Review: "The Omen" Remake is Very 666

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 126 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Omen (2006)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for disturbing violent content, graphic images, and some language
DIRECTOR: John Moore
WRITER: David Seltzer
PRODUCERS: Glenn Williamson and John Moore
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jonathan Sela
EDITOR: Dan Zimmerman
COMPOSER: Marco Beltrami

HORROR/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Giovanni Lombardo, Reggie Austin, Tonya Graves, and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick

The subject of this movie review is The Omen, a 2006 horror thriller. This film, which is also known as The Omen: 666, is a remake of the 1976 horror film, The Omen. This remake is written by David Seltzer who also wrote the screenplay for the 1976 film.

Venerated movie critic Roger Ebert (the only writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for writing film criticism) says that the new movie, The Omen, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, is faithful to that original. It’s been well over 25 years since I’ve seen the 1976 flick, so I can’t say with certainty. However, David Seltzer, who wrote the first film, has also written the remake, and I remember enough to say that at least this new flick creeped me out just as the original did.

Robert Thorn (Liev Schreiber) is a young American diplomat in Rome, awaiting the birth of his first child by his wife, Katherine (Julia Stiles). He arrives at the hospital, where the presiding priest, one Father Spiletto (Giovanni Lombardo), informs Robert that Katherine had an extremely difficult delivery, during which their infant son died. The priest also tells him that Katherine doesn’t know that their child died. He reports to Robert that another woman delivered the same time Katherine went into labor, and while that mother died during delivery, her son survived. Father Spiletto implores Robert to take this other infant as his own son, but not tell Katherine that this isn’t her infant. God won’t mind this little deception, the priest tells Robert.

Five years later, the Thorns’ son, the mystery infant they named Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), is a brooding, peculiar child who seems to be, from the point of view of his mother, the nexus of strange events. Katherine feels detached from the child, and she insists that Robert hire a nanny to help her with the boy. Into their lives arrives Mrs. Blaylock (Mia Farrow), who seems as strange as Damien. They mostly ignore the weirdness in their lives, especially Robert, but when Father Brennan (Pete Postlethwaite), a frantic priest with a haunted air and haunted look about him, continually gives Robert dire warnings about Damien, the newly minted U.S. Ambassador starts to have his own misgivings. With the help of a photographer, Keith Jennings (David Thewlis), Robert is about to discover his son’s true origins and a secret so dire that the fate of mankind may hang in the balance.

The Omen is an adult psychological thriller, a supernatural suspense story in the tradition of Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and of course the 1976 version of The Omen. Recent films of that type include such box office stumbles as End of Days, Lost Souls, and The Ninth Gate. Director John Moore takes the few changes the new movie makes to the original flick and uses them to create a creepy film with a narrative haunted by the proverbial ominous future. Known for directing commercials before helming such films as Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Moore blends composer Marco Beltrami’s eerie score with his own visual gumbo of ghostly locales and engaging, but troubled characters. Moore and his crew turn their filming locations in Italy, Ireland, Croatia, and the Czech Republic into places where the supernatural is quite natural: an isolated monastery reachable only by traveling across a midst covered lake; an ancient underground Hebrew village; the forlorn mansion in which the Thorns live, and a weird Etruscan graveyard, etc.

Moore also gets superb performances from his cast, each one giving his character that something extra that makes him or her much more appealing than the standard horror movie victim. Schreiber adds of touch of Laurence Olivier circa Rebecca to Robert Thorn, while Julia Stiles is riveting and spot-on as Katherine, a mother so terrified of her child that it leads to dreams filled with terrible apparitions. Mia Farrow is the ultimate witch-hag evil nanny – all wide-eyed with intense devotion to her evil charge and a stone cold face surrounded by thick mane of hair. As for Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Damien, it’s scary that a child actor can play the bad seed so well. Seamus’s Damien is a soul spoiled - just pure rotten, like bad meat surrounded by an evil presence. Pete Postlethwaite and David Thewlis also strike the perfect notes in their respective supporting character parts.

