Just letting people know about THE HORROR SHOW where we’ve moved the focus for horror movies. Take a look!

THE HORROR SHOW – http://horrorsho.blogspot.com/

http://www.dreadcentral.com/
http://www.dreadcentral.com/page/dread-central-podcast-directory
http://twitter.com/dreadcentral

As a horror fan with too many things going on, DREAD CENTRAL keeps me involved in the genre I love when time doesn’t allow for me to view the movies themselves. They have a fantastic selection of information and manage to give me MANY avenues to reach it.

The DREAD CENTRAL site has a wide selection of media and articles that talk about the horror genre, upcoming events, and other news related to horror. They host horror clips, trailers and interviews, present press news and media, and present it in a fun way. They truly love the horror genre and everything that goes with it.

When time doesn’t allow for website browsing (which is most of the time), the Dread Central Twitter feed allows me to get site updates and news sent directly to me through my Twitter account. I ca scan through their updates and, when one of their posts strikes me as interesting, I can click a direct link that takes me to the area of the site where that item is held. Direct and easy.

I can also get updates and entertainment through their podcasts. HIGHLY entertaining and fun. The Dread Central crew meets and discusses industry events and news with an energy and vibe that I love. This isn’t a pompous, “we know more than you” podcast. It’s a group of friends talking over what’s going on and having a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

Horror fans need to have all these items at their fingertips at all times – it’s a must for horror fans and loads of fun.

Podcast available through iTunes.

Neighbor No. 13 (Rinjin 13-gô)  (2005)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443205/
Directed by Yasuo Inoue

Disturbing.

That pretty much sums up this tale of duality from Japan where a nice, quiet neighbor has an extremely dark and violent persona that lives within him. He can’t control it and I honestly think he doesn’t want to. This persona takes care of him and makes sure he’s safe and this story explores what happens to the unfortunate few who get to meet the dark side of NEIGHBOR NUMBER 13.

This is a dark and scary film. No doubt about it. It delivers some shocks and scares and leaves nothing to the usual rules of right and wrong or good and evil. It’s a fire that shows no mercy – tearing through whatever gets in it’s way. I think that’s what I liked most about it. It’s somewhat mean, really. It’s shot well and has some amazing performances in it.

This is a classic Japanese thriller with some nasty little twists and turns. Fans of the genre will enjoy it immensely. Check it out!

Machine Girl (2008) -Kataude mashin gâru-
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1050160/
Machine Girl Lite (2009) -The Hajirai Machine Girl-
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1319567/

Remember The Road Runner cartoon? Of course you do. Well, MACHINE GIRL and MACHINE GIRL LITE are the live action, Japanese action, deadly schoolgirl versions of the same. These films are candy for the fans of over the top, cartoon style gore and violence. It’s so damn silly that the violence becomes second to the pure comedy goodness of the absolutely silly plot and story. It’s a hoot.

A schoolgirl named Ami Hyuga has a brother who is being harassed for cash by the son of a violent crime lord. Not being able to take it anymore, he and his good friend kill themselves. She, in turn, goes to seek revenge. However, the yakuza crime lord has many many people on his side and the girl is defeated and….de-armed. Half dead, she goes to seek help from her brother’s buddy’s parents, but the mother is still grief stricken and wants nothing to do with her until her shop is attacked by some crime lord goons.
The parents of the dead schoolboy create a weapon arm for Ami – a deadly machine gun with a seemingly unending supply of bullets. Together, the mother and Ami go to seek revenge. And so begins the geysers of blood, severed body parts and meat chunk madness that is the beauty of MACHINE GIRL.

This manga inspired cult hit is pure, over the top gore madness that sends gallons of blood streaming over everything and everyone. Insane martial arts and exotic, fantasy weapons take their toll on everyone and everything in the scene.

Drill bras, decapitation chains and lots and lots of bullets make this movie a must see for fans of Japanese gore-gore action and is the best in the group, in my most humble opinion. While the overall is silly and strange, it does have some somewhat decent acting (for what it is) and is well shot and directed. Other movies like it tend to lean toward the “we filmed this in a week” realm and really tend to look even more cheap than they already are.

But, what do you do when you have actors and makeup left over when making a film like this? Why, make an epilogue, of course! MACHINE GIRL LITE/ Shyness Machine Girl is a small short made after filming of MACHINE GIRL ended. Ami’s friend finds herself alive again (spoiler!) and needs to defend herself against the yakuza boss and his henchmen.  The shop father helps her by making her a special machine gun, however it only becomes available when her shyness peaks. What better way to activate the Shyness Machine Gun (that comes out of your tailbone area, by the way)  than to stand around in a bikini or to flash your panties at the bad guys while squealing, “NO! Don’t look! I’m SHY!” So very, very bizarre. I love it!

