After starting in Washington D.C. nine years ago Horror Movie Night has expanded to include chapters in Austin, Dallas and Chicago. Horror’s Not Dead’s own Brian Kelley is the originator and programmer of this illustrious weekly Wednesday night tradition which features a “classic” horror film. Each week I will be reviewing/commenting on the past week’s selection so do your best to find the film, most of which have not made it past VHS, and follow along. Better yet, start your own chapter!
Fresh off the heels of A Nightmare on Elm Street everyone was trying to cash-in on dream based horror. Wes Craven had created a new breath into the slasher genre, one that had a built in bit of terror using something people had feared for years: dreams. What was once thought to be all in your mind and something you were safe from now terrified a whole generation, either for the first time or all over again, and you weren’t guaranteed to wake. Easy to see why other filmmakers jumped all over the chance to explore this avenue, and by the time the third installment of Freddy’s exploits had hit theaters, writer/director Andrew Flemming decided to bust onto the scene in 1988 with Bad Dreams. Though the film has very little to do with being stalked and killed within one’s dreams, the similarities to the NOES series were hard to deny, especially when it comes to Dream Warriors (my personal favorite). Still, whether you think this is a rip-off or not, it’s hard to argue that this is a damn fine flick.
It may be your boss. It may be that psycho ex. It may be that so-called “celebrity” everyone’s always talking about. Well, for a few spare dollars, you can make your dark, twisted fantasies a digital reality.
Chris Crane had a delightfully macabre thought. How about a game that allowed you to “torture the living hell” out of anyone you wanted? Crane brought his bloodlust to the R’yleh of app design, known in our realm as Rocksauce Studios. You may know Rocksauce from their beer-guzzling social app, Brewski Me. Together with artist Bernard Gumz of SCABFARM, the terrifying team is crafting what is sure to be the next big game to hit our smart phones. It’s called Spinferno, and you can help bring this hellfire to life.
Spinferno is how you play pinball in Hell. Except in Hell, you don’t use a ball. You use your worst enemies. You have the option of using one of the standard character models, if you’re a nice person with no grudges or anything like that. If you’re a normal person, you can customize with one of your own pictures through the Create-a-Victim feature. And then you can drop them into one of Dante’s Circles of Hell, where the bloodshed can begin. You also have the option of two different game modes. You can bring your victims through every Circle of pain and suffering in Journey Through Hell, the game’s story mode. Or, you can choose Massacre, and create as much bodily carnage as possible for points.
In preparation for the Fantasia International Film Festival, an image has been released for The Human Race.
Director Paul Hough’s latest film finds a group of people competing in a sinister marathon where the rules are excessively brutal, but all too familiar: “If you are lapped, you die. If you step off the path, you die. Many will start but only one may cross the finish line alive.”
Cue the raving comparisons to The Long Walk, The Running Man, and I am sure someone will throw in The Hunger Games as well.
I am not going to get into a discussion on formula plotting right now, but I will say that I am willing to give the film the benefit of the doubt for a couple of reasons. First of all, Paul Hough is the director of The Backyard. While I have never seen this film, the IMDB plot synopsis tells me that it is a documentary on the brutality of underground backyard wrestling and the lengths many will go to to win. This tells me that Hough has seen the real-life savagery of humans first hand, and he should know how to translate that savagery into an even more extreme setting.
After starting in Washington D.C. nine years ago Horror Movie Night has expanded to include chapters in Austin, Dallas and Chicago. Horror’s Not Dead’s own Brian Kelley is the originator and programmer of this illustrious weekly Wednesday night tradition which features a “classic” horror film. Each week I will be reviewing/commenting on the past week’s selection so do your best to find the film, most of which have not made it past VHS, and follow along. Better yet, start your own chapter!
The Carpenter is not a horror film about horror maestro John Carpenter, or one by him. It is also not some slasher film involving Jesus – though I think that would be amazing. Instead this is a movie all about a haunting handyman with a penchant for violence to anyone who doesn’t love his craftsmanship. You would think that there would be more construction related horror, but I can only think of a few examples. That’s just off the top of my head, there could definitely be a ton out there unknown to me. Still, in 1988 director David Wellington took this Mr. Fix-It premise and went with it, resulting in a mostly boring, but sometimes hilarious slasher thanks to its titular character.
