Filmhounds Magazine #8 October 2021 (Sample)

The Rise and Fall of Jiangshi Cinema

Spirited away 20th Anniversary

filmhounds.co.uk

+ all HAlloweens rated

October/November 2021

Ellen Greene!

Frank Oz!

£4.99

31 greatest horrors

Little Shop

of Horrors

35th Anniversary

We dive deep, speaking to Frank Oz, Ellen Greene, and more as the classic turns 35

#8

HOME CINEMA

0117 214 0115

MEDIA ROOMS

SMART HOMES

cinemaworks.co.uk

a

Welcome

from the editors

I

have to admit Little Shop of Horrors is one of my all-time favourite films, so I am thrilled that in this issue we got the opportunity to speak with the film’s legendary director Frank Oz and star Ellen Greene. Ahead of the 35th anniversary of the film we have a full on celebration of the classic.

It’s getting dark, cold and gloomy so that means HALLOWEEN. The team have picked 31 of the the greatest ever horrors for you to work your way through. Also if that wasn’t enough ahead of Halloween Kills we have ranked all of the Halloween films to this point.

We’ve pieces also on Dune, The Fly, Mr. Vampire and much more.

Oh and the return of the quiz this month focuses on Spiderman. I hope you enjoy reading.

David Garlick

H

ello and welcome to yet another cracking issue of FilmHounds Magazine!

Our newest issue is packed with great content for all your Halloween needs! Fear not, we’ve got your spooky watch list sorted as we get right down to it and provide you with our thoughts on 31 of our favourite creepy horrors, from classics such as Alien and Jaws to newer films like It Follows and Hereditary. We also review Denis Villeneuve’s long-awaited Dune adaptation as well as the Princess Diana biopic Spencer and Edgar Wright’s latest thriller Last Night in Soho. And, as revealed by our rather wicked cover, we’re celebrating 35 years of Little Shop Of Horrors with Frank Oz and Ellen Greene and looking back at what made this such a cult classic. We’re thrilled to have you back and can’t wait to bring you more great writing about movies!

Maria Lättilä

@DGfilmhounds

@marialattila

@FILMHOUNDSMAG

04

FILMHOUNDSMAG

20

@FILMHOUNDS

28

editorial DAVID GARLICK Editor

david@filmhounds.co.uk

MARIA LÄTTILÄ Deputy Editor

maria@filmhounds.co.uk

FEATURES DAVE MANSON

dave@filmhounds.co.uk

ReVIEWS ERIKA BEAN, KATIE HOGAN+SARAH LORD

reviews@filmhounds.co.uk

NEWS JED WAGMAN+FREDDIE DEIGHTON

news@filmhounds.co.uk

FESTIVALS DAVID CUEVAS+LEONI HORTON

festivals@filmhounds.co.uk

COntributors ANDREW GAUDION, CALLUM BARRINGTON, GAVIN SPOORS, JORDAN KING,MARK ANTHONY AYLING, MARK CARNOCHAN, NICOLA AUSTIN, PAUL KLEIN, SCOTT Z. WALKINSHAW Copyright 2021 Filmhounds Magazine. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of FIlmhounds Magazine. Requests for permission should be directed to: info@filmhounds.co.uk Filmhounds Magazine Ltd, Company number: 12803893

34

46

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 23

HORROR

31 Days of Halloween

Greatest ever

HORROR t’s that time of the year again folks.

The spooky season is upon us and to help all the horror lovers and borderline masochists on their path to the big day, the team at FilmHounds have constructed their definitive 31 Days of Halloween list. We have you covered for each day of October leading up to Halloween, with some of the very, very best from the genre. You might be thinking where is Halloween the movie on this list, and please refer to our Halloween ranked section for the best and worst

I

from that iconic franchise.

From nearly 200 entries, we have painstakingly narrowed down the list to produce a harrowing ensemble of horror epics.

Spanning almost 60 years, our list comprises blockbusters and indies, creature features and monster flicks, slashers and haunted hotels, and includes various psychological thrillers from recent years. The great thing about fans of the genre is that you already like to be pushed outside of your comfort zone, so please allow us to push you that little bit further with some of the following top choices.

04 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

Our list is an ode to the origins of fictional terror, from Georges Méliès’ 1896 short The Devil’s Castle to Nosferatu and the era of German Expressionism, the ancestors of horror are respected, reflected and replicated throughout aspects of all the following movies.

Whether a first-time viewing or a re-watching of a personal staple, let us take the pressure off your shoulders in the build-up to everyone’s favourite holiday.

Sit back, do anything but relax, let your blood curdle, your spine tingle and remember – Be afraid, be very afraid! DAVE MANSON

A Nightmare on Elm Street It’s easy now to laugh at the way the Freddy Kreuger franchise ran itself into the ground with cheesy visual effects and diminishing sequels, but Wes Craven’s original surrealist horror remains potent today. A story of lies, sins and repressed trauma, all underscored by Charles Bernstein’s haunting synth soundtrack mixes good old fashion slashing with reality warping plastic-reality effects. Robert Englund’s original turn as Kreuger remains a haunting, imposing figure, attacking teenagers in their underwear when they fall asleep, forcing their nightmares to come alive. What Craven’s film does best though is to not dwell on the crimes that Kreuger committed molesting and killing children - but instead on the paranoia that the adults are the reason this horror is coming for the kids. Their lies, and their blood lust is the reason Heather Langenkamp and her friends are told “don’t fall asleep”. The biggest fear is a basic one… how do we stay awake? PK

© 2017 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

3



4



A Quiet Place

Hereditary

John Krasinski’s directorial debut truly took suspense to a new level in the incredibly tense and emotionally moving postapocalyptic horror flick. In an eerily quiet future where shadowy monsters hunt humans using their sensitivity to sound, Krasinski expertly taps into one of our most primal fears for a truly unique and gripping experience. What truly sets A Quiet Place apart though is the poignant tale of a loving family enduring at the heart of the film, along with the predominant use of sign language in a Hollywood blockbuster, which defies genre tradition for a predominantly visual type of storytelling. KA

Ari Aster’s cutting portrait of grief after a tragedy gave us our first glimpse into his twisted mind.

Unseen forces target the Graham family, putting events in motion that tear them apart from the ground up. There’s severed heads, spontaneous combustion, cultish behaviour, and inherited trauma spread large across the dinner table. Toni Collette’s matriarch attempts to control her world, much like she does the figures in the miniatures she makes, but certain family friends have other ideas. Hereditary turns traditional horror tropes on their heads, as older women hold all the power, and men are putty in their hands.

EB



28 Days Later Danny Boyle’s British riff on the zombie sub-genre (though these are infected and not undead), with a script provided by Alex Garland, not only made a searing comment on the post-9/11 anxiety many Britons had, but also brought British horror into the 21st century with gory aplomb. Following Cillian Murphy as he attempts to survive hordes of infected along with a group of survivors is tense from scary start to scar finish, only punctuated by Boyle’s refusal to give easy answers or indeed let anyone off the hook with a good fight. PK

5



IT (2017) Kickstarting a new generation of Stephen King adaptations, It: Chapter 1 takes a different approach to the novel and the previous 1980 TV adaptation.