You know you are curious now! Pick up MACHINE GIRL for good, splatter fun and MACHINE GIRL LITE for….well…a girl with a machine gun butt. Ideal for parties!
Machine Girl Trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCpSqqPwPDQ
Machine Girl Lite Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhJ_W9Kiz-s

Other films like this include:
Ichi the Killer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haiSf60UsPQ
Tokyo Gore Police – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajMcAyCRwgg
Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX4t8XYJgS0
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGMzxhk3Hg
Samurai Princess – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ctXBVbbDWo
Bikini Zombie Slayers (game) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtAghxuu7n0

Trick ‘R Treat (2009 DVD Release)

Directed by Michael Dougherty

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862856/

A MUST HAVE FOR HALLOWEEN ~ A FANTASTIC FILM!

There are times when an adult is transported back to a simpler time of childhood wonder and excitement. That excitement fills a person with warmth and makes them feel wonderful for a moment. Those times are not often felt as an adult and they are so nice when you stumble upon them.

When TRICK ‘R TREAT was finally released from its two years in purgatory and a DVD market date was finally announced, I was filled with this kind of excitement. I felt like a child at the end of November who knows Christmas is just around the corner. The film was shown in festivals on a small scale and people raved about it every time. I marked it on my calendar and waited patiently for its arrival to stores and grabbed it the day it came out without thought.

However, there are times when the hype and promises only stand to set you up for major disappointment. This movie was supposed to be THE Halloween movie. The end all in Halloween horror movies.  I started to worry that there was no way it could live up to all the promised goodness.

Trick ‘R Treat didn’t let me down in the slightest.  It is now my favorite Halloween horror movie and is in my top list of movies – hands down.

The movie was wonderfully crafted – a fantastic blend of great writing, beautiful cinematography, and a colorful cast. A sense of fun rang through the whole of it. Like CREEPSHOW before it, this is a horror anthology film. This style can go well or sour depending on execution. Instead of splitting the film into these four parts separately, the storylines are wondrously woven together and is a lot of fun to watch. Characters from one line can be seen in others. Time bounces around playfully, setting events in motion at different points in time.

The scares are classics. Halloween yarns and haunted places mixed with some fun and strange happenings. I rolled through this film like a kid in a candy shop, watching wide eyed and exchanging “did you SEE that?” glances with my wife. I pride myself of being able to foretell events in movies based on obvious writing choices, but Trick ‘R Treat didn’t fail to surprise me time and time again.

When it was over, I felt like I could have easily watched it again like getting in line for a roller coaster ride that you loved right after getting off of it. You want to experience the fun again. This is a film that would provide new things to see and notice on second viewing and I can’t wait for the opportunity to watch it again to see what else is in there.

If you’re a horror genre fan, go and buy this movie. You’ll want to have it around for years to come. I truly wish that this film got a cinema release. It would have been fun to experience it with a large audience.

Trick ‘R Treat is a must see.

Take a look at the original TRICK ‘R TREAT Season’s Greetings short that started the whole thing!

Halloween is just around the corner. Time to rent some scary movies, invite some friends over, and ramp up the scares. amore eroma has put together a list of films that range from the celebrated to the nearly forgotten for you to ring in the start of the “Hollowdaze” with. For more fear filled films, please check out our Horror Movie Section. We’re sure you’ll find something that can send a little shiver down your spine.

~ ZOMBIES ~
Dead Snow - Zombie gore comedy from Norway
Dawn of the Dead (2004 and 1979) – Both scary zombie fun!
Dead Alive (Braindead)  – Peter Jackson’s splatter-comedy gore fest
Return of the Living Dead - A zombie classic. More horror comedy goodness
[REC] – One of my top five zombie favorites of all time. Super scary Spanish horror
Zombieland – On Site Review

~ VAMPIRES ~
Fright Night – Classic 80’s vampire horror
Razor Blade Smile – Strange little indie British fun. Vampire twist
Lifeforce - Space vampires draining the lifeforce from humans. Great stuff!
From Dusk Till Dawn – Tarantino and Rodriguez join forces to bring vampires to the screen
Near Dark – Trailer park vampires stomp humans for fun in this horror classic

~ WEREWOLVES ~
The Howling – One of my all time favorite werewolf movies. Great wolf designs
American Werewolf in London: 2009 Special Edition – The ultimate wolf classic! AMAZON
Silver Bullet - 1985 Stephen King werewolf classic
Ginger Snaps - Sister’s a werewolf and goes from outcast to most desired. Watch out!
Wolf - Amazing werewolf movie with Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader

~ MADMEN ~
American Psycho – Christian Bale’s amazing portrayal of the Business Psycho
In the Mouth of Madness – Sam Neill tries to find a missing author…and hold on to his sanity
Identity – Fab who done it with more than it’s fair share of horrific action
The Children - Creepy children are going to get you!
May – May has trouble making friends, so she makes some friends.
Alice Sweet Alice - VERY disturbing goings on with Alice
Martyrs - The height of French horror. Very nasty. Very great.

