Hello all. Though we endured a lot of shit world-wise this year, I have to say that 2024 was an exceptional year for horror. Not only was there a high quantity of releases to choose from, but the overall quality was of a level I haven't seen for quite some time. Usually I can cobble five memorable titles together at this time, but this year it was closer to 20. In the interest of time and attention span, here are my top ten.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Monday, December 30, 2024
Dec 30th Horror Trivia Screening Guide.
To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.
Infested (2023)
V/H/S Beyond (2024)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Woman of the Hour (2023)
Creep (2014)
The Faculty (1998)
Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)
Urban Legend (1998)
Subservience (2024)
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 (1989)
Cuckoo (2024)
Deep Rising (1998)
Blood Feast (1963)
2000 Maniacs (1964)
Color Me Blood Red (1965)
The Wizard of Gore (1970)
Howl (2015)
Hell's Creatures (1968)
Wolfcop (2014)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
13: Fear Is Real (2009)
A Ghost Story For Christmas (1971-present)
R.I.P. Olivia Hussey 1951-2024
I was saddened to hear about the passing of actress Olivia Hussey. She was 73. Though she was most known for her striking performance as Juliet in the 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet, to me, she will forever be the first Final Girl Jess Bradford in 1974's seminal slasher Black Christmas. Iconic.
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Olivia Hussey 1951-2024 |
Hussey also appeared in such genre films Psycho 4, Turkey Shoot and Ice Cream Man and later in her career excelled at voice acting in franchises such as Batman and Star Wars. Sadly, Hussey was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and battled it intermittently until her death on December 27th. Rest in peace, Olivia.
Sunday, December 29, 2024
13 for 2024 Revisited.
Yes I know... I'm neglecting my duties here, but inspiration these days is fleeting and the urge to just lay on the couch watching YouTube reaction videos is just too great. However, I did promise to watch 13 movies this year and feel obligated to at least update you on that.
The first three were the most anticipated of the year.
They Follow did not materialize so either I misread the release year, or it got pushed back. No matter, add it to the growing list of anticipated titles for 2025. MaXXXine was good, but not great and definitely my least favourite of the trilogy. Goth was of course solid, as was the 1980s aesthetic, but it seemed to have less direction than the other two. Nosferatu, I watched so recently I can still smell the popcorn on my fingers. I enjoyed Eggers' vision, but like Lomglegs I feel the lone weakness was the performance of the title character.
Next up were the festival favourites. Stopmotion was terrific, Robert Morgan blended his signature style with live-action to give us something really unique. Late Night with the Devil is awesomely authentic and surely would have been near the top of my 2023 list had I seen it at TAD. The Man in the White Van was another title that didn't come out (Imdb says it was released last week, but not here so I wait nonetheless).
I'm afraid I biffed on two of these three. I did not find time for The Dead Pit or Xtro, but I did pick up Flowers in the Attic at Vinegar Syndrome. It was aight. Peeps made it sound a lot more disturbing than it actually was, but I know how things hit differently when you watch them as a child. Plus, I'll never say no to Baby K Swanson.
Oh yes, the First Saturday in October movies. I did track down Part V early on the year. I appreciated the gag, but it didn't pull me in enough to seek out the other one. And to be honest, I completely forgot I put Dawn of the Mummy on this list. Oops.
And last, but not least; In A Violent Nature. Well, I saw it four times in a theatre and then another two on Blu-ray so that should give you an idea of how I feel about this one. Chris Nash is just one of the unique voices we heard from this year.
I don't know if I'll do another one of these for 2025, but do check back for a round-up because I thought 2024 was an exceptional year for horror so it's worth a post.
Friday, December 13, 2024
Eighties Stew.
Hello all! I am back with another VHS Friday. This next one on the pile was a title I'd been meaning to get to for a while - Bert L. Dragin's 1988 “sort-of” haunted house flick Twice Dead. Even though I had seen Dragin's other two efforts Summer Camp Nightmare & Suburbia in my youth I missed out on this one. It's a hell of a coverbox and not entirely misleading, as that character does bust out of a mirror, just not in the Die Hard way this picture below would insinuate.
A family moves in to an old mansion that happens to be haunted by Depression-era showbiz star.
Twice Dead is kind of a weird title in that it doesn't really refer to a character as much as the two different plots going on in this movie. Initially, the paranormal aspect is front facing, but it keeps taking a back seat to this secondary storyline about the two siblings Scott (Tom Bresnahan, of The Brain!) and Robin (Jill Whitlow who'll always be my Weird Science perfume counter girl) fighting off neighbourhood punks. It's not only until the climax that these two stories fully intersect.
