Wesley Snipes is back in a previously unreleased project still killing the undead in the form of Gallowwalkers every film should have an audience to watch it, and now finally in 2012 it’s Gallowwalkers turn. It was really good to see Wesley Snipes back on the big screen where he belongs in this Spaghetti Western, Cowboy, Zombie horror film. I was lucky enough to attend a pre screening before its world premiere screening at Fright Fest.
The plot is slightly confusing at times and revolves around Aman (Wesley Snipes) who has a curse brought upon him after his mother breaks her covenant with God to insure his survival, the only problem is that while Aman is saved all those that have died at his hand previously are also back from the dead as Gallowalkers and they are after not only vengeance but also his blood, can he kill them again? Realising he may not be able to take them on his own he enlists the help of fearless Fabulos (Riley Smith) together they track down the men who killed the only woman Aman ever loved the reason for his vengeance and the one that started it all.
The film has some really good one liners “I blew you a kiss and you blew me away” being a particular favourite of mine. Wesley Snipes lines were few and far between but this just gave them even more impact hen he did deliver them. I really enjoyed the musical score which seemed particularly fitting to the film. The films tagline: Live by the gun. Die by the gun. Come back for more… Come back for more they did.
Gallowwalkers was a surreal slightly confusing, gun slinging, rock slinging, blood, guts and guns and of course the walking dead. Wesley Snipes is scheduled for a July 2013 release from prison due to tax evasion charges.
Gallowwalkers was his last project previously unreleased until now!
Excision tells the story of Pauline, an awkward teenage outcast with delusional aspirations towards a career as a surgeon, who watches her sister, Grace, battle cystic fibrosis. Isolated from her peers and loathed by her domineering Mother, Pauline straddles a disturbing line of reality and fantasy in the hope that she can perform the potentially life saving surgery on her sister in an attempt to mend her waning relationship with her family.
Excision is Richard Bates Jr’s directorial debut adapted from his highly praised short film of the same name.
What prompted the idea for the the film and how did it evolve?
I have been in love with Horror films ever since I discovered an unmarked VHS tape of Hellraiser in my parent’s basement as a little kid. Before that, I used to get these horrible nightmares. I would literally wake my parents up at night and ask them to take me to the hospital to make them go away. But, when I discovered horror movies it was different. I could watch them over again, acclimate myself to the nightmarish realities they presented and confront my fears head on. I stopped having nightmares and, for the first time, discovered the transformative power of film.
As far as Excision is concerned, I wanted to make a film that would have had a profound impact on me had I seen it as a teenager. In a lot of ways it’s a film I wish I’d made in high school but didn’t have the guts to.
Excision is a feature length version of a short I made [in] my undergraduate year at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, which went on to win 24 awards and screen at nearly 50 festivals worldwide. Despite the success of the short, the feature script was passed on by every studio in LA considerate enough to give it the time of day. The financiers of the feature length version are the best group of friends in the world, a bunch of kids from Virginia and New York who their savings on the line to give me a shot of realising my dream.
How did you end up choosing the cast?
The first person I cast was Traci Lords (who plays Pauline’s prim and proper mother, Phyllis). She’s smart, doesn’t bullshit and is an extremely gifted actress. She deserves to be offered better roles in Hollywood. At the end of the day, she was willing to take a chance on me and I was willing to take a chance on her. It paid off.
I will never forget the first time I met AnnaLynne McCord (Pauline). It took about a minute for every preconceived notion I’d had about her to go flying out the window. She was thoughtful, passionate, had a deep understanding of human nature and cursed like a sailor. I instantly liked her. When I asked her about the prospect of shaving her head for the part, she removed the steak knife from the table and took it to her hair. She had something to prove. We all did. And just wait till you see her in this movie. She’s going to blow your mind.
Roger Bart (Pauline’s relaxed and well spoken Father, Bob) is an absolute genius. The guy can deliver a line 100 different ways. I know he’s won a Tony award but I’m partial to his performance in Hostel 2.
Then there’s Ariel Winter (Pauline’s sister, Grace), [who is] not only one of the most talented young actresses in out there, but certainly one of the most well adjusted. She and her incredibly cool mother responded to the script and we hit it off. They’re from Virginia too, so we had that connection as well.