Simply telling the story of the children that ‘It’ torments, rather than weaving the historical and modern. An ancient shapeshifting creature is tormenting the children of Derry. The Losers Club decides to investigate the spate of deaths, including one of their younger siblings, Georgie. Despite being a group of eccentric outsiders, they manage to work together and fight Bill Skarsgård’s monster. Sending him into hibernation just long enough for them to grow up ready for Chapter 2. EB

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 61

© 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

© 1984 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.v

1



2

©Universal Studios

© Icon Films

6

7





8



It Follows

Jaws

Midsommar

A horror movie that works as a metaphor for the dangers of sex and is essentially one big allegory for STIs? Maybe not the best movie to watch with a date but it is a truly fantastic and underrated horror that deserves to be seen by all fans of the genre. Taking the long-standing trope of horror that sex equals death, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows takes tropes of the genre and turns them upside down, bringing something truly unique to the genre while paying tribute to master of horror John Carpenter. Well directed, scary, unique and all with a killer soundtrack from Disasterpeace, It Follows is not a Horror to be missed this Halloween. MC

Jaws is a film of many achievements; it kickstarted the career of Steven Spielberg, it was the first summer blockbuster, and for many, their first horror film. Who could forget the first time they jumped out of their skin at the appearance of Ben Gardner’s decapitated head emerging suddenly from within his ship? The scariest moment though will always be Robert Shaw’s monologue as Quint, and his memories of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The initial disaster was only the beginning of their nightmare, as the floating crew was slowly picked off by circling, invisible sharks.

Hereditary put Ari Aster on the map as an up-and-coming indie director.

It was Midsommar that solidified his status as an Auteur. Using influences from Scandinavian traditions, Aster crafted a weird, unsettling and ultimately terrifying culture that begs to be explored in his unusually long horror epic. The film should rightfully be commended for being one of very few horrors to be set completely during daylight and be frankly much scarier than a lot of the genre’s other films set completely at night. With an award worthy performance from the then relatively unknown Florence Pugh and stunning visuals, Midsommar truly is a unique specimen of horror. FD



Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero’s first project is a seminal and ground-breaking scarefest which redefined the genre. On a shoestring budget and filmed in rural Pittsburgh, the simplicity associated with the initial concept quickly evolves to provide unmatched depth, with an astute social commentary and a re-writing of the horror rule book. By casting the first black man (Duane Jones) in a leading horror role in late 60s America, as it tears itself apart as shown in a microcosm, the allegorical subtly soon fades. However, it will always be remembered as the film which starts by inducing gasps and screams, and ends with selfreflective muted silence. DM

© 1960 Shamley Productions, Inc. All Rights Resered.

9

10



Psycho The Master of Suspense created a horror film for the ages through one iconic scene and a score that will forever put the fear of controlling, knife wielding ‘mothers’ in you. Adapted from the novel by Robert Bloch, Hitchcock moulded the story into his image, prompting this at the time controversial film to be re-evaluated when audiences couldn’t get enough of those violent string noises. By genre twisting the story, Hitchcock lulled his audience into making us believe we’re watching a crime drama, only to reveal that this is actually Norman Bates’ world, and we’re all just waiting to be killed in it. Spawning three sequels of varying quality (none of which Hitchcock directed), a prequel TV show and countless references throughout film and TV, Mrs Bates in the basement, along with the iconic Bates Motel, are images that will remain burned into our memories.KH

© 1979 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

The British Film Institute / Channel Four Television Corporation 2019

11



Saint Maud Horror films focusing on religion can sometimes drift into each other and enter the supernatural realm, but Saint Maud instead has a continuous feeling of unease and impending doom. There are quite a few shocking images throughout the film but not visions of terror. Maud calmly putting drawing pins into her shoes so she pays penance for actions is nothing short of visceral.

Her other acts of violence against herself are far more sinister than anything she inflicts on others.

From humble pious beginnings, the ending to this film will always surprise you. The shocking image of Maud standing on the beach will stay with you long after the credits have ended. KH

© 2004 Lionsgate. All Rights Reserved.

12



Saw Mixing squirm inducing gore with a slow ratcheting of tension marked James Wan’s debut as one of the biggest talking points of that year.

Saw might be remembered now for its endless stream of sequels that put gore before all else - though wisely utilised Tobin Bell as villain Jigsaw - but the film is actually a slow build. Watching two people - Cary Elwes and screenwriter Leigh Whannell - sit in a disused bathroom, chained to the wall, trying to work out why they’re there is nerve shreddingly tense. The extended flashbacks that underline the motive of horror’s newest big bad only adds to the mounting dread, then Wan goes for broke to great effect. Disgusting audiences before dropping one of the great movie endings. PK

13



Alien In a post-Vietnam America looking for cosmic escapism, Alien hijacks the popularity of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind but subverts all expectation, leaving even the most ardent theoretical space explorer second guessing themselves.

Ridley Scott’s survival horror is the substance of nightmares, with claustrophobia, dark corners and background movement all amped up to unnerve and unsettle viewers. It created the blueprint for future iterations of the subgenre; from The Thing all the way to Sunshine, Scott’s influential DNA is spliced throughout all space horrors from the last 40+ years.

Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley plays the lead protagonist as part of an interstellar crew who are awoken from stasis on their return journey to Earth by a distress signal from a nearby moon. The rescue mission turns out be far more than they bargained for, as they pick up a murderous alien species who picks off the crew members one at a time. The realities of deep space set in, and the tension builds to an almighty climax as the crew’s chances for survival deteriorate with every passing minute.

The minimalist but futuristic internal environment of the crew’s starship, the Nostromo, is juxtaposed against the titanic exterior and expansive scope. The elite ensemble cast, headed by Weaver and the late John

Hurt, whose chest-bursting death ranks an all-time first in innovation, transcends an already brilliant narrative. Each cast member became a bona fide star in their own right, so witnessing them picked off like cattle is all the more disconcerting.

What truly makes Alien an iconic horror film is that the titular monster, also called a Xenomorph, is completely unhindered by morality or humanity. It has one clear objective: to find and to kill.

It could easily be derided as a spoof monster, with a one-metrelong head, two mouths and acid blood. However, the final product is a scintillating masterpiece which has earned the right to appear in children’s nightmares.

Despite spawning multiple sequels, video games and spin-offs, all of which become less subtle and more actionpacked with each instalment, none compare in spectacle to the original. While the death toll increases exponentially in the sequels, the suspense and sheer terror inspired by Alien establishes it as the Mother of all monster movies. The vast and allencompassing vacuum of space is the last place you want to be fighting for your life, and as the slogan aptly goes – ‘In space no one can hear you scream’. DM

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 07

CRUISE

Tom Cruise: The Evolution of a Movie Star

“I

got the need.

The need for speed!” It’s been thirtyfive years since Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer spoke those iconic words and took to the skies in the late Tony Scott’s Top Gun, one of the most quoted and memorable films of the 1980s.

It was the movie that established Cruise as a megastar and set him on the path towards becoming one of Hollywood’s most bankable and dependable names.

He is certainly a polarising figure off screen, with his Scientological beliefs and other controversies, but his commitment to his work, his dedication to his craft and his desire to push the boundaries further deserve to be noticed. But, as he approaches his sixtieth birthday, with the belated Top Gun: Maverick due to be released, how has Cruise developed from his early roles into the persona he is today?

That’s what I am going to try and do here.

