It is WAY too early to get too excited about this (Restraints! Where are the restraints?!), but a cinematic adaptation of Ryu Murakami’s Tokyo serial killer novel In the Miso Soup has been cleared for take off, with Paris, Texas director Wim Wenders and Willem Dafoe attached.
Japan Extreme die-hards will recall that Takashi Miike’s breakout flick, Audition, also was based on the work of Murakami (which remains annoyingly untranslated into English to this day, damn it). Shooting on the $8 million film begins in February, according to Screen International.
Another Murakami adaptation, Coin Locker Babies starring Val Kilmer (I know, I know), Tadanobu Asano (Kakihara from Miike’s Ichi the Killer) and Asia Argento, is also supposed to be in production, with distribution being handled by Miramax. This story of two men who were abandoned as children in coin lockers at a Tokyo train station will be Asano’s first English-speaking role, according to this snippet from The Guardian newspaper.
While putting together The New Horror Handbook chapter about Eli Roth (who showed Cabin Fever at the Toronto Film Festival that year), I was completely blown away by the overwhelming dearth of decent horror films that came out in the States that year. I love Gore Verbinski’s remake The Ring, but geez, the rest of the titles it shared that year with could make you weep:
Darkness
Eight Legged Freaks
FearDotCom
Ghost Ship!!!!
Halloween: Resurection
The Mothman Prophecies
Queen of the Damned
Resident Evil
Rose Red (technically a TV mini-series)
After such a disappointing year, you can almost see filmmakers revolting against how limp the genre had become. We move to 2003 and we start getting the likes of:
Haute Tension
House of 1000 Corpses
Ju-on: The Grudge
Oldboy
Open Water
Texas Chainsaw remake
Wrong Turn (OK, typical WB fare, but this is the only movie on this list that actually freaked me out. Go figure.)
Just finished the first chapter (on director Eli Roth) of The New Horror Handbook (I wouldn’t even THINK of asking you to purchase this book — your non-pushy author).
Nice little reality check for your’s truly. Just as I’m scribbling away on The New Horror Handbook, I poke my head up from my notes in time to realize another landmark flick in the “New Horror” movement may have already hit video stores. I refer to that bizarre, blood-soaked prenatal ballet, A l’Interieur (Inside).
Sure, we all winced like a soccer fan witnessing an own goal when France’s Alexandre Aja was snapped up Venus Flytrap-fashion by Hollywood for The Hills Have Eyes remake shortly after the success of his Haute tension, but the French have come a long way since that film took the world by surprise in 2003. Ils (Them) comes most readily to mind as a film that gave the genre — the tired ol’ home invasion scenario specifically — a much needed shot in the arm.
But Inside seems to offer a very unique take on the whole relentless killer motif. (I must state here that I haven’t yet seen the film, I’ve only read a great deal about it and seen the various clips floating around YouTube. Hope to be giving this disc a spin very soon.)
The setup’s deceptively simple: A pregnant woman who recently lost her husband, and nearly lost her unborn child, in a car crash is attacked in her home by a relentless fiend. And that fiend is a woman.
Yes, who hasn’t spotted this same story in the news from time to time? But take a look at the clips available from the filmmakers or the trailer above and tell me if there isn’t something else going on here — something greater than the sum of its parts. For further insight into this film, and other recent French horror flicks, you’ll also want to check out issue 78 of Rue Morgue, which features an interview with the creative talents behind Inside.
Work continues on The New Horror Handbook as its October 31st pub date inches near. And during this time I find that one of the things that keeps me stoked during those late hours when I’m trying to tie up a chapter is the bevy of horror podcasts out there. There’s nothing like listening to people who really enjoy the genre to recharge the creative juices and re-enthuse you about this medium. Here are four that are in regular rotation on my iPod (all are available via iTunes):
Mondo Movie. I mentioned this one briefly in my Dario Argento posting a few days back, but there’s more to them than the odd Mother of Tears excoriation. Londoners Ben Howard and Dan Auty have racked up a pretty solid back catalog of podcasts that tackle everything from Fulci to Bergman, all with an engaging mix of cynicism, wit and knowledge. (Howard also is the host of CNET UK’s Reel Weekend online movie review program.) It’s pretty apparent that these two are genre fans from way back. And in case you need to see their credentials, you can check out an old horror documentary that the two were interviewed for when they were wee nippers. (Note that it was a Mondo Movie fan rather than Howard or Auty who posted the following clip.)
