Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake of the beloved PS2 espionage game that aims to modernize the look and feel of the original while preserving its quirky humor and charm. Based on the first batch of actual hands-on previews with the new Metal Gear Solid 3, it sounds like publisher Konami has so far…
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake of the beloved PS2 espionage game that aims to modernize the look and feel of the original while preserving its quirky humor and charm. Based on the first batch of actual hands-on previews with the new Metal Gear Solid 3, it sounds like publisher Konami has so far…
At the very start of the noughties, the horror genre was churning out some decent, if unspectacular movies. We saw the re-emergence of the spoof with the first entry in the Scary Movie franchise, Pinhead and co. continued to wreak spiky havoc in Hellraiser: Inferno, while the werewolf genre would get revived with the fun and well received Ginger Snaps. We also got a pretty poor Blair Witch sequel, and let’s face it, the first movie in that series only got traction due to an ingenious marketing campaign, and the media spouting bollocks about people being sick in the cinema from shock. Not the incredibly shaky camera work. Requiem for a Dream provided some messed up thrills, as did the similarly perverted Hollow Man. However, for every decent horror movie that was released, we also got howlers like Da Hip Hop Witch with Eminem. My point is, what the genre needed at the time was a visionary director to jolt some life back into it, and the man who helmed the movie we’re talking about today had some pretty good form for revolutionary filmmaking; Robert Zemeckis. Throughout his career the Chicagoan filmmaker has often tried to push the boundaries of storytelling through state of the art visual effects. His Back to the Future trilogy is testament to this, as are movies such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her and Forrest Gump. Some of his other efforts, such as Beowuf and The Polar Express also featured VFX that attempted to push the boundaries of digital effects, but suffered from an unwanted journey to the uncanny valley. However, up until the year 2000, Zemeckis hadn’t tackled the horror genre to any large degree, not counting the writing he did for Bordello of Blood of course. However, when his good pal Steven Spielberg introduced the script for What Lies Beneath to him, Zemeckis saw the opportunity to properly dip his toes in the horror world. But, could the legendary director bring some of his visionary filmmaking and visual wizardry to the project? Stay tuned to find out gore-hounds, here on WTF happened to What Lies Beneath.
By the year 2000, both Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer’s careers were not only firmly established in Hollywood, naturally, but still on the ascendency. Ford had hung up his fedora for what he thought was the last time, and for what probably should have been the last time to be fair. He’d also taken on another iconic character in Jack Ryan, been a Fugitive, played POTUS in Air Force One and also taken on an ill-advised starring role opposite Anne Heche in the terrible Six Days, Seven Nights. He was kind of a big deal still so when the opportunity to work with Bob Zemeckis on a horror / thriller project landed on his desk, opposite the wonderful Michelle Pfeiffer, he mustn’t have had to think too long and hard about signing up.
The same can probably be said about Pfeiffer. Up until the release of What Lies Beneath she hadn’t racked up as many iconic roles as Ford had, arguably, but her status as one of Hollywood’s most talented, and beautiful, leading ladies was never in doubt. She excelled in movies like Married to the Mob, Dangerous Liaisons and the fabulous, Fabulous Baker Boys and her legendary role in 1992’s Batman Returns still remains the greatest portrayal of Catwoman, ever. Sorry Julie, Ertha, Anne, Zoe and definitely Halle…She had also wolfed out with Jack Nicholson, played an inspirational teacher, and tackled the bard, before Zemeckis asked her to get very wet in the name of her art, in What Lies Beneath.
The movie’s story was partly written by documentary filmmaker Sarah Kernochan, with re-writes by Clark Gregg, and she had adapted a personal experience with the paranormal as a script treatment featuring a retirement aged couple, who are dealing with restless but compassionate spirits. Zemeckis had already signed a deal with Dreamworks to distribute the films of newly founded production company, ImageMovers, and was keen on doing a thriller, so when Speilberg came to him with the What Lies Beneath script he had the perfect opportunity to test his skill in the genre. Ford and Pfeiffer were Zemeckis’ first choice for the lead roles in the movie, and Ford was so keen, he agreed to clear his busy schedule to make room for the project. Joining the two stars as part of the larger ensemble were Diana Scarwid as Jody, Miranda Otto as Mary, James Remar as Warren, Amber Valetta as Madison, Katharine Towne as Caitlen, plus the fella responsible for evil robots taking over the world, Joe Morton. Thanks Joe! An interesting snippet to note is that Zemeckis filmed What Lies Beneath while Cast Away was shut down to allow Tom Hanks to lose weight, grow a beard and practice talking to volleyballs.
