Cinematical

OK, so I missed my flight to San Diego this morning and I've had a really rotten day, but there's always a small silver lining, right? In the movie world there is: JUST announced (like, within the last few minutes!) is the Toronto Film Festival's Midnight Madness '08 line-up. And, as usual, it looks pretty damn awesome.

I've heard some really good things about Pascal Laugier's Martyrs, Franck Vestiel's Eden Log, and Jon Hewitt's Acolytes -- plus I've been itchin' to see JT Petty's horror-western The Burrowers for over a year now! Other selections include Pracha Pinkaew's Chocolate, Toshio Lee's Detroit Metal City, and Mark Hartley's Not Quite Hollywood. Click right here for all ten of TIFF's Midnight picks --and of course you can expect all sorts of expansive festival coverage once TIFF rolls out in early September. Woo!

(Note: Rocchi got all excited about JCVD being chosen as one of the Midnight selections, which is a title I neglected to mention the first time around. Ditto Sexykiller and Deadgirl.)

( Also announced today: Toronto's Wavelengths and Sprockets Family Zone selections. )

I'll admit it: Most of the indie / foreign horror films that I see at film festivals and then recommend like crazy ... are not exactly "mainstream" titles. My apologies if you watched Inside, Teeth, or Frontier(s) with your mom -- although she'd probably like The Signal. Heck, even my preferences in studio horror fare tend to run towards the bleak, and hats off to The Mist, The Ruins and The Strangers for keeping me on my toes.

So what's my point? There's one particular indie that is absolutely NOT a gorehounds-only affair. I actually expect quite a (relatively) mainstream groundswell of support once Gregg Bishop's Dance of the Dead hits DVD -- and according to good ol' Bloody-Dee, that DVD will arrive on October 14. Yes, the movie is about a prom that's been overrun by zombies, leaving only the dateless outcasts to save the day, and sure, it's got some gore, some salty language, and some playful sexiness -- but dang if the Dance of the Dead doesn't feel like something Spielberg might have done as a newcomer. (And actually liked horror movies.) It's quick and colorful and jaunty and amusing -- and I think that's the first time I've ever used the word "jaunty" in any capacity. Anyway, toss a red circle around this title. It's not just for the horror fans. (No less than eight Cinematical staffers saw and really enjoyed it.)

And hey, get this! Lionsgate is absolutely GUSHING horror flicks on October 14! Not only the Dance will hit DVD on that date, but seven more titles as well: Brotherhood of Blood, Dark Floors, The Last House in the Woods, No Man's Land: The Rise of the Reeker (cool!), Room 205, The Substitute, and something Russian called Trackman (that looks pretty wild). Now that sounds like a Halloween party!

OK, I know what you're going to say before you even say it: "Dude, it's a big guy in a hockey mask. Don't exactly need a snapshot to envision a big guy in a hockey mask." And that's a fair comment, but I work for this blog and weekends are really slow so here we go:

Our first look at the new Jason Voorhees! A big bulky guy in torn clothes and a hockey mask: Yep! Snark aside, the big guy looks pretty solid. No silly changes or anything, although his NECK sure does look sort of extra-thick. It's the close-up shot of horror-dom's supreme stalker that the fans want to see, but I'm quite a bit more impressed by the "far off" shot. The lake is a grungy shade of green and the shadows are trickling through the forest quite creatively. Anyway, the new Jason will be played by Derek Mears, who's played more crazies, creeps and killers than just about anyone.

The pics come from a recent EW article that Erik covered right here, but it took the hardcore horror fans to get a bigger shot of the serial stalker. Expect a lot more Friday freakiness once Comic-Con starts next week. And if director Marcus Nispel can do as good as job as he did with the Texas Chainsaw remake, that'll be good enough for me. (Yes, I quite like the Chainsaw remake. A hell of a lot more than any of the TCM sequels, anyway.) The next Friday the 13th arrives in February of next year.

