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Wes Craven talks THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT remake, 25/8, and SCREAM 4 with Capone!!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Last July at Comic-Con, I stepped into an interview with Wes Craven that struck me as a unique opportunity. I'd never met the man before, so as far as he was concerned I was just another douche-bag prepared to ask him a bunch of questions about how much it hurt to have NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET made without any input or consult from him. He'd just come from enduring a couple of roundtable interviews that were both essentially just that, and by the time he met me for our one-on-one talk, he seemed a bit weary of hearing the same old questions. So I took the time, instead, to talk about other things, such as his new film as a writer-director, 25/8, which he is nearly finished with, as well as the remake of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, which he did have a hand in getting made. He helped select the director, Dennis Iliadis, a man from Greece who made a tremendous drama about teen prostitutes called HARDCORE, which I highly recommend. So essentially Wes was working on two films at once--not bad for a man turning 70 later this year.
At the end of our Comic-Con interview, Craven turned to his handler and said, "This was fun. Capone can come back." And so I did, to talk about LAST HOUSE, opening this weekend, a bit more about 25/8, the possibility of a new entry in the SCREAM franchise, and other chunks of the Craven-verse. I've got a couple more interviews coming soon with actors in LAST HOUSE, but the maestro comes first. One last thing: there are some pretty major spoilers concerning some changes made from the original screenplay to the screenplay for the remake. Consider the entire interview cloaked in a giant spoiler warning. Enjoy...
Capone: Hi Wes. How have you been? Busy, it sounds like.
Wes Craven: Yes, and I do remember you from San Diego. It was actually a refreshing interview, frankly.
Capone: I really did like this LAST HOUSE. I liked that the screenwriters [Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth] managed to make a few changes but still maintain the brutality of the original. When you'd mentioned to me at Comic-Con, that you go to these directors from Europe partly for financial reasons, but there has to be stylistic reasons for that as well. What was it about Dennis Iliadis' work that you particularly liked?
WC: It's all about the films that these people make that we see. It could be an American as any place else, but it was Dennis' film HARDCORE that I thought was extraordinary; it was a great combination of a dark subject matter and fantastic performances. I found out the rehearsed for a month, which explains part of that. Plus, the film shows a great sense of humanity, so that nothing about it was exploitational, and you totally believed those two girls. So that's what we were looking for. We wanted to take it and raise it almost to the level of an art film, but still have that impact and audacity of the first film. But treat it seriously in a way. The first film sometimes laughed at itself a bit; we had the goofy little comic interludes that were completely out of place [laughs]. What did I know?
Capone: I'm glad you're saying it. In rewatching the original recently, I'd forgotten how much those two cops bothered me.
WC: Oh, yeah, yeah. Look, it was a first film, and I didn't know anything. We were kind of experimenting. But Dennis came in as a mature artist and kept the focus on reality and people and didn't hold back on the violence, but gave it moments of stark beauty and so much else that is so important to it.
Capone: Did the screenwriters clear any major changes with you? There's one major change in particular--I don't want to ruin it--but it has to do with a character living or dying.
WC: There was some debate about that. I actually wanted, in the first film, for her to live. She did live long enough for her parents to find her, and then died when they found her. But Dennis thought it was powerful to have the parents defending her, that she was alive and that they managed to pull her back from the brink while these people were in the house. And I think he was absolutely right, by the way. There are scenes very similar between the two, when the girl is on the couch, the mother seduces Weasel. It's not like it's terribly far from the original, other than the fact that she lives. But that gives such motivation to the parents, other than just pure revenge. Now there's survival, it has to do with truly defending your child and not just revenge.
Capone: I wrote that in my notes, that there's a shift from revenge to survival, and there's a bit of more suspense as well. They need to get their daughter to a hospital.
WC: I think the scene of the father operating on her and sealing her wound, Carl Ellsworth wrote that and really researched it. It lends a credulity to the whole thing, because it's actually a process if a lung has collapsed to go through that, puncturing the thoracic cavity and all that stuff. It made him competent, but it also meant that the girl was alive but on the brink. They had to deal with these people, and that is very powerful. The first film was a learning experience, and we learned a lot about plot and so forth over the years. And Dennis had great ideas. The writers had great ideas. We went through a pretty long process of getting the script right before we even approached a director, and Dennis had his own stuff that he brought to it too. It was very collaborative. But for myself, that was probably the most hands on part of the film, doing that early work with the script and offering guidance.
