Okay, so I’m takin’ a page from the Dark But Shining crew’s “Horror in Unlikely Places” series, but if it works, it works!
First, scariest cold-remedy commercial EVER: Finally, Slate.com’s Ad Report Card columnist Seth Stevenson tackles one of the creepiest commercials I’ve seen in a long time, Theraflu Thin Strips’ monster ad. If you haven’t seen it, it involves a city bus being boarded by what could well be a Mordor orc or an interstitial prosthetic from that scene in Willow where Bavmorda turns all the good guys into pigs. How creepy is it? Creepy enough that I’ve actually stopped fast-forwarding my TiVo to watch it, that’s how creepy.
It reminded me that I’ve been meaning to mention the video for the Chemical Brother’s song “Believe,” off their album Push the Button. It’s a harrowing little clip in which a man finds himself pursued by sentient, ravaging industrial machinery. Directed by Dom and Nick, it might not be the most original idea in the world–replace the machinery with guys in suits and you’ve got the (awesome) video for Yes’s “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” pretty much–but it’s a compelling piece nonetheless, especially in the way it cleverly links robotic movements with reptilian ones. (You’ll think of your favorite Jurassic Park/King Kong scenes more than once, I assure you.) And naturally, any video that features giant robotic arms running around a city trying to kill somebody is well into “monumental horror-image” territory (even if in this case they’re more concerned with visceral, movement-based thrills than with stationary boundary-breaking).
Speaking of King Kong (and of Slate.com), Hollywood Economist Edward Jay Epstein analyzes just how much Peter Jackson was actually paid by Universal for directing the big ape’s remake. Long story short: Comparatively little, given that the much-ballyhooed $20 million figure also included the producing and screenwriting costs for the film, and that his native New Zealand subsidizes studio movie ventures such as this up to the tune of $20 million anyway. [editorial comment]But who cares–Peter Jackson is a bargain at any price![/editorial comment]