A Little Push - Thoughts on the Hollywood Machine 04.18.09

Posted by Rick Tym on 04.18.2009

Musings on a Little Shop of Horrors remake along with updates on H2 and Bruno (note: some are nicer than others) plus a look at Willem DaFoe's new scary movie!

Remake-O-Rama Claims Another Classic

Who is Declan O'Brien? A quick internet search shows that he is the director of Wrong Turn 3, an (in all likelihood) unnecessary third direct-to-video film in the series. A Little Push never planned on watching it; in fact, I never saw the second one—my interest and unyielding curiosity concerning horror sequels regardless of the original's quality notwithstanding (see the next section for more on that), for some reason I never had the urge to pick up that particular plastic DVD case from my local Blockbuster shelf. Therefore its post-production status and impending DTV release had no effect on the Push's universe, which makes it an ignorable offense—you know, kinda like "see no evil, hear no evil" or the whole tree falling in an uninhabited forest argument. The latest news surfacing about O'Brien's next project, however, it infinitely more worrisome.

It seems that O'Brien has optioned the rights for a new version of Little Shop of Horrors. Let's just let that one sink in for a minute.


Like most remakes, they start off small and cute…
Okay, maybe I should take back my negative comments concerning Wrong Turn 3 in the paragraph above. After all, what do I know? I watched the first one, it wasn't my cup of tea, I moved on without bothering with the sequel. For all I know, fans could be lined up outside of their favorite video stores, rental or retail, waiting for this DTV masterpiece to hit the market. Like I said, it doesn't bother me anyway as I'll likely never (ever) see it. But why oh why does anyone, much less this dude (whose other screen credits as director include TV gems like Cyclops, Monster Ark and Rock Monster—gee, I wonder what channel those movies aired on) have to touch the classic 1986 Frank Oz movie featuring Rick Moranis, Ellen Green and Steve Martin? Who dares to touch such a sublime, original piece of work?

Huh? What's that you say? Frank Oz's 1986 movie was actually a remake? Roger Corman directed an eerily titled Little Shop of Horrors back in 1960 starring Jonathan Haze and Jackie Joseph? (Sources say there's no DDS character to list that would compare to Steve Martin's in the 1986 rendition. Perhaps I should have listed the Mr. Mushnik character and cited Vincent Gardenia versus Mel Welles instead. Oh well. Moving on…) How dare Frank Oz remake a beloved classic like Corman's Shop! The grapefruits on that guy! Where's the sense of reverence? Or the respect for the creativity of the prototypical plant (popularly known as Audrey II)? Why, the nerve of that guy…

Excuse me? (Sorry for you wrestling fans that immediately got the shivers thinking of Vickie Guerrero there. Excuse me for that. Whoops, I did it again. Anyway…) You're trying to tell me that a composer named Alan Menken and a writer calling himself Howard Ashman wrote a musical based on a klutzy, somewhat clueless florist who raises a man-eating plant eerily titled Little Shop of Horrors that debuted off-Broadway in 1982 and was the inspiration for Frank Oz's adaptation? The same off-Broadway show that earned its way to the big lights that come with the classification of being "on Broadway" and has subsequently been performed all around the world? Man, all this time skipping and varying creators and origin stories is more dizzying than the current season of Lost! (Joking—I know that you know we all know what's going on when it comes to that artistic endeavor.)


One of the many, many off-Broadway productions of LSoH.
What's the point of all this? I don't know, really. Okay, wait—yes I do. At first it seems like O'Brien optioning the rights for a remake was a bad idea until I remembered (doing a little of the good ol' web research to jumpstart my noggin) that Little Shop of Horrors has been around the block more than a few times. Most iterations have been successful, although the musical and subsequent Oz film based on it are definitely more recognizable than the 1960 Corman original. So in some cases varying the formula actually works. But O'Brien's statement just read a little more ominous than optimistic when it comes to this remake. He said, "I have a take on it you're not going to expect. I'm taking it in a different direction, let's put it that way."

Interesting, or cause for concern? A Little Push posits that only time will tell; when the film ramps up (it should be noted that O'Brien plans on prepping the film for theatrical release, as opposed to his previous efforts) and pieces start falling into place, perhaps a more solid pro or con argument can be made. At this point, all signs will have to point to in-the-middle middling and wariness.

H2 OR How Can We Further Muck Up Michael Myers?

About a week ago Rob Zombie announced that shooting had wrapped on H2, the sequel to his money-making reimagination of Halloween from 2007. Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane and Danielle Harris are all slated to return, along with Margot Kidder joining the festivities. (No word if she'll act crazy, say the word "skullf*ck" and/or wear a vintage rock and roll t-shirt. We'll keep you posted.) Zombie shared the news with fans via his blog, saying:

Well, after 35 days of snow, freezing rain, fire ants, mud and blood we are done! The cast and crew kick ass beyond ass to bring you the most demented Halloween ever! In less than five months MIchael will be back in your face! And speaking of face… here is your first glimpse of one of the many faces Michael 2009.

And here's that image…


Not too shabby. If only the Push could hold out hope for the rest of the film surrounding this image.
It's no secret that yours truly hated despised had some major issues with Zombie's remake of the John Carpenter classic. Any promise shown by seeing Michael as a young boy in a shitty familial setting was quickly rendered moot not only by the cheesy dialogue and song selections but by the fact that WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE FELT SYMPATHY FOR MICHAEL MYERS IN THE FIRST PLACE! He was always evil, staring through that Smith's Grove door with the blackest eyes, the devil's eyes, towards Halloween night preparing his reign as evil incarnate, The Shape that stalked without reason or remorse. (Always gotta clarify that "without reason" part by reminding everybody that it was the studio, not the great J.C., that pushed for the sequels.) I know that it reeks of me not being open to the reinterpretation and that I suck for not giving new things a chance and that I'm an old grumpy man for placing the original on such a high pedestal. Too bad. Rob Zombie's Halloween sucked.

