Month: May 2012

It's a Horror to Know You: Jose Cruz of Mephisto's Castle and The Grim Reader!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

My mind's a whirring snow globe of various traumatizing images, but the Wicked Witch's emerald sneer and the Cryptkeeper's casket-dry cackle come to mind as being the very first instances when I realized that having the TV to myself was not always a good idea.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

Hmm, good question. I watch a good deal of Internet shorts that give me the heebie jeebies (it's a masochistic complex), but I think the last feature film that really unsettled me was LAKE MUNGO. I am such a baby when it comes to ghostly footage-type movies, and the cell phone camera scene was enough to nearly send me into cardiac arrest.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

1. THE NINTH GATE (1999) Polanski's second Satanic outing deserves more worshipers.

2. THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984) Beautiful fairy tale landscape rife with great lycanthrope moments.

3. RAVENOUS (1999) Black comedy that misses the mark a little but is delicious nonetheless.

Special Easter Egg: The Night Stalker (1972)! Darren McGavin at his snarkiest, vampire-hunting best.

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

1. HORROR EXPRESS (1972) Wonderfully hokey but insanely watchable scifi creature feature romp.

2. AFTERMATH (1994) Hyper-real, icky corpse sex that I can't help but be fascinated by. (Are you sure I shouldn't feel guilty about THAT?)

3. THE MUMMY (1999) A film for my brain to go on auto-pilot and do this: Pew! Pew! Pew! Mummies! Pew! Pew! Flesh-eating bugs! Pew-pew! Stephen Sommers! Aaagh!

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

1. Heart In A Jar. Senski is a golden horror god.

2. Radiation-Scarred Reviews. B-movie blogging badassery.

3. Behind the Couch. Checking out the genre with exquisite taste and refined writing.

4. The Horrors of it All. Karswell has a never-ending attic of gruesome Pre-code goodies.

5. Zombos' Closet. Eccentric, kooky, ooky, and weirdly wonderful.

Hey Unk! Just wanted to say that I love Kindertrauma…so much. What I love the most about the site, is that Kindertrauma actually gets me excited and makes me want to watch the films it talks about. As if the excitement and wonder of when you were discovering horror films as a child somehow got transferred into the site itself.

It's a Horror to Know You: Matt Sunshine

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

That would be without a doubt, the made-for-TV movie "Ants" (1977). Also, Annie Ross being pulled into a computer and turned into a robot in "Superman III" (1983), one of the first films I experienced in a movie theater. As well as some of the moments I was able to sneak a peak at of "Carrie" (1976) and "Children Of The Corn" (1984) while on the 8 o'clock movie in the 80's.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

"INLAND EMPIRE" (2006)

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

I doubt I'll be introducing anyone here to anything new. I'm pretty sure my choices won't be making me any friends either. I was going to go with "Near Dark" (1987) and "Don't Look Now" (1973) but I figured by now, the artistic importance of these 2 films has been well documented.

1. "Poltergeist II: The Other Side" (1986) – A Vomit Creature. Braces that attack you. Freelings. Speaking to ghosts, or something else, over a toy phone. Heather O'Rourke. Jerry Goldsmith's score. And Julian Beck as Kane – one of the most intense and frightening characters I've ever seen.

2. "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971) – Another great Jerry Goldsmith score. Some eerie scenes. I love that late 60's/early 70's look and feel. I can't look at Alan Alda or Pamelyn Ferdin and not think of the 70's. There will never be another film that looks like this again, it's simply stuck in 1971.

3. (a) "Halloween II" (1981) – Has been overly criticized for its extra supply of blood and gore, as well as its so-called likeness to the countless imitations of the original film. One of my favorite things about this film is that it shows us all the things horror movies never show us. Like where the villain goes when he escapes, the reaction in the community, the news reports in progress of the earlier events on TV and radio, the victims being taken to the hospital. This sequel continues so naturally.

