Do you know the difference between a survival movie and a slasher movie ?

This article is for my Best friend for ever from INA SUP Romain who wanted to give me a lesson about horror movie in my last article. He wrote “You could also talked about "The Last House on the Left", directed by Wes Craven and released in 1972, which gave the basis of the slasher movie, before it was glorified by The Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas”

 The Last House on the Left is not a slasher movie.  I am going to take to tell you what is the difference between a survival movie and a slasher movie

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The Wes Craven ‘s movie is a survival, an adaptation of the Swedish movie The Virgin Spring by Ingmar Bergman based on the 13^th century Swedish ballad ”Töres dotter i Wange” (Thank you Wikipedia).

The plot of the film give you the clues to understand why this movie is not a slasher. So I am a nice girl and I am going to summarize the story.  The young and very beautiful Mary plans to celebrate her 17^th birthday with her friend Phyllis (I hate this name). They decides to go to a concert. At the first time her parents express concern but they accept and give her a necklace as a gift .

On the road to the concert, the two girls hear a news report about the recent prison escape, involving a very bad guys by the names of Krug Stillo, a rapist and serial killer, his son Junior, Sadie a psychopath and sadist and Fred”Weasel” Podowski a child molester, peeping tom and murderer. Clearly the kind of guys that you don’t want to meet on the road. 

After the concert, Mary and Phyllis doesn’t want to go home, they prefers to find some marijuana. Bad luck they meets Junior, follows him to his apartment  where they are immediately trap by the criminals. Bad things happens, Phyllis is raped and tortured. The next morning the girls are locked in to the car and taken to the countryside because the villains wants to leave the state. Unfortunately, the car has a problem front of the house of Mari where the police are in her home talking with her parents about her disappearance. 

Removed from the car,   the girls are violently raped and tortured in the forest, close to a lack (very strong and violent scene) as May realizes she is close to her house. Phyllis escapes but the villains are chased them while Mary stays with Junior and try to convict him to save her and she gives him her necklace. The bad guys finds Phyllis and kill her after she hits Sadie. Mary is lonely with the villains and Krug decides to “play” with her and tortures and rapes her. Mary is shoot by Krug whereas she was cleaning herself in the lack. 

During the night the villains finds refuge in the house of Mary’s parents. But when the mother of Mary sees Mary’s necklace, Junior exposes their identity. So Mary’s parents goes into the lack and finds Mary ‘s body.  After that the parents decides to revenge their daughter.

I give you five reasons why this movie is not a slasher but a survival:

-They are no Boogeyman : Every slasher needs a Boogeymann with his own weapon.

-A Boogeyman follows a ceremonial when he is killing his victim.

-Usually, the slasher’s murders are not so sexualized : with lot of raped and perversion.

-The Identity of the Boogeyman is a secret, hide by a mask, for many of them we don’t know if they are humans.

-Revenge is very rare in slasher movie, it’s more a survival code. 

I give a short list of survival movie:

• Deliverance by John Boorman (1972)
• The Hills have eyes by Wes Craven (1977)
• Frontière(s) by Xavier Gens (2007)
• The Descent by Neil Marshall (2005)
• Cabin fever by Eli Rothe (2003)
• Eden Lake by James Watkins (2008)

A survival movie is when you and friends or family have to survive to a killer or a group of killers. Even if survival and slasher are closed the big difference is the Boogeyman. 

So, my dear Romain, next time you  can tell me that I forgot to talk about Freddy on my article about slasher movie. Shame on me !

Sarah.

Do you like Scream ?

If I say “What is your favorite scary movie ?”, I hope you will answer me Scream ! You mustn’t say Paranormal activity or The Rite, it’s forbidden ! Even if Scream is not my favorite scary movie, I think it is the scary movie of my generation. Unfortunately, Scream 2 and Scream 3 were a huge mistake, two very bad movies. 

When I learned that a Scream 4 was in production, I didn’t have a good feeling. But I am not a cookie girl, and of course I went to the cinema a watched it. And you know what, it was a very good surprise. I really love it. Before I explain how awesome is it , I want to tell you the story behind Scream and his creator Kevin Williamson. 

