I warned you not to go out tonight

In 2006 Alex Aja knocked one out of the park with his English language debut, a re-imagining of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes. Equal parts atomic cautionary tale, haunting creepshow and ultra-violent gorefest, it remains for me one of the great modern horror remakes.

Six years later, this time as producer and co-writer of 2012's Maniac, Aja once again reminded us that remakes can sometimes be very worthwhile endeavours. Directed by longtime Aja collaborator Franck Khalfoun (seen here being slaughtered in spectacular fashion in High Tension), Maniac 2012 is a compelling update on William Lustig's thirty-four year old shocker.

However, Elijah Wood's take on Frank Zito is different enough to Joe Spinell's that it serves to make this new film more than just another update for a new generation. The two films stand apart as distinctly different character studies of a very sad, sick man. Wood's performance, as well as some really interesting stylistic changes, elevate Khalfoun's Maniac above many of it's remake brethren, making this a truly worthy companion piece to the original.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that Khalfoun's Maniac is for me a near perfect horror movie. Wood's portrayal of Frank is excellent, bringing sympathy to a character who is as vile and repellent as they come. Without that pathos, both versions of Maniac would be little more than exercises in graphic sadism, having no more emotional impact on the viewer than Fulci's New York Ripper (which is a great flick, but for different reasons). Maxime Alexandre's cinematography (he also shot Aja's gorgeous looking early movies) is drenched in grimy, neon-lit atmosphere, thanks to good use of late night cityscapes to create an urban setting that is both alienating and desolate. The central conceit of the movie, that everything is seen from Frank's point of view, is skillfully handled as well, making the whole sordid experience that much more visceral. And speaking of viscera, the gore is absolutely top notch, easily trumping Savini's celebrated work on the original.

Finally, Robin Coudert's throbbing, menacing score is a nostalgic throwback that struck a chord with me on a deeper level than most other '80s tribute scores, especially this collaboration with Chloë Alper that I couldn't get out of my head for weeks after seeing it. I still listen to this track all the time.

Don’t wanna fall apart again. 

Count to three.

We're gonna jump after three, 

you mean that much to me.

Can’t you see? 

Nobody likes you but me. 

Finally, someone who understands. 

Now you want to stay

I won't be a fool again.

I'm not made that way

Can't you see? 

Nobody out here but me. 

The other side of town 

And now you want to stay, 

I won't be a fool again. 

We're all made this way.

I can see,

your head is stuck in the tree 

and sure you'll never leave in times of emergency 

When you walked away, 

You took all I had left to me 

All of everything 

Falling apart again 

Falling apart again 

Don't wanna fall apart again. 

Don't make me fall apart again

Don't make me fall apart again

Don't make me fall apart again

Don't make me fall apart again.

I Don't Care About The Wild Wild Girls

Dear Alex Aja... what happened?

This is the first bit of promotional material for Aja's upcoming Piranha remake that has been even remotely good (but that tagline, ugh). It is a good poster, reminiscent of the superb one sheet for Dante's '78 original. But other than some early excitment about KNB's gore FX for the movie (that admittedly looks impressive)... Piranha 2010 is not looking good.

The first half of the trailer looks promising. Then, not so promising. And I hope that's unfinished CG on the piranha... because it looks like shit. Every bit of US promo that we've seen; from various permutations of the logo, to the teaser poster, to those embarrassingly stupid viral websites, just screams half-assed. The Wild Wild Girls are really, really weak.

Why am I being so negative? Because I love Alex Aja.

I love High Tension. I've never understood why so many people hate the ending, because Tension doesn't require a logical resolution. It's just a kick-ass celebration of both gialli and slasher movies that - in the tradition of many great gialli - is more concerned with visual style and effectively staged mayhem than a coherent narrative. It's flawlessly shot, particularly in the first act where it's a very "still" movie, and manages to juxtapose some moments of genuine beauty against all the horror.


It's not all just pretty pictures though. The deliberate pacing of the first act really does build a lot of tension that pays off later on. The performances are excellent throughout. The killer is really cool. The gore is well executed, and the violence is shocking and disturbing. Haute Tension est fantastique!

I love The Hills Have Eyes even more! Hills is my favourite of the recent explosion of American remakes, and is the only one that I personally think has improved on the original (other than Last House and NOES, I'm not the biggest Craven fan).

Again, it's just perfectly shot. The desert is stunningly photographed, but it also looks hostile, menacing and lethal. The score, by Tomandandy, is one of the best horror scores of the last decade. Tension-building, creepy and ethereal; it really evokes feelings of the isolation and tragedy that you're seeing play out on the screen. The makeup and gore by KNB is top-notch, easily amongst their best work ever.


And the violence... brutal, unrelenting, shocking and ultimately, disturbingly cathartic. Surely this criminally mistreated underclass of fringe-dwelling mutants should be pitied. But as we watch our anti-gun, liberal hero suddenly change into a vengeful gun-toting warmonger - losing part of his humanity in the process - we cheer for the spilled blood of the disenfranchised mutants. We cheer because they attacked the sanctity of Christian values and the family unit... and for that they must die. They may be cannibal mass-murderers, but in the end aren't they just desperately trying to survive in the aftermath of having their whole world destroyed by the government's callous nuclear testing? They are an insignificant class of humans, living on the edge of "civilisation"; expendable, collateral casualties of the profiteering military-industrial complex.

Tough, thought-provoking and savage, The Hills Have Eyes was an amazingly promising followup to Tension.

Then Aja made Mirrors. Mirrors was not only one of the shittiest horror movies of the last decade, but one of the worst movies of any genre. Ever. It sucked. How do you follow two such great movies with... that.

So, I really want Piranha to be good. Not only because I dig Aja, and I know he can do great things, but because I love the sub-genre! Underwater monster movies rule! I hope it surprises me and turns out to be the fun, popcorn creature feature that it's being sold as. But I think that maybe this fish is gonna stink.