Ramblings and Retrospectives: Another Top 5 Openings

Well, Ben suggested I give my top 5 openings in order to try and generate some interesting discussion. It did get me thinking. What makes a great opening? For my money, a great opening should set the tone for what's going to follow. If you make the opening the best thing about the film/record, what follows is going to be a let-down. The opening should grab our attention and let us know what we're in for. With that in mind, here are my Top 5 Openings.
I should also warn you that I'll change my mind about these as soon as I publish this post. So be prepared for a few openings more in the near future

1. Snot Boogie, The Wire

David Simon and Ed Burns' masterpiece has too many memorable scenes to include on this list, but this opening scene is a classic. It introduces us to our "hero" Jimmy McNulty (the fantastic Dominic West), and shows us the pointlesness and tragedy of gun violence. It also balances tragedy with a dark sense of humour, one of the key traits of the show.

2. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part (2001)

Choosing a favourite Nick Cave opener was a tricky one. After all, we've got The Mercy Seat, Dig Lazarus Dig, and Papa Won't Leave You Henry (the latter nearly beat the song I chose). But for my money, As I Sat Sadly sets the tone perfectly for the Nick's melancholy masterpiece. The Mercy Seat is clearly the stand-out of the album Tender Prey, the only song that comes close to matching it is Deanna. On another day I would have chosen Papa Won't Leave You, but there we go. On this Thursday afternoon I'm going for melancholia over fury!

3. Blink, Doctor Who (2007)

Blink regularly features in lists of the best Doctor Who episodes, and with good reason. Namely, that it's damn scary. The weeping angel statues and Stephen Moffat's ingeniuous (although plot hole-ridden) script create a taught, nerve-racking episodes. This opening shows Carey Mulligan's plucky Sally Sparrow uncovering a message written on the wall of an abandoned house telling her to duck. Seriously duck. Why the hell doesn't she duck!

4. Halloween, dir. John Carpenter (1978)

Yes indeed, the granddaddy of all slasher films also has the best opening sequence. John Carpenter's creepy synth music and the wonderful first person viewpoint lead to one of the most surprising revelations of the film. The opening perfectly sets up Michael Myers as the boogeyman himself, even without the aid of Donald Pleasance's Sam Loomis. And there's almost no blood.

5. The State I Am In, Belle and Sebastian, Tigermilk (1996)

I'm more than willing to admit that my Belle and Sebastian fixation is a little unhealthy, but the fact is that they're one of my top five bands. Yep. There it is. Anyway, this first track on their first album sets out their stall: it's sad, funny, and dream-like, matching lyrics like "So I gave myself to God/There was a pregnant pause before he said OK", and "I kicked the crutches from my crippled friend". Back when Stuart Murdoch still wrote all the songs, before Stuart David went off to Looper and his novels, and Isobel Campbell went solo, Tigermilk is arguably their best album, with an emotional honesty ("Oh love of mine/would you condescend to help me/cause I'm stupid and blind") that was sorely lacking from their last album The Life Pursuit. I should also mention that I came very close to replacing this track with The Stars of Track and Field from their equally superb second album If You're Feeling Sinister. Maybe next time.

Recent Release Reviewed!!!!!!!!!: Trick 'r' Treat

Well, Halloween's gone now. All we're left with is the slow realisation that the fake blood probably won't wash out of the white shirt, and what to do with that jack o'lantern...it's going to rot.... Anyway, here's one last little Halloween themed post.

TRICK 'R' TREAT

The path of Trick 'r' Treat to any sort of audience was not a simple one. Due for release in 2007, the film was finally released straight to DVD just in time for Halloween this year. Despite the fact that the few early reviews were universally positive, the film kept getting pushed further and further back. Interesting marketing strategy, eh? Whenever I'd hear something about it my interest would be piqued. Then I'd get to the end of the article or review and I'd see that the film had been pushed back...yet again. But now it's out, and I've finally seen it. And it's very good.

The film is similar in structure to the classic George A. Romero/Stephen King collaboration Creepshow, or the less classic Tales From the Darkside Movie, in that it has several interlocking stories. Unlike the older films, however, all the characters are involved in all the stories, rather than having one narrator, and it all takes place on Halloween night. It opens with a couple (Leslie Bibb and Tahmoh Penikett) debating whether or not to get rid of their Halloween decorations, with impressively gory consequences that set the tone for the film. School principal Steven (Dylan Baker) decides to teach a jack o'lantern-trashing kid a lesson he won't forget, Laurie (Anna Paquin) feels pressured by her older sister to find a date for the big party in the woods, a group of kids decide to find the remains of a schoolbus full of murdered special-needs children, and cranky shut-in Mr. Kreeg (Brian Cox) is tormented by a violent supernatural monster that may be linked to his past.

In the studio's defence, it's easy to see that the film is almost impossible to market for anything other than a niche audience. Given that the closest point of comparison is Creepshow, how do you get a Saw audience to watch this? Too scary and gory for the PG-13 crowd, and too funny and strange for the torture porn fans. For fans of older horror, however, Trick 'r' Treat is a definite treat (Oh yes, that pun's intended). It's clever and funny enough to be a reference-filled Scream sort of film, but it never actually goes into parody. Writer/director Michael Dougherty balances the laughs with some genuine scares and some nasty gory shocks. The script is also full of excellent little twists and turns that subvert expectations rather than cheat them.

