kindertrauma

Month: June 2012

It's a Horror to Know You:: Hud of Vegan Voorhees!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Hud of Vegan Voorhees!

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

Poltergiest. I saw about ten minutes of it on TV when I was about 8 or 9 and had a nightmare I can still remember 25 years later. Ghost films are (usually) the only films that still creep me out.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

I'd lean towards Insidious as I went in blind and some parts of it just made my entire skeleton shiver, although I watched The Sleeper the other week, by myself, after midnight, and I had to watch an episode of Friends afterwards because I didn't want to go to bed and think about someone lurking in the corner brandishing a hammer.

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

Urban Legend: It just has everything I want in a slasher movie – ludicrous premise, completely unconvincing killer with apparent psychic abilities, enough bitchy dialogue to make the cast of Mean Girls blush, and Alicia Witt.

Children of the Corn: I can't explain what I like about this movie, as not that much happens but something draws me back to it repeatedly. I once knew someone who looked the spit of evil child preacher Isaac – maybe that gives it an extra boost of eerieness. And Malichai rocks too.

Jaws 2: For a while, I preferred this to the original due to a bizarre fascination with the waterskiing scene, but it's still way better than almost every other killer fish film around. All those gorky teenagers on boats, the 'sympathy death' of the girl who saves Sean Brody, and a Phantom of the Opera shark.

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

The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1983): Even Wes Craven hates this one, but for reasons to be explored with my psychotherapist in a future session, it's like disco fabness. And a dog has a flashback. And Kevin Blair is in it. And the final girl is blind and 'senses' things. And Sherry Palmer from 24 rocks a headband in it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: We all know it's the gayest film ever, but that doesn't mean much of this film is anything but awesome 80s nutrition. The bus nightmare IS creepy and Kim Myers' Tiffany-meets-Meryl Streep schtick only cranks the camp-o-meter even more. More films should embrace their inner diva.

The Car: is it wrong to like this one? That opening scene is incredibly good and the film had the balls to off the nominal heroine halfway through.

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

Anchorwoman in Peril – when Ross writes, 'tis poetry. About horror.

A Slash Above… – a place to learn about all the slasher movies you've never heard of.

A Nightmare on Samityville Street – nightmares from Oz.

Sticky Red – this guy has seen everything.

Hysteria Lives! – where would we all be without Hysteria?

It's a Horror to Know You:: Stacy Pershall Author of Loud in the House of Myself!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Stacy Pershall Author of Loud in the House of Myself!

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

The first films that scared me did so solely through commercials. My dad's an insomniac like I am, and when I was a kid and couldn't sleep, I'd go into the living room, snuggle up next to him on the couch, and watch whatever he was watching. It's a testament to both his coolness and his complete lack of sense that he let me, because I'd get so terrified by a 30-second trailer that I'd beg to sleep in my parents' room for the rest of the night.

So my dad would be sitting there watching late-night M*A*S*H reruns, and I'd be getting all lulled to sleep by the theme music, and then they'd cut to a commercial and some terrifying-ass trailer for a horror movie would come on between ads for Marlboros and Schlitz. Because it was the ‘70s, the commercials had that low-budget 16mm drive-in film look and crackly, poppy soundtrack that made them even scarier. All of this is to say that the first horror movie that ever scared me was It's Alive, but it was just the ad with the crib that turns until you see the monster claw hanging out. I was so disappointed when I finally saw the film as an adult and realized it was really pretty lame. Still, the M*A*S*H theme song continues to evoke a feeling of foreboding to this day.

The first horror movie I watched all the way through that really terrified me was The Exorcist. I was about 14 years old and being raised religious, so it messed with my head pretty badly. I had to watch it over and over again for years, always in the middle of the day, with all the curtains open and someone else present, to distill its power. Now it's one of my all-time favorite movies, but I didn't get there until I'd seen it at least a dozen times. And I was still completely flipped out the first time I visited The American Museum of the Moving Image in NYC and realized they had the spinning-head Linda Blair dummy there!

2. What was the last film that scared you?

Insidious, for sure! That's a great film until the last 15 minutes or so, when it unfortunately becomes stupid. It takes a lot to scare me these days, but watching that one alone in the middle of the night definitely gave me chills. The first you see the red-faced monster is just brilliant, and Tiny Tim's music has always been creepy as hell.

The last film that came anywhere close to scaring me as much as The Exorcist was Ringu, which was made even scarier by the fact that I saw it on a bootleg VHS my brother brought back from a trip to Japan as an exchange student. Those two films and The Shining are like my holy trinity of scariness.

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

First and foremost is The Prince of Darkness. I love that movie, and still find it genuinely scary. The dream sequence is really iconic for me; I've thought of it a lot as I write the book I'm working on now. On New Year's Eve 1998, when everyone else was blasting Prince and finally partying like it was 1999, I was doing my usual ritual of finding a quiet place to write and reflecting on how it was now "the year one-nine-nine-nine" and the Alice Cooper zombie apocalypse was upon us.

