Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!; Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) reunites with one of Spain's sexiest exports for his latest film The Skin I Live In.
Still gorgeous Antonio Banderas stars as a plastic surgeon obsessed with creating an undamageable synthetic skin. He kidnaps a woman named Norma (Bianca Suarez) and performs bizarre experiments on her. I can only imagine that Norma reminds the surgeon of a past love lost to a fire or some other dermatological tragedy, and she somehow holds the key to his obsession.
That's probably not a fully accurate description of the film, but without actually seeing it, is probably as a close as I can come. Almodovar, never one to shy away from uncomfortable and controversial topics, is probably the most famous and highest grossing Spanish filmmaker, ever. His films are consistently lauded by critics and consistently land on many critics' Top Ten Lists.
I have seen and enjoyed several of his films and am looking forward to The Skin I Live In, if only to see the director put his very personal stamp on the Horror genre. From the trailer below, I can only imagine it will be unlike any other Horror movie we've ever seen:
The Skin I Live In is scheduled for release in the U.S. in November. I won't be surprised to see it nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film come next March.
That's Irish hot mess Colin Farrell flashing those puppy-dog eyes in some movie I now must see... Colin is playing the role originated by Chris Sarandon in the remake of Fright Night. The 1985 horror comedy starred William Ragsdale ("Justified"), Amanda Bearse ("Married With Children") and the late, infamously closeted Roddy McDowell as Charles Vincent.
Charley Brewster (Ragsdale) never misses Charles Vincent's "Vampire Theatre" show on TV. When a mysterious neighbor sets up house next door, Charley suspects he may be a vampire and calls on Vincent for help. The original movie is fun, but the special effects (not to mention the acting style) are just a bit outdated. I don't mind it being remade at all. Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) takes over for Ragsdale; David "Dr. Who" Tennant is Vincent and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Kick Ass) is Charley's buddy, Evil Ed (and I hope this doesn't mean Mintz-Plasse is destined for a future of bad gay porn, like the original Evil Ed, Stephen Geoffries...). Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later; Jane Eyre) takes over for Bearse and the always amazing Toni Collette ("The United States of Tara") is Charley's mom, originally played by character actor Dorothy Fielding.
The first production stills of the remake are online at Cinematical, though there's no telling anything from three random shots. I just know that if Colin looked at me with those pouty lips and sad eyes, I'd let him bite me anywhere he wanted to... Oops! Over-share!
A friend from high school shared the trailer for A Matter of Size on Facebook (thanks, Nancy!). This Israeli/French production from 2009 is about an Israeli town coming to grips with being fat and celebrating by embracing the Japanese tradition of Sumo. While it may seem from the trailer below that the movie is a bit homophobic, it actually appears that A Matter of Size is a movie about 'coming out' as a Proud Person of Size. As a gay Person of Size, I have to appreciate the 'coming out' part, at least. As a real person with a far from sensitive sense of humor, I think it looks like a very sweet, funny movie. Judge for yourselves:
This post is actually about foreign films. Or, more explicitly, foreign Horror movies. Hence, the "International" which led to the bad pun, which resulted in a picture of a rather skillfully poured skull and jack-o-lantern pancakes, even though this post has has nothing to do with Halloween.
See, that rambling nonsense above is either my own pathetic attempt at Stream-of-Consciousness; an excuse to post a seemingly random picture which has no significance other than as a very bad pun; or proof that I got the keys from the night guard after I slipped a week's worth of my sedatives into his coffee all those years ago... Huh? What? Oh... sorry.
Anyway, I've been coming across more and more clips and trailers for Horror from Europe, Asia and elsewhere that looks as intriguing as (and often more original and interesting than) almost anything Americans are making (Sam Raimi or Michael Dougherty, not withstanding). This post started thanks to a link sent to me by my buddy Sean down in D.C. of a short French horror film (which you can see as the ZombieClipoftheWeek on this week's Zombie Zone). So I'd like to share some trailers you may or may not have seen, for movies of which you may or may not have heard. First up, from France is la Horde, a movie I know I've mentioned at least once. This Tarantino-inspired movie starts out as what looks like a bad-ass caper movie and quickly degenerates into a bad-ass zombie movie. Check it out:
Damn! It's Die Hard or Live Dead!* Dawn of the Living Dead Dozen? Zombie Fiction? Okay, I'll stop. It sort of looks awesome, doesn't it? No word on a U.S. release...
i09 linked to this haunting post-apocalyptic gem from Israeli film student Dan Sachar. When It Will Be Silent is both achingly beautiful and heart-breaking. I can't wait to see what he does with a budget.
Mutants is yet another French zombie flick that hasn't seen U.S. release, which makes me sad because this trailer makes Mutants look awesome, as well. There are no subtitles here, but you really don't need them. You know the drill, by now.
Yikes!
Spanish director Juame Balaguero picks up where his original left off in [Rec]2, as a tactical team enters the building to take on the rabid zombies inside:
The sequel to Quarantine, the serviceable American remake of [Rec], is going in a different direction, taking place at an airport, I believe I read.
