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Horror Fuel

A Whole New Thing: When a Remake Isn’t a Remake

It’s Not A Remake The Thing, 2011, is NOT a remake. It is a prequel. I just did more than the entire Universal Studios marketing department with that clarification. John Carpenter got royally screwed on his 1982 masterpiece. Some call The Thing his greatest film. Others, like me, call it one of the greatest films ever made for any genre. Carpenter’s film was buried in 1982 by a candy pilfering alien and Spielberg. Between a lackluster marketing campaign by Universal Studios and America’s pop sugar desire for heart glowing aliens, The Thing, 1982, never really had a chance. Carpenter himself saw the handwriting on the wall after exiting a plane to giant advertisements for ET: The Extraterrestrial. “We’re done,” he lamented. However home video and cable gave his film a new life, and eventually the tortoise caught up and passed the alien. Today, Carpenter’s film is regarded as timeless and as mentioned, by many, his best. The film is deserving

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Capt McNeely
Nov 12, 2015
Horror Fuel

Consuming Cynema PART I

Go Shopping A persistent misconception immediately after the 911 attacks in 2001 is that President George W. Bush urged Americans “to go shopping.” This was not the case. Over the years it’s been simplified into that message. In reality The President said this, “It’s to tell the traveling public: Get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida. Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed.” George Bush, White House Archives Not once was the word “shop” or any form of it used. This is not a political defense. Rather, something in that speech to a shocked nation did stand out to me, and can be applied to the entertainment industry. While we were not directly urged to “go shopping” the simplistic picture of consumerism congruent to the picture of American life was apparent. We have accepted an image of

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Capt McNeely
Aug 23, 2015
Horror Fuel

Halloween III: A Second Look

Gather Round Your TV Sets, Kids “You don’t really know much about Halloween.” – Conal Cochran Oh, You Mean THAT Halloween Movie… It’s the one without Michael Myers. It has nothing to do with the other movies. This one sucks. Right? Well you’re right on two counts. Halloween III: Season of the Witch does not have Michael Myers. It is not connected in any way to the Jamie Lee Curtis storyline started with the 1978 John Carpenter classic and most importantly, it was never meant to. Halloween III is as misunderstood as it is reviled with most of the hostility for the film attributed to the concept of Cynema. “When the [ Halloween II ] script came in I thought it was…the anti-Halloween. All the things that Halloween did so well…had been tossed out the window…I understood that in the intervening time between the first movie and what was going to be the second movie that times had changed, audiences

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Capt McNeely
Aug 18, 2015
Horror Fuel

What Is Cynema?

What Is Cynema? For those of you wanting to be filmmakers, screenwriters or even actors, this blog is a way to address a trend that’s been gaining cultural power in the entertainment world. It is not column about how much you “love” or “hate” a movie. This will look at certain films that fit criteria called “Cynema” while other films examined will be those deserving of a second chance and look. Cynema: The cynical practice of contempt for an audience in the making of product that is devoid of creativity, passion, production value or respect while having the financial and creative means to do better. Some films in the following list are Cynema while others deserve a second look: Jaws 3D, Jaws The Revenge (aka Jaws 4), King Kong 1976, King Kong Lives, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Popeye, 1941, Waterworld, Gojira (1954), Godzilla 1998, The 4th Dimension, Psycho III, Alien 3, They Live, are examples of “Cynema” while

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Aug 12, 2015

More from carpenter

Horror Fuel

A Whole New Thing: When a Remake Isn’t a Remake

It’s Not A Remake The Thing, 2011, is NOT a remake. It is a prequel. I just did more than the entire Universal Studios marketing department with that clarification. John Carpenter got royally screwed on his 1982 masterpiece. Some call The Thing his greatest film. Others, like me, call it one of the greatest films ever made for any genre. Carpenter’s film was buried in 1982 by a candy pilfering alien and Spielberg. Between a lackluster marketing campaign by Universal Studios and America’s pop sugar desire for heart glowing aliens, The Thing, 1982, never really had a chance. Carpenter himself saw the handwriting on the wall after exiting a plane to giant advertisements for ET: The Extraterrestrial. “We’re done,” he lamented. However home video and cable gave his film a new life, and eventually the tortoise caught up and passed the alien. Today, Carpenter’s film is regarded as timeless and as mentioned, by many, his best. The film is deserving

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Nov 12, 2015
Horror Fuel

Consuming Cynema PART I

Go Shopping A persistent misconception immediately after the 911 attacks in 2001 is that President George W. Bush urged Americans “to go shopping.” This was not the case. Over the years it’s been simplified into that message. In reality The President said this, “It’s to tell the traveling public: Get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida. Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed.” George Bush, White House Archives Not once was the word “shop” or any form of it used. This is not a political defense. Rather, something in that speech to a shocked nation did stand out to me, and can be applied to the entertainment industry. While we were not directly urged to “go shopping” the simplistic picture of consumerism congruent to the picture of American life was apparent. We have accepted an image of

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Aug 23, 2015
Horror Fuel

Halloween III: A Second Look

Gather Round Your TV Sets, Kids “You don’t really know much about Halloween.” – Conal Cochran Oh, You Mean THAT Halloween Movie… It’s the one without Michael Myers. It has nothing to do with the other movies. This one sucks. Right? Well you’re right on two counts. Halloween III: Season of the Witch does not have Michael Myers. It is not connected in any way to the Jamie Lee Curtis storyline started with the 1978 John Carpenter classic and most importantly, it was never meant to. Halloween III is as misunderstood as it is reviled with most of the hostility for the film attributed to the concept of Cynema. “When the [ Halloween II ] script came in I thought it was…the anti-Halloween. All the things that Halloween did so well…had been tossed out the window…I understood that in the intervening time between the first movie and what was going to be the second movie that times had changed, audiences

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Aug 18, 2015
Horror Fuel

What Is Cynema?

What Is Cynema? For those of you wanting to be filmmakers, screenwriters or even actors, this blog is a way to address a trend that’s been gaining cultural power in the entertainment world. It is not column about how much you “love” or “hate” a movie. This will look at certain films that fit criteria called “Cynema” while other films examined will be those deserving of a second chance and look. Cynema: The cynical practice of contempt for an audience in the making of product that is devoid of creativity, passion, production value or respect while having the financial and creative means to do better. Some films in the following list are Cynema while others deserve a second look: Jaws 3D, Jaws The Revenge (aka Jaws 4), King Kong 1976, King Kong Lives, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Popeye, 1941, Waterworld, Gojira (1954), Godzilla 1998, The 4th Dimension, Psycho III, Alien 3, They Live, are examples of “Cynema” while

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Aug 12, 2015