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, July 31, 2015

Amusé!


While I spent the majority of my time in Fantasia watching movies, drinking on patios and eating mass quantities of unhealthy foods, I did get up to some other activities, as well. My companions & I spent some time checking out the attractions down at The Old Port.

This year, they had something called Virus, which was a cross between haunted house and rhythm game. You slip these sensor thingies over your palms at the start and use them to cover panels lit up with your designated colour during the walk through. 


However, the rub is there are several things, like loud noises and jets of air and water, that deter you from you doing so. And naturally, in between these rooms, you are crawling through the darkness waiting for the employees to jump out at you. Save for the Goretorium, it's probably the most elaborate scare house I've been in.


Next, we went onto Hangar 16 SOS Labyrinth, purported to be the largest indoor maze in the world(?). The full walk through is two kilometres and takes about fourty-five minutes to an hour for most people to get through. It gets a little confusing at times because it's not clear where you are supposed to go - it's not linear like a normal maze, just four random points inside you have to find - and often got crowded with families with their fucking strollers in tow. A neat idea though.


A few days later, Fantasia had a VR demonstration set up at the De Seve building. Most of them were running the Samsung Gear VR. but they had the Oculus Rift there, as well. I spent a good two hours there (most of it was waiting in line of course), and realized that now there are multiple devices on the market, you can already see differences in quality. The demos on the Samsung (a horror one called 11:57 and a Jurassic Park one) were noticeably lower resolution than the Oculus Rift, and the fit of the goggles & headphones were not as snug. The Samsung literally felt like it was a Galaxy being put right in front of my eyes. Whereas the Oculus Rift demo Body Mind Change - a TIFF sponsored experience based off the work of David Cronenberg - was crystal clear and pretty fucking neat.



Anyhoo, things should get back to normal around here this weekend. See you on the other side.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Trailer Tuesdays: Road Games

It was a long day of transit for me last Sunday. After I once again bid farewell to Fantasia, I was reminded of Richard Franklin's 1981 flick Road Games. Probably the least known of Jamie Lee Curtis' slasher credits, I think this film's “Rear Window on Wheels” conceit works really well. Enjoy!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

The October Society.


One of my most anticipated films at Fantasia this year was the anthology Tales of Halloween.


Bear witness to ten devilish tales that take place in the same sleepy suburban town on All Hallow's Eve.

I thought Tales of Halloween was a really strong anthology. The brainchild of Belgian writer/producer/director Axelle Carolyn, this little project turned out rather well. The list of directors is as long as my arm, but includes such genre vets as Neil Marshall, Darren Lynn Bousman and Mike Mendez, who contributed my favourite effort, Friday the 31st.

As horror fans know, anthologies can be a very tricky affair, but I feel they hit the sweet spot with the ten-minute episode lengths. When dealing with your four or five part anthologies, if one part is a dud, it brings the project down as a whole, while absorbing too many, like with The ABC's of Death movies, can just be exhausting. Ten shorts, with a through-line narration provided by the inimitable Adrienne Barbeau (in a role recalling that of her turn in John Carpenter's The Fog), is a fine amount of time to properly tell a story and also not too much of an investment if it doesn't work.


Fortunately for Tales of Halloween, I thought there was only one weak link in the entire thing (Lucky McKee's entry continues to distance himself further and further away from his wonderful 2002 effort May). You can tell that everyone involved had a blast making this and the feeling is infectious. While it is true the majority of the shorts went for whimsy over scares, there are a lot of really great ideas on display here. I have to preface this statement by saying I haven't given Michael Dougherty's 2007 flick Trick r Treat a rewatch since its release, but Carolyn and company's venture maybe even superior. Tales doesn't have the recognizable figurehead of Sam behind it, but with double the amount of stories, it offers more memorable moments. And we didn't have to wait two years to see it!

Further evidence of this being a community effort is just how many familiar faces are in this movie. I think that Tales could actually be referred to as cameo porn. In addition to the participating directors being in each other shorts, there are also appearances by the likes of John Landis, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Stuart Gordon, Adam Green, James Wan and even iconic artist Drew Struzan in a laugh-out-loud moment. However, the list of rare gets wasn't limited to in front of the camera, as the filmmakers were able to pull Oscar winning composer Lalo Schifrin out of retirement to create material for them.

Director/Producer Axelle Carolyn.

