Aug 28, 2013
Renny Harlin’s latest film, “Devil’s Pass,” has a lot going for it. It’s based on the true story of a 1959 expedition of hikers in the Ural Mountains of Russia were found dead under mysterious circumstances: They were found outside their tents in various states of undress, with injuries including ripped out tongues and crushed bones… without any sign of external injury. And one with a massive dose of radiation. In the middle of nowhere.
Named after the expedition leader, the mystery was dubbed the Dyatlov’s Pass incident.
I first saw this story about the real expedition on some H2 documentary and had thought it would make a killer story, so thanks Harlin for beating me to it. In this film, Harlin sets it up around a crew of five filmmakers and their outdoorsmen guides retracing the steps of the original nine who died, to try to get to the root of what really happened on that mountain. And there are a lot of good things in this movie, but a couple that rubbed me wrong.
First, it’s a “found footage” film, which is so overdone now that I groan a little every time I see a new trailer with shaky, night vision camera. Second, the premise involves an overly ambitious female filmmaker pushing the group to stay and take risks even when things seem to be going very, very wrong, and creating conflicts with other group members.
Sound familiar? Can you say “Blair Witch Project” in the mountains of Russia? I know there’s no such thing as an original idea, but the obvious parallels kept bugging me. I also noted some resemblance to the creatures in “Quarantine,” but it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t live with it.
But despite that (and a few less than stellar turns at directing in his past), Harlin knows how to spin and how to film a good story, and the cast of low profile actors adds to the believability.
Which brings me to the most important question of any horror film…. is it scary? Without giving too many spoilers away, yes, the film is very effective and scary at times, which makes me wish even more that Harlin had just gone for a straight narrative film instead of all the clunky “let me set the camera down in a way it can film us to keep the story going” moments.
Dear Hollywood directors: Just shoot a damn movie already, without “found footage” gimmicks. It’s so over. Dead. Done. Kaput. Move on.
“Devil’s Pass” is worth watching despite the gimmick, and here’s a hint if you go see it, with a bit of a spoiler, so don’t read on if you hate that kind of thing:
Be sure to pay attention to what’s going on in the background when they are filming. Just saying.
Aug 21, 2013
On Tuesday’s episode of “Face Off,” teams of three had to create a modern take on Frankenstein and his bride, with some super cool results. And a few misses, of course. But this time they mixed up the veterans and the newbies to even things out a bit, although one power team stood out above the rest.
This week the challenge tied to a promotion of the upcoming film, “I, Frankenstein.” The great thing this week, though, was the writer and producer of the movie — who also wrote and created the “Underworld” series — was the guest judge. Better yet, I discovered Kevin Grevioux was also the actor who played the very big, intimidating werewolf in the first film. And best of all, that’s really how his voice sounds.
Who knew? (Well, probably everyone but me, but it was news to me.)
Not surprisingly, the team that seemed to work best together was Team Estrogen, with Laura, Alana, and rookie Laney collaborating. They all seem to have a similar theme in their aesthetics… that sort of glamorous horror. And it served them well here with a “beautiful” bride — by horror standards, anyway — despite dealing with a mold crack.
“Keep calm and fill up that crack” should be the motto of every makeup artist.
Another team that had molding issues was Miranda, Samantha, and Eddie. Miranda wasn’t quite so calm when there were problems with the nose getting stuck in one mold, and was less than thrilled about working with two rookies on her team, but kept her cool with her teammates. But they did get called to task for the obvious “Borg” references by Grevioux, and I thought the bride was sort of reminiscent of an old Bob Fosse number. But not in a good way.
Tate, Lyma, and RJ didn’t get angry with each other despite artistic differences but definitely didn’t work together well. Naturally, newbies want to project confidence and stand up for their work, but when you’re working with someone as insanely talented as Tate, you need to be listening to his advice. When he tells you aren’t painting correctly, you ain’t painting correctly, sister.
But Lyma insisted on doing her very unrealistic airbrush painting. To his credit, Tate was as calm and direct as he could be, especially when she started painting on his Frankenstein cowl.
“Let’s stop that, please. I mean, I love you girl, but I think we got different philosophies about paint.” And when she returned to her own bride cowl, he chimed in a bit later to let her know she was painting too dark, which she immediately brushed off. “My eyes work, it’s dark… it’s black.”
And then he dropped it and let her hear it from the judges later, namely Ve Neill. Sometimes you just have to let people hang themselves and focus on yourself, even in a team effort. Wise decision.
Rookies Scott and Adolfo butted heads, but veteran Roy held the team together, with another strong look, although Glenn Hetrick was pretty tough on them, criticizing Roy’s Frankenstein for being “top heavy,” although it looked pretty good to everyone else. He’s tough, that one.
For top looks tonight, the judges decided only one team qualified: Laura, Alana, and Laney. And since Alana sculpted the bride’s face they loved so much, she was the overall winner.
Samantha made the bottom three for the “bulbous” design of her team’s bride head cowl that “didn’t make any sense, according to Hetrick. Also for not painting the hands correctly or finishing the tubing going into them.
Veteran Eric found himself in the bottom because of the eye sculpting that made him look “bewildered” per Hetrick, and not finishing his part of applying rivets to the forehead.
And Lyma made the bottom for not listening to Tate and doing that off-strip, Vegas-show airbrush job. “Are you primarily a body painter?” asked Neill. “It s very evident in this makeup. It doesn’t look organic, it looks blown on.”
In the end, Samantha had too many mistakes and had to pack up her makeup kit. So far the veterans are still there, but how long will they last? And who do you think will be the first to fall?
“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!
