April 24, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
BYOB Weekend: Hop, An April Fool’s Gag?
| Friday | Screens | % Chg | Cume | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Gross | Thtr | % Chgn | Cume |
| Venom | 33 | 4250 | NEW | 33 |
| A Star is Born | 15.7 | 3686 | NEW | 15.7 |
| Smallfoot | 3.5 | 4131 | -46% | 31.3 |
| Night School | 3.5 | 3019 | -63% | 37.9 |
| The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls | 1.8 | 3463 | -43% | 49.5 |
| A Simple Favor | 1 | 2408 | -50% | 46.6 |
| The Nun | 0.75 | 2264 | -52% | 111.5 |
| Hell Fest | 0.6 | 2297 | -70% | 7.4 |
| Crazy Rich Asians | 0.6 | 1466 | -51% | 167.6 |
| The Predator | 0.25 | 1643 | -77% | 49.3 |
| Also Debuting | ||||
| The Hate U Give | 0.17 | 36 | ||
| Shine | 85,600 | 609 | ||
| Exes Baggage | 75,900 | 62 | ||
| NOTA | 71,300 | 138 | ||
| 96 | 61,600 | 62 | ||
| Andhadhun | 55,000 | 54 | ||
| Afsar | 45,400 | 33 | ||
| Project Gutenberg | 36,000 | 17 | ||
| Love Yatri | 22,300 | 41 | ||
| Hello, Mrs. Money | 22,200 | 37 | ||
| Studio 54 | 5,300 | 1 | ||
| Loving Pablo | 4,200 | 15 |
| 3-Day Estimates | Weekend | % Chg | Cume |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Good Dead | 24.4 (11,230) | NEW | 24.4 |
| Dolphin Tale 2 | 16.6 (4,540) | NEW | 16.6 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 7.9 (2,550) | -23% | 305.8 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 4.8 (1,630) | -26% | 181.1 |
| The Drop | 4.4 (5,480) | NEW | 4.4 |
| Let's Be Cops | 4.3 (1,570) | -22% | 73 |
| If I Stay | 4.0 (1,320) | -28% | 44.9 |
| The November Man | 2.8 (1,030) | -36% | 22.5 |
| The Giver | 2.5 (1,120) | -26% | 41.2 |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | 2.5 (1,270) | -21% | 49.4 |
Review: Little Women (no spoilers) - The Hot Blog
Box Office First Look - The Hot Blog
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree - The Hot Blog
Anybody tried out Flickchart? It’s more addictive than crack.
Well, presumably.
I’d heard great things about “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” on this site (if I’m remembering accurately) and elsewhere. Finally saw it and it was even more bizarrely funny than I’d heard. It’s on Sundance these days – well worth checking out.
How depressing is it that “Drag Me to Hell” will wind up with less than “The Haunting in Connecticut”, “My Bloody Valentine” or “The Unborn?” Just shows what a tough sell horror comedy is, even at the PG-13 level with a master of the genre, who also happens to be in the middle of directing one of the top-grossing franchises of all-time.
There’s some absolutely great gems out there that barely even got a theatrical release in the last few years– “Severance,” “The Signal,” “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane,” “The Rise of Leslie Vernon,” “Rogue,” “Teeth,” “Black Sheep,” “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (yes this is a real movie)”– that are almost completely ignored. If you seek out these films, I guarentee they stand among the very finest in the horror genre of the last 10 years or so. Even bad horror comedies (“Zombie Strippers” “The Tripper [a film about a seriel killer who dresses as Ronald Reagan]” and “Repo: The Genetic Opera” are infinitely more entertaining than most of the mainstream horror goop out there].
Yet even the films that find release mostly fail (“Slither,” “Grindhouse”) and the successful ones are usually only found as cult classics, such as “Shaun of the Dead.” Indeed, “Drag Me to Hell,” which will stall out at around 35-40 million domestic, will stand as the pinnacle of success for the sub-genre at the box office. Hell, the entire Evil Dead series made less than that combined, even adjusted for inflation!!
Why does horror-comedy fail? There’s two lines of thinking; the sub-genre is just a tough sell, and there’s no way around it. Or studios still haven’t found a way to market it.