Tales of Halloween is the perfect balance of fan service and spirited short film storytelling. It is a love letter to every genre enthusiast's favourite time of year and totally the kind of thing I can see myself throwing on during my All Hallow's Eve celebrations.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

A Hellmouth Holiday.


After checking out the solid actioner Momentum, I made a last minute decision to get back in line to see The Paz Brothers' horror film, JeruZalem.


Two friends Sarah (Danielle Jadelyn) & Rachel (Yael Grobglas) are vacationing in Jerusalem, when the biblical End of Days suddenly rocks the city.

At its core, JeruZalem is a pretty standard found footage horror film, but there are some elements that really elevate it.

The first is the use of Google Glass, which Sarah puts on at the beginning of the film. By making the lenses prescription – and having her bag carrying her other pair of glasses subsequently stolen – the filmmakers cleverly circumvented any logistical problems about why she continued filming once all hell broke loose. Additionally, because we were privy to Glass's HUD, the Paz Brothers also found new ways to visually relay exposition and story through the device. How this tech could potentially pull up anybody's Facebook profile via facial recognition may have been the scariest part of the movie.

The calm before the storm.

Secondly, the location is breathtaking. The movie travelled throughout Jerusalem and as everything was first person, you really felt like you were walking the streets with the characters. I was quite impressed by how much footage they captured – in holy places and the like – and found out later they filmed under the guise of a documentary to grab that stuff.

The performances were natural and solid across the board, though Sarah did get a little whiny towards the end. She was also the one making the majority of the bad decisions, which was cause for frustration. And while it is true the “Z” in the title is bit of a misnomer, I can see why they tried to incorporate it into their marketing campaign.

Lastly, you have to take into consideration that, apart from Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado (the duo behind Rabies and Big Bad Wolves), this is the first full blown horror film to come out of Israel. JeruZalem's production values rival much of Hollywood's output, so if these are Israel's baby steps into genre territory, then we in for some great things when they really get their legs under them.

Many feel zombies and found footage are both played out tropes, but I say JeruZalem is worthy of your attention.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Observance.


A lesser known title I took in this Fantasia was the world premiere of Aussie Joseph Sims-Dennett's Observance.


A destitute man named Parker (Lindsay Farris) takes a job spying on a woman. After several days cooped up in the ratty apartment across from her, the mystery behind his assignment incites a crippling paranoia.

Observance was a strange film that took a while for me to digest. It's one of those films that if, taken at face value, seemed to be straightforward, but upon further reflection you wonder if there wasn't more going on under the surface. The premise does have the Hitchcockian underpinnings of Rear Window, but Sims-Dennett's allegiances lie more with Roman Polanski. His 1976 film The Tenant was mentioned in the intro and Observance definitely shared a similar descent into madness.

The film's most powerful aspect was its underlying sense of dread. It was helped along by the score and set design, but Sims-Dennett just had a knack for portraying even the most mundane moments as threatening. This is a very important skill as when you're dealing with low-key psychological horror, successfully making it appear that more is going on than what you are seeing onscreen is a rare talent. It is also laid out in such a way to make you feel like you are right there trapped in that apartment with the protagonist.

Lindsay Farris as Parker in Observance.

Observance also has a very cool look. It reminded me a lot of Marc Evans' underseen (and decidedly mediocre) 2004 flick Trauma. It had the same decrepit apartment block facade that served the film aesthetically and metaphorically.

It is always hard to say where a meditative genre piece like Observance will end up once it is finished its festival run, but if it does pop up somewhere in the future and you like this sort of thing, give it a watch.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Home Sweet Home.


The haunted house horror We Are Still Here was another SXSW darling that was screening at Fantasia this year. After establishing himself as a writer and producer (most recently on The ABC's of Death 2), I was very much looking forward to seeing Ted Geoghegan's first stint in the director's chair.


Grieving parents Anne (Barbara Crampton) & Paul (Andrew Sensenig) retreat to an old house in New England only to find it may be haunted.

We Are Still Here was a very enjoyable affair. Geoghegan is another cinephile who grew up during the home video era and you can tell where his influences lie, most prominently the work of Lucio Fulci. Aside from the neat callbacks to The Beyond – there is no Joe the Plumber, but there is a Joe the Electrician – this film has huge helpings of House by the Cemetery.

I thought this film was really well made and featured a strong core of actors who've worked with some of the most exciting genre filmmakers in the business. In addition to genre veterans Barbara Crampton & Andrew Sensenig, you also had indie icon Larry Fessenden who adds energy to every project he appears in.