Though both of these plots are fairly standard, this movie is populated with a ton of welcome faces. The aforementioned Bresnahan is as delightfully snarky and happy-go-lucky as he was in The Brain which put a smile on my face. He must have shot these two movies back-to-back and I wonder if he was aware of the similarities, playing a character who doubly likes pranks, is attacked by tentacles/spectral ropes and finds himself in a car chase. Jill Whitlow is lovely in this, and it was no surprise to me find out that her and Bresnahan were dating during filming. They played siblings here, but some of those bedside scenes had a tension that was a négligée photo shoot away from being Amityville 2.
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Jill Whitlow and Tom Bresnahan in Twice Dead. |
Also in the cast was Brooke Bundy (Kristin's mom from Nightmare 3), Todd Bridges as the doomed friend and much to the elation of my seventeen-year-old self, Charlie Spradling. A much welcome appearance, even if it was only to rock a jean jacket with no shirt, get nude and then promptly die by STE (Sexually Transmitted Electrocution). What an angel! Oh, and completely unrelated, this movie has a cat named Meow - which of course has Robin walking around calling out “Meow?” - that saw an unnecessarily brutal end. :(
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J.C. + C.S. |
Other than that, it is just filler between altercations with the aforementioned goons. The house is pretty cool and outfitted with some nooks and crannies (the dumbwaiter specifically being built for the movie) for our bodies to aimlessly search. Twice Dead is another one of those movies that seems to have trouble ending itself, not necessarily because they wanted to do another one, but perhaps there were a few cooks in the kitchen.
Anyway, I was glad to knock this one off and the trio of Bresnahan, Whitlow and Spradling kept me entertained throughout.
Labels:
80's horror,
Haunted House,
home invasion,
VHS,
VHS Fridays
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Nov 27th Horror Trivia Screening Guide
To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow trivia's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's the selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.
Noroi: The Curse (2005)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Shocker (1989)
Apartment 7A (2024)
Oddity (2024)
Overlord (2018)
Terror in the Aisles (1984)
Vampires (1998)
30 Days of Night (2007)
Last Voyage of Demeter (2023)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Let the Right One In (2008)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Anna & The Apocalypse (2017)
Santa's Slay (2005)
Christmas Evil (1980)
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5 (1991)
Blood Beat (1983)
Trick r' Treat (2007)
Monday, November 11, 2024
Sunday, November 10, 2024
R.I.P. Tony Todd 1954-2024
I was gutted to hear about actor Tony Todd's passing on Wednesday. He was 69. Tony was one of the pillars of the horror community, a consummate professional and always approachable.
He visited the Toronto area regularly for convention appearances and I was glad to have met him during his time at Fan Expo and Shock Stock. He was a journeyman of stage and screen; big and small with roles in marquee films like Platoon, Lean on Me and The Crow.
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Tony Todd at Fan Expo in 2012. |
While he was best known for his iconic role as 1992's Candyman, Todd appeared in countless genre films, including Final Destination, Hatchet and the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead.
This is a huge loss. Rest in peace, Tony.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Devil's Night Horror Trivia Screening Guide
To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.
Zombie (1979)
Night of the Zombies (1981)
The Dead (2010)
Planet Terror (2007)
The House by the Cemetery (1981)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
The Long Walk (2025?)
Thanksgiving (2023)
Dahmer (2002)
Blood Rage (1987)
Cuckoo (2024)
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
13 Ghosts (2001)
Ghost Ship (2002)
Night of the Demons (1988)
All Hallow's Eve (2013)
Frankenweenie (2012)
Evil Breed (2013)
Sinister (2012)
Friday, October 25, 2024
On The Fritz.
The next tape off the pile was my recently acquired copy of Dick Maas' 1983 flick The Lift. It's been over thirty years since Chucky told me about it during the 1990 broadcast of the Horror Hall of Fame, and I'm ashamed to say it has taken me this long to get around to it. But here we are.
An elevator repairman (Huub Stapel) finds himself mixed up in an investigation of several deaths involving a new office building lift.
The Lift is a delight. I mean I was expecting something amusing just based on the premise, but boy does this film overcrank on the quirk with just the list of character names alone making me smile - Speckingood, Vink, Speakerman, Ravenstein et al. At the opening credits, the cast list went on and on, most ending up just being meat to feed the elevator. Stapel is your average working class dude with a wife and kids. I don't think I've ever seen an elevator repairman as the lead in a movie. I wonder if he got his diploma from one of those ads you used to see on late night TV in the eighties...
