Subjective vs. Objective? February 9, 2007
Posted by ghostof82 in : Film General , 1 comment so farHow should people review films on a blog? Should it be an analytical, objective, reasoning view, examing a films merits and failings? Or should it be a subjective view, one of opinion weighing up personal preferences or dislikes? After all, while I love BLADE RUNNER I would be the first to admit that it isn’t the greatest film ever made, even though it is my personal favorite.
Writing my blog in the past I have tried, where possible, to share experiences or memories regards viewing the films that I review or pass comment on. I’d like to think that it informs any opinion, in that the first experience of a film can very often have weight on the final opinion of that film. It might just be my age at the time, since that always bears greatly on viewpoint of a film. As regards BLADE RUNNER, when I saw it in 1982 I was sixteen years old, I’d spent my childhood loving the original STAR TREK tv show, STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS at the cinema, and BLADE RUNNER was my first real ‘adult’ serious sci-fi experience at the cinema and it blew me away. Likewise I love THE ABYSS above any other James Cameron film, partly because the underwater setting fascinated me, the script was intelligent, the hero a ‘normal’, even balding joe, and also that when I walked out of the cinema I walked into a rainy storm that seemed as wild as that in the film. Now THE ABYSS can hardly be described as a highpoint of modern cinema, but nonetheless it is one of my favourite films.
In just the same way, as I reach my forty-first birthday next week, I find that my age and experiences weigh on my opinion of old films and new ones. I seem to look back at older films with greater affection (sometimes more than they perhaps deserve) and treat the new films with growing contempt and a jaundiced view at film-making that seems primarily informed by market research and committee. Young readers likely think of me as a miserable old bugger who knows nothing of modern cinema. Perhaps older readers read my blog who share similarly weary sentiments as mine. Are my opinions any less valid than anybody else’s?
I suppose my thoughts here are nothing at all new. I am sure STAR WARS fans of my generation all spare a special love for the original trilogy, while younger readers may well prefer the special editions or the prequel trilogy. I remember when I was young and older people would wax lyrical about the merits of ‘old’ films such as JASON & THE ARGONAUTS, and I would be mystified because I thought the new blue-screen, motion-controlled fx shots far superior to the old stop-motion, front-projection fx of Ray Harryhausen. Here I am years later, looking back with affection at miniatures and matte paintings on glass and optical photography, and feeling cold toward cgi fx. I guess in some ways things have come full circle. Perhaps it’s just middle age.
So subjective vs. objective? I don’t know. I just hope my ramblings and memories on my blog entries might strike a chord with some of you readers, or perhaps just excuse what might sometimes seem misguided viewpoints.
1974- Ho! Ho! Ho! February 5, 2007
Posted by ghostof82 in : Film General , add a comment1974. Hard to get your head around it, what the world of film was like back then. It was before JAWS hit the industry and started an era of summer blockbusters, cemented with STAR WARS in 1977. It was before the home video market, before DVD, Cable, Satellite…. before merchandising, multi-million dollar salaries for actors. 1974 belonged to a world that we do not live in anymore, our world, to people back then, is the stuff of Star Trek and dreams. In 1974 film-making was different, the world was different, and films could be daring, new, original.
Which brings me to BLACK CHRISTMAS. Now I have to (rather sheepishly) admit that I knew nothing of this film, don’t recall ever reading about it, certainly never saw it, not even a trailer on a VHS video back in the ‘eighties. If not from noticing the release of the 2006 film, and finding out it was a remake of an original film from 1974, I still would know nothing about it. Having become rather tired and despondent about the whole nonsense of Hollywood’s rather incestuous pre-occupation for remaking any film it gets the inclination to (’brand awareness’ seems to be the downfall of modern cinema), I inevitably found myself interested in watching the 1974 film rather than it’s 2006 cousin.
Considering I had never even heard of this film before (the shame, the shame!) it turns out that it’s without doubt one of the best horror films I ever seen. It’s not that it’s scary (to be honest, no film actually scares me these days) rather it’s the films powerful sense of mood and menace, and the profound sense when you are watching it that you have discovered the DNA of nearly every horror film that followed. HALLOWEEN is one of my favourite horror films, and I had thought it an original gem that kick-started the slasher/serial killer genre, but no, BLACK CHRISTMAS did it first. Kudos to Bob Clark, the film’s director, and cue a reappraisal of John Carpenter.
As the title suggests, the film is set at Christmas and subverts the traditional season of goodwill and cheer into a dark, menacing thriller. A group of girls living in a sorority house at the Christmas holidays are preyed upon by a crazed killer who is hiding in the attic. Thats about it. The genius is in the simplicity, and how the drama is played out. The direction is witty and assured, treating the material seriously and not for the laughs that most modern horror-slasher films seem to be after. The acting is above-par, with confident and impressive turns by Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder (who, in particular, is a revelation) and the ever-reliable John Saxon. The camerawork is, quite frankly, astonishing for a mid-seventies horror film - some of the shots are ingenious, and the music score remarkably unnerving. This film is the Real Deal, no doubt about it. How on earth did it stay under my radar? The mind boggles.
So if any of you readers of this blog have yet to sample the delights of BLACK CHRISTMAS, then hesitate no longer, at least give it a rental. I’m sure you won’t regret it. As for the 2006 remake… ugh, I dread to think. Only a morbid fascination with how low modern Hollywood has gone will ever drive me to dare sample its dubious pleasures. The news that Rob Zombie has actually gone and remade HALOWEEN can only confirm that the horror film is fast becoming a redundant genre in 2007. Back in 1974, it was still new….