‘Eye 3′ – Why the Double Vision?

Considering myself a fairly seasoned member of the horror film loving public, I’ve been surprised by the endings of two or three films in my lifetime, I have to admit. Yet never have I been shocked by the beginning of one.

If you have any interest in Hong Kong’s Pang brothers, the pair behind the original (pre-Jessica Alba) film The Eye, then you’ve probably already made the same mistake I did renting The Eye 3.

Yes, damn it, The Eye 3 is The Eye 10 with a new DVD box cover. As irked as I was to get this through Netflix, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who actually plunked down several dollars for this movie only to see the exact beginning they sat through a few years ago.

To be honest, I wasn’t completely unprepared for this, having read a review of Eye 3 in the last Rue Morgue that sounded all too familiar. No, it was the story description on the Netflix sleeve that gave me that last sense of false hope:

“After the tragic death of her husband who died mysteriously while photographing ancient ruins submerged deep in the ocean, Ching, a psychiatrist, starts to experience detailed recurring images of her husband’s underwater disappearance. And when one of her mystically attuned patients shares his belief that she will be reunited with her husband only on the brink of her own death, Ching resolves to take fate into her own hands.”

So if this isn’t describing Eye 3 (and believe me, it isn’t), what film is this?

Note: This is no slam agains The Eye 10, which is a deliciously tongue-in-cheek riff on the whole “I see dead people” subgenre. It’s definitely worth a rental, if for no other reason than a wonderfully off-the-wall encounter between a pair of street dancers and a possesed fellow in an apartment building.

New Horror Handbook: Update

Apologies for the dearth of postings this month. The good news is that it means I’ve spent every spare moment I can find working on the Handbook, which is coming along nicely.

Today I started the chapter about director Greg McClean (Wolf Creek, Rogue), and earlier this week I managed to finish up the rough draft of the Rue Morgue magazine chapter.

These chapters are already completed:

• Ginger Snaps (an extensive look at the making of the films)
• Vincenzo Natali (director, Cube, Splice)
• Eli Roth (director, Cabin Fever, Hostel)
• Inside (a look at the making of this year’s French phenomenon)

All of which means I have quite a bit of work to do yet before we can send this puppy off to the press. Thank you one and all for all of your support during the writing of this book.

‘Zombie Girl’ Worth the Wait

The other night I finally had the opportunity to see Zombie Girl: The Movie, the documentary about young filmmaker Emily Hagins that's nearly four years in the making. It did not disappoint.

I've had the distinct good fortune to speak with Emily as well as documentary makers Justin Johnson, Erik Mauck and Aaron Marshall a few times during my research for a chapter about them all for the forthcoming New Horror Handbook. That said, I don't think I'd ever really fully appreciated the work of any of them until seeing this film.

To start with, Zombie Girl (premiering at Fantastic Fest next month) offers its audience the very rare opportunity to see an artist in the making. While it's too early to say what kind of impact Emily is going to have on the movie world, it is a fascinating, and at times moving, experience to see her putting together her first feature, Pathogen.

Some people will talk a good game about technology making films easy for anybody to make, but these people are also the ones who know the least about what goes into making them. Not only does Zombie Girl demonstrate that, it shows a then-12-year-old girl who stuck with it right until the very end.

Finally, this is a film that does what all great documentaries about remarkable people should do: It makes you want to go out there and be remarkable, too.

‘Rogue’: McLean’s Follow Up to ‘Wolf Creek’ Hits DVD

Australian filmmaker Greg McLean seemed to come out of nowhere to grab horror fan’s attentions with his savage 2005 feature Wolf Creek. In the process he gave us one of the most unnerving twists on the serial killer formula ( and some much needed closure on the whole Paul Hogan/Aussie-invasion of the 1980s).

Now Dimension Extreme has unleashed the director’s follow up film: Rogue. Just as McLean breathed new life into the slash-by-numbers film, he has succeeded in doing the same for the Man vs. Nature genre.

The plot may be nothing new — a man-eating crocodile turns his teeth on a toothsome bunch of tourists in Australia’s badlands — but the execution is classic McLean. A fine artist by training, the director gives us one of the trademarks of the “new horror” movement: horrible events depicted in an achingly beautiful fashion.

Be sure to check out The New Horror Handbook for an in-depth look at Greg McLean and his work, based on an exclusive interview with the director.

‘Zombie Girl’ Set For Festival Premiere

Major congrats to Justin Johnson, Erik Mauck and Aaron Marshall! News comes this week that their documentary Zombie Girl, about the making of the zombie film Pathogen by (then) 12-year-old filmmaker Emily Hagins, will premiere during Austin’s Fantastic Fest film festival, which runs Sept. 18-25.

In preparation for the event, the filmmakers have posted a new Web site, including a slick new trailer.

Those who want to show this project some love are encouraged to stop by Zombie Girl’s MySpace and Facebook pages. And for a detailed account of both the making of the documentary and Emily Hagins’ Pathogen, be sure to pick up a copy of The New Horror Handbook Oct. 31. (There now, Mr. Publisher, sir — will you take me off of the rack now please?)

Update – Aug. 13, 2008: Just learned from Emily that she will be in attendance at the premiere. A big fan of the Fantastic Fest, she had already bought her ticket long before the Zombie Girl event was announced.

Another Chapter Begins: ‘Rue Morgue’

A little more than 400 words into a section of The New Horror Handbook given over to chronicling the rise of Rue Morgue magazine, and how each personality involved has driven the success that publication has enjoyed for more than 10 years.

In the meantime, editor Jovanka Vuckovic takes us for an impromptu tour of Rue Morgue HQ courtesy of this video she posted on her MySpace page (see above).

Another Kind of German Horror Ban

It’s getting terribly tricky to make horror films in Germany these days.

Fresh on the heels of enacting new restrictions that have resulted in the banning of extreme films such as Hostel, the courts are now having a go at a 2006 film released in Germany as Rohtenburg.

The movie, also known as Grimm Love, currently is working the film festival circuit, with a recent showing at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

“Aha,” I hear you say. “It’s a gay-themed film, hence the problem. Bloody closed-minded Europeans.”

Not so fast. The problem is much more interesting.

According to the Frankfurt Regional Court, Rohtenburg, which is about a man who kills and eats a voluntary victim, appears based on the real-life 2001 crime of German Armin Meiwes, who courted his victim online. (Damned Internet!) According to Meiwes, the movie (you’re going to love this) infringed upon his “personality rights,” since the picture is so-clearly about him.

The usual sturm und drang about censorship and killers’ rights aside, I must admit that I probably never would’ve heard of this film had it not been for this bit of legal music hall. What’s more, I never would’ve known that our Felicity, Keri Russell, has actually wound up in a proper horror film – a German one, no less. Thank you, German legal system. Now I’m gonna have to go out and see this movie for sure!