Some fantastic Daniel Björk horror book covers

I love these with my whole heart! hehehehe.  Fantastic work by Daniel Björk

THE BOOGIEMAN: The REAL Ending

The house was a mess, but that wasn’t what came to mind at first glance. There were other things that were far more noticeable.

Like the fact that there was blood everywhere. Blood on the floor, the walls – hell, there was even blood on the ceiling. Bits of gore clung to the curtains in the living room and more covered the walls of the kitchen.

A priest clutching a cross lay dead on the floor. He had three knives, two forks and a cleaver stuck in his back. That brought the body count up to three if you counted the two old folks in the barn – one strangled with a hose and the other pinned by his neck about thirteen feet in the air with a pitchfork.

Sheriff Cooper shoved his hat back on his head and narrowed his eyes. “So, you’re telling me that this was all done by…a ghost?”

“Evil spirit, really. Of my mothers dead lovers.” The dark haired woman sat next to her brother and husband – evidently the last survivors of this attack of evil.

The Sheriff looked over at the two deputies and noted that they were still resting their hands on the butt ends of their guns, then retuned his gaze back to the trio. “So, this ex-lover was killed by your brother?”

“When I was nine.” The blonde man in overalls nodded.

“Riiiight.” Cooper nodded in return. “And, his spirit went into a mirror?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true, Sir. My wife and her brother were tormented as children, he was tied up by their mother’s lover, my wife cut him free, then her brother used the knife to kill the lover.” He held out his hand. “We went to her old house and that’s when she saw the evil spirit in the mirror. She broke it, I brought it back here, and he came back to life when I pieced the shards back together.” Concern crossed his face.

“And, his spirit was banished when we dropped the mirror into the well.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Where it exploded?”

“Yes, Sir.” The woman stared with teary eyes.

Sheriff Cooper adjusted his hat again. “Ok…let’s get back to Father Mark.” He pointed to the priest on the floor. “The evil spirit did this?”

“Yes, Sir. After Father Mark tried to release it with the cross.”

“And, the evil spirit shoved all those into him?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I see.” He pursed his lips. “And your ma’ and pa’ in the barn?”

“The spirit did that, too.” The woman started to stand, but Cooper waved her down and she slumped back into her seat. The two deputies slowly slide their half drawn guns back down into their holsters.

“Now, that we dropped the mirror into the well, the evil spirit is gone.” The brother smiled wide. “We’re free of him, see?”

“Sure, son. I see.” Sheriff Cooper smiled and nodded to his deputies. They moved forward and handcuffed the two men as Cooper himself handcuffed the woman.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?”

The true ending of the movie THE BOOGIEMAN if it were a real event. In the movie, many people were killed, they get rid of a evil spirit, but I thought, “What about all the dead people? How the HELL did they explain them all away?” Just thought it was funny that they had NO problem dealing with the fact that there were bodies all over the farm they lived on! ☺

The Night of the Virgin

THE NIGHT OF THE VIRGIN  ((La noche del virgen (original title)) is a wild, wild ride. Director Roberto San Sebastián and writer Guillermo Guerrero really hit a home run with this horror comedy playing on SHUDDER at the time of this posting. Man...I love SHUDDER! :)

It's a story told in basically one location. Poor Noco (Javier Bódalo) is stuck at a club alone on New Years Eve. His hopes of "hooking up" for the new year are a mere countdown away from never happening. But then he sees Medea (Miriam Martín) and things start to look up. Sure, she's older than him, but she has a great body and....well....she's looking right at him.
They go back to her place and that's where we're going to camp out for the rest of the film. Medea's apartment is a wreck. Dirty, filled with roaches, and horrid. Medea herself seems to be running hot and cold - being sweet to Nico one moment, then being harsh with him the next. But, poor Nico is still hanging in there for the promised sexual encounter, no matter how horrible the apartment or Medea's actions.
But, what is it that Medea really wants from him? And, will her boyfriend, "Spider" (Víctor Amilibia) eventually get through the front door to kill poor Nico?

The film hits on all cylinders. When SHUDDER and the viewers there were talking about how disturbing and gross it was, I had to roll my eyes. I mean, horror folks here this kinda crap all the time. "It was SO GROSS that people left the theater.....passed out....threatened to take the makers to court!" Most of the time, this is far from the case for a horror movie lover. We've usually seen it done before - more often than not done better as well. But, this film delivers. It does get pretty gross.

I believe the comedy elements work really well, even if you're not usually a lover of foreign comedy. They are simple, cute, and sometimes painful.  Javier Bódalo is a show stealer with his wild teeth and crazy facial expressions and motions. The physical humor is hilarious as well as we watch our hero get battered and abused on screen. As the action ratchets up, so did my laughter and mutterings of, "Ok...yeah...that's really gross!" while I laughed and winced at the same time.

This is a slow burn, but it's SO worth a viddy. It's a funny and gross journey you'll really dig.

