|
6-28-09 UPDATING HARDWARE
We didn't get the update done that we had originally planned
this weekend, mainly due to the fact that we were switching over to a new
computer. Our last one, which was a whopping 6 years old, was about ready
to kick the bucket. So we decided we better replace it while we can still
access some of our saved files and programs. So we have spent most of the
weekend doing just that. But we do have a few things here to make your
stop worth while. At least we hope so.
 DAYBREAKERS NEWS
Back in 2003, two brothers from Australia made an impressive
zombie movie with hardly no money. That film was Undead. And since
then, Peter and Michael Spierig have been working on their next feature,
Daybreakers. And now it is finally finished and will be opening up next
January. Once again, the look of their film is amazing. I'm sure
they had much more money than their first film, but this still looks much, much
bigger. The story concerns a future when there are most vampires in the
world than humans. In fact, the human race is dying out, which is going to
cause a problem for the vampires who need their blood to survive.
With an all-star cast including Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Defoe, this
looks to be pretty interesting.
You can click
HERE to
check out the trailer on YouTube and see what you think.
CHICAGO HORROR EVENTS
We have updated our Chicago
Horror Page that has several movie events and festivals happening next
month. So make sure you head over to there and mark your calendar for
those. Maybe we'll see you there.
SURVEILLANCE HITS DVD
Another film that looks pretty interesting is by Jennifer
Lynch, daughter of David. The film stars Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, Pell
James, French Stewart, and genre icon Michael Ironside. The DVD comes out
this Tuesday and promises to give the viewer one hell of a twisted ride.
You can check out the trailer on YouTube by clicking
HERE.
NEW REVIEW
We have posted our review of the new film Homecoming, that
opens in theaters July 17th. Head over to our
Reviews section to see what our take on it is.
FANEX FILES: A HISTORY OF
FANTASTIC FILMS
Coming soon from Alpha Video, there will be a series of DVD
documentaries that go through the history of Fantastic Films, with interviews
with stars & directors, as well as fans, critics and other film scholars.
They start with the silent films, moving through the Universal classics, giving
us fans a look at these great and memorable films. Of course, we were
involved with these to a degree, but we still think they are fun and interesting
to watch. Any fans of the horror and sci-fi genre will enjoy seeing the
clips and interviews from some of their favorite stars.
You can check out the trailer on YouTube by clicking
HERE.
Stay tuned for more information.
MYSTERY PHOTO
Got a few responses this time out for our last photo. Even though it was
easier than the last one, it was still a tough one since there a few movies that
have similar shots of people being burned to death....usually witches. The
shot is from Michael Reeves unforgettable film Witchfinder General,
starring Vincent Price in one of his most memorable roles. Kudos out to
Kristin Wicks, Gert Verbeeck, Hoby Abernathy, Aaron Christensen, and Will Wilson for sending in the right
answers.
So check out our latest photo and see if you can get this
one. But make sure you think a bit before you send in your first thought.
It's kind of a trick one. We want to keep that gray matter working over
the summer. As they say, no rest of the wicked! As always, just
click HERE to
send us your answer. Good luck!
6-21-09 DRIVE-IN
SUPER MONSTER-RAMA
If you're are in the area of Vandergrift, PA, or are close
enough for a worth while road-trip, this September the Riverside Drive-In is
holding another amazing weekend of classic horror films on the big drive-in
screen. These are films that you probably won't have that many chances to
see on a big screen. I know if we were closer, we definitely would be
making the trip out for this and their amazing lineup. Here's what they
have scheduled:
On Friday, September 11th, they will be screening
Witchfinder General, Scream and Scream Again, The Crimson Cult, and
Terror-Creatures From The Grave. Then on Saturday the 12th, they will
be featuring an all Hammer lineup with these films: Vampire Lovers, The
7 Brothers Meet Dracula, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, and Vampire
Circus.
For more information, head over to DVD Drive-In by
clicking
HERE.
ELVIRA AT HORRORHOUND
The one and only Elvira has been added to the guest lineup
for the HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati this November. She will be
joining Michael Gross, Tom Savini, Richard Brooker, and many others. For
all the details, check out their website
HERE.
MYSTERY PHOTO
Well, I think I really delved too deep into the obscure for last week's photo.
We had no one with the correct answers, but with a few good guesses. The
shot was from the Spanish film Satan's Blood, released on DVD by Mondo
Macabre.
This week's photo should be a little easier, and from a film
that I hope everyone has seen at least once. Take a look and see what you
think. As always, click
HERE to send us
your answer.
