Trailer Tuesdays: Boardinghouse

Here's the trailer for John Wintergate's 1982 shot-on-video opus Boardinghouse.

They certainly packed a lot of gore into that trailer. I haven't seen this one, but should I ever come across it, I'd be willing to give it a whirl.

Peddling of the Dark Wares.

Last weekend was Rue Morgue's inaugural Spooky Flea Market.

Taking place in the lot outside their offices in West Toronto, this was a terrific event that had a real community feel to it. Even though the usual crowd showed up in force, I saw a lot of the curious uninitiated walking up the driveway while I was there, too.

I'm sure they were a little confused when they saw killer clowns rubbing elbows with Jesus as he cooked up burgs and hot dogs on the BBQ, but hopefully they all had a good time.

Photo courtesy of Buni Hiro.

I walked around for a few hours, caught up with some familiar faces and was pretty chuffed that I only spent twenty-five dollars on some really choice acquisitions.

The Funeral Home coverbox - and my pic - don't really do justice to the detailed ink work of this poster. I was pretty smitten when I saw it and the owner, Canuxploitation guru James Burrell, gave me a deal because I had previously written some kind words about one of his publications. Sold. I also picked up a pair of VHS.

One is an old favourite and other is one of the few nineties Bruce Campbell joints I haven't seen. I could tell early on that this venture was going to be a success, so I hope that it becomes a yearly thing in the future. I'll be there for sure.

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Good afternoon. Here's what I've got for you this week.

Niagara Frights.

There is a new horror convention descending on the Golden Horseshoe come this fall. Frightmare in the Falls will be hitting Niagara this November 11-12th.

There have been conventions out this way before, but this one seems to be more horror-centric - like the short-lived ventures of years past like MacabreCon and Dark Carnival - so let's hope this one sticks. They have certainly got some star power involved with the likes of Kane Hodder and Tom Savini, but the real draw for me is the appearance of Christine herself, the 1958 Plymouth Fury.

If you're interested in attending, tickets - that are a fraction of what you'd pay at Fan Expo I might add - are available here.

...Sitting In A Tree

With a new Annabelle movie out this weekend, it looks like Full Moon took it upon themselves to riff on it, using one of their most enduring properties.

I have to admit, I am intrigued. For more Blade though, you can check out Puppet Master: Axis Termination Episode One: War Toys over at Full Moon's Amazon Channel.

Dance of the Dead.

I wanted to end of things with a cool little video created by YouTube user Jarvis City. It's a sharp little ditty compiling some dance sequences from various horror films. Enjoy!

If you liked this, you can check out some of his more long-form vids, including ones about slashers and lady killers.

Trailer Tuesdays: Nightflyers

I won a copy of Robert Collector's Nightflyers the other day, so I looked it up.

Well, this is not at all what I was expecting. Sign me up! It's a funny coincidence that it is based on a George R.R. Martin novel, considering how completely Game of Thrones is consuming my soul of late.

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Hey all! Apart from TIFF's Midnight line-up being announced it's been a pretty quiet week here, so it will be a quick one today. Have a good one!

Hexed.

This week, a film festival I program for in Hamilton, Ontario announced its new name. After much deliberation over the last few months, Fright Night Theatre has now become the Hexploitation Film Festival.

The name didn't wow me right away, but I've warmed to it. I like that it's a combination of Horror and Exploitation - our two biggest programming cornerstones - and the abbreviated moniker of HexFest rolls off the tongue easily.

The festival runs Mar 23-25th, 2018 and we have begun taking submissions for both shorts and features, so if you're a filmmaker or know one, send them here. Hope to see you next year.

122 Nightmares.

I came across this pretty awesome video from last year compiled by Diego Carrerra where he beautifully traces the history of horror from 1895 to 2016. Enjoy!

Eight-Sided Haunts.

Reaching onto my VHS shelf this week, I pulled out Armand Weston's 1981 film The Nesting.

A writer afflicted with agoraphobia named Lauren (Robin Groves) rents an old house in the country only to find that it may be haunted.

I was, of course, very familiar with the coverbox (that's probably what possessed me to pick it up from whatever convention vendor table it came from) but even after all these years I'd never actually seen this movie. I'm glad to say that it turned out to be a pretty decent haunted house flick. I had assumed this was Warner Bros trying to cash in on the success of Amityville, The Changeling and The Shining, but was pleasantly surprised by how well put together it was.

Fairly typical was the setup and I chose to overlook the arbitrary agoraphobia plot device that seemed to come and go whenever it was convenient, but the movie worked for the most part. Fortunately, Weston was able to procure the Armour-Stiner House, an octagonal Victorian-style home from the 1800's that has as much character as the iconic abode in Amityville.

Robin Groves as Lauren with her co-star Armour-Stiner.

The Nesting did feel like a TV movie sometimes, but that went away when the gore showed up. I was beginning to wonder why that sickle had been featured so prominently in both iterations of the coverbox art... and then I finally found out why. The other thing that stuck out to me was just how much of a wise-ass Lauren's friend, Mark (Chris Loomis) was. Almost everything out of his mouth was a sarcastic remark. It got exhausting though I have to admit, during a chunk in the middle where things got a little dry, I kind of missed him.

Shut the fuck up, Mark!

I was rewarded through this stretch with a solid climax though. It does play out like your classic ghost revenge piece, but it was well told and all of the weird dream sequences, flashbacks and fantastical deaths that seemed random before all came together when the full tale was revealed.

Well, that was unexpected.

After digesting almost fourty years of haunted house yarns, I saw the formula within The Nesting, but it had the benefit of a one-of-a-kind location, competent actors and enough gore moments to ensure its escape from obscurity. It is definitely worth a look if you dig the haunted house genre.

New Blood At Midnight.

Earlier today, this year's crop of titles for TIFF's Midnight Madness lineup were announced. 2017 is particularly significant because this is programmer Peter Kuplowsky's inaugural kick at the can after Colin Geddes - a man who has been Toronto's premiere genre tastemaker since the late nineties - left earlier this year.

Colin Geddes (left) with Peter Kuplowsky at MM 2015.

There are some really awesome looking titles this year, including David Bruckner's adaptation of the Adam Nevill novel, The Ritual and the newest from the celebrated duo of Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani's Let The Corpses Tan.

Canadian surrealism is the order of the day in Seth A. Smith's The Crescent and from France comes a searing debut from Coralie Forgeat named Revenge.

Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz in Revenge.

Midnight also brings the star power with Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair in Mom and Dad and Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter and Don Johnson in Brawl in Cell Block 99.

For the full lineup and a great interview with Kuplowsky about his picks and filling Colin's very large shoes, click here. 

I am pretty Goddamn excited!!!