Connect with us

News

The Oscars of Horror: How ‘Get Out’ and Horror is Changing The Academy Awards

Published

on

2017 was the biggest year for horror

Movies like ITGet OutSplit, Happy Death Day, drew in humongous numbers in the box office as well as telling truly compelling and entertaining stories. Tonight marks the 90th Academy Awards ceremony with Get Out nominated for four categories. If won, the movie would join the ranks of classics that took home the gold like Misery, AlienThe Fly and Rosemary’s Baby, just to name a few.

When looking at the gross for 2017, horror movies made over a whopping 943 million. This number was calculated with data found on Box Office Mojo. Dominated by clowns, racists and killer dolls, 2017 has become the biggest grossing year in horror movie history. IT alone has made more than $327 million in sales. Even in the climate we are currently in, people are still drawn to these grim worlds in order to escape from their real ones. It proves that nothing truly compares to a good scare. Other years that struck gold with horror were 1987 with $293.6 million, 1999 with $574.6 million, and 2000 with $617.7 million in gross income according to The New York Times. However, Inflation was not factored into these statistics.

Warner Bros.

Horror hasn’t always been seen in a positive light, especially when it comes to the Oscars. In fact, in the past 89 years, fewer than 20 horror movies have won awards at the Academy Awards with most nominated in categories such as sound editing, lighting and makeup. The number of horror flicks nominated for Best Picture prior to Get Out can be counted on one hand: JawsThe ExorcistSilence of the LambThe Sixth Sense, and Black Swan.

This time around, The Academy has chosen to go against typical conservative choices and opted for more risqué nominations like Get Out. Get Out was not only a horror movie but it was also a reflection of our own society and the objectification of black men and women in America. It resonated with viewers through its compelling storyline that kept you on edge at all times. It was horror but still remained lighthearted and comical.

With four nominations under its belt, it was suspenseful to see which way the pendulum was going to swing. Though Get Out did not take home awards for other categories like film of the year, it still was a win for Peele. His emotional acceptance speech retold the story of how the script became (or almost didn’t become).

Entertainment Weekly/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

He spoke of the fear he experienced: Fear of rejection, fear of not being good enough, fear of what other’s might think of a horror movie that explores race as its core element. He thanked his mom for always teaching him to love even in the face of fear and to us, the movie watchers.

This moment marked a win for diversity in film, a win for any person who dreams of making a movie, and a win for the horror genre that has been brushed to the side like a secondary thought. With 2018 looking like a promising year for Horror, next year’s Oscars should be a delightful fright!

Also, shout out to Guillermo Del Toro for creating such a beautifully crafted movie. The Shape of Water is visually stunning with an equally beautiful storyline and creature.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

on

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

on

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

on

Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading