September Horror Trivia Watchlist.

To all those who came here from the event or the Trivia 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.

Re-Animator (1985)

From Hell (2001)

Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

Session 9 (2002)

Battle Royale (2000)

The Prowler (1981)

The Guest (2014)

Tragedy Girls (2017)

Detention (2011)

Student Bodies (1981)

Ghoulies III (1991)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary  (2005)

The Vault of Horror (1973) 

Dr. Terror's House of Horror (1965)

Tales From The Darkside (1990)

The Running Man (1987)

Salem's Lot (2024)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

The Mist (2007)

Jan 29th 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.

Scanners (1981)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Eraserhead (1977)

Planet Terror (2007)

Death Proof (2007)

Thanksgiving (2023)

Eaten Alive (1976)

The New York Ripper (1982)

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Basket Case (1982)

Blood Feast (1963)

Two Thousand Maniacs (1964)

Color Me Blood Red (1965)

Inside (2007)

The Descent (2005)

Happy Death Day (2017)

The Sadness (2021)

Under The Skin (2013)

Cat's Eye (1985)

Black Sabbath (1963)

Tales From the Darkside (1990)

Body Bags (1993)

Nightmares (1983)

Holidays (2016)

House of the Dead (1978)

June 14th Horror Trivia Screening List.

To all those who came here from the Storm Crow 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 comprehensive list of all the 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. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here. If you're not local, we do often stream the event on @ruemorguemag Instagram.

Cujo (1983)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Martyrs (2008)

Frontiers (2007)

Inside (2007)

High Tension (2003).

Cabin In The Woods (2011)

Intruder (1989)

Body Bags (1993)

Grizzly (1976)

Cocaine Bear (2023)

The Shining (1980)

Backcountry (2014)

Day of the Animals (1977)

Grizzly 2: Revenge (1983)

Prophecy (1979)

Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey (2023)

Berserker (1987)

The Edge (1997)

Man's Best Friend (1993)

Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988)

Blind Alley (2011)

Lake Mungo (2008)

X (2022)

The Uninvited (2009)

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

The Witch (2015)

Army of the Dead (2021)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Day of the Dead (1985)

Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Zombie (1979)

Creepshow (1982)

The Sadness (2021)

Madman (1981)

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Night of the Creeps (1986)

TIFF 2022

TIFF has come and gone this year. Obviously the last few years have been hybrids, but this edition was as close to being as normal as it could be. The Midnight Madness program itself however, is still in a state of flux after being ousted from its home at the Ryerson Theatre. 

When I heard this year's screenings would take place at the Royal Alex Theatre I was a bit concerned. Not only was it not a movie house (they literally had to install the screen for the fest), but how were the sightlines gonna be? The Bloor was basically ruined after their renovations so how was this going to fare? Add in some Ticketmaster fuckery that led to me not being able to pick seats in anything other than the front row (some TIFF screenings are assigned seating now) and I was downright worried.

It turns out it was much ado about nothing because front row actually worked out great. The screen was placed deep into the stage and was the perfect size for how far I was in relation to it. I can't say the same for the peeps in the back and the balconies, but for me it was all good. It also got me closer to Mia and Ester, but more on that later. I saw a total of five midnights over the course of the fest and here's the skinny;

First up was Tim Story's The Blackening. Based on a popular YouTube sketch, the premise is simply, “If the black character dies first in a slasher movie, what happens when the entire cast is black?” This movie was really funny and crowd was into it. It's the kind of comedy where you miss stuff because the ambient laughter is drowning out the subsequent jokes. I definitely recommend for those who like horror spoofs that are a little more refined than the Scary Movie series. 

Next up was Sick. Written by Kevin Williamson, I would definitely say that this is Scream-adjacent. This is the first slasher I've seen to take place during the Covid era and it uses it well. I liked the lead actress Gideon Adlon, she had a Monica Keena-vibe to her. Although this was likely my least favourite of the '22 MM crop, the lengthy chase sequence was a standout. 

Day five of the fest brought my most anticipated screening of Ti West's Pearl. I thought X was a nice surprise - the '22 TCM we deserved - and this was a fitting companion to it. Mia Goth was stellar in this, just completely unhinged and my vote for performance of the year. 

Director Ti West & Actors Mia Goth & Corenswet

I loved how West leaned into the era in which it was set. Where X was a grimy, sweaty love letter to the 70's, Pearl is a boisterous ballad to Hollywood's infancy. Once you clock into the kind of movie West and Goth are making here (much like this year's Orphan: First Kill) you can really revel in the ride. With it being set in 1919, there was also some clever play with our parallel pandemics. And marketing was kind enough to hand us Pearl handkerchiefs on our way out.

