In My Element.

Photo courtesy Nathan Boone

Horror-Rama 2022!

Horror-Rama was back this year and I had an absolute blast. You never know how these events are gonna go in these uncertain times, but the turnout was great and people looked thrilled to be mingling again. On the Friday night, there was an extra special 40th anniversary screening of a film you know is very near and dear to my heart.

This was the very same Deadly Eyes print that used to play at Trash Palace back in the day. It has changed hands, but it still looks as hairy as ever. However, THIS time I was tapped to moderate the Q&A with special guests Lisa Langlois and Lesleh Donaldson. I'd never done one before, but confidence in the fact I knew the movie inside and out helped combat the nerves.

It went really well. I was amazed and excited that so many in attendance hadn't seen it. I thought that with the Shout Factory Blu-ray, it might have got more eyeballs on it, but I've come to find that was only a small run and now out-of-print. 

For the Q&A, because it was a two-reel, one-projector affair, we did it in three parts - intro, intermission and audience questions at the end. We talked about how they both came to work on the film, the various Toronto locations and just how God damn cold it was that winter.

Lisa Langlois, Lesleh Donaldsen and some schmo.

 

Someone brought up the Imdb trivia (that I'm currently trying to get removed) about a dog suffocating in his rat suit. I'd been preparing for this eventuality and we all had a lengthy discussion about it. I believe it untrue for not only the fact that the dogs were trained for months in LA to wear the rat suits, the headpieces had the jaws cut out of them. Tell me how a dog suffocates when its mouth isn't covered...

Lisa has said on several occasions that someone on the crew told her a dog had a heart attack from the anxiety of wearing the suit, but others state the opposite. If you listen to Al Apone (the FX supervisor for the suits on set) on the Blu-ray supplemental, he maintains that apart from one dog getting hospitalized from something it ate at the kennel they were being kept, no harm came to any of them. I also contacted the film's production manager (whom I met many years ago at TIFF and also worked on The Brain) and he corroborated this story.

But anyway, the night was awesome and it was just the first day of three! Saturday, I was basically there the entire day. There was a bunch of great Q&A's and I got to see people I hadn't seen in ages like Stacey from the OG Trash Palace, Brad from Poster-Mortem and Chris from Little Ghosts.

The Q&A with Thom Matthews was great and thankfully went beyond just his work on Friday 6 and ROTLD. There were actually multiple questions about his many films with Albert Pyun and how his contracting business led him to renovate Ozzy Osbourne's house, much of it while there were shooting their reality show.

Thom Matthews

The big get was Caroline Munro, who was absolutely lovely, an English rose of the highest order. Super humble and eager to talk about her experiences working with likes of Christopher Lee, Roger Moore and Joe Spinnell. Both her Q&A and screening event at the end of the day were fantastic fun.

Throw in the Adventures in Canadian Cinema with Langlois, Donaldsen, Lynne Griffin and Sean Sullivan and you have yourself some CanCon overload. I also got to catch up with Kier-La Janisse who was in town for the event. 

Lesleh Donaldson, Sean Sullivan, Lynne Griffin & Lisa Langlois

In terms of loot, it is true that was wallet was rendered significantly lighter come Monday. Not only did I get my hands on Vinegar Syndrome's Thriller release (which had eluded me at Fantasia), but also this random Beta tape.

I mean it was in such good condition, I couldn't let the fact I don't have a player stop me. I also got a Deadly Eyes long print from the only one of TP's four screenings that I missed, as well as a piece of art I first saw online many years ago and always wanted to own.

It really was a terrific weekend and totally worth battling the horrendous traffic both days. Congrats to Chris, Ali & Luis for putting on such a great show.

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.

10 Years!

Can you believe it? This humble blog I started as a VHS coverbox archive has been chugging along for a decade now. I've recorded hundreds of covers from the home video era, along with documenting everything that has come along in horror since 2007. It's been pretty wild.

I've made a lot of friends and contacts since then that have allowed me to start making my own films as well as program shorts for three festivals. In celebration of The Horror Section's tenth anniversary I wanted to look back at my most visited posts over the years. Let's dive right in, shall we?

