SYNGENOR!!!

Hey all, it's the first VHS Friday of the year, and this is one I've been meaning to watch for a really long time. Let's take a look at William Malone's 1980 creature feature Scared To Death.

An ex-cop (John Stinson) is coersed out of retirement to help solve a string of brutal murders.

Full disclosure, I don't have a Betamax so I didn't watch the tape above (though I do own it). No, I spoiled myself with the Vinegar Syndrome Blu meaning I at least watched the best possible incarnation of it for better or worse. 

I did have fun with this one. While it is super low budget, it has a lot of charm. Malone goes against the general rule of writing locations you have access to, meaning that he ended up having to bribe and steal his way into many of the spaces (and sometimes even electricity) used in the film. He did a lot with his budget, a meager $74,000 and was even able to save some money on casting.

Bill Malone coming to you live from Glendale, CA.

And while a lot of Scared To Death feels familiar, the first crime scene exchange between the two cops seem to use every clichéd Dirty Harry line except “loose cannon” and everyone would agree that the creature resembles H.R. Giger's Alien, but I would also maintain that for everything Malone borrowed, others later responded in kind. The cinematography of the opening along the storm drain is remarkably similar to It, and I also recall another antagonist meeting a similar end in James Cameron's The Terminator four years later.

John Stinson & Diana Davidson in Scared To Death.

Despite its similarity to the Xenomorph, it still looks pretty good. Malone's background as a sculptor meant that he knew that he'd at least be able to deliver on the monster. I'd say there are only a few shots where it looks rubbery, but even Ridley Scott's creature had limitations, he was just better at hiding them. Malone's Syngenor was the first of many silicone nightmares he has delivered over the course of his career and was obviously memorable enough for producer Jack Murphy to re-use in an orphaned sequel.

Structurally, Scared To Death plays out like your average procedural slasher, but if the killer was a Synthesized Genetic Organism. However, I will say I was thrown by the leading lady switch halfway through, with Diana Davidson making way for Toni Jannotta.

Overall, an entertaining creature feature that paved the way for William Malone's ascent to Master of Horror.

Nov 29 Horror Trivia Screening List

To all those who came here from the event or the FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog.

If you heard a title while at the last event and thought “oh that movie sounds cool, I should check that out”, here's a select list of films that were mentioned. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing.

For everyone else, maybe there's one or two here you have yet to catch. Though we were at Offworld Bar last night, Horror Trivia also happens twice monthly at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Click their links to register. If you're not local, we do often stream the event on @ruemorguemag Instagram.

His House (2020)

Thanksgiving (2023)

Grizzly 2: Revenge (1983)

Warm Bodies (2013)

C.H.U.D. (1984)

Night of the Lepus (1972)

Basket Case (1982)

Lake Placid  (1999)

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

Slither (2006)

Pitch Black (2000)

Murder In Space (1985)

The Color Out of Space (2019)

[REC] (2007)

Under The Skin (2013)

Crimes of the Future (2022)

Invaders From Mars (1986)

Scanners (1981)

Event Horizon (1997)

Horror Movie Guide: Blackenstein

The next movie in the Guide was one I know I definitely wouldn't have watched if it wasn't listed in these pages; William A Levey's 1973 flick Blackenstein.

A young doctor named Winnifred (Ivory Stone) asks her scientist mentor Dr. Stein (John Hart) to help her boyfriend Eddie (Joe de Sue) who lost all his limbs in Vietnam. Stein uses his experimental DNA serum on him and well, I'm sure you can guess the rest.

Blackenstein's setup was actually better than I was expecting. Rather than just lifting the entire storyline from the 1931 version, they use experimental gene therapy as the catalyst. And electricity too, for some reason. I mean shit, if you had access to the same lab equipment from the original movie, wouldn't you work it in? It definitely makes those scenes look like a bigger budget production than the rest of it. 

I love they felt they needed to clarify the title to the audience. Eddie sure has it rough in this movie. Not only is he berated by an orderly with the worst bedside manner I've seen since Annie Wilkes, when he's finally going to be cured, everything gets fucked up by Stein's creepo assistant Malcolm (Roosevelt Jackson). Fucking Malcolm, man. I was like, are you seriously telling me this entire movie happens because of a fucking cock block. Damn, that's harsh. 