And to top it off, after the credits rolled and that MaXXXine stinger played, the crowd lost their fucking shit. 

Later in the week was the dream pair of Jaume Balagueró (REC) & Álex de la Iglesia's (Perdita Durango) newest offering, Venus. Basically part-crime, past-haunted house, part-cosmic horror, I really enjoyed this one. I can admit to having a bias because the lead Ester Expósito was absolutely scorching.

Director Jaume Balagueró & Actress Ester Expósito 

I'm not lying when I said I was actually having trouble reading the subtitles because it meant I had to take my eyes off her. She's just one of those women where it seems like there is a beam of light shining down on them from above. So I'm a fan. Other than that, there is some good gore and a handful of solid set pieces. 

Last on the list was the latest in the V/H/S series, '99. I enjoyed the last iteration and the good thing about anthologies is if you're not digging the story, you got a new one coming up right behind. Fortunately, V/H/S/99 was particularly strong with high points being Flying Lotus' dark and disgusting take on 90's Nickelodeon game shows, Joseph & Vanessa Winter's literal foray into hell and Johannes Robert's entry definitely took home the prize for most intense audience reaction.

It was a fun week and I wouldn't be opposed to MM staying at the RAT (love that acronym!). Stay tuned tomorrow where I run down what happened at this year's Horror-Rama.

Sign Next To The X.

This week's VHS was Stephen M. Kienzle's 1990 anthology flick Terrorgram.

Three tales about ne'er do wells whose lives are thrust into chaos after receiving a mysterious package.

This was another title offered up by Ben Ruffett at his latest Hamilton Trash Cinema screening and again, his curation skills were on point. Terrorgram was wildly over-the-top and cheesy, but also kind of charming in its excesses. Don't take my word for it though, just listen to the dolcet tones of James Earl Jones!

It's like Rod Serling's opening to The Twliight Zone, but super dense and filled with mail puns. As Ben said, you kind of just zone out half way through and then it's just the sound of Jones' voice washing over you.

Terrorgram consisted of a trio of stories, the first being the most excessive. Heroine Overdose was basically about a misogynistic director that gets pulled into a parallel universe where gender stereotypes are reversed. He gets harassed and assaulted by women at every turn and can't seem to do anything about it. I have to wonder if this scenario had happened to Harvey Weinstein thirty years ago, a ton of people may have been spared a lot of trauma. Rest assured, they both got what they deserved in the end.

Pandora revolved around a newscaster that runs down a child, but does nothing so she can save her career. When the kid's jack-in-the-box shows up at her door, all manner of creeps invade. This may be the weakest of the three, perhaps just because everyone on the news team made Louis Bloom look like a saint. I will say that this segment does have some good gore and make up effects though.

Last was Veteran's Day and its more serious tone was quite a departure from the camp of the first two. Kienzle was himself a war vet and I wager this was the story he actually wanted to tell after buttering us up with some comedy. A deadbeat dad gets visited by the ghost of a soldier whom he got drafted into Vietnam by ratting him out to the army. It does not go well for either of them, as he is forced to relive the man's 'Nam experience. It's kind of like House, but if William Katt had been a garbage person.

Terrorgram was a lot better and more entertaining than it should have been, largely by way of its fresh scenarios and both the quality and quantity of its special effects collectively supplied by John Blake, Kevin Hudson, John Eggett and Richard Burk.

It Came From The Archives 28.5!

One of Blockbuster's most nefarious edicts was its internally mandated views on censorship. In Canada at least, Big Blue did not deal in unrated versions of movies. We got “Rated” titles which were cut down unbeknownst to the consumer because in Canada, R usually meant the hard stuff. Blockbuster then took things a step further by introducing the Youth Restricted Viewing program.

Under no circumstances were you able to rent anything with this sticker to anyone under 18. My buddy still gives me shit for denying his request to rent Hollywood Hot Tubs back when we were in high school. I keep telling him my boss was standing right there, but he still busts my balls about it to this day.

I mean, it would've been all right if these movies with the YRV stickers had actually been risqué material, but look at the titles below. Do these strike you as stuff that is particularly damaging to young eyes, in comparison to the titles I've shown you over the last four days?

Come back tomorrow for one last post that covers one of my childhood heroes. And no, it's not Freddy or Jason.