I would compare The Omen to the 2005 film, The Skeleton Key. Both are entertaining supernatural thrillers aimed at an older crowd, each one at times a little illogical and having holes in both concept and execution. Good, but not great, The Omen delivers not less, but a little more than it promises.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Razzie Awards: 1 nomination: “Worst Supporting Actor” (David Thewlis, also for Basic Instinct 2)

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Star Trek: TNG Reunion Heads to the Big Easy

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' 25-Year Reunion Set for Wizard World New Orelans As Main Cast Members Join Patrick Stewart, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2

Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden Added To Celebration At New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

NEW YORK and NEW ORLEANS, October 3, 2012 – It has been 25 years since “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” hit the air. Now, seven main members of that historic show will reunite as Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data) and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) will attend Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2 at New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

The series, which ran for seven seasons from 1987 through 1994, garnered 18 daytime Emmys and was a hugely successful follow-up to the original “Star Trek” from two decades earlier. The seven stars are also scheduled to appear at this month's Austin Comic Con in what would be the first gathering of the group in the U.S. since “TNG” first aired.

Stewart is scheduled to appear on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1-2, while the rest of the cast is slotted for attendance all three days. Weekend fans will have the unique opportunity to pose for a photo op with all seven actors.

Other standouts on the Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con celebrity roster include comics legend Stan Lee, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Eliza Dushku, Reservoir Dogs headliner Michael Madsen and WWE® Superstar CM Punk®. They will be joined by an All-Star collection of well-known artists and a variety of activities, exhibitors and special attractions in the final event on Wizard World's 2012 calendar.

Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, produced by Wizard World, Inc. (WIZD.PK), will bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more. Admission is free for kids 10 and under, and Sunday, Dec. 2, is “Kids Day,” filled with an array of programming specially designed for children.

For more on the 2012 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con, visit http://www.wizardworld.com/home-neworleans.html.


About Wizard World:
Wizard World produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests.

The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.


***** SAVE THE 2012-13 DATES *****
October 26-28, 2012 – Wizard World Austin Comic Con
November 30 - December 2, 2012 – Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con
February 22-24, 2013 – Wizard World Portland Comic Con
May 30 - June 2, 2013 – Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con
August 8-11, 2013 – Wizard World Chicago Comic Con
September 20-22, 2013 – Wizard World Ohio Comic Con

"V for Vendetta" Surprisingly Both Safe and Edgy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 91 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


V for Vendetta (2006)
Running time: 132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence and some language
DIRECTORS: James McTeigue
WRITERS: The Wachowski Brothers (based upon the DC/Vertigo graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd)
PRODUCERS: Joel Silver, Grant Hill, and Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Biddle
EDITOR: Martin Walsh
COMPOSER: Dario Marianelli

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Pigott-Smith, and Rupert Graves

The subject of this movie review is V for Vendetta, a 2006 dystopian film and science fiction thriller directed by James McTeigue. The film is produced by the team behind The Matrix, producer Joel Silver and the brothers, Andy and Larry Wachowski, who also wrote this film’s screenplay. This movie is based on the comic book, V for Vendetta, which was written by Alan Moore and drawn by David Lloyd.

In a futuristic Britain ruled by a totalitarian government, represented by Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt), a terrorist freedom fighter who calls himself “V” (Hugo Weaving) begins his campaign to wake up his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and throw off the yoke of oppression by blowing up a landmark building. As incomparably charismatic as he is ferociously skilled in the arts of combat and deception, V has secretly obtained a seemingly inexhaustible supply of explosives, hacked his way into the government’s information network (BTN – British Television Network), and built a well-supplied infrastructure that allows him to move and do as he pleases.

V also dresses in black combat gear wrapped in a flowing dark cloak. Best of all, he wears a sweetly creepy Guy Fawkes mask. V encounters Evey (Natalie Portman), a young woman whose parents were killed by the government, and though she at first resists, Evey becomes an unlikely ally in V’s final plot to bring down a cruel, corrupt, and ultimately evil government.

