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Ring in the New Year with 10 Futuristic Horror Films

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The beginning of a new decade is always a great time for reflection – both on what’s come before and where we’re headed. Cinematically, countless writers and directors have given us their visions of the future, both near and far – some dystopian and rugged, others shiny and overflowing with astonishing new technologies. We’ve learned from past experience not to take their ideas all that seriously (weren’t we supposed to have flying cars by now?), but it’s a lot of fun to entertain the notion of a future world bearing little resemblance to our own. In the horror genre, this future world is almost uniformly presented as a dark, hostile place, filled with malevolent organisms that would sooner rip your head off than engage in a “meaningful dialogue”. To celebrate these films, and to mark the new decade, I’ve listed ten of the best. Let’s just hope our real-world destiny is a lot more hospitable.

10 Best Futuristic Horror Films

10. Planet of the Vampires (1965)


Future Year: Unspecified

This little-seen sci-fi horror from Mario Bava is rather hokey in spots, but it’s got loads of atmosphere and merits a definite watch. The story concerns a crew of astronauts stranded on a strange, mist-shrouded planet after crash-landing there. What they encounter is a race of disembodied aliens who possess and reanimate the dead in order to stalk and kill the living. Frankly, the film has nothing to do with vampires and is more akin to fare like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing. That being said, it’s a lot of fun and showcases the celebrated director’s ability to create an evocative mood with a miniscule budget (the film was reportedly shot for about $100K). It’s a B-movie all the way (complete with awkward dubbed dialogue), but better than most.

9. Event Horizon (1997)


Future Year: 2047

Ok, let’s just tell it like it is: for all its cool visuals and inspired set design, Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon is kind of a cheese-fest. In the hands of a more subtle director, the truly scary premise (space ship goes to Hell and back, literally) could have made for a genuinely disturbing and provocative film; what Anderson gives us is loads of gore and cheap shocks. Nevertheless, sometimes gore and cheap shocks are just what horror audiences are in the mood for, and on that front Event Horizon delivers. The way the film unfolds is nothing short of preposterous, but that’s part of its charm – Anderson is nothing if not a blunt-force director, with little time for mere suggestion; the images we get here are straight out of an exploitative B-horror picture. God bless it for that, and for a few moments of inspired absurdity (most of them courtesy of our beloved Sam Neill).

8. Screamers (1995)


Future Year: 2078

Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, Screamers was a flop upon its release but has since gone on to become a minor cult classic. In the early going it comes across as a futuristic Tremors, but it ends up evolving into something quite a bit more ambitious than that. The story involves a “race” of artificially intelligent beings that are essentially miniature killing machines that burrow under the sand, slicing and dicing any humans unlucky enough to cross their path. The ever-reliable Peter Weller stars as the commander of an Alliance military base set on an arid planet called Sirius 6B. The Alliance was responsible for developing the machines to ward off attackers, but now they’ve begun to mutate into other forms and turn against their creators. There’s nothing all that mind-blowing here; just a nifty little entertainment with some inspired special effects, a game cast and a neat premise.

7. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)


Future Year: Thousands of years in the future

The sequel to 1985 cult anime classic Vampire Hunter D (based on the novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi) improves in every way upon the original. Better animation, more identifiable characters, a greater sense of scope. In some ways it’s less a sequel than a re-imagining of the first movie, only with greater layers of character complexity and a more fully-immersive visual landscape. It’s also a bold imagining of a far, far, far-future world that blends elements of horror, sci-fi, American westerns, and folk mythology. “D”, the eponymous vampire hunter, is hired to rescue a young girl from the clutches of a vampire intent on making her his bride. Only problem is, the girl’s father has also hired a team of tough-talking bounty hunters to complete the job, so “D” must get to her before they do if he’s to reap the rewards. The film is beautifully rendered in the best anime tradition, with compelling action sequences and a human heart at its core.

6. Alien 3 (1992)


Future Year: 2179

Alien 3 is the least effective of the iconic series; which is to say, it’s still pretty damn good. Stories of the troubled production are now legendary, with Fincher alleging constant interference by the studio during filming and even walking out during the editing process. It’s easy to see why – the studio-butchered theatrical cut is confusing, does next to nothing to delineate any of the prisoners before they’re slaughtered, and overall comes off as a deeply flawed (albeit visually stunning) creation. Which is why I’m going to suggest now that instead of watching the theatrical version, you should check out the “Assembly Cut” (released as part of the Alien Quadrilogy box set), which is as close to Fincher’s vision of the film as we’re ever likely to get. While still far from perfect, this edition of the movie is much, much better, fleshing out the characters and establishing a more coherent chain of events and motivations. It’s just as dark (if not darker) than the theatrical version, but with the benefit of the added scenes all that gloomy atmosphere actually serves to underscore the film’s thematic aspirations.

