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My nonexistent relationship with Sam Raimi:
I've mentioned several times that I, unlike almost every horror (and especially zombie-horror) fan in the known universe, I do not care for the Evil Dead movies. None of them. Many people have tried to convince me otherwise, noting the quaintly small budget and modest but creative production values. I do appreciate that aspect of it, but that doesn't mean it's something I want to sit down and watch, let alone own. I do enjoy Bruce Campbell, but the character Ash is annoying as hell. Yes, he's a parody but he's--maybe I just think he doesn't have a full appreciation for or reverence to his situation. Maybe I just take zombies a lot more seriously than Ash does. Maybe I'm offended by the campiness of it all. Also, bad dialogue makes me want to die inside. If you can't write the way people talk (I'm looking at YOU, Dan Brown!) you shouldn't be writing dialogue. I'm still trying to pinpoint exactly what bothers me about Raimi's horror. I may even watch Evil Dead again in an attempt to really figure it out. As a horror person, knowing what you hate is just as important as knowing what you like.
I'm not anti-Raimi as a rule. I love Spiderman, and honestly think that Willem DaFoe elevates that movie from merely good to truly great with his performance. He's fantastic to watch, and much of that comes from careful direction. I also think Ted Raimi is just adorable in stuff. Plus, they're from Michigan, like me!
I adopted a firm wait-and-see attitude about Drag Me To Hell. It looked like a cool premise. Certainly, the whole Lamia thing is pretty creepy. Early internet buzz was strong. A few people on my flist posted that they liked it. Rotten Tomatoes went down from 95% to 93%, but that's still remarkably high for a horror movie. So, I went Saturday night with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
absinthofheart. We went someplace cheap so two tix only cost $18. I snuck in a big bottle of Evian and some granola bars. ;-] I know, I suck.
The opening scene was very strong and scary. So far, so good. They used stock characters for this type of film: the beautiful young heroine, the sympathetic but disbelieving boyfriend, his demanding parents, the co-worker who's a prick, the old gypsy woman who lays the curse, the exotic medium who joins the fight. Not a big deal, but still derivative. What starts out as cool sound design quickly becomes shrill, annoying and overused. A healthy combination of practical FX and CGI is used to good effect, until it becomes a very Evil Deadesque gross out fest of gratuitous slime and ooze. By the end, we've seen some cool things, had some genuine scares, and are fairly interested in how it all turns out. However, the end is obvious and predictable, negating what should have been a very powerful and pivotal confrontation scene. Although I must admit, it had exactly the kind of result I like in a horror movie. They were just a bit lame in getting there. I'm all about suspending my disbelief, but please, stay out of the realm of complete ridiculousness (*spoiler* a talking goat, for example *end spoiler*). I didn't hate it; but Raimi's horror style really didn't work for me, yet again.
On a completely unrelated topic, here is the White House Correspondent's Dinner address by The PC himself, John Hodgeman. Considering that I almost called it the White House Correspondence Dinner, I can safely say that Hodgeman is far more articulate, witty, and hilarious than I would have been. I guess that's why they haven't asked me to do it yet. Anyway, sorry if this appears on your flist 30 or 40 times, but I really, really enjoyed it and assumed you would too!
I'm not anti-Raimi as a rule. I love Spiderman, and honestly think that Willem DaFoe elevates that movie from merely good to truly great with his performance. He's fantastic to watch, and much of that comes from careful direction. I also think Ted Raimi is just adorable in stuff. Plus, they're from Michigan, like me!
I adopted a firm wait-and-see attitude about Drag Me To Hell. It looked like a cool premise. Certainly, the whole Lamia thing is pretty creepy. Early internet buzz was strong. A few people on my flist posted that they liked it. Rotten Tomatoes went down from 95% to 93%, but that's still remarkably high for a horror movie. So, I went Saturday night with
absinthofheart. We went someplace cheap so two tix only cost $18. I snuck in a big bottle of Evian and some granola bars. ;-] I know, I suck.The opening scene was very strong and scary. So far, so good. They used stock characters for this type of film: the beautiful young heroine, the sympathetic but disbelieving boyfriend, his demanding parents, the co-worker who's a prick, the old gypsy woman who lays the curse, the exotic medium who joins the fight. Not a big deal, but still derivative. What starts out as cool sound design quickly becomes shrill, annoying and overused. A healthy combination of practical FX and CGI is used to good effect, until it becomes a very Evil Deadesque gross out fest of gratuitous slime and ooze. By the end, we've seen some cool things, had some genuine scares, and are fairly interested in how it all turns out. However, the end is obvious and predictable, negating what should have been a very powerful and pivotal confrontation scene. Although I must admit, it had exactly the kind of result I like in a horror movie. They were just a bit lame in getting there. I'm all about suspending my disbelief, but please, stay out of the realm of complete ridiculousness (*spoiler* a talking goat, for example *end spoiler*). I didn't hate it; but Raimi's horror style really didn't work for me, yet again.
On a completely unrelated topic, here is the White House Correspondent's Dinner address by The PC himself, John Hodgeman. Considering that I almost called it the White House Correspondence Dinner, I can safely say that Hodgeman is far more articulate, witty, and hilarious than I would have been. I guess that's why they haven't asked me to do it yet. Anyway, sorry if this appears on your flist 30 or 40 times, but I really, really enjoyed it and assumed you would too!
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