I remember first catching What Lies Beneath on home entertainment, not long after it was first released, and from what I recall I enjoyed the movie, but felt that considering the talent involved both behind and in front of the camera, it was slightly underwhelming. I was pretty young to be fair though, so could re-watching it with more mature eyes for this retrospective change my perspective on the movie? Well, as I’ll get into shortly, the answer is no, not exactly. The plot of the movie sees Ford and Pfeiffer’s married couple, Norman and Claire Spencer’s seemingly idyllic life slowly fall apart when Claire starts to believe there may be a ghost in their new house. As the supernatural shenanigans begin to intensify, it soon becomes apparent that not only is the spirit real, but it is hell bent on revealing a horrible truth for the couple.
I think my main gripe with the movie is that it could have been a lot scarier, and despite being a fun thrill ride for the first hour or so, plus a tension inducing final act, it’s middle section is too flabby and uninteresting to elevate it beyond being simply a fun if forgettable exercise in building spooky thrills. There’s nothing of any real note that Zemeckis brings from his vast wheelhouse of visual trickery to the movie. He crafts the tension with a nice nod to Hitchcock; almost like a paint-by-numbers lesson on genre filmmaking, but it would have been good to see him leave his own indelible mark on the film. He does build the tension nicely for the most part with neighbors’ wives going missing, strange keys, supernatural clues, the hint of a troubled past for the protagonists, and some moments of shock that are a touch too ‘generic’ for this gore-hound to appreciate.
However, the final stretch is a fun, artfully crafted denouement for the movie that manages to pack some iconic imagery into it; the most obvious being the paralysis inducing drug that results in a chilling bathtub scene, that’s literally dripping with tension. The plot comes to a head with the help of a decomposing corpse, and a necklace that’s been long buried. However, the movie’s trying to be everything all at once while not really mastering any aspects of it. Its typical genre tropes don’t befit the genre with enough invention, and it doesn’t really know if it wants to be a ghost story, a murderous thriller or a grown up horror. Plus, Zemeckis and his skills are kinda wasted as director. It’s enjoyable but nothing more, unfortunately.
What Lies Beneath was released on July 21st, 2000, and grossed almost $30 million from a total of 2,813 domestic theaters. It opened as the number one film over its first weekend, replacing X-Men at the top spot. The film ended up earning $155 million domestically and $136 million internationally, for a total of $291.5 million worldwide, close to triple its production budget of $100 million.
The film received fairly average reviews and on Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 47% based on 126 reviews, with an average rating of 5.50/10. The site’s critics consensus reads: “Robert Zemeckis is unable to salvage an uncompelling and unoriginal film.” The more traditional critics lamented what was considered to be a slightly wasted opportunity. The New York Times said that, “at the start, Zemeckis zaps us with quick, glib scares, just to show he still knows how, but his heart isn’t in this kind of material anymore. His reflexes are a little slow.” The Los Angeles Times called it “spooky with a polished kind of creepiness added in. What Lies Beneath nevertheless feels more planned than passionate, scary at points but unconvincing overall.”
But, what do those critics know? The most important opinion we always love to hear is from YOU guys, so what’s your take on the Bob Zemeckis horror / thriller? Do you agree that it misses the mark more than it hits some horror home runs, or is it an effective genre film with some great performances that’s bogged down by an uninteresting middle act? Robert Zemeckis has recently unveiled the trailer for his new movie, Here, that looks like it’s a shift back to the more visionary and VFX driven nature of his movies. So, could What Lies Beneath have done with more of his inventiveness or is just fine as it is, thank you very much? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you wonderful gore-hounds next time. Thanks for watching!
A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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Buckle your boots and save your appetite for a celebratory chili dog because Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer races online tomorrow! The studio is pulling out all the stops to promote the Blue Blur’s next live-action animated adventure with projections emblazed on iconic locations worldwide. On Sunday evening, citizens in Sydney, New York City, Tokyo, and Seattle spotted Sonic, Shadow, and Dr. Robotnik on buildings in major cities. The massive projections display images of Sonic’s face, a mean-muggin’ Shadow, and a smiling Eggman.
