COCKNEYS VS. ZOMBIES

COCKNEYS VS. ZOMBIES

     About a month ago I was sent a short trailer for Cockneys Vs. Zombies that celebrated the Olympics in a fun way for horror fans. Well this week I got another email that said that the opening credits is available to watch as well now and it looks just as fun!

      In celebration of the release of Cockneys Vs. Zombies this Friday across the UK we are pleased to make available the opening credits sequence created by Gianluca Fallone (www.gianlucafallone.com)

     

Synopsis:

A bunch of east-enders fight their way out of a zombie-infested London, led by an unlikely gang of amateur banks robbers and foul-mouthed plucky pensioners .

Starring Michelle Ryan, Honor Blackman and Harry Treadaway.  

The undead are brown bread. In cinemas August 31st 2012.  Pick as side : FB https://www.facebook.com/CockneysVsZombies // Twitter http://twitter.com/CvrsZ

THE KILLING GAMES PRESS RELEASE

THE KILLING GAMES PRESS RELEASE

     I got an email today about Barry J. Gillis' The Killing Games and thought I'd pass it along to all of you that read my blog. The film looks interesting and has a kinda Edward Lee vibe to it. It's looks very interesting.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday August 27th, 2012
Exosphere Motion Pictures
Edmonton, Alberta
http://www.THEKILLINGGAMES.com/
exospheremotionpictures@yahoo.com
BANNED IN EDMONTON, “THE KILLING GAMES” GETS WORLD
PREMIERE AT THE CALGARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FEST.

The Calgary International Film Festival has said that THE KILLING GAMES will make
it's World Premiere on Saturday September 22nd as a part of the Late Show Series. “We
are just ecstatic that Calgary has accepted the movie to Premiere at their festival,” States
director Barry J. Gillis.

Bruce Fletcher who is a programmer with The Calgary International Film Festival told
Gillis that he watched the movie twice, and found the movie to be very entertaining.
Gillis continues, “We're so happy that Bruce, Brenda Lieberman and The Calgary
International Film Festival were brave enough to take a chance on THE KILLING
GAMES, especially after the movie was turned down in Edmonton.”

In May, Gillis was told that his feature film THE KILLING GAMES was “too violent
for The Edmonton International Film Festival.” Gillis was shocked by the decision,
mainly because he resides in Edmonton.

“Yes, I was shocked,” laments Gillis, “but that's all in the past now. We're heading South
down to the great city of Calgary where Oscar-nominated Canadian director Deepa
Mehta's film MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN,” is going to open the Calgary International
Film Festival. Brandon Cronenberg's movie ANTIVIRAL will also be playing in the
Late Show Series, and we couldn't dream of being apart of anything bigger and better
than that.”

The Calgary International Film Festival is world renowned for their hospitality and the
way that they treat filmmakers and film fans alike. “Calgary gets upwards of 50,000 fans
attending their festival. Tourists, fans, great films, and the best parties... I mean, this is
huge for us Gillis says with a grin.

Calgary and Edmonton have been rival cities for many years. “Yes, the two cities have
been at it for what seems like forever” says Gillis with a laugh, “however, Calgary is not
just going to accept a movie because Edmonton turned it down. I mean, THE KILLING
GAMES is entertaining as hell, just ask Jason Eisener who directed HOBO WITH A
SHOTGUN starring Rutger Hauer.

THE KILLING GAMES is a disturbing feature film about a man who's wife is dying of
a mysterious illness. The man contemplates taking the law into his own hands, after his
daughter witnesses a double homicide and narrowly escapes the grasp of two serial
THE KILLING GAMES was shot in Wabuman, Lac St. Anne, Alberta Beach and
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It stars Donald A. Morin, leading actor of the acclaimed
French Canadian feature film Windigo. It also stars Denmark's Kim Sonderholm, who
has been involved in over 100 movies, including his latest outing entitled “LITTLE BIG
BOY.” Calgary actor Ace Hanna also stars in the movie as the troubled Dr. Winters.

The Calgary International Film Festival is in it's 13th great year. This years festival runs
from August 20th to August 30th and is guaranteed to be the best film festival that the city
of Calgary, and province of Alberta has ever witnessed.

BUSY WEEK

BUSY WEEK

     For all those that read my blog, I just have to apologize for not having any new content this week.