Kevin is nice guy who wanted to become actor in Hollywood in the nineties. But, he wasn’t very good and decided to become a scriptwriter, he took many classes and started writing a script about a new Boogeyman, a tribute to the slashers from the eighties.

The first movie was directed by Wes Craven, a horror movie director and released on December 20, 1996. Scream follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a high school student and her friends t in the little town of Woodsboro, who become the target of a mysterious killer, credited as Ghostface.

Scream is inspired by Halloween of John Carpenter and a real killer name Daniel Harold Roling, also known as The Gainseville Ripper. Originally, the movie is entitled Scary Movie. The script is bought by Dimension film, a movie studio specialize in horror movie head by the Weinstein’s brothers. At the beginning, many very famous directors refused to work on, because Scream looks more as a horror comedy. But for Williamson, “they didn’t get it”. Wes Craven accepted the project because his own movie was canceled.

After, listening the Michael Jackson song: Scream, Bob Weinstein decided to change the name of the movie. Because Scream is not only a horror movie, it also contained elements of satire and comedy. Even if Williamson and Craven hate the name Scream, who considered it stupid.

Scream made a turn for the horror genre in terms of casting which normally involved relatively unknown actors.

They decided to hire many famous young actors: at the beginning Drew Barrymore wanted to play the role of Sidney Prescott, but at the end she wasn’t available for the lead role, so she played a little role. Her participation in the movie attracted others actors and actress: Courtney Cox for the role of Gale Weathers or David Arquette for the role of Dewey Riley.

The shoot of Scream took place in North Carolina over eight weeks between April 15, 1996 and june 8, 1996on a budget of approximately $15 million.

The film made almost $87 million and a worldwide lifetime gross of $ 173,046,663. The film is 20th highest grossing horror film and remains the highest grossing slasher genre film, followed by Scream 2 and 3. Scream received largely positive critical and became the new teen slasher movie of my generation. Bad luck, Scream 2 and 3 are catastrophic and I remember how much I cried front of the screen. 

That’s why I am so happy about Scream 4! But you know what? You will have to wait the next article before reading my review. I am so mean!!!

Sarah.

Slasher me

Why? You don’t know what is a Boogeyman or a slasher? You really need a “Sarah horror lesson”! A slasher is a horror movie genre. Usually, it’s a cheap movie with a very small budget. It’s always a story with a horrible psychotic killer with powers or not who wants to kill people one by one, mainly when they are teenagers. If you want to create a slasher you have to follow many rules. That’s why the first slasher movie is not really a slasher in fact. I am certainly sure that you know this killer, because he is very famous: his name is Norman Bates and he is the Psychos‘s killer of Alfred Hitchcock. But, Norman doesn’t follow the slasher code: he doesn’t kill his victims one by one and he doesn’t have his own weapon. Because, slasher’s killer weapon is like a signature.

Two movies can be considered like the first Slasher. Both films were released in 1974 and set out the slasher‘s code.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre of Tobe Hooper is about a group of young people lost in the middle of nowhere in the Texas who meet a family of killers. At the head of the family one of the most terrific killers of the horror cinema: Leatherface and his chainsaw. The other film is Black Christmas a Canadian movie by Bob Clark, a story about many girls who are killed inside a boarding school during Christmas. Even if it was the first movie with the subjective camera‘s technique (the viewers sees through the eyes of the killers), Black Christmas is more unknown. 

The slasher‘s code are really established during the eighties. The first slasher which had a huge success is Halloween of John Carpenter. This movie really defined the slasher‘s code with his famous boogeyman: Michael Myers and his knife. He follows Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends, determined to kill them one by one. Now, you understand what is a Boogeymam.  I want to give you an idea of the price of a slasher: Halloween cost $325 000, a very small budget.

The next very famous slasher is Friday the 13^th  of Sean S Cunningham, a young boy who died inside a Crystal Lake,  reborn as Jason Voorhees a killer with a machete. Even if, in the first movie the real killer is not Jason.

The success of Halloween and Friday the 13^th, lot of producers decided to invest in slasher movies. So, during the eighties, they are an invasion of slashers: Happy Birthday to Me (1980), Mother’s Day (1980), Just before Daw (1981), Hell Night (1981), The Funhouse (1981) , Bloody Birthday (1981), Student Bodies (1981), Graduation Day (1981), New Year’s Evil (1981) and Final Exam (1981). But if you are not a slaher’s fan, you real don’t need to watch it.

