31 Scary Movies: ‘Open Water’

“Open Water” (2003)  – How many people never really got the hang of treading water? Please note that this critic is raising his hand.  After 15 seconds or so in the deep end, where is the edge of pool, STAT? Well, imagine needing to tread water in the middle of the ocean for a lot longer than 15 seconds.  A lot longer.  For Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), keeping their heads above water in the deep blue sea is the least of their problems. These two career-minded 30-somethings…

Mulligan and Gyllenhaal shine in Dano’s ‘Wildlife’

“Wildlife” – “Do you know what they call trees in a forest fire?  Fuel.  Do you know what they call the trees when the fire goes by?  The standing dead.” – Jeanette Brinson (Carey Mulligan) Jeanette (Mulligan) and Jerry Brinson (Jake Gyllenhaal) and their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) look like an all-American family during a Montana autumn in 1960. Jerry and Ed toss the football around in front of their modest home, while Jeanette has dinner waiting for them.  Both parents show affection to each other, encourage Joe with…

31 Scary Movies: ‘Shadow of the Vampire’

“Shadow of the Vampire” (2000) – Director E. Elias Merhige’s movie is about a filmmaker (John Malkovich) making a movie with an eccentric star (Willem Dafoe).  Sounds simple enough and not out of the ordinary, because what movie actor or actress isn’t at least a little eccentric? Well, not so simple. Merhige’s eye-popping fantasy-biopic doubles as a horror film, because Malkovich plays director FW Murnau who attempts to make 1922’s “Nosferatu”, and Dafoe is actor Max Schreck who plays the chalky-white, long-nailed Count Orlok.  The rub?  Murnau claims that Schreck…