Barbara Crampton as Anne in We Are Still Here.

The thing I liked most about We Are Still Here was that Geoghegan was able to incorporate the best of both worlds. The majority of the film was reserved and atmospheric and then built to an explosive crescendo of gore. I have to liken it to Ti West's 2009 effort House of the Devil, except We Are Still Here boasts a satisfying conclusion.

It is more credit to the film that I still had a positive experience despite the obnoxious asshole sitting behind us at the screening. Being enthusiastic during a movie is one thing, hooting and hollering at every little thing is quite another. As my friend put it, it was like he'd never seen a horror film outside of his living room before and had been waiting his whole life to witness one on the big screen. It's a dilemma because can't you really call someone out for being excited, especially when the director specifically encouraged the crowd to be vocal in his intro. I don't know, maybe I'm just an old man shaking his fist at a cloud.

I crush your head!

Regardless, Geoghegan's debut is an impressive little ghost yarn that finds just the right balance between freshness and homage. His intent was to create something that would not feel out of place on a video store shelf circa 1983 and he has done just that.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

All Hail The Blind God!


A movie I'd been hearing about since its premiere at SXSW was New Zealand's Jason Lei Howden's horror comedy Deathgasm.


A group of teenage metalheads unwittingly resurrect an ancient evil that casts their sleepy town into chaos.

Deathgasm was bloody buckets of fun. The Kiwis have always had a real affinity for mixing comedy and horror, as aside from the obvious Peter Jackson classics that this film playfully pays homage to, there have also been crazy cats like The Spierig Brothers (Undead) and Jonathan King (Black Sheep). However, I would say the biggest influence on this movie was Sam Raimi's Evil Dead though. It was really hard not to enjoy myself when very Candarian-like demons started popping up everywhere.

The movie was also incredibly gory. I should've expected that considering the source, but I guess it's just been a while since it's been done properly like this. Although, I do feel that Howden may have a borderline unhealthy fixation with crotch-area mutilation. He seems to get a little too much enjoyment out of stuffing sharp objects up people's anuses.

Milo Cawthorne (left) & James Blake as Brodie & Zakk in Deathgasm.

I feel like this was kind of what I wanted from 2008's Dance of the Dead, but it never quite hit the mark like Deathgasm did. I've never been into metal – unless you count my brief sampling of Twisted Sister and Motley Crue circa 1985 – but I feel the outcast teen is pretty relatable no matter where their interests lie. I don't have much more to say other than Deathgasm is definitely the kind of movie best seen as a shared experience with an audience.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Love Thy Neighbour.


For those who saw Miguel Ángel Vivas' 2010 feature Secuestrados (aka Kidnapped), I bet you likely never forgot it. It was unapologetically dour and its final frames still rattle around in my brain several years on. Aside from that though, the film was a technical marvel, consisting of a dozen extended shots stitched together into a feature length thriller. So, when I saw that Vivas' new project Extinction was playing Fantasia, I knew I had to see it.


Holed up in a pair of cabins in the mountains while awaiting the end of the apocalypse, Patrick (Matthew Fox), Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) and his daughter Lu (Quinn McColgan) realize that the zombies might not be as dead as they thought.

I found Extinction to be surprisingly solid. When I say surprisingly, I mean that the premise sounded so overdone that I was skeptical Vivas would be able to bring anything new to the table. But he did. Unlike a lot of post-apocalyptic stories, it doesn't get bogged down in the hows and whys, it just concentrates on the here and now. I found the structure of how the last two men (quite possibly on the entire planet) who can't stand to look at each other, yet still remained neighbours at the end of the world to be really interesting. That's not to say that it's completely fresh, as there were whole sections where it felt like other material (The Walking Dead, 28 Weeks Later and I Am Legend being the most prominent), but Vivas was always able to bring it back with some wonderful character work.

And that is one of the two strengths of the film, the relationship between the three main characters. Orphaned from the television roles that made them stars, Jeffrey Donovan & Matthew Fox were terrific and their end-of-the-world gruffness was nicely counteracted by their child co-star Quinn McColgan. Young actors like McColgan come along very rarely, so expect to see a lot more of her in the future.

Patrick (Matthew Fox) dispatches one of the infected in Extinction.

