2007 in review
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:52 am
There will be spoilers. What a surprise.
One of the first films I saw in 2007 was, naturally, a holdover from 2006... PAN'S LABYRINTH. While it was obviously one of the best films of that (or any) year, it defied classification--while it certainly qualified in many sequences, you could never expect to get away with calling it a "horror film."
PAN'S LABYRINTH may very well be the final word in an extraordinary subset of fantasy filmmaking--tales of lost innocence in which children create monsters (or do they?)--the better to cope with reality. Many have tried, but only a few such films have succeeded so extraordinarily in my view--you need an exceptional, visionary director and the most gifted child performers--performers who can captivate without ever cloying (get annoyed with the child even once and the spell is broken). My list: THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, I'M NOT SCARED, and now PAN'S LABYRINTH (yes, del Toro scored twice). None utterly 'horror,' but all breathtaking and relevant to the genre.
Watch them in sequence and you'll notice another trend... the films all climax with the young protagonist being placed in grave danger. And the consequences get worse as we go along. We move from the fully believable happy ending of CURSE to the shocking (if survivable) burst of gunfire in I'M NOT SCARED, until finally...
Think the movies are trying to tell you something? Something they MEAN? Well, for better or worse, if there's a unifying theme to the horror-film output of 2007, that's it. While it was once an unthinkable taboo to depict the death of children on screen, 2007 decided to go all out and let them have it on a regular basis--from the accident in GRINDHOUSE to the not-an-accident in THE MIST (both of which took place within parked cars); the remains of sacrificial victims discovered in THE REAPING (and even HOT FUZZ!), the fatally downbeat finale of THE HOST, the unapologetic chest-bursting of AvPR, Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN (children as victims and as monsters--though JOSHUA came out earlier)... good grief, even the third PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN opened with the (non-explicit but unmistakable) hanging of a child!
It might be a good time to point out here that virtually all of 2007's confrontational output "underperformed" at the box office. A few remakes, a franchise sequel and the "nicer" of two Stephen King adaptations accounted for what success there was for horror this past year--even films expected to clean up ended up dying quietly while critics and audiences alike sought "the feel good film of the year" instead.
Too bad... 2007 was actually an excellent year filled with great movies too few people saw. Of course, that's just me talking, and I'm the guy who liked the BLACK CHRISTMAS remake. Perhaps my choices and rankings will be similarly controversial this year, perhaps not. But they're completely honest. With that in mind?
Unseen by me: BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE, SKINWALKERS, THE INVISIBLE, GHOST RIDER, FANTASTIC FOUR--RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER, TRANSFORMERS (but my son got the DVD for Christmas so that's going to change soon), DRAGON WARS, BEOWULF, HORRORFEST 2007, AWAKE, probably others that aren't coming to mind right away.
THE GOOD
Off to a great start with PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER. We can argue about its 'horror' standing, but see it for yourself. Gritty, low-budget shockers will always have their place, but lavish, sumptuously-photographed epics with supporting work from Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman have a lot to recommend, too! A unique and pleasantly shocking look at obsession with a finale you won't soon forget (don't look for it on commercial television anytime soon).
Nacho Cerda's THE ABANDONED was touted as the one Horrorfest 2006 entry worthy of solo theatrical release. Now that I've caught up with the rest of the batch on demand, I concur. Perhaps a TWILIGHT ZONE diehard like me can see where it's going, but it's a grisly, twisted ride all the same.
The people who made the SAW films such hits couldn't care less what James Wan and Leigh Whannell did with good old-fashioned scares in DEAD SILENCE. Their loss--ventriloquist dummies are still creepy as hell, and this one was a real treat.
HOT FUZZ was not a horror film, but you can't pass up what the SHAUN OF THE DEAD guys did here--and they included gore murders and an evil cult just for you!
A simple plot done to a crackling turn--that was the relentless VACANCY, packed with character and tension from the moment the opening titles kick in.
John Cusack almost single-handedly made 1408 worth watching... yes, it's a PG-13 expansion of a far scarier Stephen King short story, but he really is that good. Oh, and one of the ghosts is Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, just for fun.
