Horror Headlines 8/28/08
The producers behind the sequel to Neil Marshall's "The Descent" have finally come to their senses and ditched the retarded title "De2cent" (which made no fucking sense at all). The official title is now the much classier "The Descent: Part Two". Well played. The film is currently shooting with the entire cast returning, most of which will be in flashback form for obvious reasons.
Bryan Bertino, writer director of "The Strangers", has officially signed on to pen a sequel. Liv Tyler has also signed on to return. I hate the fact that everything that's decent has to get a sequel these days, but there are a lot worse films that you could be sequelizing.
A controversial advertisement for the Spanish flick [REC] has been banned in New Zealand. Apparently the Kiwis took offense to a faux real "Bloody Mary" being served to potential movie goers. What? A little fake cannibalism never hurt anyone.
In Real People News:
Boy is somehow born with two heads even though he was formed from only one embryo. Doctors are calling it an "anomaly". Gee, you think?
The price of rat meat has tripled in Cambodia! Between this and the canned meat scare in Canada, how are we to attain our most delicious of foods? I tell ya, life just isn't fair sometimes.
Here's a new twist to the student / teacher affair... cocaine! Might as well completely screw over your life over while you're at it, right?
This just in, Irish girls are sluts. This should come as good news to all the Ginger chasers running around these parts. Me, I still think they've got the touch of the devil in 'em.
On this day in history:
1988: Three Italian fighter jets from the precision flight team Frecce Tricolori collide while attempting their "Pierced Heart" stunt during an air show at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany. The wreckage of one plane tumbles into the crowd and explodes, killing 40 spectators and seriously injuring hundreds more. The death toll reaches 69 two months later.
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Always with the sequels
Submitted by Amazonagent on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 17:31.I was thinking about this the other night, why must everything have a sequel? Why can't some movies just be? The Descent was perfect the way it ended why not just leave it at that. Now what are we going to get with this sequel? The same thing as the first, more people getting lost in the cave and eaten by cave dwellers. I don't see why this warrants another movie of this. I don't want to know the origins of the creatures, and I don't care about who else stumbles on the cave. They take away all the mystery and suspense the first one created by doing this sequel.
That's all movies are nowadays, sequels and remakes. It's really becoming a creative wasteland in Hollywood. :(
-Tanya
Catchin' bullets with her teeth since 1977
Sequels/Trilogies
Submitted by peloquin on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 17:57.Most things seem to get a sequel nowadays, either that or there 'part of a trilogy' combine that with the slew of remakes and it really does make you wonder where all the originality is going.
Oh and dont they explain the origins of the cretures in the first Descent anyway? Unless its a prequel about it, but then there wouldnt be any creatures.
www.myspace.com/devil2pay
Not a bad thing necessarily
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 18:17.Sequels like any movie can work when the director actually has something to say and makes an effort to separate it from the first movie. Look at Alien and Aliens. Alien is a stand alone film that would have been perfectly fine with a sequel and yet Aliens is an excellent film as well that I'm glad exsists. The mistake that most sequels make is just repeating the first film but with a bigger budget. But if they grow and expand the mythology there's a chance it might be an interesting movie.
That said, I'm part of the minority that couldn't stand The Strangers. I thought it was well directed but horribly plotted so the fact that it's the same writer does not inspire me.
"I like it when they lie still like that."
Rat meat...
Submitted by mark on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 17:33....thank god I quit months ago!
Oh yeah?
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 18:19.Do you still enjoy the occasional still beating cobra heart though?
"I like it when they lie still like that."
I hope it tells the story of their fight
Submitted by Jon on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 19:11.For me, the Strangers was a character study about two young lovers entangled in a lover's quarrel. If the sequel gives more context and nuance to that romantic imbruglio, then I'm all for it.
And by that I mean, HOW THE FUCK COULD LIV TYLER POSSIBLY BE IN A SEQUEL!?
She's dead people. DEAD.
