viernes, 31 de diciembre de 2010

Good Bye 2010; Wellcome 2011



The 2010 is gone. Inception, The social network, Monsters, Toy story 3, the king´s speech, Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, Scot Pilgrim... 
Pleaase wellcome a new, happy and entertainment filled 201.
From The 13th Floor
Happy New year.

domingo, 19 de diciembre de 2010

the countdown has began


The 44th International Sitges Film Festival will start the sixth of October 2011. We´re already counting the days down to be there again.

jueves, 16 de diciembre de 2010

Julia´s eyes breaks the spanish box office


Guillermo del Toro´s production has reached 6.770.000 Euros at the Spanish box office, a number that makes the film the most successful Spanish movie of 2010. Guillem Morales directed a movie about a woman (Belén Rueda) who is seeking answers about the mysterious death of her twin sister, who was blind at the moment of death. The movie has been described as a journey to the darkness. Literally, because the farther Rueda´s character goes through that journey the blinder she gets. Finally she will have to face the chilling truth of her sister´s death.




sábado, 11 de diciembre de 2010

"After the tragic death of his wife and child, famed American author Joseph Crone travels from the United States to Barcelona, Spain to reunite with his estranged brother Samuel and dying father, Richard. However, fate has a different plan for Joseph as his life becomes plagued with strange happenings, and the constant sightings of the number 11. Curiosity quickly turns to obsession, and Joseph soon realizes that this number holds a horrific meaning not only to himself but possibly to all of religion. Isolated in a foreign country with only the support of his companion, Sadie, Joseph soon realizes that 11/11/11 is more than just a date, it's a WARNING!"
Source: 
bloodydisgusting


miércoles, 8 de diciembre de 2010

The french are creepy

Two trailers had just hit the webs with a creepy alternate world and misterious characters. IBC films, one of the leading American distributors of independent and foreign films, have released the trailers to promote these French movies. Two different directors are working with the rules of only one genre, which seems pretty interesting. Limited releases won´t be a problem for those of you who like thrillers and want to check out what the french are up to with these films.



IBC tells us that Black Heaven is directed by an exciting new French filmmaker called Gilles Marchand. The story (featuring a terrifically sexy young cast) follows an innocent young kid, Gaspar (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet of LOVE SONGS), who, becoming enamored with a mysterious/gorgeous girl (Louise Bourgoin, THE GIRL FROM MONACO), is lured into "Black Hole" - a dark, obscure video game world of avatars with deadly serious intentions in the real world. The trailer, as our friends of Arrow in the Head pointed out, looks like a creepy, demented version of Tron: Legacy, with all that neon-tinged look of an alternative world.





Then we´ve got In their sleep, another thriller written and directed by Caroline and Eric du Potet. Again, IBC´s official synopsis tell us that after the brutal death of her 18 year-old son, Sarah's life is in pieces. Late one night, her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy, who suddenly emerges out of the forest and onto the road. Wounded and frightened, he is running from a mysterious assailant, hunting him down after Arthur caught him red handed in the act of burglary... Sarah sympathizes with him, taking him in, only to be tracked down by the burglar whose murderous rage towards Arthur forces her to take action. Unbeknownst to Sarah, things aren't quite the way they seem... but by the time she finally realizes, it is too late to turn back.

martes, 23 de noviembre de 2010

Rare exports red band trailer












Rare exports was one of the best movies from this year Sitges film festival. It won not just best director and best movie awards, but  it also won the best cinematography award. The film is quite fun, "original and fresh", according to the jury of the festival and now a new red band trailer hits the web.

Synopsis:

"It's the eve of Christmas in northern Finland and an "archeological" dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn't the one you want coming to town. When all the local children begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father Rauno, a reindeer hunter by trade, capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig. Santa's elves, however, will stop at nothing to free their fearless leader from captivity. What ensues is a wildly humorous nightmare - a fantastically bizarre polemic on modern day morality. Rare exports: a christmas tale is a re-imagining of the most classic of all childhood fantasies, and is a darkly comic gem soon to be required perennial holiday viewing".

domingo, 21 de noviembre de 2010



Duncan Jones keeps fighting to become one of the great names in filmmaking world right now. First was that amazing movie called Moon. Now, Jones wants to play with time travel and terrorism. The first Source Code trailer has just hit the web and it looks pretty damm cool. Here is the official synopsis...

