Showing posts with label Horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horror. Show all posts

An Eye-Gouging Christmas Tale of Trees and Revenge



"This Christmas the trees will fight back."

Otherwise known as Treevenge, the film is a veritable PSA for not messing with Mother Nature on Christmas because she will f*ck you up. We're not talking about some malnutritioned hippies with homemade signs here, no sir. Directed and produced by the same team as the forthcoming Hobo with a Shotgun (Jason Eisener and Rob Cotterill) Treevenge is a film whose concept and execution far exceed its low budget. A big hit on the indie circuit when it premiered last year, Treevenge exposes the "horrifying reality of the lives of Christmas trees."

Makes perfect sense when you think about it. But beyond its facepalm plot, this short boasts some of the most insane holiday-themed deaths that I've ever seen. The coup de grâce, however, comes around the 14 minute mark when a screaming infant and a killer tree go face to stump... it will blow your mind (literally). If there's one new Christmas tradition you should make this year, it's seeing this film in its entirety.





2 Friends. Hordes of the Undead. 80s Style Comedy.



Harold and Kumar. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. The Blues Brothers. The world of film is full of buddy comedies that feature living, breathing best buds. But what about zombies? I mean, they can't ALL be mindless brain munchers... right? Introducing Deadheads, the first feature length film by brothers Brett and Drew Pierce. Having cut their teeth on the indie anthology, Secrets of Fenville, the brothers have set their sites on the zombie sub-genre.

Despite a rise in popularity for the "bullet sponges" in the past few years, it's hard for anything new to standout, but if this teaser trailer for Deadheads is any indication of the caliber of work that the Pierces can produce then horror and comedy fans have something to look forward to in 2011.
Deadheads a return to the great comedy/adventure films of the 80's like "Back to the Future" and the "Goonies". The story follows two zombie slackers, Mike and Brent, who find themselves surprisingly reborn from the dead amid a disastrous zombie outbreak. After discovering an engagement ring in his coat pocket, Mike enlists his new found zombie pal, Brent, to embark on a quest in search of his lost love.

What ensues is a hilarious cross country road trip as these two reformed flesh-eating pals hitchhike cross country as they are pursued by a team of zombie killin' bounty hunters!
The film is currently listed as being post-production which is promising for a 2011 debut. You can bet that this is one I'm keeping my eager eyes on.






Kicking off Christmas with the Crypt Keeper



"Make the Yule time gross and gnarly..."

Start your engines! Today marks the first day of December and the beginning of many "25 Days Of" style countdowns on televisions to remind us of the impending awesomeness that will ensue. AMC has been broadcasting Scrooged with a 4-night marathon, CBS aired Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer last night on prime time, and it won't be long before TBS brings the season home (ad nauseum) with 48 hours of A Christmas Story.

While all of that is good and well for about 90% of the general population, what you may ask does Christmas offer the non-conformist? Well, as luck would have it, there's the creeptastic caroling of John Kassir as the Cryptkeeper, whose holiday-themed album Have Yourself Scary Little Christmas includes such classics as Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie, 'Twas the Fright Before Christmas, and my personal fave Revenge of the Cryptkeeper. Released way back in 1994 I had completely forgotten about this lost little gem until I saw a promo for it mischievously thrown in at the end of a sixth season Tales from the Crypt episode (see above).






Preview 'Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'



Tired of watching A Christmas Story ad nauseum every year on TBS? Well if you're lucky enough to live anywhere near New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Boston, Kansas City or any of the other theaters listed here than you're in luck! Those are the cities that will be premiering director Jalmari Helander's latest feature film, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale.

Based on a series of short films by Helander, Rare Exports Inc. (see above) and Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions, this feature length adaptation finds a band of Finland archeologists who inadvertently discover the "real" Santa Claus, a terrifyingly real (and most likely rabid) representation of 'ole Saint Nick. Unearthed by a reindeer hunter and his young son while searching for the cause behind a recent string of missing children, Santa doesn't take to kindly to being held captive and before long his elves come looking for him... and they ain't too jolly either.






Head Games: Splatterhouse (2010)



"You've got red on you."

