WE, THE GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE, DO VOW TO ABSTAIN FROM ALL THAT IS MUNDANE AND REVEL IN AND GLORIFY ALL OF THE MANY WONDERS THAT COME WITH THE
ACCEPTANCE OF THE GREAT AND GOOD GENRES!
SCIENCE FICTION! FANTASY! HORROR!
In the fourth part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak --
which I've titled "Doc Freak Gets Stumped" -- Zombzany impatiently
waits for Doc Freak to return from the store with his coffee. When Freak
returns empty handed, Freak explains to Zombzany why he took so long and that
he’ll have a fresh cup brewed up in a jiffy. Freak hurries off, but inquires how
Zombzany likes his coffee to be prepared and Zombzany replies that he likes it
with “two lumps of arsenic and a finger of type-O.”
While Zombzany waits still longer for his caffeinated infusion,
he begrudgingly introduces the second feature of the horror movie marathon.
Finally Doc Freak returns with Zombzany’s coffee and he proffers the coffee by
prostrating his newly undead form before his necromancer master. Zombzany takes
one sip of the beverage and proceeds to spit it out. He then removes an entire
hand from the coffee cup and tosses it back at the now one-handed Freak.
Freak desperately attempts to reattach the extracted extremity.
He finally gives up and resorts to fleeing from the angry self-professed King
of the Zombies!
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part Four -- Doc
Freak Gets Stumped.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM DOC FREAK AND ALL THE GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE!
“Iron Sky is not a film for everyone, but if you are able to
appreciate a science fiction satire that delves into politics, Nazism and some
other uncomfortable areas, than I recommend giving it a try.”
Science Fiction, Action and Satire
Julia Dietze as Renate Richter, Götz Otto as Klaus Adler,
Christopher Kirby as James Washington, Tilo Prückner as Doktor Richter, Udo
Kier as Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, Peta Sergeant as Vivian Wagner and Stephanie
Paul as the President of the United States
Director: Timo Vuorensola
Writers: Johanna Sinisalo and Michael Kalesniko
Rated R for language and some violence
Runtime: 93 minutes
Satire is one of the most difficult of all genres to do
well; even more so when combined with science fiction, horror or fantasy. Parody
is another of my favorite sci-fi sub-genres and these are sometimes, but not
always satirical in nature. Science Fiction has been the subject of satire for
years now. Some of my favorites include: Dark Star (1974), Galaxina (1980), Night
of the Comet (1984), Galaxy Quest (1999) and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
(2004).Of all of these, Dark Star is the darkest in tone and I think Iron Sky
falls nearly into this level of dark comedy as well.
Iron Sky starts out in the year 2018, with America’s return to
a manned mission to the Moon. We find out that the mission is done only as a
publicity stunt for the President of the United States' re-election campaign. The
astronauts discover a hidden Moon base, but before they can radio back to
Earth, they are shot down by Nazi soldiers. Only James Washington escapes into
the hidden base, but eventually he is captured and taken to a scientist for interrogation. Doctor Richter finds Washington’s smart phone
and he recognizes that it is a computer that can be used as a control unit for their
Nazi space battleship Götterdämmerung. When Richter tries to
demonstrate the cell phone’s power to the new Führer, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch,
the battery runs dry. Nazi commander Klaus Adler, offers to go to Earth on a
secret mission to collect more phones for the future invasion. Earth
specialist Renate Richter, Doctor Richter's daughter, volunteers to go as well,
but when she is not allowed to go, she sneaks on board anyway. Washington is
experimented on by Richter and turned into the perfect Nazi, so that he will
assist them on their mission to Earth.
Landing on Earth, Adler finds the president’s aid, Vivian
Wagner, and forces her to take he and Richter to meet the President. Meanwhile, Washington
escapes and attempts to warn NASA of the impending invasion of Nazi’s from the
Moon, but they don't recognise him and thinks that he's crazy, so he ends up becoming homeless instead. Wagner uses Adler and Richter as
faces for a revamp of the President's re-election campaign, which looks a lot like Nazism, but is disguised as
benevolent socialism. Growing impatient after months of waiting, Kortzfleisch sends
his armada to Earth orbit and begins the invasion without the Götterdämmerung.