When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the "Source Code," a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack. Filled with mind-boggling twists and heart-pounding suspense, Source Code is a smart action-thriller directed by Duncan Jones (Moon) also starring Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Due Date), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed), and Jeffrey Wright (Quantum of Solace, Syriana).

viernes, 19 de noviembre de 2010

HAMMER: The art of the myths


Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for his series of Gothic horror films. They were low budget but never foolish movies made with passion and love for horror, monsters and dark creatures. The huge success of the company came to an end when it was forced to "close down" after seeing how Hammer movies weren´t successfull anymore. Now, at the end of 2010, Let me in marked the resurrection of a myth, a new era for horror movies. Hammer has began to shoot and produce horror films again, great news for horror fans; almost as good news as the releasing of The art of Hammer, a full coloured book where you can see hammer posters and drawings of the company´s movies. As we can read on Arrow, the book runs at 192 pages and it will be published this month (Nov. 23rd) by Titan Books.


The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll is a 1960 horror film by Hammer Film Productions. 

It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Paul Massie as Dr. Jekyll, and co-stars Dawn Addams, Christopher Lee and David Kossoff.

It was written by Wolf Mankowitz, based on the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.




The Phantom of the Opera is a 1962 British film based on the novel by Gaston Leroux.

It was directed by Terence Fisher and stars Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Edward de Souza and Michael Gough.







martes, 16 de noviembre de 2010

Guillermo del Toro meets The Hulk


Guillermo del Toro is teaming up with Battlestar Galactica´s executive producer David Eick  to make a comic fans dream come true. Not as long ago ABC annauced that they were trying to make a Hulk TV show and apparently it´s going to happen.

It will mark Marvel’s first series project for ABC Studios since Disney's acquisition of Marvel last year and the launch of Marvel's TV division in June. It also marks del Toro's first TV project. Unlike the two Hulk movies, in which the monster was a pure CGI creation, the show will make the creature mixing prosthetics, puppetry and CGI. Del Toro and Eick will break the story for the pilot script together, while del Toro could direct the pilot subjet to his availability. Eick definided the chance of working with del Toro as a "dream opportunity" to join one of his all-time filmmaking heroes "in a faithful but unique retelling of the primal, emotionally-rich tale" of one of his favourite comic books. 

Del Toro is also working on his all-life dreamed movie, At the mountains of madness, with James Cameron. He is also releasing worldwide The Fall, the second novel in a vampire trilogy of books written hand to hand with Chuck Hogan. The upcoming movies Julia´s eyes and Dont be afraid of the dark are also produced by the mexican director, with whom everyone seems to want to work nowdays.

You can check a great interview concerning his latest projects following this link to denofgeek.


Source: Dead Line


domingo, 7 de noviembre de 2010

Are you ready to go back to Silent Hill?

 

The rumors about a next Silent Hill movie have been going around for years. Now, we´ve got an official report claming that the movie will actually happen. Michael J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) will write and direct the movie while Resident Evil: After Life producers Don Carmody and Davis Films' Samuel Hadida are teaming together once again for the next Silent Hill flick, which has scored new title.


The movie will be called Silent Hill: Revelations and will be in 3D: "We have high expectations for this continuation of the franchise with our reunited Silent Hill production team" said Hadida. "Michael was our natural choice to write and direct. He understands the genre, is passionate about the Silent Hill franchise, and will bring his considerable action picture skills to a fresh and thrilling insight of the Silent Hill 3D world." 

The official synopsis tells the story of Heather Mason and her father, who have been on the run, for years always one step ahead of dangerous forces that she doesn’t fully understand. Now on the eve of her 18th birthday, plagued by terrifying nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Heather discovers she's not who she thinks she is. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her in Silent Hill forever.

martes, 2 de noviembre de 2010

"I do it because I have to... To survive"



The video you can check below is a chilling and tremendous deleted scence from Let me in. It´s just another proof of how oustanding these two kids are (Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smith-McPhee). The movie, which is great but not such a masterpiece as the first one, it´s playing now around the world.