[ Thanks: BD.com ]

The first Brad Anderson film I saw was Session 9. (I also spent $27 on the out-of-print DVD, which I've watched at least three times in the last year. It's a great movie.) And then I saw his dark and twisted love letter to Alfred Hitchcock: The Machinist. Wow. Aside from Christian Bale's staggering performance, it's just a rock-solid, old-fashioned mind-bender of a noir thriller. Good stuff. Most recently I saw the director's train-bound and icy chiller Transsiberian at Sundance, which (shocking!) I also enjoyed quite a bit.

Which leads us to a logical question. What can Brad Anderson fans expect next? According to Bloody-Disgusting, the writer / director is not straying far from the genre fare any time soon. First on the filmmaker's plate looks to be All Lost Souls, which is a "serial killer movie," and then perhaps Vanishing, which Anderson describes as "a smart post-apocalyptic horror film." Sounds good so far.

But even further down the road, Anderson could be looking at a remake of the 1943 occult flick The Seventh Victim -- and a Cronenbergian thriller called Concrete Island, which just might reunite the director with two of his Machinist collaborators: screenwriter Scott Kosar and low-key superstar Christian Bale. And to all those projects, I say this: Cool. Get to work, Brad!

[ Thanks to Bloody-Dee for the cool info. ]

Right about here is where all the gushing and excitement and enthusiasm should begin, because I'll tell you right off the "bat" that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is cause for celebration indeed. But then you'll figure out -- after only one sentence -- that I pretty much loved this movie, and then you'll head off to another, more unpredictable film critic. But it's the WHY that interests me so much. What I enjoyed about Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Hellboy 2 could probably be covered in one lengthy -- and inevitably nerd-tastic -- conversation between the two of us. But The Dark Knight... Well, clearly we're approaching a whole new level here.

Several of the pre-release gushings are accurate. Some say "Scorsesian" and others reference Michael Mann. Many spend paragraphs on the (truly amazing) penultimate performance by Heath Ledger, while others will revel in the grown-up tone or epic scope of the film. What amazed me most about The Dark Knight, among several things, is that the flick's got more layers than an onion farm -- and yet it never loses touch with the idea of FUN. True that we're talking about a comic book fun that's decidedly more melancholy than the cinematic exploits of The Marvel Gang, but dang if TDK isn't supremely satisfying for about a dozen different reasons.

Update: Because of the futzy Empire link, here's the trailer up top.

Update 2: The trailer has now gone live over at Apple.

Update 3: Beautiful trailer stills in the gallery below ...

We could have embedded a half-decent YouTube version a few hours ago, but considering the movie we're dealing with (and owing in no small part to professional courtesy) we decided to wait for the official release of the very first Watchmen trailer. It's available (exclusively, for the time being) at Empire, although you'll almost definitely see the clip this weekend when you head out to see The Dark Knight. (Notice I didn't say "if.") Again, click here for the trailer.

Having read Moore & Gibbons' Watchmen only once -- and therefore being a relative newbie -- I cannot comment on the geek-tastic little pieces of minutiae that are undoubtedly bouncing through this trailer. Is Dr. Manhattan the right shade of blue? Does Rorshach's mask look accurate? How Batmanny does Nite Owl look? And what of the infamous newsstand? (Are there pirates?)

As a huge fan of trailers in general, I'd say this is a very well-balanced and powerful promo clip. Newcomers will see a stylish-looking adventure story full of weird-looking characters -- and the hardcore fans will probably really like what they see. (Plus that's one unique explosion I just saw.) I'll leave it to our resident comics wizards to delve a bit deeper. Well, our wizards and our readers, obviously.

Topics for discussion: The music. The costumes. The cast. The production design. The heart-crushing disappointment you'll feel if the movie sucks even though you know if probably won't. At all.

Aw yeah, this is just about my own personal version of Christmas Eve. The first wave of titles for the Austin's lovely Fantastic Fest has splattered into my inbox, so instead of me rambling on about how great Austin is in late September, especially if you're a massive fan of films gory, scary, sexy, twisted and weird, I'll just direct you to a very handy FF press release.