The rest of the cast is an amazing collection of favourite performers of mine, from rising stars to all-time greats. Not least of which is John Waters, my childhood hero. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I’d have an opportunity to meet him in person, much less direct him in a film. To get his stamp of approval and have him participate in the movie is the greatest honour of my life.
Roger Bart, AnnaLynne McCord & Traci Lords
What surprised you most about making the film?
The support from the cast and crew was amazing. This was by no means an easy shoot but we all became one big, dysfunctional family. New friends from LA pitched in and friends from literally all over the world flew to town to see this thing through. My entire living room, to this day, is cluttered with bunk beds and futons. We essentially converted the place into a youth hostel for film makers.
When I first moved to LA, I worked as a production assistant for Yvonne Valdez, Steve Ansell and Mark Goldblatt, three of the smartest most talented people in the world. They’re like serious Hollywood editors, you know? We all shared a mutual love of horror films and when I wasn’t getting them coffee we’d trade various DVDs from our collections and hang out. Well, when the time came for me to make my first movie they offered to edit it and it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. You don’t hear too many stories about people doing stuff like that for you out here. They are amazing editors, human beings, and drinkers.
And last but not least, Dylan Hale Lewis, the producer who saved the movie. Dylan’s a friend of mine from college who literally learned to produce overnight in order to get this movie to the finish line. Most people in his shoes would have buckled under the pressure. He has such a great mind for business it almost makes up for his sense of humour.
The amazing support and strength we all for from each other on this movie was the biggest, best surprise of them all.
One of Pauline’s deluded sequences of graphic fantasy.
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
Sure, there were production delays and money issues and arguments here and there. That’s par for the course. In the end, I think those challenges forced us all to think a little more creatively about the process and ultimately resulted in us delivering a more interesting product.
The biggest challenge that I faced was the fear of letting my friends down and not delivering the kind of movie they believed I was capable of. But that fear drove me to work my ass off, not make compromises and really push myself harder than I’ve ever had to.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?
As a child growing up in the suburbs of Virginia, films not only acted as a gateway to the outside world but as an outlet for a lot of teenage angst. Without access to so many unique and provocative films by talented film makers from the world, I would have felt very alone with my own thoughts. My hopes are that the themes resonate and that teenagers respond to the characters, and ultimately feel more comfortable in their own skin. While some of Pauline’s actions are appalling and reprehensible, at its core, the film is about family and the inseparable bond between parent and child.
Excision is released in selected cinemas on the 2nd of November and on DVD and Blu-Ray ten days later on the 12th.
Why not get your adrenaline pumping and get your scare on. I am first to admit I like a good horror film around this time of the year and Sinister did not disappoint. Enjoy if that’s the right word!
The story revolves around Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) a true crime writer who lets be honest has only had one hit ‘Kentucky Blood’ hoping to relive some of the success of his first book he moves his family not only to the town where a gruesome murder took place but also to the very house the murder occurred (technically it was outside in the garden but still). This may have been his first mistake is a best selling book really worth dying for?
After the family have settled in the new house (as settled as they can be where a murder occurred) cue the start of all things weird and unnerving. While putting away some moving boxes Ellison stumbles upon a box marked ‘family movies’ left in the attic, a box that isn’t in any crime scene photos he has looked at, how did it get there and who put it there? If alarm bells are not ringing already they really should be. The so called ‘family movies’ are actually footage of not only the family who were originally murdered and found hanging outside in a tree, but also of footage dating back as early as the 60’s of other families. With labels like ‘pool party’ and ‘family barbecue’ I will let your imagination run with what’s in store!
Ellison starts to question how long this has been going as he starts his own investigation into the murders thinking he can create on hell of a book and as he descends deeper into the lives of the murdered families his own may now be in danger. The camera techniques and musical score were unnerving a slow burner and truly chilling film I was often lulled into a false sense of security one minute and then jumping out of my seat the next a film with shocks that creep up when you least expect them, watch out for the lawn mower…
A truly scary horror with a storyline revolving around the occult symbols that appear at each scene of a Pagan deity named Bughuul also known as the eater of children and it just so happens one child from each murder was never found. On further inspection on the ‘home videos’ Ellison discovers they have even more in common that he first though as he discovers each video has the strange occult symbols and a demonic face has he gone to far to save his own family. Ethan Hawke was particularly well received in the film and was believable as a crime writer / part time drunk. The chemistry between his character Ellison and his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) was was somewhat lacking at times, and of course he has two slightly creepy kids of his own, because who doesn’t love creepy kids right?