5. Pandorum (2009)


Future Year: 2154 or later

Sometimes I just don’t get the critics. This nifty sci-fi horror (sort of the The Descent in space, but way more ambitious than that sounds) was almost universally panned on its release as a junky Alien clone. Which is absurd, given that Pandorum shares very little in common with that film other than the fact that it takes place on a claustrophobic spaceship. If this movie would have come out 20 or 30 years ago, it would have been applauded as a superbly directed, well-acted study in isolation and paranoia. I’m not saying there are no derivative elements; of course there are. But for god’s sake, this is loads better (and smarter) than 90% of the sci-fi product Hollywood routinely churns out. I can only hope audiences will discover this film on DVD – it deserves way more attention than it got.

4. Alien: Resurrection (1997)


Future Year: 2379 (roughly)

Gripe if you must, but I consider Alien: Resurrection a sadly underrated sequel that boasts some intensely stimulating visuals crafted by City of Lost Children director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I’ll admit that I found the justification for Ripley’s return to be almost laughable in its absurdity, but Jeunet directs the whole thing with such ingenuity and conviction it ends up making a strange sort of sense. And really, what would an Alien movie be without our beloved Sigourney? Many saw this entry as the death of the franchise; I viewed it as a bold new beginning, in a series that should be applauded for its willingness to take risks. Enough with this Predator crossover nonsense – bring on Alien 5!

3. Pitch Black (2000)


Future Year: 26th Century

Pitch Black comes off rather ordinary in the early scenes, as a spacecraft bearing a few dozen civilian passengers crash-lands on a desert-like planet and strands them in the midst of some particularly nasty winged beasties. However, it evolves into something truly special in the later going. That’s because unlike most sci-fi directors, David Twohy (who also wrote the film) doesn’t lose sight of his human characters along the way. The arcs of the two leads (played deftly by Vin Diesel and Radha Mitchell, both excellent and underrated actors) are genuinely compelling, with an unexpected pathos emerging over the course of their chaotic fight for survival. Working with a limited (for the genre) budget, Twohy nevertheless crafted a great-looking film as well, utilizing blue and red camera filters to give the alien planet a disorienting beauty. The CGI is a little underwhelming at times, but no matter; these creatures only come out at night.

2. Alien (1979)


Future Year: 2122

If not for its first sequel, Alien most definitely would have been number one on this list. This is the standard-bearer, the movie that spawned a new era in sci-fi horror (not to mention a raft of inferior copycats). The film is famous for its (still cringe-worthy) chest-bursting scene, but that’s merely the centerpiece of a movie so perfectly calibrated that it holds up just as well today as it did over 30 years (!) ago. Scott’s direction rightly gets the majority of the praise, but one of the main reasons for the movie’s timeless appeal is the design of the creature by surrealist Swiss artist H.R. Giger. The phallic, terrifying, strangely alluring Alien ranks alongside vampires, werewolves and mummies as one of film-doms most enduring movie monsters.

1. Aliens (1986)


Future Year: 2179

The first film is an artful, claustrophobic nightmare whose main strength is its slowly-enveloping sense of dread and heart-catching suspense. Aliens is a different beast altogether, a balls-to-the-wall action movie with loads of firepower and Sigourney Weaver (who was nominated for a freaking Oscar for this movie, lest we forget) in full warrior mode. At the end of the day, it’s tough to distinguish which is the better film, since they’re both such excellent and visionary works utilizing very different approaches. I give the edge to Cameron’s sequel, if only for its endless re-watch-ability factor and the fact that it so effortlessly melds the foreboding atmosphere of the first movie with the breathless pyrotechnics of a full-throttle action film. It also has that bad-ass Alien Queen, one of the most magnificent creations in sci-fi history. With Aliens Cameron not only made the rare sequel that lives up to the original (and then some), he created one of the greatest films ever made in three different genres (action, horror, and sci-fi). No small feat.

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‘The Fog’ 19 Years Later: There’s a Reason You Don’t Remember This John Carpenter Remake

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The Fog remake
Pictured: 'The Fog' (2005)

John Carpenter’s illustrious catalog of horror and non-horror classics has already seen three remakes (Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13, and this column’s focus), with at least one more kinda-sorta confirmed on the way (Escape from New York). If you consider 2011’s The Thing enough of a remake, notch another on the bedpost. It makes sense; Carpenter turned his no-bullshit attitude into a masterful filmmaking style, and those listed titles harbor nostalgic admiration. We’re probably closer than we think to seeing Bryan Fuller’s Christine remake for Blumhouse or a contemporary They Live, while Dwayne Johnson’s Big Trouble in Little China sequel project fades away. Imagine Julia Ducournau’s Christine should Fuller exit, or what about if James Gunn booked a brief horror vacation away from the DCEU for his take on They Live?