~ CLASSIC SCARES ~
Session 9 - A “hazmat” crew finds more than they bargain for while cleaning a mental hospital
The Shining - Classic Nicholson going mad in the snow
Evil Dead I & II - Sam Raimi’s wacked out horror classics
Susperia – Italian shock and who done it horror fun
Carrie – More Stephen King brought to the screen in this horror classic
The Craft - Teen witches gone bad
Last Man on Earth – What I AM LEGEND should have aimed for. Vincent Price stars in this classic film.
A Tale of Two Sisters – On Site Review

~ MONSTERS ~
The Thing (1951) – Fun, fast dialog as the air force battles THE THING
The Thing (1982) – Carpenter’s remake and retake on the classic
Monster Squad – Kids battle the Wolfman, Dracula and more. Great film.
Night of the Comet - Beware the comet and it’s ghastly side effects!
Pumpkinhead - Don’t go messin’ with bad magic.
Of Unknown Origin – A man battles urban terror as it runs through his walls

~ GHOSTS ~
The Fog - Ghost pirates coming for you…in the fog
Lady in White – A great mystery ghost story
Ghost Story - The Chowder Society has a dark secret On site music video
1408 - Would you stay in a haunted hotel? Would you survive?
Poltergeist - A family deals with angry ghosts in this superhit
Exorcism of Emily Rose – Fantastic ghostly goings on and the two approaches of explaining what they are. A great, sleeper hit. Well worth a view
Silent Hill – The video game series comes to life in this strange and ghostly tale of past lives
The Orphanage – Amazing Spanish ghost story that will have you jumping out of your skin. If you like your scares with a good story behind them, see this film!

Paranormal Activity (2007)
Written and Directed by Oren Peli
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/

As a horror movie fanatic with hours and hours of horror movies under my belt, I was happy to hear that something new and amazing was on the scene. Sadly, I was not blown away as the lights came up in the theater after I viewed PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.  It wasn’t something super different and didn’t manage to send me running from the theater in terror. And, while I wasn’t scared silly, I was very uncomfortable several times. The movie stuck with me. The audience was blown solidly away hands down.

I adjusted my experience and thought about what I saw and I have to say that I have never been in a theater where the audience reacted to the movie as strongly as they did with this one. Ever.

I caught the midnight showing of ZOMBIELAND a few days before seeing PARANORMAL and audience members lingered around the auditorium entrance talking about the film. They seemed upset and happy at the same time. Like they saw something and felt something in a movie that they had never felt before. This wasn’t the “Oh dude, that scene was dope” crowd. These folks seemed like none of them wanted to leave the comfort of the larger crowd and head back to their homes. Safety in numbers.
But why?

Strong characters, attention to detail, and some genuine scares that did manage to have me thinking about it into the night and through the next day.

This is a simple film with a simple plot. A couple has something ghostly in their home and decide to try and catch the happenings on tape. Terror ensues and is relentless in it’s building feeling of dread and horror as the poor couple is subjected to nightly happenings that continues to get worse and worse. ((…all the while keeping the shaking camera to a minimum! Thank you!))

The film builds brilliantly and the view really feels the anguish and horror that the couple goes through. There are no cop outs like cats suddenly leaping through a room for a jump scare. There are audio clues that fill you with dread because they foretell nastiness about to happen. And worse of all, you believe the whole of it and feel the scares in your bones.

Scares and thrills aside, the thing that really impressed me about this film is the reaction from the audience. People groaned and whimpered, they screamed, and they were not able to keep still as the film unfolded before them. When the screen text plate came up with “Night 10” etc, people moaned and were both excited and scared to move forward in the film. The groups of people that moved out of the theater chattered away about how disturbing the film was and how they would not be able to sleep when they got home. Jokers pounced out of the shadows and scared their friends. Huddled groups moved to the parking garage and stayed tight and together in packs.

Yes, like I said, I’ve seen tons of horror films and am numb to them now for the most part, but this film had me thinking and smiling and talking about it for a long while after. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY will send a shiver up your spine and will have YOU thinking about “What Happens When You Sleep?”

ZOMBIELAND (2009)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1156398/
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Rhett Reese (written by) & Paul Wernick (written by)

Those of you who know me know that I can sometimes go off on a rant about crap movies having no problem getting a wide, theatrical release while good films crawl around under cover of “Mom and Pop”, small screen venues or after hours purgatory…if the see the light of day at all. There are movies that get rave reviews during test screenings that are still battling it out to even get a DVD release. So, seeing a zombie genre film that is this much fun, this entertaining, and this original in wide release is just so damn refreshing.

