Bad Comparison Claims
I wanted to talk a little bit today about movies, in specific the complaints about them revolving around one movie ripping off another. There are some pretty out there comparisons.
For instance someone described Darkness Falls as a rip-off of the Friday the 13th movies. You know that a flying old dead hag wearing a white mask who can't enter the light for fear of bursting into flames is exactly like a movie about a guy who eventually dons a hockey mask, becomes undead, and throughout life, death, undeath kills people for being naughty. Pretty broad comparison there if you ask me.
Someone making one of the documentaries about the original Halloween decided that Evil Dead is a Halloween rip-off because you know, people trapped in the woods fighting demonically possessed people and corpses is exactly like a movie about a guy in a mask killing babysitters. Never mind the fact that Evil Dead is actually to some degree an homage to Night of the Living Dead and not a rip-off of that even.
The other day I saw another ludicrous comparison. The Manitou is a rip-off of the Exorcist because you know that a woman with a tumour on her neck that's actually an embryo of a reincarnated Native American medicine man bent on destroying modern day white people is exactly like the story of a girl suffering from demonic possession. Wow, the similarity is just uncanny. Come on people.
Don't let these baseless accusations slide. No one likes a mean dismissal of their thoughts, so kindly and gently educate if you see something outrageous like this. As smart places on the web say, don't address the poster, don't make it personal, just state the big differences in these movies. Remember, only you can prevent flame wars.
On the other hand don't be afraid of pointing out the really close ones like say (and I cannot recommend anyone actually watch this movie) The Astronaut's Wife, which is very similar to Rosemary's Baby. I'm not even saying that closeness is itself an issue, just that unlike the other examples it's pretty clear. My issue with the movie is what I consider it's lack of quality, which is neither here nor there, and some people may like it.
I hear recent The Roommate is much like Single White Female from years back. So what. I don't have a problem with that. It's just this idea that everything is a rip-off and thus bad and should be, I don't know, blocked, banned, or burned that gets me--of course compounded by blatant mistakes in the similarity. I guess that's all I have to say about this now. Next time, my take on remakes.
Mood: spleeny.
Music: The Ripper by Iced Earth and Let Me Hear You Scream by Ozzy Osbourne.
Or get MP3s.  | Buy these at Amazon.com | Or get MP3s.  |
Labels: comparison, complaint, Darkness Falls, Evil Dead, Exorcist, Friday the 13th, Halloween, horror, movies, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Roommate
posted by Robert G. Male @ 7:45 PM
1 comments
Connecticut is another movie based on a true story. Up until the haunting really shifts into high gear the story is fairly close to the original incidents. I was thrilled when I found out they were making this movie, and even more so when I watched the movie and saw what they had done. Let's start with our star Kyle Gallner. You may have seen him in Jennifer's Body and the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. He just makes this movie so much more. I wouldn't sneeze at Virginia Madsen either. She's been in Candyman, The Haunting, and The Prophecy. The rest of the notable actors in the movie's family include Amanda Crew from Final Destination 3 and Martin Donovan from Insomnia (2002) or on TV in Ghost Whisperer or Masters of Horror (2007).
recall him from Lost Souls, The Fourth Kind, Shutter Island or Let Me In (2010), or if you're really sharp in a small role in Apt Pupil. There is something I have to gush about in Haunting In Connecticut and it is one word... ectoplasm! It's right there on the cover. We're not talking green slime here, we're talking something much more textbook, and I for one love it. It's the icing on a very cool cake. Now, for those of you who don't know, this is a movie about a mother who moves her family into a house that was formerly a mortuary because the house is close to the hospital where her one son is undergoing an experimental cancer treatment. The place is haunted, but the how and why is all of the fun. Enjoy, and Happy Hallowe'en!
by Danny Elfman. 
tonight's movie. In a list of movies with infamously haunted places there is one name that towers over the others. It is called The Overlook Hotel, and it is not real, but most people will know the name nonetheless, even if they don't recall from where. The Overlook is based for the most part on a real hotel called 
Shelley Duvall, and young Danny Lloyd as a family maintaining The Overlook Hotel during the long and harsh winter. This is the same as King's story. It's not a spoiler, but the only thing I'll say here about the differences is that in Kubrick's movie the hotel has a hedge maze, and the novel--and remake mini-series--has hedge animals that come to life. As one might expect from a Kubrick movie there is a great attention to detail from sets to locations to the acting, and of course the direction. As for the haunting, the Shining has it in spades. Also, if you don't know, the shining is actually psychic ability, exemplified by Danny Lloyd's character and the cook played by Scatman Crothers.
by Helloween. 
