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The AICN Downunder Report: HORROR from HAMMER FILMS to be resurrected in the world downunder...
Father Geek here with ol' Latauro (catatonic with grief over the passing of the BUFFY franchise) with our regular weekly report from that world downunder. Its a little skimpy this week, but Latauro's PC monitor
simply reminded him too much of ye olde telly, and thus his true love Buffy, to put in the hundreds of hours before it that this column normally requires. However, he did dig up a great bit of welcome news that "HAMMER FILMS Has Risen From The Grave"...
I do not wear the cheese. The cheese wears me.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
It was only a few hours before it aired that it sunk in: there would be no more “Buffy” after this episode. Sure, there were a few episodes from Seasons One and Four I hadn’t seen, and there’s the new X-Box game, and I’m sure there’ll be many guest spots on “Angel”... but it was, effectively, all over.
Like many, there’s no artform that exclusively holds my attention. Books, music, films... generally, if you’re mad about one you’re mad about another. But film was always my thing. There was something about being able to engage two senses at once that just got me. Television was a nice diversion, but films were the way to go. There was so much more you could do with them.
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
I do not wear the cheese. The cheese wears me.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
It was only a few hours before it aired that it sunk in: there would be no more “Buffy” after this episode. Sure, there were a few episodes from Seasons One and Four I hadn’t seen, and there’s the new X-Box game, and I’m sure there’ll be many guest spots on “Angel”... but it was, effectively, all over.
Like many, there’s no artform that exclusively holds my attention. Books, music, films... generally, if you’re mad about one you’re mad about another. But film was always my thing. There was something about being able to engage two senses at once that just got me. Television was a nice diversion, but films were the way to go. There was so much more you could do with them.
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
It was only a few hours before it aired that it sunk in: there would be no more “Buffy” after this episode. Sure, there were a few episodes from Seasons One and Four I hadn’t seen, and there’s the new X-Box game, and I’m sure there’ll be many guest spots on “Angel”... but it was, effectively, all over.
Like many, there’s no artform that exclusively holds my attention. Books, music, films... generally, if you’re mad about one you’re mad about another. But film was always my thing. There was something about being able to engage two senses at once that just got me. Television was a nice diversion, but films were the way to go. There was so much more you could do with them.
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
NEWS
The Incredible Kitster has alerted AICN-D to something that transcends cool. Hammer Horror are going to shoot their first film in over thirty years... in Australia. Announced at the Australian International Movie Convention, the Queensland-based Pictures In Paradise will co-produce the films, which they hope will have long lives on DVD. Given that Christopher Lee has no problem coming down to Australia or New Zealand for movies that make film geeks go ga-ga, it could be a strong possibility, no?
MORE on this in future reports right here...
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
FLICKERFEST 2004
Entries are now open for the 13th annual short film competition. The event, held at Bondi Beach from January 3-11, is eager for your input, so get cracking.BOX OFFICE
One film that’s Australia, and two that aren’t sequels. Pie Guy takes top spot, whilst the Running Man drops to second.
The BO Winners this week are...
- 1. AMERICAN PIE: THE WEDDING
- 2. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES
- 3. IDENTITY
- 4. CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE
- 5. BAD EGGS
RELEASED THIS WEEK
Lucy Lui goes Cubist, Ewan McGregor goes Rock Hudson, Samantha Morton goes Bridget Jones, Jason Patric goes narcoleptic, Dennis Hopper goes rat pack, and Vince Colosimo goes fried.
And the NEW Flicks are...
- CYPHER
- DOWN WITH LOVE
- MORVEN CALLAR
- NARC
- THE NIGHT WE CALLED IT A DAY
- TAKE AWAY
NEXT WEEK
- Nicholas Brendan will have a five-episode guest arc on the final season of “Friends” as Chandler’s long-lost brother
- Anthony Stewart Head will star in a big-screen adaptation of the coffee ads that made him famous (his character is now an incompetent spy)
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alison Hannigan, James Marsters and Marc Blucas lobby to star in teen-angst adaptation of THE FANTASTIC FOUR
Peace out,
Latauro
downunder@aintitcoolmail.com
downunder@aintitcoolmail.com
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+ Expand All
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So you can suck it
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this is really stupid. Talkbacks should be here for, well, talking back. NOT to show how cool we are becuase we sit here all day and hit F5.
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I've always thought Brendan (more accurately Xander) was a mirror image of Chandler (Perry). Excellent castin. I might just watch these episodes.
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where is the news here? All I got from this is the top b.o. sales for a continent i will never visit and too little too late grief over the end of buffy. please, get over it and find something else to watch on tuesdays. If anything, mourn the impending death of UPN. I personally can't wait for that sad excuse of a station to somehow explode, killing any and all of the executives behind their programming (Enterprise excluded and I'm not a trekkie)
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The news of Hammer Films getting back into the game has given me something of a cinephile erection.