28 WEEKS LATER was an genuine, worthy and stylish follow-up to Danny Boyle's surprise hit--as opposed to the quickie remake we usually get in sequel-land.
Meanwhile, Boyle himself gave us SUNSHINE, which offered plenty of rich visuals and pure, character-driven science fiction (as opposed to effects-driven zippity-zap) to propel its narrative. Sure, there was everything from DARK STAR to EVENT HORIZON to salute along the way. And 28 DAYS LATER owed a page or two to Romero. Thus is the way of the world.
Go ahead and slap me for mentioning DISTURBIA here if you must, but it's an ultimate "give the devil his due" entry. WE know it's a shameless reworking of REAR WINDOW. But when classical Hitchcockian suspense becomes a huge hit with a young audience, that's YOUR opportunity to say "If you liked that, have I got a movie for you..." Oh, David Morse was a terrific bad guy in the FRIGHT NIGHT vein, too.
BUG was one of the year's very best, though people expecting a horror film about man-eating insects were 'non-plussed,' to put it mildly. William Friedkin has made a masterwork of communicable paranoia, attractive conspiracy and psychological violence... and Ashley Judd deserves an Oscar at the very least.
On first viewing, HOSTEL PART II struck me more as a museum piece than a necessary sequel. But when revisiting the films on DVD, I realized it was actually quite superior to the original--intelligently scripted, extremely well acted and, of course, necessarily horrifying when it came to the grisly details. Or maybe I'm just far more receptive to the Italian approach than I am to the Asian? One thing it's not is simple "torture porn." But more on that later.
"My name's MR. BROOKS, and I'm an addict." Kevin Costner's best role in years (but still no audience). William Hurt as the alter ego. Dane Cook as the wannabe. Trust me. Give this a chance.
JOSHUA was one of the better BAD SEED variants, though it's Sam Rockwell's show as he plays the slowly disintegrating father. And at this stage of the game, you can't say for sure that they won't go "Odessa Steps" on the baby carriage...
We got a couple of unassuming "monster movies" that succeeded on a simple "give the people what they want" level. RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION made the formula more watchable than ever thanks to Milla Jovovich, who by now has claimed her role to such an extent that the series has earned mention on its own merits. And Russell Mulcahy delivered the zombie groceries with plenty of gore and action. Meanwhile, ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM gave us the film they miserably failed to deliver the last time around--we've finally turned the monsters loose on an unassuming human population--let the bloody chips fall where they may.
30 DAYS OF NIGHT gave us something almost unthinkable in vampire movies... originality. Oh, not all the way through in every detail, but the frozen setting was different, as was the approach taken to the ending. And along the way, Danny Huston was an excellent, creepy monster, the characters were believable and the violence was effectively tense and bloody throughout.
Unlike HOSTEL PART II, SAW IV managed to retain its core audience (though it didn't get to be the number-one horror film this year). While I was, frankly, dreading it, it surprised me by continuing to assemble a puzzle (reaching in both directions), by being utterly unmerciful to those who haven't seen the previous entries (this ain't FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 7, okay?), and by actually working to correct what I saw as shortcomings in SAW III. Guys, you can't keep it up forever, but you've still got my attention.
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET bookended PERFUME beautifully with another lavish, lovingly-detailed portrait of a murderer... but this one's a Tim Burton musical as opposed to a macabre romance novel. More great work by Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman (among others)--smashing, bloody entertainment.
As for the best of the year?
I have to give out a special prize here. PLANET TERROR was not the best time I had at the movies all year. DEATH PROOF was not the best time I had at the movies all year. But there are no two ways about it--GRINDHOUSE was absolutely the best time I had at the movies in all of 2007. Not the separate DVDs--the unadulterated, trailer-laden double-feature experience. You can't sum it up as a "horror movie" (and in no WAY was DEATH PROOF a "giallo"--what were they thinking when they said that?), so I can't call it "the best horror movie of 2007" any more than I could call PAN'S LABYRINTH "the best horror film of 2006." But PLANET TERROR had every one of the best ingredients (including the chili recipe... and absolutely the greatest opening title sequence of the year), and DEATH PROOF gave us Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike... THE best movie character of the year, bar none. To dismiss GRINDHOUSE is to forget your father's face.
And speaking of Stephen King?