Lessons learnt from Sinister
1) Never live in a house a murder has occurred
2) Under no circumstances do you pick up a box marked ‘home movies’
3) Do not watch said box of ‘home movies’
4) Get the hell out of that house while you can…
A film that begs the question can you survive Sinister?
Over the past decade the “found-footage” sub-genre has become a staple of horror cinema. Sure it dates back many a year to films like Cannibal Holocaust but since The Blair Witch Project in ’99 it has been used by both independents and big-shiny-studios as a cost effective way of spooking audiences. Sometimes the results have been special ([Rec], Paranormal Activity), sometimes they’ve been piss poor (Paranormal Activity, *slight retch* Diary of the Dead). Director Fernando Barreda Luna is the latest filmmaker to attempt to scare us with a budget of £18.50.
The footage is presented as a found-footage purchased by a horror production company and cut into a film. Perhaps a comment on the horror industries lust for more cheap-and-ready found footage projects or simply a different way of presenting the footage, either way it’s a strange wink to the audience. Our intrepid camera persons on this voyage of terror are Cristian and July, two teenagers off on vacation with their parents to the mother’s old home. Hearing tales about a ghost that lurks in the surrounding forest they decide to try and document the spectre and become internet ghost hunting sensations.
As the family arrive at the seemingly grand estate house things begin pleasant enough. The parents roll their eyes at their children’s shenanigans, the house seems a bit run down, a friend comes to visit. But what’s this? The friend get’s all dark and tells the story of the girl in the woods. The mother starts getting tense about not going into the woods, even during the day. Especially do not let the dog out. What’s the dog barking at in the over-night camera recording. As unexplained events begin to creep in things get steadily worse and more horrific for the filmmakers as they are dragged, threatened and hunted by this “supernatural” being. Luckily for us it’s all on tape.
Whilst there’s nothing inherently bad about Atrocious, there’s also not enough going on to really sing it’s praises. It is an incredibly simple film. Simple in premise and execution. I’m not saying that that is always a bad thing. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. But there is nothing to Atrocious that we have not seen before. I’m sorry to make such a lazy comparison but there is nothing here that The Blair Witch did not show us – more effectively over a decade ago. The film does have a couple of creepy chills to it. But these scares come from fundamental things like screams in the dark and unearthly noises that tend to unease most people.
The two leads Cristian Valencia and Clara Moraleda make for spirited heroes, they present a believable brother/sister bond and I did find myself caring about what happened to them. The film did also leave me to wander whether they will make it or not, only within the final twenty minutes did I start to see exactly where the conclusion was heading. It is something of a twist. I apologise to anyone who hates to know if there is “a twist”.
There was one glaring plot point though that could not escape my mind the entire way through the film. Something so blindingly obvious and ridiculous it almost renders the film as pointless. The house the family stay in was the mother’s childhood home. She knows the stories of the ghost and believes it. She also believes it is a murderous ghost. The parents spend all their time warning the children not to go into the woods by day or night, always keep an eye on the dog etc. There is palpable fear of these ghostly ghoul. And these people have come here for a quiet holiday away! What the fuck is wrong with these people? It’s like going for a quiet afternoon read in a lion enclosure and spending the whole time pissing yourself with fear that the lion might eat your head off.
It’s a plot hole that I could not get around. Whilst the ending makes a little more sense of it, it’s not enough to transform the films logic. Like I said Atrocious is not necessarily a bad film, it’s competently made in most areas and has a few creeps here and there. But in the pantheon of “found-footage” horror it will likely sit with the Diary of the Dead’s in the forgotten squad. More originality in plotting and execution is essentially what the film needs.