Capone: It was my understanding you were not one set for this, but you were looking at all of the dailies. Is that accurate?
WC: Right, I was first writing and then doing pre-production on 25/8, the film that I just did.
Capone: Do you think audiences are more or less fortified to handle the level of film brutality, compared to audiences in the 1970s, especially when you consider what they were being shown on the new every night from Vietnam?
WC: I don't think so. I mean, we've had six years of torture porn [laughs]. So as far as brutality goes, there's been plenty. What usually is not around in the genre when it's just chopping off this and that is the reality factor, where you really believe these are real people. And that always intensifies it a great deal and makes it more susceptible to censorship. We had the MPAA tell us on this one that the problem with the rape isn't so much that it's rape but that it's so real, which just tells you everything. That's one step short of saying it should be entertaining, or it shouldn't upset you. But the whole point of it is that it's deeply, deeply unsettling and upsetting. To that extent, I think the MPAA wasn't ready for it because it was "real." But it's not a matter of gore for audiences. Somebody asked Dennis this morning, "How many gallons of blood did you use?" I bet you could put the blood in the film into a teacup; there's not really that much. But the intensity and interpersonal reality of it that makes it frightening.
Capone: I'll take it a step further. I'm not even sure what we're seeing here would qualify as a horror film. It's a very human story. But I was wondering, why is some of the more outrageous stuff from the original film--I'm thinking of the one girl being forced to piss her pants or the way the mom seduces Weasel. Okay for 1972, but not for 2009?
WC: Some people felt uncomfortable with some of it as just gratuitous, and, in a sense, it was. It was kind of an assault on the sensibilities in the '72 version. But also to me that was just a deeply personal thing. I'd never seen anybody be made to do that, but that is something, when you're a child that is such a deeply embarrassing thing that can happen, when you wet your bed or something. And then as you're old, you start to have to worry about that too. That whole element of being made to violate a basic physical pathway to self-respect is deeply unsettling. It's also like it's been done once, and you don't need to do that again. It just felt unnecessary. I think when you raise it to a certain level, you have to eliminate some of that grossness without losing the real human value. You certainly get a complete sense of the violation of the girl in the rape scene.
Capone: To me, the thing that separates this film from a lot of other horror films of late--remake or not--is the caliber of the acting. It's so much better; there are all real actors, and they don't play this like a horror film; they play it like a drama.
WC: Dennis has a good phrase for it--a horrific drama, rather than a dramatic horror film. Yes, that was a goal of ours. The quality of Dennis' film and the quality of the script, where it didn't exploit so much as just depict, was very important. I think the actors got the sense that they were in the presence of a really serious director, that they would be safe, even if they had to go to terrible places. They were being protected by a director who would not allow them to do something that was stupid or awful for the sake of doing it. He brought really, really qualified actors to it, that's one of the key things that separates it from the first one. We had virtually a cast of total amateurs, maybe some of them had done tiny little roles on television, but pretty much with the exceptions of the parents, these were people from very different walks of life. I think they did a remarkable job. But the depth of the skill and gift of the actors on this are just remarkable.
Capone: And it's nice to have the ages of the actors be more or less the ages the characters are supposed to me.
WC: [laughs]
Capone: As much as you see the flaws, though, it's clear that the original film still hold a special place in your heart.
WC: Oh yeah. I have a respect for the first film. I took a lot of changes, and I think it revealed an innate director in there that I certainly was sure I was or not. All the way up though THE HILLS HAVE EYES, I had people telling me "You shouldn't director; you should be an editor." The fact that I pulled that out of thin air in a very short time--I think I wrote the script in a weekend--and came out with something that was powerful and has lasted many, many years, I feel good about that. In some places, it's awkward or silly or whatever, but it was matter of finding my own skill levels and refining my sensitivities. That one was very much about being outrageous, and then by accident, it became deeply human. But there are a lot of things in it where I was just, "Oh, this will really freak people out." [laughs]
Capone: And of course, you could analyze it in terms of the times, talking about the things that happened to these girls in the movie were happening to your girls in Vietnam. It's harder to dismiss or not think about when it's happening in your own backyard. And there's also been discussion about how the film was a reaction to the rising tide of feminism that was coming into its own at the time. Is any of that accurate, or were you just trying to be outrageous?
