Top 5 Horror Inspired Fashion Lines That Should Exist

After recently hearing about H&M's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-inspired fashion line, I started thinking about how many horror or grindhouse movies could be used as inspiration for some interesting clothing. Here are my top 5:

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The Human Centipede 2 Full Sequence: It's Back

Where to even begin a review of Human Centipede 2 Full Sequence...

The film opens up with the ending of the first movie, and reveals that we are seeing it being played on the computer screen of a parking garage security guard. The strange, disturbed man, named Martin, immediately decides to set forth his own plan to mimic the film and create a real-life, 12-person human centipede. He begins capturing helpless victims in the very parking garage he's supposed to be protecting, using a crow bar to knock innocent people unconscious for use in his demented experiment, which takes place in a deserted building. He even tricks an actress from the first Human Centipede into coming to his little hellish warehouse by telling her she's auditioning for a Quentin Tarantino film. With the use of a staple gun, some duct tape and a knife, the 12-person monstrosity is soon complete.

Surprisingly, the real disturbing sequences don't even happen until after the centipede is already complete and has been revealed to the viewer. The last 10 minutes of the film are probably the most disturbing 10 minutes in recent horror history, beginning with Martin injecting every victim with strong laxatives (keep in mind, Martin's centipede was created with a staple gun and no surgical precision, so if just the thought of feces passing into the other person's mouth in the first one was bad without actually seeing it, don't watch the sequel.)

I won't give away every "interesting" scene in the film but it should be said that if you're even the tiniest bit squeamish, it'd be a good idea to skip this film.

There was a lot I liked about The Human Centipede 2, one these things being that the whole film was in Black & White. This managed to add the the overall feel of the movie and made it even more gritty and disturbing. By not showing the color of blood or other bodily fluids, it eliminated the possibility of the amount of gore on screen appearing cartoonish or dumb.

Where the first film was scary in the idea of someone doing this to other people, the second film added the extreme graphic violence and torture, combining Ero Guro elements with Hostel-esque violence. I can definitely see why the film was initially banned in the UK. The overall premise was unsettling: a man watching the first film and acting it out on real people for his own sick pleasure.

Another aspect I liked was the ending. I won't give too much away, but the conclusion, much like the first film, was fairly ambiguous and left the viewer to make their own assumptions about what happened.

Basically, The Human Centipede 2 Full Sequence blew the first film out of the water in terms of truly disturbing horror films. It was not a film for the weak of heart, and I can definitely see even seasoned horror fans cringing at the film.

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New York Times on VHS Horror

Louis Justin, 21, the owner of the one-man company Massacre Video. (via nytimes.com)

Just recently, the New York Times ran this pretty interesting piece in their movies section about the appeal of horror films on VHS as opposed to on DVD. It was pretty interesting and definitely made me want to get more of these 80's slashers and other horror films on VHS. You can read the article here

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How American Horror Story went from the new hope for horror on TV to just another show

In my previous review of episode 1 of American Horror Story, I enjoyed to show. It had a seemingly cool plot, weird characters and some creepy, unexplainable things going on.

American Horror Story tells a very Amityville-Horror-esque tale of a family who, after a life-changing affair and tragic miscarriage, decide its time to start a new life in an old home. Unsurprisingly, after their arrival, strange, supernatural occurrences begin to plague the family.

However, the show very quickly went downhill. To put it simply the show got sort of...well, it got sort of dumb. The first episode was filled with cool homages, stunning visuals and a scary plot, but as the show progressed, it lost its allure and has become a bit unwatchable. The idea of unlikable characters worked in the first episode, however, it's hard to follow an entire series with characters that you just don't like.

It's unfortunate that the show couldn't live up to the hype after episode one because television really does need another great horror show to stand up there with The Walking Dead. 

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Vintage Horror Review: The Thing (1982)

With the utter disaster known as 2011's The Thing being released this past week, I figured I'd skip that terrible prequel and rewatch the original masterpiece.

The Thing (which is a remake of The Thing From Another World) tells the tale of a group of researchers in the frozen planes of Antarctica. The team, led by Kurt Russell as MacReady, stumble upon a dead team of former researchers and a strange artifact buried deep within the snow. Soon, members of the team are dying off....or are they? The question of who is or who isn't human lingers over the isolated research station in the middle of the frost, and soon it's an every-man-for-himself battle for humanity.

