The George A. Romero classic Dawn of the Dead (get it HERE) is a film that can actually reasonably celebrate its 45th anniversary in two separate years. While its premiere was held at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978 and a cut of the film that was put together by co-financier Dario Argento for non-English speaking countries was given a theatrical release in Italy that year, the cut Romero put together for English-language speaking territories didn’t make its way to screens in the United States until ’79. So whether you’re celebrating Dawn of the Dead‘s 45th anniversary in 2023 or 2024, or both, you’re still doing it right. Red Band Releasing is looking to bring Dawn of the Dead back to the screen in the U.S. and Canada this year, and have sent out a message to fans, telling them that if they want to see the movie on the big screen, they should get in contact with their local theatres and/or drive-ins.
Red Band Releasing wrote, “We are currently booking Theatres and Drive-Ins to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the 1979 North American Premiere and Release of George A. Romero’s DAWN of the DEAD! If you live in the U.S.A. or Canada, reach out to the owner or general manager of your local independent Theatre or Drive-In and tell them to email RedBandReleasing@gmail.com for info about the Special Discounted Booking Terms being offered in celebration of the 45th Anniversary! PLEASE SHARE!“
Written and directed by Romero, Dawn of the Dead has the following synopsis: As hordes of zombies swarm over the U.S., the terrified populace tries everything in their power to escape the attack of the undead, but neither cities nor the countryside prove safe. In Pennsylvania, radio-station employee Stephen and his girlfriend, Francine, escape in the station helicopter, accompanied by two renegade SWAT members, Roger and Pete. The group retreats to the haven of an enclosed shopping center to make what could be humanity’s last stand.
The film stars Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, David Emge (who, sadly, passed away last month), and Tom Savini.
Will you be requesting that your local theatre and/or drive-in book a 45th anniversary screening of Dawn of the Dead? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
A couple days ago, we shared a Squarespace Super Bowl commercial that stars legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese and his daughter Francesca, but that’s not the only commercial Scorsese has made for Squarespace this year. He has also made a short called Hello Down There, which is about aliens coming to visit Earth in a fleet of UFOs, for the company… and you can check it out in the embed at the bottom of this article! The extended version of Hello Down There in the embed has a running time of 96 seconds, but there’s also a version that has been cut down to 36 seconds.
Hello Down There has the following description: What does a highly advanced civilization have to do to get noticed around here? Watch the extended cut of Hello Down There, a tale of intergalactic outreach, directed by Martin Scorsese.
This commercial ties in with the other Scorsese one not only through the fact that it features an on screen appearance by Scorsese himself, but also because it deals with “intergalactic connection”. Apparently that’s what Squarespace is all about. If you’re not aware of what Squarespace is, here’s some information from Wikipedia: “Squarespace, Inc. is an American website building and hosting company based in New York City. It provides software as a service for website building and hosting, and allows users to use pre-built website templates and drag-and-drop elements to create and modify webpages.”
Do these Martin Scorsese commercials make you more inclined to turn to Squarespace for your website building and hosting needs? Take a look at Hello Down There, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
Scorsese has previously made commercials for the likes of American Express, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Armani, Freixenet Cava Champagne, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Apple, and the Studio City Resort in Macau. His Squarespace commercials will be getting airing time during the Super Bowl this Sunday, February 11th. Then, when the Academy Awards ceremony is held on March 10th, we’ll see if Scorsese’s latest feature, Killers of the Flower Moon, is going to be an Oscar winner. It’s nominated in ten categories.
A week after Persona 3 Reload’s launch, rumors are floating around that the remake, and several other Atlus and Sega games, may be in development for the heavily rumored Nintendo Switch 2. But that’s not the most interesting rumor. The source also claims that long-time fans who have never been able to play the…
A week after Persona 3 Reload’s launch, rumors are floating around that the remake, and several other Atlus and Sega games, may be in development for the heavily rumored Nintendo Switch 2. But that’s not the most interesting rumor. The source also claims that long-time fans who have never been able to play the…
Kathryn Newton of the slasher Freaky can be seen on the big screen this weekend in the newly released horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein, and in just another couple months (on April 19th, to be exact), another genre project she worked on, the Universal Monsters project Abigail, will also be reaching theatres. While doing the press rounds for Lisa Frankenstein, Newton took a moment to hype up a scene we’ll be seeing in Abigail – and it’s actually a scene we get a glimpse of in the trailer embedded above. A vampire dance scene.
