Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Top Ten 10 Slasher Movies

This week in the corner in honor of my slasher movies 101 panel at Dragoncon I am going to be giving you a very cliche list of my 10 favorite slasher movies of all time.  Now to be clear some of the movies on this list are not great movies, but I really like them.  They are movies that I have seen a thousand times or just think a whole lot of.  So if you read this and don't agree, just remember that we all have guilty pleasures in every genre of cinema.  So here is my list, from my most favorite movie on down.


1. SUSPIRIA


This movie is hands down, my favorite slasher movie.  If you have seen Argento movies before you know he is all about scene setting, bright colors, and the art of the film.  At the time this movie was released it had what was considered one of the nastiest murder scenes in a movie.  Even now in 2013, it is pretty intense.  Dario Argento has a ton of great movies, but if you have never seen any of this flicks, Suspiria is a great place to start.

2. SCREAM


In many ways, the horror and slasher genre had it's hey day in the 1980's.  But in 1996, Wes Craven brought both horror and slasher back into the popular main stream.  It was the first horror movie to gross more than $100 million dollars, and sparked a litany of slasher clones that dominated the late 90's.  But what made Scream so unique was how it was a meta parody of the entire horror genre.  It played on tropes of running up the stairs when the killer was in the house instead of running out the front door.  It made characters who said, "I'll be right back!" pay with their lives in the next scene.  Scream sparked a renaissance of the horror genre and I could write so much more about it.  Is sparked 3 sequels and there is talk of a Scream 5.  As long as they keep making them, I will keep watching them.

3. HALLOWEEN


Most people will probably say that this is the best slasher movie of all time, and they are probably right.  Halloween in a way not only spawned the slasher genre, but made horror movies in general something to go see at the movies.  There were others horror movies before it, Psycho (which we will see later), Night of the Living Dead, and the Last House on the Left.  But Halloween made horror mainstream and created the idea of a masked killer slowly killing a group teenagers that we all know and come to expect with a slasher.  Most people dont know that the budget was so small, props were purchased at local stores and many of the actors wore their own clothes on set.  The infamous Michael Myers mask was a William Shatner mask purchased at a local costume store that was spray painted white and had teased hair.  Halloween is a classic and deserves to be seen for not just fans of horror, but fans of movies in general.

4.SLEEPAWAY CAMP


Remember that I said this list is of my favorite slashers and not necessarily what I think are the best slashers.  Sleepaway Camp is technically a pretty bad movie.  The acting is substandard, the dialogue is cringe worthy, and the whole package is just rough around the edges.  But there is something about this movie that I love.  The special effects used for the death scenes are great and the twist at the end was a complete shocker to me.  The 2 subsequent sequels were atrocious and they even made a 4th called Sleepaway Camp Returns that was straight to video and was just as awful as the previous two.  But the original struck a chord with me and I will always have this movie on my top 10 list.

5. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET


I really want to put the whole Elm Street series here at number 5.  This is probably my favorite horror series out there.  I love all of the sequels (of which there are 6) and the franchise never really got stale for me.  A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 was the highest grossing horror movie until Scream which shows how much fans enjoyed the original and all of the follow ups.  I think I like these movies so much because of how these movies played out.  The slasher genre is pretty formulaic.  A killer uses a knife or a machete or some other sharp object to kill their victims.  Freddy Kreuger has knives on his fingers but through 7 movies and a remake, Freddy rarely ever kills his victims with his glove.  Because he had the supernatural power of dreams on his side, the death scenes were always so much more elaborate and creative than just another stabbing.  The original Nightmare was excellent and the 2nd Wes Craven movie on this list.  Freddy Kreuger almost became the hero as the movies went on and Robert Englund was always great in the iconic role.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is a must have on any horror list.

6. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was probably the first horror movie I ever saw where I was actually disturbed by what I was watching.  Tobe Hooper directed a movie so gritty and realistic that it scared droves of people and made Texas one of the scariest places to visit.  The first time we see Leatherface on screen, he hits a poor unsuspecting young man over the head with a meat tenderizer.  The low muffled thud of the hammer hitting his skull is sickening and the way Leatherface pulls the man's lifeless body through the door frame, while pulling the large metal sliding door shut shook me unlike any horror movie I had seen before it and is still creepy even to think about now.  The ending scene of the movie is also one that doesn't disappoint and will always be one of my favorite slashers.

7. THE PROWLER


The Prowler is a slasher movie that truly benefits from the creepy killer who is slicing and dicing throughout the film.  The movie doesnt do anything unique in terms of the way people are killed or how the movie progresses.  To me, it is pretty formulaic in its narrative.  But the slasher wears army fatigues and a helmet throughout this movie and creates dread and fear every time he comes on screen.  Other famous slasher flicks have icons like Jason, Michael Myers, or Freddy.  Cinema goers wanted to see these killers.  They became the reason to see the movie.  But The Prowler was the villain you never hoped you would see and were happy when his scenes were over.  This is another that probably wouldn't make a lot of slasher lists, but I really like this move and wish more people knew about it.

8. FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3


So you may be thinking...not the original?  Not for me.  Friday the 13th is synonymous with Jason Voorhees.  Not just Jason Vorhees, but Jason, in a hockey mask, Voorshees.  For being one of the most iconic slasher movie killers in one of the most iconic masks, Jason doesn't don the infamous hockey mask until the 3rd installment of the series.  Part 3 created the Jason we know and love and for that it makes this movie my favorite of the series.

9. PSYCHO


Pyscho is such a good movie that it should probably be on any greatest movie list that you can think of.  Alfred Hitchcock made a classic.  If Halloween is the movie that made slashers mainstream, Pyscho is that movie's mother screaming from the top floor of the house on the hill. It is really almost two movies in one.  For 1960 this movie had a grisly death in the shower scene and one of the most profound twists that shocked everyone who saw it.  This movie dealt with mental health, greed, lust, and a lot of other taboo subjects for the time period it was released.  This list may not even exist if this movie had not been made.  You cannot go wrong with Psycho.