Second would have to be Young Sherlock Holmes. It wasn't billed as a horror movie, but there are some truly creepy scenes, particularly the one at the end with the bad guys chanting their evil chant and pouring lava on Elizabeth. (Why is it that bad things always happen to red-haired girls named Elizabeth? Seriously.) There's also the swordfight with the knight who leaps from the stained-glass window – the first time a CGI character interacted with a live one against a live-action backdrop – and the attack of the killer stop-motion cupcakes. It amazes me that so few people seem to remember and love this one like I do.

Third is a tie between 301/302, from Korea, and In My Skin, from France. They're two of the best examples of body horror I've ever seen, but not as well-known as lesser films like Martyrs, which I loathed in a way generally reserved for movies starring Robin Williams or Jim Carrey. 301/302 and In My Skin hold their own admirably against the triumvirate of body horror against which I judge all others: Jacob's Ladder, Videodrome, and Eyes Without a Face.

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

Yes! A chance to talk about my deep and abiding fondness for Shriek of the Mutilated! How can you not love a movie with whitewashed wood paneling, a Perrey and Kingsley soundtrack, and a yeti mask with deeply disturbing lips? You'll feel like you need to take a bath in Sea Breeze after it's over, since, like all ‘70s drive-in horror fare, the actors seem to have doused themselves with bacon grease before shooting every scene. But I always did like the smell of the Sea Breeze, so it's cool. I suggest a refreshing scrubdown with Noxema first, for old times' sake.

Then there's Death Bed: The Bed that Eats. If you've ever wondered what it would be like if Aubrey Beardsley was trapped inside your wall, your bed could eat a bucket of chicken, and rubbing a chain across your neck could make your toes bleed, you'll find the answers in this masterpiece. I love this movie deeply and without irony.

Then there's Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell, a TV-movie extravaganza starring Richard Crenna as an unsuspecting suburban father who brings home a bargest for the kids one day. What's a bargest, you ask? Well, in this case it's a cute black puppy who happens to be a minion of Satan. Oops! This was a late-late movie I discovered one insomniac night in high school, and I still call my black cat a bargest lo these many years later. Fortunately, he does a lot of evil stuff, so I get to call him that a lot.

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

Deadmalls – If you're a sucker for suburban blight like I am, you'll love this extensive collection of abandoned shopping mall photos.

Underground Ozarks – Dogpatch USA was a second-rate amusement park in Jasper, AR based on the Li'l Abner comic strip. We used to go there when I was a kid, because it was closer than Silver Dollar City in Branson and offered just enough thrills to shut the kiddies up for a while. It opened in the late ‘60s, fell on hard times in the ‘80s, and was abandoned in 1993. The owners left everything to rot, and of course there's nothing more terrifying than a rotting amusement park, unless it's a public service announcement.

Tulsa TV Memories – If you grew up in Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Missouri, you probably experienced a number of your kindertraumas on KTUL Channel 8. Even if you didn't, this site is a great look at a strange and wonderful regional TV station. Check out the Weather Teller and the Indian Sign Language sign-off!

Haunted Legend of Zelda – My favorite Creepy + Pasta entry. If you don't have the patience for the (very) long story, just watch the videos. They're such a labor of love, and definitely nightmare-inducing!

Goya's Black Paintings – Hands down my vote for Most Disturbing Paintings Ever. The story of Goya's life at Quinta del Sordo is fascinating, if depressing as hell. If you want to see what it looks like when a brilliant mind experiences the terror of insanity, start here. Someday I'll have Anil Gupta tattoo Saturn Devouring a Son on the back of my hand, mark my words.

It's a Horror to Know You:: Pax Romano of Billy Loves Stu!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Pax Romano of Billy Loves Stu!

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

"The Blob". Watched it with my dad when I was, maybe, six years old, and then asked him to move my bed that night (as it was right under a heat vent, and I was sure that damn mass of grape jam was going to get me).

2. What is the last film that scared you?

"Paranormal Activity". Sorry haters, but that movie scared the Bejesus out of me. I did not see it at the theaters, but I got a copy of the DVD and watched it alone one night and pretty much jumped out of my skin several times.

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

"What Lies Beneath" – such a great combo of Hitchcock and horror. I love that movie.

"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" – First off, Laura Linney can do NO wrong. Secondly it was such a compelling and engrossing film. I have a soft spot for legal dramas, and since this one included demonic possession – it was the best of two genres.

"The Mothman Prophecies" – Laura Linney (again) and Richard Gere in one terribly odd and disturbing movie that, for some reason, got under my skin.

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

"Friday the 13th" – Yes, it was only made because of "Halloween", that said, it was a great movie that sort of reminded me of a low budget version of "Ten Little Indians" . As for the rest of the series – pure unadulterated shit.

