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Massawyrm calls DAYBREAKERS a kickass Carpenter-esque extravaganza!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
When the Spierig brothers set out to make their new horror/science fiction film DAYBREAKERS, they received a little help from their star Ethan Hawke in procuring a 35mm print of the sci-fi horror classic THE THING. It wasn’t that they wanted to mine the film for ideas, but rather they wanted to show the cast and crew what they were aiming at. They didn’t just want to make a vampire movie. They wanted to make a John Carpenter movie.
There’s just something about the way John Carpenter made movies that few have ever been able to duplicate. You don’t just watch a John Carpenter movie, you think about a John Carpenter movie; you dream about a John Carpenter movie; you posit what ifs about John Carpenter movies. It is a healthy mix of horror and thought provoking speculative fiction flavored with just the right amount of adventure that creates a terrible menace, but also offers heroes that you honestly think are up to the task of meeting that menace. His movies are almost infinitely rewatchable, and even though his endings were often nihilistic, he had a way of thrilling you with that fact rather than depressing you, and filled you with a desire to come back and go through it all over again.
Well, the Spierigs have succeeded. They’ve made their John Carpenter picture. And it kicks an unbelievable amount of ass.
Sometime in the near future vampirism breaks out like a virus, but rather than hiding in the shadows, lurking and biding their time as the secret masters of humanity (as many stories, movies and games have envisioned it) almost the entire world has succumbed. Humans were hunted as cattle and those that refused to turn (or weren’t captured to be farmed for blood) went into hiding, eking out minor existences as the last of their kind. But this story isn’t about them. It’s about the vampires and their inevitable problem of running out of blood. A mere 10 years after the change, there hasn’t been the time to start elaborate breeding programs or develop a blood replacement, and we’ve done what humans do: consume until we can consume no more.
But what sets this even further apart from other vampire films is what comes next. Vampires who don’t feed begin to…change…in very undesirable ways. And as attacks by the monstrous blood-starved beasts grow more frequent and rations run shorter, humanity (vampiric though it may be) is on the verge of collapse and total ruin. This is the world in which our adventure takes place; a dark, moody, science fiction hell steeped in metaphor and startling in its originality.
Just as the Spierigs reinvented the zombie film with UNDEAD, so too do they now reinvent the Dark Science fiction film. These days anything with the words “Science Fiction” and “Horror” used together in the same sentence all comes out as the same thing: survival horror. Monsters on a spaceship or some genetically created beast or something of that nature stalks and kills people one by one. This film is entirely counter to that. In fact, our hero is one of the monsters.
The vampire-ruled world created by the Spierigs is everything you want it to be. Moody, evocative and well thought out, it is clear that the brothers put a lot of effort into the makeup and rules of this world. It lives and breathes on the screen and seems to be the platform for a hundred different stories. But the one they want to tell is incredible. A bloody, intelligent tale about the end of the world AFTER the end of the world. Thematically it serves as a great allegory for what we are running up on. As we mine the last of certain natural resources over the next few decades, we will be confronted with decisions on how best to go on without them. But how do we give up many of the technologies we’ve come to depend upon? The Spierigs frame this interestingly in the form of vampires. Would you be willing to give up everything you’ve come to depend upon if it meant a new, but radically different life without the comfort you once knew?
A brilliant and fantastically original take on the genre, the Spierig’s re-entry onto the scene after a six-year hiatus is fraught with horror, angst and more than a few tense, high octane scenes of action. Driven by a cast of terrific actors like the aforementioned Ethan Hawke, Sam Neil and Willem Dafoe, this film is absolutely everything you want from science fiction, dripping in all the blood you want from horror.
Destined to be considered one of the modern genre classics, this is one of those films that will get into your head and force you to wander around in a post-vampirapocalyptic world, wondering about how this or that would work. Internally consistent throughout, the Spierigs have brought us a new world to play in, and they’ve made it entertaining as all hell to boot. Easily one of the very best things to play at Fantastic Fest this year, you will not be disappointed once this gets unleashed early next year. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, see this film at your earliest opportunity.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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I dig Carp. I'm in.
