Alexandre Aja
I have not seen the first three films by Alexandre Aja, though I suspect most have not. His magnum opus might be considered Haute Tension had the script not degraded into a cheap M. Night Shayamalan rip-off, rendering the first half of the movie completely implausible and utterly stupid. Though this made the film absolutely unbearable, it was not without its upsides. The soundtrack, cinematography, and methods of dispatch, if you will, were absolutely brilliant, so I don’t think I’d be completely off base in saying that this was just a fluke and hoped for good things to come from him in the future.
His next film was a remake of the Craven borefest The Hills Have Eyes, which was overtly graphic for the sake of being graphic while being just as boring as the original. This says nothing of its originality, of which there is almost none, falling into an inescapable vortex of cheap horror cliches. The final twenty minutes are ridiculously predictable, and I left the theater wondering what the fuck I just watched.
His next film as a writer was P2, which I never saw. This is a good thing, as it doesn’t seem to be anything more than your run-of-the-mill Hollywood suspense-thriller. After that comes this year’s South Korean remake, Mirrors, doomed to fail because it’s a remake of an Asian horror film. Just because The Ring was successful does not give every fucking big-name horror director carte blanche to adapt every Asian horror film into a shitty one-off American adaptation. The Grudge sucked, Dark Water sucked,and Pulse definitely sucked, so what makes you think this won’t suck? ‘Cause Jack Bauer is in it?
Alexandre Aja is lucky in that he made one successful horror film (albeit a shitty successful horror film). Instead, however, of making more successful horror films that are actually good, he’s selling out by making cheap remakes of classics that also suck, remakes of Asian horror films that are rarely good, and really, really, really, really, really, really shitty retarded suspense-thrillers. His next movie is Piranha 3-D. Here’s hoping it’s a comedy.
Mr. Aja, please stop making shitty horror films. The French are dominating the genre, and you’re sticking out like a black man at a Klan rally. Have some God damned dignity and make something truly inspiring to horror fans everywhere. You’ve exhibited a slow and steady decline, so…well, so I guess you’re like most horror directors. Heh. No one can ever top their first.
Fun note: Aja holds membership in the Splat Pack, “a collection of filmmakers who, since 2002, have brought about a renaissance of horror film.” Of those on the list, the only who is worth a damn is Neil Marshall, ’cause, well, Dog Soldiers and The Descent fucking ruled.
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So wait, you’ve only seen 2 of 6 released films, one of which you enjoyed, and you’re telling him to stop making shitty movies? Ok, that totally makes sense.
From what I know of his earlier films they are not horror and therefore are not valid. That brings it down to four films, five if you count Piranha 3-D.
I enjoyed Haute Tension insofar as it has all the element of a good horror film, save for a good story. He wanted to be so fucking edgy he threw in one of the worst possible endings in horror, which also happens to be one of the biggest cop out twists.
The Hills Have Eyes was just shit, pure and simple, and offered nothing in the way of originality (yes, I know it’s a remake). His other films seem to be nothing more than pure Hollywood suspense bullshit, so I’d rather not waste two hours watching them when the good money is on them being shit.
The only bad part about Haute Tension was the shitty ending. Other than that, it was one of the best horror movies to be released in the past few years. The Hills Have Eyes is one of the best remakes out there (although to be fair, that’s not saying much). And you go on about what his movies “seem” like. So you just read reviews and decided to take those people’s opinions for yourself? And how are his other films not valid because they’re not straight up horror? Were they suddenly not directed by the same person? Only seeing 2 films from the guy doesn’t really seem to give you a lot of credibility when you try to trash him.
I’ll concede to that. A lot of what I’m going on are not only reviews, but also clips of the movie I have seen and trailers. Hell, I might watch them and be pleasantly surprised, but I’ve found with major horror films that the if the consensus is that it’s trash, then it’s trash.
His other films aren’t valid because they’re not horror….that’s it. This is solely a horror (and maybe science fiction) blog, so anything he does outside of the genre is not worthy of mention. This is not to say that they’re bad films. He exhibited an incredible tendency to make solid horror films with Haute Tension (save for the awful ending), and I just haven’t seen it in his most recent films, or anything I have seen ABOUT his most recent films.
As for The Hills Have Eyes remake…I definitely disagree. It was awful.
In sum, you make a valid point, and I suppose this little article came out of my desire to have something on this blog that wasn’t a review, and I’m attempting to be more careful in the future with my writing, lest I say something else to garner a remark such as yours. Additionally, to defend myself, I think the whole point I’m trying to make is that after the initial success of Haute Tension and the Hills Have Eyes, he’s just now in it for the money instead of the love of the craft.
That was worded poorly, so if you’d prefer a better explanation, please let me know. And thanks for the criticism. The more I get, the better.