     The reason for this is due to work got busy and I'm working more hours because of it. I'll be back with more next week.

     For those directors and producers that sent me stuff, I'll be able to get to it next week and sorry for the wait.

     

CALLER OF BLACK

CALLER OF BLACK

As most of you have probably noticed I didn't post very much this week.

Well the reason for this is because I was finishing songs that me and two of my friends have been working on.

Those songs are now up and those that want to can either stream them or download them for free. Your choice!

That's right.

FREE MUSIC!

Just click the link below and enjoy.

CALLER OF BLACK

If any producer or director or film creator wants to use  these songs you can get in touch with me at

ghostwound1@gmail.com

Thanks everyone,

Jason!

BLOOD FARE

   
     Some of you who read this blog might remember last year I posted about this film, and some of the denizens online have even been referring to the film as "that Skeletor film". Well it looks like the film is about to be released very soon. Below is a recent press release I got from producer Christian Koch about the film.

     We are proud to announce the world premiere of female action filmmaker J.A. Steel's fourth feature film “Blood Fare” for the Dragon*Con 2012 in Atlanta, GA. As part of the official Dragon*Con 2012 programming the screening is scheduled for Friday, August 31st at 8:30pm at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Hanover CDE. A live Q&A with “Blood Fare” star Gil Gerard, internationally recognized for his lead role as Captain William ‘Buck’ Rogers in the science fiction movie and television series “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” and director J.A. Steel will follow the screening.

      “Blood Fare” is a Civil War ghost story with a modern twist, by J.A. Steel and Co-Producer Christian K. Koch.  It is the tale of Corporal Henry Trout (S. Edward Meek - “Wild Stallion”), who in 1861 fought valiantly in a forgotten skirmish after the first battle of Bull Run.  150 years later, he will come face to face with his descendants as the battle for blood continues on a haunted battlefield.  Tyler (Brandi Lynn Anderson from the upcoming Syfy original series “ZEROS”) and her brother Chad (Adrian West), Henry's fifth generation grandchildren, will challenge the very legend of Charon the Ferryman, as the lines between the living and the dead become blurred.

      Gerard plays the character of Professor Meade, mentor to the protagonist Tyler, in “Blood Fare”.  Gerard was recently seen in the Syfy original movie “Ghost Town”.  International action star, Kim Sonderholm, most recently seen in the newly released “Little Big Boy,” appears alongside Gerard as Professor Malick.

      In addition to Gerard and Sonderholm, several other amazingly talented actresses and actors have joined the “Blood Fare” cast, including Michelle Wolff (“NCIS”, “Chicago Hope”, “ER”, and “Providence”), Savannah Ostler (“Vengeance”), Bridget McManus (“Wanted”), Scott Beringer (“Ocean’s Eleven” and “21”), Brenden Whitney, Alison Trouse, Thomas J. Post, Antonio Lexerot and April Knight.  Marcus Intheam, Salt Lake City star radio DJ and “The Real L Word Live Lounge” host Natalie M. Garcia add live broadcast talent.

      Chris Hanson, one of the most recognized special makeup effects artists of Hollywood, joined the crew of “Blood Fare” as Special Makeup Effects Supervisor.  He demonstrated his unique creativity in “Hellboy”, “Underworld”, “Men in Black”, “Men in Black 2”, “The Green Mile”, “The X-Files”, “The Faculty”, “Spawn” and many other productions.

      Steel rounds out her crew with Director of Photography Michael B. Call (“127 Hours”), Co-Producer Christian K. Koch, who has worked with Steel on her first 3 films, and Executive Producer Jessica M. Bair.

      The up-and-coming colorist, Jeff Pantaleo, completed the digital coloring of “Blood Fare” on the newly developed Scratch workflow at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging (MPI).

      Mastered by Universal Music Mastering's Grammy winning Erick Labson the first song of the “Blood fare” soundtrack has been released on iTunes: The River Mountain Band with "Lay Down Your Trouble" - Lyrics J.A. Steel - Music J.A. Steel & Caleb S. Gray - Piano Arrangement Amanda Lee Bowman.

      “Blood Fare” is a green, sustainable film production, and Eco/Sustainable Production Executive Micheline Birkhead was on set to ensure the project meets green certification requirements.