(b) "Halloween III: Season Of The Witch" (1982) – Hated it the first time I saw it. Should have been released as "Season Of The Witch." Atmospheric. Terrific score. A Halloween favorite.

Honorable Mention: "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974) and "The Beguiled" (1971) Not sure they're horrors, but the latters poster is on this site, so I'm counting it. Also, "Cujo" (1983).

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

1. "Deadly Friend" (1986)

2. "Poltergeist III" (1988)

3. "The Night Child" (1975)

Honorable Mention: "Curtains" (1983) and "Children Of The Corn" (1984).

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

If you are on Kindertrauma, then you are already on the best film site on the Internet.

It's a horror to know you: Apocalypsejunkie!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

Actually it was a movie trailer I saw on television for The Shining, when Torrance is chasing Danny through the maze with an ax. Something about that really got into my head and since I was too young at the time to go see the movie, my imagination ran wild with that scene.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

The Last Exorcism, those last ten minutes were so off the rails and unexpected, I just sat there with my jaw agape thinking," WTF just happened here? What did I just see?".

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

1.Event Horizon: the thought that the ship was…. somewhere else for all those years and brought something back with it, creeps me out to no end.

2. Wolfen: People thought it was ridiculous at the time, wolf creatures in New York City undetected? PFAH! Yeah, how many Coyotes have been spotted recently? Exactly!

3.In the Mouth of Madness: I always think this is a Clive Barker film, it has that other worldly/dimension vibe to it. When the two eventually collide, and how do they ever, it is pure madness! "How do you like the book?'. WHACK! I must have something for Sam Neil…

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

1. Tombs of the Blind Dead: Even Elvira made fun of this one, but there really is something horrifying about mummified knights riding silently and in slow motion across the Spanish countryside, brandishing swords ready to lob your head off.

2. City of the Living Dead: All of Fulci's films are disjointed messes when you get right down to it, but nobody does atmosphere quite like him and this one is no exception. Each scene stands on its own, like a vignette of nightmares.

3.Poultrygeist:Night of the Chicken Dead: So gross, so stupid, so finger licking funny!

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

Sorry, I'm lazy and use your suggestions for this one most of the time.

It's a horror to now you: Tom Steeber!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

There were a number of films I saw early on that gave me the heebie-jeebies or had short lived scares but the one that stands out is the classic Kubrick film, The Shining. I saw it when I was thirteen and it scared me so badly that I actually started to cry. Naturally now I consider it the masterpiece that so many others do.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

This would be the made for TV movie, Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County. Even knowing it was fake, it never the less scared me like no other movie had before or since.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

1. J.T. Petty's Soft For Digging. It's a pot boiler that many consider boring. I find it fascinating and extremely eerie. And the fact that he was able to make it on a $6000 budget and get it accepted in Sundance is an inspiration to me as a fellow filmmaker.

2. Hukkle, from Hungarian director, Gyorgi Palfi. Not many people I've talked to have seen this. It appears as a series of unrelated events that evntually lead up to a disturbing conclusion.

3. Home Movie. This is probably my favorite of the "evil children" sub genre. What starts out as a normal home movie of an upstate New York family, becomes total nightmare fuel as we see just how demented the kids in the family are.

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

1. 8MM. Nicholas Cage. End of story.

2. The Devil's Gift. Stupid, stupid, stupid movie about a killer toy cymbal monkey. I like it simply because I collect the ugly bastards.

3. They. The one about the aliens made in the 1970's. Completely terrible movie in which you never see any aliens even though there is this huge invasion.

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

1. The Hustle. Home of The Hustle. A friend's comedy podcast.

2. UFO Phil. The personal webpage of alien abductee and songwriter, UFO Phil. I was in his movie.

3. Cinema Head Cheese. A horror movie review site.

4.Paleofuture. Pokes fun at the predictions of the future written in the past.

5. Listverse. A new top ten list every day.