News Update: David Gordon Green's Suspiria

Ah, amongst the sadness caused by the news of this remake, there is hope.

It seems David Gordon Green will be using the original soundtrack by Goblin for the new film. So at least we know that even if it sucks, it'll have a great soundtrack, kind of like Sucker Punch!

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David Gordon Green to remake Suspiria

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! 

OK, now that that's out my system, let me tell you about David Gordon Green's (Pineapple Express, Your Highness) plan to remake the horror classic, Suspiria. 

Let me start off by saying that I think this is an absolutely awful idea and who ever thought of it should be shot. Harsh? Yes, deservedly so. Why, just why, would a director, like David Gordon Green, ever in a million years, ever even think of remaking Dario Argento's masterpiece? Is this some kind of cruel joke?

Personally, I thought Pineapple Express was....awful (sorry stoners). Could this be because of my burning hatred for James Franco? Yeah, that's probably why. And just by watching the trailers I can tell Your Highness will be even worse. 

Right now, this whole Suspiria business is just a rumor, and hopefully one that will end up not being true.

How could you ever have a Suspiria without a soundtrack by Goblin? Without the classic, iconic theme song? Without the master Dario Argento behind the camera calling the shots?  

With a film like Suspiria, I feel like a director, such as David Gordon Green, who isn't experienced in the genre, won't do it justice, and Suspiria is a film that, if remade, better be done correctly.  Personally, I would love to see a Ti West Suspiria, I think he's one of the few people who could do it justice. But we'll have to see what Mr. Green can do, but let it be known that I have no faith in this remake.

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Blinky

Academy Award nominated director Ruairi Robinson's new robot-slasher (did I just invent a new genre?) short film Blinky is awesome! and you can watch the whole thing right here!

Blinky™ from Ruairi Robinson on Vimeo.

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Horror Remakes: The Good, the Bad, and the Terrible

Over the past 5 years, the horror genre has been dominated by remakes and reboots of classic films. To some people, the newer films are the only ones they've seen. So are these remakes helping the genre or destroying it?

The most destructive factor that comes in to play when it comes to horror remakes is fans that are new to the genre. To some naive fans who don't know very much about horror, 2006's The Hills Have Eyes is the only one they've heard of. I'm not saying that I have anything against this film, I happen to like it, but it isn't the original and no matter how good a remake is, you should always see the original first and this is mostly due to the fact that there are those terrible remakes out there.

Take, for example, the 2009 "reboot" of Friday the 13th. This is by far one of the worst horror remakes in history. First of all, I don't even know how this can be called a reboot or remake considering both the plot and the killer are completely different then in the 1980 Friday the 13th which featuring no Jason Voorhees character until the last few seconds and this Jason certainly wasn't a full grown man in a hockey mask. Now, I'll give the directors the fact that this Jason has become the most iconic figure in horror, so I understand why they used him, however, Marcus Nispel, who also directed the much better Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, had apparently never seen the first 3 Friday films. To avoid ranting about this film for the next half hour, I'll finish by saying that this remake plays out as if the person who wrote it had only seen Freddy vs Jason and none of the actual Friday the 13th movies. 

Yet another horrible remake is, of course, the 2006 version of The Wicker Man (NO NOT THE BEES!). The fact that Nicolas Cage is the star of this film should automatically give away that it'll be god awful, but it succeeds in being beyond that bad. The acting is so horrible that the movie actually plays out more like a comedy than it does a horror film. I can't even explain in words how badly it disgraces the Christopher Lee version (which is very good). Nicolas Cage is so bad in The Wicker Man that there's an entire youtube video dedicated to his awfulness in that film alone.

However, among the wreckage that that is horror remakes, there are some gems.

One of which is the masterpiece remake of the incredible Swedish vampire film known in the States as Let Me In. Going into this film last October, I wasn't sure what I was about to see. The Swedish version (Let The Right One In) is no doubt an instant classic, and as we saw with films like The Ring, foreign remakes usually flop. Surprisingly, I was blown away by Let Me In. It had everything that Let The Right One In had (minus the subtitles, of course) and much more. It's always great to see an incredible film get an equally incredible remake.

This is also true with horror aficionado Rob Zombie's reboot of the Halloween series. Some fans discredit Rob Zombie's Halloween by saying that it adds too much gore that wasn't present in the original. However, the absence of gore in the original is something that just wouldn't work in a modern slasher. After films like Hostel and Saw, people want blood and more blood and then some more blood. I thought that Rob Zombie did a great job of integrating the blood and gore into the story of Michael Myers and by remaking the film, it's obvious that Rob Zombie was going to put his own twist into it and as we saw with House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects, Mr. Zombie is pretty fond of piling on the bloody shocks and gory thrills.

