HORROR MOVIES

Psycho, Dawn of the Dead, The Exorcist,  The Shining, Misery, CUJO, Poltergeist, SAW, Rosemary´s baby,  DRACULA, Frankenstein, The wolfman, 28 days later, Serpent and the Rainbow, JAWS, RINGU,  Carrie,  i love horror films.

This is my TOP TEN HORROR MOVIES

and the reasons why...

10)The Howling (1981)

To me this is the definitive Were Wolf Movie, By far it is my favorite concept AND THE ENDING of the film is PRICELESS.

9)The Others (2001)

 The ghost concept is mistreated and misses the plot. In this one from SPANISH director Alejandro Amenábari think WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME , story, mood, cast, special effects and the final twist makes it a MUST to watch .

8)The Bride of Frankenstein  (1935)

From the opening shot to the final scene,  it is amazing!! The ambient, the tone, the german expressionism in it. 

IT IS A WORK OF ART. 

It is my favorite CLASSIC MONSTER FILM FROM UNIVERSAL in so many levels. Making FAMOUS the phrase "we belong dead!!!" 

7)THE EVIL DEAD (1981)

It is a horror-comedy but Sam Raimi´s The evil dead is a cult classic and Bruce Cambell as ASH WILLIAMS, is the perfect ANTI HERO. 

THE STAR OF LOW BUDGET.  With hits such as ARMY OF DARKNESS and Bubba Ho-Tep!

6) CHILD´S PLAY (1988)

When serial Killer Charles Lee Ray enters a TOY STORE, the legend of Chucky began. Being taught in voodoo ways to transport his soul to dolls. A very scary movie not so much the sequels it spawned. But the original is to this day very scary.

7)THEY LIVE (1988)

I love movies that begin in a particular way and then the director surprises you by a twist, so unexpected it changes everything! I think this is John CARPENTER´s best film. Because of its TWILIGHT ZONE ( Rod Serling) narrative. 

5)  HALLOWEEN (2007) 

There is no denying the original John Carpenter Slasher classic is a masterpiece and gave birth to a genre. 

But this one STANDS BY ITS OWN. 

NO JAMIE LEE CURTIS or synthethizer music. 

Rob Zombie gives us the chance to take a pick into Myers abusive childhood and how it developed into PURE EVIL. 

4) FRIDAY THE 13TH (2009)

I grew up watching all the Friday the 13th franchise. My favorite movie monster was always Jason Vorhees. By wearing a hockey mask and being speechless he  became our generation´s Frankenstein monster, he can be on Crystal lake , fighting FREDDY KRUGER or in SPACE or even taking Manhattan. 

A True  Movie Monster ICON of our times, not because any one can play him, but because he is a costume bigger than life.

3)EVENT HORIZON(1997)

A true lost treasure, i saw this one in León, Guanajuato with my brother and my sister. It was a good idea seeing it early and not at night, because it HAS really frightening imagery and a story worth of legend.

2) Jacob´s Ladder(1990)

When an exvietnam veteran looses his son...he looses his mind. In this movie there is no right, wrong , up , down, reality or dream. I had two weeks of very frightning NIGHTMARES after seeing it. 

1) THE ENTITY (1982)

I recall watching on tv "THE ENTITY" and being really scared. Even turning the lights on! It´s a movie with Barbara Hershey plays CARLA MORAN ,  a single mother who suddenly begins to be haunted and raped by an invisible presence at night , but no one believes her. 

She has cuts, bite marks and bruises.

 It was really scary and left images in my mind to this day i´m horrified by its plot and ending.

Even more because it is based on real life events.

CONTEXT , CHARACTER AND TEXTURE

"Every story has to find a way to be told...the best way"

-ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU

Born in Pittsburgh, the youngest of seven brothers, Michael Keaton is one of Hollywood´s brightest actors. Mixing  crazy antics and an explosion of funny rants. It seems he is not acting but improvising all his dialogue.  Keaton has a unique relationship actor/ director they become one as they bring life the whole movie. Funny, twisted AND Dark those are the three things we can expect from KEATON because they explain Keaton´s whole career. 

