Man, when did I become so blasé yet cynical?? What's wrong with me? I used to get excited about horror movies that were on their way! I used to look forward to things! I need, like, Horror Cialis or something. Sigh.
I think a lot of it has to do with overload. Sites report incessantly on movies from the get go- set pictures, set visits, teasers and snippets and blah blah blah...you get inundated with it all until 1) you no longer care or 2) you see the movie and it disappoints you. It's a drag, man, a real drag. The other a lot of it (yes, there are two a lots) is the Facebook indie horror scene. Bitches are relentless in their "look at me! look at my trailer!"s, and I go numb (and yes, I realize that I'm a part of that culture, asking people to look at my stuff...doesn't mean I don't hate it, though). The net result is that I don't pay attention to anything.
This is why I'm only just learning about The Tall Man, which is the next film from Pascal Laugier (the fella who wrote and directed Martyrs). That's right, I'm only just learning about it even though Shock Till You Drop wrote about it in November! I have to admit, I'm intrigued. Fine, okay, I'm even looking forward to it. I want to see what else Laugier can do cinematically, and I want to see what he can do with a star like Jessica Biel. Here's the synopsis:
Cold Rock, U.S.A. - A darkness hovers upon the town: children have gone missing over the years leaving neither a clue nor a witness. Superstitious locals talk of The Tall Man, a legendary, mysterious dark figure who takes children away never to be seen again.Should be interesting. So many questions! So many conflicted feelings! So very very very...well, we'll see whenever it comes out, yes? Yes.
Julia (Biel), is a nurse living in Cold Rock who doesn't believe in legends. Until one night, waking up with an eerie feeling, she goes to her son's bedroom and find his bed empty. Rushing downstairs she stops dead in her tracks: a huge dark figure stands in the entrance holding her son David.
Driven by pure instinct, Julia rushes after them willing to do whatever it takes to get her son back. The chase is on and with it the quest for answers: who is The Tall man? What becomes of the children?
Stay tuned until tomorrow, when I talk about something else everyone has already forgotten about!
14 comments:
Have you seen House of Voices? It's his first film, and it's pretty special.
Not yet, though tis in my Netflix queue.
I pretty much just get excited by what is in my mailbox, courtesy of Netflix. Seriously, there's so much great horror in the world that there's no way to see it all before I die, that there's not much reason to go actively seeking out stuff. I just plop a few great horror bloggers in my Google Reader and wait for the reviews to come my way. What a gloriously lazy way to live. Thanks for facilitating my indolent lifestyle!
Gotta say, the first thing of which I thought upon reading the synopsis was the Slender Man meme from SomethingAwful (legend of a tall figure all in black who kidnaps children and disappears). Surprised that crowd hasn't raised more of a ruckus over this.
I have to agree about the relentless praising of films that aren't even done on the blog sites. I don't mind the on set photos and promo stills to give one a taste... that's fun. But to have the film relentlessly praised as 'The BEST film of the year!' - when the film is still in post-production...
That's pushing it just a bit.
My first reaction (since I'm the cranky sort) is annoyance with the title. When I hear The Tall Man, I expect it to have something to do with Phantasm.
Man, I thought this would be a movie about Angus Scrimm's character in the Phantasm movies...color me disappointed.
I'm excited for The Tall Man, can't wait for a trailer to pop up.
Agreed...sounds VERY "inspired" by the original PHANTASM, which makes me NOT interested (unless I see raves reviews about it later from trusted sources). I'll just watch the real, classic thing, frankly. I'm getting burnt out of neo-horror as well. Too much hype and strident, obvious filmmaking and not enough true craftsmanship and attention to tone and mood. HOUSE OF THE DEVIL was a standout from last year, and impressed me with it's attention to simple, classic, creepy storytelling. But when will I ever I watch it again? Maybe in a few years, if that. When will I watch the original 1981 MY BLOODY VALENTINE or Carpenter's THE FOG? Likely with the next month or sooner. Neil Marshall's DOOMSDAY? NEVER again. Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK? Tonight! I Hit 40 years old this year and I now realize that life is too short to try to dig for gold only to sift through and find limestone gravel 80% of the time. Which is why I visit your terrific site on a weekly/daily basis: if anyone can locate a little seen modern or retro horror gem, it's you, Stacie! And you'll warn me away from the tripe, which is an invaluable service. Now excuse me while I watch SHOCK WAVES for the 67th time...
Man, you guys are bumming me out. Having seen Laugier's two other films, I can officially say, dude knows how to make a movie. The notion of a tall man taking children doesn't have to be a Phantasm ripoff.
I say let's give it a chance to not suck. If his previous work is any indication, we'll be very grateful we didn't get all indignant about it.
Also, "The Tall Man"... those are three extremely vague words. Don Coscarelli doesn't like own them. Or I guess he might. But you get my point.
My favorite part of the big horror news blogging sites is when the film that they have been hyping for at least a year comes out and is either 1) bad and/or 2) does terribly at the box office. Then they write about how bad the film is and/or write a panicked post that says "get ready for more PG-13 horror!"
It's about that time of the year where all large film news blogging sites jump the shark and posts like the aforementioned become more prevalent. I stopped reading the big horror news blogs about 1.5 years ago. I should probably stop reading the regular film news blogs until March.
Whoo! I just noticed it also stars Stephe McHattie, who pretty much rocked my face off in Pontypool, so I am DOWN, mofos!
I'm definitely looking forward to this one.
Not to mention the upcoming LIVID, the next film from the makers of INSIDE.
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