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Horror Films Recent years have seen a glorious revival of American horror cinema with films such as Scream and The Blair Witch Project re-introducing moviegoers to the joys of high-caliber fright flicks. Sadly, however, British attempts to capitalize on the genre's return from the grave have been embarrassing to say the least, with films such as Revelation and Long Time Dead boring audiences and making hardcore horror fans yearn for death's sweet embrace. So, it comes as an enormous relief to report that Dog Soldiers isn't just the one of the best home-grown horror films for many a long moon, it's also perhaps the most entertaining British movie of the year. The set-up is simple. On maneuvers in the Scottish wilderness Sgt Wells (Pertwee) and his platoon find their supposedly routine training mission taking a turn for the worse when, as so often happens, a pack of local werewolves move in for the kill. With light fading and the body-count rising, the men follow the horror-movie rulebook by quickly decamping to a seemingly deserted farm-house.
Once inside, the plucky tummies find themselves fighting off the snarling and seemingly indestructible lupine beasties. As one of the squad dies cheerfully points out, it's like Rock's Drift with werewolves. (Freddy 57). So the scene is set for a non-stop helter-skelter of delirious mayhem, hysterically funny dialogue and dangerously off-kilter black humor. While the plot is cliched almost to the point of parody, first time writer-director Neil Marshall maintains such a deliriously high level of excitement that the derivative nature of the film soon becomes irrelevant. Sure, the whole enterprise is a Frankenstein creation sewn together from the body parts of Alien, The Howling, and Night of the Living Dead but Dog Soldiers zips along so furiously I defy any viewer not to be thoroughly entertained. What's more, whereas recent British horror films such as The Hole have tried unsuccessfully to ape American movies, Marshall clearly cares not a jot for the cinematic conventions of our uncouth Yankee cousins.
With its myriad references to footie and the curative properties of a decent cuppa, this film is un apologetically British, and therein lies its greatest asset. Unashamed of its origins, the film displays precisely the sort of irony and pitch-black comedy that would be off-limits in Hollywood. In short, Marshall's energetic horror yarn is the rarest of things, a British horror film worth howling about. (Freddy 57). Sometimes, the most gripping horror films are so manifestly ludicrous that the least hint of ridicule instantly breaks their spell. And although masters such as Dahl and Hitchcock could weave humor into their darkly gripping storylines, the deliberate highlighting of the genre's basic absurdity can (as with sex films) only serve to undermine the action, leading to flaccidity and disappointment. (Clover 112). Last night's tale (And Now the Fearing) typified the problem, bristling as it did with adroit parody, yet ultimately falling flat on its face.
Within an early-Seventies high-rise building called Amicus House (a nod to Hammer's main commercial rival), three characters were trapped in a confined space and began relating their nightmarish dreams to each other (as also happens in the 1965 film Dr Terror's House of Horrors), including one about a possessed piece of furniture (cf From Beyond the Grave). These references doubtless delighted any cinematic train spotters in the audience, and director Matt Lips had perfectly reproduced the Seventies world of seed-packet shirts and data print 70 typeface by incorporating unstable and (literally) over-the-top crash zooms, frame dropping and burnt-out-style colorizing. (Kristeva 35). What about the most screaming horror film? How was it made popular? "It doesn't work that way, " Wes Craven explains, clarifying the dynamics of a movie-directing career at the press junket for "Scream 2. " During round-table interviews at the Essex House Hotel, Mr. Craven has found it necessary to interrupt a reporter who begins, "Now that you can do whatever you want... " Expecting copycat blockbuster success for the anniversary sequel to "Scream, " which grossed $ 100 million after emerging as a sleeper of Christmas 1996, the press is inclined to take more for granted than the director. (Wood 151 - 156). A 48 -year-old specialist in cinematic horror, Mr.
