Avatar at The Box Office and the upcoming week in horror

As everyone expected, "Avatar" kicked some serious ass at the box office. It pulled in around $75Million over the weekend, which makes it the highest grossing opening for a movie that's neither a sequel, a remake nor a direct adaptation... and it was also the second highest grossing December opening ever, after "I Am Legend". The untold story here is the fact that the shitty weather on the East Coast kept a lot of people at home, so the box office tally should've been a lot higher - they said that theater attendance was down 50% in the heaviest hit areas. Kinda reminds me of that "Entourage" episode when "Aquaman" opened and there was a power outage. Complete coincedence that "Aquaman" was directed by Cameron, as well? Anyhow, on Friday, I was halfway through a big post about James Cameron, "Avatar" and how I think it'll help indie film, but I never finished it. I'll change a few things and finish that up for Wednesday. As for upcoming horror on the big screen, there's finally a couple of films in sight, "Daybreakers" on January 8th and "Legion" on January 22nd. As for DVD releases, as expected, it's a shitty, shitty week... not due to the quality of the films, but because only four are coming out. However, I want to talk about "District 9", as it comes out this week, as well, so I'll add that to my list. As usual, click on the film's title and you'll be taken to the film's Amazon page, where you can read more about it and/or buy it. Also, you can go to our Youtube Page, where you'll find the trailers.

Although "District 9" had a budget of around $30Million, it was still, in a way, very much an indie film. First up, it was done outside of the studio system which, by definition, makes it an indie film. However, the film was shot in a pseudo-documentary style and starred non-professional actors... and it was a sci-fi film. That's a combo that you ONLY see in indie films... and usually micro-budget films. I feel that films like "District 9" are great for indie film because they attract big audiences and introduce them to a new style of filmmaking... which, in turn, should make audiences more accepting of that no-budget style. In any case, I found the film to be fairly revolutionary and if you haven't seen it, you should. Very entertaining, at least.

Released by Lionsgate, "Shattered Lives" is the biggest budget horror DVD of the week, which isn't saying much because by most other people's standards, it would be called a low-budget film. "Shattered Lives" is another entry into the ever growing horror sub-genre, the kiddie-killer, which has been fairly big this year. From what I can tell, a bunch of creepy clowns start telling this little girl to start killing people. Reviews are generally good and the clowns look great... not sure I like the voice over work they did for them, though. A little overdone. Expect a big twist ending here, too...

"The Devil's Music" is shot like a rockumentary, so there's interviews and 'back stage' footage, as it follows the story of shock-rocker Erika Spawn. Really, this pseudo-documentary style is starting to become a staple for indie film. Why? Because it justifies the medium and the low-budget. Personally, I love it... as the more and more audiences accept it, the more doors will open for indie filmmakers - it's such a versatile filmmaking style. Anyhow, I digress... Erika Spawn gains infamy after her music is linked to real-life murders and atrocities... and the film follows her through a bunch of bizarre, bloody incidents and uncovers the creepy and violent truth behind her.

"A Four Course Meal" is directed by Clay Liford and, quite frankly, it looks awesome. It's a low-budget horror anthology, but it looks like he switches from horror-comedy to straight horror to artsy, black and white horror. If you head over to our Youtube page, we've posted the trailer that he put together. I can't do that any justice with written word. Go check it out, it's about 4 minutes long and definitely worth watching.

There's no trailer or anything for "Kazuo Umezz's Horror Theatre", but I can tell you this... if you're in to Japanese horror or manga, you'll want to check this bad boy out. Kazuo Umess is the god-father of horror manga and six Japanese horror filmmakers got together to adapt his works into this horror anthology...

Big Trouble In Little China

Well, I guess I was playing with fire... my home PC has been acting up a bit lately and it finally died on me this morning. I'll start by reaching out to any techie readers that we may have - the computer gets power, but won't boot up, turn off or reset. The only way to turn it on or off is by unplugging it. When I unplug it, then plug it back in, the fans start up, the lights go on, but no beeping and it's just blank... and it goes right back to not booting up, turning off or resetting. My gut reaction tells me it's the motherboard, but I don't know. The real problem is the information that's on the hard drive, which I never backed up. So, if I can't recover that, I'm in some serious shit. Any ideas?