"Bride of the Monster" – Ed Wood's masterpiece (in my humble opinion). I love this movie with every fiber of my being! Bela alone is worth watching it (as well as all of the stock footage) – and yet, it's much more coherent than "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Plus I love Tor Johnson as Lobo, "…he's as gentle as a kitten"

"Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" – A dreadful film, but, if memory serves, this was probably the first film that borrowed Romero's version of a zombie and ran (or shambled) with it. I do think that the last ten minutes of this one are pretty good (all things considered).

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

Ob.Scene in South Jersey (my photo blog celebrating everything that is South Jersey)

My New Plaid Pants (been reading Jason's blog for ever!)

The Daily Beast (how I stay "in the know")

The Church of Ed Wood (my kind of religion)

Fascination with Fear (I love Christine, and I lover her blog – you will as well)

Name That Trauma:: Brother Bill on a Sun Deprived Student

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Alrighty, I'm stumped again on what I thought would be an easy find (I even think this one may have come up on Kindertrauma once before, but I'll be damned if I can find it seaching through your archives!)

It was an episode of some anthology TV series from the mid-80s(?) I want to say the show was associated with a known sci-fi writer like Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov, but can't be sure (at first I thought it might be an episode of Ray Bradbury Theater but it doesn't appear to be.)

The episode is set in a boarding school for children, set in the future and possibly on another planet. The planet is cloudy and rainy all the time and the sun only shines once every several years and then only for a few hours, and it is about to do so again in the next few days and everyone is excited about it. The teacher hands out "sun kits" to the class, containing sun screen, protective glasses, etc. in anticipation of the big event.

The day the sun finally shines, the kids gang up on one of the newer kids and lock her in a windowless classroom. The sun shines for the brief moment and all these flowers start blooming all around the school. It is over as quickly as it began and everything is cloudy again. The girl is let out of the classroom and she is crying at having missed the sun. The kids feel guilty and bring her armfulls of flowers.

Any help?

Thanks,

Brother Bill

It's a Horror to Know You:: Justin Kerswell of Hysteria Lives and Author of The Slasher Movie Book!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Justin Kerswell of Hysteria Lives and Author of The Slasher Movie Book!

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

The first film I remember scaring the crap out of me was the 1982 TV-movie DON'T GO TO SLEEP. Despite looking at movie posters for THE FOG, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, FRIDAY THE 13TH et al, like some lovesick teenager mooning over the latest pin up, I was born too damn young to see them at the cinema. I think just before I popped my cherry with HALLOWEEN II on Betamax I was allowed to stay up and watch DON'T GO TO SLEEP. These days 13 year olds are having gap years and running mining corps in South America, but back then was a more innocent time. The story of the girl returning from beyond the grave to claim her family one-by-one had me on the edge of my seat. The image of her rolling the pizza cutter up the staircase was indelibly burnt into my brain. For some reason Of course, it's all delightfully cheesy now when you see it, but is still good spooky fun.

Honourable mentions also go to the Scottish set BBC two-parter NIGHTMARE MAN (1981), which was a curiously low key attempt at a British slasher/monster movie – except with more tartan and chatting about the weather. I also found the 1978 comet-destroys-Pheonix TV movie A FIRE IN THE SKY absolutely scary. Not sure why now, though!

2. What is the last film that scared you?

Easy. That would be the Australian pseudo-documentary LAKE MUNGO (2008). The central concept is quite terrifying, but the whole film has a mournful and ultra creepy vibe. It also has an outstanding scare using brief mobile phone footage. It is a film that stayed with me long after watching it.

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

It's difficult to keep to just three! A varied bag starts off with the 2001 Hong Kong movie HORROR HOTLINE BIG HEAD MONSTER. Horror films from Hong Kong are not usually my cup-of-tea. That kind of zany, slapstick does little for me – but I remember this being a genuinely creepy and strange little movie – and one that deserves more recognition.

SUPERSTITION (1982) is a film that I love because I first saw it at an impressionable age. Recommended partly for having the chutzpah to try and stitch the slasher and AMITYVILLE HORROR-style movies together in such a low rent, but endlessly entertaining way. The head-in-the-microwave opener is a show stopper, but I also love the dialogue ("Shut your bitchy mouth!") and the fact that they had the balls to end on a downer. To me it's the epitome of 80's video store horror movie gem.

One I watched again funnily enough last night was the British proto-slasher FRIGHT from 1971. I forgot quite how influential it must have been. Babysitter menaced by escapee from an asylum (check). Psychiatrist hot of the tails of said psycho (check). John Carpenter and Debra Hill must have had a triple bill with this, BLOOD AND LACE (1971) and BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) when they came up with the idea for HALLOWEEN (1978). Of course, that film didn't have a conversation about Susan George's "lovely bristols", but it has a still shocking today showdown with a toddler with a very large shard of broken mirror to his throat. It's funny how these proto-slashers can throw you for a loop sometimes. Interestingly – and somewhat ironically – it got a post-HALLOWEEN re-release onto American screens as I'M ALONE AND I'M SCARED to capitalise of the success of Carpenter's movie.

