Way back in 1962, the year he warned America that Medicare would lead to socialism and the destruction of American democracy, Ronald Reagan switched political parties and famously said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party; my party left me.” Five years later, in 1967, the former B-movie actor become governor of California; one year after that, in 1968, George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was released and changed the face of modern horror cinema forever.
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James J. Murphy III’s THE NURSING HOME (L&J Publishing) is the worst book I have ever read. I mean that. I really do. I don’t say things like that lightly, and I’ve never said this about a book before. If I had to estimate, I’d say I’ve read close to 4,000 or so books in my life (and those aren’t Wilt Chamberlain-inflated numbers), and THE NURSING HOME is by far the worst. Hands down. It’s the nadir of narrative. The low watermark of literature. An inept and feckless effort. It’s truly, egregiously awful. Like TROLL 2 awful.
Three guesses what Arcana Studios’ graphic novel HARBOR MOON is about:
If you judge this book by its cover, DRIVER FOR THE DEAD #1, published by Radical Comics, seems like just another surfer on the neverending wave of zombie titles. But those nasty flesh-munchers are just a fraction of the ghouls, ghosts, gremlins, creatures, incantations and crones on display in this balls-to-the-wall action/horror effort.
M. Night Shyamalan didn’t script or direct DEVIL—he was just one of the producers, and it’s based on his story—but since this is the film that may forever be remembered for turning “From the mind of M. Night…” into a viral punchline, it’s worth noting that DEVIL (billed as “The Night Chronicles 1” on screen, if no longer in the marketing materials) does mark something of a change in direction for the beleaguered auteur. Rather than build up to a heretofore concealed, big-surprise plot twist, this movie takes the different if ill-advised tack of explaining in advance what it’s all about.
As a lifelong horror-film enthusiast, I am forever chasing the dragon for the almighty fright. As you age and the divides between fantasy and reality become sadly concrete, it’s very difficult to totally suspend your disbelief and immerse yourself in the supernatural, to have films about “things” from the ether affect you. But oh, how you want them to.
The best evidence that THE WARD (which premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival) was directed by John Carpenter is that his name is above the title. It’s certainly not on the screen; working from a maladroit script by Sean and Michael Rasmussen, Carpenter—who hasn’t made a feature since 2001’s deliriously silly genre mashup GHOSTS OF MARS—directs like a journeyman rather than an auteur.
Not since THE RING have I approached a remake with as much trepidation as I did LET ME IN. Both movies were inspired by standout foreign features I first caught at early festival screenings, which added the thrill of discovery to the excitement generated by the films themselves. Unlike RINGU, however, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN has had plenty of Stateside exposure prior to its redux’s release (October 1 from Overture Films, with a premiere tonight at the Toronto Film Festival and an opening-night screening at Austin, TX’s Fantastic Fest later this month), meaning that for U.S. audiences, writer/director Matt Reeves has a lot to live up to.