Otherwise, I agree with Abel. Sequels aren't inherently bad. They're just bad when they're poorly made.
for the record
Submitted by Christine on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 19:27.There is NO WAY this "Descent" sequel won't suck. It's a bold stance, I know, but I feel as though I'm qualified to make it.
The first film wasn't perfect (don't even get me started on the US bullshit ending) but it was a solid film. The pacing was good, the characters were good, things weren't wrapped up in a neat little package, I could go on forever about the positives.
I rarely think it's productive to take an anti sequel stance. But I'm doing it for this one. And I am also saying, there is no way ANYONE survived.
Whoa Schnaars!
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 19:57.THE SPOILER ALERT... live it, love it.
I'm with Christine, the De2cent se2uel is going to s2ck b2lls. No doubt about it.
And I will engage in old fashioned fisticuffs with anyone who didn't like The Strangers. Some movies are okay not to like, but with this one it's just downright un-American.
If you liked Strangers then you liked 9/11
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 20:34.There I said it. We all know its true. If you liked The Strangers then the terrorists have won.
But in all seriousness, I thought the Strangers was well directed but had never met a horror cliche it didn't like and was incredibly obvious because of it. The director tried as hard as he could to build suspense but undermined himself with his own script since I knew how every scene was going to end as soon as it began. What's more the ending suggested a far more interesting film than the one actually on screen.
"I like it when they lie still like that."
Thanks Schnarrs, I was quite
Submitted by peloquin on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 20:28.Thanks Schnarrs, I was quite honestly going to watch The Strangers tonight.
And didnt Christine say it wouldnt suck Eric?
Me I think it will suck big time, with the way the film ended we cant really have a continuation of the story, although the title does seem to point to that. Part of me thinks they'll do a Hostel and make it about a load of male pot holers.
www.myspace.com/devil2pay
Why not?
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 20:37.Why can't you have a continuation of the story from the first film?
"I like it when they lie still like that."
Ah wait a minute, was there
Submitted by peloquin on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:22.Ah wait a minute, was there a survivor? Cant remember whether she bought it post escaping or not, so many films end in a similar way.
Ah and yeah sorry christine I read it wrong!
www.myspace.com/devil2pay
Descent ending
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:31.The problem was that there were two different endings. The original theatrical ending in the UK (the far superior one) suggests that the final survivor is stuck down in the caves. The American one tacked on a semi "happy ending", although that is certainly a stretch.
The sequel deals with the one survivor going back with a new group for some reason. She's gone mute and when she goes back starts having flashbacks to the events, which is how the whole cast will be returning.
Without Marshall this will not be anywhere nearly as good. I'm sure it will be more like "The Cave 2".
THERE WERE NO SURVIVORS!!
Submitted by Christine on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:38.If I was Neil Marshall, which I am clearly not, my head would explode at the thought of this film!
Sorry for the caps... I'm just very passionate about this.
<3
I could be wrong but...
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:43.My understanding was that Marshal had a producing role for this film.
Also the original ending (the one I saw) didn't suggest that she was stuck down in the caves. It just revealed that she hadn't actually escaped and was also insane.
"I like it when they lie still like that."
AT that point.
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:47.At that point it was clear to me that she was hopelessly hallucinating and would never get out. That's honestly just conjecture, but that's what I took from it.
reality
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:51.A friend of mine pointed out that the actual descent of the film is her progress into madness and that the ending basically puts the entire film in question since you don't know at what point she actually became insane. For all the viewer knows there are actually no monsters.
"I like it when they lie still like that."
Ya
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:54.I've heard that before, and it's a really fascinating take on the film.
Ultimately though, I think it's a valid conclusion to say that she was fucked either way.
Guess not
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:29.Since she survived for the sequel. lol
"I like it when they lie still like that."
Well ya
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:32.I'm using "normal person" logic, not "money hungry studio douche" logic. There's a definite difference.
last one
Submitted by Christine on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:58.Yes, he does have a production credit for the sequel. Meh
In all fairness, both endings could have been read a few different ways. You can take what you want from it. I have read that there were no cave monsters, that Sarah flipped out and killed everyone. Who knows? She may have escaped and gone crazy; haunted by the events. She may have died in the caves. All I'm saying is, the sequel will explain it all. It was tell us what happened. I liked that it was open to interpretation.
double negative
Submitted by Christine on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:04.Re reading, I think I may have double negatived it up. But to clarify, it will suck. Hard and fast.
