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, December 31, 2021

2021 Wrap-up.

As we all know, this year was basically the sequel to 2020 that no one wanted. Having said that, here are some of the bright lights that maintained my sanity.

Marvel kept me constantly entertained with five(!) TV series this year, and I was just so elated to finally get my eyeballs on Black Widow. And that Spidey flick, man talk about over-delivering!

Now that's out of the way, onto the genre stuff.










Honourable mentions go out to The Deep House, Midnight and the impressive debut Caveat. I did not see Malignant, but those close to me seem to think I will dig it. I'm sure I will catch it eventually.

Lastly, YouTube continued to be a big help to me in 2021. To the dozen or so content creators that I watch on a weekly basis, I salute you.

Well, I hate to be a broken record here, but here's hoping 2022 is the year we break out of this perpetual funk.

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Pacovi!

Behold my Christmas present to myself...

This Yugoslavian poster of Deadly Eyes is now framed and sitting between my posters for The Brain and Black Christmas. That is truly a glorious row of wintery Canadianna.

Thursday, December 9, 2021

...By My Fingertips

Hey all. It's been a minute. Today is the 

anniversary of this here blog. I know it's on life support at this point, but there are actually several reasons for this beyond the general malaise of a never-ending pandemic.

Truth is, the spacebar on my laptop stopped working about a month ago so it's really only good for rudimentary Google searches and Zoom streams at this point. I'm currently typing this (rather awkwardly) via a fifteen-dollar USB keyboard.

I'd like to say 2022 will be a more productive year, but who knows? Inspiration is very, very hard to come by these days. Anyhoo, hope you all have a great December.

Monday, November 22, 2021

COT at BITS

Last weekend, the film that I worked on earlier finally had its premiere. At The Blood In The Snow Film Fest, Chamber of Terror played in front of a packed, enthusiastic house. It was such a great time and almost everybody involved was able to come out.

The Cast & Crew of Chamber of Terror

The movie turned out pretty good, and was actually a lot funnier than I was expecting. Truth be told, it's the ladies (Jess, Storm and Sigourney) that really make this thing pop.

I'm not sure where its going to go from here, but I'm so proud of my buddy Mikey for making it happen. 

Sunday, November 14, 2021

Sunday Short.

Hey all. Here's a local short film that just dropped online. The Four People Who Call You At The End of the World is directed by Kenzie Yango and stars the lovely and talented Storm Steenson who you may remember from my 2017 short The Good Samaritan. Enjoy!

 

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Nailed It!

Check out this sick new poster for Mike Pereira's new film Chamber of Terror.



Matt Therrien seriously killed it with this one. CoT premiere on November 20th at BITS has already sold out so you know I'm not the only one excited to see it.

Sunday, October 31, 2021

The Doctor Is In.

Happy Halloween everyone! Here's my costume for this year.

Well, technically it was supposed to be last year's, for Nightbreed's 30th anniversary, but you know, the big H was cancelled last year. Hope you all have a fantastic night!

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Nightmare Alley Reborn!

I'll be heading into town to check out the inaugural screening of my pal Landry's film series at The Revue, Nightmare Alley. What started in his living room eight years ago has now expanded for more people to enjoy! What's on tap first? Well, it's the 1973 bat-shit cult flick Messiah of Evil. Check out this dope event trailer by maestro Nathan Boone.


As for now having the Mamas and the Papas stuck in your head... you're welcome.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Enter The Chamber!

I've got good news! My buddy Mike's movie Chamber of Terror is premiering next month at the Blood in the Snow festival.



All involved worked really hard on this and I was glad to be a small part of it. So awesome to see it's going to screen in front of a packed house of appreciative fans. If you happen to live in the GTA, come on out!

Monday, October 18, 2021

Oh It's A Party All Right!

I'm relatively recovered from last weekend's 24-Hour Mind Melter on Twitch.tv. There were many highlights over the course of the marathon, but one that is likely going to become an October staple is David Skowronski's Halloween Party. Essentially, it's a SOV slasher shot by high-schoolers in 1989 that is every bit as endearing as it sounds. I believe it even aired on public access in Connecticut. Check it out below.

The thirty-eight minute runtime includes a blooper reel - which adorably has the director yell, “Mommmm you're in the shot!” - and a post credits Monster Mash lip synch performance. This is perfect to double bill with Chris LaMartina's WNUF Halloween Special.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

LB 10!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Laser Blast Film Society.



For those who haven't been following the journey, the LBFS was created by a couple of Toronto cinephiles to celebrate the underappreciated and eccentric side of cinema. It began with screenings inside an indie video store before rotating around a few members' residences before settling into monthly screenings at the Royal Cinema about seven years ago. It has lied dormant during Covid, but founder filmmaker Justin Decloux has been keeping it going with intermittent 24-hour Twitch marathons (the next of which is October 16th!)

I miss those guys terribly and hope to be attending live LB events soon. Until then, check out the LB site and maybe you'll spy something to track down.

Friday, October 1, 2021

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Pure Space Terror!

Good news for those fans of galactic gore. Canadian darling Psycho Goreman is coming in comic form. Get your very own hunky edition via the Kickstarter campaign on right now.


