Firefly

Secrets Shared - continued

Slither

Opens January 6, 2006

First of two consecutive offerings featuring Nathan Fillion (NFILL) was the latest in hardcore horror revival, Slither (SLTHR). Director James Gunn introduced a new trailer, which I doubt will be seen outside the internet - after the description you’ll understand why. The clip opens with the names and dates of various horror movies fading in, and the statement that they all have one thing in common. They. Were. All. Made. For. A word I cannot print here - but means “weaklings”. (Not good enough? Need another hint? Cats.)

They aren’t kidding, either. The clip featured a whiz-bang variety of people and...things...wearing really creepy prosthetic effects doing very nasty things to one another. The clip was long on makeup and puppetry, mostly, Gunn told us, because the CG was not complete. Never fear - he estimated that only 1/3rd of the effects were CG, and those complemented, rather than replaced, more traditional methods of horror goodness.

Slither promises to continue the latest trend in horror movies - the move back to the grindhouse and away from suspense, atmosphere and a PG-13 rating. Fans of the genre will be treated to many other examples of this sort - including the impeccably marketed The Devil’s Rejects (HCRP2) from the folks at Lions Gate Films. The cast and crew of Slither hope that their target audience will be tickled rather than sated by such fare.

Serenity

Opens September 30, 2005

After Slither slipped offstage, Joss Whedon (JWHED) and the cast of Serenity came on, much to the delight of the fangirls. He brought darn near the whole cast with him, all but Alan Tudyk (ATUDY) who is in the cast of Spamalot. They seemed to enjoy the opportunity to show their appreciation for the support that convinced the Hollywood apparatus to greenlight the movie.

An extended clip was shown, during which the crew of the Serenity is saying goodbye to the Tams. They then visit a dockside bar to transact some trademark shady business, when River Tam (Summer Glau) wanders in. She becomes mesmerized by a video playing on one of the monitors above the bar, which triggers her to transform into a butt-kicking, kung-fu machine.

Whedon infuses his space opera with plenty of Wild West mentality, a combination which worked well for Star Trek once upon a time. The flick looks stylish and exciting, while still giving the characters plenty of room to breathe. After all, its the characters and their various relationships that really make the show appealing, plus enough action to keep the whole thing from resembling The Breakfast Club in space.

Wallace & Gromit The Trailer Park

A Comic-Con tradition, the Trailer Park is a 30-45 minute run of...you guessed it...one trailer after another. There were several that were very well received, but for my money the best looking film was Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (GROMT) a goofy and sweet-spirited piece of claymation from the makers of Chicken Run. Also gaining a lot of applause was The New World (NWRLD), an adaptation of the Pocahontas story with an all-star cast.

For more adventurous souls, there is the very intriguing Night Watch (NWTCH), which attempts to couple Russian sensibilities to the American horror genre. Plunging recklessly into Jungian waters, we learn that angels and demons are all about us constantly beckoning to those superior souls able to join them. With a very fresh filming style, this could either be very good or incredibly awful.

Audiences responded well to: The Corpse Bride (CBRID), Wallace & Gromit, The New World, The Man (THMAN), A History of Violence (HISTV) and Aeon Flux.

Audiences were lukewarm towards: Red Eye (REDEY), Zathura (ZATHU), Night Watch and Just Like Heaven (JLHVN).

Audiences were not impressed by: The Legend of Zorro (ZORR2), Hellbent.

If you love movies and popular culture, plan to visit beautiful San Diego and visit Comic-Con International 2006. I’ll see you there!