VICTORY FOR M. NIGHT SHYALAMAN! SPLIT still leads the weekend box!

Paramount’s Rings and STX’s teen romance The Space Between Us which are respectively opening to $12.8M in second and $3.8M in seventh..


The entire concept of RINGS appears to be oddly disjointed anyway.. it has been 15 years since the original VHS related horror flick. The mess of this film attempts to bind together early century technology with modern file sharing, and what could have been a clever homage to some other time and age turns into a clunky pile of 21st century junk..

But guess what’s first? Pretty exciting news for an M Night Shyalaman fan like myself: SPLIT is still in the lead box -- three weeks now and running..

And it’s actually the first title in Shyamalan’s resume to hold the No. 1 spot at the B.O. for three weeks in a row since 1999’s The Sixth Sense! Talk about old style century tech getting its revenge!


Good show M NIGHT..

SPLIT was a good film with (to me) not the greatest ending of M Night’s career.. but he was setting Philadelphia up for a sequel whether the King of Prussia mall is ready for it or not.. Bruce Willis is.

Late night estimates put Split at $14.7M for the weekend, and a running cume by Sunday of $98.8M, -8% behind Sixth Sense at the same point in time..

Prognosticators don’t think that SPLIT outshines SENSE, as a matter of fact by Valentine’s Day plenty of other films--included animated and a lot of SHADES of gray--will fill theaters..

The predictions for the final tallies:

1.) Split (UNI/Blumhouse) 3,373 theaters (+174) /$4.8M Fri (-39%)/3-day: $14.7M (-43%)/Total: $98.8M/Wk 3

2.) Rings (Par) 2,931 theaters /$5.2M Fri. (includes $800K previews)/3-day: $12.8/Wk 1

3.) Hidden Figures (Fox) 3,401 theaters (+50)/$3M Fri (-20%) /3-day: $10.4M (-26%)/Total: $119.7M/Wk 7

4.) A Dog’s Purpose (UNI/Amblin/Walden) 3,178 theaters (+120)/$2.8M Fri (-46%) /3-day: $10.1m (-45%)/Total: $32.1/Wk 2

5.) La La Land (Lionsgate) 3,236 (+100) /$2.3M Fri (-31%)/3-day:$8.2m (-33%)/Total:$119.1M/ Wk 9

6.) Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (SONY) 3,104 theaters (0) /$1.36M Fri (-73%) / 3-day: $4M (-71%)/Total: $21.4M/Wk 2

7.) The Space Between Us (STX) 2,812 theaters /$1.48M Fri. (includes $170K previews)/3-day: $3.8M/Wk 1

8/9) Sing (ILL/UNI), 2,293 theaters (-409) /$905K Fri.(-33%) /3-day cume: $3.75M (-41%)/Total: $262.6M/Wk 7

Lion (TWC) 1,405 theaters (+830) /$1.1K Fri (+83%) /3-day: $3.75M (+63%)/Total: $24.4M/Wk 11

10.) xXx: The Return Xander Cage (PAR/REV) 2,478 theaters (-1,178) /$1.1M Fri (-50%)/3-day: $3.6M (-58%)/Total: $39.9M/ Wk 3

According to Zombie's Facebook, the MPAA slapped his film with an NC-17 rating after he edited it twice

He wrote this on his Facebook page:

“Well, after two tries through the MPAA our rating on 31 remains NC-17. Maybe three is the charm to get an R rating. Why R you ask? Well, because your local theater will not show an NC-17. Even though you are a fucking adult … things much be censored for your enjoyment.”

It was rated NC-17 for some normal things like “sadistic graphic violence” and “some strong language,” but also for some weirder things like “bizarre sexuality.”

‘31′ promises to be sadistic and sick–I guarantee that even though Zombie is expressing indignation about it, he’s perfectly fine with the attention and the type of horror movie fans that will be out to see it.

Where's Thanksgiving's Horror Movie?

INVERSE has a great question..
It may be the one holiday that merely gets satirical horror .. 

I think a good Pilgrim Zombie villain is in order.. Thanksgiving needs a bit of horror.

Maybe some short film makers will be up to the task that Hollywood has never been.

Gobble Gobble.

Where's Thanksgiving's Horror Movie?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MODERN HORROR MOVIES?

The same thing that has always been wrong, I would say. As said before, horror is an elementary education of the pop culture of the time. The fears presented in horror are the fears of the age they appear it. When a movie comes a little too early, or a little too late, they flop. You have to strike while the iron is hot. UNFRIENDED would not work two years from now. It works now. BLAIR WITCH worked when it did, and began a series of unfortunate “found” stories..all of which are becoming quickly hackneyed under the weight of time.