Emmeritus Triple Bill Part Deux

With it being Canada Day weekend, it felt right to do another Emmeritus Triple Bill. 

For those who didn't see my first post, Emmeritus was an Ontario-based film company that made a slew of shot-on-video titles in the eighties that also played on local TV station CHCH. Thanks to a friend, I recently acquired a bunch of their titles and here is the trio I watched this week. Up first, was Peter McCubbin's Assignment KGB aka Ladybear. 

This was the third of three titles that McCubbin made for Emmeritus and featured a librarian named Anna (Carol Poirier) who begins having flashbacks about being in Russia as a child. Surprise! She'd just forgotten she was actually a trained KGB operative code named Ladybear, which I guess was catchier than just, sow.

Isn't it heartwarming to know that Ontario and Russian winters are indistinguishable on film? It was quite amusing to see how much - contrary to what the cover would have you believe - espionage and spy mongering was going on in Toronto in the eighties. I had no idea there were KGB agents working out of the Russian embassy, or that there was even a Russian embassy here. Perhaps most hilarious was the assertion that “most of the traffic from the CIA and British MI5 goes through Ottawa.” Does it though?

It's super coincidental that I picked this weekend – when another flick about a female secret KGB agent named Anna came out – to watch this movie. Sometimes things just line up like that. And just like any spy “thriller” there were many twists and turns. Ladybear however, has an unironic romantic boat ride.

Ladybear isn't good, but again much like Mark of the Beast, I enjoyed the kitsch of seeing worldly things happen in eighties Ontario.

Now, I bet you are thinking - Hey Jay, if Emmeritus made dozens of titles, there must be an anthology in there somewhere. Well, you would be correct! It's Steve DiMarco's Shock Chamber.

It was subtitled a Trilogy of Terror, but it's more aptly a trilogy of say, mild discomforts that consist of three stories and a wraparound about four ill-fated brothers. Naturally the brothers were quadruplets of course, so they only had to pay one actor (Doug Stone). The stories (namely the first and third) have a Tales From The Crypt quality to them, so apart from their cheapness they were half-palatable.

One-fourth of Doug Stone in Shock Chamber.

In Symbol of Victory, a man buys a love potion to get the woman of his dreams and, well you know things don't turn out the way he planned. Next, in Country Hospitality, a man runs afoul of some shady characters in a small Southern town. This was the first time I'd seen an Emmeritus movie that actively pretended to be in the US even though the cars still had Ontario plates – one truck had it inexplicably (and inadvisably) sticking off the side Horror Hospital style.

At the onset, it felt a little like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre without the Texas, or Chainsaw, or Massacre. I do have to wonder if the production went the route of Rock N' Roll Nightmare and cut a deal with Coca-Cola because it was everywhere in this segment.

The final segment called The Injection could be the most Crypt-y of the bunch and features the old pretend-your-dead-and-buried-and-I'll-dig-you-up-later insurance scam. Always one-hundred per cent fool proof right? 

This one had some choice random characters, like the two hookers in a scene that felt like it was thirty-two years early for Twin Peaks: The Return. Without question though, most bonkers was Sue Morrison's appearance as the landlady. I would really love to know whether that performance choice was that of the director or the actress.

Also, I'm pretty sure they used this apartment in the first segment, as well.

Lastly, Allan Levine's 1812: The King's Regiment was a title I'd heard brought up before when people talked of Emmeritus, as this was the company's ambitious stab at a period piece. 

At first I figured they just shot this at Black Creek Pioneer Village, but it turns out there were actually three other Pioneer Villages in Ontario at the time in Kitchener, Stoney Creek and Rockton. Who knew? With likely the biggest cast of any Emmeritus flick, you can imagine the accents ran the gamut from enthusiastic to laughable. I was legit impressed by this guy's smoke ring game though.

1812's story was surprisingly convoluted and I assume mostly fictional, as I had to wonder why the King of Spain was hanging out in Canada incognito while the Yanks & Brits fought it out. It was pretty dry for the most part, but not as painful as I was expecting. As you can imagine, a lot of it was men in decidedly authentic looking uniforms, running around in forests and fields. And at over ninety-minutes I did find my lids getting a little heavy by the end.

This movie often felt like a Canadian Heritage Minute. You know, now that I think of it, the whole Emmeritus catalogue could be considered Heritage Minutes, as everything from political intrigue to global conspiracies have gone down in our fair country.

So, on that note, have a great Canada Day weekend!

That's the Way!

For the final VHS for Anthology April, I wanted to post about a title that is near and dear to my heart, Michael Armstrong & Stanley A. Long's 1983 effort Screamtime.

