Last night my boyfriend and I watched The Thing (2011) and I was fairly surprised how good the movie actually was. I'd suspected it to be too much of a remake even though it's produced as a prequel to 1982 John Carpenter's The Thing. There were a few scenes that were strikingly resembling sequences from the 1982 movie (like the human/alien group testing scene and the dog in the kennel, etc.), but for me these contributed more to the a prequel, although déjà vu, kind of feeling than being rip-offs. Most of all the 2011 movie is true to the basic premise; being absurdly sticky and icky.
Usually I'm not a fan of science fiction horror films but since I really liked the 1982 movie (much due to Kurt Russell's hotness!) I was positively surprised. I'm very thankful that they actually cast born and bred Norwegian actors. Usually Scandinavia is a misinterpreted term and a grey spot on the map for a lot of people, especially Americans. Some have a really hard time grasping the fact that Sweden, Norway and Denmark (here not counting Finland and Iceland) are three different countries with their own, but very similar, languages. The mistake of casting a Danish guy to play the role as a Swede (like Allan Hyde who plays Godric in True Blood; his Swedish is awful for the single reason that he's Danish!) is very common. In The Thing (2011) they've cast good, neutrally accented Norwegians and I was delighted to be able to understand all their comments and jokes (I don't know if there's a subtitled version?).
Apart from the computerized monster and digitialized effects (80's effects were so much better!) this is a really good movie where the ending scenes intertwine with the opening scene of the 1982 movie in a really smooth and effectual way.
5 FUN TRIVIA ABOUT THE THING (2011)
OBS! THIS POST MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!
5. The research team's station is named Thule Station. Thule is mentioned widely in European literature and maps, as a region in the far north. The modern interpretation is that Thule could be identified as Norway, which would make it a fitting name for a Norwegian station in the Antarctic. The term "ultima Thule" in Medieval geographies refers to any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world". Thule is also mentioned in the first stanza of Edgar Allan Poe's poem Dream-Land.
Thule map
4. I'm guessing most people who aren't from Scandinavia perhaps won't notice this, but the station's medical officer and leader of the research team, Dr. Sander Halvorson (played by Ulrich Thomsen), is Danish not Norwegian, and therefore speaks Danish with the team. This is not explained on neither IMDB nor Wikipedia, which I find really interesting.
Dr. Sander Halvorson, The Thing (2011)
3. I haven't read the 1938 science fiction novel Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr., nor seen the 1951 movie adaption The Thing From Another World, which supposedly isn't an as faithful film adaption of the novel as John Carpenter's version from 1982. Apart from being adapted into three different movies, the story was adapted as a radio drama by BBC RADIO which was first broadcasted on 24/01/2002. The story was published in comic book form in issue 1 of Starstream, and Dark Horse Comics has released The Thing From Another World, a comic book in two parts that picks up the story where John Carpenter's movie left off.
The Thing From Another World (1951)
2. I read on IMDB that "in order to not try to compete with Kurt Russell's portrayal of the 1982 film's protagonist, R.J. MacReady, the character of Kate Lloyd was designed to have traits in common with the character Ellen Ripley from the Alien film series". This is really interesting as my boyfriend kept referring to scenes from the Alien film series through out the movie.
Alien (1979)
1. My favorite detail was the song the crew's singing on the night that they've brought back "the thing" to their camp. At first I thought the song to be some kind of cultural joke from the American production company's side, since I recognize the melody from my childhood but always thought it to be a commercial jingle or likewise. It's not like Norwegians usually pick up a banjo and start yoiking every other second. But the melody is actually taken from "Sámiid Ædnan", the Norwegian entry in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, originally sung by Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta. This song both contains lyrics in Norwegian as well as Sami yoik and the song title comes from a northern Norwegian Sami dialect. The song is a tribute to the Sami heritage and inspired by the Sami autonomy movement in northern Norway, and the lyrics are about the requirement of self-government.
Ever seen better visual (and audio) stimulation than this? Swedish band NALE takes you on a tour in the world of rock 'n roll metal with their debut video Love.Lust.Pain, leaving you on the absolute threshold of conscious perception.
You'll probably won't find better subliminal stimuli than this! And this is why - love and behold!
Thanks to my wonderful father in law, my boyfriend and I have finally gotten our first car! I've had my license for 5 years now, but since I've been studying the past couple of years and since owning a car in Sweden is waaaaaay expensive, we just haven't come around to buy one. But now we have. And what better to decorate it with, than a zombie bumper stick?