NEW REVIEW
We've have a new review posted this week. It's for a
film called Night Train, starring Danny Glove, Steve Zahn, and Leelee Sobieski.
Head over to our Reviews section to check it out.
DVD NEWS
Probably one of the most sought-after movies to be released
to DVD, Fred Dekker's Night of the Creeps will finally be hitting DVD this fall.
And it looks like it's a special edition that is well worth waiting for.
The disc will be release on October 20th, and will feature two different
commentaries: one with director Dekker and one with actors Tom Atkins, Jill
Whitlow, Jason Lively, and Steve Marshall. There will also be several
featurettes about the making of the film, the cast, the special make up effects,
as well as deleted scenes, a look at post-production and much more, including
the original theatrical ending of the film.
We're very excited to see this film get the special edition
treatment that it rightly deserves. And I know that if it wasn't for the
fans and other certain people in the DVD business that spend a lot of time
trying to convincing studios that this is needed, things like this would never
happen. So this is looking to be another great Halloween for DVD releases.
The classic horror fans will also be excited about Warner
Home Video releasing the "Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics" collection on
October 6th. The 2-disc set will feature 4 of the films that had not been
released before. We will get to see The Walking Dead (which will
feature commentary by Greg Mank), Frankenstein 1970 (which will feature
commentary by Charlotte Austin and Tom Weaver), You'll Find Out, and
Zombies on Broadway.
Any movie featuring Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi is not only
worth watching, but having in your collection.
 6-14-09 IT'S
SIR DRACULA NOW
Horror Icon Christopher Lee has been recently knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II. Lee is no stranger to horror fans, since it was his
performances of Dracula and the Frankenstein's tormented creature in Hammer
Studio's Horror of Dracula and Curse of Frankenstein, that helped
put the studio on the map. Lee would continue to play in horror films over
the years, which helped make him an international star. His roles in other
non-horror films, such as the James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun,
as well as roles in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and George
Lucas' Star Wars films, gave him even a more widespread notoriety.
Working on over 250 films and has been working in the business for over 60
years, is simple staggering. He is even currently in New Mexico filming a
new movie now.
We've always thought Lee was an exceptional actor, always
giving the screen a very powerful presence. But over the years, it seems
that Lee has been trying to rid the shadow of his Dracula. Hopefully has
come to accept this. I think the highest compliment an actor could ever
receive is to be remembered for a role that they did over 50 years.
 DEATHSCRIBE 2009
WildClaw Theatre has started taking submissions for this
year's DEATHSCRIBE 2009:
The Second Annual International Festival of Radio Horror
Play. Last years was a great success, so they are continuing that with
this year's festival. They are looking for 10 minute scripts that are
"scary, imaginative, chilling, intelligent, suspenseful, horrific, or downright
grotesque." The deadline for submissions is July 15th. The selected
radio plays will be performed by WildClaw members at the Music Box Theatre on
Monday, October 6th.
For more information and details about the festival, head
over to WildClaw's website by clicking
HERE.
NIGHTBREED UPDATE
It seems the this uncut footage that we're talking about is
not "seconds" like some uncut films have, but more than 44 minutes of extra
footage. According to the reports on Clive Barker's website, there is more
footage of the attack on Midian by the Sons of the Free, we see Narcisse get
decapitated, and also where Lori stabs herself and Boone bites her to save her,
and we even have some deleted stop motion footage!
That was the one thing I remember after seeing this film for
the first time is the amount of stuff they cut out from the original story,
Cabal. So it's going to be great to be able to actually see all of this
footage finally.
If you haven't gone over to Barker's site and signed the
petition, please do so now. We need all the support we can get to show the
studios that there is a demand for an uncut version of Nightbreed.
Just click
HERE
to add your support.
BLU-RAY EX-CLUSIONS!
I was reading some news about the upcoming DVD release of
Michael Dougherty's Trick 'R Treat film, coming to DVD this October.
According to Dougherty, “There will be a standard-edition DVD which will pretty
much just have the movie, and then the Blu-ray disc will have all the special
features, ’cause that’s the way things are moving these days." So in other
words, if you want to see any of the special features, you'll have to get the
Blu-Ray edition. That means that you'll obviously have to have a Blu-Ray
player, but that you'll also be spending more money on the disc. Blu-Ray
discs are typically $10 to $20 more than the standard disc.