10. APRIL FOOL'S DAY


My final movie in this list is April Fool's Day.  Again, not the best movie ever made, but I love the tongue in cheek approach that this movie takes from the very beginning.  It in a lot of ways iit s very much like Scream only made 10 years earlier.  It really sort of makes fun of itself as being a very stereotypical slasher movie, but still maintains a solid story, some good death scenes and another one of those great twists.  If you know going in you are not watching an academy award winning film, it is hard not to love what April Fool's Day has to offer.

So there it is...that is my list.  What did you think?  Do you think I am a fool?  Leave comments below and let me know what some of your favorite slasher are.  Do you think mine are in the right order?

Thanks for reading and if you are in Atlanta this weekend for Dragoncon come check out my panel on Friday night...Slashers 101!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

The ABC's of Death


This week in the corner, I am writing about one of the strangest movies I have ever seen, The ABC's of Death.  If you have been following this blog or at least read my first entry on V/H/S, you may remember me referencing this flick.  Like V/H/S, this movie is an anthology horror film which is just a compilation of shorts to comprise a whole movie.  Since I already discussed the anthology genre in greater detail in that earlier blog post I wont retread familiar ground here.  But I will write about how the anthology works for this movie.  Essentially ABC's is comprised on 26 shorts that are each no longer than 3 or 4 minutes and each one represents a letter of the alphabet.  One of the cooler aspects is how 26 different horror directors came together to write and create these small bits that make up the whole of this movie.  Another neat point is that the directors hail from such places as Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the US.  It gives the movie a diverse and multicultural feel and really adds some charm.  With having 26 different shorts, it is inevitable that there will be some strong entries and some weaker ones.  That is most definitely the case here.  Some are so utterly bizarre you wont know whether to laugh, shutter, or just be awestruck at what you are watching on your television.  There are some that are animated, super violent, super sexual, and super over the top.  But because each short is a maximum of about 4 minutes you don't have slog through too much before you are into the next one.  The best part for me was figuring out how each short, no matter how crazy, was going to play out.  Each short has one (or more) person die and then the end reveal is the letter that the short represents.  They play out in alphabetical order, so will know when you are watching the D short for example, but you wont know what D stands for until the end when you see "D is for ...."  It makes for a great guessing game, especially for some of the more bizarre, so I don't want to give away any of the letters here.  Each letter also doesn't fall into conventional deaths.  For example, A won't be for Ax or something like that, but believe me that the shorts for the letters F and L will make you hope no one knows you are watching what you are watching.  They are that shocking and insane.  This movie had a very limited release, but with some good word of mouth and I guess some good DVD and Bluray sales they have already lined up 26 new directors for a second installment of ABC's due for 2014.  I will be honest, this movie received horrible reviews, but I was enthralled by each short and couldn't wait to find out what each letter represented.  This movie currently can be streamed on Netflix and you can buy it on DVD and Bluray.  If you are in the mood for craziness and don't mind 4 or 5 shorts that are really out there, you should definitely give this a shot.  I also feel it is important to note that this movie is a hard R, so it really should be adults only.

If you give this a shot please leave comments below and let me know what your favorite letters were!

I am going to take a side step now and let you know that if you are going to be in Atlanta over labor day weekend you might have heard of the largest fantasy convention in the world known as DragonCon.  This year marks the first year that there will be a unique and separate Horror Track.  There will be a series of panels and programming featuring actors from the HBO series True Blood, the film Nightbreed, and fan discussions.  On Friday night August 30th at 10pm, I will be a speaker on the Slasher Films 101 panel.  The schedule right now is of course tentative but if you would like to know more about the Horror Track, check out the website here:  www.horror.dragoncon.org.


In honor of this I am going to do something a little different next time and put up a post of my top 10 favorite slasher films.  I hope to have this up by the end of next week, so keep on the look out and let me know what some of your favorite slasher films are!




Wednesday, July 31, 2013

World War Z



This time in the corner we are going to take a look at the second theatrical release on this blog, the Brad Pitt summer zombie blockbuster World War Z.  This movie is based on the novel of the same name written by Max Brooks.  We will get to the comparison a little later.  First, I am going to write a little about the novel.  Max Brooks, the author, is the son of hilarious film maker Mel Brooks.  The novel is in no way a comedy, but to me it is cool that Max has decided to write about something so different from anything like Blazing Saddles or History of World Part I.  The best aspect of the novel, in my opinion is the way the narrative is constructed.  Brooks doesn't follow one character necessarily in an adventure across the globe, or have a good guy or even really a bad guy (unless you count zombies as bad guys).  The book is a series of written interviews that recount different times and instances in the war between the living and the non living.  Interviews range from stories of battles, the fall of cities, and just being alone trying to stay alive.  Brooks did an excellent job capturing people talking about war.  Remove the fact that the enemy are zombies and the book could be an oral history of world war II or Vietnam.  It is that realistic.  When I found out that they were turning this book into a movie, I couldn't understand how they would turn this format into a film.  This is in my opinion the only and biggest problem with Brad Pitt's movie.  World War Z as a movie is an epic, globe spanning intense adventure, with Pitt doing a great job as our hero.  He starts in the USA and treks to all corners of the earth including South Korea,Israel, and Wales.  There are some great moments of true edge of your seat popcorn fun.  The CG zombies run, crawl, and topple over each other almost like a colony of ants to climb walls and scale huge buildings.  But the movie in no way really resembles much of the book aside from the title.  I know most movies adapted from novels never really do those books justice, but it is hard to say that here because the movie and book really are two different works that happen to share the same name.  There are some places where characters in the movie share dialogue with those in the book.  There are also multiple characters in the novel that seem to have been combined into one for the purposes of the movie.  But overall they are two different products.  They are both well done in their own right, but there is very little overlap and commonality between the two.  If you have read the book, and are looking to see this movie, I say go for it, just don't expect a faithful reconstruction of Max Brooks' novel.  At this point World War Z has been out for over a month now and if you haven't seen this movie in the theaters yet you probably won't.  But if you get the chance, seeing Brad Pitt's adventure on the big screen is worth it.  The set pieces and the special effects look great in Sony Digital 4K.  I know that when this movie is released on blu ray, I will probably pick it up.  I will just keep the novel and the movie in different rooms so guests don't confuse them to be the same thing.

