4 The Cabin in the Woods (2011) — 7.0
Five friends vacation at an isolated cabin in the woods. When they are attacked by zombies, they try to leave. Their efforts are in vain, though, as an unseen force is pulling the strings from a remote location. Someone is keeping them in these woods for a higher purpose.
Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods was intended to be released in 2010 by MGM and United Artists, but financial issues prevented that. Lionsgate thankfully saw to it that the movie would receive a proper theatrical run the following year. The Cabin in the Woods is a crowd-pleasing sendup of horror tropes while still offering something original, too.
5 Shadow of the Vampire (2000) — 6.9
In 1921, a German director begins shooting Nosferatu in Czechoslovakia. The man portraying the vampire Count Orlok is a character actor, and he only appears in makeup at all times. As filming continues, the crew can’t help but notice Orlok’s actor is taking his role too seriously. It begs one to wonder if he’s actually acting.
Shadow of the Vampire is a metafictional story about Nosferatu. By all means, this is not a documentary, as no one died during the real movie’s filming. That being said, this film is brilliant, as is Willem Dafoe’s performance. Not only is this a self-aware dramatization of what didn’t happen, but it’s also a compelling vampire movie on its own.
What happened on the ‘Gordy’s Home!’ set?
The short-lived sitcom was abruptly cancelled after an incident that became infamous, spawning a Mad magazine cover and an SNL sketch staring Chris Kattan as Gordy. As we see in Nope, the chimp playing Gordy became violent while the show was filming a birthday episode (a bunch of balloons were released and eventually popped, with the loud noises setting the chimp off). The cast members were brutally mauled during the attack, with only Jupe getting out unscathed. Years later, the theme park owner maintains a hidden room full of memorabilia, and charges for fans to see (or spend the night among) the souvenirs.
Nope shows the attack twice, once as the film’s opening scene and again around halfway through. In the second sequence, we learn that we’ve been seeing the attack from Jupe’s point of view, as he hides under the table we see in the opening credits. The table also has a sheer table cloth draping over the side, so Jupe doesn’t look straight at the chimp as it turns toward him. As the chimp approaches Jupe, instead of attacking the actor, it gives him an exploding fist bump, which was their trademark greeting on the show. (The chimp is then shot, ending the attack.)
The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
(Photo by Universal Pictures)
Release Date: October 6Where to Watch It: In Theaters
After successfully bringing the Halloween franchise back to life with a new trilogy, David Gordon Green is hoping to do the same with The Exorcist, beginning with this new installment that is also intended to be the first of three films. Believer follows a widowed single father (Leslie Odom Jr.) whose daughter and her friend disappear in the woods one day, only to return and begin exhibiting some disturbing symptoms. Desperate for answers, he attempts to track down someone who has had similar experiences, namely Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn). Expectations are high for this one, due to Green’s previous horror credentials and Burstyn’s return to the franchise.
Saw X (2023)
(Photo by Lionsgate)
Release Date: September 29Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Taking a page out of other storied horror franchises that harkened back to their roots for a new installment, Saw X is a direct throughline between the original Saw and Saw II, as series villain John Kramer (Tobin Bell) seeks his grisly revenge against a group of medical scammers in Mexico who falsely promised a miracle treatment for his cancer. Shawnee Smith also returns to reprise her role as Jigsaw protégé Amanda Young, and she’s joined by Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, and Michael Beach, while Saw VI and Saw 3D director Kevin Greutert takes on directorial duties.
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
(Photo by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Release Date: September 15Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Kenneth Branagh’s third adaptation of an Agatha Christie classic (in this case, the 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party) admittedly isn’t exactly a horror film, but the mystery certainly leans into the supernatural and feels appropriate for the season. Detective extraordinaire Hercule Poirot (Branagh), now retired and living in Venice, reluctantly accepts an invitation to a séance, where a guest is murdered and he’s tasked with sussing out the truth. As expected, the film boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly, and recent Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh, among others.
Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)
(Photo by Lionsgate)
Release Date: October 27Where to Watch It: In Theaters and on Peacock
Video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s might be the most anticipated horror offering of the season, considering how long the source material’s fans have been waiting for it. In development since 2015, the project really ramped up production once Blumhouse took over, and now its release is right around the corner. The story centers on a down-on-his-luck security guard (Josh Hutcherson) who takes the night shift at an abandoned pizza parlor, where he learns the animatronic mascots come to life at night and wreak murderous havoc. This is the sophomore solo effort from director Emma Tammi, and it co-stars genre fan favorite Matthew Lillard.
