Tagged: Horror
New Horror Short “Pity” is an Ex-Lover’s Nightmare!
I had the pleasure to check out the new short Horror film “Pity” from Head Trauma Productions & up and coming Wisconsin (my home state!) director John Pata, whose first feature film “Dead Weight” I was quite fond of. Pity may only be about five and a half minutes long (minus the credits) but it’s got enough rigid tension to stick with you long after viewing. Similar to Dead Weight in that it doesn’t rely on gore to drill it’s way into your brain, rather it’s a much more psychological approach to an impending doom on the horizon.
Pata has quite a way with getting into your head without actually showing you too much, rather he leaves much to the imagination which often times if done correctly is a much better payoff. This one is a simple look into the mind of a man who’s reached rock bottom as he deals with a break up with some one he developed an incredibly unhealthy obsession with. It takes place almost entirely in his car during a thunderstorm, where he suffers from a mental breakdown and slowly reveals his plans for his ex later that night.
The scary thing about it all is that most off of us have had a break up and many have had a crazy ex who just can’t let go. This goes to some dark places and makes you wonder just what that crazy ex of your own could be capable of! There’s a scene where he pulls out a picture of himself and his ex when they were happy together. It’s quite chilling as it looks like any average couple you might see together on the street. However the man looks like a completely different person now as his rage and jealousy have cleared transformed him into a monster.
The film is shot beautifully too but it’s jarring flashes of rage make you feel like you’re going a little nutty yourself. At this rate it really excites me to see what Pata will do next. I think this one should have been submitted to The ABC’S of Death 2, the anthology that covers a grim scenario from every letter of the alphabet done in short 5 minute segments. The first ABC’S of Death could have benefited from quality film-making like this. “Pity” would have been a far better installment than “P is for Pressure”. In fact there were really only about three that really impressed me at all from that first anthology making me question if I’ll even check out the second.
My only real problem with Pity was that I was hoping we’d get a glimpse of the outcome of the crazy ex boyfriend’s plans. I’d forgotten for a moment I was watching a short film with some hefty credits at the end. It almost felt like a trailer. That’s not a bad thing though as Pity did leave me wanting more. So this has me on the watch to see what’s next for. Part of me would love to see Pata go balls out with a full on, no holds barred, effects heavy horror flick given he has a decent budget to work with. I think he’s pretty well versed in fine character development and atmosphere, the some of the hardest parts of what makes a quality fright film. I think he could probably blend both styles of horror together quite nicely. However if he chooses to continue to give us more quality psychological horror I’ll most definitely be back for more! Wisconsin Represent!
“Stage Fright” Will Be the Best Scream Flick of the Year!
Just saw this awesome trailer today for “Stage Fright”, nope it’s not a remake of the Hitchcock movie of the 1950’s. This one looks more like it owes more to Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ and I mean that in the best way possible! The trailer looks incredibly fun, packed full of action & plenty of thrills. I remember the first time I saw ‘Scream’ in the theater way back in 1996, it was like going to Disneyland-I mean it really felt like I was on roller coaster ride and the audience ate it up. It was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had in an actual theater. The movie had just the right amount of comedy, a cool unique concept and ton of scares but it wasn’t a sickening torture flick either. I’d go as far to say it was a perfect horror flick.
Now watching the trailer to Stage Fright is giving me that same feeling again, one which I think is most often missed these days in horror cinema. This is the first full feature from director Jerome Sable, but it looks like it’s going to re-energize the slasher film in a big way. For me a slasher movie has got to have something special going for it for me to even give it a chance. This one takes place at an upscale musical theater camp and involves a masked maniac who truly hate the genre-check this shit out! Oh yeah it also stars Minnie Driver & Meatloaf!
Also this is not to be confused with the 1980’s “Stage Fright” also known as “Deliria” or “Aquarius” with the killer with the Owl Head! But that one was pretty cool too!
‘Curse of the Wendigo’ Delivers the Chills!
The wendigo folklore is always intrigues me, I love most anything that has to do with the legend. I was pleasantly surprised when I recently picked up “The Curse of the Wendigo” which had completely gone under my radar when it was released here in the USA in 2011. What drew me in even more to this comic book was the artwork, which was done by The Walking Dead’s Charlie Adlard. It was cool seeing his artwork in full color and I’ll be the first to admit that when Tony Moore left TWD I really wasn’t a big fan of Adlard. Over time though his art has grown on me however The Walking Dead comic series has more recently become a bit of a bore.
I almost imagined I was reading a new Walking Dead story line, which felt pretty damn good. It can be pretty hard to disconnect when Charlie has done well over a hundred issues of TWD thus far. However the artwork is really the only thing similar, this story is a sweet and simple and It reminded me a bit of the movie “Ravenous” of which I am a huge fan of. The story takes place during World War I, French and German soldiers are forced to put aside their differences to try and take out an unseen force that’s slaughtering their men. The story is also a bit of a mystery as well and has a little more going for it than just blood and guts.