Sure, we have not made the transition to Blu-Ray and at this
point, have no intention to. I just don't like the fact that it's
excluding shoppers from getting something UNLESS you convert to a higher priced
item. That's a bunch of hooey, if you ask me!
MYSTERY PHOTO
Last week's photo was a bit more for the fans of classic horrors. The
photo was from the 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray, which really is
a must see for all horror fans, or film fans in general. A great
adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel, starring Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders, Donna
Reed, and Angela Landsbury. Congrats to Hoby Abernathy, David Schmidt,
Dave Friedman, Charles M. Kline II, and Victor Ives. Job well done, folks.
So this time out, we're pulling out all the stops and are
really hoping to stump everyone. Just as a warning, this one's a tough
one. So give a gander, and if you think you know it, just click
HERE to send in
your best guess. As always, good luck!
DVD NEWS
First off, Phantasm 2 has finally gotten a release date for over here in the
States. On September 15th, you'll finally be able to get your copy of this
great sequel to one of the most original horror films made. No details on
what extras are going to be on the disc but hopefully it will be at least what
was on the UK release.
For Coffin Joe fans with region free players, on July 27th,
Anchor Bay UK will be releasing the new Coffin Joe movie, Embodiment of Evil,
along with the new Coffin Joe Box set. Embodiment is the 3rd movie of the
Coffin Joe trilogy that he started back in 1964 with At Midnight I'll Take
Your Soul, followed up with This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse in
1967 This film is in black and white, until Coffin Joe goes to Hell, where
the film switches to color for an even more surreal trip. And now, some
40+ years later, Coffin Joe returns to continue his reign of terror!
The box set will contain 8 of his movies: At
Midnight I'll Take Your Soul, This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse,
Awakening Of The Beast, End Of Man,
Strange Hostel Of Naked Pleasures, Hellish Flesh, Hallucinations
Of A Deranged Mind, and The Strange World of Coffin Joe.
There will also be a documentary on the man behind
Coffin Joe, José Mojica Marins. This explores the
life of this cult icon, featuring clips from his movies and interviews with the
director. Can't wait to see this one.
6-7-09
DON EDMONDS - REST IN PEACE
Last weekend, right after our last update, we learned
of the passing of Don Edmonds. Edmonds is most known in the horror / cult
genre for directing the first two films in the infamous Ilsa series ( Ilsa,
She Wolf of the SS - 1975 and Ilsa, Harem Keeper of Oil Sheiks -
1976). But Edmonds wasn't just a director, but a writer, producer, actor,
production manager, and even stunt coordinator. Even though we personally
are not huge fans of the Ilsa movies, we give him a credit for making a couple
of films that are still popular among us fans. That says a lot about a
filmmaker, to have their films still be watched and remembered close to 40 years
later. That also says a lot about horror fans keeping these films alive
and not forgotten.
We haven't heard the reasons behind his passing, but were
saddened by the news. We were lucky to have the chance to at least meet
him at one of the Cinema Wasteland shows a couple of years ago. Our
thoughts go out to his friends and family.
DAVID
CARRADINE - REST IN PEACE
This week we also lost a icon when it comes to cult films:
David Carradine. We'd rather not get into how he died since the thought of
Carradine having a rope tied to both heads....well frankly that
is even a little too disturbing for us. But we will remember him from all the fun
and cheesy movies that he was involved with, especially one of our favorites, Roger Corman's Death Race
2000. Long live Frankenstein!
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.
NEW REVIEW
We have another new review this week. This time out we
take a look at the new film Deadgirl. This is a twisted little story about
a couple of high school misfits who happened to find a dead naked woman chained
to bed in an abandoned mental hospital. But wait...she's not dead after
all....or is she?
Head over to our Reviews section to
check it out.
MYSTERY PHOTO
 Sure, we picked an easy photo this time out. But it was
kind of a test. We were just curious to see how many people would
send in their answers for an easy one like this. And it seems that there
were quite a few. We got responses from quite a few new names this
time out, which we were thrilled to see. That tells me that people
are looking, but just may not know the photo. But that's fine. It
just means that you've got an undiscovered film you can enjoy! But please,
don't be afraid to take a guess!
So kudos to all the winners this week: Hoby Abernathy,
Aaron Christensen, Kristen Pfeiffer, Andrew Janzen, Charles M. Kline II, Mike
Dudley, William Wilson, and Mike Shields. There might have been a couple
more names that either accidentally got lost or just never saved. So if
you did send it it and you're not listed, sorry about that.