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If it really is Carpenter-esque, I'm there. He's obviously one of my favorite directors.
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When does this open?
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...a very positive review, been a long time since I have seen a really powerful, scary and exciting vampire flick: no I have not seen Twilight however but doubt it will tick those boxes for me...
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I thought the trailer was really, really lame. Just another vampire flick jumping on this incredibly tired and broken down bandwagon. I'm sick of vampires. So, I'm surprised by the good review. Don't know if I'll see it in theaters, but glad to know it might be worth netflixing
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Been saying since the trailer broke - will be a classic, and the best film of the year for us Carpenter nuts craving his return.
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Yeah, i know Deel Toro did it, but....
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this looks like it has promise.
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And BLUE? But that doesn't bother me. Well it did for this one stupid ass indie movie that sucked balls, Dead and Gone. Do not see that movie. BUT DO check it out on Celeberty Movie Archieve.
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LA GothicThe PrinceRiotThe Ward (which i believe is currently shooting)IMDB also has 'In Development' listings for the Escape From New York remake, and another for 'They Live'...! Is that being remade?Be great if Carpenter himself remade it - as much as i LOVE that movie, it could do with a 3rd act that matches the first two.
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After Goyer decided to NOT make it about after the vampires took over. That would have been so amazing. I'm hoping this film fills that gap because it's a great concept.I got the Beautiful Creatures blu-ray imported from the UK because it had a similar concept but unfortunately it's a really boring movie. Aside from a few minor examples, Brits just really have no clue how to make horror or sci fi movies.
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Wasn't exactly blown away by Undead but it was fun, and it certainly had it's moments. Looking forward to this.
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The last great Carpenter film that Carpenter never made.
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before he dies. And he needs do a super-hero movie because that's what all the cool actors are doing now.
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looks fucking great!
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I've been waiting for this movie. Can't wait.
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I had high hopes for Goyer's Blade version of this until the remake of I Am Legend scared him out of it and he made that shitty third film.
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Since I saw the trailer, I thought that's a great concept and I love the actors involved. I also wish Goyer would've gone with this concept with Blade and he still may, guess it depends if Wesley Snipes is acquitted from the tax evasion charges. Wasn't there a novel written in the nineties in which Van Helsing and Harker lost the fight with Dracula then Dracula turned Queen Victoria into a vampire and took over the British Empire?- that would be a great movie!
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A movie we can take children to.
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From the first time I saw the trailer I knew it was going to be at the very least watchable.. I hope they really did pull it off and make a kick ass vamp flick.
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Is like the kid on the basketball court who made a couple of 'Holy Shit Did I Just See That?' plays but sucked the other 90% of the time, and yet people keep comming to the game to see if lightning can strike again....
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You're absolutely right. With very few exceptions, you don't just watch a JC film. You think about how shitty it was and dream about how JC keeps getting money to make movies that suck, one on top of the other...then you posit what-if he could start making kick ass movies like he did near the beginning of his career, only to see the next shitbrick JC movie turn into failsauce before your eyes.
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IT IS AN AWESOME MOVIE.
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and again, hmmmm. I went into "Enemy Mine" many years ago thinking it was going to be crap and was pleasantly surprised. Hoping for a repeat experience, here.
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.. even though I can't stand the whole vampire "virus" thing that Hollywood loves so much. But I guess it's here to stay and I'll just have to semi-accept it. Can't wait for the ghost, witch and mummy virus to break out.
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Oh my that's laughable.
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No fucking Brits got reviews of The New Terry Gilliam movie (the fucking long named one)? Came out today, fucking blimys.
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so I'm sold on it.
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Vampires are now giving Zombies a run for there money... All we need now is a decient Werewolf film..lets hope Wolfman will kick start the trend??
