Love him or hate him,
Eli Roth (
Saddam to
Nikki Finke's
Dubya) knows a fair bit about horror movies. The
Hostel director has curated a horror marathon over at
The Onion's
A.V. Club where he's made a suggested schedule for 24 hours of Halloween DVD viewing. Roth's discussion of the films he chose acts as a great primer on horror and shows that he's a connoisseur of great cinema as well as, you know, torture porn. He presents a really great selection of movies, putting classics (
John Carpenter's
The Thing,
Dario Argento's
Suspiria) alongside foreign obscurities (
Pieces,
Who Would Kill A Child?) and cult classics (
Cannibal Holocaust,
Evil Dead). But what I found most impressive was that Roth also included films that are not horror films in the strictest sense, fantastic movies like
David Lynch's
Eraserhead,
Miike Takashi's
Audition and, best of all, the original Dutch version of
The Vanishing.
These three choices in particular bode well for Roth's future career, and seem to be in sync with comments he made recently about the kinds of films he plans to make from now on:
"As far as violence goes, I think at this point I've pushed the boundaries of horror as far as I can, and it's someone else's turn to take over spilling blood and guts. I have new challenges and much more ambitious ideas that are not horror related that I'm working on, as well as other artistic endeavors outside of film. I love directors like Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, who pushed the boundaries of gore and horror in their early career, and then took that same energy and aesthetic and applied it to other genres. I'll always love horror and I'm sure I'll make more horror movies, but once you've spilled that much blood, you kind of have it out of your system and look for other ways to make audiences scream and cheer and vomit."
Comments (5)
The original Dutch version of "The Vanishing" is truly one of the scariest and most disturbing movies every made. The complicity between victim and victimizer, the film's capturing of European countries anxieties over the EU, and the cruel and inexorable logic of the ending... This film made quite an impact when it first came out and then, I guess, it's reputation got diminished slightly by the American remake (done by the same European director). If readers of this site haven't seen the original, they should check it out.
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posted by Scott Macaulay @ 10/30/2007 3:50 PM
I think the character of Raymond Lemorne is the scariest killer ever depicted on film. Not because he's creepy in any way, but the opposite.
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posted by Benjamin Crossley-Marra @ 10/30/2007 4:52 PM
What I would like to know is what’s up with people not talking about Marquette Williams’ new film UNSPEAKABLE. If you have not seen it, get on it! The music alone is creepier than, and the story line has so many damn twists it had me and my friend talking about for three days after we saw. Dark, very dark, but an excellent thriller from a filmmaker with a great cinematic eye. There will be some online screenings soon at www.cinema216.com
UNSPEAKABLE on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrCBziXs3S4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sbPkL6yH6c
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posted by @ 10/30/2007 6:30 PM
The original "Vanishing" was terrifying, especially the last ten minutes. One of the most claustrophobic movies I've ever experienced (along side "Wait Until Dark" and "Straw Dogs") and one of cinema's most underrated villains.
And like most Hollywood remakes, the 1993 Kiefer Sutherland/Jeff Bridges remake is so bad its unforgivable.
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posted by Jeff Kunze @ 10/31/2007 1:29 AM
Meet
Writer Director
Marquette Williams
UNSPEAKABLE will be screening at this years Cleveland International Film Festival inside Tower City Cinemas, Tower City Center, downtown Cleveland, Ohio www. clevelandfilm. org .
The screenings are Friday, March 14 which is the premier @ 7:15pm and Saturday, March 15 @ 2:15pm.
For tickets go to:
Cleveland International Film Festival
http://clevelandfilm.org/ciff_films_find-details.php?fid=2522
UNSPEAKABLE on you tube:
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=yrCBziXs3S4
http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=1sbPkL6yH6c
http://bucklebrothers. net/
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posted by @ 2/25/2008 3:08 PM