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

I've done a 180 degree turn on PIECES (1982). To my shame, when I first reviewed it I called it FAECES. What was I thinking? It is actually 100 per cent distilled fun – and I love it and its cheesy rollerskating chain saw massacre more than life itself. … The most beautiful thing in the world is … smoking pot and fucking on a waterbed and watching PIECES at the same time. Allegedly.

Another film that I've grown to like against my better judgment is GIRLS NITE OUT (which was originally released to US screens briefly as THE SCAREMAKER in 1982 before getting a second chance at, ahem, stardom in 1984). Really, the frat boy stuff is stupid fun – and the lack of a central character hurts it – but it's hard to hate a slasher flick that has a giant bear mascot with proto-Freddy gloves as the killer. It also has a WTF creepy ending that is totally at odds with the previous 90 minutes and creates a genuinely disorientating close.

Finally, pure bad movie fun doesn't get any more perfect than the 1980 Bigfoot bloodbath NIGHT OF THE DEMON. If you ever wanted to see a biker get his penis ripped off by what looks like Mick Jagger in a full body ginger toupee then this movie is for you.

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

The Bodycount Continues – fun and friendly slasher movie forum run by my good friend Joseph Henson.

Scream Queenz – Hands down my favourite horror podcast (well, apart from maybe The Hysteria Continues). A deliciously camp and effortlessly entertaining joyride to horror's glittery back passage.

Mrs Slocombe's pussy vs. Black Christmas – Last Christmas I had too much good cheer, woke up in the morning to find out that I'd created this.

Hysteria Lives Facebook page – I know I'm a total attention whore, but I'm posting loads of old slasher movie reviews and artwork on this page.

Dina Martina – Medical College Commercial – I saw Dina a couple of summers ago performing live. Thrilling, fascinating and the only drag queen with a hairy back I've ever seen (so far).

It's a Horror to Know You:: Michael of Cinema Du Meep!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's A Horror To Know You: Michael of Cinema Du Meep!

1. What is the first film that scared you?

Halloween (1978) – It's also the first Film I remember period. Thankfully my Movie-obsessed parents didn't mind taking a little kid to such a legitimately scary Movie. It also really resonated with me because it's killer and I share the same name. It was the night WE came home.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

The Loved Ones (2009/12) – I'm not easily frightened by Horror Movies these days, but I did find this Australian Horror Film to be quite full of suspense. It's a roller coaster of a Movie, with a villain you really want to see put down. Since it only made it here to the states this year (It's also getting a very limited theatrical release this month by Paramount) It might end up in my top 10 of the year. I was pretty surprised by this Movie, and that's rare for me.

3. Name 3 Horror Movies that you believe are underrated.

One Dark Night (1983) – Meg Tilly is locked inside of a creepy mausoleum (is there any other kind?) overnight as part of a pledge to get into a high school club. Things go bump in the night courtesy of the bitchy blonde who put her there, and her toothbrush loving cohort. In that very same mausoleum, the dead are raised by a russian psychic zombie vampire with the power of telekinesis (he's got a lot on his mind), and they don't seem too happy to be there. Atmospheric, creepy and a hell of a lot of fun, Director Tom McLoughlin (of the fun Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives) makes the most of a tiny budget. Co-stars E.G. Daily (Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Valley Girl) & Adam West (TV's Batman) as a dude who can't find his depositions.

Stephen King's Sleepwalkers (1992) – When Sleepwalkers came out, Stephen King fans revolted. He had written this one himself, but somehow they didn't get it. I think it's a lot of fun. This Movie has: Ancient creatures who indulge in incest, fear of pussycats, cops killed with a corn on a cob, Glenn Shadix molestation, the parents from Ferris Bueller's day off, dancing in the lobby of a Movie Theater while vacuuming, a deputy who's partner is a cat, gravestone rubbings as a hobby and a way to impress your date's mom, the power of invisibility and more importantly being able to change the color and model of your car at will, horror icon cameos and so much more. It's a keeper!

Suspended Animation (2001) – Director John D. Hancock made my second favorite Horror Film of all time (Let's Scare Jessica To Death from 1971). He spent the next 30 odd years away from the genre helming an assortment of Dramas (Bang The Drum Slowly, California Dreaming, 1987's Weeds) and even a Family Film (Prancer). Thankfully he returned to Horror in the early noughts with the shot-on-HD Suspended Animation. This is one of those Movies that is surprisingly complex, so I won't go into too many details here, but I will say it is one of the most overlooked Movies of the last 10-15 years. I found it fairly creepy and well made (love the great snowy atmosphere) with a story that got me totally involved. Hopefully Hancock returns to the genre once again. Suspended Animation is currently available on DVD and it's also available on Netflix Streaming right now as of June 2012.

