Starring Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland and Gina Varela
Directed by Paul Campion
Written by Paul Finch, Paul Campion and Brett Ihaka
eOne Entertainment
Don’t ask me why, but there’s something about Nazis and the occult in movies that intrigues me, which is why I’ve always loved “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and spent years pining to see Michael Mann’s “The Keep” before finally tracking down a copy last year. Nazi zombies do the trick too, hence my love of “Shock Waves” and even “Dead Snow.”
Likewise, the indie Kiwi horror show “The Devil’s Rock” – about an Allied soldier who stumbles upon a Nazi experiment in devil raising – promised to provide some awful Aryan atrocities.
Iron Maiden returns to Canadian shores this summer with a handful of dates. Look for the “Maiden England World Tour” to be modelled off of 1988′s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” tour. (An excuse to dust off some 24-year-old props?)
The DLB recently sat down with Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli to discuss his TV show The River, amongst other things. This is part two of our discussion:
Have you had any problems with censors yet?
You always deal with the standards & practices, and you have to negotiate with them, how many times can you use a bleeped version of seven word, but it important for us to create a sense of realism so we wanted the characters to be able to curse as they naturally would just the way the intended so we would bleep it out.
And we never really meant to go for too much gore anyways, so that was never our intention so we didn’t experience too many problems with that.
Posted in Uncategorized on February 11, 2012 by darklordbunnykins
DREAM HOUSE
Starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Written by David Loucka
eOne Entertainment
Given the avalanche of bad press surrounding the theatrical release of Dream House last fall, including word that director Jim Sheridan (In America) had petitioned the Directors Guild of America to have his name removed from the film’s final credits, my expectations were sufficiently lowered in advance of screening the film at home so as not to be too disappointed. And while Dream House is a mess in general and falls apart pretty egregiously in the final act, it’s far less of a nightmare than we have been led to believe.
The DLB recently spoke to actor Scott Speedman (Underworld, upcoming The Moth Diaries) about his new romantic comedy The Vow and snuck in a couple of questions about his recent genre past and future.
Tell me about working with director Mary Harron (American Psycho) on the upcoming vampire film The Moth Diaries.
Yeah, very smart woman. Very, very talented director, obviously. That’s really why I wanted to do that thing. I got on that movie five years ago, I think. Yeah, I was just jumping at the chance to work with her because I’ve loved her movies in the past.
The Oren Peli-produced TV show The River, about a team of camera-equipped adventurers documenting their attempted rescue of a beloved nature show TV host (Bruce Greenwood), debuts tonight, and The DLB recently had the chance to talk to Peli (best known as the director of Paranoral Activity) about it:
What is your background as a horror fan?
I’m not specifically a horror fan. I like any good movie or TV show, so I do like some of the horror movies that are more like the slow burn ones, stuff like Rosemary’s Baby and The Others, Sixth Sense. Not so much the slasher horror movies. So that’s the kind of stuff I’m usually drawn to.
Do you believe in ghosts or or known someone who has had an experience?
I’m sure I know people who have had experiences with them. I don’t believe in them, but I know people who think they have. No, I’m not a believer myself so I find it unlikely that I will see one.
Daniel Radcliffe’s first movie post-Harry Potter, The Woman in Black, finally sees release tomorrow, Feb. 3, and The DLB recently sat down with him to discuss the film and his post-Potter career.
Tell me about choosing this script.
One of the first things [director James Watkins] and I talked about and what attracted me to the script was that it was a horror film but it felt unusual within the genre because a) it was so character-driven, b) had such great themes of loss and what happens to us if we can’t move on from a loss.
The DLB recently spoke to Paranormal Activity 3 star Lauren Bittner about the latest entry in the found footage spookshow series.
How was it sold to you in terms of tone and quality?
As far as selling it to me, you didn’t have to sell it much because I was just so excited. It kind of spoke for itself, because I agree with you, I thought it was very smart and an idea I couldn’t believe other people hadn’t thought of.
But it was the kind of thing where they were like ‘look, people want to know this story, people want to know more. We’re not grasping at straws here. There are holes. People want to fill in the blanks. People have been filling in the blanks in between movies by themselves anyway. Let’s fill it in for them. Let’s give them the story. Let’s tell them what happened.’ And that was very exciting for me to go back in time and kind of see where it all started. That was very intriguing. I thought that was a really smart idea.
Because with any great movie that’s always the thing where you want to know what happens next and you want to know what happens before. It’s good. It keeps you asking questions like ‘where did they come from’ and ‘I wish I could spend more time with them after the two hours is over.’ So for me that was the key, I just thought that was so smart. Fans were already so invested in these two girls, and given the gift to go back in time and see their lives before we met them to me was very smart and interesting.
I understand that there wasn’t a concrete script in place. How did that work on set?
We had a writer and script although the nature of it was very loose and there was a lot of improv and stuff, we definitely had some guidance. I don’t want to take all the credit because I was certainly given an outline and ideas and pages and stuff like that. But that’s kind of how it was. It was kind of like a loose structure where you go and have tons of freedom to play and see where it goes. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t definitely some guidance, but practically speaking it is scary in parts to go in and not exactly know what’s going to happen. You have to be willing to go with the flow and roll with anything.
Paranormal Activity 4 just got greenlit. Would you have any interest in returning to the series if that were an option?
Oh, of course. Absolutely. Of course. If they wanted me back, I’d be happy to be part of it.
