Editorials
00’s Retrospect: A Look Back at 2002, Horror Strikes Back!
Y2K, 9/11, war and a a horrid recession, a major escape we had this decade was in the form of film, notorious for thriving during National crisis. Leading up to New Year’s Eve where we’ll ring in 2010, Bloody Disgusting will be looking back at the entire decade year by year through the eyes of various staff writers. Check back each day for a profound reflection from Ryan Daley, David Harley, Tex, BC and yours truly. Inside you’ll find my own personal look back at the year 2002, the year horror came back from the dead — and struck back! Please share your memories for each year below, there are so many stories to be told!
’00 | ’01 | ’02 | ’03 | ’04 | ’05 | ’06 | ’07 | ’08 | ’09
More Retrospects:
-Top 20 Films of the Decade: 21-16 | 15-11 | 10-6 | 5-1
-Dead on Arrival: Ten Horror Duds of the Last Decade
2002
2002 continued to build on the momentum of 2001; this decade was determined to put the teen-slashers of the 90’s to rest…for good. While not every title carried the same impact, there were a few historic movies that would help pave the way for the genre over the next several years.
After years of development with the legendary George A. Romero, Screen Gems (Columbia/Tri-Star Entertainment at the time) hired Paul W.S Anderson to direct RESIDENT EVIL, the highly anticipated adaptation of the smash hit Capcom video game. Horror fans were excited because Anderson had also helmed the awesome EVENT HORIZON back in 1997. And while we can argue back and forth on whether RESIDENT EVIL was good or not, it has spawned four sequels (AFTERLIFE being currently in production) and has become a franchise favorite among many horror fans. Opening in theaters on March 15, the movie would take in nearly $40m at the domestic box office, a HUGE take at the time for a genre film.
That $40m would end up looking measly next to New Line Cinema’s BLADE II, Guillermo del Toro’s popular sequel that grossed over $80m at the box office that March. While the franchise would eventually be run into the ground by the lackluster third film, this was one of the early successful superhero movies (SPIDER-MAN would gross over $400m that summer) that would help pave the way for movies like BATMAN BEGINS and IRON MAN.
Next to superheroes, Asian horror also began gaining popularity, only with these films it was on the bootleg scene. Movies like RINGU (THE RING), VERSUS, JIAN GUI (THE EYE) and KAIRO (PULSE) had been hitting conventions hard. I had lately been purchasing VHS copies of these films off EBay and even straight from Asia. Over the years these were converted to DVD and “all-region” players became all the rage. At the same time, a little company by the name of Vertigo had been paying attention to the craze and began working diligently on delivering the game-changing American remake of RINGU.
On October 18, 2002 DreamWorks scared the living sh*t out of audiences with THE RING, a superior remake to the Japanese horror film that would forge the way for hundreds of horrid impostors and half-assed remakes over the next several years (DARK WATER, SHUTTER, MIRRORS, ONE MISSED CALL, PULSE and THE EYE to name a few). The movie took in a disgusting $129m at the box office, a marker that PARANORMAL ACTIVITY might not even pass (to put it into perspective, especially given that ticket prices were lower in 2002).
For a horror movie to make over $100m is unheard of, and the success of THE RING showed just what kind of business a good genre film can do. I remember hearing that DreamWorks was holding special screenings of the film the week before its release, something studios only do when they’re confident in what they have. And to tell the truth, seeing THE RING in the theater was one of the greatest moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had. When Samara crawled through the TV I recall literally half of the theater jumping out of their seats and screaming. There were people all over the theater yelling, “No way, no way — get the F*CK out of here!” I hadn’t seen anything like that before, and I haven’t really seen anything like it since; but I would do anything to experience something that intense again in my lifetime. Personally, I believe THE RING holds up even today, and I wish Paramount would put it out on Blu-ray already.
