Editorials
Time to Revisit…’Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight’
Ever wonder why some of your favorite lesser-known horror movies sit idly by while other films seem to capture all the glory? I know I do. That’s why I’ll be taking a look at a few horror movies over the next few days and weeks that I feel merit much more appreciation than they’ve actually received. Further, I’ll be holding these under-appreciated gems up against the examples of much more prominent similar movies to make my case for why they deserve a reappraisal.
In this edition, I take a look at the overlooked 1995 supernatural horror flick Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight and discuss why fans of Sam Raimi’s first two Evil Dead entries – as awesome as those movies are – could maybe stand to throw a little recognition in the direction of Ernest Dickerson’s dust-collecting mini-classic.
Beloved Favorites: The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead II (1987)
Number of votes on IMDB: 49,409 and 47,475, respectively
The Plots: An assortment of individuals, led by valiant protagonist Ash, become stranded in a remote cabin and must do battle with an evil force capable of possessing the bodies of the living and transforming them into murderous demons.
Why they’re so celebrated: While tonally quite different from one another, the first two films in the Evil Dead series are landmarks of the horror genre and famous for kick-starting future Spider-Man director Sam Raimi’s career. Their “D.I.Y.” origins, over-the-top grotesqueness and willingness to “go there” (I’m particularly referring to the infamous “tree rape” scene in the first entry) won over legions of hardcore genre fans, and in subsequent years the films have become widely accepted as horror classics by both top-shelf movie critics and more mainstream filmgoers. Not to mention, they are regularly cited as major influences by several future auteurs of the genre.
Why it’s time to backburner them for awhile: Make no mistake: I am in no way suggesting that Evil Dead 1 and 2 are bad movies, or somehow undeserving of the praise they have received. They are, in fact, excellent films, and they’ve proven remarkably influential on subsequent generations of independent filmmakers. But that’s just the thing: we all know they’re great, we all recognize their importance in the scheme of the horror genre, and many of us have probably watched each of them at least half a dozen times. Maybe it’s time to take a step back for a bit? Revisit a similar title that doesn’t garner near the amount of recognition as the Evil Dead films but perhaps deserves a little more appreciation? Possibly a film like…
Undervalued Also-Ran: Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
Number of votes on IMDB: 6,942
The Plot: An assortment of individuals, led by a mysterious stranger named Frank, must fend off a horde of monsters in a remote boarding house when the Collector, a vicious demon disguised as a man, comes to retrieve a mystical artifact from Frank’s possession that has the power to open the gates of Hell.
Why it’s not so celebrated: The first of a planned trio of Tales From the Crypt spin-off films, Demon Knight posted respectable enough box-office and home-video sales/rental numbers to warrant a second (though essentially unrelated) entry in the series – the inferior Dennis Miller vampire flick Bordello of Blood – but it nevertheless failed to make much of a dent in the popular consciousness. Though it certainly has a few admirers, it’s now generally viewed as a failed experiment at extending the Tales from the Crypt brand into a successful theatrical franchise. It also debuted at a time in which the horror genre was at a relative low point both artistically and commercially, with Scream nearly two years away and the slasher boom of the `80s long since relegated to the cultural dustbin.
Why it deserves a revisiting: Ok, I’ll admit that director Ernest Dickerson (Bones, The Walking Dead) is no Sam Raimi – he doesn’t possess near the amount of stylistic panache – but with Demon Knight he managed to deliver a fun, solidly-crafted supernatural horror flick that stands as one of the most underrated genre entries of the `90s. Blessed with a very good cast including Billy Zane, William Sadler, Thomas Haden Church, and CCH Pounder (Jada Pinkett is in it too) and sporting some genuinely impressive (and wonderfully gory) practical effects work, Dickerson admirably balances the horror and comedic elements in a way that doesn’t feel forced.
The film also boasts some sharply-drawn (though expectedly broad, given the genre) characters and a mythology surrounding the central MacGuffin (a mystical key containing the blood of Christ) that works surprisingly well. While the film doesn’t reach the same manic heights as the Evil Dead films, it’s still a fast-paced, energetic ride that’s definitely worth a (second?) look for anyone who counts themselves as fans of Raimi’s early work.
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Editorials
‘Unfriended’ – One of the Best Screenlife Horror Movies Turns 10 This Year
Back when Unfriended was still going by the title of Cybernatural, director Leo Gabriadze said he came onto the project because he was attracted to the story’s subject matter. Nelson Greaves’ script demonstrated how personal harassment had since changed in the digital age; in particular those younger people whose torment went beyond the classroom. The internet had not only made a bully’s reach greater but also unavoidable. And in true horror fashion, Unfriended provided an unsettling portrayal of victimhood as well as sadistic retribution from beyond the grave.