So, in my previous post I solemnly declared my undying love for FX's and co-creators of Glee, Ryan Murphy's and Brad Falchuck's latest TV-phenomenon American Horror Story. As I'd been waiting for this show for quite some time before its release a couple of months ago, I watched the promo clues with much anticipation. Both creeping me out and catching my attention, I was intent on solving the puzzle. I must say though, even after six episodes I'm not sure I'm any wiser.
OBS! THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Clue #1 - Cello
Masked rubber hands playing the cello bow on a woman's belly? Sexy and gross. I'm dying to find out who Rubber Man in fact is, during which time he lived in the house and what kind of guy he was. A pervert who liked to dress in rubber and play his cello? Tate stuck in his teenage S&M fantasies? I'm all ears to different theories!
Clue #2 - Baby
This porcelain baby is also seen in the promo photos (previously posted in FEASTY FRIDAY: 4 X SEXY POSTERS) and could both be representing the lost child of Mrs. and Dr. Charles Montgomery and all the babies who were killed in their underground abortion clinic.
It could also represent the babies that both Hayden and Vivien are carrying. Also, Nora Montgomery's appearance was first seen in 'Home Invasion' S01E02 after Vivien got pregnant, where she presented herself to Ben as a patient in a very dire situation; she's pregnant and needs his support to have an abortion. (Wow, Ben really could start a women's support group by now.)
Clue #3 - Couple
I'm not sure whether this clip is to represent a specific couple or if it's just referring to the couples of the house in general. The house has seen its share of life stories and brutal deaths; Constance shooting her husband after he has (or tries to have) an affair with the housekeeper Moira.
Chad and Patrick had their gay love story ended when Rubber Man drowns/snaps Chad's check in the apple bobbing barrel. Whatever happened to Patrick we haven't been told yet. This could be the 'murder/suicide' that the real estate agent was talking about in the pilot episode.
Then we have the builder or the house - the drug addicted Dr. Charles Montgomery and his wife Nora, who's baby son gets kidnapped by a boyfriend to one of the abortion girls, and chopped up in pieces. After going crazy and getting the Frankenstein complex, Dr. Montgomery starts sewing body parts from animals together, putting vascular looking wings on a two-headed pig. Nasty. The loss of their baby and the underground operations finally drive Nora mad after she walks in on her husband sewing pig's hooves onto their dead baby's body. Even nastier! (And what's interesting is that this must have some connection with the last episode 'Piggy, Piggy' S01E06) As if that wasn't enough, Nora evidently gets shot in the back of her head. Although that event, as well as the death of her husband, is still to be explained.
Larry taught us the gruesome destiny of his family and after playing the viral online game I know that there might be additional destinies and ghosts added to the equation.
Clue #4 - Black suit
The figure in the black suit is a reoccurring appearance in the show. First seen in the pilot episode as an inventory left behind on the attic by the previous owners the viewers were first to believe that the suit had belonged to the gay couple; Chad and Patrick. Which it also might had. But the person wearing the suit during Chad and Patrick's ill-fated Halloween night was neither one of the two. So who is the guy/ghost in the rubber suit?
On Halloween night one year after the death of Chad and Patrick, Rubber Man returns to the house standing in the hallway just behind Violet as she's watching the door (with crazy Larry on the outside). This could be the ghostly Rubber Man or just Tate wearing the suit in an attempt to either scare or seduce Violet (as he's seen earlier in the episode wearing the suit just to scare her).
The most memorable appearance of Rubber Man is however in the pilot episode, when he comes into the master bedroom and seduces Vivien, as she believes it's Ben being kinky wearing the gimp suit.
Clue #5 - Fire
Although the clip shows (again) the face of a porcelain doll, the distinct crack of a fire can be heard in the background. And fire seems to be an evident clue to the history of the house. We know that Larry was allegedly turned mad by the house in an Amityville Horror sort of way and it forced him to burn his whole family in.
In the pilot episode Ben seems to be under some supernatural influence as he walks downstairs (while Vivien's having kinky sex with Rubber Man) turning on the gas stove. Just before he burns himself, Constance enters the kitchen telling him that it's not his time yet and that he needs to "enjoy the house".
Clue #6 - Coffin
This clue is really interesting because I can't for my life figure out the meaning of it! My only guess would be the long shot that the owner of the black suit liked to play it dirty and kept some kind of human slave in the house and made her sleep in a box/coffin.