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Hugh Stapel as Felix in The Lift. |
This movie has a lot of prophetic things to say about microchips, but we haven't “quite” gotten to synthetic organs yet (we're too busy building AI robots). I found how this all plays out decidedly more interesting than the demonic shinanegans of Poltergeist III. The Lift is also shot really well. For instance take this fucking banger of a transition!
It's been a while since I've watched an old-fashioned dubbed film and it was half the fun. This movie has the best random background conversations this side of Pieces -
Things like Felix's wife collecting bottle caps to win a trip being rooted in her desire to leave her inattentive husband was pretty wild. Anyway, it all concludes with an extended Man vs Lift sequence that really goes for it. I don't know if 250,000 people actually get stuck in Dutch elevators every year (that's like a lot, like fix your fucking shit - a lot) but it certainly does nothing to alleviate anyone's fear of elevators.
So, The Lift doesn't really have the big city set pieces that Maas' other exports Amsterdamned and Prey feature, but it is still a fun yarn to be sure.
Labels:
80's horror,
Killer Machines,
VHS,
VHS Fridays
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Oct 23rd Horror Trivia Screening Guide.
To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event, which was a special appearance at Offworld's October pop-up Hellbar. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing.
The Witch (2015)
Immaculate (2024)
Deathdream (1974)
Deranged (1974)
Studio 666 (2022)
Demons (1985)
The House of the Devil (2009)
Night Train To Terror (1985)
The First Omen (2024)
Race with the Devil (1975)
The Devil's Rain (1975)
Ghoulies (1984)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Blood Feast (1963)
Phantasm (1979)
Gerald's Game (2017)
Bloody Birthday (1981)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Witchboard (1986)
The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
Re-Animator (1985)
Labels:
60's horror,
70's horror,
80's horror,
Horror Events,
Offworld Bar,
Rue Morgue,
Satanism
Friday, October 18, 2024
Between a Rick And a Hag Place.
Our next tape off the pile is Igor Auzin's Aussie teleplay Night Nurse from 1978. Yet another distinct coverbox from back in the day. What was it about wheelchairs that makes them so creepy? From a horror marketing perspective anyway. Let's find out!
Looking for a clean break from her domineering boyfriend Rick (Gary Day), Prudence (Kate Fitzpatrick) takes a job as a live-in caregiver of a former opera singer known only as “The Diva” (Davina Whitehouse). Her employer seems welcoming enough, but the other servant of the house Clara (Kay Taylor), makes it clear she does not want to share.
Night Nurse is a fairly entertaining yarn. I did not know going in it was a TV movie, but in retrospect it makes sense. It has the clean, straightforwardness of a teleplay with barely any sharp edges to speak of. Despite that, it is still quite engaging. Prudence is a likeable character, even if she does come across as a doormat initially. Her artist boyfriend Rick is a douche of the highest order, yet she continues to bend to his will, even letting him weasel his way into the estate to paint the Diva's portrait.
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Davina Whitehouse (left) & Katefitzpatrick in Night Nurse. |
I feel her pain though, because once she's finally gotten away, she has to deal with the repeated abuse from her co-worker, Clara. Nothing she does is right, and something as simple as remembering the marmalade will get your pet goldfish murdered. Yet, she perservers because she knows going back to Rick is a step backwards.
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Prudence & Clara (Kay Taylor) face off. |
The story unfolds and once The Diva names Prudence as her new heir, that really gets Clara's blood boiling. It all ends in the cellar where Clara has a freak “ax-ident” and Prudence makes her escape. I was thinking of that Rube-Goldbergian end to the former help and that sequence is probably the one that stuck with young children who saw it on television. You know, “scary” TV movies that played in the seventies and eighties were pretty tame for the most part, but they usually had that one scene you never forgot.
Night Nurse was the fourth of ten films that Australia's Channel Seven commisioned from this production company so they were deep into pumping out content at this point. Whitehouse would later go on to appear in Peter Jackson's Braindead, and Kate Fitzpatrick has had a long, storied career that still continues to this day.
To conclude, this movie isn't going to get your blood pumping or anything, but it's still a decently acted and executed mystery.
Labels:
70's horror,
Aussie Horror,
Television Horror,
VHS,
VHS Fridays
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Enter the Chamber
Hello all! Just popping into let you know the movie I worked on during the pandemic is now out on Tubi. Click the pic to check it out!