Coincidentally, number ten – with over 1400 looks - was an anniversary post itself. Posted three years ago today, it was another reflective list of seven significant accomplishments I'd made since I'd started THS that included finally archiving my mass collection of horror junk, being accredited for film festivals and keeping a regimented routine of writing at least two-hundred posts a year. 2014 was a really good year for me.

You are going to notice that a lot of my top ten posts are reviews of world premiere screenings, mostly from TIFF's Midnight Madness or Montreal's Fantasia. Number nine was for Mike Flanagan's 2013 film, Oculus.

I really love this film because it focuses on the things that make great horror – simplicity, atmosphere and supporting performances. Flanagan has since gone on to further cement himself as one of the genre's top filmmakers. I mean, Gerald's Game! You need mad skills to put that off.

At almost 1600 views, number eight was my review of V/H/S, the 2012 anthology. Toronto After Dark put on a special screening of that in the summer and man, was The Bloor packed that night. Even though the reception of V/H/S was lukewarm, there was some major anticipation for the film. I know I was pumped. I think I prefer Part 2 overall – mainly because of Timo's Safe Haven – but it was great experience, no less.

Number Seven on the list goes to a review of one of my favourite documentaries of recent years, Jake West's Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape.

As I commented in my post, the sheer amount of content in this set was ridiculous. In addition to the doc, you had separate features including trailers for every single title on the UK's infamous list. That's seventy-two trailers! I believe this set was initially an import, so for a time it may have been somewhat rare on this side of the pond – hence the almost 1700 views.

The sixth highest hits was for one of my first posts, coming only three days after THS's inception. It was a list of Ten Great Modern Horror Films that included the likes of The Descent, Session 9 and The Devil's Backbone. I had previously written about these movies on different review sites (now long gone) but at the onset, I wanted to pull together a best-of-the-best into one definitive list.

Number Five is a bit inexplicable, but the first of three Fantasia posts was for Patrick Laugier's follow-up to Martyrs, The Tall Man in 2012.

This film gets a lot of disinterest or disdain, mainly for not being Martyrs 2, but I remember Jessica Biel's performance really knocked my socks off. It was a good precursor to the great work she did more recently in The Sinner.

Coming in at over 2000 views at number four, is my post for Fantasia's world premiere in 2014 of Leo Gabriadze's film Cybernatural. This film was really wild, in that it didn't seem to care that it was infringing on so many copyrights it made my head spin. Google, YouTube and Facebook were all utilized in this micro-budget flick about a vengeful spirit killing teenagers off via Skype.

It was later released in an altered form as the re-branded Unfriended, which judging from the people who saw both was highly inferior. I imagine the high amount of my hits were due to the fact I would've been one of only a few hundred people that would've seen this first cut. I'll never forget that bat-shit scene where a girl is murdered within her Facebook feed, her animated sprite banging around inside her own desktop.

At number three, with over 2500 hits, is my most viewed Midnight Madness review for 2010's Insidious.

It's a franchise now, but seven years ago, the horror community was buzzing over this creeper from James Wan & Leigh Whannell. They had taken the festival circuit by storm six years earlier with Saw and everybody was curious to see whether they could repeat. I actually re-watched Insidious from my Ithaca hotel room last month and I was glad to see that it holds up. I believe the ending was changed from the premiere, but a lot of what these guys executed in this film have become Blumhouse touchstones.

Runner up, is my most viewed review was that of Steven R. Monroe's 2010 remake of I Spit On Your Grave.

An unpleasant film to be sure, but as a remake it's mostly successful because it fixed the problem I always had with the original. The focus of the 1978 movie was the rape, and not the revenge whereas Monroe took a more balanced approach. It made sitting through the nasty stuff a bit more palatable when subsequently the bad guys get it back just as good.

I Spit's reputation continues to live on (with two sequels to boot) so I guess it is not surprising almost 3000 people have looked in over the years.

Numero uno on the list with triple the hits of the closest competitor is my piece on James Herbert's Rat Trilogy that kicked off Rat Week.

I guess it makes sense, as I'm always prattling on about James Herbert. He has never been as popular over here as he should have been and I suppose people searching for info would naturally hit on my blog entries. My first Herbert post connected me with esteemed blogger Mermaid Heather and we've continued to keep in touch over the years as we creep by milestone after milestone.

