Tag: Halloween

Dark City

Dark City

dir. Alex Proyas (1998)

Proyas_Dark City

1940s noir in a SF/Halloween setting. Director Alex Proyas delivers Dark City’s scenario like a knife thrower, hurling mystery elements in quickfire until the plot takes shape. More accessible than Kafka; more coherent than Gilliam. Intelligent, atmospheric dystopia at its cinematic best.

 

 

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko

dir. Richard Kelly (2001)

Kelly_Donnie Darko

Set in the lead-up to Halloween 1988, Donnie Darko is an intelligent, at times disturbing, cult SF classic, made on a $4 million budget and easily outshining its more Hollywood-hyped rivals. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a teen unhinged by prescient doomsday visions.

 

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

dir. Henry Selick (1993)

Selick_Nightmare Before Christmas

Cue the skeleton:

“If Christmas fills your heart with woe, a schmaltz-fest souring your December

maybe you’ll prefer macabre stop-motion Halloween adventures

(but) Disney brings the curse of singing, rhymes so trying, Walt’s will lurking

Elfman’s lyrics don’t deliver Burton’s dark disturbance.”

 

Derelict Space Sheep