Salon.com > Horror http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 13:20:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Global horror takes a new “Road” http://www.salon.com/2012/05/11/global_horror_takes_a_new_road/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/11/global_horror_takes_a_new_road/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 20:15:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12919256 Is there any country on earth -- at least any country with its own cinema tradition -- that doesn't produce its own homegrown horror films, spiced up with a little local gruesomeness? Every time I write about horror, I get at least a couple of letters from people who see the cruelty, bloodlust, misogyny and so forth found in many such movies as a symptom of contemporary culture's descent into depravity and brutality. On one hand, I always want to leave room for divergent tastes and opinions, but on the other -- that's just not true. The appetite for gore and terror that finds its modern expression in horror movies is nothing new: Check out the uproarious Brothers Grimm tale "How Some Children Played at Slaughtering," in which an entire family is destroyed in a pointless orgy of violence. You can certainly argue that you find horror movies repellent, or that they reflect deeply unpleasant aspects of human nature -- but you don't get to blame any of that on Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush. (Seriously, I've heard that argument.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/11/global_horror_takes_a_new_road/feed/ 3 The science of rubbernecking http://www.salon.com/2012/02/18/the_science_of_rubbernecking/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/18/the_science_of_rubbernecking/#comments Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12377801 “Don’t look.”

That’s what she asked, more than once. I heard her distinctly each time, and told myself I should oblige, and even once partially turned my head in her direction, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. I engrossed myself again, and again submitted to the anger, the sorrow, the fear, as well as guilt’s perverse pleasure: I felt that I shouldn’t be doing this, but I was doing it anyway, and got a peevish thrill from my transgression.

It was evening, dinnertime, and this had been going on since morning, right before I left for work. I had just finished breakfast. I had my satchel over my shoulder. It contained my books for that day’s class (on Keats’s “To Autumn”) and also my lunch (a peanut butter sandwich). I had my hand on the doorknob, ready to leave, when Sandi, my wife, ran up to me, phone in hand, and said, “Turn on the TV.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/18/the_science_of_rubbernecking/feed/ 17 A clever British horror-thriller nods to Tarantino http://www.salon.com/2012/02/03/a_clever_british_horror_thriller_nods_to_tarantino/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/03/a_clever_british_horror_thriller_nods_to_tarantino/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12285521 Ben Wheatley certainly isn't the only filmmaker who built his reputation making wannabe-viral video clips for the Internet, but he might be the most talented one, and the one who's made the most impressive transition to the big screen. A 39-year-old from suburban London, Wheatley will perhaps never attain the heights of popular success he hit in 2005 with a 10-second video titled "Cunning Stunt" (it's a spoonerism -- get it?), which I should not spoil in case you haven't seen it. Go ahead, the rest of us will wait. Honestly, the combination of good cheer, cleverness and outright cruelty achieved in "Cunning Stunt" pretty much tells you what you need to know about Wheatley. You'll either conclude, hell yeah, I want to watch whatever that dude makes next, or you'll say get me the Sam Hill out of here. In either case, I understand.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/03/a_clever_british_horror_thriller_nods_to_tarantino/feed/ 6 The controlled madness of “American Horror Story” http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/the_controlled_madness_of_american_horror_story/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/the_controlled_madness_of_american_horror_story/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10300615 "Ladies and gentlemen ... the ham."

This may be the line that Jessica Lange was born to say, in the role she was born to play, on a TV show perfectly suited to her fluttery intensity. Her character Constance delivered it over a tight shot of a ham festooned with moist pineapple slices being thrust into the camera's lens, as if the show were being broadcast in 3-D. It was a perfect kick-off to "Smoldering Children," the 10th episode of the first season of "American Horror Story."