Official Website incl. trailer - http://bloodfare.
warriorentertainment.com
Twitter (140,000 followers) - https://twitter.
com/BLOODFAREmovie
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/
pages/BLOODFAREmovie/159681397380430
IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/
title/tt1730189/

E TU VIVRAI NEL TERRORE - L'ALDILA

E TU VIVRAI NEL TERRORE - L'ALDILA (THE BEYOND, SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH) (1981)
IT
Directed by Lucio Fulci

CAST:
Catriona MacColl (as Katherine MacColl) - Liza Merril
David Warbeck - Dr. John McCabe
Cinzia Monreale (as Sarah Keller) - Emily

PLOT:
     A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural accidents, she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.

 
REVIEW:
     I first heard of this movie when I heard about the list of Video Nasties, a list from the Director of  Public Prosecution (DPP) of England, which is a list of movies that were banned from playing in England that started in 1983. The act that made this possible was the Obscene Publications Act, which defined obscenity as that which may "tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it". This definition is of course open to wide interpretation. Due to this 72 films in all appeared on the list. Since then I've been trying to watch all the movies on the list and I'm slowly making headway with it. The Beyond also has the added bonus of being watched due to it's considered a Mythos movies so it was an easy choice to watch and review.

     Let me start out by saying that the acting in this will not win anyone any awards (nor did it when it came out). Some of the acting is so flat it seems as if the actors are reading cue cards half the time. The rest of the time the actors are are either overacting so badly, or actually doing a decent job. While most of the time this would make me completely despise a movie but in The Beyond it just helps the movie. David Warbeck as Dr. John McCabe is the best actor in the film as he seems the most comfortable in delivering his lines as well as acting so damn calm considering what all is happening to him. Katherine MacColl as Liza Merril isn't quite as good as Warbeck but they both stand out from the rest of the cast. The rest of the cast is actually fun to watch as they stare death in the face with a blank face and say nothing. The others in this so overact at the smallest scare that it to is fun to watch at the unbelievable emotions showing, or lack there of.

     Part of the fun with this film is the story but it is also the films weakest point. Some are going to disagree with me on this but there are questions raised during the movie that had no answers. One of them being is why was the Schweick murdered at the beginning of the film? What did he do that caused over fifteen people to come after him with so much hatred? Another problem is when did Emily die at the start of the film because they showed her at the hotel when the towns people went to get Schweick yet that was it. While still on the subject of Emily, how was she able to come back since she mentioned she escaped from her fate. The biggest flaw with the film is Dr McCabe's inability to understand that after shooting multiple zombies in random body parts and them not falling over but head shots puts them down just to go back to body shots is just dumb.  I know that these are nit picky things but these are the things that always got me with this film. That's not to say the entire story is bad though. I loved that the background of the hotel is not told except for it was built on one of the seven door ways to Hell. The supernatural happenings are never fully explained which leaves it up to the viewer to decide for themselves how these are occurring or what set the events in the film off.

     Director Lucio Fulci, even with all the major flaws in the film, still has created something that sticks with you, which is why the film has a cult following. Some of the stand out scenes include the slow death of the hotel caretaker from a nail in the back of the head due to the expectation of the death we the viewer know is coming, just not when. One of my favorites is the spider attack even though you can tell most of them are fake, it is just the freak out factor of it and the slow march of them toward their victim, who sees them coming but can't move or even scream. The shot composition of some scenes are just beautiful in places as some of them are just striking in the visual element and colors used. With all the flaws present, The Beyond is still fun to watch and even listen to with the terrible overdubs. The reason why this film has survived to be a cult classic isn't because of the flaws but because of the mood that is created throughout the film thanks in part to the direction and timing of scenes by Fulci. This is a must watch if you haven't been able to see yet.

BEST DEATH:
     The handgun that becomes a hand-cannon to one poor girls head.

BEST LINE:
     And you will face the sea of darkness, and all therein that may be explored.

FUN FACTS:
     The Book Of Eibon', featured prominently throughout the film, is the creation of American pulp fiction author, poet and fine artist Clark Ashton Smith and is a recurring text associated with the so-called "Cthulhu Mythos" cycle of literature. The book, which deals with various arcane subjects including the resurrection of the dead, demonic magic, parallel dimensions and other black magic subjects is alleged to have been imparted to the infamous necromancer Eibon by the ancient devil-god Tsathoggua in a remote prehistoric epoch.