Two petty criminals steal three video tapes from a store and retreat to a friend's house to watch them.

Even though the wraparound is set in New York, Screamtime was a UK production that was released here on Lightning Video in 1985. It's a fairly obscure title, but I'm quite fond of it.

The first story entitled “That's The Way To Do It” sees a aging puppeteer (Robin Bailey) made to choose between his lifelong passion and his family. Though the climax may be a bit obvious, I've always thought the idea of Punch & Judy a bit disturbing.

Robin Bailey in Screamtime.

Next is “Dreamhouse” which is one of my all-time favourite anthology segments. Involving a couple (Ian Saynor & Yvonne Nicholson) moving into an inherited country house, I think it's a great piece of storytelling with a reveal that still gives me chills every time. The gore may be a little sloppy - who stabs like that?! - but there are some well engineered jump scares here. Obviously, it made an impression on director Reg Traviss when he used the climax for his 2010 Charisma Carpenter vehicle Psychosis. I wager Dreamhouse was an influence on Rodrigo Gudiño's debut short The Eyes of Edward James, as well.

Yvonne Nicholson sporting some serious spectacles.

The final segment is “Do You Believe in Fairies?” where a couple of youths looking for easy money try to rob two old ladies living in a mansion. They would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those darn fairies and gnomes! This one is a bit more sedate than the other two, truth be told I got a bit sleepy during my latest rewatch (it's not nearly as rewarding as Stuart Gordon's similarly themed Dolls) but the two old ladies (Dora Bryan & Jean Anderson) are the most stereotypical English biddies you've ever seen.

They believe. Do you???

The film then wraps up in a manner that is as cheesy as it is abrupt, but no matter. If you can get your hands on Screamtime I recommend giving it a whirl. It may not be as polished as some of the other eighties anthologies out there, but I think you might be surprised by its charm.

Go To Bed!

The next VHS off my shelf is Jeff Delman’s 1986 anthology Deadtime Stories.

While babysitting, Uncle Mike (Michael Mesmer) tells his young nephew three stories to try and get him to sleep.

Deadtime Stories is a movie that has always been on my periphery – for the coverbox alone – but one I always reckoned I had seen at some point. When I was a kid I thought it was a George A. Romero joint, perhaps because of its passing resemblance to Creepshow. In my defense, with its hand-drawn opening credit sequence, it does feel eerily similar.

I have to admit this movie did start out a bit dull with the first segment involving a trio of witches and a young Scott Valentine, who would've been a year into his recurring stint on Family Ties by this point. I thought this movie looked a bit cheap until the effects by Ed French & Bryant Tausek rolled out. That's when I realized where most of the money likely went and I was back in. There's a great Hellraiser-style reanimation that was the first sequence in a bunch of solid practical effects pieces throughout the movie.

The money shot.

Next, there was a take on Red Riding Hood that involves a werewolf. The idea of a RRH being a horny teen is not new, but I did like the idea of the lycanthrope trying to knock himself out with pills. When his pharmacy order got mixed up with Red's Grandmothers', that's when chaos ensued.

It was the third and final story that Deadtime Stories pulls a complete one-eighty. This wacky rendition of Goldilocks & the Three Bears feels a lot like Crimewave-era Sam Raimi. I actually perused Imdb to see if there were any un-credited affiliations to the Renaissance boys (ala The Nutt House) because the tone was so similar. To give you an idea, the “Bears” are actually a maniacal crime family – which begins with “Mama”, played by Oscar Winner Melissa Leo, breaking “Papa” and “Baby” out of the loony bin – and “Goldi Lox” (Cathryn de Prume) is a murderous telekinetic. I got a kick out of the Rockabilly ditty “Looney Tune” featured – also written by Delman – here, as well.

Cathryn de Prume as Goldi Lox in Deadtime Stories.

I spent most of this segment with my jaw agape because it was so at odds with the rest of the picture. I can only justify it by thinking that perhaps Delman was trying to illustrate how at the end of his rope Uncle Mike might have been by that point in the evening. His tales did become increasingly more inappropriate for underage consumption.

Michael Mesmer (left) & Brian DePersia in Deadtime Stories

Imdb also told me that both Valentine & Leo were injured right before they went to camera - the former has a noticeable limp and the latter was wearing a cast under her wardrobe. That had to be a pre-production nightmare.

Deadtime Stories is not one of the more memorable anthologies from the eighties, but it's certainly worth watching for shits and gags.