With an epic quest that began a little over a decade ago, the King of Carnage has returned to us in better shape than ever in a blood-drenched redux driven by revenge, ultra-violence and a whole lot of badassery. Full of abhorred mutations from another dimension and a mask with questionable (but very helpful) intentions, Splatterhouse begins as it typically does... with Rick Taylor reborn in blood and fueled by hate thanks to the mysterious Terror Mask.

Of course, one of the many things this new version of Splatterhouse does well is provide a plethora of more background information than previous entries in the franchise, essentially combining the storylines of all three games into a singular mythology.





Thanksgiving Day Trailer Terror: Predators 2



"This time it's open season... on all of us!"

Thanksgiving is here and I'd like to take your mind back 20 yrs to this very week, where Predator fans were treated to a sequel of the classic sci-fi original, Predator 2, that sees a Predator alien doing his hunting in a new jungle... the urban jungle.

The story is fairly simple, a Predator is hunting violent gangs in Los Angeles, most likely because they look like good prey to do battle with. Fairly quickly Detective Harrigan (Danny Glover) and his team realize there is more going on that normal gangland turf wars. As they dig deeper they begin to uncover things that reveal the Predator to them, but to us as the viewer we know it's the Predator from the get go. A third group is also thrown into the mix with Gary Busey's character heading up some government department that knows full well what the Predator is and would like to capture it, for it's technology I assume. The hunt for the Predator leads up to a pretty great final battle with Danny Glover and the Predator on a Predator spacecraft. Fans of the original Predator (1989) comic book series by Dark Horse Comics will find this plot very familiar, as it was essentially what the comic depicted with various changes when taken into the film world.






Trailer Terrors: The Boneyard (1991)



The Boneyard is a film that shares much in common with Syngenor in the fact that it has a great concept, but ultimately fails from an undecided mix of poor direction or underfunded production. The film rushes to open without the slightest bit of exposition or reason to care about any of the characters, made all the more relevant by a stark unevenness between the sound design and dialogue (or lack thereof, rather). In many parts its as though the score continues to drone on when really there should have been some audible reaction from the actors themselves; a gasp or a scream.

The pacing is just as inconsistent with the actors bouncing back and forth between impassioned and believable to ludicrously absurd and though it's certainly not the worst I've ever seen it definitely sabotages the storyline. The only exception(s) to this that I saw was any scene that included wild-haired Phyllis Diller who, as Mrs. Poopenplatz (yes, Poop-en-platz), steals the spotlight with an offbeat enthusiasm worthy of Night of the Demons. Likewise, the visual effects are pretty stunning and while certain elements of the film that were schlock (such as a 7 foot poodle monster), the zombies children themselves came off as chillingly haunting as anything I've ever seen which makes sense given director James Cummins background in special effects design.





Lost Signals: R.L. Stine's 'The Haunting Hour'



In the world of horror literature very few authors have captured the youth market quite like R.L. Stine. You might remember Stine's most popular work, Goosebumps, which premiered back in 1992 and has been a ginormous success for publishing house Scholastic. With such a hit on their hands it made sense that the books would be a monster hit for Fox Kids network in the mid-late 1990s. However, when the original series ended in 1998, the magic that Stine created seemed to fade away with it. Luckily, the Hasbro/Discovery co-venture called The HUB has revitalized a series of old cartoons including the launch of a new deliciously dark treat for us entitled R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour based on the author’s wonderfully creepy tween books.

In the two-part pilot episode, which premiered this past October, “Really You” a girl named Lilly (Bailee Madison), an overly indulged tween, is ecstatic when she gets her own life-sized doll named Lilly D. Arriving via limousine alongside a cheeky, corporate schmuck Lilly D. is as realistic as they come. So realistic in fact that it would seem she is an eerie replica of the real Lilly; one look at her sends a chill up your spine.






Indie Film "Midnight Son" Bares Its Fangs



It's always a pleasant surprise to check the 'ole Clubhouse mailbox and find a slew of indie artists and filmmakers eager to share their latest project. The difficulty often becomes separating the good from the bad... and the bad from those better left to the X-Files. Luckily, Midnight Son is a "gritty, realistic look at the vampire genre" that marks the debut of writer/director Scott Leberecht. Backing up Leberecht is Matt Compton as Producer and Eduardo Sanchez as Executive Producer (co-creator of The Blair Witch Project.)