4. Name 3 Horror Movies that you enjoy against your better judgement.

I Spit On Your Grave (1978) – My grandmother was a huge fan of this Movie. I had watched that big boxed VHS from Wizard Video countless times growing up. I probably should hate it by now, but somehow, I don't. It's a Movie that's both hard to watch and also pretty compelling. I'd call it a contradiction in the world of exploitation perhaps because it's a Movie that's smarter than the Filmmakers actually realized it would be. Hold on to your penis before you lose it and enjoy.

Mardi Gras Massacre (1978) – A late 70's Movie about a killer in New Orleans that rips out the hearts of sluts in the name of some Aztec ritual. Other body part dismemberment zaniness follows. If you this doesn't sound all that interesting, well, it's the kind of Movie you should probably just experience instead of reading some synopsis. I enjoy the occasional weirdo Movie, and this one, which also features mustachioed cops who are hot on the killer's trail, is both weird and groovy. I really dig the Disco music, so much so that I play it on the ipod once and awhile, allowing it to whisk me away to it's magical world. Play close attention to the title card in the beginning. There's something that lives behind it!

Murder By Phone (1982) – I'm going to be honest with you, Murder By Phone is a terrible Movie. But, if you want to see people murdered by a Phone (landlines only, bitches. This was 1982) look no further. Watch bearded Richard Chamberlain ham it up and a slew of character actors like John Houseman embarrass themselves. This dull but somehow watchable Canadian tax shelter production was released in the U.S. by Warner Brothers and was directed by Michael Anderson (Logan's Run, Around The World in 80 Days, Orca). After some research, I noticed that this Film was initially released as "Bells" in Canada, and was 20 minutes longer. Against my better judgement once again, I really need to track down that version and then reach out and touch someone… until they die.

5. Send us 5 places on the internet!

Besides this wonderful site here, I love to check out…

House Of Self Indulgence – Wacky and wild reviews of Cult & Retro Cinema. House Of Self Indulgence is like no other!

The Axe To Grind Show – Axe loves Horror Films so much, he just started his own little radio show. It's off to a really good start.

Hysteria Lives! – If you love Horror, in particular Slasher Films, no one does it better than Justin of Hysteria Lives. Also check out his recently published in the U.S. "Slasher Movie Book" and "The Hysteria Continues" Podcast he heads up as well.

Uncle TNUC – Uncle TNUC captures a cool 80's vibe that never fails to bring me back to that neon-spandex, cuff rolling, sock-less decade.

The Terror Trap – The Terror Trap has been doing Horror right for many years now. Love all the interviews, profiles and reviews.

And whilst you're on the inter-web, why not join Cinema Du Meep on Facebook…

It's a Horror to Know You:: Burl of Ha Ha, it's Burl!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Burl of Ha Ha, it's Burl!

What is the first film that ever scared you?

Ha ha, well that would be an all-time classic of Kindertrauma I'd expect: Trilogy of Terror! I was three years old and snuck down to watch the Zuni doll segment from around a corner where my parents couldn't see me! Then later he appeared in my dreams, having grown to adult size, and was chasing me through the Maurice Sendak bedroom forest from Where the Wild Things Are! Ha ha, talk about traumatic!

What is the last film that scared you?

Like many of your respondents I don't get spooked all that often from movies anymore, but it happens now and again! Ha ha, [Rec] is probably the last such occurrence!

Name three horror movies that you believe are underrated.

Well, let's see! I watched one recently that I would call underrated: Ghost Dance! It's a ghost/possession/slasher movie from the early 80s set in the deserts of New Mexico, and it's not that great, but it has some good moments and a few dynamite images courtesy of future Freddy Vs. Jason cinematographer Fred Murphy! It's not so much underrated as simply not rated at all! Ha ha, except by me!

Maybe I'll put in a word here for Malpertuis, the Harry Kümel adaptation of the great Jean Ray book! It's a flawed picture for sure, but it looks great and has a heavy atmosphere of dread and weirdness! It's certainly got its fans, but not enough of them! And Orson Welles is in it, ha ha!

And then maybe I'll pick Supernatural, the witch-gore movie from 1982 or so! That one is a great example of how goopy low-budget 80s horror can sometimes be really, truly scary! Again, it's not a brilliant movie precisely, but it has a certain something that makes me feel it should get slightly more recognition than it seems to! But ha ha, ask me this same question in five minutes and I'd pick three completely different movies!

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

There are many, many of these! I'll have to pick three almost at random, so here it goes! The Power is one goofy movie, ha ha, but it really tries hard, and its almost completely shapeless narrative means you can watch any ten-minute sequence and be perfectly satisfied! Plus there's lots of silly makeup effects!

Primal Rage is a pretty good one! This is the story of a rage virus affecting test apes, college students and a ponytailed Bo Svenson! It has a great Halloween party climax and provides maximum entertainment while engaging not one single brain cell in your head!