You don´t know if he is serious or NOT.

Michael Keaton can play it all and has no worries of being himself. Where other actors walk , he runs , he makes the sprint to give you 150% of what you are expecting. Knowing when to be funny, serious or mentally deranged. 

Now in 2014 , Director Alejandro González Iñárritu  wants to tell a tale... of a ONCE huge star, seeking for that spark of success AGAIN. Who better than Michael Keaton to portray a fallen superhero. 

Known for taking his films to an urban REALITY,  Iñárritu has a true sensibility to make films different. He loves to encapsulate feelings in frames. You can almost smell the movie.

"THE SAD, BLUE MORNINGS....." that is what i call Iñárritu´s way of FILMMAKING.

Trust, Love and  SELF DESTRUCTION are his main topics. He makes us a part of the film by bringing us closer to the characters. The camera right to their faces and into the mind.

CONTEXT: The point of view of the street, the camera as an uninvited witness, the musical score is KEY to the emotions.

CHARACTER: faces, troubles, smiles, solution, improvisation, fear and admiration.

TEXTURE: kissing, fighting, huging, eating , kicking and the normal family dinamics.

Iñarritu wishes his directing would pass unseen. Because to him story comes first. In every Iñarritu movie he must have a KITCHEN that is crucial to his story telling 

"Where does life become real?,  but in the kitchen."

His filmography is short, but it has developed into a visual style, very recognizable. Almost as ARCHITECTURE. The movie ALWAYS feels PERSONAL as if it was a memory. Iñárritu´s reality is not far from ours.

We can expect a lot from KEATON and IÑARRITU. 

They both have earned respect and critical acclaim. They have taken the craft of acting and Directing, to a whole new level. 

The arc of the character Keaton starts developing  and Iñárritu´s way to capture it (from THE FIRST SCENE) is what will give THE MOVIE the title of TIMELESS. 

They both like the challenge to explore the limitless posibilities of   storytelling.

I can´t wait to see BIRDMAN.

" This movie, made me remember (Birdman)

this is the thing i want to do "

-Michael Keaton

This is Rumor Control...and here are the facts

"as you´re making a movie and the audience knows you have control of everyhting, of  every single thing and the audience knows you can show them everything...... so the question is ....what don´t you do? Not ...what do you do?"

-David Fincher

If i met David Fincher, i would probably ask him , 

who will be the narrator of your next movie??

I really enjoy his movies, the way each one stands on its own. His abbility to make COMPLEX characters, living WORKS OF ART , the fictional he makes it possible  and actors grow and glow on the big SCREEN. Many directors are also writers, editors or visual poets. 

To me David Fincher is more than all that put together Fincher always  waits for...The right story to tell.

His movies are raw, very straight forward and mind benders. Coming from music videos he is no stranger to stress, special effects and having a field Making deadlines and having to work with STARS such as MADONNA. He made the jump to movies by continuing the work of Ridley Scott and James Cameron, in one of the most loved sagas in movie history. The ALIEN franchise. 

In Alien 3, While in outer space Ellen Ripley had the  choice of ending her life by killing an alien species. Fincher had the same to do with a NO SCRIPT film he never even finish editing.To me... He made a masterpiece out of a mess.

Then with SE7EN the everyday routine of an almost retired cop takes a slow motion turn when a serial killer obsessed with giving humanity a  seven deadly sin lesson.

Fincher made not only one of the most memorable films in the last 30 years he also give birth to a whole new  genre in detective darkness TV spin offs! (CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, CRIMINAL MINDS and NCIS) to name a few.

The GAME has the best movie ending in movie history.

It´s clever and has a brilliant Michael Douglas in it. Not as the ALL MIGHTY, ALL POWERFUL MAN but as the Doubtful and Fearfull human WE ALL ARE, when confronted by the silent narrator of the story...THE UNKNOWN.