Joe de Sue as Eddie in Blackenstein

I thought the theme song by Cardella Di Milo slapped, which is good because they certainly get their money's worth out of it. She literally performs it at a night club while peeps are being murdered outside in the alley. The last half is pretty much Blackenstein ripping up people in the city, going back to his cell and then rinse, repeat. I was a little shocked/surprised/disappointed it only took a couple of Dobermans to take him down at the end. Oh well, maybe they ran out of money.

Blackenstein isn't the worst way to kill 78 minutes. It's certainly better than Levey's 1989 movie Hellgate. The Guide however, did not concur.

A Full Moon Christmas

In the interest of keeping things festive I checked out Full Moon’s 1994 joint Lurking Fear that just happens to take place during Christmas.

When a recently released convict (Blake Adams) attempts to recover money buried in a cemetery, he runs afoul of the evil creatures living underground. 

I’d never seen this one as it was released after I left my video store and lost touch with the admittedly diminishing returns of the Full Moon machine. However, on resident Laser Blaster Justin Decloux’s recommendation, I decided this was as good as time as any to give it a watch.

It turns out that C. Courtney Joyner’s Lurking Fear was not half bad. Full Moon’s formula for decades has been create a hook or creature and then build your movie around it, but surprisingly that wasn’t the case in Lurking Fear. While it’s true there were creatures, they really didn’t come into play until the third act so what the bulk of it was a crime film more akin to From Dusk Till Dawn, or 1992’s Trespass. I’m not saying this was anywhere near that caliber, but I appreciated the break from tradition.

And while the script was fairly anemic, the actors all brought a lot of personality that kept it from falling in on itself. In addition to genre favourites Jeffrey Combs (who drinks from a king-sized flask like a champ) and Ashley Laurence (inexplicably credited as Ashley Lauren, as perhaps Charles Band was too cheap to spring for the last two letters of her name), you also have the delightful Vincent Schiavelli as a shady undertaker. In the starring role was Adams whom I recall thinking “now that’s the face of a B-movie leading man” when he first came onscreen.

Ashley Laurence & Jeffrey Combs in Lurking Fear.

At a brisk seventy-five minutes, Lurking Fear gets in, gets out and leaves a good looking corpse. It doesn’t serve the H.P. Lovecraft source material as well as some of Band’s previous endeavours, but it was still an entertaining yarn.

Trailer Tuesdays: Within The Rock

With Hellraiser still on the brain, I discovered this TV movie from 1996 from long-time F/X artist Gary J. Tunnicliffe.

Well, this looks like all kinds of... something. I do not regret picking this up on VHS for two-fifty last weekend, but more on that tomorrow.

Excuse Me While I Gush.

On Tuesday, I saw my most anticipated TIFF title, Guillermo del Toro's newest The Shape of Water.

While working as a cleaner at a government facility, lonely mute Eliza (Sally Hawkins) begins interacting with a humanoid creature being held captive there.

The Shape of Water was absolutely magical. During Cameron Bailey's intro he said that this was the film that del Toro had been building towards his entire career and the standing ovation that the film received afterwards would seem to suggest we all fully agreed. Del Toro had been working on this project for five years, all the while trying to make fifteen million dollars seem like fifty. He succeeded.

The Shape of Water was everything of which del Toro truly excels. It was a fantasy, romance, thriller and period drama separately and all at once. It could be the most arresting and sincere adaptation of Beauty and the Beast to ever exist, as well as his most effective and well-rounded exhibition of world building. This is what fantasy is all about.

Sally Hawkins as Eliza in The Shape of Water.

I knew I was likely going to like this movie, but even I was taken aback by how whimsical and funny this film was. Del Toro has made a career of being able to juggle the sweet with the horrific, but here he concentrated on the former. He was much more interested in the good in humanity this time around, and he used every tool at his disposal, even down to the colour palette, to foster this idea.

It was especially wonderful that all the TIFF screenings of The Shape of Water took place in The Elgin Theatre because this very theatre was used in the film. I loved the way it was utilized and the audience applauded when it came onscreen.

