Horror Talk

Well, the year 2008 is now under way, and for horror enthusiasts like myself it will be a year of remakes and sequels. I am looking foward to some and dreading others.

This year we will see the return of JigSaw in Saw V and the return of vengence in the Grudge 3. We also have the sequel Cabin Fever 2 in the coming months this year. These are the sequels I dread. While I do enjoy the 'Saw' movies, I hate it when a good idea is run into the ground. The original 'Grudge' was boring and I fell asleep watching it. (That ghost sounds like it is belching, and I really can't stand that.) Oh and rather than a sequel, my answer to Cabin Fever is penicillin. nuff said. Some friends of mine and I went to see the Original in the theater. Let's just say they weren't even impressed. (They were also rather pissed off at me for picking the movie.)

While there are plenty of original works to been seen this year, Hollywood will continue to rehash some of the earlier works in the horror genre. Clive Barker's Hellraiser, David Cronenbergs's Scanners and Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left are all remakes slated to hit the theaters this year. New cast, new directors, etc. Why Lord, why? People need to be entertained and money needs to be made. The sad thing is that people these days are even harder to scare, I believe. That is probably the motivating force behind taking a classic like Scanners and revamping it for a modern audience. What the 2006 version of 'When a Stranger Calls' proved is that sometimes it is a bad idea. I hope to everything good and peaceful in this world that they do not screw up these original stories.

Dario Argento's Mother of Tears is a movie that has been a long time coming. I am looking forward to this latest masterpiece. Also, Bruce Campbell is back in 'My Name is Bruce' as star and director of a film in which he plays himself and fights real monsters. Hellboy 2 will hopefully be as fun as the original with Ron Perlman coming back as the title character. We will see.

Joe Hill's novel Heart Shaped Box has been made into a movie. An aging rock star buys an ghost off Ebay? I liked the book, but I don't know if that would work as a movie.

When I am in doubt about what to look for in a film, I check the www.fangoria.com fear forecast page and my mind is set at ease. See yall at the movies.