When it comes to remakes, good or bad, new fans should always see the original first, and this is something I cannot stress any more. Hopefully over the next few years, remakes such as Fright Night (SEE THE ORIGINAL FIRST) and Hellraiser won't fail to deliver the same thing that drew us in to the original film and got us hooked.

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Insidious (2011)

A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further. (via IMDB)

Insidious (or the movie with haunted Justin Bieber on the poster) is Saw and Dead Silence director James Wan's new paranormal horror film about malevolent spirits haunting a young boy.

In recent years, paranormal films have been, well, they've been terrible. Movies like A Haunting in Connecticut and An American Haunting are just so bad that they have given people a bias view of all paranormal films. Even Paranormal Activity couldn't really save the genre of paranormal horror, instead it prompted some bad knock offs and a god awful sequel.

However, I have faith in James Wan. The original Saw is an amazing stand alone film (also with a few god awful sequels) and to be honest, I didn't mind Dead Silence.

Insidious looks like it has great potential to be exactly what the paranormal horror genre needs. The trailer is exceptionally creepy and if you manage to catch it (it goes by pretty quickly) there's a part with a super cool looking red demon bad guy standing behind Patrick Wilson's character. (fig. A).

Fig A.

The only thing that I do worry about with Insidious is the PG-13 rating. On a personal note, I was drawn to horror movies initially because it's a genre that always pushes the boundary. Whether it be with blood and gore, graphic violence, social commentary, or taboo themes, horror movies never hold back. A PG-13 rating in horror movies is always a bit of a turn off. Some films, like Drag Me to Hell and 1408 manage to pull it off perfectly, but you can't always assume that others movies will be able to do the same.

However, the PG-13 rating could in fact be a good thing as well, especially for a movie like Insidious. This rating will mean that it's a film that doesn't run on shock value, but actual scares and terror.

So we'll have to wait and see how James Wan manages to pull it all together this April in Insidious.

Release Date: April 1st 2011

Director: James Wan

Notable Actors:  Patrick Wilson

Official Wesbite: Insidious Official Website

Official Trailer: 

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Yet another Wolfman reboot in the works

"Universal is out to writers for what they're calling a period piece reboot (again) of George Waggner's classic 1941 film starring Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man.

The only details I have is that it's supposed to start a fresh direct-to-disc franchise like what they're doing with Death Race, although their direction is still unconfirmed. " (via Bloody Disgusting)

So it seems that The Wolfman will once again be getting a reboot.

Unlike most fans I've talked to, I enjoyed the Benicio Del Toro Wolfman. I thought it had an overall darkness that really worked for the story of a tortured man turned into a hellish beast. 

Well, despite what I think, the series is getting a period piece reboot that will apparently be direct-to-DVD. I don't really have as much faith in direct-to-DVD horror like 2001 Maniacs as I do in direct-to-DVD action like Undisputed III: Redemption, but we'll have to see how they manage to make yet another Wolfman movie without seeming completely unoriginal and repetitive. 

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Website Review: Fright Rags Clothing

Fright-Rags

With a slogan like "Kick-Ass Horror Shirts", it's obvious from the start that Fright-Rags isn't your average clothing company.

With mainstream companies like Ed Hardy and Affliction using skulls and other death-related imagery, it's hard for a horror fan to find quality clothing that will make them stick out as a horror fan and not just another person buying into the current fashion craze. 

Team David

I mean, when was the last time you walked into a store and found a t-shirt with a blood soaked Bruce Campbell wielding a chainsaw? or David from The Lost Boys ripping Edward Cullen's head off? or anything even remotely related to movies like Street Trash and Maximum Overdrive?

Enter Fright-Rags.

Now sure, you could type in "horror t shirts" on Google and find plenty of websites offering shirts with vintage horror movie posters printed on the front of them (not that there's anything wrong with that), but these are all images that, as horror fans, we've seen a hundred times already, and sometimes we just want more than that. 

"Sick of the same old horror shirts? So were we...and that's why we started FRIGHT-RAGS! Since 2003, we've been bringing horror fans from around the world the best in horror t-shirts and apparel. We know what you want, because we're fans ourselves. From cult classics to even the most obscure films, we have the horror shirts you want...better yet, the horror shirts you NEED." (via Fright Rags)

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

As they so perfectly stated on the website, they're horror shirts for horror fans by horror fans, so they know exactly what you want. The designs are all original, and usually depict exactly which scene of the movie you want on your shirt, not just a reproduction of the poster. 

 One thing about Fright-Rags that really stands out the most (other than the amazing and original designs) is the customer service. You can tell right off the bat that these are regular guys who run the website, not some corporation. If, for some reason, you aren't happy with the shirt you ordered, you can send it right back for a full refund. It's obvious that the people at Fright Rags care more about customer satisfaction than they do about the money they make off of their customers. 