Clue #7 - Stairs
Again with Rubber Man. He definitely plays a vital role and it'll be fascinating to find out which role it is. The stairs however have a significant meaning when it comes to the subconscious and "stairs in dreams generally mean that you are coming to a conclusion about some issue. The ground floor in dreams symbolizes the reality in any given situation - the facts. The upstairs symbolizes the higher consciousness or conclusions surrounding some issue. It means that you have come to a decision. Going up and down stairs may suggest that you are coming to some new conclusions or keep changing your mind" (taken from Dream Dictionary).
It could be that the stairs are symbolic for each new discovery of the house's history or each new ghostly acquaintance.
The stairs could also be a direct clue to the 'evil' that lives in the basement of the house (as Rubber Man's standing at the top of the basement stairs in the clip). Obviously something wicked is going on in the basement; rubber balls are rolling back and forth. Dr. Montgomery had his weirdo operations going on down there. The ginger twins in the 1974 flashback were scared by something hiding in the basement. Adelaide literally warned them not to go down there. Violet's bully friend was violently shocked by what phenomenon Tate brought out down there, The intruders during 'Home Invasion' S01E02 get their throats slashed in basement, and so on.
Clue #8 - Melt
This clip is so Russell Edgington-chained-to-Eric in a True Bloody way that I seriously can't figure out what it means. If it does mean that the show will include vampires I will be sad. This show was not meant for fang banging, it's strictly S&M, gore and ghosts that are on display. Some poor guy with xeroderma pigmentosum would be totally fine though. If it's Larry or some previous occupant melting in a fire, the clue would make sense. Or a warning what will happen to Ben if he keeps getting influenced by the house and sleep walks turning on the stove.
Clue #9 - Red cello
Again with the cello bow playing on a belly. This time altering between a regular and a pregnant one. It's obvious that Rubber Man has some influence over the females in the house and the cello clips are somehow a statement of that.
This one's also referring to the fact that Rubber Man's gotten Vivien pregnant and it might be so that if Rubber Man has been around the house for some time (since after they invented rubber, I guess), she might not be the only woman he's impregnated. We don't know for sure that Constance's late husband was the father to either Adelaide nor Tate.
Clue #10 - Rubber bump
Uugh, Rubber Man with a prego bump is a bit disturbing. But as I wrote in Clue #9 - Red cello, it could be so that Rubber Man has impregnated more women that just Vivien. Do we know the reason why Adelaide was born neurologically atypical or why Tate turned out to be a Bowling for Columbine kind of guy? Impregnation by ghostly Rubber Man's got to be destined to have some side effects.
Clue #11 - Belly
I'm just hoping that the sonogram of Vivien's belly DID NOT show an evil spawn with hooves. That's just too much Christian mythology for my taste. I'm more for the unexplained, non-churchy stuff. It will be interesting to see whether she'll give birth to her fast growing baby or not, and if it'll be obvious that there's something wrong with it and that it's not Ben's baby. Maybe it'll turn out like Terry and Arlene's baby in True Blood, alarmingly cunning due to it's evil genetics.
Clue #12 - Family portrait
This clip doesn't say much more than what we've already learned from the six episodes that have been released. It's evident that past history plays a vital role in the current events; the twins from the 1974 flashback are seen running down the hallway, Adelaide is holding hands with her childhood self and young Moira's flashing her thighs to Ben as her older version's scrubbing the floor. Vivien is touched by the hand of Rubber Man, Violet's letting go of the hand of a very sad faced Tate and Larry bursts into flames as a calm Constance walks amongst them like the eye of the storm. This indeed is a portrait of the show.
Let me start by saying that I've become somewhat obsessed with American Horror Story. Now that this year's True Blood sexiness is over, the first season of Game of Thrones with the overwhelmingly hot Khal Drogo is over, The Vampire Diaries has become too repetitive and hormonal, The Secret Circle lacks hormonal outrages, Glee is too PC, Grimm is just in the line-up, The Walking Dead is somewhat picking up its pace but still haven't gotten quite there yet and my yearly Twin Peaks-marathon is finalized, I really needed something this fall to trigger my senses and satiate my need for the sexiness of horror.
I loved it from the first minutes in the pilot and I'll probably love all 13 episodes. It's all a bit over-the-top, but that's obviously what you get when you let Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck (co-creators of Glee) go bananas! You need to have a thing for stylized cliches, a fondness of B-horror, a humorous approach to cinematic homages, a special love reserved for Twin Peaks aesthetics and no PC ethics to dig this. Well, since I'm raised in probably the world's most liberal country (Sweden) outside any politic, religious or other traditional condemnation and have a life long love affair with all things horror related, it's in my nature to love this! So here are three reasons why you should watch American Horror Story.
