the ring Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I am not an apologist for the MPAA. As Cinematical's Eric D. Snider astutely observed recently, the Classification and Rating Administration of the Motion Picture Association of America continues to 'arbitrarily enforce and haphazardly apply' their own ratings, generally favoring big-budget studio pictures while lowering the boom on lower-budgeted independent films. With a track record of more than 40 years, though, does any parent today believe that the MPAA is solely responsible for telling them what is suitable for their children to watch?

Evidently Deborah Knight Snyder does. The mother of two children wrote an article for the GateHouse News Service in which she wondered about the movie rating system, which she described as an "imprecise, almost backward process." No argument there, but then she described Alex Proyas' Knowing as a movie that "scared the hell" out of her and questioned: "What parent in their right mind would let a 13-year-old see such a movie?" She continues: "Thank goodness our 13-year-old was otherwise occupied and chose not to join us for the film," and then relates an experience suffered by her older son when he saw The Ring just before he turned 13 several years ago. He later told her: "That movie was terrifying for a 12-year-old!"

Snyder doesn't address her own accountability in these two incidents, of course. One son "chose not to join us" and the other went with a friend's mother: "I confess I didn't think much about his going to see it." From this, we can surmise that an adult who has been watching movies for several decades and has two children -- one of whom is now in college -- had, until this very week, abdicated responsibility for deciding what her children could watch, ceding that role entirely to the MPAA.

Okay, so I've never been much for the company of kids. which may make me extra-susceptible when it comes to the evil deeds and manipulations of a perfectly precious child on-screen. It's an easy button to push, though -- after all, who would ever suspect, let alone harm a vengeful little moppet?

None of that appeal escapes tomorrow's release, Orphan, and it certainly isn't the first time that horror and horseplay have mixed on film. While I'm tempted to include that little girl from [REC] (and also Quarantine, I suppose) for giving me the willies, I won't because she wasn't the chief antagonist, and the only reason I'm leaving Children of the Corn off the list is, well, I haven't actually seen that yet. And although it doesn't hit Stateside shelves until this October, keep an eye out for the very tense import, The Children.

But worry not: even with the exceptions, there's certainly no shortage of other brats to choose from.

When's the last time a short story scared the crap out of you? Japanese author Kôji Suzuki (of the original Dark Water and The Ring) seems to be aiming for as much. According to Dread Central, he has written "Drop," a setting-suitable novella that comes printed on rolls of toilet paper. Each roll comes with multiple copies of the story, so no need for cries of anguish when the tee-pee runs out before the twist is revealed.

But seriously, folks, before this metaphor gets too corny and starts to stink, what are some of your favorite short stories that were adapted successfully to the big screen? Can you name any that you think are ripe for a film version? I'm not sure if it's short enough to count, but I'm still waiting on Frank Darabont to give us Richard Bachman's Stephen King's The Long Walk, after doing a bang-up job on both The Mist and The Shawshank Redemption (and I guess The Green Mile counts too, being a serial and all).

I've mentioned this before: I'm not a big fan of animal death in film. That being said, I'm fine with it when it's necessary (and not a 20-tissue family film). I love pit bulls, but the bodies in No Country for Old Men made chilling sense. As did the dog death in Watchmen, or rat devastation in Willard or Wanted, or the strange, horse-head humor of My Winnipeg. If I can give the death a point, it's a-ok.

But then there's The Ring -- a film that creeped the crap out of me in the best way, but became quickly tainted when the horse went nuts. I get the fact that Naomi Watts scared the horse into insanity. I even get it jumping overboard. But instead of being a chilling moment, it was made into a grotesque show -- the sound of the horse's legs cracking on the railing, the shots of it flailing in the water.

It's quite unfortunate, but it made me close the book on The Ring, rather than keeping it in my arsenal for random nights when a scare or two is needed. If it was at the beginning or end, I'd edit it out and keep my own movie (like how I almost never watch the ending of Doom Generation to avoid the switch from dark comedy to sadistic thriller). But as it stands, it's just a terrible spot in the middle that taints the whole finished product.

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Well, I guess there were only so many ghost stories out there that revolved around 'creepy little kids', so it was about time that Hideo Nakata started to look elsewhere for thrills. Variety reports that Nakata will be embarking on his second English-language feature (after The Ring 2) with the psychological thriller Chatroom. So before you ask, no, this will not be a technophobe thriller along the lines of Pulse or One Missed Call. So breathe a big sigh of relief, because if there is one thing that I think this world could do without, it is a horror movie about a killer chatroom.

Chatroom centers on six teenagers who become involved in an online chatroom that encourages its members to engage in destructive and suicidal behaviors out in the 'real world'. The film is based on the 2005 play of the same name by Enda Walsh and Walsh will be adapting his own play for the big screen. Walsh won the Cannes Camera d'Or back in 2001, so at least the guy knows his way around a screenplay.

