EDITION: Three
INSIDE THE HCF HEADQUARTERS
So, is everyone excited yet? This coming Monday (April 11th), Scream 4 is set for its Official Movie Premiere and you can feel the tension in the air! Everyone here at the headquarters are just too damn excited of a fourth trip back to Woodsboro, with us all second guessing who the person behind the mask is. The theories that we have come up with are probably better than what even Kevin Williamson managed to invent but for all your internet lovers take our advice. We mere mortals have to wait a further four days for its World Wide Release, so avoid some sites after Monday night who will no doubt can not wait to tell us who the masked fiend is (or are!) Trust us at HCF, there will be NO SPOILERS on here, and that is our word! The best thing about Scream is the fun factor of the guessing game, so please take care because this sequel is tipped to be huge!
Not much news to tell you about the events in the office! Things have been quite calm, Darren has delivered his second part of his Column titled “A Healthy Dose Of Crap!” which is not a description of his wonderful written look back on old Video Stores! Take a gander at his great Riding The Midnight Express section over on Columns! Matt is turning into the Trevor McDonald of the site, giving us breaking news of the film world as it happens, just check the home page every day for all the latest! Our Dr (he’s not really) has reached part 8 of his trip to Camp Crystal Lake, with his brilliant Jason tribute, while yours truly has been reviewing the Scream Trilogy for obvious reasons!
Coming up on HCF the fast growing site for all things horror, cult and weird, is Evil Bill’s long awaited Dario Argento insight, I be digging out my all time favourite horror franchise, Halloween, while Matt is dusting down his Ringu collection, all this and David’s Cartoon Strip are set to appear in the next few weeks…..
Also watch out for my own Column piece called HCF Trial-You The Jury A new segment which YOU decide on the reputation of films…..are they Guilty or Not Guilty!
So as you can guess lovely readers, its busy busy busy, but we really need you lot who have signed on to the Forum to start speaking your mind and telling us your views.
THERE IS RE-BOOTS AND THERE IS……RE-BOOTS!
Over the last week there have been two announcements that have shocked the film world. Firstly Warner Bros have confirmed that after Christopher Nolan has finished with his Dark Knight Rises, then that will be it! The world in which the Memento director has created will be gone and there will be a re-boot to the Batman franchise! Of course this news has created widespread panic and anger among all fans who feel that the saga might go back to the dark days of Batman and Robin, but please, surely the film studio know the phase “once bitten, twice shy!”.
For a start, there is no point in any one trying to re-capture the vision of Nolan! He has managed to create a world where you believe a man dressed as a bat can exist, where a nut job in a Joker suit can become a dangerous weapon. Yes it is sad that the next film will be the last and no doubt in my mind a fitting finale to a quite wonderful trilogy, but surely this is what us fans want! A series of films that we pine over for more! I mean come on, how many of us would wish for one more trip in the Deloraen with Marty and the Doc, or that Gizmo himself would get wet again so we can meet up with those pesky Gremlins! By leaving the fans wanting more is a sign that you have done the job that is required and would we really want to see a film series go on and on until the last bit of air is sucked out of it!
Now the other announcement was that The Crow is finally on its way, with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo signed on to direct, this re-make news though has rightly caused anger amongst all Crow fans who feel that the original does not need a reimaging but lets be honest, all films that have been down this path over the last few years have had the same complaint! Did Halloween, Last House On The Left, Spit On Your Grave and countless more need a re-make! No but its the sign of the times and The Crow has to have one to keep the franchise alive! Wicked Prayer the 4th part of the original saga was soooooooooooooooo bad that it killed the series dead! Edward Furlong has the Crow? A laughable casting decision for a horrendous film that has failed to gather any love from even the die-hard fanatics! I must admit I do have a soft spot for the first two sequels, Both are entertaining in their own right with City having some great visuals and a darker tone with the third having a cartoonish comic book style that is great with a few beers! Wicked as nothing going for it, its an awful experience and because of that there is only one direction that this film can go and that is re-boot because lets face it who would want to watch yet another sequel?