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The Thing BY FAR was his best, if not one of the best examples of a great involving movie. The Fog, Big Trouble and maybe, but a stretch would be Prince of Darkness - based solely on mood - are all seconds. That's it. His love of those stupid self-generated synths in his flicks was tired in the 80s, and sure as hell didn't work in the 90s (Ghosts of Mars which stunk to high heaven). If he only made The Thing, and then died, I would consider him a God, but movies like They Live and Ghosts of Mars and Village of the Damned were travesties. Actually Christine wasn't bad now that I think about it. AFA this movie goes - looking forward to it, though Massawyrm liked Hostel, so I'll hold back enthusiasm.
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I shouldn't expect any less than some of the mouth-breathers on these talkbacks...but know that you are all morons. John Carpenter delivers.
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Oct 16, 2009 12:58:56 PM CDT
FishTank - They Live absolutely Rocks, you're out of your mind
by bullet3
Carpenter rocks:
The Thing, Escape from New York,
Halloween, Big Trouble, Escape from LA(a bit of a guilty pleasure, I admit), They Live, Vampires
Thats an awesome track record.
And Ghosts of Mars isn't that bad, its perfectly watchable. -
Why that book has never been reprinted, I don't know.
Anno Dracula was amazing.
Newman's apparently written a screenplay for it, but there's been no takers. A shame.
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I had to turn the subtitles on so I could tell what those fucking Irishmen were saying.
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“They’re Norwegian, Mac.”
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Was GREAT
...once he got the sunglasses. Really kind of boring before then. But from that point on that shit is fun. Still is. And that fight between the bros. (Piper and Keith David) is one of the best bros. fights ever committed to film. Fucking Legendary. I love this film personally. Its just cool. And strangely funny. -
Just boring. Showed promise though. This however looks good.
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You're rosy-red love letter to John Carpenter movies gives you a pass on you're limited appreciation of Coen Brothers movies, but seriously, how can O Brother be on your list and not Lebowski? How can you like one Cohen comedy and not like them all? You're mind is a dark and confusing place.
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The Thing and his horror films is always the first film mentioned. Yes it's one of his best, as a horror movie, one of the greatest, and as a gore show, THE GREATEST. But what saddens me is noone ever calls in Big Trouble in Little China. Seriously one of the funniest movies of all time, a cool genre flick way ahead of it's time. Carpenter didn't do many comedies, which is a shame, because his timing was right on, and his casting was impeccable. What ever happened to the dude that played Wang? I know he was in Prince of Darkness, then he just dissapeared. Whatever Carpenter is doing next, he needs to start calling back some of his old actors, if he kept a talent pool around him like so many current filmmakers are doing, especially Kurt Russel, I think his films could get back to greatness. Ghost of Mars was shit, but I don't think Carpenter has gone the way of George Lucas, he just hasn't had a great idea in a while. Fingers crossed the Carpenter rises again.
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At Butt Numb a thon this year? And probably Book of Eli or the Road?
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Oct 16, 2009 2:12:19 PM CDT
"And go on to rule the universe from beyond the grave..."
by mr. nice gaius
"Indeed!!!""Or get tossed into a psycho ward. Whichever comes first, huh?"
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Oct 16, 2009 2:13:22 PM CDT
Hey, I'm a reasonable guy, I've just seen some unreasonable thin
by gene_parmesan
Seriously though, you know what would totally kick ass? If Carpenter made a movie about vampires! What could we call it? Escape from the Sunlight? Big Trouble in Little Coffin? wocka wocka
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"Yeah, I know, but there's something wrong with your face"
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Fuck it.
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In the Mouth of Madness was the last great Carpenter film.
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Greatest actor of all time, interesting considering all the mentions of Carpenter, as he directed In The Mouth Of Madness which is one of the most underated horror film of all time, which stars Sam Neill!!!!!
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or 10-foot tall roadblock?!?!?
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Oct 16, 2009 2:31:01 PM CDT
stop trying to look smart by calling humans pure consumers
by haterofcrap
the wild animals we try so hard to protect are the pure consumers.. all they do is eat, shit, fight, and fuck (insert vampires in place of animals). have they invented a space shuttle or computer to write reviews on? no. humans CREATE, even if its not apparent or done in a way that an individual morally approves. and i'm not getting into a lame philosophical argument after this either, because i'm right.
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It's about time. He starred in the scifi classiq Gattaca, he needs a good flick in this genre. Idk what to call it, scifi? Action? This review refers to it as a John Carpenter fliq so I'm not sure, horror?
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"I can Harp you"
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Yes, we understand, Massa really liked the movie. I suspect i'll too. But... where's the review? How is the movie? Why it's good? What's it's strenghs? It's weakness? How is the acting? The cinematography? The editing? The music?
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was that he keep on shooting in anamorphic even though it went out of fashion with the other directors. Carpeter was always very good in framming with anamorphic, specially in the days when he worked with Dean Cundey.Dean Cundey is a mystery to me. When h eused to work with Carpetner, he made great cinematography on very little budgets, he was very inventive with very little. Then he shoot The Thing, which for me is one of the top most beautiful cinematography in a movie i ever seen in all my life. But a few years afte,r he stoped working for Carpetner and made soem of the most bland, badly looking Spielberg movies i ever seen. What happened to the guy?
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I see no major probem in the 3rd act of THEY LIVE. In fact, the ending of that movie is highly entertaining. And funny.
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Sam Neill was indeed brillant in In The Mouth Of Madness. Of cours,e Sam Neill is always brillant, but he was a bit even more brillant then usual. Adn yes, you are correct, In The Mouth Of Madness is undeed underrated. I also thank Carpenter for not going the lazy route and decided to cast David Warner in a good guy role for the movie.
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One of the best framers of an image in the business. Even a relatively minor flick like PRINCE OF DARKNESS is stunning to look at, and composed beautifully. Props to whoever called first on ANNO DRACULA - Kim Newman's vampire novels are about the best of the last thirty years, and funny as hell too. ANNO DRACULA's been out of print for years, and secondhand copies are hard to come by cheaply, though some of the later ones are still available. My favourite is JUDGMENT OF TEARS aka DRACULA CHA CHA CHA...
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To all talkbackers who say that this movie was ok, watchable, entertaining, etc. your argument is null and void. It was a TERRIBLE movie. Really, really Godawful bad on every single level possible. Don't even try to defend it.
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The scariest thing about that movie is Statham's accent.
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Massa's review speaks to me.
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. . . that I really like is Starman. Haven't seen it in a long time though. Heartwarming and, of course, great score.
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"As TWO I said I was coming."
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Which Carpenter? The good 70s 80s Carpenter, or the shitty 90s, 2000s, Carpenter?
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HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE THING, CHRISTINE, STARMAN, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, THEY LIVE - plus the TV movies ELVIS and SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME, overseeing HALLOWEEN II and III, plus writing most of the screenplays for the above and co-composing the scores...
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...was a nice mash-up of Carpenter/Miller/Verhoeven. I know people's opinions of it are very mixed but I loved the hell out of it.
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Big Trouble in Little China and earlier
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Basically a movie-length homage to the flicks of Marshall's youth(and, let's face it, mine too). Loved the thing, though it's dumb as a box of rocks, and I'm glad that Marshall's got all that out of his system. Bring on CENTURION.
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"and I am all out of bubblegum"
Best quote ever - They Live -
Most of J.C's more recent stuff is not up to snuff, IMO. But yeah, that run of flicks beginning with Precinct 13 through the 80s, pretty damn good.
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Top. Fucking. Notch.Dean Cundey IS amazing. But, I wouldn't knock Spielberg's cinematographers. He's worked with Vilmos Zsigmond, Allen Daviau and the incredible Janusz Kaminski. Both Carpenter and Spielberg know great shooters.Anyway the trailer for this looks pretty damn good—strong cast and fun premise. Trailer looks gorgeous in HD.
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an overlooked New Zealand scifi-horror, where only male vampires exist as celibate monks, devoted to maintaining law and order among humans, who donate their blood in very Catholic-like rituals. Terrific world-building. But most of all I like 'The Thing' because of its sense of nihilistic dread. You know Carpenter won't give you a happy ending, and I hope 'Daybreakers' doesn't either.
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Look again at the first X FILES movie, and also REIGN OF FIRE; great exploitation of the width of frame possible.