Twelve-year old Owen, who is viciously bullied by his classmates and neglected by his divorcing parents. Achingly lonely, Owen spends his days plotting revenge on his middle school tormentors and his evenings spying on the other inhabitants of his apartment complex. His only friend is his new neighbor Abby, an eerily self-possessed young girl who lives next door with her silent father. A frail, troubled child about Owens’s age, Abby emerges from her heavily curtained apartment only at night and always barefoot, seemingly immune to the bitter winter elements. Recognizing a fellow outcast, Owen opens up to her and before long, the two have formed a unique bond.

When a string of grisly murders puts the town on high alert, Abby’s father disappears, and the terrified girl is left to fend for herself. Still, she repeatedly rebuffs Owen’s efforts to help her and her increasingly bizarre behavior leads the imaginative Owen to suspect she’s hiding an unthinkable secret. 

jueves, 28 de octubre de 2010

Dante, Plaza and Natali are gonna kill you in Paris

JOE DANTE in Sitges 2010 - Picture by Gerard Fossas
Genre masters Joe Dante (Germlins), Paco Plaza ([REC]) Vincenzo Natali (Splice), Xavier Gens (Hitman) and Ryuhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train) have signed up to direct segments of new horror omnibus feature Paris I'll Kill You, which Instinctive Film and Reverence are producing.

Obviosuly this film is in some way a spoof of Paris, Je t´aime, that indi film where filmakers like Coen Brothers, Gus van Sant, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer or even Wes craven made segments of the movie. The producers are pitching Paris I Kill You as the first of a possible "horror city" franchise, again aping Paris je t'aime producers, who spun off the romantic capitals format with New York, I Love You and planned versions for Shanghai and Jerusalem. Let see what happens with the first one before getting ready the other ones...

Sources: Butaca Preferente 
              Hollywood Reporter
            

lunes, 25 de octubre de 2010

SITGES 2010 - The golden age of Spanish films?

A frame from "Secuestrados"


If you take a moment to look back and think about which ones have been the most successfull Spanish movies of the last years you´ll probably notice something: all of them have been genre films, horror films. REC, The orphanage, Pan´s labyrinth, 28 weeks later or Buried. Apparently there is a feeling growing worldwide claiming that Spain is living what they call "The Golden Age of Spanish movies". This feeling has been discussed in the just finished International Sitges Film Fest after watching Spanish movies like Secuestrados (Kidnapped) or The new daugther. 
Ivana Baquero - The new daugther
The new daughter tells the story of a recently divorced man and his two children. Their fragile family situation gets even weirder when the big daughter´s character suddenly changes right after they arrived to their new house. The reasons for this happening? It could have something to do with a mysterious mound in the garden. We were all keeping an eye on director Luis Berdejo. His career in the short film field was insultingly promising and Sitges already considered him a regular in its program. His coming-out in feature is big-time, with a movie starring Costner and based on a story by the master of intrigue John Connolly. Ivana Baquero, the kid from Pan´s labyrinth returns to genre films to prove that her talent goes beyond the innocent character of  that movie. Perhaps was the hand of Hollywood producers but one can´t help the feeling that the movie could be much better with a few changes on the script and the way the story is told. Anyway, the fact that Berdejo’s film debut has been made in Hollywood says a lot about this idea of the Spanish Golden age in horror films, because they are being called to work in Hollywood.

The other big Spanish film of this year´s Fest was Secuestrados (Kidnapped). A wealthy family that's just moved into their new mansion is held up by three hooded men. Right when the criminals appear to have everything under control, one of its member's aggressiveness starts to cause blood to be shed. Miguel Ángel Vivas creates a suspense and violence filled movie, halfway between thriller and horror with realistic overtones. Made with just twelve sequence shots, Secuestrados grabs the spectator by the throat with a surprising and bloodcurdling opening scene and doesn't let go until the shocking, bloody end.

There were more Spanish films such as The possession of Emma Evans, Agnosia or Julia´s Eyes, but we´ll talk about them soon. For now, here it is the trailer of  Secuestrados, the film which won best movie and best director awards at Fantastic Fest 2010.

miércoles, 20 de octubre de 2010

SITGES 2010 - Santa and a killer rubber against 13 assassins

Santa will never be the same
Well, that was it. Sitges 2010 has already finished. After 10 days watching about five movies per day, after so many press conferences and a few interviews, the 43th fantastic and horror film Festival of Sitges has came to an end. Rare Exports: a Christmas tale was the winner of this year. Jalmari Helander won the best director and best movie awards, but the film also won the award for the best cinematography. The film is quite fun, "original and fresh", according to the jury of the festival.