Channeling Romero's 1977 stab at the vampire subgenre, Martin, Midnight Son seems to take a similar approach in its attempt to blur the line between reality and fiction. According to the site,
the story of Jacob, a young man confined to a life of isolation, due to a rare skin disorder that prevents him from being exposed to sunlight. His world opens up when he meets Mary, a local bartender, and falls in love. Tragically, Jacob’s actions become increasingly bizarre as he struggles to cope with the effects of his worsening condition. Forced by the disease to drink human blood for sustenance, he must control his increasingly violent tendencies as local law enforcement narrow their focus on him as a suspect in a series of grisly murders.
Official Site
http://www.midnightsonmovie.com

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http://twitter.com/MidnightSonFilm





Trailer Terrors: Night of the Demons (2009)



"No costume, no candy motherf#cker!"

So last year's Night of the Demons remake has finally made it home, but was it worth the wait? In not so many words... HELL YES. While the film as a whole is not the best the genre has seen it does stand in my mind as one of the best remakes in the past decade.

It's quite impossible to please everyone, but Night of the Demons treads that fine line between paying homage to the original and upping the ante for a younger audience of gory-hungry horror hounds. It all starts with a splatterific silent film sequence that helps to set the stage for the film's new backstory which, in my opinion, was indifferent to the film's conclusion but didn't manage to detract from the story either.





Terror Returns to MTV with "My Super Psycho Sweet 16 Part 2" + Giveaway



Terror returns to MTV's lineup, with the premiere of the original movie
"My Super Psycho Sweet 16 Part 2" on October 22nd at 10p.m. ET/PT. A sequel to last year's thriller "My Super Psycho Sweet 16," the new film marks the network's first horror movie franchise and we've scored a DVD for one lucky reader to win.

Last Halloween, the first installment of the "Super Psycho" series kicked off the current slate of MTV Original Movies and delivered some impressive ratings for the network. Playing on the trendiness of its own "My Super Sweet 16" show, the film featured Skye Rotter (Lauren McKnight)- the daughter of infamous serial killer Charlie Rotter (Alex Van) who struggled to create a normal life in spite of her father's dark legacy. This year, Skye returns in search of her mother, Carolyn (Myndy Crist), in hopes of finding a fresh start. However, when she meets her half-sister Alex (Kirsten Prout) she has to contend with a new bunch of rich kids and learns that her past - and her father - cannot be outrun.

For details on how to win a copy of your own, continue reading after the jump and for more information on the film or special sneak peeks visit: http://www.facebook.com/msps16





Trailer Terrors: Candy (2010)



Everyone has a sweet tooth.

As the tagline suggests, there's something sinister afoot on Halloween and it has something to do with a woman named Candy. A joint production between StarFruit Prodcutions and Bloody Unique Entertainment, Candy is a short film that I was recently invited to see by Creator and Actor, Jesse Kozel. Having read a brief review of the film over at AtomicFox's site a few days earlier, and hearing murmurs about the film online since its debut this past September, I was definitely interested to see just how sweet this indie effort really was.

As a whole the film relies heavily on a suspension of disbelief to achieve its overtly Hitchcockian intent. This need for suspension becomes primarily important in regard to the rather odd relationship between the film's two main cast members; Marcus (played by Kozel) and his mother, Candy (played by Sage Hall). Hall does her best to channel the psychotic, motherly persona of Wendy Robie in People Under the Stairs (and does so with some success), but ultimately seems to lack that certain bit of sadistic charm in her execution.





Trailer Terrors: House of the Wolfman (2009) | Full Review



It's like Ed Wood rose from the grave, only with a better sense of direction and special effects.

Just to give you guys an idea of how long I've been waiting to see this film, I first wrote about it last Halloween (see post) while it was still making its rounds at independent screenings and festival circuits. Fast forward to present day and I now hold in my hand the unholy grail of recent horror cinema... or is it?