[Guy Fawkes was part of “The Gunpowder Plot,” a Catholic plan to overthrow the English Parliament in 1605. Fawkes was hanged for planting explosives in the Parliament buildings. London revelers celebrate “Guy Fawkes Day” on November 5th and wear stylized masks of Fawke’s mustachioed and bearded face.]

V for Vendetta is the latest comic book to get a big screen adaptation. In the original comic book series (eventually collected in book form – a graphic novel – by DC Comics), which was written by Alan Moore and drawn by David Lloyd, V represented anarchy and the British government was fascist. Written in the 1980’s, the government of V for Vendetta was a stand-in for the government of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In the film, the British government is more totalitarian, but retains a dash of fascism. However, the movie version of the character V is more about democracy and government by the people – a government that answers directly to the ordinary, everyday person – and uses terror and bombings to destabilize the deceitful government. By showing the government for what it is – evil and corrupt – V hopes to make the people rise up. The V of the comic book wanted to put an end to all governments in favor of anarchy, which is a political theory that believes the highest attainment of humanity is not to be free, unhindered by any kind of outside repression or control.

This film adaptation of V for Vendetta is written and co-produced by The Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry), creators of The Matrix. They maintained the comic book’s London setting, but instead of British government is just a stand-in for the administration of President George W. Bush. The viewer doesn’t need to be politically astute to catch the allusions. In fact, of the film’s sub-plot turns on a horrific terrorist attack that happens in the movie’s history (or back story). The terrorists use a biological weapon that causes the death of 100,000 people – this is clearly a nod at 9/11. In fact, The Wachowskis’ script goes so far to suggest that the terrorists who launched the attack were actually high government officials who used the fear and aftermath of the attack to take control of the country. Conspiracy theorists also believe that 9/11 was orchestrated by the Bush Administration to launch foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as use fear of terror to strengthen its power at home.

Alan Moore, who has seen two of his other comic books/graphic novels – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, turned into films that were not faithful to his comics, was livid about the changes the Wachowskis made to his work and demanded that his name be removed from the project.

The movie itself is very much like a comic book, but that isn’t meant in the pejorative sense. V for Vendetta the movie is full of the kind wild and crazy ideas that comics from the 1940’s and 60’s were so good at introducing. This is all played at with a pop culture sensitivity. Directed by John McTeigue (the “first assistant director” on all three Matrix films and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, among others), V is impressionistic and is meant to hit the audience’s heart by playing with its emotions; that is done by showing the government and its agents committing senseless acts of barbaric cruelty, not only against loyal citizens, but against anyone who is different of thinks differently (freethinkers, homosexuals, protesters, etc.). V speaks of ideas and words, and that’s how the film appeals to the intellect. It’s always giving the viewer something to think about between the cool looking scenes of fighting and of storm troopers, shock troops, and police knocking down doors and knocking heads. It can make you wonder about how much the government lies and tries to manipulate. For added fun, there is even a Bill O’Reilly-like big mouth hollering about faith and unity.

The key to enjoying V for Vendetta is V himself. The other characters are alright, but it’s clear that neither the Wachowskis nor the director love them as much as they love V. In fact, Natalie Portman may be a really fine actress – even a great stage actress, as some say – but her Evey pales next to V, even though she does some good work here and has some scenes that allow her to press her serious actress button real hard.

Played by Hugo Weaving (the evil agent, Mr. Smith, in The Matrix films), V is like Batman in a music video version of George Orwell’s novel, 1984. Although we hear Weaving’s voice, he is always in costume and we never see his face (or body, for that matter). Moving gracefully, sometimes subtle, and sometimes with stylized exaggeration, Weaving shows us how truly cool it looks to wear a costume with a cape and a mask and be the mystery man in the shadows fighting tyranny and oppression. Weaving’s voice and movements turn the Guy Fawkes mask that V wears into an enchanted jester’s face that mocks fear, apathy, and weakness. Weaving’s V makes you want to stand up, be strong, and cast off the chains of oppression and the net of ignorance. Underneath that mask and beneath that costume is a spirit, an essence of a free mind and a free ass.