Overall, I recommend both movie and the book, particularly if you are a zombie fan.  Leave comments in the section below and let me know which one you preferred.  Did you find more similarities between the two than I did?

Next time in the corner I will be writing about truly one of the strangest movies I have ever seen.  Another horror anthology...The ABCs of Death!

Friday, July 5, 2013

The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre


Before I get to the new movie this week, I want to thank everyone who has been coming to this blog and reading the content that I have posted.  I have surpassed 1000 hits to my blog in just over 4 months.  I really appreciate you reading and I hope you continue to come back and continue learning (and watching) about some of these kooky movies that I am writing about.  I have definitely chosen a kooky movie this time around.  The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre!  Yes, this is a real movie.  It is actually called just Harpoon here in the states but it is a loving homage to the wonderful 1970's classic the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Tobe Hooper directed the original TCM that spawned 3 sequels, a remake, a prequel to the remake, and this year a brand new movie that was a direct sequel to original.  Confused yet?  The point is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has had regular theatrical releases for the last 30 years and those films have inspired new film makers across the globe.  One of those film makers is Iceland's own Julius Kemp.  This movie's title basically explains the whole plot.  The movie follows a young blonde Annette who is going on a whale watching expedition with about 10-15 other people.  The boat is captained by Gunnar Hanson who was the original Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and has a great cameo in this film.  Through a series of mishaps and mistakes the captain ends up getting killed accidentally and without a captain to pilot the boat the passengers are left to call an SOS to the closet ship that can help.  Of course the closest boat to the stranded whale watching group has a crew of three and they are a mother and her two sons and they are crazy!  They take on the stranded passengers and spend the duration of the movie killing them off one by one.  The movie is silly and violent and is a bit tongue and cheek the whole time.  Aside from each movie being about a crazy family that kills people there is very little in common with Harpoon and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  But overall it is a fun movie and I recommend you give it a shot.

Unfortunately this movie is a little hard to find and currently you can only get it on DVD or Blu Ray.  But if you get the opportunity and like gory movies it would be worth a buy and have your friends over for a big a viewing party.

Next time in the corner I am going to write about another theatrical release, the film adaptation of Max Brooks' novel World War Z!

Feel free to leave comments below and thanks again for reading.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Mimesis: Night of the living Dead


So it has been a super long time since my last post.  So if you have been a reader of this blog I apologize for not uploading any new content recently, but I have good news!  I have a steady stream of new movies to write about in the coming weeks so keep on the look out for that.  So this week in the corner I am writing about a movie with a very interesting premise called Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead.  Now the word Mimesis itself has a meaning of mimicry or imitation and that is sort of the foundation of what this movie has to offer.  Now I have to say up front that this movie will be much more enjoyable if you have seen the George A. Romero 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead.  Romero's film is in my opinion not only the best horror film of all time, but a film that had a profound impact on cinema, violence, and racial boundaries.  It also was the beginning to the zombie craze that mainstream America has fallen in love with in the last 5-10 years.  Romero filmed the original classic in black and white in a time when movies were all moving to colorizing their pictures.  Romero chose black and white purely for financial reasons (it was cheaper) but it actually adds an eerie quality to the movie.  Secondly Romero chose to cast an African American in the lead role in a time when racial tensions were at a breaking point in the mid to late 60's.  In fact, this movie was finished and shipped on April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  George Romero never intended to have racial undertones in this film but the impact that it had cannot be denied.  Finally the original Night of the Living Dead was pretty violent for the time.  To show the zombies eating human flesh, Romero used pork shanks with chocolate syrup, to make it look like the zombies were actually tearing the flesh off of the bloody bone.  It was quite shocking at the time and made the stabbing of Janet Leigh in Psycho look tame.  Now this blog entry is about Mimesis but a little back story on the original helps with the synopsis of this film.  The premise of this movie involves a couple of guys who go to a horror convention.  They go to see some horror celebrities and directors and get autographs and while they are there they are invited to an after midnight party out on a farm.  This is never a good idea in general but of course the two guys agree to go to the party because they are invited by a hot girl.  After arriving at the party and having a few drinks the two guys pass out and when they wake up, find themselves in a farm house, with new clothes, and no idea why they are there.  They soon find out that they have been captured by a group of sadistic killers, with a catch.  The killers are dressed and have make up on to emulate zombies and look to re enact the original Night of the Living Dead for their own sick enjoyment.  The killers kidnap seven people just like seven in the original.  They kidnap a father, mother, and daughter just like original.  The race, gender, and clothes of the seven people even match the cult classic with the lead being African American.  The director adds a nice touch by having all of the TVs in the house showing the original Romero film while the seven people are trying to avoid death at the hands of this group of "dedicated" horror fans.  It is an interesting twist on the genre.  The finale of the film sort of loses its way and doesn't have the impact that the original Romero film did, but it was still a fun watch especially you if you are a fan of the 1968 version.  I feel like there could be a whole series of Mimesis films, one dedicated to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, or any other classic horror franchise.  If you are a fan of the original Night of the Living Dead, you should give this movie a go.  If you haven't seen the original you should go watch that immediately.

Mimesis to my knowledge can only be viewed on DVD and blu ray, but if you can find a copy, let me know what you think in the comments!  I would love to hear your thoughts on the original Romero film as well!

Next week I am going to be writing about another loving homage to a classic horror franchise.  The Icelandic version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre!  (this is not a joke! It is an actual movie!)

