When a Stranger Calls

Year: 2006
Director: Simon West
Writer: Jake Wade Wall
Genre: Horror: Thriller

First off, let me just announce that I've decided to watch some remakes. I've avoided many of them because my memories and enjoyment of the old films eels like it will be hurt by viewing a remade version. Either way, here's the movie that kicked off my remake adventure.

When a Stranger Calls first came out in 1979 and quickly became famous for the unexpected location of the murderer. It was a film that followed the story of a young woman who was simply trying to babysit some children but had a lot more in store for her. The film has some famous lines such as "have you checked the children?" and "it's coming from inside the house!".

Thankfully, the idea and even these classic lines are still present in the remake. In fact, it surprised me how faithful the remake was to the original's theme, if not everything else. The theme was left untouched even with the various updates to the world.

What really surprised me about this remake was that it didn't fall into the trap that so many horror remakes do. It didn't attempt to amp up violence or make everything suddenly more sexual. In fact, there is only verbal discussion of anything sexual at any point. No girl ever gets her shirt torn off and doesn't have outrageously large breasts. Our heroine looks pretty, but a normal pretty - not Hollywood manufactured. She wins extra points for wearing an outfit that seems normal for a babysitter and not something super low cut to show herself off (to who? Certainly not the children!). I'm really pleased with these choices and wish that more remakes could learn from this example.

Women in Boxes

Year: 2008
Director: Phil Noyes, Harry Pallenberg
Writer: Blaire Baron
Genre: Documentary

The only reason I really chose to watch this today was due to the fact that it will be removed from Netflix streaming at the start of July. In fact, a couple of my queued items are disappearing that day so I figured I'd give them a watch before then. So if you're so inclined to watch this film and have Netflix then you'd better hurry up.

The documentary focuses on various women who have been magician's assistants at various points in time. Footage is shown of their respective acts and some of the tricks that they discuss in the interviews. There is one magician's secret revealed in the entire documentary but that is because it is very old and nobody ever uses the method anymore. It's the secret to the first "sawing women in half" trick and, personally, I never knew it so that was neat.

What I also found so interesting was that these assistants really are intensely important in shows. They do a ton of work and in fact maybe more than the magicians themselves in most cases. Magicians just have to present and move and wave but the women have to curl up in a box or get themselves in precarious situations. The tricks themselves are dangerous even if they aren't in the outright ways. For example, a woman getting sawed in half never has the danger of actually getting sawed in half but many tricks still are dangerous. In fact, one woman talked about a trick where swords were stuck through a box and that apparently the "trick" thing was set backwards so she did actually get sliced with a sword. It's scary stuff!

In fact, it's when those stories of injury came up that I wished the entire documentary could possibly be about that. It really interested me to realize just how dangerous it is, even though we all usually expect the female performers are in no actual harm. But then the documentary went on to talk about the sexist nature of magician performances and stuff. I also found that really interesting because, again, I never viewed them in that manner. It's weird to think about. Magic acts sprung up with the women being in distress for what reason? It seems because nobody would care to see a man in peril, but to see a woman being "mutilated" on stage is something else entirely. Weird, weird, weird.

The documentary isn't the most exciting thing out there, but it caught my attention. I'm interested in magic acts very much though so that might be part of it. I liked it and that's all there is to it.

Waxwork

Year: 1988
Director: Anthony Hickox
Writer: Anthony Hickox
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Let me start off by saying that Waxwork is not a shining example of creative horror filmmaking. However, it still tries something a little bit different and it's better for it.

The basic premise is that a waxworks has suddenly shown up in a small town. A group of teens are invited to come to a private showing at midnight (always with these midnight celebrations). Of course they all go but teens start disappearing one by one. Without the police to turn to, the remaining teens take it upon themselves to figure out what happened.

The creative bit is that the man who owns the waxwork is not the one holding a knife and killing people. He lets his wax scenes do the work for him. The viewers are drawn in to examine the figures but find themselves walking into the scenes depicted and playing them out. Of course, all the scenes depict some scene where death is imminent.

It plays out pretty interestingly even if the climax turns silly. Of note though, it's very worth sticking around to see a man in a wheechair decked out to look like a battle tank. Also, Marquis de Sade is in a horror movie. That's gotta entice some viewers out there.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Year: 1994
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Wes Craven
Genre: Horror: Slasher

This is the very final Freddy movie. Even if it might not have been intended to be, with the 2010 remake any following sequels will continue on with that modernized one. So, here we are, the end of the Freddython and it's practically a return to the wonderful nature of the original.

Wes Craven took the reigns once again for this one, which he had basically let go of for all the sequels. It was apparent that maybe Wes was tired of his killer character being pushed into goofier and goofier situations. Either way, New Nightmare is a brilliant return to form that only he could have crafted.

The movie takes us out of the "Elm Street" world and away from the story of Freddy that was hammered into the citizens of the town. We are no longer in that series but in the real world. The movie follows the actress who played Nancy in the first film (Heather Langenkamp). Robert Englund talks to her and they go on a talk show together and basically this is our world. What brings this back to Freddy is the fact that apparently Wes Craven is hard at work on a new Nightmare movie. Around this time, Heather is getting harassing phone calls and letters at her house and starts to worry that Freddy is coming into real life.

It is about as fresh a take on a horror series as someone can do and Wes is near genius for creating it. It is only necessary to watch the original movie to get what is going on in this one. However, watching the sequels wouldn't damper your interest in New Nightmare. The movie almost feels like fanservice with how wonderfully it ties into the original. Almost.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare is right up there in the list of great horror films. It isn't viewed as such by the movie community at large who prefer The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Shining but that doesn't make it any less. It's a sort of slasher movie but with a lot more depth than most. For that, I give it a ton of credit.