Lists

For those of you who like best director lists, here's the latest.

Arrested development

As far as attempts to call media attention go, this press release that arrived this afternoon at Kamera's newswires takes the (dog's) biscuit. Cashing in on Snoop Dogg's Heathrow arrest, who arrived in the country yesterday to promote his new film, the PR people promoting the film issued a note to tell the media "the film is ironically told from Snoop’s prisons cell, telling the story of his life in the fast lane as a pimp. Unlike the golden prison bars and diamond crusted locks shown in the film, Snoop will be held in a West London police station. Let’s hope that his lawyer will be as good- looking as the honey in the film! Snoop’s DVD will be released on Monday, let's hope that he will be too!".

The world is getting smaller...

The San Francisco International Film Festival dedicated part of its programme to 20 films made for mobile devices with 2-inch-by-3-inch screens as part of its Pocket Cinema section.

Read full story.

Vertigo then and now

Fans of Hitchcock, which I think the whole of the Kamera fraternity are, will love this website which constrasts stills of San Francisco from the film Vertigo with images of same spots now. The places chosen looked much better on the film, I thought...

Let me see it.

DeNiro's Tribeca festival opens

The Tribeca film festival, founded by Robert De Niro, opens today with the world premiere of a movie about the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Full story

The Return of a Legend - Herschell Gordon Lewis

Recently my good friend Andy Lalino at 51st State Productions announced that he was going into business with a true legend - the exploitation director Herschell Gordon Lewis ("Blood Feast", "Two Thousand Maniacs!", "She Devils on Wheels", "The Wizard of Gore"... need I go on?). Mr Lalino was kind enough to include me on his press releases and below is the response to the HG Lewis/ 51st State Productions team-up, which will begin with a film entitled "Herschell Gordon Lewis's Grim Fairy Tales"...

Cheers!
Calum Waddell



We've experienced a tremendous reaction to the Grim Fairy Tales/Back in Blood press release sent out March 7th:
- Major horror-themed trade magazines, Fangoria and Rue Morgue, personally contacted us, with RM requesting an interview with H.G. Lewis.
- We have received inquiries from actors, crew people, and distributors. Correspondence is currently being reviewed.
- Hits on the Film State 51 website skyrocketed to over 2,000.
- Bloggers and "boardies" (message board fanatics) from all over the U.S. and the world have been writing with excitement about our projects.
- Fangoria.com, The Horror Channel, Creature-Corner and many other horror-themed websites have publicized the press release on their news pages.

H.G. Lewis is All the Rage: 2 new major studio remakes:
In addition to FS51's Back in Blood, other studios have been busily producing and releasing remakes of H.G. Lewis's films. Even more reason to begin production on our films!
- March 2006 is the release date for 2001 Maniacs, a sequel/remake of Lewis's famed horror film Two-Thousand Maniacs! on DVD. 2001 Maniacs stars Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street) and was produced by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel).
- A remake of Lewis's 1970 horror hit The Wizard of Gore is in production starring Crispin Glover as Montag the Magnificent. Montag is the lead character in Back in Blood, and FS51 feels that Glover's film will garner us an untold amount of free publicity and will familiarize the general public with the character of Montag. We can't stress how important this development is.
Carnevil kicks off pre-production
What promises to be FS51's first horror feature - Carnevil - officially kicked-off pre-production in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Andrew Allan, Producer Andy Lalino, Director of Photography Wes Pratt and Lighting Director Jeff Scolaro ventured to the site where Carnevil will be shot - a working carnival on the outskirts of the city, where the team scouted the area and shot some test footage. The weekend was a huge success as the crew prepares for production, which is slated for summer '06. Carnevil is a new feature horror film from FS51 about a cursed amusement park that seeks bloody revenge on its hellraising guests.

Grim... & Back in Blood mentioned in Fangoria magazine:
Hot off the presses! If you pick up the latest issue of Fangoria magazine (#253), the world's most popular horror trade magazine, and turn to page 20 you'll see both Grim Fairy Tales and Back in Blood listed as two H.G. Lewis features that are coming soon (look under the Terror Teletype section)! Filmmakers/FS51 partners Andrew Allan and Andy Lalino are also prominently mentioned.

