Still holding on to delusional ideas of making my own films someday, I often rent films I know aren't going to be very good, simply to motivate me out of boredom and anger to "do better" or perhaps "not compromise so much" when and if I make my own flicks.
I thought perhaps Ronny Yu might bring some interesting visuals to the game, as I thought his work on Bride of Chucky had some nice flair to it. And unlike some Hong Kong directors making American films, he didn't try to do anything that really failed, like Tsui Hark's misfires.
Anyway, no one would expect going into this film that it's going to scare you out of your seat. You're looking for a good time, creative kills, maybe some kickass makeup/digital effects, a bit of humor and perhaps some female eye candy.
In the spirit of the time these franchises were made, I think it's fine to bring back nudity, but why do we have to see breast implants? Honestly, I don't watch these films for nudity, but if it's there, I'd rather see natural breasts instead of these cereal bowls under skin. Is it so hard to find natural beauties to do the job?
I could never quite understand how Freddie can destroy a person in one scene and then find himself in a jam from another character in the following scene. He's lord of his realm one minute, then a befuddled wimp the next.
A big problem with films like this is it's a collection of scenes, set-pieces if you will, rather than a story that at least tries to connect the characters and scenes in a more linear fashion. When the end result is so convoluted and juvenile, I don't understand why these films have so many writers and re-drafts. It doesn't take Harvard grads to write this kind of stuff.
Ronny Yu directs competently, although it could have been any other director from the trenches, or as Hollywood is fond of doing, plucking veteran music video directors for the action/horror gigs. I do like some of the blue lighting, or day for night shots that so many HK films use, but there is a glaring blue hue used for alot of the shots that just gets annoying after awhile. Yu also tries to spice things up by using a green tint for some of the Jason scenes, and a red tint for Freddie's. I wish some of these directors would infuse a little more, I don't know, saturation in their cinematography instead of the dull "spotlight" type of coloring these scenes have.
Frankly, I found the kills in Jason X more creative than this film. And avoiding any discussion of "dream logic" having Freddie actually brawling with Jason is a cop-out. Freddie should be using all of his dream world tricks to mess Jason up, but what do we get- mostly psychokinesis and elbows/slashes.
This is my problem with especially the Nightmare on Elm Street films, they are now pop-culture "event" films, no longer concerned with scaring people. The first two films stayed squarely in the creep-you-out mode, and Freddie was very much an in-control (mostly) evil presence. After Dream Warriors, which allowed more fantasy elements and more creative "dream fighting" by the would-be victims, I think the mold was set for future installments.
Freddie had the potential to be a sinister and unique horror icon. Now he's just old faithful, he shows up, offers up a lame pun, and kills someone. Maybe we get a creative kill and maybe we're suprised by the gore, but often times not. Freddie is too much "pop" and not enough horror.
With the darker tones of the first film (and no, you're not going to hear that Wes Craven is a great filmmaker from me) and the creative possibilites of a dream world, great things could be done with this character. The surreal factor is played for laughs when it could be used for more intense displays of imaginative destruction.
This is a problem with a great many horror and genre films, there is no sincertiy anymore. It's all eye candy, and eye candy watered down by endless studio fine tuning. These aren't great films, but they could be better and more important films for their genre.
I don't quite understand the times we live in when nudity and gore are more of a problem now then 20 years ago. This, considering how much sex and casual sex themes we are bombarded with in so much media. There is, of course no consistent standard for what is and isn't allowed. And when did gore become a problem? You find even alot of low budget films will resort to cheesy digital trickery instead of using the old squibs.
I tend to think in this day of remakes, post-modernism and instant gratification, alot of entertainment being made today is more concerned with hitting certain demographics by including a little bit of everything and laying consistent tone and personal point-of-view by the wayside. It's as if the filmmakers or perhaps studio overlords don't trust us to supsend our beliefs for the length of their product. I don't want the movie to "wink" at me or have characters let me know they are in on the joke. What joke? Every time you walk into a theatre or sit in front of the tv you've signed the contract, agreed to supsend your belief, to accept the world presented and care about these people onscreen. It's no different if it's Schindler's List or Hellrasier 9, it's ALL fake, and it all hinges on you giving a damn and getting caught up in this manufactured tale.
Like alot of people I grew up watching these types of films, staying up at night at a friend's house, laughing at the kills and applauding the nude scenes.
I guess it's no different for the kids today, but the product today is so diluted,it's as if few people care to inject any urgency into what they are doing.
Just because something isn't high art doesn't mean it can't be damn good in it's own right.
******
I'll have to do some research on fan films, because I get so frustrated at how weak alot of genre films are I'm constantly being bombarded by my brain with ideas for my own take on these things. And hell, I wouldn't do it hoping to score a legitimate gig, or even any type of fame, I would make a short fan film just to satisfy myself, maybe show it to a few people....
