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Fred C. Dobbs
Director
Joined: 11 Mar 2004
Posts: 201
Location: New York
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 Posted: 01.27.2005 1:52 am Post subject: |
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Sin City
Untitled Dave Chappelle/Michel Gondry Project
The Science of Sleep
Land of the Dead
Batman Begins
The Devil's Rejects
A Scanner Darkly
King Kong
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Brothers Grimm
Aside from the two Gondry projects, this looks to be the year of horror/cult/sci-fi/comic book films.
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the night watchman
Studio Exec
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Dark, run-down shack by the graveyard.
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| Posted: 01.27.2005 2:27 am Post subject: |
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| Fred C. Dobbs wrote: | | A Scanner Darkly |
I didn't realize this was getting made. Something else to look forward to. 
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"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."
-David Cronenberg |
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Chain Smoker
Grip
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: 01.31.2005 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Memoirs of a Geisha, King Kong, and Land of the Dead. Zhang Ziyi (I think she's calling herself Ziyi Zhang now to be more American) is one of my favorite young actresses and although I wasn't a fan of Chicago, it'll be interesting to see where Rob Marshall will take her. Of course I can't wait to see Peter Jackson's follow-up film, so that's a no-brainer and I've always been a fan of the Dead series. I even thought Day of the Dead had a couple of interesting things to say. |
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Jim Harper
Director
Joined: 29 Feb 2004
Posts: 226
Location: Totnes, Devon, UK
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| Posted: 02.01.2005 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, here's what I'm looking forward to.
*The second Grudge movie and the third theatrical Ju-On. After that I may have to conclude that Shimizu needs to move on, especially since I've come to see Tomie: Rebirth as a decent film and Marebito has been getting good reviews.
*The J-Horror Theatre project. Six films, including one each from Hideo Nakata, Takashi Shimizu, Kiyoshi Kurosawa (yippee!), Norio Tsuruta (Ring 0), Masayuki Ochiai (Hypnosis) and Hiroshi Takahashi, writer of the Ring trilogy. Lions Gate has already secured the international rights to all six films.
*The Loft. Yet another horror movie from Kiyoshi Kurosawa!
*Scissorman. Toshiharu Ikeda (Evil Dead Trap) returns to psychothriller territory. Even if it isn't as gory or sleazy as his earlier work, I'm still immensely excited.
*Marronier. Supposedly the best Junji Ito adaptation since Uzumaki. Well, I'm impressed.
*The Ring 2. I can sense a pattern here now.
I'm sorry, I've only six months left to complete this work, so I have something of a Japanese horror fixation. |
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Chain Smoker
Grip
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: 02.01.2005 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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I, too, am very big into Japanese horror. Ringu was my favorite film of 1998. No, not my favorite horror movie of 1998. I mean MOVIE, man. So I'm also looking forward to these, but not particularly Ring 2, after the failure of the first both being a respectful remake and a good film on its own rights. I know Beltmann isn't a fan of this kind of film and I pity him. See? - - - >  Pity.  |
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the night watchman
Studio Exec
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Dark, run-down shack by the graveyard.
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| Posted: 02.01.2005 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Jim Harper wrote: |
The Loft. Yet another horror movie from Kiyoshi Kurosawa! |
Huzzah!
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."
-David Cronenberg |
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beltmann
Studio Exec
Joined: 26 Jun 2003
Posts: 2341
Location: West Bend, WI
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| Posted: 02.01.2005 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Chain Smoker wrote: | | I know Beltmann isn't a fan of this kind of film and I pity him. |
Theoretically I'm a big fan of this kind of atmospheric film... I'm just searching for good ones, films that need no qualification, films that can stand alone as worthy cinema without being considered part of "a kind."
What can I say? I found Ringu silly and therefore not scary and therefore not interesting--if the shocks don't pay off for you, what else is in the movie to latch onto? Whatever you thought of it as horror, at least Blair Witch was also about human behavior in times of crisis; the descent into paranoia, panic, fear and blame was completely recognizable. Perhaps I'm missing something--and if so, somebody please explain--but I just don't see any meat on Ringu. (And I'd be more than willing to overlook that if I had at least enjoyed the silliness.)
Eric
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the night watchman
Studio Exec
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Dark, run-down shack by the graveyard.
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| Posted: 02.01.2005 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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| beltmann wrote: | | Perhaps I'm missing something--and if so, somebody please explain--but I just don't see any meat on Ringu. (And I'd be more than willing to overlook that if I had at least enjoyed the silliness.) |
What parts did you think were silly? The plot? The supernatural conceits? The characterization? Dialogue? Acting?
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."
-David Cronenberg |
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juhsstin
Camera Operator
Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 87
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| Posted: 02.02.2005 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| beltmann wrote: | | What can I say? I found Ringu silly and therefore not scary and therefore not interesting--if the shocks don't pay off for you, what else is in the movie to latch onto? Eric |
the protagonist's beauty? 
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Jim Harper
Director
Joined: 29 Feb 2004
Posts: 226
Location: Totnes, Devon, UK
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| Posted: 02.02.2005 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| beltmann wrote: | | Perhaps I'm missing something--and if so, somebody please explain |
Y'know I've been thinking about this question for a while, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm not in a position to suggest what you might be missing because I'm not altogether sure what it is I'm seeing, if you catch my drift.