WC: I wasn't just being outrageous. I'd just come out of being a professor, and there was a very, very strong antiwar element at the school I taught at and certainly among most academic circles. So one thing I felt about with Vietnam, it was the first time the American public on a nightly basis raw footage of an actual war. That had never been seen before. It was shocking. At the same time, you had a government routinely talking about body counts and clearly just lying through its teeth, so you had this destabilization of the trust of government in the United States, and that was very powerful. My feeling was that that was more real than anything I was seeing in cinema. If we were going to do this thing about violence and rape and murder, do it in a style of a documentary where you just…I mean, we were making that film out of building in New York that was all documentary filmmakers--[D.A.] Pennebaker and all those guys--and they would sit around saying, "You never, ever turn the camera off if something is happening. If you see somebody murdered on the side of the road, you keep rolling." We went into out film with that sensibility. Our D.P. Victor Hurwitz was a documentary camera guy, and he shot with his own camera, almost all hand held. So the way we went into it was, we're going to shoot this like newsreel footage. And that made it seem very real. And beyond that, I didn't have any training in film; I kind of taught myself by doing it.
Capone: So where are you with 25/8 right now?
WC: 25/8 is going toward its first test audience screening in the middle of next month. I'm very excited about it; it's very original. And we'll see. I don't think it's like anything an audience has seen yet. It will depend on whether they are willing to go in a very different direction. It's not terribly violent in many parts, and we'll have to see. It's an interesting experiment and I feel is a big stretch for me. I hope the audience likes it.
Capone: I've heard you describe the plot on three different occasions and I think without actually seeing it, it's tough to wrap my head around what you're doing.
WC: Yeah. [laughs]
Capone: And we're hearing that Kevin Williamson has an idea for SCREAM 4, and people are still saying they are remaking NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, as well as THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS and SHOCKER. Is any of that true?
WC: Yes, I think all of that has an element of truth to it. Kevin is sitting down to write something; I'm not attached, although there have been some telephone calls. PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is a possibility that we'll do a remake of since we have partial control over that. SHOCKER is the same way. NIGHTMARE is being redone, but I'm not a part of it. You probably know 10 times more than I know.
Capone: Do you ever want to say to somebody, hey, go pick on somebody else's horror classics?
WC: Well, most of the stuff I control one way or another. But it is hurtful to see NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET being done without being a part of it. But I'm a big boy, and that was the original deal. I sold it outright, so that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Capone: Wes, thanks for talking again. Hopefully when you've got 25/8 ready to show people, we'll see you again.
WC: I'd love that. Thanks, always a pleasure.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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First baby.
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Wes would trim out the urination sequence - I get his reasoning; and yes it may feel gratuitous but it was that sort of violation that also hit home and set it apart from s many other pieces of work.
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I really like a lot of his films. Wes Craven has his hits and misses, but his hits are leading.
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in a sea of pricks. When the guy aint even wishing em luck with the new Freddy, this ship is cursed.
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I don't like all of his movies - in fact I think some of them are crap - but I always respect that he's a smart guy that comes at his films from a distinct perspective and is trying to say something. And, wow, I had no idea he is nearly 70. Glad he's still doing his thing. But I hope he stays away from another Scream movie. In fact, I hope everybody stays away. Its been done.
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Mar 09, 2009 10:00:47 AM CDT
"Kevin is sitting down to write something; I'm not attached"
by slone13
THAT was the extent of the SCREAM 4 discussion?
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He's always struck me a very intelligent and quick person. Can't believe he's turning 70. Haven't seen him in anything in awhile, but he looks good for his age.
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You gave the guy a welcome break, and it shows. So many times an interviewer just wants to blow smoke up a directors ass, or ask the sorts of questions that you're going to see on any tabloid roundup anyway.
Interviews like this are fun for those who like movies and know what they are talking about. -
...artists apologize for their earlier genius. It makes it seem like an accident. The first "LAst House" is an AMAZING film. The comic interludes are what MAKES it a strange and poignant critique. How can I trust an artist who doesn't trust himself or stick up for his innovations?
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I may check this film out.
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While both powerful in themes, the execution were almost home movie-ish (House in particular). I could certainly see a reason for remaking Last House (amatuer hour acting, wildly inappropriate music, grainy poor photography). It's a pity that Nightmare is even being considered for remake, because thats the movie I felt Craven's skills as a director had come together.