The Thing is, in my opinion, one of the greatest horror films ever made. It is so deeply scary and compelling and really conveys the feelings of isolation in the arctic wasteland.

One of the most impressive things about The Thing is how well it really makes you feel how alone the characters are. One of the reasons this feeling is conveyed so effectively is the chilling soundtrack by none other than Ennio Morricone, known for his Spaghetti-western soundtracks. Morricone's soundtrack lacks the fast-paced, high pitched songs that are a staple in most horror movies of the 80's, instead, it creates a very haunting atmosphere, letting the story play out without the sudden interruption of a Psycho-esque string effect. Morricone sets the mood of the film with a soft, low soundtrack, letting the dialogue and actions on screen be what scares the viewer, rather than startling bursts of high pitched orchestra music.

Along with that, The Thing falls into a genre of horror films that I truly love due to their no nonsense approach to what is essentially a creature-feature: It never truly embodies the monster, leaving the titular "thing" extremely mysterious. A lot of monster films that try to keep the creature a mystery fail to do it for long enough (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Super 8), and as soon as the monster is revealed, it loses that scare factor that audiences were looking forward too. The Thing, however, never reveals what this creature really looks like when it is not in the form of another being, and also never explains if "The Thing" is an actual monster or some sort of strange airborne disease or creature.

The Thing perfectly pits man-against-man, which also contributes to how scary the film is. As much as you can condemn MacReady for some of his more aggressive actions, it forces you to think about what you would do in his situation. The internal conflicts within each character really bring the film to life, deeply developing each team member in a very short amount of time.

The ambiguous ending of the film is another thing that makes it such a truly great movie. The main problem that I have with the new prequel is that anyone who's seen the original already knows how it ends...with every member of the previous research team dead, so what's the point? To cash in on a classic film? I can't see 2011's The Thing being anything but an hour and a half of different actors redoing the same scenes as the original film except all ending up dead. It's just stupid. The original film was one of those few movies that leaves you truly thinking when it ends, where the new version will leave you thinking about how much money you wasted on your ticket. You can't even compare the two.

To conclude this piece, I barely even need to say anything. The Thing is one of the greatest horror films ever made and if you haven't seen it, make sure you do as soon as possible.

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Red State: Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Kevin Smith's Red State when it was in theaters due to its very limited release. However, Netflix recently released the film on instant.

Kevin Smith is one of my favorite non-horror directors who is mostly known for his comedy films, so when I heard about him taking on the horror genre, I was both excited and skeptical.

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Netflix signs multi-year licensing agreement with The Walking Dead

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a faithful Netflix user despite recent subscription changes and whatnot, so I thought it was pretty cool that Season 1 of The Walking Dead is now streaming on Netflix's instant service. The show was, as most fans know, incredible. Although, a lot of people missed out on Season 1 when it was actually airing on TV (me being one of those people, who immediately bought and watched the DVD) so now, through Netflix, the show is easier to catch up on before the upcoming season.

Although this isn't huge breaking news, I just thought it was cool to see such a great show become more available to those fans interested in seeing what all the hype is about, and preparing for Season 2 which begins on October 16, 2011.

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American Horror Story: Bring the Scares

 In a world filled with a lot of really bad horror television shows, it's nice to be pleasantly surprised when one good one comes along. 

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Cold-Blooded Horror: Notable Films To Look Out For This Fall & Winter

 Here you have it, folks. Just a couple of noteworthy horror films being release over the next few months. I'll try my best to review all of these films as they are released.

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Stephen King announces blood-sucking sequel to "The Shining"

Finally, something to write about!

It appears the "King" of horror has a new book in the works, titled Dr. Sleep, and while that alone is pretty big news, this book is allegedly a sequel to his 1977 masterpiece, The Shining. However, supposedly, this book will revolve around a group of traveling vampires.

Now, if you're like me, you're probably thinking to yourself Vampires? How does that fit in?

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Paranormal Activity 3 releases new clip on VHS

(via Bloody Disgusting)

A surprisingly cool marketing campaign from a movie I have not even the tiniest desire to see.

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Brand new trailer for The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence

Here's the brand new trailer from this year's follow up to one of the most hyped up horror movies in recent years

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Why I didn't hate Shark Night 3D (and you shouldn't either)

Like most self respecting movie goers, I thought Shark Night 3D looked, well, stupid. Some sharks in a lake kill some attractive college students. How could that possibly be anything but dumb?

