Greg McLean
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Connections, in both directions
And let’s assume Greg McLean was paying homage to Steven Spielberg’s Duel , George Miller’s Mad Max and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in key scenes that recall iconic moments from those classics.
Gone is the emphasis on Mick’s creepy mining-camp lair; in its place is the open road, where Mr. McLean stages a series of slick car chases — and a nod to Steven Spielberg’s “Duel” — with a brio that completely displaces the original film’s despairing chills.
In its mix of essentialist storytelling and blatant artifice, Jungle sometimes recalls the 1940s work of low-budget director Edgar G. Ulmer ( Bluebeard , Strange Illusion , Ruthless ).
In its mix of essentialist storytelling and blatant artifice, Jungle sometimes recalls the 1940s work of low-budget director Edgar G. Ulmer ( Bluebeard , Strange Illusion , Ruthless ).
In its mix of essentialist storytelling and blatant artifice, Jungle sometimes recalls the 1940s work of low-budget director Edgar G. Ulmer ( Bluebeard , Strange Illusion , Ruthless ).
It was Roth’s 2005 Hostel that inspired critic David Edelstein to coin the term when writing about how the Americans-being-dismembered-abroad feature and contemporaries like Wolf Creek and The Devil’s Rejects upped their gore factor to unprecedented levels for multiplex movies.
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Directed by Drew Goddard
influenced The Belko Experiment (2016), Wolf Creek (2005)
Themes Plot
This implies a a level of subtext absent within the horror genre since 2012’s The Cabin in the Woods , another horror film that flipped audience expectations and horror conventions.
There’s also a healthy dose of The Cabin in the Woods in The Belko Experiment, as well as a dash of real-life events like the Stanford Prison Experiment.
But for its appreciable nods to “The Cabin In The Woods,” “Office Space,” and both the “Saw” and “ Purge ” series, the movie is probably best distilled as the Stanford prison experiment (a famously nasty psychological trial itself made into a film in 2015) on amphetamines; a disturbing look at the evil human beings are capable of, only frenzied instead of measured – and soaked in blood.
Gunn seems interested in positioning himself as the next Joss Whedon, who laid down the blueprint for a cheeky horror fantasy with “The Cabin in the Woods” (directed by Drew Goddard), as a precursor to his Marvel debut with “The Avengers” (even tapping his Thunder God for a role as one of the doomed cabineers).
Equal parts The Cabin in the Woods and Battle Royale, the “kill your co-worker” flick is tailor-made for horror audiences looking for a rocking good time.
But though it has elements in common with every movie that ever sent a batch of comely youngsters into the wilderness (for starters: The Ruins, Wolf Creek, Wrong Turn), The Cabin in the Woods is not strictly speaking, a slasher flick.
Australia has a solid reputation for spooky horror movies, whether it’s the slasher thrills of Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek franchise or the psychological chills of Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook .
Films like Into The Wild , Rescue Dawn , and Kon-Tiki derive an additional thrill from the “based on a true story” angle, the reality of the accounts inspiring a certain verisimilitude: With the artifice out of the way, there’s just a stranger-than-fiction narrative to tell.
Films like Into The Wild , Rescue Dawn , and Kon-Tiki derive an additional thrill from the “based on a true story” angle, the reality of the accounts inspiring a certain verisimilitude: With the artifice out of the way, there’s just a stranger-than-fiction narrative to tell.
While Jungle tries on the clothes of “based on a true story” films like Into the Wild and 127 Hours, they hang loosely as it becomes increasingly clear that Greg McLean has no earthly idea what made those narratives impactful.
An appealing Josephine Langford ( Wish Upon , Wolf Creek ) plays the central role of Tessa, a fresh-faced teen who at the story's beginning is starting her first year at college.
Josephine Langford of “Wolf Creek” and “Wish Upon” is Tessa, whom we meet as she’s delivered to Atlanta’s Rossmore University by her helicopter divorced mom (Selma Blair) and still-in-high-school beau Noah (Dylan Arnold).
In a year rife with whitewashing controversies on both the big (Ghost in the Shell) and small (Iron Fist) screens, the continued underrepresentation of Asian talent stains the film a bit.
At times, the movie also reminded me a lot of Ben Wheatley’s thriller High-Rise , based on the novel by JG Ballard, mainly due to the building location, except that this film went to such gross extremes it became very hard to stomach at times.
Robert Pattinson of Twilight did it this year in The Lost City of Z and now Daniel Radcliffe is having a crack in Jungle, the true story of a gap-year adventure in Eighties Bolivia gone badly wrong.
Australia has a rich catalogue of horror movies, with The Babadook the latest and greatest entry in a canon that includes Picnic at Hanging Rock and Wolf Creek .
Adding to the off-center, "Stepford Wives"-esque mood is Toby Jones' (2016's " The Darkness ") elegant, observant lensing, and a number of pitch-perfect soundtrack cues, among them Noel Gay and Ralph Butler's chilling, childlike "Run Rabbit Run" and Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes' Oscar-winning song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," decidedly not used in quite the same way it was in 1987's "Dirty Dancing."
Last year’s The Darkness , a supernatural thriller starring Kevin Bacon, was equally hideous.
If Craven and his cohorts emerged in the wake of the Vietnam war, Aja (along with other young, thoughtful horror makers, like Wolf Creek's Greg McLean and Cabin Fever/Hostel's Eli Roth) are conjuring their nightmares amid increasing rage against America as well as U.S. invasions, neglects, and abuses.
There was a time before Guardians of the Galaxy when filmmaker James Gunn was better known for horror films like Slither and for writing the screenplay for Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake.
James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither) delivered a screenplay tailored for EVERY genre fan.
Written by Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither’s James Gunn and directed by Greg McLean of Wolf Creek fame, The Belko Experiment should have been a can’t-miss proposition.
Written by James Gunn (while most known for directing Guardians of the Galaxy he has also proven his expertise in horror and black comedy with projects such as Slither and the remake of Dawn of the Dead) and directed by Greg McLean (currently making a name for himself with the critically acclaimed television series Wolf Creek), the two have collaborated to create a film that is uncompromising on its savage premise.
Australian director Greg McLean (the Wolf Creek films, Rogue, The Darkness), working from a years-old screenplay from filmmaker James Gunn (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy), clearly made the decision early on that holding back wasn’t an option.
Nine years ago, writer/director James Gunn had the slick and sickening horror-comedy Slither under his belt, yet could get no momentum on an office-set slaughter fest called The Belko Experiment.
While Jungle tries on the clothes of “based on a true story” films like Into the Wild and 127 Hours, they hang loosely as it becomes increasingly clear that Greg McLean has no earthly idea what made those narratives impactful.