The last photo was from the film that really is a classic,
Return of the Living Dead. Great movie. For our next photo, this
one might be a little tougher. Obviously, it is a little older of a film,
but let's hope we get a good response for this one as well. As usual, just
click HERE to
send us your answer.
 THE TRIBES OF THE
MOON NEED YOUR HELP!
We have seen this news bit on many other websites out there,
but feel that we also need to do our part to see this happen. After years
and years of rumors of an director's cut of Clive Barker's Nightbreed, it seems
like it could actually happen. Apparently the footage has been discovered.
But it seems that the studio executives just don't see the need to put out a
special director's cut edition of this film. Like we've seen many times
before, these suits sitting in their offices really have no clue what's going on
in the world of fans.
So it's up to us, the fans, the let them know that we are
very interested in seeing this uncut version finally get a release on DVD.
And here's all you got to do: Head over to Clive Barker's website (just
click HERE)
and read through the whole story. Make sure you send an email, expressing
your hopes of this special edition. If enough of us fans out there can
show these suits what the fans really want, maybe we can make it happen.
THE STRANGENESS CRAWLS OUT TO DVD
Back in the days of big plastic clamshell VHS tapes, one
movie that we stumbled across was release from Transworld Entertainment, and was
simply called The Strangeness. Since we had never heard of this and
it was some sort of low budgeted cave-dwelling monster movie, we had to pick it
up. Much to our surprised, we were entertained by it, especially with the
stop-animated monster at the end of the film.
With not too many people seeing this movie, let alone know
it, I was floored to see the big coverage it got in Stephen Thrower's excellent
book Nightmare USA. And now, what has floored me even more, is the news
that this movie is getting a special edition DVD release from the folks at Code
Red DVD.
According to their site's news blog, they have found a 16mm
element of the film and have done a new 16x9 widescreen transfer of the film,
mastered in Hi-Def. They are also planning to do an audio commentary with
the director, actor & co-writer Christ Huntley, and producer, actor & visual
effects artist Mark Sawicki. Other extras promised are some short films
they did in the early 80's while at USC. They are planning for a release
date of August 18th. We can't wait!
 TRICK
'R TREAT GETS RELEASE DATE AND MORE
This much talked about and anticipated horror anthology that
the studios have been sitting on for over a year now, will now finally be
getting a DVD release this October. Director Michael Dougherty was at the
Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors convention in New York over the weekend and made
this announcement, as well as a few other goodies. The 4-issue comic book
that had previously announced will not be released in a single graphic novel
format, also in October. The soundtrack for the movie will be released
sometime in September.
But the biggest news is that starting in July, there will be
limited screenings throughout the world. Below are the festivals that have
been confirmed so far. Not sure of any Chicago area screenings yet, but
we'll keep you posted.
-
FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL, Montreal, Canada July 9-27
-
TORONTO AFTER DARK, Toronto, Canada August 14-21
-
MORBIDO FEST, Mexico City, Mexico (MySpace)
-
FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL - Berlin, Hamburg, Koln, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Stuggart,
and Munich Germany - August 18-September 9, 2009
-
FANTASTIC FEST, Austin Texas, September 24-October 1
-
SCREAMFEST, Los Angeles, California - October 16-25
For updated information, you can check Dougherty's MySpace
page HERE,
where you can see the trailer, or his Twitter page
HERE.
5-31-09 NEW NOX ARCANA
Nox Arcana have a new CD coming out on June 21st, entitled
Blackhorn Asylum. According to their website, the new cd is about a
"forsaken sanitarium that is haunted by the souls of the dead and plagued by the
dark essence of evil." We have enjoyed everything that these guys have put
out and I'm sure this one will be no exception. Stay tuned for a review of
the CD.
[REC] FINALLY HITS DVD IN
STATES
I'm sure they didn't want to release the original movie that
Quarantine was based on until well after the movie was out and gone.
Didn't want people to compare it to the original. But now, on July 14th,
if you don't have one of those import discs already, you will be able to finally
get a copy of Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza's original masterpiece, [REC].
The disc will be presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with both English
and Spanish (with English subs) dialog tracks. Apparently there's not much
on the extras front, other than a making of featurette. But at least it's
finally getting a domestic release here. If you've only seen the
Quarantine version, we strongly suggest you check out this original version.
 NEW REVIEW
We have a new review posted, one for a film that you need to
put on your "must see" list. It is the Norwegian Nazi zombie film entitled
Dead Snow. Head over to our Review
section to read our full review of it. The film is suppose to get a
release here in the States on June 12th, but I haven't found any sites
pre-selling the DVD. But if you are in the Chicago area, the film will be
playing at the
Music Box Theatre starting July 17th. We strongly recommend this film
to all horror fans.