Abigail is coming our way from Radio Silence, the filmmaking team that previously brought Ready or Not, Scream (2022), and Scream VI to the screen. Radio Silence members Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directed the film, while the third member of the trio, Chad Villella, is a producer. This movie, which was once going by the title Dracula’s Daughter, has the following synopsis: Children can be such monsters. After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
Newton told Collider, “Matt and Tyler, I love them. They’re another duo that every time I would be like, ‘Hey, Matt, come here… Should I do this?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And I’d try it. There’s this thing in the movie where I dance, and in the script, it was about this long. It was like, ‘This blah, blah, blah, and she dances.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ And I worked on a dance and I shot, like, a two-minute thing on my phone for them to pick hopefully five seconds of. They turned it into a whole thing. It’s a whole thing. It’s like M3GAN on steroids, and I did not expect that.“
Newton is joined in the cast by Melissa Barrera (Scream), Dan Stevens (The Guest), William Catlett (Black Lightning), Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and Angus Cloud (Euphoria), who play her fellow kidnappers, with Alisha Weir (Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical) as Abigail. Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) is also in the cast.
Radio Silence’s Scream movie collaborators William Sherak, Paul Neinstein, and James Vanderbilt of Project X Entertainment are also producing the monster movie alongside their Ready or Not producer Tripp Vinson. Ron Lynch and Macdara Kelleher serve as executive producers. Jay Polidoro, Holly Goline, Kelly Cannon, and Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project for Universal. Stephen Shields wrote the initial screenplay for this take on Dracula’s Daughter, and Guy Busick (who co-wrote the two recent Scream movies with Vanderbilt) has since done some revisions.
I’ll never complain about an out-of-nowhere dance scene in a horror movie – in fact, one of my favorite moments in horror happens to be the scene where the possessed Angela dances by the fireplace in the original Night of the Demons. So I look forward to seeing what kind of moves these vampires have.
Are you looking forward to the vampire dance scene in Abigail? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Another low-wattage weekend is hot on the heels of last weekend’s disappointing opening for Matthew Vaughn’s would-be franchise starter, Argylle. Typically, studios are wary of putting out any major movies on Super Bowl weekend, as virtually no one goes to movies on game day. That said, there have been exceptions to the rule, with Taken and Chronicle both being big openers way back in the day. In recent years, though, the numbers have been more modest, with Death on the Nile taking in $12.8 million in 2022 and Magic Mike’s Last Dance cratering with a measly $8.3 million opening last year.
This weekend’s sole wide new release, Lisa Frankenstein, isn’t likely to do much better. Initially, Box Office Pro had it opening anywhere from $7-12 million, but the early reviews have been abysmal, and now the opening is pegged from anywhere between $5-9 million. Given that it only has a $14 million budget, that’s not as bad a result as it may seem for Zelda Williams’ directorial debut, which stars rising scream queen Kathryn Newton and Riverdale‘s Cole Sprouse. The movie has a screenplay by Diablo Cody, and even if it does modest business, it’s possible that it could wind up like Jennifer’s Body and become a cult hit down the road. I think a $7 million debut and a first-place finish is the best this can hope for.
But, the question is whether Lisa Frankenstein will take out Argylle in week 2. Had the word of mouth been better for this movie, I would have thought yes, but the C+ CinemaScore is an all-out disaster. I’m predicting at least a 65% drop in week 2 (on the low end), but it could have an even worse decline. The best-case scenario is that it clears about $6 million this weekend, which would be good enough for second place. Apple’s best bet would be to have Universal pull this from theatres and dump it on Apple TV + to take advantage of the marketing campaign. I gave it a positive review last week. Since then, I’ve had more than a few people reach out to me on X to tell me they agreed with my assessment that it’s decent, if overlong (by a half hour) with a few too many ridiculous action scenes (the ice skating on the oil slick sequence almost kills the movie) and that darn CGI cat.