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... so if this film is aiming that high, I'll watch for sure.
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Oct 16, 2009 4:33:38 PM CDT
Prince of Darkness is still a great horror movie!
by hollywoodhellraiser
If it doesn't scare you, even today, than something is wrong!
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He is extremely good with composition. Unfortunately, the scripts he chooses undermine the suspense in his staging and blocking; he can't 'direct' a bad script into a good one. But, he can hide the worst parts by imaginative staging ("Elektra" was execrable, but he staged it well).
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john carpenter is a hack
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RELEASE it for a fucking Halloween movie! Geezus- why aren't there anymore Halloween movies? We only get shitty Saw sequels now! Shit, even Halloween, as crappy as it is, released in August!
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but it looks great - Bowman polished a turd there, it's true. The movie's still a turd, but it's a goodlooking one. He's got a great eye for widescreen composition, unlike many directors who go fullframe/worry too much about keeping the acition front and centre. No depth of field, no width, nothing.
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He made Big Trouble in Little China, noodle-dicks. Movies these days can't compare.
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....er, queue.
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for a second i though he had misspelled Spielberg
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"As we mine the last of certain natural resources over the next few decades" - anyone know WTF Massa is on about here?
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The same Janusz Kaminski that shot the epic film COOL AS ICE? Yep, that's him :D Thankfully he progressed after that...
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The novel the film was based off, "Vampire$, Inc." by John Steakley was fantastic - vampire hunters get the tables turned and become the prey. No fat Baldwins, no sacred cross, nothing more than hunting down the leader in an effort to convert him to their side. Excellent back story of how the Catholic Church backs the hunters, and has allusions to werewolf hunters.Carpenter takes that and pisses all over it, including adding a cliched attack against the Catholic Church by having the Cardinal leading the hunters turn on them. If you've seen the movie, do yourself a favor and get the book. Very scary scenes that weren't in the movie.
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Was one of the worst pieces of shit I have ever had the misfortune of watching. Anyone who enjoyed that needs their head examined. I know film is subjective, but seriously, Undead was headache inducing. I give it no stars out of four... complete fucking waste of time.
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very cringe-worthy. still catch myself bracing for impact on some of those scenes. the one where the fuckin' chest opens up and bites down always gets a double HELLZ YEAH!
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First. GreatOne3 I'm gonna cut you a break cause you have an affinity for Vampires source material. I am not familiar but will check it out. I do love the weapons and the crew and obviously Woods in the film but you have to admit that when the dude gets split in 2 in the doorway, that is FUCKING amazing. Next. I am glad they mentioned Carpenter here because like in other TB's it provides great profiling for people with no taste and shit opinions. uberman, Ravenloff, Fish Tank and chipps..clearly mental retards. Cigarette Burns is what Carpenter thinks of people like these. Even the occasional misstep is better than half the shit that gets released. Assholes get upset when they get all wound up over a movie they think is gonna change their pathetic lives and then it doesn't meet their fucked up expectations about what they think it should be. Carpenter has a lot of irons in the fire and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with. The Ward sounds sweet and Riot caould be good if the loose Cage. Undead was average so comparing Daybreakers to The Thing seems kinda fishy. Fuck the haters. You can all pull a train on one another and lick each other clean.
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Take that shit to the bank.
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New Moon by themselves. Thank God!
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No one ever mentions Starman, one of the most moving stories ever filmed.
By the way Escape from LA absolutely sucks! With that movie Carpenter raped my childhood way beyond what Lucas could've done. I saw Escape from New York when I was 12. I couldn't see rated R films and I respected my parents authority for the most part But I HAD to see Escape.Sneaked in on a Sunday afternoon with my brother and my best friend...I mean DAMN! What a Movie! For me that and Raiders were the ultimate action movies. -
..is clearly not into Horror/ Sci fi cinema. The man has conjured more original ideas and concepts than say, James Cameron who's best work is Terminator and Aliens (And these were'nt exactly orginal ideas as they were ripped off from various source materials.) and is now working on Jurrasic-HALO-Park that is Avatar.prince of Darkness didn't impress me, but that kind of concept has never been done before as far as I remember.Vampires was an worthy effort and casting James Woods in the lead role was a good choice and as for the cardinal turned Vamp...well, let's just suffice to say that I wouldn't put it past John to use that scene as some sort of cynical allegory. (as in previous films like EFNY and They Live)perhaps alluding to corruption within Catholosism. (that's a bit of a stretch, but fugg it.)he may not be as relevant to today's moviegoers but his contributions cannot be denied.