CONVENTION GUESTS UPDATES
Even though we listed all those upcoming conventions in our
last update, we forgot to mention some of the guests announcements that some of
these shows have made. At the Cinema Wasteland show this October, they
have added Arch Hall Jr., Fred Williamson, and Lynn Lowry to the guest list.
They already had announced Martine Beswick, Caroline Munro, Cerina Vincent,
William Grefe, Nick Phillips, Joel M. Reed, George Kosana, John Russo, Joe
Shelby, Russ Streiner, and Nick Tallo. For all the details and info about
the show, just click
HERE.
For the HorrorHound Weekend, they have announced their first
guests for their Cincinnati show in November. And those guests are Michael
Gross, Chris Durand, Richard Brooker, and from Night of the Creeps, Jason Lively
and Jill Whitlow. For more information about this show, just click
HERE.
MYSTERY PHOTO
Our last photo was from the French cult film Baby Blood (released as
Evil Within on video, in a cut version). The story about an alien
fetus forcing it's female carrier to kill for the blood it needs to grow.
It's one that you don't forget. And even better, there is a sequel coming
out, called Lady Blood, with returning star Emmanuelle Escourrou, who
even co-wrote the sequel. From what we've seen on the previews, it looks
worth the watch.
Anyway, back to our photo. The ones with the right
answers were Aaron Christensen, Hoby Abernathy, Kristin Wicks, and David
Schmidt. Congrats to everyone, and thanks to those who keep trying.
For this week's photo, since we have a couple of tough ones
in the near future, we're going to go with an easy one this time out. As
always, just click
HERE to send us that email. And as always, Good Luck!
 NASCHY &
SPANISH HORROR NEWS
People who know me, know that I'm a pretty big fan of Spanish
film star Paul Naschy. So I was pretty happy to hear that he will be
receiving a couple of awards for his work. On June 6th, at the
International Film Festival of Alicante, he will be presented with an honorary
award for his film career. And on June 8th, he will get an award for his
work in European Cinema. Naschy is an icon is the horror genre, that
unfortunately not too many people know about. But we're working on
changing that.
And one way that will help that will be the release of a new
book, entitled simply Spanish Horror, by Victor Matellano. The book will
cover the Spanish horror film throughout it's history, and has an introduction
by Christopher Lee and a preface by Naschy. We don't have a release date
for it yet, but will post it here when we do.
5-25-09 CONFESSIONS OF A COLLECTOR
Hello. My name is Jon and I am a collector.
I recently discovered, again, on just how bad it can get when one is a
collector. As we've said before, for those who don't know or understand
this affliction, be grateful. So here's my story for this week's meeting.
I have been trying to get the film A Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory from
Netflix for the last month. It's had the "Long Wait" status for quite some
time. So when I got the news that it was finally being shipped, I was
excited. Only to discover the disc was cracked when it got here. So
I sent it back and reported it broken. So they shipped me another one
right away. It also was broken. And so was the third disc they sent.
I called Netflix up, who I must say are wonderful to talk to. Great
customer service. They told me to hold on the broken disc, in case the
same one is getting sent back. So the forth one shows up, and it's broken
as well. But the fifth one finally arrives and it's not broken! I
quickly burn it and even watched it right away, just in case something else was
going to happen.
So after watching the film, I go to file it away in the
collection....only to find that I already have the movie! So after all
that trouble and waiting and waiting, it was all for nothing since I already had
the freaking movie. Had me thinking that maybe I might have a problem, but
I guess when you've reach over 2500 titles (97% of them being horror titles),
there's going to be a mix up every now and then. This wasn't the first
time, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
SUB-GENRE GUIDES UPDATE
After a long wait, we have added two more sections to our
Sub-Genre Guide in the British Horror category: Amicus Productions and Pete
Walker films. We're hoping that it doesn't take this long to get other
entries up. You can get to our Sub-Genre guide through the
Features page, or you could simple just click
HERE.
JACK PIERCE HOLLYWOOD STAR
 Okay
horror fans, let's get off the couch and make this thing happen this year.