Another interesting characteristic of Fright-Rags is that the designs are changing all the time. With some companies or artists, its the same 3 graphics on different articles of clothing, but with Fright-Rags not only are there a ton of designs to pick from, but there are also designs that haven't been released yet, or even created yet for that matter, so it's the type of website that you'll find yourself checking every once in a while to see which shirt you need to buy next.

Basically, Fright Rags is the #1 place for die hard fans to get the best shirts on the market with the best designs on the market. So what are you waiting for? Head over the Fright-Rags right now and place your order!

www.fright-rags.com

Dead Alive

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NEW poster from artist Jeff Proctor for the Grindhouse spin-off Hobo With a Shotgun. 

(via Bloody Disgusting)

 The film is being created based on a fan-made fake trailer that won an exclusive contest to be featured in between films during Grindhouse.

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Vintage Horror Review: Critters (1986)

A massive ball of furry creatures from another world eat their way through a small mid-western town followed by intergalactic bounty hunters opposed only by militant townspeople. (via IMDB) (photo via Fright Rags)

If you don't already know this, I love the 80's and 80’s horror is one of the best eras in the genre’s history.

This time period brought us gems such as Fright Night (1985), C.H.U.D. (1984), and of course, Critters (1986).

The best way to describe this film is a combination of Gremlins and Killer Klowns from Outer Space (which I’m sure I’ll review in the future, because it’s one of my favorites).

It has an original plot that sets the viewers up for a great Saturday night horror movie to watch with a group of friends and a ton of snacks. In Midwestern Kansas, a group of small, furry creatures from space with a deadly appetite land after escaping an intergalactic prison. Pretty soon, the Critters (or Krites) are eating their way through the towns cattle, which is when a local farmer and his family (the Browns) stumble upon them, unleashing a wave of terror. But before long, a couple of shape-shifting bounty hunters arrive to collect the escaped convict fuzz balls, destroying everything and everyone in their path.

This is a fun film with cheap scares that will have you laughing and having a good time. And what more could you ask for? Campy fun with a bunch of furry little space creatures? Couldn’t get any better than that

The special effects are, well, 1986 special effects, which just adds to the fun rather than taking away from it.

Rent the film from Netflix or Blockbuster or where ever it is you get your movies, buy a ton of popcorn and potato chips, invite some buddies over and have a fun Saturday night with Critters. 

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Apollo 18 (2011)

Set to be shot documentary style, the film unearths lost footage from Apollo 18's undocumented and covert mission to the moon, revealing disturbing new evidence of other life forms.(via Upcoming Horror Movies)

After seeing the trailer for Spanish director Gonzalo López-Gallego’s first English-language movie, I was already hooked.

Following in the footsteps of Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and Paranormal Activity, Apollo 18 is a “found footage” horror film. 

This genre of films consists of documentary style movies with footage that was supposedly uncovered with unknown or hidden origin. The filmmakers do this for effect, and don’t actually expect viewers to believe that the things happening on screen really did happen and were recorded by who they say recorded them in the movie. (although some people believe it anyway)

This genre is make or break. In recent years, films like Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project pulled it off with flying colors, while films like The Last Exorcism and The Fourth Kind fell short. 

From what I’ve seen in the trailers, the alien-horror film about a secret second mission to the moon looks awesome. I have very high hopes for this film, and hope it will be successful in scaring the pants off of audiences in the same way Paranormal Activity did.

Release Date: April 2011

Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego

Notable Actors: None

Official Wesbite:  Apollo 18 Official Website

Official Trailer: 

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Ero-Guro: A Brief Cultural Overview by Blake C

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT VIEWERS MAY FIND GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING.

 While reading through the January/February issue of HorrorHound Magazine, I found a little gem on page 29 that really caught my eye.

“Cannibal Man’s Dessert” by Shintaro Kago

What first attracted me to the article was a photo of various toys/figurines of dismembered and disfigured human bodies, so I read the feature above it, titled “Ero-Guro Toys”.

The article was about famed artist Shintaro Kago. Kago is known mostly for his manga, which features gore, sex and lots of blood. His style is known as “Ero-Guro”, a term that means “Erotic Grotesque”.

I had never heard of this art form previous to reading the article, so I immediately Google searched it.

As it turns out, Ero-Guro has been around since the mid-1860s in Japan. Its earliest roots were in the form of “woodblock printings showing decapitations and acts of violence from Japanese history. Ukiyo-e artists such as Utagawa Kuniyoshi presented similar themes with bondage, rape, and erotic crucifixion.” (via Wikipedia)

During the 1920s and 1930s, Ero-Guro really took shape in Japanese culture. One of the most influential events in the history of Ero-Guro art is The Sada Abe Incident of 1936, during which a woman strangled and castrated her lover.

The sub-culture was brought almost to a complete halt during the World War II era, but re-emerged stronger than ever in postwar Japan.