And lastly, I'll pick The Devonsville Terror! There's nothing objectively good about this picture, but I really like the autumnal atmosphere and the fact that very little actually happens! I only saw this one for the first time last fall, but I could see it being a semi-regular fall tradition for me, ha ha!

Send us to five places on the internet!

I suppose you've been sent to Bleeding Skull many times before, but here you go again! I really enjoy reading those reviews, and so many of them are just exactly the obscure VHS non-classics that I enjoy so well myself!

Hollywood Gorilla Men is a fine blog about the guys who wore the gorilla suits in olde-tyme Hollywood to keep us all entertained, thrilled and on the edge of our seats!

Another informative blog is Matte Shot, which is about the marvelous matte paintings that have put us in crazy fantasy worlds over many years of movie watching! Great stuff, ha ha!

There's a young fellow named Raculfright_13 who reviews movies in a strangely charming way, and he certainly likes his mexi-trash! But I'm pretty partial to his enthusiastic if ungrammatical notices, and he provides plenty of pictures too!

Lastly I must point people towards Canuxploitation, the great website showcasing all the fine Canadian genre movies out there! There are lots of them, and this is the place to go if you want to learn about them! Which reminds me: it's June, so that means it's time to watch Funeral Home once again, the perfect summer movie! Ha ha!

It's a Horror to Know You: Paul Castiglia of Scared Silly: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Paul Castiglia of Scared Silly: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies!

What is the first film that ever scared you?

It was a combination of movies and TV, really. I would run out of the room whenever Cesar Romero's Joker from Batman or Fred Gwynn's Herman from The Munsters appeared. If I caught a glimpse of a horror-show opening (whoever in New York was running an opening montage of Universal monsters as a lead-in to their horror movie broadcasts in the 1970s) I was really scared. I watched Abbott & Costello movies every Sunday, but would quickly find something else to do if Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein or one of the team's other horror-comedies came on (quite ironic considering I'm now writing a whole book on the horror-comedy genre)! Dan Curtis also had me going with his TV-movie vampires, Janos Skorzeny from The Night Stalker and Jack Palance as the title count in Dracula. At theaters? The "Pleasure Island" sequence from Pinocchio was probably my first big-screen scare.

What is the last film that scared you?

The Tree of Life. Hopefully you'll never have to watch it and be scared yourself!

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

Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) has charms that elude many… just not me and the growing legion of Sammy Petrillo fan(atics)! It's also an example of an unintentional spoof and if you look at it as a send-up of other horror-comedies and horror films (especially "mad doctor in the jungle films") it works beautifully. Almost as beautiful as Charlita playing a college-educated Island girl who looks like she just came from a beauty pageant. Beautiful too is Lugosi, starting to look rather shopworn here but pulling off an intense pseudo-science speech about evolution that could make a monkey out of Darwin! Also beautiful is watching 17 year old Sammy Petrillo's mind at work as he ponders what Jerry Lewis shtick to pilfer next. Petrillo's naïve audacity adds a compelling component to the film for me. (Read my review HERE.)

Bride of the Monster (1955) Old Bela again, paired with loopy Ed Wood again. Maybe it's just me but it seems like everyone else is watching a different movie. I can't honestly see how this can get lumped in with Plan 9 From Outer Space or Bride of the Monster's semi-sequel, Night of the Ghouls. It doesn't share those Ed Wood titles' ineptitudes. It is atmospheric, however cheap and while certainly unhinged story-wise (could Wood even write something that wasn't "out there?") it's much more coherent than practically anything else Ed did. And like Brooklyn Gorilla it provides Bela with a showcase of a speech ("Home… I have no home. Hunted. Despised. Living like an animal! The jungle is my home!") – we all know it well from Martin Landau's portrayal of Bela in Tim Burton's Ed Wood biopic. These speeches show that, age, sickness and substance dependency be durned, "that Dracula man" still had the chops.
(Read my essay on Lugosi as Dracula HERE.)

The ‘Burbs (1989) Joe Dante has always been amusingly inventive, and he's kind of the Don Rickles of horror. Rickles skewers his targets with acidic insults and then says he's only joking. Many of Dante's movies… like Piranha, The Howling and Gremlins… skewer the audience with unnerving scares… until the next scene, where Joe reminds everyone he's only joking! Joe has so many great credits but on the underrated side I have to single out The ‘Burbs – which I only saw for the first time recently – because it may be the only post-1967 project to successfully present an "old dark house" thriller in contemporary times without feeling like a throwback. (Read my essay, "The Old Dark Anachronism" HERE.)