I'm beginning to suspect that Japanese horror, so a certain extent, could be built on the foundations of Noh theatre, a minimalist system of theatre whereby the minimum number of visual cues are provided, leaving the viewer to fill in the rest of the picture from his or her own imagination (not trying to sound patronizing there). If so, it would seem that whether you enjoy the film is entirely dependent on how you build up the rest of the picture, making it a more-than-usually subjective experience. Perhaps I'm enjoying the film because it's fleshed out with entirely what I want to see.
Or maybe they're just hideously overrated. I really haven't a clue. |
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the night watchman
Studio Exec
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Dark, run-down shack by the graveyard.
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| Posted: 02.03.2005 6:47 am Post subject: |
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Good call, Jim. I've always found it difficult to argue with people who claim that "nothing" happens in movies like Ringu or Cure, because, to a certain extent, they're right. However, these movies use specific images and scenarios that flip certain personal switches in one's head. Horror is very existential for me, and even though I don't believe in the supernatural--or, perhaps more correctly, because I don't believe in the supernatural--supernatural horror yanks my chain. I think it taps into a dread I have of losing control, perceptual certainty, and reason. The most unnerving aspect for me in Ringu is the idea being the focus of unyeilding, senseless hostility.
Of course, what works and what doesn't is probably wholly dependent on the presentation, and how the viewer reacts to, and what he makes of, the story's tropes and conceits. After all, one man's frisson is another man's incredulity.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."
-David Cronenberg |
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the night watchman
Studio Exec
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Dark, run-down shack by the graveyard.
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| Posted: 02.03.2005 8:08 am Post subject: |
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| Jim Harper wrote: | | I'm not in a position to suggest what you might be missing because I'm not altogether sure what it is I'm seeing. |
If I take your meaning, I'm reminded of the last scene in The Blair Witch Project, when Heather's camera captures the figure of Mike standing in the corner. The sense of dread that accompanies this otherwise innocuous sight, I think, is the result of disparate pieces of information that were previously scattered throughout the narrative finally coming into play in an incomplete or uncertain way, which forces the viewer to mentally pull together the figurative significance of the image with the literal one. Our comprehension of the whole picture, then, is bifurcated, and our imagination is sort of forced to bounce back and forth between these two rationally incompatible points. It's this hesitation, this cognitive "hick-up," I think, that provokes a sense of unease.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."
-David Cronenberg |
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Jim Harper
Director
Joined: 29 Feb 2004
Posts: 226
Location: Totnes, Devon, UK
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| Posted: 02.03.2005 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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| the night watchman wrote: | | The most unnerving aspect for me in Ringu is the idea being the focus of unyeilding, senseless hostility. |
I think that's the most striking aspect of the film for Japanese audiences too. The way I see it, the modern Japanese horror film is a partially inspired by a desire to understand the violence that is sweeping Japanese society. They very much feel that there is a rising tide of uncontrolled, motiveless and largely unstoppable anger and violence emerging in their society, which they previously held to be close to perfect because of the lack of violent behaviour. A film like Cure is a depiction of a society that simply doesn't understand where all this violence and hostility comes from. The police don't either, in both the film and reality. In one interpretation Ringu depicts people looking to tradition and the past to dispel the modern 'curse' (ie, they think a decent traditional burial is all that is required), only to find there is no rationale behind Sadako's behaviour, just an indiscriminate hatred.
If that makes any sense at all. |
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beltmann
Studio Exec
Joined: 26 Jun 2003
Posts: 2341
Location: West Bend, WI
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| Posted: 02.03.2005 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| the night watchman wrote: | | However, these movies use specific images and scenarios that flip certain personal switches in one's head. Horror is very existential for me, and even though I don't believe in the supernatural--or, perhaps more correctly, because I don't believe in the supernatural--supernatural horror yanks my chain. I think it taps into a dread I have of losing control, perceptual certainty, and reason. |
I completely understand both of your thoughts on this, and to a large extent completely agree--you've elucidated what it is that I respond to in my favorite horror pictures. Still, the sense of "unrelenting unease" doesn't happen for me when I watch Ringu. (I've seen it only twice, and found the second attempt an utter waste of time.) Is this because those particular images simply don't flip my personal switches? Maybe that's all there is to it--NW, we've previously discussed how supernatural horror doesn't usually click for me the way more "credible" horror does--but yet I would argue that my general interest in cinema would yield an appreciation, to some degree at least, for any work that not only taps into recognizable fears but also takes skillful advantage of them. For example, Ju-On certainly achieves some startling imagery and some good jolts, but in the end I don't think they are at the service of a memorable vision; my hesitations are mostly on cinematic grounds, I think. I dunno. What I'm really saying is that I wish I liked these films more. And I'm sure that Memento Mori isn't the only quality one; no doubt I've missed a few that would indeed trigger my personal switches.
Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment |
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Jim Harper
Director
Joined: 29 Feb 2004
Posts: 226
Location: Totnes, Devon, UK
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| Posted: 02.03.2005 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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| beltmann wrote: | | And I'm sure that Memento Mori isn't the only quality one |
I'd be interested to see what you thought of Kokkuri. It's unlikely to receive an international release any time soon, but if you're picking up any cheap Hong Kong VCDs in the near future check it out. It mixes horror elements and adolescent fears into a surprisingly effective film. |
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