Fright Night: Stake Thy Neighbor

1985's Fright Night is one of the greatest vampire films ever made. Why? Well, to be honest, there's really no clear reason, it's just one of those movies that simply got it right. It also happens to be one of my favorite 80's horror films, so when I heard news of the remake back in April, I was extremely skeptical about it. The 2000's have been slowly destroying 70's and 80's horror with shit-fests like Friday the 13th (2009) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), and I really didn't want to see a film that I truly loved face that same unfortunate fate.

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The Lords Are Coming: New teaser art from Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem

Some pretty cool new teaser art for writer/director Rob Zombie's newest film, The Lords of Salem.

 

Along with that, yet another new image from the SFX workshop has been released as well. 

Looking forward to this film, Mr. Zombie is one of my favorite modern directors and I have a lot of faith in him and his films.

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Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian walks among the living dead

With the immense success that The Walking Dead gained, its not surprising that more and more people want to be involved. One of these people is thrash guitarist Scott Ian of the band Anthrax, who will appear as a zombie in the upcoming season of the award winning series.

I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more and more celebrity appearance on the show. Along with Game of Thrones and Boardwalk empire, The Walking Dead is one of the best shows on television and I'm definitely excited about the upcoming Season 2.

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Brand new "Fright Night" clip introduces us to the home of Peter Vincent

Fright Night hits theaters on August 19th and is rated R

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Vintage Horror Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest horror film of all time, Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street is the story of a vicious killer who stalks his victims in the realm of dreams. In particular, the film follows Nancy Thompson, a teenage girl who encounters the deformed murderer known as Freddy Krueger in nightmares set within a large boiler room. Soon, local teenagers begin dying off in mysterious, sleep-related deaths and Nancy fears that she may be the killer's next target.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the most original, well written, well directed and just all around well made slasher film of all time. Wes Craven wrote the script in 1981 and, surprisingly, Disney was the first to show interest in the script, however, hey wanted Craven to tone down the content to make it suitable for children and pre-teens, causing Wes Craven to decline their offer. Soon the film was picked up by New Line Cinema.

Speaking of the script, Wes Craven originally planned for the film to have a very different ending: Nancy kills Krueger by ceasing to believe in him, then awakes to discover that everything that happened in the movie was actually just a long nightmare.This ending, of course, would've been the ultimate cop-out, so New Line leader Robert Shaye demanded a twist ending, in which Krueger disappears and the movie all appears to have been a dream, only for the audience to discover that they are watching a dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream, where Fred reappears as a car that "kidnaps" Nancy, followed by Fred reaching through a window on the front door to pull Nancy's mother inside. (via Wikipedia).

What is most interesting about the writing of A Nightmare on Elm Street, is the legendary tale of what inspired Wes Craven to create Freddy Krueger. As most horror fans know, the concept of A Nightmare on Elm Street was inspired by a strange story about a group of Hmong refugees who refused to sleep for fear of something lurking within their dreams. The men stayed awake for days on end, and when they did eventually fall asleep, many of them died in unexplainable ways. 

However, the story of Freddy comes from one of Wes Craven's childhood experiences. As a boy, Craven was awoken one night by sounds outside of his window. Upon looking out his window to the street outside, he saw a gruff, homeless man standing in the night dressed very similarly to how Freddy would one day look. The man looked up at the young Wes Craven, making a twisted, scary face to strike fear in the child. Craven has stated that this experience and the man's strange desire to strike fear in children and destroy the "comfort of innocence" is what would some day be molded into Freddy Krueger. 

The film itself is so good because of how well it sucks you into the strange, surreal dream world that Freddy calls his domain.  The boiler room, the deserted high school hallways, the alleyway (and the famous stretching arms) all of these dreamy, yet realistic settings are what make A Nightmare on Elm Street a truly great horror film. Even now,  27 years later, the films imagery and distinct style can still frighten new viewers.

 A Nightmare on Elm Street has inspired comic books, toys, and a ton of cheesy sequels. It's one of the best films ever made, horror or not, and is surely a movie that everyone should see. You can't mention slasher films without talking about the greatest killer of them all, Freddy Krueger. 

 

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A Slasher Theater Weekly Top 10: Grindhouse Cinema

My apologies for this being so long overdue, my bad.

But anyway, this week's Top 10 is a tribute to the gritty, dirty, and downright awesome films of the grindhouse era. Mostly low budget and overly violent, grindhouse/exploitation films are the backbone of the modern horror genre. These films truly pushed the boundaries of cinema in a way no one had before. So here we go

10. Grindhouse (2007)

Tarantino and Rodriguez's double feature film was an awesome tribute to the genre made many years after the golden age of exploitation cinema, yet still managed to capture the feel of a true grindhouse film with its stylized depictions of violence, gritty look, and unrealistic tone.

9. Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)

Much like Grindhouse, Hobo With a Shotgun (which was only made thanks to the previously mentioned Grindhouse) is a tribute to over the top exploitation that thrived in seedy, dark move theaters.

8. Black Dynamite (2009)

I promise, this is the last tribute movie on this list. Black Dynamite captured to groovy feel of blaxploitation cinema (a genre that was also a huge part of grindhouse culture) and also managed to be extremely funny at the same time.

7. Coffy (1973)

Pam Grier became the queen of blaxploitation cinema after this classic grindhouse film.

6. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Many people forget that Romero's zombie films first sprung to life in grindhouse theaters.

5. Suspiria (1977)

A classic of Italian horror by Dario Argento. Grindhouse theaters are what first brought this and other giallo films to the United States.

4. I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

Roger Ebert (most of my readers already know my opinion of him) calls this revenge themed film about a rape victim "a vile bag of garbage...without a shred of artistic distinction." so naturally you know it's a great exploitation film.


3. Halloween (1978)

Much like blaxploitation, the slasher genre also has its roots in grindhouse horror.

2. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Much like blaxploitation AND slasher films, the zombie genre ALSO has its roots in grindhouse cinema.

And the grittiest, dirtiest, most vile of them all is...

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Quentin Tarantino and I both agree that Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the greatest grindhouse film of all time. Everything about this film screams exploitation. The characters, the plot, the yellow-tinted look of the film, the deranged lunatic in a human-skin mask. A masterpiece of cinema.




Honorable mentions: Vanishing Point, the fake trailers in Grindhouse (2007), The Devil's Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses

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