And though, the V for Vendetta film is sometimes shaky with a narrative that goes all over the place, and though it is a movie with more ideas than it can handle, this movie is bold and audacious. It is a dangerous comic book brought to life as a series of bold and explosive “View Master” reels. It is as sly as it is clumsy, and it is as daring in its ideas as it is confused. V for Vendetta plays it safe, but only a little, while criticizing (our) government, but it gets in enough digs to make us think.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, April 28, 2006

"Family Guy" Creator Seth MacFarlane to Host Oscars

SETH MacFARLANE TO HOST 85TH OSCARS®

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Seth MacFarlane will host the 85th Academy Awards®, telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. This will be MacFarlane's first appearance on Oscar's stage. The 85th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on Oscar® Sunday, February 24, on the ABC Television Network.

"We are thrilled to have Seth MacFarlane host the Oscars. His performing skills blend perfectly with our ideas for making the show entertaining and fresh," said Zadan and Meron. "He will be the consummate host, and we are so happy to be working with him."

"It's truly an overwhelming privilege to be asked to host the Oscars," said MacFarlane. "My thoughts upon hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and two, I hope they don't find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen Roast."

"Seth is unbelievably talented," said Academy President Hawk Koch. "We couldn't be happier with the creative team we've assembled. With Craig, Neil, and now Seth, we're off to a great start."

MacFarlane made his feature directorial debut this summer with the box office success "Ted. "He also co-wrote and produced the film, and voiced the title character. "Ted" has brought in over $420 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

MacFarlane is the creative force behind the television series "Family Guy" and co-creator of "American Dad!" and "The Cleveland Show. "In September he hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the first time, for the show's 38th season premiere. An accomplished live performer, MacFarlane has played to sold-out audiences at London's Royal Albert Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall.In 2011 he released his debut album, "Music Is Better Than Words," which earned two Grammy® nominations. He also has earned 13 Emmy® nominations and won two for his work on "Family Guy."

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®. Don Mischer will direct the telecast for the third consecutive time. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

"E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" Still a Wonder

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 76 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITER: Melissa Mathison
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Allen Daviau (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Carol Littleton
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award winner

SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/DRAMA

Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first release of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial to theatres (specifically June 11, 1982). E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is the story of an alienated boy and the stranded alien from another world he befriends. The boy must be brave if he is to help the extraterrestrial avoid authorities until he is rescued by his kin. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this Academy Award-winning, science fiction and fantasy drama surpassed Star Wars as the highest-grossing film of all time, and it held that record for ten years until another Spielberg film, Jurassic Park, surpassed it.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial opens in a lush California forest where a group of diminutive aliens collect plant samples. One of them is mistakenly left behind and makes his way to a suburb near the forest. There, he takes up residence in a backyard shed, where he is found by 10-year-old Elliot (Henry Thomas). Elliot lives in a two-story home with his recently divorced mother, Mary (Dee Wallace); his older brother, 16-year-old Michael (Robert MacNaughton), and his little sister, 5-year-old Gertie (Drew Barrymore).

Elliot names his extraterrestrial foundling, “E.T.” Elliot and his siblings hide E.T. in their home, but Elliot soon discovers that in order to protect his friend, he must help him find a way home (“E.T. phone home”).

I had not watched E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in its entirety since I first saw it 30 years ago, back in June 1982. With the release of an anniversary edition Blu-ray, I decided to watch it again, and I’m simply amazed and flabbergasted. Over the years, I always thought that if I watched E.T. again that I might still like the movie, but certainly not as much as I did the first time I saw it. And I was quite taken with it back in ’82. I was practically heartbroken when it lost the best picture Oscar to Gandhi. In fact, I even thought that I might not like E.T. if I watched it again.

As Sir Richard Attenborough, the Oscar-winning director and producer of Gandhi once said, E.T. is inventive, powerful, and wonderful. There is a sense of magic and wonder that permeates the film, infused by Steven Spielberg, who spins this story as if he were part magical storyteller and part wizard. He pulls from his bag of tricks and makes everything work by using the magic of movies.