Jeff Fowler returns to direct Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from a screenplay by Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington, based on a story by Casey and Miller. Ben Schwartz returns as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, with Idris Elba (Knuckles), Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Tails), James Marsden (Tom Wachowski), Tika Sumpter (Maddie Wachowski), Tom Butler (Commander Walters), Lee Majdoub (Agent Stone), and Jim Carrey (Dr. Robotnik). Newcomers to the fast-paced and family-friendly franchise include Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog, Krysten Ritter as Captain Rockwell, and Alyla Browne as Maria.
While waiting to experience Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer, why not watch Knuckles, the six-episode series on Paramount+? The series takes place between the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and “follows Knuckles (Elba) on a hilarious and action-packed journey of self-discovery as he agrees to train Wade (Adam Pally) as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior.”
Excitement for the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer is off the charts! Somehow, Sonic has maintained a devoted fanbase for decades, with fans gobbling up every video game, animated series, and comic book dedicated to the lightning-fast wish-cracker. The franchise is rich with beloved characters we’ve yet to see in Paramount’s live-action films, including Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat, Big the Cat, Cream the Rabbit, Blaze the Cat, Espio the Chameleon, and many more. I assume they’re saving characters like Amy Rose, Rouge, and Big the Cat for other franchise installments, but I’m shocked Amy Rose isn’t already a part of the mix.
Are you excited about Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer? Which character do you hope is introduced or teased in the next chapter of the series? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 races into theaters on December 20.
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Ethan Berger has made his feature directorial debut with the campus thriller The Line, which is set to reach select theatres on October 18th, with an expanded release to follow on October 23rd. With those dates swiftly approaching, a teaser trailer for the film has made its way online and can be seen in the embed above.
Berger wrote the screenplay with Alex Russek, crafting the following story: The Line is a campus thriller that plunges into the dangerous world of college fraternities and blind adherence to tradition. Tom, a scholarship student desperate to break free from his working-class background, is charmed by the prestigious KNA fraternity’s promises of high social status and alumni connections that open doors. But upon beginning a romance with Annabelle, a classmate outside of his social circle, and the manipulative schemes of his fraternity president unfolding during the hazing of new members, Tom finds himself ensnared in a perilous game of ambition and loyalty.
The film stars Alex Wolff (Hereditary) as Tom, with Lewis Pullman (The Strangers: Prey at Night) as the fraternity president and Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) as Annabelle. Also in the cast are Austin Abrams (Dash & Lily), the late Angus Cloud (Abigail), Bo Mitchell (Cobra Kai), Cheri Oteri (Saturday Night Live), Scoot McNairy (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Denise Richards (The World Is Not Enough), and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich).
Alexandre Dauman, Jack Parker, Adam Paulsen, and Lije Sarki produced The Line, with Taylor Grant, Zack Purdo, Ramanan Sivalingam, Dustin Zhang, Magnus Rausing, Ryan Alexander, Stacey Grant, Jay Van Hoy, and Marc Porterfield serving as executive producers.
The Line seems like a throwback to the sort of “youths behaving badly” movies we haven’t gotten in a while – or if we have gotten them recently, they’ve been passing me by – and kind of reminds me of the 2000 campus thriller The Skulls. This one definitely has my attention, and I look forward to watching it in a couple months.
What did you think of The Line teaser trailer? Does this look like a movie you’d want to check out this October? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Becoming trapped in a nightmare is the worst. I’m reasonably adept at controlling my dreams, but now and again, the slumber is too strong to shake the dark visions from my mind’s eye. Jessica Rother (Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2 U, Boy Wills World) and Joseph Cross (Devotion, Mank, Licorice Pizza) are about to find out what that’s all about when they star in BT Meza’s directorial debut for the sci-fi thriller Affection. Julianna Layne (Scrap, Prodigal Son, Inexistent) co-stars.
Meza directs Affection from his script. According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, Affection tells the story of “Ellie (Rothe), who is stuck in a cyclical nightmare. Grappling with a condition that erratically resets her memory, she’s left unable to remember her husband (Cross) or daughter (Julianna Layne). Each reset leaves her disoriented and haunted with vivid memories of a life she’s never lived.”
Horror fans know Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman Christopher Landon’s Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U. Rothe says a Happy Death Day 3 is in the works, with Landon returning to the slasher series. “I can say Chris Landon has the whole thing figured out,” Rothe told Screen Geek. “We just need to wait for Blumhouse and Universal to get their ducks in a row. But my fingers are crossed.”