It helps that the film is cast superbly. Anna Paquin plays the Little Red Riding Hood of her group, and it's strange to think that the film was made before True Blood as a man in a vampire suit stalks her through the forest. Brian Cox has fun as the cranky hermit, all straggly hair and muttered curses. The children in search of the lost school bus are also excellent. Best of the lot, though, is Dylan Baker. Playing the creepy killer school principal, he carefully treads the line of over-the-top mugging and genuinely scary. It's a reminder that he's an underrated actor, and deserves more than the meager screen-time he's often given.

The problem with Trick 'r' Treat is that it's all over a little too quickly. Arguably, it's a good thing that we're left wanting more. However, it would have been nice to give the characters a bit more time (Baker is short-changed, as is Paquin). But it's funny, scary, and it's everything that a Halloween movie should be. Dougherty has said he'd like to make more with the film's mascot Sam as the returning character, and hopefully they'll let him. Seems unlikely.

Creepshow trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oFRi2D7Ph8

Tales from the Darkside Movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_V13CAyumU&feature=related

Ramblings and Retrospectives Halloween Special Part 3: A suspiciously shaped bag of personal favourites

Right, now that we've done our woefully brief overview of slasher boogeymen, we thought that, instead of going through genres at a the pace of a knackered snail, we'd tell you about the films we really like. Subgenres be damned, here are our horror favourites....

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

It's arguably the best werewolf film ever made, and also one of the most successful horror comedies. It's John Landis' finest hour, showing that the man who made The Blues Brothers and Animal House knows his scary movies. The film starts with young Americans David Kessler and Jack Goodman roaming the highlands of Scotland. They stumble across The Slaughtered Lamb, a pub full of unwelcoming locals who tell them to "Beware the moon" and "Keep to the Road". Needless to say, they wander onto the moors and are attacked by a savage wolf. Jack is killed, but David wakes up in a London hospital. The good news is that he's being attended to in more ways than one by nurse Alex Price (Jenny Agutter), the bad news is that he's turning into a werewolf

What can we say about American Werewolf in London? It's got the best "awkward silence in a busy pub caused simply by your arrival" moment in cinema history. It's got a fantastic transformation courtesy of effects maestro Rick Baker. The performances from David Naughton and Griffin Dunne are so convincing that you essentially think that they're playing themselves (the commentary on the DVD certainly does little to dissuade you of this). Jenny Agutter is appropriately lovely as Alex, and, surprisingly for an American made film set in England, the English dialogue actually sounds right. The dark comedy contrasts excellently with the genuinely scary scenes (that underground chase scene is still spooky), and the surprisingly effective gore. It's got that invaluable trump card: Brian Glover. Here's the Slaughtered Lamb sequence for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu_2likGlok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z-4EbDucvI&feature=related

Want a werewolf movie this Halloween? Rent this. Better yet, buy it. Beware the moon, lads.

Go further: The Howling, Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers

SUSPIRIA (1977)

Taking a left turn here, Dario Argento's classic mindbending nightmare is perfect for those who want something a little different this Halloween. Suzie Banion arrives at a German dance academy, only to find something terrifying is roaming the school at night. And, basically, that's it. There are some odd plot details, such as Suzie trying to make friends, and a young, dubbed, Udo Kier pops up near the end to explain what you might have figured out already. But, as any Argento fan will tell you, if you're following the plot properly you're just going to get a headache. The plot of Suspiria is a flimsy excuse for the director to indulge in gloriously gory set-pieces, fantastically insane camera work, brightly lit in primary colours and scored with Goblin's metal music. Trying to explain what makes Suspiria so good is difficult. It's a technicolour nightmare, a blood-soaked fairytale. And it's tremendous fun. So, basically, go and watch it.

Go further: Inferno, Profondo Rosso, Tenebrae, Opera

Suspiria trailer: http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8zbV_fFkYs

Inferno trailer: http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_wOOMdW5o0

Tenebre trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2oKGaAc3m4

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

OK, chances are you've probably seen The Ring, and The Grudge. But A Tale of Two Sisters manages to be a genuinely scary horror even if you're familiar with the "evil lank-haired girl" routine. The film is about two sisters who begin to suspect that their new, attractive stepmother may have killed their mother. It's essentially a haunted house movie, but these bangs and jolts are perfectly done. It's perfectly played by the cast, and is shot and scored with the care and artistry than an award-bait drama would normally be given. It's also more about the chills than the gore, building up suspense slowly and expertly until, inevitably, someone breaks. A Tale of Two Sisters is an excellent twist on the wicked stepmother story, and the sound of fingernails on wood is one that will stay with you for days. Oh, and it was recently loosely remade as The Uninvited, starring David Strathairn and Elizabeth Banks. Reviews were less than favourable, so, as is so often the case, it's best to stick with the original.

Go further: Three Extremes, Infection, Audition

A Tale of Two Sisters trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anF5XiN8QY8

Three Extremes trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-lnf01j7kw

Audition trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhsrsWcEspc

Halloween Approaches....

Yes indeed, it's that wonderful time of year again. That time when my love of horror films, from the good to the very, very bad, becomes, albeit briefly, socially acceptable. During the course of this week, we'll be focusing on what you should be watching, reading, and hey, maybe even listening to, in the lead-up to this Saturday night. From 70s classics and Hammer horror all the way up to the latest releases, it'll be a not-exactly-comprehensive guide. There will be some general looks on horror sub-genres, and we'll be shining our low-wattage spotlight on those films that are either so good you can't ignore, or the little ones that have slipped between the cracks. So, get the DVDs out, dust off that Stephen King book, and let's get down to some good, old-fashioned horror. Because, after all, Halloween comes but once a year....

30 Rock's Werewolf Bar Mitzvah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_P3PNuZU