There were a few movies we all wanted to check out. Monsters, Gareth Edward´s debut on a feature film was one of them. After being sell as The War of the worlds meets Jurassic Park, I would say there´s nothing like that on the movie. Monsters would be much better described as a road movie with creatures hiding in the shadows. A friend pointed out  that Monsters was like Before the sunrise with aliens. And I must admit, he' was right. The film is definitely not what you think it is, but I think you´ll love what it really is. Pay attention to the first sequence of the film, where the director shows something really important for the story and "only 10% of the audience notice it the first time they watch it", told me the director in a quick chat we had after the screening.

If there was a mad movie everyone wanted to see was Rubber. The story of a killer rubber. Crazy, funny, "an homage to the no reason" as one of the characters point out in the first scene of the movie. Not for nothing the movie has won the best movie in Fantastic section by the Carnet Joven jury. It also won the Silver Meliés to the best european movie and the Citizen Kane award to an up-and-coming director for Quentin Dupieux.

The great Hammer productions are also back. At least, that is what they are trying to sell to the audience out there. Let me in, remake of Let the right on in, is the first movie of the new era of Hammer productions. Matt "Cloverfield" Reeves made a really good movie: dark, deep, scary and sweet. The only problem is, the original was made just a couple of years ago and it was such a masterpiece that it still remains in some viewers minds. For all you guys who hasn´t watched the first one yet, Let me in will surprise you as a really great movie. Matt Reeves shoot it perfectly, but it lacks that magical feeling I experienced watching the first one.  The best about Let me in are without any doubt, the actors performances: from Chloe Moretz (this girl is just amazing) to Kodi Smit-McPhee, all the cast is perfect.

This is me with Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee
Takashi Miike´s 13 assassins is the story of an elite group of samurai, each with their own deadly skill, who plots to ambush Lord Naritsugu on his annual journey home from Edo. While the first hour of the film is pretty calm and philosophical about Samurais rules and ethics, the second half of the movie is a bloody festival of action, swords and blood. Almost one hour of never ending swords fights made the film won the Audience Award.

We are the night was described by a fellow in the press room as "sex in the city with vampires" and he had a point. I mean, the film is not as glamorous as the tv show or the movies where Sarah Jessica Parker buys shoes but you actually could see moments which resemble to Sex and the city style. This film is as funny and entertained as you could ever desire. It goes again with the cool vampires style started with Blade but it has some of the orignal problems of vampire myths. The film won the special jury award no without a bit of controversy.
We are the night, and the night is fun
Every year there are a couple of unknown movies that suddenly win a place within the group of the best  movies of the Festival. The perfect host and Kaboom were the good surprises in this 43 Sitges Film Festival. The last one is the story of Smith’s everyday life in the dorms: hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor. Tripping on some hallucinogenic cookies he ate at a party, Smith is convinced he’s witnessed the gruesome murder of an enigmatic Red Haired Girl who has been haunting his dreams. What he discovers as he tries to find out the truth leads him deeper and deeper into a mystery that will forever change not only the course of his young life but the destiny of the entire world. Funny enough to watch it, specially for teenagers exploring their sexuality and looking for adventures to spice their life up. 

The Perfect host tells the story of an ex-con who realizes the robbery he had meticulously planned has wound up being front page news. Desperately needing to hide until things die down he manages to crash a residence where the owner is having a dinner party. A perfect hideout if it wasn’t for the host... If you considered Frasier’s fussy brother to be a charming, harmless character, wait until you see his darkest side in this unpredictable psychological thriller where appearances can be mortally deceptive and surprises come one after another.

martes, 21 de septiembre de 2010

Sitges 2010: pictures, videos, interviews, reviews coming soon

 

With the 30th anniversary of The Shining as a backdrop, China has created a story that talks about the power of Fantasy cinema and its ability to create images that are etched on your memory forever. In this sense, Stanley Kubrick was a master when it came to making his meticulously created images survive the passage of the years and even his own films. The sequence of the boy starring in The Shining riding his tricycle down the hotel corridor is probably one of the most memorable in film history.

The spot presents the story of a nurse on the night shift who’s lived with the existence of this child since the very day she saw The Shining for the first time. For three decades the woman has carried out all of her everyday activities accompanied by the boy on the tricycle, so she experiences the situation normally and with resignation.