To all haters; "Bitches, leave"! -
Save for the too quick edited editing and the terrible score, i also really liked Neil Marshall's Doomsday. And yes, the movie is very much Carpenter-like. so much so, Marshall even used the same font for the titles of Espace From New York and The Thing for his Doomsday.
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Everytime James Woods is onscreen, the movie is totally pure unadultered fun. He plays a completly "i-don'-give-a-shit-if-I'm-nice-or-a-son-of-a-bitch" hard-ass whose job is to kill vampyres... with extreme prejudice. This character is compeltly amoral, a hard as nais son-of-a-bitch, and the movie is always entertaining when he's on. and he gets to puch a priest and kick him around for most of the movie. That guy is one of the most un-PC hero character created inthe last 25 years. and then there's the lines he says, and the quips.How can people not be entertained by that? For James Woods alone, that movie is worth every penny. I remeber i had a blast with my friends watchign it, we came out of the theater crying from laughter at the whole thing.
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I completly understand why people hate it. And mostly, i'll agree with them. Came up with 10 reasons for disliking EFLA, and most probably i'll agree with every and each of those reasons. However, there's things in the movie that makes me sympathetic to that flawed movie: i love how an unrepented bastard Snake still is. I love how Snake is an even bigger bastard. i love the constant cynical humour that runs through the movie from begining to end. I love the pop-shots that the movie throws at everything silly about Hollywood. I love how the movie pisses and shit on the right-wingers neo-con evangelical bullshit. And must of all, i love how the movie ends. The hero completly fucks up the world! How many times have you seen that kind of an ending? This reasons might not be many and enough to overcome the movie's flaws, but it's enough to make me sympathetic to it.
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..that it was a rehash of the first.Yes, i like the concept of a prison island in which people who commit "Moral" crimes are sentenced,yes the mockery of wingnuts was funny and i get the joke ("I got to think, i got to PRAY"!!) as the religous fanatic that is the president(So well played by C.Robertson) preceeds that other loon: Dubya.But there's that saying in which too many chefs spoil the pot this goes for too many writers (Hill and Russel?!?)fucked up a potentually great sequel.Snake himself is lampooned as he surfs,plays B-Ball and then hanglides? The ultimate anithero is now the ultimate athelete.Pam Greir's role was wasted as she was the queen of Blaxploitation cinema who could have been an equal to Snake, but instead some fucking Transvestite:HerShe?!? (double ontondra there.)The music was attrocious with he noted exception of the Main title theme (of course because it's from EFNY) and Rob Zombie's The One other than that, too many artists had their shit spewed throughout the film and the music is too reminiscent of Batman TAS..oh, wait..Shirley Walker help to compose the score.*SIGH*i did like the cast; Keach,Fonda,Grier,Buscemi and of course Robertson. (Forbes kinda looks like my Wife, so I'll throw her in the mix as well.)but that wasn't enough to save this disaster of a sequel. to me it's guilty pleasure just like GIJoe RoC. (I was a huge fan of both intellectual properties.)Due to the poor box office returns and negative feedback another sequel, a proposed Anime movie and videogame projects were sent to development hell.I would have loved to see more of Snake's adventures but that's all she wrote litterly as in Debra (Hill)who passed away years ago.Meanwhile Johnny is busy smoking,eating fried chicken and playing fucking CoD from what I have heard.even a proposed remake was scrapped, well it's a good thing beccause I'm not crazy about Ratner or wiseman helming this.There's always the 4 part comic miniseries that did more justice to Snake's character than EFLA.
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This is bullshite!