While THE RING took the spotlight for the year, there would be plenty of other successful genre films in 2002. Sony Pictures’ creepy and unnerving THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES (January 25) would make $35.2m; Warner Bros. Pictures’ terrible Anne Rice adaptation (and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE sequel) QUEEN OF THE DAMNED (February 22) would take in $30m; M. Night Shyamalan’s third twist-end horror flick SIGNS (August 2) would be one of the biggest films of the year, pulling in a gargantuan $227m (we got in first because our friend had a broken foot — sweet!); Universal’s RED DRAGON (October 4), the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS prequel/remake, would make $93m; and lastly, Warner Bros. and Dark Castle’s GHOST SHIP (October 25) would bank $30m.
While JEEPERS CREEPERS rejuvenated the creature feature and THE RING kicked the remake craze into full effect, Danny Boyle’s UK chiller 28 DAYS LATER (another widely bootlegged movie) revived the zombie genre and also made an astounding $45m for Fox Searchlight. Not only did it bring about a whole new zombie craze, but the film also helped open the minds of writers, directors and executives all over the world. The film broadcasted the message that the same old song and dance (in this case, the zombie movie) could be looked at from a new perspective, and that not every horror film needed to be churned out following the old models. Ironic, considering the rash of remakes that would go into production later in the decade. Just imagine if they would apply the lessons they learned from 28 DAYS LATER to these remakes? Imagine…
2002 is a year that should be referenced by all studios, all the time. The year stands as evidence that horror fans want to see GOOD movies and will (typically) listen when they’re told something is bad. While THE RING exploded, Warner Bros. Pictures’ RINGU rip-off (it’s the same freakin’ movie) FEARDOTCOM (August 30) made only $13.2m; Miramax’s horrendous THEY (November 1) took in a lackluster $12.7m; Lionsgate’s FRAILTY (April 12), an example of a good horror film that no one saw, barely managed to gross $13m; and EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS (July 17) disappointed with only $17m.
2002 also had its share of well-made direct-to-disc releases (some of which had seen a very limited theatrical run). Lionsgate released Neil Marshall’s popular breakthrough werewolf film DOG SOLDIERS; Miramax released the highly anticipated submarine horror film BELOW; ADV Films delivered a region 1 release of DARK WATER; Palm Pictures released THE EYE (Jian Gui); TLA gave us SUICIDE CLUB (which featured that incredible mass suicide in its opening scene); Wellspring Media came out with the incredibly creepy masochistic thriller IN MY SKIN (still underrated); and Lionsgate released Lucky McKee’s popular modern FRANKENSTEIN story MAY, as well as CUBE 2: HYPERCUBE. Not too shabby if you ask me.
Something I was hoping to do with each year was to reflect back on some of the big news stories, along with a few funny ones. Unfortunately, we switched to a new server/database (or something) and lost our early headlines, leaving us back at square one. Thankfully, I was able to salvage some of the articles from 2002.
2002 was a HUGE year here on Bloody Disgusting, specifically because we broke two major stories (a couple of our first scoops). Until this day we don’t know if we were receiving real intel or not (oh the learning experiences, sheesh) with all of our SILENT HILL scoops. Someone was tipping us off to all sorts of SILENT HILL developments, and while some of them came to fruition, it’s hard to decipher which of our stories were real and which came about by pure chance. I’d like to say we were ahead of the game, but in all honesty I’d have to admit that our SILENT HILL month was the most embarrassing learning experience in our site’s history. In short, our faces were dripping with rotten egg yolk by the end of that period.
Thankfully, we snagged a few legit scoops that helped establish our street cred. The biggie was our exclusive first look at Freddy Krueger in FREDDY VS JASON, one of the most anticipated horror releases of 2003. A reader had sent us pics of Freddy, one of his head and one of him in the water. This would be our first ever contact with a studio, as we subsequently received a nice rash of legals from New Line asking us to remove the pictures or face the consequences. I didn’t understand what the big deal was until the rep pointed out that in the photo Freddy’s head was severed, an ending plot detail that New Line hid from screenings prior to the film’s official theatrical release. D-yikes. This was yet another huge learning experience for us, one that nearly caused us to have to shut down the website. The thought of being personally liable for anything was incredibly terrifying. After all, we were just horror nuts having fun. I began to wonder how I’d gotten into the position where I was now having to worry about being sued and paying out of my own pocket for giving our readers a sneak peek at a highly anticipated movie. I likened the experience to Marvel suddenly handing their comics out for free every month. Thank God we were able to tough it out, but BD fans should know it was nearly the end of the website.