Keep it safe with 1408, and you've got a hit. Take the tack that a horror movie is meant to horrify, and you've got a flop. And you've got the best horror film of 2007. Yep. THE MIST. Horrifying in its gory creature violence. Horrifying in its panicked human degeneracy. And horrifying in a way not even Stephen King planned when he wrote the story over twenty years ago. Here's horror, ladies and gentlemen. Pleasant dreams.
THE MIDDLE GROUND
HANNIBAL RISING was a sincerely-acted prequel with some undeniably grisly setpieces. It was also one of the least necessary films ever made (the desperate attempts to invoke 'the mask' in the movie and the face of Anthony Hopkins in the ad campaign speak for themselves).
Okay, get ready to slap me again. I thought THE HOST was the most over-rated film of the year. On the one hand, it features one of the very best monster rampage sequences ever made, while the dysfunctional family dynamic adds plenty of unique flavor and emotion, setting it apart from the crowd. For the first half of the film, I was in full agreement that this was a masterpiece. Then, frankly, it went on for about half-an-hour too long, with repetitious scenes of family members falling into ditches and failing to let arrows fly when they should--long after I'd gotten the point--all building up to an anything-but-rousing finale (all this just for that?). Points where points are due, but GMK isn't getting nudged off my shelf anytime soon.
I'm going crazy trying to place I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, so I'll just leave it here. The movie is SO wrong on so many levels... but good Lindsay Lohan in blue, naughty Lindsay Lohan in red, Art Bell, Corsican-twin mania, Madame Olga's strip club, a juicy hand removal just for me, and the I AM THE SECOND COMING OF MARIO BAVA--DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU GET IT? oversaturated direction made for something I will never regret seeing on the big screen. I mean--wow.
They've pulled off three (in my view) successful takes on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Fourth time was not the charm. The film simply known as THE INVASION wasn't awful, but it was inefficiently removed from the mythology (spitting in the coffee is no substitute for PODS) and frankly anticlimactic (now they're curable, but is the world really any better off?). Well-acted by Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, of course.
Rob Zombie's long-anticipated HALLOWEEN remake finally hit, and my personal jury is still out. On the one hand, it was plenty sick and disturbing--I appreciated the fact that they didn't just simply re-tell the story of Carpenter's film (the action of which is practically confined to an afterthought), and I especially enjoyed Malcolm McDowell's take on Dr. Loomis. On the other hand, this is the sort of film in which one 'name' actor is enough--I was thoroughly distracted by the 'spot the star' approach, nor was the film ever truly SCARY.
And I AM LEGEND remains worth watching for the sake of Will Smith's performance and some fantastic visual urban devastation. Matheson's novel has yet to be done to a turn, and the on-screen meat ultimately gives you nothing more profound than what Charlton Heston and Vincent Price already gave you.
THE BAD--not too much here--I'm pleased and surprised...
The remake of THE HITCHER missed the point entirely. Scruffy Sean Bean is a convincing psychopath, but the attractiveness of John Ryder was fatally jettisoned.
You can't make a good film called THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 (or THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II or whichever version you're watching), so please stop trying. One or two good moments that could have been saved for a better film--that's it.
Dark Castle Entertainment betrayed its roots with THE REAPING. The spirit of William Castle is nowhere to be found in this Biblical allegory that makes the unforgivable mistake of taking itself seriously--and expecting you to do the same. (Not that the direct-to-video RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL was much better.)
I could barely keep my eyes open through P2. Roger can give it three stars for being a functional slasher if he wants to, but if 'formula' is really what you want, I direct you back to VACANCY.
Now, the very worst piece of trash I suffered through in 2007 was a direct-to-On-Demand crapfest called DRIVE-THRU. See, it's about a killer fast-food clown who steals Jack Nicholson's dialogue from THE SHINING as he re-enacts the plot of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. And Morgan Spurlock shows up for the fast-food in-joke cameo.
But we're talking theatrical releases here.
Remember when I said that HOSTEL PART II was no simple piece of "torture porn" in my book? I don't recommend films like that and the SAW entries on the basis of their torture, gore and violence--it's the way they make you keep watching even when the on-screen activity is hideous. Now, if torture and gore are all you want?
