Daily Monsterism #5

CRITES

“Critters” (1986)

Critters was such a mixed bag. An awful yet great sci-fi horror comedy. It had this weird 80’s Spielberg vibe by way of John Carpenter. I actually really hope that some day this is remade. I think this could be great with today’s technology and with a little more focus. Anyway, they were pretty hilarious effects — handpuppets full of teeth — but I dug them. Crites.

Daily Monsterism #4

The Arachnid
"The Mist" 2007

Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Mist” seems to cop a huge amount of hate from people. Personally, I can’t understand why. All the performances are amazingly solid (especially Tom Jane), it’s genuinely suspenseful, dramatic and horrific, and the monsters look fantastic… in spite of some varying CGI quality…

What I love about “The Mist” and the creatures in it is the escalation. You start off with very little and as the film goes on, the monsters get bigger and bigger, but the film still manages to do what Alien did so well in that it reveals what it needs to and then lets your mind do the rest (in most cases anyway). You’re only ever told as much as the characters in the story — who you can identify with pretty quickly — which I believe gives this film the credibility it needs to to make you accept what’s going on in this film without really questioning it.

Shown above is one of the larger creatures from the film (far from the largest though), and this is all you see of it.

Daily Monsterism #3

Monster: Bull Dragon
Movie: Reign of Fire

I think I was the only person in the cinema who really enjoyed this movie when we saw it, but I still say it has the best goddamn dragons ever put to the big screen, and this male bull was awesome to watch. The design was fantastic and the CGI was even better, it's just a pity that the movie seems to get the reactions it does, because even though it's not perfect, it's still a hell of a lot of fun and does a great job of building the suspense with it's dragons. Christian Bale is also my favourite actor, so it gets bonus points for that!

Daily Monsterism #2

BRUNDLEFLY
"The Fly" (1986)

From one of (if not) Cronenberg’s best films, the Brundlefly is an amazing creature to behold; shockingly repulsive but such a fantastically designed creature that it’s impossible to look away from.

This drastic reimagining of the original 1958 movie “The Fly” chronicles the tragic descent of brilliant young scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) as his body undergoes a slow and horrific metamorphosis following an experiment in human teleportation.

The film manages to perfectly balance the drama and reality of the situation with the outlandish and horrific nature of what is going on, which is something Cronenberg has always been a master of. It's an interesting examination of how people in relationships can change (for whatever reason; drug addiction, physical impairments, psychological instability, etc.) and how that affects the relationship itself, and also how it affects those closest to the person at the center of it all. Of course, what happens in the film is an EXTREME case, but the parrallels are still there.

It's also these sorts of horror films -- where normal people in a very believable world are put in extreme situations without the gimicks of set-piece deaths or undying hockey mask killers -- that I dig the most.