Movie Night - Alexandre Aja Mini-Marathon

So far these little solo movie nights have been a hit! In fact for the most part I'm even able to stay awake, which is a feat I'm sad to report I wasn't able to accomplish the last time I had a friend over for a movie night. What can I say? I'm old, always tired, and Inception is incredibly hard to follow if you're drifting in and out of consciousness.

Hoping tonight will continue along in the successful vein of recent movie nights such as the Hatchet HD double-feature and the Valentines Day Massacre, as in honor of my acquisition of Piranha on dvd, I'll be watching it again, along with some of Alexandre Aja's other fine work. Gonna inject a little culture as France invades the Batcave on movie night!

What better way to start off an Aja mini-marathon that with the movie that put his name on the map? Of course I happen to be one of those horror snobs who thoroughly enjoys answering the question of whether or not I've seen Hight Tension with a snooty "No, but I have seen Haute Tension". Absolutely love the brutality, gore, and of course titular tension of this movie. The twist ending, which I'll admittedly say I didn't see coming, didn't exactly "wow" me, but it definitely doesn't ruin the rest of the movie either. Been a couple years since I've seen this one, so am looking forward to revisiting it.

Next up, my newest addition to the dvd collection, Piranha. If you're son inclined you can read all about what I thought of it here. It's most definitely different than any of his other work, but that's part of what I love about it. There's simply no other way to make a movie about prehistoric killer piranha attacking a bunch of kids at the beach than to just pile on the gore, add in gratuitous nudity, and turn the fun up to 11. I viewed it as an homage to the good old days of 80's horror, and I absolutely love Alexandre Aja for it.










And finally, time permitting, I'll give his other "re-imagining" of a classic horror franchise, The Hills Have Eyes,  another watch. This one I may lose horror nerd points for, but I honestly think I prefer this version to Wes Craven's original. Aja's version pays homage to Craven's but also stands on it's own. I don't know what it is exactly, but I just love the overall look of this movie. The mutants are definitely the main sell here obviously, but what really gets me pumped is when Doug realizes his baby has been stolen and he mans the fuck up and goes after her. That shit had me yelling at my television. I don't watch The Hills Have Eyes for super-mutant cannibals, deformed by nuclear weapon testing in the 60's, I watch it for DOUG.






Dammit my Doug rant always gets me fired up. I might even have to move Hills up to first and watch Haute Tension last. It's having to make tough decisions like these that make my dvd collection absolutely fucking awesome. Expect these "movie night" posts to become a regular thing here at the blog by the way, they're fun to write, and I already have lots of ideas for future viewing combos. Until next time!