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Post by kingstownted on Mar 4, 2013 22:07:53 GMT -5
Avoid sex, drugs and alcohol, never separate from the group, don't check that noise in the attic and of course... double tap. Sure, there are pretty universally accepted truths to surviving the horror genre cliches but we thought it would be fun to just take a little time and run through some famous (and obscure) survival tips. The horror genre cliches are essentially a large deck of cards which form the variables of the story. Sometimes, the dealer gives you a familiar selection of twists and turns, while other times things come at you from an entirely original approach with combinations that were totally unexpected. We discuss the question of what it means to be a horror fan in a genre so riddled with cliche, while passing out the familiar recommendations on the subject including Scream, Behind the Mask, Cabin in the Woods, Dale and Tucker, etc. We hope you have as much fun as we did running through a quick tour of the horror survival guide. An odd mix of recent watches rounds things out with Anthony's report on The Last Exorcism 2 (still unclear how that title works) and Dark Skies, and Ted shares a pair of recent festival films Room 237 (a dissection of Kubrick's The Shining), and the highly artistic Berberian Sound Studio. As always we welcome your comments: horroretc@gmail.com Voicemail (206) 337-5324 |
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Post by jmodlinc on Mar 5, 2013 16:24:56 GMT -5
I think you have mixed up info on "Insidious: Chapter 2" and "Sinister 2" Tony ("Sinister 2" hasn't started filming as I don't think a script is even completed and "Insidious: Chapter 2" has just about wrapped principal photography), but no matter.
I'm curious, Ted: do you just dislike any awards show in general? Do you think it's wrong or inane for an industry to try and honor or award what its participants consider to be some of the best work of that given year? Isn't having it all seem like one big circle jerk sort of an inevitable result if one wants to see it that way?
Granted, I'm not a huge Oscars devotee and needless to say the quality is in the eye of the beholder so awards in general may be a moot point in that everyone is never going to agree with who is awarded what over others, but still trying to celebrate or recognize what is generally seen as quality work seems to be just something humans like to do.
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sidach
Creeping Corpse
Posts: 31
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Post by sidach on Mar 6, 2013 13:37:47 GMT -5
Just watched room237 & shining back to back after listening to this show. Really enjoyed the doc, though you're right about it being an extra, hopefully this will be done on bluray maybe? I found myself calling bs on some theories such as the minotaur, surely all the maze imagery is just a device to show their trapped state, but then as they escape the maze at the end jacks huffing, puffing and seemingly grunting a bit. The thing with watching 237 is youll bringing these things to the film whether they were intended or not.
It also starts to rub off on you and i couldnt help but start doing it myself.
1- i started noticing the use of mirrors.when jack is sat in bed the writing on his tshirt is back to front, then when his son comes to see him in his room the mirror fills the background, the hag is revealed in her mirror image & redrum we know. I think the difference is i just think thats a neat trick/ visual callback whereas the guys in 237 will try and link it to the great milkmans strike of 73 or something!
2-I also wondered whether Kubrick was playing with the idea of this as a horror genre pick, when he's an 'art' director. Therefore, at the start Jack says to his employers, dismissively, that his wife likes ghost stories and horror films. I then started to wonder whether all the horror elements of spooky kids, ghosts and old haunted/ cursed mansion were actually slightly spoofing the genre. In addition his wife, the horror fan, keeps on at him whilst he's trying to work until he explodes citing that she doesn't understand his responsibilities to his employers etc. I didn't think this referred to the moon landing stuff like the guy in the film, but maybe a bit of Kubrick's relationships with the studio versus a responsibility to his art, his fans or the genre fans who were going to critique the picture?