I’m of the latter mind; audience reaction at the packed theatre I saw DMTH at was extremely positive, and even those turned off frequently gasped. Other than the reaction to the ending of “The Mist,” (100 people saying what the f*ck at once) I haven’t seen such a verbal reaction at a horror flick in years. As DP said last week; why didn’t this film target the same girls crap flicks like The Unborn do? If teen girls are smart enough to know they’re about to see tasty junk going into “Obsessed,” it isn’t much of a stretch…
More proof: “Teeth” has slowly been turning into a minor cult classic for college-age kids the last year or so. Almost everyone I know has seen it–and love it. There was no marketing campaign with this movie, so word of mouth alone has resulted in it meeting with any success whatsoever.
Any thoughts?
(my top ten horror films of the decade: Severance, 10. High Tension 9. The Signal, 8. Drag Me to Hell 7. The Devil’s Backbone 6. Hostel: Part II (sorry DP) 5. 28 Weeks Later 4. Severance 3. The Descent 2. Teeth 1. Pan’s Labyrinth/The Orphanage/Let the Right One In)
Drag Me would have had a better shot with Ellen Page, though I think Ms Lohman is better suited to the role. Either of the Jessicas might have worked better, financially, though they are not really Raimi’s type.
Thinking about it, Biel would have been well served by this role and her fight against the curser would have been even more dramatic because she looks like she could do some damage, though that was clearly not the direction Raimi was thinking… looking for a weak looking girl who has to toughen up. The boyfriend would also have had to be stronger. But that might have been a click more commercial.
But mostly… had to be sold to grrrrrrls.
I am also surprised by how much women like The Hangover.
BIEL POWER.
I didn’t get the sense “Drag Me” was particularly “sold” as horror-comedy… If anything, the ads and trailers were TOO intense for “grrrls,” who tend to prefer more of the accesibly spooky, watered-down J-horror vibe over the “freaky monsters and goo” type horror.
Since EthanG mentioned “The Unborn” (which I liked)… Are movies taking LONGER to DROP on DVD lately? The Unborn was a mid-January release, and the disc is nowhere in sight. Gran Torino is six months old and no DVD. Friday the 13th ’09 should’ve been out by now. Wasn’t there some WWII movie with Viggo Mortensen that came out for two days? Where’s that?
For a while there it was seeming like 12 weeks was the norm, at least for Sony. Now a LOT of stuff is taking the full five to six months. Is it 1987 again or something?
Who’s the other Jessica besides Biel?
Interesting list, Ethan, I thought Teeth was a good example of a pure cult title – a movie that isn’t great (certainly not #2 of the decade, for me) but is good enough to make a nice name for itself in word-of-mouth dissemination.
My top 5 horror movies for the decade so far:
1. Audition
2. Pulse (Kairo)
3. 28 Weeks Later
4. The Host
5. Drag Me to Hell
This was just a conversation on another site as well(s), people seem to prefer 28 Weeks to 28 days. Is this the consensus here?
“Who’s the other Jessica besides Biel?”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.
‘This was just a conversation on another site as well(s), people seem to prefer 28 Weeks to 28 days. Is this the consensus here?’
i don’t think so. before today i’m pretty sure jeff and i were the only fans of ’28 weeks’, and i prefer ‘days’ but dig ‘weeks’ mostly due to renner and byrne, and the epic opening sequence
I don’t think horror/comedy is a tough sell, I think audiences don’t care so much for it. People use the reasoning about the amazing audience reations at Drag Me To Hell but…of course it had a great reaction, these were probably horror and Raimi fans. With some regular people.
Although I also agree the movie wasn’t really sold as a comdey either…I wanted to see it with a couple of women but they didn’t want to because it looked too scary.
I tend to not want to watch horror comedies either. There’s a real fine line with the genre, and only a few do it well, I think. I mean, I sort of liked Poultrygeist in the retarded way it should be receieved, but there’s no reason to release that too wide, no one will care or show up besides horror or Troma fans.
Leslie Vernon…ugh. If anyone reads Outlaw Vern’s exlempary site, he spells out better than I could why that movie fails.
Best horror movies of 2000s in no particular order: Muholland Drive, What Lies Beneath, Session 9, Sweeney Todd (I’m barely counting this one as horror but fuck it I love this movie), The Ring, Signs, 28 Days Later, Joy Ride, Uzumaki, The Eye.
You could make good cases for stuff like Grindhouse but I hated Tarantino’s version, but the rest was aces. Dog Soldiers was horror comedy done well. Signal was good for the first third. I liked The Mist well enough btu the ending was so silly it can’t go on a top ten list. If anyone hasn’t seen the SHin Mimi series, some of those are great…they’re five minute ghost stories made in Japan. Loved The Grudge.
“Shaun of the Dead” a cult classic? Hell, it was a mainstream hit in the U.K. and the first release for Rogue Pictures in the States.