The trailer isn't TOO spoilery, but I'd probably aim to watch the film without looking at the trailer. That being said, the trailer is a fun edit! :) 

Live Evil

HOT DAMN, I loved this movie! heheheheh   It's just a ton of fun.

Let's start off with the bad and get it out of the way. The film's ending came on rather abruptly and was not as strong as I had hoped it would be. It was solid, but just not as dazzling as the rest of the film. Now that that's done....

Deputy Hancock is due to pack it in for the night on Halloween, but one more call sends her to a mansion where someone....or something...very evil is. When she brings it back to the station, everyone there seems to see some "BIG BAD" from their past in Hancock's prisoner and they want to blow it away. They finally get a hold on the situation, but what are their small forces able to do against....Evil? Deputy Hancock and Sheriff Pete need to figure something out before time runs out on the world.

I'll say no more about the plot. :::grin:::

Like I said, this film is a ton of fun and a great watch. It's set to be released on AMAZON October 31st and I think it'd be a great Halloween Eve watch. Wish they released it sooner, really, but....what'r'ya gonna do?  The film has great dialog, fab music, and a peppy pace. A majority if it is presented in black and white with these fun, full color vision scenes mixed in that I loved. They also have a few comedy elements that play rather well for the most part. It's a tricky one - they play around with various horror elements and the humor has a placement that is more natural than forced. Hard to do that successfully with smaller films.

I believe that one of the main reasons the film works so well is the actors attached to it. They are all super capable and help to get the viewer invested in the film. Bad acting or a bad script can kill a film in minutes. (As I found out with another film earlier today....whew.)  Everyone in LIVE EVIL carried their own and really came off as believable.  Charlene Amoia's portrayal of Hancock could have sunk the whole venture if she came off as cardboard, but she was far from that. She was spunky, sure of herself, and tough without coming off as "I'm putting on my MAN costume and being tough."  Prague born Vladimir Kulich was fab as the Sheriff as well - again, for from a caricature.

LIVE EVIL had an Italian horror feel to me - like a take on Fulci's THE BEYOND. It had a great look and feel to it that seemed well thought out and which worked within the budget they had without over extending itself. For instance, there are masks used in the film which can be a bit distracting and..."meh". But, here they dolled things up and made the masks the overall stylistic look for the dead in the film, spicing things up with some visual effects work that was well executed. As a matter of fact, the visual effects bits were friggin spot on. Glowing eyes, muzzle flashes, strange dreamy sequences, and general "spice" peppered in perfectly. And, just when you think you've seen all the visual nuggets they have to offer, they switch things up and add some other cool scene that does another series of cool effects visuals.
 

I clapped and said, "HA! I love this F#$%*&^ film!" out loud. (Sadly...all by myself, as usual.)

There was a nice little Day of the DEAD reference in here as well that I smiled a big, wide smile at. Very cute.

And...TONY TODD!  Yeah, you can never have enough of Mr. Todd.

I'll be owning this film in the near future. I want to support this effort from Ari Kirschenbaum and Team. Kirschenbaum's writing and directing was a ton of fun and I want to see more.



Now...odd thing about this film. I think it might have been held in some sort of HORROR GULAG - IMDB has it listed as a 2015 film. However, we all know this can happen for sure. (TRICK 'R TREAT) I really should set up and interview - I'm just at a loss as to what I'd actually ask. I don't want to get on a call and just gush about how much I love someone's movie. While I'm sure they wouldn't mind hearing it, it's probably not the best use of their time. Heh.

I've seen a bunch of screeners over the past few months and this has to be one of my A LIST picks for sure. I highly recommend that you grab a few friends and give this a viddy this Halloween! 

Circus Kane

Circus Kane, on DVD October 10, 2017

CIRCUS KANE is one hell of an ambitious film that took me back to the classic 80s horror days of my youth. A group of seemingly random people are selected to be part of a contest. The winner receives $250,000 and they all could use it. But, will they survive Balthazar Kane's new attraction long enough to win?










I had a lot of fun with this film. It never really takes itself too seriously as the characters move through the tricks and trappings of Kane's fun house. There are some snappy bits of dialogue that are fired off rather well and some genuinely interesting little puzzles and scenes. If anything, I think the film could have been a bit darker with a little more light modeling to help mask the lower budget a bit, but even that had a kind of charm that made the film even more endearing. I could also see a bit of a Rob Zombie nod in a few places, but it wasn't a direct copy, just added a little Zombie spice here and there.

Don't roll into this film thinking you are going to be seeing a Rob Zombie cash film, however. This is fun, lower budget fair and I think thy do a great job with it. Christopher Ray's direction is interesting and entertaining and Tim Abell is a lot of fun to watch as Kane. The whole cast works well, too. Looking back on other films in this category, the acting can be...oh so painful. (Unless it's REALLY bad, then it can be fun) These folks do a good job selling their roles and it adds to the overall sense of fun the film presents.  

You can tell the team behind the film had a good time making Circus Kane - the fun is there on the screen. There are some cool set pieces and gags in here that I found to be highly entertaining. It's fun seeing some more playful horror ventures in the genre.

