Screenhead

When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born.  The curse gathers in that place of death.  Those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury.  Those who survive will carry the curse with them…until it is reborn.

If that sounds familiar, especially to horror buffs, there’s a good reason—it’s pretty much the plotline of the last two Grudge titles, and now, thanks to Sam Raimi and the crew at Ghost House, there’s a third.  I bucked convention with this series, with the belief that the second was, in a limited way, just as good as the first one.  I felt it was a lot more authentic, and not having Sarah Michelle Gellar around for long to Buffy her way through really perked things up, making them a whole lot less “action hero”.

This time around, we’ll be back in the apartment complex we left in the second installment.  The young survivor of the last installment managed to get locked up in an insane asylum, where he was promptly and messily killed by unknown forces. Of course, we know EXACTLY what those forces were—homicidal wackjob ghost extraordinaire Kayako and her squatting harbinger, son Toshio.

Meanwhile, the young survivor’s doctor (played halfassedly by Shawnee Smith) has gone to Chicago in search of answers, and that’s when the killing starts up again.

Frankly, watching this thing was a disaster.  They took all the worst parts of the first two—shoddy explanations, some for-no-clear-reason style killing, plot elements they clearly just pulled out of their asses—and introduced them all into one.  The Grudge 3 isn’t as atmospherically scary as the first one, nor is it as implicitly scary as the second.  All The Grudge 3 can do is do a whole lot of killing of characters we really don’t care about because we barely know who they are.

There will be so many elements of this movie that don’t even try to make sense that listing them all would require me to describe roughly a quarter of the movie.  And even worse, there are elements of the movie that make sense, but only because they’ve been doing them since the beginning.   For instance, I’m getting abundantly tired of Toshio showing up at random intervals and yowling.  Okay, I get it, you died just before your cat so you scream like one at every given opportunity.  And I’m also getting sick of Kayako stumbling around in that weird boneless fashion of hers and killing whatever happens to get in front of her for absolutely no reason at all.  Okay, I get that TOO, you’re a ghost and you’re just plain old enraged, but for crying out loud, absolutely none of these people you’re killing did ANYTHING to you.  Most of them weren’t even in the same TIME ZONE as you when your husband killed you.  Just lay off the random strangers, huh?

Perhaps the worst part about the whole thing is that they weren’t content to just let this misery pass by unchallenged and let the whole thing fade away into trilogy status.  The ending makes it crystalline-clear that there will be, at some point, a Grudge 4, and frankly, after this wreck of a movie I’m not looking forward to it.  At ALL.

I can’t imagine future sequels managing to save this wreck—though I have been wrong before—at this point, I’m not even cautiously optimistic.  I EXPECT this to continue to be a wreck.  If The Grudge 3 is any indication, look for this one to suck hard for years to come.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is reported to be in talks to reprise her role as Buffy Summers in a film sequel that will continue the story wrapped up in the seven-season television series.

According to various insider reports, the script has the story picking up with an older Buffy who may possibly be a mother. Gellar is said to be excited about the idea.

However, it all boils down to timing and how many cast members will be available for the film. The television series began in 1997 and ended in 2003.

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s supernatural thriller Possession has hit another release date snag, STYD reports. The site caught a trailer of the film on a Fox/MGM disc, with the trailer ending with a “Coming soon to DVD” message. The film was expected to hit theaters later this month.

They caught up with Whitney Rosenthal, director of interactive marketing, who noted that the movie won’t be released this month due to financial difficulties, and that it will be released sometime “possibly in late February or March 2009″.

The film sees Gellar star alongside Lee Pace and Michael Landes as a woman whose husband and brother-in-law are caught in a traffic accident. The brother-in-law wakes up and starts acting like Gellar’s husband. And as STYD puts it – creepiness ensues.

Possession trailer is suspenseful and seems to be a movie that explores an interesting subject. The quality of the trailer is not all that great. So, you can go to the official site  for better viewing quality.

The movie stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Lee Pace. Both are great in the trailer, which tells you exactly what the movie is all about.

Post #88, Donna, you are the winner of The Air I Breathe DVD. Congratulations!!!

Giveaway details below!

Solid performances come from The Air I Breathe debuting Korean filmmaker, Jieho Lee, American film.  Sarah Michelle Gellar, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Bacon and Emile Hirsch stand out the most for me.

The story follows the four compelling lives that intertwine based on for principles happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love.

Having been stuck in development limbo for quite some time now, American McGee’s Alice is seeing a “turnaround” now according to Scott Faye, the film’s producer.

"The Alice project is presently in "turnaround" from Universal Studios. Jon and Erich Hoeber have written a very compelling feature film screenplay adaptation of the Alice game,” he said. “Their screenplay will certainly serve as a jumping off point as we find a new studio home for the project."

He, however, admits that there are still problems: "To be perfectly honest, the script still needs a little bit of work. The downtime since the Hoebers turned in their last draft has allowed me to establish a bit of creative objectivity. I suspect that the next draft of the screenplay will allow the project to take a substantial leap forward toward production."

Faye confirmed that Sarah Michelle Gellar is no longer attached to the project, as is Marcus Nispel who was at one point set to direct the film.

Giveaway details below!

Solid performances come from The Air I Breathe debuting Korean filmmaker, Jieho Lee, American film.  Sarah Michelle Gellar, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Bacon and Emile Hirsch stand out the most for me.

The story follows the four compelling lives that intertwine based on for principles happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love.  

Brendan Fraser’s character and storyline interested me the most.  He plays a clairvoyant gangster who predicts the death or dangers of others.

The movie is not uplifting as it might appear with a butterfly add here and there.  Although Kevin Bacon’s character offers some respite toward the end.

Andy Garcia is mentioned last because I have seen him play characters that are very loving and caring.  In The Air I Breathe he plays a character called “Fingers” –  he cuts off fingers of those who don’t pay off their debts.  To say the least he’s quite convincing.

Post your name and I will draw the winner Friday, June 27th!