Thrill Fiction

Babycall [trailer]

2012-01-15T16:50:00.002Z

Horror films can be categorized by geography for cultural convenience. American horror – which includes Canada – is Hollywood and the independents. J-Horror comprises the significant output from the Far East. Spanish horror includes the eponymous nation, Portugal and Latin America.

What’s left can be lumped together as ‘foreign horror’. There’s an argument for British horror but Hammer’s heyday was in the 70s¹. The Italians have their own brand (Giallo) but that is indicative of their country and not the region. The French [Frontier(s) 2007, La Horde 2010, La Meute 2011] have wishful thinking.

This begs the question of Scandinavia. Let the Right One In 2008 is a great horror film but the region suffers the same blight as the UK; a lack of output resulting in irrelevance. Of the 60 plus films Ingmar Bergman² directed only one of them was horror³ so his zombie can stay in its casket.

Norway’s Trollhunter 2010 toured the international festival circuit last year. It garnered great reviews and a UK theatrical release. The bad news is this low budget POV camcorder-cinema was the highest profile Scandinavian horror movie of 2011.

Babycall 2012 is a first: a Scandinavian horror film headlined by a movie star.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (pub 2005) by Stieg Larsson is the first novel in the Millennium Series. By 2010 the series had been translated into English and was on sale in the United States⁴. It is a trilogy of worldwide bestsellers⁵. Each book has been adapted into (Swedish made) thrillers starring Noomi Rapace.

Hollywood may have shunned Rapace when she wasn’t cast in the American Tattoo remake but it was an astute decision. She was too old to play The Girl in the originals. Nevertheless her performances endeared her to the Millennium fanbase. Hollywood may not have shunned Rapace; she was cast in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 2011 and Prometheus 2012.

She is a movie star.

How long she remains one is open to precedent. Americans do not tolerate foreign accents. So where the English may get away with it the Australians don’t and the South Africans can’t. Rapace must americanise herself the way her Prometheus costar Charlize Theron has.

Once upon a time there was a European actress hot of a foreign hit that was later remade. Anne Parillaud was the star of Nikita 1990 but couldn’t shake her French accent. It took one (horror) film for Hollywood to get bored and deport her. Parillaud now works in French TV.

A movie star can kick-start a genre. Noomi Rapace is the only Swede who fits the job description. She could carry the weight of that nation or the whole of Scandinavia in her resume. It’s yet to be seen if her name alone can carry Babycall to success. If she does pull it off then the horrorfolk can look forward to output from the dark psyche of planet earth.

Babycall is released 30 March in the UK.

Tobe Hooper's Djinn [trailer]

2012-01-11T03:01:00.001Z

In word association for me ‘genie’ evokes Christina Aguilera.

We’re all of a certain time and place and age.

When I was a kid the word meant receiving something for nothing – but be careful what you wish for (Manchester City fc¹). Due to the informative quality of horror movies westerners now know ‘genie’ is another word for ‘djinn’.

After the downfall of Muammar Kaddafi last year one piece of dirty linen was found in Hollywood. The dictator’s son Al-Saadi had invested $100million in a LA production company Natural Selection². All bets are now off including purported films involving Mickey Rourke and Susan Sarandon’s daughter.

Tobe Hooper is a Horrormeister. He directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974 and Poltergeist 1982. His new film Djinn 2012 has been the subject of speculation³ over the last few days. It is funded by an Arab production company – Imagenation Abu Dhabi. The speculation revolves around the portrayal of Arabs in the film thus its rumoured subsequent burial.

See what happens when you take ~~dirty~~ oil money?

The good news for Hooper is the rumours are (apparently) false.

The film will be released later this year. The cautious take is Tobe Hooper hasn’t made good since television’s Masters of Horror. The most recent output from those other Masters of Horror Wes Craven, John Carpenter and George A Romero have been atrocious.

Thrill Fiction recommends Attack the Block

1 Sheik who bought Manchester City The Guardian

2 Kaddafi’s Son Hollywood Mogul The Hollywood Reporter

3 Rumours about Djinn Famous Monsters of Filmland

Silent House trailer

2012-01-08T11:40:00.000Z

The worst remake ever made is Psycho 1998. The film was directed by Gus Vant Sant and starred Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche and Julianne Moore. Van Sant was a respected director at the time and his cast remain active 14 years later. What killed the remake was the now infamous direction. Van Sant copied Hitchcock shot-for-shot. It begged the question by definition; why remake?

La Casa Muda 2011 is a Uruguayan found footage horror flick with more gimmicks than William Castle. This rush-to-production cash-in-cow American remake replicates the dishonesty. ‘Real terror in real time’ is an allusion to the purported one-shot-cinema – which is a blatant lie. ‘Inspired by True Events’ is a fabrication that could apply to The Muppets Take Manhattan 1984 (à la Kourtney and Kim).

One of the ~~Osmonds~~ Olsens plays the lead. Elizabeth made a lot of noise for her role in Martha Marcy May Marlene 2011. That film is American independent cinema at its most torpid. If Elizabeth Olsen is the new indie it-bit the good news is she will gravitate away from horror. The bad news is Silent House 2012.

Silent House is released March 9 in the US.

The original La Casa Muda is available on DVD in the US and UK. It is the Uruguayan select for the Academy Awards 2012.

As opposed to what?

Read more Thrill Fiction: The Top 10 Grossing Horror Films of 2011