Click
HERE to be taken to an on-line petition to get legendary makeup artist Jack
Pierce a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We horror fans know that if
it wasn't for Pierce's work, we might not have the classic Universal monsters
that we know today. Pierce is the guy who created the look of
Frankenstein's creature, as well as the Mummy, the Wolf Man, and countless
others. Sure, we all know who Tom Savini and Rick Baker are, but let's
give some kudos to one of original monster makers.....Jack Pierce.
So if you haven't already, please take a few minutes and sign
this petition. We are close to 3000 signatures, but with the amount of
horror fans out there, we should be able to get a hell of a lot more than that.
And if you have already signed it, pass the word on to your horror fiends and
get them to do it as well.
HORROR SOCIETY'S ZOMBIE
DISCO PARTY
On June 20th, at Chicago's Viaduct Theatre, they will be
celebrating their 1-year anniversary in Chicago with a big zombie party.
With music, movies, games (like zombie twister!), and a lot of fun, so mark your
calendar to come on out. Come in zombie makeup, or have get your makeup
done there, because there will be a zombie costume contest For more info,
head over to the Horror Society's page by clicking
HERE.
MYSTERY PHOTO
Got a few more responses than normal these week, which is always a good thing.
Of course, when you have the iconic Vincent Price up there, how could you not?
The shot was from the wonderfully dark film Theatre of Blood, starring a
who's who of British actors. Kudos goes out to Aaron Christensen, Hoby
Abernathy, Kristin Wicks, AJ, Mike Shields, Mike Dudley, and Will Wilson.
Job well done, people. And just for a bit of trivia out there for those
who might not know, the actress that Price is about to fry in that scene, Coral
Brown, later became Price's wife!
But enough of that, let's get on to our photo for this week.
It's a little bit....different than our last one. But enjoy. As
always, just click
HERE to send us your guess. Good Luck!
CONVENTION NEWS / UPDATES - START PLANNING YOUR HALLOWEEN
SEASON
Our season is only a few months away and will be here before
we know it. Already there is plenty of stuff to start making your plans
for. I know this year seems like it's going to be even crazier than
before. I know we might be missing a few events, but this is what we know
about so far.
As we mentioned in our last update (see below), we have the
Horror Society's Summer Slaughter Film Festival taking place in July, at the
Portage Theatre. But the first big convention to hit the Chicagoland area
is going to be a new show, called
The Ultimate Horror Convention, held on Sept. 11th-13th, at the West Chicago
Northwest hotel in Itasca, Illinois. They've already got a pretty big
guest lineup, but really it's nobody that we haven't seen at countless other
shows. I'm pretty sure we'll be set up there and hopefully it will be a
good time. First time shows always make me nervous, but we're hopeful.
The
Chicago Horror Film
Festival will take place on Sept. 25th-27th, I believe once again at the
Portage Theatre. We had a great time there last year and plan on being
there again this year. This is one of those shows that you really want to
come out and support, not only to the show, but also to the filmmakers as well.
The first weekend of October, we have the
Cinema
Wasteland show, which we always make it out to. But if you're not
going to that, there is also the
Madison Horror
Film Festival, taking place in Madison Wisconsin.
The next big show in the Chicagoland area is going to be the
Flashback Weekend. They have switched hotels and moved their show from the
summer time to October. The show will take place on Oct. 23rd-25th this
year and will be at the Wyndham O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont. We always have a
great time at the Flashback Weekend, and looking forward to another great time.
For all the info about the show, just click
HERE.
And somewhere in between these last two shows, at least we
hope, will be the Music Box Massacre V, which will take place, obviously, at the
Music Box Theatre in Chicago. The date hasn't been announced yet, or
anything else about the show, but we will post it when we find out.
Lastly,
HorrorHound Weekend will be hosting their first show in Cincinnati on
November 20th-22nd. We are hoping to make it out to there, but not sure
just yet.
So there's plenty of events to start making plans for.
You don't want to wait until the last minute and miss out on some great fun.
So start getting organized and hopefully we'll see you there at one of these.
We have also updated our Chicago
Horror page with a lot of these events listed, as well as a couple of other
local ones.
 5-17-09 HORROR
COMMUNITY
Yesterday, we had a little get together with some of our
local horror friends. Nothing major, but just a bunch of like-minded
horror fans getting their geek on by playing some horror trivia and stuff.
As we've mentioned several times before, the horror community in the Chicagoland
area has grown immensely over the last several years. The more people you
can get involved in your area for different events and get-togethers, the more
we can learn and support the genre. Whether it be group gatherings for
movie screenings, or just getting some people for a Share-the-Scare day, the
more we can organize and help support the genre and the fans. If you're
from the Chicago area, you can always join the Yahoo Group
Chicago Creepster to
find out what's going on. As well as
The Horror Society
for local news, as well as their film festivals that they put on every few
months. Those are always a fun time.
