WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
So, I think to a lot of people Wes Craven would probably be considered as the King of the Franchise when it comes to horror the fact that he was the director of the first 4 Scream films (I for one think that’s where they should have stopped), all of the Nightmare on Elm Street films – including Freddy vs Jason and The Hills Have Eyes. Because he’s so famous for these, I thought it would be best to talk about some of his others…
Cursed
This film reminded me a little bit of Ginger Snaps at first, only this time both siblings are marked by the werewolf instead of just the one. It doesn’t completely change the dynamic as Jimmy, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is still searching for some way to help them whereas Ellie, played by Christina Ricci, is almost in denial about the whole situation. There’s actually a really early easter egg in the film – when Ellie visits Jake at work, you can see a statue of Freddie Krueger in the background. Amazingly, for this type of film – there’s very few deaths throughout those being of Beckie and Jen, the second we believe having been killed by Ellie. I actually find it quite unfortunate that I had already figured out that Jake was a werewolf too – there was just something about the way he suggested having sit down with Jimmy and Ellie to discuss what was happening. What I never expected was the jealousy storyline and Joanie being an additional werewolf.
Dracula 2000
As you’ll see, this isn’t Craven’s only vampire story. It was hard to tell if this film was supposed to be a modern retelling of the original Bram Stoker story – especially with the addition of Dracula’s interaction with Lucy – or if it was supposed to be following the descendants of it, what with Mary being the daughter of Van Helsing and the introduction if only briefly of Dr Seward. Having said that, I did have a feeling quite quickly that Matthew Van Helsing was going to turn out to be Abraham Van Helsing – the infamous vampire hunter! I also think, even in 2000 there must have been a better choice to play Dracula than Gerard Butler? Unfortunately he doesn’t have the commanding presence. The most annoying thing about this film though is continuous Virgin product placement! How much did Richard Branson pay you, Wes? Can someone also explain why the decision of making Dracula Judas?
Pulse
Interestingly, this is actually a remake of the Japanese film, Kairo, made back in 2001 (yes, there will be an article on this!) It tells the story of a website that gives people the opportunity to supposedly see a ghost which for me is just some sort of high tech ouija board. Having said that, there’s not much focus on the actual website outside of Dexter showing it to Mattie. It seems in some sort of way, the website passes on a suicide curse. Now the only thing that confuses me is how does it become attached to Mattie and Stone? I guess you could say the whole point is seeing someone commit suicide (sounds familiar from a more modern franchise) – which explains Mattie’s attachment but as far as we know, Stone never looks at the website and doesn’t see a suicide so unless the curse attached itself to Josh’s apartment this part makes no sense.
The People Under the Stairs
Speaking of remakes, it seems there is rumours of one in the works for this film by Jordan Peele. You naturally assume because of the title that the horror will stem from the people under the stairs when in actual fact – this film is more of a home invasion horror. What’s disturbing about this film is that the people under the stairs were just scared little boys that had been, as far as we understand, kidnapped by Alice’s parents – god knows why as she never truly says outside of the fact that they want a “boy child”. In reality Roach, Alice’s friend in the wall, is one of the heroes of this film – saving Fool from Alice’s father meaning he can come back at the end and save Alice’s life.
Vampire in Brooklyn
As I mentioned, there was another vampire story directed by Wes Craven! For me however this is more of a modern retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, especially with the way Maximilian arrives in Brooklyn and the description of the black wolf leaping from the boat – very similar to Dracula’s arrival in England. However it does seem to focus specifically on the part where Dracula pursues Mina Harker – represented by Maximilian and Rita. Now, this is clearly a comedy horror which is not the style I would expect from Wes Craven, but it’s nice to see that Eddie Murphy isn’t the one with the comedy role.
