movie, wasn't even real. Cause you know, Rob Zombie had to put his "stamp" on things and give us his version of the franchise. Thanks a lot, buddy.

8. That's So Jason
Characters you hate so much you can't wait to see them killed? Isn't that the domain of Friday the 13th? Don't get me wrong, Halloween dabbled in that to a degree as well, but not to the cartoonish level of the Voorhees series. Until now. I don't want to root for Michael Myers. I didn't in the original, and I shouldn't be now.

7. Logic? We Don't Need No Stinking Logic!
Why would Laurie be sharing the same hallucinations as Michael? And don't tell me because they're siblings, that crap might hold water if this was some lame-ass Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers-type supernatural nonsense, but I thought we ejected all that garbage in favor of realism.

6. Not Enough Danielle Harris!
What was the point of letting her character survive the first movie (unlike in the original) only to be rendered pointless in this one? Her presence is a major selling point of the film as far as I'm concerned, yet she was completely wasted.

5. Paging Dr. Frank N. Furter...
What was up with referencing the characters from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, yet vehemently refusing to mention them by name? Even going so far as to repeatedly refer to the good doctor merely as "a dude pretending to be a chick". Mr. Zombie, do you really think we're that dumb? Well, you got my ten bucks, so maybe you're right...

4. You Ma'am, Are No Laurie Strode
The completely annoying and unsympathetic Scout Taylor-Compton is such a far cry from Jamie Lee Curtis' iconic final girl that it's not even funny. Lacking all of the poise, style and acting chops of her predecessor, she turns Laurie into just another run-of-the-mill whining slasher flick chick. If this is the "good girl ideal", then our culture is doomed.

3. Angry Michael Myers
The Shape has no emotions. The Shape feels no pain. The Shape is an automaton. Or at least, he's supposed to be. Every time I heard Michael utter those seething grunts and groans as he murdered his victims, it felt like he was plunging the knife into my own heart. As if the humanization of the character in the first one wasn't bad enough...

2. Sheri Moon Zombie, Will You Please Go Now?
I know she's your wife, Rob, but why oh why did she have to be shoe-horned into this one, too? And as a completely out-of-place supernatural entity on top of it... It's been said before, but Michael isn't supposed to be the movie slasher who hallucinates his dead mommy, remember? Ms. Zombie and her stupid white horse nearly ruined the movie for me single-handedly.

1. The Dr. Loomis Character Assassination
I say nearly, because what really did it for me, what drove me into paroxysms of geek rage, was the cynical, stupid way in which Zombie ham-fistedly raped the character Donald Pleasance made so famous. The doctor is supposed to be a heroic figure--the voice of reason crying out against the madness, the yin to Michael's yang. Instead, Zombie thought it would be cute to make him a sleazy media-whore. So very sad. Not to mention the fact that his character serves absolutely no purpose in the picture whatsoever. Not since Jack Black's Carl Denham has a classic character been so thoroughly FUBARed.

And just so you don't consider me your typical bitter genre blogger... Here are the handful of little things I actually liked about the movie: Some very cool imagery, the nods to Frankenstein, Michael-as-transient, Brad Dourif, the Psycho homage at the end. There, happy?

Hump-Day Harangue: Which Michael Myers Is Scarier?

Earlier this week, I took part in a roundtable discussion over at HorrorBlips.com on what appeared to me to be a very one-sided topic. The question that was posed to bloggers like myself, Stacie Ponder of Final Girl, BC of Horror-Movie-a-Day, Bryan White of Cinema Suicide and others, was this: Which version of Michael Myers is scarier, John Carpenter's original character, or the version created by Rob Zombie for his remake?

Yes, I know, who in their right mind would choose the new Michael, right? Well, that's what I thought too, and lo and behold, not a single blogger polled did so. In other words, it was a landslide for Carpenter's Shape.

For those of you who haven't had an opportunity to check out the article at HorrorBlips, here is my contribution:

I would say, hands down, that John Carpenter's original conception of Michael Myers is the more frightening version. The mistake that Rob Zombie made was giving us way too much background information on Michael, almost trying to make him sympathetic.

