Don't Kill The Messenger 83

Wow, December all ready, eh? Let's see what kind of horror shenanigans took place this week.

Who Is The King Of Horror?

A few days ago, I found this cool little ad campaign for the Australian release of Sean Bryne's horror flick The Loved Ones. Click the image below to check it out.


Although I didn't love the movie as much as some of my horror peeps did, I have to say that interactive commercial is pretty cute. For more info on The Loved Ones, click here.

Another Year, Another Sundance.

With the new year just around the corner, that of course means another Sundance. There are a few horror titles on the sched, including Kim Jee-woon's I Saw The Devil, the Canadian-Japanese co-production Vampire, as well as Kevin Smith's long awaited genre film Red State. Probably the most anticipated of the pack is Jason Eisener's full-length version of Hobo With A Shotgun starring Rutger Hauer. What started as an entry into Rodriguez's Grindhouse trailer competition has blossomed into one of the must-see events of 2011. Below, is Rob Mitchell's interview with Eisener, shot just after the 2008 Toronto After Dark premiere of his short Treevenge.



For more info on the genre titles playing Sundance next month, click here to see Bloody Disgusting's Park City at Midnight announcement.

A Celebration of Dino.

As you no doubt heard, movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis passed away a few weeks ago. Well, Jason Bené over at Late Night Classics made sure to post a fitting eulogy. Not only did he offer a worthy memoriam, he also posted an interview with effects man Al Magliochetti, who worked for Dino on one of his more infamous projects, the 1986 corker King Kong Lives. Here's a snip.

Magliochetti: They needed modelmakers for King Kong Lives and I’d had some experience building miniatures for some New York-based projects, so I flew down to Wilmington, NC for an interview and was offered a job in the model shop for the princely sum of $10 an hour. There I was at the North Carolina Film Corporation AKA the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, AKA Dinoland. It was a fun experience, and definitely educational on many levels. It was my first experience in an actual studio environment and it took a little getting used to. Because it was such a casual place it wasn’t unusual to turn around and suddenly see Kim Basinger curiously wandering in and checking out our work. There was one spooky morning where David Lynch was hovering over me wayyy too closely, like a malignant vulture while sipping a cup of coffee and not saying a word.

For the rest of Bené's post, click here.

Draw!

I haven't talked about a web game in a while, so here's one Darryl sent me a few days ago. GunBlood is a simple quick-draw simulator, but it is delightfully gory, so well worth a look. Click the image below to try it out.

Going Beyond The Pale.

Over the past few weeks, I got a chance to take in the first three episodes of Tales From Beyond The Pale. This is a new series of audio plays created by Larry Fessenden & Glenn McQuaid of Glass Eye Pix. Their goal is to bring back the glory of the horror & mystery radio shows of yore and have recruited many talents from around the horror community to broadcast their horrifying wares.


Each episode begins with an intro from Fessenden, where he, in true Rod Serling fashion, informs that you are going beyond the pale. With some great musical accompaniment, it does conjure up memories of old episodes of The Outer Limits and Tales From The Crypt. I could tell that this was a labour of love and it immediately brought a smile to my face.

The first episode by Joe Maggio, called Man on the Ledge, is about just that. A man (Vincent D’Onofrio) reflects on his life to the cop (Larry Fessenden) who is trying to talk him down. I thought it was very cool how this one played out and is my favourite so far, as it was the best suited for the medium.

Next, was an entry called British & Proud from Simon Lumley. This one, about a newlywed couple’s (Gareth Bennett-Ryan & Jenny Wambaa) honeymoon, was a bit more ambitious with multiple characters and ‘locations’. I could go along with that, but there were perhaps a few too many logic leaps required during the narrative. The finale is certainly disturbing, but I guess I should have expected that from the director of Red, White & Blue.


The last one I listened to was Is This Seat Taken? Written by novelist Sarah Langan and directed by JT Petty, this is a piece about two people (Joe Swanberg & Vonia Lanian) that meet on their daily commute and begin a very strange relationship. It didn’t turn out to be quite what I was expecting, but it still painted a telling portrait of the disturbed mind. Man, what a weird fucking couple these two made!

For the most part, I’m liking the series and appreciate that someone has resurrected this storytelling format. For the measly sum of two bucks an episode, there is absolutely no reason not to check out at least give it a try. Having brought us such genre efforts as I Sell the Dead, House of the Devil & Stake Land over the past few years, Glass Eye Pix’s record speaks for itself. Fessenden has built himself a nice little empire that I think is well worth supporting.

There are many more Tales From Beyond The Pale on the way, so stay tuned for my thoughts on future episodes from the likes of Graham Reznick, Paul Solet & Glenn McQuaid.

Saturday Night Séance.

Last weekend, it was time to once again head out to High Park for another one of Serena’s famed movie nights, this one centered around flicks involving all manner of demonic possession.

First up was Scream Dream, an old 1989 shot-on-video ditty that Serena had been talking up for the last little while. And by talking up, I mean in a OMFG-you-have-to-see-this-piece-of-shit kind of way. Transferred from Betamax, Scream Dream is certainly… something. If you are familiar with the SOV “classics” that crowded video store shelves in the eighties, then you kind of know what to expect. Surprisingly, extended sequences from a metal concert – that looked like they were shot in someone's basement – and demonically possessed sock puppets were not enough to keep my interest. It is more likely that someone had the great idea to film a half-naked blonde getting chainsawed in the vag and built a movie around it.


I'd love to serve up a trailer, but I couldn't find one. Considering how little there actually is about this flick online, one wonders if it would've disappeared completely if not for SRS Cinema throwing it on a disc. I guess we have them to “thank” for that. From eighties hair & pseudo-metal, we moved onto something a little more recent with Night of the Cleavage-- Demons! Demons, I meant to say demons, the Night of the Demons remake.


