¡Qué horror! 2014

Candidate #13

HANNIBAL Season 2

(February 2014)

So, yeah, in a year that had some strong potential TV horror entries, no one could touch Hannibal.

True, Bryan Fuller’s exquisitely constructed mix tape adaptation of Thomas Harris’ serial killer novels was on its sophomore season, while most of the other TV horror contenders were freshman series, but hey, it managed to tie with Les Revenants for a ¡Qué horror! slot last year, and they were both freshmen shows back then…

As we inch ever closer to a third adaptation of Red Dragon and the tantalizing possibility of a television rendition of The Silence of the Lambs (with Agent Schmarice Schmarling, if MGM can’t be bothered to play nice), Fuller and company continue to stage the most elegantly audacious and horrific serial killer scenarios this side of American network television.

If you haven’t gotten a, ahem, taste of Hannibal, you really ought to…

Parting Shot 1: For the record, the other horror series I hoped would be contenders but ultimately weren’t are:

Salem – honestly, a lot better than I thought it would be. A pleasant surprise (with a kickass opening title sequence orchestrated to a Marilyn Manson ditty) that still has some issues which, hopefully, will get resolved in its sophomore run.

Penny Dreadful – I absolutely love the first two episodes (directed by J.A. Bayona and shot by Xavi Giménez), but subsequent episodes don’t quite come up to that opening, impressive level.

Again, some issues need to be worked out… having Bayona and Giménez on board for all of Season 2’s episodes would be an awesome start!

But, barring that, I’m still stoked to hear that we get more of odd duck Egyptologist Ferdinand Lyle, as Simon Russell Beale is reportedly being upgraded to series regular.

Huzzah!

The Strain – this was the one that hurt. Given the pedigree of the show (Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse), I wanted this show to kick ass.

Sadly, even though the one-and-done guest appearances of some familiar genre faces (like Larry Fessenden and Aaron Douglas) were much appreciated, it’s still got a whole slew of issues that need to be fixed.

As with the above two shows, The Strain’s also got a second season renewal, so here’s hoping they make the most of it, ‘cause they’ve got lots of tweaking to do to get this show pitch perfect…

Parting Shot 2: And while we’re on the subject of television, the pilot episode for Chris Carter’s new show for Amazon, The After, is mighty interesting.

Yes, the premise is not exactly new (it’s a mash-up between the “a bunch of strangers find themselves working together to survive an apocalyptic disaster” and “a bunch of not-so-random strangers thrown together, seemingly by fate” set-ups), but hey, this is Chris Carter, so I’m über-curious where he plans to take the story.

Plus, an initially unrecognizable Jamie Kennedy and Sharon Lawrence!

And a projected 99 episode run based, at least structurally, on Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia. (And I’m assuming he meant 99 episodes past the pilot, since there are 100 cantos in the Commedia.)

Given my fascination with Dante that stretches back all the way to high school (thank you, Mr. Manny Leviste!), there was no way I was gonna pass this up.

I’m so in, Mr. Carter…

(Hannibal OS’ courtesy of aintitcool.com and impawards.com; Salem and Penny Dreadful OS’ courtesy of impawards.com; The Strain OS courtesy of collider.com; The After image courtesy of seriable.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best, Most Recent Horror Movies I’ve Seen
[7 of 13]
EL ORFANATO (THE ORPHANAGE)
(May 2007)


… it’s a comforting surprise that El Orfanato is the feature debut for both [writer Sergio] Sánchez and [director Juan Antonio] Bayona. The certitude and confidence that clearly informs the film seems to have come from practiced, veteran hands. The fact that it stems from two newcomers not only makes the film even more astounding, it also effectively underscores the importance of El Orfanato as a magnificent harbinger of better, brighter things to come from the pair.

Read the entire review here.

(El Orfanato OS courtesy of aintitcool.com.)

EL ORFANATO

(THE ORPHANAGE)
(Review)

Laura (Mar adentro‘s Belén Rueda) was once a ward of the Good Shepherd Orphanage, and now she’s returned with her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and son Simon (Roger Princep), with the intention of turning the sprawling structure into a home for special needs children.
But Simon makes some new invisible friends (the imaginative tyke already has two when they move in, Watson and Pepe), who may not be imaginary after all, and who’ve been lonely for a very long time…


Produced by Guillermo del Toro, written by Sergio Sánchez and directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, El Orfanato is an exquisitely melancholy ghost story that operates in the same spectral realm as Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others and del Toro’s El Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil’s Backbone). And depending on one’s particular reading of the film, El Orfanato also shares certain narrative characteristics and themes with del Toro’s El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth).
Given these apparent commonalities, it’s interesting to note that Sánchez points to both J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw as his main (literary) influences for El Orfanato, while Bayona looked to Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind as his narrative template.
Moreover though, it’s a comforting surprise that El Orfanato is the feature debut for both Sánchez and Bayona. The certitude and confidence that clearly informs the film seems to have come from practiced, veteran hands. The fact that it stems from two newcomers not only makes the film even more astounding, it also effectively underscores the importance of El Orfanato as a magnificent harbinger of better, brighter things to come from the pair.


Sánchez is not only poised to write another script for Bayona (for what he calls a “sci-fi love story”), he’s also writing 3993 for del Toro, which will close the director’s Spanish Civil War trilogy (alongside El Espinazo Del Diablo and El Laberinto Del Fauno), and looking to direct his third feature film screenplay, The Homecoming, which he’s described as “a fantasy film, a horror story about the end of the world.”
Given how fantastic El Orfanato has turned out, all these various projects look very promising indeed.
To return to the matter at hand though, El Orfanato is an expertly crafted and surprisingly moving film that is, perhaps, more creepy than it is outright scary. But then again, this terribly effective exercise in quiet horror isn’t really about the sudden shocks.
It’s about loss, and fear, and perception, and just how far a mother is willing to go to be with her child.
It’s also about the difficulties involved in going home, because in El Orfanato, it isn’t exactly true that you can never go home again, but rather, that though it is possible to return home, the price for that return ticket is an awfully steep one.


Parting shot: Among the numerous honours bestowed upon El Orfanato, were 7 awards (out of a field of 9 nominations) at the Barcelona Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Actress (for Rueda), and Best New Director.
At the Goya Awards, the film took home 7 out of an astounding 14 nominations, including Best New Director and Best Screenplay – Original.


(El Orfanato OS courtesy of impawards.com; images courtesy of twitchfilm.net; DVD cover art courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com.)