From bat shit crazy Japanese film makers to classic Bob Hope Horror comedy, It’s Staurday and Bradley Hadcroft is here with his latest horror round up…
-Tag
Shion Sono is a director who is as veraciously prolific as he his bat-shit-bonkers.He is responsible for a vast majority of the most striking cinematic images of the last decade.
One of his latest films Tag has just taken the mammoth 23 day long Fantasia International Film Festival by storm winning the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film with the Award for Best Actress going to the films leading lady Reina Triendl(Ju-on: Owari no hajimar).
Sono also bagged the gold Audience Award for Best Asian Feature for another of his current works LOVE & PEACE.(See – prolific)
News also came out of the festival that he had once again excelled in another trademark of his and that is the over the top mega kill.According to Twitch a special mention was also given to Tag for :
” Its creative, surprising, and monumental opening kill sequence.”
It seems Sono has once again returned to the messy business of killing huge swathes of school children by way of public transport something he first dabbled in during the inherently insane Suicide Club, the NSFW brutality of which can be witnessed below :
Here is the international trailer for Tag :
– The Dark Tower
You have just 519 days in which to read or re-read the incredible Dark Tower heptalogy by Steven king before the immense project becomes a reality.
As revealed by The Wrap this week Sony rather casually dropped the news that :
“The Dark Tower will bow on Jan. 13, 2017.”
Start now…they are after all pretty hefty tomes and it will be all any one will be talking about.
– Gutterdämmerung
This supernatural western had it’s cast boosted this week by non other than the incomparable Lemmy Kilmister.The self proclaimed “loudest silent movie on Earth” is concerned with “A punk angel who is sent to earth to test humanity and set the world on fire” and who doesn’t want a healthy slice of that.
According to A.V.Club a press release stated that:
“Lemmy will be playing “a crazed general” who is in charge of the “Armour Cavalry.”
It is not known as yet if Lemmy’s mole has a separate role.
Also reported on A.V.Club is the news that:
“Gutterdämmerung will begin touring with a live band and narrator—it’s a silent movie, after all—later this year and into next year.”
Meanwhile Lemmy himself had this to say on the projects Facebook page :
Keep your eyes peeled for an imminent trailer.
– 50 Must See Horror Films of the 21st Century So Far
Sating the Internets obsession for lists this week Film 4 released this argument fuel into the wild.It’s not a terrible list by any means and you could do worse than use it as a kind of check list.However what is painfully obvious is that Martyrs is ridiculously placed and Trouble Every Day bizarrely ignored.
– Trailer Watch
– Cherry Tree
Here is the first trailer for the new horror film Cherry Tree ahead of it’s prestigious opening slot at this years Film4 Frightfest.It looks intense, frightening and above all classy.
Here is the festival write up :
“Faith’s world is turned upside down when she finds out her father is dying. When the mysteriously alluring Sissy Young becomes her field hockey coach, Faith finds a compassionate spirit and much-needed mother figure. Little does she know that Sissy is the head of a centuries-old witches’ coven using the fruit of an ancient cherry tree in a secret ritual that restores life. And soon Sissy has enticed Faith into making a fateful bargain that is about to change everything… From David Keating, the director of the critically acclaimed neo Hammer horror WAKE WOOD, comes another blood-freezing rural nightmare.”
– The Wicked Within
The trailer for this Gothic horror tale dropped this week though the project seems to have been hanging around for ever.Both the long stint on the shelf and the presence of one man film industry Eric Roberts(Cowboys vs Dinosaurs) are good signs that it may well be time to lower the expectations flag.However it does look like it could be a fun watch from the campy promo.
If the IMDB is to be believed it appears that Roberts has as an arsenal of 40 films ready to inflict on the public between now and early 2017 – that equates to a mind melting 1 film every 2 weeks !!!! My money is on his role as ‘Mall Santa’ in Santa’s Boot Camp to be the one that lights the blue touch paper to stardom.
Mean while here is the official synopsis of The Wicked Within:
“When a little girl dies, her family gathers to mourn the loss. Yet the pain is not forgotten and a vengeful demon spirit takes possession of a vulnerable family member tearing at the ties that bind them all together. One by one, it forces each family member to confess to his or her buried lies and face the morbid consequences of their sins…
– The Last Witch Hunter
A new trailer for the latest Vin Diesel Action vehicle arrived online this week in all it’s epic grandeur. It has Michael Caine(Jaws:The Revenge) in it and it’s not like he has ever appeared in a duff film is it ?It is however directed by Breck Eisner who responsible for the excellent The Crazies remake so maybe every thing wont go to hell in a CGI handcart after all.
– DVD Release of the week
This column reaches new levels of eclecticism this week as Some Like It Hot mega-star Bob Hope makes an unlikely appearance courtesy of horror comedy The Cat and the Canary(1939).
The film illustrates the point that reboots are far from a new phenomenon.Though it could not possibly have been called that at the time, as it would be another 42 years before the word even existed,it was indeed a reboot of an even earlier version from way back in 1927 from the great Paul Leni (Waxworks) just 2 years before he died.
The movie was directed by the extremely colourful alcoholic play write Elliott Nugent.Ravaged by manic depression he would keep himself absurdly busy.According to his autobiography he once “watched in full make-up the opening act of a play he was producing, then cut across the alley and took his first entrance in another play he was performing in“.He became hospitalised after checking himself into four different hotels under four different names in just one day.
Despite the directors issues The Cat and the Canary is actually a solid and definitive haunted house picture.The atmosphere is heavy with menace and the lighting and music show both subtlety and creativity.Hope is as you would expect brilliant as he wisecracks his way through the mysterious happenings.This would not be the last time he dabbled in horror as he followed it up with The Ghost Breakers in 1940 seeing him investigate a haunted castle.
This is a great chance to travel back in time to see how good writing used to be the keystone of cinema and studios used to leave it at least 12 years between reboots.You can buy it for under a tenner here.
Bradley Hadcroft
