Oscar History
Film Bitch History
Welcome

The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)

Follow TFE on Substackd

Powered by Squarespace
Keep TFE Strong

We're looking for 500... no 390 SubscribersIf you read us daily, please be one.  

I ♥ The Film Experience

THANKS IN ADVANCE

What'cha Looking For?
Subscribe

Entries in sci-fi fantasy horror (151)

Thursday
Apr272023

Evil Dead: The Original Trilogy Revisited

by Cláudio Alves

As tentpoles falter and prestige fare fails to perform, horror continues to prove a safe investment for Hollywood. You won't find me complaining about that last bit, for scary movies have long won my affection. And yet, while celebrating box office success, it's distasteful to meander in mercenary matters. Instead, let's consider a new sensation in Evil Dead Rises, the fifth film in the horror franchise Sam Raimi birthed at the dawn of the 80s. Indeed, while these deadite-infested movies have strayed away from detailing the adventures of Ash Williams – check out the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead for more of that – the original trilogy continues to have a special place in fans' hearts.

So, join me as I revisit Raimi's first ventures into gory horror, horror comedy, and medieval fantasia…

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
May252022

Cannes at Home: Day 7 – Death to Reality!

by Cláudio Alves

Park Chan-wook and David Cronenberg have arrived. Livening up the 75th Cannes Film Festival, the two auteurs debuted new works, prompting many to sing their hosannas in reverent tones. The Film Experience's own Elisa Giudici has declared Decision to Leave the film of the festival, a sentiment shared by many critics who've celebrated the picture's surprising romanticism and Tang Wei's performance. Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future was less ecstatically received, but the reactions are still positive. The verdict is that the film is less shocking than advertised but more elegiac in tone. Nevertheless, as the director predicted, multiple spectators walked out before the end credits rolled.

While anticipating these filmmakers' new offerings, let's remember their past works – Thirst's sicko love story and eXistenZ's visions of a violent future…

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
May242022

Cannes at Home: Day 6 – Trolls, Actresses, and the Whole Shebang

by Cláudio Alves 

Well, folks, it seems we have another strong contender for the Palme d'Or. If Cristian Mungiu's R.M.N had people whispering about awards possibilities, Ali Abbasi's Holy Spider upped the conversation considerably. It isn't the first time the Iranian-Danish filmmaker presented work at Cannes, though Border was relegated to the Un Certain Regard competition – which it won. That same day, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi showed her latest directorial effort, Forever Young. The actress-turned-director already competed for the Palme back in 2013 with A Castle in Italy. Nevertheless, like Abbasi, her first film to be screened at Cannes was slotted for the Un Certain Regard section. In 2007, Tedeschi won a Special Jury Prize for Actresses.

As one ponders these directors' latest accomplishments, let's look back at their first prize-winning Cannes experiences…

Click to read more ...

Monday
Oct252021

Horror Costuming: The Cell (2000)

by Cláudio Alves


Last year, when exploring the wonders of horror costuming, I sang the praises of Eiko Ishioka's Oscar-winning Dracula designs, a heady mixture of Nipponic fantasy and Victorian fashion. While that's a cinematic wardrobe for the ages, it's fair to say Eiko's most crucial big-screen collaboration wasn't with Francis Ford Coppola. Instead, that would be her decades-long teaming with Tarsem Singh. Indeed, the Japanese artist's work with the Indian director became so intrinsic to his filmography that she could be considered a co-author of those movies. Her vision is vital to their final form. So much so that, after her death, Tarsem's cinema lost some of its spark. He's yet to return to the visual heights he had achieved with Eiko. Of the four features they did together, The Cell's the only adventure in the horror genre, a nightmarish plunge into a serial killer's psyche…

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Oct192021

Almost There: Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly"

by Cláudio Alves        


Last week
, you were asked to choose a horror movie performance to be analyzed in the Almost There series. From the ten possibilities, the pick was Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Telling the story of a scientist who accidentally gene-splices himself with a housefly, the movie is the platonic ideal of body horror and probably the title most readily associated with the subgenre. Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis' makeup is justly legendary and won the pair an Oscar. One would think horror would be a mainstay in that particular category, but AMPAS rarely embraces it, even there. Hence why The Fly's awards success feels so thrilling. Unfortunately, it's also why Goldblum's transformative work was ignored...

Click to read more ...