12 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

Early roles Cruise started acting at 18, and made his debut with a minor role in 1981’s Endless Love. The film that gave him his breakout success was Risky Business (1983), which presented the infamous image of him in character, dancing in his parents’ living room wearing a pink shirt, shades, and white socks. At the tender age of just 21, his performance is very good, possessing both the charisma and charm that would later surface again in Top Gun. The film went on to be a big success, and Cruise was seen as a big reason why. His career was taking off very quickly.

Following Risky Business, Cruise became a sought-after leading man to many of the industry’s most influential names. He played the lead in Ridley Scott’s Legend (1985), one of his few forays into the fantasy genre, and in the same year as Top Gun, was cast alongside Paul Newman in The Color of Money, directed by Martin Scorsese.

1988 saw him appear in Cocktail, and, more significantly, Rain Man. The film, directed by Barry

Words: Callum Barrington Levinson and featuring Cruise in a supporting role to Dustin Hoffman, was a major critical success, winning the Best Picture Oscar and earning Cruise rave reviews for his performance. Having spent his time since Top Gun trying to establish himself as a proper actor, Cruise was finally beginning to be noticed as an actor who could, when required, produce quality work.

Born on the Fourth of July and further success.

Cruise’s role in Rain Man was significant in his development as an actor. He was already a major star, but he needed to prove he had the ability to go with his good looks and cheeky grin. It helped to convince directors that he could do ‘heavy lifting’ in roles that were challenging.

In 1989, Cruise earned his first Academy Award nomination for his role as Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July. It was another of Stone’s films about the Vietnam War, but this time it was a

Scott Garfield © 2019 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.

personal account of one man who was there. Kovic was originally to be played by Al Pacino, until original producer Martin Bregman left the project. Many at Universal Pictures were unsure of Cruise’s ability to be able to play such an emotional character, and Stone himself was dismissive of Cruise’s career up to this point. Cruise spent over a year researching and preparing, determined to do Kovic’s life justice.

Born on the Fourth of July is a powerful and moving film, anchored exceptionally by Cruise’s superb performance. Rather than merely flash a smile or bare his chest, he dug deep to play a man who is pushed to the deepest, darkest depths of despair and haul himself back from the brink. Cruise disappears into a character who both physically and mentally is affected by the ravages of war. The movie loses traction towards the end, but Cruise is unwavering. Now 27, he was at last earning a reputation as an actor as well as box-office star.

The success of Born on the Fourth of July gave Cruise a new foundation

in his career, allowing him to appear in films he may not otherwise have been considered for.

In the years following, he made the likes of Days of Thunder (reuniting him with Tony Scott), Far and Away (1992) with his wife Nicole Kidman, entered a court room slanging match with both Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men (1992) and Gene Hackman in The Firm (1993) and even found time to play a member of the undead in the bizarre Interview with the Vampire (1994).

These roles kept his critical success high, but they weren’t always popular with the public, who wanted to see Cruise back in the sort of role he had played in Top Gun.

The Mission: Impossible series If there is any role that will properly define Cruise’s legacy, it will be that of Ethan Hunt, the character he has played across six Mission: Impossible films (a seventh is due out next year). This is the franchise that has dominated his career since he appeared in the first film twenty-five years ago.

It has seen several directors (Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J Abrams, Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie, who has turned into the series’ mainstay) and several highprofile actors in support, but Cruise has been the constant, returning to the series even when it initially looked like he was ready to bow out.

The first three films vary in terms of quality and the effectiveness of Cruise in the lead. 1996’s Mission: Impossible is far too complicated and has gaping plot holes that limit its effectiveness, while Cruise himself can’t get a handle on how to play Hunt, who comes across as selfish and arrogant and he’s somewhat boring.

The second film is more of a John Woo actioner than a Mission: Impossible film, although Cruise himself gives a much more effective performance, giving Hunt a personality as well as sowing the seeds for the high-octane stunts that have become hallmarks of the series.

The third movie is sabotaged by Cruise’s own ego and his inability

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 13

JIANGSHI

The Rise and Fall of Jiangshi Cinema

C

omedy and horror are two genres that perfectly go handin-hand.

Both genres create absurd, heightened scenarios that can either elicit a laugh, a scream, or sometimes both. From 1948’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein to more recent films such as Freaky, horror comedies have always

20 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

been popular throughout cinema history. But what if you also threw martial arts and Chinese mythology into the mix?

Back in the 80’s and 90’s, Hong Kong cinema saw a boom in jiangshi films: horror comedies starring martial artists fighting off the undead who, quite literally, hop around and suck the life force from living creatures. Jiangshi films managed to make their way to western audiences through home releases, and garnered a

Words: Gavin Spoors cult following across the globe.

The concept of these creatures was perfect for entertaining audiences with equal doses of action, scares and laughs, so why has the genre all but faded into obscurity? Hold your breath as we dive into the history of the jiangshi and wade through the cinematic landmarks of the genre.

First, let’s take a quick introductory class on what exactly a jiangshi is. Jiangshi is commonly known as a hopping

vampire in Chinese and other Asian folklore. The name jiangshi literally translates to “stiff corpse”, with the undead only able to move by hopping around with their arms outstretched. Its origins can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty, where famous scholar Ji Yun wrote supernatural literature in his later years around the late 1700’s. He explains the numerous reasons why a corpse would reanimate: if a supernatural force brings it back to life, if a person died from suicide, if the deceased is not properly buried, and more. Thankfully Taoist priests can control these undead creatures and guide the bodies to a proper resting place. Their main method of subduing a jiangshi is by placing a piece of paper with a spell written in chicken blood firmly on their forehead. Other ways of combating or avoiding jiangshi include holding one’s breath, fire, glutinous rice, a

handbell, even dropping a bag of coins will do.

Unsurprisingly, this particular piece of fiction eventually made its way into the world of film. Jiangshi first appeared on film not in the 80’s but near the dawn of cinema, in 1936’s Midnight Vampire. It was directed by Kung-Leung Yeung and… that’s all we really know. There isn’t a shred of information, or even a single still image, on the film, apart from the fact that it was produced. Jiangshi rarely featured in Hong Kong cinema from that point on. The Western vampire, popularised by a particular novel written by Bram Stoker, made its way into kung fu films, particularly in the 70’s.

It wasn’t until 1980 that jiangshi would make a reappearance in Hong Kong cinema, all thanks to “big, big brother” Sammo Hung.

Sammo Hung is a legendary martial artist, actor, director and producer.

Over decades he has contributed so much to Hong Kong and international cinema: introducing megastars to mainstream film, revitalising martial arts flicks, and of course introducing jiangshi to the world. Hung was taught at the China Drama Academy and earned his way to become a part of the Seven Little Fortunes performance troupe. It was here where his friendship with a fellow performer formed, who would be known to the world years later as Jackie Chan.

Hung would later work closely with Chan and help make him a mainstream success, but before that was busy making countless martial arts films.

One of those films was 1980’s Encounter of the Spooky Kind. Hung starred in, wrote, directed, and

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 21

DUNE

A

s we enter the Autumn film festival season, many anticipated movies are beginning to make their way out into the world and into the eyes and minds of critics and lucky festival goers. These folks have the fortune of witnessing these new movies on the big screen before general audiences get to. For some of these films, people will have the option to watch them either in a movie theater or at home on -insert relevant streaming service here- on whatever the date of release is. Now obviously with the pandemic to consider, it is understandable and safer to

have the option to watch a new film at home, especially for those who might not have the ability to go to the movie theater. Most streaming companies are going about this in their own way, some better than others. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime actively acquire or make their own new content without charging extra besides whatever their monthly fee is, something they’ve been doing since before the pandemic. Disney Plus picks and chooses what they want to charge 30 dollars for (Cruella, any new Marvel movie) and what they want to simply release on streaming with no extra charge (Soul and Luca).

