The Stepfather Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Weekend Box Office: 'Wild Things' a Hit with Grown-ups
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office »
All the hand-wringing over whether or not Where the Wild Things Are is "for children," or "kid-tested, mother-approved," or whatever, turned out to be mostly academic: the kids didn't go. And the movie cleaned up anyway. According to figures cited by this David Germain piece in the AP, parents with kids made up only 27% of the $32.5 million Wild Things earned this weekend. The prevalence of adults (who I gather grew up on the book, unlike the current generation of tykes) probably bodes well, or at least better, for the box office staying power of the divisive, challenging film. Gerard Butler's Law Abiding Citizen opened to $21.3 million in second place -- the highest ever opening gross for young distributor Overture. That may have been at the expense of Screen Gems' The Stepfather, the unscreened, bloodless PG-13 horror remake that debuted in fifth place with $12.3 million. That's still not bad given the total lack of expensive name-brand talent involved.
Paranormal Activity continued its slow roll-out charge, adding 600 screens (760 total) and adding $20 million to its gross. (That's around $26,000 per screen.) How much the idiotic "we-won't-open-in-your-city-unless-you-go-online-and-DEMAND-it" shtick had to do with this is debatable. (Would the movie have made even more had Paramount just held the film back and then put it into wide release this weekend?) But the "breakout hit" label is difficult to resist at this point. Good job everybody.
Down at number 21, the omnibus New York, I Love You goes on the probably-should-have-kept-it-in-the-arthouses category. Its predecessor-of-sorts, Paris Je T'aime, expanded to around 200 screens rather than starting there, and did considerably better than New York will, foreign language handicap and all.
The full top 10 after the jump.
Review: The Stepfather
Filed under: Horror », New Releases », Mystery & Suspense », Sony », Theatrical Reviews »
Indifference is, perhaps, one of the most frustrating attitudes one can have towards a film. If you love a film, singing its praises is a natural by-product. Hating a film can often times be an even more cathartic experience than loving a film, as vitriol is always easily on tap. But not particularly caring one way or the other? That's oddly frustrating for me.
The Stepfather, the most recent collaboration between producer J.S. Cardone and director Nelson McCormick (the last being their remake of Prom Night, a project I feel safe calling the most annoying horror film of 2008, and even that's being diplomatic), is another entry to a new Hollywood tradition of finding vaguely recognizable films from the 1980s and remaking them on the cheap. Now, I'm not one to bemoan this business model; it's fine if the end result has enough originality to it that there is at least the illusion that the film is something more than a commodity to draw in a big opening weekend.
Fortunately The Stepfather does have enough airiness to it and enough interesting performers in it to convince even a hardened cynic that money wasn't the only motivation for all involved, that creatively the team behind it did want to deliver to new audiences a story of the reverse-black widow, of a man who lulls vulnerable single-mothers into thinking he wants to join their family, only to bite their heads off (figuratively, there's no actual cannibalism involved) when their back is turned.
Read the rest at Horror Squad!
Villains: The Highs and Lows of Recasting
Filed under: Drama », Horror », Critical Thought », Fandom »
Why recast the relatively small role of a doctor in a thriller? Michael Mann's Manhunter was an excellent thriller, featuring Brian Cox in a small role as the imprisoned, chillingly cold cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. When the time came to adapt another one of Thomas Harris' bestsellers, Jonathan Demme went in a different direction, casting Anthony Hopkins as the good doctor. The character's family name was restored (Lecter, not Lecktor) and a whole new set of tics and tricks were placed on display. Hopkins may have been the only actor alive who could have hammed it up to such extreme levels and yet, somehow, made Lector creepy rather than campy, unnerving rather than unbelievable. For his memorable efforts in The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins won an Academy Award.
Recasting villains is a tricky business. Everyone needs to love, identify with, and cheer the hero or heroine, but if the villain doesn't provide the requisite level of opposition, the picture runs the risk of becoming unbalanced, leaving a gaping hole that cannot be filled in with special effects. And if an actor has established the character in the public's mind, it's difficult for anyone else to measure up.
So Dylan Walsh has an advantage in The Stepfather, which opens tomorrow. Terry O'Quinn originated the title role in the 1987 original, and was a truly memorable monster. Yet the film is not steeped in the public consciousness to a high degree, and O'Quinn has become much better known from playing John Locke in Lost. Walsh's fame, such as it is, comes from the lesser-seen TV series Nip/Tuck. Walsh has a shot of creating his own distinct brand of villain.