Craven still experiences consensus admiration as a novelty. Soft-spoken and well educated - indeed, he was a college instructor in humanities and Western civilization before heeding the siren call of the movies - Mr. Craven recalls encountering numerous strangers who "expected to meet a madman, sort of the filmmaking equivalent of Charles Manson. " (Pine 98). A rousing commercial send-off probably does await "Scream 2, " a clever, ominous and market-savvy follow-up reuniting director Craven with screenwriter Kevin Williamson and several surviving principals. Neve Campbell returns as the menaced heroine, Sidney Prescott, and Courteney Cox is back as her opportunistic affliction, the ruthless TV reporter Gale Weathers. They meet again in a college town where Sidney is an undergraduate; Gale reappears while promoting the movie version of "Stab, " her best-selling shocker about the original "Scream" murder spree. (Foucault 81).
The prototype had to earn its $ 100 million the hard way, performing steadily for several months after being relegated to first-run theaters considered less than top-drawer. "Scream 2 " can count on a more advantageous selection of showcases, plus a public waiting to be comparably shocked and amused. The catch is that a slack performance could sacrifice quite a bit of sadistic good will. (Foucault 87). "The way it works in the film industry, " Mr. Craven remarks, "is that you hear a chorus of 'Do that again!' when something is successful. They " re not into 'Now, that was really good! Do something completely different!' I wish it could work that way. "But, of course, as I'm saying this, I should retract the statement. As a result of doing the 'Scream' movies for Miramax and Dimension [a subsidiary specializing in genre thrillers], I'll also get to do 'Fiddlefest' and probably something else of a very different nature.
But it has taken 25 years to get that sort of deal. " (Wood 157 - 161). The starting point for Mr. Craven was the low-budget horror melodrama "The Last House on the Left. " Made in 1972 for a consortium of exhibitors who wanted something as appalling and exploitable as "Night of the Living Dead, " the project was the first practical offer that came Mr. Craven's way after he abandoned an academic career and moved to New York, where he drove a cab while acquiring basic skills in film editing. (Hollows & Jancovich 28).
His status within the horror fraternity took a quantum leap with "Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984. It generated five sequels and remained the most fashionable departure in movie fright until "Scream" arrived last year and demonstrated an exceptional flair for reconciling terror and self-parody. The "Scream" vogue would allow Mr. Craven to direct "Fiddlefest, " a fictionalized version of the inspirational documentary feature "Small Wonders, " which celebrated an innovative music teacher in Spanish Harlem. He hopes to start soon after completing a first novel. Mr.
Craven acknowledges that to be effective at scare movies, "you have to frighten yourself. " He understands why people might tend to shy away from the sort of virtuosity that distinguishes a "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "Scream. " (Corrigan 30). He broods about it himself while reflecting on a curious personal odyssey that began with a devout churchgoing family: He was the youngest of three children raised by a Cleveland widow. They were members of a General Association of Regular Baptists congregation. Mr. Craven received his bachelor's degree from Billy Graham's alma mater, Wheaton College, before earning a master's in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. (Corrigan 30). "To some extent, people have to fear that they " re in the presence of a madman, " Mr. Craven muses. "Every effective thing I've done goes beyond the point where moviegoers expect you to stop.
The basic notion of the sequel is: Take it to a new level. Most sequels drop a level, or many levels. (Slaton 64). "In this case, we have the same writer and director, plus a number of original cast members. That should help preserve the original vision and set of intentions. " The fact that "Scream" is a hit that coincides with worldwide computer correspondence caused special problems for the filmmakers. At the outset, the first 40 pages of the script for "Scream 2 " turned up on the Internet, intact. Mr. Craven reflects that this obstacle may make it useful to work Internet sabotage into a "Scream 3, " if one ultimately is made.
He explains that a Web site in Texas has become celebrated for circulating and breaking entertainment news. This became the conduit for the "Scream 2 " leak. (Slaton 64). Mr. Williamson already is reading Internet speculation about the plot of "Scream 3. " He rolls his eyes and sighs, "It is all so wrong.
