André Øvredal
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Jurassic Park (1993)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Troll Hunter (2010)
Themes Plot Visuals
His film plays like a northern response to Gareth Edwards's "Monsters," using the found footage device of "Cloverfield" with dashes of "Jurassic Park" and the satirical humor of neighboring Finland's "Rare Exports."
By the movie's climax in the tundra, up against the most fearsome type of troll extant, we get a Jurassic Park ride of terror and heroism.
There’s tons of delicious suspense of the horror-flick variety to be had in writer-director André Øvredal’s mockumentary, and plenty of Spielbergian shock-awe -- in places Trollhunter gleefully recalls Jaws and Jurassic Park -- but what makes it one of the most satisfying examples of found-footage flicks yet is its observational, journalistic ethos.
Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal breathes zesty life into the found footage trend with The Troll Hunter, a monster thrill ride that combines handheld camerawork with rollicking action reminiscent of Jurassic Park.
Although easily categorised as a mix of Steven Spielberg's monsters-run-amok adventure Jurassic Park (1993) and the first-person mayhem of Daniel Myrick's and Eduardo Sánchez's The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Troll Hunter rises above such pat comparisons.
Remember the feeling you had the first time you saw Jurassic Park and wondered “Are those real dinosaurs?”
It (2017)
Directed by Andy Muschietti
influenced Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Themes Characters
Aunque ahora el referente que se mencionará al hablar de este (más complejo de lo acostumbrado) ómnibus de relatos de terror unidos por un libro hechizado escrito con sangre humana, será la televisiva Stranger Things (un grupo de amigos adolescentes unidos frente a lo sobrenatural… pero en 1968), o incluso la reformulación que Andy Muschietti ha hecho del opus del pope Stephen King en It, lo cierto es que Historias de miedo para contar en la oscuridad pertenece al imaginario de su productor y autor del argumento: Guillermo Del Toro.
There are a lot of parallels to the Stephen King horror juggernaut It, and when the nerdy Auggie dresses as a clown for Halloween, it is surely meant as a jab at the competition.
Forget the effects-laden remake – this version of It, released as a miniseries in 1986, is the most terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's beloved novel to date.
Scary Stories feels like it’s more for a middle-school aged audience than anyone old enough to see IT .
Most modern horror falls into two general categories – the hard R with extreme levels of graphic violence and vivisections (such as Raw), and the more general-audience softer-R to the hard PG-13 flavor which is more supernatural thriller (“ Stephen King’s It,” “Stranger Things,” “Get Out,” and “ It Follows” ).
The nameless female in question is a near-perfect humanoid, recalling Mathilda May’s alien “space girl” in Lifeforce.
Though no-one dares say as much, Jane is as voluptuously nude and supernaturally alluring as Mathilda May in Lifeforce — at least until the first incisions are made.
Re-Animator (1985)
Directed by Stuart Gordon
influenced The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Visuals Themes
(One sequence in particular recalls the elevator scene in Re-Animator, but way more intense.)
When horror buffs debate their favorite morgue scenes, most probably gravitate towards Re-Animator and Stuart Gordon’s undead monster mash.
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Directed by Freddie Francis
influenced The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Themes
Contained and terrifying, The Autopsy of Jane Doe reminds me of the best of Tales From The Crypt.
The movie uses the Nixon-Agnew election the same way Warren Beatty and Robert Towne did in Shampoo—as a barbed backdrop to personal calamity.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by Daniel Myrick
influenced Troll Hunter (2010)
Visuals Plot
Shot in a faux-documentary style that makes its fantastically ominous happenings all the more real, "Troll Hunter" does for Norwegian mythology what 1999's " The Blair Witch Project " did for getting lost in the woods and 2008's " Cloverfield " did for alien invasions.
Filmgoers have endured similar faux exposés of the supernatural captured on video in recent years, ever since the blockbuster success of 1999's low-budget The Blair Witch Project.
The film takes the setup from “The Blair Witch Project” (1999), figuratively transplants it to the breathtaking (if constantly rain-swept) fjords, forests, cloud-clad mountains and Nordic magic of Norway and adds a fab new ingredient to the three-young-person-shooting-the-footage crew.
The real connection is with The Blair Witch Project, of course, and all the imitators that followed that 1999 surprise horror hit.
Although easily categorised as a mix of Steven Spielberg's monsters-run-amok adventure Jurassic Park (1993) and the first-person mayhem of Daniel Myrick's and Eduardo Sánchez's The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Troll Hunter rises above such pat comparisons.