You have to know something about Slasher’s producers, they never says stop. That’s why they have many sequels and remakes about the first slasher. They are 11 Friday the 13^th’s sequel, 10 Halloween’s films and 5 for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Unfortunately, a majority of these movies are bad. Producers invested few dollars, hired two bad scriptwriters, a young director and gave them two weeks to create a movie. So at the end, the movie is a crap. But, producers managed to make profits, because you always to see the other movie with Jason or Michael Myers, even if you know that it will be bad.
 

During the end of eighties, slasher movies run out of steam and the producers stops to make crap. We have to wait a man who writes a new script about a new killer. If I say “What is a favorite scary movie?” I am sure you are able to guess the name of the movie. With Scream the slasher is back! But, my next review is about the story of this movie, so you have to wait. 

After Scream many new slashers are created as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998) or Wolf Creek (2005). And the old franchises are revived: Jason X (2001), Halloween Resurrection (2002) a horrible movie or Freddy VS Jason (2003). 

Since ten years, many good remakes are made by the new generation of directors:  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by Marcus Nispel or the Halloween of Rob Zombie a huge box office success $ 57 million. 

Sarah.

Paranormal Activity, a swindle made in Hollywood.

 

Paranormal Activity by Oren Peli is a beautiful story made in Hollywood. On of Spielberg ‘s favorite horror movie of 2007 ! An amateur film with about $15 000  budget, shot in his home and became the American phenomenon with more than $80M profit. A success story which promises thrills, terror and explosions.

You just have to watch the trailer, which also incorporates the basic idea of ​​the very good Spanish horror movie REC : mixed audience reactions with av few extracts from the movie. As usual there is woman who hides her face,  a man who jumps from his chair.

 

Tempting this little concept, you want to believe this performance as an independent horror  movie as Blair Witch. So today I put my doubts in a huge box and I watch Paranormal activity.

I am going to tell you my opinion but before I summarize the movie’s story. Katie and Micah, a young and lovely American couple lives with a sort of ghost / demon (we do not really know) and decides to film this "adventure" as a kind of experience. And so the film is to follow their daily life through the camera! (This process is really in fashion) 

 

After this short introduction I can finally let go and you say it's film is a really crap! 1 hour and 26 minutes with emptiness, moving doors, shadows and strange noises. I'm sorry, I need a little more to be afraid. Only two scenes may be judged as scary if you are really  and really sensitive. It’s not enough to say “Paranormal Activity is a horror phenomenon”.  To be honest, this film made me laugh and yawn.  

Plus, I'm really not a fan of the documentary style. I prefer the work of Jaume Balaguero on REC. Now, we never forget the budget of this movie and the artistic context. Even if the result is better than average, I can recognize that it  must a huge investment for a director in many ways.  

What I really dislike is how the movie was sold, all the marketing around the product: “The most horrific movie that you have ever seen”. Lying ! So, at the end, I think “crap” and forget the production context. To be honest, I don’t know if I am able to produce and make a better horror movie with only $15 000. Let’s be modest.

To conclude, I can say this movie is perfect if you don’t like horror movie and you want to feel something front of a little poltergeist story. Otherwise, I invite you again to watch The Entity.

Sarah

Do you watch French horror movies ?

French horror cinema is it in crisis? We just have to count the number of entries of the few films released in the last ten years to answer this question. They barely manage to attract more than 50,000 people, at least for the best French horror movie. And yet the horror genre still attracts, especially American movies, they can record more than 500,000 viewers in France, such as Piranha 3D.

How to explain a such difference?

The French documentary “Viande d’origine française” (Meat from France) by Xavier Sayanoff and Tristan Shulman try to answer. Released on November 14, 2009 on Canal +  during  "the night of the Willies." It was followed by three horror films of different origins: the French movie Martyrs, Eden Lake for the English cinema and Diary of the Dead from the USA.

The autopsy conducted by the two directors revealed several findings that elucidate the gap between French horror movies and American, Spanish or English horror movies. There are differents reasons wich can be classify into two main problems: the first is the problem of production for the funding issue and the other is the director’s works for the artistic aspect.