For its production, China and the Festival relied on the collaboration of Wind, a production company that, thanks to its commitment to creations that sometimes border on experimental, has already collaborated with the Festival on previous occasions. They entrusted its direction to Mireia Pujol, a director with a special cinematic sensitivity and very interesting experience despite her youth, and who knew how to transmit her knowledge of the Festival to the piece’s tone. Contributing to a large extent to its intriguing atmosphere is the musical piece, “Aviva Pastoral” by Nathan Larson.


lunes, 20 de septiembre de 2010

Dexter is back


Spoilers on the clip if you haven´t seen season 4 yet



Sunday the 26th of September. Dexter face Rita´s death with a huge guilty feeling inside.

domingo, 5 de septiembre de 2010

Alien prequels go nasty

Ridley Scott keeps teasing fans with details of the new Alien prequels he is working on right now. If the last we heard about the projects was that Damon Lindelof from Lost was polishing the first prequel's script, but now, the director of Gladiator comes up with more "details" about these two Alien´s prequels. As we can read on the Independent web site, the director of the first Alien is in a competition mood: "Jim's raised the bar and I've got to jump to it," he says, in a friendly jibe at Cameron. "He's not going to get away with it".

Untill now, the movies were supossed to be converted to 3D instead of beeing shooted with that technology but now, there´s a buzz on the internet claming that it could be actually shoot with 3D cameras, even with a improved technology that the one used by Cameron to shoot Avatar. What we know for sure, is that they want the movie to be Rated R, which leaves the the possibility to get really nasty alive: "The film will be really tough, really nasty," he notes. "It's the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?"

Then will the fans see Ripley´s character coming back to the franchise? Scott himself answers that one: “It’s set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney [Weaver's character Ellen Ripley].  It’s fundamentally about going out to find out ‘Who the hell was that Space Jockey?’  The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer’s chair.  Remember that?”

Yeah, we do remember that. Wait. You don´t? Just check the picture opening this post again... Or click and watch it here.


jueves, 26 de agosto de 2010

It has begun


When The 13th Floor talked about I spit on your grave remake a few days ago it didn´t expect to come back to this film as soon as it has happened. The remake of the eighty´s controversial film will be screened these days at the UK´s Frightfest in London. Nevertheless, the movie that the viewers will be seeing is not the cut the filmakers wanted to show.

According to Screen Daily, the The British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) has cut the film to recieve a "18" rated, which would be the same of an Rated R in the U.S.A. David Cooke, Director of the BBFC,  explained why they had to edit the movie: “The cuts to this version of I Spit on Your Grave, which the Board has required, remove elements that tend to eroticise sexual assault (for example, through the use of titillation), as well as other elements that tend to endorse sexual assault (for example, by encouraging viewer complicity by the use of camcorder footage, filmed by the rapists, during the various scenes of sexual assault).  With these cuts made, the film’s scenes of very strong terrorisation and sexual violence remain potentially shocking, distressing or offensive to some adult viewers, but are also likely to be found essentially repugnant and aversive. The Board takes the view that, with these cuts, they are not credibly likely to encourage imitation.”

The guys of Arrow in the Head do not agree with the reason given by Cooke, as they think the movie never intend to "eroticed" the rape and neither "encourages viewer complicity".  The 13th Floor remembered a few days ago how the original movie was banned in so many countries and we argued that nowadays the viewers has a more open mind to recieve a film like this one. Apparently, we were wrong.


lunes, 23 de agosto de 2010

In the minds of madness

Illustration by Enrique Breccia


When Guillermo del Toro made official that he won´t be directing The Hobbit, both press and fans started to ask him which one would be his next project. It didnt take so lonf untill he made the announcement . Right after the Comic Con he surprised us all with the title of his new project. At the mountains of madness, based in the famous novel by H. P. Lovecraft. Even after his highly acclaimed  and Oscar winner Pan´s of the labyrinth, the studios wouldn´t give green light to the film. "Even now is very difficult for the studios to take the step of doing a rated R movie with a tough ending, no love story and set in period" said Del Toro a few months ago. But now, with a little bit of help, it looks like he´s finally ready to start shooting.