Like much satire, Iron Sky isn’t a film that inspires large
laugh-out-loud moments, but it more than makes up for it with clever satirical
messages. While some of the satire is obvious, such as the Sarah Palin look-alike
U.S. President, much of it breezes by so fast that even the jokes that don’t
work are more than balanced by the ones that do. Some of my favorite moments
are between Washington and Richter; especially after the African American Washington is transformed
into a blond white Aryan, minus the Nazi idealism.
Where Iron Sky really excels is the amazing special effects
and visualization of the retro Nazi technology. The Moon base, the space ships
and even the costumes are all slightly modernized versions WWII era designs.
The amount of detail that went into the look of Iron Sky is amazing and worth
watching the film for this reason alone! Still, there is a fairly complex and
compelling story here, so it’s not just ninety minutes of flashy CGI.
The acting for the film is also quite good. Julia Dietze as
Renate Richter is both lovely and brilliant as the Nazi “Earth expert”,
conveying a certain naiveté and courageous individualism both. Christopher
Kirby as James Washington manages to pull off a black man as a white man,
without insulting either race, but delicately satirizing the flaws of both. Udo
Kier as Wolfgang Kortzfleisch is the most well-known actor of the cast and he
grounds his character in a weird reality that manages to make the rest of cast
seem even more outrageous by comparison. Stephanie Paul as the President of the
United States is the weakest of the cast, as she plays her character too big to
be either funny or satirical.
Iron Sky is produced by the makers of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning.
It was produced by Tero Kaukomaa of Blind Spot Pictures and Energia
Productions, co-produced by New Holland Pictures and 27 Films, and co-financed
by numerous individual supporters through their web site. Director Timo
Vuorensola, who also directed Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning (2005), does an
admiral job of keeping everything from getting too silly and causing Iron Sky
to go from satire into over-the-top parody. Samuli Torssonen, who was
responsible for the computer generated effects in Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning,
gathered a young team of European CGI effects people, who stepped up the
quality to the level of much more expensive Hollywood productions. The fantastic
orchestral score of Iron Sky incorporates elements from the operatic cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen, music which was favored by the Nazi leaders
and the Slovenian industrial music group Laibach also adds some cool futuristic
music to the film.
Iron Sky is not a film for everyone, but if you are able to appreciate
a science fiction satire that delves into politics, Nazism and some other uncomfortable
areas, than I recommend giving it a try.
Skull-Face Island is a podcast that reviews the latest movies
and talks about some of the most recent television programs. However, the
format of the podcast is very unique.
Every podcast opens with this imaginative narrative, setting
up the basis for the podcast’s reason for broadcasting every week: “In the year
1991, US Flight 1313 soared unknowing into its death. As the vessel sank into the
ocean’s depths, three boys washed ashore on Skull-Face Island. Near death, pursued
by vicious creatures, the boys stumbled upon shelter. Who built it and for what
purpose, none could say. But, to their shock and amazement, a fifty-five inch TV
glowed within, streaming every movie ever made. After twenty years, struggling
for survival, they managed to repair the shelter’s communication devise.
Perhaps someday they’ll be rescued. But until then, they’ll watch and discuss
movies. Hoping, praying, you’re listening.”
Adam Frazier
Adam Frazier is the unofficial moderator, David Allen is his
right-hand man and constant co-commentator, and Tim Grant is the mostly silent,
but sometimes loquacious producer of the podcast. These three open each week
updating their latest adventures of survival on the island.
They usually start the podcast with movie news that they get
from their “geek-o-matic news machine”, which sounds as if it is running off a
56k dial-up modem. They also have faithful robot servant Mar-10 that does
menial tasks for them and even filled in reading the news when the printer for
the news machine went down. There is a mysterious red phone in the island hut
and when Adam dialed 666 on it, they were connected to Satan himself. They
occasionally get news and inside Hollywood info from Satan, who explains why
there are so many bad films made every year.
The bulk of the show is made up of their featured film movie
reviews. They keep up with all of the latest theatrical films, which they are
somehow able to watch on their mysterious 55-inch TV. For these reviews, they
often get in their “jammers” and rant or rave about these films. Their reviews
are very opinionated, but fair and full of irreverent humor
Quite often they end their podcasts with a deadly game of
movie trivia of the Gods’ choosing in order to satiate the bloodlust of the
mighty Tu’Challa, a savage beast whose love of pop culture knows no bounds.
If you are interested in an entertaining, funny, yet
informative movie review podcast, check out Skull-Face Island!