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Couldn't have done better casting. And if Carpenter had followed the book, with Crow being torn about joining the vampire ranks in order to save the remainder of his team, it would have been even better. Such a stupid move to re-write the book as much as he did.
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Lot better director and much better work, but he's someone whose best work is far behind him. I agree with those who promote "Big Trouble In Little China Town" - wonderful movie.As for Vampires, the book portrays the Catholic Church (inluding the Pope) as the main fighters of the vampires. No turncoats amongst them. And it contains a great scene that should have been in the movie where the pursued team goes to a church for sanctuary (or so they think). Allegory or otherwise, it was typical Catholic/clerical bashing. Yawn. But it took away substantively from what made the book so good.
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When you read the book, you'll comletely understand where I'm coming from. The guy getting split in two was from the book, and was played out well in the movie (although the rest of the figh sequence was lame). In the addition to the church scene I mentioned in a previous post, there's also a scene where Team Crow goes to an abandoned building to clear out a nest, and how the goon vampires come lumbering towards them. From the director of Halloween, that would have been an awesome scene on film.I get that it's "John Carpenter's Vampires", not "John Steakley's Vampires", but he did what I abhor in Hollywood - take source material and have the arrogance of thinking he can improve on it. I'll grant you that he did improve the source material on "The Thing", but that's a rarity. I'll admit to being fanboyish, but only because I thought the movie could have been an all-timer if he didn't butcher the story so much.
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"Two thousand years and he can't find one broad to fit the bill? Come on, Dave, you gotta be doing something seriously wrong!"
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I'm not gong to disagree with you on any of the points which you made about Escape From LA. I think you are right about everything you said. However, despiste those problems, i still find myself liking, or at least with a high degree of tolerance for the movie, for the reasons i said above, but also because of that ballsy ending.
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Lucky man you. Well done, friend, well done!
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From what you have posted, I think I should give the book a read. Two of the scenes you have mentioned would have given JC's Vampires more credibility, that being said, it was still an enjoyable thriller prolly one of John's last of his best.It's true that like Romero, his best work is behind him.But like Romero and Jack (in Comicdom) his contributions have helped to sculp modern day Horror and Sci fi genres.Fucking Icon!What's worse than Vampires are those damn DTV sequels. (Jon Bon Jovi?!?GTFO!)
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For waht it's worth, I did enjoy seeing one of my all time favorite celluiod characters make a second go at it, I guess I expected much more and since EFLA failed to measure up to my expectations, both me and one of my friends felt left down. )0:guilty pleasure nonetheless.The ending was cool although a bit recycled from the first.But then again, it's hard to top the ending of EFNY (that scene in which Snake pulls the switch on the Prez then ripping the tape from the cassette was the ultimate "Fuck The World" moment.Classic!)I do plan on getting the EFLA Blu ray soon and hopefully, it won't be the shitty barebones DVD copy.Thanks for the compliment about the wifey and don't let the trolls/flamers get ya down.
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The global economy will completely collapse long before we have to deal with "mining the last of certain natural resources." It's not that far away, after all.
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If we were ever fortunate enough that they *did* ANNO DRACULA and its sequels, and did them well...
Melanie Laurent for Genevieve Dieudonne? She'd be a hard one to cast, I think.
Genevieve is awesome. So is Kate Reed, for that matter.
One of my favourite things I like about the books is how Newman made likeable, loving, and even admirable vampire heroines -- *without* taking the *vampire* out of the equation. No emo self-pitying -- thank God
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I've seen this already (early screening at the Atlantic Film Festival last month) at maybe it was the fact that it was the third film in a row I watched (a bunch of short films, Bright Star, then this) and I was quite unimpressed. Pretty cliched all around, and while it was an intriguing idea, they didn't really do much with the notion of role reversal - I would have wanted to have had a better understanding of the "non vampire underground", for one thing. Like I say, maybe watching it at midnight after two other films didn't allow me to give it a fair shake, though. BUT, I think the least a kick ass vampire film should do is keep a post "Jane Campion film about a doomed romantic poet" viewer awake throughout the duration, and this didn't quite pull that off.