And then there’s HBO Max.

DUNE

Warner Bros. caused a bit of

a stir last year when they decided to release all of their 2021 movies both in theaters and on HBO Max, their newfound streaming service.

While this was a studio decision, Warner Bros. still didn’t feel the need to consult or even inform the makers of these films that this was going to happen, causing directors like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve to openly speak out against it. The debate about streaming services outliving movie theaters has been alive and well way before the events of 2020, and this decision by Warner Bros. certainly didn’t help matters. Now with the pandemic still ongoing with no real end in sight, it’s hard to say just what the future holds for movie theaters and streaming giants, and if it’s

Words: Sarah lord

DENIS VILLENEUVE’S ‘DUNE’ AND THE ONGOING CINEMA VS STREAMING DEBATE

28 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

possible for the two to co-exist without too much animosity.

Denis Villeneuve has been vocal from the beginning about his disappointment in Dune being available on HBO Max the same day as its wide theatrical release in the US. In an essay he penned for Variety back in December 2020 shortly after Warner Bros. made the announcement regarding the release of their 2021 film slate, Villeneuve stated that “there is absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience here,” regarding this decision. Villeneuve’s frustration here is perfectly valid, especially considering that he found out about it by reading the news as opposed to Warner Bros.

telling him directly before they made the announcement. As of now, Villeneuve and Warner Bros. seem to be on decent terms with each other, with Villeneuve telling Total Film last month: “So the first thing was to prove that there was a beautiful, popular movie that can exist, and I think that I proved that – everybody at Warner Bros and Legendary, they are 100 percent behind the project. They feel that it would need a really bad outcome at the box office to not have a Dune: Part Two, because they love the movie. They are proud of the movie, so they want the movie to move forward. And they still did half of it. So, you know, I’m very

Villeneuve has been vocal from the beginning about his disappointment in Dune being available on HBO Max the same day as its wide theatrical release in the US optimistic.” While it’s comforting to know that Warner Bros. still supports Villeneuve and his adaptation, the question now is will they actually let him make Dune: Part Two.

© 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 29

RATED

HA RATED: Halloween

M

ichael Myers is one of the most iconic faces in horror up there with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. The franchise is currently up to 11 films with the 12th instalment titled Halloween Kills set to release in cinemas on October 15th 2021 following its year long delay due to COVID-19.

The franchise is then set to end the following October in 2022 with Halloween Ends claiming to be the final Halloween film but if that’s really going to be the final ever Halloween film we can’t say for certain. There’s always a good chance we see yet another revival of the franchise. Over the years so much has happened in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois (named after a very real Haddonfield in New Jersey where producer and screenwriter Debra Hill grew up) and Michael Myers will always be haunting the town.

34 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

The franchise has seen everything from retcons and soft reboots to standalone films and re-imaginings.

It can be quite hard to keep up with the series, especially given how poorly named they all are. A film released in 2018 simply titled Halloween is actually a sequel to 1978’s Halloween but bears no connection to 2007’s Halloween.

Halloween.

And despite the 2018 film named Halloween being a direct sequel, it’s most certainly not called Halloween II as that’s already been done.

Twice. In both 1981 and 2009 there were film’s called Halloween II. II. You can definitely be forgiven for not having any idea where to start with the franchise if you’re new and so I’m going to count down all 11 Halloween films from worst to best to fill you in and to remind you of the franchise, ready to return to Haddonfield once again this Halloween.

Halloween.

11. Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Words: jed wagMan

Horror franchises are well known for running the series into the ground as they go on with the quality dropping greatly with each instalment. And Halloween: Resurrection really proves this to be the case. It was the final Halloween film before Rob Zombie rebooted the franchise in 2007 and before David Gordon Green retconned it out of existence in 2018 and it really scrapes the very bottom of the barrel. The filmmakers were clearly all out of ideas by the time they got around to making it.

Even John Carpenter, the writer and director of the original 1978 film has admitted to cringing at Resurrection. Jamie Lee Curtis really didn’t want to return as Laurie Strode but ultimately did only for her to be killed off in the film’s opening. o pening. Resurrection Resurrection is anything but b ut memorable as it sees Michael Myers’ M yers’ old childhood home being used u sed for a live internet reality show.

IItt is worth noting though that this ffilm ilm does see American rapper

10. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

Much like Resurrection, Resurrection, The Curse of Michael Myers is not a particularly good film. One of the most noteworthy things about it is the cast. Not only was it one of final films of Halloween series regular Donald Pleasance, who plays psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, with it being released a few months after he passed away, but The Curse of Michael Myers was also one of Paul Rudd’s very first acting performances as the film came out in the same year as his first film Clueless (although Halloween was filmed before Clueless).

Clueless). Rudd plays an adult version of Tommy Doyle, the eight-year-old boy that Laurie babysits for in the original film, but

not even Rudd can save the film from being dull and a complete disaster. It’s the lowest ranked Halloween film of them all according to Rotten Tomatoes sitting with a very low score of 9% on the Tomatometer.

9. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

The fifth instalment in the franchise is all too familiar for it to be any good. Whilst there isn’t anything that’s outright awful about it like there is with Resurrection and The Curse of Michael Myers, Myers, it’s far too basic to provide any half-decent scares or shocks. It follows the same well-trodden story where Michael Myers, after being presumed dead at the end of the previous film was somehow secretly nursed back to full health, and once again, he returns on Halloween to track down his niece and Laurie Strode’s daughter Jamie.

The characters are fairly bland and

uninteresting this time around and there aren’t any particularly exciting kills. Everything about Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers is too familiar and too samey to make this an interesting entry in the franchise.

8. Halloween (2007)

The 9th Halloween film and a remake of the original film, directed by Rob Zombie, takes the franchise in a whole new direction.

Zombie spends much more time focussing on Michael Myers as a child and looking deeper into his psyche. All credit to Zombie for trying something different with the franchise, particularly as by 2007 we’d seen countless sequels that do nothing with the material and with the characters, but in doing so, he makes Myers too sympathetic. When part of the terror of the character is that he just kills people and we don’t exactly know why, creating sympathy for a killer isn’t something that feels right. In addition to this, another one of the things that made

OCTOBER O CTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 35

© 2021 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

AL Busta Rhymes kung fu kick Michael Myers out of a window, something that you won’t see in any other films. I’ll leave you to decide if that’s a good thing or not.

THE MUMMY

The Mummy:

How Stephen Sommers pulled off an action-adventure-horror

A

ctionadventure and horror don’t usually go hand-in-hand, yet Stephen Sommer’s 1999 reimagining of pre-code 1932 horror flick The Mummy defied critics to become a box office success and fan favourite, spawning two sequels and a spinoff with Dwayne Johnson at the helm, whilst also influencing numerous films down the line.

thrilling adventure in Egypt, years before superhero flicks took over multiplexes across the world.

The Mummy (1999) still remains one of my favourite films to date.

As a huge fan of action-adventure and horror flicks, this is a rare Blockbuster which manages to incorporate elements from both genres, with a mix of romance and ancient Egyptian mythology for good measure. It’s pure escapism and a huge amount of fun which never fails to immerse me in a

In the mood for an action-adventure which harks back to the golden era of adventure blockbusters?