Third and fourth place should go to Wonka and The Beekeeper. Wonka has become a significant hit for WB and seems poised to launch a franchise for the studio and leading man, Timothee Chalamet. Movies like this don’t only do well theatrically – they have the habit of becoming perennial favourites. Between this and Dune Part 2, which is tracking well, Chalamet may end 2024 as one of the biggest stars. The Beekeeper also continues to do solid business, with it set for a $60-65 million finish, an excellent result for a modestly budgeted action flick. Amazon-MGM is happy with the result, with them pre-emptively buying the rights to director David Ayer and star Jason Statham’s next movie, Levon’s Trade, which has a script by Sylvester Stallone. The Illumination comedy Migration should round out the top five. While it did only modest business compared to the rest of Illumination’s films, it’ll likely turn a nice profit for the studio, even if I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Migration 2.
Here are our predictions:
Lisa Frankenstein: $7 million
Argylle: $6 million
Wonka: $3.5 million
The Beekeeper: $3 million
Migration: $2.8 million
Are you going to see any movies this Super Bowl weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Small towns hide secrets. They’re typically really good at it too because the smaller the town it seems the darker the secret they are trying to hide. If you grew up in a tiny Midwest town like I did you would know this to be gospel. Southern noir or Southern Gothic is a special sort of genre that when done right shines a sinister light on those secrets. Add some good old good vs evil to the mix and the supernatural and you’ve got something special. In the case of todays series you had the best of all of these mixed into a twisted, beautiful, epic masterpiece that came happened to be co-launched by a master of horror named Sam Raimi and a gent more known for solving mysteries than writing them… a Hardy Boy himself Shaun Cassidy. The show is one of my favorite TV series of all time, American Gothic. And on this episode of Horror TV Shows We Miss, I’m going to give American Gothic all the love it never got when it aired way back in 1995. So let’s drive on into Trinity, South Carolina. But make sure we don’t speed…that Sheriff is a real devil.
American Gothic premiered, surprisingly, on CBS primetime on Sept 22nd, 1995. The series had a hell of a pedigree having executive producers in the guise of Sam Raimi and Bob Tapert, the gents responsible for Evil Dead. It was the brain child of 70s heartthrob Shaun Cassidy, his first TV pilot and one he had written while performing on Broadway. American Gothic would be the first of many series Cassidy would be the creator for including genre fare like Invasion and Roar.
I say it was a surprising home for the series as it wasn’t normal for a horror genre series to be on the network. This would eventually change with supernatural shows like Ghost Whisperer and Evil. But American Gothic was fairly unique on the channel at the time where the only vaguely comparable show would be Picket Fences which dealt with an oddball town where a lot of strange things happened. American Gothic was the far more metal version of this concept. The story and mythology within the series was unique as well while still using some aspects familiar to fans of the genre.
The show takes place in the already you know something is up named “Trinity” South Carolina. The pilot introduces us immediately to the Temple family (again with the religious overtones) who are poor and broken in spirit and in the wallet. Caleb Temple is celebrating his birthday with a cake he made himself along side his alcoholic father Gage and his mentally scarred sister Merlyn who can only say the words “someone is at the door.” When Merlyn goes into one of her fits her father becomes violent, and Caleb has to hide them both away from him. During a massive rain storm Caleb runs out of the house to find help, leaving Merlyn to be hit in the head by her father. As if by magic, the town sheriff Lucas Buck and his deputy are there and journey to the house. Lucas arrests Gage and while thinking no one is watching, finishes off the still barely alive Merlyn by breaking her neck. This is actually witnessed by his deputy Ben.
As the most horrible birthday ever continues, Caleb is taken to the hospital where he crosses paths with Matt Crower, the big city doctor come to the small town to work. Matt tries to be a friend to the boy which puts him in direct competition with Lucas who has designs on Caleb. Over the course of the series we find out that Matt was responsible for a horrible car crash while driving drunk that cost him his family and his reputation, something Lucas uses a number of times against him.
Strange things start happening to Caleb while at the hospital, noises, voices, and visions. Eventually Caleb sees his sister Merlyn, now an ethereal spirt, perhaps an angel, appearing to him and warning him about Lucas. She can now speak and watch over her brother in a way she couldn’t in life.