The plot, like oh so many of those classic fright films, revolves around a slightly mad scientist who has invited a group of young people to his castle by offering them each a chance to inherit his vast estate and resources. Each member arrives single file as Bela Reinhardt (played by a stone-faced Ron Chaney) proceeds to [annoyingly] deliver psychological profiles on each ad nauseam. There's some spooky, Scooby-Doo type shenanigans that unfold and then Bela delivers his pièce de résistance... he's actually *GASP* a werewolf! I won't spoil the second half of the "twist," suffice to say by that point the surprise has pretty much been spoiled anyway.





(Re)Animations: Mary Shelley's Frankenhole



A glorious mishmash of monsters and loose morals.

I really must give a shout-out to the lovely Tenebrous Kate, whose recent post over at Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire inspired me to write this one. You see, that's just how freaking awesome this show is. It's like a form of digital syphilis except with none of the painful genital sores... but I digress. In all seriousness Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, created by Dino Stamatopoulos of Moral Orel fame, is one of the best horror comedies in recent memory to appear on cable television (aside from Ugly Americans).

While each episode feels a little short (only 15 minutes apiece), they're crammed full of so many entertaining variants on your favorite movie monsters and pop culture that you'll find yourself re-watching them over and over just to see how many Easter Eggs they contain. One of my favorite episodes, Attack of the Were-Lawrence, is an inspired (if not altogether goofy) spin on The Wolfman wherein a pathetic Stewart Lawrence (a riff on Jimmy Stewart and Lawrence Talbot) desperately seeks someone to love him so that they can kill him only for things to go awry.





Trailer Terrors: 30 Days Of Night | Dark Days



These are indeed 'Dark Days.'

When the film adaptation for 30 Days of Night first came out back in 2007 I had just really fallen into my full blown Steve Niles phase, devouring every comic and graphic novel that IDW had so thoughtfully republished in triplicate. The combination of Niles enthusiasm for the genre and Ben Templesmith's moody artwork created the perfect storm of gritty, noir storytelling that previous horror comics (post-E.C.) just couldn't seem to nail down.

From there I followed Templesmith to his equally (if not moreso) enjoyable Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse series (It Only Hurts When I Pee, Calimari Rising) and managed to find a few new books that I liked from Niles (Aleister Arcane), but it was really that first book that reignited a spark of interest in comics for me. Then of course came the movie and I eagerly attended the midnight screening, book tightly clutched in one hand popcorn in the other, only to leave with a lingering sense of dissatisfaction.





Trailer Terrors: Vampirella (1996)



"Thirsty for justice, she'll settle for blood."

Over the years Vampirella has become known as a venerable sex symbol for all things red and sticky (namely as the patron saint for fans of skin tight red bikini costumes and blood-sucking fiends everywhere). Her fame comes mostly from her long-standing background as the creation of über-fanboy Forrest J. Akcerman, not to mention her decades long histories with both Warren Publishing and Harris Comics which have likely aided more than a few fanboys through puberty. On the other Vampirella's film adaptations have been less than kind.

In the first attempt to bring the busty vixen to theaters in the mid-70's (for more information visit The Unofficial Hammer Films), both Hammer and Vampirella saw their fair share of setbacks (Hammer Films was shut down shortly after abandoning the project). That story reportedly featured Peter Cushing as a wizard named Pendragon, model/actress Barbara Leigh as Vampirella and plenty of risqué, karate-fueled female action. To think, what an obscure Hammer Horror treasure that would have been.

What we got instead is 1996's direct-to-video effort by director Jim Wynorski (976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor, Ghoulies IV) who has apparently since gone on to direct a string of rather lackluster, "Skinemax-inspired" films such as The Bare Wench Project and House on Hooter Hill. Looking back then, one might see how Wynorski first cut his teeth, so to speak, with this sci-fi, softcore porn adaptation of Vampirella. I might further preference that schlockmiester Roger Corman is also attached as Executive Producer, so... yeah.





Trailer Terrors: Superstition (1982)



The victims who died were the lucky ones.

With a company as large as Anchor Bay, there's sure to be more than a few fright flicks that really belong locked away in a closet instead of being re-packaged for unsuspecting consumption. Superstition, originally released in 1982, is one such film whose frustratingly uneven, revenge-themed storyline focuses less on plot development and more on low-budget special effects.

