AmandaCrew Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Oh, actual events. Long have you reigned as the trump card in horror marketing, and only slightly less long have you been exposed as mostly malarkey. That hasn't stopped scarier films from finding their fans, nor the hokum from earning its opening weekend before vanishing into a blur of like-minded teen-targeting supernatural fare. Peter Cornwell's The Haunting in Connecticut falls firmly into the latter category, a run-of-the-mill spooker that often opts for Dolby jolts and Avid farts over character investment that itself rarely extends beyond asking why special effects happen to good people.

The crux of Connecticut is based on the allegedly true story in which a family found themselves terrorized in their new home, a former mortuary, back in 1987. While eldest son Matt (Kyle Gallner) receives and recovers from treatments for his cancer, he alone finds spirits roaming the house and tormenting his dreams. His parents (Virginia Madsen and Martin Donovan) just try keep him comforted, assuring him and themselves that it's simply a side effect, but a similarly ill priest (Elias Koteas) suggests that being close to death has indeed put them closer to the realm of the dead, which is in turn bringing escalating harm to the household...

One normally tries not to bring the marketing of a film up in its review. Maybe one can toss in a mention here of a misleading trailer or of a really clever teaser poster, but that only serves and represents a film up to a point, after which the final product should serve and represent, well, itself.

However, the poster for Sex Drive so clearly represents what I cared for least in this film that we're just going to start there ... specifically not with the relatively apt one in which our protagonist (Josh Zuckerman) has an erect speedometer, but the most recent one, the one that just has a donut on it.

The Teeth poster that Erik shared earlier today might have been too risque, but how about an obvious phallic joke? Yesterday, MTV released a poster for Sex Drive, and subtle it ain't. To the right you can see the graphic for the poster (which you can view in its entirety over at MTV). A full-mast sex drive that's coming soon? At the very least, this should be a very good indication of what sort of humor you can expect from the film.

Speaking of, the flick focuses on a kid who meets a girl online, one who sends him the eloquent message: "U Drive All the Way Here 4 Me ... I'll Go All the Way with U." So, of course, the kid hits the road with his friends to do all the things that this poster implies. I sure hope he got other messages to convince him. At the very least, some sort of: "Are you U sure?" "U bet!"

Josh Zuckerman stars as the deluded teen, and is joined by the likes of Amanda Crew, Clark Duke, James Marsden, and Seth Green as an Amish dude.

It's funny, I was just thinking about Seth Green the other day -- not the usual run of things I can assure you, but as I was watching Radio Days, I couldn't help but be impressed by Green's career over the years. But as funny and talented as I think he is, I've got a bad feeling about anything that even remotely involves Fall Out Boy and the somewhat tired premise of a teen sex romp. MTV movie blog recently got the chance to visit the set of the teen/road flick Sex Drive, and scored a closer look at Green and members of the pop-rock band hard at work.

The film centers on a horny teen who takes a road trip with some friends so he can lose his virginity to a girl he knows online -- you know, that old chestnut. The flick was written and directed by Sean Anders, who only has a few credits to his name, but when one of them is a cult comedy about Christian Rock and frozen foods, it tends to stick in your memory. Drive also stars Josh Zuckerman as the aforementioned horny teenager, James Marsden, and Amanda Crew (John Tucker Must Die).

So, you might be wondering what Fall Out Boy has to do with all of this? (Well, other than an appearance on the Sex Drive soundtrack.) Turns out that FOB makes an appearance in the film as themselves, and Green will play an Amish "eccentric" who helps them out when their tour bus breaks down. Wow, this really isn't getting any better is it? But what should I expect from a teen sex comedy with the uninspiring title of Sex Drive? The only bright spot by the looks of things is going to be Green's performance as a whacked out Amish kid who has no intention of ever ending his Rumspringa. Sex Drive is scheduled to arrive in theaters this October.