Damn, does Cronenberg ever give good intereviews. This is a terrific overview of his career, including all the dirt on Canadian independent cinema, The National Film Board of Canada and exploding heads. All very patriotic.
“People can get confused. They can think that they’re supposed to be solemn, because it’s a Cronenberg movie, and they think that’s a serious thing. But I’ve never made a movie that’s not funny. They’re all funny.
Maybe The Brood isn’t very funny. I was in a really bad mood when I made it. It’s about the only one that doesn’t have genuine laughs in it.
David Cronenberg, laff riot.
In other Cronenberg news, it looks like the filmmaker is moving even further away from the horror genre in his next batch of projects, though if anyone could take a comedy about Hollywood excess and introduce parasitic phaluses (phalli?) to the story, it would be him.
“Have you gone to http://www.redcars.it? My script is now a book, a beautiful coffee table book for fans of Formula One or of my work or whatever. It’s expensive, but it’s really beautiful and the printing is exquisite. I would be happy if some producer said, `Yes, I want to make this movie,’ but so far, no one has. So unless that happens, it’s not going to be a movie. At least it’s a book.”
Unfortunately, there is no mention of his dream project; a musical comedy about Canadian politics.
I’ve been very busy building a new version of Karissa’s site and would like to share the line that saved me from losing my mind:
That is all.
Tim Lucas of the Video Watchblog reports that famed horror television producer Dan Curtis has passed away.
The 1970’s looms large in cinema history, especially among horror junkies, myself included. It was a time when a gritty, independent vision could still make it to the big screen without compromise, and often take in a healthy box office as an added bonus. This sensibility filtered down to television as well. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that the 1970’s was the golden age of made-for-tv horror movies. And behind the most fondly remembered of those films was producer/director/writer Dan Curtis.
Curtis cut his teeth on horror as creator of the cult favourite soap opera series Dark Shadows, moving on from there to a television adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That telefilm starred Jack Palance, who would also appear in Curtis’ version of Dracula in the title role, and one which many believe to be one of the all-time best screen renditions of the Count.
While these productions have their devout followers, for my taste Curtis really hit his stride in his less gothic work. The Night Stalker introduced the world to horror’s unlikeliest hero, Carl Kolchak, a rumpled and cynical investigative reporter on the trail of a vampire roaming the streets of Las Vegas. The Night Stalker went on to capture a 54 share of the ratings for its timeslot, meaning that over half of the viewing audience tuned in, giving The Night Stalker the best ratings for a made-for-tv movie up to that time. Curtis followed this up with a sequel, and another telefilm about a supernatural investigator called The Norliss Tapes. The story was told through audio tapes Norliss had made describing his encounters with the horrific as found by his editor, who is seeking an explanation for Norliss’ mysterious disappearance. Unfortunately, the premise never went beyond the pilot, so no one knows what happened to poor Norliss. The heady mix of horror and cynicism evident in these three films, with the little guy facing dark powers seemingly beyond his power to defeat let alone comprehend, touch on the zeitgeist of the times as well as just about any of television’s big brothers on the silver screen.
And there’s plenty more, from Frankenstein to Trilogy of Terror to Burnt Offerings to the new Dark Shadows and all the way up to the present-day. For people of a particular age, Dan Curtis is the man most responsible for many a sleepless night. Thanks for the nightmares, Mr. Curtis.
Mr. Curtis is survived by two daughters. Condolences to his friends and family.
I first heard about Hard Candy over half a year ago when the guy who runs the Lion’s Gate Horror blog wrote about how he had to walk out of a screening of the movie at Sundance. From what I could gather at the time, Hard Candy is a brutal little indie film featuring only two people for most of it’s length; a man and a young girl meeting for the first time in real life after conversing over the internet. Once they arrive at the man’s house, the facade drops and the roles of predator and prey reverse. Every two or three months since I first read about Hard Candy I’ve been checking for any further information on it, and came up with very little each time.
It’s finally going into limited release on April 14th, which unfortunately doesn’t bode well for me. The official site, along with the trailer, can be found here.
Day 3 of the 2006 edition of the annual Great Outdoor Fight has ended. All the gory details can be found at Achewood.
It was probably the biggest upset in The Great Outdoor Fight history since the Turkey Dinner Incident of 1970. I had money on Latino Health Crisis to place, or at the very least match Toronto Man Machine’s showing in ‘73. Oh, well. He lasted into the second night, which is better than I would have done.
From Drawn via Seward Street, a story on a high school teacher who has been suspended from his job for suggesting that his students pursue life drawing classes.
Anything I have to say about this would be superfluous. The absolute stupidity apparent truly speaks for itself.
Fuckers.
I haven’t had internet access at home for nearly two years. I am fairly confident that, since getting hooked up yesterday, I have read the entire internet. In my travels I have come across a number of topics that have competed for the right to be presented here. With every minute a new discovery supplanted the previous until I was sure I wouldn’t be able to choose. Finally, I found one site that I was certain could not be trumped.
ROM & Me is one man’s homoerotic journey of self-discovery via the thrilling adventures of ROM, Space Knight. I can truly say that this has changed my life, especially the comic found in the pictures section.
Thanks to hardcore ROM fan and enemy of all Dire Wraiths Robin Bougie for sharing this with the world.