Reel Horror. Horror purists who only want to hear the latest genre news have been known to complain about this podcast, and granted it’s an acquired taste. But hosts Michael Sean Becker and Mike Carbone do one thing really well, and that’s entertain. Sure, they discuss the latest horror news, offer reviews of the most recent flicks they’ve seen, and occasionally interview B- and C-list horror celebs. However, what keeps fans coming back is their on mic chemistry. These are the guys you wished were running your local radio morning zoo when you were growing up rather than the knobs most of us ended up with. One of the most interesting shows to come out of the great podcast revolution.
Horror Etc. We’ve discussed some Brits and Americans, and here’s an entry from Canada. I only just stumbled across this podcast yesterday, but I have to say I’m enjoying it. Hosts Ted and Anthony spend more than an hour each episode tackling films by theme, and seem to have a good time doing it. The episode I just finished listening to was on films that claim to be “based on a true story.” In addition to their interesting takes on Open Water and The Girl Next Door (it’s a good movie but can you really, you know, recommend it to someone?), this was the first time I’ve heard that the French film Ils (Them) was supposed to be based on a true story as well. Gonna have to look into that one. Definitely worth a listen.
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews. All right, not strictly a horror film podcast, but these two Brits are a must-listen for those who take their film reviews seriously, and who also enjoy a chuckle or two. Kermode remains one of the most erudite-yet-entertaining film reviewers out there, and his horror CV is beyond reproach. He has a PHd from the University of Manchester in modern English and American horror fiction and wrote the BFI Modern Classics book on The Exorcist. Mayo doesn’t say a great deal necessarily, but the show is not nearly as effective when a guest host is taking his place. And Kermode’s rant on Pirates of the Caribbean 3(as well as Mayo’s response) is well worth a viewing.
Showtime has pushed the envelope so many times with its programming choices lately — with everything from Masters of Horror to Dexter — it’s only a matter of time before it experiences a rather nasty paper cut. An American Crime, which premiered on that cable channel in the US May 10, certainly could count as a digital laceration.
The 2007 film, based pretty closely on real-life events, stars media darling Ellen Page of Juno fame as 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, a young girl who is tortured and murdered by the woman who looks after her and her sister while her parents are on the road. The woman’s children and some of the neighborhood young ‘uns join in the abuse for good measure. Has torture porn finally landed on television?
“Hold it, I’ve heard all this before,” you say, and good on you for remembering it. Yes, this is the same plot of The Girl Next Door, last year’s (very nearly) straight-to-video adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s novel based on the short life of the real Sylvia Likens.
As I write The New Horror Handbook (coming to you October 31, hint, hint, hint), I’m finding that one of the most difficult distinctions to make is a) what exactly is “torture porn,” and b) how do you distinguish torture porn from horror films that boast extended scenes of torture that further the plot?
It becomes a type of word-association party game:
Hostel? Not TP (”Missed it by THAT much”).
Murder Set Pieces? Definitely TP. (Works on a couple of different levels, come to think of it.)
Unless the mass paroxysms of puppy love expressed by the media for Juno warped you into a despiser of all things Ellen Page, you probably have no burning desire to see the doe-eyed actress treated like a dog’s chew toy. Still, the fact that every belting, cigarette burn and worse in An American Crime comes straight from the court transcripts of this unpleasant episode in U.S. history gives it a merit beyond the mere display of child abuse for its own sake — a whisker’s worth, to be sure.