The horror genre has been a staple of cinema since the early inception of moving images. Murnau’s Nosferatu is quite a chilling tale (albeit completely ripped off the pages from Bram Stoker) and actually still stands up as a good example of how to scare the bejeebers out of an audience. Max Schrek as the awkwardly hunched and pointed tooth Orlok is still seen as an icon of horror despite the fact the film is 87 years old and has a soundtrack of an early twentieth century comedy ivory tickler. It’s quite a testament that the genre itself has lasted so long and that fact is solely down to the audience. Where better to spend a Friday night than on a date at the local Cineworld and having your other half dive into your midriff as a hockey masked mammoth of a man emerges from the bushes at Camp Crystal Lake? It’s a perfect scenario for young couples everywhere and has been the go to for first date frolicking since the 50s. Consistency in Horror has been present for as long as I can remember but recent memory suggests the genre is losing its grip, particularly in the west where originality has been discarded for the need to make a quick buck with remakes littering the movie calendar. It’s such a crying shame that with the dawn of the 21st Century, true Horror began its decline and started to stay firmly in the shadows failing to scare a single soul. Once the genre to explore for all things twisted and down right scary, the modern representation of the genre has a mighty whiff of deja vu as old characters and settings are regurgitated for a modern day, more mainstream audience. Where did it start to go wrong? Why is the current crop absolute rubbish? Looking at the past, and its influence on the present representation of horror films, it’s fairly easy to cite the current problems with the genre itself. To expose the talent less movie school graduates *cough* Eli Roth *cough*, pin point when the genre died and reflect on the good old days of the old school and why we (used to) love all things Horror.
A fundamental part of such movies has been the ability to create memorable villainous icons. An army of creatures who scare the crap out of everyone yet have the creativity, look and originality to consistently do it for years. From the black and white era of Dracula, The Wolfman, The Creature From The Black Lagoon andFrankenstein through to the golden age of horror, characters like Pinhead, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers and my particular favourite Freddy Krueger, all still stand strong as true icons of horror and maintain the ability to give one a severe case of the heeby jeebys despite their tangle with age. With regards to the integrity of the films themselves, there’s no doubt the quality was a little on the poor side but this is where most of the charm came from. The cheap looking nature of each made the fear real, it somehow made Krueger believable, it made the zombies in Evil Dead that little more startling and above all, it made the films appeal to a teenage audience craving to see the ingenious ways film makers picked off each victim. Take the Nightmare series for example, the films themselves dropped drastically in quality as they were really poor from Nightmare On Elm Street Part 3 onwards but the way Krueger murdered his victims went from the surreal to the downright nasty as each movie passed and as a result, he was both adored and feared in equal measure. In many ways a character can out grow the movie they came from. In Freddy’s case, they sold a plastic razor glove in Toys R Us, there were Halloween costumes to fit children and Freddy Krueger is credited to have laid the foundations for New Line Cinema, a now titan in film distribution.
This I see is the main difference from the genre nowadays. In what film do we see a true icon of cinema get so popular, they produce their own paraphernalia at a shocking rate? The only villain who comes close is the Jigsaw from the Saw series, but he overstayed his welcome after the distinctly average Saw 2. Even the heroes fail to stay in the mind; the genre fails to even create heroic icons. No one comes close to being Ash from the Evil Dead series, nor Ellen Ripley from Alien (I’m only countingAlien as this was the only Horror film in the franchise). The need to produce such iconic roles seems completely lost. Since the turn of the Millennium, the focus has heavily shifted on producing chilling tales directly imported from the east. Since far eastern films have become more accessible as time has worn on, western studios have felt the need to replicate what the east does so well; Psychological scares where the only enemy is the mind. The only problem I see with this is America cannot do this to great effect. There is something naturally chilling with far eastern Asian cinema which translates perfectly into these types of film. The tradition of Slow-Burn drama in the East, makes psychological horror work much better because of the way the eastern industry itself is. Ringu for example is a superbly dark, simple yet original film which scared the absolute crap out of me. The American remake however, felt the need to coat it in a Hollywood gloss that the industry has held for years.