The unforgettable magic and pure escapism of classic actionadventures have the power to whisk you away to exotic destinations across the world, as our heroes take us on exciting journeys and quests. There hasn’t been a film

40 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

So how did Sommer pull off such an unexpected pairing of genres in a film which may have been a risky departure from the source material, to become one of the most fun (and definitely one my favourite) monster movies yet?

There’s something for everyone

Words: Nicola austin

that’s captured the nostalgic spirit of adventure quite like the Indiana Jones franchise until The Mummy, complete with key elements such as; expeditions involving hidden tombs, trap doors, puzzles/ booby traps to overcome and buried treasure/historical items to find. These films are fast-paced and packed full of action, often exploring historical myths and legends along the way.

But Sommer didn’t stop there, the director added elements of comedy and romance to the screenplay, resulting in a sweeping and hugely entertaining romp full of heart and humour. Stars Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser wonderfully capture the bickering nature of Michael Douglas’ Jack Colton and Kathleen Turner’s Joan Wilder pairing in 1984 action-adventure Romancing the Stone, whilst also fully embracing the more ridiculous and fantastical elements of the genre.

The leading duo are charming and amusing, yet never take things too seriously, gleefully leaning into the tropes and plot holes for a hugely fun ride. The addition of John Hannah’s useless sidekick, Jonathan Carnahan, also bolstered the comedic elements - with the central trio clearly influencing the main characters in Disney’s Jungle Cruise.

Meanwhile there’s plenty of scares too, as Sommers sets a new precedent for the iconic monster in Arnold Vosloo’s Imhotep. Long gone are the bandages and slow, stomping walk, replaced with a faster, almost unstoppable force with supernatural powers - proving a formidable foe for the modern era.

more thrilling ancient monster for our heroes to tackle.

Watching the film for the first time as a child, there were plenty of suspenseful moments and scares which creeped me out (and still do!) There’s the gouged out eyes of O’Connell’s competitors, the flesh eating scarab beetles which strip a man to bone, grim deaths shown in shadows on walls and bugs that burrow under your skin. But nothing tops the scares from the just come-to-life skeletal Imhotep, thanks to the still impressively terrifying CGI effects, particularly as he sucks the life force out of unsuspecting adventurers to rejuvenate himself. Thank goodness for cats!

It revitalised the monster movie with a fresh take on horror

The impressive visual effects and action sequences still hold up today

Producers James Jacks and Sean Daniel originally pitched the idea of an updated Mummy flick back in the late 80s, with numerous directors and writers hired to draft a screenplay and direct the project for Universal, even with the legendary George A. Romero onboard at one point.

Despite the behind-the-scenes production issues, Universal were still hoping for another hit monster movie which drew on the beloved Universal Classic Monsters - enter Sommer and his new vision for the classic character.

Effects house Industrial Lights and Magic (ILM) really brought the thrilling magic and terrifying horror set pieces to life with a number of impressive visual effects, which still look fantastic - adding to a real rewatchability of the film. John Berton Jr. (who previously worked on Terminator 2) was the visual effects supervisor, incorporating exciting new techniques in particle sims, motion capture and computer-generated imagery, reportedly costing $15 million of the budget alone.

The director pitched a fresh and scarier take on the almost tragic villain, while the central narrative stayed true to the original 1932 Boris Karloff Mummy. In result, Arnold Vosloo’s newly resurrected Imhotep stepped out of the lumbering bandages of old to emerge as a faster, meaner and

Sommer and the ILM team brought a new twist on the iconic monster, combining a mix of live-action acting with prosthetics, make-up and digital effects, incorporating the use of digital tracking, for a more believable (and terrifying!) reincarnation. Imhotep has four distinct visual stages during his resurrection, with a varying mix

of prosthetics and VFX used.

But the most impressive shot has to be the one where a mostly reanimated Imhotep eats a scarab beetle which has just entered his mouth through a huge hole in his cheek - it’s a scene that still makes me shudder! Motion capture, a relatively new form of technology which was still being developed at the effects house, was utilised to bring the character to life in his more decayed state, complete with complex digital textures.

Along with bringing a reanimated corpse gradually to life with a surprising amount of believability, ILM also crafted a number of outstanding sequences which impressively blended with the more practical action scenes. One of the main highlights of the film is the sequence where Imhotep magically commands a sandstorm to transform into a giant version of his own face, with the aim of consuming O’Connell’s airplane whole. The battle sequences and fight choreography are impressively staged, while also entertaining and exciting. The scene in which O’Connell saves Evie from being sacrificed by battling Imhotep’s mummified priests is a brilliant throwback to the mummies of old, whilst also adding some comedic relief and showcasing Brendan Frasier’s fight skills.

The spectacle of the filming locations and production While ILM did a phenomenal job of bringing the more fantastical elements to life using cutting edge digital techniques, Sommers paired this with plenty of onlocation shoots and impressive sets, maintaining a level of realism and practicality which grounds the action.

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 41

TIFF

Toronto International Film Festival: A Brief Recap

P

erhaps the only appropriate manner to celebrate the wrap of an international film festival is to remember the fallen. This year, two deceased landmarks were significant items of interest that would later prove to be a devastating loss for the renowned festival. The first was the disappearance of a local Italian fast-food franchise joint ‘Pizzaiolo’ ​​ — a location that once settled upon the intersection between the Scotiabank Theatre and the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Located in front of the infamous Hooters in which Kristen Stewart once celebrated the premiere of Seberg (2019) — the isolated pizza place used to serve cinephiles on a daily basis with cheap combo-deals and delicious slices of Italian goodness. The absence was deeply felt this year, out of both location practicality

44 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

and economic sustainability for broke film critics. Now the location is replaced with a pretentious cafe — where overpriced food and gentrified menus with a lack of a discernable fashion sense are the norm. The second item of interest was the heartbreaking exclusion of Clifford the Big Red Dog’ Since the film was postponed due to an increased surge of delta-variant cases in North America, TIFF was forced to cancel the must-see blockbuster of the year. Instead, audiences relied on Jane Campion’s ‘The Power of the Dog’ over the wet-fantasy of a Scholastic bookfair adorned red-carpet.

Jokes aside, festival heads Cameron Bailey & Joana Vicente successfully accomplished what many thought to be the impossible.

Nearly returning to the original routes of the festival pre-pandemic, TIFF brought back some of its signature venues — 1000+ seat concert halls decorated with lavish film paraphernalia and other

Words: David Cuevas assortments of cinephile madness.

Social distance, mandatory masks, and vaccine records were all prominent sights at every venue. Yet, the vibe and love of the Toronto-film community finally rejoiced back in-person; with the occasional fright of contracting a deadly virus.

That being said, the programming more than satisfied — even with its occasional performative hiccups.

The Toronto International Film Festival is after-all known worldwide as the ‘festival of festivals’; a playlist event showcasing the best films from prominent cultural landmarks. Frequent films from Cannes, Telluride, Venice, Berlin, and Sundance all made brief appearances at this year’s festival; alongside the occasional underwhelming world premiere.

Admittedly, there was a bit of a lack of artistic risk and punch with a few of the programming choices.