Well, if you take an original screenplay by Larry Cohen that promises to be a typically-intriguing 'mindgame' thriller... get a class-A director like Roland Joffe to helm the project... and then decide "You know what? People REALLY want to see torture and gore, so let's rethink this...?" You get CAPTIVITY. And nobody saw it. Nor should they have. The End.
THE REST
There was plenty of worthwhile and not-so-worthwhile franchise fantasy in the year, as well.
I'll take SPIDER-MAN 3 over PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END any day. SM3 may not have been a match for SM2, but what is? It had plenty of colorful characters, humor and action, and my entire family had a great time. Can't say the same for that lumbering thud of a PIRATES finale. Cast Chow Yun-Fat and give him almost nothing to do? Great move. I could go on, but why?
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX was, as usual, as good a one-shot movie that could be made from such a complicated book, but at this point in the movie series, you really DO need those books for an anchor. Read. Repeat. READ.
Nobody really needed a RUSH HOUR 3, but it was my only chance for my son to see Jackie Chan on the big screen. It was fun, and we'll leave it at that.
Far more exciting to me personally was the return of Luc Besson to the director's chair... I thoroughly enjoyed the black-and-white fantasy ANGEL-A, while my son proved that ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES was perfectly entertaining for the young audience at which it was aimed (you know what? I happen to agree that LEON was better, okay? But I still enjoyed ARTHUR).
Only Luc Besson could have saved WAR, by the way. Jason Statham meets Jet Li in one of the year's hugest, messiest disappointments.
Another one of the year's biggest disappointments was THE CONDEMNED. The "deadly game show" is one of my favorite premises, and there's nothing whatsoever wrong with the performance of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. But the film (which starts well) actually has the moxie to preach at us for the crime of watching violent entertainment! And they're amazed that the film flopped big-time... they essentially tell you not to watch it!
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was every bit as funny as I wanted it to be--and it would have been just as funny had it debuted on TV.
ZODIAC wasn't a "horror film," but it was an excellent (and frequently frightening) procedural and character drama... Jake Gyllenhaal's fine, but Robert Downey Jr. steals it (as usual).
BLACK SNAKE MOAN not only lived up to its provocative title and ad campaign (Samuel L. Jackson chaining a scantily-clad Christina Ricci to a radiator--good grief!) but transcended the lurid material with some of the most heartfelt interaction and healing drama around... where was that on the "Feel Good Film of the Year" campaign, eh?
The don't-call-it-a-remake of SLEUTH provided plenty of surprises even for people convinced they knew this story inside and out... Michael Caine and Jude Law took the Shaffer classic to a different plane courtesy of Harold Pinter.
SOUTHLAND TALES? Well, I saw it, anyway... it may not be the next DONNIE DARKO, but I didn't want it to be, either. So many great moments in this bizarre stew, and probably the best performance yet by Dwayne Johnson (not called 'The Rock' here).
Three brutal, gripping crime dramas are all fighting for top honors this year... David Cronenberg's EASTERN PROMISES, Sidney Lumet's BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD and the Coen Brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Very hard to pick a winner here. Very, very hard to pick a winner... they're all astonishing, top-tier masterworks--from three generations of filmmakers, no less!
And most intriguing was the resurgence of the DEATH WISH saga.
Jodie Foster and Neil Jordan actually got away with passing THE BRAVE ONE off as something resembling an original concept, when I fully expected the title to appear on the trailer as DEATH WISH (the distaff remake, of course).
Original DEATH WISH author Brian Garfield's antidote-sequel DEATH SENTENCE was invoked as an unconnected vehicle for Kevin Bacon--another huge box office disappointment for director James Wan. Too bad--it's one of his very best--a devastating trip through vigilante hell... featuring the tour-de-force "parking garage" sequence that ranks with the year's most stunning achievements.
Well, I'm exhausted.
And I'm frankly ready to skip January in its entirety.
ONE MISSED CALL? No more J-horror rehashes for me.
THE EYE? No more ASIAN-horror rehashes for me. Especially if they star Jessica Alba.
CLOVERFIELD? If you tell me it's really THAT good, I'll check it out. But not before.
IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE? No comment.
