Originals VS Remakes Nightmare on Elm Street

Original VS Remake: Nightmare On Elm Street
By Jose

Now instead of breaking down movie by movie, piece by piece. What I want to do is just compare and contrast these two movies, specifically the origin and Freddy character himself.

Toward the end of the remake the character Quentin (Kyle Gallner) learns what really happened and why Freddy is out killing all these kids. So here is where they change a bit of the origin story and background of Freddy turning him from a child killer into a child predator/molester. Now that kind of made me a bit upset. Keeping him as a child killer would have made him seem like a monster that just wants to kill. Turn it into a pedophile makes it seem very uncomfortable and turns the Freddy character from a monster to a pervert. Wanting revenge on the kids who told on him rather then just wanting to kill and terrorize. This is something that should have been left alone and not changed the way they did for the new one.

So in addition to the origin change, some other things that were changed was the fun factor. Most horror movies, for the most part, have a few bits of comedy in order to take the audience away from all the gore and scares and also to give a slight break. But by omitting humor all together all your doing is bombarding the viewers kill after kill and scare after scare. Causing a fatigue on the audience. That is why I see the Friday The 13th remake as a successful movie. It gave us those humor spots between all the killing and scares. Robert Englund provided that sick humor that worked so well in the originals that was lost here in the 2010 version. But that is not saying that Jackie Earle Haley didn’t give a good performance because he did. A great scaring performance. But too serious. Jason, Michael Myers, Leather Face all don’t talk. Freddy was the only one and he used his voice as much as his claws. But here he essentially became one of them. Which is a shame.

Another thing that upset me was the lack of transitions or let me say it like this. When the dream or nightmare scenes came you didn’t know it was a dream until Freddy popped out or something really weird or out of place happened. It took you off guard and added a dimension to the movie because you didn’t know if the character was in a nightmare or not. In the 2010 version it was obvious. They fell asleep and here comes Freddy. No suspense, no misdirection. It was just “oh look he fell asleep” or “oh no don’t fall asleep”. It could have been really great to see that carried over to the new movie especially with the technology we have today. Imagine all the fun they could have had with it.

Look for the Friday the 13th Original VS Remake later this week at The Movie Spot

Originals VS Remakes Horror Edition

Originals VS Remakes Horror Edition

So we now officially have remakes of pretty much all of the main horror icons of the 70’s and 80’s. To me the main three big bad horror icons are Freddy (Nightmare On Elm Street), Jason (Friday The 13th), and Michael Myers (Halloween). Since it is a couple weeks away I wanted to do an Halloween themed opinion piece on the original movies and the current updated remakes of these icons.

I am in the minority when I say this but I am very happy to see these horror icons coming back in new versions and in modern times. Yes most of the time the movies are awful and do not have the same impact and feel of the originals. But that is the whole point to a degree. If they were going to do a word for word, scene by scene remake they might as well release the original in theaters again and not bother making a new movie. I mean I don’t know about you but if you would see the original Nightmare on Elm Street movie now yes you would be happy and enjoy it but you would also notice that it is extremely dated. Most of these movie are over 20 years old. Do you think that such remembered and famous horror icons should be held back and not allowed to be reinvented, regardless of success would be a horrible thing to do? Cause I do.

Weekend Box Office Numbers October 15th-17th

By: Robert Acosta

Finally something fun and interesting to write about for the Weekend Box Office column!

Jackass 3D hit theaters on October 15th to tremendous box office numbers. Actually, historical box office numbers. I'll explain after we look at this past weekends box office numbers:

1. Jackass 3D   $50 Million
2. Red   $22.5 Million
3. The Social Network   $11 Million
4. Secretariat   $9.5 Million
5. Life as We Know It   $9.2 Million
6. Legend of The Guardian: Owls of Ga'hoole   $4.2 Million
7. The Town   $4 Million
8. My Soul to Take   $3.2 Million
9. Easy A   $2.7 Million
10. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps   $2.4 Million

So, as you can see in the numbers, Jackass 3D took the top spot with $50 Million. As I said earlier, Jackass broke a record. The highest opening weekend in October belongs to Jackass 3D with $50 million. Previously held by Scary Movie 3 with $48 million, glad to see Jackass 3D made its money.

