STACK #196 Feb 2021

FILM FEATURE

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Founded by producer Jason Blum, Blumhouse Productions is behind some of the most successful horror film franchises of the last decade, including Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Purge . To celebrate the release of new Blumhouse flicks The Craft: Legacy and Freaky this month, STACK selects five of the prolific production company’s finest genre offerings. Words Scott Hocking THE BEST OF BLUMHOUSE

Beginning his career at Miramax, Jason Blum established Blumhouse Productions 20 years ago and could be considered a modern day Roger Corman – the Blumhouse business model is committed to delivering quality genre films on a low budget, giving directors creative freedom and fostering up-and-coming filmmakers. Its track record at the box office is a Hollywood success story. While horror is his bread-and-butter, Blum has also produced award-winning feature films BlacKkKlansman , Whiplash , and The Reader . And he has no modesty when approaching big-time directors. “They always say no, but that doesn’t stop me from approaching them,” he tells STACK . “I’d love to work with Edgar Wright and Alfonso Cuaron… I always ask!” His approach is simple: “I just say, ‘Lets make a movie together’. The best way to ask is to send people material. I’ve been trying to work with Alexander Payne. He says he wants to do something, so I keep sending him different things. The best way to get a great director is to have a great story. We buy different stories all the time and that’s the best way to work with the directors of your dreams.”

GET OUT (2017) Race relations go to hell in writer-director Jordan Peele’s satirical scary movie, which won the 2018 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. A Twilight Zone version of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? ensues when white girl Rose takes her new African-American boyfriend to meet the parents during a weekend party at their country estate. A brilliant fusion of cringe-comedy, creepiness and biting social commentary, get out and grab a copy of this bold and brilliant little gem. UPGRADE (2018) Saw and Insidious co-creator Leigh Whannell switched genres to deliver an ambitious sci- fi thriller involving a paralysed technophobe who becomes the test subject for a computer implant with a mind of its own. Blumhouse’s

THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020) Following their successful partnership on Upgrade , Leigh Whannell and Jason Blum reunited for a fresh take on H.G. Wells’s classic tale. And once again it’s a winning combination; the Aussie filmmaker has reimagined the story as a suspense-thriller go. Shifting the perspective from the invisible villain to the victim and addressing hot button topics like domestic violence and stalking, this innovative reinvention is a must-see. HAPPY DEATH DAY (2017) A throwback to post- Scream slasher flicks like Urban Legend, albeit with a liberal dose of Groundhog Day , director Christopher Landon’s high concept horror-comedy has tremendous fun with the premise of a sorority girl who relives the day of her murder over and over, and must stop the killer in order to escape the loop. that grabs the viewer by the throat from the very beginning and doesn’t let

Sequel Happy Death Day 2U , an inspired meta-remix of the original that takes its cues from Back to the Future II , is also worth checking out. HALLOWEEN (2018) 40 years after he stalked babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) on Halloween night,

Michael Myers has returned – only this time, Laurie is ready and waiting for him. Arguably the best film in the long- running horror

first production to be shot Down Under is a relentlessly entertaining B-movie that upgrades the revenge tale and buddy movie in the spirit of classic ‘80s action flicks. Highly recommended.

franchise since John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, this chapter disregards events of prior sequels to serve as a direct follow-up to the original. Moreover, it restores Michael’s status as the ultimate screen boogeyman.

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