lars von trier

The influence of Lars von Trier's latest magnum opus Antichrist reaches far and wide. The overarching theme of the film, "chaos reigns," became the unofficial slogan of Fantastic Fest, and although recently cancelled to legal issues, CHUD.com and IFC sponsored a "make your own Antichrist poster" contest so that similarly disturbed individuals could artistically express their love for what has come to be, for me, one of the worst horror films of the year.

This sort of reaction is not what I would have expected from such a brilliant filmmaker. My experience with the film prior to viewing it was simply reading the words, "Lars von Trier to make a horror film called Antichrist," and that was all that was needed to get the anticipation flowing through my veins. What we have here, then, is another example of the hype machine working its magic, instilling in me expectations that can in no way be met or exceeded.

Antichrist features all of two people throughout its muddled storyline. A nameless couple, played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are grieving over the loss of their child Nic, who fell out of the window while the two made love. Although He has begun to come to terms with the death of his child, She has trouble moving on, collapsing at his funeral and waking up in the hospital. From there He, a therapist, decides to take her care into his own hands. Eventually they end up at a cabin in a forest named Eden, which turns out to be the focal point of her fear and the location at which She, along with her son, spent time working on her thesis, which focused on the subject of gynocide. Once there strange things start to happen. Genital mutilation ensues.

It's time for Horror Bites -- your (semi) daily round-up of blood, guts, and torturous mayhem from around the web:

Variety reports that Platinum Dunes and Paramount are joining forces to bring flicks like The Butcherhouse Chronicles to the big screen.

According to Fangoria, now's your chance to meet John Landis. He will be attending screenings of An American Werewolf in London this month in Manhattan.

Showtime is now animating Dexter for a new webisode series.

Could Zombieland spawn 12 sequels? Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick talk to io9 about how the project was originally a series, and there are lots of ideas left untapped.

Bloody Disgusting chats with Lars von Trier -- the man behind Antichrist and the super-creepy old foreign TV series, The Kingdom.

The lovely Jen Yamato (also of Cinematical) runs down her list of traumatizingly scary movies for FEARnet.

Arrow in the Head reports new release dates. The Roommate is now slated to hit screens a little earlier on September 17, 2010, while Priest will take the now-vacated October 1, 2010 slot.

A new documentary will help culture you in all things U.S. horror. Check out the trailer for Nightmares in Red, White and Blue over at Quiet Earth.

So Peter got all excited for the first wave of announced titles for Fantastic Fest, despite having never been before. Then Scott brought the love when it came to the second announcement, having been time and time before. And now it's my turn to assure you that, after having only attended last year, I really, truly can't wait for this year's festivities to kick off, and the most recent reveal of what's on the slate certainly didn't hurt my interest.

The controversial Antichrist will make its U.S. premiere, as will [REC] 2 (hec yeah!). The director of Ninja Assassin will be there with his film, the stars of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant will be there with theirs (read: John C. Reilly), and the very clever Hirsute bodes well for the shorts program to boot. And there'll even be a couple of secret screenings that we can only hope our fellow Twitter types will have the courtesy not to spoil prior.

Check out the rest after the jump. 17 more days!

By Jenni Miller

What does Willem Dafoe's junk, a talking fox, and a dead child all have in common? Well, they're going to star in a video game adaptation of Lars von Trier's Antichrist courtesy of Morten Iversen, a developer with some serious credentials in the world of game geekery. Formerly of Io Interactive, Iversen now works at von Trier's Zentropa production company.

Russ Frushtick over at MTV Multiplayer tracked down Iversen to ask him what the hell is up with this project, so to speak, and here's what he had to say.

"Von Trier has been extremely fond of video games for ages, and has been an avid player of 'Alone in the Dark,'" explained Iverson. "He's been circulating the idea internally... that making games would be a good idea." He describes it as "a nightmarish version of 'Myst.'"

("Alone in the Dark"? Really? Come on, Lars!)

But apparently Zentropa's game dev people have some rather cool ideas in mind. If dead kids aren't your biggest fear in life, you can tweak your profile to indicate what scares you most and the game will respond in kind.