I'm a huge fan of these BBC documentaries. Horror docs in general are very interesting with their inside looks at the genre and this one is one of the best I've seen. It's a look at Euro Horror that covers a little on the Directors and world events that helped shape European horror cinema.
Published on Nov 6, 2012
"Following his acclaimed 2010 BBC Four series A History Of Horror, Mark turns to explore the story of European horror, looking at how the genre came to reflect the continent's turbulent 20th century.
Mark Gatiss said: "What fascinates me about the story of European Horror is its sheer diversity, the sense that there's a parallel, but entirely separate story to the English language one.
"Europe is so much the home of Horror, with its myths of vampires, werewolves, witchcraft and the undead, yet it's like those myths were exported to Hollywood, leaving Europe the room to develop a new tradition as a way of processing its traumas, particularly the two world wars."
I think this is fantastic! Topical horror and humor come together to help a great cause. The edits are great and the effects and direction are grand. They have some nice behind the scenes footage and making of material on their site as well. http://www.theundeading.ca/
I think this is a great use of the drastically overplayed zombie genre to serve good instead of the evils of corporate greed and film studio pockets! :)
I was sitting here watching television when a commercial came on for THE TWILIGHT ZONE. My wife, mother-in-law and I talked about how great the show was and how amazing Rod Serling was as a creator and innovator of the television medium.
Writer, producer, novelist, actor and more, Serling was a fantastic influence on television and the art of storytelling.A paratrooper in the Philippians in the 40s, Serling lived through the war and survived to move on to radio and slid into the ground floor of television. He carved out a little spot for himself in Kraft Television Theater and onward and upward from there.
In 1959, Serling spearheaded THE TWILIGHT ZONE. His first series was a success and went on for five seasons. Science Fiction and Fantasy filled the ZONE with fantastic flights of fancy from some of the best writers in the industry at the time including Serling himself. Eventually, he ended up selling the series to CBS due to the fact that he wasn't able to consistently make money on the project. He wanted his own studio and production company and was willing to give up THE TWILIGHT ZONE to get it.
In 1969, THE NIGHT GALLERY was born. Evidently, he gave up much of the creative control to Jack Laird and regretted it later. However, it was worth it. The Night Gallery was a fantastic dive into a darker realm than the Twilight Zone lived in. The Night Gallery was creepy, full of shadows and scary. Again, Serling penned over a third of the stories himself, but also had the cream of the crop writing for him as well.
Serling returned to radio in 1973 to host The Zero Hour - a radio drama program that featured tales of mystery, suspense and adventure. He even wrote some of the scripts. You can still listen to the show in podcast form, though the quality is a bit dodgy.
Serling was involved in a lot more than writing and feature creation. He was an activist and a go getter. He was anti-war and pro racial equality. But, you can look all of that up on the WIKI.
Serling was an amazing thinker who was ahead of his time in many ways. People aim for innovative television series' like The Twilight Zone and The Night Gallery today and, while there are some great shows being produced, they don't break ground like Serling broke in the 50s, 60s and 70s. If death did not take him at age 50, he might have gone on to produce more amazing work in the 80s and 90s. Sadly, we'll never know.
I would have loved a paring of Serling and King or Serling and Clive Barker somehow. Something deep and dark and hard hitting.
Today's J.J Abrams types are fantastic, but much of the ground that they walk on is pathed by the likes of the genius, talent and exploration of Mr. Rod Serling.
A WONDROUS advert for XXL: ALL SPORTS UNITED.
I've seen my fair share of cool, zombie related stuff, but this is really high up there on the cool list.
The final scene is GRAND!
GO NORWEGIANS! Give us a good zombie movie like this! :)
From the WIKI
"Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish bad children during the Christmas season, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards nice ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his lair.
Krampus is represented as a beast-like creature, generally demonic in appearance. The creature has roots in Germanic folklore. Traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus in Austria, southern Bavaria, South Tyrol, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia during the first week of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December, and roam the streets frightening children with rusty chains and bells. Krampus is featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten. There are many names for Krampus, as well as many regional variations in portrayal and celebration."
In short - HOLY CRAP! What better way to get your kids to behave than this sort of imagery?! Just tack a few of these Holiday Cards up around your home, point to them and say, "Yeah, keep misbehaving. Just keep it up."
Taking place in a single Victorian house during
an indeterminable time period, I AM A GHOST is a supernatural mystery
that explores identity mixing experimental non-linear filmmaking with
classic haunted house spookiness.
