Mar 17 2007
Zodiac
Zodiac
Directed by: David Fincher
Written by: James Vanderbilt (screenplay)
Robert Graysmith (book)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal
Robert Downey, Jr.
Mark Ruffalo
Anthony Edwards
Brian Cox
John Carroll Lynch
Rating: 8.1
I’ve long grown tired of horror movies – they’re just a bit tired, played-out, and unnecessarily derivative in my mind. Granted, I have plenty of friends and siblings who are passionate enthusiasts for this brand of cinema and they’ll criticize me for mocking the cheap clichés and tawdry trash that regularly plagues this genre of film, but I stand by my assertions. Oh, I fully acknowledge that there are exceptions to my dismissal of horror flicks, but I think that films that spend an inordinate amount of time fixating upon the deepest depths of humanity and swirling it around with copious amounts of blood need to use their imaginations to a greater extent. And no, I’m not asking horror film directors to think of new ways to take the life of anymore attractive, B-List actress; I’m imploring them to actually craft some worthwhile dialogue and an engaging plot.
Thankfully, into the breach steps David Fincher, director of the acclaimed thrillers Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room. He’s carved out a strong niche for himself, creating movies that have strong cultish followings, not solely because of the images that roil across the screen, but for the strong character and story development that pulls the viewer in and doesn’t let go. What sets these movies apart from their horror counterparts is that they make the conscious choice to tease, tweak, and tug at the viewer through the psyches, realizing that while visual stimulation is nice and all, to truly terrify people you have to subvert and get deep inside a moviegoer’s imagination. Fincher excels at titillating, stimulating, and shocking the viewer’s mind’s eye, and not just their eye.
Thus, with his most recent creation, Zodiac, Fincher does exactly that. Continue reading “Zodiac”
