 | Courtesy: Respective Production Company | The Amityville Horror |
| True Murders, Voodoo, Ooze & Slime... Scared Yet?
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by Nancy Abdel Messieh | | | | | | | | |
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| This month, like last, continues the onslaught of horror films, with no less than four bone-chilling flicks to keep you on the edge of your seat (or not, depending on how cliched they are). |
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| In The Amityville Horror, a remake of the 1979 classic, George and Kathy Lutz (Burt Reynolds and Melissa George), along with their three children, move into a beautiful colonial home, even though they are perfectly aware that a horrific murder took place in that very house a year earlier. Directed by Andrew Douglas, the movie is based on a true story: On November 14, 1974, the house was witness to Ronald 'Butch' DeFeo's brutal murder of his parents and four siblings. |
| It all begins with creaking stairways and spooky sounds: Then, for 28 days of horrors, the Lutzes are subjected to the hands of Jody DeFeo's ghost, one of the murdered siblings. Whether or not this horror film is scary depends on how fainthearted you are. But just knowing that the film is in fact based on a true story is bound to scare the bravest of moviegoers. |
| Dark Water (directed by Walter Salles) is the remake of a Japanese film telling the story of a mother and daughter (played by Jennifer Connelly and Ariel Gade), who move into a run-down apartment. They are soon plagued by strange sounds, while audiences will be plagued with one horror cliche after the other, such as a mysterious thick, dark liquid seeping from the walls and ceilings. |
| The protagonist of The Skeleton Key is another brave woman (Kate Hudson), a live-in caretaker hired to look after a man (John Hurt) left paralyzed after a stroke, who lives in a dilapidated mansion outside of New Orleans with his wife Violet (Gena Rowlands). As if the state of the house was not enough to hint at a chilling secret hidden behind its locked doors, Caroline's suspicions are spurred on by Violet's cold demeanor regarding her husband's ailing health. |
| Caroline is drawn to a locked attic which hides a mysterious and terrifying secret between its musty walls. While the film (directed by Iain Softley) is not a direct remake of a specific film, it is a typical throwback to Southern Gothic flicks such as Rebecca, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Rosemary's Baby. |
| Last but not least, director George Romero, the King of the Zombie genre, presents audiences with his fourth zombie-infested picture after a two-decade silence. In Land of the Dead, mankind has been forced to live behind the walls of a city to avoid the dead who roam the lawless land. The wealthier citizens continue life as they have known it. The less fortunate lose themselves in gambling, drugs and any other vice in order to alleviate their miserable existence. |
| While these films might not score many points for originality, at least they will do their part in preparing you for the flood of horror films as the Halloween season sets in. At least six films are opening in October in America, including Hatchet, Satan's Little Helper, The Fog, Doom and Saw 2. |
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 | Courtesy: Respective Production Company | The Land of the Dead |
 | Courtesy: Respective Production Company | The Skeleton Key |
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