respectoplasm

compare these (potentially pseudo-) early20th century depictions of ectoplasm...

with this in 2009 depiction:

thoughts:
1. the luminous cgi of after effects cs6 and a questionable budget sure is dazzling and viscerally upsetting in a different more nauseating way, but does not reach the gorgeous photomontages of yesteryore.
2. in writing this i almost referred to Haunting in Connecticut as a "b-movie", because it's a second- or third-tier horror movie without a huge following and little critical praise. but upon investigating this term, i discovered that Haunting in Connecticut falls under zero found categorizations of "b-movie."

This curiously-thorough wikipedia article argues essentially that the b-movie transformed into a certain vein of art house: the 90s indie films that felt particularly informed by exploitation films and cannibalized pop culture, ie most.
And a generous NYT article sheds light on the OnDemand free movies that you scroll past and mentally filter out. This "new B-movie" occupies more-or-less the same space that the b-movies of the 80s once did, with technological variations. he's churning out self-deprecating money-makers that mimic large blockbusters but are self-aware enough to capitalize on the tongue-in-cheek campiness and shlock of OG B-movies.

so what the fuck am i talking about?

i'm talking about another grade of horror films. ubiquity horror movies (U-grade films). you've seen their gothic billboards on the subway or in some empty lot, you maybe hear some kid talking about how they shit their pants, and then they forever are erased from the collective consciousness. films that cost a lot, make a lot, and then are erased and sent into imdb oblivion. films like The Unborn, Blood Creek, Horsemen. films that all feature former (sometimes current!) A-list actors (Gary Oldman, Michael Fassbender, Dennis Quaid), have enormous budgets, and often, enormous worldwide grosses. a lot of these are compiled on this awesome self-defeating list. and it feels distinctly 21st century. these films reliably come from smaller companies like Blumhouse Productions or Gold Circle Films, which were both tellingly formed in the year 2000. and then they're picked up by massive distribution companies, like Lionsgate or Focus or Universal. this is when they become U-grade. what's crucial to remember is that these aren't commercial flops. trusty NYT exposes just how well these films do. often they make more than they cost. from an explanatory article on the bookkeeping behind such oddities:

."..There’s so much more money out there than there used to be five years ago for filmed stories, 100,000, 200,000, which is good news..."

mostly these exist on DVDs now, so you can probably order in bulk on ebay. these artists deserve it.

this is the second time i've posted about this in the past 2 days... what does this mean for my spiritual alignment? or filmmaking aspirations?