But if you not in the Chicago area, check out to see if
there's some sort of network where you are at. And if not, then start your
own! You never know who might be out there just waiting for someone to do
just that.
SUMMER SLAUGHTER
And speaking of The Horror Society, they're next film
festival will be taking place on July 11th at the
Portage Theater in
Chicago. They will be screening the following films: Monsters,
Blood Shed, Consumption, Frat House Massacre, Serial:
Amoral Uprising, and Tokyo Gore Police. We've been to the last
two festivals that they have put on and have always had a good time. So
mark you calendars and come on out for the fun. For more information,
including a trailer for the festival, just click
HERE.
3rd ANNUAL B-MOVIE
CELEBRATION
Might as well stay on the subjects of film festivals.
Taking place at the end of September (25th-27th) in Southern Indiana will be the
3rd Annual B-Movie Celebration, which will feature tons of great films over the
3-day event. They will be screening films like Abby, Black Christmas,
Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Horror of Dracula, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein,
Quatermass and the Pit, and plenty of other great titles. They don't have
much information on the official site now, other than the title list, but I'm
sure they'll be updating it soon. Just click
HERE to
get to the site.
MYSTERY PHOTO
Congrats to Hoby Abernathy, Mike Shields, Aaron Christensen, Amon Sutekh, and
Vic for naming our last Mystery Photo. It was the giant mollusk from The
Monster that Challenged the World, a great good old fashion 50's monster
movie. It is available on DVD, so if you haven't seen it and are looking
for a fun time, check it out.
Now let's take a peek at this week's photo and see what you
can come up with.
HARDWARE SPECIAL EDITION
DVD
It's finally going to happen. Richard Stanley's
post-apocalyptic masterpiece will be getting a special edition DVD released from
Severin Films this fall. The movie had gotten a video release here in the
states, but like it's theatrical print, it was cut slightly to avoid an
X-rating. But now it will be coming out in it's full uncut and unrestored
version, transferred from Stanley's own print. So far, the extras will
include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scene footage, and even
an hour long Super-8 version of the film!
We can't wait for this new edition to come out. Stay
tuned for more details.
5-13-09 SICK-AS-A-DOG
We had all intentions of having some sort of an update done
this last weekend. But a combination of getting sick, and realizing
(again) just how you change as you get older, really took it's toll on us.
We had fighting off a sore throat / cold last week, and thought we had it
beaten. But then waking up Saturday feeling like crap, then heading off to
Chicago for the 14-hour movie marathon known as the Sci-Fi Spectacular 3, really
kicked our ass to the curb. Not getting that much Saturday night just made
things worse. Another lesson in life, showing you just how tough and
immortal we are when we're young, pulling all-nighters without a glitch.
But I can't say that anymore. So here's a small update just to hold you
over until the weekend, where we hope to be back to full strength.
The Sci-Fi Spectacular was another success, seeing a nice
crowd coming out to see some classic films on the big screen. Congrats as
always out to Rusty Nails for making these things happen. Can't wait for this
year's Massacre. Who knows, maybe we'll even be able to get a Summer
Massacre???
MYSTERY PHOTO
 We really thought we would have everyone stumped on this one.
Even more so when we kept getting emails with Curtains and Terror
Train as their guesses. Sorry folks, but the photo was from Pete
Walker's The Comeback. Not familiar with Walker's work? Well
there's no better time like the present. Look into Frightmare, The
Confessional (aka House of Mortal Sin), and House of Whipcord for starters.
Our only ones with the correct answers were two of our usual suspects, Hoby
Abernathy and Mike Shields. Nice job, guys.
So check out our photo here and see what you can do. If
you're not sure, go ahead and send in your guess. If it's not correct,
we'll let you know so you can keep trying. Just click
HERE to send us
that email.
A HORRORBLE STORE!
Chicago area horror fans still morn the loss when House of
Monsters closed it's doors. But for the last few years, John Aranzaj has
given us another outlet with his store Horrorbles. Last weekend, they held
their Grand Re-Opening in a brand new location....actually the building next to
where they use to be. But they have much more room there to browse their
incredible inventory. So if you're in the area, or even if it's a bit of a
drive, gather your horror friends and make a road trip out of it. For all
the information you need, just head over to their website
HERE.