Trailer Park: Zombies Thirsting For Souls
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Foreign Language », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Trailer Trash »
2012
You know that poem about the world ending not with a bang but a whimper? I don't think Roland Emmerich has read it as this end of the world flick has many bangs each followed by an Earth-shattering ka-boom. Apparently the Mayan calendar's prediction of the apocalypse comes true in the titular year and John Cusack plays a man whose family is in the midst of the cataclysm. The part about a government plan to build a sort of ark reminds me of George Pal's When Worlds Collide. The end begins on November 13.
Zombieland
I'm always leery of horror comedies. For every Shaun of the Dead or Return of the Living Dead there's a dozen straight to DVD movies that try to frighten and amuse at the same time yet end up doing neither. This humorous look at the zombie apocalypse not only looks pretty damn funny but also has some star power with Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin and Bill Murray. This one hits theaters on Ocotober 9, just in time for Halloween.
The Scary Bits: Return of The Scary Bits
Filed under: Horror », The Scary Bits »
I know, it's been a while since I've written one of these gore-soaked missives, but the upside to that is ... we have a lot to talk about! And since I wrote this during a lazy Sunday (happy belated holidays, btw) I figure it's time to break out the candy-coated bullet points! Let's start out with a freaky fistful of upcoming DVD releases:
Currently strewn across shelves are Donkey Punch and Vinyan, two festival-heavy horror films that couldn't possibly be more different. One's about venal young jerks, and the other is about heartbroken (but stupid) parents. Really bad things happen to all of them.
This Tuesday we're getting the old-school-style monster movie Splinter, which is really quite good. If you like prickly monsters, that is. On the same day ... whoa. It looks like someone actually bothered to exhume flicks like Repossessed, Slaughter High, and My Best Friend Is a Vampire. That sound you just heard was my Netflix queue getting fatter.
Come the 21st we get J.T. Petty's The Burrowers, which played (and played well) at last year's Fantastic Fest, and Robert Hall's Laid to Rest, which is sort of like a non-snarky slasher throwback with a hint of Phantasm-style weirdness. Couldn't find a stranger double feature than these two, believe me.
And mark your calendars, gore-lovers, for April 28, because that's when Martyrs finally hits R1 DVD. According to the UK poster, Scoot Weinberg says it "makes Saw look like Sesame Street," which is one of the most shameless blurbs I've ever heard. Even if the guy is correct, brilliant, and really handsome. (Trust me, this is one rough horror movie.) Also on this Tuesday we'll get the unofficial Donnie Darko sequel, and a movie starring Amber Benson called One-Eyed Monster. I leave the jokes to you fine folks.
First Look: 'Julia & Julia', 'Stepfather', 'Armored' and More
Filed under: Action », Animation », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Sony », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Remakes and Sequels », Images »
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Sony Pictures has provided Cinematical with a brief look at some of their 2009 films, including Julia & Julia, The Stepfather remake, Armored, Obsessed, Max's Mardi Gras, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and Angels & Demons. Some of these images have been released already, but most haven't. Check out the galleries below with descriptions of each film.
The film follows the legendary chef Julia Childs, as well as a government employee who attempts to plow her way through the chef's classic cookbook (starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina and Linda Emond) Release: August 7, 2009
Gallery: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
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Inspired by the beloved children's book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky like rain (starring Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Andy Samberg, Mr. T and Tracy Morgan). Release: September 18, 2009
The team behind the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code returns for the highly anticipated Angels & Demons, based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard religious expert Robert Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals. Release: May 15, 2009
'Stepfather' Remake Finds Four
Filed under: Horror », Casting », Sony », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
The original was Terry O'Quinn's shining moment before he became John Locke on Lost. Now, in the previously announced remake of The Stepfather, O'Quinn's role will be refilled by Dylan Walsh. According to Variety, the Nip/Tuck star will play the homicidal "daddy" who marries Sela Ward and provokes the suspicions of her kid. This time around, though, the kid is a boy rather than a girl, and cast in the role is Penn Badgley (John Tucker Must Die). Rounding out the cast may be Adrianne Palicki (TV's Friday Night Lights), who is in negotiations to play the son's girlfriend. The original, which came out in 1987 and later spawned a sequel, was pretty cheap and cheesy, but it was a neat horror interpretation of the usual fears of step-children, that the guy who married mommy is a really terrible man. Of course, in the movie, the stepfather turns out to be a serial killer who has slashed his former families to bits due to a psychological issue stemming from his childhood. According to Variety, Screen Gems is hoping to make the redo a more-Hitchcockian thriller. Somehow I doubt it will be anywhere near as good as one of old Alfred's classics.
The Stepfather also now has a script, which was written by J.S. Cardone (The Covenant), and a director, Nelson McCormick, who previously worked with Walsh on four Nip/Tuck episodes. Cardone and McCormick were also both involved with Screen Gems' remake of Prom Night, which hits theaters in April. About the same time as that release, The Stepfather will probably be just starting filming.
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
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