Maybe this is why the genre has seemingly died a death (in the West at least) in recent memory. The reason Horror of the 30s and 40s worked is because it was new, the reason it worked in the 70s and 80s is because the film makers like Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and John Carpenter had raw talent and went against the grain, their work was their work and no one else’s. As the genre became more popular, the industry took notice. Over time, more and more money has been pushed in the direction of Horror taking away the raw feeling of realism in the process. As the gloss got heavier, the scares faded thus began the down turn of truly original horror films. As the ideas dried up, they turned to remakes prominently from the East and more recently, the past. The 70s and 80s were the undoubted pinnacle of American Horror films; The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Hills Have Eyes(1977), Halloween (1979), Alien (1979), The Shining (1980), Friday The 13th(1980), Evil Dead (1981), The Thing (1982), Fright Night (1985), Near Dark (1987) and Hellraiser (1987) (to name but a few) all reached the upper echelons of unadulterated pant wetting whilst each maintaining a different approach in how to achieve adequate fodder for nightmares. 5 of the aforementioned have been recently remade, or have a remake in the pipeline. While not exactly poor films, the recentFriday The 13th remake for example was fantastic, it does beg the question where have all the new ideas gone? Where is the next incarnation of a grotesque villain ready to slice and dice and strike fear into the current generation? Instead, studios revert back to the characters that scared the last generation in the hope newer technology and a different director will make it different.
There is the odd original film being released here and there but the fact they fail to be scary or even good narratively says a lot about the need for remakes. The current craze of “Gorno” flicks such as the aforementioned Saw franchise and Eli Roth’s truly abysmal Hostel series, are about as good as they get with what America has to offer in terms of new ideas. Eli Roth is a simple skid mark amongst a sea of over the top film makers who see breasts and blood the answer to fill the gaping hole in terror film making. I hope I’m not the only one who sees Roth’s efforts as a piss poor attempt to reinvent a failing genre. Rather than evolving and maintaining the flat out fear of the 40s, original charm of the 70s and 80s and expressing such with modern themes, Roth simply takes ways of murdering/torturing someone in increasingly sickening ways and films an hour and a half of it with brief shallow minded titillation in between. Rather than spending money to develop narrative, he spent his entire budget on blood packs and prosthetic limbs. This is not creative film making, it’s making the snuff film a money maker and quite frankly it has to stop for fear of destroying the genre forever. Of course old slasher films had their fair share of gore, Evil Dead had an absolute bucket load, but the bloodshed was surrounded with superb tales of demonic mythology, religious symbolism held together with a fine array of creative characters.
From Saw 2 onwards, Creep and all of Eli Roth’s “films”, any element of creativity is null and void being lost in a sea of crimson and human organs. To find a recent flick which is both scary and original, we have to look to Mexico at the truly superb El Orfanato. While more psychological thriller than flat out horror flick, it feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s emotive, it looks superb and most importantly, it’s a genuine fright-fest. Was it embraced at the box office? Not really. It made a mere £1 million in the UK and only $7 million in the US whilst Hostel grossed $47 million in the US alone. As a result, the film going public must take the brunt of the blame for leaving inventive tales failing in the shadow of over publicised torture porn. However there is a little glimmer of hope on the horizon in terms of the American market. Last year The Strangers attempted to be original while appealing to the current lust for all things gore. It did embrace the trend of using flat out violence but deserves a lot of credit for surrounding such with vulnerable characters in a vulnerable setting typical of A-List Horror films, for example Evil Dead and Halloween.
While not a perfect film by any stretch, The Strangers went on to make $52 million in the States suggesting audiences still want movies that throwback to the old school while keeping an air of originality. This year’s Horror contribution has been incredibly halfhearted, The Haunting In Connecticut, My Bloody Valentine 3D, The Unbornand the recently released The Uninvited have all had a crack but acrimoniously failed to impress. It is true that the genre has never really been revered as much as the drama genre say, but Evil Dead, The Exorcist, The Shining, Alien, Friday The 13th, Fright Night and Hellraiser have all had a lasting impact on the genre itself. Whilst never applauded by critics (with the possible exceptions of Alien, The Shiningand The Exorcist) the cult following for horror in the 70s and 80s was massive and still continues to spill into the 21st century. The charm of horror is purely in its raw looking nature and seems to only be in existence in the films from yesteryear. Is there anyone out there who fancies themselves as the next Wes Craven? Turning nightmares into screenplays and producing a film capable of maintaining the charm, raw vulnerability and frequent scares from the 70s and 80s? While you wait, instead of putting your money into the pockets of a talent less director whose surname rhymes with Sloth, blow the dust off your old VHS player, get down to Blockbuster and rent a collection of old school horror films that manage to do it right.