I'm super proud of Mikey and everyone who put their time and effort into this little project. My beloved car (my version of Raimi's “Classic” Olds) even makes an appearance. This was shot over three years ago and it's still kicking, just clocked over 300,000k in fact. It is proving to be as resilient as ol' Nash Carruthers himself. Anyhoo, for those in the Great White North, have a great Thanksgiving.
Labels:
2000's horror,
Canadian Horror,
Horror Events,
Me
Friday, October 4, 2024
Brothers.
The next tape off the pile was Alberto De Martino's 1982 thriller Blood Link. This was a recent acquisition and it was probably my recollection of the coverbox that made me pick it up from the Vinegar Syndrome store. I always thought that was Doug Hutchinson on the cover, but it is in fact Michael Moriarty so big upgrade there for a number of reasons. Anyhoo, let's see what we have got here...
An American doctor named Craig (Moriarty) starts having visions of murders happening in Frankfurt. Realizing he is seeing through the eyes of his twin brother, whom he thought died when he was young, Craig sets out to stop him.
Having previously seen some of De Martino's work, namely the Montreal-set Strange Shadows In An Empty Room, I had good reason to think I would enjoy this one and for the most part I did. Shot mostly in Germany with an Italian crew, there are sections that do - especially the climax at the park - feel very giallo. Apart from that though, it becomes very clear that all involved in this project loved Brian De Palma. I mean, a lot of this movie feels like a gender swapped version of Sisters (right down to the fact Craig & Keith were Siamese twins) though there is a sprinkle of Eyes of Laura Mars in there, too. Blood Link is definitely one of those European knock-offs versions of stuff coming out across the pond at that time.
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Michael Moriarty as Keith & Craig in Blood Link. |
But that's not to say it is without merit. Moriarty, who would've just been starting his long tenure with Larry Cohen, is very good here. At first I thought he was being unusually reserved as Craig, but then I realized he was saving the crazy shit for the evil twin. I'm no doubt sure that the character's penchant for putting jam in his coffee (!) was Moriarty's idea on the day. You've also got an Ennio Morricone score as well as a welcome guest appearance from Cameron Mitchell.
As the movie goes on though, it starts to wear on you when the awkward and uncomfortable (even more than you'd expect) rape scenes start to mount up. I was quite taken with Craig's girlfriend Julie, played by Penelope Milford, to the point I was increasingly worried for her well being. When she took it upon herself to take down Keith, I was sure she was going to end up like Nancy Allen in Blowout. In retrospect it may have been better if she had because the ending she does get - pushed for by the producers apparently - was far more gross and disheartening.
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Penelope Milford as Julie. She deserved better. |
Blood Link is a more than serviceable thriller with good locales and interesting characters, but its subject matter descends into sleazier territory than one might expect.
Labels:
80's horror,
giallo,
Italian Horror,
VHS,
VHS Fridays
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Shocktober 20.
Hello all! Happy October! I know my posts have been anemic of late, but I've been dealing with some shit so blogging has fallen by the wayside. However, I saw that Stacie over at Final Girl was doing another Shocktober 20 Favourite Horror Films this year.
I had the pleasure of finally meeting Stacie in person over the summer and we had a delightful conversation about Twin Peaks, Messiah of Evil and Toronto horror movie locations she should visit the next time she is in town. Her blog has always been an inspiration to me - I can safely say THS would likely not exist without it - and I'm glad almost twenty years later, it soldiers on.
So, yeah, the Fave 20 list. FG has done them before, but I believe this will be the first time I have participated. Here they are below, favourite being the distinction, over “best”. I tried to keep the titles as intrinsicly horror as possible, which is why adored titles like Alien, Black Swan, Fire Walk With Me, Mulholland Drive, Seven, Silence of the Lambs and Under The Skin didn't potentially creep in there.
I also kinda broke it down to sixty-percent classics, thirty-percent contemporary and ten-percent guilty pleasures. Ranking would be impossible so here they are alphabetically.
My favourite horror comedy and one that is absolutely intertwined with my childhood. It includes my favourite werewolf transformation and a bevy of quotable lines I still use to this day.
The granddaddy of all slashers that gets better every time I watch it - which is annually. Terrific CanCon, and ahead of its time in so many ways.
A movie I have become obsessed with over the last decade-and-a-half. I love everything about this film, including that all of its locations are within an hour drive of my house. This is the kind of bonkers low budget filmmaking that really makes my heart sing.