The SAW films? Enough already..
ROB ZOMBIE? I never could stomach it..
REMAKES? I never appreciated them to begin with.

The website BLOODY-DISGUSTING’S Brad Miska wrote up a story about what is wrong with the genre.. a few valid points presented:

For me, the biggest thing he nails is that modern horror is littered with fake jump-scares. I often cite the use of authentic scares in reviews of films I love – most notably ones directed by James Wan (Insidious, The Conjuring). Many studio films fatigue the audience with bullshit jump-scares that utilize loud sound design to make the audience jolt out of their seat. They aren’t being scared, they’re being yelled at. That’s not horror. He relates it to having sex – films are blowing their load and releasing tension too early, leaving the film’s climax to have little to no effect.

Graphic description .. but I see the point. Horror is slow and methodical.. it brings you to a point where you realize the conclusion is awfully scary.. Deep and disturbing .. that was the success of this autumn’s M NIGHT film THE VISIT. It took a while. You got to enjoy it.. and you got surprised at the end.

Lastly, he [

Chris Stuckmann] points to expectations vs reality as a major issue. Marketing of The Village is his prime example, in which he points out that even M. Night Shyamalan regrets the false advertising. Studios need to get asses in the seats and will do so by any means necessary (For example, much of the footage in The Gallows trailers and TV spots weren’t actually in the movie).

I agree.. Another good example of advertising to seduce is this past week’s failure CRIMSON PEAK. It was a romance horror.. And it failed, because as people found out it was not the ‘scariest movie of the year’ that was promised, they shunned like an Amish sinner in Lancaster county.

Fans vote with wallets, for sure. But sadly they vote for what is heaped on them by studios that just want quick bucks off of horror flicks.

A few horrors that were good, and not because of profit, exist in the past few years.. THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT, IT FOLLOWS, and the BABADOOK. 

You can find a lot more gems on Netflix. Lower budget gems. I talk about them often on this website. And you should search them out as well.. 

Rummage through the pile of studio-produced garbage and find the things that matter.. the prizes in the puzzle of horror.

There are truly really scary things out there. Sadly in the way we’re given films, you have to search them out yourself. They certainly will not be handed to you.

I would love to hear feedback.

What do you, reader, say is good and bad about modern horror?

VHS Vault Invokes Video Nostalgia For Horror Movie Streaming Site

I love this statement from the TECHDIRT site:

The VHS Vault is an ode to ‘80s and '90s reverie, from the Reagan-era, scare-inciting titles it proffers (Day of the Dead, Adjust Your Tracking, Night of the Demons and more) to the site itself, designed as if it’s straight from 1998, complete with a traffic counter, low pixel GIFs and the quintessential Dancing Baby.

I had those nights in high school–as VHS became DVDs but still not streamed.. we popped movies in. Had popcorn, or soda, or pizza.. and laughed often times until sunrise. Horror movies all night. Bad horror movies.. complete with MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER style sarcasm from friends and me as well.

I know there is always a melancholy attempt to bring back nostalgia. But nothing will ever be like those summer nights of horror again. HALLOWEEN 3 and CARNIVAL OF SOULS.. they are two movies I can’t watch again. I want to keep them in the past, on one of those magical nights, and let them sit in memory. In posterity. In nostalgia.

I applaud anyone attempting to bring back the VHS ‘vault.’ But it’s just not going to be the same..

VHS Vault Invokes Video Nostalgia For Horror Movie Streaming Site

The 100 Greatest Horror Films of All Time, Voted on by Over 100 Experts

‘Experts,’ they said.

And 100 movies?
Chances are, the one you like made the cut.

100 is a pretty inclusive list after all. 

I would much rather see a list of the 100 WORST horror movies ever made. Now they may be worth watching..

But for this ‘best of list,’ the EXORCIST is number 1.

The 100 Greatest Horror Films of All Time, Voted on by Over 100 Experts

Some of the most creative and amazing photoshopped images ever: Donald Trump as horror movie characters..

See them all!

Tis the season

Have you ever wondered what the most popular horror movies were in your state and zip code? 

Now you can find out.. with the help of the Halloween Express website, a complete summation and scientific (I assume) study has been listed to show what’s what around you, and if you’re in the mainstream of horror movie watchers .. 

The big surprise for me: ALIENS is the most popular horror movie in the entire nation except for the states of Rhode Island and Delaware. Those states like PSYCHO. 

