Dave Alexander, the Managing Editor of Rue Morgue magazine (easily the smartest horror mag around and it's Candian, eh!) returns this year with his choices for Midnight Madness. His taste is in tune with what we offer at Midnights as as he curates Rue Morgue's CineMarabre nights at The Bloor and they have just announced their screening for September - REC! And be sure to read his postings on The Abattoir, The Official Rue Morgue blog.
Martyrs
Anyone who caught last year’s Midnight Madness screenings of Inside and/or Frontier(s) knows that currently the French are the Archbishops of Atrocity. When it comes to horror and gore, they’re ruling the scene, making beautiful, technically proficient and extremely transgressive works too intense for North American theatrical release. And there’s been a lot of buzz about Martyrs (another Francophone fright flick starring a young woman covered in blood) upping the ante, and I’m hoping that it delivers in rivulets of red. Although Pascal Laugier is a relative newcomer as a director, he has worked with one of my favourite filmmakers, Christophe Gans ( Brotherhood of the Wolf, Silent Hill), so I’ll be there for this one, clutching my blood-stained beret and screaming for sang.
The Burrowers
As an unabashed fan of the western, and obviously a horror fan, for me J.T. Petty’s The Burrowers has the potential to be cinematic chocolate and peanut butter (or maybe shotguns and boogeymen?). We’re going to be seeing more horror-western mash-ups, and hopefully this one will give the upcoming trend a good name. Plus it’s got Tom Cruise’s cousin in it, William Mapother, who was wicked-creepy in T.V.s Lost. Petty has made some interesting forays into the genre (Soft for Digging, S&MAN), so it’ll be interesting to see how he plays with conventions this time around. I've got my fingers crossed that we'll see a were-horse.
JCVD
Whether it’s John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Bruce Willis in Oceans Twelve or Bruce Campbell in the upcoming My Name is Bruce, actors playing themselves for laughs is almost always funny as hell. Horror loyalty aside, who can resist the concept of Jean Claude Van Damme playing himself as a troubled, aging action hero, warts ’n’ all? More interestingly, though, is that, JCVD is being played just for laughs; it’s also seemingly a thoughtful deconstruction of The Hero – the kind of thing Clint Eastwood has spent the latter half of his career doing (e.g. The Unforgiven). So, while Steven Segal continues his transformation into the William Shatner of action heroes, it’s nice to see Van Damme kicking his own ass and taking names.
Check out the great Rue Morgue magazine cover issue for last year's MM hit, Inside.
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