Monday, June 7, 2010

Another Weak Weekend, Especially for "Splice"

So, it was another weak weekend at the box office. "Shrek Forever After" spent a third weekend in the lead, but it was really due to the fact that "Get Him to the Greek", "Killers", "Marmaduke" and "Splice" all underperformed. I guess that's not entirely fair, "Killers" and "Marmaduke" were disasters, but "Get Him to the Greek" did fairly well, considering it stars Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. It did come in second with a respectable $17.5Million take. "Killers" came in third and stars Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl and cost $75Million. "Killers" got terrible reviews, too. Whatever. The disappointed for me was how poorly "Splice" did. Reviews were great, it stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley and it was the only horror to get a wide release... but it only pulled in $7.5Million and came in 8th. Shame. Personally, I thought the trailers were a little weak and far too reminiscent of "Species", but still intriguing. They really could've done a better job on the marketing. All I can say is, hopefully it goes on to a good life on DVD and VOD. Anyhow, moving on to the horror that's coming out on DVD this week... you can check out the trailers on our Youtube Page and you can click on the titles to be taken to their page on Amazon, where you can buy them and/or read more about them.

I don't know if "Shutter Island" is considered a horror, but it has elements of horror and it's a Scorsese film. I like both, so I'm going to talk about it. I won't let the cat of the bag, plot-wise, but it's about U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, played by DiCaprio, who is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Mental Hospital. The film is based on a best selling novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane and, believe it or not, the film gave both Scorsese and DiCaprio their best box office opening to date. Crazy, huh? It remained #1 for five weeks straight, too, and is now Scorsese's highest grossing film of all time.

"Bloodlock" is a low-budget horror from filmmaker William Victor Schotten. It was his second film, after "Dead Life". He's since made "Sabbath" and "The Brass Ring". It's about a couple that buys a fixer upper house in a small town and discovers a secret room in the basement, locked up behind a heavy, titanium door with a cross and mystical writings. So, of course, they want to open the door and, of course, they do. What's behind there? A vampire. What's he do? Kills people. Or does he? You'll have to see it...

"Creek" was originally called "The Unfortunate" and it's directed by Lola Wallace, starring Cassie Jaye and Aaron Leddick. Unfortunately, they should've stuck with the title "The Unfortunate" because it's tough to do any research on something called "Creek", when there's "Wolf Creek", "Blood Creek", "The Creek" and 40 other horror films with the word "Creek" in the title... anyhow, it's about a group of friends that are on their way back from a horror convention and are lured into a roadside attraction that promises them the opportunity to find gold... cursed gold that's protected by ghosts that are out for vengeance.

"Metal Man" is the directorial debut from special effects guy, Ron Karkoska. He did the effects on such classics as "The Hills Run Red", "InAlienable" and "Reeker". He also worked on the upcoming "Dahmer vs Gacy", from friend of Dead Harvey, Ford Austin. "Metal Man" stars Reggie Bannister and is, really, a mock-buster rip-off of "Iron Man" and if you're in to the campy stuff, it looks like it's a film for you. I haven't seen it, but the trailer looks great.

2 comments:

Michael Allen said...

I am not interested in Splice at all. I do not even like posting news about the film - does not look scary in the slightest, nor original. Shutter Island in one word: wow!

Also, you are totally right about Creek. Labelling an independent film with such a generic name = lost in the shuffle. The film needed a much more original name.

I am wondering if Bloodlock is worth reviewing. Nice post either way.

-Mike

Moodizzle said...

Splice was such a disappointment, Shutter Island was pretty good, but what I’ve really been waiting for is Fangoria frightfest. I just watched all 8 trailers today and can’t wait to win that Vegas trip.

http://tinyurl.com/35sds9u