Poltergeist. I already told you all about it for last year's Hallowe'en movie. I decided not to repeat myself although there were more than a couple haunting movies previously covered that I could have tackled again. Poltergeist II: The Other Side is a great sequel. It didn't have to be as brilliant, or as beautiful as the original, it just had to keep you involved with the family. It helped immensely that Craig T. Nelson, Jobeth Williams, and of course little Heather O'Rourke returned--and the boy too. With them came Zelda Rubinstein as the absolutely iconic Tangina Barrons. This time the Freelings have moved in with the children's grandmother but the ghosts still want Carol Anne, especially their leader the Reverend Kane played by Julian Beck.
by Aqua. 
Horror is probably the most talked about haunting on this continent popularised by the novel, original movie with several sequels, and now this recent remake. Scott Kosar wrote this Amityville Horror screenplay--also The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Crazies remakes. Amityville is one of the Platinum Dunes remakes. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and Melissa George who you may remember from Turistas and 30 Days of Night. They buy a house that is priced within their means because the previous family was murdered in it. Notable playing the role of one of Melissa's boys is Jesse James who definitely stood out in The Butterfly Effect. The priest in this remake is played by Philip Baker Hall from Lost Souls.
mention that it involves the character played by Rachel Nichols from the short-lived TV show The Inside, also from 2005, and a year later the movie The Woods. As a remake this movie draws comparison to the original, and a certain amount of ire. I'm a fan of this and the original. This one does it's own thing in some cases. It involves some aspects that are hinted at in the novel that weren't an issue in the original movie. It drops some aspects and scenes from both progenitors. Some of the changes could be interesting to see pursued in a sequel, though I have not heard anything about a sequel to this movie. You can save it for another night, but I thought the commentary track did a good job of explaining some parts that seemed a bit random.
by Alice Cooper. 
horror movie, which I think to a degree lessens the scares, but your mileage may vary. An American Haunting is loosely based on the real life haunting of John and Lucy Bell, played by Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek. The true story is one of the more infamous hauntings and fairly well documented given the time frame. The ghost was referred to as the Bell Witch. In 1819 General Jackson--yes later President Andrew Jackson--was even witness to the handiwork of the witch. Of course that isn't a part of the movie but wow, a U.S. president with an account of not only a ghost but a ghost witch. For reference as the title says I'm going with the director's cut. I cannot speak to the theatrical version.
by Alice Cooper. 
name amongst the throng of people who petitioned to get this movie released. Some people love it, some people are indifferent, and of course there are the hardcore detractors. I for one thought it was great for what it intended. It wasn't a heavy effects movie, it certainly wasn't a gory movie, or one chockfull of spectres jumping out from every corner. It kept my attention all of the way through, which is a good testament for a movie with so few characters or sets. If you don't know what it is about here it is without spoilers--I hit a spoiler myself sadly, just a few weeks before getting to see it the first time. A couple decides that a ghost is haunting them and the man gets a video camera to catch the haunting on tape.
by Type O Negative. 
haunted house and offered a lot of money to spend he entire night. I have to tell you I felt severely let down by the original, even thought it had Vincent Price in it. This remake isn't without its flaws, but I still think it is a great remake and it's a movie I like to re-watch. For one thing it is jam packed with nameable actors and actresses. Let's start with Geoffrey Rush as the tongue-in-cheek named Stephen H. Price. Then there's Famke Janssen as his wife. There's a bit part for musician Lisa Loeb and the one and only James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Taye Diggs is in it as a party invitee along with Ali Larter--from Final Destination 1 and 2, among other things. Then we have la pièce de resistance, 
by Evanescence. 
stays in a particular room gets the full on haunting treatment. That room is 1408. John Cusack plays a paranormal debunker writing a book about haunted hotels and the Dolphin should prove to be crowning chapter. Cusack always seemed to skate just along the periphery of horror or other genre movie roles until recently, but he certainly stepped into it with 1408. This movie is something of an oddball and I almost didn't include it in the thirteen nights. There is so much more than a regular haunting going on in this movie. You'll just have to watch it to find out, if you haven't already seen it. I have only seen the theatrical version so far and cannot comment on the director's cut, which was included in the set that I bought.
Hollywood movies across all genres. Horror newcomer Mary McCormack plays Cusack's ex-wife. She doesn't have a lot of screen time, but it was probably a good gig in between TV shows. Tony Shalhoub has a spot too as Cusack's literary agent. I just have to point out that Shalhoub was also in the heavily haunted movie Thir13en Ghosts, though here he doesn't get in on any of the action. That movie's ghosts put me in mind of the ones 1408 a little bit. The 1408 ghosts aren't so over top or gruesome, but they are stylized, and honestly I was a little disappointed in that quality of the effects. I'd even compare them to back when The Lawnmower Man came out, but this is maybe all too much information. Don't let this dissuade you from watching 1408.
by Rob Zombie. 