Suitable Flesh (2023)
(Photo by Shudder)
Premiere Date: October 27Where to Watch It: In Theaters and Everywhere You Rent Movies
Rounding out the month is this thriller with a bit of a horror pedigree behind it. Heather Graham stars as a once-successful psychiatrist accused of murdering one of her patients who recounts her horrific fall from glory to a colleague. That colleague is played by Barbara Crampton, the star of such cult hits as Chopping Mall and Re-Animator, the latter of which was also penned by this film’s writer, Dennis Paoli. This psychological chiller by Joe Lynch (Mayhem) has already impressed critics on the festival circuit, so it could be a sleeper hit for Halloween.
8 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) — 6.4
Set in 1968, a group of teenagers enters an abandoned haunted house on Halloween night. There, they find a book of handwritten ghost stories. When one of the teens, Stella, keeps the book, she later finds stories that weren’t there before. These aren’t just campfire tales either, they’re about Stella’s friends and the horrible things that are going to happen to them soon.
The film adaptation of Alvin Schwartz’s series of children’s books was met with mixed reviews. Some were put off by its juvenile nature and PG-13 rating; others thought it was the perfect gateway horror movie for younger viewers.
1 American Psycho (2000) — 7.6
In 1987, a twenty-seven-year-old businessman named Patrick Bateman leads a double life. By day, he’s that suave, urban professional that everyone looks up to or despises out of jealousy; at night, Patrick is a serial killer. Luring in victims with his charm and good looks, Patrick indulges in a rash of brutal murders.
American Psycho helped prove Lionsgate was a film studio that should be taken seriously. This controversial satire of 1980s yuppie culture and excess is hard to beat. Director Mary Harron brings a career-high performance out of Christian Bale, who captivates as the charismatic titular villain.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/lionsgate-horror-films-best-imdb/
Movies
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023)
(Photo by Philippe Bosse/Paramount+)
Premiere Date: October 6Where to Watch It: Paramount+
Speaking of storied franchises, Paramount+ takes us back to the world of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary with this prequel to the 2019 adaptation. Set in 1969 Maine, the story centers on the Jud Crandall character, played in the recent film by John Lithgow and portrayed here by Jackson White, who is forced to reckon with his own family history and the dark secret that ties him to his hometown. This Paramount+ exclusive is the feature debut of Lindsey Anderson Beer, who co-wrote the film, and features appearance from Pam Grier and David Duchovny.
How does ‘Gordy’s Home!’ connect to the alien?
Gordy’s attack and the UFO-shaped creature are the two spectacles of the film, a important term which is first mentioned in its Biblical epigraph: «I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle» (Nahum 3:6). The films’ Hollywood-adjacent characters want to exploit both of the non-humans and receive fame/infamy and fortune. Everyone from OJ and Emerald, to cinematographer Antlers (Michael Wincott), to the TMZ cameraman wants to capture Jean Jacket on film and sell the image. Jupe has been profiting from Gordy for years, either through notoriety or actual money at his little museum.
It’s also clear that Jupe at least subconsciously thought he hadn’t been mauled by Gordy because he formed some sort of connection with the chimp. The Star Lasso Experience was his attempt to recreate Gordy’s Home! on a larger scale, and live off that fame like he’s been using Jupiter’s Claim to suck out whatever notoriety he had from Kid Sheriff. He obviously hasn’t fully processed the 1997 incident (hence describing it to OJ and Emerald through the SNL sketch), so he never realized the more likely reason why he was spared: he didn’t look Gordy in the eye.
In classic Peele fashion, there’s also a huge visual clue linking Jean Jacket and Gordy in Jupe’s mind. Earlier in the film, OJ encounters a group of «aliens» hiding in the horses’ barn, who turn out to be Jupe’s kids in costumes. He later sells the costumes and other merch, which are based on what he assumes the aliens, which he names «the Viewers» to look like. (He hasn’t realized that Jean Jacket isn’t a UFO containing aliens but one big alien.) Jupe’s «Viewers» have furry, upright bodies, that could be called ape-like. In an even cooler detail a fan spotted on Twitter, the heads of the costumes look an awful lot like the cameras from the Gordy’s Home! set.
