I’ll let other people give you the details on the restored Metropolis two-disc set or the Criterion Collection edition of Night of the Hunter out today, or even the documentary Best Worst Movie about Troll 2 fandom. Me, I’ve got other fish to fry:
I’m not sure if it’s “the most disturbing film of 2010,” but it’s definitely a contender for the worst DVD cover. Want some more info? Here’s what Amazon says “about the director:”
William E Cheney. As a Director is known for pushing the envelope for new original scripts and the cutting edged look of his films.
The mind boggles.
(And what’s that diagonal legend across the lower half? “Trial Version – www.AudioLabel.com.” That’s right, they couldn’t even spring for the full program, $29.95, before they shipped.)
#1 by The Rev. on November 16, 2010 - 12:42 pm
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“They have the box and it’s cursed contents.”
Even with the entire crappy presentation, that sentence pretty much guarantees I’m not seeing this ever.
#2 by Nathan Shumate on November 16, 2010 - 12:43 pm
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Why? It’s not like you’d be able to hear the misplaced apostrophes in the spoken dialogue.
#3 by Mr. Rational on November 16, 2010 - 8:47 pm
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This may be the greatest sight these eyes have ever seen.
#4 by The Rev. on November 17, 2010 - 9:02 am
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That which has been seen can never be unseen. I know I couldn’t hear it, but it’s staring at me from that cover. I can see it. It angers me.
#5 by Nathan Shumate on November 17, 2010 - 9:04 am
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I bet watching the movie would completely eclipse the cover in your memory.
#6 by The Rev. on November 18, 2010 - 9:21 am
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That might very well be…
#7 by KeithA on November 16, 2010 - 4:28 pm
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What? No Comic Sans or blood drippy font? Amateur’s.
#8 by Nathan Shumate on November 16, 2010 - 4:29 pm
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That is the first time an apostrophe has made me laugh out loud. Bravo.
#9 by Read MacGuirtose on November 17, 2010 - 2:18 am
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Hey, not buying the full version of AudioLabel meant $29.95 more they could put toward costuming and special effects. If they hadn’t used the trial version of AudioLabel, they wouldn’t have had that hat in the top picture.
#10 by Read MacGuirtose on November 17, 2010 - 2:25 am
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Huh, just looked up William Cheney on the IMDb, and horrible video covers and misplaced apostrophes both seem to be trademarks of his. The summary of the first movie he directed, Cheney’s Tomorrow Never Comes? [sic — yes, inexplicably, the title does end in a question mark, and begin with Cheney’s name] states, in part, “A newscaster makes fake news broadcasts about terrorist’s with his camera man to get better rating’s.” (If he’d also put an apostrophe in “broadcasts” at least he would have been consistent…)
#11 by Nathan Shumate on November 17, 2010 - 6:40 am
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I’m just waiting for the day William Cheney googles himself and finds this thread. I expect to see an outpouring of ill-typed venom the likes of which one usually only sees when one disses Halloween 3.
#12 by Blake on November 17, 2010 - 9:27 am
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Maybe he’ll beg you to accept a screener, much like that fellow who did the same with KILLERS IN THE WOODS.
#13 by Nathan Shumate on November 17, 2010 - 9:28 am
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[chokes on own bile]
#14 by Blake on November 17, 2010 - 9:48 am
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Moving back up a few comments, curiosity: have you ever taken heat for a film you LIKED? I remember reading an e-mail at Stomp Tokyo in which one reader attacked them for not liking HALLOWEEN, the film’s 5 Lava Lamp rating notwithstanding.
#15 by Nathan Shumate on November 17, 2010 - 10:02 am
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Oddly enough, yes. In the old mailbag before I had comments, someone decided to insult me because my review of Predator was “stupid and predictable.”
#16 by Blake on November 17, 2010 - 11:17 am
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I can’t wait until I get my first hate mail for not liking some movie that they like.
#17 by Nathan Shumate on November 17, 2010 - 11:25 am
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Hate mail from directors is even better. And even better than that is mail from cast or crew that says, “Yes, you’re right, it sucks green weenies.”
#18 by Blake on November 17, 2010 - 12:20 pm
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Do most directors run back to the whole, “You don’t know what it’s like to make a movie” argument?
#19 by Nathan Shumate on November 17, 2010 - 12:23 pm
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No, because most competent directors are too busy making movies. It’s the backyard camcorder artists — the ones whose output I COULD equal or exceed — who get snippy that I expect their movies to be worth my time.
