Or You Might Just Make Better Movies…

Lookin' for fear in all the wrong places?

This little piece on CNN.com caught my eye for a couple of reasons. Never mind the fact that people have been looking for excuses to capture the brain’s reaction to just about any stimulus for decades, just who the devil experiences fear when they watch a horror movie? Excitement, possibly. Annoyance, often. Fear? Have I just been watching all the wrong movies all these years?

And ever on the prowl for an opportunity to “engage the readership,” CNN has even posted a poll: “Should movie directors use medical science to test audience reactions — or go with their filmmaking instincts?”Judging by a few recent offerings, I’m thinking they could do worse than to rely on the former.

But what really caught my eye was this: the producer they interview is Peter Katz, one of the people behind a movie called Pop Skull. It makes something of a cameo in The New Horror Handbook’s chapter about Rue Morgue magazine. Here’s the exact quote:

“…the magazine has gained an even more distinctive
personality, thanks in large part to the way its stable of writers regularly savage the worst that cinema has to offer. Stuart F Andrews’ issue 78 summation of indie film Pop Skull as being “a challenge to sit through…without hate-fucking the fast-forward button” remains a shining example of film criticism that New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael would’ve envied, however quietly.”

Maybe it IS time to fire up the ol’ brain scanner, but movie audiences wouldn’t be my first pick for testing…

‘Sorum’ Star Dies at 35

'Sorum' star Jin-young Jang died this week from stomach cancer. She was 35.

Everyone hates to see talent cut down, especially in the prime of life. But when you’re a horror fan, there’s an extra little twinge you get when a horror actor/director/etc. dies, as if noticing their passing makes you more morbid somehow. Or maybe that’s just my own sad hang-up.

This week saw the passing of Korean actress Jin-young Jang from stomach cancer at 35. In her short life, she starred opposite one of Korea’s biggest stars, Kang-ho Song (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Thirst), in The Foul King.

Yet to fans of Korean horror flicks, or in this case, dark Korean dramas, she will always be Sun-yeong from 2001’s Sorum. Her role as an abused wife who, like the handful of other residents of a condemned building, is hiding a dark past, won her the Best Actress Award at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

As someone who has only recently discovered the delights of Korean cinema, I find this particularly sad news. Can we please keep our tragedies on screen for the foreseeable future?

For more on Sorum:

www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm01.html#sorum

www.kfccinema.com/reviews/drama/sorum/sorum.html

www.mandiapple.com/snowblood/sorum.htm

And check out the trailer here. (Sorry, no subs, but you’ll get the gist.)

An Interesting Debate…

Up to the challenge of a good ol' censorship debate?

…going on at the HorrorEtc podcast forums: to ban or not to ban movies is the question.

Normally you’d figure that a horror film community would confine anybody who suggested such a thing to a giant wicker man, but the conversation has taken an interesting turn.

Your views probably will not be swayed — censorship resonates very strongly in who we are — but they may be tested. In an age where everyone seems to seek out news and discussion squarely in their own comfort zones, this may be one of the healthiest online exercises you engage in today.

‘Grotesque’: A Closer Look

Since the BBFC banned the DVD of Koji Shiraishi’s latest flick, Grotesque (Gurotesuku) a few weeks ago, it’s become one of the most talked about (and certainly one of the most Googled) horror movies in months. And predictably, it has launched a new dialogue about the banning of horror films in general.

You can add the guys over at the HorrorEtc podcast to that list. In their latest episode (No. 99), Tony, Ted, and guest host Doug actually fire up a copy of Grotesque and combine some running commentary on the torture flick with well-thought-out observations about horror movie censorship in recent years.

This commentary is something really tailor-made for the HorrorEtc crew. While the odd factual error may tick-off the die-hard fright fans (e.g, pinku films are actually Japanese softcore porn flicks rather than torture or horror films), HorrorEtc’s strengths has always been in the avuncular, enthusiastic manner of its hosts. And when delving into the details of an extremely nihilistic piece of work like Grotesque, it helps immensely to have likable guides who also give the impression that they’re not the jaded, giggling schoolboys who often put together horror podcasts.

Check back soon for a wrapup of horror podcasts that just may rekindle your enthusiasm for the genre.

Video Nasties Law Invalid? We’ll Take Care of That

Fulci's "The Beyond" was just one of the movies that was caught up in Great Britain's '80s-era "video nasties" ban. This week it was discovered that the law was never properly ratified.

Every time the heart warms to the ol’ Sceptered Aisle — usually after a particularly good BBC podcast — the dozing dragon that is Great Britain’s “video nasties” law stirs and growls, and sense retakes me once again: “Oh yes,” I think, “THAT’S why I don’t live there.”

This week, it turns out that law, officially called the Video Recordings Act of 1984, isn’t really a law at all, meaning future action under its auspices is no longer enforceable. Yet rather than taking this opportunity to quietly leave behind a particularly dark age of holier than thou insanity that saw many video store owners fined and jailed for renting horror flicks like The Evil Dead (and yes, to be fair, extreme flicks such as Cannibal Holocaust) to adults, the British government is quickly trying to ratify that 25-year-old act to ensure that this Thatcher-age assault on intellectual freedom remains robust for years to come.

There’s a certain symmetry to all of this of course, coming on the heels of the British banning of the new Japanese torturefest Grotesque.

‘Inglourious’: Reviving a Grindhouse Staple

With Quentin Tarantino’s latest cinematic obsession, Inglourious Basterds, I couldn’t help but think, “There you go, society — a gory flick about killing Nazis — let’s see you fume and fuss over that one.” I really must learn to stop goading the easily incensed.

In a recent issue of Newsweek, author Daniel Mendelsohn questions the wisdom of a film where Jews are shown to be exacting bloody revenge on their tormentors. To his lasting credit, Mendelsohn does not go the fuming moralist route, but only questions whether this is appropriate considering this particularly vile chapter in human history. The implication is that showing Jews engaging in brutal revenge scenarios can do nothing for the memory of a people so kicked about by history’s brutes.

Now That’s Change: Sid Haig for President!

Another election year, another pair of millionaires competing for the opportunity to plunge our fat into someone else's fire. But I've gotta say that if I were ever to slap a bumper sticker on my car or wear a campaign button, it would have to be endorsing someone like Capt. Spaulding himself. And unlike other "fringe" candidates, this one has a goal that's actually realizable:

"Can I win? No. Can I make some people fuckin' nervous? Yeah!"