Sep 20, 2013
The new face of little girls gone bad? See the new trailer for the film “Dark Touch.”
Independent filmmakers + moody horror = creepy, innovative films courtesy of IFC midnight.
Their latest release, “Dark Touch,” opens in theaters September 27, as well as being available on video on demand, SundanceNow and iTunes. The film was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival and was directed by French filmmaker Marina De Van, whose previous film credits include “In My Skin.”
In “Dark Touch,” 11-year-old Neve lives in a remote Irish town, and finds herself as the sole survivor of a family massacre that kills her parents and younger brother. The police want to blame it on homicidal vandals. They ignore the young girl’s insistence that is something much darker that killed her family. Something about the house itself.
The trailer also reveals the girl claims that bad things happen when she cries. This looks like it could be a younger, darker version of the popular book and movie “Carrie,” but where “Carrie” played on teen angst at being the outsider, this film looks like it’s going more for supernatural horror in the form of a little girl whose tears can kill.
Or at least that’s what it looks like to me. What do you think?
Sep 5, 2013
On this week’s “Face Off,” the remaining makeup artists jumped right into the main event, creating subterranean creatures inspired by different “sets” in tunnels. Before the hour was over, one of the veterans found himself in the bottom three due to a technical error, causing fans great dismay that one of their favorites might go home. And a controversial front-runner seemed to be emerging, although it prompted much debate among viewers. Which shouldn’t be so surprising with so many great makeups coming out of the workroom each week.
Concept artist and sculptor Jordu Schell (“Avatar,” “Hellboy”) guest judged this week, and this was the first individual challenge for the artists, so for better or worse, the newbies had to stand on their own. But it was a veteran who found himself in big trouble.
Roy had been taken to task many times when he was on the show before for trying to go too big for the time allowed and his elaborate fabrications. The first three episodes in this season, he focused on makeup, turning in some great looks.
Well, he got a little itchy again this week, it seems. He decided he was going to do an octopus-like creature, and create a mold to anchor the tentacles… for the whole length of the torso. In one massive 500 pound mold.
As judge Ve Neill would say, “Oh, honey….”
Well, if you think that’s crazy, this is even crazier: His mold worked. And then he filled it with poly-foam. Or, as he discovered too late, rigid foam.
For the average armchair makeup artist, that doesn’t mean anything. But for professional special effects makeup artists and fans who have already seen the show, that’s a collective “Oh, shit!” you just heard. The rigid foam hardened almost immediately and couldn’t be removed, rendering the mold useless.
Roy still had a face piece but scrambled to put something else together. Something besides “a head on a robe” as he put it. Although a head on a robe might have been better. It was downright painful to watch him go through judging, knowing how substandard his final look was. And while the judges understood what happened, as Glenn Hetrick pointed out, they had to judge him on what was put in front of them. His only hope for salvation was if someone messed things up worse.
Someone up above was looking out for Roy it seems, or someone down below must have been out to get poor Adolpho. The first thing I thought when I saw his orange head was “Halloween mask,” which is exactly what the judges called it. When us amateurs can even see it, things aren’t going well for you.
Likewise, when elements of your makeup are likened to Fruity Pebbles cereal… you’re not having a good day. Scott’s makeup earned him the third bottom spot of the night.
Roy seemed to get the harshest criticisms, perhaps because he was the only veteran in the bottom, and the judges have such high expectations from him, possibly even more than some other veterans. Having said that, it goes a long way with judges when you know how bad it is, and taking yourself to task certainly doesn’t hurt. When Glenn told Roy he was not pleased with his work this week despite the understandable explanation with the mold disaster, Roy didn’t just accept the criticism, but joined in.
It’s hard to polish a turd. It really is.
“You said it,” said judge Neville Page, as Ve giggled. But watching Roy’s suffering was anything but funny, even on a second watch, knowing the outcome. It’s hard to watch someone have to present work they know isn’t remotely up to their standards when you know how much pride they take in doing good work and how damn talented they are.
But the judges saved him for another day, and Adolpho went home.
For the top looks, Miranda scored her third challenge win out of four weeks for her mole creature. The makeup was great with a nice subtle paint job, but many fans felt Frank’s toothy monster was better, sparking some cries of favoritism on the Facebook site. Still, others wanted to know why Tate had been overlooked again with his amazing and complex sea kelp, crustacean monster (one of the sets had an underwater theme.)