Happy trails,
Remo D.
One of the first films I saw in 2007 was, naturally, a holdover from 2006... PAN'S LABYRINTH. While it was obviously one of the best films of that (or any) year, it defied classification--while it certainly qualified in many sequences, you could never expect to get away with calling it a "horror film."
PAN'S LABYRINTH may very well be the final word in an extraordinary subset of fantasy filmmaking--tales of lost innocence in which children create monsters (or do they?)--the better to cope with reality. Many have tried, but only a few such films have succeeded so extraordinarily in my view--you need an exceptional, visionary director and the most gifted child performers--performers who can captivate without ever cloying (get annoyed with the child even once and the spell is broken). My list: THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, I'M NOT SCARED, and now PAN'S LABYRINTH (yes, del Toro scored twice). None utterly 'horror,' but all breathtaking and relevant to the genre.
Watch them in sequence and you'll notice another trend... the films all climax with the young protagonist being placed in grave danger. And the consequences get worse as we go along. We move from the fully believable happy ending of CURSE to the shocking (if survivable) burst of gunfire in I'M NOT SCARED, until finally...
Think the movies are trying to tell you something? Something they MEAN? Well, for better or worse, if there's a unifying theme to the horror-film output of 2007, that's it. While it was once an unthinkable taboo to depict the death of children on screen, 2007 decided to go all out and let them have it on a regular basis--from the accident in GRINDHOUSE to the not-an-accident in THE MIST (both of which took place within parked cars); the remains of sacrificial victims discovered in THE REAPING (and even HOT FUZZ!), the fatally downbeat finale of THE HOST, the unapologetic chest-bursting of AvPR, Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN (children as victims and as monsters--though JOSHUA came out earlier)... good grief, even the third PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN opened with the (non-explicit but unmistakable) hanging of a child!
It might be a good time to point out here that virtually all of 2007's confrontational output "underperformed" at the box office. A few remakes, a franchise sequel and the "nicer" of two Stephen King adaptations accounted for what success there was for horror this past year--even films expected to clean up ended up dying quietly while critics and audiences alike sought "the feel good film of the year" instead.
Too bad... 2007 was actually an excellent year filled with great movies too few people saw. Of course, that's just me talking, and I'm the guy who liked the BLACK CHRISTMAS remake. Perhaps my choices and rankings will be similarly controversial this year, perhaps not. But they're completely honest. With that in mind?
Unseen by me: BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE, SKINWALKERS, THE INVISIBLE, GHOST RIDER, FANTASTIC FOUR--RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER, TRANSFORMERS (but my son got the DVD for Christmas so that's going to change soon), DRAGON WARS, BEOWULF, HORRORFEST 2007, AWAKE, probably others that aren't coming to mind right away.
THE GOOD
Off to a great start with PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER. We can argue about its 'horror' standing, but see it for yourself. Gritty, low-budget shockers will always have their place, but lavish, sumptuously-photographed epics with supporting work from Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman have a lot to recommend, too! A unique and pleasantly shocking look at obsession with a finale you won't soon forget (don't look for it on commercial television anytime soon).
Nacho Cerda's THE ABANDONED was touted as the one Horrorfest 2006 entry worthy of solo theatrical release. Now that I've caught up with the rest of the batch on demand, I concur. Perhaps a TWILIGHT ZONE diehard like me can see where it's going, but it's a grisly, twisted ride all the same.
The people who made the SAW films such hits couldn't care less what James Wan and Leigh Whannell did with good old-fashioned scares in DEAD SILENCE. Their loss--ventriloquist dummies are still creepy as hell, and this one was a real treat.
HOT FUZZ was not a horror film, but you can't pass up what the SHAUN OF THE DEAD guys did here--and they included gore murders and an evil cult just for you!
A simple plot done to a crackling turn--that was the relentless VACANCY, packed with character and tension from the moment the opening titles kick in.
John Cusack almost single-handedly made 1408 worth watching... yes, it's a PG-13 expansion of a far scarier Stephen King short story, but he really is that good. Oh, and one of the ghosts is Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, just for fun.
28 WEEKS LATER was an genuine, worthy and stylish follow-up to Danny Boyle's surprise hit--as opposed to the quickie remake we usually get in sequel-land.