It’s a pretty cool little 64 page horror story that was a delight to read. Curse was originally released in Europe in 2009 and Dynamite released it here in 2011. I think this tale would make a great movie concept. The world needs more wendigo on the big screen anyway, I mean just how many wendigo movies are actually out there? Hmm…future blog post I think!
So If you’re looking for a creepy original graphic novel with some great artwork to check out give Curse of the Wendigo a try!
Five Cool Horror Flicks to Watch Out for in 2014!
Good horror movies are hard to find these days and 2014 is looking a little slim in the way of quality fright flicks! But fear not! I have gotten together five cool movies that I think everyone should be watching out for this year. Seek these out instead of the next tired installment of Paranormal Activity!
1. The Station: “The crew of a remote weather research station in the German Alps find that a retreating glacier is turning the local wildlife into ravenous biological monstrosities, in this timely horror thriller from director Marvin Kren (Rammbock).”
This one has me pretty excited. It’s reminds me a bit of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” from the trailer and that’s always a good thing! There’s just not enough good monster movies out these days but this one looks like it might have the chops! Plus Marvin Kren’s first movie Rammbock was pretty damn good too!
2. Almost Human: “Mark Fisher disappeared from his home in a brilliant flash of blue light almost two years ago. His friend Seth Hampton was the last to see him alive. Now a string of grisly, violent murders leads Seth to believe that Mark is back, and something evil is inside of him.”
Sounds pretty rad to me, I’m a huge fan of alien movies and this one has a little bit of “Fire in the Sky” type feel to it mixed with classic 80’s style horror. I am excited alone just by the super radical movie poster!
3. Cooties: “A mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives.”
It seems Elijah Wood has become quite the horror hound recently. I think that’s pretty awesome as Wood is a great actor and delivers some pretty quality films usually. Although this one is a zombie flick, which I must admit normally doesn’t really excite me anymore, it’s got a unique enough plot and strong enough cast to make this one a cult classic! Unfortunately there’s no trailer yet!
4. Sick Boy: “Sick Boy is about a babysitter (Skye McCole Bartusiak) hired to look after a young boy apparently suffering a strange illness—and things only become stranger once she arrives at the house.”
To me this one looks pretty damn freaky. Kids in horror movies are can be incredibly frightening and the thought of this weird ass sick kid in his room downstairs freaks me out. It’s looks like it’s going to be a great installment in the “babysitter’ horror genre. I think this one might already be available as it’s trailer was released back in 2011, so I’ll review this soon hopefully!
5. The Babadook: “A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.”
All Zombies Step Aside! Make Way for ZOMBEAVERS!!!
You’ll be DAMNED! Or Beaver Dammed that is! Just saw this trailer today and though I’ve said in the past that I was almost completely over the zombie genre these days I never mentioned anything about Zombeavers!! Yes! You heard that right, we’ve got a full on zombie beaver movie coming out this year to look forward too!
Now normally I’d pass this off as some terrible Syfy original movie trying to reap the success of movies like Sharknado but this one looks pretty awesome. It also doesn’t look like it entirely relies on bad CGI but perhaps a little bit of cool practical effects too-also I’m hoping that when people get bit that they actually do start to become human/beaver hybrids and that wasn’t a mere dream sequence in the trailer! This one is on my radar, check out this outrageous trailer…
Knights of Badassdom: The Most Bad ASS Movie of 2014?!
I finally saw Knights of Badassdom last night, a movie that I’ve been waiting to be released for years. It first started filming iway back in 2010. So the question remains, was it worth the long, long wait? You Betcha!! I’ll go ahead right now and say that this flick will easily be taking ranks in my top ten list in 2014. It’s really too bad that this one is getting such a limited release theatrically, because it’s better than half the comedies that are coming out these days and it works incredibly well as a horror movie too. When I first checked it out I wasn’t aware of how much the movie truly dabbled in the horror, genre I thought it was pretty much a straight up comedy, so I was pleasantly surprised when the heads started rolling. Luckily I was able to catch it here in Portland, Oregon in the theater. I tried to see twice over the weekend but both times it was sold out. Finally we bough our tickets online! I was determined!
First though let me say the movie has a great cast, Peter Dinklage, Ryan Kwanten, Summer Glau and Steve Zahn who I always love, serve up nonstop laughs from beginning to end. Dinklage has got to be the movie’s main draw and without him I really wouldn’t have enjoyed the movie nearly as much as I did. I almost wonder if they’ve been waiting to release the movie because of how popular Dinklage has gotten in last few years with Game of Thrones and his upcoming role as the main bad guy in X-men: Days of Future Past?