There must be a few around these parts who want to get chased with a cricket bat …
I’m with Jeff and Leah, 28 Weeks Later worked for me better than Days. It was a little more predictable but damn that opening sequence was rattling and it just left me primed for the experience.
OH shit, I gotta switch out The Eye for Shaun of the Dead. One of the best movies made, period, in the 2000s.
I hate 28 Weeks Later so much. It was the sequel they made for fans of The Saw movies who need stuff jumping out at them constantly. Some people say the last third of Days was stupid, but I think the entirety of Weeks is worse.
Oh yeah, The Ring. Completely forgot that, but Verbinski’s version is top ten for the decade, absolutely. And yeah, Shaun is good but I think of it more as a comedy than as a real ‘horror’ movie.
But Perm, come on, Weeks is significantly better than any of the Saw movies. For one thing, it actually has a plot. For another thing, it actually has craft and skill.
Two that come to mind no has (or probably will) mention…
Devil’s Rejects, though it’s debatable if that’s really a “horror” movie per se. But it’d probably make my 10 for the decade and represented one of the very few times if ever I go into a movie with moderate expectations and came out giddy like a schoolgirl.
The first hour to 70 minutes of Zombie’s Halloween. It’s enough of its own weird, disturbing, queasy movie that it doesn’t change any affection for the original or even necessitate a comparative argument.
I don’t see how there’s any particularly HUGE drop or even change in quality from 28 DAYS to 28 WEEKS… The latter is maybe more nihilistic and relentless, but seemed a fairly logical extension of the themes and style of the original. It’s kind of a too-close-to-call for me.
I personally like “28 Weeks later,” but love them both. There’s no doubt that “28 Days Later” is better acted and is even more shocking perhaps, but I could not stand the ending and feel it was a cop-out (the alternate ending is better but still doesn’t do it for me. Kind of like the Americanized ending of “The Descent…”….I really love the epic scale/atmosphere. of “28 Weeks” though, something you just don’t get with 99% of horror films.
Forgot about “Audition..” never saw the Japanese “Pulse” because the American version is so bad. “The Host,” to me, was straight social commentary, and didn’t feel like a horror film at all…
“Dog Soldiers,” considered a minor classic by a lot of people on this site, really doesn’t do it for me at all, though I love the director’s other work…even “Doomsday.”
also, “The Signal” I think is one of the strangest horror movies of all time. The first third is a mix of comedy and horror, the second thrid tilts well into comedy territory, while the last act is pure horror. Many people would call this disjointed, to say the least, but I was stunned by how much I’d invested in the characters by the end of the film. Ditto with “Severance.”
And yeah…when a film grosses less than $15 million, but is wildly popular, I’d consider it a cult classic, regardless of overseas biz…
Anyone hear that they’re doing an American version of “Battle Royale?” That’s a horror film that I could never really understand as a comedy or straight horror…
What’s the plot of 28 Weeks Later…”running from zombies?” Sure they set up lots of interesting possibilities, then they discard all of them for contrivances to keep it moving.
If anything, the problem with the Saw movies is they have TOO much plot. If they call Star Wars a space opers, the Saw movies are horror operas. It gets so you need cliffs notes to keep track of who knew who and what this guy was doing in the previous movie.
But I’d say Shaun is a bona-fide horror movie, as much as American Werewolf in London is. If you took the last half hour and just watched that, you’d have a real horror movie with a few funny parts. They played it better than most real horror flicks.
Not a fan of Rob Zombie. The guy seems more and more like a one-trick pony, and his trick wasn’t so hit the first time around. Halloween was the silliest movie that took itself way too seriously in a long time.
Ethan, specifically why is the ending of 28 Days Later a cop out? I hear that all the time and I don’t buy it. It’s like, God forbid a horror movie have an upbeat AND conclusive ending for once. I hate the “last jump” type of ending that inflicts every horror movie made by hacks.
As far as horror comedy not doing well, two words for ya: SCREAM trilogy.
I’m not a big fan of them, mind.
I think also that a lot of the Elm Street sequels could be classified as horror-comedy too, especially Freddy versus Jason.
And I, for one, didn’t like TEETH much, though I thought the lead actress was pretty good.
I loved the first Scream but I think horror comedy is sliiiiiightly stretching it. In the end, that movie really works as a straight-up bona fide horor slasher suspense movie. Like, for instance, in Severance people have “funny” deaths, but no one dies in Scream in a funny way.