The complete mystery of the original is far superior—it's almost as if Michael is less a person and more a force of nature. In the remake, we are made to understand how Michael got the way he is, and why he kills. In the original, we have no idea why—he seems to be just a normal little boy who one day decides to start killing people. This is far more chilling.

I understand why Zombie did what he did; obviously he felt he needed to add something, rather than simply regurgitate what Carpenter had already done. Unfortunately, however, the result points out even more clearly why a remake was pointless in the first place—from a creative standpoint, anyway.

So what do you say, HorrorBlips? Next time, give us a question we can really debate. This one was a no-brainer!

The Tuesday Top 10: Creepiest Music Videos

Continuing the musical theme here in the Vault, join me this week as I take a look at the freakiest, eeriest, spookiest music videos ever to creep out our ADHD-addled, MTV generation brains. Enjoy...

10. "School's Out" by Gwar



Ah, Gwar, how I miss you. Gladiator costumes, fishnets, giant mechanical penises ejaculating on the crowd... that was music, kids.

9. "White Wedding" by Billy Idol



Eighties new wave meets Bride of Frankenstein. This one is just plain weird. Honestly, I find myself creeped out by Billy's sneer more than anything else.

8. "Y Control" by The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
A band I truly love, and not one I'd usually expect to creep me out. But they pulled it off, all thanks to that always reliable tool--creepy kids!

Y Control lyrics - Yeah Yeah Yeahs lyrics

Y Control Video - Yeah Yeah Yeahs Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

7. "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne



It's Ozzy as Dr. Jekyll--what more do you want???

6. "Dig Up Her Bones" by The Misfits



Everything The Misfits did was scary as hell. And this one's about as good as it gets. Horror-punk at its best. Gotta love the Franky cameo!

5. "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails



A bizarre, demented peak into the mind of Trent Reznor, whom Tori Amos once said "just needs a cup of hot cocoa and a warm blankie." Maybe so Tori, maybe so.

4. "Sober" by Tool



Stop-motion animation hasn't been this scary since the heyday of Ray Harryhausen. Also, points to anyone who can tell me what the eff is going on in this video...

3. "Thriller" by Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Music Video)
Uploaded by milaiya. - Explore more music videos.

Duh, no-brainer. I'm not ashamed to admit that this video scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. With the help of John Landis, the late King of Pop paid homage to zombie cinema with style.

2. "Dragula" by Rob Zombie



Was there any question that this guy was going to go on to become a horror movie director? Watch out for the footage from the 1920 Jekyll & Hyde, recently reviewed here.

1. "Sweet Dreams" by Marilyn Manson

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This lyrics - Marilyn Manson lyrics

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This Video - Marilyn Manson Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

The first time I saw it, with no knowledge of who the guy was, this video bored into my soul and filled my heart with icewater. I remember thinking, is this guy even human, or some kind of CG effect? Since then, he's become more of a camp figure, but back then, this clip was the stuff of nightmares.

Rob Zombie's Halloween: A Review

Straight away, the biggest problem with Rob Zombie's Halloween is that it is a remake of Halloween. That is, it has to deal with the expectations and entrenched beliefs of the preexisting fans. It is actually well made, a relatively high quality film, though fairly conventional, especially for Zombie. Also, Zombie knows what he is doing behind a camera, and clearly has tremendous respect for the material. Therefore, while an excellent effort, I think the Halloween remake falls a bit short. There is a spoiler alert for everyone who hasn't seen the movie, as the rest of this post is rife with information sure to spoil your surprise.

The new Halloween falls short because the main difference is the time spent adding flesh to the childhood of Michael Myers, and in that endeavor I think Zombie fails in his intent, which is to explain why Michael Myers does what he does and add to his story. In so doing, the family life in the Myer's home is revealed to be dysfunctional, yet inexplicable. The loser-drunk step dad somehow manages to keep the apparently loving mother of young Michael in his gravitational field while doing nothing but being a drunk slob and abusing her almost feminine blonde little boy.

Michael is about twice the age he was in Carpenter's original, old enough to beat a much older and larger bully to death with a stick and his sister's boyfriend with a bat, as well as able to duct tape down a grown man tight enough that he cannot move. Perhaps this is foreshadowing of his titanic physical attributes to come. Perhaps his rage is the dynamic force behind his strength, even at the age of ten.