But not before I say this: Of the flicks chosen already, I've seen precisely five: Let the Right One In, Donkey Punch, Spine Tingler, Terra, and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. A Swedish vampire coming-of-age story, a British thriller about boat-bound terror, an American documentary about a beloved schlock-slinger, a multi-national animated adventure story, and a scrappy little indie full of monsters that Rick Baker would adore. So from just one random sampling, this is one eclectic mixture of movies. Oh, and for the Hollywood fans: DJ Caruso's Eagle Eye will have its premiere at Fantastic Fest. By only a few days but damn cool anyway. Oh, and a screening of The Tingler? Beyond cool.

Click on in for the first full press release on Fantastic Fest 2008.

At risk of sounding like a lame comedian circa 1985, I will now offer some very basic rules of moviegoing that I hope we can all agree with. Because really -- if we ALL agree on them, then every one of my complaints should be remedied by this time tomorrow. And that would be great.

A. Young children in movie theaters. OK, for G or PG-rated flicks we non-breeders simply have to deal with it. That's cool. (Forget that I still can't see WALL*E in peace, but OK.) For PG-13 movies, you're kind of pushing it. I seriously doubt that your four-year-old will be disappointed if he has to wait for Return of the King on DVD. So please just drop the extra $15 on a babysitter. For R-rated movies? Nothing personal, but if your child is too young to understand the phrase "Please be silent for the next 103 minutes, except if you have to pee or you rrrreally want a soda," then that child must be left at home. I've seen three-year-olds at 300, rugrats roaming The Ruins, toddlers' troubles with 28 Days Later, daughters dazed by Doomsday, sons stunned by Sunshine, minors mucking through The Mist and babies babbling In Bruges. Seriously, cut it out.

B. When dealing with "talkage" during a screening, we should of course give the talker a brief grace period. He / she could be saying something that's actually important (like the house is on fire) or maybe they just need a quick catch-up on why Spy Assassin B just turned stoolie on Government Agent C. That person gets a handful of seconds (depending on the mood of the offended party), but once a brief exchange of words becomes anything close to an actual conversation, then SHUSHING simply must occur.

If you're a fan of the 1999 BBC series that turned Clive Owen into a movie star, I've got some good news. If, however, you're just an average American who has never heard of Second Sight, then I simply have some news. And here it is:

Universal has decided to turn the series into a movie. Producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford have tapped screenwriter Craig Rosenberg to do the adaptation duty. According to Variety, it's about a cop "who leads an elite unit that tackles high-profile murder cases while suffering from a rare degenerative eye disease that causes hallucinations and increasing blindness." Wait, the whole unit suffers from a rare degenerative eye disease? Because that's either one amazing coincidence or one really inept personnel manager.

For the sort of movie we might expect, let's note that Don Murphy was a producer on Transformers, Shoot 'Em Up, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and (the very underrated) From Hell. For Mr. Rosenberg's part, he's a relative new guy who's done a lot of work on Lost (and he also penned After the Sunset), but he also has The Uninvited on the way.

No word yet on who'll be starring as the optically-challenged policeman, but I'm sure nobody would mind if Clive Owen signed up for the job.

Special Note: This project is in no way related to this film. Shame on you for even remembering this film.

Yeah, you know John Stockwell. Every movie nerd should. He directed Into the Blue, Turistas, Blue Crush... OK, he played cool kid Dennis Guilder in John Carpenter's Christine. That's how most movie nerds know the guy. (He's actually been in a whole bunch of movies, like Top Gun and Losin' It and ... My Science Project.) So now it looks like Mr. Stockwell has his next directorial gig lined up, and he'll be working with one of the horror adaptation specialists.

THR informs us that Stockwell will direct Sanctuary, which sounds a bit like Sleeping With the Enemy, only with a horror twist: A woman and her son take refuge from her terrible ex-husband, only the island they've chosen just might be haunted. Oops. The screenplay comes from Stephen Susco, he of The Grudge, The Grudge 2, and Red, and it's based on the novel Bad Men, by John Connolly. Umm, and based on some of the things I just read at the novel's Amazon page, it's something I'll definitely pick up once I'm done reading this very fun book.

No word on why they didn't stick with the original title. I think it's much cooler.