Background[]
Before LGHE was formed, the company’s video releases were distributed by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. Lionsgate Films decided to create two home video labels: Avalanche Home Entertainment, which released smaller Canadian B-movies on video and DVD; and Sterling Home Entertainment (a joint venture with Scanbox International, a Danish film company), which released American low-budget movies on video and DVD in the late 1990s. In June 2000, Lionsgate purchased Trimark Pictures and its in-house home video unit. These three companies: Avalanche, Sterling, and Trimark Home Video were merged into Lions Gate Home Entertainment in 2001. In 2003, Lionsgate acquired Artisan Entertainment, thus expanding Lionsgate’s home video library.
Its library of more than 8,000 films owes some of its size to output deals with other studios. Mainly concerned with the distribution of the Lions Gate film library, it also distributes Mattel’s Barbie-branded videos, as well as Clifford the Big Red Dog videos from Scholastic, Stickin’ Around videos from Nelvana, and MGA Entertainment,. Lionsgate Home Entertainment also previously distributed videos from HIT Entertainment and Jim Henson Home Entertainment until 2012 and 2014 respectively when the studios made new deals with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment.
In 2001, in Quebec it was renamed Crystal Films, and in Ontario and other provinces, Maple Pictures.
In August 2001, Lions Gate Home Entertainment signed a deal with DIC Entertainment to distribute their back catalogue of animated titles on video and DVD in the United States, replacing DIC’s long time partner Buena Vista Home Entertainment.. The partnership only lasted a year, as in 2003 DIC started to distribute their shows through the Sterling Entertainment Group (no connection to the ex-Lionsgate subsidiary Sterling Home Entertainment) and later other distribution companies like Shout! Factory, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and NCircle Entertainment.
Lionsgate’s movies are released on DVD and Blu-ray as well as on the PSP through Universal Media Disc.
Since 2012, LGHE started distributing Summit Entertainment releases as a result of Lionsgate acquiring that company.
Lionsgate’s film releases are distributed on home video by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment before Disney’s acquisition of Fox in March 2019) in the U.S. and by Entertainment One in Canada.
On August 4, 2008, Lionsgate announced that it had completed a deal with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment to acquire the distribution rights to several ABC Studios/Touchstone Television shows including According to Jim, Reaper, Hope & Faith, 8 Simple Rules and Boy Meets World.
Until 2012, Lionsgate also distributed most of the theatrical properties held by Republic Pictures on DVD under license from Paramount Pictures. The deal also expanded to include some non-marquee films originally released by Paramount themselves. Recently, with the folding of Republic, Lionsgate’s function was transferred to Olive Films.
On February 11, 2011, Lionsgate and StudioCanal made an agreement to release 550 titles from the Miramax film library worldwide.
On December 8, 2016, Lionsgate acquired Starz Inc. making Lionsgate the parent company of the North American branches of Anchor Bay Entertainment and Manga Entertainment. The former was folded into Lionsgate Home Entertainment shortly after the buyout and the latter is planned to be relaunched in the near future.
The Nun II (2023)
(Photo by Warner Bros.)
Release Date: September 8Where to Watch It: In Theaters
While 2018’s The Nun ultimately served as a prequel to the franchise-spawning The Conjuring, it’s not the last we’ll see of Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and the haunting visage of the demon Valak (played by Bonnie Aarons). Set four years after The Nun, this sequel finds Irene at a boarding school in France, where she encounters Valak again and attempts to send him back to hell for good. Michael Chaves, who also directed the in-universe films The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, takes the reins here, with Jonas Bloquet returning to play Frenchie alongside newcomers Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell.
No One Will Save You (2023)
(Photo by 20th Century Studios)
Premiere Date: September 22Where to Watch It: Hulu
Booksmart star Kaitlyn Dever headlines this tense home-invasion thriller with an otherworldly twist. She plays Brynn, a lonely young woman isolated from her community who spends most of her time at home, until she’s visited by rather unfriendly aliens creeping around her house and it becomes a game of survival. This is the sophomore feature of writer-director Brian Duffield, who penned both 2017’s The Babysitter and 2020’s Underwater, and whose debut Spontaneous was a cheeky rom-com set against the backdrop of spontaneously exploding high school seniors. In other words, he knows what he’s doing here.
What about that standing shoe?
