A Century of Dark Imagination - The Haunted Global Village (2000-2008)
The future is bright in this brave new millennium until medieval madmen remind us that not everyone sees the light.
In America, the string of tired sequels is still trickling across the screen, but the flow of dark delights from foreign lands continues unabated, Ju On, more Rings, more Miike from Japan, The Host from Korea, Ginger Snaps from Canada, The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth from Spain, Dog Soldiers from the UK, Brotherhood of the Wolf from France, and Nightwatch from Russia, each vision unique and sharply contrasting to the formulaic Screams and remakes that America churns out.
As the country comes to terms with the fact that our government has made torture an acceptable practice, a new twist on old fetishes arrives, with Hostel and Saw, and pretty soon there is a whole tool chest of sharp things being used on more-or-less deserving victims. The trend quickly becomes dismembered and consumed by sequelitis.
Still, there are bright spots, Stuart Gordon’s Dagon, an interesting series of remade-for cable versions of 50s drive-in classics, Masters of Horror, and Rob Zombie’s darkly comic exercises in excess.
Zack Snyder creates an exciting new take on Dawn of the Dead and Cloverfield is a minor masterpiece, reducing the epic of a Godzilla like attack on New York City to a series of Youtube videos, a truly new vision ideally aimed at a new age.
In an era of fragmenting attention spans and reality television, horror films are, more than ever, an expression of our past and those fears we can never leave behind, monsters that stalk us in new ways, through our cell phones and our computer screens, fundamental terrors that will always be a part of us.
Glorious, entertaining darkness, now and forever.
Angela's Pick - Ginger Snaps (2000)
I remember puberty. I remember the awkwardness, the pimples and my suddenly curvy, bumpy body, and of course, dealing with the reality of being a woman – my period.Don’t go screaming from the room. I promise this will not turn into a bitch session about blood, pain, and monthly cravings.
Wait a minute… my movie choice is Ginger Snaps. Maybe it will!
Ginger Snaps is an incredibly smart Canadian movie about two sisters who pride themselves on their nonconformity and independence, and about the changes that come with growing older. In this case, becoming a werewolf is the metaphor of choice for the onset of maturity. Ginger and Brigitte are the darkly temperamental sisters, and I loved the relationship between them. Ginger, the older of the two, is acidic and protective of her sibling, and Brigitte is deathly loyal to her older sister. Together, they form an impenetrable wall of angst – and dark creativity. How many other sister acts film 1001 death scenes for a school project?
But their perfect – albeit twisted – life is turned upside down when Ginger, during her first period (at 16), is stalked and bitten by a werewolf, all bets are off and the pampered pet of the local cheerleading captain is suddenly on the menu.What follows is Ginger’s transformation into a sexual and literal predator, and Brigitte’s dire attempts to save her sister. I leave it to you, when you see the film, to decide what Brigitte’s trying to save Ginger from.
Brilliant script, excellent cinematography, plenty of gore and smart humor, Ginger Snaps is a great take on the modern werewolf story – and to boot, it’s a pointed tale about the power of the feminine mystique.
Drake's Pick - Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
In an age of enlightened exploration, savagery comes from the hot lands, but evil is often our neighbor. Christophe Gans’ epic fantasy is a masterpiece of dark imagination, a great martial arts action film, an erotic romance, and a fine piece of historical fiction. How many other films can make all those claims?Grégoire de Fronsac is an 18th century adventuring naturalist tracking a werewolf in the rural province of Gevaudan. Manu, a Native American savate master, is his companion and friend, with just a whiff of homoerotic bonding. Monica Belluci plays the alluring Sylvia, and has never looked sexier. Excessive in
every way and incredibly beautiful, Brotherhood is also relentlessly smart. It uses its historical basis brilliantly, from the broad facts of the case of the real Beast of Gevaudan to details like the furry trout de Fronsac presents to his hosts, authentic detail that also foreshadows the story’s outcome.
Brotherhood is heavily influenced by Hong Kong action films and the Spielbergian tradition of spectacle, but is infused with its own unique eye for costume and sets and a blatant sexuality that Hollywood would fuck up if this were an American film.There are certainly other movies that might stake a claim for best horror movie (so far) of this new millennium, but Brotherhood of the Wolf is my pick, for the dark sensual eroticism and violence it portrays so splendidly.
What more could you want in a movie?
Posted by Angela Caperton at 10/22/2008 6:10 PM 
Categories: Century of Dark Imagination, horror film
Categories: Century of Dark Imagination, horror film
Comments