Alternative Cinema Blog

Welcome to Alternative Cinema Blog, a place that I hope one day becomes a community where we can all discuss film, television, and all kinds of media. Until that day comes I'll just sit here and type to whoever will read, so let's talk about horror films (or anything else). About the author: Brandon runs this blog, he also lives within the borders of the good ol' U.S. of A. He calls the state of Kentucky his home. Brandon loves film, especially horror films. He tries to make his own but always gets side tracked. His favorite thing ever is probably HBO's Six Feet Under. He writes things for this blog to ease his day. Yes, he did just write this in 3rd person, I know...screw him.

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Alternative Cinema Blog

IS MOVING?!?! (bum bum bumm)

I have decided to box up my things and change homes with this blog. I thank all of the people who stop to read this little blog. I will also keep this one here for a bit, just until I get settled in at the new place. Please come and visit me at Alternative Cinema Blog. I may even end up just mirroring posts from each blog for a little while, but again, please come check out the new one, or don't. It's still the same old hack writing and narrow point of view.  

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Godzilla (2014) - Reviewed

Godzilla (2014) has finally arrived to cinemas. I have eagerly awaited the release of the film since the final credits of Pacific Rim scrolled out of the screen. This Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards, is a Godzilla that the franchise will be happy to list among it's filmography. Godzilla himself looks better than he ever has in my opinion. He is a hulking monster.

To tell you guys the truth though, I really wanted to like this movie a lot, but I just couldn't. Edwards kills his most interesting character, and most skilled actor, in the first act. This approach to film making confuses me. Ken Watanabe was not very good in this film. Not that it is his fault. Bad acting, in my opinion, usually falls on the shoulders of the director.

I will commend Edward's approach to the monster's reveal. Taking the Jaws route, he doesn't really show you the kaiju until the third act. This works both for and against this movie though. Waiting for an epic reveal of the monster is a great idea but filling that time with other boring monsters doesn't work for me. If the other monster had been an old staple like Mothra or Gamera it would be a different story but Muto is just boring. I will probably go see this one again and will keep an open mind. 

My verdict: If you're a big kaiju film fan, a fan of giant scenes of destruction, or war movies, go check it out. If you're a casual fan of the big lizard though, ehh the hell with it, go see it anyway. Get out of the damn house. 

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A badass new poster for Godzilla. Seems like they really went for the classic Godzilla look, I'm pumped for this one. 

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R.I.P.

Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away yesterday at the age of 46 but leaves behind a great career full of top notch acting. He was always the bright spot of any movie he appeared in. I only wish he could have had a few more movies where he was the lead role. Every time I watch Almost Famous I am spending most of the movie looking forward to the "We're Uncool" speech. He seemed like a good guy outside of the cinema as well. Rest in peace. 

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Who's Ready for Knights of Badassdom

Knights of Badassdom will finally be released for home video on April 1st. This is good news. I have been waiting for the release of this movie for awhile now and it's date is approaching. KoB tells the story of some live action role players who unwittingly release a demon from Hell. It is directed by Joe Lynch, who is pretty much a horror geek like the rest of us, and features an impressive cast, including: Peter Dinklage, Ryan Kwanten, Steve Zahn, Danny Pudi, and Margarita Levieva. I remember reading that the studio may have edited the film poorly for it's theatrical cut so hopefully the home release will have Lynch's vision. 

Here's the trailer:

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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a show that everyone I know watches and loves and for some damn reason that bothers me. I do not like the culture that surrounds the series, which is bothersome because I actually enjoy the show myself. I can not deny that the series has some compelling characters and story lines (I also love the comic books and own all of them). In fact, the reason for my coldness to the show is admittedly a petty one. I don't want zombies to be popular. This irks me and I believe that it is what irks some of the horror community as well. I do not want soccer moms with "zombies on board" stickers stamped to the back of their mini-vans, on their way to their white bread neighborhoods. The living dead, in its perfect vision (See: Romero's Dead Trilogy) is something that these type of people would be disgusted by. There are no places for teenage girls to gain crushes on characters in this world. This is a gritty place, a place that has real character. Does anyone else have this weird/selfish problem with this show? 

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Penny Dreadful

I haven't read much about this upcoming show from Showtime but the trailer looks a little promising and I think Josh Hartnett deserves a few more doses of horror, so i'll probably be tuning in. 

Bloody-Disgusting has more.

