Sometimes a movie is exactly as advertised and exactly what you want. If you love a good John Carpenter movie and are intrigued by a director’s ambitious attempt to create a worthy homage to Carpenter’s most memorable early work, then Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is for you. With pacing, cinematography, music, and characterizations found in Carpenter’s Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog, The Thing, and Escape from New York, writer-director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down) delivers more mood than scares, but it’s the perfect beginning to a video game franchise movie series and a fantastic throwback 1980s-style horror romp. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is available on physical media here at Amazon and currently has a $9.99 sale price for digital streaming at Vudu.
So often big budget dramas dressed in sci-fi dress rise up the box office rankings, you might miss the best films, the ones that don’t need the big budgets or major stars, the refreshing sleepers that surprise you. One of those great surprises was Midnight Special, which I reviewed here at borg back in 2016. The next spectacular science fiction work is even better–The Vast of Night–the brainchild of writer-director-producer-editor Andrew Patterson (who is billed under multiple names), now streaming on Amazon Prime. Could this freshman filmmaker be the next J.J. Abrams, John Carpenter, or Steven Spielberg? Think Super 8, The Fog, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in a setting like American Graffiti and The Outsiders, with stunning cinematography, superb dialogue in a tightly written script, and a fresh and eerie use of sound. If you missed this Amazon Studios arrival earlier this summer, you’re in for a treat of 1950s teenage sleuths, a radio station, and strange goings about town: An ambitious film that comes pretty close to perfect science fiction in the classic tradition of The Twilight Zone, The War of the Worlds, and the short stories of Philip K. Dick.
Your next exploration of a supernatural school and visit to a town full of secrets is here.
Life is Strange: Welcome to Blackwell Academy is an in-universe book by video game tie-in author Matt Forbeck. Based on the Life is Strange adventure game franchise from Dontnod Entertainment and Square Enix, it’s a hardcover flip book, taking the form of a student guide to Blackwell Academy from one direction and a welcome guide to the town of Arcadia Bay when viewed from the other side. The book is presented as Max’s personal used copy, and it’s overlaid with handwritten notes, doodles, and sketches from both Max Caulfield and Chloe Price, the focal characters of Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2. (The original Life is Strange game is available here at Amazon, a prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm is available here, and the first episode of Life is Strange 2 was just released and is available now here).
Blackwell Academy is a private senior high school located in Arcadia Bay, Oregon. The school, which has the feel of the Miss Quill’s classroom in BBC’s short-lived series Class, specializes in the Sciences and Arts, but there’s more to the school than meets the eye. An X-File type of occurrence happened there back in 2013, changing the course of the town forever. Based in a town that could be Bodega Bay in Hitchcock’s The Birds or Antonio Bay in Carpenter’s The Fog, Arcadia Bay could be this dimension’s parallel timeline version (think The Butterfly Effect and Donnie Darko) of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks or a sister city to Stephen King’s seaside Haven.
Coming next Wednesday is the first issue of a Life is Strange four-part comic book series. Creators Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi, and Andrea Izzo provide an up-close and personal look at the relationship between Max and Chloe, and their friends in Seattle, a year after an event in Arcadia Bay allowed Max to save Chloe. Both Max and Chloe realize something is wrong. Can one or both of them be unstuck in time again? Take a look at our preview of Issue #1 below, courtesy of Titan Comics.
Thirty-eight years ago in 1980 I saw my first horror movie in the theater, John Carpenter’s The Fog. Referred to as “the most beautifully shot of all John Carpenter films,” “a better Halloween movie than the slasher that bears the holiday’s name,” “an incredibly atmospheric horror flick,” and “a horror classic,” The Fog is returning to theaters in time for Halloween. It’s distributor, Rialto Pictures, contacted borg.com with the below trailer for the film’s new 4K restoration edition from Studiocanal. This is the first restoration for John Carpenter’s first follow-up to the mega-hit 1970s slasher flick, Halloween.
“Out of theatrical release for years due to faded, unplayable prints, The Fog can now be viewed again as it was intended, with the restoration of its breathtaking color cinematography by Dean Cundey (Escape From New York, the Back To The Future series, Apollo 13, Romancing The Stone), who deftly captured both the daylight beauty of the Point Reyes shore and the ghostly goings-on in the dark, eerie night,” according to the publicist for Rialto.
The movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau in her first feature film, Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook, and Janet Leigh(star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Curtis’s mother), plus John Houseman and familiar Carpenter stock actor John “Buck” Flower. The beautiful seaside town of Antonio Bay is visited by a large fog bank on the anniversary of the town’s founding. Two women in the town, a radio DJ stationed at the lighthouse (Barbeau) and a drifter (Curtis), try to escape what lies within the fog as the town preacher learns the terrible secret behind the fog’s appearance.
The release coincides with the release of the new Halloween reboot movie’s release, also starring Jamie Lee Curtis (a great excuse for Alamo Drafthouse theaters to schedule a double feature?). Check out this trailer for the 4K restoration of The Fog:
All my life, I’ve been waiting for someone and when I find her, she’s… she’s a fish.