EMILY (Anna Ishida), a troubled spirit, haunts her own house every
day, wondering why she can't leave. With the help of SYLVIA (Jeannie
Barroga), a clairvoyant hired to rid the house of spirits, Emily is
forced into a 'patient/therapist' relationship, uncovering disturbing
mysteries about her past that may help her move on to 'the next place'. Spooky, atmospheric and experimental, I AM A GHOST is the second
narrative feature from H.P. Mendoza (writer of COLMA: THE MUSICAL and
director of FRUIT FLY).
I was reading a book to my daughter before she was heading off to bed. I was reading along and something struck me. I had seen something like this before, but where? Suddenly, a little giggle ran through me as the books images sunk in.
The dark haired girl. Dancing. Ballet school. It was the Dario Argento classic Suspiria. I had to take some quick snaps and doctor it up later.
Here is a bit of Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA...for Children. :)
I saw the cover at for this film and kept scrolling through the Netflix list passing it by with a smirk. Jessica Biel looking all worried. Figure behind her. I thought it was going to be another UNBORN disaster and didn't even want to fast forward through it to see the inevitable bad 3D scares it was going to have.
This film was a lot of fun and had a lot of substance to it. One can not go too far into it without giving things away. Suffice it to say that Biel plays a doctor (nurse, really) in a small, dying town. The mine has closed and the residents sit and wait for their lives to pass. It's a sad state of being where hope is just gone. To make things worse, there is something taking the children of the town. The Tall Man.
Still not sold? What if I were to tell you that this was directed by Pascal Laugier? You know, the Director of MARTYRS. Oh, NOW I have your attention? :) Now, I'll give you a heads up there - this isn't MARTYRS 2 and things never really reach Martyrs levels of...F'd-Up-Ness, for lack of a better term. But, you can see the style in there. The attention to detail. The focus on the scene and what's important within that scene. There are no wasted moves there and I appreciate it! And, the man knows how to write. This film has a strong story that really gripped me and shook me up a little. Another film that found me talking to the screen saying, "Wait...WHAT?!"
This is a smart and interesting thriller. One you will most likely enjoy. If you seek it out, let me know what you think!
I finally saw 2010's Stake Land and thought to myself, "Man! WHY did I wait so long to see this movie?!" It was great. Really, that's the review in a nutshell - GREAT!
The "real world" vampire film tells the story of Martin, a teen whose whole family is wiped out during the vampocalypes. He's saved by the vampire hunter "Mister" and is trained in the art of vampire killing. A road movie and buddy movie set in a world where the vampire virus has taken control. Sure, that's bad, but the backlash of religious cult leaders like Jebedia Loven may be even worse.
Connor Paolo (Martin), Michael Cerveris (Loven) and Nick Damici (Mister) do some great work in this film. Kelly "Comback" McGillis graces the screen with her presence and it's a sight to behold. She is grand and I'm glad she's doing more genre stuff - she's good at it. And, Danielle Harris has managed to wriggle her cute little self back into my good graces. :::grin::: After hearing an interview, I was a little bothered by her. It's irrational, of course, but.... So, I saw her and narrowed my eyes waiting to be really bothered. But, it turns out that she did a great job as well and I didn't find her annoying in the slightest. I'll have to revisit some of her other works now that the spell is broken.
I like Jim Mickle as a Director as well. MULLBERY STREET was a lot of fun as well and it's fun to see the progression of his work and art.
The film hits a level that I really love - the "real world" level I spoke about above. It's the same thing that 30 Days of Night did. No, I'm not going to rant about sparklepires or things of that nature. I was going to mention the real world horror styles that make things a little more interesting. It's something people can relate to. What if scenarios that look realistic and not filmic. 28 Days Later instead of Zombieland. Colin instead of Dawn of the Dead. Of course, it's not to say that the film-style versions of these films are not good. They just look more like films and have scenes that are more film style that something you may see in the real world. I loved the approach Stake Land took, showing the vampires as diseased and animalistic with a drive to devour. Fun stuff.
If you have not already seen Stake Land, jump on it. It's rather fantastic. I wish more films like this had a broader release on more screens. Available on Netflix streaming at the time of this posting.
There are times where I feel so out of touch. This is one of those times. I remember seeing this teaser ages ago and now during a random search I see that the film came and went this year? Really? Did anyone know? Did anyone see it?