Now, like I said in the title of this post, I didn't hate it, however, that doesn't mean it was a "good" movie in anyway. The plot, script and acting was average at best.

The film is about a group of overly muscular guys and unrealistically curvy girls who attend college together and decide to spend the weekend at a nearby lake. Things start to go horribly wrong when the friends discover that there are vicious man-eating sharks inhabiting the salt water lake. 

What I did like though was how the film viewed itself. Although not a comedy or parody, Shark Night 3D most definitely didn't take itself seriously which, in turn, causes the viewer to take the film less seriously which can lead to a surprisingly fun movie experience.

The name alone gives away that this isn't some updated attempt at a serious Jaws rip-off. Shark Night 3D sounds like it could easily be the title of some 70's grindhouse schlock-fest, which is the feeling the film gave off. As a friend of mine likes to say, "it's the type of movie where you can sit down and just be stupid with yourself for an hour and a half". It was a fun movie-going experience, and despite the fact that I probably won't be purchasing Shark Night 3D on Blu-Ray or DVD, I don't regret spending the money I spent to see it.

All in all, Shark Night 3D is a movie to see with a bunch of friends when there's nothing to do. You will most likely enjoy yourself and have a few laughs during the ridiculous movie that teaches us that backwoods crazy country folk are much scarier and more evil than man eating great white sharks.

Unfortunately, Summer 2011 is over, but you can still have some good old fashioned summer fun by forgetting your problems for a little while and watching people being eaten by sharks for no plausible reason.

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Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: Show Me Your Teeth

Guillermo del Toro and Troy Nixey's adaptation of 1973 television movies of the same name tells the story of Sally (Bailee Madison), a young girl sent to live with her father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in an ancient house being restored for an architecture magazine. Sally, feeling alone and unwanted in her new home, begins exploring the house and grounds on her own, and soon discovers a hidden basement. Sally soon "befriends" unseen whisperers hidden in the walls and vents of the house. The little creatures crave children's teeth and will do whatever it takes to lure Sally back down to them.


Overall, I would score the film at about 6 out of 10. There were both good and bad things in the movie.

I'll start off with the good. The overall concept was interesting and original (the original Don't Be Afraid of the Dark didn't feature a little girl or anything related to teeth and had the creatures attempting to make the female lead one of their own). I definitely liked the whole story of the creatures surviving on human bones and teeth, especially those of children (although they don't explain why).

Another thing I liked about the movie (at least the first half) was the overall creepiness of it. Mysterious secret rooms, whispers in the dark, it all brought together a very dark atmosphere that kept the film interesting.

Notice how I said this only applies to the first half of the film, this brings us to our first problem with Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, a problem that has plagued monster movies for decades: revealing the creature too early in the movie, and thus making it far less scary. The scariest thing in the world is the unknown. The reason that John Carpenter's The Thing is one of the scariest movies ever made is because he never puts a face to the "monster". I think that Don't Be Afraid of the Dark  revealed what the creatures looked like way too soon and ultimately made them a lot less scary. If, for example, the movie had kept the monsters hidden throughout the entire film, never putting a face to the whispers in the night, it would've made a much, much scarier movie. When it is revealed that the monsters are essentially a miniature combination of the Cavity Creeps from those old toothpaste commercials and Del Toro's previous stab at the tooth fairy mythos from Hellboy II, you find yourself wondering why nobody has ever thought to just step on the damn things.

One thing I didn't understand about the film was the R rating. There was no gore, not enough blood for it to deserve that rating, and the no profanity. The most graphic scene involved legs being broken, but you could barely see enough to rate it like that. I couldn't figure out what made the film so "adult". It says R for "violence and terror" but as I just stated, it was not scary and the violence wasn't overly graphic or anything. 

It's very hard to enjoy a movie marketed to be a truly scary movie that ends up being a dark fantasy which tries to make you afraid of things you could kill with a textbook. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark wasn't a film that I plan on seeing again, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for a dark horror movie to see.

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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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Paranormal Activity 3 Teaser Trailer from Comic Con

As much as I hate to say it, they are making yet another Paranormal Activity. I suppose the film is more similar to The Blair Witch Project than we thought, seeing as how both movies have awful, awful sequels. Well, regardless of what I think, they're making another one, so here's the teaser trailer.