But in humanizing Michael, Zombie has taken away the mystery, the abject horrific wonder of the original, where Michael was six, and apparently acted for no reason, killing his older sister out of nowhere. It is the lack of motive behind the opening scene in the original that sets the stage for the soulless stalking killer to follow. That he kills animals in the remake, and gets caught, makes Michael more normal, more of this Earth, less mysterious, a human being; a killer that we have already known and documented a million times. By making him a sympathetic character, some of the sting is taken out of Michael; the gutteral "Why?!?!" of the shocked voyeur is partly muted when the contents of the charnel house are discovered.

In the original, when the six year old kid inexplicable stabs his much older sister to death for no reason, it does not feel like much of a stretch for him to become the invincible stalking killer, at least in movie reality. Yet the transition from sorry little blonde abuse case to confused inmate into hulking, inhumanly powerful, I Can Snap Chains With A Flick Of My Wrist psychokiller feels uneven, abrupt, notwithstanding the bodycount he amasses in his tender years.

In short, as they have learned in the comic book business, if you have a mysterious origin to an important character, have a care when you reveal it, as it probably looked better on paper than it sounds out loud.

On the other hand, as said before, it is a better than average movie, and Zombie goes about his business well. The score is faithful, if not exact. Once the action sequences get going, they move at a quick pace. There are a few surprises, like when Michael only roughs up one of the young ladies committing the mortal sin of the horror flick, [having sex], instead of killing her. Also, the Dr. Loomis for the 21st Century does not choose his own fate [and is actually of less gravity than the original played to the hilt by Donald Pleasance].

And there are a few tasty tidbits here and there, like when Laurie's adoptive father muses that a rotting corporate monster is destroying their town [a little commentary about the movie and character, or Hollywood?], or when Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper is playing behind Michael's first kill in his old house.

And in the very end, there appears to be a bit of a twist, something I had to see it twice to confirm. After chasing long lost sister Laurie through more than a few walls, and doing his best to kill her, and even telling her why he is there [via a tattered photograph of her and his prior, blonder self], the brother and sister fall from a height, and she, face bloodied, ends up on top of him. Thinking quickly, she produces the revolver she retrieved from the corpse of Loomis, and attempts to shoot Michael in the face point blank. After trembling and flinching through the first 3 [or four] empty chambers, Michael comes to and grabs her wrist. At first this looks like he is struggling, but upon a closer review, it is more as if he is steadying her hand, so that the shot counts. Perhaps this was the surcease of pain Michael required - he stalked his sister so that either would force her to end his existence, and perhaps give him peace.

See the problem with humanizing your stalking psychokillers? They become so needy!

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[Be sure to visit RayRay's political blog, Non-Partisan Witch Hunt!]

**SPOILER PIC** Michael Myers to Be Maskless for Majority of Halloween Sequel

Ryan Rotten of Shock Till You Drop landed a fascinating little interview with Halloween 2's makeup designer Wayne Toth on this Easter Sunday. The FX guru discusses a range of topics, including his surprisingly positive response to the bogus fan art that hit the web a couple of months back, the extensive use of dream sequences in the film, and most provocatively, the fact that The Shape will apparently be without his iconic mask for roughly "70%" of the sequel!

Here's Toth on the subject:

"I thought the reaction was pretty much going to be, What? No mask on Michael Myers?' But it's like anything else, as long as you're doing something cool, people get it. No one has dared to change the character, they just put him in different situations and that gets old pretty fast. Be daring with Michael Myers and change it, I think that was the appeal with this movie. It wasn't limited to a remake, like last time. We're taking it a step further."

This is bound to create some division in the fan community--which was already divided as to whether or not the remake sucked in the first place. For the rest of the interview, head on over to STYD. As for this "new design", the spoiler-wary among you might want to divert your eyes or jump to another site, 'cause I'm about to share an on-set peek of actor Tyler Mane sporting Michael Myers' maskless look. Here's the infamous shot which has been dropping jaws at STYD:


Well, no one can accuse Rob Zombie of being without balls. Although I'm tempted to say that without the Shatner mask, it kind of becomes less "Halloween" and more "Crazy Homeless Guy in a Jumpsuit Randomly Stabbing People". Stay tuned, true believers.