Written by "X-Files" veteran James Wong and directed by Michael Lehmann ("Heathers"), the hour greatly escalated the madness on this already demented show. Created by "Glee" executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the series seems to be inventing a new kind of horror -- a 21st-century, short-attention-span-theater version, with no lulls. The traditional buildup to the big scare? Booooo-ring. Perhaps operating under the assumption -- not unwarranted -- that most viewers are watching the program on DVR or illegal download and will just fast-forward to the "good parts" anyhow, they've decided to save us all the bother. Every few seconds there's a fabulously bitchy one-liner, a grim bit of exposition or a surprisingly deft transition between the two, or a beating or stabbing or disembowelment or horrendous searing of flesh, or a faintly S&M-dungeon-flavored sex scene, or a revelation that a character you thought was alive was actually dead all along, or that the heroine has been impregnated by both her husband and by a black-rubber-suited spectral hunk and is carrying both of their children.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/the_controlled_madness_of_american_horror_story/feed/ 26 “Breaking Dawn Part 1″: Bella Swan, demon mama or Christ figure? http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/breaking_dawn_part_1_bella_swan_demon_mama_or_christ_figure/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/breaking_dawn_part_1_bella_swan_demon_mama_or_christ_figure/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10231129 "How badly are you hurt?" murmurs studly but ethereal vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) to his human bride, née Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), on the morning after their wedding night. No no no no -- it's not what you're thinking. Edward's superhuman and indeed inhuman strength has left Bella's arms and torso covered with bruises (and, infamously, has shattered the headboard above their bed). Devotee of the union of Eros and Thanatos that she is, Bella digs it, and wants more. Being a man, albeit an undead one, Edward has second thoughts about the whole thing now that he's gotten what he came for, and spends the rest of their honeymoon on a Brazilian tropical island shying away from Bella, or playing chess with her. Which is a metaphor for, you know, sex or war or something. Or maybe not a metaphor at all but just chess, played by two people who self-evidently don't know how to play, with a strangely large and silly set of chessmen.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/breaking_dawn_part_1_bella_swan_demon_mama_or_christ_figure/feed/ 18 This year’s must-read zombie epic http://www.salon.com/2011/10/26/zone_one_colson_whitehead/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/26/zone_one_colson_whitehead/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10144833 Zombies eat human flesh, shamble, are bad conversationalists, and need to be shot through the head. Zombie epics usually end in a dismemberment frenzy or hard-won communal recovery. These things we know. Colson Whitehead knows them too -- and much more -- as exemplified by his nearly perfect new novel, "Zone One," a sad, funny, and frightening tale that revitalizes a sometimes half-baked genre.

Barnes & Noble ReviewIn Whitehead's version of the classic scenario, the world has just wakened from an extended nightmare: the spread of a zombie disease that has transformed millions and overwhelmed the rule of law. Hope has come in the form of a newly established central government in Buffalo and the creation of an experimental vaccine. Set over a period of three days, "Zone One" chronicles the efforts of a man nicknamed "Mark Spitz" and the other members of his Omega Unit to clear zombies from New York City.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/26/zone_one_colson_whitehead/feed/ 4 “The Thing”: Loving prequel to a horror classic http://www.salon.com/2011/10/13/the_thing_loving_prequel_to_a_horror_classic/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/13/the_thing_loving_prequel_to_a_horror_classic/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10109644 Does the world really need some young European director’s new version of “The Thing,” given that John Carpenter’s 1982 film is universally regarded as a high point in the monster-movie tradition and a masterpiece of claustrophobic, paranoid horror? No, of course not. But the world doesn’t need all kinds of things that it’s got, including Rick Perry and breakfast cereal flavored with peanut butter. You don’t actually need to have a telephone that’s also a little TV set, but you’ve probably got one in your pocket right now.

And here’s the thing: Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen’s new movie is a lovingly constructed tribute and companion to Carpenter’s “Thing,” not a knockoff or a replica. It’s full of chills and thrills and isolated Antarctic atmosphere and terrific Hieronymus Bosch creature effects, and if it winks genially at the plot twists of Carpenter’s film, it never feels even a little like some kind of inside joke. Comparing the two films can only be invidious, and I won’t do it; let’s just say that fans of the Carpenter flick should rush out and see this one immediately. (Furthermore, if you haven’t seen the Carpenter film, after I get done lecturing you about what’s really important in life, I will add that this one works perfectly well as an exciting stand-alone.) Considering what an enormous botch-job this project could easily have become, I’m delighted to tell you that the new “Thing” was made by people who understand what the horror audience wants and don’t treat it like a bunch of brain-dead children. Mirabile freakin’ dictu.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/13/the_thing_loving_prequel_to_a_horror_classic/feed/ 24 What's inside “The Human Centipede”? http://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/human_centipede_ii/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/human_centipede_ii/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:45:00 +0000 It only took two films for the "Human Centipede" franchise to venture into metatextual, art-school territory, or at least into a reasonable facsimile thereof. (A simulacrum thereof?) Usually you have to get five or six films into a horror series, at least, before some bored director gets too clever for his britches and comes up with something like "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (still my fave example of this tendency) or "Jason X," which actually rips off Andrei Tarkovsky's "Solaris."