So while it would seem that Chatroom is a little outside of Nakata's usual 'supernatural stomping grounds', it doesn't look like that has been keeping anyone up at night. WestEnd Films' (who is in charge of selling the property) founder told Variety, "Nakata has come up with something very visual, very conceptual, and situated somewhere between Disturbia and Cube, " -- so I can only assume that Nakata's film is going to work in a few scares with his teen angst. At least the topic of online suicide clubs is something that the native Japanese director is probably pretty familiar with.

Chatroom will begin filming on location in the UK this spring -- hopefully without a waterlogged pre-teen girl in sight.

The original title of the post over on The Toy Zone is '20 Classic Films Recreated in LEGO', but when you have stuff like Serenity, The Ring, The Life Aquatic and Men in Black -- well, do we really consider those to be classic films? I sure don't, but that doesn't mean they're bad movies ... just not classics. Casablanca, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey ... I give you those. But the rest? Eh. Nevertheless, they have up scenes from 20 "popular" films recreated in LEGO and some of them are pretty damn cool -- like the one above which recreates one of the opening scenes from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

We snagged a few of our favorites for the gallery below, so check them out and let us know which ones you like the best. Personally, for me it's a tie between Star Wars, Alien, Casablanca and The Ring (I never thought a LEGO image would creep me out, but there you have it -- creepy indeed). Enjoy.

Note to Jessica: Please don't ever cut your hair. Yes, that's Jessica Alba up top re-creating that memorable scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. No, thankfully, she's not starring in another remake -- this time the gal took part in a photo shoot for Latina Magazine where she re-created memorable scenes from several classic horror films. Hmm, I think I smell a trend brewing. Yup, definitely a trend. And is it me, or does Alba look like she's kinda laughing in that image; not screaming. It's like a laugh scream -- and I hear only the most talented actresses can pull one off successfully.

The other films Alba, ahem, crucified during the photo shoot include Rosemary's Baby, Scream, The Birds and The Ring. You can check out those photos in the gallery below, and be sure to let us know (as well as Alba) which one you think she should remake next.

[Photos via Egotastic]

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.

Since I am a single gal, the very thought of having my own kids is enough to send me into a terror spiral. But, the little darlings on this list aren't your every day kids; nope, these are the kids that nightmares are made of (Like Richard said, "children are almost essential to a real horror film"). But this list just isn't about children in horror movies; it's about when the children are the source of the horror. Now I'm not saying all kids are evil, but if you take this list as an example of just how bad children can get, you will never look at those trick-or-treaters on your doorstep the same way again.

1. The Bad Seed (1956)

If you are going to talk evil children, then you have to give props to one of the baddest in the bunch: Patty McCormack as little Rhoda Penmark. Directed by Hollywood vet Mervyn LeRoy (who was more famous for his sophisticated comedies than suspense thrillers), the film was based on William March's novel of the same name and focused on a little pig-tailed demon who gets away with murder (despite a tacked-on ending that gives Deus ex Machinas a bad name). Rhoda terrorizes her nice suburban mom and tortures the staff while draped in a pinafore and knee-socks. It might not be the scariest flick in the bunch, but you can't deny that she was a nasty piece of work.

2. The Omen (1976)

Sure Rhoda Penmark might have been one of the first, but when most people think of evil kids in horror flicks they're usually thinking of Damien Thorn. Besides, you can't get much worse than being the Anti-Christ. Richard Donner directed the story of an upwardly mobile couple who bring home their bouncing baby boy, and the last thing they were expecting was to have to avert an apocalypse. Throw in some serious overacting on the part of Gregory Peck and the unforgettable scene at Damien's birthday party (if you haven't seen The Omen, I won't ruin it for you), and you get a preschooler that no one in their right mind would want to mess with.

As we approach Halloween, we're not the only ones shelling out all types of scary movie-related content. Which reminds me, have you checked out the 25 days worth of Halloween madness we've already written? It's good stuff. Read up, get scared. Boo. Anyway, those freaky folks from Cracked have put together a list of the top seven most easily escapable movie monsters. For example, both Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees aren't very fast when it comes to following their intended victims. In order to avoid being killed by one of them, all you really need to do is find an open field and run ... fast. Of course, according to our Friday the 13th death count, this didn't work out so well for 153 people.

Among the different movie monsters on their list are Samara Morgan from The Ring. In that film, there's a tape, there's a time of death and she crawls out of the television. Easily avoidable, says Cracked: "One would think the obvious thing to do would be to step outside and leave the TV behind. Co camping maybe." Or how about The Blair Witch, who apparently likes to stick people in the corner as push them over. Here's what Cracked suggests: "The Blair Witch is, however, old, dead and picks on children. If you are reading this distinctly adult-oriented site, you should be old enough to just punch her in the face and stroll away, possibly walking on her lawn in the process." I've always thought Chuckie would be pretty easy to get away from -- after all, he's a friggin' doll. How hard could it be to escape from a doll? Or what about zombies? I always loved that scene in Shaun of the Dead where they just pretend to be fellow zombies and cruise through the crowd. That's not too hard, just go a day without caffeine and most of us automatically turn into zombies. In your opinion, which movie monsters do you think are the most easily escapable?