Rob Zombie to Host AMC's Monsterfest--er, Make That Fearfest

AMC is one of those many cable channels that has gone through a dramatic transformation over the years, for better or worse. Even Monsterfest, their signature October event, has not been immune. This year, in fact, it will become known as Fearfest. And Fangoria announced last night that rocker-turned-horror-director Rob Zombie will be hosting the week-long scary movie marathon.

More than 175 hours of horror films will be shown on the network between October 24 and 31, mainly in the evenings, but all day long on Halloween itself. Zombie will be providing unscripted introductions and interstitial commentary, along with interviews with some of the filmmakers whose work will be shown.

Zombie will also be prominently featured on AMC's website, which will include lists of the directors favorite flicks, as well as DVD giveaways and an amateur horror movie contest. 

In general, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. While I appreciate some of Zombie's films and his love of the '70s horror aesthetic, part of me misses the more fun, kitschy approach to AMC's Monsterfest in years past, which will be surely be jettisoned in favor of an overly earnest, taking-itself-a-little-too-seriously approach from Mr. Zombie. Maybe it's a generational thing. 

And while some of the old Monsterfest standbys like The Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Hand, The Invisible Man, the original Fly and The Curse of Frankenstein will be shown, they will be sharing the bill with the likes of The House on Haunted Hill remake, Constantine and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. The one good thing that has come from the Monsterfest "update" of recent years is the inclusion of more modern classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street, An American Werewolf in London and Motel Hell, but even that perk is wrecked by the fact that AMC now shows its movies edited and with commercial interruption.

Personally, I'm waiting for Turner Classic Movies' Halloween marathon. Now if only they'd do a week-long event...

Gore Goes Mainstream: A History of Horror Movies, Part 7

It's ironic that the horror genre would be so quiet at the turn of the 21st century. Ironic, because in the years that followed--the final years of this seven-part history of horror--we have seen scary movies hold mainstream America fascinated to a degree greater than anything witnessed before, or at the very least since the heyday of Universal 75 years ago.

Whereas in the past, horror was treated as the forgotten stepchild of the movie biz, the sordid secret kept hidden away and relegated to midnight showings and niche subcultures, these days it's all around us, accepted like never before by a culture which has perhaps become too cynical and overexposed to real-life horrors to truly be shocked any longer. More on that later.

In recent years, the last true example of cinematic dread we've seen has been the surge of unnerving films that have come out of the Far East. In the Western world, the trend became to remake these films for American audiences, starting with The Ring in 2002. By far the most effective of the bunch, it was followed by the likes of The Grudge (2004), and more recently Shutter and The Eye.

Much of what became hip for the genre this decade has had to with a nostalgia for the films of a generation past. In part, this can be pointed to for the dramatic resurgence of the zombie subgenre--it can also be attributed to the success of videogames like Resident Evil. It was that game that kicked off the undead renaissance with a film adaptation in 2002. That same year saw the release of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, which introduced us to the concept of "fast-moving zombies."

It might not be an exaggeration to say that the past half-decade has seen more flesh-eater flicks than at any point previous. George Romero's Dawn of the Dead got a surprisingly high quality 2004 remake; Romero himself finally got to continue his saga with 2005's Land of the Dead; and Edgar Wright brought us the ingenious Shaun of the Dead (2004), the finest horror comedy this side of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.

The other face of this nostalgia was a throwback to the gritty, over-the-top exploitation horror of the 1970s. After more than a decade of restraining itself, Hollywood was starting to let its hair down again. The result is epitomized by the work of rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie, whose House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005) exemplify a return to the early work of Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven.

But the logical extension of this would turn out to be a development that has been troubling to some old-school fans, yet exhilirating to a whole new generation just now embracing the genre. It should be said that the major difference between the exploitation flicks of then and now is that now they enjoy the mainstream spotlight. Filmmakers who grew up on this form of entertainment have helped bring it to the fore like never before. And as a result, a natural evolutionary step has occurred.