I haven't even gotten to the terrific cast of this movie. I had, up to this point, never seen Sally Jenkins in a film before and she was a vision here. Her emotional range and conviction of character was truly remarkable and I was reminded of Audrey Tautou In 2001's Amelie. Michael Shannon fit right in alongside some of del Toro's greatest villains and I also must sing the praises of supporting players Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Doug Jones had already cemented himself as the best man-in-a-suit actor in the business, but he really outdid himself this time. This was his crowning achievement in my opinion. Wearing a suit that took five years to design and manufacture, his performance was almost entirely practical and done with no motion capture. You could see that. He was a majestic and tangible being and the relationship had weight because of it. There was an incredibly organic presence to this piece that del Toro's previous picture Crimson Peak (though I enjoyed it) did not possess.

Director Guillermo del Toro

As you can tell, I am completely smitten with this film. If I see a better one at this year's TIFF I will be surprised. Del Toro could be accused of being overly sentimental I'm sure, but Goddamn it if that's not what we need right now. As he said during his lengthy Q&A, “Sometimes Jesus got it wrong, sometimes The Beatles got it wrong, but they both agreed on one thing – and that is love.”

Trailer Tuesdays: The Rift

Holy barnacles! I don't even remember how I came across this, but yesterday I found this 1990 undersea monster flick starring R. Lee Ermey and Ray Wise directed by J.P Simon of Pieces and Slugs fame.

I see this this was also known as Endless Descent, for which I do remember the coverbox. I never realized there was a third straggler after Leviathan and Deep Star Six the year before. Consider me sold! 

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Hey all. Another week, another Messenger post.

H(orror)DTV.

While I don't really have much interest in the new Ring movie that is coming out (last year's Sadako vs Kayako seemed like a nice exclamation point on both franchises) I did get a kick out the viral prank video they made for the release.

Samara also showed up on The Today Show by way of special delivery, as well. For those interested in the new flick, it releases this Friday.

My Favourite Thing.

I found about an upcoming project called My Favorite Thing Is Monsters this week. Created by single mother from Chicago named Emil Ferris, this part graphic novel, part fictional diary has captured high praise from those who have read it so far.

The story behind this piece is very intriguing, and I can't wait to check it out when the first part (of two) is released Feb 13th. For more info on My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, check out this Forbes article here.

R.I.P. John Hurt 1940-2017.

Sadly, we lost another legend this week. Sir John Hurt passed away this week after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 77. Hurt was a prolific actor with other two-hundred credits under him. He was a man who appeared in all manner of productions, but always added an air of legitimacy to any project when you saw his name in the credits.

Sir John Hurt 1940-2017

For me, he will always be Kane, the ill-fated crew member of the Nostromo in Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien. His death sequence still remains one of the most iconic scenes in movie (let alone horror) history. Almost as resonant with me was his voice work in the Richard Adams adaptations of Watership Down and The Plague Dogs.

Rest In Peace, Sir John.

It's Alive!

One of the many awesome documentaries I got to see while at Ithaca Fantastik last week was Gilles Penso & Alex Poncet's Creature Designers - The Frankenstein Complex.

A pseudo-sequel to Penso's 2011 piece on the legendary stop-motion artist Ray Harryhausen, this doc focuses on the next wave of creature effects artists that grew up admiring his work, including Rick Baker, Steve Johnson, Greg Nicotero and Phil Tippett. It should be no surprise that I loved this doc and had a huge smile on my face through most of its running time.

Creature Designers gives you a wonderful peek behind the curtain of some of cinema's greatest monsters. Starting with the work of Lon Chaney and Jack Pierce, it transitions into the first recognized master of the modern era, Dick Smith. Much credit is given to Star Wars for opening things up, but the doors were really blown off in 1981 with the coming of three pictures - Joe Dante's The Howling, John Landis' An American Werewolf In London and John Carpenter's The Thing.

The Norris spider from The Thing.

The range of artists featured in this doc was astounding (Rob Bottin and Kevin Yagher being notable omissions) as well as the collective body of work of these silicone heroes. You can tell they all love what they do. 

Steve Chiodo with one of my faves of all time - The Crite.

Post-Jurassic Park however, things took a distressing turn. Most directors will agree that the best possible results come from a mix of practical and digital, but these days it seems that studios tend to rely on the latter a little too much. I said I had a smile on my face through MOST of the doc, but it was replaced with a frown when I heard Rick Baker and the guys at Amalgamated Dynamics relate their horror stories about having their hard work replaced or removed from the final product.