Meanwhile, Boyle himself gave us SUNSHINE, which offered plenty of rich visuals and pure, character-driven science fiction (as opposed to effects-driven zippity-zap) to propel its narrative. Sure, there was everything from DARK STAR to EVENT HORIZON to salute along the way. And 28 DAYS LATER owed a page or two to Romero. Thus is the way of the world.
Go ahead and slap me for mentioning DISTURBIA here if you must, but it's an ultimate "give the devil his due" entry. WE know it's a shameless reworking of REAR WINDOW. But when classical Hitchcockian suspense becomes a huge hit with a young audience, that's YOUR opportunity to say "If you liked that, have I got a movie for you..." Oh, David Morse was a terrific bad guy in the FRIGHT NIGHT vein, too.
BUG was one of the year's very best, though people expecting a horror film about man-eating insects were 'non-plussed,' to put it mildly. William Friedkin has made a masterwork of communicable paranoia, attractive conspiracy and psychological violence... and Ashley Judd deserves an Oscar at the very least.
On first viewing, HOSTEL PART II struck me more as a museum piece than a necessary sequel. But when revisiting the films on DVD, I realized it was actually quite superior to the original--intelligently scripted, extremely well acted and, of course, necessarily horrifying when it came to the grisly details. Or maybe I'm just far more receptive to the Italian approach than I am to the Asian? One thing it's not is simple "torture porn." But more on that later.
"My name's MR. BROOKS, and I'm an addict." Kevin Costner's best role in years (but still no audience). William Hurt as the alter ego. Dane Cook as the wannabe. Trust me. Give this a chance.
JOSHUA was one of the better BAD SEED variants, though it's Sam Rockwell's show as he plays the slowly disintegrating father. And at this stage of the game, you can't say for sure that they won't go "Odessa Steps" on the baby carriage...
We got a couple of unassuming "monster movies" that succeeded on a simple "give the people what they want" level. RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION made the formula more watchable than ever thanks to Milla Jovovich, who by now has claimed her role to such an extent that the series has earned mention on its own merits. And Russell Mulcahy delivered the zombie groceries with plenty of gore and action. Meanwhile, ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM gave us the film they miserably failed to deliver the last time around--we've finally turned the monsters loose on an unassuming human population--let the bloody chips fall where they may.
30 DAYS OF NIGHT gave us something almost unthinkable in vampire movies... originality. Oh, not all the way through in every detail, but the frozen setting was different, as was the approach taken to the ending. And along the way, Danny Huston was an excellent, creepy monster, the characters were believable and the violence was effectively tense and bloody throughout.
Unlike HOSTEL PART II, SAW IV managed to retain its core audience (though it didn't get to be the number-one horror film this year). While I was, frankly, dreading it, it surprised me by continuing to assemble a puzzle (reaching in both directions), by being utterly unmerciful to those who haven't seen the previous entries (this ain't FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 7, okay?), and by actually working to correct what I saw as shortcomings in SAW III. Guys, you can't keep it up forever, but you've still got my attention.
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET bookended PERFUME beautifully with another lavish, lovingly-detailed portrait of a murderer... but this one's a Tim Burton musical as opposed to a macabre romance novel. More great work by Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman (among others)--smashing, bloody entertainment.
As for the best of the year?
I have to give out a special prize here. PLANET TERROR was not the best time I had at the movies all year. DEATH PROOF was not the best time I had at the movies all year. But there are no two ways about it--GRINDHOUSE was absolutely the best time I had at the movies in all of 2007. Not the separate DVDs--the unadulterated, trailer-laden double-feature experience. You can't sum it up as a "horror movie" (and in no WAY was DEATH PROOF a "giallo"--what were they thinking when they said that?), so I can't call it "the best horror movie of 2007" any more than I could call PAN'S LABYRINTH "the best horror film of 2006." But PLANET TERROR had every one of the best ingredients (including the chili recipe... and absolutely the greatest opening title sequence of the year), and DEATH PROOF gave us Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike... THE best movie character of the year, bar none. To dismiss GRINDHOUSE is to forget your father's face.
And speaking of Stephen King?