The director of Hellboy needed the help of a big studio. He needed someone in Hollywood with the money and the power enough to make his dreamed film happen. Well, the director of the two biggest grossing films ever, James Cameron, is going to produce In the Mountains of Madness, letting Del Toro to make the film the way he always has wanted. Cameron only had one condition: it has to be in 3D. Although the Mexican director has never shoot in 3D before, Cameron is sure that del Toro will love the experience of the stereoscopic cameras. "I´m not going to tell you how you have to do this movie, so I´m your ideal producer" says Cameron in this interview, refering to Guillermo del Toro. Truth be said, Cameron actually had one condition, but boy, what a condition!

miércoles, 18 de agosto de 2010

Portman and Kunis tease us with the first Black Swan trailer



Official sinopsis:
BLACK SWAN follows the story of Nina (Portman), a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughter’s professional ambition. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.


jueves, 12 de agosto de 2010

May revenge be understood as a pure act of LOVE?

 




Justice inspired my exalted creator.
I am a creature of the Holiest Power
of Wisdom in the Highest and of Primal Love.






INFERNO, canto 3,lines 4-6, Robin Kirkpatrick. 
The divine comedy I: Inferno








Revenge, says tradition, is a dish best served cold. Revenge, according to  catholic religion,   is not a possibility. Revenge, I say, it´s quite fun when it comes to movies. Inglorious basterds, Tarantino´s most successful movie, is about vengeance. In fact, revenge is a theme that the director always shows in his movies. Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas or Saint Augustine are some of the philosophers who have talked about the problematic act of revenge, an act, that could also be understood as an act of love.


I spit on your grave, a rape and revenge film from 1978 was a controversial movie that has inspired a new remake. The original film, banned in almost every country where it was released, was classified as a "vehicle of personal expression reacting to violence against women". Whether the movie was good or bad wasn´t actually the important point of the discussion. The film was too explicit and showed the rape in detail. Was this the first torture porn movie ever? Was it indeed as disgusting as they said it was?

The truth is that a new film has been remade for a worldwide release, telling the same story: a woman is raped by a bunch of men in a small town. Although they think she´s dead after the crime,  she finally survives and then starts her revenge against those who raped her. Today´s thinking is pretty different from the early 80´s and viewers are much more used to seeing violence in movies. After revenge movies like Kill Bill and after successful movies like Martyrs, violence against women and acts of revenge are much more understood by the viewers and don´t seem too extreme or controversial. Should we be proud of this fact? It may be a signal that the new generation is so used to violence that they can´t be shocked by a rape and revenge film? Ask yourselves a new question and please, be honest: would you approve the woman´s behavior?



"The act of vengance is an unambiguos declaration that evil is a reality. By contrast, the act of vengeance is also a statement that love, goodness and righteousness are moral realities by virue of the fact that they have been violated "
Quentin tarantino and Philosophy. 
Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad



When the main character of I spit on your grave starts her vengeance, one could see it may even  be lifesaving, given that the men who raped her will not be able to hurt anyone again. Therefore, revenge wouldn´t be just fair but morally right. Anyway, the vengeance of the main character would be, whether right or wrong, an act of love for herself as one who is violated and, some could argue, an act of love for every woman.

Whether the movies ask these questions or they don’t, we cannot forget that answering an act of vengeance with more revenge, could become a never ending circle of violence. After all, those who live by the sword die by the sword.

lunes, 2 de agosto de 2010

Boobs and blood


The marketing campaign for Piranha 3D has a clear target audience: young guys ready to have fun with lots of blood and a bunch of top-less wild girls. This last poster for the upcoming movie says so. You´re still not sure if Piranha is your kind of movie?

Then, let me tell you about the last clip that has hit the web. 9 minutes of footage which shows lots of blood, boobs, wet t-shirts and the head of Eli Roth smashed up, among other bloody cool stuff. In fact, this is the footage banned from Comic Con for being "too hot" for the "all ages" audience of San Diego Comic Con. The quality of the clip isn´t as good as we would like it to be because it was recorded whit the camera in the very cinema where they showed the clip. 


SDM | Piranha 3D
Cargado por DrMalo. - Mira más videos de TV y películas.

jueves, 29 de julio de 2010

Guillermo del Toro and the best from Comic Con

Well, last week the nerds and freaks around the world met at San Diego, the place where comics, superheroes, zombies and videogames all mix together. There was to much news coming out every day since the very beginning so we´ll focus on the horror movies for now.