Sometimes, despite everything, you still have to remain optimistic.
The trailer for Sinister has made its grisly debut. I have to say, my attention is piqued, despite the fact that the credits attached to the film have me more than a little concerned. To begin with, the director and co-writer is Scott Derrickson, best known for The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I have not seen The Devil Inside, so I feel comfortable calling Emily Rose the worst exorcism movie I have ever seen.
Second, is the quick trailer credit of “From the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious“. Granted, we know this generally means absolutely nothing. However, I choose to make a mountain out of a molehill. I saw both of these films relatively late, but both had been built up by everyone around me. I was promised to be terrified. I found Paranormal Activity to be a competent film, but by no means scary. I was even more disappointed with Insidious. It had all the right ingredients for a great haunted house film, but made so many cliched, juvenile, tired, dated horror movie mistakes it caused me to go on a psychotic Twitter rant (which led me to this gig, so maybe I should thank the movie).
Last week, we offered the new poster for V/H/S as a humble sacrifice to the Ancient Ones. They were pleased, but demanded more. And now, we offer the official red band trailer direct from Yahoo! movie trailers.
In my experience, found footage films are like that sexy, slightly dangerous girl in goth makeup who might be a succubus in disguise. She seduces me with promises of dark and seemingly real horror, but also has an annoying habit of cheating on me with frat boys. She brings me gifts of Trollhunter, and amuses me with Grave Encounters, but she also slaughters the cerebral cortex of theaters full of people with The Devil Inside and Apollo 18.
And yet, I keep coming back to her, because she promises me more and tells me how much she loves me, how much she wants me, how much…
Er, um…ok, what was I taking about? Right, found footage.
After starting in Washington D.C. nine years ago Horror Movie Night has expanded to include chapters in Austin, Dallas and Chicago. Horror’s Not Dead’s own Brian Kelley is the originator and programmer of this illustrious weekly Wednesday night tradition which features a “classic” horror film. Each week I will be reviewing/commenting on the past week’s selection so do your best to find the film, most of which have not made it past VHS, and follow along. Better yet, start your own chapter!
I distinctly remember when Child’s Play came out in theaters. I was eight years old and wanted to see it so badly. A killer doll? That had to be amazing. But for certain reasons my parents didn’t take me to the theater. Not because it was horror, I watched plenty of that with my dad all the time. Some of my earliest memories are watching his bootleg VHS of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead when I was around four. My mom was just against me seeing killer toys, thinking that might scare me. This same reasoning kept me from Silent Night, Deadly Night. Of course, thanks to home video I saw them all soon enough and they should’ve known better.
Horror movies never scared me. Over the years the killer toy thing has been rather popular, and there were even plenty before Chucky, in 1996 director Kevin Tenney (Night of the Demons) decided to merge that subgenre of horror with a fairytale in Pinocchio’s Revenge. The result is good for a few laughs but lacks any real punch and is very light on the deaths.
Welcome, mortals, to The Weekly Offering. Here, we present our dark gifts in hopes that we please the Ancient Ones, that they might spare us. They are satisfied with our humble sacrifices of news, images, reviews, and commentary through the week, but on Fridays, they desire more. Their weekends, their unholy Sabbath, know no bounds. And so, to satisfy their bloodlust, as well as yours, we bring you these short, savory offerings.
Hideo Nakata to Direct ‘Suicide Forest’
I have a love/hate relationship with the tagline, “Based on a true story.”
On the one severed hand, a horror story based in truth can make said story all the more terrifying. On the other, more gangrenous, severed hand, we all know that studios take a true incident, slap this label on the film, and go clinically insane with the plot.
However, I can forgive this on occasion when the existing story (and its potential) are creepy enough.
Hideo Nakata (Ringu, The Ring 2) has been attached to direct the film adaptation of the IDW Publishing graphic novel, The Suicide Forest, by El Torres with art by Gabriel Hernandez.
For those of you who have not heard about it, the title refers to a real section of woods outside of Tokyo that is considered to be one of the most popular suicide destinations in the world. The plot centers around an American living in Japan who recruits a forest ranger to assist him in escaping the grasp of an evil forest spirit.
So the story may not be true, but the setting sure is. Maybe this is just the right mix of fact and fiction that can make for memorable hike through the forest.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter looks like a ton of fun. If you think otherwise, you hate America. Or something like that. Maybe you’re a strict historian, or maybe a head-chopping President just isn’t your bag. That’s fine. Whatever the case, why not find out what you think of the latest from the director of Night Watch for free?