I definitely plan on writing more about rodent-based horror in the future, but one thing at a time. For now, I'll just keep on keepin' on. Stay safe, kiddies.

Horror-Rama 2017

The fourth edition of Horror-Rama took place last weekend and I, of course, was there to take in the festivities. 

This year saw the convention move to another venue, an arts & culture space in the Annex. While the last two years at the Hyatt certainly allowed the con to expand, it felt a little constrictive to the vibe that organizers Luis Ceriz and Chris Alexander were trying to create. Spread out over a half-dozen rooms, the venue this year recaptured the essence of year one.

Also, unlike the previous two years when it fell during Toronto After Dark, I was actually able to fully enjoy Horror-Rama, as I was not running back and forth between venues all weekend. As is tradition with horror conventions, I also got to hang with my buddy Schwartz. Our continued failure to keep each other from spending money on horror merch was upheld I can assure you.

All the usual suspects were in attendance, but I felt there was an especially strong showing of VHS & Blu-ray vendors this year, from Arrow to Vinegar Syndrome to Suspect Video. It is always great to catch up with Brad at Poster-Mortem and Rob from the Canadian Cult & Horror Community, as well.

Clowning around with CanMake Productions' Justin Decloux & Emily Milling
and artist Andrew Barr.

I did quite well this year acquiring some interesting VHS titles.

I've never heard of Where Are The Children? but Jack Sholder and a cool cover was worth a two-fifty gamble. I'd been looking Playroom & Pulse for some time, and well, Dream Lover is self explanatory.

On the Blu-ray side, Vinegar Syndrome sold me on a couple of titles. First, was Demon Wind with its recreation of the original lenticular VHS...

The other was one I didn't even know had been released on Blu-ray in Gorman Bechard's Psychos In Love. That had me with its terrific cover art.

I also couldn't resist picking up this little guy either.

Like last year at Horror-Rama, the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival took the opportunity to announce their 2017 line-up at the show.

It looks like a good line-up this year with several colleagues of mine having projects premiering here. I am particularly looking forward to Jeff Sinasac's Red Spring, just because I know how long he's been working on it. I know a handful of people who worked on Ryan M. Andrew's Art of Obsession, so that'll be cool to see, as well.

Some other titles that intrigued me are the faux-doc Fake Blood, Buckout Road and the It's Alive vibe of The Child Remains. I also haven't seen a good chunk of the shorts programme, so I'm always keen to add stuff to my Little Terrors wish list.

Sunday, my only real goal was to talk with visiting Canuxploitation royalty Lesleh Donaldson & Lisa Langlois. I'm not usually one for autographs, but I had to get my Deadly Eyes VHS signed because this seemed like a rare opportunity. Ms. Donaldson is such a nice lady, and I made sure to tell her that I found the theatre used in the movie thanks to her input three years ago. 

I also never usually bother people for photos, but she was so friendly...

Lesleh Donaldson & I.

This was a happy day. The pair's ensuing Q&A was also very informative. They talked about when they met on Happy Birthday to Me and being surprised that any of these old movies have endured. They also brought up how many of those pictures were involved with some shady characters that to this day have still not paid what was owed. I was shocked to learn that Langlois had made more on residuals from a guest spot on one episode of Murder She Wrote than she did on all of her Canuxploitation work combined.

Actresses Lisa Langlois (left) & Lesleh Donaldson.

Mainly, the talk was a clinic on navigating the film business then and now, touching on everything from the actresses they were always in competition with, to the differences between working in Canada & the US and all the ugliness that is just finally coming to light now. Langlois compared this level of upheaval to when women burned their bras in the sixties, and with a new name seemingly being outed every week, who can argue?

And that was a wrap on Horror-Rama 2017. It definitely felt like a return to the first year and its intimate setting and I'm all for it.

Deadly Eyes Turns 35!

Thirty-five years ago today, Deadly Eyes, Robert Clouse's adaptation of James Herbert's classic novel The Rats, was released in Canada.