In the third part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part Three -- which I've titled "A Freaky Coffee Run" -- Zombzany reluctantly introduces the first film of the marathon with his new zombie slave, Doc Freak, standing by his side in rapt attention. As Zombzany describes some of the grizzly details of the modern horror film that he found particularly repellent, Doc Freak begins pantomiming some of these atrocities, but Zombzany quickly silences his servant with a vocal command.
Sensing Zombzany’s irritation, Freak volunteers to go to the local convenience store to purchase some coffee for his master. Freak is in such a hurry to leave that he forgets to ask Zombzany some money, so he returns and asks Zombzany for some “scratch.” After explaining his request in language that Zombzany can understand, Freak leaves Zombzany’s Tomb in his quest for coffee.
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part Three -- A Freaky Coffee Run.
“I honestly can’t recommend The Dead as either an exciting
zombie-horror film or as a compelling character-driven drama, so I reluctantly
have to advise you to avoid The Dead because it is a dead end.”
Horror and Drama
Starring - Rob Freeman as Lt. Brian Murphy, Prince David
Oseia as Sgt. Daniel Dembele, David Dontoh as The Chief, Ben Crowe as the
mercenary leader, Glenn Salvage as a mercenary and Dan Morgan as James
Directors - Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford
Writers - Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford
Rated R for bloody zombie violence and gore
Runtime - 105 minutes
There have been so many zombie films made in past decade
that it is more difficult than ever to do something different with the genre. I
was interested in The Dead because it was billed as “the first Zombie
Road-Movie set against the stunning backdrop of Africa, shot on locations in
Burkina Faso and Ghana, West Africa.” That alone should have made it visually unique
enough to make The Dead worth watching. Unfortunately, its unique setting is
all that is remarkable about The Dead.
A U. S. Army engineer, Brian Murphy, is the only survivor of
a plane crash off the coast of Africa. Murphy makes his way on foot to a seemingly
deserted village and finds and fixes a truck. Getting the truck stuck in the
mud, he is suddenly attacked by zombies, but is saved by an African soldier
named Daniel. Daniel explains that his wife was killed by the zombies, but is
looking for his son, who he told to leave the village during the zombie
outbreak. Murphy and Daniel drive off together in the truck. Daniel agrees to
drive Murphy to the nearest airport in exchange for helping him look for his
son.
A film like The Dead, whose story depends so much on
developing its two lead character's personalities and background, is also
dependent on the strength of the two actors portraying those characters. Rob Freeman
is a versatile character actor who has been featured in over a dozen genre TV
programs in the past decade; most recently playing Coach Quigley in Smallville.
He has also played supporting roles in Dark Angel, The Lone Gunmen, The Outer
Limits, Strange World, Millennium, First Wave, Viper and The X-Files. Rob
Freeman has appeared in feature films as diverse as Ten Dead Men, Shanghai
Knights, Prozac Nation, New Blood and Saving Private Ryan. I have seen many of
these TV series and films, yet I have no recollection of his characters from
these roles. It might be a credit to his ability as an actor to disappear into
his characters, but I unfortunately think it is more likely that Freeman is just
not a very memorable actor. This could explain why The Dead is his first starring
role in a feature film. Rob Freeman is perfectly serviceable in his role as a U.
S. Army engineer, but he isn’t able to add any gravitas to his character and
the entire film suffers because of it. So much of the film is spent with Murphy
and Daniel wandering in the deserted landscape and discussing what might be
happening in the rest of the world, that without crafting truly three-dimensional
characters, the film just drags along.
A zombie film that features the slow-Romero zombies has to
rely on character and dramatic tension to create suspense and horror. While the
several zombie attacks that appear in The Dead are handled with great technical
skill, they still lack any real emotional weight. Blame for this should go to
director and writers Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford. Their directorial
resumes are pretty slim: They consist of the low-budget thriller Distant Shadow
(2000) and the even lower-budgeted crime-drama Mainline Run (1994). I don’t
blame the lack of budget on The Dead being less exciting than bigger budgeted
zombie films, because the master George Romero has proven that with a powerful
script, a low budget can be overcome. The Dead may have been better if the
script had explored more of the zombie-infested African setting - and to be
fair, it does touch on this in small part. However, too much of The Dead is
just our two protagonists wandering the landscape, looking for transportation
and moping about missing their respective loved ones.
