Trailer Tuesdays: Gothic

I was locked up in a room writing all this week, so this trailer for Gothic seems appropriate.

While things didn't get that wild, it was worth the experience as I managed to bang out thirty-five pages of a creature feature I've been meaning to get on with.

Stay tuned later this week because I'll be resurrecting an old feature from the past. Until then...

Scribble Scribble.

Hey all. I'm attending a writing workshop this weekend, so no DKTM today, but I will leave you with this amusing retro faux-trailer for Field Of Screams.

Goin' Legit.

I've got a pretty epic intro for you this time around. Check out this one for VC II Home Entertainment.

VC II was the non-pornographic off-shoot of VCX that dstributed a few dozen titles throughout the home video boom, including horrors such as Mardi Gras Massacre, Haunted and Night of the Demon.

This above intro was cribbed from my big box copy of The Prowler, which is pretty sweet in itself.

Have a great weekend, kiddies.

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.

Strange Days.

Due to the computer woes that pretty much ate up my entire March, I have been catching up on some gaming, namely the twenty-dollar offerings on the PSN. After digesting the literally perfect piece of storytelling that was Gone Home, I dug into DontNod Entertainment's Life is Strange.

Released in five episodes, Life Is Strange follows photography student Max who, during a school shooting, discovers she can rewind time. However, she soon learns that the more she uses her power, the more the world around her changes, and not always for the better.

Life is Strange was just tremendous, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it kind of kicked my ass. With its nice and relaxing menu screen, it lulled me into a false sense of security - this is just a cool slice-of-life indie game about using time travel to solve everyday problems, I thought. While that's somewhat true, it escalated quickly and I wasn't prepared for how emotional and unsettling it became. The Twin Peaks comparisons were apt, as there was some dark and heavy shit in here. Arcadia Bay's filllled with secrets.

The thing about this game that struck me the most was how it evolved as I played it. Characters that began as archetypes grew into fully fleshed out people I cared about and the choices I made episodes earlier begat real consequences. It was the combination of the choice and rewind mechanics that made Life Is Strange such a unique experience for me. Recalling my time playing Telltale's The Walking Dead, there were some really tough decisions to me made here – two in particular caused me much hesitation – even though I knew I could rewind afterwards.

But the mechanics and story weren't the only strong aspects of this game. The music, a mix of instrumental and licensed tracks, was divine, and the main theme is still rattling around in my brain as I type this. I also have to give props to the voice acting, which only got better with each episode as Max (Hannah Telle) and her best friend Chloe (Ashly Burch) found their voices.

BFF's Max & Chloe.

For $19.99, this is an exceptional value, as there is over twenty hours of gameplay here. The developers strayed from the formula of pushing the player forward to the next checkpoint by rewarding exploration with all sorts of world-building interactions. They even had “sit-down” moments where you could opt to take a breather and just enjoy your surroundings. I needed those sometimes, believe me.

Life Is Strange might be one of the best time travel stories I've ever experienced. Heavily influenced by Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder, it beautifully explored the implications of changing the past, despite even the best intentions.

DKTM 299

Hey all. Everything appears to be back to normal here, so fingers crossed. I got some really cool stuff for you today, so let's jump in.

Best Damn Chili In Texas.

Word came down a few days ago that Bilbo's Texas Landmark, the gas station used in the classic horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is being turned into a BBQ restaurant. 

The brainchild of businessman and TCM superfan Roy Rose, he also plans on setting up some rooms in the back for those brave enough to stay the night. In recent years, the Landmark had fallen into disrepair, so I'm very glad someone stepped up to preserve this important piece of horror history.

Cool Swag.

I saw two awesome pieces of horror merch this week. The first are these Hi-Top Critters sneakers from TeeAmazing.

Oh yes, these babies can be yours for $55.95USD. Click here to order. The second thing is this absolutely sweet set of playing cards.

The proceeds from these limited edition cards will directly fund Autism research. You can be sure I was pre-ordered a deck of these the moment I finished the video above, and so can you by going to Cultzilla here.

More JC.

Maestro John Carpenter has released a follow-up to last year's Lost Themes, with the simply titled Lost Themes II. Check out the opening track below.

You can also stream the entire album over at NPR. I'm still holding out hope that Carpenter comes to Toronto with his live show in the future, but until then... 

Creepin' Around.

This week’s VHS is the seventies thriller from the UK, The Creepers.

Someone is raping and killing students at a prestigious English girl’s school. Who is responsible? And who will be next?

The Creepers is one of those movies where the title has very little to do with the proceedings. I hate to dash your hopes, but the antagonist was neither a malevolent creature, or even pluralized. It’s just a dude, and one I guessed was bent within a few seconds of him being onscreen, which I think might be a record for me.

Curiously, I later found three alternate monikers that made so much more sense. Assault is apt for obvious reasons, In The Devil’s Garden refers to an important plot point in the film and Tower of Terror recalls the landmark near which the attacks take place. Which reminds me, this electrical tower appeared to hold some sort of hypnotic power over those who got close to it, but it was never fully explored or explained. I wonder if that was a thematic leaving from the book (The Ravine by Kendal Young) on which the film was based.

This movie is fairly standard, but its release in 1971 does put it near the peak of the Italian gialli. I wouldn’t say The Creepers is anywhere near as visually stylish as its Roman counterparts, but it does share some of the same beats. The aforementioned devil plot device, where a car’s taillights cast a red glow on a fleeing killer, is up there will some of the greats. However, despite the movie’s rather grim subject matter, very little of it actually makes its way onscreen.

As with many films of this ilk, it ends up being the character interactions that offer the most entertainment. Whether its Det. Velyan’s (Frank Finlay) jockeying with the colourfully nosey reporter Denning (Freddie Jones) or Dr. Greg “pill for every occasion” Lomax’s (James Laurenson) passive-aggressive courtship of art teacher Julie West (Suzy Kendall), I did find myself chuckling several times. As you might expect, Ms. Kendall was the main reason I plucked this title from my sea of VHS tapes, and she was as lovely as ever. Coincidentally, this movie would been the same year she was in Dario Argento’s debut, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. In addition to Kendall, a super young Leslie Anne Down (below) also appears as the unfortunate first victim of the killer.

The Creepers is competently helmed by television veteran Sidney Hayers, and by veteran I mean, if you watched a show in the seventies and eighties, he most likely directed an episode of it. The main musical cue was a little hokey, but I think that was largely due to overuse.

So The Creepers is by no means a standout, but it is fairly well put together and worth a look if you can find it.