In a profile by Taffy Brodesser-Akner for the New York Times, Max Brooks, author of both World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, is apparently quite serious about the zombie apocalypse. I have little doubt that Max Brooks is an intelligent man, and behind his facade of anxiety and fear, I think he has …
The 1980s saw a huge surge for monster design with some of the most iconic monsters in film history coming out of that one decade, unfortunately the advent of CGI have not been too kind to movie monsters, and many of the CGI creations of the past twenty years have been totally flat. The genre …
There are various ways in which the found footage genre uses the camera to tell the story. Some let the camera do all the work while others provide interviews, commentary, and other narrative features. The former consists of films like Blair Witch Project and the latter includes Cannibal Holocaust. Judging by box office numbers, those …
Super 8 Directed by J.J.Abrams Written by J.J. Abrams 2011, USA J.J. Abrams’s secretive and highly anticipated third feature Super 8 arrived in cinemas earlier this week, and while it’s received fairly positive reviews, I was a bit shocked to learn how so many of my close friends absolutely hated the film. They say when …
ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) has pioneered many groundbreaking effects and processes in the last 30 years. It would be hard to cover everything that ILM has done in any one article (or even in a single book), so the following videos are much appreciated. Below are two videos that give a quick but informative …
#6 – Paranormal Activity (2009) Directed by Oren Peli The faux-documentary, “cinema verité” camera style is increasingly prevalent in horror flicks these days, mostly because it cuts down on budget-costs for genre filmmakers. Paranormal Activity is a prime example. The film is one of the most profitable movies ever made, based on return on investment. …
Two decades before The Blair Witch Project, the 1980 Italian exploitation film Cannibal Holocaust, directed by Ruggero Deodato, broke traditional cinematic conventions while creating major controversy following its release. Filmed in the Amazon Rainforest, the movie tells the story of four documentarians who journey deep into the jungle to film indigenous tribes. Two months later, …