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I keep waiting for Wes to knock one back out of the park. His early stuff was instrumental in forming a lot of my horror film sensibilities and it really would be a treat to see him get back on track. Seems that ever since Scream 2 he hasn't quite gotten hold of that raw, visceral intent that made so many of his films prior to that the classics that they were. Oh, and personally I hope that they do not mess with People Under The Stairs unless they have a compelling story and actors that can capture the tone and magic of the first film. Highly underrated movie. And Shocker? That shit is just plain out fun! Good luck, Wes! Looking forward to 25/8.
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Red Eye still showed Craven had the stuff. It was infinately better than Jodie Foster's Flightplan.
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Hope the phonecalls lead to involvement in Scream 4!
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always seems like one of the few genuine people left in Hollywood. Good interview, Capone.
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Love his movies and look forward to whatever the hell he brings out. The Hills Have Eyes remake was excellent, the sequel utter shite; but this actually looks really fuckin good. Nice interview, Capone. I cannot fucking wait for 25/8, either
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The last one wasn't all that good.
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Craven has made one GREAT movie (A Nightmare on Elm Street), two vastly over-rated piece’s of shit (Last House on the Left//The Hills Have Eyes) and a bunch of mediocre trash before hitting the big time with SCREAM which is an insufferably-smug-post-modern-look-at-me-I’m-so-clever pseudo slasher film that’s really a murder mystery and was a part of what I call 90210 Horror. A genre where all of the characters are all good looking, middle upper class yuppie larva (with usually one token geek/nerd) who are over articulate asswipes that do NOTHING but talk about sex but we never see and tits or pussy, where NO ONE smokes cigarette’s, they drink nothing harder then beer and don’t do hard narcotics, only the occasional joint. But it was a giant hit because people have shit for brains and a year later they cranked out Scream 2 which was a half assed load of monkey cum. But the real thing that burns my ass about Craven was an interview he did while doing PR for Scream 3. After Scream 2, Craven made that fucking Oscar baiting trash Music of the Heart where Meryl Streep played some white bitch who taught ghetto children how to play instruments rather then teaching them practical skills like killing the white man, dealing and how to keep bitches in line with a taste of their pimp hand. I believe it was Fangoria that was conducting the interview and they asked Craven if he would make another Horror film after finishing the Scream trilogy or would he move onto more WORTHY projects like Honky Music Bitch in the Projects. Craven said to the effect that he would just looooooooovvvvveeeeeee to make another Horror film if he could do something like The Sixth Sense which had came out the year before in 99. What this fucking hack meant was he would consider coming back to Horror if he could make a movie that grossed 300 million and was nominated for a bunch of Oscars. Well Mr. Craven, SIR, what the FUCK was keeping you from doing that after the success of the first two Scream films virtually guaranteed you carte blanche to do whatever the holy fuck you wanted? What did you do with that cred? You blew it on that made-for-TV fucking shit that was about as enjoyable as dipping my balls in aqua regia you cock chugging fuckstick. So now after almost a decade of irrelevance, not to mention that shitty Werewolf movie that was a rip off of Ginger Snaps (can Kevin Williamson pull anything original out of his ass or is there too much semen in there?), you now want to stage a comeback with the highly original idea of SCREAM 4. Well BRAVO I say to you Sir, I would expect nothing less from the man who got his start making fuck flicks with Sean. S. Cunningham. Also, I’m sure Neve Campbell could use the paycheck oh and could you tell that Guelph whore to get her fucking tits out in a Scream film for once since she seems fine with doing so now that her career is in the shitter and wants to be taken seriously as an actress….HA!
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It was even more a parody of the Scream movies than Scary Movie. I blame Ehren Kruger. I think Scream movies are the only thing Kevin Williamson CAN do. I'm interested to see what they come up with even though I'm sure it will suck.
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...changed the two victims to teenage boys. i still don't get the point of remaking this. and it just seems funny to me, the idea of two guys getting together to make sure that the (rare and rather spectacular--with the accent on 'spectacle'--type) rape/torture of two teenage girls seems "real"--from what perspective?
Also, so much is made of the original film being a reaction to, and product of, it's time--so what's the rationale for remaking it now? -
Mar 09, 2009 11:58:42 AM CDT
I simply dont get the positive response to the orginal House
by lovecraftfan
There are several Craven films I like and Scream is brilliant despite the bizzare backlash it has inspired over the years but Last House On The Left has always been an ugly terribly made film. Why is it a classic.
