Monday, September 8, 2014

Revisiting John Carpenter's Chilling Body of Work - A Guest Piece by Brandon Engel

Now, this is a piece that I am very excited to be sharing with you guys. I was approached by a writer named Brandon, who was interested in writing a piece for the blog on John Carpenter's lesser known works, and as I've been the sole writer on here I was very excited to have additional collaboration on the blog. He submitted a great piece, which you will find below, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I do. Cheers!
Breaking onto the Hollywood scene in the '70s with his low-budget, high-impact thrillers, John Carpenter made a name for himself in filmmaking that extends even beyond his substantial impact on the horror genre. Though Carpenter is probably best known as a master of horror, responsible for famous genre staples like Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982), he is a prolific film maker whose influence reaches in to the realms of science fiction and action cinema.

One of John Carpenter's first real commercial successes was the genre-defining slasher film Halloween, which would go on to spawn countless movies with similar themes and build Carpenter's reputation as a horror film genius. Based on a simple pulp fiction theme of teenaged babysitters being stalked on Halloween night by a masked killer and filmed on a shoestring budget of just $320,000, this early hit with its influential sound track became one of the most successful independent movies of all time, and one of the most recognizable films in the exploitation genre. While many critics and film connoisseurs have inferred an allegorical message about sexual purity from this film, a theme which is often echoed in its many cinematic offspring, Carpenter himself insists that he was just out to make the kind of trashy, crass exploitation film he would have loved to see as a kid. Other horror hits that would cement Carpenter's place as a genius of the genre included The Fog in 1980.

In addition to his well known horror contributions, Carpenter made many strong films in the sci-fi and action genres. His first film, Dark Star in 1974, was a largely forgotten sci-fi movie that nevertheless earned him attention from his Hollywood peers. Like many of his early films, Dark Star was made on a limited budget, with Carpenter himself taking responsibility for the writing, directing, producing and musical score. Most of Carpenter's films playfully blur the lines between genres, like his sci-fi romantic comedy Starman in 1984, or the bizarre satirical sci-fi action film They Live (1988) starring Canadian professional wrestler 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper. While some of Carpenter's sci-fi films, like Starman, received critical acclaim, and many went on to become cult classics, The only one that came anywhere near the commercial success of Halloween was the action packed Escape From New York (1981), grossing about a third as much as Carpenter's slasher classic.

Although his versatility and ability to work with a shoestring budget quickly got him better 
and brighter offers, Carpenter directed several films that were flops, both commercially and critically, and can be hard to find these days except on specialty cable networks like Robert Rodriguez’s recently launched El Rey channel (which is on DirecTV and some cable providers). The Thing (1982), a bleak and riveting alien thriller where everyone dies, was released the same summer Steven Spielberg's cuddly extra terrestrial E.T. graced the screen, and did not perform well commercially. The failure got him pulled from another project, and he would soon return to making low budget films. Many of these films are considered forgotten classics by those who love B-movies: Prince of Darkness in 1987 and the Lovecraftian homage In the Mouth of Madness in 1994, together with The Thing, complete Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy of dark horror films and are considered underrated by many fans.

Even though none of his films achieved the early success of Halloween and many of them were poorly received, John Carpenter's cinematic legacy set many records and influenced countless films across decades. From his impact on the slasher genre to his cult classic contributions to action and sci-fi, Carpenter's thumbprint on cinema history cannot be ignored.

Brandon Engel writes for a variety of blogs and websites, and was gracious enough to write a post for us here at Lovecraft Reviews. Keep your eyes peeled, I may get him back here soon! 

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW Rolls Out First Full Length Trailer


FX's American Horror Story: Freak Show has rolled out a full length trailer where we can finally see the cast in their respective roles. Ryan Murphy also released a synopsis for the premiere episode, entitled "Monsters Among Us":
One of the only surviving sideshows in the country struggles to stay in business during the dawning era of television. When police make a terrifying discovery at a local farmhouse, the eccentric purveyor of the freak show sees an opportunity that will lead her troupe either to their salvation or ruin.
While I find AHS to be pretty polarizing, I was a huge fan of season two: Asylum. The last season was a little underwhelming but I get a feeling this next season might be right up my alley again. Who knows, maybe the shows runs in even numbers?

Check out the trailer below!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

More Rumors Fly Concerning The Adaptation of King's THE STAND

The adaptation of Stephen King's post apocalyptic epic The Stand has been getting a ton of coverage lately. While rumors as of late have revolved around supposed casting choices, the ending of the original draft of the script has been surfaced. The film, which was originally written by David Kajganich, is now being reworked by the director Josh Boone. Badass Digest recently released a spoiler heavy (seriously, don't read if you have any intentions of reading the novel) ending that was in the original script:
In this version, from last year, the good guy survivors from Boulder get together in an army and march on Las Vegas to kill Randall Flagg. Flagg’s headquarters is, of course, the Luxor Pyramid. The Boulderites invade the city while, off to the east, a squad fights at the Boulder Dam – which Trashcan Man explodes, killing Larry Underwood and sending a deadly flood to Vegas. In the city Flagg squares off against hero Stu Redman… who now has the power of God, and they have an Akira-like battle on the Las Vegas Strip, with Flagg trying to take Stu’s magic. Cars are thrown, Excalbur’s turrets are tossed, the people of Vegas are used by Flagg as disposable cannon-fodder. Meanwhile Nick Andros sacrifices his life taking out a howitzer. The Boulder forces, while armed, try to only take prisoners and rescue people from being under Flagg’s evil spell. It all comes down to Flagg and Stu, and whether or not Stu will absorb Flagg’s evil magic.
Well... that's interesting? While King's ending was beautiful in print it was a bit hard to pull off on screen in the miniseries that aired in the early 90's. I can understand making some changes, but completely changing the course that certain characters take is a bit much for me. According to this original ending, Nick Andros survives the bomb set by Harold and Nadine, Stu Redman develops supernatural powers and there is an all out war between the Boulder Free Zone and Flagg's new Vegas homestead. 

I really hope this is another fruitless rumor. While I agree that some things should probably be changed to make it more film friendly, but this is just a bit much for me. What say you?