io9: the cell

What Awful Sadist Demanded A Sequel To The Cell?

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:30:00 PDT

Psychic detective Maya goes inside a killer's mind... only to see an image of the killer, in the real world, injecting her with something nasty, in The Cell 2. "Nooooooooo!" She screams. Maybe she's watching the same movie we are.

Who demanded a sequel to Tarsem Singh's The Cell? Whoever it was, he or she is even more sadistic than The Cusp, the serial killer/paramedic who keeps bringing his victims to the brink of death and then reviving them. It's mostly standard torture porn, only with the same psychic crap as the first movie. And there's this great snippet, where the serial killer turns her psychic powers back on her, using them to destroy her childhood memories somehow.

The Cell 2 came out on DVD a couple of days ago, so you know what you have to do.

Dive into the Brains of More Psychos in The Cell 2

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:40:00 PDT

Cell 2, the straight-to-DVD movie, is supposed to hit shelves around October 14, according to Shock Till You Drop. Unfortunately, Jennifer Lopez will not be reprising her role as a emotionally attached, mind-invading child psychologist, nor will crazy intestine-pulling Vincent D'Onofrio reappear. Instead, there's a whole new ball of crazy.

The new leading character is Maya, brought to life by Tessie Santiago (Old School), and Frank Whaley (Field of Dreams) joins her as a character named Duncan. This Cell follows a serial killer named The Cusp who kills his victims and then brings them back to life over and over again until they beg for their own demise. Maya is a past Cusp victim, who was forced into a coma because of his brutal torture. Maya has to enter Cuspy's brain in order to save his other victims. Although the plot sounds promising, you have to wonder if the reason the original Cell was good was due to the surreal settings, or the fact that Vincent D'Onofiro completely sold the role as crazed-horn god. Sadly this movie will probably have neither. [Shock Till You Drop]

What The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie Could Have Been

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:30:24 PST

The film version of Alan Moore's graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is probably the worst movie adaptation of all time. It failed to capture the spirit of the graphic novel, didn't stay true to the characters, and devolved into just another vehicle for Sean Connery. But take heart. Check out this trailer for Tarsem Singh's The Fall, which is everything League could have been. The flick has been playing all over the world, and will finally be coming to the U.S. in March.

The Fall unites an unlikely band of steampunk-era heroes — The Indian, The Ex-Slave, The Explosives Expert, The Masked Bandit, and Charles Darwin — to fight a common enemy, Governor Odious. Director Tarsem is best known for his movie The Cell, which was gorgeous eye-candy with a story that dragged. He's also been attached to the remake of Westworld and Nautica, but was either replaced or left those projects. The Fall was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, and has taken its sweet time to make its way around the world.

It looks to be equal parts Big Fish and Pan's Labyrinth as well as The League. That's a good start. Plus, Charles Darwin as a fictional science hero? We're there.