Carpenter’s brand of down-and-dirty storytelling mixed with societal commentaries make his works perfect for generational updates, but they can’t all be winners.

Take 2005’s woefully tragic The Fog, for example.

Rupert Wainwright’s disastrously shallow remake lacks the finesse of even a crusty barnacle attached to the underbelly of Carpenter’s original. During a period of horror cinema inundated by remakes, The Fog asserts itself as one of the worst. The 2000s had a very “show, don’t tell” approach to horror filmmaking and leaned on grisly violence popularized by Saw, all exploited in their lowest forms throughout The Fog. Bless both Carpenter and the late Debra Hill for serving as producers, but Wainwright and writer Cooper Layne do their salty source shanty zero justice.


The Approach

‘The Fog’ (1980)

Carpenter’s The Fog is successful because of the auteur’s influence. Between his stronger emphasis on churchly greed, eerie musical score, and abilities as a simplistic yet impactful visionary, viewers get plenty of “bang for their buck” in 90 minutes. Wainwright doesn’t possess those qualities and relies on archaic horror templates without any investment. In an era where computer graphics were still advancing, and some producers only valued horror as gory inserts within a lax narrative, Wainwright’s direction equates to background noise. There’s nothing spectacular or signature about the filmmaker’s approach, as recyclable as the plethora of 2000s horror films plagued by the same churned-out doldrums.

Smallville heartthrob Tom Welling follows in the footsteps of fellow WB/CW stars like Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki to shepherd his own horror remake, playing Tom Atkins’ role of fisherman Nick Castle. He’s a descendant of Norman Castle, one of the founding fathers of Antonio Island, which is located off the Oregon coast. It’s been over 100 years since the island’s bustling Antonio Bay community was established, and to celebrate an upcoming anniversary, a statue is commissioned that displays its founders as a dedication to their contributions. Mayor Tom Malone (Kenneth Welsh) wants everything to be perfect, but little does he know Antonio Bay is about to have an undead problem to confront when a mysterious fog rolls in thick as sauna steam.

The bones of The Fog are all there, but both needlessly overcomplicated and disparagingly unkempt. Carpenter introduces his film with an eerie ghost story told around a campfire that becomes a grave truth for Antonio Bay — Layne’s remake screenplay does backflips to try and explain the unexplainable. Nick’s charter fishing vessel unleashes the curse when second-mate Spooner (DeRay Davis) rips open a burlap bag concealing curse items with the boat’s anchor because the film doesn’t trust audience comprehension past any viewer’s eyesight. One of the biggest scourges upon 2000s horror cinema was creators believing their audiences were as dumb as algae-covered rocks, causing them to spell the obvious out in even more blatant and less captivating methods.


Does It Work?

The Fog remake carpenter

‘The Fog’ (2005)

The adjustments Wainwright oversees in 2005’s remix are a bungle of what out-of-touch producers presumed horror fans wanted to see at the time. Carpenter’s quaint coastal atmosphere is eradicated by Spooner’s Girls Gone Wild behavior or the need to belabor flashbacks that lay out every grim detail about Captain Blake (Rade Šerbedžija) and his lepers. Antonio Island’s tainted history is still prevalent as a driving force behind the weather-based haunting, but where Carpenter leaves us to imagine the atrocities founding fathers committed, Wainwright and Layne lean on time jumps that detract from overall moods for cheap betrayal thrills. The remake retains less reflection, whereas Carpenter’s original better depicts a town reckoning with its horrifying heritage — an example of hollow vengeance versus frightening introspection.

Maggie Grace co-stars in Jamie Lee Curtis’ hitchhiker role, except she’s no longer affable nomad Elizabeth Solley; she’s Kathy Williams’ (Sara Botsford) daughter, Elizabeth Williams. Her ties to Antonio Bay are supposed to represent how we can’t escape our fates, fair enough. What’s unfortunate is Layne’s need to shoehorn relationship drama because she’s (apparently) the love of Nick’s life despite his handful of hookups with KAB radio DJ Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair) while Elizabeth fled her hometown for six months — a love triangle situation that adds no special sauce and is practically forgotten. Carpenter is fantastic when letting his characters exist without bogging their arcs with fifty reasons why they’re exactly where they are in any given scene. Wainwright is no mimic, nor does his film’s desire to tangle characters together as friends, lovers, or family members add further intrigue. If anything, it adversely tanks character development because there’s no resident we intimately care about.