Here's a film about which I know nothing, but looks slick as all get out. The trailer for Thai horror film 9 Wat (Secret Sunday) has an almost Lynch-like vibe to it, contrasting and combining the mundane with the surreal most effectively:
Literally translated, "9 Wat" is "9 Temples" in English, so I really don't understand why the American title is Secret Sunday. Did the distributors think Americans are so stupid we would think 9 Temples was a religious picture?
Of course, it goes the other way around, and we will soon have the American version of 2008's Best Horror Movie. Let Me In stars Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass); Richard Jenkins (The Visitor; "Six Feet Under") and the curiously hot Elias Koteas (Shutter Island; The Thin Red Line). Directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), Let Me In has the challenge of translating a very effective Norwegian horror film into very effective American horror film. If Moretz is as good as she was in Kick-Ass, then I have hope. Here's the trailer for the original:
Interestingly, the newly revived British House of Horror, Hammer, is listed as the film's distributor, so it may be just a little less American than we thought... I'm sure there are plenty more, and I'll report the ones that look interesting to me (as if you care what interests me - honestly, the gall of us bloggers to assume you actually care about our opinions). I think I'm overdue for a Forgotten Gems tomorrow night, on a film I came across while researching this post (yes, believe it or not, I do research stuff before talking about it). More, anon. Prospero * I hereby claim that title now and forever, by the way... I can see Bruce Willis taking on a horde of hungry zombie gang-members now...
This post is not really private. How can it be? There is no such thing as privacy in the blogosphere (indeed, even in cyberspace, itself). Google has all of our personal information and Microsoft owns our souls.
Every now and then I come across something which pertains to not only myself, but to one or two specific individuals among my circle of friends and acquaintances. The video embedded below is a prime example.
My dear, insane and brilliant and oh-so-very-gay fellow blogger Stephen Rader is a massive comic book geek. And when I find weird, outrageous or just effed-up Superhero stuff, I usually send it to him without always sharing with the rest of you. And my dear D, in addition to being as big a movie geek as I am and a brilliant young actor, is oh-so-very-Italian. How appropriate then, is it to dedicate this particular post and video to the two of them? Ladies and germs (via) comes Italian Spiderman:
I have no idea if this is a real trailer or a spoof. If it's the latter, then it is brilliant. If it's the former... then Uwe Boll and Paul W.S. Anderson are cinematic geniuses. My personal Spidey Sense says: "Be afraid. be very afraid."
While making my daily stop at BoingBoing today, I came across this hilarious gem:
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I looked it up on YouTube because I thought it went well with my recent Superhero posts, but then found a whole bunch of hilarious clips I just had to share. Now, I'm hardly an expert on International Copyright Law, but I must imagine that Turkish filmmakers have little (if any) regard for it, as evidenced by the clips I am about to share with you. First, please enjoy this clip from the Turkish version of Superman:
Apparently, the Turkish Superman is so powerful, he doesn't even need to actually hit you to send you flying across the room. And Styrofoam rocks have absolutely no effect on him. At least he sort-of looks like he could be Superman, unlike his rather chubby Indian counterpart above. Though I doubt he can sing and dance as well. And do Turkish filmmakers have no concept of continuity or scene matching?
Next, please enjoy this clip from the Turkish version of Spider Man, in which Spidey appears to be a villain, rather than a hero:
Who knew that Mexican wrestlers played such a vital role in Turkish superhero movies? And when is the last time you can remember Stan Lee having Spidey strangle a soap-blinded, nubile waif with her own shower head? Let's not forget about those killer guinea pigs!
And the phenomena is not limited to superheroes. American Sci-Fi fares equally as well in Turkey. Here's a clip from "Badi," the Turkish version of E.T.:
Did that rubber alien actually pee smoke? Yikes! And Spielberg isn't the only victim here. Take a gander at this clip from the Turkish version of Star Wars:
Wow! What's the deal with Luke Leapfrogger, there? Mark Hamill should have been so lucky. And I have to wonder who got confused... why is John Williams' Indiana Jones music appearing in a Star Wars rip-off? And more importantly, why do the cheesy sound effects keep interrupting it? Even worse, not only has an entire concept been ripped off, but actual footage from the movie they're ripping off has been randomly inserted, as if no one would notice. Do the folks at Lucasfilm know about this?
Speaking of bad sound effects, here's a clip from "Korkusuz," the Turkish version of Rambo:
I love how what is supposed to be the sound of flesh being punched is the same as the sound of cloth-covered flesh being punched. And as with the Turkish Superman, Turkish Rambo doesn't need to actually land a punch to beat up his enemies. At least the Turkish Rambo is hotter than Stallone. I know I wouldn't kick him out for eating cous-cous in bed.
Finally, and possibly most horrific of all, I present you with the penultimate scene from "Seytan," the Turkish version of The Exorcist:
Santa? Why are you performing an exorcism? Shouldn't you be at the North Pole, making toys for well-behaved Christian children? And what's up with your creepy buddy and his ultra-wide floral tie? Why is beating up that poor girl with the bad skin? Dimi... why you do dis to me?
I can't wait to see the Turkish version of Watchmen (though I doubt we'll see Dr. Constantinople's big blue penis).