OBS! THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!
#1. The underlying mystery of the 'murder house'
Fueled by the use of adorable 30's to 50's songs during perverted and gory scenes, the underlying mystery of American Horror Story is accompanied by a series of juicy jingles and mood setting tunes. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm a huge advocate for using the effect of music as a mood setter. With hints dropping everywhere, the storyline changes with each episode's flashback to previous house owners' life stories and brutal deaths. New and interesting characters are introduced as the timeline and history of the house is laid out piece by piece. It also becomes more and more evident that the next door neighbor Constance is pulling the strings, having the Harmon family at her mercy. The question is how and why. Each episode development also leaves me wondering which character will turn out to be dead despite their full on staging.
#2. The cinematic homages
Homage paying or rip-offs? Without being shy about its influences, American Horror Story acknowledges and blazes through every horror movie reference that they could possibly come up with in a bloody blur. A horror nerd fan base for a show like this a given, although I bet half of them think American Horror Story might be knocking out one too many references, as they get piled up in each episode. I, however, think it's a ballsy move and I love all the hat tipping. Some references are full on homages where as others are more subconscious absorptions by personal reference. Here are a number of my personal favorites:
The shapeshifting, ghostly seductress: The Shining
The home invasion: The Strangers
Creepy twins: The Shining
Mentally unstable mother trying to up-bring an even more unstable daughter: Carrie
Whichever party being ghosts: The Others
Abortion clinic doctor sewing together his dead baby with animal body parts: The Human Centipide
The housekeeper with too much inside information: The Others
Father turned mad by potential haunted house: The Amityville Horror
A potential supernatural rape resulting in pregnancy: Rosemary's Baby
And last but not least - taking an adorable song (or a nursery rhyme) and pervert it in a horror sequence: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious... amongst others.
#3. The characters
Going on its sixth episode American Horror Story has finally let horror mythology take a back seat to the characters.
The creepy next door neighbor
Straddling the genre line between drama and horror extremely well, Jessica Lange plays the role of next door neighbor Constance; who makes Ipecac cupcakes, has a cleptomaniac behavior going on when it comes to silverware and refers to her daughter as the not so PC term 'mongoloid'. This aggressively sassy woman, who had to put her acting dreams on the hold to give birth to previously mentioned mongoloid daughter, has a define cruel streak that is evident in her history of killing the housekeeper (Moira) after finding out she had an affair with her husband. Constance also seems to be pulling the strings of the haunting drama with her growing number of ghost accquaintances.
The mongoloid girl next door
First seen in the pilot episode as the little girl back in the 70's who warns the twin brothers Troy and Brian ("You're going to die in there") when they're vandalizing the 'murder house', the next door neighbor girl Adelaide plays a short but impressive role in the first four episodes. Born with Downs syndrome she (in a Carrie-Margaret kind of relationship) has been resented by Constance since birth; a condition that makes me love her character. The resentment from her mother's side is so strong that Addie undergoes less ethical methods of up-bringing. Her (lack of) intelligence is also constantly undermined as her mother even sees her as a threat towards her (alarmingly) younger lovers.
The future high school massacre kid Being Ben Harmon's first patient in LA, Tate Langdon reveals his dreams of going on a killing spree at his high school, constantly speaking in a provocative way in order to upset Ben. Your average revolting teenager gone pervert, sort of. Masturbating to keep his high school massacre thoughts at bay, Tate starts secretly visiting Ben's daughter Violet in her bedroom at night. Having some dark evil friend hidden in the Harmon's basement and being the (bastard?) son of Constance, Tate would have his share of PTSD-syndromes. And it turns out that his dreams are based on his subconscious memories of him already having gone on a murder spree at his old high school in the 90's (Bowling for Columbine, much?). Current ghost-Tate doesn't seem to be aware of this fact, though. And despite his verbal perverseness he's unable to perform sexually with Violet. If this is due to him being a ghost or his unstable mental health in general; we don't know yet.