Which brings us to the “fog” of it all. Carpenter’s maggot-ridden swashbucklers from the deep are memorable and creepy, while Wainwright pulls his haunted visuals from a grab-bag. Sometimes, they’re atrocious see-through animations made of mist — other times, indiscriminately human entities. One victim contracts leprosy as his punishment, another fried to ash upon touch, and yet another is dragged underwater by invisible hands — there’s zero continuity to Wainwright’s justifiably antagonistic forces. They become a Mad Libs gaggle of props fitting whatever scare-of-the-hour The Fog decides is necessary at that moment, none of which ever collaborate in unison. That includes Captain Blake’s parting climax, in which he abandons his group’s attack on Antonio Bay because he claims Elizabeth as his ghost wife after it’s clear she’s the spitting image of Blake’s 1870s lover [insert seventy thousand question marks].


The Result

The Fog remake tom welling

‘The Fog’ (2005)

The Fog remake is everything I despise about thoughtless horror outputs rolled into a briny clump of seaweed and misbegotten reinventions. It’s hardly scary, unable to let audiences invest in atmospheric spookiness, and so wildly incompetent. Each scene gets progressively worse, starting with the reveal of evil personal belongings stamped with identifiable “Hallmarks” that become pieces of a puzzle that never gets finished. Carpenter makes you feel the offshore breeze rolling in with his fog, sending chills up your spine as these scurvy-soaked scoundrels start stabbing and hooking Antonio Bay residents. Wainwright doesn’t ever grasp what his iteration of Blake’s demons should look like or how they should cause havoc, so he starts throwing basic horror visuals at the screen out of desperation.

Revolution Studios’ The Fog downgrade sinks thanks to primarily messy effects, hampered by the early millennium’s digital capabilities. That’s not exclusive to awful ghost illustrations that look like someone just decreased the “Transparency” slider in Photoshop. The fog, the TITULAR FOG, doesn’t even hold up to Demon Wind standards (in which the wind is essentially fog, roll with it). Wainwright and his team brainstorm ideas that sound rad on paper — an older woman gets barbecued, a ghost outline appears in fog like Imhotep’s sandstorm face, a younger woman is attacked by seaweed — but execution almost exclusively whiffs. The remake’s drunkard generalization of Father Malone (which is such a slap in the face to Hal Holbrook’s fantastic original performance) should meet an epic death when Captain Blake levitates glass shards as a containment circle, but three pieces fly through Malone’s body, and it’s over. That’s the level of SFX disappointment that festers throughout 2005’s The Fog, all buildup with no reward.

The film’s finale feels like a prank; the rest of the conflict’s resolution is lost at sea. Carpenter’s much heavier scolds against organized religion’s dirty dealings help give his film an identity down to the glimmering golden cross, while Wainwright goes as generic as they come and abandons ship when the well runs dry. Nothing justifies the kind of conceptual excitement that comes along with worthwhile remakes, whether that’s copycat role replications (I love Selma Blair, but her Stevie doesn’t match Adrienne Barbeau’s presence) or storytelling reductions that choose numbing violence over folkloric sensations of dread. We love a horror movie that’s critical of early America’s disgusting colonization tactics, but The Fog doesn’t know how to turn those frustrations into a compelling genre production. Whatever’s kept from the original holds no candle to Carpenter’s version, and whatever’s added — like Nick and Elizabeth’s awkward shower sex scene set to softcore porno music — brings nothing of value.


The Lesson

‘The Fog’ (2005)

Just because your remake starts with a banger like Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar, We’re Going Down Swinging” doesn’t mean the film itself is a banger. There’s no world where I’d recommend Wainwright’s The Fog over Carpenter’s titanically superior original, and I say that as a leading Aughts horror remake champion. It’s another Nu-Horror approach that strips away commentary crucial to the plot’s intrigue since all Layne musters is a non-creepy and waterlogged story that feels like an unwieldy CW episode — not meant as a compliment. Not even the chiseled beauty of an early 2000s Tom Welling in a wool turtleneck can save this travesty from becoming another forgotten wreck.

So what did we learn?

● Not all CW figureheads have a hit horror remake in their blood.

● Less is so often more when it comes to horror movies, as long as you’re selling scares and confidently telling a story within your means.

● Some movies from the 2000s horror era will always suffer thanks to dodgy digital effects because while it was the shiny new toy everyone wanted to play with, golly, the technology was rough to start.

● Horror fans can be easy to please, but they’re also first to call out your bullshit — get out of here with these ghosts and their inability to pick a lane.

Wainwright’s film never knows what kind of horror movie it wants to be, and that’s the kill shot. Is it a slasher flick? Zombie movie? A large-scale haunted house blueprint? There’s never any indication that Wainwright or his screenwriter conceptualize a path forward, so they barrel on, praying there’s enough horror familiarity to appease the masses. There isn’t, it’s a boneheaded slog, and that’s that. Horror fans deserve better than to be fed the equivalent of table scraps for 100 minutes. To each their own and all, but now that I’ve finally seen 2005’s The Fog, the only times I’ll think about this movie again will be if someone interacts with my Letterboxd post.

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