Since it’s BYOB I’d like to mention that someone doenstairs has just gotten a big bloody slash from a fencing sword. I don’t know how that happened, but kids will be kids you know!
Okay, you’re right, Perm, in your description of the Saw movies’ plots. Let’s put it this way – most horror movies, the Saw movies and 28 Weeks Later among them, are basically designed to be vessels for a string of scary scenes and set pieces with the narrative stringing them together. So I guess it’s more accurate for me to say that I actually cared about the narrative thread in 28 Weeks Later (following the kids around through the rubble of London, then as they try to escape with the potential for a cure) than I ever did about anyone in any Saw movie. Plus I really think 28 Weeks is just plain well-made in terms of cinematography, editing, and directorial skill.
Lex, I’ll back you up on The Devil’s Rejects. I LOVE the scene where the guy on the side of the road asks them what they’re doing to the chickens.
The end of “28 Days Later” doesn’t fit in with the rest of the movie, point blank. Even Boyle knows it, and has stated he prefers the bleak alternate ending. When you shoot 3 seperate endings, and prefer the one you end up with less, clearly something is wrong. It’s doesn’t have anything to do with the tone of the rest of the movie AT ALL, skipping merrily through an English meadow, all-smiles, and is a jarring disconnect from the scene that immediately preceded it. The film is a post-apocalyptic social commentary one instant with a neat, Hollywood style ending that wraps up everything as neatly/quickly as possible the next? Boo.
I wasn’t looking for a “last jump” type of ending. “The Descent” is a perfect example of how a bleak ending was much more in-line with the tone of the film, than the all-smiles/relief on display in the American ending, and wasn’t looking for a cheap thrill.
I re-watched 28 Days Later again recently. I was really big on it when it was released, but generally agreed that the downbeat ending was more in tune. But watching it again now, I think I do prefer the ending as it is. Especially if you look at how epidemics tend to explode and then subside.
Hey, how come no one’s mentioned the greatest horror-comedy of modern times? You know, that one about the skeleton…
The Descent was alright but definitely one those “subterranean cave movies” that kind of lull me to sleep, because it’s so dark and you can’t see anything and the geography’s pretty confusing… just a lot of interchangable scenes of people and the creatures skulking through underlit caverns where you can’t tell who’s who and what’s what.
A LOT of horror movies resort to that kind of thing in the last act, but Descent was like a WHOLE MOVIE of that problem. Marshall handled it about as well as one can, probably better than The Cave… but it’s still a groggy eyesore to look at.
Cadavra — seems to me the Lost Skeleton was sci-fi comedy rather than horror-comedy. No?
hell in a handbasket, lists are being made without me?!
my ‘post naughts’ horror faves in the order i think of them:
session 9
dawn of the dead
28 days/weeks later
the devil’s backbone
[REC] (if only for the final scene alone)
the ring (americanos)
the hills have eyes
kairo
the orphanage
the hole
jeepers creepers
bubba ho tep (some comedy/horror)
open water
below (i may be its only fan but i don’t care. shpooky)
i can’t think of any others but i feel as tho i’ve left something fabulous out…(not ‘shaun of the dead’, that’s flat-out comedy in my book)…damn
I’m going to watch The Burrowers this weekend, which I hear is good and deserved a theatrical release. I also want to see Splinter, which is supposed to be a creative and cool little horror flick. Still need to see Let the Right One In as well. Also want to check out Martyrs. My faves of the decade so far: Kairo (Pulse), The Devil’s Backbone, The Others, Dog Soldiers, The Ring, May, Session 9, The Descent, Inside, Them and The Mist. For some low-budget fun, I like Abominable, Wrong Turn 2 and Hatchet. I (guiltily) enjoy the first two Final Destination flicks. I think The Hills Have Eyes and My Bloody Valentine remakes are pretty good. I’m sure I am forgetting some. I detest Zombie’s Halloween. His white trash obsession is already tired and the it features dialogue and acting that are embarrassing even by horror standards. I also prefer 28 Weeks Later to 28 Days Later, though I agree with some of Perm’s criticism of it.
Those last four you mentioned, Leah? eeeeh. I had heard such great things about Bubba Ho Tep and then when I saw it I realised it must’ve all been by fanatics of Bruce Campbell. Other than that I couldn’t figure it out. Below was better in idea than in execution, Jeepers got derailed once the crazy cat lady arrived and Open Water was just boring.
Having said that, I thought The Ring and 28 Weeks Later were worse than any of them.