To celebrate this milestone I wanted to showcase one of the places used in the movie. Having been shot in Toronto, Deadly Eyes uses countless recognizable locations, but one of the more striking is The Regent Theatre (formerly The Crest) in Davisville. This theatre was home to the climactic scene where the giant rats chowed down on some unsuspecting moviegoers taking in a Bruce Lee marathon. It took me a long time to track down which theatre was used, but thanks to some exhaustive research and the help of star Lesleh Donaldson pointing me in the right direction I was finally able to find it.

The Regent 2017

It then took me a while to get out there, but thankfully Scarlett Sahota's anime screening series gave me ample reason to make the trek. The Regent has undergone some renovation over the last few decades, but some attributes are still the same. The front facade still sports the “M” shaped marquee, but the stained glass windows that Donaldson's character crashed through in the film have since been replaced.

The Crest 1982

Walking into a place you have seen onscreen is always surreal. I talked with the employees to gain access to the balcony and none of them were even aware their workplace was once crawling with Dachshunds dressed as rats. The box office and concessions are still in the same spot and two archways have been added just inside the entrance to the house.

Deadly Eyes co-stars Lisa Langlois (left) & Lesleh Donaldson.

The main thing that still remains the same are the railings on the staircases leading up the balcony where Lisa Langlois met her unfortunate end in the movie.

The balcony is where all the rat action happened and save for some reupholstering it still looks pretty much the same.

This area right below in the foreground is where I suspect Langois and Joseph Kelly were sitting during their make-out scene.

The Regent is a much larger theatre than I was expecting, and to be honest one of the nicest movie houses in the city. Having been around since 1927, after stretches of inactivity and a run as a playhouse, it has now become a Davisville icon and community hub. 

Even though the guys at Trash Palace have screened Deadly Eyes numerous times on 16mm, my dream is to someday see the Canadian classic unspool at The Regent.

DKTM 344

Hey all. I'm still digesting the tasty BBQ I ate yesterday, but for now here's some tasty horror morsels.

The Rats.

I missed this one when I did my E3 post, but holy crap do I need A Plague Tale: Innocence in my life.

As you may remember, killer rat movies are among my favourite subgenres in horror, so a gaming version of that makes my whiskers tingle. No release date yet, but 2018 is a good bet. What a stacked year for horror gaming that is going to be!

Fantasia 2017.

Fantasia announced its first block of titles for this year's festival this week. This Montreal-based event never disappoints with many awesome looking things on tap. Here's a peek.

First, Fantasia will be honouring the great Larry Cohen with a well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. This will be celebrated with 35mm presentations of Q: The Winged Serpent, It's Alive, God Told Me To. As for new films, I'll be hoping to check these out.

Stefan Ruzowitzky returns with an action-horror hybrid Cold Hell about a taxi driver (Violetta Schurawlow) targeted by a serial killer. I was a fan of Anatomy back in the day, so I'm stoked for this.

Game of Death is a project I've been tracking since it hit SXSW earlier this year. Originally conceived as a web-series, this premise of a kill-or-be-killed board game is so delicious, I cannot resist it.

After some good buzz at Sundance, I am looking forward to seeing Damien Power's Killing Ground. Outback horror has always been one of the most intense out there, so here's hoping this delivers.

Joe Lynch's Mayhem will be playing this year, so I'll finally be able to see how it stacks up against the similarly themed The Belko Experiment. It will likely not be as polished, but I do expect it will be more f*cked up.

Replace is one of the more provokative of the announced titles. Co-written by Richard Stanley and featuring Barbara Crampton, this movie tells of a woman who replace her skin with that of other women's. This has some serious gross-out body potential!

Genre darlings Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson are back with their newest venture The Endless. I'm not going to tell you what its about because like their previous works, it is best to just go in and let things happen.

Lastly, what would Fantasia be without Japanese splatter. Yoshihiro Nishimura returns with a sequel to the 2005 flick, Kodoku Meatball Machine. You can be sure the walls of the Hall Concordia will be stained when this one plays.

My Air bnb is booked, my train ticket is purchased, all I need now is for July to get here! Fantasia runs July 13th to August 2nd.

What You Can't Hear...

Lastly, I wanted to post a short film I saw last year at Fantasia. Here's director Rob Savage's take on a tried-and-true genre. Enjoy!