But in Dutch writer-director Tom Six's new "The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)," the references and allusions pile up like pages of a cultural-studies dissertation. The central character, played by English character actor Laurence R. Harvey, is a squat London parking-lot attendant named Martin who looks more like Peter Lorre's child-killer in Fritz Lang's classic "M" than Peter Lorre does -- with the added gag that children are the only category of person that Martin doesn't want to kill. Martin, you see, is obsessed with the first "Human Centipede" film, watching it over and over again in his underground lair, and determines to outdo Dieter Laser's Mengele-like evil surgeon from that movie by stitching together a dozen abducted strangers into a single pseudo-organism, except without any of the requisite tools or medical knowledge. (If you don't know much about these movies and don't quite get what I'm talking about -- well, just be happy about that.) He even lures in Ashlynn Jennie, an actress in the first "Centipede," under the premise that she's auditioning for Quentin Tarantino, which leads to a dash of actual humor amid the adolescent shock-fest. She made sure everybody showered before the centipede scenes, Jennie tells Martin. "I mean, you're gonna be near people's butts, and you don't want to smell anything." Oh, ho ho ho.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/human_centipede_ii/feed/ 35 Hollywood’s creepiest psychopaths http://www.salon.com/2011/10/03/invisible_psychopath_trope/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/03/invisible_psychopath_trope/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:45:00 +0000 With only a few more episodes to go in "Breaking Bad's" penultimate season, the hit AMC show has succeeded in quietly vaulting Gustavo Fring into the Villain Hall of Fame. Once a minor part, this meth kingpin has been a hit not just because he is brilliantly depicted by Giancarlo Esposito -- but because of his seemingly contradictory life as both a stylish, upstanding public citizen and a stealth murderer.

If this profile sounds a bit familiar, that's because Fring's character isn't new. His image and demeanor makes him only the latest icon in the Villain Hall of Fame's special wing devoted to a timeless character: the Invisible Psychopath.

You know this particular monster well from contemporary film, television and literature -- he's the guy who periodically commits heinous and meticulously calculated acts of violence with ruthless precision, but shows little emotion and presents himself to the public as buttoned-up, urbane, super-smart and wholly rational. Rarely ever a muscular action hero type, this killer tends to be fairly average in weight and girth, implying that his sheer insanity and blood lust is able to overcome his physical limitations. In other words, he's the guy who nobody can believe is a monster because he puts on such a good front and because his psychopathy is invisible to the naked eye.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/03/invisible_psychopath_trope/feed/ 19 Pick of the week: “Take Shelter,” a potent fable of marriage and madness http://www.salon.com/2011/09/30/take_shelter_potw/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/30/take_shelter_potw/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:01:00 +0000 An intense psychological thriller that builds toward an explosive conclusion, indie writer-director Jeff Nichols' "Take Shelter" may be the most powerful American film I've seen this year. Having said that, I want to manage expectations a little bit. One can argue, and I will, that "Take Shelter" is a terrifically crafted little movie that bounces off current events and the nation's downbeat mood ingeniously, and that it variously suggests comparisons with the early work of Terrence Malick, Stanley Kubrick and the Coen brothers. Yeah, I think it's that good, but please note that I also said "little." This is a modestly scaled, character-based drama, shot quickly on a low budget in heartland locations. So don't go expecting big-screen spectacle, and don't complain to me about the limited production values or the imperfect CGI effects (although both are actually fine). I should add that I saw this movie while soaking wet, after walking through the residue of a recent tropical storm, and that given its obsessive depiction of extreme weather, that definitely heightened the firepower.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/30/take_shelter_potw/feed/ 7 “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”: Voices in the basement http://www.salon.com/2011/08/24/dont_be_afraid_of_the_dark/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/24/dont_be_afraid_of_the_dark/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:25:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/08/24/dont_be_afraid_of_the_dark Here is my brilliant considered opinion on the much-debated subject of horror-movie remakes: Usually they suck, but it all depends.

Movies in general serve as reflections of the collective unconscious, and horror movies perhaps most of all. As we've seen time and time again, removing them from their era -- transplanting "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" from the paranoid early '70s, or "Nightmare on Elm Street" out of the Reagan years -- tends to rob them not merely of situational context, but their life and meaning as well. Maybe I'm venturing into a dubious mystical argument by suggesting that a work's value can come from extrinsic environmental factors beyond anyone's conscious control, but I think it's often true.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/24/dont_be_afraid_of_the_dark/feed/ 6 “Fright Night:” Farrell’s mesmerizing in campy remake http://www.salon.com/2011/08/18/fright_night/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/18/fright_night/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:45:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/08/18/fright_night Colin Farrell started his career as an acclaimed actor in films like "Tigerland," but for years, the impossibly eyebrowed Irishman seemed better known for his epic debauchery than his movies. He kept taking creative risks, but "Alexander"? "Cassandra's Dream"? Seriously, who cares? But somewhere around the brilliant "In Bruges," Farrell found his unique and darkly hilarious groove. And as Jerry, the nonthreateningly named but unmistakably lethal bloodsucker in "Fright Night," Farrell looks like he's having the time of his 400-year-old life.

