Entries Tagged 'Horror' ↓

With the current trend being “‘remakes”, the 1998 Japanese film “Ringu” did not escape the eyes of American movie bigwigs, thus the creation of “The Ring”.

The Ring was called as such because it represents “the ring” that crosses our world to the world inside a video…yes, a video. In The Ring, a woman played by Naomi Watts stumbles upon a cursed videotape. When she plays the black-and-white videotape, the woman inside it crawls from the television set and bestows horror upon Naomi’s character and her companions. Now, this film is a very awkward version of the Japanese original. Japanese horror films are really quite scary but once you do a Hollywood makeover on them, they become corny. Nevertheless, with great acting by Watts , great directing by Gore Verbinski (who went on to helm the Pirates of the Carribean series) and a great musical score by Hans Zimmer.

Did this horror flick do well in the movie industry? Dig this, “The Ring” sold more than 2 million DVD copies in the USA alone in its first 24 hours of video release. It’s definitely one horror movie to remember.

When A Stranger Calls is not only known for it being revived thriller, it is known for its star – the lovely and talented Camilla Belle. Camilla is one hot actress to root for if you are a Hollywood agent scouting for potential box office appeal. In this movie, Camilla does justice to all scenes – she can be provocative and scary at the same time. Now, does that not earn a wink? I can even compare Camilla’s scream here similar to what Naomi Watts did in The Ring and King Kong. Watch out for this talent. As for the movie, make it as your time filler.

Trivia:

When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 horror/thriller film starring Carol Kane and Charles Durning, directed by Fred Walton. The original music score is composed by Dana Kaproff.It is followed by the 1993 made-for-television sequel When a Stranger Calls Back. Tagline: Every babysitter’s nightmare becomes real…

Tagline: You were warned never to push Carrie to the limits. Now you must face the evil consequences.

Carrie is a 98-minute coming-of-age horror story, pretty much a fusion of the minds of writer Stephen King and director Brian de Palma. Sissy Spacek played the role of Carrie White, and she did her job well. This role earned her an Oscar nomination (a first-time Best Actress nomination for a horror film).

This movie is more than just the story of a girl who is experiencing the fits of adolescence for the first time while her classmates make it even harder by always mocking her. Carrie is a reclusive girl, all the more isolated, as a result of being raised by her ultra-conservative dysfunctional mom. What the girls didn’t know though is that Carrie also has telekinetic powers and the horror started when the girls slowly die one by one. I can say that the cinematography was exceptional, ahead of its time (1976). The horror scenes were somewhat satisfactory, the technical stuff were okay. (Did Sissy Spacek have a full frontal nudity in this movie?? See the film to answer this question).

The Shining is titled as such for it is what the characters (Jack and Danny Torrance) dubbed their supernatural visions of past and future horrific events. The movie revolves around a regular person named Jack Torrance who has evolved into a madman (ably played by Jack Nicholson). The movie was directed (and written for movies) by the late great Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick is really a perfect director, I should say. He made the 70-year-old Scatman Crothers shoot one scene for a whopping 120 times. And he also demanded the same number of shots on Shelley Duvall (who played Wendy Torrannce) in a particular scene.

One funny trivia from IMDB:

Stephen King tried to talk Stanley Kubrick out of casting Jack Nicholson in the lead suggesting, instead, either ‘Michael Moriarty’ or Jon Voight. King had felt that watching either of these normal-looking men gradually descend into madness, would have immensely improved the dramatic thrust of the storyline. Indeed, many fans of the book agreed with King, adding that Nicholson appeared fairly crazy from the very start, thus there was little or no surprise when Jack ultimately went totally overboard.

Watching James Caan in a seemingly invincible role in Las Vegas transforming into an invalid in this movie seems so breathtaking and pitiful to watch. Here, we see James Caan at the mercy of a woman (played by Kathy Bates who will later win an Oscar for her role here). Misery is actually used as a metaphor here – misery representing James Caan’s character Paul Sheldon’s disbelief in his situation; and Misery being the name of a character that Paul Sheldon has written off. Kathy is a psychotic fan of Misery and to watch her being killed by Paul Sheldon seems unbearable for her. Thus, she desperately forces Paul Sheldon to resurrect her character and Paul Sheldon’s misery begins.

TRIVIA:

Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Paul Sheldon but passed because he wasn’t sure he wanted to do another movie based on one of Stephen King’s novels after what he had experienced with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining (1980)