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Mar 09, 2009 12:18:01 PM CDT
Its ok Locecraft...I don't get the positive response to the orig
by scottindc
...and that's ok. Many people watch the first Scream and see it as groundbreaking and "smart" and "self referential"; but the whole slasher genre was in and of itself something of a parody anyway. I was never very impressed with the whole "look how smart we are for mocking our own shit" approach...but I get how others could find it entertaining. The original 'House' was weird - odd music, painfully blunt, and stank of over-connection to better 70's exploitation films BUT it was also unflinching...and there's something to be said for having the iron grapes to actually show what people are afraid to see and not backing down when it pisses people off. Rob Zombie had a great quote during his filming of The Devil's Rejects: "Art isn't safe".
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Fuggin laptop.
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srsly who wants them? its like watching 'friends: the halloween episode'.
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Mar 09, 2009 12:28:14 PM CDT
I dont understand this idea that unflinching equals great film
by lovecraftfan
Yes the original was repulsive and ugly and thats great and all for being shocking but it was also poorly made with no interesting characters or anything redeeming expect for the fact it was gross. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was shocking but also had an artistic flair. Also for anyone hating on SCREAM please watch the original again. Its not just a snarky spoof. The suspense scenes work as genuine suspense scene particuraly the fantastic opening and it is also very well-written and well directed. Its just a great film.
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God damn that movie isn't even scary, it's just goofy as all get out and hilarious
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I'd love to say that they INTENDED the movie to be a comedy, but that's obviously not the case. It IS frickin' hilarious though.
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I didn't know they were making a movie about Meshuggah...
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I've said it before, Capone is the only one on this site who knows how to do an interview. And yes, I'm looking directly at Quint when I say that.
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and I am not ashamed.
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...great interview and thank you for sharing. I've been a fan of Wes Craven for as long as I can remember.
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Not really scary. I was petrified by the original Nightmare movies as a kid. The first NOES was to me like garlic to a fucking vampire. I hated going to the local video store because they had posters or card board cut outs of Freddy and it scared me half to death. Knowing all of that,my cousin wanted me to watch People Under the stairs with him.The box said "From the director of Nightmare on Elm street" so I just knew that shit was going to give me nightmares for a month. Long story short, we laughed alot.
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People under the stairs is awesome tho.
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he's the best Wes Craven movie and maybe one of the scariest I've ever seen. Thank god, they won't remake this one and ruin it.
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I don't get it either, except that its fat ugly gore freaks who feel threatened and betrayed by a horror/slasher film about good looking people that becomes immensely popular beyond the group of people who collect Fangoria back issues. For what it was, what it was intended to be, and the period of time in which it was released, the first Scream was a perfect film. Not the best film, not even the best horror/thriller/slasher film, but for what it was, it was just about perfect. The sequels, substantially less so.
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Mar 09, 2009 2:53:12 PM CDT
Geekgasm, Scream is for teenage girls who don't like Horror movi
by 1978creepythinman
Also, as a fat, ugly, gore freak who has every issue of Fangoria may I suggest that you watch some real Horror movies. Scream is the Hello Kitty of the slasher genre. Oh and gore is not necessary to the success of a scary movie. If Scream gets your panties wet then you should try watching Black Christmas (1974) which was not only the prototype slasher film but is also the best of it’s kind.
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I know you have it in you.
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Ever since "Scream", horror films have been referential, formulaic, predictable wastes of money, enjoyed only by inarticulate teenagers who aren't old enough to remember "Don't Look Now", or "Damien, Omen II", or the 70's version of "Invasion of The Body Snatchers".
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That was the only movie I ever came close to leaving because it disturbed me so much.The scene in the woods with the two girls just really bothered, it seemed to real. Granted, I was 17 when I saw it and if I saw it now I'd probably agree with a lot of the current critics, but back then, I just wasn't expecting it to be so real, no monsters, just some very twisted people doing some very sick things.