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

Vampire's Kiss (1988) No plot to speak of, and what there is devolves into distasteful depths (it is difficult to watch Maria Conchita Alonzo's character being demeaned so) but if you're going to make a movie ambiguous over whether it's central character is actually turning into a vampire or simply delusional that he's becoming a bloodsucker, well, you can't get more (pun intended) bat-sh#! crazy than Nicolas Cage. It really all comes down to him being too broke to buy the good vampire teeth and having to settle for the cheap plastic fangs. That and some insane desk hopping, yelling "too late, too late!" And a disheveled lope through city sidewalks exclaiming in fang-muffled tones, "I'm a vampire!" Oh, yeah: Nic Cage also eats a live cockroach. On camera. For real. No CGI pixels were harmed during the making of this movie…

Jurassic Park 3 (2001). I saw the first and was among the few who didn't care for it. I had no interest in the second and never saw it. I'm not even sure why I saw the third one – either friends wanted to go or I had some time to kill. But this one had William H. Macy and Tea Leoni. And Sam Neill was back. Laura Dern put in a cameo but script-wise it was just by-the-numbers (especially the cameo). You don't watch this for plot or great writing. You watch it to see dinosaurs roll airplanes around as if they are the cardboard tube in the center of the toilet paper roll. You watch it because you can never get enough of the cliché of the annoying or nasty guy ticking everyone off only to meet a grisly end at the claws of the monster (a la such ‘70s schlock-fests as Empire of the Ants and Food of the Gods). You watch it because somehow a franchise that began with a Spielberg-Crichton pedigree has suddenly become every Godzilla movie, every knock-off of a Godzilla movie, Dino DeLaurentis' King Kong remake and Harryhausen's The Valley of Gwangi all rolled into one!

Resident Evil 3: Extinction (2007) Had to kill time between appointments and this was the only film at the theater screening at a convenient time. I hadn't seen the previous two entries and had written the series off as something that would never interest me. Wrong! This is not a great film by any stretch; in fact it's seriously flawed. But after seeing beautiful-and-tough Milla Jovovich in all her zombie-obliterating glory, not to mention the killer homage to Hitchcock's The Birds… the feathered fiends now zombie-fied – well, when the swift 95 minutes were up I found myself amazed over how entertained I was… I hadn't wasted my bucks after all!

GUILTY PLEASURE HORROR-ONABLE MENTION: Godzilla (1998 version with Matthew Broderick). Here's what I've always maintained: if we went back in time to before this film's release, changed its title to Komodo! and removed every reference to Godzilla there'd be a whole bigger batch of us that could appreciate this big, clunky but ultimately fun romp (anyone for basketballs and gumballs?)…

MORE GUILTY PLEAURE HORROR-ONABLE MENTIONS: Giant, irradiated bugs, rodents and assorted critters were well past their expiration date by the 1970s but that didn't stop the schlock-meisters from producing opuses like the afore-mentioned Empire of the Ants and Food of the Gods; not to mention Night of the Lepus, Frogs and Squirm! Although they did benefit from the overlay of mutton-chop sideburns, bellbottom jeans and Valley of the Dolls-style cheese that could only have come from the ‘70s.

SPECIAL BONUS COMBO MEAL: Here's one that I consider simultaneously underrated AND a guilty pleasure: Dead Heat (1988). I revisited the film for the first time in years recently and all the things I remembered were intact: the barrage of bad one-liners (not only the expected ones from SNL alum Joe Piscopo but also some from leading man Treat Williams), the classic (temporarily) "dead man walking" motif that served so many classic horror flicks of the '40s and '50s, the mix of cops and mad scientists. But what I hadn't recalled (or maybe it just didn't resonate with me back then was just how bombastic a film it was. It had an '80s "go-for-broke" attitude about it that was more akin to mavericks like Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2, Dave O'Bannon's Return of the Living Dead and Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator than to the standard studio fare. It's horror/sci-fi elements were well-handled and just to see horror icons Vincent "the Crown Prince of Horror" Price and Darren "The Night Stalker" McGavin not only in the same film but actually in the same scene's during the film's climax instantly ratchets up the horror cred in my eyes. A fun surprise of a film!

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

Trailers from Hell. Famous filmmakers from Joe Dante to Edgar Wright and everyone in-between give their commentaries on favorite films as the trailers play. Just go. Repeatedly.

Greenbriar Picture Shows. John McElwee offers insights into both his memories of seeing classic films as well as explorations of how films were marketed and promoted. He peppers each entry with photos you won't see anywhere else. Essential reading.

Frankensteinia. Pierre Fournier's blog's mission is stated right up front: "Tracking Frankenstein and all things related in the arts, media and popular culture." The very existence of this blog will be a revelation to some as Dr. Frankenstein and his monster are more pervasive and influential a force than many folks realize.

Zombo's Closet of Horror. You won't find a more amiable host than John Cozzoli, who guides his readers through entertaining views, reviews and interviews related to movies, TV, comics, literature, etc. within the horror realm.

Horror Digest. Andre Dumas is rewriting the book on movie criticism, particularly horror movie criticism. It's like having a personal conversation with a friend who's feeling the rush of facing her fears… and cracking you up in the process with all her witty, clever and relatable-to-real-life observations!

It's a Horror to Know You:: Aleksandra of Halloween Costumes.com!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Akesandra of Halloween Costumes.com!

