The horror genre loves a good controversy, but not all controversies are created equal. The Forest, from director Jason Zada, has taken criticism not for violence and gore, but about whether it exoticizes its Japanese location or trivializes the problem of suicide. As it turns out, though, there’s more than that to dislike about this sub-par movie.
Dear Grimm,
I have to say, I’m sorry to see this relationship end.
The vampire movie renaissance, of which Let Me In was the high point and Priest may have been the low point, appeared to be drawing to a close. Then in late 2013, Director Jim Jarmusch (Coffee and Cigarettes) came out with Only Lovers Left Alive. This moody, atmospheric, bohemian tale pleased both critics and fans alike, especially the built-in fanbases of its leads, Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston. However, underneath the dark rock-guitar score, the musings about art, and the familiar vampire lore, there’s something more going on. Only Lovers Left Alive is, at its heart, a movie about marriage.
Last Friday, faithful fans of NBC’s Hannibal were glued to the screen for the premiere of the show’s highly anticipated second season. The first season of producer Bryan Fuller’s take on the novels of Thomas Harris garnered critical praise and audience appreciation for everything from the masterful performances to the elaborate gourmet dishes prepared by the title character. One thing that stood out for me, however, was the way in which Will Graham, the protagonist and point-of-view character of the first season, undermines an increasingly common trope on television.
October is here! And just in time for Halloween, the Nashville Writer’s Group presents Comfort Foods, a horror anthology edited by Nashville author Nikki Nelson-Hicks. The collection includes 13 short stories from local writers, many of which have distinctly Southern, if not uniquely Nashville, flavor to them. Some of these tales offer new takes on classic chills such as ghosts or zombies, and others invent entirely new nightmares for the reader.
Daniel Jackson
Every self-described genre fans harbors some unpopular fannish opinions. Me? I love the 1994 movie Stargate, starring James Spader and Kurt Russell. That’s not the unpopular part, of course —I’m not alone in that at all. What sets me apart from other sci-fi fans and fans of the movie is that I’ve never watched Stargate SG-1, or any of the other shows and direct-to-DVD-movies that spun off it. For a long time, I resolved that I never would. Even now, with my objections gone, I have no immediate plans to see them.
Sometimes, even a well-made horror movie can be left in the theater. You can see it and then go home and head straight for bed, without averting your glance from your mirrors or imagining the film’s antagonist sliding through the dark of your room. Horror movie fans, especially, do not lose sleep over most horror movies, or find themselves haunted by them days later.
The Conjuring was not such a movie for me, and it may not be for you either.
True Colors, 1991
On Thursday, the United States observes its Independence Day. Many Americans will celebrate with cookouts, fireworks, or parades, and many of them will also kick back with a favorite, seasonably appropriate movie. The movies one usually thinks of on the Fourth of July are generally war movies or historical films, like Saving Private Ryan or Patriot, and those are perfectly valid options. However, I thought I’d suggest a few more offbeat choices for films to watch while escaping the heat on the Fourth.
If you’ve been to any of the tentpole genre movies that have come out this summer (or even in the last year), you’ve probably seen ads for After Earth. This sci-fi vehicle features real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith as Rangers who get stranded on a hostile Earth in the distant future. What you may not know, because the marketing downplayed it, is that it was directed and co-written by M Night Shyamalan, who was once lauded as a brilliant auteur but who has fallen into disfavor.
I never have been in the Shyamalan-hate camp. Like most people who saw it, I enjoyed The Sixth Sense, but I also enjoyed his other movies that I’ve seen. Signs and Unbreakable put a novel twist on the alien-invasion movie and the superhero movie, respectively, even if looking back on it, the big reveal in Unbreakable is kind of problematic. The Village had an interesting take on the post-9-11 security era, even though you rarely see that discussed. I even have an unreasonable love for the much-maligned Lady in the Water, although admittedly I’m a myth-geek who first encountered Joseph Campbell in grade school.
With all of that said I will admit that I haven’t yet seen The Last Airbender, The Happening, or Devil, which have as much to do with the sinking of Shyamalan’s stock as his earlier work. And After Earth is unlikely to be the movie that rehabilitates his reputation.
When CBS announced that it would be doing Elementary, a contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes like the BBC’s Sherlock, the loudest reactions were one of horror. Some of the misgivings were understandable: after all, it was an American attempt to emulate something that had already been done, on a major network and in prime time. It wasn’t even going to be set in London—a first for any interpretation of the source novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Most controversial of all was the casting of Lucy Liu as Holmes’s sidekick, now named Joan Watson. A lot of racist and sexist things were said about that, under the guise of preferring “authenticity.” In the end, though, Elementary, which had its season finale on May 17, turned out to be a highly entertaining and solidly made show.