The movie Red also premiered this past Friday with a strong showing at the number 2 spot with almost $23 million. With mostly positive reviews I see this movie making its money back.

Next week we have Paranormal Activity 2 coming to theaters and i'm almost 100% sure that the movie will take the top spot. Although, Jackass 3D is looking strong and word of mouth for this kind of movie always works.

The Spot News: Disney Nabs Marvel Film Rights

Disney Nabs Marvel Film Rights

Seems Disney is on the move to reclaim and collect all the film rights that were sold off by Marvel and they started with Paramount Pictures; who had the distribution rights on Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. Here is what was reported:

( http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=28951 )

Today, those two pieces of the Marvel business model collided as Paramount Pictures – who had distribution rights to the self-financed Marvel films – relinquished distribution control of said films to Disney starting with May 4, 2012's "The Avengers" and continuing to "Iron man 3." Both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter revealed the details of the arrangement, which sees Disney paying Paramount at least $115 million dollars.

That number represents the expected amount of cash the studio would have earned from its participation in distribution of the next two Marvel movies after "Thor" and "Captain America" (which it will still release), but the deal does allow Paramount to make even more off the incoming pics as the full agreement lets them retain their 8% profit of "The Avengers" if it clears expected box office predictions as well as 9% on "Iron Man 3."

For Disney's part, the studio now has two proven tent-poll pictures to flesh out their incoming slate, and the company made quick work of announcing a May 3, 2013 release for "Iron Man 3" – nearly one year after "The Avengers" hits theaters. Capitalizing on Marvel's movie might was a major factor in the entertainment giant's purchase of the comics publisher, so this early move to control Marvel movies should come as no surprise.

The Spot News: Power Battery first look

Green Lantern


Now we have our first look at what the literal lantern where he charges his ring looks like in the Green Lantern film itself.

The Spot News: Wolverine 2 To Start Soon?

Wolverine 2 News

According to Deadline, the latest on the Wolverine 2 front is that Darren Aronofsky's deal to direct the Fox mutant sequel "is close enough that discussion has turned to shooting the sound stage portions of the film in New York so the filmmaker and Hugh Jackman don't have to inconvenience their families." Once shooting of the New York scenes is complete, production is then expected to move to Japan to finish the bulk of the film.

Horror-Spot: Dread RE-Review

Dread

By Jose

Review:

Based on the Clive Barker short story, Dread is great on two fronts: Barker's departure from his traditional macabre story lines, and Anthony DiBlasi's impressive directorial debut.
The story unfolds with two college students, Steve (Twilight's Jackson Rathbone) and Quaid (Shaun Evans), agreeing to work together to create a documentary of people's innermost fears. The two put out a call for candidates and document their interviews on video. An expert manipulator, Quaid is able to coax these troubled souls into revealing their innermost demons; deeply personal revelations they would otherwise never dream of discussing in public, much less on camera. Meanwhile Quaid harbors deep seated psychological scars of his own, having been a childhood survivor of the brutal home invasion axe slaying of his parents at the hands of a mysterious psycho.
On the belief that by confronting one's ultimate fear an individual will either overcome their phobia or be consumed by it, Quaid convinces the more demure Steve, and friends Cheryl and Abby to participate in the study. Unknown to everyone involved, however, is Quaid's desire to take things to the next level, progressing beyond mere interviews to the actual physical and psychological nightmare of tackling their fears head on.

Final Thoughts:

Again this movie is not for everyone and is not an action packed, scare you every two seconds movie.
Dread is an interesting and different movie. It does not take the simple route of fear and overcoming it then happy ending. It takes what people fear and dread and perverts it. What if facing your fear makes it worse? What happens to a person that has this deep seated dread that to overcome it is to become it?

Extra Tidbit:

Seems Jackson Rathbone might be coming out of Twilight as a sleeper hit. I have been seeing him around in many different roles here and there and they are all good. I didn’t know about it but he plays the part of Sokka in the Last Airbender.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Horror Comedies: Top 5 Horror Movie List

Here is a top 5 list of horror movies that I personally like and would recommend to watch in time for Halloween.

