Posted on Tuesday, February 25th, 2020 by Rob Hunter
(Welcome to DTV Descent, a series that explores the weird and wild world of direct-to-video sequels to theatrically released movies. This week, we go digging for secrets with a hook.)
Ah, the ’90s. The decade that brought us Beanie Babies and Limp Bizkit also saw a rebirth of sorts for big-screen slashers. After withering away throughout the 80s the genre got a major boost with the arrival of Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) which delivered memorable kills with style, wit, and a hot cast of hot young hotties for all tastes. The film was quickly followed with a wave of less stylish, less witty horror films packed with young stars including The Faculty (1998), Disturbing Behavior (1998), Urban Legend (1998), and new entries in venerable franchises like Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
One of the more directly influenced new arrivals, though, was 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was a big hit and a year later was followed by the perfectly titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which while still a hit, was a decidedly smaller one. The franchise sat silent for eight years, but in 2006 someone remembered they still owned the rights and bam! A few days later they had a DTV sequel ready to go. Let’s check it out together, shall we?
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The Love, Simon TV series has a new streaming home and a new name. The half-hour comedy series based on the 2018 teen LGBTQ romantic-comedy has now been moved from Disney+ to Hulu, with the new title Love, Victor, named after the show’s new protagonist. Love, Victor, which will premiere on Hulu during Pride Month this year, was initially set to debut on Disney+, but was reportedly deemed inappropriate for the family-friendly streaming service.
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Sometimes life gets stranger than fiction, and Ed Helms and Randall Park will prove just how much with the new NBC comedy series True Story. A hybrid scripted and unscripted series, True Story will follow Helms and Park’s hosts as they interview people who have had unbelievable real-life experiences, while a team of performers re-enact their stories.
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Lately, “Netflix and chill” has become less relaxing, as the abundance of options to watch on the streaming service have left many a subscriber browsing for something to watch for hours on end. Netflix has worked hard to customized each subscriber’s homepage to their tastes, but sometimes a stray bad movie or TV show can leave your recommendations a mess, or maybe you just don’t want an algorithm telling you what to do.
Now Netflix is rolling out another feature to try to help suggest titles for the indecisive viewer. The new feature will be a Netflix Top 10 list of the “most popular” programs on Netflix, per your country and the company’s own internal data. So if you can’t decide what you want to watch, you can at least see what everyone else is watching.
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Parasite, the Oscar-winning movie everyone keeps talking about, is headed to Hulu. The streaming service landed the exclusive streaming rights to Bong Joon-ho’s acclaimed film, and will debut the movie this April. The Neon-released movie raked-up a wealth of awards during awards season, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, along with the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, the SAG Award for Best Ensemble Cast and the Palme D’or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising?
This week we look back at an arcade legend, eat the rich, get weird with Udo Kier, realize how wonderfully transgressive Nightmare on Elm Street 2 really was, and come-of-age in West Baltimore.
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Bombshell wasn’t quite as explosive as its makers would’ve hoped, landing in theaters in December not with a bang but with more of a quiet poof of air. However, there was enough wind under Bombshell’s sails to garner stars Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie acting nominations at the Oscars as well a hair and make-up win. But as the Jay Roach-directed dramedy gets ready for its home video release, Theron and co-star Nicole Kidman are speaking up in a behind-the-scenes featurette about the importance of telling stories of sexual harassment. Watch the /Film exclusive Bombshell clip below.
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Nicolas Cage vs. possessed animatronic characters? Sign me up. Wally’s Wonderland stars Cage as a janitor at an amusement park who ends up having to deal with some demonic animatronics, and a first look image from the flick has found its way online. Sadly, the animatronic characters aren’t in the pic, but Nic Cage is, and honestly though, what more do you need? See the Wally’s Wonderland first look below.
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Albert Shin’s Disappearance At Clifton Hill is a curious Canadian case of kidnapping, repressed memories, and the maddening effects of Niagra Falls. IFC Midnight nabbed distribution rights after positive reactions came out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, praising the film’s nu-noir aesthetic. I’ve yet to watch it myself, but an earlier trailer paints an underbelly small-town vibe as one woman attempts to make sense of questions from her childhood. The answers, I can only assume, are neither easy to suss out or particularly reassuring given the tragic nature of her haunting recollections.
Today on /Film, we have an exclusive clip from Shin’s film, which features David Cronenberg in a rare spot acting in front of the camera. Check out the scene below.
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Cool Posts From Around the Web:
On the February 24, 2020 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta is joined by /Film managing editor Jacob Hall, writer Hoai-Tran Bui and Chris Evangelista to discuss the latest film and tv news, including a new Star Wars movie, Martin Scorsese’s next film, more possible Jurassic Park connections for Jurassic World 3 and Little Shop of Horror casting.
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