However, I understand that TIFF has a clear reputation to uphold,

The programming this year was also shockingly more consistently chaotic than usual. For once, both the opening night film and the closing night film title were quality features of general interest. Zhang Yimou’s closing night feature One Second was a potent throwback to the power of the moving image and the impact in which the theatrical experience holds within a stagnant social-political environment riddled with censorship and systematic abuse. Dear Evan Hansen on the other hand was a shockingly poignant depiction on the absurdity and toxicity of High School social hierarchy and performativity; an emotional albeit blunt destigmatized rumination on mental health awareness. 2021 is the year of the movie musical, and TIFF more than delivered in that particular aspect with the additional inclusion of the animated rock-saga Inu Oh. Whereas Cannes and NYFF obtained the screening privilege of displaying Mamoru Hosoda’s techno-fantasy Belle, TIFF on the other hand decided to screen Masaaki Yuasa’s uniquely bonkers Inu Oh. A toe-tapping rock musical set in 14th century Japan, the film confronts a unique theme on the importance of storytelling and how censorship is often the ultimate killer of self-expression. Inu-Oh was also one of many films to be self-contained within an in-person only screening platform, due to fears of piracy on the horizon. The

concerns this year were more than justified given context, since three TIFF films that were presented in a hybrid format this year would later leak mid-way through the festival. The Guilty, The Power of the Dog, and Dear Evan Hansen were all victims of this aforementioned freewheeling piracy surge. In many regards, the piracy notice that appears before the commencement of nearly every screening (both virtual and in-person) became an ironic poster-boy for the festival.

Nothing can stop the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s an unstoppable event, only further reinvigorated and brought to life by the power of community and avid cinephilia.

Don’t get me wrong, hybrid festivals are fantastic for accessibility. Yet nothing truly beats the satisfying hooting and hollering of a Princess of Wales screening or a Midnight Madness event. Even more so this year, TIFF attempted to one-up its own competition with a selection of bewildering in-person screenings.

An IMAX presentation of Denis Villenueve’s Dune screened at the festival, where TIFF audiences were the first in the world to be greeted with the first ever sighting of a sandworm in a glorious IMAX aspect ratio. More havoc continued later on in the festival with the surprise Steven Soderbergh screening on the penultimate night.

Little did the audience expect the mysterious film to be a drastic silent-film re-edit of Kafka (1991);

an admirable editing exercise for Soderbergh to practice the skill and prowess of montage and sound.

©Quantrell Colbert

in order to not only make a profit, but to also further engage with their 1% shareholders. It’s the film ecosystem in a nutshell. Dog eats dog, in a righteous battle to win over the hearts and minds of the rich white populace — hence why Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast was the recipient of the People’s Choice Award this year.

That’s the beauty of the festival.

Regardless of the year, new memories with friends and colleagues always flourish within the compact festival-street sphere.

In the limelight of the brisk Canadian weather and the record setbacks of covid-safety concerns, it’s a miracle that TIFF ended up becoming a bonafide success. The glorious neon lighting of the Roy Thomson Hall shined through each screening. The Princess of Wales was a host to various enlightening Q&A’s. The escalators at the Scotiabank Theatre were actually operating properly this year. The Cinesphere IMAX showcased various non-optimized films on its glorious silver canvas. The WestIsland Open Air Cinema provided various samples of high-end food and luxurious condiments. And the home itself —the TIFF Bell Lightbox ​​—continued to screen fantastic movies throughout the entire duration of the 10-day festival.

Nothing can stop the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s an unstoppable event, only further reinvigorated and brought to life by the power of community and avid cinephilia. There’s a reason why it’s called the people’s festival.

If there’s any indication of hope upon the horizon, it’s the feat and determination behind the programming team, the organisers, and projectionists working at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Even during the uncertainty of the pandemic, Bailey & Vicente successfully operated a safe and appropriate hybrid event — with all of the unique communal quirks included.

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 45

Words: Jordan king

Little Shop of Horrors 35th Anniversary

O

n the 19th day of the month of December, in a not so early year of a decade not too long before our own, Frank Oz’ Little Shop of Horrors was released in cinemas. In the 35 years since its release, the film - not unlike its bloodthirsty, extraterrestrial star plant - has grown and grown, with audiences the world over cultivating a cult classic. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert even predicted in his review back in ‘86 that the monster movie musical could easily become the next Rocky Horror Picture Show, “one of those movies that fans want to include in their lives.” So what exactly is it about this strange and unusual story that has made it a firm favourite of myself and many, many others?

Little Shop of Horrors’ story starts with a 1960 B-Movie sharing the same name, made by low-budget auteur Roger Corman. Legend has it the film - which was shot in two days on a $27,000 budget - was made on a bet, with Corman simply seeking to prove he could pull something together so fast. More realistically, shrewd craftsman Corman wanted to make the most of a couple extra days with his

Bucket of Blood set and shoot one last feature before industry rules would change, meaning actors’ performances could no longer be bought out in perpetuity effectively ending Corman’s lowcost moviemaking business model.

Corman’s film, as you may imagine, is a lot less complex narratively than what would follow both onstage and on the big screen, but the basics were there. You had Seymour, the clumsy florist’s assistant. You had Audrey, his co-worker and love interest. You had the sadistic dentist, and you had the mensch flower shop owner Mushnik. You also had Audrey Jr., the carnivorous plant whose bloodlust sets Seymour down a dark and treacherous path that threatens his future with Audrey.

With its eye-catching practical effects and bizarre plot, Corman’s film captured the attention of a teenage Howard Ashman. Years later, desperate to make a fun show to fight off the malaise incurred by lukewarm responses when his show God Bless You Mr. Rosewater transferred to the Entermedia Theater, Ashman remembered having unwittingly ripped off the film for a musical he’d written called The Candy Shop, and set to work with writing partner Alan Menken on taking the patchily

Illustration: Keith Ten Eyck: @keithist @lposterboutique, Keithist.com

In the 35 years since its release, the film - not unlike its bloodthirsty, extraterrestrial star plant - has grown and grown, with audiences the world over cultivating a cult classic plotted B-movie and turning it into a fully-fledged musical adaptation.

Introducing an S&M relationship between Audrey and the original film’s incidentally featured sadistic dentist, turning Seymour’s murders into deliberate rather than accidental acts, and fully committing to a tragic lovers’ arc between Seymour and Audrey - complete with a dark finale in which the lovers die and Audrey IIs take over the world - Ashman and Menken took Corman’s hastily slapped together oddity and made it uniquely their own.

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 47

Little Shop of Horrors DIRECTOR FRANK OZ DISCUSSES LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS 35 YEARS ON

Words: Jordan king

50 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

OZ

an hour on the phone from across the Atlantic, which is exactly what he kindly gave Filmhounds in late August to discuss his cult classic as it turns 35.

Initially, Frank Oz’ name wasn’t in the running for the director’s chair on Little Shop. At one point, Martin Scorsese was attached and eyeing a 3D blockbuster, and at another John Landis was mooted to helm the film. Having co-directed The Dark Crystal with Jim Henson and gone solo with The Muppets Take Manhattan however, Oz suspects that producer David Geffen turned to him in the summer of 1984 because,

well, when you’re tackling a picture with complex puppetry and big musical numbers, then getting the guy who has just made a film with complex puppetry and big musical numbers makes a lot of sense.

To Geffen’s surprise though, Oz declined the gig. “I said no,” Oz recalls. “It was not that it was too big, but rather it was too complex.