     During the final scene in the Beyond's abyss, the sand-covered bodies lying on the ground were actually stark naked street derelicts, who were "paid" in alcohol.

     The zombie rampage was done at the insistence of the film's German distributors whose movie market was going through a zombie craze. Fulci agreed to rewrite his film, adding zombies and completely rewriting the film's final act to include a shoot-out between the main characters and a zombie horde at a local hospital. Despite these revisions, the final product is considered by many fans to be one of Fulci's best films and has even been praised for its oneiric incoherence.

     Fulci's original outline for The Beyond was of a non-linear haunted house story with the only solid plot element being that of a woman moving into a hotel built on one of the seven gates of hell (another such gate is depicted in City of the Living Dead). This original story focused on the dead leaving hell and entering the hotel with little outside of the ensuing carnage to link the scenes together.

     The Beyond is the second film in Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy along with City Of The Living Dead and The House By The Cemetery.

COCKNEYS VS. ZOMBIES PRESENTS

COCKNEYS VS. ZOMBIES PRESENTS

Jonathan Kluger got in touch with me today about the upcoming UK film Cockneys Vs. Zombies and it's brand new trailer in honor of the Olympics which you can find below. The film looks like it could be a lot of fun with it's sense of humor shown from the trailer.

The film

A bunch of east-enders fight their way out of a zombie-infested London, led by an unlikely gang of amateur banks robbers and foul-mouthed plucky pensioners .

Starring Michelle Ryan, Honor Blackman and Harry Treadaway.  

The undead are brown bread. In cinemas August 31st 2012.

NEWS ROUNDUP Ver. 15

NEWS ROUNDUP Ver. 15

PROMETHEUS

     In a no brainer by the studios, a sequel to Prometheus has been green lit officially. Director Ridley Scott hasn't said very much yet on his plans for it, but expect it to be out around 2014-2015 at the earliest.

THE SHINING

     For my friends in Britain, they are going to be getting a special treat for Halloween. The U.S. cut of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining will play in theaters over seas for the first time. A brand new trailer should be playing any day now for the film.

THE WALKING DEAD

     For it's upcoming season 3 premiere, AMC has released a new promo image that shows some new and some older characters. Also, while talking about The Walking Dead, creator Robert Kirkman let slip that Rick actually might keep both his hands after all unlike in the comic.

DOOMSDAY BOOK

     The South Korean film Doomsday Book has won the Cheval Noir Award at the Fantasia International Film Festival this year. Doomsday Book is an anthology movie, split into 3 different chapters. The first Chapter, entitled Heaven's Creation, is about a robot who comes alive and follows what happens afterward. The second Chapter, entitled The New Generation, is a story from the point of view of a boy who is now a zombie. The third Chapter, entitled Happy Birthday, re-interprets "The Christmas Gift" by O Henry.

AVENGERS 2

     It looks like Joss Whedon will be back in the director's chair for the sequel to the blockbuster film Avengers. On top of this, it seems as if Whedon will also participate in the development of ABC's live-action Marvel Universe series. It will be nice to see Whedon working back on TV again, now if only we can see something in the Firefly universe again.

H.P. LOVECRAFT'S THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME

H.P. LOVECRAFT'S THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME (2012)
SE
Directed by Richard Svenssonand and Daniel Lenneér

CAST:
John Hutch - Narrator
Ake Rosen- Nathaniel Peaslee

PLOT:
      Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee fears he is losing his mind when he unaccountably sees strange vistas of other worlds and of the Yithian library city.

REVIEW:
     While I get short films sent to me from directors, a lot of times I have to actively search for films that I want to review, or to find something that catches my attention. The only problem with this is once I find something sometimes it bites me in the ass and turns out to be terrible, just take the last review I did for example. Yet with short films, they have a limited time to get the story across as fast and concise as possible. So with that in mind what did I make of this short.

