Operation Screenshot (Films of the 2000s) Rob Zombie's THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005)

 

 

 

Quick Thoughts On The Upcoming Halloween Remake

John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN is one of my all time favorite films and it is one of the key films of my youth. I first saw it in my early teens on VHS and I must have watched it, and its first sequel, over twenty times as a teenager. I also read all of the novelizations and devoured article after article about it in back issues of magazines like Fangoria. I still revisit the film every Halloween and I never grow tired of it, it is a true American classic and one of the major films that marked Horror as my favorite genre.
I have very mixed feelings on the upcoming re-thinking of HALLOWEEN by Rob Zombie. I think it is a mistake and whatever merits it might have, there is no way it will come close to equalling the original. That said, I must admit that I like Zombie very much and I will be seeing the film opening weekend and I hope it plays better than anyone might expect.
I was never a fan of his music and his first film, HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES (2003), left me cold but I greatly admired his THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005). To me it is one of the few modern exploitation films that comes close to feeling authentic. It is a controversial work that divides horror fans but I honestly believe that THE DEVIL'S REJECTS will someday be regarded as one of the key genre works of this decade.

I also really like Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon and think that she is an incredibly charismatic and talented actress. The main thing I like about both of them is that they seem to really love the genre. I don't feel any winking, pandering or apologizing, just an overwhelming affection for the same horror movies that I loved and admired growing up.
Zombie has stated repeatedly that the original HALLOWEEN had a major impact on him growing up and I believe that his new version is meant as a tribute. When I saw John Carpenter speak several months ago, he spoke highly of Zombie as a person and filmmaker (and very highly of the check he received for the new film).
So, I will be seeing the new HALLOWEEN but I have to admit that I wish it had been directed by a total hack and I could just ignore it. Apparently the studio has already been tampering with Zombie's final cut and I am honestly not expecting a lot. I hope that Zombie follows it up with an original work and doesn't get trapped in a remake mode, as we are overrun with them right now.
HALLOWEEN is one film that I did not want to see get remade. It is one of the most perfect American films of the seventies and I can only hope that Zombie's version isn't an embarrassment. Hopefully it will turn out like Aja's searing HILLS HAVE EYES remake and have something valuable to add rather than being something truly horrendously bad like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE re-working. Either way, I will be there opening weekend and success or failure, I will still admire Rob and Sheri Moon and hope that they will one day deliver another film as good as THE DEVIL'S REJECTS.
I must say that even if I do end up liking the new HALLOWEEN, nothing and I mean nothing will ever replace these three for me.

Whatever Happened To Tisa Farrow?