If you live in HND’s fine homeland of Austin, Texas, then we’ve got the hookup to do just that. Shoot me an email at peter AT horrorsnotdead.com (or use the Contact Page on the site) with the subject “I Want to See Abraham Lincoln Destroy Vampires,” and the first 25 people to do see will earn themselves a pass good for two people to see the film on Tuesday, June 19th at 5:00pm at a theater in Central Austin.
That’s all you gotta do. No need to write an essay or take a silly photo, just be one of the first 25 people to email me, and I’ll email you a pass. And if you do get a pass, please pay attention to the wording on it. While it’s good for two people, it does not equal a reserved seat for two people. It’s first come, first served; so if you show up at 4:59, tough luck.
Maniac is a film that has a special place in my heart. This film is memorable to me, as I have never been able to finish it. I have attempted to watch it multiple times: once as a teen and another time as a young adult. I am writing this introduction, before this viewing attempt, in order to give you an insight as to why I have not finished watching this film. From what I recall this film is very disturbing. I watched this film because of Tom Savini. I became a fan of Tom’s work watching films like Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead, and The Burning. The special effects from this film are exponentially more horrific than all those others combined. I recall a slow motion shotgun blast to the head, a scalping, and in general some of the most heinous depravity ever put on film; at least these are my impressions after these many decades. Well here we go, race fans. Lets get this party started….
Maniac tells the story of Frank Zito (played by Joe Spinell ), a serial killer prowling the streets of New York with a singular purpose: kill people. The first act of the film has many of the aforementioned killings. A woman is strangled and scalped and a man, played by Savini himself, is brutally murdered via a point blank shotgun blast. As mentioned earlier, this is the point where I stopped watching the film on both previous attempts. Not this time!!!!!
After starting in Washington D.C. nine years ago Horror Movie Night has expanded to include chapters in Austin, Dallas and Chicago. Horror’s Not Dead’s own Brian Kelley is the originator and programmer of this illustrious weekly Wednesday night tradition which features a “classic” horror film. Each week I will be reviewing/commenting on the past week’s selection so do your best to find the film, most of which have not made it past VHS, and follow along. Better yet, start your own chapter!
Slasher films revolving around a holiday is pretty commonplace. Halloween and Christmas are probably the most popular but there are a few at Easter, some for Thanksgiving (contrary to what you might think from Eli Roth’s fake trailer in Grindhouse), hell, there’s even one for New Year’s Eve. Of all the holidays listed on the American calendar, I can think of very few I’d be surprised to see represented. But I’ll admit that Memorial Day is high up on that shortlist. That didn’t stop writer/director Robert C. Hughes when he set out to make Memorial Valley Massacre, a body count flick set in an historic campgrounds with some fun acting, crazy characters, and a tad too much drama.
Brandon Cronenberg, son of David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone, The Fly), made his debut at the Cannes Film Festival with Antiviral. Now, IFC Midnight has obtained the rights to distribute the film in the United States. Cronenberg, the younger, also wrote the screenplay, and the film stars Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Douglas Smith, and the ever-terrifying talent that is Malcolm McDowell.
The plot is, well…disturbing. Yes, that is a word tossed around the same way “adrenaline-pumping” or “edge of your seat” is for action films, but I am not using this adjective lightly. Jones plays Syd March, who works at a clinic that offers injections of virus cultures collected from ill celebrities to their obsessively adoring fans, for a price. The practice is described as a sort of “communion”.
» Dave in Top 10: Horror Film Bloodbaths
Yikes. Outside of TCM everything is modern. Have you not seen any Lucio Fulci films?? Ruggero Deodato?? Umberto Lenzi? Love your site, but this list was a little weak.
» Samantha in Terror Tuesday Report: The Stepfather (1987)
I am disappointed that DVD to the Stepfather did not include deleted scenes that were seen on TV. Some of these scenes included Stephanie investigating the burnt car her counselor was killed in Susan walking to...
» Horror Movie Medication in Review: MARTYRS
I like what you said about wishing the story could go on and offer some more explination to all the torture. I watched this movie and it felt like a two act play. It could have ended with Lucie and been a short story, or it...
