Posts Tagged ‘The Devils’

I get paid to watch these things, what’s your excuse? By Richard Crouse

review_The_DevilsWhy I am left nursing a nasty Hangover after drinking in too many movie sequels?

There is a great scene in Ken Russell’s 1971 forgotten masterpiece The Devils. Oliver Reed as the whiskey priest Father Grandier has been tortured by a church sanctioned witch hunter. His legs crushed, his tongue pierced, he refuses to confess to heresy. His tormentor leans in one last time to question the priest’s commitment to his faith.

“Do you love the church?”

After a long pause the broken and battered holy man says, “Not today.”

I bring this up because I have just read that 2011, with a sum total of 27 movie sequels scheduled to hit theatres, is the biggest year yet for sequels and I feel like my cinematic church has been defiled.

This weekend alone offers up two part twos, the imaginatively titled The Hangover Part Two and Kung Fu Panda 2.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with movie sequels. Arguably The Godfather 2 outstrips the original, and The Bride of Frankenstein is unquestionably a better movie than its predecessor. So are Aliens, Toy Story 2 and Dawn of the Dead. It’s possible to make sequels that improve on the source, so why doesn’t Hollywood do it more often?

Because they don’t have to, that’s why. Audiences get the movies they deserve.

Need proof. Look no further than last week’s box office. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which I called a “monstrosity” in this space just seven days ago, soldiered on despite my scathing review to gross $90 million domestically, $260.4 million world wide.

Hollywood wouldn’t spend the time or effort to make these photocopy quality sequels if we didn’t line up to see them, so the next time you’re wondering why you haven’t had a truly great time at the movies recently, think back to the amount of movies you saw with a 2, 3 or 4 in the title and hang your head in shame.

I love going to the movies, sitting with strangers and getting wrapped up in the images flying through the air, but when I leave the theatre after watching—or should I say, enduring—PotC: On Stranger Tides and its ilk, I feel like Grandier. I love the movies, but catch me on the right day, ask me the question, and my answer would be, “Not today.”

I get paid to watch these things, what’s your excuse?

They are Raising Hell over at “Sophie Cossette Cartoonist Blog”!

Ken-comix-panelWhat did Sophie Cossette Cartoonist Blog have to say about Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils? Let me tell you…

“… when I came across Toronto writer Richard Crouse’s book from ECW Press about the making of ‘The Devils’, I was in heaven!

Here I could indulge in my guilty pleasure of reading about Ollie‘s bad-boy behavior and find out what went on behind the scenes of my favorite movie of all time. And on top of that, illustrator Ghoulish Gary came up with that extraordinary cover! It can’t get any better, can it? Yes, actually. Crouse’s writing is vividly descriptive, providing the inside scoop on the making of that cursed film. It’s a goddamn great read and if you love ‘The Devils’, get the book now! It beats knitting with nuns any day (unless it’s the nuns from ‘The Devils’ – they’re a fun bunch!) One of the many things I learned from Crouse’s book was that Ken Russell was the first to think of making Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel on youth ultra-violence, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, into a movie before Stanley Kubrick took on the project. Can you imagine what that film would have looked like had it been made by Russell?!”

Keep your eyes open for Sophie’s upcoming book Sinemania!, where, she says, “her two biggest passions, movies and comics, collide.” It’s a collection of her biographical comic book stories satirically exposing the lives and careers of film directors whose personalities are – or were – particularly over the top. Everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Roman Polanski by way of… Ken Russell!

 

“Phantasm,” “The Beastmaster,” “Bubba Ho-Tep” and “John Dies at the End” director Don Coscarelli is Raising Hell on e-mail!

tumblr_ms3re9Se961rh7fyyo1_400“Phantasm,” “The Beastmaster,” “Bubba Ho-Tep” and “John Dies at the End” director Don Coscarelli is Raising Hell on e-mail!

“I’m writing to tell you how much I loved your book. What a treat to get a window into the making and marketing of The Devils! Thank you so much for writing this book… it’s a simply terrific work.”

The Walking Dead season three executive producer Glen Mazzara is Raising Hell on twitter!

tumblr_ms3qxkiHZU1rh7fyyo1_500The Walking Dead season three executive producer Glen Mazzara is Raising Hell on twitter!

“Just read this fascinating book by @RichardCrouse on Ken Russell’s incredibly controversial film, The Devils.”

Screenwriter and director Chris Donaldson is Raising Hell!

tumblr_mi6c3q7EfP1rh7fyyo1_500Screenwriter and director Chris Donaldson is Raising Hell!

“I just wanted to drop you a quick message and tell you how much I adore your ‘Devils’ book. I finished it and thought ‘damn’ it’s done. I want more— No, I NEED more! Now you have to write an entire series like this on other great and powerful films. I am hooked. A book a month for the rest of your, no… My life.

Could you make that happen?

Joking aside, it was a wonderful read and I am pushing it on all my film friends.”

– Chris Donaldson, screenwriter of a sequel to ‘Judge Dredd’, ‘Bloodrayne 2’, ‘Act Of War’ and ‘Preacher’

What did “Gothic” and “The Awakening” screenwriter Stephen Volk say after reading “Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils”?

tumblr_mgs38hUwaS1rh7fyyo1_500What did “Gothic” and “The Awakening” screenwriter Stephen Volk say after reading “Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils”? Well, let me tell you…

“The book is a wonderful evocation of the madness and creative integrity that made The Devils a life-changing movie experience for me. It also rekindled fond memories of working with Ken. It is without doubt one of the most incendiary films ever made, and should be compulsory viewing for schools in our age of fear and fundamentalism. What is great is that Crouse goes further than a fascination behind-the-scenes peek at the “Making of”, and does a great job of reminding us of the bigots who dismissed the movie at the time and the cowards who still prevent us from seeing it in its full glory.”

What did Guillermo Del Toro say after reading “Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils”?

tumblr_mg4mz7gZBA1rh7fyyo1_500What did Guillermo Del Toro say after reading “Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils”? Well, let me tell you…

“An exhaustive, vivd and passionate account of one of the most powerful and transgressive films ever made. This is not only a great book, it’s a necessary book.”