The News: Real Horror Show

Beatrice Dalle in Trouble Every Day

By S.T. VanAirsdale

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

--Where to start, where to start on a crisp Halloween morning, the final dawn for so many of the city's ongoing horror-centric expositions and exhibitions? I guess I'd first point you to Reverse Blog, where Claire Denis's gleefully gory, woefully underrated 2001 gem Trouble Every Day gets a fine appreciation from masked blogger ClarenceCarter (is he Michael Koresky? Jeff Reichert? Neither? I can never keep them straight): "To be sure, this is horror for the art-house set, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily an impenetrable experience for those weaned on the more hyperkinetic multiplex scare." More at the link. If you're staying in for the holiday, you could do a lot worse than this sumptuous dose of evil.

--Welcome to the cinema of mercenaries, by mercenaries, for mercenaries: No sooner had I finished my groan of queasy anticipation than Gerard Butler appears to have jumped ship on the remake of Escape From New York. Blame "creative differences," reports Variety, but that won't last; look for new writer and potential director Jonathan Mostow to purge any remaining hints of imagination from the project in the weeks ahead.

--Officiating this week's Micturition Marathon, I can't help but continue to notice how hard it is out there for a critic: Times DVD scribe Dave Kehr can't win for losing, and Movie City News's Noah Forrest can't... well, write. Best wishes to both for a healthy recovery.

--Finally, you tell me: Is this interview a prank, or just a starter's pistol shy of the Special Olympics? I can't be sure.

Posted at October 31, 2007 8:36 AM