At the same time, in another town far away, Caleb’s remaining family Gail Emory wakes from a nightmare knowing that something is wrong back home. She immediately packs up and heads back to her hometown of Trinity to find answers as this was also the town where her parents mysteriously died. It’s her meeting with Lucas which gives us the great line “That’s Lucas Buck…Buck, with a B.”
Meanwhile, Ben is having some issues with the fact he witnessed Lucas kill Merlyn. Lucas threatens him in a fantastic scene and then gives him some money to go get drunk and think about what he saw. It’s at the bar we are introduced to Selena Coombs, a woman with a dual nature that’s deeper than Two Face in Batman. She’s the local sex kitten and also an elementary school teacher. And Lucas uses her to seduce Ben that night.
Lucas appears with Ben’s lucky pen and tells a distraught Gage he needs to give all of his paternal rites to Lucas over Caleb. After a guilt pounding conversation he leaves Gage with the pen and his own broken thoughts. The next morning, Ben is driving home in shame and Doctor Crower discovers on a visit to the jail that Gage is dead, Ben’s pen sticking out of his throat…possibly self-inflicted…possibly not.
As Lucas stalks down the halls of the hospital he discovers that Caleb has fled and when no one else can see the bloody written words “Go Home” on the door of his room, Lucas can. At this point we’re pretty much a 100 percent that something is beyond normal with Lucas. Gail and Dr. Crower head off to find Caleb who they have figured out is headed back to his only refuge left, his home. It’s there where Merlyn appears and after speaking with Caleb warns him that someone is at the door, and that’s when Lucas bursts in, coming after the boy once more. Caleb is terrified and runs upstairs. Finding his fathers liquor he eventually sets the house on fire after throwing a match he still had from his birthday candles to ignite the flames. He escapes again, into the rain, as Gail and the Doctor confront Lucas. Lucas cries out for Caleb in anger from the window as the building burns.
That’s a hell of an opening, pun intended. And American Gothic doesn’t let up after that for the entire rest of its run.
Over its 22-episode run (3 of which never aired on CBS) the series evolves into a battle for the soul of Caleb Temple. We learn that Gage wasn’t actually Caleb’s father, but Lucas was due to an attack/rape that was witnessed by Merlyn as a little girl. This was what caused her to become mute and nearly catatonic repeating the phrase “Someone’s at the door” in connection to Lucas. Gage’s abuse to his children intensified over this and Caleb’s mother Judith killed herself after Caleb’s birth.
Merlyn, as an avenging spirit and possible angel tries different ways to stop Lucas who has been in charge of the town of Trinity for a very long time and seemingly doesn’t age during any of this. Funnily enough, no one ever seems to comment or be weirded out that Lucas doesn’t age. But man does he know how to work a long coat like a champ and those vests too. (I was a fan of Midnight Caller…don’t judge me.)
A new doctor arrives in town by the name of Billy Peale when Doctor Crower leaves, who falls in love with Selena and tries to discover Lucas’s secret as well. Things work out about as well as you’d expect with Selena.
American Gothic’s dark heart is human nature and what is good and what is evil. Each of us has both in us and it’s the battle of which side will we let win or if we are strong enough to find a balance. It’s also a tale about who we really are underneath. That’s why a small-town setting is such a perfect place for a story like this to play out as, if you were like me and grew up in one, you know just how full of hypocrisy and lies they can be. The shroud of religion and false piety runs deep as a way to cover up what you are really up to and to wash away any sense of blame. Lucas doesn’t let you off that easy.
Shaun Cassidy and Sam Raimi blended together a great cast, great story, and great mythology within American Gothic. And sadly with the series’ life being cut so short we didn’t get to delve deeper into it. Things weren’t black and white, and everything was a shade of gray in this show because the characters were wonderfully imperfect and that included the children as well as the “good” side of things with Merlyn who has a journey of her own through the season.
Lucas Buck’s powers are mysterious, and we’re only hinted at where they come from. There’s some HP Lovecraft esque things happening here as the theory of what the pineal gland is comes out, black magic is hinted at, and a power that’s born and reborn in the next generation. We see this when Lucas is nearly killed by a blow to his forehead where the gland is, and Caleb is suddenly imbued with his powers.