The film’s most famous sequence is probably the one in which Elliot and E.T. fly to the forest on Elliot’s bike. One of the moments in that sequence has the bike passing in front of a full moon, which has become an iconic moment in cinematic history. Actually, the great moment of magic in E.T. for me is when E.T., Elliot, Michael and their friends are on their bikes on the run from pursuing police. When it seems as if they have reached a dead end, E.T. uses his telekinesis to lift the bikes in the air towards the forest.

When I watched the movie recently, I knew that scene was coming; yet seeing it again, I lost my breath for a moment. This is a spellbinding sequence that still blows my mind and even makes my eyes a little misty. Yep, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is still magical. God willing, I’ll watch it in another 30 years and see if I’m still spellbound.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1983 Academy Awards: 4 wins: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Charles L. Campbell and Ben Burtt), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren, and Kenneth Smith), “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams), and “Best Sound” (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo, and Gene S. Cantamessa); 5 nominations: “Best Picture” (Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy), “Best Cinematography” (Allen Daviau), “Best Director” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Film Editing” (Carol Littleton), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Melissa Mathison)

1983 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Score” (John Williams); 11 nominations: “Best Direction” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Film” (Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy), “Best Cinematography” (Allen Daviau), “Best Film Editing” (Carol Littleton), “Best Make Up Artist” (Robert Sidell), “Best Production Design/Art Direction” (James D. Bissell), “Best Screenplay” (Melissa Mathison), “Best Sound” (Charles L. Campbell, Gene S. Cantamessa, Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, and Don Digirolamo), “Best Special Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren and Carlo Rambaldi), “Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” (Drew Barrymore), and “Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” (Henry Thomas)

1983 Golden Globes, USA: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (John Williams); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Melissa Mathison) and “New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Male” (Henry Thomas)

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Doug Liman/Tom Cruise Sci-Fi Film Due March 2014

Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt to Invade Theatres in a New Sci-Fi Thriller on March 14, 2014

From Director Doug Liman, the Film is Based on the Book All You Need is Kill

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The upcoming epic sci-fi thriller, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt and based on the book All You Need is Kill, will open on March 14, 2014, from Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Being directed by Doug Liman, the film is the first motion picture to be shot at the recently christened Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, and begins principal photography today, Monday, October 1.

The story unfolds in a near future in which a hive-like alien race, called Mimics, have hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, shredding great cities to rubble and leaving millions of human casualties in their wake. No army in the world can match the speed, brutality or seeming prescience of the weaponized Mimic fighters or their telepathic commanders. But now the world’s armies have joined forces for a last stand offensive against the alien horde, with no second chances.

Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and then dropped—untrained and ill-equipped—into what amounts to little more than a suicide mission. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an Alpha down with him. But, impossibly, he awakens back at the beginning of the same hellish day, and is forced to fight and die again…and again. Direct physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop—dooming him to live out the same brutal combat over and over.

But with each pass, Cage becomes tougher, smarter, and able to engage the Mimics with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt), who has lain waste to more Mimics than anyone on Earth. As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated battle becomes an opportunity to find the key to annihilating the alien invaders and saving the Earth.

Oscar® nominee Cruise (the “Mission: Impossible” films, “Collateral,” “Jerry Maguire”) and Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Adjustment Bureau”) lead an international cast that also includes Bill Paxton (“Aliens,” HBO’s “Big Love”), Jonas Armstrong (BBC TV’s “Robin Hood”), Tony Way (HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Kick Gurry (Australian TV’s “Tangle”), Franz Drameh (“Attack the Block”), Dragomir Mrsic (“Snabba Cash II”), and Charlotte Riley (“World Without End”).

Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) is directing the film from a screenplay by Dante Harper, Christopher McQuarrie and Joby Harold, based on the acclaimed novel All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Erwin Stoff (“The Blind Side,” “I Am Legend”), Gregory Jacobs (“Contagion”) and Jeffrey Silver (“300”) are the producers. The executive producers are Jason Hoffs, Joby Harold, Doug Liman, Dave Bartis, Tom Lassally, Hidemi Fukuhara, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Alex Garcia and Bruce Berman, with Tim Lewis and Kim Winther serving as co-producers. (Credits are not final.)

The behind-the-scenes team includes Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dion Beebe (“Memoirs of a Geisha”), production designer Oliver Scholl (“Jumper,” “Independence Day”), editor James Herbert (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”), costume designer Kate Hawley (upcoming “Pacific Rim”), and Oscar®-nominated visual effects supervisor Nick Davis (“The Dark Knight”).

The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Stay Alive: Good Movie, Poor Title

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Stay Alive (2006)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for horror violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual and drug content
DIRECTOR: William Brent Bell
WRITERS: Matthew Peterman and William Brent Bell
PRODUCERS: McG, Matthew Peterman, Gary Barber, and Roger Birnbaum, Peter Schlessel, and James D. Stern
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alejandro Martinez
EDITOR: Harvey Rosenstock and Mark Stevens
COMPOSER: John Frizzell

HORROR

Starring: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, Adam Goldberg, Rio Hackford, Milo Ventimiglia, and Maria Kalinina

The subject of this movie review is Stay Alive, a 2006 horror film released by Hollywood Pictures, a Walt Disney Pictures production label. The film is directed by William Brent Bell, and McG (who directed the Charlie’s Angels films) is one of the film’s producers. Stay Alive follows a group of teens who enter the world of an online video game in order to solve the mystery of their friend’s death.

After the mysterious and brutal murder of his childhood best friend, Loomis Crowley (Milo Ventimiglia), Hutch MacNeil (Jon Foster) inherits “Stay Alive,” a test copy of a next generation, first person shooter, horror survival game that Loomis had. The game is based on the true story (only in the movie) of “The Blood Countess,” an 18th century New Orleans noblewoman who ran a boarding school for girls. It was later discovered that the countess was a witch and that she would torture and murder her students.

Hutch gathers a group of friends and fellow gamers to play Stay Alive, but they don’t know anything about the game other than that they shouldn’t have this test copy. Soon after playing the grisly game, Hutch and his friends discover a chilling connection: they are being murdered one-by-one by the same method by which the characters they play are murdered in Stay Alive. In fact, the game has blurred the line between the real world and the world of Stay Alive. Now, the gamers must unravel the mystery of The Blood Countess to defeat her because that’s the only way they are going to stay alive.

The advertising campaign for the new horror film, Stay Alive, suggests that the movie is a gruesome horror show about a gang of youngsters playing an equally gruesome horror video game. In order to get a “PG-13” rating, the filmmakers toned down what should be the goriest scenes, or perhaps the gore exists and will show up in an “unrated” DVD release. However, what does exist on film is quite good. Stay Alive is a goofy, fun horror flick that is way too unsettling and creepy at time. Director William Brent Bell has even mastered the jump-out-at-you tricks.

The film doesn’t really go into the gaming sub-culture, which is disappointing. The characters are contrived and hackneyed (I did like Frankie Muniz’s Swink Sylvania), and the plot has some holes. Still, this is a better video game movie than the mediocre adaptation of a real first person shooter game, Doom. The gaming sequences are convincing, and I certainly wanted to be in the game with Hutch and his friends. The sound effects and computer animated ghosts mixed with the idea of the supernatural creeping through our electronic entertainment makes this film kind of like an American version of such recent Japanese horror films as Ringu or Pulse. It also gives a nod to such apocalyptic scary movies as In the Mouth of Madness and Season of the Witch and video games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

In the final analysis, Stay Alive is a fun “gotcha” horror flick that combines the typical elements of a slasher film that has a supernatural boogieman (such as Halloween), and those are a youthful cast as the victims, a merciless killer, and lots of bumps in the night. In that case, Stay Alive is not as good as the best of that horror sub-genre, but it’s still good.

6 of 10
B

Friday, March 31, 2006