#20 by KeithA on November 17, 2010 - 3:10 pm
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Crew are my faves. I had a hilarious exchange with a guy who did the lightning on Avenging Disco Godfather. Guys like that have less vested in selling a film as great, so the stories crew spin are absolute gold.
Only once have a slagged a movie and gotten an irate letter from the director. Even Todd Sheets was amiable when he wrote me. Chances are, if they’ve made a number of crappy films, they have some awareness of what they’re doing, and they’re more than willing to accept the criticism. It’s possible I’ve been lucky. I do get insane rant emails from time to time, but they’re almost always from fans.
I have gotten a couple emails from people who were mad at me for hating a movie I actually wrote a very positive review of. Arabian Adventure was the more recent one.
#21 by MatthewF on November 18, 2010 - 6:50 am
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I used to write album reviews for an Indie mag in England and it was amazing the grief you could get for disrespecting someone’s new favourite band. Anything culty was favourite, if you don’t like it, it’s because you’re not wise enough to understand it.
#22 by Nathan Shumate on November 18, 2010 - 7:03 am
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Ah, but was it also because you were bereft of a phallus? Because that is the height of ironclad argument, you know.
#23 by The Rev. on November 18, 2010 - 9:25 am
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I thought the ultimate argument was implying that the person you disagreed with had never had, and never would have, sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex. Or that they regularly engaged in sexual intercourse with members of the same sex.
#24 by Nathan Shumate on November 18, 2010 - 9:43 am
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I am only following the form established by my esteemed colleague Jamie, who concluded that I must necessarily be a “dickless wonder.”
#25 by PCachu on November 18, 2010 - 1:56 pm
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That was indeed the gold standard set by the tag team of Stantz and Venkman, lo these many years ago…
#26 by El Santo on November 18, 2010 - 2:54 pm
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A couple random hate-mail observations:
1. In my experience, no subset of horror movie fans take their favorite films more seriously, or take dismissals thereof more personally, than devotees of Universal Studios fright flicks from the 30’s and 40’s. And for people who pride themselves on their “sophisticated,” “adult” tastes, they can be remarkably juvenile about it, too. I get almost as much indignant squawking from that crowd as I get requests for help finding copies of In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro.
2. The only thing more fun than getting sputtering defenses of bad movies from their directors and conspiratorial insider takedowns of bad movies from their casts and crew is getting both for the same film. Todd Sheets’s defense of Kasey Rausch as completely age-appropriate casting for the part of the closest thing Zombie Bloodbath has to a heroine wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining without Rausch herself writing in just days earlier to tell me how she hoodwinked Sheets into believing she was ten years older than she really was in the hope of landing a bigger part than the walk-on she initially applied for.
#27 by Blake on November 18, 2010 - 7:31 pm
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I still can’t get over how utterly bizarre it is to me that so many people are looking for that movie. We live in a glorious world indeed.
#28 by lyzard on November 18, 2010 - 3:30 pm
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It must be the way I write: I tend to attract the screenwriters, usually explaining how the director destroyed their vision. Which, given the films and directors in question, isn’t necessarily untrue.
#29 by DamonD on November 21, 2010 - 1:58 pm
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“Take My Box Please!”
#30 by Art Swenson on January 8, 2011 - 1:58 am
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OK you do know all Of William Cheney’s films are dark comedy. They are also made to be cheesy and bust a gut funny. If you look at all the DVD box’s they all have one or two words not properly spelt on the back. And yes he puts in ‘s. He actually would have the box changed to have them. William Thinks it’s funny and loved to read comments about the box covers.
The Box of the dead case was made to look like a bootleg. He said that it will save time for the Chinese bootleggers. They would not have to misspell anything. It’s very common on Chinese bootlegs.
William Also turned down offers of good sized budgets for films from studios. He only financed his films out of his own pocket. I asked him why once he stated. If I make a flop it’s My flop from My pocket.
Watch one someday It might shock you how much you may like it. Well anyway I had not seen or heard from William in 8 months or so. Actor Chris Becker said William passed away He had heard. Hopefully William is just being a recluse or something. But please talk about his films in anyway you feel you should. At least I know there are some out there enjoying My acting or hating but at least they are watching.
Actor Art Swenson
#31 by Nathan Shumate on January 8, 2011 - 10:34 am
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Out of all your comments/defenses, this is the one that pushed the needle on my bullshit-o-meter into the red.
#32 by Art Swenson on January 8, 2011 - 1:59 am
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Thanks for watching