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Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:30:28 -0800

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! With prices adjusted for inflation, what is the highest-grossing domestic horror movie of all time?

Scream Queens Spotlights Women in Horror

BuzzSugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:30:00 -0700

Starting tonight, VH1 is searching for the next queen of horror film. In Scream Queens, 10 unknown actresses will put their shrieking, crying, and butt-kicking skills to the test for the chance to win a feature role in the upcoming Saw VI. (Yes, there's going to be a Saw VI.)

The trailer for the show looks kind of hilariously awesome, in that White Rapper Show-esque, self-aware kind of way. But it's also gotten me thinking about women in horror generally and whether this show is a good or a bad thing.

On the one hand, well, the title says a lot: The show's looking for someone who can scream all damsel-in-distress-style, presumably while being attacked by some menacing thing. So often in horror movies, female sexuality and violence go hand-in-hand. You certainly would never see a competition looking for male screamers, right? But on the other hand, the trailer seems to be playing up the ass-kicking aspect of being a horror star, and show judge (and original Saw gal) Shawnee Smith has said there's a lot more to being a "scream queen" than just playing the victim.

In this Halloween month, it's as good a time as any to get talking about women in horror - so I invite you to post your thoughts on that below. You can check out the Scream Queens trailer if you read more.

Photo courtesy of VH1

Movie Previews: Prom Night, Then and Now

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:33:42 -0800

You know, I think I would be much more impressed by this trailer for the new version of horror movie Prom Night if it were maybe one minute shorter, or otherwise didn't include what seems like way too much of the film in the preview. As it is, I think the first part of the preview is scary enough, nothing original, but it is a remake after all. By the last 30 seconds or so, though, I'm bored. The story is predictable: a bunch of high school kids go to their prom and arrange to stay in hotel rooms afterward. Then a crazy sadistic killer shows up to terrorize the group - particularly the nubile young Donna (Brittany Snow) - and they must figure out how to survive... prom night.

After the jump, check out both the trailer for the new Prom Night as well as the super retro and creepy trailer for the original 1980 movie. Oh, the feathered hair! The disco! The horror!

The new Prom Night opens April 11. To check out the trailers, read more.

The new Prom Night trailer:

The 1980 Prom Night trailer:

Source

Frightful Friday: Carrie

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:30:00 -0700

While Carrie is probably my favorite Stephen King story ever, I also find it to be terribly sad in addition to being terrifying. Every time I watch it I'm catapulted back to those high school days when kids were so outright cruel to each other. Then again, despite the sadness in Carrie's life, this is also the ultimate revenge fantasy - what victim of a vicious high school hierarchy wouldn't want to lock her tormentors in a gym and unleash the wrath of hell on them?

The movie follows the teenage Carrie (played by Sissy Spacek with the spookiest eyes in cinematic history) who can't seem to catch a break. At school, the other students ruthlessly poke fun at the socially awkward Carrie while at home her fanatically religious mother basically screams at her for constantly sinning. Soon, Carrie discovers that she has the ability to move objects with her mind which is at first confusing, and then pretty helpful.

At the school prom, however, things take a turn for the worse. She's nominated prom queen as a horrible prank and then is further humiliated by her classmates when they douse her in pigs' blood. The rest, as they say, is horror movie history.

Frightful Friday: Jaws

BuzzSugar — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:30:00 -0700

Because of the imminence of Halloween, October Fridays always seem like the scariest Fridays. So, every Friday leading up to the freakiest of holidays I'll be featuring one of my favorite scary movies to help get us all in the mood.

Like many children of the '70s and '80s, Jaws scarred me for life. It didn't help when I went to Universal Studios as a kid and endured an animatronic white shark with glassy black eyes and sharp teeth lurching out of the water toward my young terrified face.

Memories of this film are woven into the fabric of my mind, to the extent that I feel a twinge of fear when swimming in the ocean, even now as an adult. Also, I have to watch the Discovery Channel's Shark Week with one eye closed every year.

In case you didn't have maniacal older siblings or cousins who subjected you to frightening movies like Jaws as a kid, the story follows a great white shark that terrorizes people. After killing a boy, a bounty is placed on the animal and shark hunters take to the waters in search of it. A few guys finally come head to bloodthirsty head with the shark and battle it out to the finish.

Tell me: What are your memories of Jaws?

Moviefone's 31 Days of Horror Movies

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:30:00 -0700

AOL's Moviefone is doing a countdown to Halloween, featuring one excellent horror film for each of the 31 days of October to make up a final list of "The Best Horror Movies of All Time." This alone would be semi-interesting, but the cooler thing is how they're doing it: Each day a new movie will be highlighted, but until the rest of the month's titles are revealed, you can guess what the next ones will be based on the trivia clues dispensed.

