my little eye Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Weinstein Co. has added a British horror thriller to their upcoming slate of releases. According to indieWIRE, all North American rights to James Watkins' Eden Lake have been acquired by the Weinsteins at Cannes. Evidently, it's been months in the making: Fangoria noted in November 2007 that the Weinsteins were "reportedly finalizing" a deal.

Putting business aside, it sounds like writer/director Watkins, who also co-wrote My Little Eye, knows how to appeal to horror fans, telling Fangoria: "We show people's heads on fire, neck-stabbing with glass, stomach-slashing revealing intestines and kidneys and metal spikes through feet. Gritty realism in moments of ramped-up tension." (!!!!) The story follows a couple "on a romantic weekend getaway being terrorized by dysfunctional teenagers with no ethical boundaries."

Lest you think that this picture might appeal solely to horror fans, the actors who play the romantic couple have bona fide credentials. Michael Fassbender (300) has already received kudos this week for his performance as the hunger-striking IRA leader Bobby Sands in director Steve McQueen's Hunger, and is in advanced talks to play the coveted role of Heathcliff in a new version of Wuthering Heights, as Elisabeth Rappe told us earlier this week. Fassbender's better half in Eden Lake is played by Kelly Reilly (pictured), who has become even more gorgeous in the six years since she appeared in The Spanish Apartment. Explicit carnage, a hot heartthrob, and a lovely lady? Count me in.

Warning: This post contains some spoilers for the original Descent.

It's been a while since we've heard anything about the promised sequel to Neil Marshall's The Descent, and fans of the film who rolled their eyes at the initial announcement may have gotten their hopes up. But no: the sequel is still going forward with Descent editor Jon Harris making his directorial debut, and James Watkins (My Little Eye), who had nothing to do with the first film, writing the screenplay. The new info is that Shauna McDonald and Natalie Mendoza, who played protagonists Sarah and Juno, will reprise their roles in the sequel. The cast will also have some Y chromosomes this time around, in the form of Gavan O'Herlihy, Joshua Dallas and Douglas Hodge.

The plot will involve "the survivor" -- that would be Sarah -- "forced back into the system of caves she battled her way out of in the first film, in a bid to locate the rest of her group." Shockingly, this probably means that the sequel will take the American "Lionsgate ending" (in which Sarah gets out) as canon, rather than the original ending, where Sarah's escape is a dream sequence and the final shot shows her remaining in the cave. I suppose this could be explained to overseas viewers (who were, after all, responsible for more than half of the first film's $57 million box-office) by claiming that she got out later, in some other way. But it'll be tough.

Maybe a filmmaker wants to tip their hat to the slashers and psychos who thrilled and chilled them in their youth; perhaps they want to make a post-modern comment on the nature of watching violent entertainment; maybe they just want to scare us good and proper with a moment of sheer blood-curdling terror. Whatever the reason, there are some pretty good horror movies about watching horror movies; here are seven (admittedly skewed towards the modern and the domestic) for your perusal.

1) Scream (1996)

Kevin Williamson's sly, self-referential script exploded every slasher-flick cliché ... and picked some darkly glimmering moments out of the rubble. Starring Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a girl beset by a masked killer, Scream paved the way for a host of imitators, but the original is a surprisingly fresh and remarkably well-structured mystery -- plus, Williamson and director Wes Craven's commentary on the DVD is like a master-class on the history and methodology of slasher film. When the blood-stained climax sees our heroine suggesting our killers have "seen too many movies," the reply comes back fast: "Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos; movies make psychos more creative!" It's a great line -- and you also wonder if it's true. Scream's killer famously asked "Do you like scary movies?" Scream itself asked why you like scary movies, and left you to puzzle over your answer. (Bonus question: How many times did Scream show up on a Cinematical Seven throughout the month of October?)

2) My Little Eye (2002)

Five contestants sign up for a reality-TV-style contest; they spend six months locked together in an isolated home. If you stick it out for the duration, everyone wins a cool million dollars; if one person leaves, though, everyone loses. Much of My Little Eye is shot with distorted web-cams and a you-are-there queasiness -- we're the audience for the "show," and we get to witness as things start to go very, very wrong. Eventually, the truth comes out -- and we feel ourselves becoming a very different kind of viewer, watching something very different than the 'contest' in the film's set-up, seeing the film's events through very different eyes. My Little Eye may not be perfect, but it has one grim, chilling moment that's among the scariest, creepiest scenes I've ever seen in a horror movie.