For more info about FS51, please visit our official website:
www.filmstate51.com

Stage fright

New York Magazine has published an interesting article about Julia Roberts's debut on Broadway, but I beg to disagree with the author when he calls her the 'ultimate film star'. I know she's the highest paid smile in the world, but...

Read the full article.

Masters of Horror gets UK box set

About time too!

Originally the plan from Anchor Bay was to release the Masters of Horror episodes as double discs - 2 installments every couple of months. The first of these was a really impressive double helping, featuring "Dreams in the Witchhouse" by "Re-Animator" director Stuart Gordon and "Cigarette Burns" by John Carpenter. Although the Gordon installment is, arguably, a little bit creepier than the already first class Carpenter one - this made for a fantastic release. Then the news came that the next two in the set would feature Don Coscarelli's "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" (not seen this one yet, sorry folks!) and "Chocolate" - the offering from series producer Mick Garris (this one is brilliant and features regular Garris actor Henry Thomas of "ET" fame).

This has now been cancelled, however, in favour of a box set of all the one hour television episodes - including the uncut helping from Japan's Takehsi Miike (which UK viewers were treated to on cable channel Bravo in early April). Cannot say I am complaining as, so far, this series has yet to offer a dud installment (Tobe Hooper's "Dance of the Dead" seems to be the one that splits opinion, although I found it to be one of the best things the director has done over the past two decades - and certainly much better than his latest feature "Mortuary").

Right now season 2 is shooting in Vancouver, Canada, with such new names as George Romero, Wes Craven and Tom "Fright Night" Holland back onboard.

Anyway, as a wee treat, here's a few words from Stuart Gordon on how the Masters of Horror circle began.


"How it started was that Mick Garris organised a dinner for us which was a couple of years ago and there had been a documentary made by Universal called The Masters of Horror. It interviewed each of us and we didn’t get a chance to meet each other, so Mick said, ‘Let’s all have dinner together.’ It was one of the funniest dinners and everyone showed up – it was at a restaurant out in the valley and Guillermo Del Toro was there and there were some people at the next table and someone brought out a birthday cake to them. So Guillermo started singing Happy Birthday to them and he got us all to join in at the table and when we finished Guillermo said, ‘The Masters of Horror wish you a happy birthday’ (laughs) and right afterwards he said, ‘We did pretty good – maybe we should do a Christmas album.’ So we kept getting together every couple of months and new people would come each time – David Cronenberg came along once, Bryan Singer and Rob Zombie and it expanded and got crazier and crazier. Out of that came the idea of doing a series of movies and it evolved from there. It turned out everyone had a pet project that they wanted to do – so here was the opportunity. We always have fun when we get together."


Calum Waddell

Crashing out

You would have thought that being an Oscar winner translates into piles of cash, but apparently not. Entertainment Weekly magazine has written that Cathy Schulman, awarded for her production role in Crash, is 'broke' due to the legal wrangling between her and producer Bob Yari.

Full story.

U - Carmen eKhayelitsha trailer

Coming up soon in Kamera is a review of the South African film U - Carmen eKhayelitsha, directed by Mark Dornford-May. U - Carmen eKhayelitsha is that rare thing: an artistically successful adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen. In U - Carmen eKhayelitsha, the setting is a South African slum. Absolutely magical. Out on 21/4.

Watch the trailer.

Tate Modern shows pioneer video work by Stuart Marshall

Still from Pedagogue

The pioneer video work of the late Stuart Marshall, who died of Aids in 1993, is being shown at the Tate Modern as part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Marshall's work was included in The Video Show, the first ever video exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1976. He was an educator, writer, composer, and independent film and video maker. In 1976 with Tamara Krikorian, Steven Partridge, David Hall and others, he established London Video Arts, an artist-run workshop, distribution and promotion agency. His work focuses on the historical and political construction of homosexual identity as a deviant, outsider category, positioning the homosexual as the catch-all bogeyman of societal fears and conformist pressure. The first programme is tonight at 6:30 pm and will includes Pedagogue (1988, made in partnership with Neil Bartlett, who will introduce the film) and the next one is next Tuesday (11/4) at the same time and will include The Streets of... (date unknown) and The Love Show (1980).

At the Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern.

Further details.

Immigrant lifen wins Sundance hearts

Two films examining immigrant life in America, the Hispanic teen drama "Quinceanera" and the Sudanese refugee documentary "God Grew Tired of Us," won top honors Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival.