All of that power within a ten-year-old boy goes about as well as you would think and even doubly so when he realizes there’s another Baby Buck on the way due to a dalliance between Lucas and Gail. This information is brought to him by Selena who, when the king falls in the form of Lucas, zeroes in on the prince. This is probably one of the more eyebrow raising parts of the show as the scenes begins in a Mrs. Robinson esque/Graduate shot which heavily implies that Selena is willing to be around for anything Caleb needs as his powers grow. Yes, he’s 10 and yes, she’s his teacher. It’s as dark and twisted as it sounds. I think this heavier nature in American Gothic was part of why it wasn’t able to last at CBS. It really would have flourished on cable I suspect.
Gail Emory’s story as it played out was also interesting. Gail comes originally to help Caleb but also to find out the truth about her parents deaths. She soon discovers the perfect memories of her parents’ lives aren’t what she remembers. She and Lucas have a dance of love and hate with Lucas actually giving her the thing she was wanting, the truth even though he warns her she won’t like it. He also calls her out on what drives her as a reporter and her desire to find out what secrets lay in hiding within Trinity. I really enjoyed this part of the show because Gail won’t admit that there is an aspect of her that is a voyeur and wants to see what others are hiding. When he shows her that bit of truth about her parents the first time Gail has a very…interesting reaction. It’s a bit of what makes Lucas who he is as well…he knows all the secrets and that’s part of his power.
Let’s talk about Lucas Buck a bit more. Lucas is one of my favorite TV characters and it’s because of how he plays. Ben, when Lucas is possibly dead, realizes just what Lucas actually does for the city of Trinity. There are a lot of deals of course, but Lucas actually does take care of the residence of the town in surprising ways. Keeping them safe, keeping them happy, and keeping Trinity in a way, blissful. Lucas may or may not be the devil. There’s no way to tell how long he’s been around because, like I said, he doesn’t age, and he’s been a part of Trinity for a while. He does do deals, but he also speaks about free will. He doesn’t really “force” anyone into anything. It’s their choice. He makes it very clear he will eventually collect on whatever the bargain was for. Lucas is, oddly enough, fair.
Cassidy and Raimi were a great team with this series with Raimi bringing his signature flair for weird camera angles, surprisingly terrifying images (Gail’s parents erupting from their graves was REALLY effective and very Army of Darkness/Evil Dead) and using sound to add to the unease. There’s a country quality to the music but also a rumbly, digeridoo type sound that’s similar to a growl and snorting of a bull combined that’s used I really think is neat. Cassidy wrote a number of the episodes himself besides creating the show and producing and I love the fact that he worked in a Hardy Boys reference from Lucas when his coffin is opened.
Let’s talk about the actors who really helped make this show special. Gary Cole simply ruled as Lucas Buck. He brought a sense of style to the role and also could go from charming to terrifying with just a glance. You never really knew where Lucas’s heart might lay. Was he truly wanting to be Caleb’s father or use him? Did he love Gail or was she just a corruptible soul who could give him a baby if he needed it. You never really were sure but that’s why it worked. And did I mention the swagger?
Everyone knows Sarah Paulson thanks to her massive career in shows like American Horror Story, but she showed in American Gothic the level of acting that would become her signature. She was fantastic as Merlyn in this and was a great foil for Lucas. She and Lucas Black had great chemistry and I really loved her role here as the avenging angel who never got to truly live. It’s interesting to me that American Gothic was also the first horror series I can think of that involved resurrecting the ghost of a serial killer and having them run amuck…something that would happen in later seasons of American Horror Story. Here it would be Paulson’s Merlyn who has to take on The Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo. Speaking of Lucas Black, my god that kid was great in this. You probably know him best from his film work in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and his role on NCIS New Orleans, but I first saw him in this series. I mean his name is Lucas Black…. he was meant to be in this. And he was perfect as Lucas’s son who was torn between the light and the darkness.
Paige Turco was fantastic as Gail Emory. Again, her journey was an interesting one that would have been great to see proceed as she seems to have inherited a bit of power herself. And I think that’s something that Lucas probably knew and would be interested in.