Rother also stars as June27 alongside Bill Skarsgård in Mortiz Mohr’s Boy Kills World. The pulse-pounding action film follows Boy, a deaf person with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of death. Rothe’s next project is Pulse, a medical drama series following doctors’ personal and professional lives at a busy Miami trauma center.
Joseph Cross has starred in various film and television projects, from Netflix‘s Mindhunter to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He also starred in David Fincher’s Mank, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, and J.D. Dillard’s biographical war drama Devotion. Affection could be interesting territory for him, especially with an up-and-coming co-star like Jessica Rothe leading the film.
Are you intrigued by Jessica Rothe and Joseph Cross joining BT Meza’s Affection? When we know more about BT the film, we’ll bring more details to the table.
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Back in 2022, it was announced that Fighting with My Family co-stars Nick Frost and Lena Headey were going to reunite to work on the serial killer thriller Svalta, which was set to start filming in Finland soon… but then Headey had to drop out of the project due to scheduling issues before it started rolling in 2023 and was replaced by Aisling Bea, whose previous credits include This Way Up, Living with Yourself, and Home Sweet Home Alone. Now a press release has revealed that IFC Films and the Shudder streaming service have acquired the North American distribution rights to Svalta, which is now going by the title Get Away, and the plan is that IFC Films will be giving the movie a theatrical release on December 6th. Get Away will then make its way over to Shudder sometime in 2025.
Get Away was directed by Steffen Haars (New Kids Turbo) from a screenplay Frost wrote himself. The story follows a family on their summer vacation to a remote island where they discover a serial killer is on the loose. Unfortunately for them, the locals have no interest in helping the stranded family. The title is taken from the name of the fictional island. As Frost described the story, “Take a gentle English family and send them on holiday to a tiny Swedish island full of maniacs. Simple. Not so much Nuts in May. More ‘Nuts in Mayhem’.“
Frost and Bea are joined in the cast by Sebastian Croft (Heartstopper) and newcomer Maisie Ayres.
Coming our way from XYZ Films, Wayward Entertainment, and Resolute Films, Get Away was produced by Lee Kim for Resolute Films, John Hegeman for Wayward Entertainment, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian for XYZ, and Frost. Richard Kondal co-produced for Big Safari, while Vince Totino of Wayward Entertainment and Patrick Fischer of Creativity Capital served as executive producers. Financing was provided by XYZ in collaboration with IPR.VC, along with additional funding from Creativity Media, with tax incentives and support from Business Finland, Business Tampere, and the City of Tampere.
We first heard about this project back in 2019, at which time Frost’s frequent collaborator Simon Pegg was going to producing the movie with him, and James Serafinowicz and Nat Saunders were going to be co-writing the script. But it doesn’t look like Pegg, Serafinowicz, or Saunders have any involvement with the finished product.
Before the IFC Films release, Get Away will be having its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024 in September.
Emily Gotto, SVP of Acquisitions and Production for Shudder, had this to say about the film: “Get Away is a laugh out loud comedy that pours several buckets of blood onto a family’s sweet vacation in Sweden. This hilarious thrill ride will stir up laughs and scares in equal measure. Nick Frost revs up his horror comedy expertise with the support of a strong ensemble cast and Steffen Haars’ playful directorial touch.“
Are you interested in Get Away, and are you glad to hear that this Nick Frost horror comedy has ended up at IFC Films and Shudder? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Fortnite’s second story mission for Chapter 5, Season 4, is out. Unlike the first one featuring Gwenpool, this one isn’t hidden, so you won’t need to do anything special to unlock it. To get all the delicious XP and continue the quest to thwart Doctor Doom, follow our handy guide.
Fortnite’s second story mission for Chapter 5, Season 4, is out. Unlike the first one featuring Gwenpool, this one isn’t hidden, so you won’t need to do anything special to unlock it. To get all the delicious XP and continue the quest to thwart Doctor Doom, follow our handy guide.
Plot: The amateur podcasting trio wrestles with the shocking events surrounding Charles’ stunt double & friend Sazz Pataki. Questioning whether she or Charles was the intended victim, their investigation leads them all the way to Los Angeles where a Hollywood studio is readying a film about the Only Murders podcast. As Charles, Oliver & Mabel race back to New York, they embark on an even more epic journey — traversing their building’s courtyard to delve into the twisted lives of the Arconia’s West Tower residents.