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Citadel


This week in the corner we will take a look a little indie Irish movie called Citadel.  This is an interesting movie if you can suspend your belief for about 80 minutes for what you watching.  But if you have been keeping up with this blog you may remember that I will be looking at movies that may be a bit polarizing in their content.  I can see where you could really love this movie or really be bored with it.  But that is the fun! Citadel starts in an apartment building with the main character Tommy and his pregnant wife.  Tommy leaves his wife at the door to their apartment to take bags outside for their trip to the hospital.  Upon returning he is caught in the elevator and witnesses his wife attacked by what seems to be 3 children.  Once Tommy gets out of the elevator his wife has been stabbed with a needle.  Tommy rushes her to the hospital and the doctors are able to save Tommy's baby, but after some time in a coma, Tommy's wife dies.  This sets the stage for the rest of the movie.  Fast forward nine months later and Tommy is a single father and suffers from a serious case of agoraphobia which is basically having constant anxiety of places that can put you in danger and overall panic attacks.  Tommy becomes a prisoner in his own home because of his anxiety and holes up in his apartment all stemming from witnessing the events of murdered wife.  Adding to his stress and anxiety is the fact that he is stalked and haunted by the same feral children that attacked his wife months ago.  If you have ever dealt with panic attacks or extreme anxiety it is very easy to relate to Tommy and the need to escape where he lives, but being so overcome by fear that can't.  All the while doing his best to raise his 9 month old daughter.  The scenes with the feral children are extremely creepy.  Especially in the final act of the movie when they start to play a much larger part to story.  They are almost zombie like.  They hunt in packs and are ruthless to their victims.  They also have a shriek that will give you chills.  I won't spoil why they attack people or what is behind their savage nature but as with most horror movies, there is an underlying social aspect to the movie.  Tommy's character lives in an area of town that is being rejuvenated.  A very poor area almost like what we would call the projects here in the US.  A rejuvenation project is when the government comes in and cleans up the area and in many ways forces the poor to move elsewhere.  The closest thing that I can think of in our country is gentrification.  This movie clearly has a message of poverty, class systems, and the social and economic ramifications of these problems on our planet.  The feral children in the movie are just a representation of these problems regardless of how the director chooses to explain their behavior within the context of the story of the movie.  Overall Citadel has some pretty scary moments and great characters towards the end.  This movie can be streamed instantly on Netflix.

Take a chance on this movie and let me know what you think in the comments below.  Also be sure to sign up with your email below so you can get notifications on when this blog is updated.    Next time I will be writing about a movie that is generating a lot of buzz amongst horror fans...Mimesis!!!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Hemlock Grove


First off, there are some changes on my blog for this week.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page and input your email, you will receive email updates whenever I post something new!  This week in the corner we are going to switch gears again and take a look at something a little different.  I am going to write about the new television series that is exclusive to Netflix called Hemlock Grove.  This series is created and developed by Eli Roth.  Eli Roth has developed quite a bit of fame in the horror genre without ever really making an iconic movie.  He did direct Cabin Fever which is creepy and gross(and pretty good) and he also did the polarizing Hostel, which in a lot of ways was responsible for the horror sub-genre known as torture porn.  With Hemlock Grove, Roth is doing something different entirely.  There is quite a bit of gore in certain scenes and there is some scares and spooks but this series is more about the town and people who live in it.  The show begins in episode one with the murder of a teenage girl and the ensuing mystery that follows.  When the body of the girl is found we are initially led to believe that she was attacked and killed by an animal of some sorts instead of just some sadistic killer.  You can probably tell from the one sheet above that werewolves are involved and all of the supernatural fun that comes with them.  If you are worried (or excited) that this show is jumping on the success of Twilight, this is hardly the same thing.  In fact, this show in many ways is trying desperately to recreate the aura of the early 90's cult masterpiece Twin Peaks.  Both of these shows start out with the murder of a teenage girl and the who dunnit that follows, but both shows really focus on all of the quirks and oddities of the various towns folk and there are definitely some odd ones in Hemlock Grove.  I don't believe that this show achieves quite the same vibe as Twin Peaks, mostly because no one can do what David Lynch does, but it definitely creates more creepiness and discomfort through its characters than it does with werewolves and murders.  Those are merely a backdrop that allows us to get a close up look at the people of Hemlock Grove and what makes them tick throughout the show.  The bigger question I would like to pose, is about what Netflix is doing with this show.  This is the second big show to be released all at once exclusively with Netflix.  The first being House of Cards with Kevin Spacey.  Netflix is also bringing back the wildly popular Arrested Development for its fourth season.  Not only that, but Netflix releases every episode at once, so viewers can technically watch all 13 episodes in one sitting.  They don't have to wait for a week for new episode and they don't have to sit through commercials while they watch them.  I believe that this could be the beginning of a new generation of television the same way Napster and iTunes changed the way we listen to music.  Consumers are being able more and more to watch their favorite shows through places like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.  They are able to skip through commercials with DVRs and paid subscriptions to TV services.  House of Cards has already been hugely successful for Netflix and created almost 2 million new subscribers since that show was released.  If Hemlock Grove proves to be just as successful Netflix will only continue to create new content. Eventually people are going to start to look at their $100 a month TV bill for Comcast or Directv and start to question whether they should subscribe to 2-3 services like Hulu and Netflix for about about $8 each and get all of the TV they want for a fraction of the price.  Eventually major cable networks and these huge cable providers are going to have to look at how they do business to continue to compete with these streaming services.  I think the only thing holding back a mass exodus from cable and satellite providers are the sports networks like ESPN or NFL network.  Currently there isnt really a way to watch sports live through Roku box or Google TV.  But if these networks ever strike a deal with a service like Netflix or Hulu, then there will be a television revolution that will change the way most people consume media as we know it.

I know I didn't really write too much about horror this week, but Hemlock Grove is a show that has its hand in so many different genres not only in substance but as a television show in general that it is an important stepping stone in what could be the way we watch TV in the next 5 years.

If you end up watching Hemlock Grove tell me what you think in the comments.  If you think TV is on the precipice of change let me know that as well!