“Columbus” (Jesse Eisenberg) is a loner with compulsions who is trying to get back to his home in…Columbus…after the zombie plague has ravaged the world. He’s worked out certain rules to help himself stay alive in this dangerous, new environment. On the road, he meets “Tallahassee” (Woody Harrelson), “Wichita” (Emma Stone), and her sister “Little Rock” (Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine fame) and the four of them work together to make their way towards a safe spot where there are no zombies. The basis for a classic, road trip scenario.

When I first saw the trailer for ZOMBIELAND, I wanted to love the film. I wanted it to be an amazing, 2 hour fun park ride. However, we all know trailers can be utterly deceiving, tricksy and false! However in this case, just like GRINDHOUSE before it, Zombieland had everything it promised – fun, comedy, horror, interesting story and, of course, ZOMBIES.

Zombieland walks the fantastic line of horror and comedy. Not since the likes of SHAUN OF THE DEAD have I had so much fun in a horror film.  The story is a vehicle for situations to arise and little more, but it’s a zombie film and that’s all it needed to be. The main four characters are grand in their roles and bring enough to them to make them interesting without getting too muddy or clichéd.  The movie never takes itself too seriously, but also avoids becoming silly. One minute you are giggling at a sight gag and the very next second you are startled by a sudden zombie mishap. Witty writing and attention to the story arc made it all work well together.

This is a very smart horror film as well. Someone has done their research on both the genre and it’s fans. I am a huge zombie fan. I’ve seen many a zombie film. Reese and Wernick gave me fantastic zombie action while calling out things that drive me crazy when I watch lesser zombie fair. They play with genre norms, cliches and lore to bring a truly witty and engaging story to the screen.  Clever visual gags and some fun cameos and setups had me wanting more and more of what this film had to offer.

If you’re a fan of zombies, comedy, and some fun scares, this is SO the movie for you. Don’t wait, just go see it and enjoy! We need to reward the efforts made to bring smart horror to the main stream audience and keep the turn key, shock, “set ‘em up to be killed” horror pablum at bay.

A+

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick about Zombieland. Awesome interview, as usual!

http://creativescreenwritingmagazine.blogspot.com/2009/10/zombieland-q.html

~

Dog Soldiers  2002

DOG SOLDIERS is one of my favorite werewolf films right along greats like American Werewolf in London and The Howling. It’s not exactly as great as either one of these films mind you, but it is fun and entertaining.
Marshall’s style shines through as he tells the tale of British army exercises gone horribly wrong in the Scottish Highlands. Soon, boring maneuvers turn into a life and death fight between man and beasts.

The werewolf designs and PRATICAL wolf costumes are great and Marshall shows them often. They are not hidden away in shadows, though some may say they should be a bit more hidden than they are. Some of the people in costume look like they might be having a hard time seeing where they are going. Practical effects look much better than computer generated effects especially when the budget is smaller. The wolves look better than the recent CGI efforts in I AM LEGEND. There are times where the acting is a tad thin, but things roll along at a fantastic clip and I didn’t really mind.

All in all, DOG SOLDIERS is a top notch werewolf film and a must see for werewolf fans and monster movie addicts!

Thirst (Bakjwi) 2009  Chan-wook Park
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762073/

Chan-wook Park takes a break from the world of vengeance to slip wondrously into the surreal and mythic with a take on the vampire mythos that struck home for me. Kang-ho Song (The Host) plays Priest Sang-hyeon – a priest who volunteers to be a guinea pig of sorts to help find a cure for a horrid, 100% fatal disease. He survives…but with some truly horrid side effects. When he returns home, he revisits a friend from his childhood and his bride, Tae-joo (played by Ok-vin Kim). The Priest is filled with sinful thoughts at the sight of her. They knew each other as children and a lingering, smoldering ache still exists between them. The Priest used to be able to deal with such thoughts, but now…he longs to give into his desires…his needs…and his thirst.
This film functions on many different levels. If you’ve seen other Park films, you know that he is very good at mixing the dark with the comedic. This film has some dark moments for sure, but it also has some scenes that are almost slapstick in nature. It’s subtle and fun.
It also presents an interesting take on the vampire mythos. What is a vampire? Can they be good or are they too driven by their needs? And, are there humans that are more horrid?
Park mixes the fantastic, magical world of the vampire legend with the incredibly slow lives of humans working day in and day out and going home to people they would rather not see. Ever. Subtle effects usage makes the story believable and beautiful and the writing leaves it open for much interpretation about life, love and friendship.
This is definitely one to watch.