I have a feeling we may be headed for a swing back the other way. Film is cyclical and I'm confident that slashers and home invasion thrillers may soon be overrun by the creature fantastic. Considering what we got coming the next four years, I think we've had our fill of real world horrors. And like the Baker's and Bottin's grew up with Harryhausen's stop-motion wonders, my generation grew up with Baker and Bottin's tangible and textured monstrosities. Let's all do them proud, ladies and gents.

Phil Tippett with Robocop's nemesis ED-209

Anyway, if this doc happens to hit your Netflix, give it a shot, as it is a delightful look at one of the main reasons I became a horror fan.

Enter The Void.

Toronto After Dark wrapped up on Friday with a rousing double-bill of the wonderfully fantastic mermaid musical The Lure, and the uber-anticipated local horror production The Void.

It seemed I'd been waiting so long to see this movie that it was almost surreal when the opening title came up. The Void was pretty much what I was expecting and hoping for when I pledged money to their IndieGogo campaign over a year ago. I wanted a waking nightmare filled with slobbery monsters and unadulterated chaos, and that is what Steve Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie delivered.

First and foremost, the creature effects were sublime. Kostanski is not only a wizard at practical effects, but he also knows their limitations. He knows how to show them to get the maximum oh-fuck-what-is-that? response on the viewer. His designs were indescribably horrific and I give him full props for bringing forth such originality in a genre that often just uses existing templates. It was also refreshing that no studio stepped in at the eleventh hour and CG'd over all their hard work.

Yet the creature effects were not the only thing that really impressed me about this movie. Even though it shares DNA with genre classics like Assault on Precinct 13, Prince of Darkness, The Thing, Hellraiser, Event Horizon and The Beyond, The Void never felt like it wasn't its own entity. It's also not showy about being a period piece either. Nobody was playing with a Rubik's Cube or listening to Duran Duran on their Walkman, it was just that about a half-hour in that I realized no one had pulled out a cell phone. The Void goes beyond homage.

If I had one criticism though, it was that the creature effects were so good that they overshadowed everything else. Though I had no real problems with the performances and story, I was always waiting for the next set piece. Kostanksi & Gillespie knew what they were doing though. Having confidence in their visuals to shock and horrify, they let them take center stage and, in complete contrast to the movie that screened the day before, rarely resorted to cheap jump scares.

Directors Steve Kostanski (left) and Jeremy Gillespie.

It was a long journey to get The Void made, but I think Kostanski and Gillespie should be very proud of what they accomplished here. Not only did they make an honest-to-goodness creature feature, but they have also successfully broken out of the comedy-laden mold of their time with Astron 6. I have now crossed over into The Void and so should you.

Trailer Tuesdays: Waxwork

In keeping with the time travel theme of yesterday's post, I thought a little Waxwork might be appropriate.

Watching that trailer, I was reminded of all the great practical effects and creatures in this movie. I think it - and its sequel Lost In Time - may be due a rewatch.

Come On In, The Water's Fine!

Last weekend was the inaugural edition of the Fright Night Theatre Film Festival in Hamilton. Organizers Aaron Allen & Darrell Marsh have been screening films out of the cozy Staircase Theatre for years, but this was their first stab at a full-fledged weekend event. Featuring a programme that ranged from the nostalgic to post-modern, Fright brought forth a mix of shocks and absurdity.

My main reason for being there was the world premiere of Scott Schrimer's new flick, Harvest Lake. You've heard me talk about his previous film Found at length, so I was elated when I heard that his latest effort would be screening two towns over.

Four friends visiting a lakeside cottage come across a lascivious entity that threatens to consume them.

I, perhaps not surprisingly, dug this movie. It kind of reminded me of that old X-Files episode with the mushroom spores, if instead of hallucinating, Mulder & Scully got freaky. In some ways, Harvest Lake was exactly what I was expecting, but in others it was much more. I feel Schirmer elevated this simple story, which could've just been cheap exploitation, to something deeply visceral and, dare I say, erotic. This shows real growth from Schrimer as a filmmaker because as much as I love Found, it is a little rough around the edges. Harvest Lake was beautiful to look at for more than the obvious reasons. In addition to the copious amounts of skin – I don't think I've seen bikinis worn better than they were by fetching leads Tristan Risk and Ellie Church – cinematographer Brian Williams filmed the surrounding forest and lake as if they were living, breathing beings.

