The Year in Horror: One Blogger Looks Back

Maybe it was because it was my first full year blogging, but I have to say that 2008 was a pretty solid year for scary entertainment. Certainly a lot better than 2007, at least in my experience. And when it comes down to it, this is all about personal experience. It's all subjective, people, and I can only write based upon what I actually experienced over the course of the past 12 months in horror. There are a lot of great flicks and shows that I need to get to, most notably Let the Right One In, which I will watch via vaguely illegal means sometime in the next few days.

That said, I feel it's with good reason that I claim 2008 to have been a highly satisfying year for terror. For one thing, we kicked off the year with Cloverfield, a bona fide mainstream American giant monster movie that opened in the midst of an earth-shattering multimedia marketing campaign. And while it may not have been the life-changing experience many apparently were led to believe it would be, it was an enjoyable flick, and it was a pleasure seeing a kind-of-horror movie grip the imagination of the entire nation like it did.

And speaking of the nation, if 2008 was anything, it was the year that domestic horror took a trip to the woodshed, courtesy of foreign horror. Yes, fans, our fear-loving brethren from across the seas put America to shame this year.

Apart from Let the Right One In, which I haven't even seen yet, you had Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage reaching U.S. shores--a sublime film which rightfully received the blessing of Guillermo del Toro. Frenchmen Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury shocked the holy hell out of us with Inside, the first knockout French gore flick since the days of Jean Rollin. And J-horror took a backseat to K-horror thanks to Black House, a DVD releases from South Korea which it was my pleasure to review some months ago. Of course, there was also the god-awful The Wig from the very same country, but who's keeping score?

But the granddaddy of 'em all was the flick that was, for this blogger's money, the best horror movie of the decade thus far--Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza's [Rec]. Although criminally withheld from U.S. theaters this year so as not to steal the thunder of the American remake Quarantine (no, I haven't seen it), that couldn't stop those curious and industrious enough to get their hands on it and discover that a horror movie can still have the power to terrify even the most jaded veteran fans.

I'm thankful that starting up the VoH has helped me gain access to a greater world of horror out there, beyond the beaten path. Without the Vault, I might never have had the pleasure of catching Ryan Spindell's Kirksdale, a festival-favorite short that yielded some of the highest quality 20 minutes of horror you'd be likely to find all year.

I also had the privilege of catching George Romero's Diary of the Dead during its extremely limited and brief theatrical release. And yes, I am a defender of that film, and I will continue to be as long as I have breath to pontificate. It was a joy to see Romero's zombie saga continue this year, with an installment I found much more fresh, innovative and powerful than 2005's Land of the Dead.

I can't really say the same for Steve Miner's pitiful Day of the Dead direct-to-DVD remake/fiasco. I was really convinced that that would be the lowest I'd sink all year. And then I saw M. Night Shyamalan's latest stop on the painful descent to oblivion, The Happening. I can honestly say I can't recall the last time I saw a movie that bad. For real.

What else? Oh yeah, well, I guess there was another Saw movie that got wheeled out in time for Halloween. Watched it. Not bad. Not great. Slightly better than the last one. Whatever. Next.

On the small screen, I was treated to a third season of Dexter that maintained the same level of excellence that the first and second season set in place. And HBO rolled out True Blood, a very good, if not quite great, vampire series that restored TV horror to a place of respectability after the lameness that was NBC's sad anthology series Fear Itself.

In the realm of fine literature, Marvel Comics went old school with the extremely well-done EC-style Dead of Night miniseries, starring one of my all-time favorite underused characters, the Man-Thing. Dark Horse gave it a go with a new, painted Evil Dead series that, despite attempting to do something interesting with the narrative of the original film, failed to make much of an impression on yours truly.

A year of foreign language triumphs, American kaiju, Romero controversy, M. Night's latest debacle and horror on premium cable. Nothing if not interesting, 2008 was a great year to begin this little Vault of Horror adventure, if I do say so myself...

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Cloverfield Theme Will Get Commercial Release

One of the most memorable things about January's heavily hyped monster extravaganza Cloverfield was the 11-minute musical overture by Michael Giacchino, which played over the closing credits and was the only piece of music in the film.

Intended as an homage to the kind of majestic kaiju-themes Akira Ifukube wrote for the Godzilla movies and other giant monster flicks like Rodan and Varan the Unbelievable in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, the piece has become enormously popular, leading to increasing demand for its release.

In this month's issue of Film Score Monthly Online, there's a downloadable video interview with Giacchino (available to subscribers only) in which the composer indicates that the overture will indeed me made available soon, although he doesn't say in what format. One would assume there would be a download, but a CD soundtrack seems unlikely, since there isn't any other music in the movie. Giacchino also said that if they had any idea there would be such demand for the music, they would've planned a little better.

One of Hollywood's up-and-coming composers, Giacchino did the music for J.J. Abrams' TV series Alias and Lost, as well as Pixar releases The Incredibles and Ratatouille, and the hugely popular Call of Duty videogame series. His newest work is for this summer's Speed Racer, and he will also be scoring Abrams' 2009 Star Trek adaptation.

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Wanna Pay 100 Bucks for an Action Figure?

Me neither. But still, for the curious, here's a look at the Cloverfield monster action figure that Hasbro is selling exclusively through their website. These photos were posted there yesterday, even though the toy is not available until September 30.