I haven't written it yet. I've never spoken to anyone about it... There is a little bitty treatment in my computer, but no one else has read it. " Or so he assumes. (Slaton 65). At last year's press junket for "Scream, " an ebullient Mr. Williamson intimated that the sequel was outlined in his head and he needed only a few spare days to get it on paper. As a matter of fact, he became a long-distance screenwriter on "Scream 2, " which still had principal scenes in the amorphous stage as it neared production.
Mr. Williamson was often in South Carolina putting finishing touches on the script for "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and anticipating new responsibilities as a self-glorifying TV producer, the impresario for a semi-autobiographical series under Miramax auspices, "Dawson's Creek. " (Wood 162). No mystery about this one. "It's about me as kid growing up in a small Southern coastal town, with dreams of being a filmmaker, " Mr. Williamson reveals. Now a cottage industry at Miramax/Dimension, Mr. Williamson will direct his first feature, "Killing Miss Tingle, " another murder mystery, in 1998.
All these commitments will delay another "Scream" reunion for at least a year. (Sharrett 243 - 45). The baby Interneters obliged Mr. Williamson and the "Scream" apparatus to resort to deceptions beyond the customary. "My assistant, Kathryn Willis, wrote a pair of bogus screenplays, " Mr. Williamson reports. "We salted the Internet with those in order to sow confusion and protect the authentic script. " Cast member Jerry O'Connell, who plays Sidney's new boyfriend, Derek, describes the secrecy measures imposed on actors.
While being considered for a role, he was visited by two emissaries with script pages in their possession. (Sharrett 246). Evidently a talented yarn-spinner in his own right, Mr. O'Connell recalls, "Two guys with Uzis came to the house and watched while I read a few pages printed on this brown, non-copyable paper. You needed decoder glasses to make out the letters.
We signed waivers saying we would not reveal key story elements, on penalty of $ 80 million in damages. " (Foucault 89). The "Scream 2 " ensemble is enhanced by a group of young black actors, equitably integrated into the ranks of imperiled and / or sarcastic characters. Jada Pinkett and Omar Epps are paired as movie-going dates during a set-piece horror sequence - a rowdy preview showing of "Stab. " Elise Neal plays Sidney's college roomie, Hallie. Duane Martin gets to be a wisecracking voice of common sense as Gale's new cameraman, Joel. From this batch of fresh recruits, only Miss Pinkett made it to the press junket. But, of course, she was the most newsworthy.
Only a few days earlier, her engagement to consort Will Smith had been announced, along with an early birth announcement for their first child, expected next summer. Miss Pinkett, a Baltimore native whose pinkish dimensions add to her appeal, displayed the engagement ring and confirmed that the marriage will take place "soon" - as in "before the end of the year. " Evidently resigned to press curiosity, Miss Pinkett quipped, "It's our little secret, but I'm sure you guys will be the first to know. " (Foucault 87). She was predisposed to join the "Scream 2 " troupe because of "Nightmare on Elm Street, " her favorite horror movie. "Wes is the man, " she declared. "I saw very little of the crowd stuff happening when we were working. All that swirled around behind me. "So it came as a revelation to see how it works now, with this film inside the film inside the film thing going on. It didn't seem all that time-consuming. I don't remember doing more than three takes for any scene. " (Foucault 88).
Horror has never had it so good. You only have to look at the huge success of the low-budget, high-profile Blair Witch Project, which, grossing $ 150 m in the States and beating records over here, is already the most profitable film of all time; or the anticipation surrounding the UK release of the Bruce Willis horror film Sixth Sense where he plays a psychologist trying to help a child who sees ghosts. In the week that readers of Total Film magazine voted 25 -year-old The Exorcist to be the scariest movie ever, it is time to look at just what makes a film scary. And perhaps more importantly, just what horror films do to us. (Cook & Berlin 84 - 90). If you go to the movies tonight, Halloween, you " ll no doubt find yourself in the grip of something bigger than yourself. That thing is fear.
Or, depending on your disposition, sheer unadulterated terror. That people like to be scared, and even pay for it, is not in doubt. We...
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