Read full story

Dispatch: Night and Fog lecture/screening at the Ciné lumière, London 25/1

Last night was the launch of Wallflower's book on the 50th anniversary of Alain Resnais' film, Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard), the first film to deal with the holocaust, and a seminal piece in the construction of a visual memory of the collective memory of humanity's worst calamity. The screening of the film was preceded by a presentation by the editor of the book Uncovering the Holocaust: the International Reception of Night and Fog, Ewout van der Knaap, who analysed the impact the film has had throughout its 50-year career in Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Netherlands and the USA.

Van der Knaap said that the analysis of the film's reception is like "a litmus test for the memory of the holocaust" and that is it is "central to Jewish American narrative", but not really so in the UK where Hocaust awareness is alarmingly low. Overall, he said, the film has had a huge impact, one that began right after the controversy during the 1956 Cannes Festival, when it was withdrawn by request of the German government, who thought it could hinder the reconciliation process at the time. But after a debate in the German parliament in April of that same year, it was decided that it should be used an educational tool and 200 copies were made to be distributed for educational purposes. Three years later, on 26 April 1959, the film was shown on French television.

The talk was followed by a screening of the film. Silence befell the audience, broken by the occasional gasp of horror, such is the power of the imagery. Resnais used the grass in Auschwitz as a metaphor for memory and a voiceover written by the poet Jean Cayrol, himself a non-Jewish Holocaust who had published the book Poems of Night and Fog back in 1945. Despite the long-standing grudge that the film never mentions the word Jew, Night and Fog has to be one the most powerful essays on the inexplicability and banality of evil.

Brokeback Mountain galloping towards the Oscars

That Ang Lee knows how to please the critics. His 'gay cowboy' (a misnomer, by the way) Brokeback Mountain has been mopping up awards in America, first at the LA Film Critics Awards and today it received seven Golden Globe Nominations in New York. It's interesting to see why Lee's film is doing so well and will probably follow suit when it comes out in the UK in early January. It looks good, it's a repressed love story (the middle-classes love that) and it's got an overall 'classy' feel about it that includes the ever-so-fashionable references to Edward Hopper. But is it worth the hype? The full review is coming up soon.

Richard Pryor Remembered

It is somewhat depressing that only a short month after writing about the death of Moustapha Akkad, here I am again paying my respects to one of the world's greatest comedians.

It is impossible to do Pryor's wide and varied career the justice that it deserves in the small space here, or to really emphasise his influence on a whole new generation of comedians, which includes Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy and Will Smith - among so many others. However, as with most children of the eighties, I came to know Pryor's work through his time as an A-list actor - headlining such classic comedies as 1976's Silver Streak and, especially, 1980's Stir Crazy; both of which also featured Gene Wilder. In his autobiography entitled Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences Pryor sheds little light on this time of his life - prefering (perhaps understandably) to talk in detail about his amazing career as a stand up comedian - but he does at least reveal that, when doing Stir Crazy, he lived in low rent conditions in order to 'get into' the part of Harry Monroe, the wrongly convicted, working class drifter. Pryor would team again with Wilder for 1989's See No Evil, Hear No Evil - which he claims to have done solely for the pay cheque although the film is actually an enjoyable romp - and 1991's Another You, where his deteriorating health was all too obvious.

Pryor's other film highlights include writing the screenplay to Mel Brook's masterpiece Blazing Saddles (1974), his supporting roles in the cult hit Car Wash (1976) and the ambitious The Wiz (1978), as well as his promiment appearance in the otherwise bland sequel Superman 3 (I983).

If we're being brutally honest, the films that he choose as his starring projects were usually disappointing and certainly not suited to such a huge talent. Few laughs were to be had with failed comedies such as 1982's The Toy, 1985's thoroughly mediocre Brewster's Millions, 1987's Critical Condition and 1988's Moving. Furthermore, whilst his 1989 appearance opposite his heir apparent Eddie Murphy should have beena dream made in Hollywood, the end result was a disaster.

Even so, on the back Stir Crazy (one of the best films of the eighties. Period) and his lively, incredibly political and emotionally charged stand up appearances (the best of which is captured in his 1979 Richard Pryor, Live in Concert document) he will be forever remembered as an incredible comedy talent.

