This review is being written at a good time for me, not only because I dug the last two Blade films, but because of the lawsuit Wesley Snipes has just waged on the studios about this movie. Snipes is a known diva, if you’ve read the past issues of “Fangoria” and “Starlog”, though his co-stars and director Goyer don’t openly admit it, Snipes is known for being a diva, and now he seeks retribution for a movie he claims he didn’t want to make, for starring along side people he didn’t want to star with being directed by a director who he says was forced on him. Regardless, I didn’t think “Blade 3” would live up to the first two. People often say there’s hardly any sequels that are as good as the first film, but I have something better for you. How many second sequels are better than the first film?
Tag Archives: Supernatural
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
“The Exorcist” is my favorite horror movie of all time and to this day no matter how much I see it, it’s still the most intelligent, character based horror film I’ve ever seen; the rest of the series? Not so favorite of mine, but regardless, after a lot of hype about this movie and the constant problems, we’re given this. After nearly five years of filming and constant problems (Original director dying, Original star dropping out, and so forth), this film basically bombed big time with both critics and movie-goers despite moderate success in the box-office. The original director Paul Schrader — who was kicked off the production (You’re morons Hollywood execs) in favor of Renny Harlin (Again, morons!) — directed his own version before being forced off, and while I imagine it can’t be as bad as this, I hope it’s at least an improvement.
Abandon (2002)
This is a movie that is so murky, so dark and so dreadful on the eyes that it’s remarkable if the viewer sits all the way through up until the last moments. There are a whole lot of nonsense here you have to sit through until you get to it, and by then you’re not surprised because you’ve either been so bored you gave up on caring, or you fell asleep. “Abandon”, despite its marketing, is a drama, not horror, not thriller, no sir. The worst thing is this tries desperately hard to pass itself off as horror or at least a decent supernatural thriller. Only by the second half does it tend to actually become a supernatural thriller.
The I Inside (2004)
Granted, I’ve never been much of a fan of Ryan Phillipe and his movies, I was very skeptical on whether or not I’d enjoy this. Based on the play by Michael Cooney, and directed by Roland Suso Richter, “The I Inside” was created around the same time as “Butterfly Effect”, but then it was held back, and then dumped on cable television premiering on a channel not a lot of people have. If you’ve seen this movie yet, you’ll notice it’s not like a lot of cable movies. Great cast of great actors and an above par production quality. So why was this treated so badly upon its release?
The Grudge (2004)
The remake of “Ju-On” now called (sigh) “The Grudge” is the perfect example of faulty westernization in which the translated work suffers in the translation and completely misses the point of the original. The original had the surprise ending which makes you re-assert your thoughts on the characters, while the remake has the “You thought the monster was dead, but its not!” ending that I yawned at.
Gothika (2003)
“Gothika” is never sure if it wants to be a supernatural thriller, a psychological thriller or a murder mystery, and that’s pretty difficult to discern through the clichés and obvious plot devices given to the audience non-stop. Every bit of scenery is murky, dim, dull, bland, and dreary to create the effect of suspense, and while scenery matters with setting a mood in horror films, it’s also up to the director to set it, and here it seems the director relies only on scenery, scenery that is so predictable and hard to swallow. There’s the dark and stormy night (check), the cheap shocks that will presumably keep the audience more annoyed than actually scared (check), the very loud score intent on keep the audience in suspense when nothing follows (check!), especially in one really stupid moment where Berry’s character etches her way down a dark basement, and as she opens the door, the score goes slowly up higher! And higher! And higher! Until–! Nothing.
Hellboy (2004)
Prolific director Guillermo Del Toro who penned the previous comic film “Blade 2” and the cult psychological horror film “The Devil’s Backbone” gives some competent direction in this adaptation of the hit comic book. A young agent John T. Meyers is recruited into the ranks of Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense Facility, he’s signed on to mentor their primary weapon of choice. Given a tour of the facilities gazing on to Abe Sapien a very intelligent reptilian sea creature, he’s assigned to take care of Hellboy. Discovered as a child during World War 2 during a raid on the Nazis, he was summoned to Earth to become the evil Rasputin’s child and eventual ruler of Earth, but when US soldiers discovered him, professor Broom took him in to reform him and he became Earth’s greatest protector using his powers for evil to protect humanity.