It was a tough choice between this and its predecessor Night of the Living Dead, but I just went with the one with more bang for your buck. A quintessential apocalypse movie and the catalyst for long office chair daydreams about my escape plan.
Another delicious piece of Canadian tax shelter gold. Even if this wasn't based on one of my favourite books, the fact someone had the idea to dress dashchunds in rat costumes is God-tier excellence. Also another movie where the shooting locations are within my grasp.
This still remains one of my favourite theater-going experiences. Witnessing a packed house collectively have their nerves shredded was euphoric. The one-two punch of intense claustophobia falling into visceral monster madness absolutely kills. I would have no problem crowning this movie the winner of the aughts.
I said there would be no rankings, but gun to my head, inevitably Sam Raimi's debut would be my #1. He's my boy, and inspired countless filmmakers to pick up a camera.
A true classic in every way, and one of my faves to watch YT reactions of. This film has such range switching from legit family drama to unhinged chaos that it almost feels unsafe to watch at times.
A film so ingrained in my DNA that I am surprised I don't bleed orange. As a kid, Michael Myers was my spirit animal. Though it may seem redundant because Black Christmas is also on here, let's be honest, Halloween was the true template for all that came after. A Top 3 movie for sure and another annual tradition.
One of my favourite Midnight Madness screenings, and my proper introduction to the New French Extremity. While 2006's Inside is admittedly just as deserving of this spot, Tension has the distinction of being the only piece of physical media I own that I paid over a hundred dollars for (if you count the all-region player I had to buy to play my UK import of the alternately titled Switchblade Romance).
Perhaps a controversial pick, but I adore this movie. It's lore, combined with its timeless visual style and unforgettable score really felt fresh and cemented it among the best this decade had to offer. Also the start of a promising career for its lead, Maika Monroe.
Another formative movie for me. A perfect man versus animal movie that birthed a thousand clones. While The Legacy and Alligator brought on my fear of water, my fear of sharks no doubt started with this movie. Terrific filmmaking all around.
Wes Craven took slashers to a new level and made the monster something you couldn't escape. Michael was my first bro, but I really responded to Freddy in my teens. Robert Englund deserves even more credit that he already gets for his performances in this series, and the reason he would likely be the Washington of the slashers' Mount Rushmore.
A beautiful and tragic film from Spain. This film has so many wonderfully chilling set pieces and gut wrenching performance from Belén Rueda. The image of Tomás standing in the courtyard while children play oblivious around him is one of my all time faves.
Another Spanish gem. This would have to be my favourite found footage movie, just edging out The Blair Witch Project after much deliberation. Though Blair may have had more of an impact on my life at the time, there is no denying the technical perfection on display in Plaza & Balaguero's opus. It is also one of the most unfaltering examples of escalation I have ever seen put to film.
No surprise here. Kubrick's take on King material is a masterpiece. The setting of The Overlook Hotel is so soaked in disorienting dread that essays (and documentaries) have been written on what it all means. I adore every frame of this film.
I realized early on that I'd only be able to put one Italian title on this list and after much debate, I had to go with Argento's seminal piece. It is the Mona Lisa of horror films. Dream-like, abstract and kaliedoscopic, it was the sound choice.
I assert that there is no more powerful horror film viewed on the big screen that Tobe Hooper's horror debut. The sound of that chainsaw mixed with Marilyn Burns' screams will cut through even the most stalwart. The last act is so unrelenting that it takes multiple viewings to see the underlying comedy of it all. Another Top 3 movie for me.
John Carpenter is only director on this list to have two movies on it so that should indicate how dear his work is to me. The amount of sheer effects wizardry on display - that still holds up today even after multiple restorations - is absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider effects lead Rob Bottin was fucking 22 years old! But even without the effects, the film stands on its own as a paranoia pot boiler.
The newest film on the list that I instantly fell in love after seeing at TIFF. Robert Eggers delivers such a grounded and authentic period piece bouyed by fantastic performances led by future A-lister Anya Taylor Joy.
Okay, that's it. No takebacks! This was not easy. In addition to those outliers I mentioned before, I wasn't able to fit in any Asian horror titles or any others that are near and dear to my heart like Paperhouse or Blood and Black Lace. All that said, I'm chuffed to see where all these placed on Shocktober's list when all is said and done. Will I be the only cheerleader for The Brain and Deadly Eyes? Will Halloween reclaim its place as #1 after being unseated by the Suspiria remake? We shall see!
Labels:
2000's horror,
70's horror,
80's horror,
90's horror,
Final Girl,
Horror Events
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