I thought perhaps Ronny Yu might bring some interesting visuals to the game, as I thought his work on Bride of Chucky had some nice flair to it. And unlike some Hong Kong directors making American films, he didn't try to do anything that really failed, like Tsui Hark's misfires.
Anyway, no one would expect going into this film that it's going to scare you out of your seat. You're looking for a good time, creative kills, maybe some kickass makeup/digital effects, a bit of humor and perhaps some female eye candy.
In the spirit of the time these franchises were made, I think it's fine to bring back nudity, but why do we have to see breast implants? Honestly, I don't watch these films for nudity, but if it's there, I'd rather see natural breasts instead of these cereal bowls under skin. Is it so hard to find natural beauties to do the job?
I could never quite understand how Freddie can destroy a person in one scene and then find himself in a jam from another character in the following scene. He's lord of his realm one minute, then a befuddled wimp the next.
A big problem with films like this is it's a collection of scenes, set-pieces if you will, rather than a story that at least tries to connect the characters and scenes in a more linear fashion. When the end result is so convoluted and juvenile, I don't understand why these films have so many writers and re-drafts. It doesn't take Harvard grads to write this kind of stuff.
Ronny Yu directs competently, although it could have been any other director from the trenches, or as Hollywood is fond of doing, plucking veteran music video directors for the action/horror gigs. I do like some of the blue lighting, or day for night shots that so many HK films use, but there is a glaring blue hue used for alot of the shots that just gets annoying after awhile. Yu also tries to spice things up by using a green tint for some of the Jason scenes, and a red tint for Freddie's. I wish some of these directors would infuse a little more, I don't know, saturation in their cinematography instead of the dull "spotlight" type of coloring these scenes have.
Frankly, I found the kills in Jason X more creative than this film. And avoiding any discussion of "dream logic" having Freddie actually brawling with Jason is a cop-out. Freddie should be using all of his dream world tricks to mess Jason up, but what do we get- mostly psychokinesis and elbows/slashes.
This is my problem with especially the Nightmare on Elm Street films, they are now pop-culture "event" films, no longer concerned with scaring people. The first two films stayed squarely in the creep-you-out mode, and Freddie was very much an in-control (mostly) evil presence. After Dream Warriors, which allowed more fantasy elements and more creative "dream fighting" by the would-be victims, I think the mold was set for future installments.
Freddie had the potential to be a sinister and unique horror icon. Now he's just old faithful, he shows up, offers up a lame pun, and kills someone. Maybe we get a creative kill and maybe we're suprised by the gore, but often times not. Freddie is too much "pop" and not enough horror.
With the darker tones of the first film (and no, you're not going to hear that Wes Craven is a great filmmaker from me) and the creative possibilites of a dream world, great things could be done with this character. The surreal factor is played for laughs when it could be used for more intense displays of imaginative destruction.
This is a problem with a great many horror and genre films, there is no sincertiy anymore. It's all eye candy, and eye candy watered down by endless studio fine tuning. These aren't great films, but they could be better and more important films for their genre.
I don't quite understand the times we live in when nudity and gore are more of a problem now then 20 years ago. This, considering how much sex and casual sex themes we are bombarded with in so much media. There is, of course no consistent standard for what is and isn't allowed. And when did gore become a problem? You find even alot of low budget films will resort to cheesy digital trickery instead of using the old squibs.
I tend to think in this day of remakes, post-modernism and instant gratification, alot of entertainment being made today is more concerned with hitting certain demographics by including a little bit of everything and laying consistent tone and personal point-of-view by the wayside. It's as if the filmmakers or perhaps studio overlords don't trust us to supsend our beliefs for the length of their product. I don't want the movie to "wink" at me or have characters let me know they are in on the joke. What joke? Every time you walk into a theatre or sit in front of the tv you've signed the contract, agreed to supsend your belief, to accept the world presented and care about these people onscreen. It's no different if it's Schindler's List or Hellrasier 9, it's ALL fake, and it all hinges on you giving a damn and getting caught up in this manufactured tale.
Like alot of people I grew up watching these types of films, staying up at night at a friend's house, laughing at the kills and applauding the nude scenes.
I guess it's no different for the kids today, but the product today is so diluted,it's as if few people care to inject any urgency into what they are doing.
Just because something isn't high art doesn't mean it can't be damn good in it's own right.
******
I'll have to do some research on fan films, because I get so frustrated at how weak alot of genre films are I'm constantly being bombarded by my brain with ideas for my own take on these things. And hell, I wouldn't do it hoping to score a legitimate gig, or even any type of fame, I would make a short fan film just to satisfy myself, maybe show it to a few people....