Next week I will be back to basics and write about a crazy movie called The Citadel!! This flick has feral children.  Please subscribe with your email below and check back in next week!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Frogs


This week in the corner, I am writing about a much different kind of movie than in past weeks...George McCowan's Frogs!  Let's get a few things out of the way.  First off, the poster would lead you to believe that this movie is about giant man eating frogs.  While there are lots of frogs, none of them are enormous, nor do they eat humans.  Secondly, although this movie would be considered a horror movie, it is rated PG and is pretty low on gore and adult content.  So why have this on my blog?  Because this movie follows another very common horror trope in the genre sometimes known as the creature feature.  Creature features have been around almost since the beginning of film making.  Lon Chaney, who was a master of make up, was the wolf man in 1941, Creature from the Black Lagoon was released in 1954, and Frogs was released in 1972.  These are of course not the only creature features to come out, but movies about monsters, creatures, and animals that attack have been made for over 70 years.  So what does Frogs have to offer?  Not much...Frogs is basically about a rich old curmudgeon who owns a plantation of sorts in a swampy bog in what could be Louisiana, Florida or some other kind of marshy area in the southeast.  The rich old man is celebrating his birthday weekend and his entire family has come to "celebrate" with him.  The family doesn't like him much but they all hope to be included in his will so they try to put up with his unpleasantness once a year.  While all of this is going on a wildlife photographer played by a very young Sam Elliot ends up in a boating accident on the water and ends up crashing the old man's birthday party.  What Sam Elliot's character begins to realize is that the old man's fortune has been made through various factories and plants that have been poisoning and contaminating the swamps and bogs for years.  Well it turns out that frogs, snakes, spiders, alligators, and all forms of reptiles don't like to be poisoned and decide to attack the entire family during the old man's birthday party.  This movie is pretty terrible.  But terrible in one of those so bad it's good kind of ways.  Writer Fran Lebowitz actually called this "the best bad movie I have ever seen in my life."  The interesting thing is that I think most creature features are kind of bad.  So why do they continue to get made?  For one they tend to attack a lot of humanity's base fears.  Lots of people are scared of snakes and spiders.  Lots of people are scared of creepy crawlies.  Also human beings mistreatment of the environment has been a hot topic for a lot longer than people realize.  Frogs is clearly conveying an eco-friendly message and this kind of movie was actually very popular in the 1970's.  Godzilla, which may be Japan's most famous export outside of high end electronics, was about mutated wildlife that resulted from the nuclear bomb.  Creature features will continue to be made...some better than others.  Frogs as a film is pretty terrible to watch all by yourself.  But with a few friends and some beer, you could have a pretty fun Saturday night.  You could make a drinking game out of it and take a drink every time there are 3 or more frogs on screen.  You can stream Frogs on Netflix right now.

If you end up watching this with friends or you brave through it by yourself, leave comments below!  Next week I am going to change gears a bit and actually write about a TV show instead of a movie.  I will be taking a look at the first episode of the Netflix exclusive Hemlock Grove.  This series is created and directed by Eli Roth who is famous for his nasty horror flicks Cabin Fever and Hostel.  Hope you come back next week!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Evil Dead (2013)

It's been a while since my last post.  But a European vacation followed by a nasty bout of food poisoning has delayed the next post.  But this week, we are bringing it back with a brand new release in theaters, the remake/reboot of Evil Dead.  If you are a horror fan and have visited this blog multiple times you have probably seen the original version from 1981, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell.  They developed cult icon status with this movie and the even better Evil Dead 2.  They went on to make a third installment called Army of Darkness, which is often forgotten about in the franchise.  Sam Raimi has since gone on to become a bonafide Hollywood blockbuster film maker.  He directed the Spiderman trilogy with Toby Maguire, and more recently just released Oz with James Franco.  This post is about the new Evil Dead movie, but it is important to note that Raimi and Bruce Campbell were producers on this film and were involved with the movie.  If you were a fan of the original, I honestly am not sure what you will think about this movie.  First off, the 2013 edition has a much more somber tone overall.  The movie centers around a group of friends who go up to a cabin in the woods, but the main character, Mia, is battling  a serious addiction to heroin and is trying to kick the habit cold turkey at the cabin with her friends providing unyielding support.  This is different from the 1981 version which was basically just a group of college friends going away for the weekend.  Just like the 81 version, in the new film, the group of friends uncover the infamous book of the dead which is the book bound in human skin and written in blood that summons the evil spirits from the woods.  Of course the spirits possess our main character Mia.  At first her friends think she is just going through a painful withdraw from the drugs.  Quickly they found out that it is something completely different.  The original Dead definitely had some tense moments but there was almost a three stooges quality to the film.  It acquired cult status in large part to the campy nature and the great performance from Bruce Campbell.  The new version doesn't have many, if any at all, comedic moments.  It is dark and dreary from the get go.  There are a few homages to the original.  You'll see an old car you may recognize, some great camera work through the woods and of course...the chainsaw.  But the tone is one that is much more serious and dare I say it, more violent.  This is one of the goriest movies I have ever seen released to a theater.  Body parts are severed, blood is sprayed, and at one point literally rained down from the sky.  Directer Fede Alvarez said he wanted to use as many practical effects and as little CGI as possible.  This really worked for me in the movie and added to the extreme gore.  I personally liked the movie and had fun during the short 90 minutes.  The bigger point for me is the growing trend in the last 10 years of remaking or rebooting every horror franchise almost in existence.  The question for me is, why remake a franchise?  Is it for the cash grab?  Is it to introduce a franchise to a younger generation who may not have had the chance to see the original?  The new Evil Dead does enough in my opinion to change things up just enough from the original to do something fresh and different that warrants the remake.  I think that if you are just going to do the same thing and do a shot for shot redo, what is the point of the remake in the first place?  Evil Dead will not make hundreds of millions of dollars because of its extreme violence.  But I do think it is one of the better remakes of a horror franchise to hit theaters.  If you think you can stand the gore, check this out.  If you haven't seen the original Evil Dead, you should see that to!  I think you can currently stream it instantly on Netflix.  Ultimately, what I am most excited about from all of this, is the possibility and rumor that Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are going to finally get to work on an Evil Dead 4.  Nothing beats the original...Hail to the king baby!