Call me crazy, but the fact that Tate didn’t even make top looks and seems to be getting overlooked smells a bit like the show trying to make him an underdog to keep some suspense going, when he is clearly one of — if not the — frontrunner as far as consistently knocking it out of the park. He always comes up with great designs and never bites off more than he can chew. And he makes it look effortless every week, or at least the editing does.
If you don’t think they practice some deception like this, just note how they always try to fool is in the cuts to commercials by making it look like the people who end up in the bottom are being complimented and vice versa. When I saw the episode promo where it looked like they were praising Eric, I knew he was going home that week, and he did. I am so on to you, Syfy.
So, anyway, if you are considering a betting pool at this point, I would hands down put Tate in the final three, with two of the following rounding it out: Miranda, Laura or Roy. Frank possibly if he starts doing work like this every week, but consistency is key also. And not putting rigid foam in your molds.
Ahem.
Some newcomers to watch though include Laney. It’s been apparent in the first group challenges she has the eye for interesting design and a great aesthetic, but with veterans backing her up previously, her technical abilities were still questionable. Her creepy look this week was pretty strong and it looks like she can execute. So far, anyway. And another interesting newcomer makeup was Lyma, who has taken her harsh airbrushing lesson to heart and toned it down to much better effect. Well done.
“Face Off” airs Tuesday nights on Syfy.
Aug 2, 2013
Imagine going away on vacation, and coming back to find you’re in the hottest movie of the summer. Shanley Caswell can tell you all about it.
The young actress made her major role debut in the film “Detention” a little over a year ago, but finds herself in a considerably different position these days, as one of the stars of “The Conjuring,” the summer box office dark horse that usurped the likes of “Pacific Rim” and Johnny Depp himself.
So it was time to catch up on our chit-chat from when “Detention” hit theaters and see how things were going.
TQOS: Well, last we talked you just had an independent film come out, your first major role in “Detention.” And now you have recently had a little movie out called “The Conjuring” that maybe a few people have heard of.
Shanley: Yes, they may have heard of it. [laughs]
TQOS: I looked back in the last interview and you referred to your next project as a film called “The Warren Files,” so that was obviously the working title then. But anyway, how has life changed for you since the opening of “The Conjuring?”
Shanley: Really, not much. I have been on vacation with my family in the middle of nowhere in the mountains so I have kind of avoided all the hustle and bustle of everything that has been going on which is nice. It’s nice to be away from the industry for a bit while this craziness is going on.
TQOS: But were you kind of surprised at such an overwhelming response to the film?
Shanley: Yes, I think everyone really was. We knew that people would like it but we weren’t expecting the huge response that we got: everyone going to see it and it being the number one movie… nobody was really expecting that. So I think everyone was pretty shocked because we are not a super, super high budget movie but on the lower range. I think that everyone was shocked but really, really proud that we did something that became that big. It’s really validating that people like it because we all like it so much and it’s wonderful to have other people agree with that.
TQOS: It is a quality horror film, and that’s from a horror movie geek. You know, there’s a lot of garbage turned out in the horror genre, so it’s really refreshing to find a good one. But being kind of a smaller film and not big budget you still got to work with some really great actors… like Vera (Farmiga) and Lili Tailor who I have always adored. So how it was like working with all those great actors?
Shanley: Oh, it was wonderful, but it was very intimidating. But of course as soon as I met them all it wasn’t so intimidating because they’re just so wonderful and always very down-to-earth. Yes, I learned a lot from just being on set and watching them work… they’re all so professional. Ron and Vera and Patrick and all the kids involved really took it very seriously. When we weren’t rolling the camera it seemed like we weren’t working but just hanging out. But as soon as the camera started rolling, everyone was extremely professional and did an amazing job. So I think I learned a lot about how to balance relationships on set. And how to work well on set: I think that is a bit I really took away from them all and watching them together was just amazing.
TQOS: Was there any one thing in particular that was really tough with doing some of the scarier scenes in the movie?