As with so many huge talents, Pryor also had his dark side - which included being raised in poverty (and a brothel) drug addiction, wife beating and his notorious attempt at suicide via lighting himself on fire. Such information makes his comical demeanour and - especially - his comparitively light hearted comedy film outings from the eighties all the harder to fully comprehend. For those who wish to attempt to do, then his aforementioned autobiography is as a good a place as anywhere to start.

In the meantime, RIP to a comic genius.


Calum Waddell

Hidden triumphs at European Oscars

Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche in Hidden

Austrian director Michael Haneke'S acclaimed French language thriller Hidden (Caché), starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche, garnered five awards at the European Film Awards in Berlin on Saturday (3 December). The awards for were:

Best European Film 2005 - Caché
Best European Director 2005 - Michael Haneke
Best European Actor 2005 - Daniel Auteuil

Best European Editor 2005 - Michael Hudecek and Nadine Muse

Best European Film Academy Critics Award 2005 - Prix Fipresci

Hidden is a very original film which captures the mood of contemporary Europe without being essayist. It's also an intriguing portrait of guilt and paranoia. Georges (Auteuil), who hosts a popular TV literary review show and his wife Anne (Binoche) who works in the publishing business, begin to receive packages containing videos of themselves and their son Pierrot - shot secretly from the street - and alarming drawings whose meaning is obscure. As the film progresses, the family's personal drama turns in a different direction.

Members of the European Film Academy judged 47 films this year. The awards, voted by the academy's 1,600 members, have been handed out since 1988 and are considered Europe's equivalent of the Oscars.

Hidden is released in the UK on 27/1/2006

Frederick Wiseman at the Tate Modern

Those of you who have never heard of Frederick Wiseman should take yourselves to the Tate Modern for the ongoing mini Wiseman festival that's taking place there in conjunction with the Jeff Wall show. Wiseman is often dubbed the greatest American documentarian and there seems to be truth in that. I saw his classic The Store (1982) yesterday and I was astounded by the intelligence that Wiseman displayed in the construction of this masterpiece. The Store is a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the day-by-day at Neiman Marcus department store in Dallas. Shot on film stock, the camera is never acknowledged and never hand-held as it usually is these days, which creates the impression of this being a fiction film. Wiseman's smooth editing and visual puns manage to create a visual essay on consumerist society that is more beautiful and eerier than anything David Lynch ever made. Yes, life is stranger than fiction, especially in America. Wiseman will be present for a Q&A session on Sunday, 11/12.
More info

Moustapha Akkad - RIP

Today the horror film lost one of its great producers in Moustapha Akkad, who passed away after being hit by a suicide bomber attack whilst staying in a hotel in Amman. His daughter also died in the blasts, alongside many other innocent people.

Early in his career - in 1976 to be precise - Akkad faced controversy when he produced a film entitled "The Message", dubbed "the story of Islam". The picture was targeted by Islamic extremists - who believed that showing the prophet Mohammed on screen was blasphemous. Obviously aware of the vast opportunity for filmmaking in the United States, Akkad setlled into Los Angeles and - alongside Irwin Yablans - he executive produced 1978's "Halloween" - which, at the time, became the highest grossing independent movie of all time. It made an overnight millionnaire of Akkad, Yablans and director John Carpenter (as well as his girlfriend, and producer, the late Debra Hill) and launched the career of its teen star Jamie Lee Curtis.

With "Halloween" comes Akkad's true legacy, as he continued to exploit his cash cow for decades to come. Although he also produced a handful of other films, including the largely unsuccessful war movie "A Lion in the Desert" (which featured Anthony Quinn, who also headlined "The Message"), Akkad's name became synoymous with the slasher series - whose sequels began in 1981 with "Halloween 2" - a decent, if less than worthy, follow up. Carpenter, Hill, Yablans and Oscar winning cinematographer Dean Cundy jumped ship after the failure of "Halloween 3", which oddly did not feature the iconic Michael Myers but remains one of the eighties spookiest and most underrated horror titles, but Akkad ploughed on and in 1988 the surprisingly enjoyable "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" hit the number one slot at the US box office. With 1989's disasterous "Halloween 5" setting the series back, Akkad took his time and finally geared up "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" for October 1995. Sadly, the film was a bomb and stands as the worst of the franchise - as well as marking the cinematic swansong for the late, great Donald Pleasance.