Director André Øvredal applies the pseudo-vérité aesthetic of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield" to this story of a student film crew whose exposé on poachers reels in a larger scandal than they anticipated.
Films that feature extensive post-mortem images of dead bodies do exist (think of the little-seen but thoughtful arthouse thriller Kissed with Molly Parker and Peter Overbridge), but normally these visuals can be found in crime procedural shows such as CSI, which specialize in giving us corpses up close and personal.
The Thing (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter
influenced The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Visuals Themes
As they begin to dissect the body, Øvredal embraces the kind of body-horror motifs found in John Carpenter’s The Thing and the films of David Cronenberg, not shying away from any of the gruesome insides of this body.
Sucker for those isolated horrors, from this sort of setting to one more like Carpenter’s The Thing.
The concept of angry ghosts and children exposing family secrets has been Del Toro’s go-to device for years, going back to his masterful 2001 “The Devil’s Backbone” and less impressive credits as a producer like 2013’s “Mama.”
Goosebumps (2015)
Directed by Rob Letterman
influenced Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Themes Plot
A generation cut their teeth on R.L. Stine’s ‘Goosebumps’, devouring forbidden stories of devious child heroes and things that go bump in the night, before graduating to Steven King works.
Much like 2015’s Goosebumps , André Øvredal’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark follows a group of teenagers who play around with a book that they have no business touching.
Writers Dan and Kevin Hagerman (with story credits for del Toro, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan) have settled on an approach that honestly is not that much unlike the 2015 adaptation of “Goosebumps.”
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
influenced The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Themes
Like Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn, André Øvredal ’s latest film is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
In the manner of the special federal agents policing extraterrestrials in Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black pictures, he works for a secret government department charged with keeping trolls in their native areas and killing those who stray outside.
He’s a bona fide Norwegian troll hunter, a kind of “X-Files”-y, “Men in Black”-ish, comically disgruntled civil-service worker named Hans (Otto Jespersen).
Shot in a faux-documentary style that makes its fantastically ominous happenings all the more real, "Troll Hunter" does for Norwegian mythology what 1999's " The Blair Witch Project " did for getting lost in the woods and 2008's " Cloverfield " did for alien invasions.
We've seen shaky-cam hauntings (Paranormal Activity 1 and 2), possessions ( The Last Exorcism ), zombie uprisings (Diary of the Dead), monster attacks (Cloverfield) and alien invasions (Skyline, Battle: Los Angeles).
Troll Hunter, directed by André Øvredal, follows in the mockumentary footsteps of The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity.
Director André Øvredal applies the pseudo-vérité aesthetic of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield" to this story of a student film crew whose exposé on poachers reels in a larger scandal than they anticipated.
His film plays like a northern response to Gareth Edwards's "Monsters," using the found footage device of "Cloverfield" with dashes of "Jurassic Park" and the satirical humor of neighboring Finland's "Rare Exports."
– and a surprisingly affecting turn from Jespersen as a man who really, really loathes his job, Trollhunter plays like the Brothers Grimm meets Cloverfield with a hint of Monty Python-esque ridiculousness.
Øvredal, who was apparently inspired to direct a horror movie after he caught a screening of James Wan’s “The Conjuring,” is gift-wrapped a brilliant premise for his genre debut.
In fact, the film elicits more scares than recent horror hits like “Lights Out,” “Don't Breathe” and “The Conjuring 2.”
Once the sun finally sets, Øvredal and his cinematographer, Roman Osin (Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice), show they are not the least bit afraid of the dark and using darkness to tell their story.
For years, the director has helped nurture smaller projects and his name is attached to several gems, including The Orphanage and Julia’s Eyes .
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1972)
Directed by Stan Brakhage
influenced The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Visuals
With its long, lingering shots of scalpels slicing into human flesh, hands digging through viscera, and skin peeling away from muscle, director André Øvredal's The Autopsy of Jane Doe is perhaps cinema's most comprehensive look at the gruesome business of necropsy since The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes.
We’ve recently gotten Nosferatu, Abigail, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter…
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
Directed by Emma Tammi
influenced by Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Themes
Five Nights at Freddy’s” would be right at home on a double feature with 2019’s “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” It’s creepier and bloodier than this year’s “Haunted Mansion,” but nowhere near the gore of “Saw” or “Friday the 13th.