rom the beginning of his directing career in the early '70s—when The Last House on the Left took the idea of revenge to a grisly new place—Wes Craven has made an indelible mark on the suspense and horror film genres. It is impossible to imagine horror, in particular, without such benchmarks as A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills have Eyes and, more recently, the cleverly self-aware Scream trilogy.
At Wes Craven's official Web page, fans can follow every move of the man who gave the world Freddy Krueger. The site's blog focuses specifically on movie news, covering openings and other events, many related to this summer's suspense film release Red-Eye, but there are also details about Craven's more mainstream projects, like Paris, Je T'aime. The news section of the page casts a wider net, with entries related to any number of Craven topics: reviews of films, links to interviews and even an occasional foray into nonfiction essay writing (Craven's September article for Glamour magazine, for example, tackled the topic of "What Scares Men About Women"). Meanwhile, a biography and FAQ fill in the blanks, providing Craven's biography and a complete listing of his works. With an edgy design and loads of information, this site offers compelling insights into the life of a working filmmaker.
Craven's body of work encompasses campy gore and genuinely hair-raising moments—often within the same movie—and his career shows blessedly little sign of slowing down. Horror addicts wanting an advance peek into where their next scare is coming from will definitely want to scope out this site.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—January 3, 2005
ou will believe a man can fly!" In 1978, when the Christopher Reeve version of Superman was released, this commercial siren song—with its promise of the most believable Man of Steel ever and never-before-seen special effects—was heard far and wide. Now, in the age of CGI, it is a given that the paranormal abilities of comic-book heroes and villains will be rendered on the big screen with razzle-dazzle and panache. In recent years, filmgoers have soared alongside Spider-Man as he web-slings his way through New York, seen the Hulk on an awe-inspiring rampage and watched in amazement as movies transformed an English bad-boy mage named John Constantine into Keanu Reeves.
Graphic artists have always relied on static images, the power of suggestion and the limitless scope of readers' imagination to work their magic, but now more and more of their super-dreams are being distilled into stunning visuals (and sometimes-empty stories) as major motion pictures. At Superhero Hype, all the latest superhero films—whether proposed, in production or already in release—receive loving coverage and close scrutiny. Visitors can follow pet projects, look up rumors about upcoming movies and scan through fan reviews of films from Alien vs. Predator to X-Men. Superhero Hype's discussion forums offer general topics for discussion of superheroes in film, TV and comic books; not surprisingly, there are also specific topics devoted to past and upcoming films, like Batman, Hellboy and the much-awaited 2006 movie V for Vendetta.
Superhero Hype's other offerings include a media area devoted to movie stills, a Featured Heroes section for tracking the biggest hero film franchises, a news feed, links to film trailers, information on games and reviews of movie tie-in products. A solid source of news for fans of the superhero film genre, this site is one that will leave visitors desperate for the next major super-flick. It is to be hoped that this hunger will send at least a few readers to comic stores, though, for a dose of the original art that has inspired so many blockbusters.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—December 27, 2005
t Slasherama, it's all about the body count. Bloodbaths, carnage and homicidal maniacs are the stuff dreams—as well as screams—are made of at this enthusiastic news-and-reviews site celebrating horror movies and everything associated with them.
Recent features available at the Slasherama Web page include a report on a Spanish film festival specializing in European horror films, an interview with Doom executive producer John Wells, a discussion of the British Board of Film's long history of censoring a movie called Zombie Flesh Eaters and, on the lighter side of things, a list of 10 great slasher movies. The site has a lengthy archive of movie reviews, maintains a sparsely updated blog and is host to message boards where horror aficionados can discuss general movie news as well as slasher-specific topics like the Friday the 13th movie series, horror film censorship around the globe and suitably spooky video games.
Slasherama also has a "Gore Gallery," a collection of grotesque images from movies like Hellraiser, Demons and Cannibal Ferox, each accompanied by a humorous caption. The site has an e-mail newsletter that visitors can join, U.S. and U.K. buying guides for DVD releases, an impressive links page and a news section wittily entitled "The 666 O'Clock News."
Despite its purported focus on death, death and even more cinematic death, Slasherama's definition of horror does occasionally stretch its boundaries—visitors will find an article on the reimagined Doctor Who in its Features archive, and the movie review area has covered a few films—like Batman Begins and Sin City—that have attracted significant non-horror audiences. In general, though, this site is just what it claims to be: a gathering place for fans of dark, creepy and unrelentingly lethal motion pictures.
—A.M. Dellamonica
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