I honestly can’t recommend The Dead as either an exciting
zombie-horror film or as a compelling character-driven drama, so I reluctantly
have to advise you to avoid The Dead because it is a dead end.
In the second part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak --
which I've titled "Freak Fails" -- Zombzany has fallen asleep sitting on
his throne waiting for his new zombie slave, Doc Freak, to return with his
coffee. Finally returning with a large cup, Doc Freak apologizes to
Zombzany for serving him hot chocolate instead of coffee, explaining to the
King of the Zombies that his stash is depleted. Zombzany is displeased with
being served “this childish swill” and returns the hot chocolate to Doc Freak –
sans mug.
Returning to business
at hand, Zombzany reiterates that he will be showing clips of the horror host Zacherley
during the horror movie marathon and giving the audience some insightful
background into the history of this TV legend. Doc Freak once again begins
hopping up and down with unbridled excitement and Zombzany is forced to use a
minor spell of sedation on Freak to get him back under control. Zombzany then
commands Doc Freak to produce the visual aids and begins regaling his viewers with
the origin of Zacherley.
No sooner has Zombzany finished with the first part of his retrospective
of Zacherley, than Doc Freak drops all the photos and other props to the ground,
making a complete mess of Zombzany’s tomb.
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part Two -- Freak Fails.
In the first part of Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak --
which I've titled "Freak Seeks to be Deceased" -- Zombzany is once
again sitting on his throne. However, for some inexplicable reason, he is conscious
well before his usual dusk waking hour. Zombzany has again had to demean
himself and host another modern horror movie marathon and on top of that he has
had to start it in broad daylight, which explains his even worse than usual bad mood. Zombzany admits that the only reason he has
agreed to host this particular marathon is that he will able to talk about his
favorite “living” horror movie host, Zacherley the cool ghoul.
Running up from somewhere close, Doc Freak (I admit it. I
was eavesdropping nearby – D.F.) begins jumping up and down in front of
Zombzany, shouting “wicked cool” over and over again. Doc Freak asks if he can be
Zombzany’s new servant for this marathon, since he blew up and buried his old
servant Bill E. Bones at the conclusion of last year’s horror movie marathon.
Zombzany informs Freak that he does not retain the services of the living, as
he can resurrect his own zombie slave through necromancy. Freak says that if
Zombzany only hires the undead, then he should zap him dead so that he can
serve him during the course of the marathon.
Zombzany is more than happy to make Doc Freak his zombie slave
and puts a deadly spell of simultaneous death and resurrection on him. The new
zombie Freak’s first task as Zombzany’s slave is to fetch the King of the
Zombies a cup of coffee for the long horror movie marathon to come.
Enjoy Zombzany and the Undead Doc Freak: Part One -- Freak
Seeks to be Deceased.
“If you are interested in a film that plays with the ideas
of the paranormal and how it affects the lives of some remarkable characters,
give Red Lights a try.”
Horror, Thriller, Mystery and Drama
Staring - Cillian Murphy as Tom Buckley, Robert De Niro as
Simon Silver, Sigourney Weaver as Margaret Matheson, Joely Richardson as Monica
Handsen, Elizabeth Olsen as Sally Owen, Craig Roberts as Ben. Toby Jones as Dr.
Paul Shackleton, Burn Gorman as Benedict Cosell and Leonardo Sbaraglia as
Leonardo "Leo" Palladino
Director - Rodrigo Cortés
Writer - Rodrigo Cortés
Rated R for language and some violence
Runtime - 113 min.
Red Lights is a psychological thriller in the tradition of
films by Hitchcock and De Palma. While those directors dealt strictly with
perceptual reality, Red Lights director and writer, Rodrigo Cortés, adds a
paranormal element to his film. Rather than detract from the dramatic impact of
the film, I felt it contributed greatly to it.
Red Lights plot focuses on Margaret Matheson and her assistant,
Tom Buckley. Matheson has spent thirty years investigating and disproving the existence
of the paranormal. Working for an underfunded University department, Matheson
and Buckley continue to investigate false psychics, while teaching at the
university. Simon Silver, one of the world’s most renowned psychics has come out
of retirement and Buckley wants to investigate him. Matheson refuses and
Buckley finds out that early in her career, Matheson had an encounter with him
which shook her firm disbelief in the paranormal. Buckley decides to pursue
Silver himself and tragedy befalls not only his investigation, but Matheson
herself.