Guillermo del Toro, that mexican director who brought us Blade 2, Hellboy or The Pan´s labyrinth is one of those guys who never miss the Comic Con. Although he was there to present the film Don´t be afraid of the dark, he surprised us all announcing that he will be producing and even writing a film for Disney: a new version of Haunted Mansion, the famous attraction of the Disney´s theme parks. Eddie Murphy did a comedy about it back in 2003 but Del Toro quickly said that the film will be dark and that the scary moments of the film there will be truly scary. De Toro will co-write the movie with Matthew Robbins and they will be using 3D technology for this live-action film for which Del Toro promises us the most haunted mansion on the earth.




The other project he was presenting at Comic Con was the film Don’t be afraid of the dark, a remake of a original film which scared the hell out of him when he watched it as a kid. They avoided the sexuality and the use of rude language trying to get a PG13, but the movie was finally rated R. When questioned about all the remakes coming out from Hollywood, Del Toro explained that these films are usually made in fear of making something way different from the original. Therefore, the result is usually a copy paste movie with nothing new to offer to the viewer.

Talking about remaking films, Mat Reeves presented Let me in, which have been filmed following Steven Spielberg’s advices to direct kids in a movie. The panel was pretty interesting as the fans could get a glimpse of how this new version will look. Personally, I am interested in the film because they are using a few details from the book that were left out from the original movie, like the scene with Virginia (Sasha Barrese) sucking her own blood or a storyline involving a cop (Elias Koteas). They showed two clips to the audience at San Diego that have had pretty good reactions within the fan community. The first one showed a sequence which could describe the relationship between the two main characters: Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee getting to know each other in an arcade. Kodi plays Ms. Pac-Man and eats candy while Chloe seems fascinated with Kodi and constantly stares at him. Taking one of the most beautiful moments of Let the right one in, the scene shows Chloe taking some candy so she doesn't hurt Kodi´s feelings even knowing she will be hurt for doing so. After that she asked one of the key questions of the movie: if she weren´t a girl, would he like her anyway? Since the other clip was sort of a spoiler, I´ll keep it from you.


Monsters is one of those movies that ring a bell to you but you are still not sure of what is all about. Well, that´s why they premiered a trailer at the Comic Con, so all you guys out there start talking about it. Basically, the movie will take us to the Earth five years after an alien invasion changed the face of our planet.


Paul Bettany kicking some vampires asses in 3D while travelling through a post apocalyptic world. That is what Priest is about and it definitely looks like an action movie rather than horror one, the sort of thing that Legion tried to achieve. Ok, let´s wait until we watch more to judge the film.

Priest Trailer
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And of course, what would have been of this year Comic Con without a Saw panel? It will be the last one; it will be in 3D and it will wrap the saga with lots of blood and new tricky tramps. Will this be the last game of Jigsaw? Only time and money will tell.


viernes, 16 de julio de 2010

The Devil´s trap

M. Night Shyamalan is having some serious problems. After reached the sky of horror and thriller movies with The sixth Sense and Unbreakable, he made a couple of interesting movies (The Village and Signs). Ok, there was nothing to worry about at that time. But then, it came out The Lady in the water, followed by The Happening. Both of them had big screenplay mistakes, neither of them were really successful and they bored the hell out of audicences around the world. Even though you could still feel the director´s magic in a bunch of great sequences. His name started to be linked with great ideas but poor results.
Both the box office and the reviews started to be really cruel with the director. Avatar: the last airbender was the last try of Shyamalan to finally reach reconciliation with the fans. As it turned out, he failed. The movie is not being what the studio wanted to be: the blockbuster of the summer. As if the box office failure weren´t enough, the critics and the fans had definitely lost their faith in the director.
Anyhow, his ideas for movies are truly interesting and always intriguing enough to talk about any project he is involve with. Devil is the last one. This is the first one in a series of low budget movies inspired by original ideas of M. Night Shyamalan. The film is not even written by him, though. He had the original idea, he helped to write the scrip and he produced the film but were the Dowdle brothers (Quarantine) the ones who finally direct the movie. Devil tells the story of a group of people trapped in a elevator with the devil himself. As soon as the elevator gets stuck, weird stuff happens. Who is the devil within this group? Are they going to survive? And most important, what does the devil want from these people?