Some horror titles from the ’00s I’ve liked:
American Psycho (“horror”? I reckon)
Grindhouse
The Others (one of Kidman’s finest perfs)
Red Road (it’s scarier than most “horror” movies, so I include it)
The Descent (i jumped outta my seat so much during this)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Final Destination 2
The Devil’s Rejects
Black Water (Aussie killer croc flick, better than Rogue)
[REC] and Quarantine
Bug
Vacancy (quite an effective lil thing, actually)
Wolf Creek
May
Ils and The Strangers (the latter is “technically” not a remake, but just very similar. also, very scary, both of them)
Bride / Seed of Chucky (very funny these are)
Shaun of the Dead
Dog Soldiers
Dark Water (both the original and the American remake, which I thought was surprisingly creepy)
I’ve liked others (28 Days Later, Slither, Teeth, My Little Eye, Let the Right One In, Sessions 9, The Hills Have Eyes) those above are the titles I’d go to more so.
I also have a fondness for one called Dead End with Ray Wise. Anyone else seen it?
Those last four you mentioned, Leah? eeeeh. I had heard such great things about Bubba Ho Tep and then when I saw it I realised it must’ve all been by fanatics of Bruce Campbell. Other than that I couldn’t figure it out. Below was better in idea than in execution, Jeepers got derailed once the crazy cat lady arrived and Open Water was just boring.
Having said that, I thought The Ring and 28 Weeks Later were worse than any of them.
Some horror titles from the ’00s I’ve liked:
American Psycho (“horror”? I reckon)
Grindhouse
The Others (one of Kidman’s finest perfs)
Red Road (it’s scarier than most “horror” movies, so I include it)
The Descent (i jumped outta my seat so much during this)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Final Destination 2
The Devil’s Rejects
Black Water (Aussie killer croc flick, better than Rogue)
[REC] and Quarantine
Bug
Vacancy (quite an effective lil thing, actually)
Wolf Creek
May
Ils and The Strangers (the latter is “technically” not a remake, but just very similar. also, very scary, both of them)
Bride / Seed of Chucky (very funny these are)
Shaun of the Dead
Dog Soldiers
Dark Water (both the original and the American remake, which I thought was surprisingly creepy)
I’ve liked others (28 Days Later, Slither, Teeth, My Little Eye, Let the Right One In, Sessions 9, The Hills Have Eyes) those above are the titles I’d go to more so.
I also have a fondness for one called Dead End with Ray Wise. Anyone else seen it?
eeeh sorry. I accidentally pressed the stop button and wasn’t sure if it had come up. my bad.
The weird thing about The Descent was that it was waaaay more intense before the creatures showed up. Marshall build up some incredible tension with simple scenes of the women trying to navigate the narrow crevices. After the creatures started picking them off it struck me as rather routine.
Agree with Camel that Vacancy was surprisingly effective.
And whoever said that Scream isn’t really a comedy– I agree. Irony and cleverness aren’t necessarily the same thing as comedy.
Shaun of the Dead is a comedy, but after they reach the Winchester, it’s some of the most effective horror I’ve ever seen.
I’d say that both endings of The Descent are pretty ‘bleak’ and not really hope-inspiring. The original ending makes a lot more sense in terms of what’s come before it and doesn’t just all the other bits of dream sequence in the movie into the dustbin, as the American ending does…
But I still prefer the American ending. The original ending feels kind of pointless and cruel, to me.
I’d heard great things about “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” on this site (if I’m remembering accurately) and elsewhere. Finally saw it and it was even more bizarrely funny than I’d heard. It’s on Sundance these days – well worth checking out.
SJR, I love OSS 117: Cairo — great fun (sometimes bizarre, but hey, it’s French), politically savvy, smart. It won the audience award at the Seattle fest a couple years ago, and the sequel, Lost in Rio, is this year’s closing night film.
Luke: It’s a coin-flip. There are both horror and sci-fi elements in LOST SKELETON, often intermingled–is the monstrous mutant horror or sci-fi? One could ask the same question about FRANKENSTEIN.
Gotta agree with Jeff…the other ending of The Descent, as I recall, basically said the woman went crazy. So yeah she survived, but happy smiley everything’s okay? Not really.
Also, Boyle intended for 28 Days Later to have a relatively happy ending, but the audiences too his original one the wrong way. The other one maybe a bit overly happy, but it’s a month after the events we saw and seems liek things are safe…the zombies all starved to death, probably long before we saw the heroes. And they know there are planes around so there is civilization somewhere. So, it works. As for that third ending, that was so stupid I can’t believe they even considered it…now there was a wildly implausible ending manufactured for a cheap happy resolution.