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This movie was originally going to be called DAYBREAK but the film makers believed it might be confused with the failed Fox television show of the same name.
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I like what you had to say about Carpenter Massa, very true. As for Daybreakers, a rental maybe. It takes a lot for a vampire film to interest me and despite what I've seen and your excellent review, this isn't a must see for me.
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No problem, friend. Many idiots have tried to pull me down. They all have failed. Because they are idiots.
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I have bought both Armour and Vampyres, the two Jack Crow novel i know of. I really liked Armour very much, but Vampyres, i found it a bit of a drag of a novel to read. I never finished it. but i udnerstand why you felt disapointed that so much of the novel was left on the wayside. I understand you perfectly. also, i think it was a pity they turned the major cardinal character intoa turn-coat. or some reason, Holywood has to always portait the catholic church as filled to the grills with double-crossing motherfuckers. Thjere'sno more hypocrisi in the catholic church then there is in any of the protestant denominations, andanybody who says otherwise is a delusional fundie. And this is an atheist with a grunge against the catholic church speaking. But wouldn't it be nice that at elast once, at least once a movie would show the catholic church fileld with honest people actually wanting to help the world and fight the unholy monsters? They call it entertaiment, don't they? So, why now at least once show the church as the good guys? It's fiction, after all.When i read Jack crow in the two novels, i never once though of him as looking like Jame sWoods. and yet Woods played the character to perfection. And really, the movie is worth to watch for Woods alone. The plays the ultimate badass to the end, always with a rude quip even when he's facing certain horrible death. What a guy! Who can't love that stuff?
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Remember in the movie the farewell that Crow gives to his once best friend who was turning into a vampyre? "Next time i see you, i put a stake to your heart" or something like that. Compelte and total cold blooded hard-core, whiel at the same time delivering it as a heartfelt good-bye. and completly hysterical in it's total uber-machoman bullshit. Me and my friends were in hystericals. "Yeah, you are my friend, i give you a head start, and next time, i will fuckign kill you". God damn, that's hysterical, macho-man stuff exagerated to the end. And completly funny. As i said before, me and my mates left the theater crying from laughter at the movie. I cannot call that a bad movie that has caused such a good reaction to me and my friends, can I?
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Yeah, but at least Spielberg's movies don't look like cheap TV productions.
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I too love Vampires, because James Woods is fuckin ballistic in that film. He needs to get another major role in a cool movie, get him in as Brainiac in next superman flick!
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are also a great cast in Vampires. Griffith played Valek great with hardly any lines. Once again I'm not familiar with the book but as a stand alone movie I thought he really tied it all together. That and Sheryl Lee's ass tied to the bed. SPLOOGE!!!!
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You got me remembering all the classic scenes. I'm putting the movie in now.
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Oct 18, 2009 1:19:49 PM CDT
How sad thatBlade 3 was originally about the idea
by hollywoodhellraiser
of vamps taking over the world and then we ended up with that shit!Goyer should be embarassed!
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Massa, please dont say retarded shit like that...it was a good film for a miniscule budget and that's all..otherwise it was weak..your inability to be honestly critical in this instance makes the whole review reek of credibility.
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quite obviously..
and again, Undead is total shit..except for the fact it was made out of blood sweat and tears..that's its only claim to fame. -
I've shown it to as many eyeballs as I can.
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I've shown it to as many eyeballs as I can.
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...until you reminded me of Undead. I'll admit, the Daybreakers trailer looks kickass, the story sounds solid, but you're not doing the filmmakers any favors by bringing up Undead, trust me. That movie redefined the zombie genre in much the same way Dungeons & Dragons redefined the fantasy genre.
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because he did.
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than Big Trouble, The Fog, etc. Seriously, Halloween is a MASTERPIECE. I think it's one of the greatest horror films ever made. I love 'The Thing' and I'm right there with everyone, but I don't think it'll show up on any of those AFI lists (horror/sci-fi yes, but just plain the GREATEST films ever made, no). I think Halloween is up there in the top 50 or so films ever made. And to think, I had to reconfirm for myself, as if I went temporarily insane, that he directed it after reading through this TB.
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