Even some of their lesser work is a quantum leap above the intolerable shit that slips into theaters these days. Hammer Films were certainly the end all be all of horror in their day; they had grace, style, blood, and devastating cleavage...all a man needs to enjoy himself.
I'm totally up for a Hammer resurrection, and if they can pull another "Curse of the Werewolf"(an unsung hero of the werewolf genre)I'll be totally fucking appreciative. -
Aug 17, 2003 4:49:58 PM CDT
They're gonna do shitty teen slasher flicks, I don't care what t
by cash bailey
I read the first report and they guy said these exact words: "...horror for the worldwide teen market." This was the genius who produced that masterpiece of the the genre CUBBY HOUSE. Hammer Horror is dead. Let it rest in peace.
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It was a joke! Didn't you spot the Johnny English crack on the next line, and the joke about the Buffy cast in FF?
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I was trying to reply to Laimbrain with:
You thought that was true?
It was a joke! Didn't you spot the Johnny English crack on the next line, and the joke about the Buffy cast in FF?
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I love Australia. I love the people of Australia. I love Australian films (okay, maybe not Wahoo Serious--I'm thinking more Peter Weir). I do NOT love Foster's (which is apparently Australian for "watered-down wallaby-piss"). When will the good people down under see fit to send their U.S. cousins some real antipodean brew? Come on, we can handle it, mate!
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This had BETTER be true... and if this flick doesn't get the massive distribution it deserves, I am going to be very pissed. Think of Chris Lee playing Dracula one more time... he's still just as menacing looking as he ever was. This needs to be good! viva la hammer!
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Aug 17, 2003 9:53:58 PM CDT
hammer is dead. long live hammer... (or: stop! hammer time!)
by tommy5tone
as someone who watches 'the devil rides out' and 'quatermass and the pit' once a month, as someone who regularly stays up to four in the morning to catch the ABC's frequently repeated double bill of 'twins of evil' and 'vampire circus', as someone who has a deep and abiding love of the hammer horrors of the sixties and seventies, my response to the news of the new hammer is this: just let it die. the hammer originals are emotional time capsules for many of us who grew up with 'em, a wonderful blast from the past for those who weren't on the scene yet. this new incarnation sounds like a cheap fuckin' knockoff designed to cash in on a beloved brand name. you want to make horror movies? MAKE FUCKING HORROR MOVIES, NOT MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES! you want to keep the hammer spirit alive? release the originals in fully-loaded DVD sets a la anchor bay or make cool-looking tributes a la tim burton's 'sleepy hollow'. but don't come charging outta the gate bellowing "it's hammer time" unless you have some good solid ideas - not just a fucking press release - to back it up. i'm more psyched about eli roth, scott spiegel and boaz yakin's raw nerve production company than i am about hammer version 2.0 - at least they're trying something new, not attempting to hitch a ride on past glories.
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Aug 17, 2003 11:28:15 PM CDT
Buffy geeks are really close to being as bad as Fuzzies.
by sherlock_holmes_
Or those Cosplay freaks. I'm so sick of people bandying around the words "Big Bad" and "Scoobies" or "Scoobs". I gave Buffy several chances, and all I ever saw was a teen angst bullshit-laden drama with cheesy acting that belonged in a remedial high school play- oh, and some REALLY lame plotlines that were watered-down with very weak teen romance stories. The average episode of Tales From The Crypt is scripted better. Buffy actually reminded me of a "spicier" version of The Nancy Drew Mysteries. Personally, I don't see how Buffy has jack-shit to do with horror, as Buffy is NOT horror. That being said, I can honestly say that I don't believe for a second that they'll make horror movies like in the old days. It will be a bunch of this same teen-angst crap with more homages to Scooby Doo or the Wonder Twins than to Christopher Lee's Dracula.
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Aug 17, 2003 11:31:20 PM CDT
OH NO! The Buffy crowd wants to be in Fantastic Four?
by sherlock_holmes_
FUCK YOU Gellar. You and your fish-eyed, blank-stare boyfriend ruined what could have been at least a cute movie in "Scooby Doo" and your little crew needs to STOP LOBBYING FOR ROLES that are out of your VERY limited range. You can only play Buffy, Gellar. You suck! Freddie can only play himself, or I suppose a deer caught in headlights, should such a role ever come up. A Buffy-crew version of Fantastic Four would be WORSE than Gigli! Somebody get me a barfbag... I'm gonna be sick!
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and most of the Hammer BC is about to get releaso on DVD in Aus. How co-incidental....
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Thanks for that bit of news. Yeah, the new flicks might not live up to the greatness of the originals, but I'm still gonna give them a chance. Why be so cynical? We can really all just wait and see. As it is, we really know fuck-all about this. Don't go shooting infants in the head.