Ellie Church as Jennifer in Harvest Lake.

But it was not just the look of the film that grabbed me, but also the music. Schrimer commissioned the musical duo of Adam Robl & Shawn Sutta and the result is incredibly hypnotic. It's one of the best instances of a score representing the subject matter onscreen I've witnessed in quite some time. Once again delivering on the special effects was longtime collaborator Arthur Cullipher. Not only were they incredibly tactile (oh the slime) but the creature designs were also distinct and memorable.

Schrimer, Williams and Church were on hand for the screening and humble as per usual. Among other things, they talked a bit about their funding strategy. The film itself was self-funded, for the incredibly impressive sum of eight grand, and they only turned to the Internet for post-production costs.

“We took pre-orders for a limited edition Blu-ray and if we sold enough of them, they would pay for cost of having them made. We didn't want to fund the movie with Kickstarter or Indiegogo if we could do that ourselves. Too often people just pocket the money that is donated and never deliver. That ruins it for everyone. If you get screwed over, you'll be less likely to donate to something else in the future. We wanted to make sure we had something to offer first.”

Director Scott Schirmer, star Ellie Church & producer/DOP Brian Williams.

Harvest Lake might not appeal to some, but there's no denying that it is unique. And that is a good word to describe Scott Schirmer. In the indie landscape, a supposed haven for creative freedom, most genre filmmakers are content to just ape their influences. Schrimer however, is carving out stories that, thematically and visually, go beyond where many are willing to go.

Trailer Tuesdays: Inseminoid

Here's a trailer that I think bridges the gap between what I posted yesterday and what I'm posting tomorrow. Enjoy!

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Hi all. I'm up early today to check out a nearby toy convention. Here's what I've got for you this week.

Coming Soon!

I found a collection of vintage home video trailer reels on Camera Viscera this week. There were tapes that were sent to video retailers back in the day in order to drum up business for distributors. Most were just trailers, but some got creative.

To see more, check out the original post here. You can also see one of my Archives posts on the subject here.

Jason & David.

We are all still getting over the loss of David Bowie, but looking over a lot of the various tributes online, I had completely forgot about the connection between the Thin White Duke and the Friday the 13th films. For those who don't know, filmmakers often give productions secret names to avoid unwanted visitors to the set and keep costs lowered. The most famous instance of this was Return of the Jedi being called Blue Harvest, because the owners of the spaces where Empire was filmed raised their prices when they found out what was filming there.

In that spirit, the Friday the 13th producers being huge Bowie fans started using his song titles for their fake movie names beginning with Part 3. Frank Mancuso Jr explains;

“We started creating fake titles for the Friday movies around Part 3. Most of the time they were old David Bowie song titles—just innocuous enough that the unions would leave you alone. Because a union was far less likely to go out and try to bust a movie called “Crystal Japan” than they were Friday the 13th Part 3. They knew that the train went back to Paramount and they knew the Friday the 13th films were successful, so they would come at you much harder. As for “Repetition,” I just thought it was a funny joke.”

For more on the story, click here.

Cloverfield!

J.J. Abrams announced this week that a spinoff sequel to Cloverfield was not only coming, but had already been filmed and is releasing in two weeks! Man, this guy knows how to keep a secret.

As you know, I love Mary Elizabeth Winstead, so this is a no-brainer for me. I just hope that the bunker stuff is the first act of the movie, and that scene with Winstead looking outside isn't from the last five minutes. 10 Cloverfield Lane releases March 11th.

It Came From The Archives 26.2!

Continuing with the anniversary festivities, here are the remainder of the horror pin-ups I found in my most recent decent into the Archives. The fourty or so I posted yesterday were from Fangoria's Poster Magazines, but these ones below I am not as certain as to their origins. I am pretty sure these four Freddy posters were from a one-off magazine for Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5 though.

Click to enlarge

The rest I assume are from various Fangoria & Gorezones from the late eighties & early nineties. I'll start with the quad panels and work my way down.

Next up, a couple of four panels.

No matter how much time passes, I will always marvel at Mindy Clarke's get-up in ROTLD3 as a thing of beauty. Moving onto the three panel posters...

Finishing things off are a couple of two pagers.

Have a great weekend everybody!