7 Surprise Hits Besides ‘The Devil Inside’

Wookie Johnson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:01:47 +0000

Paramount’s The Devil Inside caused film analysts to spit out the water they’d just taken a big sip of when it debuted as the first huge hit of 2012. The film (which was made for $34) nabbed the top spot at the box office with an opening of $34 million. That’s huge! And good news for the creaky, breaking bones lady in the commercial; She’s certain to be the toast of the town now. Can’t wait to see photos of her breaking her bones for paparrazi outside da clubs.

What’s most surprising here is that The Devil Inside garnered the very rare F rating from a thing called CinemaScore that apparently Joe Q. “I Wanna See Bones Twist” Public doesn’t check in with before buying a movie ticket. That, combined with the impressive box office, make the film a surprise hit like the films listed below.

District 9

Budget: $30 million – Worldwide box office: $211 million

District 9 defied expectations when it toppled G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and The Time Traveler’s Wife in its first week of release. Very little was known about the film’s plot, lead, or director when it opened strong. Analysts then anticipated for its revenue to fall off after week one, following Cloverfield’sexample, but great word of mouth and awesome special effects pushed the sci-fi action commentary on to be a global phenomenon.

Slumdog Millionaire

Budget: $15 million – Worldwide box office: $362 million

Starring a cast completely unknown to American audiences, the Danny Boyle-directed film became the darling of the Academy Awards after its release in 2008. When the critics began to notice the film, the film then opened wide reaping a huge box office and making a household name out of Virendra Chatterjee.

9 Characters Creepier Than Buffalo Bill From ‘Silence Of The Lambs’

Penn Collins — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:35:19 +0000

When it comes to creepy characters in cinema, The Silence of the Lambs’ Buffalo Bill, a.k.a “Jame Gumb,” is the gold standard against which all others are held. However, this is owed more to ubiquity than it is merit. It makes sense that he’s used as such; Silence swept the Oscars and quickly became a pop culture touch point.

However, skinning fat girls doesn’t earn the title of “Creepiest Man in Film.” For that title, I propose these nine gentleman who make Buffalo Bill seem like a Girl Scout.

That was hyperbolic. Buffalo Bill is still a really bad guy.

9. Dr. Frederick Chilton – The Silence of the Lambs

We didn’t have to go very far from the benchmark to get one entry on this list. While Buffalo Bill is by no means a charmer, his crazy, flesh suit-wearing ways are a sublime delight when held up to the head of the psychiatric “hospital,” Dr. Chilton. His smugness and sleazy demeanor cause the viewer to half-expect hair gel to start oozing out of his pores.

Remarkably, Hannibal Lecter was able to look past all his shortcomings and “have him for dinner.”

Oh. I just got that. That’s funny.

8. Norman Bates – Psycho

The title of the film says it all. This guy wears one face to the world, and another one in the confines of the Bates Motel. Like Buffalo Bill, this dude is straight-up crazy. Beyond the standard killing (which wouldn’t get you on this list). In terms of creepy actions, this guy takes the cake with conversing and keeping his mother’s decomposing corpse as a companion.

7. Sean Nokes – Sleepers

While the above gentlemen are creepier on a social level, Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon’s character from Sleepers) is creepier on more of a “molests little boys and tortures them” level, which is one hell of a level. With the other guards at the juvenile detention center, he raped many of the boys, apparently unrepentant years after the fact.

Coupled with his appearance (which can best be described as “greasy as shit”) when confronted by one of the grown-up boys, he’s working creepy on two very palatable levels. I hope he enjoyed his dinner that night. It was his last.