Boxtober Continues!

October is chugging along here, and I'm currently working on a bunch of stuff for the week of Halloween. For now though, enjoy this latest crop of covers.

Bump In The Night.

A movie that has been in the pipeline for a long time is Paranormal Activity. It made a splash at last year's Slamdance and then lay dormant for a while. Then, after a successful couple of screenings last month, its hype machine began chugging vigorously. There was such an apparent demand for this movie that Paramount said that if it got one million online votes, they would give Paranormal Activity a wide release. Well...

This is quite an unprecedented occurrence. I'm not sure how I feel about this as common practice, but the fact remains that this movie got released where it may not have otherwise. Perhaps we would have been seen other deserved titles in theatres like Trick 'r Treat and All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, if similar practices had been employed.


When Katie (Katie Featherston) insists that she is being haunted, her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat) sets up a camera in their house to capture any unexplained phenomenon.

So, all the hype aside, is Paranormal Activity the fear fest that the ads imply? For the most part, I would say yes. There is a lot of creepy shit in this movie, some of which is quite original. The movie finds a really clever way to subvert the usual haunted house movie query 'Why don't you just leave?' Easy comparisons can be made to this and The Blair Witch Project, as they share several things in common. The production is minuscule, the cinema verité style is the same and both involve a series of encounters over a period of time. They both have an impending sense of dread throughout and have the progression of each night that approaches, you know things are going to get worse. As a film, Paranormal Activity is very rudimentary. It does not have the intricacies of a Blair Witch myth to forward the story, so what you are dealing with is basically the skeleton of a plot in between the scare set pieces. It is filmmaking in its most basic form and I think it works because the performances are genuine. The two leads are fairly green and considering a good deal of the material was likely improvised, I thought they did a fine job. It didn't feel like the movie had a lot of filler, but I looked up the running time and was amazed to see it was ninety-nine minutes.

Obviously, Paranormal Activity is the type of movie that is going to hit everyone in a different way. There were people in the theatre that sounded like they were going to have a heart attack, and then there were the jackasses that couldn't help but throw out sarcastic comments. I think the only glaring negative for me was the ending. It's pretty hokey and not a good way to finish the experience. Coming up with a decent conclusion after so much build-up is a tall task I know, but someone must have spit balled an better idea than what ended up onscreen. Lastly, I have a question out there for the ladies. When would it be kosher for the guy to bolt in that relationship? I can understand him wanting to be the protector and take care of business, but when do you eventually say, 'Eff it, there are plenty of other chicks out there that don't live with otherworldly beings'?

Fans of the Blair Witch Project should definitely seek this one out because – though not as complete a tale – it hits a lot of the same notes. It has an everyman accessibility that is sure to have you at least hesitating to turn out the lights out at bedtime.

Don't Kill The Messenger XXXII

Here's what I got this week.

Game With A Name.

Trick 'r Treat finally got released on video this week, which strangely coincided with the new episode of the Totally Rad Show featuring TrT director Michael Dougherty. TRS is a podcast on the Rev3 network that I watch religiously and Dougherty hung out with the TRS guys and played the old horror board game Nightmare. Check out the video below. If you want to skip right to it, it is at the 15:00 mark. You can also download the episode, by going here.



Join Us.

I got a trailer sent to me this week for a new indie from called The Duty Of Living. Directed by Brandon Hunt, it seems to be a take on the zombie genre, that I haven't seen before. See it below.

Joe's In The UK.

There was a new segment of Body Count this week on AOTS. Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2) gives us his picks from this year's FrightFest in the UK.



Timecrimes is a great pick although I'm not sure why Joe describes it as a horror flick involving a serial killer. I will seek out this Hills Run Red movie though, as its setup and visual style look like it might be fun.

Party Like Its 1989.

Last night were some good times. Eyesore Cinema been having a sale on "collectible" VHS tapes over the last few weeks, and DirtyRobot has been picking up some gems. Only problem was that he didn't actually own a VCR anymore. Well, I rectified that situation by bringing over one of my spares and we revelled in the wondrous tech from days gone by.

Hopefully, this is the first of many of these little parties.

Al Gore Quietly Nods.

My latest On The Shelf pick is the Canadian horror flick The Thaw.


A group of students arrive at an Arctic research station to find the camp empty. Almost immediately, some of the team becomes infected with a prehistoric parasite that was recently uncovered by the expedition.

The Thaw is a good effort that is held together by solid performances all round. It’s one of those movies that had me scratching imaginary itches throughout, as stories about creepy crawlies are apt to do. This movie has quite a lot in common with Larry Fessenden's 2006 The Last Winter and although Winter had a lot more weight to it, Thaw wins out overall because its last reel doesn't go down the shitter, like the former title’s unfortunately did. There is some dodgy CG, but some good practical effects counteract them. I mentioned the performances, but I should also say there were a few golden lines that may or may not have been intentionally comical. It's hard for me to hold back a snicker if your character says stuff like, “that means I'm gonna die with these fucking bugs in my dick!”

Owwwwwwwwwwwwww!

I wonder if Aaron Ashmore, after seeing his twin brother Shawn in The Ruins actually set out to look for a similar project. The locales are different, but they are both essentially isolation man vs. nature stories. I think Shawn won out in terms of favourable shooting locations though, wouldn't you say? I found Val Kilmer's appearance in this rather odd. It is not that he wasn't in it that much because he was – this is not one of those random cameos like Gary Busey in the dreadful A Crack In The Floor – it was just that he seemed fairly inconsequential. Anybody could have played his role, but I guess having him onboard would have made the project easier to sell.

The Thaw works because it has an air of plausibility. I mean sure it's unlikely, but the ice up there IS melting. We know that now. So, who’s to say that there isn't something nasty just lying in wait? I'll take a zombie apocalypse over the scenario put forth by the Thaw any day of the week.

Bring on 2010!

This morning, DirtyRobot dropped a link on me for the new Nerdcore 2010 Calendar. This year’s theme is horror, and much like their previous issues – which featured lovely ladies re-enacting scenes from science fiction and superheroes & villans – this one is pretty… stimulating.

For a look at some of the other months, you can check out i09, Shocktilyoudrop or Destructoid. And if you’d like to drop the twenty-five bones to grab your own un-bespectacled calendar, you can click here. Ah, horror and gratuitous nudity. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, don’t they?

Memories in 4 x 7.

So, we're in October now, which I'm sure you are shocked to hear is my favourite month. I'll be doing Coverbox Wednesdays for the next four weeks, leading up to the big day. Call it BOXTOBER, if you will. Sorry, that's all I could come up with. Anywaaaay...