The plot is ridiculously simple, metal head Joe, True blood’s Ryan Kwanten is dumped by his girlfriend and to cheer him up his friends get him ridiculously wasted and bring him along to their weekend LARPing outing. Joe’s a bit resistant until he notices his guild has the incredibly cute Gwen (Summer Glau) playing as well. To get the games started the Wizard of the group played By Steve Zahn chants a spell from a strange mystic book he found on Ebay and somehow awakens a succubus that greatly resembles Joe’s ex. She doesn’t show up til later though and in between we get a full on play by play from Dinklage of how to kick ass in the game of Live Action Role Playing that’s one of the movie’s finest moments as he continues throughout to steal the show.
The fun really begins once the succubus emerges from the shadows of the forest. Suddenly the movie starts feeling more like The Army of Darkness than a straight forward comedy. Something that I really enjoyed was all of the old school special effects. The movie features a little bit of well placed CG but by the end of the movie you’ll be cheering in your seat as the evil succubus becomes seriously a little less than human!
The movie is all out fun, the perfect Saturday night popcorn flick and it also delivers one hell of an ending that’s more than worth waiting for. It’s jam packed with, laughs, action, monsters, heavy metal and plenty of surprises! This one was directed by Joel Lynch who also did the awesome Wrong Turn 2: Dead End. If you see this playing near you check it out, it’s got a limited theatrical run before it’s released on Feb. 11th via VOD. I also hear this version may have been heavily edited so that’s just a little more incentive to check out the DVD when it drops!
The Doppelganger Genre Gets a Good Solid Entry with “+1”!
Really now who does’t love a good doppelganger movie? Forget about that crappy 90’s Drew Barrymoore movie because last night I had the pleasure of watching “+1” and to my surprise it was pretty neat little flick. At first I was about to write this one off as another crappy teen horror movie but I’m glad I gave this one a chance to get it’s engine heated. The story revolves around around a few college kids who hit the party of the century one summer. Jam packed with irritating party goers, things get twilight zone-y pretty quickly as a meteor hits nearby and they begin to see duplicates of themselves roaming the party.
It gets a little confusing at times but really feels like a good extended episode of the Twilight Zone. It explores some interesting revelations as well by all who have attended the odd bash. Without giving to much away I’d say this a bit of a new, fresh spin on the whole doppelganger idea and it’s really best if you know as little as possible about the plot.
The movie was directed by Dennis Iliadis who also helmed the remake of “Last House on the Left” (which I haven’t seen and really have no interest to) yet “+1” is pretty mild on the blood and guts. The movie does have it’s shortcomings though as most of the characters look like they walked out of a Justin Beiber video and the party seems a little bit too “Mtv choreographed” at times. But hell, I haven’t been to a full on rager these days in quite some time, so as far as I know this could be how the kids are doing it these days. Either way this one was a neat little self contained sci-fi movie with some truly intriguing plot twists and turns. Check out +1 if you’re in dire need of a good ol’ fashioned doppelganger flick!
‘Devil’s Due’ Amazing Street Promotion: Pissed off Demon Baby!!!
There’s a new demon baby movie coming out this Friday called “Devil’s Due”. I haven’t really thought much of the movie as it looks like it could be another fairly passable, if that even, Hollywood horror romp.
However today I’m suddenly a bit more interested in the movie now that I’ve seen this promotional video they drummed up using a bad ass animatronic demon baby to scare the living shit out of innocent bystanders! Better yet they even have a remote controlled baby stroller! Check it out:
Now if the actual movie is half as awesome as this video I’ll gladly check it out! However this little prank is going to be hard to top, especially if they resort to using a cg baby in the movie or perhaps decide to skip showing the child at all. In the meantime we have this awesome slice of promotion to enjoy! Here’s the real trailer for the movie:
Dead Weight: A Zombie Apocalypse in America’s Dairyland!
I had the pleasure yesterday of watching ‘Dead Weight‘ a great little indie horror gem all the way from my home state of Wisconsin. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this one and to be honest, I haven’t really seen too much in the way of cinema coming out of “America’s Dairyland”. I’d have to say that Dead Weight is much less of a horror movie than it is a drama set in an apocalyptic wasteland.
I could draw some comparisons obviously to The Walking Dead, as I’m fairly certain that writers and directors Adam Bartlett and John Pata are big fans (I’ve heard the DVD will feature artwork by original Walking Dead artist Tony Moore!) but this plays out as something much more than a mere carbon copy. Sure the story revolves around a small band of survivors of some sort of viral outbreak traveling a barren landscape and yeah they meet some ultra sketchy people along the way. What we are really witnessing is one man’s psychological breakdown as he desperately travels by foot to reunite with his lover in a small northern Wisconsin city.