With 13 nominations and expected to lead in overall wins in tonight’s Academy Awards ceremony, The Shape of Water is the film of the hour, and the popularity of the sea creature lore is at a peak right now. Taking advantage of the interest in seafaring lore and gilled creatures, the Freeform channel (formerly ABC Family) is airing new trailers this weekend for its own new mermaid/merman series, Siren. It’s not Splash or The Little Mermaid. It looks like it may have more of the feel of The Creature from the Black Lagoon at least initially more so than The Shape of Water. No, the new series Siren looks more like a thriller or horror series than a romance, something mixing Stephen King’s Haven with John Carpenter’s The Fog and The Thing, and the British space vampire cult classic, Lifeforce.
Eline Powell (Game of Thrones, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) plays Ryn, a mysterious girl who arrives in the Pacific Northwest coastal town of Bristol Cove, a town that boasts its local lore–a town once known for its mermaids. Aylya Marzolf plays a mermaid leader, and Sedale Threatt, Jr. a warrior merman. From its several preview trailers, Siren has a great, creepy look. Art direction is by The Predator and The Returned’s Peter Mihaichuk. Costumes were designed by Pirates of the Caribbean and The Exorcist’s Lorraine Carson and iZombie and The Flash’s Maria Livingstone.
Based on a story by Eric Wald and Dean White (originally to be called The Deep), marketing for Siren is evoking all the aforementioned films and TV shows in its key imagery–even the back of a man in a parka straight out of The Thing, a strange killer young woman as seen in Lifeforce and The Ring, a trapped creature being studied in an aquarium as in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Shape of Water. And it features that familiar coastal town seen in Jaws, Haven, and The Fog.
Check out these several previews for Freeform’s Siren:
It’s almost more useful to critique the critics than the new movie The Magnificent Seven, released in theaters this weekend. You’ll find the whole lot so predictable. The Magnificent Seven is a reboot or a remake (call it what you want) and so the best that critics are willing to do is provide the phoned-in, knee-jerk dismissal of it being something less than the original and therefore not worth the time it takes them to write a thoughtful review. Or they will compare it to the best Westerns of all time, and tell you why it falls short. The better reviews will point out that it’s a remake of the 1960 classic Western starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. The smarter ones will remind you that even that version was based on the original Japanese version, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Paycheck earned. Existence justified. But that’s all too easy.
Yes, the original 1960 John Sturges version is both a great Western and quite fun (it’s on my top ten list). The darker original Japanese film is more dramatic, brilliant in its simplicity, and not so much a rousing popcorn movie. Is the 2016 remake among the best Westerns of all time? Maybe not. But is it a good Western? Absolutely. Do we always want to see the best picture nominee when we go to the theater? I don’t. I want to have fun. And The Magnificent Seven is a blast. In fact, critics are looking at it wrong. It’s actually the year’s best superhero movie.
I understand the modern film critic’s dilemma, especially when Hollywood seems to have lost its imagination, churning out remake after remake. It’s the same old song: If you were a fan of–or better yet–love the original, you’re more likely than not to brush off the remake altogether, or at least not give it the attention it deserves. Those who never saw the original or those who can view a remake as its own incarnation–those who can tell themselves their feelings for the remake will not “ruin” their feelings about the original–probably enjoyed the Star Trek reboot from 2009, or Always, or Assault on Precinct 13, or The Flight of the Phoenix, The Fog, The Jackal, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Money Pit, Ocean’s Eleven, RoboCop, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, or Walking Tall. Each of these, viewed on their own merits is a great film. They may even be good remakes. Those who avoid The Magnificent Seven are missing out on a fun outing. And a good remake.
Today’s ensemble movie is mostly found in the superhero genre. Stack up The Magnificent Seven against The Avengers, The Avengers 2, or Captain America: Civil War, or any DC Comics superhero film of the past 20 years, and it leaves them all in its dust in its success in introducing a team, getting them to work together, and MacGyver the situation into some giant climactic battles. Each of the titular seven stars of the movie have their own extraordinary abilities, they just don’t wear capes. It’s an ensemble piece. A superhero team-up. So why don’t we have a casting Oscar? The three casting directors knew what they were doing–they created the teams for Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Sin City, and Star Wars Episode VIII.
This is Stevie Wayne, on top of the world tonight and I’ll be here right up until about one o’clock.
If you ever sat around listening to the radio to answer a trivia question for a prize, or driven across town for some radio station event to get a free giveaway hat or bit of swag with the logo of your favorite station, and if you’re a big John Carpenter fan, then you might appreciate the latest T-shirt offering circulating the Wild Web this week.
John Carpenter’s 1980 horror flick The Fog was my first Rated R drive-in movie and I’ve always been a fan of the movie since, as well as the rest of Carpenter’s catalog and the remake with Tom Welling in 2005.