Grab a beverage, pop up some popcorn, and give this film a go. It's a fun ride.

From the Press Kit:

"Step…right…UP!" (Horror Fuel) and grab yourself a copy of the IT movie of the year, with a DVD that includes a funtastic audio commentary and splatteriffic outtakes.  
 

Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire), Mark Christopher Lawrence (Cooties) and Tim Abell (Sniper : Special Ops) head up the cast of Christopher Douglas Olen-Ray's Circus Kane, "one of those midnightfilms that will bring you back to the days of your youth and trips to the circus, minus all the bloodshed and killer mimes" (Dread Central).

The notorious and disgraced circus master, Balthazar Kane, invites an unsuspecting group of social media stars to the revival of his CIRCUS KANE by promising $250,000 to any of them who can make it through the night. Kane’s true plan quickly proves to be far more sinister as the contestants realize more than money is on the line. The group must fight for their lives to escape Kane’s demented house of horrors.

Circus Kane, on DVD October 10.

 

Cute Little Buggers

I was passed a CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS screener today and I gave it a watch at once. I had seen a teaser and few articles on it and then it dropped off my radar. When I saw the screener link roll in, I was super excited. Now, before I really get rolling, I'm going to address the elephants in the room.

• This is a low budget film. Relatively, of course. I just saw a short with the budget of $25, so....

• This does have some rather dodgy 3D in it. Some bits more wonky than others. I mean...we're dealing with CGI rabbits on a low budget. But, even though it may not be "A List", it was solid.

• Lastly, we have almost a full ADR dubbing situation. Some of it comes off as odd, but seeing as I'm a huge giallo fan, I was over that within 10 minutes.

But, none of that matters in the long run.

Tony Jopia, Garry Charles, Andy Davie, Kristofer Dayne, and the cast and crew of CUTE LITTLE BUGGERS have managed to do something highly entertaining and fun here. That means a lot to someone who was a teen horror lover in the 80s. Their press kit was saying that this is "Hot Fuzz meets Gremlins", but - while those ARE fun films, I'm going to give this film an even bigger complement. This totally reminds me of the fun I had watching the awesome Peter Jackson work of the 80s and 90s with films like MEET THE FEEBLES, BRAIN DEAD and BAD TASTE.  It's wacky, silly, funny, and a bloody good time.

The plot is throwback as well. Aliens are using our women to breed. And, what better tool to use as a hunter / gatherer for said women than...rabbits. The rabbits are altered to become fierce creatures of death that the aliens use to drag women back to their breeding chamber and to defend. When the towns folk find out what's happening, they have to fight back to save their women...and their world!

I had a blast watching this. It's just a lot of fun all around. While the budget might have been low on this, it had a ton of things going for it that elevated it immensely. At the base, of things the writing was lively and highly entertaining. The overall look and feel of the film was very professional and far better than many indy films I've seen. It was clear that the filmmakers knew what they were doing. The lighting and camerawork were grand.

The 3D in the film was ambitious and totally got the job done. The 3D and effects production teams were doing a lot of work here and it shows. I was watching the film and trying to think of just how long the effects production work took seeing all the shots that had some sort of 3D or post effects work done on them. I believe the aliens had post work done on their eyes and tongues, ALL the rabbits....so many rabbits...moving around and attacking. But, the thing that I found to be the most fun about this was the CG gore.

I'm not usually a computer gore fan. Blood sprays that used to be done with squibs back in the day were far more visceral and real than 75% of the CGI stuff we are seeing today. When used sparingly, computer generated gore and blood can be a big help. (see Greg Nicotero and Team's WALKING DEAD work)  What I loved about the use of computer aided nastiness here is the fact that they didn't dabble.



It's like they just said, "Ok...we have rabbits whose heads split open with tentacles attacking humans. Let's go big!" And big they go. Blood sprays, limbs are ripped from bodies, and deadly rabbits fly!

The characters were a hoot as well. Over the top caricatures of small town residents were in abundance from the slightly bumbling police officer, to the crazy old folks, to the wondrous Caroline Munro appearance as Mystic Mary. This really had a BRAIN DEAD feel for me because I love over the top characters being alive, energetic, and invested in films. You could tell that these folks were not just phoning it in. They were going above and beyond and they were having fun doing it.

 And, while I'm chatting this film up, I have to mention the women. :::swoon::: While they are not going to be seeing a passing grade on the Bechdel test, they are taking things back to the 80s here again with the amount of beautiful women finding various ways to "get their kit off" as they say.  It's comical in it's own right and really did remind me of 80s movies. Shirts were flying.



This film managed to entertain me, but it also did more than that. It provided some genuine laugh out loud moments that had me giggling and chuckling at all over the place. By the end of the film, I found myself being very surprised and just how much I was laughing and how I wasn't doing my usual indy film groan & eye-roll ® combination. A refreshing treat!

You're going to want to down this as soon as it comes out. Get some food and beverages, gather your friends round the TV, and prepare to have a silly good time!

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