Halloween: the one night of the year when the young or old can pretend to be someone (or something) else. But after all that exhausting trick-or-treating and immature partying, it can be nice to relax in front of your favorite Halloween flick. Here at Player Affinity in honor of ol’ Hallows Eve, we (Dinah and Simon) are discussing our favorite fright films in some classic categories to enjoy on October 31. Beware.
Beginning in 2004, the Saw franchise has been synonymous with Halloween weekend. Although it is typically categorized as horror, Saw and its sequels are actually gruesome thrillers with intricate plots and twisted endings. The latest entry ups the ante with additional traps, welcomes flashbacks of Jigsaw and returning characters from previous installments. Saw fanatics are a feisty brood and they will no doubt enjoy, albeit with bittersweet ambivalence, the final chapter to the long-running series.
Predict which five movies will place in the top five of this weekend’s U.S. domestic box office. It’s that easy. I will make my own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give you some sort of reference point. It’s then your job to enter a comment with your top five.
The highest grossing horror franchise is sadly coming to an end. In 2004, Saw solidified a new form of modern horror that exploits torture as a central stomach-turner. Produced for very little money, Saw turned heads with a hands-off killer in John Kramer who is a mere mortal dying of cancer aiming to teach people the value of life (or so he says). Jigsaw, as he is otherwise known, sets up elaborate games to make his “subjects” adopt a new way of thinking. I’ve been given the glorious task of identifying the most memorable trap of each entry. Let’s start from the beginning (spoilers throughout).
Since the early 1940s, Captain America has held consistent standing in Marvel’s roster of big name superheroes. Still, he has yet to get the big screen treatment until the recent production of Captain America: The First Avenger, starring Chris Evans as the Cap, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull and Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. Now Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive first look at the production, with Evans taking the cover in (almost) full garb, provided a mask will be provided for his costume. Time will tell, but the first impressions of the cover and scans (provided by Superhero Hype) inside show strong potential for the superhero debut set in WWII.
Director Christopher Nolan has a title for the upcoming third film in his “Batman” series: The Dark Knight Rises. The auteur recently confirmed such news to Hero Complex. Additionally, he takes down one of the most prevalent rumors on the net concerning the film’s villain:
“It won’t be the Riddler.”