Adrienne Barbeau (and Selma Blair in the remake) played Stevie Wayne, DJ at the secluded K.A.B. Radio station at Spivey Point Lighthouse in Antonio Bay. She is the first to identify the mysterious fog rolling into the bay and call out a warning to the locals and ship traffic like the Sea Grass.
If you’re a sucker for a good pop culture tie-in, like the “I Was There” shirts for Back to the Future Day last year, or the Quint’s Shark Hunting shirts based on the salty Jaws character, then you probably need this K.A.B. Radio shirt:
That’s right, Halloween is almost here. This year we’ve been able to obtain an interview with one of the best horror writers around. Who will it be? Check back here on Halloween for a special borg.com interview.
For many, this week means tracking down spooky shows on Netflix, cable, or in the theaters. Back in 2011 the four borg.com writers posted each of their top favorite Halloween flicks. Since 2011 new films that fit the genre continue to be made, like The Woman in Blackreviewed here last year, but there was also a few to skip, like Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows and John Cusack in The Raven. This year we were impressed by the totally fun and totally watchableAbraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, and the over-the-top but fun Hansel &Gretel: Witch Hunters. There are plenty of opportunities to get your fix of dark, spooky, creepy, or just plain scary movies.
One film available on Netflix we haven’t reviewed yet here at borg.com is 2009’s Orphan, which should appeal to fans of The Others and Skeleton Key. Orphan stars Bates Motel’s Vera Farmiga and Skeleton Key’s Peter Sarsgaard as a couple adopting a third child into their family, played by the brilliant young actress Isabelle Furhman. It also features Warehouse 13’s CCH Pounder and Genelle Williams–both as nuns. Orphan is excellently creepy and an all-around good thriller worth checking out. And speaking of Vera Farmiga, if you haven’t been watching Bates Motel, you should. It’s a great creepy spin-off of Hitchcock’s Psycho, and Season 1 is available now on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.
Here is the link to our Halloween movie series from 2011 where you can view all of our recommendations. Some of the staples of Halloween horror did not make our lists, like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Saw, Scream, The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, Poltergeist, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Amityville Horror. Jawsgot our joint highest ranking, making three of our lists, and The Shining, The Exorcist, The Exorcist 3, Watcher in the Woods, The Ring,and Paranormal Activity seem to rise above the rest, showing up on two lists. Seaside locales were the favorite location for scares, with Jaws, Rebecca, The Birds, The Ring, The Fog (both the original and remake) all taking place there, and creepy little girls are the favorite subject of–count ‘em–NINE of our haunts (The Ring, The Exorcist, Let Me In, Paranormal Activity 3, Watcher in the Woods, The Sixth Sense,The Shining, Turn of the Screw,and The Others). And we can now add Orphan and The Woman in Blackto that creepy assembly. (We Are What We Are was due out this year–another creepy little girl story, but it’s only been released in the UK so far). For us the supernatural won out over monsters, saws and axes. Four movies were by John Carpenter, three by Alfred Hitchcock. The oldest movie was Rebecca from 1940, the newest came out in 2011, Paranormal Activity 3. And look, we’ve got another one of those available now, too.
Happy Halloween watching, and don’t forget to come back to see what we have in store Thursday!
Last Monday, January 21, 2013, The Following premiered on the Fox network. It’s a dark, bloody crime drama from Kevin Williamson, creator of the Scream franchise, Dawson’s Creek and The Vampire Diaries. It’s the Scream franchise that might come to mind if you check out the premiere on Free Per View before tonight’s episode “Chapter Two” airs. Expect some horror movie jumps and startling revelations as well as a little more than you might see as far as crime scenes from other series (although not a lot more than what you might have found on something like TV’s Medium when it still was on the air).
The big draw for The Following is the series star, Kevin Bacon. You might also have checked out the pilot if you were a fan of Maggie Grace, star of the Taken film series, The Fog remake, and Lost, the TV series. If you’ve missed the original Law and Order, you might be happy to see the return of Annie Parisse in an ongoing role beginning with tonight’s episode. And if that weren’t enough, you might think you’re watching Warehouse 13, Veronica Mars, Smallville, Lost Girl and In Plain Sight’s Aaron Ashmore as Agent Michael Weston–but you’d be wrong. Turns out Aaron has a clone, twin brother Shawn Ashmore. (And hey, don’t TV writers watch TV? That’s at least the third Michael Weston on TV right now).
(Insert a spoiler alert here as a courtesy to anyone who really thinks a 50 year old film needs one!)
Sometimes you are at the right place at the right time. Having recently heard about the new Fathom Events series, where the satellite-video entertainment company transmits a one-night only event around to movie theaters across the country, I keep going back to the Fathom website to see what is next. And I marked my calendar when a Hitchcock film made the list. Last week we let borg.com readers know about this past Wednesday’s screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, a Turner Classic Movies presentation to celebrate the 100th year of Universal Pictures, on the cusp of the 50th year since The Birds first premiered.
, you should. It’s a great creepy spin-off of Hitchcock’s Psycho, and Season 1 is available now on DVD and Blu-ray from 