It was 14 songs and it was kind of real but not real, kind of theatrical but it had guest stars, and of course it had this plant growing to be eight to 10 feet tall and there was so much involved I couldn’t figure out how to make it work.”

A few weeks later though, while Oz was shooting commercials in Toronto, inspiration struck without warning like a total eclipse of the sun. “It just came to me that the three girls [Ronnette, Crystal, and Chiffon] were the key. The girls on

Photo courtesy of Ellen Green

N

o matter who you are, or how old you are, there is a strong chance that Frank Oz’ work has had a direct impact on your life. Whether it’s his work as a puppeteer and voice artist on The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Star Wars, or as director of films such as The Dark Crystal, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Death at a Funeral, and of course Little Shop of Horrors, Oz has been one of popular culture’s most iconic figures for over half a century now. They do say don’t meet your heroes, but in Oz’ case I would heartily recommend at least

FRANK

stage were always exiting stage left or right and I realised, while a stage is basically 180 degrees if it’s a proscenium, film is 360 degrees, so I could pop them anywhere. And that was it, that was the key. So once I had that open up to me, I called my agent back and I said “Yeah, I’ll do it.””

Having found the cinematic vision for the film that previously eluded him, Oz’ first job as director was to get to grips with original show director and writer Howard Ashman’s script. “The script wasn’t right,” Oz tells me. Whilst Oz describes how Ashman’s words “were like music”, and stresses how he never changed the actual dialogue as Ashman had written it, he explains that the screenplay was still theatre bound. “It had a theatrical sensibility not a movie sensibility, so David [Geffen] asked me to rewrite it.” Oz did ask Ashman if he’d like to help out, but Ashman said no. “I understood where he was coming from, there’s a lot of musical dilettante directors out there,” Oz says with a chuckle.

“But later on he saw that I actually knew what I was talking about because I grew up with musical comedy, and when he realised I had some depth, from that moment on he was always there for me.”

Such was Ashman’s wilfulness to help Oz that he wrote ‘Suppertime’ and ‘Mean Green Mother From Outer Space’ for him. ‘Mean Green Mother’ would of course go on to be the first song with profanity to get an Oscar nomination, and whilst tragically Ashman passed away in 1991 at just 40 years of age, his multifaceted genius and spirit had awed Oz. “It’s not just musical genius with Howard. I mean as a lyricist, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid and this [Little Shop] are stunning, there’s no comparison. But also as a director and a story writer you

know, he was brilliant… he was very generous and collaborative and was always there to help - he was just wonderful.”

“My entire responsibility, was to recreate the gritty OffBroadway feeling of Little Shop as opposed to a Broadway show” With Oz holding great reverence for Ashman’s work and the stage show of Little Shop, I ask him how he approached taking the show from stage to screen while keeping the theatrical roots of the piece intact.

“My entire responsibility,” Oz tells me, “was to recreate the gritty OffBroadway feeling of Little Shop as opposed to a Broadway show.”This meant that though Oz strove for believability with his film, with production designer Roy Walker shipping over tonnes of trash cans and hydrants and all sorts from America to give Skid Row a lived-in, grotty aesthetic, he never wanted to be mistaken for aiming for something that felt natural or bound to realness.

This extended to the film’s remarkable Pinewood set, where Walker had the sets built in such a way as to lean in and add to the entrapping claustrophobia of the place. “This kind of material cannot be naturalistic,” Oz says.

“Some shows, they can go outside and on-location, but this had to be contained, and we were lucky because we had the 007 soundstage at Pinewood to work on.” To get even more into a mode of filmmaking that Oz describes as

“reality but not reality”, the director also spent a solid eight months before shooting choreographing the films many musical numbers in his head, carefully planning them to accentuate the unnatural nature of the story and to feed into Little Shop’s unique atmosphere and tone.

Oz is also very appreciative of the collaboration between DP Robert Paynter and Walker - “terrific people” - on the film’s primary colour scheme, which gives it an improvised technicolour look that Oz credits with heightening the unnatural aesthetic of the film.

With script locked in and a clear vision, Little Shop’s stars assembled and production began. With his background in experimentationdriven work with The Muppets and Sesame Street, Oz tells me how he loves improvisation. And so you’d imagine - I put it to him - with Little Shop’s cast of SCTV and SNL regulars, there was a lot of controlled chaos on set. That’s not entirely the case however, as Oz explains. “I was very respectful to every single word Howard wrote, so I didn’t want to ever improvise any dialogue unless Howard okayed it, and I never asked because I felt that after four years he’d honed it so well on stage. Who was I to try and change it?” Expanding, Oz shares how “Rick [Moranis] didn’t really improvise because I asked him to be true to the script,” which is understandable especially given how Seymour is in almost every scene of the show and film, anchoring a lot of the absurdity surrounding him.

On the other hand, Oz recalls opportunities that did arise to go off-script. When John Candy turned up to play wackadoodle WSKID Radio DJ Wink Wilkinson, a minor role in the stage show, Howard Ashman was fine with some improv.

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 51

Little Shop of Horrors

Star of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

ELLENGREENE 56 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

With so much to discuss, Greene starts at the very beginning, telling me how she reacted to reading Howard Ashman’s Little Shop of Horrors script, and singing from it, for the first time. “I was on my way to unemployment, going “Skid Row, Skid Row, Skid Row, I don’t want to be in a camp musical,” Greene tells me. “But then I was listening to [Somewhere That’s] Green, because I didn’t have [Suddenly] Seymour,” she continues, “And I’m on line.

Usually, I either listen and I never learn a song, or I have to study hard for it, but all of a sudden, I started to be able to sing it. And it broke my heart. I started to cry.”

Moved deeply by the song, which would provide the framework for all Disney “I Want” songs since, Greene agreed to meet with Ashman, who she had met a year prior in Cambridge whilst performing The Seven Deadly Sins.

“We spent an hour together, I sang everything I knew, and we laughed immediately,” Greene reminisces.

“We just melted into each other.

We just knew each other.”

Enamoured with Ashman, Greene auditioned in front

of him and composer Alan Menken, who played piano for her. “I had no idea where it came from, but that voice just came out,” Greene shares, referring to Audrey’s unique sound, “and by the end of singing Green, Howard and Alan and I were all crying. You could feel you know, you could feel the magic was there.

We just felt it.”

“When you’re about to cry, I make you laugh, and when you’re just about to laugh, I make you cry” With that moment of magic, Greene got the role. And, over the weeks that followed, she began to form Audrey Fulquard, the sweetnatured holding centre of Little Shop whose character embodies tragedy, comedy, romance, and resilience in a series of belting ballads, soulful solos, and what Greene calls ‘Audreyisms’ - the vocal quirks and peculiar line deliveries which Greene developed in rehearsals and which the entire cast and stage-crew ended up adopting and adding to. As Greene describes her, “Audrey is a fragile character in a way. The fragility’s inside. But there’s also immense strength. When she talks, she’s a 50s idea of a woman, a man’s idea of a woman. When she sings though, it’s what she’s feeling inside, it’s the woman inside of her.”

A pivotal part of Audrey’s character is her distinctive look. While Greene had a clear vision for her

right from the get-go, Ashman needed a little more convincing, as Greene shares. “When I was putting her together, we went out and got a black cocktail dress and I thought, “This is like Gracie, [doing an impression] “Good taste!” And Howard said “What are you wearing?” I said “No, no, no, I think this is right.” Howard was perplexed, but he ended up saying okay.” With the dress picked out, Greene next turned her attention to Audrey’s footwear. “I put her in heels too, because I wanted her teetering,” Greene explains, “so just when you’re about to cry, I make you laugh, and when you’re just about to laugh, I make you cry. It’s a very interesting style, it’s almost in a weird way like Brechtian style, where you’re acting, you’re presenting it, but you’re inside of it.”

