The Weigh In #52

The current state of horror films (part 2 of 4):

This week we are back in the swing of things with my regularly scheduled article, “The Weigh In”.

The horror story goes back as far as storytelling itself. Horror stories were originally meant to scare people into teaching them lessons they may not have learned otherwise. Probably the oldest and best example of this is the Old Testament of the bible. A vengeful God that will strike down with furious anger all of those that disobey him and will reward those that do his bidding. Verbal storytelling that passed down the history of a people’s culture was full of horror stories and was eventually bound along with great plays and poetry. The brother’s Grimm made a living collecting stories that were told to children by their parents to keep them in line. Novels about evil vampires, werewolves, and other things that go bump in the night have become classics. We would sit around campfires and tell each other stories of men with hook hands killing teenagers necking in the woods, comic books have picked up on that tradition by telling weird tales of the unknown that are meant to make us pull that blanket a little tighter up to our necks when we go to sleep and to make sure the closet is completely closed. Since the advent of film, the ability to frighten people and our need to be frightened has taken a giant leap forward, capturing the imagination normally needed in books and brought it to life.

Some horror films have a message, a warning, or are some sort parable of the dangers of a certain way of life. Others on the other hand, simply are just a way to up the ante, push the edge a little, kind of like a low dosage drug. The original vampire film Nosferatu pales in comparison to any number of vampire films produced in the last 30 years, zombie films, more gruesome than their grandfather Night of the Living Dead. Each version of the Friday the 13th series gorier and scarier than the last, until our tolerance surpasses even the goriest of sequels, until the films lose their power over us and the genre fades away. Years later, Hollywood figures out a new way to scare us, be it psychological horror, aliens, more action. Then the cycle continues. That is the history of horror films and we now may be in a new cycle.

After its audience grew tired of (for the most part of course) Jason, and Freddie, and Michael in the mid 90’s the horror film fell off of the map to be replaced with pretty much whatever started making money for Hollywood. Studios that were once powerhouse horror studios either folded, produced straight to vhs films, or were forced to evolve or disappear. Horror films are making a comeback. Lion’s Gate Films, Dimension and New Line are pumping out remakes of original horror films like they are going out of style. Because they may soon be. That leads to an interesting question? While there are original horror films being released all of the time, are the rash of remakes (reimaginings of Friday the 13th, Night if the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, all of the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Michael vs. Ash vs. etc…) a sign of the end of another era? Are these different enough from their originals to keep its audience entertained. If not, will this new brand of horror film help to keep the cycle going for a while longer? Is it really a new brand of horror film? To paraphrase a soap opera parody of the 70’s “all these questions and more will be answered next week on...” “The Weigh In.”


Superman Returns News:
No new news this week


This week at your local multiplex (4/26/2006):

Akeelah and the Bee: Drama
Lawrence Fishburn, Angela Bassett, Keke Palmer
Plot: An 11 year old girl from South L.A. has a gift for spelling and under the objections of her mother, she is taken under the wing of a spelling master and with the help of the rest of the neighborhood, she makes it to the finals.
Buzz: People who have seen this are comparing it to Searching For Bobby Fischer, which is not bad company to be in at all.

R.V.: Comedy
Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth
Plot: A dysfunctional family rent an RV for a family vacation and the comic hi-jinks ensue.
Buzz: What a brilliant idea. A family comedy about a road trip gone horribly awry. Well, that has certainly never happened before.

Stick It: Comedy
Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, Vanessa Lengies, Tarah Paige
Plot: A precocious teenager is sent to gymnastics camp after one too many run ins with the law. As an ex world class gymnast, she teaches the girls how to live life and stand up for each other.
Buzz: From the writer of Bring It On, you might like this one.

United 93: Drama
Khallid Abdalla, Opal Alladin, Louis Alsamari, David Alan Basche
Plot: A recreation of the flight ’93 that was hijacked by a terrorist and crashed in Pennsylvania.
Buzz: People have to really make up their mind on whether or nor to see this. The creators collaborated with the victims families and promised to make this a memorial to the victims of 9/11.

This week on DVD (4/25/2006):

Aeon Flux
Three Extremes 2
Shopgirl
The Passenger
Match Point
Reba (season 3)
Casanova
The Waltons
Tristin and Isolde
Magic
The Wedding Singer (se)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Windtalkers (se)
Guys and Dolls (se)
The Patriot (se)
Inspector Gadget: Original Series
Casualties of War (se)
Paul Morrissey Collection
The Replacement Killers (se)
Dr. Doolittle Giftset
American Dad (volume 1)
Robert Altman collection
The Detonator
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Dr. Doolittle 3
Law and Order: Trial by Jury
Tommy Lee Goes To College
Crumb (se)


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