Horror Comedies

• Shaun Of the Dead - 2004
• Black Sheep - 2006
• Killer Klowns From Outer Space - 1988
• Evil Dead 1 and 2 / Army Of Darkness - 1981/1987/1992
• Gremlins - 1984 *Yes it takes place during Christmas but it is still horror

The Social Network Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg
Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin
Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker
Brenda Song as Christy

Plot: Mark Zuckerberg, creator of the most popular website in the world(Facebook), goes through the rough and great times of creating this worldwide phenomenon.

Review: The Social Network is highly touted for having an extremely addicting story, good characters and good presentation. Not to say that the movie didn't meet those but I wasn't left as awe struck by it the way many others critics have been.

In terms of the story, it is extremely addictive as it bounces back from the lawsuits that Zuckerberg is facing to the actual story as it is being told during the lawsuits. There was a very good balance between the actual story and the lawsuits, not an overwhelming amount of one or the other.

The characters are great and show a lot of live. From Zuckerberg to Saverin to Parker all the way down to Saverin's girlfriend, Christy.

I want to break away from talking about the characters for a second and talk about what could be a disclaimer. Now i'm going to do my research and see how much of this story is true so be aware that some of this story may be a bit exaggerated.

The character of Zuckerberg is a flat out asshole. I can't put it any other way. Nonetheless, he is one of the more motivated characters i've ever seen in either real life or in movies. Are his actions ethically and morally wrong? Maybe. Did he get exactly what he wanted and turn an idea into a worldwide phenomenon? Yes. So he did cross lines that people may not have but he became a billionaire and a damn genius. He is also extremely witty and entertaining.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg and whether Zuckerberg is like that in real life or not, finally Eisenberg shows a funny, entertaining side. I hated watching him in other movies like Zombieland and Adventureland but he was sensational, and I don't use that word often.

I loved The Social Network but something special was missing from it. I guess the fact that the story may not be entirely true may be a little misleading. Nonetheless, the movie is a tremendous movie and definitely worth catching in theaters.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Horror-Spot: Triangle RE-Review

Triangle

By Jose

Plot/What it is about

After their yacht is overturned during a freak storm, a group of friends are desperate for help. A cruise ship suddenly appears and they see a figure looking down at them from the bridge for a few seconds. They climb on board but there is no crew, no passengers, nothing.

Note

If I were to properly review Triangle I would have to spoil the movie. I can give you the first part of the movie no problem. But once the cruise ships arrives and the survivors get on board, anything else I would write/say would spoil the movie.

Any good?

Triangle starts off with Jess (Melissa George) a single mother and her child. Her son we see is sick/autistic. She is cleaning while her son is painting. All looks well until the door bell rings. Jess opens the door and sees no one. Once back inside she seems rushed and is packing a luggage. Jess takes her crying son and gets into her car and leaves. Next we are introduce to the rest of the cast on a sailboat owned by Greg. Jess shows up following Victor (Liam Hemsworth), Greg asked where her son is, Jess says school. Ok. Once on the ocean all is well on the sailboat and everyone is having fun. Then the wind dies rather quickly. I mean a complete void of wind and waves. Then a huge dark bank of clouds approach. Then the storm hits.
The sailboat ends up overturned and one person missing. The survivors are left in the middle of a quiet calm ocean. Until the huge cruise ship appears. They are able to get on board. But what they realize is that they are alone. Or so they think.
This is where things star getting weird and people start dying. Jess is blamed. Yet the camera is on her at all time. We the audience are following her and she wasn’t any where near anyone. So what is going on? Who is that strange person with the jumpsuit and rags wrapped around their head. Why does she sound like a woman. Why does she tell Jess to “kill them all” after they were all killed. And who is screaming for help from the ocean? And when Jess finds out who it is we all just have to say what the WTF?

Final Thoughts

I love my horror movies. I love horror movies that make you think about what the hell is going on before it finally comes together at the end. Well the Triangle delivers that plus more. It does not take it easy on the viewer. It throws everything it can to mess with you and twist what you are seeing around. Then at the end when that twist comes and it makes you go “wow” it makes a 360 and makes it worse soon after. Loved this movie, but may not be for everyone.

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5



Triangle (2009) Offical Trailer
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