There is a major difference between the production of a horror movie in France and the American horror movie production. It’s a money problem. On average a horror film in France costs less than €5 million . A movie as The horde of Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher had to manage a zombie’s movie for  two million euros, whereas Zack Snyder's remake of Zombie spent $ 28 million. French horror film directors have a real and strong difficulty of financing, it is very difficult to find money.

A French horror film can never be funded in the same way as Welcome to Sticks or an Asterix. Only Canal + opens the wallet when it’s about a film with  lot of blood, violence and fear. And it's not a crazy sum of money, on the contrary, because once again these films may not be broadcast during primetime and attract a lot of viewers. It is often very difficult for a horror film to  have accept to get the CNC  grant. Today, a single film has received an advance on receipts. So, it’s very difficult to compete with a Hollywood blockbuster that has accustomed the audience to a high quality visual effects, a source of significant expenditure.

The financial aspect  has a huge impact on the artistic side. A French director is artistically limited by the movie’s budget. This is a real constraint for  French directors, who grew up with an aesthetic of films that often draws its origin in American movies.

Then, it must be said, there are French horror films that are considered very bad by the specialists of terror, as critics of Mad movies. Behind, there is often a desire to copy and paste American films from producer, as for example in Frontier with excessive violence. it is obvious this kind of movie has a very bad reputation in France, only two or three had good reviews. However, if these films do not meet their audiences in France, they raise a strong foreign interest . A film like St Ange was a success in Japan. The American industry has a good opinion about our young filmmakers. In fact many of them leave and works in theUS.


French horror film is a victim of a vicious cycle, low budget has a bad impact on  visual aspect. The audience does not want to move to see such films and these failures are additional arguments for all producers or TV channels to refuse investment.  

So, our French directors  go to work in the country of Uncle Sam, in English and with a huge budget. And finally, French directors are successfull  and they make a name in the industry, as Alexandre Aja who shot his last three films in the U.S.

Sarah 

The Entity : Do you want to be scare ?

My last reviews talks about “HOW TO MAKE A BAD HORROR MOVIE”, but good horror movies exist and you can really be scared front of a screen.  In this article, I am not speaking about two or three shivers of fear.  I am going to introduce a real horror movie, when at the end, you will not be able to close your eyes and sleep; moreover if you are woman.  In my opinion this movie is one of the best horror movies that I have ever seen.  

So, today, when you will arrive at the FNAC, you will go to the horror movie  section and if it’s your lucky day, you will find The Entity of Sidney J. Furie (1981). When I found it, I did a little victory dance and called all my friends to share my happiness! Because, The Entity is like a grail for all the horror movie fans. It’s like a classical movie very difficult to find. 

I guess you want to know the subject and the story of The Entity…Don’t be lazy and go to Wikipedia!  I am just kidding! I promise at the end of this review The Entity will not have a secret for you. But I am not sure that you will have the bravery to face the ghost of this story.  

The Entity is the story of Carla Moran a very kind and maternal single mum. But one night she is violently raped in her home by an unseen force. At first she thinks it was a nightmare but she finds many bruises all over her body. The following night the unseen force raped her again, stronger and more violently. Clara realizes she may have a poltergeist in her home, she has to flee with her children.

Bad Luck, she is followed by her rapist who attacks her everywhere. Clara finds help from her friend Cindy who escorts her to a psychiatrist. She meets Dr Sneiderman and starts a therapy, the doctor believes she has caused the bruises and the other injuries to herself.  Because Clara is not a woman with a easy past, she suffered of lot of traumas in her childhood and adolescence including sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and the violent death of her first husband. She is not really a lucky person. 

But Clara disagrees! And when her friend and Clara’s children are the witnesses of an attack, the two girls explore the possibility of a supernatural cause. They meet two parapsychologists and convince them to visit Clara’s home.  The scientists accept to help Clara to expel the poltergeist.  But it will not be a easy task. 

I don’t want to spoil the story if one or two readers are enough brave to watch it.  But, I can explain why this movie is so scary. Even if, the story give you many clues. 

