Today is the first official day of Winter, commonly known as the Winter Solstice. Around this time there’s a deluge of Christmas films dulling your ears on television – but what about films with Winter as a central character?
The Thing
You can’t mention Winter and not have The Thing listed as John Carpenter’s 1982 horror film is still quintessential viewing. A cadre of men on an Antarctic expedition are slowly annexed by an alien being. Both the cramped quarters of the camp and the empty snowscape let you know: “You’re on your own, buddy.” Without the option of running to the authorities, the frigid environment makes it all the more unsettling when the shapeshifting alien crops up to snack on some man flesh. Continue reading
The Filmsmith 
Vampire Rumble: Let the Right One In vs Let Me In
Note: to avoid redundancies, let me clarify that Oskar and Eli are the boy and girl from Let the Right One In and Owen and Abby are the boy and girl from Let Me In. Also, this post contains major spoilers for both films.
My wife pointed out that there is a difference between re-making a story and re-telling a story, as we’re always re-telling similar tales with different window dressings. Michael Haneke’s Funny Games is a clear example of a re-make: it was first made in 1997 (Austria) and re-made, shot-for-shot, by Haneke in 2007 (U.S.). Alternatively, something like John Carpenter’s The Thing is a re-telling of The Thing From Another World, which itself was based on the short story Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell. Let Me In is an example of the latter re-telling, not a mere re-make. Continue reading →
1 Comment
Posted in Articles, Filmmaking, News
Tagged bully, eddie izzard, funny games, Horror, let me in, Let the Right One In, Matt Reeves, Sweden, The Thing, the thing from another world, U.S., Vampire, who goes there