
O.K., so maybe she didn't star in any horror movies, but she was best buds with Kinder-babe ADRIENNE BARBEAU. Today the flags above Kindertrauma Castle fly at half mass. Fly away BEA, you were anything but tranquilizing!
your happy childhood ends here!
O.K., so maybe she didn't star in any horror movies, but she was best buds with Kinder-babe ADRIENNE BARBEAU. Today the flags above Kindertrauma Castle fly at half mass. Fly away BEA, you were anything but tranquilizing!
There we were at the local hemorrhaging video store and I was grabbing just about every horror flick I could get my paws on and my mom hands me something called COLD PREY. Now the cover of the DVD is awful (Anchor Bay you should know better!) but the back sounded intriguing and since it was a snowbound horror flick, which I have a fondness for, I decided to give it a whirl and guess what…I LOVE COLD PREY!
Now the film is a couple years old (2006) and forgive me if I am totally out of the loop, but how did this sucker get past me? I just checked it out on imdb and it seems that its hype was pretty big, but truly I had never heard of this one or it just didn't stick if I had. Maybe I've walked past the DVD a million times and just ignored it because, like I said, the cover is stink-o.
COLD PREY is from Norway and the set up is by the book classic slasher with a group of groovy kids getting stranded and being hunted down by a crazed maniac. The beauty part is that it is done so well. It's wonderfully shot and the location, an isolated ski lodge surrounded by post card snowscapes, is incredible. Here's a thing too, I loved all the actors in it. They're not the Hollywood type that look like they have been dipped in caramel and nursed on latte bottles, they're all normalish and I wouldn't run away from them if I saw them in the street. The female lead simply ruled. She ran the gambit from breaking down emotionally to mustering up the chutzpa without ever being over the top infallible or cartoon Amazon. It's seriously suspenseful too. There is little gore but you feel the damage the characters endure thanks to the knowing hand of the director. Be warned though it is pretty formulaic but much like the formula of nestle quick plus milk, the end result is hooray for you!
If you are not a slasher fan then COLD PREY probably will not do much to convert you, but if you are I think that it's a must see flick. I for one am going to buy a copy as soon as possible. Even though Anchor Bay scratched on the cover art they do supply plenty of yummy extras like a making of doc, music vids and trailers/T.V. spots (as is their way). I know that my aversion to snarking it up all over the place may have some of you thinking that I'll roll over for any flick that scratches my belly, but trust me,COLD PREY is neo slasher heaven.
O.K. I guess that will do for now, sorry I didn't look up the director's or actors names on imdb (D.I.Y.S.), but like I said it's late at night and I just wanted to drop you guys this dose of enthusiasm before it waned. Now I'm off to get some shut eye or maybe raid the fridge (my parents love Super Pretzels too, can you believe it?)
Unk L
ALSO: So sadly out of it am I, that I just found out that a sequel to COLD PREY was released in 2008. Man, who knew you could actually miss out on stuff by living in the past?
Horror fans. Who and what are horror fans? Are they unhinged psychopathic time bombs who get a vicarious thrill witnessing pain being inflicted upon their fellow man? Are they ineffectual nerds who are preoccupied with processing their feelings of powerlessness in the universe by viewing assembly line murders? Are they simply antisocial misfits who misspell the word uncle and live in a make believe castle who waste time writing posts on blogs that sound more and more like rejected SEX AND THE CITY voiceovers? We may never know and I, for one, could give a crap. I'm just writing everything you are reading now to justify my posting of awesome gore shots from my current movie obsession CARL REINER's hilarious send up of not so modern education SUMMER SCHOOL!
That's right SUMMER SCHOOL! If you're asking yourself what the hell is a comedy like SUMMER SCHOOL doing on Kindertrauma well, have fun asking yourself that and let me know how that works out for you. I'm just writing about SUMMER SCHOOL because I love it and I love the characters of Chainsaw and Dave who just happen to be big time horror movie fans and adore THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE specifically. Plus, don't you know that SUMMER SCHOOL (pronounced "Summa Skule") stars SHAWNEE SMITH (1988's THE BLOB), DEAN CAMERON (BAD DREAMS), KELLY JO MINTER (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: THE DREAM CHILD) and features songs from sexy kinder-babe E.G DAILY (BAD DREAMS, ONE DARK NIGHT)? So here's to SUMMER SCHOOL and now lets take a look at those gore shots….
Pretty disgusting, huh? Boy this is a pretty lame post. How can I turn it around? I know, I'll make it a highfalutin list! We all love lists, right? Be they grocery, shit or even HALL & OATES' famous list of the best things in life (Your kiss is on that one!) Let's make a list of horror films that feature horror fans as characters shall we?
So what says yooze guys? Can you think of any more movies, horror or otherwise, that feature horror fans as characters? Contrary to popular belief, my brain can't come up with everything! Help an Unkle out! Remember, mind over matter!
Our buddy the ever-brilliant Arbogast (pictured above) of the incomparable ARBOGAST ON FILM was kind enough to bestow upon Kindertrauma a Premio Dardo Award. That's when you pick five fellow bloggers that you think don't stink and actually rule and tell everybody to go visit them A.S.A.P. Afterward the five you chose have to pick five of their own and so on and so on until who knows what happens. So in accordance with these rules here are five blogs that we love to death and think are deserving of the Premio Dardo Award as well….