The other strength was the technical prowess of Vivas that I alluded to earlier. He makes the snow covered exteriors look beautiful despite utilizing very little colour in his palette. I was also glad to see that he didn't totally abandon his penchant for long takes, as there is a memorable sequence where the camera tracked down, going through the three floors of the cabin during the climax. I have to admit there was a bit more CG than I would've liked (hence the Legend reference), but there were also a good amount of practical creature effects to balance it out.

I fear that Extinction could get lost in the sea of other zombie/post-apocalyptic offerings (a situation certainly not helped by the blasé poster) and that's a shame, as I feel this has a lot more to offer than the majority of genre chaff that gets released. Fortunately, Extinction releases soon (July 31th on VOD) so hopefully you'll give it a look and decide for yourself.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Kids Be Misbehavin'


After getting myself settled into my downtown Montreal abode, my Fantasia experience began with Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion's horror comedy Cooties.


After an elementary school's student population become infected by a mysterious virus that turns them into feral cannibals, the teachers find themselves in a struggle for survival.

After its premiere at Sundance last year, Cooties seemed to disappear for a while, so I was glad to see it play here before it releases wide (and by wide, I mean the US and likely not Canada) in September.

Before I get to Cooties though, I'd like to mention the fantastic little short that played before it called Point of View. Made by fellow Torontoian Justin Harding – whom I was surprised none of my crew were even aware of, our film community is small, but obviously not as small as we thought – this short is basically everything you could want in a horror short film. While liberally borrowing from the premise of Doctor Who baddies The Weeping Angels (saying so in the credits makes it ok, right?), this piece had excellent pace, performances and makeup effects which made it a huge crowd pleaser.

Anyhoo, Cooties was a fun time. After an opening credit sequence that'll make you never want to eat chicken nuggets again, the film wastes very little time getting to the carnage. Though there are several good set pieces revolving around dispatching infected foes, I think the real strength is the ensemble assembled for this. They mesh together well and keep the movie from falling apart when the novelty of the byline wears off about an hour in. While the focus is on Elijah Wood & Rainn Wilson, who both do what they do very well, I thought that Leigh Whanell was the real scene stealer here. He had the majority of the best one-liners (perhaps because he co-wrote the screenplay) and his comedic timing was really on point.

Alison Pill & Elijah Wood in Cooties.

After recently re-watching The Faculty, it was funny to see this, as it is pretty much the reverse scenario, with the teachers being the besieged by the students. As the trailer would suggest, there is a lot of child murder in this movie. Granted, it is comedic and the antagonists are ferocious beasts, but they get mowed down in droves. It was interesting to see the reactions, which ranged from overly enthusiastic – seriously, after screenings of 2008's The Children and this, it seems like some people have a real blood lust for this stuff – to downright disturbed.

Patient Zero Shelley (Sunny May Allison) in Cooties.

Cooties is one of those movies where the trailer gives you an exact representation of what to expect. If you dig the trailer, you'll dig the movie.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Heart & Soul.

(Ed- A solitary train ride to Montreal allowed me some time to write up the following review.)

I have spoken of Belgian filmmaker Axelle Carolyn several times here, but I'm ashamed to admit I somehow missed that her long-gestating feature debut Soulmate (a name settled on after many changes over the years) was released last year. It was only when I saw that her new anthology project Tales of Halloween was playing Fantasia that I had the “I wonder whatever happened to” moment. Thankfully, with the help of Momma Amazon, the DVD was soon whirring away in my machine.


A grieving widow named Audrey (Anna Walton) seeks solace in a remote cottage in Wales, but soon wonders if she might not be the only one living there.

It was a long road for this movie, as I began posting about its progress in 2010. Carolyn triumphed over budget restrictions, as well as cast and crew dropouts to deliver a spirited debut. I was a big fan of her 2011 short film The Last Post and am glad to see that the emotional sincerity present in her work gracefully transferred into her inaugural feature effort. Soulmate is a character-driven mood piece that has the pacing of such, but my patience was rewarded once the supernatural element finally revealed itself.

Carolyn is well versed in modern horror (having written the 2009 tome It Lives Again!), but her influences are clearly of a much older era. In an interview, she admitted that while writing Soulmate, she was unconsciously guided by the 1947 film The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. It's also not hard to find shades of many other ghost stories from the middle of the twentieth century here, as well. The impressive thing is how competently she brought those elements into the present day.

Anna Walton as Audrey in Soulmate.

