Romero has given his fans something to take to the grave with them, with five films that are generally contradictory and controversial phenomena. There was “Night” and “Dawn” which are still basically debated and adored, the once despised, but now appreciated “Day” and the rather sub-par “Land,” all leading into “Diary.” Romero’s newest output is a confusing fascinating beast. Never has one of his films completely divided fans before, and admittedly it’s a monster worth observing. It’s both despicable and brilliant, it’s hideous and yet quite apt. “Diary” continues splitting fans that both despise it and adore it for the very same reasons. But is Romero really just the observer here?
Tag Archives: found footage
Cloverfield (2008)
We live in an age where we’re always watching someone. Cameras watch us, guards watch the cameras, surveillance videos keep an eye on potential criminals, we watch people on web cams, we pay to watch women undress for us, we peer into celebrities’ lives through tabloids and candid cameras, we watch reality shows built around surveillance cameras and hidden video, and we’re constantly being watched by our government who keep us monitored and at close range, so it was only natural that horror movies would grow to reflect that. “Cloverfield” is one in the “Blair Witch” formula that doesn’t try to give us a film, but more purports to give us actual home videos through the eyes of average upper class New Yorkers and keep us watching through a camera lens. Through this camera, we are the voyeurs.
June 9 (2006)
Ah, “The Blair Witch Project.” Now a canon for budget horror filmmaking, whether we like it or not. Some people love the film, some people utterly despise it. I love it, personally, but I’m always very weary at budget films that copy the formula. This concept is very difficult to mimic. Sometimes it comes off well, and sometimes we have nothing but a bunch of dipsticks running around with a camera screaming like morons, sans the tension and suspense. I can count the number of films that achieved this formula on one hand, and surprisingly, “June 9” did it right most of the time.
Interview with "In Memorium" Director Amanda Gusack
Many filmmakers send Cinema Crazed horror films, and working at Film Threat, I get to review many independent horror films that are either mediocre, or pure garbage, but most recently we were given the chance to view “In Memorium”, and we were optimistic that there are still directors out there who know how to get it right. “In Memorium” (Review) is one of the newest productions from director Amanda Gusack, an artist who seeks to grab audiences through story and psychological terror.
Gusask’s film is utterly simplistic, but so terrifying by relying on shadows and darkness to do the tricks that computers can not accomplish, “In Memorium” is a testament to how horror can still be accomplished without any computers of gimmicks, and we asked Ms. Gusack for an interview to shed some insight on her project, her history in and love for horror, and how a low budget resulted in one hell of a horror film.
If “In Memorium” (Trailer) is any indicator, Ms. Gusack has much more scares to share for us, and we’ll be waiting on edge for it. Warning though, there are some spoilers to the film’s surprise twist, so be cautious:
In Memorium (2005)
Director Amanda Gusack creates a film very much in the vein of “Blair Witch Project”, and from the get go there’s this sense of pure dread and impending doom that’s presented with a stark gray ambiance. The character Dennis is dying from terminal bone cancer that is eating away at his body. He and his wife (the gorgeous Johanna Watts) move into a new home they then rig with various cameras to film every one of his developments and movements to chronicle and possibly create as a documentary for his legacy and his wife to bank off of. But this documenting is interrupted with something ever more sinister.
My Little Eye (2002)
While the whole people on a reality show having the tables turned concept is recycled by now, “My Little Eye” has managed to master such a concept with a brilliant horror thriller that is just undeniably engrossing from start to finish. From the opening credits, we can already see the director playing games with the audience by filming the entire scroll of the Universal logo and the entire film in general in digital form resembling a web cast. We never once, throughout the entire movie, see a shot filmed with an actual movie camera, yet instead look only through the eyes of the cameras watching this group of people. Essentially, “My Little Eye” borders on the routine; different people brought together, they clash, there are your bumps and creaks, but eventually, as the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly intelligent in its searing undertones and social commentary.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Made on a shoestring budget, “The Blair Witch Project” is truly an innovative movie in its own right, and while it didn’t invent the mock documentary format, it sure does a great job telling a spooky story with it. In Eduardo Sanchez’s hit indie horror film, we follow three film students who decide to make a documentary called “The Legend of Blair Witch,” based on a mythical witch who haunted the woods in the early 1900’s. Upon their filming and learning about the local lore, they venture into a deserted forest to seek a mythical graveyard of the Blair Witch victims, and soon find they are lost within the large area of trees and grass.