The Entity wins the bet to be very scary and shows nothing. Clara is raped, you watch everything, but there is no rapist. The actress Barbara Hershey is so good in this movie that you really see a rape in front of you.  To be raped is a fear that every woman can share, but being raped by an invisible man anytime and anywhere is so frightening. The Entity is so realistic that a strong feeling of discomfort takes you. 

Do you think this story might be real ? I ask you this question because there is a legend about  The Entity: the movie may be inspired by a real story of a poltergeist who raped a woman in USA. So during Clara’s calvary, many scientists, psychiatrists refuse the poltergeist’s hypothesis and look for other solutions. But at the end, they never find a logical explanation. Even your rational mind starts to doubt. 

I will never be able to forgot the end of the movie and the last sentence which is so scary: there is no more hope for Clara.  I will tell you a secret about my night after watching The Entity, I was not able to sleep at all, like a child who is afraid of the monster under his bed. The last time I was like this, I was 12 years old and I watched The Exorcist. I was sure that the little  Satanic girl was in my room. In my defense I am living in a haunted house. But this is another story. 

Sarah

How to make a bad horror movie: The rite of Michael Hasfrom

One evening, surrounded by my friends, I had the silly idea to propose a cinema trip to see the latest horror film released in movie theatres : The rite of Michael Hasfrom. Only two adventurous accepted my invitation. I’m never very popular when I submit a horror movie.

This Sunday, we dealt with the umpteenth exorcism movie, but with Anthony Hopkins as an interpretation bonus. I went with low expectations, only the hope of tiny horror entertainment. The director has already did a pleasant horror movie with his third project: Room 1408,  an adaptation of Stephen King, release directly onto DVD in France. 

In fact, The rite was a waste of time, so boring, I moved every five minutes in my seat with and gave many huge yawns. But this torture have an advantage, to inspire this article: 

How to make a bad horror movie !

You will need :

•    A scenario with no plot, no tension and it does not matter to insert scenes which might create fear. And if your characters are very unpleasant, it’s always a plus.
•   To hide this terrible story, use the marketing effect: “inspired by real events”.
•  A lead actor with no charisma worthy of a peanut forgotten at the bottom of the bowl. But he has to look like a underwear model.
•   An Anthony Hopkins who needs some cash to pay his taxes or a new pair of boobs for his new and young wife. Thus, you can use his name, face, reputation on every poster, to attract gullible viewers, like me. However, Anthony Hopkins ‘s performance has to be poor and ridiculous.
• Create grotesque exorcism scenes, inspire you more laugh than fear.
• Make sure that anything happen for more than half of the movie.
• Do not give importance to music and sound effects.
•  A lack of staging.
• Use bad and old clichés from other exorcism movies.
• Put in the trailer scary images that doesn’t exist on film.
•  Lengths, lengths and even more lengths.
• Very few and outdated visual effects.
• Write ridiculous dialogues. 

Incorporate all these elements in one movie and you will get The rite, a very horrible horror movie. If like me you made the mistake of going there, I can prescribe The Exorcist of William Friedkin, a classic, in my  opinion the best film on this topic. It’s from it that I learned the meaning of fear.

 Sarah.

Small guide about zombies

Dear potential victims, I salute you

After writing my first article about the comic book Walking Dead, I had a bright idea to write a little manual “how to survive during a zombies infection”.  I watched and red so many zombie stories that I can nominate myself as zombie expert. Maybe, one day, these few lines  will save you from a bad time in the teeth of several hungry monsters. 

Foremost , I have to clarify two or three little things. It’s important to know the difference between zombie and infected.

Basically a zombie is a dead buddy who comes back from  the dead world with a huge appetite.  The reason for this comeback remains obscure, it’s often attributed to a religious cause as a divine punishment. So zombie attack you or me because we look tasty, and when we are dead, we become zombie if we still have a body. An undead’s bite is fatal.  In terms of zombie there is a master, the American movie director George Romero, who has done six movies, including the very cult Dawn of the Dead. In my opinion, in many ways G. Romero founded a huge part of the contemporary zombies culture. Yes, I can talk about Zombie culture.

Infected are dead or living people who want to eat us, but reasons are scientific. Basically , a virus infects living people who die and come back to life with the goal to eat us. The very famous American author Stephen King talks about infected with true originality in a book named Cell. The infection touches people by their cellular. If you prefer watch a good movie, I recommend you a Danny Boyle’s movies named 28 Days later, a story where zombies invade London.