This is why the re-make concept works! Its the intrigue that makes you as a fan want to watch! Think back to the glorious summer of 1997 when Mr Gus Van Sant came out with his Psycho work, at first there was anger at the idea, but then we were all intrigued as to how it would look, and while curiosity certainly did not kill the cat, it did kill the film, with a massive drop in figures in the opening week as fans rushed to the cinema on release only for the then word of mouth to kill the film stone dead. You did not need to dress up as mother to become a murderer, the idea itself was bad enough, and its a pattern that has become the trend on all re-makes since! Friday 13th possibly the second worst re-do in history had a massive drop in the second week with the hard core fans rushing to the cinema to see the masked fiend Jason back, but only for the numbers to drop badly straight after that its virtually killed any chance of the sequel dead! The same pattern went for Freddy and his new nightmare and lets be honest it was, while only Michael enjoyed some respite with Rob Zombie’s first updated look doing quite well, even though the second flopped badly and was critically mauled!, only because many of Zombie’s film are of a acquired taste which meant that his different take on the world of Halloween had no chance of reaching the mainstream audience! Even though I am not a fan of this, at least he tried something different to the franchise but that is another story for another time!
Like Wicked for The Crow, it was Halloween Resurrection that killed Michael Myers, not Dr Loomis, and there was no other option to start again, so while all you Eric Draven fans will cry long into the night at the news, you will also be the first one there to see if this new actor in the role can at least touch the heights of Brandon Lee (he wont!) and then we will see if the figures tail of in the second week! Lets be honest, I feel sorry for the actor who takes on that role. Its an impossible job because Lee is so engraved into the hearts of the fans everywhere and I will applaud the actor because it will be a very brave move! Ignore the rumblings of Johnny Depp and Mark Whalberg, expect an unknown to be cast and we at HCF eagerly await to bring you the news of this casting!
Which brings me finally to Spider-Man! Now I am deeply amused that we are having a re-boot to this franchise that was only started in 2002, I mean nine years ago! Its like McG starting his own vision of LOTR! Tobey Maguire is still fresh in the mind as Peter Parker, I mean despite what you think of the third and for me it was a total mess, it was still only released in 2007 a mere four years ago! Not only is this re-boot unnecessary but its put a lot of pressure on its own shoulders because the first Spidey films are well loved by the comic book fans! Yeah, make a new web slinger film, but do not start at the beginning while the original is still lingering in the air! Yes, we are having a Batman re-boot but I very much doubt we will see him become the Dark Knight again, the film will start with him already in the Batcave and just fighting a new rangof evl masterminds…..
ANOTHER REASON WHY THE RENTAL TRADE IS DYING!
Looking forward to renting Rubber this week! A film of a tyre going around killing people seems like an ideal rental for all your horror fans but guess what? Blockbusters are not stocking it! And they want to know why people are downloading! This is not the first time with the likes of Inside and Frontiers all missing the market, but yet they are quiet happy to stock A Serbian Film, probably thee movie that many will not even dare want to watch! I am not going to say more on this matter, because Darren has wrote a wonderful piece here on the matter
https://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2011/04/a-healthy-dose-of-crap/ but if they want to know why the rental trade is dying, they need to look closer to home! Not all of us are Harry Potter fans, so seeing 1000 copies on the shelve when they could easily have had two copies of Rubber is a disheartening factor….and maybe its time to sing a new song replacing Video and Radio to the words “DVD Rental killed the Video Store!”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I write this column, news reaches me that Robert Sheehan has quit the TV show Misfits! More on this on the news section, but can I just say, with his Nathan being the best thing in it, a character you love to hate, and the fact he won’t even appear at all in the third series has made this one of the saddest news in a long time! Misfits just won’t be the same again, and it makes the once exciting wait for the next run a poorer prospect!
EMAILS OF THE WEEK!
“That Wonder Woman outfit looks awful, its destined to go the same way as that awful Flash Gordon TV show!”
Darren24
Have to agree with you mate, she looks awful, no Lynda Carter that’s for sure!
“Great site, thinking of doing a cult computer game section?”
Hobomax
We are up for all suggestions so yeah, maybe in the future, at the moment just concentrating on films, TV and Comics, but you never know!
“That Guilty Pleasure choice made me piss myself laughing!”
DiggerDom
You not the only one, but believe me, there is worse to come!
Words Heard In The HCF Office This Week ” I have sorted out your child issues!”
And Finally! “Why do I fancy Alt Olivia more than the real Olivia, even though they played by the same character!
Until Next Time!!!!!
Be the first to comment