Chimpanzees love horror films, research finds

From the report:

“According to researchers in Japan, Chimpanzees fall into the first group. When shown a ‘horror’ film, featuring an actor dressed as a King Kong attacking a human, the selected Chimps watched on intensely, neither covering their eyes nor accepting treats as they may distract from the viewing.
In the 40-second film, King Kong is taunted by a human on the other side of a cage. The ape then breaks free, attacking the human. The human then grabs a red hammer and precedes to hit King Kong. Frightening stuff.”

Not sure what if any lesson this has.. What if any value possessing this information does.. But it sure it interesting and explains quite a bit to me.

Chimpanzees love horror films, research finds

KISS' Gene Simmons, WWE team up to make horror movies

Readers of this website will know that many times over I have said that professional wrestling and horror movies during any given period of time exemplify the generation growing up at that moment. And now we see professional wrestling and horror movies joining together in a pop cultural phenomenon to truly exemplify our current time

KISS' Gene Simmons, WWE team up to make horror movies

sixpenceee:

It took about a year to get the iconic shot in where blood pours out of the elevator in The Shining right, but only three days to film.

Funny.. this is probably, to me, one of the dumnest scenes in any movie. I mean that.. But three days to film? Sad..

A rebirth of horror?

For anyone who is a horror movie genre, I have a story on my other website about how I hope it’s coming back again..  I can be best described as the most incredulous anti-horror movie horror fan, usually being overly critical of junk and garbage I wish was never made. But the real horror fan in my celebrates the films of the genre that were game changers—those that contained the social commentary and hidden messages only a more intelligent viewer could pick up on..

I have also long believed that professional wrestling and horror movies are both the best ways, at any given time, to see what a ‘generation’ is all about.. You can also cleanly, it seems, chop that up into decades and it makes sense. 

Horror is dead.

Good article from MOVIEPIOLOT.COM: Why modern horror movies don’t get it right. I agree with the point of this article by Pedro Asdrubal Diaz.. modern horror is not memorable. Last night after many things led me to miss the ANNABELLE release in theaters, we finally found a copy in a REDBOX and watched it .. The group of us who saw it figured it was going to be a modern classic. It was not. It was actually quite forgettable and unmemorable..  Creativity seems to be completely lost.

Will there be some horror hope? Here are 10 movies  of the horror genre to look forward to this year.  UNFRIENDED looks creepy.. 31 looks avoidable in my opinion.. `KNOCK KNOCK looks ridiculous.. IT FOLLOWS will be great, judging from early reviews..SPRING looks creepy.. And POLTERGEIST?  After a good trailer I am suddenly accepting this remake. We will see and time will tell if the film is as good as the two minute preview..

A great question posed: Do atheist movie goers get scared during supernatural horror movies?

The answer provided by Robert Frost (not the poet):

“So, atheists can certainly get a thrill from supernatural movies, but they do miss out on the scariness being prolonged after the theater lights come back on. That’s a thrill reserved to those that can believe in the possibility of ghosts and demons.”

A great question posed: Do atheist movie goers get scared during supernatural horror movies?

How the Market Affects What Horror Makes it to Hollywood

Recent torture pornographers such as Eli Roth arguably have aligned themselves with 1970s American horror auteurs not only to legitimize their work but to cash in on their rebel credibility.

The NEW REPUBLIC article is an interesting way to follow up on my previous essay written earlier this week about horror movies.. I actually made the point that horror movies, in general, are a lot less scary in our current reality—and even more, who wants to look at torture porn films and slasher gore galore when you can turn on the nightly news and see edited versions of beheading videos and then download the real deal yourself should you wish to..? 

The NEW REPUBLIC article follows how the market—and current events—lead to the horror we see in cinema..  Author Yo Zushi writes, 

It wasn’t long before horror directors such as Eli Roth were claiming that their work could trace a direct lineage to the “war on terror”. “I really try to load up the films with ideas,” Roth insisted, citing with pride the university seminars discussing his Hostel series as “a post-9/11 response to Iraq and torture”. The ecstatic violence of that franchise at first attracted the scorn of many reviewers, who dismissed it as “torture porn,” but Roth’s articulate justifications for his on-screen cruelties seem to have won over the academy.

This strategy of media management isn’t new—Night of the Living Dead’s George Romero said in 1973 that his pioneering zombie film was intended as “a statement about society,” and its semi-documentary style and black hero, murdered by white authorities, served to corroborate his claim. Yet, presenting Romero with a lifetime achievement award in 2009, Quentin Tarantino characterised his movies as consisting of “heart-stopping violence, explosive bloodshed, undead flesh-eaters and dismembered ghouls.” So does the political content really give life to the films, or is it ancillary to the thrills of gore and suspense? And does the meaning that a filmmaker attaches to his lurid tales ultimately matter?