Let’s see, what else was going on in the news in 2002? Well, along with FREDDY VS. JASON, New Line Cinema was also forging ahead with their remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Word spread throughout the industry that Platinum Dunes had pitched the studio with a completely black screen teaser that featured a 5.1 chainsaw mix; the execs had reportedly been blown away. This was one of the first major horror films to be remade, and it began to cause quite an uproar that continues to this day. However, while the haters came out against the film en masse, the box office showed them to be first in line. Hypocrites.
One of my favorite stories came on November 27, when I finally got to see THEY. While I hated the film, I joked that there were three reasons to see the “Wes Craven Presents” creature feature: “I just returned from Wes Craven’s THEY and I wanted to save everyone the pain I just endured. The only thing good about THEY is that before the movie started I got to see trailers for FINAL DESTINATION 2, DARKNESS FALLS and HOUSE OF 1000 CORPES, very cool trailers.”
It’s amazing how spoiled we are now with Yahoo!, Apple and all the other video sites. I remember DYING to see certain movies only because I’d heard a trailer for a horror film I was eagerly anticipating might play with it. In the last article I mentioned how I saw THE OTHERS in order to catch the HALLOWEEN 8 tease. I remember flipping my sh*t when I saw the trailer for HELLRAISER IV and even the trailer for BRIDE OF CHUCKY. There was something magical about catching a new trailer, unexpectedly, at the cinema. It’s an experience that can never be duplicated, and it’s something that will never happen again. Sadly, waiting impatiently to watch a movie trailer in the theaters is a phenomenon that feels like ancient history now.
While CHAINSAW was revving up for 2003, Universal Pictures was diligently working on a remake of George A. Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD, one of the rare reboots that was well-received among horror fans. In 2002 the script started to circulate around the horror community, to a raft of poor reviews — that is, until James Gunn became friendly with the reporters that had perpetuated all the negative buzz. Suddenly, rave reviews began to pop up everywhere. At the time, it seemed like merely a random development. We know better now.
One of the biggest stories of the year was that Kane Hodder would be passing the torch of Jason Voorhees on to a new actor. EVERYONE was up in arms – screaming and yelling, putting up a fuss, creating petitions. When New Line stated they were looking for a Jason with “sympathetic eyes,” I could almost hear the oncoming trainwreck. Yet when FREDDY VS JASON finally hit theaters, most of us were pleasantly surprised by Ken Kirzinger’s performance. While Ken would only play Jason this one time (before passing the torch on to Derek Mears), he would become one of my personal favorite Jasons.
In addition to the massive Jason casting news, there was even more rage from the community when it was announced that Betsy Palmer wouldn’t be returning as Pamela Voorhees. However, many of us were silenced when Katherine Isabelle – the hottie from GINGER SNAPS – was locked down for a role.
Other random stories floating around were the director announcement and plot details for the EXORCIST prequel (originally titled EXORCIST 4:1: DOMINION), along with preliminary talk of FINAL DESTINATION 2. “After a successful hit at theaters, New Line got running quickly on a sequel to Final Destination, which is set for a March 2003 release…” Poorly said, my friend.
“When I was just a little girl I asked my mother, what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here’s what she said to me: Qué será, será. Whatever will be, will be”
The opening of Michael Lehmann’s Heathers begins with a dreamy cover of a familiar song. Angelic voices ask a mother to predict the future only to be met with an infuriating response: “whatever will be, will be.” Her answer is most likely intended to present a life of limitless possibility, but as the introduction to a film devoid of competent parents, it feels like a noncommittal platitude. Heathers is filled with teenagers looking for guidance only to be let down by one adult after another. Gen Xers and elder millennials may have glamorized the outlandish fashion and creative slang while drooling over a smoking hot killer couple, but the violent film now packs an ominous punch. 35 years later, those who enjoyed Heathers in its original run may have more in common with the story’s parents than its teens. That’s right, Lehmann’s Heathers is now old enough to worry about its kids.
Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is the newest member of Westerberg High’s most popular clique. Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), sits atop this extreme social hierarchy ruling her minions and classmates alike with callous cruelty and massive shoulder pads. When Veronica begins dating a mysterious new student nicknamed J.D. (Christian Slater), they bond over hatred for her horrendous “friends.” After a vicious fight, a prank designed to knock Heather off her high horse goes terribly wrong and the icy mean girl winds up dead on her bedroom floor. Veronica and J.D. frantically stage a suicide, unwittingly making Heather more popular than ever. But who will step in to fill her patent leather shoes? With an ill-conceived plan to reset the social order, has Veronica created an even more dangerous monster?
Heathers debuted near the end of an era. John Hughes ruled ’80s teen cinema with instant classics like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off while the Brat Pack dominated headlines with devil-may-care antics and sexy vibes. The decade also saw the rise of the slasher; a formulaic subgenre in which students are picked off one by one. Heathers combines these two trends in a biting satire that challenges the feel-good conclusions of Hughes and his ilk. Rather than a relatable loser who wins a date with the handsome jock or a loveable misfit who stands up to a soulless principal, Lehmann’s film exists in a world of extremes. The popular kids are vapid monsters, the geeks are barely human, the outcasts are psychopaths, and the adults are laughably incompetent. Veronica and a select few of her classmates feel like human beings, but the rest are outsized archetypes designed to push the teen comedy genre to its outer limits.
Mean girls have existed in fiction ever since Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters tried to steal her man, but modern iterations arguably date back to Rizzo (Stockard Channing, Grease) and Chris Hargenson (Nancy Allen, Carrie). It might destroy Heather Chandler to know that she isn’t the first, but this iconic mean girl may be the most extreme. She knows exactly what her classmates think of her and uses her power to make others suffer. She reminds Veronica, “They all want me as a friend or a fuck. I’m worshiped at Westerburg and I’m only a junior.” With an icy glare and barely concealed rage, she stomps the halls playing cruel pranks and demanding her friends submit to her will. We see a brief glimpse of humanity at a frat party when she’s coerced into a sexual act, but she immediately squanders this good will by promising to destroy Veronica at school on Monday. However, the film does not revolve around Heather’s redemption and it doesn’t revel in her ruination. Lehmann is more concerned with how Veronica uses her own popularity than the way she dispatches her best friend/enemy. In her book Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate, Anna Bogutskaya describes Heather Chandler as an evolution in female characterization and it’s refreshing to see a woman play such an unapologetic villain.
Heather Chandler may die in the film’s first act, but her legacy can still be felt in both film and TV. Shannen Doherty would go on to specialize in catty characters both onscreen and off while Walker’s performance inspired the 2004 comedy Mean Girls (directed by Mark Waters, brother of Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters). Early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars all feature at least one glamorous bitch and mean girls can currently be seen battling on HBO’s Euphoria. Tina Fey’s Regina George (Rachel McAdams) sparked an important dialogue about female bullying and modern iterations add humanity to this contemptible character. With a rageful spit at her reflection in the mirror, Walker’s Heather hints at a deep well of pain beneath her unthinkable cruelty and we’ve been examining the motivations of her followers ever since.
But Heather Chandler is not the film’s major antagonist. While the blond junior roams the cafeteria insulting her classmates with an inane lunchtime poll, a true psychopath watches from the corner. J.D. lives with his construction magnate father and has spent his teenage years bouncing around from school to school. At first, Veronica is impressed with his frank morality and compassion for Heather’s victims, but this righteous altruism hides an inner darkness. The cafeteria scene ends with J.D. pulling a gun on two jocks and shooting them with blanks. This “prank” earns him a light suspension and a bad boy reputation, but it’s an uncomfortable precursor to our violent reality. He’s a prototypical school shooter obsessed with death, likely in response to his own traumatic past.
It’s impossible to talk about J.D. without mentioning the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999. Just over ten years later, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would murder one teacher and twelve of their fellow classmates while failing to ignite a bomb that would decimate the building. Rumors swirled in the immediate aftermath about trench coat-wearing outcasts targeting popular students, but these theories have been largely disproven. However, uncomfortable parallels persist. Harris convinced a fellow student to join him in murder with tactics similar to the manipulation J.D. uses on Veronica. The cinematic character also fails in a plan to blow up the school and the stories of all three young men end in suicide. There is no evidence to suggest the Columbine killers were inspired by Slater’s performance but these similarities lend an uncomfortable element of prophecy to an already dark film.