Evidently, it opened in the UK and is rolling, but I have not heard much about it. DREAD CENTRAL has the UK dates up and a new trailer. I have to say, it doesn't look very promising which means they might not be able to break the DAY OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D curse.
At least we still have the awesome BUNNY VERSION to fall back on! :)
So, it looks like [REC]4 might be dropping us back into the storyline of the apartment complex again. I've yet to see [REC]3 - it looks great, but people don't seem to be too thrilled with it. At least I have not heard the same kind of buzz about it that the first two had.
[REC] 1 and 2 had a flow and a tight story that - if you could stand 3.5 hours or so of hand held camerawork - could be watched together to form a long form horror epic that would knock your socks off. It would be cool to do some sort of follow up story to seal the deal.
Or, maybe the first two should have been it and everything after should be forgotten? PARANORMAL ACTIVITY sort of drove itself into the ground as did the FINAL DESTINATION franchise, though I heard the last one filled the series with more life...so to speak. :)
What are your thoughts? Let us know!
INTERNATIONAL TRAILER (Contains scenes from [REC]1&2 with spoilers)
Well, THE SLEEPOVER is a fantastic short. It's well shot, the acting isn't bad and the story is a lot of fun. My one gripe is that it might have benefited from a little tightening up around the edges, but this is in NO WAY a dig at the overall production. It's fantastic and really dark.
From the VIMEO site: 2012 Official Selection of Fantastic Fest, Shriekfest, Knoxville Horror Fest, Vassar FilmFest, and winner of "The Cabin In the Woods"/Lionsgate/Vimeo contest! THE SLEEPOVER is a proof-of-concept for a feature film about a town living "between the sequels" of its infamous masked killer. Please support us and stay in touch by liking us on Facebook ( facebook.com/thesleepoverfilm ) or following along on Twitter @DerryMASK
I just revisited Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight and I'm so glad that I did!
Heather Wixson (@thehorrorchick) was talking about how good it was via Twitter and I had a vague memory of the film, but couldn't really remember it. I looked it up on my best friend NETFLIX and saw that they had it streaming, so I dug into it and had a LOT of fun with it.
Demon Knight is one of those strange films that looks slightly wonky on paper. The battle of Good and Evil as they fight over the last key - filled with the blood of Jesus - that demons can use to focus the power of the Cosmos.
What?! Never mind that - it really doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett (Smith), Thomas Haden Church, CCH Pounder and THE DICK MILLER all star in this film and that it delivers up some great, 1995 comedic horror. Zane is fun and over the top as The Collector. It's some of the more fun Zane stuff. That cool, suave asshole character that he's so good at.
The film is packed with demon possession, "state of the art" effects and some great "trapped in a house" action. The practical effects work was pretty good, too. the Tales from the Crypt wrapper story is fun, too. The Crypt Keeper is allowed a little more screen time and presence and it works to "seal the deal" and make it very Tales feeling.
The history of the film was interesting as well. In a nutshell, the original script was written in 1987 and was going to be directed by Tom (Child's Play) Holland, but he got called off to direct the Fatal Beauty flop. Another draft was written by Mark (Pumpkinhead) Carducci and that was going to be directed by Mary (Pet Semetary) Lambert, however when Pet Semetary II came and failed, people didn't want to back the film and it submerged again. Finally, Joel Silver and Silver Pictures snagged it and opted for a three movie TALES spin - Demon Knight, Bordello of Blood and Ritual (released without the TALES tag with it).
Demon Knight even had two options for plot based on budgets - one with and one without monster demons. Version one would have a bible salesman "Collector" character who would have minions in black suits and sunglasses (See: The 90s) and those minions would later be revealed to be the demons in question. Yes, I thought that sounded horrid as well. I'm glad they went with option two with real monster demons stomping around and demon possessions popping!
This is cult goodness, really. It has a horrid rating and critics tend to bash it, but I found it did everything it set out to do. It had some giggles, some blood and a lot of good, demon fun. Check it!
Artist Jordu Schell creates some amazing sculptures and his work comes alive in some truly creepy ways. The Schell Studio has been kicking out creatures and visions for over ten years for everything from AVATAR to RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD to STAR TREK. The dynamic range of the work is fantastic.
Artist Mark Powell creates some truly creepy and wild miniatures. These mini nightmares are fantastic, creepy and cool. They seem like H. R. Giger meets Silent Hill - the stuff that tends to haunt you after you see it. And, the stuff you would never really want to be a part of if it were real.
