Posts Tagged ‘mystery’

Robin Wood famously articulated the American horror film, but one thing still needs to be added

While rereading Robin Wood’s essay An Introduction to the American Horror Film I noticed that it failed to talk about an important element in the discussion of what exactly describes an American horror film. The absence of this topic in his subsection titled “Basic Formula” surprises me now, as it is arguably just as simple a provision to the genre as the overarching blueprint stipulating that “normality is threatened by the Monster.” While Wood’s essay has long since been considered a seminal one for both him and academic thought about the horror genre, and this is very true, an amendment should nevertheless be made. That amendment is specific but not intricate, dealing with the main protagonist’s direct relationship with the antagonist.

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Short Take: No longer just a sleuth, Holmes is also a hero

Director: Guy Ritchie (RocknRolla, Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)

Screenwriters: Michael Robert Johnson (Début), Anthony Peckham (Invictus)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Tropic Thunder), Jude Law (Cold Mountain, Closer), Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Red Eye), Mark Strong (The Young Victoria, Stardust)

Length: 2 hrs 8 mins

Summary: The film begins with famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Law) finishing their last case together.  They stop Lord Blackwood (Strong) just before he commits another ritualistic murder and a few days later witness him hanged for his crimes.  However, Blackwood seemingly comes back from the dead and Holmes and Watson, with some help from Holmes’s old flame Irene Adler (McAdams), try to discover Blackwood’s endgame before he kills anyone else. Read the rest of this entry »