The original "Fright Night" was a sly mini-masterpiece -- a blend of self-referential goofiness and genuine chills that helped pave the way for the droll horror of the "Scream" franchise and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It makes perfect sense, then, that the new version was written by veteran "Buffy" scribe Marti Noxon. And she's fully in her zone here, infusing the film with clever gags, quiet dread, scream-in-your-seats shocks and unexpected moments of creepiness. And for the horror faithful, there are enough casual references to both "Buffy" and the original "Fright Night" to stave off cries of sacrilege.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/18/fright_night/feed/ 7 The four things horror movie remakes get wrong http://www.salon.com/2011/08/17/four_things_horror_movie_remakes_get_wrong/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/17/four_things_horror_movie_remakes_get_wrong/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:59:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/08/17/four_things_horror_movie_remakes_get_wrong With "Fright Night" coming out this week, we thought it was time to go over the "dos and don'ts" of horror movie remakes. OK, mainly the don'ts. Because let's be honest: For every great update of your favorite scary classic, there's about 10 terrible ones. In fact, it's hard to think of a horror movie that actually improved upon the original.

So listen up, potential filmmakers: Here are the four things you need to know in order to avoid making a mediocre reboot of a horror classic.

1. Changing the baddies:

In the original "Fright Night," Chris Sarandon's charming Jerry Dandridge is the sexy new next-door neighbor, who just happens to be a vampire. Part of the romance derived from the original "Dracula" formula: Amy, the girlfriend of protagonist Charlie Brewster, happened to resemble Jerry's long-lost love. Bad luck, that. But left to his own devices, Sarandon (best remembered as Prince Humperdinck from "The Princess Bride") was content to feed off of regular people like a normal vampire and play the Good Samaritan to Charlie and his mother.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/17/four_things_horror_movie_remakes_get_wrong/feed/ 23 Safety tips from the “Final Destination” films http://www.salon.com/2011/08/10/safety_lessons_from_the_final_destination_films/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/10/safety_lessons_from_the_final_destination_films/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/08/10/safety_lessons_from_the_final_destination_films With "Final Destination 5" coming out this weekend, you may be asking yourself what's the point of it all? Not in any grand, existentialist sense, but literally... what is the point of a film franchise where the motto is "You can't cheat death?"

See, the premise of these movies are inherently flawed: why give people the power to see a massive accident before it happens and allow them to save their friends, if the outcome is invariably the same? The only interesting (and I'm using that term loosely) aspect of the "Final Destination" movies are trying to figure out how many Mousetrap steps it will take to kill off another one-dimensional best friend, jealous boyfriend or potential love interest.

The one thing that makes the latest installment of this series worth seeing is that the writers finally recognized that 90 minutes of gory deaths needed a plot twist to keep people interested. So now, "Hunger Games"-style, we learn that the survivors of the massive bridge accident can actually forestall death's angry stalker-like tendencies if they find someone to kill in their place. Let the fun begin!

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/10/safety_lessons_from_the_final_destination_films/feed/ 15 Scary stories: Ryan Gosling’s abs http://www.salon.com/2011/08/05/fan_fiction_ryan_gosling_abs/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/05/fan_fiction_ryan_gosling_abs/#comments Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:06:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/08/05/fan_fiction_ryan_gosling_abs Ryan Gosling stood in front of the mirror, shirt raised. The green room "Access Hollywood" provided him was softly lit, yet Ryan could still make out the pale, clammy pallor reflected back at him. His hands were shaking as they lifted his fashionable-yet-understated black T-shirt to his collarbone.

"Today," a thin, papery voice whispered.

Ryan dropped his shirt suddenly when a P.A. knocked at the door. "Five minutes to show time, Mr. Gosling," called out the pimply teen (Mike? Mitch?) who deferentially escorted Ryan from his limo to this wretched room.

"OK! Yes! Coming!" Ryan shouted, a little too loudly. He stared at his reflection in the mirror one final time. This would have to do ... maybe post-production would take care of the sweat, the bags under the eyes, the constant look of fear he had worn for the past three months.