Of course, I can't give her all the credit. As Audrey, Anna Walton (for whom the role was apparently written) carries the weight of this tale on her shoulders. Roles where one is expected to make grief a tangible thing are extremely difficult and Walton performs admirably. She was also helped by the perfectly cast Tanya Meyers & Nick Brimble who appear as overly helpful townsfolk. Soulmate was then further strengthened by the beautiful Welsh countryside and the string-driven score by Christian Henson.

Soulmate may not appeal to everyone for there are none of the bells and whistles often demanded of genre pictures these days (some might even barely consider this a horror film), but for the subset that dig on British supernatural fare of a more subtle nature, this is a gem.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

And I'm Off.

I leave today for Montreal to take in a good chunk of this year's Fantasia Film Festival


This one is especially exciting because the bumper I created for their contest made the finals and will screen several times during the fest.


I've been trying for several years to get a short in there, so even if it is only thirty-seconds long, I'm honoured to have something I made play one of my favourite theatres, The Hall Concordia.

As for THS, there will be a lapse in posts for a few days, but I expect some reviews should start trickling in around Monday. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on the other side of it.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Trailer Tuesdays: Screamers (1995)

With my upcoming jaunt it seems appropriate to post something that was shot in Montreal. Since I've burned through most offerings in previous years, I am left with the post apocalyptic sci-fi Screamers.



Oh Screamers, you so nineties! I love it. Maybe Peter Weller had a thing for Montreal, as he also starred in the rat-tastic 1987 flick Of Unknown Origin.

I'll check in with you guys before I leave, but watch your step until then!

Sunday, July 12, 2015

DKTM 272


Hey all. Hope you are all having a great weekend. Here's what I've got for you this week.

The Ashman Cometh.

Comic-Con is winding down today, but we got a sizable amount of trailers to gush over, including Star Wars VII, Batman vs. Superman & Suicide Squad, but none more important to horror fans than the commercial for the new series from Sam Raimi, Ash Vs Evil Dead.

Ray Santiago, Bruce Campbell & Dana DeLorenzo in Ash Vs. Evil Dead.

I'm gonna be honest with you, I was skeptical about this. Not that it would be good, but that it would ever happen. Raimi & Campbell have been poo-pooing an Evil Dead 4 for so many years, I never believed them when they started considering it. Though I guess the successes of Drag Me To Hell and Alvarez's Evil Dead remake was enough to resurrect the Deadites once more. Anyhoo, the trailer below is nothing short of very, very promising.



After Spartacus, Starz seems like a very good place for this. I see that Lucy Lawless is already on board, so here's hoping that Raimi can bring in more of his long time collaborators, like his brother Ted and Dan Hicks. Ash vs. Evil Dead premieres this Halloween.

Prowling.

Here's a sweet limited edition poster for The Prowler created by artist Trevor Henderson.


For info on picking up this super limited edition poster, go here.

A Game That Plays You.

I discovered a super cool crowdfunding for something called Hyde the other day. It looks like a new type of Escape Room game mixed with Halloween amusement ride. But with a twist, as you are hooked up to heart monitors, which give you to power to affect your environment. Check out the video below.



You still have 5 days to contribute, so if you'd like to help this become a reality, click here for more info.

Friday, July 10, 2015

VHS Fridays!

Before I take off to Montreal, I wanted to get a new feature rolling here at THS. As you would expect, I have amassed a sizable collection of VHS tapes over the past few decades, and a good many of them still remain unwatched. I find that sometimes I buy titles based on the cover box (much like we did back during the home video boom) and then they go straight onto the shelf. Well, it's time to rectify that...


Every few Fridays, I'll dust off a VHS in my collection, give it a whirl and then report my findings. In truth, this is probably something I should've been doing from the very beginning, but better late than never! For this inaugural edition, I checked out Jim Sotos' 1983 thriller Sweet Sixteen.


Just days before her Sweet Sixteen party, Melissa (Aleisa Shirley) seems to be leaving a trail of bodies in her wake, as everyone who takes an interest in her quickly ends up dead.

I have to say that I found the title of this movie a little perplexing. The advertising portray Sweet Sixteen as a slasher – intentionally I'm sure as it did come out at the tail end of the boom – so I was expecting something more along the lines of Happy Birthday To Me or Alice Sweet Alice, but it's almost more of a procedural crime thriller, closer in pedigree to 1976's The Town That Dreaded Sundown – minus the narration and keystone cops of course.