Apparently this film will be a prequel to Paranormal Activity (2007) and will follow the events leading to the first movie.

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Brand New "ChromeSkull" Clip

This new clip from the highly anticipated follow up to Laid to Rest, Chromskull:Laid to Rest 2 shows the titular bad ass killer hacking away at some new victims.

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Insidious Soundtrack: Where Is It?

I can't be the only person asking this question about the Joseph Bishara composed soundtrack for James Wan's Insidious.

The film had an edgy, ultra creepy, slightly avant-garde score that was beyond impressive. So the big question is: Where is the OST? Why can't I find it anywhere?

For some odd reason, the soundtrack to Insidious hasn't been officially released and is not available to purchase or download anywhere. This is very unfortunate because of how good the original score by Bishara is. Hopefully, with the films increasing popularity, we'll see it with the release of the special edition, we can only hope.

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From the Big Screen to Your TV Screen: Insdious DVD Review

As you all know by now,  Insidious wasn’t the generic haunted house story with a nice little family in their nice little home that is also inhabited by some generic evil force that leaves you thinking “Why didn’t they just move out of the house?” No, Insidious takes it a step further by saying that it’s actually the child that’s haunted. Alright, not too bad, but that seems like it’s been done before as well, and that’s where Insidious really succeeds. It goes way beyond the story about a little boy with some nasty spirits following him around. It takes you to a realm beyond anything you've ever seen before and introduces us to the paranormal phenomena known as astral projection, a subject that remained untouched by horror films before Insidious.

Well, Insidious is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray so that you can take the horror home with you.

Insidious was the sleeper hit of the year, and is one of the best modern horror films out there right now, so the DVD release was very exciting for genre fans. The first thing I always do when I first buy a new DVD is check out the Special Features. There's not a single horror film in my collection with commentaries I haven't listened to, deleted scenes I haven't watched, interviews I haven't heard and behind the scenes features I haven't viewed. I love my movies, and want to know everything there is to know about them, so Insidious was no exception. Although there unfortunately is no commentary on the initial release, there were some impressive extras.

The first is a selection titled Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar. This feature explained James Wan and Leigh Whannell's writing process during the creation of Insidious. Leigh Whannell mentioned that he wanted no "false scares" in his film, and avoided jump scares that ended up being the cat jumping out from behind the door or some other phoney attempt to get the audience's attention. James Wan also mentioned that while creating the movie, he wanted to make a film that would bring the horror home after people left the theater and returned to their own house. He surely succeeded in doing this and said that this is why he used such familiar settings in the familiar, "We all live in a house or place that we think of as our sanctuary".  Another note that writer Leigh Whannell added was that he wanted to the end sequence in the demon's lair to be very Argento-esque and inspired by Italian horror films, hence the red and black color theme.

The next section of Insidious' Special Features is called On Set with Insidious. This feature is (obviously) a behind the scenes look at the actual making of and production on the set of the film. The main point made during this feature was that "Making horror films is fun!" and that the cast, crew, director and writer all had incredible chemistry through out the entire process of making the movie. Also, Wan stated that they wanted to implement the use of practical film making as much as possible. Meaning that he wanted as much as possible to be done in front of the camera and not created later using CGI. This is something that automatically earns my respect with any film which is why film makers such as Quentin Tarantino always impress me. CGI is a curse on horror films that is slowly infecting the movies and getting rid of the real hard work that older directors and crews had to use before all of this computer technology could just replace practical special effects.

The last special feature on the Insidious DVD is a section titled Insidious Entities and talks about the ghosts and ghouls in the film. James Wan had certain characters and place purposely look and feel scarier than others. One very interesting story from this section was the origin of the Long-Haired Fiend (played by J LaRose). Supposedly this character originated from the paranormal experience of a friend of Wan and Whannell's. This friend claims to have woken up in the middle of the night to see a long-haired man in a trench coat pacing back and forth in front of his door. Creepy stuff.

Insidious will go down as a classic horror film in years to come. The DVD has some great special features that explain a lot about what went into the making of the film, however, I would've liked to have seen a commentary by Wan and Whannell (maybe on the inevitable special edition release?). So go out and pick up Insidious quickly before it sells out!

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