Red Lights is a film that hinges so firmly on the events of
the character’s past and how they relate to their actions in the present, that
I would be doing you a disservice if I went into any further detail of the
story. I will say that it is the type of film that builds very slowly, as much
of the film is spent detailing the history of the main characters and how it
affects their current lives. Fortunately, these characters are interesting and
sympathetic enough that you are captivated by their seemingly routine and yet, peculiar
lives.
Sigourney Weaver is remarkable as the paranormal
investigator Margaret Matheson. She brings real conviction and gravitas to a
role that could have been played more overtly melodramatic by a lesser actress.
Cillian Murphy, who plays Matheson’s assistant, is an actor whose wide-eyed looks
have always vaguely disturbed me. However, he is perfectly cast in this role,
but for reasons I can’t say here without giving away one of the film’s truly remarkable
revelations. My initial interest in Red Lights was in Robert De Niro playing
the role of psychic Simon Silver. De Niro has been in many roles lately that
have not required him to do more than reiterate tropes from previous
performances. Here De Niro plays a blind psychic, whose controversial past has
caused him to go into hiding, but suddenly puts himself back into the limelight
for unknown reasons. De Niro perfectly captures a man who on the exterior
exudes calm confidence, yet seems to be quietly hiding darker and more complex
motives. All these three actors make Red Lights worth watching, even in the
longer stretches where nothing important appears to be occurring.
While Red Lights does occasionally get bogged down with
somewhat simplistic melodramatic character motivations, particularly the revelation
of Matheson’s son being in a coma for decades, for the most part the complex
character interrelationships ring true. I found Red Lights to be both
captivating as a character drama and as a moral examination in regards to the
paranormal.
It is a shame that Red Lights did not get a wider release in
this country. It was only released in eighteen theaters for one week in this
country and as a result made very little money. It has been unfairly compared
by some critics to some of M. Night Shyamalan’s lesser efforts, but unlike his
films, I felt Red Lights plays fairly with the audience and doesn’t completely live
or die on the film’s final revelations. If you are interested in a film that
plays with the ideas of the paranormal and how it affects the lives of some remarkable
characters, give Red Lights a try.
Without
sounding too self-congratulatory, (I hope) this is my 200th post on Guardians
of the Genre and my 58th movie review. I didn't set out with any set goal of a number of posts or reviews when I started this blog with my (mostly) silent
guardian members, but I do feel a certain degree of satisfaction with these two
accomplishments. Thank you for reading and commenting on my posts.
I still have many more dusty old video tapes that I stole
from Zombzany’s videos archives tomb years ago and while trying to find the
tape that has my second appearance on one of Zombzany’s horror hosting gigs, I
lucked into this!
This is a very old title sequence from one of his late 50’s
or early 60’s TV horror host programs. The name of the program was Scary
Cinematary. This is the only tape with anything related to this show, so I have
no idea when or where or if it ever actually aired on TV. If this looks familiar,
it is because Zombzany reused it in one of his later horror hosting videos,
which I titled Introducing Zombzany the Necromancer - Part One.
Forgive the grainy quality, as it looks like this is a
second or even third generation dupe. Enjoy the introduction titles to Zombzany’s
Scary Cinematary!
As I wrote in my post over a year ago, TRAILER TUESDAY!SUPERNATURAL SEASON SEVEN STARTS FRIDAY ON THE CW, I have been a fan of the show since season one, episode one. It’s hard to believe
that tomorrow night is the first episode of season eight and I’m just as
excited to see what the Winchester boys are up to this year as the past seven!
While season seven was far from my favorite, it still had plenty of fun
exciting episodes "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo" about
a computer hacker named Charlie (guest-starring Felicia Day), and horrific, sad
scary episodes "Death's Door", about the death of my favorite
character Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver).
Season eight starts off a year after the end of season
seven. Here is the official description of season eight:
Sam and dean are reunited after a year apart -- Dean (Jensen
Ackles) re-emerges from Purgatory, but he isn't alone. He heads straight for
Sam (Jared Padalecki), but the reunion isn't exactly what he thought it would
be. Sam drops everything to join his brother, but leaving the life he had grown
to enjoy turns out to be harder than he imagined. Dean and Sam look for Kevin
(guest star Osric Chau) who has managed to escape Crowley's (guest star Mark
Sheppard) grasp, but things come to a head quickly when Kevin tells them what
it is that Crowley wants.
