Entries Tagged 'werewolves' ↓
July 30th, 2008 — From The Feeds, underworld, vampires, werewolves
Rhona Mitra looks pretty badass in her armor, but can “Underworld 3†really deliver the goods? Think about it. They’re taking out a lot of the things that worked in the first two films: the modern setting, hybrids, gunplay, Kate Beckinsale in latex, etc. and replacing them with what looks like a costume drama. Obviously there’s going to be action, but the budget will limit what they can do. I suspect we’ll see the occasional skirmish but no bloodbaths on the battlefield. And we already know how Sonja and Lucian's relationship will turn out. I'm not seeing the audience grabber...
May 18th, 2008 — From The Feeds, horror, kevin sorbo, werewolves
If only I had seen the cheap one-sheet beforehand -- doesn’t the beast look like a giant rat with roid rage? This is basically a rip-off of the classic 80s film, “Fright Night†-- my next door neighbor is a vampire and nobody believes me -- just substitute vampire with werewolf and take away all the charm. Fell asleep way before Kevin Sorbo showed up, but it’s hard to believe that he would have been able to turn this one around. I’m swearing off b-werewolf flicks for a while.
And since we're on the subject of werewolves... still banging away at my own spec. How does that old Paula Abdul song go -- the one with the rapping, cartoon cat? Two steps forward, two steps back? I've really come to despise the rewrite process. Babies have been concieved, born and are now walking/talking since I started the first draft... geez!
February 16th, 2008 — From The Feeds, horror, werewolves, wolf man
Looks like “The Wolf Man†remake dodged a silver bullet. After Mark Romanek left the project, there was talk that he’d be replaced by Brett Ratner, which sent many a fanboy up in arms. Universal just hasn't been able to capture the spirit of their classic monster movies. Anyway, it turns out the Rat man won’t be directing but Joe “The Rocketeer†Johnston. Interesting choice. I would’ve gone with Guillermo Del Toro or Francis Lawrence.
On my own personal werewolf front, I’m probably gonna dive in the screenwriting contest pool again. I still think that contests are a disadvantage for folks with genre scripts but without a deadline, I’m too inclined to drag my feet on this one.
January 31st, 2008 — Comics, From The Feeds, Kaiju, movies, werewolves
Horror Roundtable newcomer Matt Maxwell is releasing his first original graphic novel, entitled Strangeways: Murder Moon. It’s 144 pages of Werewolves in the Old West, and you can preview the first chapter right here, if only to verify that the illustration accompanying this post has nothing to with Maxwell’s comic. I’ll take any [...]
January 27th, 2008 — From The Feeds, horror, werewolves
“Skinwalkers†isn’t what we’ve been lead to believe. It’s actually a modern western that involves Native American mysticism and a bit of Japanese numerology -- no, wait! It’s a classic character-driven horror movie -- better yet, a child-in-peril supernatural thriller with twists and turns around every corner, leading to a werewolf vs. werewolf smackdown in Act III! The answer is: all of the above.
Captain Obvious moment: bigger doesn’t always equal better. A straightforward story can go a long way. Starting off with a pancake flat opening, “Skinwalkers†is full of needless scenes, unnecessary twists and sketchy action sequences. Even Rhona Mitra can’t save this one.
Most of us grew up watching memorable cinematic moments like, “Luke, I am your father†and “I see dead peopleâ€, so the desire to emulate that brand of shock and awe storytelling is understandable but it’s not always necessary. They tried to shoehorn a twist that hurt the narrative -- made no sense. Werewolf movies have been in a slump for a while and hiding the creatures (which look pretty decent) in the theatrical trailer was a big mistake. I don’t have a problem with the PG-13 rating, but if you’re going to take out the gore and violence, you need to replace them with something else. Better action scenes, cool transformations, whatever. Poke around on the DVD (which includes commentary by director Jim Isaac) and you’ll find an Easter egg featuring Stan Winston at Comic-Con discussing how he became involved with the project.