Nevertheless, Akkad was quick to capitalise in the interest from Jamie Lee Curtis in returning to the series (she was last seen in part 2) and in 1998 proved there was life in the beast yet with "Halloween H20", hands down the best of the sequels and directed by an old pro in Steve Miner. Curtis would return one last time for the botched "Halloween: Resurrection" in 2o01 - at which point Akkad's prized franchise ground to a commerical and artistic halt.

Rumours continue to pop up about a potential "Halloween 9", and it seems inevitable that Michael Myers will stalk again. With that, Akkad has left us with a legacy to be proud of. He took part in the fathering of one of the great films, horror or otherwise, of all time in the original "Halloween" and he helped to nurture one of modern cinema's great boogeymen.

I had the pleasure of meeting Akkad, and interviewing him, in 2003 in Pasadena, California. It is a memory that I will cherish - and the finished piece appeared in Britain's "Shivers" magazine (issue 110). During our conversation it became blatantly obvious that he was passionate about "Halloween" and grateful to the fans that have made the series such a success. For taking the time to speak to me, Mr Akkad will always have my sincerest thanks.

His legacy will not be forgotten.



Calum Waddell

Daniel Craig is new Bond... reaction

With all the rumours flying about in regards to everyone from Clive Owen to Dougray Scott being lined up as the next 007, it was something of a surprise when the far more low profile Daniel Craig was confirmed as the successor to Pierce Brosnan for next year's "Casino Royale". Hard to say what Craig will be like in the role - but Chester born actor is certainly the ideal age (late thirties) to carry the franchise to a new high should he win over audiences. If successful, methinks we can expect Craig in the role of 007 for another decade at least, if not more (Brosnan and Moore played 007 well into their fifties).

However, "Casino Royale" is supposidly a prequel/ "back to basics" Bond film... and this has always proven difficult for Eon to translate into big box office. Usually, the 007 owners like to do things by the tried and tested formula of hot women/ striking locations/ widescreen photography and ball busting stunts but whenever the series has gone for a more minimal, gritty action thriller approach the commercial reaction has been lukewarm to say the least. This was what toppled Dalton's interpretation of Bond (although 1987's "The Living Daylights" is a fine, if overlong, movie whilst 1989's "Licence to Kill" is a largely underseen gem), not to mention Lazenby (ironically "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is still the best of the lot to date). Even when Moore was required to take on 007 with a grittier, nastier personality (in 1981's "For Your Eyes Only") it lasted for one film... and 1983's "Octopussy" quickly threw Moore back into the zany/ arched eyebrow spy-comedy that he obviously excels in. "For Your Eyes Only" remains one of Moore's less successful Bonds among the general public although - after "The Spy Who Loved Me" - it is surefire bet for his second best.

So what am I saying? Well, we should all be happy that the Bond franchise is making a comeback after the misstep of "Die Another Day", which is a fine fantasy romp but perhaps a bit too over the top for even 007. However, before we really begin to anticipate the dawning of a new era for the character let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Bond buffs, such as myself, are all too aware of the difficulty in bringing in changes to the character that we know and love.

If they are going with a "back to basics" Bond, here is hoping that the public embraces Craig with wider arms than they afforded to Lazenby and to Dalton.

Calum Waddell

Ruggero Deodato the honoured guest at Horrorthon 2005

An update to my past below - I've now got the go ahead from festival organiser Ed King to mention that our special guest at Dublin's Horrorthon 2005 this year will be none other than Italian director Ruggero Deodato, the man responsible for "House on the Edge of the Park", "Cannibal Holocaust", "Dial Help", "Cut and Run" and many others. So if you ever wanted to question the controversial director, and indeed get his signature, now is the time. Deodato will be present from Sat the 29th October until Sunday the 30th October and will conduct a Q and A with the audience for the big screen showing of the notorious "Cannibal Holocaust".

Another nice touch is the showing of the fantastic documentary "Midnight Movies: From the Margins to the Mainstream", which yours truly caught at Cannes and was genuinely excited about bringing to a European genre fest. My report on the film can be seen at the Fangoria web site:

http://www.fangoria.com/fearful_feature.php?id=4476

And, once again, the Horrorthon web site is here:

www.horrorthon.com

If you do make it along, don't be shy and please say hello!

Calum Waddell