I've ordered mine with this totally psycho-delic variant cover.

To order yours, click here. Until next time, stay safe kiddies.

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Chamber of Terror

Behold the new teaser trailer for The Chamber of Terror, the production I worked on this past March. Look for it next year at a festival near you.


Saturday, August 28, 2021

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

The Sadness


There were of course many reasons that prompted last weekend's getaway to Montreal, but chief among them was Fantasia's North American premiere of Rob Jabbaz's The Sadness. Shot in Taipei's summer of 2020 during the delayed onset of Covid-19, this title has been rapidly growing infamy for its extreme violence. I became aware of it after Rue Morgue put in on the cover of their Jul/Aug issue and then leaned shortly after, rather fortuitously, that it was screening during my visit. Then, months later, stuffed high up in the balcony at the Imperial, I finally took in The Sadness.

Citizens in Taipei fight to survive during an outbreak that compels those infected to torture, murder and rape.

So is it worth all the hype? For the most part, yes. I mean, you know how things go when movies get talked up as they do - Fantasia even put a disclaimer on their listing - your imagination is always worse than the real thing. Having said that, The Sadness was no doubt a Category 3 title (Hong Kong's much maligned version of NC-17) peppered with bloodstained set pieces that kept the tension going once all hell broke loose. Not only was it gory, violent and transgressive, but also well made with solid performances by Regina Lei and Berant Zhu. A lot of the tension is built on these two trying to find each other again after the movie's gentle and relatable opening scene of their morning ritual.  

Also memorable was the axe-wielding company man played by Tzu-Chiang Wang. Jabbaz revealed in the Q&A that Wang is a well-known character actor in Taiwan (he referenced Harry Dean Stanton as a Western equivalent) so I'd say it was pretty ballsy for him to have taken such a lecherous role. In amongst all this were the obvious parallels between The Alvin and Corona viruses, as well as some political satire that's pretty transparent no matter what corner of the globe you hail from.

Listening to the gasps and sighs of disgust happening around me during The Sadness' most talked about scene, I realized that it had been a while since I had experienced such a thing. It gave me pause, as it seemed like during the aughts there was some nerve shredding title grazing my eyeballs every year. Now, not so much and if I'm being honest, I don't think the machine allows the shit that tips the scales of taste to be made anymore. I mean, a Canadian had to basically flee to Taiwan and use completely independent money (his producer Jeff Huang is, among other things, a crypto tycoon) to get something like The Sadness made. I can't even imagine other Category 3 films like Red to Kill and Untold Story even being shot in this day and age. Some people might say this is a good thing. I am not one of those people.

While I may no longer actively seek out the sinewy fringes of shock cinema, knowing it is still there comforts me because lacking the video store experience, I still want the idea of the forbidden to exist in some form or another.

Friday, August 13, 2021

Monday, July 26, 2021

Girl Power.

I'm popping in during my hiatus to post about Grady Hendrix's new book, The Final Girl Support Group.

I'm a big fan of Hendrix's work. He has a tremendous talent for breathing new life into standard horror tropes as evidenced in his previous titles like Horrorstör and My Best Friend's Exorcism. When I heard he was writing a novel about final girls, I was immediately excited because they are perhaps my favourite concept in all of horror. My childhood was filled watching such plucky and resourceful heroines as Laurie, Alice and Nancy fight their way out of danger. Hendrix did not disappoint.

The Final Girl Support Group was a terrific read. Even more than his previous books, this story moves at a break-neck pace. Once the players are established, it immediately throws the protagonist – and us along with her – into chaos.

I think what most surprised me about this story was how meta it was. I guess I was expecting something straightforward, but there's some fascinating world building here based on pre-established history horror fans will instantly recognize. I suppose this is a mild spoiler, (though it's literally set up in the first few chapters), but the book's conceit is that all the slasher franchises we all hold dear – boasting alternate titles like Summer Slaughter and Babysitter Murders etc – were all based on real events and these actual survivors have spent their lives haunted not only by PTSD, but the media and Internet stalkers.

Take for example, our protagonist Lynette. Imagine if you will, that Linnea Quigley's character in Silent Night, Deadly Night had survived being hung up on those antlers. Hendrix offers up some really interesting alternate scenarios for classic slashers in an entangled ball of horror lore that is equal parts familiar and fresh.

I also appreciated that Hendrix threw a sobering slant on the realities of surviving a mass murder, not only from a mental health perspective, but also how they're treated by the masses, how their would-be murderers are fetishized and their ordeals end up being commodities to be ranked on Internet all-time lists.

Hendrix has a very visual style to his writing so it is not at all surprising this story has already been bought by HBO Max with the Muschettis (of It fame) and Charlize Theron already attached. I don't know what it will look like when it eventually hits the small screen, but I will definitely be there to watch because I know as well as anyone that you can't keep a good Final Girl down.

Friday, July 2, 2021

Horror Stubs: June

Here's the last round of horror stubs.















To check out more of my collection, click my Insta here, or the Archives here.

Monday, June 14, 2021

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Horror Stubs: May

Here's the latest round of horror stubs.

























To check out more of my collection, click my Insta here, or the Archives here.