Anyway, as I have no access to my interviews, saved links and other data, I'm going to have to pull this post together on the fly. That's not really a bad thing, as I was listening to a podcast this morning, from Creative Screenwriting Magazine, that I wanted to talk about. They usually interview screenwriters, but this one was the address that Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp and Wikus Van De Merwe gave at Comicon about "District 9". There was something that Peter Jackson said that was particularly interesting and I wanted to pass it on to all you filmmakers... Essentially, he said that because they were on such a low budget ($30Million) and didn't have executives telling them what to do and how to make their film, they could do the film the way they wanted. The way they wanted to do it was to cater directly to the sci-fi/horror, Comicon-type audience. That's why it's a character driven sci-fi movie with lots of gore, something that might not make too much sense to a studio executive. And what happened? Well, it kicked ass and lots of people went to see it. The moral of the story is, when you're making a low-budget film, don't think like a studio executive. Think like a gore-hound. What would YOU want to see in the film? You'll create a better film if you cater to a specific niche... and catering to a specific niche will probably create more of a crossover audience, which will make for a more successful film. Anyhow, you can find that podcast here, on the Creative Screenwriting blog, if you want to download it. The end is pretty cool, where Peter Jackson talks about how watching Blomkamp make this film gave him an itch to make a low-budget horror again... could you imagine "Dead Alive 2" or "Bad Taste 2"?

It's also a good weekend at the theater for us horror fans. Both Rob Zombie's "Halloween 2" and "The Final Destination" in 3D come out this weekend... and there's really no other big movie coming out, which means that "Inglourious Basterds" should win the weekend again. Me, though, I'm a bit torn on which to go see. Originally, I was thinking about "H2", but... I wasn't too impressed with Rob Zombie's interview on "The Wrap" yesterday, he kinda shit-talked a lot of stuff (link). That's not to mention that the first one kinda sucked. However, I'm not a huge fan of the "Final Destination" series, but "The Final Destination" is in 3D and I'm really into that 3D tech.

That's all I've got for this week... have a great weekend and wish me luck on my computer problems!

A Brief Look At District 9 and A Look At The New Horror Coming Out On DVD This Week

As I suspected, "District 9" kicked some serious ass over the weekend. Rated R and shot on the fairly moderate budget of $30Million, it yanked in approximately $37Million, domestically, in it's first weekend. Which, by my math, is awesome... and, by the way, although there is a bit of bad language and violence, the R rating comes primarily due to the excessive gore. It's the talk of the town, too... so, I expect it to hang on and do quite well over the next few weeks. So, good weekend at the box office. Also, good week for horror on DVD. As usual, you can check out all the trailers on our Youtube page and you can click on the titles to be taken to their Amazon page, where you can learn more and/or actually buy them.

The biggest release of the week is "Last House on the Left", which is, of course, the remake of the 1972 classic from Wes Craven. Now, if you've seen neither of them... first off, I'm insulted, hurt and confused. Secondly, I'd highly suggest you check out the original (here's a link to it's page on Amazon) before you check out the remake. I'm not sure when I first saw the original, but it was probably in the late 80's or early 90's and it really is a monumental film. If not because of the fact that it was so controversial, because it was so groundbreaking in it's depiction of real life horror. I mean, it was only recently UNbanned in the UK, what does that say? But, I digress, as this isn't about the original, this is about the remake... which came out March 13 from Rogue Pictures and was produced by none other than Wes Craven, as well as the original producer of the first film, Sean S. Cunningham, who happens to be the originator of the "Friday the 13th" series. As for the film itself? Yeah, it's worth seeing. You'll like it.

"Death Note 3: L, Change the World" is the third installment into the "Death Note" series, which are Japanese films based on the "Death Note" manga and anime series. They basically follow college kids who try to rid the world of evil by using a supernatural notebook that kills anyone who's name is written in it. It's bigger than Hello Kitty in Japan and Warner Bros has already acquired the American rights and, no joke, there were rumors that Zac Efron would be playing the lead role, named 'Light'. In any case, the US release is slated for some time in 2011, but you can check out all the originals now.

I recently saw "Surveillance", starring Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond, and it's definitely worth checking out. In hindsight, Bill Pullman is cast perfectly. You'll be a little surprised by his performance, I think, and it's one of those films that you may want to see again, right away. It's directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter to David Lynch, who serves as producer. In the film world, Jennifer is probably best known for her film, "Boxing Helena", which was, well... well, you can tell she's David Lynch's daughter. Now, David Lynch is best known for making fucked up films, but Jennifer actually has a flare for horror. When she was starting out, she wrote an episode for "Friday the 13th: The Series" and, now, not only did "Surveillance" take the top prize at the Festival de Cine de Sitges, she made history at the New York City Horror Film Festival by becoming the first female to win Best Director in the fest's history.

Can't go too long with out a Sci-Fi original, can you? "Wyvern", directed by Steven R. Monroe and written by Jason Bourque, originally aired some time in January, I believe. The actual idea of a wyvern, which is a winged reptilian creature, comes from Norse mythology. They're kind of like dragons, I guess. In any case, Nick Chinlund, Erin Karpluk and Barry Corbin, among others, stumble on to one on their way to Alaska and all hell breaks loose.

The only other thing of note coming out is the "Final Destination Collection", which is a cash-in on the fact that "The Final Destination" hits theaters this coming weekend... or is it the weekend after? I know it comes out the same weekend as "H2". Either way, this one's in 3D.