The title of this particular post is a bit rhetorical because apparently Tisa Farrow is now a nurse in Vermont, at least according to the IMDB (so maybe the question isn't so rhetorical). Either way, I have been re watching some of Tisa's films as of late and felt inspired to write a little bit on her.
I always thought it must have been hard professionally having Mia Farrow as your sister, as it would be extremely hard for anyone to live in the shadow of someone so iconic and talented. While Tisa never came close to reaching the heights of her famous sister, I think her career has been unjustly neglected and is all but forgotten by most film fans.
Tisa was born in 1951 to John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan. She made her film debut at the age of 19 in the pretty well received HOMER. This coming of age drama, featuring an early soundtrack appearance by Led Zeppelin, found Tisa as the female lead and she would receive some strong notices as a talent to watch. Like several of Tisa's earliest roles, I have never been able to track down a copy of HOMER. It remains rather elusive and I hope to someday score a copy as the photographs and posters I have seen from it, as well as things I have read, make it extremely enticing.
Tisa's second film was helmed by none other than the great French director, Rene Clement, and it would find her working with some of cinema's top talent like Jean Louis Trintignant and Aldo Ray. While not among the great works by Clement, AND HOPE TO DIE is a solid entry in his filmography and Tisa is memorable in it although the film ultimately belongs to Tringtignant.
Among the films with Tisa that I most want to see is SOME CALL IT LOVING, a 1973 feature by James B. Harris and co-starring Carol White and Richard Pryor. The descriptions I have read over the years of this film make it sound like some sort of wild tripped out near masterpiece. Whether or not it can live up to my expectations remains to be seen but I would certainly love to find out.
After appearing in a film called ONLY GOD KNOWS in 74, Tisa's next film would be hugely important one to her career as it would mark the first Italian thriller she appeared in. Known by many different titles, with STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM being my favorite, Alberto De Martino's 1976 feature is a film that I saw on a poor quality VHS years ago that has really stuck with me. Martino had just directed the very odd and memorable THE ANTICHRIST when he directed Tisa, along with genre favorite John Saxon, in this splendid little film. Tisa is lovely in this film, but like many Italian thrillers from this period it has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. I keep hoping that No Shame or Code Red might pick it up in the future for a dvd release as I would love to revisit it.
The 1978 tv film THE INITIATION OF SARAH was up next for Tisa and it would feature her in a smaller role working with a large ensemble cast including Shelley Winters and Morgan Brittany. This is one of the easier to locate of Tisa's early roles and is worth a look although it isn't that special. 1978 would also provide Tisa with what would prove to be her greatest role in James Toback's astonishing FINGERS.
FINGERS is one of my favorite films from the seventies and I will be covering it in more detail in the future but I will say for now if there is a role that proves Tisa could have developed into a fine actress, then FINGERS is it. Playing opposite acting heavyweight Harvey Keitel and an intense Jim Brown, Tisa more than holds her own in a strangely effective performance. Tisa would be the first of many actresses that Toback would pull something extraordinary out of, and in her own way she is one of the most devastating parts of what is still Toback's greatest film.
The action flick SEARCH AND DESTROY was up next and that was quickly followed by a tv film on Patty Hearst that would find Tisa playing one of the SLA kidnappers. She would make a quick cameo in Woody Allen's masterpiece, MANHATTAN, and had a bit part in WINTER KILLS before landing what has become her most famous role in late 1979.
Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE (ZOMBI 2) is one of the most legendary Italian gore films in history and it cemented a major cult status for Tisa among Italian Horror fans. Fulci's unofficial follow up to Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD in truth isn't one of the maestro's greatest films. It doesn't have the style or emotional pull of his early work and it isn't as good as the astonishing group of films that he would film in 1980 and 1981, but it is still one of the most infectiously fun Italian films of the period. Tisa is again lovely in the role but she doesn't seem totally engaged with the material. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that FINGERS had more than hinted to the fact that Tisa could have become a really great actress that she doesn't seem totally there in ZOMBIE. I'm not trying to be overly critical as ZOMBIE is a film that I love very much but Tisa seems a bit trapped under Fulci's penetrating camera. I was very disappointed when Tisa wasn't among those interviewed for Shriek Show's exhaustive documentary a few years back, I have always wondered what her thoughts were on Fulci and the Italian Horror genre in general.
ZOMBIE was a huge worldwide success but it probably more than just slightly pigeonholed the talented Farrow.
Tisa would appear in just two more films after ZOMBIE before retiring from the screen entirely. THE LAST HUNTER, just released on American DVD, is a solid and entertaining Antonio Margheriti war film starring Tisa and David Warbeck. While not one of Margheriti's best films by a long shot, the bloody THE LAST HUNTER still works reasonable well and Tisa is just fine in it, as is the always reliable Warbeck.

Tisa Farrow's final film is not only one of her most infamous films, but also one of the most notorious films in Italian Horror history. The Joe D'Amato directed ANTHROPOPHAGUS is a cheaply made but, at times, stylish shocker that manages some truly unforgettable and horrifying moments that have kept it among the most famous of D'Amato's prolific career. Tisa is actually quite good in the film and I think this is her most successful Italian genre performance, even though the film isn't as good as the Martino or Fulci ones. Tisa generates a real palatable fear in the role and the film's final act is undeniably exciting and effective and much credit for it should go to Tisa's performance.
I don't know what made Tisa drop out after ANTHROPOPHAGUS. Perhaps she found that acting wasn't satisfying or maybe she just wasn't happy with the types of films she was being offered. Whatever the reason, I hope that life has given her happiness and that she doesn't regret her brief but memorable film career. It is unfortunate that she never got the chance to build on the promise of FINGERS but I'd rather watch her in the few genre films she made much more than most modern bland mainstream Hollywood actress. There was something very memorable about Tisa Farrow, something very real.