 In FIGHT CLUB Tyler Durden narrated "you are not... your god damn cakis!!" being this workfreak catalog consuming furniture lover its not such a surprise he has another side 

even the main character Edward Norton is called NARRATOR?

PANIC ROOM is a movie told by a house. Every room is a character and people are like mice running from each other. 

The story of an unknown serial killer in san francisco in the 70´s is told by his own letters sent to a newspaper...makes the mystery of the ZODIAC even bigger! Fincher pushes the technical boundries by making a really scary movie SHOT ON video, not film and edited in Final Cut.

"It's about power and greed and loyalty and jealousy and betrayal and ambition and class and power..."  A movie based in two lawsuits against FACEBOOKdoesnt sound too much  fun, but what if you made both law suits questionnaires the narrator in  the Mark Zuckerberg inspired The SOCIAL NETWORK which deals with how social media has made the world a smaller place and one social network to be our NEW SOCIAL CONNECTION .

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo´s main character is (as portrayed in the opening credit sequence) by  THE DARKNESS INSIDE EVERY CHARACTER that is the narrator from the first scene, all because the disappearence of Harriett.

The Courious Case of Benjamin Button is told by the CAMERA and Brad Pitt´s voice , both tell the singular story of a man born old and who died young...."some people"

Within the realm of realism and the NO BOUNDRIES in technology that FINCHER makes use to. His main goal has not change. He wants to tell a story.

 i REALLY want to see GONE GIRL

Because i want to see how Fincher tells it. 

How his characters evolve before my eyes. 

How he makes me doubt the plot. 

Where does he take me.

Fincher makes the impossible possible, where there is no meaning and only puzzles, darkness and human despair...he spreads a clear vision, LIGHTS THE WAY of the roads ahead by having one NO SIMPLE RULE... SLOWLY AND FOCUSED.  Fincher is more than a DIRECTOR he is a MASTER STORY TELLER OF human  RELATIONSHIPS.

"my job ...is to create for you an enviroment where you are on the inside looking out. YOU never have to be ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN"

 -David Fincher 

To Understand...

"A trully good movie is interesting and easy to understand" 
-Akira Kurosawa

We go to the movies to watch others or ourselves? We go into this dark room full of unknown people to begin a journey. Inside our own experiences. Color or colorless, horror, musical, adventure or drama. Every film is told differently. Because the people behind them have different sensibilities.

"Give me two hours a day of activity, and I’ll take the other twenty-two in dreams."

-Luis Buñuel

There is no two people who think the same or react the same. In our every day life we try to understand why are we here? what we were meant to do? who are we gonna meet? and why?  Film brings  many more questions to our minds. It is true, we morph into people that understand perfectly the movie language but its not the same message for all of us. Some movies are liked others are hated. Maybe because they remind us of better times or we are faced with our own demons.

”There are mysteries, secret zones in each individual.”

-Krzysztof Kieślowski

How our parents teach us to be polite and how to defend ourselves. How our teachers challenge us with questions and frequent evaluations. How life makes our mistakes the scars of what we have learned. In films the message is one thing and our interpretation is another. The movie is dated the message is timeless. I really think Every film deserves a second chance. To watch it again might change our opinion.

“The value of art is [its ability] to heal.”

 -Alejandro Jodorowsky

It is very interesting to see how different... several directors feel about the process of movie making, but how alike they all want to portay dreams.

I hope we NEVER loose that desire of going to the movies. Yes many people complaint about :  the long lines or  the ticket price. But it is also a way of stepping outside our daily routine. It´s made to be an all senses experience. That is why your view is directed forward. That is why the lights are out. That is why you should be quiet and turn off your phones during the movie. AND NEVER WATCH A MOVIE ON A PHONE.

"There are two kinds of directors; those who have the public in mind when they conceive and make their films and those who don’t consider the public at all. For the former, cinema is an art of spectacle; for the latter, it is an individual adventure. There is nothing intrinsically better about one or the other; it’s simply a matter of different approaches."  