The title does play into the film, though it's somewhat of a stretch, as actress Aleisa Shirley was a bit beyond fifteen years old. I mean, I didn't even realize that she was the title character in question until her father tells a perspective suitor her age. “What?” I said aloud. Likely more disturbing was after having establishing that, Soto makes sure to be as lascivious with the camera as possible. Although, considering his debut was 1975's Forced Entry, this was downright tame by comparison.

Aleisa Shirley as Melissa in Sweet Sixteen.

Despite that lechery, Sweet Sixteen does have something to say. Being that the town is inhabited by both rednecks and Native Americans, it did not take long for them to butt heads. I'd like to say that this subject matter dates the film, but it is sadly just as poignant now, thirty-some years on, as it was then. Most importantly, Sweet Sixteen pulled together a handful of veteran actors to add real weight to the proceedings. Bo Hopkins is great as the small town sheriff, as are Susan Strasberg and Patrick Macnee (apparently a last minute replacement for Leslie Nielsen) as Melissa's parents.

I was also very happy to see Dana Kimmell in this. It's funny that she made this around the same time as Friday the 13th Part 3, considering both her characters were likely almost a decade apart in age. She spends most of the movie playing Nancy Drew, riding on her sheriff father's coat tails trying to solve the case. It added just the right amount of levity to the movie I thought.

Dana Kimmell, making a career out of finding dead bodies.

There wasn't much gore to speak of, but it was hard to tell on my darkened VHS copy. I also don't know if the Vestron release was cut in any capacity. Regardless, I thought this was a solid movie overall, even if not particularly flashy. I would imagine that's why it's rarely spoken of in genre circles. I guarantee every horror fan who frequented video stores back in the day remembers that cover though.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Fantasia Oh One Five

The Fantasia schedule was announced yesterday. It is always a furious couple of hours that follow the site going live, as me and my cohorts discover which movies we will get to see, and the ones we will miss. It doesn't seem to matter how long we stretch out our trip each year, we always end up missing out on a ton of stuff regardless.



But enough bellyaching, we should be grateful for not only the embarrassment of genre riches Mitch and company provide ever year, but also that they gave us a reason to get away from all the Pan Am nonsense that will clog up our fair city come Friday.

Here's some of the stuff I will be checking out this year.








Only eight days to go now, and it can't come soon enough. Anyhoo, enjoy the rest of your humpday.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Trailer Tuesday: Mortuary

Here's a fantastic trailer for the 1983 horror flick Mortuary.



I love the showmanship of trailers like this that show you nothing from the movie, but still make you want to see it. No one has the balls to do that anymore. I have seen this movie, but it was so long ago that I basically only remember that Bill Paxton is in it. It's definitely on the re-watch list.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

DKTM 271


Hey everyone. I hope you all are enjoying your holidays, no matter on which side of the 49th parallel you reside. It was a fairly slow week on the news front, but take a gander at these.

Don't Go In The Barn!

Check out the new trailer for Alejandro Amenábar's upcoming thriller Regression.



This is Amenábar's first horror since 2001's The Others, so I am keen to welcome him back into the fold. While the trailer doesn't wow, I eagerly await my first opportunity to see Emma Watson onscreen, as never having been into Harry Potter, I feel her all-too-brief appearance in the This Is The End was not really a true gauge of this lady's talents. Also, Ethan Hawke is currently on good terms with me after the fantastic Predestination washed out the bad taste left by the last act of Sinister. Regression releases August 28th.

Color Me Kubrick.

Thanks to the site Dangerous Minds, I discovered artist Tomer Hanuka's Stanley Kubrick series this week. 





I love this guy's style and attention to detail. It is sublime how well it lends itself to the wonderful tapestries that Kubrick wove over his fifty-year career. There are two more pieces in the series to be released at a later date, so stay tuned to his site for the reveal.

Meet The Monsters.

Here is a cool Kickstarter campaign from UK artist Karen Ruffles.



So please give generously, so Karen can visualize all the monsters that live in the shadows of Northern England. To contribute and check out the various rewards, click here.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Warden Of The North.


Happy Canada Day to all my northern brothers and sisters out there. I know I like to bitch about the weather and most recently this upcoming clusterfuck of The Pan Am Games, but man is Canada a nice place to live. I should remember to thanks my lucky maple leafs more often.

Anyway, wherever you are, get out and enjoy this wonderful country of ours!