I’ll be honest; this is the first I’ve heard of this project. As it stands, Eli Roth is producing a film called ‘Cotton’, which according to the synopsis, is a Cloverfield/Blair Witch Project style verite horror film about an exorcism. Based on that summary, I can safely say that if this is done well, it could RULE. The director announced for this film is a man named Daniel Stamm. I’ll be honest again. Never heard of him. However, I have checked out the trailer for his film ‘A Necessary Death’ (embedded below) and I’m intrigued. I guess his film played at last years SXSW festival and received some attention. I’m assuming this is where Roth first began his considerations for Stamm to take on this project. The verite horror style seems to polarize audiences. I know lots of people who were crushed under the weight of The Blair Witch Project’s hype. Cloverfield experienced similar results, with people simply complaining about the shaky camera instead of allowing themselves to be carried away by the experience. Personally, I think these films are usually extremely effective. If a filmmaker can manage to maintain a sense of realism using documentary techniques, it’s that much more effective when an other-worldly element is injected into the mix. I’m totally looking forward to this.

On a related note, I remember seeing a special on 20/20 when I was a kid where they filmed a ‘real’ exorcism. It freaked the fuck out of me. It was right up there with the news at 11’s ‘DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?’ opening. Luckily, thanks to the magic of the YouTubes, I’ve managed to find the original show as aired in 1991. It’s definitely a trip down memory lane. It reminds me of the time when I was watching an episode of Ripley’s Believe it or Not and there was a story on ants. I was eating a bowl of Rice Krispies at the time and for years afterwards, always imagined ants in my cereal. I love TV. Check out the vids after the jump.

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Part 4 of 4

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