Ya, I read it right.
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:21.Ya, I read it right.
And I thought The Strangers was the most suspenseful film I've seen all year. To each his own I guess... if by "his own" you mean the terrorists... which you guys clearly love.
(jk, hugs and kisses :)
Cliches
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:46.Eric, you didn't find the over familiarity of all the set ups and deliveries dispelled the suspense?
"I like it when they lie still like that."
Where's Schnaars when you need him
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 21:51.I need Schnaars here to help me argue this point because let's face it, he's a bit more eloquent than I am.
But if he were here I believe he'd say something like this.
Just because a film contains cliches doesn't automatically mean it can't be scary and/or fun. Doomsday is a great example. I think what you had here was a willing embrace of cliches and an attempt to play off of them. He was taking the 80's slasher and reimagining it in a post-post Scream era. The suspense in the film in my opinion was masterful. specifically the use of in-film music.
Now that said, I also think that there were several parts where he purposefully avoided them. Throwing an actual gun in there, the killers taking the cellphones (as opposed to: OMG no signal!), and ESPECIALLY the ending, are all things that you don't see in typical slashers.
And you can't overstate the importance of the ending. That is the logical ending of almost every slasher film, and yet I can think of scant few that have actually had the balls to go there. If this were to happen in real life, that's exactly how it would have ended. And that's about as un-cliche as you can get.
It's not the pieces but the puzzle that counts...
Submitted by auntdar on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:02.After seeing this film with two friends, we had a similar argument. Two of us absolutely loved it (I don't think I took a breath til the last five minutes) and the other said he had seen it all before.
My position was that while I agreed that there was not much truly original in this film, the elements had been strung together beautifully. Not liking this film because "you've seen it before", would be like saying you don't like a new piece of music because you've heard those notes before.
Music isn't always about inventing new notes, it's about the order you arrange them together to make a song. The Strangers, in my opinion, is as close to an exquisite symphony as you can get.
wrong metaphor
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:14.That example doesn't work because music isn't about building suspense and fear of the unknown. How can you fear the unexpected when you know exactly what's going to happen? That was my biggest problem with the film. I literally knew how almost every single scene was doing to end just after it started. To use your example it would be liked taking an over played pop song and just changing a couple instruments.
But I'm not saying it was a crappy or poorly movie, just an obvious one. I think the director is very talented and with better scripts will make some terrifying movies.
"I like it when they lie still like that."
That song...
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:18.That song on the record player was one of the creepiest things I've ever heard, and made that scene 100 times more suspenseful. Have you ever had the television turn on in the middle of the night when it wasn't supposed to? Or had the TV on in the other room and then thought you heard someone in your house? It's about how the most innocuous of sounds can become terrifying given the right circumstances. It literally gave me chills.
lol, yes!
Submitted by Eric on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:16.That was way better than I put it but yes. The film was beautifully crafted.
didn't avoid cliches
Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 22:08.I don't mean to sound hostile or anything but the examples you used avoiding cliches are wrong. Guns have had plenty of presences in slashers, victims use them all the time. Besides you knew, or at least both me and the friend I went to see it with, generally what as going to happen with the gun as soon as they pulled it and when the friend arrived you knew exactly what was going to happen with it. And how the cellphones don't work is irrelevant, it's still a cliche for the people to be unable to use them.
If you want to talk about the ending being logical and un-cliched because of it then you can't ignore all the times the characters acted illogically and in cliched horror movie ways. They wouldn't have ended up how they did if they had had half a brain and done anything that a normal person would do.
I should also stress that I think Bertino will make an excellent horror director when he's working from a script that isn't nearly as cliche riddled as the Strangers was. He worked his ass off to build tension and it was only the script that let him down.
"I like it when they lie still like that."