And for anyone who does have a C-note that's just begging to be squandered, here's the lowdown. It's 14 inches tall, makes an authentic monster sound, and comes with ten parasites (yippee!), as well as a Statue of Liberty head accessory (we're doomed as a nation). Batteries not included, kids!
Well, at least we finally get a good look at the thing.

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Wolf Man Update: Cloverfield Director to Step In?

Looks like Universal was watching the box office results of two weekends ago, when Cloverfield cleaned house after a successful marketing blitz that took up most of 2007. According to Ain't It Cool News, Matt Reeves--who helmed the giant monster flick--is currently one of two directors the studio is eyeing to take the place of Mark Romanek, who split the Wolf Man project two days ago over creative differences.
Reeves is also attached to the now-confirmed Cloverfield sequel already in the pre-production stages, so he may not be available to take over the remake, which will star Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt.
The other director being considered is one Breck Eisner, who had previously been attached to Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon remake.
As for those "creative differences," Ain't It Cool is reporting that Romanek may have been hoping for a greater budget than the $85 million he had been given.

**1/31 UPDATE ** AICN is now reporting that Brett Ratner has been assigned the gig. Now I know he ain't too popular with most fanboys due to his Schumacher-ing of the X-Men franchise, but I'll not lose hope yet. Ratner did direct Red Dragon, which I feel is one of the most wrongfully overlooked thrillers of the decade.

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Cloverfield Sequel ALREADY in the Works?

These days, it seems no one lets the grass grow under their feet--not even giant monsters.
This morning, Bloody-Disgusting posted an exclusive interview with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves from the official premiere of his sure-to-be blockbuster.
During the interview, Reeves gave credence to rumors of a planned sequel, even speculating as to what it could be about:

"While we were on set making the film, we talked about the possibilities and directions of how a sequel can go. The fun of this movie was that it might not have been the only movie being made that night, there might be another movie! In today’s day and age of people filming their lives on their iPhones and handy cams, uploading it to YouTube…That was kind of exciting thinking about that."

Further, the film's writer Drew Goddard indicated that the PG-13 creature feature was originally intended to be a lot more graphically violent:

"The original draft was much more brutal. I wanted a hard R and we didn’t get a hard R, they read it and said this is way to brutal. I will say that I think we pushed the limits on a PG-13 rating. We certainly shot a harder version than what is on the screen. We originally wanted it to be more bloody and disgusting." [Nice plug, guys!]

Well, at least it'll be relatively safe for me to take my monster-lovin' kids to see this weekend. Apparently, Goddard dodged the interesting question of whether a re-edited version of the film will make it to DVD (which means the likely answer is "Yes".)

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MEGA-SPOILER! Cloverfield Monster Revealed

With mere days to go, the Cloverfield hype machine is cranking at a fever pitch, and now the mother of all spoilers has dropped. This is something that has been out there for a couple of days now, but owing to my exceptional journalistic integrity, I was sitting on it until it could be reasonably confirmed.

The drawing of the giant beastie that tears up Manhattan in the film that opens this weekend first appeared on /Film a couple of days ago, and now the fanboys over at Unfiction have apparently confirmed that it was made by someone who actually attended an advanced screening of the movie:

(Note to self: If you ever make a giant monster movie, make sure not to invite any professional illustrators to the advanced screening.)

I will say that the extra set of massive claws is a neat touch, but other than that, it seems decidedly run-of-the-mill after all the hype we've been inundated with. Then again, could anything live up to it? I think movie marketers are going to find that is the problem with this new viral craze--it inevitably leads to backlash and disappointment. Of course, all the webgeeks also need to realize that they probably make up 15-20% of the people who will be going to see this movie, tops. Meaning that the vast majority of its sure-to-be-record-setting audience this weekend has probably never been exposed to a single pixel of Cloverfield internet propaganda.

For several more fan illustrations of the monster, go to /Film.

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A J.J. Abrams Monster We May Actually Get to See?!

Hot on the heels of the release of the full Cloverfield trailer on the web yesterday, the geniuses at /FILM have posted this little gem--a slow motion breakdown of a brief glimpse of the actual monster itself which appeared during that trailer, and which you might have missed if you blinked. This is the first look we've had at the mysterious creature. Hey, it's not much, but it sure beats a big cloud of black smoke, doesn't it?

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Cloverfield Trailer Goes Live

The official website for the hotly anticipated J.J. Abrams-produced monster movie Cloverfield went online today. So far it consists solely of a pretty impressive trailer, which you can check out here.
The picture, which hits on January 18, centers on an attack upon New York City by a gigantic beast (rumored to be a squidlike creature of some kind).
Gotta say, I just have a sense that, as impressive as this trailer may be, this one has the potential to be a colossal stinker. The last time Abrams gave us a giant monster, it was part of his TV show Lost, which began life as a ratings juggernaut, and has since been shedding viewers steadily due mainly to an almost pathological refusal to divulge any details as to exactly what the heck is going on. The creative minds behind the film are also strictly small-screen people: writer Drew Goddard was Abrams' collaborator on both Lost and Alias, while director Matt Reeves hasn't helmed a cinematic project since 1996's forgettable comedy The Pallbearer, finding work instead as a head writer for Felicity.
Not to mention the fact that I seem to vaguely recall the Japanese making a movie or two like this one a few years back...

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