But how to explain the fascination with the picture above? Where to begin when describing the illness that is being a horror movie fan, knowing beyond hope or the shadow of a doubt that I will pay my hard-earned to see this piece of junk that is known only as H2 when it hits theaters at the end of August 2009? It's just like the title of my column says—all I need is a little push when it comes to horror, Wrong Turn DTV sequels being the only obvious exception. I want to see if Zombie can redeem himself at all with this sequel. Hey, House of 1,000 Corpses wasn't half-bad and The Devil's Rejects was pretty darned good when it comes to sick, twisted and blackly humorous horror. Like looking away from a train wreck, it's hard not to wonder the particulars of how McDowell's Dr. Loomis comes back, or if Taylor-Compton's Laurie Strode really was that bad of a shot.

Then I hear things about how there's gonna be more "young" Michael Myers shown in the sequel—my brilliant (he said sarcastically) powers of deduction led me to this revelation once I read that the kid that played young Mikey in the first one (Daeg Faerch) had grown too big and had to be recast. And after that I learn that Mr. Myers is going to be running around sans trademark mask for some of the film's running time. These things (along with many more to come, I'm sure) make me want to simultaneously bang my head off the nearest wall and buy a ticket immediately at the same see if there's already a work print copy floating around out there somewhere. While I can't avoid feeling confused and indignant by such news bites, I also can't help but want to see that steam locomotive derail.

You see, that's Zombie's trick when it comes to the image above. Yes, it is cool. Yes, it holds promise. Yes, instead of focusing on facets like the torn mask H2 will attempt to delve too deeply into the psyche behind it, complete with whooshy cuts, nonsensical edits, bad dialogue and horrendous soundtrack selections, all of which will compromise what really could've been a good sequel to a good flick that would've stood just fine on its own without infringing on the good name of the 1978 classic. And yes, despite all of this I'll see you all on opening night.

My head hurts.

Bring on the Antichrist!

No, not really. But this does look a little creepy. The following trailer is for (you guessed it) Antichrist, a trippy looking psychological thriller/horror film starring Willem DaFoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a couple who goes on vacation to their cabin (named "Eden") in the woods in an attempt to work on their troubled marriage after the death of their child. Judging by some of the freaky sexy-time moments in the trailer, the jury is still out on how successful they may be. Check it out below…

Lars von Trier's Antichrist - Official Trailer (Danish subtitles) from Zentropa on Vimeo.
Directed by Lars von Trier, Antichrist is still in post-production and slated for release at the Cannes Film Festival next month. The imagery is certainly intriguing and one must admit at the very least that it seems much more ambitious than the other works mentioned so far in this week's news report.

An R-Rated Bruno

Note: A Little Push does not know how to incorporate umlauts into its Word documents; otherwise the movie title above would have been referenced properly. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

Second note: This portion of the Push contains a spoiler about the movie referenced in the title and first note of this portion above. Specifically, if you don't want to lose a laugh come release time, don't read the caption of the picture below.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno has been downgraded from serious to credible threat to people everywhere. This week it was announced that the film about the flamboyant Austrian fashionista bringing his mad skills to America had cut enough from its first MPAA submission to earn an R rather than an NC-17 rating. A Little Push doesn't think that will affect the overall quality of the movie; after all, Borat was R upon theatrical release plus there's always those awesome unrated DVD releases to look forward to. More than anything, this gives an excuse to post the following picture of Bruno (again, sorry for the missing umlauts) and his adopted son, which makes me laugh every time I see it for some really odd reason…


The kicker? Bruno named the kid OJ.
Silly sight gags like this and the laugh out loud trailer featured in this column a few weeks ago are ensuring that Cohen will be getting ticket rather than Redbox money come July 10th.

Outtro

Well, Easter is over and the long holiday weekend of visiting family has now passed. Last week I started to talk about PG-13 versus R ratings and things just kind of fell apart on me due to time constraints and said family commitments. Someday I'd love to discuss how some people are arguing that PG-13 is akin to the R ratings of the 80s and 90s. It's an interesting (and frustrating) debate, to be sure. Anyway, thanks as always for the comments last week even though the Push fizzled a bit—and no, I don't mind that all of them were about Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Depp and Bale are gonna rock that one.

Anybody out there a hockey fan? I really don't pay super-close attention to it each and every day of the season but it's great when playoff time rolls around. Because of the size of the postseason field (eerily similar to the NBA playoffs) chances are your team may just be participating. This year it works out doubly sweet since, after recently moving away from PA where I could take my everyday access to hockey for granted, I still get to watch the Penguins and the Flyers go at it on VS. and NBC. Not too shabby at all.


I know I'm not a diehard fan. I also know they're only a (5) seed. Still, I'll take the black and orange over the black and gold any day.
You all know the drill. No matter what blows your hair back—hockey, pro b-ball, bad horror, or the somewhat uncomfortable humor of an Austrian fashionista—have fun until we meet again. Thanks for stopping by.

***Be sure to bookmark A Little Push and/or 411mania.com for all your pop culture needs—and wants!***