I'll see the new one and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but there's no way it could effect me like the first one. -
Don't get Sidney, Dewey or Gail to return. Their story is done. Don't make Sidney a guidance counselor or a killer. Her story is done. If anything, have the film be about the current remake trend. Have a new killer return to Woodsboro and start remaking the killing from the original movie. Also have a subplot that shows how Hollywood is also remaking "Stab". Its the only interesting way to go. Get a few jokes from the lack of creativity in Hollywood, while the film itself is essentially a remake with faster pacing and more elaborate deaths. It's the only way I'll see Scream 4.
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The pale imitations that followed did. The argument makes no sense. By that isane reasoning than I guess Halloween killed the horror genre becuase of the pale imitators that came off of that. Bad movies killed the horror genre not one.
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Mar 09, 2009 4:06:25 PM CDT
Sorry, but the original "Black Christmas" is boring as fuck...
by mr. profit
It has horrible acting. A silly plot. And the only thing creepy about it is the ending where the killer is still inside the house and the camera pans away from it. I know it's regarded as the first real slasher movie. And I know people like to say Halloween ripped it off, but Halloween had a better story and better pacing and took everything Black Christmas did and elevated it to another level. Also Scream isn't for little girls. It's rated R. Little girl movies are like the remakes of Prom Night and When a Stranger Calls or bullshit like Boogeymen. For the time in 97, Scream brought back the slasher genre. You can't fault it for inspiring a slew of shitty imitators or for making weaker sequels. (Although Scream 2 is underrated.) It's so sad when people get all mad and try to discredit the film. I have too seen many "real" horror films growing up in the 80's and 90's. But does liking Scream discredit me? Please. Get over yourself and continue to jerk off to bullshit like Hostel.
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Mar 09, 2009 4:34:02 PM CDT
Wes Craven should do a 'Twilight Zone - The Movie' remake.
by biggusdickus
Wes can take the Vic Morrow role, I'll bring the helicopter...
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Thank you for a terrific interview!
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Black Christmas ('74) IS an awesome movie, made moreso because it wasn't working from any real template, as far as I know. Also, Margot Kidder is hilarious in the film. Side note- I think Malin Akerman's slight resemblence to Kidder is what got her the role in 'Watchmen'. A couple of times I got a Kidder vibe off of her. Scream 2 IS underrated. One of the best uses of co-opted music ever (Zimmer's 'Broken Arrow' score) &, yeah, you'd never guess who the killer(s) is, but isn't that the point, to a certain extent? I hope I'm doing the page breaks right. BiggusDickus-Too soon, man, too soon. I bet you don't even have a helicopter...
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I haven´t seen the new "Last House on the left". But the first one was disturbing and depressing like hell. The girls have been tortured and killed, the murderers have been killed and the nice parents haven been transformed into bloodthirsting animals driven by revenge. Seemed to me like the remake looses it´s edge by saving the girl and stair right into the predictable happy ending. But maybe I´m wrong?
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never fails to entertain - better left alone. SHOCKER i could see being remade; just rewrite the second half. personally, i can't stand TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE - half the film is too frickin' dark to see anything. it did lead to TCM2, however, which does justify its existence.
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It's a sad day when those Verizon commercials with the kids are creepier than this shit.
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'People Under the Stairs'- Man, did I want to be Fool and end up with the cute as hell daughter when I saw that movie. Man, I yearned for an adventure like that when I was a kid.
Also, I saw 'Serpent and the Rainbow' in the theater when I was 8, and it scared the ever-lovin' shit out of me. After seeing the Pullman in Ruthless People and Spaceballs, watching him have a spike driven thru his dick came as a -bit- of a shock. -
I don't use the word 'man' that much in real life. My eyes also were not drawn to JG's crotch in that PoP pic found elsewhere on this site. No, really, man, I mean it.
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When I first saw the trailer for Last House on the Left, it started off a little boring. But once that "Sweet Child of Mine" version from Taken by Trees started, I got very interested. It has a great creepy tone to it that I thinked matches the movie perfectly. It won't be the reason I go to see the movie, but it definitely didn't hurt its chances either.
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Mar 09, 2009 8:07:55 PM CDT
Mr. Profit, Hostel and it's ilk are TERRIBLE movies....
by 1978creepythinman
IMHO American Psycho was the last GREAT Horror movie produced in North America.
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They are not "Horror" movies. They are BORING, predictable, literal minded pieces of crap without an gram of wit or artistry. Of all the big slasher franchises of the 1980's, only the first and last Nightmare movies were able to rise above the morass. In the 1990's Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson were savvy enough to subvert the usualslasher cliches in the first Scream movie and even make them scary and suspensful at times (something that "real" slasher movies have never been able to accomplish). Wes Craven is a true filmaker. It's weird that he has made his name for himself in a genre that is usually a haven for brain dead hacks.
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Why are people here bitching about "torture porn" when those shitty, cheap ass 80's slasher movies that they love so much are just the logical conclusion of this mentality?
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you've seen them all.
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Simply put: Slasher movies make you jump, it goes from one kill to the next, keeps you off balance. The kills, generally, are quick. The death is not the point, it's the scare. Torture porn, on the other hand, is sadistic and dwells upon pain and blood for no other reason to dwell upon pain and blood and it gets depressing and sick. Torture porn isn't the endpoint, it's a dead end.
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Hello, Mr. Craven...if you're listening? Now, I'll admit, I need someone to guide my script, perhaps...but the idea is original, and yet, it is in the genre you have been known most for. I am a dyslexic, but I am very good with ideas...but I'm sure, because of my dyslexia issue, you would want an experienced writer to do a more professional polish, if you like my concept, which...I am sure you will, as you will instantly recognize it as being strangely familiar...and yet, as I said, very, very original, within the horror genre.Anyway...I hope you call me on it, if not, I understand...but I could not miss a chance to pitch my script. Thanks again...signed, MM.
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Littlw eonder its circulation is drastically shrinking. Nice interview; unlike other staffers on this site, Capone circumvented the ass-kissing routine. Craven is not a great director (more Bill Castle than Hitchcock); but Freddy is undenibly an icon who kindled a popular franchise (video games, candy, ad infinitum).
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"Little wonder its circulation is drastically shrinking." Sorry about the gaffes. And "Fango" is a litter of parasites who crawl up studio butt. Any film fated for their front covers has turned an ostrich egg at the boxoffice. Torture porn is grinded-out by chimps (Eli Roth); a gross-out scenario is successzul only if the director (e.g. Stuart Gordon) perceives mayhem as vanity for less talented filmmakers.
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do none of you remember the state of Horror in the 90's pre-Scream? It reinvigorated the genre, and you can't blame it for the shitty knock-offs that followed.
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are you that pointless tool skywankerfamily?
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Mar 10, 2009 6:16:42 AM CDT
thegreatwhatzit, I agree with you on Fangoria to a point
by 1978creepythinman
The best years of the magazine were when Uncle Bob was the Editor which was up untill 85. After Timpone took over it became a PR mag for Hollywood Horror. For me the magazine peaked in 88 with their coverage of Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Halloween 4, Hellraiser 2, Phantasm 2 and The Blob. After 88 the Horror genre took a nosedive because Hollywood and the fucking MPAA managed to shut down most of the independent studio's who made all the best, most crazy shit of that era.
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Does anyone actually watch Wes Craven films? I mean really watch them? The guys been in the business for like 35, 40 years, and he's only made one good film. The original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. He kind of fell into DREAM WARRIORS so I don't really count that. Plus that's the film that really killed any kind of atmosphere or fear element with Freddy. The franchise stopped being a horror series at that point and became a series of 3 Stooges ripoffs. That aside, look at the rest of the guys career. Early on, he had some really good ideas but lacked the money and studio support to make anything of them. Now he has bad ideas, but has the money and support to make something of them. Part of it though, at least now, is execution. I'm sorry, I don't have any anymosity for the guy, but he's just not a very good director. Even with some of his low budget early films, is anyone going to argue that the remake of HILL HAVE EYES (the first one not the crappy second) isn't better than the original? Haven't seen the remake of LAST HOUSE, but I can imagine it's probably a more solid film than the original. At least from a director stand point. My point in all this ... as it is everytime I rant at Craven's expense ... maybe he should get back to writing and producing some of his more original ideas. Stay away from studio influence. It's not doing him any good. His roots are in independent film. That's what made him who he is. If he wants to be anything as a film maker, I think he should get back to that. Let's stop trying to make the guy a horror icon. He's not. And it's gone to his head. His career was built off of a long washed up Freddy Krueger (sorry Robert England) and the 90210 of slasher films.
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Agree wiht you 200%. The Uncle Bob years are gold (e.g. interview with Robb White, Bill Castle's screenwriter). The Timpone years are shit (interview with a shoddy f/x stooge).
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