Jake Weber as Doctor Matt Crower was also great as the tortured doctor who is just trying to make up for the tragedy his drinking cost. Weber would wind up in another supernatural based series with Medium starring alongside Patricia Arquette but a lot of you probably remember him more for his turn in Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004.
Nick Searcy as Lucas’s deputy Ben always looked like he was going to be sick due to the amount of anxiety he was dealing with and that’s about perfect for the character. Searcy was great in this and has been in a ton of films and TV over the years, but you probably known him best from his work in Justified opposite the crazy Tarantino film student Timothy Olyphant.
Last but certainly not least when it comes to series regulars is Brenda Bakke who played Selena Coombs. She brought it with this role, bringing an old-fashioned type of sultry that was Mae West and Femme Fatale from hell combined. Bakke is another actor who has a ton of work under her belt including an episode of Brisco County Jr.
Speaking of Brisco…guest stars were a plenty on American Gothic and this would include a number of regulars from Raimi’s cadre of regular collaborators. Bruce Campbell would appear as an ill-fated police officer. Ted Raimi, Sam’s brother, would appear as well as Arnold Vosloo. Vosloo is more known for his role in The Mummy as said Mummy. But he and Raimi would work together when he took over the role of Peyton Westlake in the Darkman direct to DVD films as well as his role in Hard Target. Other notable guest stars would include Amy Steele, Veronica Cartright, Melissa McBride, and W Morgan Sheppard, all of them genre vets.
As I said, CBS didn’t keep American Gothic around and it would suffer a fate similar to Firefly years later. Episodes would be shown out of sequence, when they were shown at all. Fans like myself were left confused when the supposed finale was aired as a sort of special on CBS for the summer. But what they showed wasn’t even the final episodes of the season, those weren’t actually aired. After that the show was gone forever.
I actually never got to see the entire run of the series until it was released on DVD in 2005 which I immediately bought, and which is out of print now. And even here with all the episodes together they actually aren’t in order…at least on the American release. You can find the actual listing of how the episodes should be viewed online.
American Gothic is available to purchase on Vudu as well as Amazon Prime and AppleTV to stream and if you can’t tell I highly HIGHLY recommend it. It deserved far better than it got, and we viewers deserved a lot more of it. It’s gotten a cult following now as more and more people discover it. It’s touching, disturbing, scary, and naughty as all get out. You should definitely take a visit to Trinity some time soon and say howdy to the sheriff, he’s no Andy Griffith but he’ll make sure you have a hell of a time.
A couple previous episodes of Horror TV Shows We Miss can be seen below. If you’d like to see more, and check out the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
Bob Odenkirk’s career has taken a unique path. Although he started in the comedy world, he would take his already-acclaimed career to new heights when he played Saul Goodman on the immensely popular series, Breaking Bad. And while shows like that and Better Call Saul still played on his comedy strengths, Odenkirk would go for something different when he starred in the action film, Nobody, which came from the writer and stunt crew who brought us John Wick.
According to Deadline, Odenkirk is set to work with Nobody screenwriter Derek Kolstad again on a new project that is going to be helmed by Free Fire and High Rise director Ben Wheatley. The film is titled Normal and “follows Ulysses (Odenkirk), who is thrust into the temporary role of the sheriff for the small sleepy town Normal after the previous one’s untimely death. When the town’s bank is robbed by an out-of-town couple, Ulysses arrives on the scene to find that the town is hiding much more sinister deep-seated secrets under its surface and everyone – from the bartender to the priest – is in on it. And now Ulysses, who’s up-till-now focused only on running away from the demons of his past, must uncover the full extent of this criminal conspiracy.”
Marc Provissiero, who had also produced Nobody, as well as the recent Jennifer Lawrence comedy, No Hard Feelings, will be producing this film along with Odenkirk and Kolstad. Though Odenkirk went through stunt training for Nobody, he also feels he’s not built for something like a Marvel movie. However, he was definitely excited to dabble in the action genre again, “I was very surprised by Nobody. I had initiated that project because I had a feeling that the character I was developing in Better Call Saul was the kind of character you see in an action film. He has earnest desires and he was willing to sacrifice himself…I still train multiple times a week and if I get my way you’re going to see me doing more action. I found the action sequences a great deal of fun and close to doing sketch comedy…I love the early Jackie Chan films which had humour in them. I’d like to get that in future.”