Having tangented into a discussion of Brecht - tangents are a frequent, welcome feature in conversation, and when you have stories of erotic Tangos with Raul Julia to share why wouldn’t you share them? Greene returns to building Audrey’s character. “I wanted her to be really zaftig. I wanted her ripe, like a peach!” she tells me, popping the ‘p’ for emphasis. “And I did her makeup too. It’s an odd makeup, I know, but it was what I thought it should be.” Greene, naturally dark-haired, also chose Audrey’s iconic blonde wig, reasoning that “I thought she would be too hard with dark hair.” Though Ashman was initially unsure about the wig, by the time Greene left the company to tread the boards in London, he wouldn’t have Audrey look any other way.

Little Shop of Horrors opened at the legendary WPA Theatre OffOff Broadway in May 1982, with Greene as Audrey joined by Lee

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 57

Photos courtesy of Ellen Greene

R

arely has an actress ever made a role their own in quite such as inimitable a fashion as Ellen Greene, the star of Little Shop of Horrors, who originated the role of Audrey on stage and then brought her to life on screen in a way that has left viewers mesmerised for the past 35 years. To help celebrate the anniversary of Frank Oz’ cult classic, in late August Greene spent some time chatting with Filmhounds about the film - and the show before it - over the phone.

Words: Jordan king

THE FLY

“Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.”

The Fly at 35

A

Words: Scott Z. Walkinshaw

ugust 15th, 1986 – Summer is almost coming to an end. With the humid air, the hottest season also brings about the buzz of insects. Released on that very day, David Cronenberg’s stomach-churning science-fiction masterpiece would make one of these seemingly inconsequential lifeforms the basis for horror cinema’s greatest tragedy: The Fly.

gives her the eventual exclusive book rights, and as she begins to chronicle his work, the two begin a romance. When Brundle impulsively decides to test his invention on himself, however, he fails to notice that a housefly has also entered the telepod. The experiment succeeds and Brundle is teleported, but during the process also has his DNA genetically spliced with that of the insect. At first, Brundle feels like a new man, but as horrific symptoms start to appear, it becomes clear that he has become much more than just that.

Jeff Goldblum is Seth Brundle, a small-time scientist who meets Veronica “Ronnie” Quaife (Geena Davis), a journalist working for Particle Magazine. “I’m working on something that’ll change the world and human life as we know it,” he tells her. The intensity of his claim draws Ronnie back to Brundle’s warehouse loft apartment/ laboratory where he unveils his grand creation: a set of pods capable of teleporting matter from one to the other. In exchange for her silence and discretion, Brundle

From the foreboding first notes of Howard Shore’s grandiose, operatic score (set to a kaleidoscopic fly’seye opening credit sequence) the audience knows they are in for something bold and dangerous.

With films like Videodrome, Shivers and Scanners in his repertoire, Cronenberg’s unique sensibilities and exploration of body horror became a perfect fit for a reimagining of Kurt Neumann’s original 1958 B-movie classic. In that film, the scientist emerges from the telepod with a fully

62 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

formed fly-head and arm, whereas screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue felt that a gradual mutation would serve the story better. Therein, the film finds not just its scares, but its sadness, too. While many drew comparisons from Brundle’s physical and mental degradation to that of the AIDS epidemic which had ravaged so many lives in the 1980s, Cronenberg had personally intended Brundle’s transformation to symbolise the toll cancer takes on both the victim and their loved ones. Indeed, thanks to the sympathetic performances of Goldblum and Davis (who play their roles with a realism found in any “real life” Oscar drama), The Fly is, at times, a hard film to watch.

In the case of Goldblum, this is the actor’s finest onscreen performance. When we first meet Seth Brundle, he is imbued with all the likably nerdy energy we’ve come to expect from the eccentric actor - the gleeful excitement on his face when he finally unveils his work to Ronnie brings to mind that of a child showing you their new toy on Christmas Day. As

© FOX.

his physical condition worsens, Goldblum’s eyes shine through fleshy prosthetics to heartbreaking effect as he regretfully explains to Ronnie what is happening to him and why, and when his gentle nature eventually begins to give way to the erratic, animalistic impulses wrestling within him, he twitchily delivers the film’s most wounding line. “I’m saying…I’ll hurt you if you stay.” This is not a threat, but the words of a man refusing the support and tenderness of the woman he loves to keep her safe from a mind and body he can no longer trust.

This core love story is the very element that sets The Fly apart from other horror films. Across the scarier side of cinema, there has never been a romantic relationship as effective as the one between these two characters. Through each other, Seth and Ronnie begin to find betterment – he, gaining a relationship outside of the confines of scientific research; she, being able to break away from the slimy grip of her expartner and editor, Stathis Borans (John Getz). It’s unsurprising to

note that Goldblum and Davis were once romantically involved when viewing their chemistry on screen, and it is fair to say their uniquely attractive qualities make them a perfectly suited match in front of the camera. Cronenberg’s recurrent themes of sexuality may appear, but there is a tenderness shared between both actors that strengthens their spiritual connection as well as their physical one.

But while we root for this young couple, the sad fact of which they are unaware is that they are in a horror film, and so things cannot end well. With the genuinely disgusting practical effects and Oscar-winning makeup of Chris Walas, things do go horrendously wrong for Seth and Ronnie. Coarse hairs start to sprout on his body.

Fingernails, teeth and hair fall away. His skin becomes pocked and his frame contorts into a pitiful shape. As each day passes, Seth becomes less of himself and more of something frightening and unknown while Ronnie can but watch in horror as it happens.

The final transformation sequence

alone puts The Fly among the ranks of other 80s body-horror behemoths such as The Thing and An American Werewolf in London.

Thanks to both adaptations of George Langelaan’s original short story, The Fly has become something of a minor pop-culture staple, but while the 1958 film may carry the most recognisable iconography, Cronenberg’s film is the undoubtedly superior version.

By making us care so deeply about our central couple, the cult Canadian filmmaker understood that making us feel more than just fear would make that primal emotion all the greater. In its perfectly paced 96-minute runtime, Cronenberg considers the tragedy of disease, the threat of domestic abuse, and the fear of childbirth and the uncertainties it brings.

Modern horror such as Midsommar or A Quiet Place would go on to connect with the audience on an emotional level like this, but the most daring and affecting example in the genre will always be The Fly. So, on its 35th anniversary year, settle in, dim the lights, and be afraid. Be very afraid.

OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 63

SPIRITED AWAY

64 FILMHOUNDS OCTOBER 2021

‘I’ve gotta get out of this place’

Spirited Away at 20

A

nimated movies have helped mediate the transcendence of film during the 21st century, with state-of-the-art computer-generated effects, pioneering texturing and a wealth of creative minds at its disposal.

Despite this movement, leading animators such as Cartoon Saloon have retained an authentic approach to their craft, with sumptuous hand-drawn frames that maximise effect with abstract detail. Striking the balance between human and technological capability has proved difficult, with animators constantly flirting the line between generic

WORDS: DAVE MANSON OCTOBER 2021 FILMHOUNDS 65