This movie proves without a doubt that just because you have a snazzy set of computers and artists, doesn’t mean you can replicate good old fashioned special effects. Sometimes the actual material and human actors can be much more effective than dapper computer animation that, even in 1997, looked like cut scenes from a Playstation video game. Of course it’s not like studios ever really learned their lesson after “An American Werewolf in Paris” landed with a thud in 1997. They just tried and tried until they succeeded. Supposedly in development for six years, “An American Werewolf in Paris” feels as if someone had the bright idea to remake the John Landis eighties classic “An American Werewolf in London,” backed out, and then kicked up production again once computer technology advanced. And then somewhere along the line a remake of a classic horror comedy became a stale and brutally underwhelming horror comedy that failed to amount to even an ounce of the charisma and brilliance that the first film did.
Tag Archives: Action
Dracula 2000 (2000)
Back in the late nineties if you attached 2000 or Extreme to anything, it automatically meant it was going to be the best thing since the invention of gravity. Incidentally, for some reason Dimension Films felt adding 2000 to their new Dracula film meant it’d be an amazing new entry in to the endless films about the fanged master of the vampires. It wasn’t. “Dracula 2000” only promises certain new elements to the story, but in reality it’s just another mediocre Dracula film. It’s not awful, but it surely didn’t re-invent the wheel in terms of Dracula or vampire films. In reality much of it is influenced by “The Matrix” so much of the vampire foes bred by Dracula flip around, jump off walls, and battle their foes with martial arts.
Ten Underrated Horror Heroines
Yes, we spent all October objectifying women in many articles concerning women in horror and what we’d do during sexual encounters and the final girls we love to ogle while cheering for. Now in the final Friday of October, we spotlight the strong women. They’re bold, courageous, pushed in to a corner, and battle their way out. They have brains, brawn, instinct, and often times are smarter than they men they’re battling alongside. They display amazing resilience in horrible situations, endure dark corners, sub zero temperatures, and maintain their sanity. They meet a challenge head on and fight to the death. These are ten underrated horror heroines we adore, these are ten underrated horror heroines we’d love to have beside us during confrontations with demons, zombies, vampires, or ghosts.
The Walking Dead: Cold Storage [Web Series]
“Cold Storage” doesn’t have much in the way of a narrative, but then the whole purpose of “The Walking Dead” webisodes is to whet the appetites of fans craving more of Robert Kirkman’s world, and to give producer Gregory Nicotero something to do. Show producer and special effects master Gregory Nicotero is slowly making his way in to the directing business, lensing some of the episodes for the hit series, and directing both web series for the hit horror drama. “Torn Apart” was a much more meaningful and concentrated effort in the Walking Dead mythology as we got to know the origin of bicycle girl. “Cold Storage” has a link to the show, but only in a mere lip service sense. It’s an “oh look!” moment and then it passes.
Dark Times (2010)
Directors Peter Horn and Jared Marshall’s short science fiction horror film is, as the kids say: The shit. “Dark Times” is a rollicking and creepy gore fest that takes every advantage to be unique and original. Foregoing any opening and closing credits, “Dark Times” takes every single advantage of every second to tell a fun story that is just so damn thrilling to behold. As seen through the eyes of a hapless man, a group of workers from the Blue Skies Nuclear Power plant flee from a horrible explosion that is sending them running in to the woods as radioactive debris rains from the skies taking down survivors.
Justice Woman
The new superhero web series entitled “Justice Woman” is an episodic adventure that’s less “Elektra” meets Lois Lane, and more Carrie Bradshaw if she decided to don a costume and investigate crimes in her city. “Justice Woman” is definitely a web series for the martini drinking, “The View” watching audience. That’s by no means meant to be a disparaging commentary on the series, but “Justice Woman” is definitely aiming for a niche audience, and I’m sadly not it.
Kiddy Kiddy Bang Bang (2012)
Dick Jane’s short film is obviously just a prologue to further adventures of its two heroines. It’s either going to be the first in a series of short films, or “Kiddy Kiddy Bang Bang” is a pitch for a feature film in the making. If Dick Jane gets it off the ground, I can imagine Troma being more than willing to scoop this up and make this in to a cult classic. As a short film it’s exploitative, ridiculous, far-fetched, and the entire story just makes no damn sense. I also snickered at the dedication to sexual abuse victims in the final scene.