And, yeah... Foster's does suck ass. I'm a Guiness man, meself. -
Aug 18, 2003 12:47:11 AM CDT
Yeah, Next Generation was like that.... then when they moved to
by theginger twit
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Man that season finale was hella cool. How does Johnny fit in with the end of the world? Man we need some dead zone updates.
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Hammer was bought out by Warner Brothers. They own most of the titles. There were some releases that were privately owned by director Val Guest such as the great film "The Day the Earth Caught Fire." Warner's has a sweetheart deal with Village Roadshow pictures so this all rings true. The problem is, is that there are only a handful of the original Hammer performers left. Producer Michael Carreas passed away in 1994 and Anthony Hinds is in his eighties. Val Guest, in his nineties. I doubt if they want to produce. Its a noble idea to ressurect Hammer, but I doubt the new version will able to hold a candle to the original.
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Ask for a Victoria Bitter, the only REAL beer we produce. Fuck Fosters, Resches, XXXX or even Carlton Cold. VB is the fuel of a nation.
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I left it off the list because when I was 16 I drank so much of it I hallucinated for hours. I've spent the past ten years trying to forget about it and I haven't drunk a Tooheys brew since. If that ain't a recommendation I don't know what is.
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Aug 18, 2003 4:10:34 AM CDT
Sherlock Holmes, you don't really live up to your handle do you?
by earthworm
Same for you Lamebraine (much more accurate.) The Hammer films thing is cool though. I wonder if he still wears the big pants?
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Will be a live action Battle Angel Alita. It's official news. don't believe me go to www.sideline.com trust me.
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I'm assuming Mr. Bigwigs will go for another record and make it for $300million.
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Aug 18, 2003 6:38:19 AM CDT
Twins of Evil and Brides of Dracula are the sexiest movies ever
by cuervojones
and the 7 Golden Vampires is much better than all the Blades
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Fosters? VB? My god. Believe it or not but us Ostrayans do actually have some form of taste, but our most famous beer companies just hire some really good PR people.
Try our wine! It's the best in the world.
As for AICN-D: Best reports I've seen for a long time. Pity this weeks was so short.
Laughed my arse off at the 'Next Week' section.
Keep it up. -
Aug 18, 2003 11:42:11 AM CDT
Hammer's coming back - where have we hear that old chestnut befo
by charlie & tex
Almost fucking everywhere, that's where. Ever since Hammer collapsed, died & farted it's last breath, Roy Skeggs has been announcing Hammer's grand return almost annually. Sadly, the body of Hammer Studios is dead and has had a stake driven though it's heart, has has garlic stuffed in it's mouth and has been dumped out in the noonday sun to dry off & crumble into dust. "Requisat in pace ultima"
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Or should I say "How troll"? So, because I don't agree with your rabid fan-love of Buffy, that makes me somehow less intelligent? Personally, I'd say that the people who aren't slavish fans of Joss Whedon's teen-angst garbage are the smart ones. As for my handle, it's wholly appropriate as a yin to Moriarty's yang, and I'm actually quite good at detective work... For example, I deduce that you're a weenie.
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...try looking up IRONY, then re-check the other "scoops" alongside the Fantastic Four one. Then rein your neck back in.
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thanks for the brew tips, cash. I raise my glass to ya.
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Aug 18, 2003 10:27:37 PM CDT
Hammer films would be better if they had werewolves in them
by uncle stan
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Aug 19, 2003 11:09:11 PM CDT
Are you saying you find those "Scoops" to be unlikely?
by sherlock_holmes_
In a world where we're getting "Joe Millionaire 2" and "Temptation Island 3" and "Banzai!!!" on television, you really expect me to pass ANYTHING off as just being a bad joke? If you'd have told me a few years ago that Paula Abdul would return to TV to be a judge on a talent show which features young adults singing karaoke to compete for a record contract and that the winner of the first contest would also be cast in a full-length feature film, I'd laugh a bit. If you'd told me 7 years ago that someday in the future, the elderly Ozzy Osbourne and his family would star in a show which is basically the MTV cameras inside their house listening to them swear at each other, I'd call you loony. If you told me 10 years ago that someday "Jackass" would be a big hit, I'd smack you for insulting my intelligence. All that being said, I honestly can't say I believe that Herc's "jokes" are jokes... And knowing Gellar's ego and bad decisions, I don't doubt that if she wasn't thinking of doing this before, she is now. Maybe Herc's fooled me (I didn't bother reading the other "scoops" because they concerned properties I don't give a shit about) and maybe, just maybe, the joke's on all of us when those turn out to be true.
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What, no money people in London? At least go to Spain: great horror renaissance there.
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