"No," Ryan said quietly, looking away from the mirror, refusing to look down to the thing that lived beneath his shirt. "Not today."

It was show time.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/05/fan_fiction_ryan_gosling_abs/feed/ 13 What to watch instead of Shark Week http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/what_to_watch_shark_week/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/what_to_watch_shark_week/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/08/03/what_to_watch_shark_week "30 Rock's" Tracy Jordan once told us all to "Live every week like it's Shark Week." Good advice -- and even better advertising for Discovery Channel's seven day ratings feeding frenzy  – although after 24 years, you start to wonder how much more shark programming can human beings actually handle?

Even with Andy Samberg as this year's official Chief Shark Officer  , Discovery's output has begun to feel a little stale. If you're sick of boring old facts about these teethy fish as presented by those "MythBusters" guys, then why not make your own Shark Week? We've compiled three of the more bizarre shark films out there (sorry, "Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus," maybe next year) for you to sink your teeth into. They might not be a true to life as "Jaws," but they'll keep you out of the water all the same.

 

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/what_to_watch_shark_week/feed/ 8 Remaking “The Evil Dead”: A conversation http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/the_evil_dead_remake_conversation/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/the_evil_dead_remake_conversation/#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:15:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/07/14/the_evil_dead_remake_conversation So this is happening:

Sam Raimi and original producing partners Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell (who also starred in the original franchise) are gearing up to remake their cult sensation THE EVIL DEAD through their long standing Ghost House Pictures partnership. Raimi and Tapert were such instant fans of Fede Alvarez’s short film "Panic Attack" that they set up a blind deal with the filmmaker and through that process have attached Fede Alvarez to write and direct the film. Alvarez wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues. Academy Award® winning screenwriter Diablo Cody is currently doing revisions on the draft.

The three producing partners commented, "We are committed to making this movie and are inspired by the enduring popularity and enthusiasm for the 'Evil Dead' series. We can't wait to scare a new generation of moviegoers using filmmaking techniques that were not available to us thirty years ago as well as Fede bringing a fresh eye to the film’s original elements."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/the_evil_dead_remake_conversation/feed/ 15 “Shock Value”: The golden age of horror movies http://www.salon.com/2011/07/10/shock_value/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/10/shock_value/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2011/07/10/shock_value Spending the better part of one's youth reveling in a despised form of cultural production is rarely good for a person's perspective. Whether you delight in superheroes or Sweet Valley High novels or Japanese pop bands, it's hard not to bristle when outsiders dis them (while knowing nothing), and from there it's a slippery slope to that unfortunate state in which you refuse to admit that the objects of your passion are ever less than brilliant.

"Shock Value," by Jason Zinoman is not an example of this syndrome, despite being a history of the innovative horror films of the 1970s. Zinoman's a fan, but not a fanboy, which makes him unusual in the ranks of writers on this subject. "Shock Value" belongs -- with "Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood" by Mark Harris and Peter Biskind's "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood" -- to a newish genre of film writing. It fuses biography (in this case, of such masters of horror as Wes Craven, John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper), production history, movie criticism and social commentary into a unified and irresistible story.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/10/shock_value/feed/ 17 Five pop culture items we missed http://www.salon.com/2011/07/06/pop_five_sheen_juggalos/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/06/pop_five_sheen_juggalos/#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:07:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/07/06/pop_five_sheen_juggalos 1. Insane Clown Posse news of the day: Charlie Sheen will be hosting the 12th annual Gathering of the Juggalos. Maybe this year they will hit him in the head with feces, like they did with Tila Tequila. Also, I am hoping the festival still looks like this:

 

2. Even more Sheen of the day: Charlie Sheen's post "Two and a Half Men" show has been revealed as a TV version of the movie "Anger Management."  You remember, that movie with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson? Oh, you don't? Well, we're sure this will work out fine, anyway.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/06/pop_five_sheen_juggalos/feed/ 2 Horror-meister John Carpenter’s mediocre comeback http://www.salon.com/2011/07/05/carpenter_2/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/05/carpenter_2/#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/07/05/carpenter Much of the coverage of John Carpenter's new film, "The Ward" -- or rather "John Carpenter's The Ward," as some of the P.R. material distressingly insists -- revolves around the idea that the legendary horror-meister gets to take a mulligan on this one. Hell, the guy made "Halloween" and "The Thing" (or so the argument seems to go), and we're grateful to have him back making features after a decade-long hiatus, even if the result is a mediocre mental-hospital shocker starring Amber Heard that feels an awful lot like a low-budget knockoff of Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch."

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