DINER WITH MAX JENKE
Jeff Allard's lifelong commitment to horror is evident in everything he writes. This guy is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge and never fails to fascinate us with his insights. Currently he is doing a countdown of all the FRIDAY THE 13th films, so get there right quick if you know what's good for you!
SLASHER SPEAK
Speaking of the wise and knowledgeable Vince Liaguno knows his slasher flicks and adores the leading ladies that sometimes survive them. He's even written a book of fiction called THE LITERARY SIX which utilizes slasher themes, but takes them in directions you might never predict. If you are a fan of classic eighties slasher horror you'll feel right at home at Vince's pad.
MADE FOR T.V. MAYHEM
Second only to MEREDITH BAXTER-BIRNEY, Amanda By Night is the undisputed queen of the made-for-television movie. She's often bringing up stuff that I have never even heard of and I'm always amazed at how much she knows. She writes for just about everybody cool (Retro Slashers, Horror Yearbook and Pretty Scary), but MADE FOR T.V. MAYHEM is her super entertaining home base. If you feel like you've seen it all, stop by her joint and let her school you!
AWESOMENESS FOR AWESOME'S SAKE
He's often times not safe for work and he's not the type of guy you can bring home to mother, but if loving Mr.Canacorn is wrong neither myself or Aunt John want to be right. Who can turn the world on with a mustachioed smile? Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem so fricking awesome? Well it's Mr.Canacorn and you should know it! He's not right in the head, but if you've got the nerve he's got the verve. Awesomeness is just plain AWESOME!
FILM FATHER
Film Father is one of our favorite people out there and his site pretty much rules. Here is a review site that looks at films from a parental perspective and sometimes offers guidelines about what may be suitable for kids. It almost seems the polar opposite of Kindertrauma, but really it's not. In fact, now that his kid Dash is helping out with the reviews you can get a kid's point of view as it happens! How cool is that? It's not all greasy kid stuff though, FilmFather is an avid movie buff and his reviews of non-kiddie fare are some of the best out there, so EVERYBODY should check him out!
Yesterday saw the release of a special edition DVD of the 1981 slasher favorite MY BLOODY VALENTINE. Included on the disc are two versions of the film, the theatrical release you know and love and an unedited version complete with bloody graphic scenes that were previously edited out. My first encounter with VALENTINE was in the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine around the time of its initial release. The impressive stills I first viewed had me jumping at the bit as I waited in anticipation for its release. Not being of age to see R-rated movies in the theater quite yet, I was doomed to wait for its VHS release to finally catch up with it. As impressed with the movie as I was at the time, I do remember being equally disappointed that several scenes that I had spied in FAMOUS MONSTERS were nowhere to be found. It turned out that the original cut of the film had received an X-rating due to a strong anti-violence backlash that was sweeping through the M.P.A.A. at the time. For years (nearly three decades) I had dreamt of getting to see this underrated gem in its full gory glory and yesterday those dreams came true.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the horror DVD release of the year bar none. I might be an obsessive fanatic but I know what I like. In some ways MY BLOODY VALENTINE perfectly epitomizes the slasher trends popular at the time, but no matter how faithfully it might follow the trail of those then current trends it has a spirit and an atmosphere unquestionably its own. Taking on romantic situations where nobody wins and focusing on dead end jobs in a town whose best days are in the rearview mirror, M.B.V., when compared to many of its peers, comes off as sullenly thoughtful. There are some glimpses of levity but the constant cold, gray sky most definitely has the final word. Harry Warden, the legendary killer who haunts the town of Valentine's Bluff might be a maniac, but he's a rather tragic figure too. In a way I think Harry has a right to be disgruntled considering all that he has endured due to his crappy job. Maybe he's correct in pointing out to the rest of the going nowhere locals that they have absolutely no reason to be throwing parties. (Of course one should find more productive ways of expressing oneself than with a pickaxe.)
The vicious mayhem revealed in the extended cut is pretty damn amazing. Not only is it a lot of fun for fans of gore, but the added bits help the movie move forward in a way that makes more sense. Some of the scenes were rendered so choppy in the theatrical release that it obscured important elements and, thankfully, that is no longer an issue. A couple of these kills, merely serviceable before, I would now count among the best in slasher history. The film quality of some of the reinserted scenes is less than pristine, but frankly, to me, that is like complaining about ED McMAHON's penmanship on a Publisher's Clearing House check.
There is no question in my mind that if this version were the one to have been released in 1981, MY BLOODY VALENTINE would be called simply a classic rather than a "cult" classic by now. I plan to be first in line to see the 3-D remake on opening day. Honestly I would be there anyway, but at this point I'd also just like to thank LIONSGATE with my hardly earned cash for making this special edition DVD possible. Rather than simply robbing this classic of its title and dumping a mall turd into theaters, they went that extra mile and did genre fan's a real solid. No matter the quality of Harry's new incarnation I gotta give thanks to LIONSGATE for having such heart. I don't care how many times you have seen this movie before, if you have not seen the special edition get thee to Amazon at once. Until you have witnessed the infamous shower head scene in all its brutality, you have not yet met the real Harry Warden.