Hard And R

I have really been enjoying all of the online discussion and disagreements on Eli Roth's upcoming HOSTEL 2 and the state of horror in general as of late. I have been amazed to see the wide ranging and strong opinions film fans seem to have on Roth and this so called 'Torture Porn' phrase that is being thrown around so much in the media these days.
I would be seeing HOSTEL 2 no matter what just because of the casting of the legendary Edwige Fenech. I would like to throw my two cents in on the subject though and say that I would be seeing, and looking forward to, the film even without the iconic Fenech's presence.
I was more than a bit cold on Roth's debut film CABIN FEVER. I just didn't understand the hype but I admired the first HOSTEL very much and felt that his THANKSGIVING trailer was among the best thing I have seen this year. Roth seems to be very consciously following the lead of a handful of directors, such as Fulci, Deodato, Craven, Martino and others, who believed the horror film has the capability to truly shock and disturb. It is this very primal, and at times almost oppressively dark, feeling that horror films lost in the nineties and that a handful of young directors have been trying to reclaim this decade.
I have always found it ironic that it was Wes Craven, who at his prime delivered some of the most truly unsettling and visceral horror films ever, would have been the guy who helmed the film that more than any other would turn the genre into a self referential, humorous and ultimately extremely sanitized form. I liked, and still like, SCREAM and SCREAM 2 but they created a winking and back patting breed that would give birth to a seemingly endless succession of safe and typically very bland films. I saw many of these films throughout the mid to late 90's...some were okay, most were very bad. I noticed that each one seemed to be a little safer and a little more meaningless than the last. These weren't films about anything other than pushing a lousy soundtrack of trendy songs and giving roles to forgettable teen tv actors. These seemed to be films designed for the PG13 rating, show us as little as possible and suggest something perhaps even less.
Obviously there have always films that combine humor and horror and I'm not suggesting that horror films always need to be graphic. What I am saying is that a key element to the horror film is to take us, and yes show us, places that are typically unseen and locked away. The so called horror films of the late 90s stopped doing that, they just began showing us television versions of things we had seen in countless other better films.

I really began to miss the extreme horror films of my childhood in this period. Films like DAWN OF THE DEAD and the original HILLS HAVE EYES became something more than just films that I loved from my youth. They became prime examples of everything that I loved in cinema that modern culture, and specifically the opening weekend gross watchers, had taken away. It's no coincidence that it was in the mid 90s that I started to obsessively hunt down and collect Italian horror films. Here were films that I hadn't known as a child that I could discover as new. The importance and greatness of a film as extreme as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST seemed overwhelming to me, and it felt like we would never be allowed to see anything quite so graphic and disturbing as that powerhouse again.

One of the most exciting experiences I have had in a theater this decade was seeing Alexandre Aja's 2003 French film HAUTE TENSION (HIGH TENSION). There had been rumblings of a change in the horror landscape in the early part of the decade but here was a film so unrelenting, so bleak and so truly disturbing, that it felt to me like it was at times literally shaking the screen. HIGH TENSION seemed to open a floodgate of angry, and at times nihilistic, films that have given us some of the most extreme violence cinema has seen since the late seventies.

Not many of the films have been great, but for all their failings I admire pictures like WOLF CREEK, HOSTEL, SAW and Aja's HILLS HAVE EYES remake more than most 'great' horror films of the last 15 years. These films and filmmakers are trying to make horror dangerous again...to take the darker aspects of society that are continually thrown at us in the media and turn them into something we can properly internalize and hopefully understand.

"Torture Porn" is the most ridiculous media created term since "Punk" became "New Wave". It feels like a term made up and jumped on by people who not only don't know anything of the history of horror films, but plain just don't like them. A film like Rob Zombie's THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, which I loved, has been grouped in with this so called genre but the themes and images from it are decades old. I doubt very seriously the critics who use phrases like "Torture Porn" even know who Lucio Fulci or Ruggero Deodato are...sometimes I wonder if they even know who Sam Peckinpah is.

So I will be at HOSTEL 2 opening weekend and I hope it is as twisted and graphic as possible. Horror films should cause a reaction...they should make us feel and see things that hopefully we don't have to in our everyday life. A lot of people do not like these extreme images these films are promising and that is perfectly fine. Don't buy a ticket...it is a as simple as that. I fear though that 2008 will bring a landslide against the return of the extreme horror film and that the studios will once again start playing it safe. As a rule I try not to get political on this blog at all but I find the idea that both presidential parties might again try to deflect attention from the real issues with a battle against artistic expression to be the most horrifying thought of all.