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

Apparently the late 1980s were a traumatizing time for my young imagination, since both of the films that come to mind were released within a year of one another! First, The Blob, the 1988 version. Watching a grown adult be sucked in his entirety into a kitchen sink by gelatinous pink ooze has stuck with me over the years.

To this very day I feel vulnerable washing my face- who KNOWS what is coming out of the faucet in those tense soapy-eyed minutes! Secondly, the 1989 film Little Monsters. How did this scoot by with a PG rating?? As if Howie Mandel's liver-spotted, devil-horned, mentally unstable character Maurice wasn't bad enough, there is the hunchbacked, snaggle-toothed, sickly blue terror that is Snik. Running and jumping into bed has become a nightly ritual so as best to avoid ankle- grabbage.


2. What is the last film that scared you?


Little did I know what Netflix had in store for me a few weeks ago while innocently perusing their horror selection. A little film called The Girl Next Door caught my eye and 91 minutes later I was hunched in a fetal ball on the couch. This film triggers the same "they wouldn't possibly…oh man they just did" reflex as reading the book A Child Called "It" did. I have the most loving and supportive family anyone could hope for, so the idea of rotting basement cots and unspeakable abuse being committed by the ones who should love you most is one of the most foreign and disturbing concepts to me. Give it a watch if you're feeling brave, but get ready to turn on some SpongeBob afterwards to clear your head. (SpongeBob is to the over-stimulated mind, what coffee beans are to the over-stimulated nostrils.)


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

The Mist (2007). I love Stephen King but have been burned by some of the film interpretations of his literature that were CG laden, low-budget let-downs like The Langoliers. I was shocked and pleasantly impressed with The Mist! The last few minutes of the film will rattle you. I'm not sure that everyone will end up soaked in tears shouting "it's not fair," like I always do, but you will certainly be unsettled.

Quarantine (2008). I am a huge supporter of Jennifer Carpenter's work, and a sucker for found footage film. Combine those elements with the jump out of your seat delights and peek through your fingers moments liberally peppered throughout Quarantine, and this cinematic adventure is one I'll always recommend taking!

High Tension (2003). Okay. I saw the rated R version with English dubbing. But apparently in its original French release as Haute Tension, the rating was NC-17 and it included some additional gore. I'd like to say that the rated R version is plenty grisly for my part. Choose either version, but DO choose one. This film is excellent and delivers exactly what the title promises.

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

Trilogy of Terror (1975). I'm so excited to mention this! Hopes are never high when the words "made for TV horror film" are involved, but it's so great! It's a three part series, each one starring Karen Black. The creepiest and most memorable is part three, "Amelia." It features a possessed Aboriginal warrior doll with sharp teeth and a miniature spear. Although the doll is no more than a few inches tall, the horror impact is anything but little! The sound of the doll's feet paddling across the carpet is such great foreshadowing, and the noises he emits when he attacks (which is often), are primal and chilling.

13 Ghosts (1960). Gimmicks and camp aren't generally attributes that I seek in a horror movie, but this William Castle classic gets a free pass. The communal experience and camaraderie fostered by the reoccurrence of flashing text that says "use viewer" or "remove viewer" leads to an utterly unique viewing experience. Audience members may use special red/blue glasses (aka hold a piece of cellophane up to your face) and look through the red filter at specified intervals to see ghosts. Alternately, if the scare is too intense you can look through the blue filter and erase the ghouls from site. Red all the way baby!!

Wolf Creek (2005). Someone tried to pitch me on watching this based on the villain being a murderous reincarnation of Crocodile Dundee. I was hesitant, not wanting to ruin the memory of one of my favorite film characters. Turns out, it's awesome!! Gritty, arresting cinematography, and wrought with creepy tension… Mick Taylor could definitely give Mick Dundee a run for his money!



5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

Live For Films.
Great, high-energy film site that will leave you lost in an internet rabbit hole for hours! They're constantly adding horror movie trailers and reviews, quirky film shorts, nerdy artwork, and great content to their video game and comic section.

Video World Made Flesh. The site title itself is a Videodrome reference, so you know you're in good hands. A high brow film blog that mostly focuses on indie films, classic films, and cult films. If you need something intelligent to share at your next film buff soiree, search no further.

Halloween Costumes.com . Well of course I'm biased towards thinking our blog is worth checking out, but feel free to explore and see for yourselves! We post movie reviews, costume how-to's, and makeup tutorials, as well as fun-spirited fare like a listing of this summer's hottest Comic Cons and geeky contests with great prizes.

Dude I Want That. Thanks to this site, I will never run out of gift ideas for anyone, for any occasion. No hyperbole. Their assortment of off-beat zombie themed paraphernalia is especially enjoyable.

HorrorMovies.ca. It's like someone possesses my fingers and makes me visit this site on a daily basis. Great industry news, great reviews, and witty horror lists. I've always wanted to be a scream queen, so their grouping of the hottest horror movie victims is one of my favorites!