Sinful Cinema

I'm back after a break of a few years. I will be tackling the top 100 list again, but I wanted to fill you film fans in on something I have been working on. It's called the Sinful Cinema Series, and right now it is up to four books covering obscure films. So far I've written about The Abductors, Crypt of the Living Dead, Destruction Kings, and Laure.

The first volume covers The Abductors. It's an insane read mainly because of all the information I've gathered on the film. It has in it a future porn king, a future terrorist, and it was written and directed by a man who would go on to produce one of Disney's biggest franchises. It's all about sexual slavery, and it is a sleazy classic. Did I mention I also interviewed Jeramie Rain (The Last House on the Left) for it? Yep, I did.

The second volume covers the little-known vampire film Crypt of the Living Dead. It's actually a pretty tame film with one of the creepiest endings I've seen in any movie. If you read the book you'll learn how one of the stars was a suspect in a "murder" where the victim had ties to the JFK assassination.

The third volume delves into Low Budget Pictures' Destruction Kings, which was heavily inspired by The Monster Squad and Bad Boys. This comedy drove the director to have panic attacks, and I interview several people associated with the film, including Ariana Albright, scream queen and all around great lady.

The fourth volume examines Laure. Laure is an incredibly interesting film. It was written and directed by the "writer" of the Emmanuelle book, and features the real Emmanuelle. If you know why I used "writer" in quotes, you know why this film gets weird. It turns out the writer was really a man who was a French diplomat, and he used this film to try and push his sexual philosophy, which seemed to include children. It's also notable for originally starring porn actress Linda Lovelace, who left the film after refusing to do nude scenes.

Currently I'm working on the fifth volume, which will be yet another obscure film. When it is done I'll announce it here and on my FB page for the book series. Stop by and follow if you want to keep up on film news and engage in some lively discussions.

It's Only a Movie

When remakes first started to be the thing for Hollywood to do instead of finding original stories, I figured there were a handful of films that Hollywood would never dream of touching.  Cannibal Holocaust and The Last House on the Left were two of those.

Obviously I was wrong on the latter.

I haven't seen the remake of the Wes Craven classic, as I'm not a fan of remakes or even the original film in this case, but from what I hear from people who have seen both is that the remake is disturbing but nowhere near as bad as the original.  So what is the fucking point?

The Last House on the Left is, for better or worse, considered a hallmark of cinema nastiness.  Why would anyone attempt to remake it if they couldn't top it?  It's not supposed to be a pleasant film, so why not go for broke? 

I know the real reason remakes are made is to quite simply cash in on the original film's name and history.  That can work with something like Halloween.  With Craven's rape/revenge film, however, it doesn't seem like a name and history you'd want to cash in on unless you were going to make it better.  After all, the original film's fans are smart enough to know that Hollywood is not going to make a movie like the original just out of fear of the reaction it would produce, so those fans are lost.  New viewers, who watch anything that comes out, will go simply because it's new, so why not try a new film all together that is in the vein of the original (with a different title) and try to rope in both crowds?

The way I see it, the only extra audience that the remake could have received is the crowd that has knowledge of the original film but never saw it because they were frightened of it, but now they know that Hollywood would never put out a film that actually challenges viewers.  Therefore, they feel safe going to see the new film.  They won't be challenged, they won't see anything that sticks with them for years, they won't leave the theatre shaking. 

Perhaps someday we'll see films go back to that wild, free-for-all of the period from the late '60s to early '80s, but I doubt it.  The film, art, economic and cultural climate has changed so much that those days seem beyond reach.  Hollywood should remember that and stop trying to embrace that era without any of the trappings that made it so great.  Not only is that cowardly, but it's a total waste of time on everyone's part.

And if Cannibal Holocaust gets remade with Nic Cage I just may shoot someone.