Unfriended immediately broke tradition by staying close to home as opposed to traveling to the deep, dark woods or anywhere else teens tend to go and die in horror. More unusual was the unexciting premise of these characters video-chatting all night instead of meeting in person at an ominous social event of some kind. After years of critics reproaching the genre for its endless use of foolish and unsound decisions to progress the story, and audiences yelling in frustration as brainless teenagers walked toward rather than away from danger, here was a film that found terror in the most innocuous of modern adolescent diversions. Even the film’s sex component was as safe as mere abstinence; the only harm of webcam foreplay is the audience’s secondhand embarrassment. Despite the different venue and presumed security of camming with pals, these internauts met the same fate as their on-screen predecessors who ventured out into the real world.
Things begin a bit tedious — only after setting up the past sin that the characters now all share — as part of that need to make the inevitable chaos appear even wilder by comparison. Unfriended, however, moves at a brisker pace than its ilk, due in large part to the screenlife format. The film is presented in breaknecking real-time, so everything happens as instantly as a mouse click. Eager audiences benefit from that immediacy, seeing as there is next to no wait time once a character is handed their death card. Regardless of the fast speed at which this film operates, though, Gabriadze still managed to create tension. On that first watch, the story is quite unpredictable.
As the six characters log on for their virtual hangout, the ostensible final girl of the group, Blair (Shelley Hennig), detects the stranger among them. Mysterious and uninvited user “billie227” turns out to be no random troll but someone who is, supposedly, masquerading as Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman). As shown in the prologue, this late classmate of Blair took her own life exactly one year ago, and a bystander’s recording of her death has since become a shock clip. Blair herself was revisiting both it and the motivation for Laura’s suicide, an embarrassing viral video, shortly before everything goes down. Coincidences are rare in horror, and based on the genre’s history of calculated and grisly vengeance, billie227 could only be a hacker hellbent on retaliation. Refreshingly, Unfriended takes a slightly different path toward its familiar destination.
Beneath the tech-driven exterior of the film sits a conventional idea, but Unfriended’s approach to systematic teen butchery is less routine. Greaves takes the phrase “ghost in the machine” literally as Laura’s enraged spirit wreaks havoc in the characters’ computers and online spaces. Meanwhile, prior screenlife horrors, like Megan is Missing and The Den, and this film’s own unrelated sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web, delivered tangible threats for netizens. The concept of internet strangers finding their way into homes is daunting and more plausible, but there are logical constraints to consider. For those not preoccupied with total believability, an omnipotent e-phantom helps make the absurd possible. The authentic applications and services seen all throughout the film (Gmail, Facebook, Skype), in lieu of the artificial equivalents usually present in found-footage cinema, then restored some of the realism lost after adding a supernatural element.
It has been ten years since Unfriended premiered at Fantasia Fest. And in that time, “netiquette” has changed, albeit not completely. What was pretty common at the time, namely capturing and then sharing people’s worst moments online, still happens these days, of course. Now there is a vocal degree of empathy to go with the mockery. A decade ago, it was more acceptable to indulge in the mass cyber-shaming of whoever was unlucky enough to get caught on camera. Additionally, internet speak has softened to the point where comedic yet violent slang — “DIAF” was a popular one — is nonexistent in certain digital spaces. The title of the video which led to Laura’s suicide (“LAURA BARNS KILL URSELF”) was spot on with this type of flippant language, although the actual content of said recording is pretty damn mean-spirited, even when taking the standards of yesteryear into account.
This film is not without its hurdles. For starters, Blair and her friends (played by Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki and Courtney Halverson) are impossible to care about, even before the story reveals their part in Laura’s death. Their grating personalities are understandably enough to make anyone want to end this chat session early. As viewers continue watching, however, that sky-high level of loathsomeness is clearly intentional; Unfriended wants everyone to side with Laura (and they do). Another defense of the characters: the truth is, a lot of people are just plain unpleasant. Especially at an age where hormones run wild, maturity is a work in progress, and morality is, at best, questionable. There is also the complaint of the film’s lack of real scares; indeed the over-the-top and, at times, telegraphed deaths have more of a schadenfreude quality to them. Even so, it is what Gabriadze chose not to show directly on screen that is often more frightful.
Unfriended is criticized for simply putting a brand-new coat of paint on something old, and delivering an otherwise valuable message about bullying and empathy inside an unbecoming package. Nevertheless, this is an effective and ambitious interpretation of what it means to grow up with and live on the internet. The fact that none of the characters ever think to leave their computers as soon as all hell breaks loose is an eerie statement about the chronically (and tragically) online. Whenever Unfriended feels too niche, heedless of its own amusing and innovative execution, the film is a reminder of how there is virtually no escape from the internet anymore. And getting on its bad side would be a dreadful mistake.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
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