If you have seen both the original and the remake, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of the remake.  Too violent?  Loving homage the original?  Check out next week as I will be writing about an old school horror movie.  One of the original creature features...George McCowan's Frogs!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Frankenhooker

This week in the corner we are going to take a look at Frank Henenlotter's wonderful horror comedy Frankenhooker.  Henenlotter has amassed quite a bit of cult following status with this movie and for Basketcase.  I had seen Basektcase years ago and loved it's absurdity, gore, acting, but also the strange way it showed heart and compassion.  I saw Frankenhooker for the first time two days ago and Henenlotter included many of the same things in this movie that made me like Basketcase so much.  Frankenhooker starts out following a young couple, Jeffrey and Elizabeth, very much in love at a backyard birthday party.  Jeffrey is into medical experiments and has been thrown out of 3 medical schools for it.  Elizabeth is a bit of a ditz, but is very happy and content with her life.  Ten minutes into the movie Elizabeth falls victim to a tragic lawnmower accident and her body parts are sprayed all over the backyard during the birthday festivities.  You can pretty much read the title of the movie and figure out where the movie goes from here.  Jeffrey uses the body parts of dead hookers and the decapitated head of his dead girlfriend and pieces her back together a la a Frankenstein like creature.  Any description I write cannot do justice to what this movie truly is.  It is a campy, comedic, over the top movie whose genre became popular in the late 80's and early 90's.  If you have ever seen the iconic Evil Dead or Re-Animator, then this movie falls right into that same type of arena.  Although in my opinion this movie is not quite as gory as those two.  The characters are wonderful and the actors do a great job.  Patty Mullen uses her timing and facial expressions to nail down the title role.  This movie has a scene of exploding prostitutes that I could watch over and over again, and the ending is so classic and unexpected that I wouldn't dare write about it here.  If you watch this movie you will be glad you knew as little about the ending as I did.  It will truly make you enjoy it more.  This movie is fairly hard to find.  I purchased it on blu ray from the Synapse Films website.  The HD transfer looked great and there are a number of special features.  So if you are into this kind of a movie you may just want to go ahead and purchase it to add to your collection.  I am happy I bought.  If you don't think you want to own it you cannot stream this movie instantly on Netflix but you can get the disc through the mail.   I had a great time with this movie and if my opinion isn't enough, Bill Murray of Ghostbusters and Caddyshack fame has said many times that this is one of his favorite movies of all time.  So give it a shot!

I will be out of town next week, so there will be a week off from a new entry.  But I am going to try to have my next entry be my first blog post from a new movie in the theater!  I hope to have a new entry on the The Evil Dead remake that is set to hit theaters on April 5th.

As always if you have comments about Frankenhooker I would love to see them.  If you have friends or family members who are into horror, pass this website on to them!  Finally thanks to everyone who takes the time to read these every week!  I have had almost 350 readers in 5 weeks!  I really appreciate it and I hope you keep reading!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

I Drink Your Blood


This week in the corner we will take a look at David Dursten's I Drink Your Blood.  Right off the bat I should say that this movie was released in 1970 and was the first movie rated X for violence.  It follows a group of Satan worshiping, acid tripping hippies who have arrived at a small rural area to perform demonic rituals.  In the process they end up catching a women spying on one of their rituals and they take it upon themselves to assault her in the woods.  When the woman arrives home she tells her grandfather and little brother what has happened.  When the grandfather seeks revenge, the little brother decides to follow.  What transpires from there is a mixture of a twisted after school special and Sweeny Todd.  For one, the band of Satan worshipers drop acid like they are candy.  The movie, for me, has sort of a "don't do drugs" undertone.  Also, the little brother in the movie ends up killing a rabid dog in the woods.  He gets a syringe and draws blood from the rabid dog and secretly injects the blood into some meat pies that the Satanic cult plans to eat.  The cult then gets rabies themselves and begins to go on a blood thirsty rampage.  The cult members foam at the mouth, decapitate each other, and just plain go insane.  This movie seems to try very hard to be like George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead(my favorite horror movie).  Although to be fair Romero released The Crazies in 1973 which is in a lot ways similar to I Drink Your Blood.  Living Dead, for me always spoke to social inequality, civil rights, and what it means to be different.  All topics relevant in 1968 when the movie was released.  I drink your blood doesn't necessarily tackle the exact same issues but for being released in the same time frame and having LSD being the drug of choice of a bunch of devil worshiping rapists, it is hard to ignore the "drugs are bad" message.  If you choose to watch this movie, make sure you get the uncut director's X rated version.  That version is 8 minutes longer and includes all of the things that have made this movie a grind house hit.  The R rated version actually cuts a scene, in my opinion, that is fairly important for the rest of the movie.  This movie isn't for everyone, but if you like early 70's grind house flicks with gritty footage and grisly gore, you should definitely check this out.

Next week in the corner, I will write about a movie that I have never seen before!  FrankenHooker!!!!

Oh and give me your thoughts in the comments section!!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Silent House