5-3-09 ZOMBIES LOOSE IN CHICAGO
This afternoon, we headed off to Chicago to see The Revenants, the latest play
by the WildClaw Theatre. Compared to the previous play, Dreams of the
Witch House, this one is much more cerebral, which comes in handy since the
theme is zombies. The story, by Scott T. Barsotti, really asks the
question if you're loved one turned into a zombie, just how long could you go
without killing them? Sure, when we're at home watching those zombie
movies, we laugh and chuckle, thinking we'd have no problem taking out our loved
one if they were the undead and trying to eat us. But if it REALLY was
happening, would that decision be THAT easy? I don't think so. That
is the main theme with The Revenants. And due to the performances given
here, especially by the two "living" characters, they show just how difficult it
would be.
With a much smaller cast this time out, and with only two of
them being....alive, the cast did a great job showing the emotional attachments
we get to people, whatever state they may be in. Jenny Strubin brings out
the emotional responses that we would feel, not wanting to admit that these
undead creatures are no longer our loved ones. Ryan Patrick Dolan really
shines here as the one who the most rational thinking, but yet is still trying
to drown his real thoughts and feelings about the situation. Brian Amidei
and Laura Hooper have the difficult role of the undead. One might think
that would be simple. But they are able to still have enough humanity come
across at times where you would question if they really are dead, or if there
might be a little bit of your husband/wife still in there.
As much as I hate to be cliché or get the puns out, this is
really the best way to describe it: It's a zombie play with brains.
Click
HERE to
get to the WildClaw website for all the details.
MYSTERY PHOTO
After posting our last Mystery Photo, we started to think that we had already
used that one before, but couldn't remember. Happens when you get older.
But that didn't stop Aaron Christensen, Will Wilson, Mike Shields, and David
Schmidt from sending in their correct answers anyway. The shot was from
the strange 1973 film A Bell From Hell. If you haven't seen it, we
recommend you trying to find a copy of it. It will get the grey matter
working upstairs, that is for sure.
So here's a shot of our latest Mystery Photo. I think I
just might stump most of you on this one. Let's wait and see.....
As always, just click
HERE to send us an email with your guess.
SCI-FI SPECTACULAR NEXT
WEEKEND!
Don't forget that next weekend the 3rd Annual Sci-Fi Spectacular will take place
at Chicago's Music Box Theatre. The final movie lineup is listed below,
with special guest Gary Lockwood in attendance. For all the details about
the marathon, just click
HERE. We'll be set up there so hope to see there for another
fun-filled day of great movies. Advance tickets are only $20, which gives
you the chance to see some incredible films on the big screen. And just
because it's called the Sci-Fi marathon, don't be fooled. There's enough
horror in there to keep any horrorhound's appetite sated.
- The Incredible Shrinking Man - 12:10pm
- War of the Worlds - 1:45pm
- Planet of the Apes - 3:15pm
- 2001: A Space Odyssey - 5:30pm
- The Brother From Another Planet - 9:00pm
- Aliens - 11:15pm
- The Fly - 1:45am
NEW REVIEW
We have posted our review of a new independent film called
The House of Black Wings. Since we're usually not big fans of the
lower budgeted stuff, we were a little nervous going into this. But we
were pleasantly surprised by it. Head over to our
Reviews section to learn more.
NEW PHANTASTIC ISSUE OF HORRORHOUND
Okay sure, just because we're writing for them doesn't mean that we're not
sincere when we tell you that issue #17 just hit the news stands and it a great
issue. If you are a fan of Don Coscarellie's Phantasm series, then you
will love their 30th anniversary look at this great series. It's filled
with tons of poster art and different collectibles from the series.
Of course, there's plenty of other great articles in there as
well, especially the Video Invasion articles by Matt Moore. Being an old
video hound, it's always so cool to see all those old covers that we used to see
on the video store shelves, just collecting dust. But Mr. Moore not only
gives us a look at the covers, but he always gives us plenty of info on the
company itself. Always entertaining and informative.
If you have trouble finding this magazine, you can always
become a subscriber. Just click
HERE for more
information.
UPDATE ARCHIVES
2000 2001
2002 2003
2004 2005
2006 2007
2008 2009
INTRO
-
REVIEWS -
FEATURES -
MYSPACE -
BLOG -
LINKS -
CONTACT
Want to know when the Krypt is updated? Just enter your
name and email address below.
These are only used for our updates. These are not given out to anyone
else.
Contents Copyright © 1998-2009 Kitley's Krypt
|
