christopher smith Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's been ten years since Melissa George made her mark in her first feature film -- Alex Proyas' cult favorite, Dark City. Since then, she's had some stinkers -- oh, the crap that was Derailed comes to mind -- as well as some worthy roles like the beautifully eerie Camilla Rhodes in Mulholland Drive. But now that she's finished with vampires and 30 Days of Night, The Hollywood Reporter posts that she'll get into a supernatural Triangle.

The thriller is about some people who go on a yachting trip in the Atlantic Ocean. When they're "struck by mysterious weather conditions," they move onto another ship. However, it doesn't seem like this new ship was the life-saving convenience they imagined because they "experience greater havoc on the open seas" on this other vessel. I guess they hop onto a ghost ship or something. Or, maybe modern-day pirates?! Anyway, George will play one of the passengers who has a mental disorder and "relives the harrowing experience through each of her three personalities." I guess she survives, or has died and descended into a mental hell. Christopher Smith, who last brought us the bloody team-building flick Severance, will direct the feature, which shoots this spring in Australia.

Even though the UK got their native Severance way back in August (with the R2 DVD due next week), we Yanks won't get to see it in theaters until April 6th -- unless Magnolia Pictures bumps the release date because, well, that's the day Grindhouse is opening. Various fest-goers have already been able to enjoy Christopher Smith's twisted little horror flick (myself included), but the Average Joe horror geek will have to wait until Magnolia (finally) unleashes the goods.

In the meantime you can head over to The Film Asylum and check out one nifty little clip from the flick, although I'm a little bit bummed; this snippet represents one of the most surprisingly amusing moments in the film, and it kinda stinks to have it ruined before you see the movie. Oh well, it's still funny. Enjoy. (There's also a trailer that's certainly worth watching.)

The flick stars the hilarious Danny Dyer, the luminous Laura Harris and a whole bunch of Brits you might not recognize -- but that doesn't stop 'em from being quite amusing before they're stalked, staked and hacked to death by a bunch of ravenous freakoes deep in the mountains of Eastern Europe.

Oh, and there's a bear.

If there's one thing the media really loves to do, it's lump a bunch of barely-connected people into an ill-fitting group -- and then give that group a clever name. Whether it's The Rat Pack, The Brat Pack or The Splat Pack, I just get irked whenever a new "pack" makes it into the cultural lexicon. Oh, you're not familiar with that last one? Yeah, it's a moniker that's been given to a bunch of "new" horror filmmakers, one that seems to imply that these guys get together every weekend to smoke weed and watch Halloween 2 together.

According to a recent article in Time Magazine, one that seems to approach horror flicks the same way a prissy schoolmarm would approach some inappropriate comic books, the members of "The Splat Pack" are Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel), Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent), Alex Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes), Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects), and James Wan, Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman of the Saw trilogy. (Apparently Wolf Creek director Greg McLean was part of the original pack, although he goes unmentioned in the Time article, probably because he hasn't made much money yet.)

But what do these guys have in common, really, other than the fact that they all make horror flicks? I see Americans, Brits, Aussies and a Frenchman in the mix, and while some of the guys are fresh-faced and 20-something, guys like Roth have been toiling away in backstage anonymity for years. Plus, c'mon, Rob Zombie is 42 years old, so how exactly does he tie in with these kids? And why is it that Neil Marshall never seems to be quoted in these articles? Is he just included because his horror movies are ... GOOD? Apparently the Splat Pack label was created by Alan Jones of Total Film, and I'm sure the guy's an absolute expert on horror flicks -- but labels create limits, exclusions and oversights. And, ultimately, articles like this one, I suppose. (Either way, I bet Jones bangs out a book called The Splat Pack by the end of 2008.)

The UK's Christopher Smith (Creep, Severance) is young and horror-heavy, so why isn't he a member of The Pack? Shouldn't (Dawn of the Dead screenwriter, Slither director) James Gunn be one of the den mothers? Lucky McKee has made only two feature films (May and The Woods), but they're both downright excellent pieces of horror. Why's he not a member? Uwe Boll's done a bunch of horror flicks that could be accurately described as " laden with torture," so why not throw him an invitation? You want a guy who loves the word splat? Try Jake West, the guy who directed Evil Aliens. Plus I read another article a while back in which Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) was considered a member of The SP! Now, if that guy can be considered some sort of "future of horror," I'll eat my hat.

The common themes among the Splat Packers are ... what? They all like horror movies, they don't shy away from intense chills, harsh themes or copious gore, and they're all carbon-based life forms, I guess. But really: Does anyone out there think the work of Eli Roth is even remotely similar to that of Neil Marshall? Does a Rob Zombie flick remind you of what was seen in, say, High Tension? I mean, if you're going to define a term, then define it. And as a big fan of just about all these movies, I just gotta scratch my head when I hear these guys lumped together in one basket.

And what happens when guys like Ryan Schifrin (Abominable), Adam Green (Hatchet), J.T. Petty (S&Man) Scott Glosserman (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon), Jon Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) and Adam Mason (Broken) start to make their way up the ranks? Will we have the arrival of Splat Pack 2: The New Generation? Back in the late '70s/early '80s, did we need a goofy little heading to remember names like Carpenter, Hooper, Craven, Dante, Landis and Cunningham?

Ultimately, I have no real point. I'd just seen the phrase "Splat Pack" one too many times and felt the need to vent. Opposing viewpoints are welcome, as long as they agree with my own opinions.

Most of the celebrities are gone, the parties are notably less funky, and the throngs of jaywalkers on Bloor Street have trickled down to a steady drip -- but the Midnight Madness continues! (Case in point: Even with the festival winding down, J.T. Petty's S&MAN still had a powerful debut and Q&A session!) Update #3 (of 4, in case you were wondering) offers a taste of British slash-stick, French freakiness, and Canadian carnage.

Severance -- Here's a movie I quite enjoyed; I laughed at the funny bits, I cringed at the gooey gore-geysers, and I even got spooked once or twice. So why did I leave the theater feeling slightly underwhelmed? Probably because the early buzz from across the pond (and various other film festivals) was that Christopher Smith's Severance is "the next Shaun of the Dead" -- which it most certainly is not. (Frankly I wish people would stop using the phrase "X is the next Y," but then all the publicists would go out of business.) The flick's about a group of weapon-making co-workers who go on a "team-building" retreat ... only to see their teammates picked off by a rather nastily creative stalker. Suffice to say Severance is broadly amusing, satisfyingly splattery, and just clever enough to appease the demanding genre freaks -- and that's good enough for me.