      There's something special when a film takes source material and doesn't change to much of it. This is specially true with this short film. There is a simplicity to the film as everything is narrated so nothing is truly lost in giving lines to other actors. The narration by John Hutch is spot on and has just enough helplessness to it that you feel for the lead character Nathaniel Peaslee. As the story goes on Hutch's narration becomes more desperate in just the right places, but never goes completely overboard with it. The actor who portrays Peaslee on screen is Ake Rosen does a fairly decent job of trying to show the emotions of a man who for all intents and purposes lost his mind only to regain it and and to find out that he lost everything. The one thing that bothered me more than anything about Rosen's acting is some of his walking scenes as you can tell it's almost pantomimed and seems out of place. Except  for this Rosen does just fine in his role.

     The two directors, Richard Svenssonand and David Lenneer, actually do a decent job of bringing a more otherworldly tale to film, though it is not without its flaws. While Svenssonand's direction of the live action parts are not bad for the most parts, except for some of the walking scenes as I mentioned earlier. Lenneer animated sequences are the real downfall of this though. The claymation style Yith thankfully have very fluid animation and always in constant motion. The S'gg'ha is designed well also, with a look that sticks out from the rest of the creatures. The rest of Lenneer's work unfortunately doesn't hold up as well with the life and death fight between the Yithians and polypous creatures being the worst of the animated sequences as it seems as if the polypous creatures are in a constant fart attack and the electrical energy weapons of the Yith just seems as if  they didn't truly know what to do with the weapons as well as the entire scene. Even with all the flaws, The Shadow Out Of Time is a decent mythos film that keeps your attention through all the trouble with it, as well as stays true to the source material.

BEST LINE:
     From the short story:
     "Assuming that I was sane and awake, my experience on that night was such as has befallen no man before. It was, moreover, a frightful confirmation of all I had sought to dismiss as myth and dream."

FUN FACTS:
     Richard Svenssonand directed the live action parts of the film.

     Daniel Lenneér directed the animated sequences in the film.

THE UNNAMABLE

THE UNNAMABLE (H.P. LOVECRAFT'S THE UNNAMABLE) (1988)
US
Directed by Jean-Paul Ouellette

CAST:
Charles Klausmeyer - Howard Damon
Mark Kinsey Stephenson - Randolph Carter
Alexandra Durrell - Tanya Heller

PLOT:
     Back in the 1800's a lady gives birth to a monster. The creature brutally slaughters it's family, and gets trapped in a vault. Jump to present day and some college students have heard the story about the Unnamable and want to check out the vault... or at least that's how it's supposed to go.

REVIEW:
     For Lovecraft month (which is what I call the month of August) I try to review films and shorts that center around the Lovecraft Mythos. Some of what I review will be films based on Lovecraft's works, while others will be inspired by the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. With that there are going to be films that stand out and others that I just want to throw across the room or try to just forget I saw. Just because I like Lovecraft's works doesn't mean I'll out and out like the film or short. In fact, I'm more critical of these type of films more than all others.

     Let me start out by saying that Mark Kinsey Stephenson as Randolph Carter was the best part of the film. There's as snarkiness to the character that isn't meant to be mean, and for a change the character doesn't seem mean. This is due to Stephenson who knows how to handle his lines and make them fun instead cruel. The rest of the cast is adequate at best. This is mostly due to it being a younger cast that more than likely didn't understand the source material which the movie was based on.

     The story for the movie starts out with the past as we learn a little bit about Joshua Pitts and his death from his daughter who he has tried to keep locked up to no success. We are then thrown forward over 200 years and told what has just happened. The first of the problems with the film just happened, and I'm thinking of turning it off. But no, I continue on because I started it, and damnit I will finish it. Later on we are introduced to characters and I call who's going to die right away with out a second thought. Within 10 minutes of calling who's going to die I'm proven correct. The rest of the film is for the most part a pain to watch as it quickly degenerates into a frat boy wanting to have sex with the freshmen college girls. And like any movie made in the '80s it follows the sex equals death playbook. The only story part that was truly any fun was the grave yard conversation between Randolph Carter, Howard Damon, and Joel Manton.

     Besides for the script that is at most rather boring, the one other bright spot in the movie was the set itself. It was well built, if not sparsely decorated for no one really having been in the house for long time. The deaths in the film actually aren't bad surprisingly, yet it seemed as if the film makers focused to much of their attention on this part and forgot that story is just as important as the gore in a horror film. But the biggest flaw in the movie is the creature. I have never seen a rubber suit look so terrible in a film that I can remember as you can see it bunch up in most scenes. If they have kept the Unnamble in shadows the movie could have worked a lot better. Another problem is the sound design that was used for most of the movie as there is almost a constant phase issue with the audio which get's annoying after about the first two minutes of the movie. If there is anyway you can avoid this I would say do what you can to save you the hour plus you would lose if you were to watch this as this movie had so much potential yet it dropped the ball almost every chance it got.