I feel we kinda already got a remake for this movie with 2000’s The Convent, but here it is whether you want it or not. Director Adam Gierasch offers up a serviceable redo with smatterings of gore and empty fun. Even though it slightly overstays its welcome, I found it hard to dislike a film that's populated with as many lovely ladies as this one was. If I needed anyone beyond Monica Keena to hold my attention, there's also Shannon Elizabeth, Bobbi Sue Luther and Diora Baird, all wearing Halloween outfits so tight, they looked like they might give way at any moment.

God Day-am!

And I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Laird for re-enacting the famous Linnea Quigley lipstick scene from the original, even it did get a little messy there at the end. Speaking of Quigley, she turns up in a brief and revealing cameo, although I’m wondering whose idea it was – hers or Gierasch’s – to have her sticking her ass into the faces of a couple of ten-year-olds. Anyway, in contrast to Keena and company, you’ve got Eddie Furlong. What the fuck happened to this kid? It is depressing to see him like this, I mean look at the guy...


He makes the Culkins look like well adjusted darlings! It's just unfortunate, is all.

Last up, Serena threw in the 2002 British horror Long Time Dead. It was fine, but about fifteen minutes in I realized I’d seen it before, so how much of an impression could it have made, really?

So, that was my Saturday night. A tri-fecta of demon flicks, nice conversation and some hella good Devil’s food cake! Not a bad way to kill an evening, I'd say.

Don't Kill The Messenger 82

I'm still a little under the weather here, so I'll keep things brief this morning.

Another Bloody List.

Here's a link to a list of Ten Underrated Horror Movies from jeremyz of daily.likeme.net. While I find it hard to believe there is any fan out there worth their salt that hasn't revelled in the awesomeness of certain picks like [REC] and Night of the Creeps, there are some titles like Wrong Turn 2 & Behind The Mask that sadly haven't been seen by some. I can't speak for Otis or Carriers, but the rest of the flicks on the list are worth your attention. For the full list, click here.

Trailer #1.

Here is a Red-Band trailer for the upcoming Finnish horror comedy, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Frankly, this is a brilliant idea and the trailer below makes it look like a sack full of fun.



Trailer #2.

It looks like British blood brothers Adam Mason & Simon Boyes are finally nearing the end of the road with their ongoing project Luster. The two have talked at length on their podcast about the post-production challenges with achieving the right narrative bent, but it looks like they've finally conquered it, as a new trailer for the thriller starring Mason mainstay Andrew Howard appeared on Twitch this week. Here it is below.

It Came From The Archives 7!

As you may have noticed, I've been fooling around with Windows Movie Maker over the last several weeks, so for this Archives post, I'm incorporating some video. Below, is footage taken circa 1992. My childhood bedroom was barely more than a glorified cubicle, as this was before the inevitable move down to the basement after high school, but I made do with what I had. Enjoy.

R.I.P. Ingrid Pitt 1937-2010

Actress Ingrid Pitt passed away yesterday, two days after her seventy-third birthday. She was perhaps best known for her work with Hammer Films, including The Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula. She was also an accomplished writer, having penned ten books, including The Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers and her autobiography Life's A Scream. Here below is a wondeful tribute to Pitt, courtesy of Youtube user Beowolfooo.

I Love You, Pumpkin.

Last Thursday, the newest Syfy original with the best title I’ve heard in a while, Sharktopus played the Bloor.

A half-shark, half-octopus created by the military breaks free from its restraints and wreaks havoc along the coastline of a Mexican resort.

Oh, Sharktopus. It’s fun to say, and it was fun to watch. It’s not a good movie by any stretch, but my friends & I had a good time. Eric Roberts sure looked like he was having a blast soaking up the sun and drinking mass amounts of scotch, although his “relationship” with his daughter Nicole (Sara Malakul Lane) did get a little creepy at times.

"Uhh Daddy? Remember when we talked about personal space?"

Sharktopus was a damn sight better than Shark In Venice, as you actually got to see the creature advertised on the box. Sure, it's incredibly cheesy CGI, but I favour that over just flashing the same clips from National Geographic documentaries over and over again. The design of the Sharktopus is pretty cool and certainly the best so far of these digital creature features we’ve been inundated with over the last little while. For the most part, Sharktopus is just laughably entertaining. There is some joy to be had watching the characters fumble around, trying to stop the title abomination, especially considering the “hero” of the movie, Flynn (Kerem Bursin) is such a terrible marksman that he actually calls attention to it with the line,

“I been missing all day and I’m getting pretty tired of it.”

I think it probably had something to do with the effects guys not being on the same page with the dudes who hold out the tennis balls on set, because half the time Bursin wasn’t even shooting at the creature.

Like I said, laughable. But despite the random 24-style split-screening and Roger Corman’s eye-rolling cameo, I think the only real negative here is the lack of T&A. I understand Syfy distributed this, so that wasn’t in the cards, but in this type of movie, the absence of skin is pretty conspicuous. Although, after being treated to the R-rated goodness of Piranha 3D earlier this year, I guess I may be a little bit spoiled.

"Excuse me Miss, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re not naked."

These types of movies are often as much, if not more, about the gathering with friends for a communal experience, than the movie itself. Sharktopus is far from good, but I wager it was never supposed to be. My crew & I can certainly say we had a better time watching this than we did Skyline a few days before. It doesn’t matter how good your effects are, a bad movie is a bad movie. At least in this case, that crazy ol’ Carcharadon-Cephalopod kept us entertained.