In 2017, a weird ARG by the name of “Dear David” popped up online that became an instant viral sensation. It was the timeline of Buzzfeed cartoonist Adam Ellis who was documenting the supposed haunting of his apartment by a small disfigured boy. What began as a series of tweets and fuzzy pictures of unusual shapes hiding in the crevices of his one bedroom apartment slowly escalated in to horrifying taunts, and nightly visits as the apparent apparition became bolder and began to drive David to the brink of madness. “Dear David” is an okay adaptation of the original viral thread, and while it’s by no means a home run of a horror film, it works in rare instances as a tech based thriller.
Tag Archives: Adaptation
Hellraiser (2022)
It takes a lot for me to invest in a new “Hellraiser” movie as they’ve all but quit trying to give us anything new or interesting. Thankfully director David Bruckner is up to the task of offering not just a new story but a new take on the Cenobites. Despite the troubling title (This “Hellraiser” is not so much a remake, or sequel, but kind of a reboot…?), David Bruckner’s “Hellraiser” film is really quite good. It’s dripping in suspense and terror, and finally brings some mystique to the Cenobites once again. The Cenobites are pure terror on two legs with “Hellraiser” and Bruckner doles out some twisted machinations of the Lament Configuration.
Hellraiser: Judgment (2018)
Allegedly Gary J. Tunnicliffe originally drew up a script for a “Hellraiser” movie which he then retooled in to an indie horror film after it was rejected. Later his concept was reworked in to a “Hellraiser” movie as a means of keeping the series in motion. Without the bits about the Cenobites, “Judgment” feels like a cheap “Seven” knock off about a serial killer that weaponizes the ten commandments instead of the seven deadly sins. It feels like a movie that was made in 2002 with choppy editing and murky directing that made it feel like a music video for Evanescence or System of a Down.
Hellraiser (1987) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]
“What is your pleasure, sir?”
Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” is a purely body horror tale about hedonism in its purest and most raw essence. Even today it’s a very erotic, but gruesome tale about the pursuit of pleasures of the flesh and how it links to a breed of entities that may or may not be pure evil. “Demons to some, Angels to others” Pinhead (technically named “Hellpriest”) proclaims is a representation of the how the cenobites reach deep down in to the pits of sexuality and kink. And no human can ever really be prepared to see what the practices of this otherworld army has in store for them.
The Mist (2007): 4-Disc Collector’s Edition [4K UHD/Blu-Ray/Digital]
Almost twenty years later, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella is still one of the most relentless and hopeless horror films ever made. “The Mist” is a merciless breakdown of humanity that shows everything from tribalism, religious fanaticism, and the extremes we’re willing to go through to make it one more day. Like Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead,” it all happens smack dab in the middle of a massive grocery store, where every aisle feels like a division of society that has broken off in to their own principles and moral codes. The longer the denizens of the store are stuck in the mist in this confined setting, the more the social structure and all semblance of civilization begins to break down.
Shudder’s “Creepshow” Returns With a Chaotic Season Four
Shudder’s “Creepshow” is back for yet another season piling on four whole seasons for Shudder and AMC. Not too shabby for a series that set a high bar with its original films. “Creepshow” season four is about as great as ever, opting for a lot of the classic EC Comics narratives. Many of the segments within season four involve tales of comeuppance, revenge tales, and sometimes morality plays. Often times show runner Gregory Nicotero and co. opts for primarily horror mixed with dark comedy a la the original “Creepshow” film.
The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow (2002)
I always get a kick out of Washington Irving’s story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. And I always get a kick out of movies that put a little twist on the formula. “The Haunted Pumpkin” is a short but sweet Halloween tale that takes the whole Headless Horseman story and brings it in to the modern age; the animators and writers insert a little bit of hijinks, and some comedy in what is basically embracing the tale of the Headless Horseman to an effective degree.