BEST DEATH:
     Joshua Withrop's less than sanitary open palm surgery.

BEST LINE:
     It cannot be described!

FUN FACTS:
      As of 2011, the film has still not been officially released on DVD.

     The film was followed by 1993's The Unnamable Returns, also known as The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter. 

FRANK DANCOOLO: PARANORMAL DRUG DEALER

FRANK DANCOOLO: PARANORMAL DRUG DEALER (2010)
US
Directed by Andrew Jones

CAST:
Hidekun Hah - Roderick Watanabe
Priscilla McEver - Holly Malone
John Charles Meyer - Frank DanCoolo

PLOT:
     In the annoyingly sparkly future-scape of Neo-Mega-Ultra Tokyo, reporter Holly Malone tracks a murderous urban legend.

REVIEW:
     I've been reviewing a lot more shorts this year than last due to that there is a plethora of films out there. I actually had this review done for about four months, I just decided to wait to post until now considering it fits perfectly into this month's review line up of more mythos inspired films and shorts. One of the differences in this one is that this focus's more on comedy than anything else.

     I'm trying to decide how to put the acting the acting in this. It's not that the acting was atrocious, it's just that it was so over the top that throughout the whole eight minutes of the short I was wondering what happened to subtlety. Priscilla McEver is the perfect example of the overacting in this. Her character Holly Malone is a private investigator and reporter and with that embodies the worst of both that we have seen throughout various films and movies. McEver says every line as if she was from a Dick Tracy cartoon panel. John Charles Meyer as the the title character Frank DanCoolo plays his character like a burned out hippie, which is pretty much what he is in the movie. And then out of nowhere Meyer's character becomes this zen samurai and starts playing hacky sack with his sword.  If you can get past the acting in this from all the characters, trust me it's bad, you start listening to the lines they spew from their mouths and I promise you have more stop in your track lines in the short run time in the film than the most full length features can ever hope to have.

     Now I have to talk about the special effects in this short. Most of it is so terrible and sticks out that you would think that you're watching something a 10 year old made on an old computer from his grandfather's garage. Every scene was filmed on a green screen and it shows as the proportions are off in every shot. Something the director did do right though  is his angles are actually very interesting and looked as if they were from a modern comic and the actions done by the actors match the look of that as well.  The one time the special effects actually work is when DanCoolo injects his own spinal fluid (Oh, did I mention the drug he sells is his spinal fluid!) and allows him to see past the divide between this world and that of the dimension that occupies the same space. The best reason to watch this is the dialogue that flows fast and free from the two main actors though as it is non-stop one liners, with most them being actually really funny. If you want to watch something that has great special effects, this isn't for you. But if you want watch a actually very funny comedy that doesn't take itself seriously you just might be in luck.

BEST DEATH:
     Watanabe's sharp chest intrusion.

BEST LINE:
     What powers?

     The powers of my FUCKING UTERUS! 

FUN FACTS:
     John Charles Meyer's nickname is Floppy.

     Priscilla McEver and John Charles Meyer also star in director Andrew Jones' short Doctor Glamour.

THE MIST

THE MIST (STEPHEN KING'S THE MIST) (2007)
US
Directed by Frank Darabont

CAST:
Thomas Jane - David Drayton
Marcia Gay Harden - Mrs. Carmody
Laurie Holden - Amanda Dunfrey

PLOT:
     A military experiment goes wrong and unleashes creatures upon a small town where a group of people hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives from the monsters outside, as well as from the inside.

REVIEW:
     Last year I was going to review this but my copy of the film wouldn't play in my DVD player so I decided to wait till this year. With that I was able to get the black and white version of the film which director Frank Darabont wanted to put out but the studios said no to. Well, now that I have the black and white version and the Darabont's true vision of the film how can I not review it this month in honor of H.P. Lovecraft's birthday.

     As a word of warning, there will be spoilers in this review. You have been warned!