-François Truffaut

Every day we see the younger generations loose the amazement that we once had. I recall the first time i went to the United States . I saw the PAC-MAN Arcade on the hotel lobby. I was amazed. I couldn´t believe. I could control the TV!!! As dumb as it may seem now, but  back in 1983 it was something TO ME out of this world.

"I once had a dream, or a vision, and I imagined that dream to be of importance to other people, so I wrote the manuscript and made the film. But it is not until the moment when my dream meets with your emotions and your minds that my shadows come to life. It is your recognition that brings them to life. It is your indifference that kills them. I hope that you will understand; that you when you leave the cinema will take with you an experience or a sudden thought—or maybe a question. The efforts of my friends and myself have then not been in vain…" 

— Ingmar Bergman

I will try to teach my children to go to the movies. To be polite and aware that watching a film is like watching a play in the theatre. To stay quiet, until the movie has ended. You are inside a temple. But most importantly  teach them to watch any kind of movie. 

And at the end of the day to be 
those few 
WHO go to the movies
To UNDERSTAND.

"i look at the filmmakers of the past and many filmmakers of the present, i have nothing but admiration, more than admiration , i survive from them, i live of the inspiration i get from many filmmakers.  I believe, particularily  artists  ...have to know the past in order to accept, reject, complaint about, hate, love whatever... i mean how come you not."

-Martin Scorcese

Your move chief

As paintings, movies can tell you many things. You just have to watch them closely. The same thing happens when you watch a Robin Williams  film.

I think the first movie i saw of Robin Williams was "POPEYE", then a few years later my dad insisted i saw "GOOD MORNING VIETNAM". 

Growing up I saw this funny guy on films, who seemed to enjoy his work. Yelled SARCASM and screamed funny ANECDOTES. Robin Williams showed me that it was possible To be A GROWN UP and at the same time FEEL like a KID. His work was LIKE HIM eclectic, different, full of life, color, SOUL, wisdom and  crazy humanity.

Not just a comedian or a performer. Robin Williams became iconic. Maybe if you are lucky you can get a role in a movie that becomes a sensation. But making so many good films is no coincidence. 

As an actor he touched us very deep. He made us laugh, made us cry and he could make us reflect on our own lives. He could play  both villain and hero. An admirable person or a psycological obsessive stalker. He could play man or woman. A bicentennial man, a genie, a mad scientist, Peter Pan or A Fisher King.  He was inexplicable as unpredictable.

Fast paced, words seem to out run him because he had to say so much, he wanted to express so much. He was like an atomic bomb of pop culture. He created and crafted the characters he portrayed as no other. Troubled, happy or depressed. Angry or obscure, he played each and every one of them brilliantly. He was the normal guy he smiled, he woke up, he farted, he didn´t seem to struggle with acting he seemed to be himself and enjoy it. 

He seemed real,  he was one of a kind.  You may like his acting or not. But there is no denial, everyone has seen a Robin Williams performance. And felt the sweatness of his presence.

It seemed he didn´t knew anything else but to perform, to make us laugh. By showing us how the world could be a little better not bitter.

As many of us, he had doubts, fears and a troubled mind. He played the common man, the man who works, who has a pay check, a family, responsabilities. Inside him we could never tell what he was thinking.

From this day on, all his movies, all his work, all his stand up comedy will have a new meaning. They become testament and legacy to the forthcoming generations. 

He as his films  have become ...timeless.

I was stunned by the news of his death. But even more shocked by the way he decided to end his life. Personally he was someone who i admired ,  i am sad. I never met him, but had he ringed on my door i would´ve invited him inside. I felt i knew him in some way. 

He made me laugh really loud. 

It seems sad and ironic that in one of his movies "What Dreams May Come" he says:

- "it´s NOT about understanding 

it´s about NOT giving up"

-Robin Williams 

It is a tragedy. We were extremely lucky to see his work ...The legend of Robin Williams begins.

"your move chief"

-Robin Williams 

(Good Will Hunting)