1/31/2008
Always a delight to be driving down the street, and see a cab driver whose entire windshield appears to be “whited out” with frost or street filth or whatever…if that guy could actually SEE through that windshield, he must have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men…
Windshields notwithstanding, the below-zero temperatures have been horrendous. No wonder there have been horror movies where a frigid temperature has added to the basic “chilling” nature of the films…a good example is one of our Universal offerings, “the Deadly Mantis.” Not only does the over-sized mantis originally thaw from his flash-frozen state near the North Pole, but a majority of the first half of the film involves the isolation at the frosty Air Force base way up North- as well as the mantis attacking Eskimos in mostly stock footage. We also get ample time spent examining the various snow-covered sites where the evidence of the mantis attacks have taken place- whether the snow is portrayed by cornstarch, Styrofoam, or soap flakes- it’s still depicting a sub-zero realm very similar to what the Chicago area has been like recently.
Of course, both versions of “the Thing” convey that same feeling- again, the isolation in a sub-zero environment plays a big part in the story. The original, with future Matt Dillon James Arness as “the Thing”(no, you younger kids- not the Ben Grimm “Thing” of the Fantastic Four- he’s all about rocks, not snow) again gives us that feeling of being hopelessly trapped in the middle of a frozen nowhere. The newer John Carpenter version continues the tradition, although switching the story from the frozen north down to the Antarctic, and the only thing more chilling than the frozen exterior in that one are the shocking special effects- nobody who’s seen it can ever forget that spider-legged head running around! One trivia fact that I love is that, while they were filming, to add realism, they dropped the inside studio temperature to around 40 degrees- while outside, the usual Los Angeles temperature was around 100!
A Sven staple from a couple years ago that also took place in a brisk setting was the old Forrest Tucker flick “the Crawling Eye”- with the science lab at the top of the snow-covered mountain. We get plenty of scenes with people up in the mountains, whether climbing, searching, or holed up in a desolate cabin. I still love the cheesy special effects with small –very obviously made of clay- figure being grabbed by one of the eye creatures!
No matter what- it’s much more entertaining to watch the excitement in those cinemactic cold zones- than to have to commute to and from work in a real one!
Windshields notwithstanding, the below-zero temperatures have been horrendous. No wonder there have been horror movies where a frigid temperature has added to the basic “chilling” nature of the films…a good example is one of our Universal offerings, “the Deadly Mantis.” Not only does the over-sized mantis originally thaw from his flash-frozen state near the North Pole, but a majority of the first half of the film involves the isolation at the frosty Air Force base way up North- as well as the mantis attacking Eskimos in mostly stock footage. We also get ample time spent examining the various snow-covered sites where the evidence of the mantis attacks have taken place- whether the snow is portrayed by cornstarch, Styrofoam, or soap flakes- it’s still depicting a sub-zero realm very similar to what the Chicago area has been like recently.
Of course, both versions of “the Thing” convey that same feeling- again, the isolation in a sub-zero environment plays a big part in the story. The original, with future Matt Dillon James Arness as “the Thing”(no, you younger kids- not the Ben Grimm “Thing” of the Fantastic Four- he’s all about rocks, not snow) again gives us that feeling of being hopelessly trapped in the middle of a frozen nowhere. The newer John Carpenter version continues the tradition, although switching the story from the frozen north down to the Antarctic, and the only thing more chilling than the frozen exterior in that one are the shocking special effects- nobody who’s seen it can ever forget that spider-legged head running around! One trivia fact that I love is that, while they were filming, to add realism, they dropped the inside studio temperature to around 40 degrees- while outside, the usual Los Angeles temperature was around 100!
A Sven staple from a couple years ago that also took place in a brisk setting was the old Forrest Tucker flick “the Crawling Eye”- with the science lab at the top of the snow-covered mountain. We get plenty of scenes with people up in the mountains, whether climbing, searching, or holed up in a desolate cabin. I still love the cheesy special effects with small –very obviously made of clay- figure being grabbed by one of the eye creatures!
No matter what- it’s much more entertaining to watch the excitement in those cinemactic cold zones- than to have to commute to and from work in a real one!
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