And more:

Although it would be a folly to dismiss interpretative readings of the horror genre entirely, I am skeptical of the claims of critics and filmmakers alike that a zombie or torture movie is primarily to be approached as political allegory. That attitude seems to conform to an apologetic attitude to art, in which the work serves, at best, a medicinal function: the Hostel series is valid because it negotiates, even purges, society’s anxieties about Abu Ghraib, and so on. Yet Eli Roth is not Noam Chomsky. And who thinks about Nixon or Vietnam when confronted with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

I don’t know if the  movies are always set to be political allegory, or if the interpretation comes after to defend the amount of horrific violence that often accompanies torture porn flicks. But I know this, and will defend the notion to the end: Pick any horror movie of any decade and you will get a pretty decent idea of what that time’s people, thought patterns, and headlines were like. 

I have a few friends that disavow all things horror—people who avoid the genre at all costs. I myself avoid the torture porn flicks simply because I’d rather a deeper scare than one which simply attacks my sense of decency.  But I believe that horror films are from the rough end of town, and they are emblematic of the life and times we are from..

Oh, and wrestling does, too.

 

How the Market Affects What Horror Makes it to Hollywood

Horror movies in a time when reality is far scarier

Horror movies have changed over time because of real news.. But in our current climate of horrid death across the planet, what is scary?

Horror movies in a time when reality is far scarier

DIMENSION IS READY FOR THE NEXT 'HALLOWEEN'.. BUT I DON'T THINK FANS ARE

Horror sites and movie message boards have been a buzz today after BLOODY DISGUSTING linked a SCHMOEKNOW report indicating that Dimension Films is ready for a new Halloween movie.. with a new Akkad..

It will be entitled HALLOWEEN: THE NEXT CHAPTER. Apparently it will be set for a fall 2015 release—imagine the first one came out in the late 1970s and we are STILL talking about the Michael Myers franchise *(amazing)*..

According to the report, too, Rob Zombie will not reprise his role as the official ruiner of something great.. No gorefest? not sure.. no storyline? maybe not.. But.. it’s going to be a ‘fresh’ take on the Zombie films. Whatever that may mean.

A new chapter, I guess..

The first thing I thought about the new film.. Didn’t we already have a slasher ‘chapter’ before? We did.. it was called FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER. Which was not the final chapter at all.. this new HALLOWEEN is the new Chapter.. And the second thing I thought: I don’t want a new chapter. I don’t want another Dr. Loomis, or another tale of Michael Myers.. or any other references to him in new films. I want him confined to Halloween 1 and 2.. I wanted him to have blown up in a Haddonfield hospital, never to return again.. I wanted Mr. Sandman to be the last thing I thought about when I recalled the Halloween movies. 

Instead we have ended up with years of crap.. just plain garbage.. trashed heaped on us like weighted down rubbish .. Halloween 4? It was …alright. 5? Oh too much… 6? Ungodly.. 6 the director’s cut? Even worse.. H20? Josh Hartnett couldn’t even save it.. 8? Oh God live streaming from the Myers house? Rob Zombie..? Please stop this madness.. A new chapter? CLOSE THE BOOK.

This all needs to end..

Dr. Loomis shot him six times. And then set him on fire.. And John Carpenter wanted it that way.

Take the mask off.
Shatner called. He wants his face back.

Horror movies called.. they want the Akkads to stop making Halloween.. And now someone just needs to pass that along to DIMENSION—the company living in another dimension where reality doesn’t seem to exist when it comes to horror movie series that have just gone on toooo long..

Sorry Mike. We’ve had enough!

If you want to see killer clowns do some horrid and awful things in a movie, give Rob Zombie some money. 

He wants it.. Whether he needs it is another question, and whether he should make such a film is a question I don’t even bother to ask when it comes to him..

We know this, though: Rob Zombie is getting into the crowdfunding game, and is asking fans for cash if they like a ‘fast-paced, mean dirty film for those who like it rough.’ He says..

He has launched RZ-31 on the site FanBacked.com. CNET reports some trinkets you can get for giving Zombie your money to make a torture porn movie:

In addition to offering the typical movie swag like key chains and stickers (which you can get for a $15 contribution), Zombie is upping the rewards game by giving away crew t-shirts ($50), the opportunity to have your name included in the credits ($750), and a chance to be an extra on the set ($5000). If you really have a thing for clowns and murder, you can shell out $10,000 for an executive producer credit.

