Movies
Explicit Sexual Gore Causes ‘Antichrist’ Controversy at Cannes
At the top of my list as “most anticipated” for 2009 is Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, which just had its world premiere at the ongoing Cannes market/festival. I’ve been patiently awaiting the buzz, good or bad, and have instead found myself interested for all the wrong reasons – “explicit sexual gore”. Apparently it was so intense it caused an uproar during a press conference where reporters asked von Trier to explain himself. Read on for this breaking story.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
“Declaring himself “the world’s greatest director,” 53-year-old Dane Lars von Trier defended his enfant terrible title with aplomb at the Monday news conference for his Competition shocker “Antichrist.”
It started with a shouting match between Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye and other members of the press corps, with Bamigboye demanding von Trier “explain and justify” the explicit sexual gore in his film and another journo in the audience yelling “He’s an artist, you’re not. He doesn’t have to explain anything!”
And he didn’t. On questions both abusive and toadying, von Trier maintained his autistic savant persona, deliberately avoiding any explanation of “Antichrist,” alternatively mocking or dismissing his interrogators.
“I don’t have to explain anything. You are all my guests here, not the other way round,” von Trier said. “Anyway, I don’t think about the audience when I make a film. I don’t care. I make films for myself.”
Von Trier did defend his use of nausea-inducing imagery — including a bloody masturbation scene and a leg-drilling sequence that could have been cribbed from the “Saw” franchise — as artistic “honesty,” saying to leave the shockers out would have been “like lying.”
He also insisted he was not playing a joke on the audience but meant everything, from the film’s talking fox to the closing dedication to Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, a dedication that drew howls of laughter at last night’s press screening, to be taken seriously.
But, as always, von Trier tried to have it both ways, joking that it was “a bit of a pity” one can’t actually kill people on screen and putting the blame for the most extreme scenes on lead actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“Charlotte took it too far. I tried to, but I just couldn’t stop her,” von Trier quipped.”
While you wait for Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 later this year from Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting, the team’s next horror movie Stream is headed to theaters in August.
Deadline has announced this afternoon that Terrifier 2 theatrical distributor Iconic Events Releasing will bring Stream to theaters nationwide on August 21, 2024.
The film will be coming to theaters in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Director Michael Leavy‘s Stream comes from Fuzz on the Lens Productions with the film’s makeup FX being handled by Terrifier and Terrifier 2 director Damien Leone!
Leavy said in a statement today, “We are beyond thrilled to partner with Iconic Events Releasing again, but this time to bring an all new and modern horror film to the big screen! We built a very good relationship with Iconic through Terrifier 2 and now with the upcoming Terrifier 3, so we are honored to keep this train rolling and continue to deliver fun and exciting horror movies to our incredible fanbase and beyond.”
The cast is stacked with familiar faces, including Tony Todd (Candyman), Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator / Would You Rather), Danielle Harris (Halloween 4, 5 / Hatchet 2), Tim Reid (Stephen King’s IT / WKRP Cincinnati), Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial / The Howling), Mark Holton (Leprechaun), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp / A Nun’s Curse), Daniel Roebuck (The Fugitive / Final Destination), Dave Sheridan (Scary Movie / The Devil’s Rejects), Terry Alexander (Day of the Dead / Night of the Living Dead II), David Howard Thornton (Terrifier / Terrifier 2), Charles Edwin Powell (Exorcist III/Screamers), Bob Adrian (The Conjuring 2), Sydney Malakeh (Cheer Camp Killer), Wesley Holloway (Terrifier 2), Damian Maffei (The Strangers: Prey at Night), and Michael Leavy (Terrifier).
In the film, “As the Keenan’s try to bring their family closer together, they unwittingly enter themselves into a game of life or death. With four deranged killers patrolling the halls of their hotel and competing for the most creative kills, the odds are definitely stacked against them.”
Produced by Steven Della Salla (Terrifier 2, Abnormal Attraction), Jason Leavy (Terrifier 2, Abnormal Attraction), Michael Leavy (Terrifier 2, Abnormal Attraction, Pennywise The Story of IT), Marcus Slabine (Dark Offerings, Island of the Dead), Damien Leone (Terrifier, Terrifier 2), Phil Falcone (Terrifier, Terrifier 2, Joes War) and George Steuber (Terrifier, Terrifier 2).
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