This week in the corner I am going to take a look at an interesting movie directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau called Silent House.  Kentis and Lau last teamed up in the 2003 creepy shark movie Open Water.  Their reunion for Silent House 9 years later is a shot for shot remake of an Uruguayan film of the same name.  Silent House follows Sarah, a twenty something who has come to visit her father and uncle in a country home that is old and in need of repair.  The old house has been in the family for years but Sarah's father is trying to fix it up to sell it. Sarah has returned for one last time to help with the repairs and say goodbye to the childhood memories.  When the electricity goes out, and the house goes dark, Sarah's uncle leaves to get an electrician and that is where the scares begin.  Sarah ends up staying behind in the dark house and when her father goes upstairs to do some work, she hears a scream and a thud and then becomes a prisoner in her own house with a what seems to be an intruder who is stalking and lurking around every dark corner.  To be honest the brief synopsis of this movie does not sound all that exciting, but there are some really bright points to this movie.  For starters, Sarah is played by Elizabeth Olsen who is the younger sister of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen from Full House fame.  I didn't even know that there was another Olsen sister, but I can tell you that Elizabeth is by far the finest actress of the three.  Throughout this movie she exhibits fear in such a believable manner and portrays a ton of emotion without a ton of dialogue.  I was thoroughly impressed by her performance and look forward to seeing her in future projects.  The other interesting hook to this movie is that it is shot to look like one giant 90 minute continuous take.  In actuality the movie was shot in 10-15 minute chunks and edited to look as though it is one long cut.  I knew this going in and I couldn't tell where the edits took place.  The directors do a great job hiding the cuts and the allusion of one long take really adds to the suspense and fear throughout the movie.  The camera swings and turns and spins over shoulders, behind the heads of the actors, and under furniture, all the while never seeming to cut away.  Having said all of this, the movie does have some problems.  For one, this movie follows every maddening horror trope in existence.  There are times when you just want to scream at your TV screen to JUST RUN OUT OF THE HOUSE!, or WHY ARE YOU RUNNING UPSTAIRS!  But after having seen hundreds of horror movies, sometimes you just expect nothing less.  Also, without getting into the ending too much, the movie concludes with a twist that many will probably see from a mile away, but I don't want to write too much and give it away now.  This movie is rated R, but it is not very violent and if you like a thriller more than straight horror, you may get into this movie.  Others may find this a little slow and boring but either way give it a shot and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Silent House can be instantly streamed on Netflix.

Next week, I am going to write about another pretty hard core flick...David Dursten's I Drink Your Blood.


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Cannibal Holocaust



This week in the corner we are going to take a look at one of the most controversial films of all time...Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.  This movie was released in the early 80's and pushes so many buttons it has been banned in over 50 countries at one point or another.  The film has two main acts.  The first act follows a New York anthropology professor who heads into the jungles of South America to search for a missing documentary film crew who were following and studying native tribes called the Yacumo and Yanomamo.  The professor finds both tribes himself and uncovers the remains of the missing the film crew as well as the documentary footage they shot while in the jungle.  Upon returning to New York the professor then begins to watch the found footage which then gives way to the second act.  The latter half of the movie is similar to many of the "found footage" films like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, or even Quarantine.  So what makes this movie so controversial?  For starters, when the New York professor begins to study the found footage, he begins to realize the documentary film crew was actually staging all of their footage and torturing and mutilating the tribes in the process.   The native tribes eventually get fed up with these documentary film makers and spend the final 20 minutes of the movie, beating, raping, beheading and finally eating the documentary film crew.  There weren't many movies to come out with style of film making at the time and the gritty realism with which much of the footage is shot is frighteningly realistic. Also, there are 5 animals that were killed on camera for the purpose of this movie.  There is a scene in particular when a large river turtle is removed from the water and then beheaded, de-shelled, and cooked and eaten.  It is a tough scene to watch and is really only the beginning of what is to come.  The most infamous scene involves a native girl who is raped and then impaled nude on a large spike on the shores of the Amazon.  Deodato also shows footage from an older documentary within the movie that contains actual firing squad footage from South America and Africa.  In 1980, many people who viewed this movie thought that the "found footage" was actually real, and that Deodato had killed his actors for the movie.  The animal killings were real, the firing squad footage was real, so why not the rest of the movie?  The Italian government actually charged Deodato with making a snuff film and Deodato was forced to subpoena his actors to court to prove that they were still alive.  He also had to demonstrate how he impaled the native girl on the pole with movie FX right in the middle of the court room.  So why would anyone want to watch a movie like this?  For me personally, I have never thought so much about a horror movie as much as I did after viewing Cannibal Holocaust.  Many movies claim to have a message or an underlying social commentary.  Deodato's movie most certainly does.  His critique of media and sensationalism weighs heavily throughout the rough 90 minutes.  His documentary film crew commits horrid acts of violence, rape, and murder, yet they come from the supposed "civilized" society.  The Yanomamo live the deep jungles of South America with no technology, running water, and are cannibals, but are they any more savage?  Many detractors of the movie accuse Deodato of being hypocritical and committing the very same acts of sensationalism with the animal killings and violence that he so harshly critiques.  Cannibal Holocaust is movie for the hard core horror fan.  It pushes boundaries and pushes the envelope in almost every scene.  If you choose to watch it I would love to know whether you think it is a visceral social commentary or an overly violent hypocritical mess.

Next week I will be writing about the creatively shot Silent House.

Leave comments below!!!!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Innkeepers

This week in the corner we are going to take a look at Ti West's latest film...The Innkeepers.  Ti West gained notoriety a few years ago with his 80's homage The House of the Devil.  The Innkeepers is a similar film in style and scope and relies heavily on mood and ambiance.  The movie takes place at an old hotel in Connecticut called the Yankee Pedlar Inn.  The hotel is going out of business and we are with two employees on the final weekend of operation.  The catch to the whole thing is that legend says that the hotel is haunted and we are left with some of the typical bumps and spooks that come along with a haunted house movie.   Sara Paxton has the lead role and for me was the highlight of the movie.  She has a plucky and adventurous personality that lends to the need to explore the old spooky hotel.  Pat Healy plays the other hotel employee.  He is a bit older and owns the recording equipment used to find the paranormal entities a la Ghosthunters.  There are few extra characters sprinkled about the movie.  Lena Dunham from HBO's Girls has a one scene cameo.  A creepy old man checks into the hotel on the final night with strange requests and Kelly McGillis from Top Gun plays a sort of washed up actress who has now moved on to pursuing a psychic and holistic lifestyle that has influence in the rest of the haunts throughout the movie.  Regardless of how big of a role these extra characters play, they all seem to just be filler to the rest of the movie.  This is where many people will have problems with the film.  Ti West is meticulous with his movies.  Every shot, every camera angle, every character movement is done with a purpose and style.  His motives are to give his audience the same monotonous feeling as his characters. Much of the first two acts involve watching the employees working a graveyard shift in a practically empty hotel with not much to do besides surf the internet or listen for the supposed ghosts that haunt the halls of the Yankee Pedlar Inn.  This makes the first hour of the movie a pretty slow burn.  The movie is dialogue heavy and there are rarely more than two characters in any one given scene.  His intent is to try to build the anticipation and suspense that leads to the final 30 minutes of the grand finale.  If you are a fan of cinematography and art direction in movies I think you will enjoy the Innkeepers, the rest may just find it boring.  The final act does provide some real scares but the movie closes with a number of loose ends.  This movie isn't really gory, nor does it really have the cheap thrills of a Paranormal Activity.  The hotel is front and center along with what lurks in the hallways and basement.  The chance that something may happen at any moment is the draw.  Writing any more about the ending gives away too much because ultimately you should watch the movie and decide for yourself whether you think this movie is a masterpiece of suspense or just a slow boring haunted house movie.  If and when you watch it you should leave a comment at the bottom and let me know on which side of the fence you fall!