There’s one detail of the second Gordy’s Home! sequence that’s ripe for fan theories. In the scene remembered by Jupe, he zeroes in on one of Mary Jo’s tennis shoes, which is mysteriously standing upright next to her mangled body. He even kept the shoe over the years, as it shows up in his little museum. The physics-defying shoe isn’t mentioned or seen again after the second Gordy scene, so there’s a question of why that specific, gravity-defying shot made it into Nope.
Here’s two interesting possible takes. First, the shoe standing upright defies science, meaning aliens could be involved, meaning Gordy had an encounter with aliens at some point and that factored into him snapping. This is mostly a cool sci-fi shot in the dark; the character Gordy went to space but we know nothing about the chimp playing him, not even if he had a separate name. It definitely falls in line with the people who are theorizing that the government knew about Jean Jacket, either through covering up the deaths (Agua Dulce being a blur on Google Maps and the Jupiter’s Claim disappearance getting blamed on a flash flood) or releasing Jean Jacket into the desert to feed.
A second take is that Jupe’s memory isn’t reliable. The Gordy sequences are seen mostly through Jupe’s eyes, and the shoe is specifically shown through his point of view. We could be seeing that he misremembered the shoe standing upright, and later claimed the shoe as some sort of token. If that’s true, he could also have misremembered Gordy giving him the fist bump. It would be a heart-wrenching twist, that there was never actually a moment where Gordy «spared» him, and whatever meaning he gave to the incident, subconscious or not, came from a false memory.
Again, these are total fan theories, but if the second one happens to be right, Peele can feel free to let us know in some way. In the meantime, I’ll be headed back to the theater to find more Easter eggs.
In the Fire (2023)
(Photo by Saban Films)
Release Date: October 13Where to Watch It: In Theaters, on Demand, and Digital
Seemingly in direct competition to The Exorcist: Believer, we have this psychological thriller that pits science against religion. Amber Heard stars as a doctor who travels to a remote plantation to treat a young boy who demonstrates unusual abilities. The local priest (Eduardo Noriega), however, believes the boy is possessed and doesn’t believe conventional medicine can help him. This is the first foray into the genre for director and co-writer Conor Allyn, whose best known film to date is the 2021 neo-Western drama No Man’s Land.
Did an incident like ‘Gordy’s Home!’ happen in real life?
So far Internet sleuths haven’t found a record of a chimpanzee attack on a TV or film production set. However, there is a notorious incident of a chimp that was raised in a home and later mauled a woman. Per the , Travis the chimpanzee was sold to Connecticut couple Sandra and Jerome Herold in 1995, and the couple raised him to «wear clothes, drink wine, eat at the dinner table and sleep in bed with them.»
In 2009, Travis mauled the Herolds’ family friend Charla Nash in a shocking attack that may have been triggered by Nash holding a red Elmo doll. Nash was blinded and her face, nose, lips and hands were severely injured. In Nope, we also learn that Jupe’s co-star Mary Jo Elliot survived the Gordy’s Home! attack and sustained similar facial injuries. (She’s the disfigured face shown briefly in the trailer.) Later in 2009, Nash made an appearance on , and wore a similar veil as seen on Mary Jo.
2 Frailty (2001) — 7.2
Acting as the “God’s Hand Killer,” a blue-collared single father in Texas eliminates anyone who he perceives to be a demon. His two sons have polarized opinions of their father’s crimes. The younger one idolizes him while the older one is disturbed. Two decades later, the older son tells the story.
The late actor Bill Paxton pulled double duty in this 2001 movie, portraying the homicidal father while also directing. Frailty is a psychological thriller that Roger Ebert called “extraordinary.” The film is very violent, but it’s also rife with outstanding performances and indelible imagery.
V/H/S/85 (2023)
(Photo by Shudder)
Premiere Date: October 6Where to Watch It: Shudder
The V/H/S series has been the contemporary standard-bearer for found footage horror anthology films, and Shudder brings us another installment, this time set in the nostalgia-bathed decade of the ’80s. A made-for-TV documentary serves as the framing narrative for a chilling mix of gory thrills, with all the big hair, colorful clothing, and synthwave tunes you could ask for. The directors behind the five short films on offer include David Bruckner (The Ritual, Hellraiser), Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Black Phone), and doing double duty between this and Satanic Hispanics, Gigi Saul Guerrero.
What is ‘Gordy’s Home!’?
