Greetings, darlings! Here’s what I have for you this week…
On the 23rd, Christopher Rosa explained why you see the same women in Hallmark Christmas movies at Glamour:
“Hallmark has turned its holiday-movie-making business into a full-on cultural phenomenon. A whopping 72 million people tuned into Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas lineup last year, according to figures provided by the network. Hallmark also brought in the highest ratings on TV for households and women ages 18–49 and 25–54 during the week of November 20, 2017, largely because of its Christmas content. These holiday movies are so popular, in fact, that Hallmark upped its premiere count from 21 to 37—that’s 16 more movies than last year. Audiences truly can’t get enough.
Nor can the actresses who appear in the films. When I spoke to [Lacey] Chabert, she was about to start work on her sixteenth Hallmark movie, and she’s not alone. Lori Loughlin has appeared in three Hallmark Christmas films, not to mention dozens of other projects for the network; Danica McKellar has several Hallmark movies under her belt, including three holiday ones; Alicia Witt’s done a Hallmark Christmas movie every year since 2013; and Holly Robinson Peete’s holiday movie was so popular in 2017 that a sequel is coming out this year. These women all have busy schedules—both personally and professionally—yet they still carve out time each year for some Christmas magic.”
On the 28th, Jacob Trussell discussed “Candyman, Spiritual Sequels, and Horror’s Next Step” over at Film School Rejects:
“If 2018 is remembered for anything positive, it’s the popular revitalization of the horror genre, most notably at the box office. Studio heads are clearly taking notice of this trend. They are looking back through their library of films to see what was once popular that can be made so again, and nothing was more popular than these iconic horror villains.
Much like how the Universal Monsters continue to have a fluctuation of popularity every 20 or so years, and maybe even bolstered by The Dark Universe’s unfortunate failure, I see a new renaissance on the horizon for our favorite slashers. Fans who were inspired as children are now in the position to make the movies they wanted to see, and with 2018’s acceptance of intelligent horror, we could potentially see series best installments of classic franchises in the coming decade.”
Also on the 28th, Nathan Smith looked back on the time that Married with Children became a slasher film on the Daily Grindhouse:
“Throughout most of the first episode’s run-time, the Bundys are painfully unaware of the predicament that Al has placed them in, often taking the piss out of the bumpkins that populate the tourist spot. In a way, it often feels like a community-theatre stage production of Friday the 13th, with Al and the family acting like the suburban slobs versus the greasy denizens of Poppy’s by The Tree. There’s a wonderful sight gag where Bud’s bed in his room has a manual lawnmower just placed on it. The usual shenanigans follow – Al’s a horndog when he sees the sexy housekeeper, Peg nags Al for sex, Bud pretends to be someone impressive to bag a girl, and Kelly’s off drowning herself in the comfort of the local stud. The show highlights the disregard with which the Bundys treat everyone – they destroy the Rhodes’ luggage, and Al talks down to the locals with every breath he takes. Also, the downright apathy the locals have towards the Bundys getting attacked and potentially killed is gut-busting. When Al asks if one of the motel folk would take the family’s picture, he responds ‘Yeah. They’ll be wantin’ one for the paper.'”
Chris Lee at Vulture talked about why the MPAA got so pissed off over The House That Jack Built on the 29th:
“So what’s the big deal if a movie carries a rating or not? In a word: commerciality. While there is no direct correlation between restrictive ratings and ticket sales, most major theater chains make a policy of only programming movies that carry an MPAA rating (although art house cinemas in larger cities across the country regularly play films without them). Furthermore, unrated movies generally arrive on screens with assumptions that they’re unsuitable for minors, further curtailing mass appeal. And IFC’s whole release pipeline could be disrupted if the association delays rating its movies.”
Enjoy!