Here's the trailer:

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Location, Location, Location - Why George Romero is the King of Locale

A film can take you to wonderful and magical places, unimaginable locations, or legendary battlefields in the past . George Romero took us to a farm house. Alien, Starwars, and Gravity took us to the vast and open space, where anything could happen, discoveries could be made. George Romero took us to a mall. See what I'm getting at here? George Romero has kept his feet tied to the earth and more specifically, the places he and we know. He has never had the need to go to space (or the budget) and that is fine because his locations are somewhere every director wants to reach: in our memory and our subconscious. Like the ghouls in Dawn of the Dead, we are drawn to the setting because it is a setting we are familiar with. Not to mention Romero presents it beautifully. 

Every time that I walk in a mall I am reminded this scene and this movie. For me, every mall has just a little bit of Monroeville Mall in it. This is one reason that Dawn of the Dead works so well on many levels. We're not some where fancy or new, we're in our home town, our city, a place we really know and it's infested with the living dead.

Another thing I love about Romero's dead films is the fact that the characters are never safe. Obstacles, such as greed and pride parade on the inside while hell awaits outside and the door is starting to give. George never really gave his characters in Night of the Living Dead a chance. An isolated farm house, anyone who has grown up in a rural area has seen and been in many of these, begins as a place of defense for a small group of people, a place where two characters are fighting for their survival but ends as a tragic example of politics in war times. One party is always right while the ideas of the other will surely end in destruction. This is a narrative that reflects upon our culture in many ways, yet it is all being held within an old farm house. 

These are just two examples of Romero's ability to really use a setting. The legendary director has more examples of a setting controlling the story and the action on screen. One example that comes to mind is the opening scene in the film Martin. The film opens on a moving train. Romero does not reveal much of the train to the audience, he doesn't have to, the audience understands this (many directors resort to force feeding the audience visual proof). As the train rolls at a high pace Martin is making slow moves toward a female bunking alone. The shadows that the train leave, momentarily hiding Martin's face are an insight to the dark past of the boy and his family. The rest of the film revolves around the small Pittsburgh town of Braddock. Braddock is a town that seems sitting on the fence between a nice, small town where neighbors greet each other while picking up the paper and a place that has exactly no hope left. This town also helps to highlight Martin's struggles between a normal boy and a blood sucking vampire, he too is on the proverbial fence. 

Anyways, I just thought that I would write a little piece on Romero's ability to use a setting to further the narrative of a story. He really is a master at this and has lots of other examples, some quick ones from the top of my head (you can link the settings to the story) are: the underground bunker in Day of the Dead, the small rural town in The Crazies, and home that houses the quadriplegic Jason and a monkey in Monkey Shines.  

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Enjoy thirteen and a half minutes of our favorite high school counselor Atticus Murphy Jr.

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A Look Into George Romero's Empire of the Dead

George Romero will never leave the dead alone. He has returned to the zombie genre once again to focus on a comic book series and it looks promising. Written by Romero himself and illustrated by Eisner Award winner Alex Maleev, the series will focus on an on going war between the living dead and vampires with humans in-between. This is certainly a fresh take on the zombie genre, especially considering The Walking Dead pretty much own the zombie comic genre (although George did do the Toe Tags series in the past). I am certainly looking forward to it's release this coming Wednesday.

Here's a link to some pages and more info:

Marvel News

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Horror 2013 - Photo Retrospective

If I have missed any that you think should be on here just comment and tell me how stupid I am. 

Bad Milo!

Carrie

Curse of Chucky

The Conjuring

Dark Skies

Evil Dead 

Frankenstein's Army

Hatchet 3

Aftershock

The Last Exorcism Part 2

Stitches

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Maniac 

Stoker

The Battery

The Lords of Salem

We Are What We Are

Byzantium

You're Next

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I can't wait to check out Cheap Thrills, it has a fun cast and team and looks terrific. 

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Awesomeness. 

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Happy Birthday to the Devil (in Regan)

And I'm the Devil. Now kindly undo these straps...

40 years ago today William Friedkin's The Exorcist was released upon the United States. The film frightened the entire country. Based on William Peter Blatty's novel by the same name (a novel he wrote while recevieving unemployment benefits), the movie, in my opinion, stands at the peak of the horror film genre. I really think it is the most terrifying film of all time. Each time a character steps foot into the house, let alone climbing the stairs, a sense of dread spills over the audience. We the audience are afraid of a small girl who lays upstairs. I have often wondered if non-religious people are also frightened by the film, an answer I think is probably yes because the film also serves as the best monster movie of all time. I mean, this is Dick Smith's magnum opus, not only because of Regan's fantastic look but also because the fact that Max von Sydow was only 40 years old when he played Father Merrin, who is presumed to be about 70 years old. During your first watch could you ever believe that man was only 40?

Now go celebrate this great film, go watch The Exorcist. 

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The trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has arrived. It features Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke seemingly about to do battle with the apes.