Recently, I watched the movie "Warm Bodies", the latest of the zombie craze movies. And while I really enjoyed it, and thought it brought something new to the genera, I wonder if it represents a tipping point in this current fad.
I've said before that I think we're about to reach our saturation point with zombie movies. We've already seen it happen with vampire movies, hitting its nexus with the Twilight series. Again, its not that I think the movie was bad: it was a basic retelling of the "Romeo and Juliet" story, the movie even going so far as to name the main characters "Julie" and "R", and just in case subtlety isn't your thing, "R's" best friend, played by Rob Cordry, was named "Marcus". The cinematography was quite stunning, and the two leads delivered admirable performances.
But, this film really went out of its way to play it safe. (Spoilers) Everyone, including "R's" best friend "Marcus" survived to the end. For a zombie movie, it never felt like the stakes were ever that high, not nearly "post-apocalypses" high, in any case. But, never the less, the film makers pulled this off without making the film taste overly saccharine. It really played as a movie about alienation, and resolved itself leaving you with a feeling of hope.
It was a zombie movie that just happened to hit a "main-stream" vibe. But now that that box has been opened, it gives the green-light for more of its ilk, a prettied-up vision of the undead, to be made, and made without heart. And that's when you know you've come to the end of a cycle, when the rawness is completely forsaken for things that are pretty and unoffensive, when the risk of alienating anyone with things that are too dark or too scary is replaced by things that are lukewarm and average.
I want to say again, I really liked warm bodies. It was a movie with heart and soul. And perhaps if it had been released a bit earlier in this generation of zombie films, I might not see it as the prophesier of doom for the genre itself. But we've been heading here for a while. I think the undead still have a few more chances to bring us some bite this cycle. I would compare this one to the "Underworld" series in terms of timing: marking only the beginning of the end, which, as you know, in Hollywood time can be stretched out for quite some time.
I love me some zombie flicks, and even if this cycle is about to return to the underground, I know it will be back someday. After all, isn't that what being a zombie is all about?
Cody Hobbs
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
An adaptation fit for a King
About a week ago, I got wind that NBC has green-lit a new interpretation of Stephen King's "Tommy Knockers". While I haven't read the book, I can say it's definitely one of my least favorite screen adaptations of Stephen King's work. Heck, I'd even say I down right despise that one. And coming in October, the silver screen is looking to bring things full circle with King's first adapted work, "Carrie". So I figured this is the appropriate time to reflect on some of my favorite, and least favorite King-sized adaptations.
I can pinpoint my love of horror, and heck, my passion to writing, back to the very first horror film I ever watched-- "Children of the Corn". I was only five at the time, and aside from scaring the pants off of me, it opened me up to a whole new world of story telling. Looking back all these years later, the movie hardly holds the test of time, but I think it gets enough right, especially for its time, that I don't think I'm remiss in still holding fond memories for it.
During my preteen years, I developed a full on obsession with "The Shining". I remember catching the original Kubrick version on T.V., and it was the first time I really started to look at the art of film-making itself, paying attention to things like camera angles and lighting, and really noticing how the score of a film ties things together and sets the ambiance. (And I think that the score to the original "Shining" is perhaps one of the greatest in horror-film history) Just after I had finished reading the book, I was thrilled to see in T.V. Guide that ABC was producing and airing redux of "The Shining". I collected every T.V. Guide special that featured a making of story, and read, and re-read interviews with the King about his distaste for the original (today, it's one of my favorite movies of all time), and how he liked that this time they were going to be more faithful to the source material. While I find the remake abysmal now, I loved it at the time, recording all three parts on VHS, and watching them so much the tape stopped playing.
I went threw a phase where I would rent a new King-adapted film every chance I could from the video store. And though the majority rank somewhere just below b-movie status, I gobbled them up, and cherished them just the same. Watching "Pet Cemetery", I remember falling in love with Fred Gwynne's performance as Jud Crandall, being hypnotized by the slow, melodious tone of his voice.
The first Stephen King movie I watched in theaters was "Delores Claiborne". It expanded my expectations for what King, and the "horror" genera could deliver. It was after watching that one that I tracked down "Misery", and learned what a brilliant actress could bring to a marvelous character. After that, I'd never look at acting in those types of movies the same.
Stephen King is one of the authors that inspired me to want to write, to want to tell stories, and his film adaptations gave me a curiosity into wanting to translate that visually. I know this may seem like a somewhat random posting, but this is a random blog, so bear with. As I work more on the stories and scripts of my own, sometimes it's nice to reminisce and take a look back where it all started. And for me, it was following in the footsteps of "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"...
I can pinpoint my love of horror, and heck, my passion to writing, back to the very first horror film I ever watched-- "Children of the Corn". I was only five at the time, and aside from scaring the pants off of me, it opened me up to a whole new world of story telling. Looking back all these years later, the movie hardly holds the test of time, but I think it gets enough right, especially for its time, that I don't think I'm remiss in still holding fond memories for it.
During my preteen years, I developed a full on obsession with "The Shining". I remember catching the original Kubrick version on T.V., and it was the first time I really started to look at the art of film-making itself, paying attention to things like camera angles and lighting, and really noticing how the score of a film ties things together and sets the ambiance. (And I think that the score to the original "Shining" is perhaps one of the greatest in horror-film history) Just after I had finished reading the book, I was thrilled to see in T.V. Guide that ABC was producing and airing redux of "The Shining". I collected every T.V. Guide special that featured a making of story, and read, and re-read interviews with the King about his distaste for the original (today, it's one of my favorite movies of all time), and how he liked that this time they were going to be more faithful to the source material. While I find the remake abysmal now, I loved it at the time, recording all three parts on VHS, and watching them so much the tape stopped playing.
I went threw a phase where I would rent a new King-adapted film every chance I could from the video store. And though the majority rank somewhere just below b-movie status, I gobbled them up, and cherished them just the same. Watching "Pet Cemetery", I remember falling in love with Fred Gwynne's performance as Jud Crandall, being hypnotized by the slow, melodious tone of his voice.
The first Stephen King movie I watched in theaters was "Delores Claiborne". It expanded my expectations for what King, and the "horror" genera could deliver. It was after watching that one that I tracked down "Misery", and learned what a brilliant actress could bring to a marvelous character. After that, I'd never look at acting in those types of movies the same.
Stephen King is one of the authors that inspired me to want to write, to want to tell stories, and his film adaptations gave me a curiosity into wanting to translate that visually. I know this may seem like a somewhat random posting, but this is a random blog, so bear with. As I work more on the stories and scripts of my own, sometimes it's nice to reminisce and take a look back where it all started. And for me, it was following in the footsteps of "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)