The Innkeepers can currently be streamed instantly on Netflix!

Next week I will be writing about one of the most controversial movies of all time.  Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.  This movie has been banned in over 50 countries and is only for the hardest of the hardcore.  See you next week!

Friday, February 15, 2013

V/H/S


This week in the corner, the first movie that I will "critique" on this blog is a movie called V/H/S.   I put critique in quotes because I am not writing this to give it a thumbs up or a go see it!  I am writing about movies that might be a bit polarizing in terms of how well they are received.  V/H/S is a movie that fits that bill.  I think there are some clever moments as well as some misses in this movie.  But part of the fun about horror is discussing those hits and misses.  V/H/S is a horror movie that follows an old genre trope known as the anthology.  The anthology horror movie is a standard 90 minute movie that is comprised of a series of short segments that are generally tied up somehow or someway by the finale.  George Romero probably made the most famous horror anthology with Creepshow over 30 years ago.  Trick 'R Treat is a fabulous representation of the anthology which came out around 2007 and does pretty much everything right.  V/H/S consists of 5 individual segments and a 6th segment that runs throughout the entirety of the movie.  Generally we call this segment the wrap-around.  The wrap-around is the glue that holds the anthology together.  In this film the wrap-around consists of a group of derelict boys who are hired to go to a house to recover a mysterious VHS tape.  When the boys get to the house they uncover a mountain of tapes without labels.  They begin to pop a few of them into the VCR and end up watching various found footage segments that lead to the rest of the movie.  Each of the 5 segments clock in at around 15 minutes and each have a different director.  For my money the strongest segments of the movie are the first and the last.  What makes these segments the best are the way the directors are able to jump right into their respective stories.  When you only have 15 minutes to work with, character development and backstory cannot be an important part of the short.  Otherwise we the viewers spend so much time trying get to know the characters and scenarios, that the payoff is generally always anti-climacitc.  In each of the bookend segments we follow a group of guys out for a party.  The motives of each of these groups end up being very different with equally different outcomes, but we know what we are doing and where we are going with these stories right from the beginning. Because of this we can spend more time with the spooks and scares.  The segments that fall flat are the ones that rely too much on backstory.  One of these segments has a young lady taking her friends to a cabin in the woods for a weekend. What her friends don't know is that she is actually using them as bait for a supernatural killer.  That is all well and good, but why is she using them as bait?  What are her ties to this supernatural killer?  These ideas are never really fleshed out so the viewer is left confused and unsure of what exactly just happened at the end of the 15 minutes.  Which leads me back to the wrap-around.  Anthology movies are usually measured on how well all of the individual segments are tied together.  This was my biggest problem with the movie.  I kept waiting for some big reveal on what this particular VHS tape had in store, or why were these kids sent to look for it in the first place?  These questions were never really answered and left me wanting a little bit more from the final product.  There were parts of this movie that I really liked and each segment and some pretty cool moments.  If you have ever had a fear of someone watching you sleep late at night, one of the segments will not do anything to make you feel better about your fear.  Anthology movies seems to be making a surge in the here and now.  Later this month The ABC's of Death is set to hit theaters.  The movie is set to contain 26 shorts where the title of each begins with...you guessed it!...each letter of the alphabet.  I have also heard that there is already a V/H/S 2 in the works and with a little tweaking to the first film,  the second could be a force in the horror anthology catalogue for years to come.  I think this type of horror continues to be made because of what it represents at some base level.  Almost everyone has sat around a campfire, a dinner table, or in your backyard and exchanged spooky ghost stories.  V/H/S and movies like it are the cinema version of the campfire ghost story.  Those short bite sized bits that leave you with a chill.  I say get the marshmallows ready!  V/H/S can currently be instantly streamed on Netflix or rented at a local RedBox.  Ultimately you should check out V/H/S on your own and leave comments below on the segments that you liked and the ones you didn't!  If you find yourself loving every minute of the movie, you should check out some of the other movies I mentioned above. (if you haven't already...)

Thanks for reading this week.  Again, leave comments below on your thoughts!  I would love to read them.


Next week I will be writing about the newest film from director Ti West....The Innkeepers!!!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

The first post

So this is going to be my spot for those of you that want to read about, learn about, and get my opinions on a variety of horror movies.  Why would you want my opinions??  That's a good question I suppose.   All I can tell you is that I have seen hundreds of horror films.  Gory movies, slashers, zombie, exorcism, found footage, anthologies...you name it I have seen it.  Horror movies have a unique place in our culture.  People love to be scared.  They love to be grossed out.  Horror movies have been made for almost 100 years.  It is one of the few genres of movies that have been around since the dawn of film making.  People have and always will enjoy the feeling and rush of being scared. This will be the place to find out about some of the more obscure or controversial films out there.  If you are into horror, you have probably already seen movies like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or maybe even Suspira and Evil Dead.  This is not the place for those movies.  I will try to have a new movie here once a week.  I will try to write about movies that are interesting and easily accessible from places like netflix or crackle.  But I will also write about movies for the truly dedicated fan or horror that are a little harder to find.  So I hope you will stop by my corner every week and read about something crazy and weird and maybe take a chance on a flick that hasn't been on your radar!

Next week's movie...V/H/S.