The movie shows flashbacks of Charlie (Joe Belknap) and his girlfriend Samantha (Mary Lindberg) before tragedy struck while at the same time following him on his journey to reunite with her after these events. I really loved the contrast between the warm colorful flashbacks and the cold, grey, dismal look of Charlie’s journey in the aftermath. Who would’ve known that Wisconsin would make such a convincing setting for a zombie wasteland?
The film really looks great too, the locations chosen really give you a feeling of dread and isolation which makes it that much more tense when other survivors enter the equation. What also grabbed me was the tightly woven story, which I might add has it’s fair share of twists and turns, something I truly appreciate in my cinematic viewing when done effectively. The short explanation for what may have caused this tragedy was also an interesting addition to the plot as it unfolded.
Dead Weight is pretty light on the violence and we barely see a “zombie” in sight anywhere throughout the movie. To me that’s great, as I’m quite honestly pretty burnt out on the zombie genre at this point. It seems people are still cranking out zombie movies by the boatloads these days, jam packed with, shoddy gore, CG blood and weak ass plot lines. That’s exactly why Dead Weight succeeds, its unique character study plays out quite differently than most zombie flicks.
Without giving too much away, I’d say this is a pretty true to life tale of how people might actually act in this type of situation. Sometimes there are no real heroes and people act simply off of their own emotions and selfish motivations, making the idea of a situation like this much more hopeless and bleak. Something this movie did a great job of portraying. That’s not to say the movie was flawless, the flashbacks were well put together but I really wasn’t fully convinced of the love and emotion Charlie and Samantha had for each other. In fact the two of them together felt a bit off at points. It would have been nice to really feel exactly what made Charlie go against all odds to try and reunite with her.
Plain and simple Dead Weight is a great slice of cinema from Wisconsin! An intriguing story and solid acting by all involved. This was a true independent film and the first for Adam Bartlett and John Pata. I was truly impressed that they pulled off a horror drama, I consider it quite daring as most people on a small budget in this genre go for the tired “over the top” zombie comedy. So kudos for putting some real heart and emotion into a memorable zombie film. That alone is an incredibly tough thing to accomplish in the sea of undead movies flowing onto the shelves these days! I’m pumped to see what these guys do next, I’d say they’re going to be putting the cheese state on the map of movie making in a big way in the near future….
Dead Weight will be released nationally on DVD and VOD January 21st, 2014. Look for it here soon on Netflix too. Check out the trailer:
‘Shout! Factory’ Rules My 80’s VHS Nostalgia!!
There are movies way back from when I was a kid that I never thought would see the light of day on dvd. I’ve fond memories of going to the video store (back in the 1980’s when everything was VHS or Beta!) on the weekend and picking out movies with my friends on our parents video store cards. Mostly what I remember most are the amazing VHS box cover art from the 1980’s and how excited I was to get back home and watch the movies! We had to be sneaky around our parents because a lot of these movies they would’ve never allowed us to watch. It’s funny to, looking back because most of these movies we were sneaking around with were incredibly cheezy horror, action or sci-fi flicks that most people today think are nothing more than laughable cinema. To us though that shit was fully legit!
So years have passed and many of those flicks have been forgotten right? WRONG!! Thanks to Shout! Factory we are getting a LOT of those classic movies released now on DVD! I recently had some extra money to blow and found two movies I’d thought would remain on VHS only forever. However not only did they have them both on DVD but they also came with three other movies each that I have never seen before, but fondly remember their cover art from back in the 1980’s!! First up is one of my faves as kid, The Eliminators!
This movie was featured a couple times at our Bad Movie Nights we have here in Pdx and it delivers the goods above and beyond every damn time! If you are looking for the ultimate movie to get wasted with your friends and laugh (and love at the same time) this is IT!
The DVD of this one also includes three other movies which I have never seen, “Arena” from 1989, America 3000 from 1986 & The Time Guardian from 1989. So for a mere $9.99 you’ve got quite an exciting quadruple feature!!
Second I found that they released “The Dungeonmaster” from 1985 which was also one of my all time favorite movies as a kid. Being eleven years old and seeing this one for the first time back then was a real treat. The movie is downright ridiculous but it’s jammed to the brim with stop motion monsters, puppets, animatronics, crazy action, adventure, Richard Moll in a cloak & a rock and roll battle against the heavy metal band W.A.S.P.!
This one should really be viewed as a double feature with Eliminators but the DVD also features 3 other flicks two of which I have never seen before! “Cellar Dweller” from 1988 which is a pretty cool little monster flick, “Catacombs” and “Contamination 7” from 1993. So if you love those old video store movies of the 1980’s as much as I do but don’t have a VHS player or access to these on video do yourself a favor and spend some time exploring the Shout! Factory website!
Universal Dork 