When you've seen to much .....

A few weeks ago I had the experience of watching MARTYRS directed by Pascal Laugier. 

Now my personal taste in movies does lean to the extreme side of things. Fulci and Ferrara take up a lot of space on my shelves. The cover of NECKROMANTIC will soon be tattooed on my leg  and I can watch CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST while eating pizza. Not much phases me these days in terms of gore. 

However in the last five years, these incredibly mean torture films have been flooding the market. Some I have liked and some I'm rather neutral on .... but something about them continues to bother me. I wasn't able to put a finger on it for a long time. Then I saw MARTYRS.

Before I really get into this let me just say; MARTYRS is an exceptionally made film. It is beautifully shot and extremely well acted. The FX are flawless and Pascal Laugier has much to be proud of. Most people who read this blog will probably like this movie. It was just the end of the line for me personally.

The movie starts out with a young girl, named Anna, chained to a chair. She escapes and finds her way to a orphanage where she befriends another young girl, Lucie. Their adult lives are consumed with finding Anna's absuser and when they do, the movie takes an extreme twist. (Which I will not give away) The combination of the powerful performances given by Morjana Alaoui and Mylene Jampanoi with completely brutal human on human violence made me ill. By the end of the movie I was having an anxiety attack. 

Then it hit me: These movies have no supernatural element. There isn't any real revenge. No moral to the story. No historical basis. Just humans doing horrible things to each other for 2 hours straight. And I've simply had my fill of it.

Do I think these movie are wrong? Of course not. I am a huge advocate of free speech and self expression. These types of films just effect me in a very negative way and I can no longer watch them. For several days afterwards, I found myself super sensitive to any gore or violence. I started to get a little worried ... Had this movie pushed me to far? Was I completely done with all things horror? Would I even be able to do a violent photo shoot again?

Deciding to test myself a couple days ago I chose the Fulci's ZOMBIE. As soon as the classic score started to thumb through my speakers, I was home.  

"I was cured all right" and I haven't  been able to wipe the evil grin off my face since.

STAY DEAD!

Nos

Why do vampire films ...suck?

So when I'm not writing in my SCARS blog, trolling for hot chicks on myspace, and telling you my every waking move on twitter, I'm hanging out on BlueBlood.net. Blue Blood is a pretty interesting alt community that has some amazing members on the forums. 

Now I can't remember how the subject came up (it was probably on twitter) but the question of zombie vs. vampire films had been invading the on-line world.  My stance on the matter is that vampire films have a great potential but often fall short .... however zombie films tend to nail it. (Most of the time.)

But why? Shouldn't the "creatures of the night" be at the top of the horror food chain ?

I posted the question on the Blue Blood forums and got some great response. Two opinions that really stuck out to me where: 

From Aza:

"I'm not sure if the two can be compared. I mean, what exactly was the last Vampire flick that actually tried to be a "horror" movie? Nowadays, vamps just aren't monsters anymore; they're porn stars. Seriously, who do you know who's still afraid of vampires? My guess is no one, because thanks to White Wolf and "Underworld" and other institutions that over-theorized vampire culture, people either want to be vamps or fuck vamps... or both.

Nobody I know personally wants to be a zombie, and no one in their right mind would ever want to fuck one. Zombies have no culture, no politics, no romantic tendencies; there's nothing to detract from their image as monsters. Zombies can still frighten people because they haven't been over-pussified.

My personal opinion: Zombies all the way!"

 

From keiko:

" Vampires haven't been scary since Bella Lugosi. But there also hasn't been a GOOD vampire movie since him either. Way too cheesy. Hell they've started marketing the blood suckers to teeny boppers. bleh. 

I still have nightmares about Zombies. Especially when my roomie is playing Left for Dead on the other side of the drywall. Runners scare the bejeesus outta me. Shamblers at least you can out run... or at least out run the slowest of the other survivors. 28 Days was properly freakifying and as always there's Romero zombies that make going to the mall too often a little harrowing, esp on Saturday afternoons."

It's a very sad truth that we've taken the monster out of the vampire. I'm sure when Twilight premiered, Bram Stoker turned over in his grave. 

Filmmaker Eric Stanze also pointed out that vampire movies tend to not have much in the way of special effects .... whereas even bad zombie movies have amazing makeup work. 

*sigh*

Guess I'm just gonna have to make a real vampire movie someday ......

Till then, might I suggest these films of the bats that don't ....err...suck.

1. Martin by George A. Romero 

Funny how the zombie king could also make one the most innovative vampire films.

2. Shadow of the Vampire by E.Elias Merhige

A great sleeper film that goes into the legend behind the film Nosferatu.

3. Nosferatu (both the 1922 and the 1979 versions) By  F.W. Murnau and Werner Herzog

Both stunning films .... and the first may have even stared a real vampire!

4. Near Dark by Kathryn Bigelow

My personal favorite of the 80's vampire boom.

5.  Ravenous by Antonia Bird

Some don't see see this as a vampire film . I do. You should watch it and report back to me.

6. Last Man on Earth by Ubaldo Ragona

Sorry kids ... Vincent Price does in better than Will Smith any day!

Honorable mentions go to the 1990's Interview with the Vampire and Dracula.

STAY DEAD!

Nos

Mother's day

Hello SCARS readers!

Mother's day has nothing to do with this post, except for the fact the I'm writing it from my mom's house. It's in a haunted town in Illinois... pretty cool huh?

Well if you've been keeping up you know that Wicked Pixel was representing at the TEXAS FRIGHTMARE.Everyone made it back, only slightly hungover. This week director Eric Stanze and actor/producer Jason Christ drove out to Philly for the FINIAL shots of RATLINE. which means soon Eric will be diving into what we like to call "post-production hell".

-Which is where I'm at right now with FIVE.

Good times my friends, good times.

But really this month is all about making it to next month, so bring it on! June ushers in the summer and we all have to be ready for it ....

******************************************************************

It looks like I'll be performing 2 nights this month at the WAY OUT CLUB in St.Louis. It's been way to long and I'm so pumped for these shows! I use to get gigs in front of bands like 45 GRAVE. Once after a show I guy came up to me and said "I just want you to know, you hit me in the head with an entrail and it was totally hot."

I miss those days! But that's what happens when you make a movie and then go back to school.


STAY DEAD!
Nos

House bound.

Hello SCARS readers ....

No, I'm not on house arrest but it sure feels like it.  I have one more month left at school and it's time to "buckle down" and get shit done. Only it seems I'm missing out on fun things ..... things like traveling down to Texas with Wicked Pixel Cinema for FRIGHTMARE WEEKEND and meeting Dick Miller. 

Best to look at this time as the calm before storm. I do have many things in the works and in a few months I'll probably be sad that I'm not sleeping anymore. So today I'm cleaning my house and stalking people on myspace. Later this week I will be working on FIVE and hopefully put a big dent in it.

It looks like my gory burlesque show will be making a triumphant return to The Way Out Club this month! I'm so happy to be on stage again and show my new sets .... it's been almost 2 years! Then it's on to NASHVILLE to shoot with the amazing John Donegan. 

STAY DEAD!

Nos