The teenaged, self-harming daughter
The typical teenager; resenting her parents because her father is a liar and her mother is weak. Add being a cutter to the equation, and we've heard the story before. But the petulant side of Violet Harmon was over shadowed by her strong will and courage during 'Home Invasion' (S01E02) and she's the only one who's actually willing to stay in the house as she sees it as a place of triumph, where she and her mother survived the attackers. Even though she's a bit annoying and immature for her age, I would have to agree that Violet grows with each new episode, much due to her emotionally struggling the fact that her boyfriend is a ghost.
The all-time horny father
Ben Harmon; the all American dad, the handsome therapist, the uninterested father, the douche bag husband. The list can be made long. After Vivien had a miscarriage, Ben couldn't accept the fact that she was no longer interested in sex, and being horny as he was, he decided to have an affair with Hayden. The event of Vivien walking in on the two of them is what led the family to move to LA, making their relationship strained in the start of the series. The new house immediately starts to play tricks with Ben. It makes him sleepwalk and perform violent actions which he forgets about due to constant black outs. It makes him see the housekeeper Moira as her young 80's seductive self instead of the 60 year old woman she portrays herself as in front of the rest of the living. Topping that off with Ben walking in on her as she's masturbating with her legs sprawling in the air. Poor guy. As if that wasn't enough, he gets stalked by a pregnant Hayden who claims he's the love of her life and he really can't seem to get his hormones under control, as he lashes out and kills Hayden in a rage.
The dependent and rock solid mother
It's still taking some personal adjustment to see Connie Britton in any other role than Tammy Taylor in Friday Night Lights. However, she does a fantastic job as the betrayed but strong mother of Vivien Harmon. Vivien has developed a strange biological tie with the house (like all pregnant women on the Island in LOST) after having sex with the rubber man (which she thought was her all-time horny husband being S&M playful) and becoming pregnant. With a fast growing baby in her belly, Vivien puts all her awakened time and energy into trying to sell the house after falling out of love with it due to not only the home invasion, but some very persistent ghost visits.
The scorned ex-mistress
Following Ben to LA and stalking him in his home, Hayden can't seem to get over the thought of Ben having another family apart from her and the pre-born baby that he left her with and which she never had aborted. Killed by Larry in a rage after terrorizing Ben in his home and pissing off Larry, Hayden's body is buried underneath the gazebo in the garden. It doesn't take long for Hayden to return, making Vivien believe she's still alive and Ben to believe that she faked her death in a conspiracy with Larry.
The stalking psycho
Larry seems to be the only actual living person who knows the secrets and evil of the house. Being the previous torment victim of the house's mental games, Larry burned his wife and daughters to death and became left behind covered in second degree burns. Having been recently released from a mental institution, Larry claims he has inoperable brain cancer and not much long to live. In an attempt to be either a pain in the ass or actually trying to help Ben to become free of the house's power, Larry starts terrorizing Ben, taking advantage of Ben's dire situation. After having killed Hayden with a shovel, Larry starts to blackmail Ben to pay him off or he'll tell the cops about Hayden's body being buried in the back yard. The seducing housekeeper
Being one of the ghosts of the house, housekeeper Moira, was shot in the eye and killed by Constance during the 80's after Constance caught Moira and her husband Hugo having what she believed was an affair. When the Harmons move in to the house, Moira shows up on their doorstep revealing herself as an old woman to Vivien, asking to be taken on as their maid. While Vivien sees the older version of Moira, Ben sees the young seductive version that is stuck in a seducing-her-employer-loop. One thumb up for young Moira constantly trying to seduce Ben and two thumbs up for Violet walking in on the old version of Moira straddling her dad.
Although not so horror related, Swedish band NALE is well worth notice for their debut video 'Love.Lust.Pain' that without a doubt would make an awesome soundtrack to some sexy horror movie scene. Not only are they sexy, rocking and make damn good music, I also live together with the bass playing Asian dude in the Transformers t-shirt. <3
Although they remind a bit of the simplicity theme used by HBO for True Blood promotion, they've still got their own little twist of bizarre sexiness.
Fright Night, 2011
Skipping the overall remake which usually incorporates a poster cloning gone bad, this poster series has a modern kind of tv-series version of Zombieland-feeling to it. Despite that the layer and color editing has somewhat gone over the top, I really like them. Plus, Colin Farrell is HOT! YUM!
True Blood
Yes, I'm a Truebie! And as always, HBO brings vampire sexy back with their inventive and imaginative season premiere posters.
The Vampire Diaries
Usually taking the gothic approach a little too serious and making it awkwardly modern and hormone raging, this seasons Halloween inspired poster series is really sexy!