     I have to start out by talking about the actors, like that's any surprise, because it will be easier to do the rest of the review after I put my thoughts down about the acting. Thomas Jane for the most part did a great job as famous artist David Drayton. Jane though has the distinction of being the actor that overplayed his role as well, with one scene sticking out the most as the shining example of this. The scene is at the end of the film after he's the only surviving member of his group and as he lets out a scream, it's just off. It just seems like Jane was trying to hard to show despair. Once was forgivable, yet  it happens again at the very end of the film as well and it brings you out of the film. Thankfully this was at the end so it's not as bad as if it happened half way through. The one stand out performance in the film is from Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody. If there was ever a villain created in literature or film that you as the viewer truly hate, it is this character. Harden knows just the right way to put her lines or how to phrase a sentence to bring her character to life in ways that is horrendous yet at the same time all too human.

     Albeit The Mist is a monster film, this aspect of it takes a back seat to the drama and dilemmas that happen concerning the characters because of them though. It can be said this is a character study more than anything else and a powerful one at that, one that runs through most of Stephen Kings novels. As in what happens when you put ordinary people in situations that are out of the ordinary. The Mist  does this amazingly as it shows the worst in people and what they are capable of once their set sanity is besieged. What comes as no surprise is that some people will use this to further their own personnel beliefs no matter who it hurts. Yet there will be people who try to keep doing what is right no matter what and how the two factions will always be in conflict. The factions that form around David Drayton and Mrs. Carmody are the perfect examples of this as Mrs. Carmody keeps using religion as a reason for everything that is going on and that everyone should follow the Bible and everything it says to protect them. Even when her zealousness infects others and makes all of her believers that follow her sayings into a cult of Jim Jones or Charles Manson like proportions, including killing in the name of God and using fear to induce terror,  they see nothing wrong with what they are doing. This comes as a shock to those that are more level headed as they are able to see and view the oncoming destruction from this as the group that forms around David Drayton does and their struggle to escape a situation worse than what is happening out in the world.

     Director Frank Darabont does an amazing job creating a film that pulls no punches and doesn't go for the happy go lucky ending most films in the genre go for. He understands that good doesn't always win out, and all to often those that are evil will get the upper hand and keep it. Darabont uses the the setting of the film, a town surrounded by mist to his advantage. An example of this is when the bigger creatures show up they are shrouded in mist which in return has the viewer fill in the missing pieces with their imagination which is always worse than what can be shown on screen as I mentioned before in another review. The creatures that are shown are creepy and disgusting thanks to their design and what it most unsettling about them is that they have eyes that are black pinpoints, which shows that they are behaving as animals do, which is to mate and eat. They are animalistic in the truest sense, brutal, efficient, and have no reasoning capability whatsoever.  The Mist got a lot of hate for the ending of the film, but I for one loved how it ended as it shows that every choice made always has a consequence from the small to the unfortunate. More than anything else the film shows that the thing to be most afraid of is the human animal as everything else compared to it seems lite in its wake. 

BEST DEATH:
     Well, she did want blood for her God!

BEST LINE:
    As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?

FUN FACTS:
     In addition to the Gunslinger painting at the beginning of the film, the movie shares another connection with other Stephen King works. The line, "My life for you", spoken by Mrs. Carmody in the film, (although not in the novella), originally appeared in the novel, The Stand, as spoken by Donald Merwin Elbert, (the Trashcan Man), first in his dreams, and then later in person, to Randall Flagg, (the Dark Man or the Walkin' Dude). The line later appeared as dialogue between other villainous characters and subsequent incarnations of Randall Flagg, such as Walter o'Dim in the Dark Tower series novels, and Flagg, in The Eyes of the Dragon.

     Frank Darabont agreed to make the film with Dimension only under the condition that no matter what, they wouldn't change the scripted ending. They agreed.

     Amanda has an empty six-shot revolver and two full speed-loaders in her purse. This means there are twelve rounds of ammunition for the revolver. During the course of the movie, exactly twelve rounds are fired before the revolver is out of ammunition.

     According to Cinefex magazine, there is a favorite scene near the end of the book that was not in the script. In the scene, David Dreyton and the others with him in the vehicle, witness something. Darabont originally had excised this scene from his script. However, several of the people working with the special effects company CafeFX, convinced him to put it back into the film.Which I'm happy Darabont did put it back in.