A weird sort of film that falls somewhere in-between Pumpkinhead and The Amityville Horror (never quite reaching too far towards either story), Superstition aka The Witch opens with a generic love scene in which a frightened, teenage girlfriend tries to persuade her horny man-meat to leave the spooky old makeout spot for something more "romantic." Of course, this is all really a ploy to lure the viewer into a cheap fright gag whereupon the real terror begins.

Essentially, this opening scene sets the precedence for the frustration that unfolds throughout the entire movie. Cut to the next day where our hero, Rev. David Thompson, is introduced followed by Inspector Sturgess (hereby known as Detective Dipshit), his partner #1, and perhaps the most bizarre attempt at a red herring ever, Arlen the Caretaker. While most of the characters who come and go before the film's conclusion are given plausible roles for being in the story, Arlen seems to be the most unnecessary element of all. His only purpose seems to be to give the viewer a reason to doubt the supernatural elements of the plot, but when you only see him 2-3 times during the course of the movie it's hard to even remember who he is.





Geek Shriek: House of the Wolfman on DVD September 28!



Have I mentioned yet just how excited I am for October this year?! Not to mention the fact that the summer heat is finally tapering off and the nights are growing longer, but a slew of awesome DVDs, video games and other assorted treats are slated to drop into stores as well. One film in particular that is of special note is House of the Wolfman, an indie effort by writer/director Eben McGarr starring a slew of relatively unknown actors (to me at least) including Ron Chaney.

First released in 2009 at only a few theaters, House of the Wolfman could well be considered a "cinéma vérité" of classic 30's Universal Studio horror film-making. Shot in black and white with a cast of monsters that rivals the other "House of..." films, the film follows
Dr. Bela Reinhardt (Chaney) and the five guests he has invited to his castle to see which one will inherit his estate. He has arranged for a competition of sorts, and the victor shall be determined through a process of elimination. But it quickly becomes apparent to the five unwitting visitors that danger lurks in every corner, and that the House of the Wolf man holds a secret that could drive anyone to insanity!
Despite mixed reviews regarding the acting, the monsters look amazing as does the cinematography (granted my observations are based soley on the merit of the trailer). Regardless, I've been anxiously awaiting an official release of this title for well over a year and to finally have a chance to see the film myself has definitely got my bones jangling.

[via Shock 'Til You Drop]





Trailer Terrors: Machete (2010)



"They just fucked with the wrong Mexican!"

Having veered away from box office reviews for the past week or so I felt safe and eager to see Robert Rodriguez's latest slaughterfest, Machete, with the anticipation of over-the-top violence and gratuitous nudity that awaited me. What I experienced instead was a film that seemed willingly to sell its sizzle without offering the viewer any steak, only half-fulfilling either of its lauded incentives. Perhaps that's what happens when you try to make a moral-deprived exploitation film with actors who actually have morals.

To be fair Rodriguez has a steady stream of solid films under his belt and perhaps part of the blame could be that he only co-directed this film with former editor (and first time director) Ethan Maniquis, but I feel that my expectations weren't too lofty. Given that Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy dabbled in the same cultural memes, I had anticipated Machete to fall somewhere between there and Planet Terror in terms of tone and stylization.





Geek Shriek: Hatchet II Red Band Trailer [NSFW]!



So it would seem that the new trend in horror films is to be gorier and more "uncensored" than the last. How any film could possibly be any more risque within a theatrical venue than director Alexandre Aja's latest Piranha remake is beyond me, but if there is one film that has a chance it would be Hatchet II.

Having proven himself both fan of the genre as well as an competent filmmaker, Adam Green possess all the necessary grit and vinegar to bring movie audiences one hell of a blood-splattered thrill ride and this first red band trailer does little to shake my confidence. Touching on all the right pressure points, Hatchet II seems to be exactly the kind of horror genre throwback that fans have been clamoring for without the need to remake the boogeymen of our childhood nightmares so that the overly glossy teen market can be offered admittance. Granted, they're sure to sneak in anyway but at least when they get there, in the darkness of the theater, they'll know what nightmares await them in their sleep.

[via Bloody-Disgusting]





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