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Venomous Thinking
(Rant: September 2005) In the wake
of 9/11, Hollywood reacted to the most lethal offensive ever launched
on American soil with a contentious hand while tending to business. Collateral
Damage, the Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller about a firefighter hunting
down terrorists for revenge, was withheld from release for several months,
and Serendipity, the romantic comedy staring John Cusack and Kate
Beckinsale, had the opening shots, showcasing the New York City skyline,
re-edited to parse out any vestiges of the World Trade Towers. Both moves
were a sensitive effort to stave off reminders of the momentous and recent
tragedy that had so deeply affected the American psyche. But now, on the
heels of Hurricane Katrina (arguably the most devastating natural disaster in
the United States), even before the waters have receded, Dimension Films
releases Venom, a supernatural slasher flick about a nefarious
incarnation fashioned from a rotten corpse and a team of poisonous snakes. Oh
yeah, it’s set in the misty bayou of Louisiana. This comes at a time when
bloated bodies are being plucked from the flooded streets of New Orleans and
emergency stocks of anti-venom are being shipped to the area because of a
proliferation of the poisonous serpents, displaced by the storm, are pouring
into the city streets. Just the association of killer, death and Louisiana
(think of the heinous atrocities in the Superdome) should be enough to put
this one on hold. I’m not sure what went through the minds of the powers that
be at Dimension. I hope for their sake, nothing and that the release was just
an ignorant oversight. But obviously not. No matter, it still go under What
were they thinking? file, even if they weren’t. - TBM |
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