Keep it safe with 1408, and you've got a hit. Take the tack that a horror movie is meant to horrify, and you've got a flop. And you've got the best horror film of 2007. Yep. THE MIST. Horrifying in its gory creature violence. Horrifying in its panicked human degeneracy. And horrifying in a way not even Stephen King planned when he wrote the story over twenty years ago. Here's horror, ladies and gentlemen. Pleasant dreams.
THE MIDDLE GROUND
HANNIBAL RISING was a sincerely-acted prequel with some undeniably grisly setpieces. It was also one of the least necessary films ever made (the desperate attempts to invoke 'the mask' in the movie and the face of Anthony Hopkins in the ad campaign speak for themselves).
Okay, get ready to slap me again. I thought THE HOST was the most over-rated film of the year. On the one hand, it features one of the very best monster rampage sequences ever made, while the dysfunctional family dynamic adds plenty of unique flavor and emotion, setting it apart from the crowd. For the first half of the film, I was in full agreement that this was a masterpiece. Then, frankly, it went on for about half-an-hour too long, with repetitious scenes of family members falling into ditches and failing to let arrows fly when they should--long after I'd gotten the point--all building up to an anything-but-rousing finale (all this just for that?). Points where points are due, but GMK isn't getting nudged off my shelf anytime soon.
I'm going crazy trying to place I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, so I'll just leave it here. The movie is SO wrong on so many levels... but good Lindsay Lohan in blue, naughty Lindsay Lohan in red, Art Bell, Corsican-twin mania, Madame Olga's strip club, a juicy hand removal just for me, and the I AM THE SECOND COMING OF MARIO BAVA--DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU GET IT? oversaturated direction made for something I will never regret seeing on the big screen. I mean--wow.
They've pulled off three (in my view) successful takes on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Fourth time was not the charm. The film simply known as THE INVASION wasn't awful, but it was inefficiently removed from the mythology (spitting in the coffee is no substitute for PODS) and frankly anticlimactic (now they're curable, but is the world really any better off?). Well-acted by Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, of course.
Rob Zombie's long-anticipated HALLOWEEN remake finally hit, and my personal jury is still out. On the one hand, it was plenty sick and disturbing--I appreciated the fact that they didn't just simply re-tell the story of Carpenter's film (the action of which is practically confined to an afterthought), and I especially enjoyed Malcolm McDowell's take on Dr. Loomis. On the other hand, this is the sort of film in which one 'name' actor is enough--I was thoroughly distracted by the 'spot the star' approach, nor was the film ever truly SCARY.
And I AM LEGEND remains worth watching for the sake of Will Smith's performance and some fantastic visual urban devastation. Matheson's novel has yet to be done to a turn, and the on-screen meat ultimately gives you nothing more profound than what Charlton Heston and Vincent Price already gave you.
THE BAD--not too much here--I'm pleased and surprised...
The remake of THE HITCHER missed the point entirely. Scruffy Sean Bean is a convincing psychopath, but the attractiveness of John Ryder was fatally jettisoned.
You can't make a good film called THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 (or THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II or whichever version you're watching), so please stop trying. One or two good moments that could have been saved for a better film--that's it.
Dark Castle Entertainment betrayed its roots with THE REAPING. The spirit of William Castle is nowhere to be found in this Biblical allegory that makes the unforgivable mistake of taking itself seriously--and expecting you to do the same. (Not that the direct-to-video RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL was much better.)
I could barely keep my eyes open through P2. Roger can give it three stars for being a functional slasher if he wants to, but if 'formula' is really what you want, I direct you back to VACANCY.
Now, the very worst piece of trash I suffered through in 2007 was a direct-to-On-Demand crapfest called DRIVE-THRU. See, it's about a killer fast-food clown who steals Jack Nicholson's dialogue from THE SHINING as he re-enacts the plot of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. And Morgan Spurlock shows up for the fast-food in-joke cameo.
But we're talking theatrical releases here.
Remember when I said that HOSTEL PART II was no simple piece of "torture porn" in my book? I don't recommend films like that and the SAW entries on the basis of their torture, gore and violence--it's the way they make you keep watching even when the on-screen activity is hideous. Now, if torture and gore are all you want?
