jake west Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Well, it's October now, and just as all sites set their... well, sights on all things horror, Horror Squad's been ahead of the curve by covering it all year round! A-ha!

Seriously, though, as Weinberg told you, we've kicked off our Fates Worse Than Death series -- today's entry from yours truly regards that ever grisly Event Horizon. (Your suggestions are also welcome.) Peter's got the latest on the best in this week's genre discs (Trick 'r Treat, ho!), and newbie Brad McHargue keeps up the Fantastic Fest coverage with his look at Jake West's horror-comedy, Doghouse.

Mind you, the Sci-Fi Squad crew ain't slouching either, whether it's concerning their new genre DVDs of the week, their Fantastic Fest interview with Stingray Sam director Cory McAbee, their wonderfully gonzo glimpse at next month's disaster-tastic 2012, and a gallery of the downright geekiest tattoos I have ever seen.

So get crackin'! After all, this October only comes one time a year... or something.

You only have to visit one horror convention to understand why, twelve years after Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings hit the scene, we're now getting a pair of seriously unnecessary sequels. (Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud aired last month.) It's because horror fans are painfully loyal patrons, and they've agreed that the Pumpkinhead character is pretty damn evil, vicious and slick-looking. I suppose we can blame thank director Stan Winston for creating a low-budget 1989 monster movie that the fanbase really embraced, and (as always) those loyal fans are being summarily punished for making the original Pumpkinhead an underground hit on home video. (I actually have kind of a soft spot for Pumpkinhead 2, mindlessly entertaining trash that it is.)

Speaking of trash, Pupmkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes is every bit the infantile, obvious and amateurish affair that one would expect from a project bankrolled by the Sci-Fi Channel. I hate to say it so callously, but I'm fairly certain that the Sci-Fi Channel guys are well aware of how rotten their "original programming" movies actually are. Sure, Sci-Fi sometimes airs some really solid titles (Dog Soldiers, for example), but when you're dealing with their own stuff, you're generally dealing with the bottom of the genre barrel.

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.

If you're not the kind of person who enjoys cheesy horror-comedy, mixed with over-the-top gore, campy dialogue, alien-on-human sexual encounters and a slew of British accents, then Evil Aliens is not the film for you. However, you horror buffs and gore geeks should have a blast with this flick, dissecting each splat of blood as director Jake West pays homage to a number of classic scary movies, including (but not limited to) Jaws, Predator, Night of the Living Dead and -- wait for it -- Disney's Flight of the Navigator.

The film's opening shot places us high above a young couple having sex in the middle of an open field. What they fail to realize (and will soon find out) is that they're not alone. Dun. Dun. Dun. When a disagreement between lovers finds the woman running off towards a pitch-black night, danger soon finds her and snatches the poor girl up, leaving the man alone, vulnerable and ultimately screwed (in more ways than one). Suddenly, we're onboard a spacecraft where the not-so-happy couple are separated, strapped down on top of metal tables and face-to-face with horrific creatures hell-bent on jamming a long shiny drill up where the sun never shines. As blood splatters everywhere and screams of mercy go unheard, we're introduced to the title of this crazy little flick: Evil Aliens.

About a month ago I helped pimp a goofy little British horror/comedy called Evil Aliens. I told you it'd be opening in New York on September 8th, and also that I'd definitely recommend the flick to splatter-fans. Now comes word from Magic Lamp Releasing that the Aliens will be invading a whole lot more than the Big Apple.

Already scheduled for an Image DVD release next January, Jake West's Evil Aliens can be enjoyed on the big screen in the following venues on the dates courteously listed here by Fangoria, and we're told that more dates will be announced soon. (ahem, Philadelphia??) Stay tuned for Erik's review of Evil Aliens later this week.

In tangentially-related news, Mr. West recently finished up on his Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes, which will premiere October 28th on Sci-Fi Network before hitting the video stacks a bit later.

Waaaay back in April I shared the news that Pumpkinhead 3 would soon arrive from director Jake West (Evil Aliens) and actors Lance Henriksen (Near Dark) and Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), and it looks like "soon" equals October 28th ... on the Sci-Fi Channel. Ugh. I may just wait for the DVD release...

But wait, there's more! Aside from Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes, we also have a fourth chapter to (kinda) look forward to! Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud (formerly Pumpkinhead 4: Love Hurts) recently wrapped production under the eye of writer/director Mike Hurst, he of Room 6, House of the Dead 2, and Mansquito. Mr. Henriksen will be returning for Part 4, whereas Mr. Bradley will ... not. (Is that a Part 3 spoiler? Sorry.)

The Sci-Fi Channel co-bankrolled both of these flicks, and if you've seen more than four or five "Sci-Fi Originals" in your time, then you probably know what you're getting yourself into. If I'm not mistaken, these guys tried the same thing last year with Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave -- and those didn't really work out too well.

[Thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com for the reminders.]

Normally the announcement of a title like Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes would not warrant a big and excited post here at Cinematical -- mainly because sequels like Pumpkinhead 3 happen all the time, and most of 'em suck hard-boiled eggs. But not all latecoming sequels to semi-forgotten monster movies can claim to have both Lance Henriksen and Doug Bradley on their cast lists ... plus P3 will be directed by a guy named Jake West, and if you haven't seen West's Evil Aliens yet, well, you're in for a huge and splattery treat.

Bradley is known throughout the realm of Horrorland as "the guy who played Pinhead in the brilliant Hellraiser and its gradually lamer series of sequels," while Henriksen is a genre god second only to someone like Bruce Campbell or Joss Whedon. Best known for his performance as the "synthetic human" Bishop in James Cameron's Aliens, Mr. Henriksen has spent much of his career in the horror/sci-fi end of the spectrum. Despite the fact that he's appeared in movies like Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Right Stuff, Henriksen's most often recognized as the cop from The Terminator, the daddy vampire from Near Dark, and the cyborg who got ripped in half from Aliens.

Evil Aliens will hit R1 DVD later this year, courtesy of Image Entertainment. Pumpkinhead 3 is currently in production. (And by the way, both Pumpkinhead movies are actually pretty solid. Give 'em a rental if vengeful monsters are your thing.)