In the past 35 years, we’ve become acutely aware of the adolescent potential for destruction. Unfortunately the adults of Heathers have their heads in the sand. We watch darkly humorous faculty meetings in which teachers discuss what they believe to be suicides and openly weigh the value of one student over the next. The only grownup who seems to care is Ms. Fleming (Penelope Milford) the guidance counselor and even she is woefully out of touch. Using dated hippie language, she stages an event where she pressures her students to hold hands and emote. Unfortunately she’s more interested in helping herself. Hoping to capitalize on her own empathy, she invites TV cameras to film her students grieving for their friends. She treats the decision to stay alive like she would the choice between colleges and asks Veronia about her own suspected suicide attempt with the same banality Heather brings to the lunchtime polls. This self-involved counselor is only interested in recording the answer, not actually connecting with the students she’s supposed to be guiding.
We also see a shocking lack of support from the film’s parents. J.D. and his father have fallen into a bizarre role-reversal with J.D. adopting the persona of a ’50s-era sitcom dad and his father that of an obedient son. Like Ms. Fleming’s performance, these practiced exchanges are meant to project the illusion of love while maintaining emotional distance between parent and child. Veronica’s own folks display similar detachment in vapid conversations repeated nearly word for word. They go through the motions of communication without actually saying anything of substance. When Veronica tries to talk about the deaths of her friends, her mother cuts her off with a cold, “you’ll live.” The next time Mrs. Sawyer (Jennifer Rhodes) sees her daughter, she’s hanging from the ceiling. Fortunately Veronica has staged this suicide to deceive J.D., but it’s only in perceived death that we see genuine empathy from her mother.
Another parent is not so lucky. J.D. has concocted an elaborate scene to murder jocks Kurt (Lance Fenton) and Ram (Patrick Labyorteaux) in the guise of a joint suicide between clandestined lovers and the world now believes his ruse. At the crowded funeral, a grief-stricken father stands next to a coffin wailing, “I love my dead gay son” while J.D. wonders from the pews if he would have this same compassion if his son was alive. It’s a brutal moment of truth in an outlandish film. Perhaps better parenting could have prevented Kurt from becoming the kind of bully J.D. would target. We now have a better understanding about the emotional support teenagers need, but the students in Heathers have been thrown to the wolves.
At the same funeral, Veronica sees a little girl crying in the front row. She not only witnesses the collateral damage she’s caused, but realizes that future generations are watching her behavior. She is showing young girls that social change is only possible through violence and others are copying this deadly trend. Despite the popular song Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It!) by Big Fun, two other students attempt to take their own lives. Her teen angst has a growing body count and murdering her bullies has only turned them into martyrs.
Heathers delivers a somewhat happy ending by black comedy standards. After watching J.D. blow himself up, Veronica saunters back into school with a newfound freedom. She confronts Heather Duke (Doherty), the school’s reigning mean girl queen, and takes the symbolic red scrunchie out of her hair. Veronica declares herself the new sheriff in town and immediately begins her rule by making a friend. She approaches a severely bullied student and makes a date to watch videos on the night of the prom, using her popularity to lift someone else up. She’s learned on her own that taking out one Heather opens the door for someone else to step into the vacuum. The only way to combat toxic cruelty is to normalize acts of generosity. Rather than destroying her enemies, she will lead the school with kindness.
Heathers concludes with another rendition of “Que Sera, Sera.” In a more modern cover, a soloist delivers an informal answer hinting at a brighter future. We still don’t know what the future holds, but we don’t have to adhere to the social hierarchy we’ve inherited. We each have the power to decide what “will be” if we’re brave enough to separate ourselves from the popular crowd. The generation who watched Heathers as children are now raising their own teens and kids. One can only hope we’ve learned the lessons of this sharp satire. The future’s not ours to see, but if we guide our children with honesty and compassion, maybe we’ll raise a generation of Veronicas instead.
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