Daily Archives: May 24, 2007

On I Know Who Killed Me

Ephemera, Irritations

For its crime thriller I Know Who Killed Me, Sony Pictures is the latest company to go quasi-viral and underground in its web marketing approach, eschewing the usual gimmicks and moody evocations of such a genre piece’s Internet shingle in favor of a low-fi site built around only an in-character video blog. This is all the more unusual since the movie stars Lindsay Lohan, who plays a stripper that is abducted and tortured by a serial killer, rescued — and then returns claiming she is someone else. The question, then is: understandable trauma, split personality or something else even more sinister?

Five bits are posted so far, with 15 more teased in picture form — around one new posting each week until its scheduled late July release. The problem here is not the concept, but rather the execution. First off, the mouthy title is actually pinched from a rather famously whispered line of dialogue from Twin Peaks. The greater problem, though, is that the ridiculous, willfully vague, pseudo-intellectual ramblings (“Our nature is to go deeper, to find calmness, quiet, answers.
And questions. It’s why you’re here in my hallowed place, learning”) that are laid over the killer’s hand-held footage (which itself consists of abattoir atmospherics and peeping Tom long-distance shots), as well as their gravelly, Jigsaw-esque tone, make the project seem like a slightly tonier Saw knockoff. I have no doubt that it all (in theory, at least) builds to something, but right now the site conveys neither chilly menace nor greatly guarded mystery. I’ll try to check back on it in the coming weeks…

UPDATE 5/27: For information about the running time of the film’s first-pass cut and more gossip, click here.

UPDATE 6/1: For more about the video blog site and a spoiler-ish bit about Lohan’s character, click here.

Free Day Watch Screenings

Screenings

Fox Searchlight is taking a double-barreled approach to the promotion of Day Watch, Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov’s follow-up to the edge-dancing, apocalyptic fantasy action thriller Night Watch — so much so that they’re holding a series of free screenings in more than a dozen cities across the country.

Rightly billed as a dazzling mix of state-of-the-art visual effects, nail-biting horror and rousing action sequences set in contemporary Moscow, Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) revolves around the conflict and balance maintained
between the forces of light and darkness — the result of a medieval truce
between the opposing sides. To RSVP, click here, then click the “attend a free screening” box on the righthand side. New York’s screening is May 29 at the AMC West 34th Street 14, Los Angeles’ screening is May 31 at the ArcLight and San Diego’s screening is June 5 at the AMC La Jolla, but there are also screenings slated for Austin, Washington D.C., Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Sacramento, Houston, San Antonio and Tampa, among other cities.

Eli Roth Talks Thanksgiving, Future Projects

Ephemera, Interviews

The $80 million worldwide gross of 2006’s down-and-dirty
horror flick Hostel, and in particular its $19.5 million Stateside opening weekend, guaranteed writer-director
Eli Roth (above right) a couple more pictures, and he hasn’t been shy about exercising options
on a full slate of announced projects that, at times, has included up to a
whopping eight movies. Naturally, though, Roth can’t direct 24/7, nor in a
bubble (one thinks… that would present some practical hurdles), so he’s had to
trim his slate a bit.

Roth and a pair of his Hostel:
Part II leading ladies, Bijou Phillips
and Vera Jordanova,
appeared recently at the Los Angeles Fangoria Convention, and amidst information
about that movie’s production — shot primarily in Czechoslovakia, but including
location work in Iceland and the south of France — were plenty of questions about
Roth’s recent and upcoming work. Apart from exercising a pretty spot-on impression
of David Lynch (“OK, here’s the deal: rabbits!”), for whom Roth worked prior to
Cabin Fever, Roth shared his thoughts
on making the Thanksgiving trailer,
as well as other tidbits. To wit, a brief sampler:

Roth said that making the Thanksgiving trailer for
Grindhouse
was the most fun he’s ever had filming anything, and that he took particular
glee in corrupting an entire town’s schoolchildren for the outdoor processional
gone terribly wrong. “If you ever have a chance to film a parade scene where
you cut off a giant turkey’s head,” said Roth, “do it!” Asked if he would
consider extending Thanksgiving to a feature-length
production, as Robert Rodriguez has talked about doing for his trailer for Machete, Roth said he’d like to make a Thanksgiving feature, but
that the less-than-hoped-for theatrical grosses for Grindhouse have
cooled some at the Weinstein Company and elsewhere on the idea. “I made a pact
that Edgar (Wright) that if I did Thanksgiving, he’d do Don’t!,” says
Roth, in reference to Wright’s trailer contribution, before adding, “But it
would have to be, like, Dogshit ’95… instead of Dogme ’95 — shoot it down-and-dirty,
in like seven to 10 days, for under $1 million. That’s the only way it would
work. We’d have to put those limitations on ourselves.”

As widely detailed, Roth’s next directorial project is an
adaptation of Stephen King’s Cell,
penned by The People Vs. Larry Flynt’s
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. And Roth doesn’t have any involvement in the Cabin Fever sequel,
directed by Ti West, beyond taking an executive producer credit. But the Thanksgiving experience got some other
creative juices flowing, and according to Roth he’s also going to direct an entire film,
called Trailer Trash, consisting of
20 to 25 phony, stylized previews. No word yet if these would be shot in consecutive
fashion either before or after Cell,
but one can imagine that a few of Roth’s friends will likely get involved as
well.

Crispin Glover Hosts What Is It?

Screenings

For those on the left coast, following several sold-out
shows in December, the American Cinematheque
at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles presents a three-day, exclusive encore engagement of
Crispin Glover’s What Is It? later this
summer, June 22-24. Known for a variety of memorably quirky characters in everything from Back to the Future to Wild
at Heart, Glover’s first effort as a feature director tangentially assays the stigma of
disability, and is bound not to disappoint fans of his offbeat sensibilities
and eccentric taste.

What Is It? features
a cast largely comprised of actors with Down Syndrome, and Glover describes the
taboo-smashing work thusly: “Being the adventures of a young man whose
principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe and how to get home, as tormented
by an hubristic, racist inner psyche.” Preceding the film is an hour-long live
dramatic presentation of Glover’s “Big Slide Show,” which features illustration
and commentary from eight of Glover’s books. Glover will appear for an extended
Q&A session following all screenings, and each evening will end with a
signing of his books Rat Catching, Oak Mot, and What It Is, And How It Is Done. Special ticket prices for this
engagement only are $12 for Cinematheque members, $15 for students and seniors, and
$20 general admission. For more details visit Glover’s personal web site by
clicking here, phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit the Cinematheque’s eponymous
Web site by clicking here.