So, to kick off the month, yesterday's title was The Ring. For today's movie, the hint given yesterday was "This adaptation marked the directorial debut of a very popular novelist." Want to know the answer? Check out the Moviefone site and then see if you know the upcoming movies based on their clues! I can't lie, some of them are pretty tough. Scary tough.

Soapbox: Captivity

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:29:49 -0700

I have never once had any inclination to see the latest "torture porn" movie Captivity, but after reading the most scathing review in the world, I'm even less interested. In fact, I'm nauseated, in a similar way to how I felt about Hostel: Part 2, but even more so.

Apparently, the "plot" of the movie consists of blond model Jennifer (Elisha Cuthbert) being tortured in a variety of ways by a sadistic man. Meanwhile, there's another guy in this dungeon who also appears to be getting tortured, so of course the two form an relationship and, unbelievably, have sex. Because I'd sure be up for some nooky after having ground up body parts forced down my throat. Sure. As you'll find out if you read that review, that's not even the worst part of the film, if you can possibly imagine it.

The worst thing about this whole thing - the movie, the ridiculous promotional posters - is the filmmakers' reaction to the outcry over it. For obvious reasons, women's groups have denounced the film (though they're not the only ones, the writer of the aforementioned review, for example, is a full-grown married man) and the response to that is, "Let's throw a torture porn party!" I wish I were kidding. You can see how not-kidding I am if you read more

Cinematical describes the party, being thrown in West Hollywood by the Captivity filmmakers, as reported in the New York Times:

[Producer Courtney Solomon is] planning one of the craziest, most politically incorrect premiere party's in history; one that wil...feature, among other things, "the three 'most outlandish' SuicideGirls available from the punk porn service." Solomon also promised "individuals in torture gear" who will wander through the club grabbing people.

Regarding aspects of the extravagant event, which Solomon admits are "probably not legal," he says it's his "personal little tribute" to all the women's groups who are opposing the film. Another interesting note in the article is the fact that Captivity will screen only once prior to its release - not for critics, mind you, but for women's groups in New York. Following the screening, Solomon wants to "engage in a town-hall-style debate with detractors."

What kind of "debate" can one have with these people? How does one intellectually discuss the "merits" of a movie that puts forth violence toward women and sexual deprivation as entertainment? Clearly the filmmakers only want to make a mockery of these women's groups. I'm not sure what possesses people to make movies like this, and I can only hope this one bombs at the box office, as happened to Hostel: Part 2.

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:08:56 -0700

It's Father's Day weekend! I made up lists of my Top 10 Movie Dads and my Top 10 TV Dads. Also, check out this Father's Day playlist I created - you can even give it to your dad as a gift!
Are you watching this season of "Big Love"? I found this cool clip, along with some interesting back stories.
Check out my favorite new songs this week: one by Iron and Wine, and another by Matt Pond PA.
Because Hostel: Part II did poorly at the box office, some people are saying the horror genre is dead. I'm not so sure about that. What do you think?
Did you read the Nancy Drew books as a kid?
How did you feel about the series finale of "The Sopranos"? David Chase had a thing or two to say about it.
Feist is pretty awesome in this video of her playing "I Feel it All."
If you could recast the 1985 movie Clue, which actors would you pick?

Source

Is the Horror Genre Dead?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:31:10 -0700

As I reported yesterday, Hostel: Part II did rather poorly for its opening weekend at the box office, bringing in just $8.7 million and coming in 6th place. I knew this was bad (for the filmmakers, anyway), but the folks over at Popwatch have brought my attention to two different news articles that question whether Hostel's lack of success is an indication that the horror film genre is on the decline.

Yet, here on Buzz, when I asked you whether you were interested in Hostel: Part II, there was a resounding "NO" and many of you readers commented that you really enjoy horror movies, but that Hostel, with it's so-called "torture porn" elements, turned you off. Personally, I think there will always be a place for horror films - you know, scary movies like Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street. But at the moment it seems like Eli Roth and his filmmaker colleagues are in this gore competition, trying to one-up each other by making each new movie more and more gruesome until there's nothing entertaining about it. It's just gross.

Also, as many of you mentioned, there's something about women being trapped and tortured that isn't very entertaining because it is a much more real possibility for women than it is for men. Horrifying situations that seem plausible tend to lose their pleasurable aspect for many people. I simply don't think that Hostel: Part II is the best movie to use when measuring the success or failure of horror movies overall. A lot of people just don't want to see it.

What do you think? Is the horror genre on the decline?

Are You Interested in Hostel: Part II?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:59:00 -0700

I keep seeing ads for Eli Roth's latest horror film Hostel: Part II and it looks horrifying... but not necessarily in the fun Halloween kind of way. The story follows three college girls who are lured into a "hostel" where men pay to torture them. Maybe I'm just not really a torture/blood/guts kind of gal. What do you think?