In the Nope universe, Gordy’s Home! is the in-universe sitcom that former child star Jupe appeared in, following his breakout role in the film Kid Sheriff. (He now runs , a Western theme park based on the film.) Per the opening credits (seen above), the show seems to be about a chimp who went to space and now lives with a female astronaut and her family, becoming best friends with Jupe’s character. The clips show a bumbling dad, a mom who balances cooking and cleaning with working as a literal astronaut(!), a teen daughter, and a skateboarding son who spends nights gazing at the stars with Gordy. (For those wondering, the theme song is Gowan’s 1985 jingle «(You’re a) Strange Animal.»)
The Creator (2023)
(Photo by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Release Date: September 29Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Falling on the sci-fi side of the spectrum is this futuristic — albeit timely — action thriller about mankind’s battle against artificial intelligence. John David Washington stars as an ex-special forces soldier who is tasked with leading a team to hunt down and destroy a powerful AI that threatens the end of humanity, only to discover the AI has been created in the form of a young child. Co-writer and director Gareth Edwards cut his teeth on genre films like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 2014’s Godzilla, and the cast includes names like Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, and Allison Janney.
История франшизы
- «Судная ночь» — американская медиафраншиза в жанре «антиутопический хоррор», состоящая из пяти фильмов и одного сериала.
- Создатель франшизы — Джеймс ДеМонако, чьим первым реализованным проектом стал написанный в соавторстве с Гари Надо сценарий к фильму «Джек» Фрэнсиса Форда Копполы.
- На создание франшизы ДеМонако вдохновили фильм «Королевская битва» и 21-й эпизод американского научно-фантастического телесериала «Звездный путь» «Возвращение архонтов», в котором команда «Энтерпрайза» прилетает на планету, где тоталитарное общество проводит «Фестиваль» — ежегодный погром, который позволяет людям на одну ночь превратиться из рабов в убийц и беспредельщиков.
- Сюжет во всех фильмах франшизы примерно одинаковый: в «Судной ночи» показывают с виду обычную, свободную от преступлений Америку, но при ближайшем рассмотрении выясняется, что действие происходит в антиутопическом будущем, где все население страны раз в год проводит ночь «чистки» (собственно, purge), когда все преступления, включая убийства, на 12 часов становятся законными.
- Франшиза заработала в прокате более $450 млн при общем производственном бюджете $35 млн.
References[]
- «Archived copy». Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708105142/http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=8508. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
- Arnold, Thomas K.. «Lionsgate joins the HIT parade», The Hollywood Reporter, March 25, 2008.
- «Archived copy». Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708105146/http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=14009&page=108. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
- «DIC Teams With Lions Gate In Home Video Deal». https://www.awn.com/news/dic-teams-lions-gate-home-video-deal.
- Lieberman, David; Lieberman, David (February 10, 2012). «Lionsgate Calms Investors With Talk About Charlie Sheen, ‘Hunger Games’ And ‘Twilight'». https://deadline.com/2012/02/lionsgate-calms-investors-with-talk-about-charlie-sheen-hunger-games-and-twilight-229176/.
- http://homemediamagazine.com/news/lionsgate-distribute-select-disney-shows-13270
- «Bloomberg — Are you a robot?». https://www.bloomberg.com/tosv2.html?vid=&uuid=7482ed90-1ecc-11e9-95fb-0734af541303&url=L2J1c2luZXNzd2Vlay9hcC9maW5hbmNpYWxuZXdzL0Q5TEFMQ0RHMy5odG0=.
- «Lionsgate, Studiocanal and Miramax Enter Into Home Entertainment Distribution Agreements». Yahoo! Finance. February 11, 2011. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lionsgate-Studiocanal-and-prnews-2517243937.html?x=0.
- Lieberman, David. «Lionsgate Closes Deal To Buy Starz», December 8, 2016. (in en-US)
- «Manga». https://www.manga.com/.
Satanic Hispanics (2022)
(Photo by Iconic)
Release Date: September 14Where to Watch It: In Theaters
Horror geeks looking for a bit more variety in a single sitting will be happy to discover this festival darling of an anthology film with, as its title indicates, decidedly Latino flavor. Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!) kicks off the bookend story, which centers on the lone survivor (Efren Ramirez) of a gruesome massacre in El Paso, TX who is taken into custody by a pair of detectives. Know only as “The Traveler,” he regales the cops with a quartet of spine-tingling stories, all directed by Latin-American filmmakers with serious horror chops.