For $1500 you can get a hold of one of the original crosses from Zombie’s flick “House of 1000 Corpses” or wait for it…a $2000 donation will bring you one of the original Michael Meyers’ masks from “Halloween,” of which, according Zombie, there are only 50 in existence. Fans have 59 days left to contribute to the film if they’re interested.

59 days left.. the clock is ticking.

31 is going to be a ‘kill or be killed’ type movie with no boundaries.. Zombie says a the clowns within will be a group of ‘vile, filthy, blood-thirsty clowns known as The Heads. They come in all shapes and sizes and each grows nastier than the last.’

Sounds fun.
If you like that sort of stuff, perhaps.

So .. have any cash you can send him? Key chains await as a reward..

Are These Horror Films Really "Based On Actual Events"?

Interesting that I read this article today—I watched THE POSSESSION last night for the first time (yes it is old now, but I am slow and behind my times. Thanks to NETFLIX I get caught up years later) ..

The POSSESSION was actually a nicely done horror film. It was filled with some unexpected scares and unpredictable turns of events. But when I saw the tag line that it was based on true events, I didn’t buy it for a second. I frankly never do.

Unless I’m watching a documentary, I realize that it’s still Hollywood. And hooray for them, but they change everything.

That doesn’t mean it is a bad movie. It’s a movie. A movie.
Though reality is often scarier than fiction.. 

Are These Horror Films Really "Based On Actual Events"?

Marshall Fine Journalist, Movie Critic, writes: Farewell to horror films

He is done with them.. He makes a few points I can agree with.. for example, this: 

Vampires? Werewolves? Zombies? Again, sorry — it’s less that I don’t believe in them (I don’t) than that they have become such tired concepts or conceits, full of familiar tropes. I simply can’t summon the energy to care about them.

Even those, however, are preferable to the kind of torture-porn that seems to dominate the genre. Special effects have evolved so far that you can find a way to graphically depict any sadistic act you can imagine, from disembowelment to decapitation, and worse.

I have found a few gems that actually are good stories mentally scary.. One movie recently I saw was HAUNTER.. I am not in favor of the sadistic torture porn, and have written a number of articles against it over the years..

Fine also writes that age itself may have done in his horror experience.. he opines:

When you’re young — which I’m defining as under 30 — you crave sensation. It can come from thrill rides or extreme sports (participating or watching) or horror movies. The more exaggerated the sensation, the better — it’s a way of expanding your boundaries, testing yourself against extremes, figuring out your own limits.

After 30, however, there’s an increasing awareness of just how brutal, random and arbitrary life can be. Bad things do happen to good people; there are people out there who do commit these acts and you simply hope you never cross paths with them.

I fondly recall long summer nights with my friends all together mocking and jesting about badly made B horror films.. we laughed way past midnight and often saw the sunrise after a night of  movie watching.. And in a sense, I’d like to do that again.

I don’t quite think I ever watched horror movies for the storyline.. There have been a few ‘paranormal’ entries into the genre that have thrilled me for other reasons—SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS, THE RING, JEEPERS CREEPERS (1) and even the CONJURING were all good for the right reasons.. other films were good only because they were fodder for the teenage sense of humor..

Now, as I crossed into the my 30s three years ago, I can attest to with Marshall Fine is saying. Horror sort of comes and goes.. I am more afraid of reality than fiction—bloodbaths in real life happen every day.. 

Fine writes in his conclusion:

Yes, yes – I can hear the arguments already. Horror films allow us to confront our fears and, perhaps, deal with them in a non-threatening way. Or: Horror films serve as metaphors for (A) our lack of control over the world at large or (B) specific real-life horrors like nuclear holocaust, racism, environmental catastrophe, etc. Or they’re a harmless diversion, a catharsis in which the powerless ultimately overcome the powerful.

I get that. But I don’t need horror movies to make me think about those things. And really, only critics parse horror films in that way. Most of the mass audience is simply looking for a cheap thrill.

I suppose that’s all true.

But ‘horror movies’ aren’t the only torture porns out there.. PASSION OF THE CHRIST was almost as bad as HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES.  Which is why I have long thought the new breed of sadism in some films need their own genre—and I don’t think fans of that sort of movie would disagree. I argue that they’d be much happier going to a Rob Zombie section of Netflix and finding all of the blood and gore that they yearn to consume.. 

Horror movies can still be new and fresh, inventive and scary. 

Where Mr. Fine is right is in his broad perception that most horror movies are not good and fresh.. instead sadistic and without merit. 

Thoughts anyone?

Marshall Fine Journalist, Movie Critic, writes: Farewell to horror films