In addition to the usual reviews and comments you would find on a horror movie blog, this is also a document of the wonderfully vast horror movie section of the video store I worked at in my youth.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Some Exciting News!

The full line-up and schedule for Fantasia, Montreal’s annual genre film festival, was announced yesterday. Man, what a collection of great titles this year! There are scores of movies that I’ve been chomping at the bit to see for a while, including Dance Of The Dead, Let The Right One In and Timecrimes as well as many I’ve been hearing about on Twitch and Bloody Disgusting, like Dark Floors, The Echo, 4bia, Red, Wicked Lake and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (which also plays here July 17, wreaking havoc with my Dark Knight schedule I might add). And, most importantly, Fantasia is screening Fever Dreams’ new ultra-bloody opus Tokyo Gore Police. If I end up making the jaunt to Montreal, it will be for that. There are also a myriad of projects that are new to my radar. Check out some of these.

From Inside – A post apocalyptic animated vision designed and created by one man (John Bergin) on his home computer.

Before The Fall – A Spanish thriller about a man trying protect his children against not only the coming end of the world, but also an escaped convict bent on revenge.

The Substitute – From the director of 1994’s Nightwatch (the Danish morgue thriller, not the Russian vampire epic) comes a new movie about a teacher that may or may not be human.

Trailer Park Of Terror – Aiming for new heights of 'splatstick' is this offering about the zombie inhabitants of a trailer park.

Babysitter Wanted – This one sounds really interesting to me. It sounds like a standard slasher, but apparently reinvents convention and not in the usual, tired Scream fashion.

Home Movie – A new entry into the current wave of first person camera flicks, but with a twist. We’ve seen the vile atrocities perpetrated by the subjects of films like August Underground and The Poughkeepsie Tapes right? Well, imagine those same people when they were kids. What would the home videos taken of them as children look like?

Lady Blood – The sequel to 1990 French film Baby Blood – A film I’d never heard of and has now been zipped! – Lady will likely fit into the ranks of the current extreme efforts from France quite nicely.

There are also a bunch of movies that I’ve already seen that I know genre audiences will eat up greedily like [REC], the much delayed All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, Alone, Machine Girl, Argento’s newest Mother Of Tears and Stuck. Other titles of note are the upcoming Midnight Meat Train, Repo! The Genetic Opera and Uwe Boll’s Tunnel Rats. We should place bets on which of those last two titles is the bigger train wreck. I have insider info that implies it is the former of the pair.

Lastly, two new guests have been announced for this year’s Festival Of Fear. The first is none other that Mr. Texas Chainsaw himself, Tobe Hooper. It seems so weird that this gets announced on the heels of this month’s Final Girl Film Club selection Lifeforce. The second is Linnea Quigley, who makes her triumphant return to Toronto. She was one of the guests at the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors I attended back in ‘91. However, after reading the copy here, I am a little concerned about seeing her again. Every time I hear about people involved with PETA, I immediately recall the FOF Linda Blair debacle of 2006 and her fucking dog show. I DO NOT want to sit through that again. We are thrilled you love animals and protecting them is something you feel strongly about, but preaching about how dogs should have been saved before humans during the New Orleans disaster to a crowd who paid to hear you talk about the Exorcist is not my idea of a good time. But maybe that’s just me.

I hope that top is imitation leather.


Anyway, enjoy your weekend kids.

3 comments:

Heather Santrous said...

I was reading what you had to say and the link that you provided about Linda Blair. All I can really say is, wow. I can sure understand her plugging the foundation. Maybe even talking about it and dogs for a short while, but for an hour?

I haven't been to a true horror convention yet. I have been to conventions where there were horror celebs there, but it wasn't a horror convention. I would love to go to one someday and I am sure I will. If I paid to hear someone preach at me though, I wouldn't be a happy camper unless that was what I was paying for. Did she really say that dogs should have been saved before humans? I love animals as much as the next person but people come first. As much as it would pain me to not rescue an animal, it would be the human that wins out if there was a choice.

Anyway, sorry for rambling there lol. If you go, be sure there is at least one person out there that will be jealous of you.

Jay Clarke said...

Pretty much. LB got into an argument with someone during the Q&A because dogs were left behind during rescue efforts. Tragic yes, but I'm sorry if there are 10 dogs on the right and one man on the left, even if there is a 5% chance the man drowns while you are saving the dogs first, you have to go left, that's just the way it is I'm sorry. And don't even get me started on her shlepping her vegan cookbook!

Oh, I'll definitely be going to the con. And I'll be sharing all I see right here, so be sure to check back in August.

Anonymous said...

Jay, I'm telling you now...if she dwells on any of those subjects...I will get up and leave like I did when she Linda Blair brought up that cookbook. I will not wait an hour...I will leave right then!

:)