In direct contrast to the previous decade, in which some of the most bloodless horror films of the modern era were released, the past few years have born witness to an almost unprecedented amount of gore. And this time, it's not hidden away in a rundown grindhouse theater, playing to an isolated subculture of aficionados, or relegated to a few racks in the back of your local video store. This time it's front and center, and right in everybody's face.

Although the first Saw film, released in 2004, was actually quite psychological and contained little graphic violence, it has become the most recognizable touchstone of what is now usually referred to as torture porn, a subgenre of horror that focuses on depicting bodily trauma in unflinching detail. In the later Saw pictures, and even moreso in a movie much more typical of the category, Eli Roth's Hostel (2005), some might even argue that the depiction of torture takes precedence over character and plot.

Never before have movies containing such images played to such a wide audience. They are a part of our pop culture in a way that their predecessors were not, at least in their own time. The reasons for this have been debated endlessly by social commentators both professional and amateur. Are we desensitized as a society? Or worse, have we grown to enjoy such macabre displays, like Romans at a gladiatorial event? Some have argued these points, while others simply say that horror filmmakers are only looking for new ways to disturb us, for new ground to cover.

If it is just all about exploring new territory, that's at least more admirable than the latest trend that has all but taken over the production of horror movies as we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century: remakes.

Too timid to try anything original, the majority of those willing to back horror flicks these days are looking to cash in on bankable properties; proven titles that are almost guaranteed to bring in a buck, if only on name recognition alone. The 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre kicked it off for all intents and purposes, and it has only grown more commonplace in the past five years. We've seen Zombie redo Halloween (2007), plus slavish rehashes of classics like House of Wax (2005), The Amityville Horror (2005), The Omen (2006), The Wicker Man (2006), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), When a Stranger Calls (2006), The Hitcher (2007) and many others, with decidedly mixed results.

In the year 2008, horror fans have a veritable legion of upcoming horror redo's to look forward to: Prom Night, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Rosemary's Baby, Hellraiser, Sleepaway Camp, etc., etc. Perhaps it's a commentary on the state of the genre that it seems to be torn between groping to depict more and more horrifying images, and endlessly trying to recreate that which worked in the past.

So where do we go from here? Maybe overseas, where films like the excellent [REC] threaten to steal away America's dominance of the genre. Or maybe the upcoming Wolf Man and the rebirth of Hammer Films signify a return of the classic monsters. Then again, it's most likely a heretofore unseen new development as unimaginable as the likes of Psycho or Night of the Living Dead would've been to pre-1960s audiences.

If it survives this latest cannibalistic phase, the horror film genre can survive anything, and it will almost certainly continue to thrive. From Count Orlock and Erik the Phantom, to Dracula and Frankenstein, to the Gill-Man and Norman Bates, to Leatherface and Jason, to Jigsaw and Captain Spaulding, the cinema of fear has firmly held our imagination in its icy clutches for a hundred years. Ironically, for as long as there exists real horror in this world, we'll always seek the escape of its morbid, yet safely unreal on-screen counterpart.

Other major releases:

• The Others (2000)
• Final Destination (2000)
• Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• Wrong Turn (2003)
• The Descent (2005)
• Silent Hill (2006)
• Fido (2007)
• Hatchet (2007)
• 28 Weeks Later (2007)
• Diary of the Dead (2008)

Part 1: The Silent Dead

Part 2: Gods & Monsters

Part 3: It Came from Hollywood

Part 4: The Times, They Are a-Changin'

Part 5: Blood and Guts

Part 6: From Post-Mortem to Postmodern

Werewolf Women of the S.S.: The Movie?

A post made by Rob Zombie on his blog yesterday has internet fanboys all a-tingle. You see, Zombie, that sly devil, posed the question, "How many of you would like to see a full length movie of Werewolf Women of the S.S.?" For those who didn't see it, Werewolf Women of the S.S. was the fake trailer that Zombie contributed to Grindhouse, along with other directors such as Eli Roth. Rumor has it that Sybill Danning, who appeared in the trailer, had also alluded to a possible feature film a few months ago. Could be interesting. Personally, I'm still holding out hope for Machete: The Movie...
Check out the original WWOTSS trailer below:

* 12/21 UPDATE * Rob Zombie has made an official comment to Bloody-Disgusting that he is "seriously considering" this project.