A key issue divides the specialists community : Zombie or infected are they able to run ? For the Master G. Romero it’s just impossible (reason of the rotting flesh)n while for a young directors such as Zack Snyder, zombies are very good sprinter. I hope we never know the answer.

How to survive during a zombies infection: 15 rules

1: You are no longer safe anywhere

2: Beware to anyone. Even your best friend.

3: Avoid places the crowd is concentrated (it’s not a good idea to go to Disney World)

4: Form a small group, but trust anyone. 

5: Abandon the lowest, even if it’s your mum or your dog: You want to survive !

6: Steal a huge with gasoline and take the road soon is possible.

7: Go to isolate places. I recommend mountains or the middle of nowhere of the countryside.

8: Find Weapons and shoot the head.

9: Promptly make food stocks. 

10: If your group had a stroke, make sure that anyone was bight. 

11: If you meet someone or if one of you team was bight, it’s time to shoot the head. He is not a human anymore.

12: You should to be able to kill your father, sister, step mother (it’s easy), even the love of your life if they are infected. 

13: Never be alone, never lost the team. If everyone is an undead it’s a different story.

14: Beware of the living who are not part of your team, human people are steal the first menace. In this new world, they are no more rules and laws.

15: After living the city, find a safe place, close all the opening and never go out even if you listen someone screaming. 

If you want to explore the subject, recommend you many links and videos.

The federal Vampire and Zombie Agency: http://www.fvza.org/index.html 

A shop 

http://www.shopzombie.com/brains/

 Web games

The Last Stand: http://armorgames.com/play/269/the-last-stand

De-animator: http://www.de-animator.com/

Sarah.

Walking Dead

The world as we knew it 

has disappeared

finally

I love zombies. In fact I love movies, novels, books or comic books about zombies. If I am crazy about zombies stories, it’s not about their jerky walk, rotting skin or their ferocious appetite. It’s the human reaction facing this danger constantly that I find very interesting. In fact I am fascinated when I am watching or reading something about zombie. 

There is a master of the relationship between human confronting zombies, its Robert Kirkman the creator and the writher of Walking Dead, a series of comic books, published by Images comics since 2003. 

Robert Kirkman immerses us in North America infested by the undead.  We don’t know how the undead arrived; we discover a world full of zombies. The protagonist is Rick Grimes, he wakes up alone after a long coma in a hospital and decides to looking for his family. So, we follow Rick during his adventure in a new world where survival is the priority. Fear is everywhere because every protagonist will lose their humanity, even children. 

On the artistic side, Tony Moore is the comic strip writher for the first episode and Charlie Adlard has been drawing the others. It’s a black and white drawing with a lot of emotion through character’s faces. Charlie Adlard’s landscapes are very realistic, we can really feel the end of the world atmosphere.

Now what makes Walking Dead

the cream of the crop in terms of Zombie?

First, the choice of a zombie ‘s comic books is very judicious when you want to tell a long-term story. With thirteen volumes published in France, we really can follow all the protagonists during a long period and notice how they change, react  and face all their enemies. Because in this new world we can thing that enemies are all the zombies, but in fact the first predator has still a human face. When you are losing your humanity, and when they are no more rules, a man, a woman, even a child can be a menace. 

Listen to my buddy Rick who is giving an advice to his son: “No matter how many people are close to you…Or if the area seems to be clean…no matter what other say…or what you think…You are never in a safe place…A second and it’s over for you. “

Walking Dead is a huge success, every volume received many good reviews and for several journalists Walking dead is one of the best comic books of the decade. Last year the movie director Franck Darabont adapted Walking dead on TV with the series The Walking Dead on AMC.  Even if the first episode had the biggest audience of the channel and the series received many very good reviews, I dislike it. In my opinion the first season is very weak, the story of the characters is boring.   We don’t find the atmosphere of the end of the world, the fear and the tension. I hope the next season will be better, the director and the writer Robert Kirkman engaged many new co-writers to improve the story. If you are a video game player, you will be pleased because a Walking dead game is adapting by telltale game studio. 

But before watching the series or playing on your xbox 360, I invite you to read the comic and step in a world of undead and fear. 

Sarah