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Don't Go in the... Never Mind: Sarah Paxton (left) and Pat Healy probe where novice ghost hunters shouldn't probe in THE INNKEEPERS.

There are compelling reasons why, when traveling, one should skip the chain lodgings and stay at one of America’s classic hotels. There’s the friendly and courteous staff, the opportunity to experience a true piece of Americana, and the chance that you’ll encounter a spectral manifestation that wants to rip your immortal soul from your still-screaming body. (Disadvantage: no wi-fi.) In THE INNKEEPERS, a pair of slackers (Sarah Paxton and Pat Healy) are put in charge of an aging hotel in its last days and — when not attending to the needs of such guests as Kelly McGillis as a sympathetic psychic and George Riddle as Quiet Creepy Guy — decide to play GHOST HUNTERS by investigating the myriad tales of hauntings that the institution has acquired. To quote a classic, American aphorism: “Big mistake.”

With films such as THE ROOST and THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, director Ti West has managed to deliver old-school, atmospheric chills on a limited budget, and he’s pulled the same feat off with THE INNKEEPERS, creating a ghost tale that’s both witty and scary, with a valuable lesson for us all (i.e. continental breakfast shouldn’t be the only consideration when choosing a hotel). Click on the player to hear my interview with him.

THE INNKEEPERS
Trailer

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Official Website
www.magnetreleasing.com/theinnkeepers

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We Blame Slytherin: Daniel Radcliffe unearths the secret of a hostile spirit in THE WOMAN IN BLACK.

The balmy days of February have triggered an uncommon sense of renewal, nowhere more so than in the cinema, where, after a customarily dismal January (we’re looking at you, THE DEVIL INSIDE), there now come glimmers of hope in the entertaining and atmospheric THE WOMAN IN BLACK. Featuring a post-Potter Daniel Radcliffe as an emotionally ravaged lawyer trying to redeem his career in the British countryside, instead discovering a village where children spontaneously take their lives and an isolated mansion houses a malign spirit and a terrible secret, the film’s a refreshing invocation of the classic ghost story, all the better for coming from British horror-home Hammer.

beabetterbooktalker.com’s Andrea Lipinski joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons to stir up the spirits and measure the film’s ability to generate scares and creeps. Plus: The gang delivers capsule reviews of CHRONICLE, THE INNKEEPERS, and KILL LIST. Also: What’s coming in theaters and home video.

GOING TO STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE THIS WEEKEND?
TWEET YOUR #WalkAwayReview TO @cfqspotlight
(Please don’t tweet during the movie!)

Continue reading »]]> In the spirit of international cooperation comes INTRUDERS, a new film that kicks it old school in its tale about two children — a boy and a girl — in two, different countries who find themselves menaced by… ssssssomething… that visits them in the middle of the night with intentions that extend well beyond just tucking them in.

Clive Owen and Carice Van Houten star as the girl’s parents, Pilar Lopez De Ayala as the boy’s, and the project was helmed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, whose previous efforts include the well-regarded zombie sequel 28 WEEKS LATER. Hey, we’re just glad this isn’t another entry in the well-worn “found footage” genre — we’re so sick of wildly shaking cameras that we’ve started popping Dramamine before entering the theater.

The film’s opening in UK on the 27th and will be getting to the US in April. Meantime, get your creep on with the trailer below.

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The Romance Will Poke Yer Eyes Out!: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is now enhanced with 3D.

Does Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST need to undergo digital conversion to the 3D format in order to lure audiences back into the theater? It shouldn’t, not really. BEAUTY is a certified classic, the first animated film to net a “Best Picture” Oscar nom and the one that re-energized the Disney animation division. To think that it has to go through a “It’s the film you’ve known and loved, back on the big screen where it belongs… now with candy,” process in order to get butts into seats says more about the current theories of film marketing than it does about what was lacking in the movie itself.

Nevertheless, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is back, and Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons have strapped on the 3D goggles to determine whether the film prospers or suffers from the tweaking, as well as discussing whether the film’s stature still holds some twenty years later, and examining how the contributions of the songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken permanently transformed animated storytelling.

Plus: Steve delivers his capsule judgement on the apocalyptic thriller THE DIVIDE, and the CFQ team discuss their reactions to the animated short TANGLED EVER AFTER. Plus: What’s coming in theaters.

GOING TO SEE UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING THIS WEEK?
TWEET YOUR “WALK-AWAY REVIEW” TO @cfqspotlight.
(Please don’t tweet during the film!)

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Mother and Child Reunion?: Fernanda Andrade (top) learns the risks of reconnecting with Suzan Crowley in THE DEVIL INSIDE.

What kind of film is worthy of the sacrificial lamb slot that is the first release of January? What sort of slipshod storytelling does it take for audience members to start hurling epithets at the screen as the credits crawl? How disposable is the project when the host of a podcast devoted to genre film repeatedly gets the title wrong? Why, that would be THE DEVIL WITHI… ’scuse us… THE DEVIL INSIDE, yet another attempt to recast horror through the blurry lens of the mockumentary.

Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski and Dan Persons ring in the New Year by exploring DEVIL’s flawed theology, shallow characterizations, and ambiguous narrative gambits. And, with the help of input from theofantastique.com’s John W. Morehead, they discuss whether the recent rebirth of the exorcism genre is an accurate reflection of these anxious times. What’s revealed in discussion may surprise you — maybe even more than the film itself.

Also: Steve gives his capsule thoughts on the alien-invasion-in-Moscow flick, THE DARKEST HOUR, and Dan provides takes on THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN and the imaginative fantasy short,  A GOBLIN’S TALE. Plus: What’s coming in theaters.

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You Can't Go Home Again - Worst-Case Scenario: Patton Oswalt and Charlize Theron in YOUNG ADULT.

Bless screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman their twisted, little hearts. In a season rife with people bettering themselves through moody introspection, they introduce us to Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), author of young adult novels and a woman who looks within and comes away with all the wrong lessons.

YOUNG ADULT, isn’t season-specific, but it does serve as a healthy counterbalance to all that holiday growth and belonging. In it, Mavis — who generally lives on a diet of Diet Coke breakfasts and hard-liquor suppers — decides on a whim to go back to her hometown, to the bemusement of former high school nerd Matt (Patton Oswalt) and the befuddlement of her one-time sweetheart (Patrick Wilson), for whom she has returned to rekindle their romance, despite the fact that he’s now happily married and recently become a father. It’s going to take more than an Andy Williams holiday marathon to smooth out this homecoming.

Click on the player to hear the Jason Reitman press conference.

YOUNG ADULT
Trailer

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Official Website:
www.youngadultmovie.com

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Dream Come True: Emily Browning enters a strange world of erotic desire in SLEEPING BEAUTY.

Award-winning novelist Julia Leigh makes a hell of a directorial debut with her quiet fantasia, SLEEPING BEAUTY, the story of a young college student (Emily Browning) who becomes immersed in a strange world of desire when she signs on as employee of a service that drugs women and allows men — frequently much older — to do whatever they wish with the inert bodies (with the strict proviso that there be no penetration or damage).

Dark, provocative, erotic, the film inspires a multitude of responses, frequently within the same second of footage. And once you get past the tale’s elegant mise en scene and sensuous atmosphere, don’t be surprised to discover Leigh has posed some intriguing questions on love, death, and all the impulses that drive our species. Sex is 99% brain, after all.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Leigh.

SLEEPING BEAUTY
Trailer

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Official Website:
www.ifcfilms.com/films/sleeping-beauty

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Gears Set in Motion: Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz uncover the true heart of film in HUGO.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like there’d be much intersect between HUGO — the fanciful film based on Brian Selznick’s vividly illustrated novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret — and director Martin Scorsese. It’s set in a Parisian railway station circa the 1930’s, so there’s little opportunity for Brooklyn accents; it’s about an orphan boy (Asa Butterfield) who tends to the clocks in that station while hiding out in its secret passages, so there’s little chance we’ll be seeing Joe Pesci kick someone’s ribs in; and it’s driving force is an automaton that contains within its works a secret about the station’s not-so-kindly toy vender, Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), so forget about hearing any of the traditional, four-letter-word-laced dialogue this time around. It’s only when you find out what that secret is that you realize not only why Scorsese is the perfect choice for this film, but why this may be the film he’s been waiting his entire career to make.

beabetterbooktalker.com’s Andrea Lipinski joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons to explore how a tale about the founding father of fantastic film has stirred a legendary director to create his sweetest and most enchanting work, and how it in turn pays tribute to those who seek to instill the sense of wonder in audiences around the world.

Also: Andrea gives her take on THE MUPPETS. Plus: What’s coming in theaters.

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Professional Behavior: Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender take their relationship outside of the office in A DANGEROUS METHOD.

David Cronenberg is no stranger to exploring how people undo themselves by venturing into the boundaries of human sexuality. In A DANGEROUS METHOD, though, he delves into the historical figures who helped set those boundaries, and creates a drama where intellect and science are pitted against human passion and sexual politics.

The story — as adapted by screenwriter Christopher Hampton from his stage play, The Talking Cure, which in turn was based on John Kerr’s book, A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein — spins off the actual relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), one of the fathers (and we use that term guardedly) of modern psychoanalysis, and Spielrein (Keira Knightley), a young woman who starts out as the doctor’s patient and eventually becomes his colleague and, as rumor has it, mistress. As Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortenson) is drawn into their orbits, the film becomes an intelligent and moving tale of people striving for the betterment of humanity, frequently against the pull of their own frailties.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Christopher Hampton.

A DANGEROUS METHOD
Trailer

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Official Website:
adangerousmethodfilm.com