Of course, the walk to find a dead body in 1984 South Central is considerably shorter than in 1959 Castle Rock, and Singleton draws a bit of tragic poetry from the comparison.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Only now does it occur to me... BOYZ IN THE HOOD
Only now does it occur to me... that John Singleton loosely patterns BOYZ IN THE HOOD's prologue and epilogue after the seminal Stephen King adaptation STAND BY ME, and at one point even includes a direct reference, with four young boys walking along railroad tracks to see a dead body.
I never noticed that, it is kinda poignant. It's kind of alarming how, after making such a strong first movie, Singleton then cranked out the absolutely awful "Higher Learning," in which quite literally nothing thrown up on the screen works and everything is hilariously pitched way, way over the top. It might even be so bad that it could now swing back the other way and be entertaining! But I'm too lazy to watch it again and find out. On an unrelated note, as I was leaving work the other day, at about 8:30, with just a bit of half-light remaining in the sky, a certain crisp chill coming through the car window for the first time in ages, and a familiar skittering of leaves dancing across the road, I realized it...fall is coming! It was as if the Silver Shamrock van was going to come around the corner, playing its theme song and telling me to go watch the big giveaway. I wanted to turn the car towards Santa Mira and never look back! OK, I'm laying it on pretty thick, but really it was a nice feeling! Any foreshadowing you can give us on perhaps some horror-related items coming down the pipe, melancholy or otherwise?
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's really unfortunate Singleton didn't live up to the promise of his first feature, though the SHAFT remake is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine.
Indeed you're right about the weather– it's always been my favorite time of year; I can hear the Silver Shamrock theme myself. There'll definitely be some horror reviews on the way- I don't plan too much in advance, but I think it's safe to say that Carpy, Argento, some 80s cheese, and some 70s melancholy will be in the mix.