Shanley: Yes, I think because all the little girls and myself (and all the actors really) were very close… when we did have to roll the cameras, and we were getting into all the screaming and crying… it’s a fine line with the younger girls between having fun on set, and making sure that you’re going into a serious mode with them. I realized that part of this film is finding that line between working and really learning how to work with kids, because I had never really done that before. But it went well and the kids were all amazing.
The wonderful thing about James (Wan, the director) is that there wasn’t a lot of CGI either. It was there and real so that wasn’t hard: we actually had things to react to instead of just pretending that it was there.
TQOS: It was definitely nice to have such a CGI-free movie because I’m old-school. I hate CGI, I mean I know it has its place, but I can imagine it would be much harder to react to something imaginary than something physical.
Shanley: And I think it made it scarier for the actors on set to have something to react to: real things that they can actually see so they don’t have to imagine the thing. I think it makes it scarier watching it as well. You know, it seems real, it doesn’t seem fake. I see some movies and I just get so distracted by how fake it looks or how computer-generated it looks and, well, it actually takes me out of the bubble of reality that the movie has tried to create.
TQOS: Exactly. And, well, I know that the movie has only been out for a couple of weeks and this is really early, but has anyone started talking about “The Conjuring II” already, god help us?
Shanley: Oh, god, I know… (laughs) Yes, I have heard something about that … I can’t remember but apparently there is going to be a second one… I think that it might be the parent’s story? I don’t really know, but this is the continuing franchise about the Warrens, and maybe going on to their next story.
TQOS: That would be what I would predict. When they had one of the scenes when they were lecturing about the paranormal in a classroom, I wanted to jump up and scream, “That’s the real Lorraine Warren! Right there in the front!” during her cameo.
Shanley: You noticed her? Oh, my god, I looked for her every single time and I completely missed her. I need to pay attention more.
TQOS: Well, there’s a lot going on, so it’s hard to catch her. But moving along, do you have any other projects in the works right now?
Shanley: Next week I’m leaving to study abroad and I’m basically just trying to finish up school. I am graduating at the end of August — I already did the ceremonial graduation stuff — but I am going overseas and finishing up some classes. Then I’m back here and looking for the next job.
TQOS: Well, you’re probably going to get some offers while you’re overseas I’m just guessing… going out on a limb here.
Shanley: Fingers crossed, fingers crossed…
TQOS: So since you have been on vacation in the middle of nowhere, you probably really haven’t had a chance to get to talk much with any cast members about their reaction to the movie and its success?
Shanley: A big group of us have been emailing back and forth, and everyone is just out of their minds excited. James has been texting all of us, just sending us pictures of the headlines and articles. Everyone in my family is really excited, too. We all went to see it last Saturday — it was, like, 50 of us — so I’ve had many congratulations through a variety of sources, and it is just unbelievable. I really didn’t expect that at all.
TQOS: So now, what would be the kind of role you would hope to do next?
Shanley: What I’ve been kind of gravitating toward are good stories and stories that haven’t been done before, because you read the same things over and over again… just carbon copies of the scripts you’ve read before. So anything that’s original — original stories and original characters — characters that I haven’t done before. I’ve played the typical teenage daughter a million times and would like something with just a little more meat to it, something to challenge myself with.
TQOS: Are you at the point yet where you are going down the street and people are saying “Hey! Weren’t you in ‘The Conjuring?’ or is it still a little premature for that?
Shanley: Well, it’s still a little premature and I’m at this point where I’ve been out in the middle of nowhere. But I was in the library studying one day and this kid comes up and he recognized me from “Detention” — I had never really been recognized before. So when he told me he recognized me I was like, “Oh, we probably have a class together.” And he said, “No, you’re Riley.”
TQOS: Well, hopefully when we touch bases again in a year, you’ll be, you know, like A-list, red carpet, getting the Bieber mobs famous. And it won’t be a teen horror movie or a teen comedy or teen anything — it will be, you know, as an adult.
Shanley: Yeah, fingers crossed, fingers crossed.
TQOS: It comes in time, it comes in time. Of course, in twenty years you’ll be saying “Why can’t I play a younger character?”
Shanley: Yeah, exactly! I’m holding on to this for as long as I can.
TQOS: Well, thank you so much for checking in and hopefully we’ll speak again in about another year.
Shanley: Plan on it!