Supernatural has also had great guest spots and season eight
is no exception! This year Amanda Tapping is set to play Naomi, who executive
producer Jeremy Carver describes as "cool and mysterious, part of a new
group of angels we've never seen before." She will make her first appearance
in episode 8 titled "A Little Slice of Kevin” and it has been reported
that she will make additional appearances beyond this episode. As any genre fan
should know, Amanda Tapping is best known for her work in the Stargate
franchise as Samantha Carter, and more recently she starred as Helen Magnus on
Sanctuary.
Another interesting guest star will be Mike Farrell - best
known for his work as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on M.A.S.H., who will star in
episode 8 as an aging mentalist with a slippery grasp on reality.
Season eight of Supernatural premiers tomorrow
night on the CW network at 9:00 PM EST. Enjoy the trailer for season eight of
Supernatural!
Thank you for voting in the - Which of these films do you
plan on seeing in September of 2012 – poll! The results to this month’s poll
were pretty lack luster as only seven of you voted. I’m not sure if this
reflects the quality of the films or the fact that fewer people go to the
theater once the summer is over. There was a tie for first place with 5 votes (71%)
for Resident Evil: Retribution and 5 votes (71%) for Looper. In second place
was Dredd with just 3 votes (42%) and just making last place was House at the
End of the Street with 2 votes (28%).
I saw three of the four genre films in this month’s
September poll. I liked Resident Evil: Retribution better than most, but I will
admit that it was not as good as the third or fourth entries in this series. Resident Evil: Retribution has grossed just
$38 million in the US in three weeks, but has done considerably better worldwide
grossing $175 million, so I think it’s a safe
bet that there will be a sixth and final film in the Resident Evil film series.
I thought Looper was the overall best film of the three this month, as it
worked well on many different levels, including – most importantly to me – as a
science fiction film. Looper took in just under $21 million in its opening
weekend and with a budget of only $30 million it should more than make a profit
domestically – which the studios really like. This means Looper director Rian
Johnson will be given even more money and creative freedom with his next film
and I for one hope it is a genre film. Dredd was somewhat disappointing for me,
as it had all the elements to make an excellent adaptation of the comic book,
but the simplistic story just didn’t engage me. Despite generally good to
excellent reviews, Dredd has made just under $11 million in this country in two
weeks. It has performed slightly better worldwide making $21 million, but with
a budget of $50 million, it looks uncertain if there will be a sequel – which I’d
actually like to see.
Thank you all for voting on this month’s poll! There are now
seven of you who may consider yourselves Genre Guardian Generals! Anyone who
has seen Resident Evil: Retribution, Looper, Dredd or House at the End of the
Street at the theater, please leave a quick comment here and let me know what
you thought of it.
THE OCTOBER POLL!
Once again on the right column of this page, you will see at
the top of the column the next poll that I've posted. As always, this poll
includes the titles and release dates of all the major SF, Fantasy or Horror
films that are being distributed to movie theaters in the month of October for
2012. They are: V/H/S (October 5), Sinister (October 12), Paranormal Activity 4
(October 19), and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (October 26). I have left Cloud Atlas
off the poll, because on the surface it appears to have the visual trappings of
a science fiction film (aka: future setting and some sort of time travel).
However, it is based on a 2004 book by British author David Mitchell, which is definitely
not sci-fi, but a series of six stories interwoven by characters reading the tale
that is revealed to be a story that is read (or observed) by the main character
in the next story. Even though one of these stories takes place in a post-apocalyptic
future, I don’t think Cloud Atlas is science fiction and could only be regarded
as moderately genre – at least by my definition.
I
think V/H/S looks like it could be a good scary movie, despite my dislike for
the “found footage” format and a general dislike for anthology films. However,
this is definitely a rental for me, as I’m the only one in my small group who
is up for this type of terror trip. Sinister has an intriguing premise, a
decent cast and an interesting look, but still seems like it is only worth a
rental. I have only seen the first Paranormal Activity film and was bored to
tears, so I won’t even waste my time with a rental of Paranormal Activity 4. I
enjoyed the first Silent Hill film well enough - although I admired it more for
its look than its less-than-frightening story - so I’ll also be renting Silent
Hill: Revelation 3D.
As always, I’d appreciate anyone who reads GUARDIANS OF THE
GENRE! to place a vote for any of these films that you plan on seeing at the
theater.
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