As we head into October, we’re all aware of how different this Halloween is going to be, so we wanted to put together a treat for the season. That’s why this week’s special issue of the Bite is designed with one thing in mind: to give you some inspiration for your Halloween movie marathon.
The filmed-in-lockdown screen horror Host has taken the horror world by storm, nabbing the top spot (as of this writing) on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of Best Horror Movies of 2020. As fans go back to watch for a second or third time, they’re starting to notice some of the many Easter eggs the filmmakers have scattered throughout the movie. We asked co-screenwriter/executive producer Jed Shepherd to share a few of his favorites to get you started…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “All remakes are pointless.” Actually, stop reading if you’ve thought that before because this article probably isn’t for you. The anti-remake mindset pervades the brains of many people in the film community, especially genre fans, a group that is faced with countless remakes each year. 2020 is no exception, as we are now seeing a new adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca. That novel was famously adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940 and would go on to be the Master of Suspense’s only film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This new iteration comes to us courtesy of British director Ben Wheatley, who is no stranger to suspense after having directed 2011’s Kill List and 2016’s Free Fire.
It’s an indisputable fact that one of the most important elements in a horror film is sound. Creepy visuals are one thing, but one of the quickest and most efficient ways to scare the hell out of your audience is to have a sound mix that forces their imagination to work overtime, trying to figure out what’s happening in the darkness. This includes a film’s score.
After George A. Romero’s estate asked me to complete his unfinished epic zombie novel, The Living Dead, I spent some time cycling through a series of emotions. Ninety percent of them were variations of disbelief that I would be a part of finishing Romero’s fifty-year zombie saga — the same zombie saga that was my own origin story, having seen Night of the Living Dead at the impressionable age of 5 or 6.