So, it’s been twenty years since the release of Jared Hess’ breakout debut comedy- Napoleon Dynamite. Last week, we did some great anniversary interviews, and this week we’re taking a deeper dive into the meaning behind this cult classic. On paper, this is a movie about a dorky high-school kid in a rural Idaho town who helps his best friend run for class president while looking for love and dealing with his creepy uncle. But, if I believed that was all this movie was, I’d be talking about something else- but here we are.
Now, this is a movie that most everybody has either seen or at the very least is familiar with. And, while I agree that not every movie has to be some deep and robust metaphor for life and the human condition, I do think that there is an interesting angle for Napoleon Dynamite that hasn’t necessarily been explored yet.
What happens in the movie? A Dorky high school kid wants friends but doesn’t have any, he meets an exchange student who kind of has no choice but to hang out with him and they become pals. Napoleon lives with his wacky grandma and equally awkward Brother, Kip. When grandma goes on an ATV trip to the sand dunes and gets injured, Napoleon’s uncle Rico comes to house-sit while she recovers, and his arrival turns Napoleon’s world upside down.
Napoleon Dynamite is a lot of things but the movie and the character are never fake. Never putting on a prettier face to sell us something or make an impression- but that doesn’t mean that we can’t love it for what it is. And at the end of the day- through Napoleon’s struggle to make friends, then his struggle to keep those friends while his uncle ruins everybody’s life’s and eats all their steak, to eventually realizing that the true meaning of the story and the key to being happy in your own awkward and never perfect life- is just to keep being yourself and let the people that accept you find you in time- and eventually, even in the smallest towns, and even with the strangest people, everybody can make a friend.
Watching this movie as an adult, I think I see Napoleon in a more earnest and more self-aware way. When I was 12 and laughing my head off at the sight of Napoleon dancing to Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat” or nearly piss myself every time I look at that horrific drawing of Trisha- I look at those moments now as funny, but also reassuring. These incredibly hard to watch scenes of awkward connections and dry moments between even drier characters lets me see that that what Jared Hess wanted to spend $400,000 and a summer of intense heat and shooting schedules to tell us is that it’s okay to embarrass yourself, and it’s okay to be embarrassed. In fact, it’s better that way- because when it all comes down to it, we all just want to find our own slice of the world- and we all want our friends, no matter how few or how many, to be real and genuine friends. And maybe the only to find that, is to be real and genuine ourselves.
The Motion Picture Association ratings board gave Zack Snyder’s sci-fi war film Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver and the Blumhouse horror production ImaginaryPG-13 ratings this week, but they also sat through a movie that gave them some rougher material to sit through: the psychological horror film Immaculate, which reunites Sydney Sweeney – whose credits include Euphoria, the recent romantic comedy release Anyone but You, and the upcoming Sony Marvel movie Madame Web – with Michael Mohan, who directed her in the erotic thriller The Voyeurs. Immaculate is set to reach theatres on March 22nd, and it now sports an R rating for strong and bloody violent content, grisly images, nudity and some language.
Scripted by Andrew Lobel, Immaculate sees Sweeney taking on the role of Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Her warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside is soon interrupted as it becomes clearer to Cecilia that her new home harbors some dark and horrifying secrets.
Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus), Alvaro Morte (Money Heist), Benedetta Porcaroli (Baby), and Dora Romano (The Hand of God) are also in the cast.
Sweeney produced the film through her company Fifty-Fifty Films, alongside Jonathan Davino. Also producing are Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler of Black Bear and Middle Child Pictures’ David Bernad, who developed the project with Sweeney after they worked together on the Emmy-winning series The White Lotus. Will Greenfield and Black Bear’s John Friedberg and Christopher Casanova serve as executive producers. Black Bear provided the financing.
Are you interested in seeing Immaculate on the big screen next month? What do you think of it earning an R rating for strong and bloody violent content, grisly images, nudity and some language? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Religious horror ranks down there as one of my least favorite sub-genres, but I’m willing to give Immaculate a chance… and I have to admit, the fact that it has earned an R rating for that list of reasons does make me more interested in checking it out.