If we’re honest about it, the story of An American Crime is nearly identical to that of hundreds of made-for-TV and Lifetime original movies. Replace the terrible dialog, wooden acting and other sources of unintentional humor of the latter two with a strong central performance and a camera that refuses to flinch, and you’ve got this movie. If it’s torture porn, then can these other films be let off that hook simply because they lack the production values to pull it off?
I’m about 2,000 words into The New Horror Handbookchapter about Hostel and Cabin Fever director Eli Roth, and I thought this an opportune time to ask horror fans out there what they think about this paid-up member of the “Splat Pack.”
Please take a moment to head over to The New Horror Handbook forums and give us your opinion of Mr. Roth’s contributions to cinema.
For many of us who champion horror films past and present as much for their aesthetic qualities as their (often iffy) storytelling, Italian filmmaker Dario Argento may not be God, but he’s pretty darn close.
Certainly his last decent contribution to the genre may have been a decade ago at least, but if one is going to rest on one’s laurels, you could do a lot worse than giving the world Suspiria and Inferno, and then simply calling it a day.
Yes, they are absolute pants when it comes to plot, but as testaments to what can be done with the medium, they have few rivals. The Mona Lisa doesn’t exactly communicate a tale of wonder, either, but people have been content to stare at it for centuries. Personally I’d rather watch Suspiria.
All of which is a long way at getting to the point of this posting: Mother of Tears (here we pause for a great shuffling of feet, clearing of throats, and someone muttering “Here we go”). I haven’t yet had the opportunity to check out Argento’s closing chapter in his “Three Mothers” trilogy, but I’ve heard enough trouncing of the film to understand what lies ahead of me.
Yes, absolutely, he should’ve known better than to produce this film. How could an Argento, even in his prime (he isn’t), create a work of cinema that could fulfill the expectations set by the first two entries? How could anybody?
I urge horror fans to dial up the latest episode — #68 — of the Mondo Movie podcast for a lengthy — and at times hilarious — review of this film. Hosts Ben and Dan have been dissecting genre flicks for more than two years now, and they offer that rare thrill: movie reviews by fans — yet not love-it-all fanboys — of this deeply misunderstood medium.
Had the pleasure to speak with Uber-talented writer Karen Walton on May 2 — the scribe behind Ginger Snaps — about suburban hell, virgin suicides and the creation of that groundbreaking werewolf film. You’re definitely going to want to check out the Ginger Snaps section of The New Horror Handbook when it comes out October 31st.
In the meantime, thought you’d like to know she also participated in a Canadian documentary called Women of Darkness, directed by Donna Davies, who recently completed a documentary on zombies in culture called Zombiemania. We’ll keep you posted on this. In the meantime, check out Davies’ site at http://www.sorceryfilms.com
For decades, the horror film has been at once vilified for its often-violent content and exploited by large film studios as a near-certain moneymaker. In recent years, however, a small number of international auteurs have emerged to infuse the genre with a new kind of meaning and intelligence, even as they reinvigorate flagging box office returns.
But these individuals are only the most visible figures in a much larger “New Horror” movement. All over the world, writers, filmmakers and other artists are using the unique “everyone’s welcome” attitude of the genre to create new and startling works of the imagination, all on their own terms. In the process, they also are exploring what it is to be human in the 21st century.
The New Horror Handbook goes behind the scenes to speak with modern horror luminaries including:
Eli Roth (director, Hostel, Cabin Fever)
Greg McLean (director, Wolf Creek, Rogue)
Alex Bustillo, Julien Maury (writer, director, Inside)
John Fawcett (director, Ginger Snaps, The Dark)
Karen Walton (writer, Ginger Snaps)
Emily Perkins (co-star, Ginger Snaps)
Vincenzo Natali(director, Cube, Splice)
Steve Niles (creator, 30 Days of Night)
and many others.
Along the way, The New Horror Handbook explores the twists and turns that have led these individuals down the darker avenues of entertainment, and what keeps their fans coming back for more.
A former writer and editor for USA Today, A.S. Berman writes for a number of national magazines and is the author of 30 Years of British Television.
I’m about 2,000 words into 