Well, if you take an original screenplay by Larry Cohen that promises to be a typically-intriguing 'mindgame' thriller... get a class-A director like Roland Joffe to helm the project... and then decide "You know what? People REALLY want to see torture and gore, so let's rethink this...?" You get CAPTIVITY. And nobody saw it. Nor should they have. The End.
THE REST
There was plenty of worthwhile and not-so-worthwhile franchise fantasy in the year, as well.
I'll take SPIDER-MAN 3 over PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END any day. SM3 may not have been a match for SM2, but what is? It had plenty of colorful characters, humor and action, and my entire family had a great time. Can't say the same for that lumbering thud of a PIRATES finale. Cast Chow Yun-Fat and give him almost nothing to do? Great move. I could go on, but why?
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX was, as usual, as good a one-shot movie that could be made from such a complicated book, but at this point in the movie series, you really DO need those books for an anchor. Read. Repeat. READ.
Nobody really needed a RUSH HOUR 3, but it was my only chance for my son to see Jackie Chan on the big screen. It was fun, and we'll leave it at that.
Far more exciting to me personally was the return of Luc Besson to the director's chair... I thoroughly enjoyed the black-and-white fantasy ANGEL-A, while my son proved that ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES was perfectly entertaining for the young audience at which it was aimed (you know what? I happen to agree that LEON was better, okay? But I still enjoyed ARTHUR).
Only Luc Besson could have saved WAR, by the way. Jason Statham meets Jet Li in one of the year's hugest, messiest disappointments.
Another one of the year's biggest disappointments was THE CONDEMNED. The "deadly game show" is one of my favorite premises, and there's nothing whatsoever wrong with the performance of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. But the film (which starts well) actually has the moxie to preach at us for the crime of watching violent entertainment! And they're amazed that the film flopped big-time... they essentially tell you not to watch it!
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was every bit as funny as I wanted it to be--and it would have been just as funny had it debuted on TV.
ZODIAC wasn't a "horror film," but it was an excellent (and frequently frightening) procedural and character drama... Jake Gyllenhaal's fine, but Robert Downey Jr. steals it (as usual).
BLACK SNAKE MOAN not only lived up to its provocative title and ad campaign (Samuel L. Jackson chaining a scantily-clad Christina Ricci to a radiator--good grief!) but transcended the lurid material with some of the most heartfelt interaction and healing drama around... where was that on the "Feel Good Film of the Year" campaign, eh?
The don't-call-it-a-remake of SLEUTH provided plenty of surprises even for people convinced they knew this story inside and out... Michael Caine and Jude Law took the Shaffer classic to a different plane courtesy of Harold Pinter.
SOUTHLAND TALES? Well, I saw it, anyway... it may not be the next DONNIE DARKO, but I didn't want it to be, either. So many great moments in this bizarre stew, and probably the best performance yet by Dwayne Johnson (not called 'The Rock' here).
Three brutal, gripping crime dramas are all fighting for top honors this year... David Cronenberg's EASTERN PROMISES, Sidney Lumet's BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD and the Coen Brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Very hard to pick a winner here. Very, very hard to pick a winner... they're all astonishing, top-tier masterworks--from three generations of filmmakers, no less!
And most intriguing was the resurgence of the DEATH WISH saga.
Jodie Foster and Neil Jordan actually got away with passing THE BRAVE ONE off as something resembling an original concept, when I fully expected the title to appear on the trailer as DEATH WISH (the distaff remake, of course).
Original DEATH WISH author Brian Garfield's antidote-sequel DEATH SENTENCE was invoked as an unconnected vehicle for Kevin Bacon--another huge box office disappointment for director James Wan. Too bad--it's one of his very best--a devastating trip through vigilante hell... featuring the tour-de-force "parking garage" sequence that ranks with the year's most stunning achievements.
Well, I'm exhausted.
And I'm frankly ready to skip January in its entirety.
ONE MISSED CALL? No more J-horror rehashes for me.
THE EYE? No more ASIAN-horror rehashes for me. Especially if they star Jessica Alba.
CLOVERFIELD? If you tell me it's really THAT good, I'll check it out. But not before.
IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE? No comment.
Happy trails,
Remo D.