Review: Since it premiered back in 2021, Only Murder in the Building has become a mainstay of critical and fan adoration. The trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez has produced three consecutive seasons of mystery that balances comedy with quirky characters that do not shy away from a fair amount of drama. While the laughs are typically at the forefront, Only Murders in the Building has been a showcase for the three leads who deliver some of the best work of their careers. As the series has gone from podcast to Broadway, the next logical step is to take the story to Hollywood. Season four follows the development of the title podcast as it is adapted into a big-budget feature film while tackling a case that connects every chapter of the series so far. Only Murders in the Building‘s fourth season is the best entry in the series to date and manages to improve upon what came before it while including new characters and more.
As with each season since the first, the fourth season picks up with the cliffhanger death teased in the prior season finale. At the end of last season, we saw Charles-Haden Savage’s (Steve Martin) stunt double and lifelong friend Sazz (Jane Lynch) shot dead in his apartment. On the heels of solving the murder of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), Charles, along with Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) are whisked to Los Angeles by Bev Melon (Molly Shannon), who is turning their podcast into a movie starring Eugene Levy as Charles, Eva Longoria as Mabel, and Zach Galifianakis as Oliver. But, when Charles suspects something may have happened to Sazz, they return to New York and realize she has been murdered. This opens up a new season of their podcast while also sending them on the run when they deduce the bullet that killed Sazz was meant for Charles. This leads them to team up with fellow Arconia resident Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) as they look into who the killer could be.
Having seen the first seven episodes of the ten that comprise the fourth season, I have never been more invested in these characters. While the quirks and mannerisms that Martin, Short, and Gomez bring to their roles remain key this season, a deeper development of the protagonists makes this run feel more engaging. Mabel is forced to confront how others perceive her and what her future may hold now that she is unemployed and without a home. Oliver’s relationship with actress Loretta (Meryl Streep) takes on a new dimension as their feelings for each other evolve despite being on different sides of the country. Charles must contend with being the intended victim and reflects on his friendship with Sazz and where he finds himself at this point in his life. This also allows us to explore how this phase of the trio’s friendship could change with newfound fame, wealth, and the introduction of their celebrity counterparts who become directly involved in the investigation. There is also the expansion of the Arconia to the West Tower, including several new residents portrayed by Desmin Borges, Kumail Nanjiani, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Richard Kind.
Because the mystery pulls together plot elements from the last three seasons and targets the main characters directly, Only Murders in the Buiding feels more vital and energized than ever before. Steve Martin gets to do some heavier acting, and Martin Short balances the strangeness of his character with more emotional heft. It also helps that the new additions to the cast all fit right in. Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, and Eva Longoria are hilarious as fictional versions of themselves who manage to serve as mirrors for Charles, Oliver, and Mabel. The Westies are all intriguing additions to the suspect pool, while Melissa McCarthy is phenomenal as Charles’ estranged sister who lives on Long Island. Despite being dead, Jane Lynch makes several appearances as Sazz and is one of many characters from prior seasons who come back to the forefront. The Hollywood side of things is also a nice touch, as it skewers the practice of adapting podcasts and true crime stories for the big screen.
Having not seen the final three episodes of the season, I am still in the dark as to whodunit, but I have my checklist of suspects, and I am dying to find out the answer. Series co-creator John Hoffman continues to lead the series’ writing staff and holds credits for the first and final episode of the fourth season. With a mix of new writers, directors, and returning helmers, including Hoffman himself, Only Murders in the Building maintains a consistent quality that other series would kill to achieve. It would have made for an interesting franchise if this series had focused on investigators delving into unrelated mysteries, like Hercule Poirot or Benoit Blanc. Hoffman and Steve Martin have created a cast of quirky characters central to intricate and layered mysteries and interconnected stories. Only Murders in the Building has now woven four cases into a massive web of murder and deception that never feels convoluted but works as an ongoing character-based narrative and one that works as standalone seasons.
Only Murders in the Building continues to be an exceptional blend of writing and acting that delivers an intricate mystery full of red herrings and misdirections that never feel artificial or pad the season to help it reach ten episodes. Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, and their supporting cast all work well off each other to make this world seem real and full of the weirdest variations of real people. I was pleasantly surprised each successive season to find that this show keeps finding ways to create stories worth watching, and this fourth season is the best yet. Chock full of callbacks to prior seasons, Only Murders in the Building wonderfully rewards longtime viewers while being open enough for newcomers to jump into the mystery and try and solve the title crime. This continues to be one of the best shows on the air in multiple genres.
Only Murders In The Building premieres on August 27th on Hulu.
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