Overall a great discussion topic, that totally changes how you watch the original film, though im not sure if that's always a good thing. I remember reading a book called Ingmar Bergman essays in criticism by Kaminsky, where some of the readings of his films did a similar thing, and was equally intriguing and ridiculous in parts and these are a couple of the few directors I could imagine such an approach working with
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Post by mathias42 on Mar 6, 2013 21:07:03 GMT -5
IO think I'm going to do a weekend full of Shining doc. By the way (I just sent an email abotu this) did you know there was a Turkish rip-off of the Shining? Not a dub, tis is a whole new version of the movie. Instead of a blizzardy hotel, it's a hotel on an island and If I understood it right, it wasn't actually haunted, it was just the writer going crazy. It's definately supposed to be thier version of the Shining though. Scenes from the Shining are shamelessly recreated. IMDB dosen;t give much info other than the name and cast. The title is : Biri Beni Gozluyor. www.imdb.com/title/tt1625323/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2Also found this, thoguht it was appropriate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0hOiasRsrA |
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Post by hammerhead on Mar 7, 2013 10:32:41 GMT -5
If you guys have time, it might be interesting to explore King's intentions in writing "The Shining", and why he felt Kubrick destroyed his vision. The differences between the movie and the miniseries are quite telling.
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Post by jmodlinc on Mar 7, 2013 11:29:15 GMT -5
If you guys have time, it might be interesting to explore King's intentions in writing "The Shining", and why he felt Kubrick destroyed his vision. The differences between the movie and the miniseries are quite telling. |
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Post by xtrialbyfirex on Mar 9, 2013 12:24:39 GMT -5
As far as the Oscars go...
Am I alone in thinking it was a little weird Tarantino got an Oscar for best screen play? It seems like a big "fuck you" to Spike Lee and everybody crying about politcal correctness and a white man making a movie about slavery.
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sidach
Creeping Corpse
Posts: 31
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Post by sidach on Mar 10, 2013 5:51:13 GMT -5
Interesting to see those clips of King's views. I have heard him say before that he didn't agree with Jack Nicholson's characterisation, as he says above, because he seems crazy from the beginning and indeed he does look haunted or crazy on the drive to the house. This would seem a legitimate criticism in that it removes the plot journey, however, it ignores the key aspect of Kubrick's film that deals with Nicholson's character's fate and the continuity of his evil. The scenes with the waiter and the photo at the end make it clear that Nicholson's character 'has always been the caretaker' whether literally in that body, or an evil character in his host, similar to twin peaks, or that he was fated to this conclusion. Given this the critique of the characterisation of the lead as made by King is not fairly judging the film on its own terms, but against his text.
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yddy
Ghost in the Graveyard
Posts: 568
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Post by yddy on Mar 10, 2013 22:01:28 GMT -5
While that's a valid point, sidach, doesn't the author have a right to feel upset for someone turning their dream on its head? At the point Kubrick made The Shining, only Salem's Lot and Carrie had been turned into films. While there were changes to each of those films, neither of them had changes to the extent Kubrick changed The Shining. If anything I wrote were ever turned into a film, I would want the filmmaker to respect the heart of my story, what drives and moves it, which is why I understand King being so upset. The heart he came up with simply wasn't there.
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sidach
Creeping Corpse
Posts: 31
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Post by sidach on Mar 11, 2013 6:08:56 GMT -5
I agree he definitely does, and his position is understandable. I just felt that the way he was criticising Jack's characterisation was suggesting that this was a basic error (i.e you don't remove the journey by having his seem odd so early on) whereas it was a choice that I felt did work given the changes to the rest of the story.
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Post by kingstownted on Mar 12, 2013 8:39:58 GMT -5
If anything I wrote were ever turned into a film, I would want the filmmaker to respect the heart of my story, what drives and moves it, which is why I understand King being so upset. The heart he came up with simply wasn't there. How timely. As promised in the last show, we had what I think turned out to be a great discussion on The Shining which I'll put up just as soon as I get it finished. Have to agree with having an understanding for King's frustration. I do contend though that if he wants to preserve the essence of his stories, then the simple solution is to not sell them for adaptation. I think King gained a new appreciation for the concessions required in the filmmaking process through Maximum Overdrive, and did soften on the criticisms after that. |
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Post by xtrialbyfirex on Mar 12, 2013 12:02:20 GMT -5
hehe I love Maximum Overdrive...
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ilnino
Disembodied Voice
Posts: 473
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Post by ilnino on Mar 12, 2013 17:10:53 GMT -5
hehe I love Maximum Overdrive... Doesnt everyone? |
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yddy
Ghost in the Graveyard
Posts: 568
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Post by yddy on Mar 12, 2013 20:39:46 GMT -5
Not me. It scares the shit out of me.
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