In later years, Ero-Guro would expand its blood-soaked, presumably sawed off arms to the realms of theater, film, and soft-core Japanese porn known as pinku eiga.

Edogawa Rampo, a Japanese author, also helped open the gateway for Ero-Guru with his novels that often featured strange or erotic themes (sometimes referred to as “nonsense” literature) which would go on to influence Ero-Guro films based on his work.

During the late 60’s and early 70’s, Ero-Guro films such as Shogun's Joys of Torture (1968),  Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) and Blind Beast (1969) (the latter two being based on Edogawa Rampo’s work) would emerge, paving the way for modern Japanese horror and gore films.

Modern Ero-Guro artists, such as Shintaro Kago, have expanded to the realm of toys as well. Kago in particular sites Cannibal Holocaust (1980) as one of the main influences for his toys, especially his piece titled “Cannibal Man’s Dessert”.

 Artists like Kago most often consider their work a form of dark or black humor, not pornography, and intend to simply shock their audiences with the use of eroticism combined with gore.

Like most art cultures, Ero-Guro has begun to branch off. One alternative form of Ero-Guro is known as Tentacle Rape (it’s EXACTLY what you think it is) which has its roots in much older Japanese art (specifically The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife), but in recent years has fused with Ero-Guro culture.

 One of the most recent and popular works of Ero-Guro in Western culture is 2009’s The Human Centipede: First Sequence which features three people (two of whom are topless women) fused together mouth-to-rectum style. The film has obvious erotic overtones mixed with the bizarre mutilation on screen.

Ero-Guro is an art form that takes society and flips it on its back to reveal the dark underbelly that most people would rather not know exists. Films like The Human Centipede: First Sequence are the first step in Ero-Guro’s popularization in the Western world. 

With the immense hype that Human Centipede brought with it and its immediate rise to pop culture phenomenon, it’s highly likely that we’ll see more films, art, and literature that has roots in Ero-Guro in coming years.

The Human Centipede: First Sequence (2009)

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Possible Charlie Sheen appearance on The Walking Dead?

 Note to self: If I ever become famous, go absolutely insane so that it will make my career extremely successful.

Charlie Sheen, star of Two and a Half Men, has been, to put it lightly, absolutely everywhere lately. His craziness knows no bounds in the media, and it has caused just about everyone to focus their attention on him, including Robert Kirkman, co-producer of AMC's The Walking Dead.

Kirkman recently revealed that he's a big fan of Sheen, saying  "Charlie, call us, we we will totally make that happen...We'll do whatever you want."

This announcement comes as a huge surprise because of the fairly dark and mostly serious tone of the show. I could definitely see Charlie Sheen appearing on shows such as Saturday Night Live, How I Met Your Mother or Modern Family due to the comedic value of his presence, but an award-winner like The Walking Dead? This is could be a bad move on their part if they plan to keep up their current reputation.

Over the internet, however, sites are claiming this rumor to be untrue. 

"We'll recast YOU as Rick," Kirkman jokes. "Andrew Lincoln will find something else to do."

That quote is obviously not meant to be taken seriously, but is Kirkman serious about including Sheen in Season 2? We'll have to wait and see how this one unfolds.

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Madison County (2011)

Madison County is about a group of college kids that travel to a remote, mountain town called Madison County to interview the author of a tell-all book on the accounts of the grisly murders that happened in the town over two decades ago. Upon their arrival, the author is no where to be found and the townspeople state that they’ve “not seen him in years.” They also deny that Damien Ewell, the notorious murderer, ever existed and that the murders never happened. As the kids start to dig around to get their own answers, they come to find that the stories, and Damien, maybe more real than the townspeople are letting on. (via Bloody Disgusting)

Writer/Director Eric England's Madison County looks like it could one of the most promising slasher films in recent years.

In modern horror, many masked madmen (Fig. A) have been replaced by things such as video tapes, cell phones and little Asian boys who live in your closet, so when I saw the pig-headed bad guy in the trailer for Madison County, it immediately sparked my interest.

Fig. A

From what the trailer shows, the story centers around a group of teenagers who travel through the backwoods of a remote town that isn't too welcoming, looking for the author of a book about local murders that happened years before the events of the film. What they stumble upon is a pig-headed, axe-wielding killer known as Damien.

The number one thing that attracts me to this film is the killer, Damien. The pig head is a symbol that has stood the test of time as a sign of discomfort and evil. From Lord of the Flies to the Saw series, it has never failed to be a disturbing omen, and now, with Madison County, it becomes the face of a new breed of killer who appears to stand alongside titans like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers as an anonymous, speechless murderer.

The plot has the right format for a classic slasher film: dumb teenagers, half naked blonde girls, the masked killer and plenty of blood and gore.

This is a film that could be a major piece of slasher history if it's done correctly, and I most definitely hope it lives up to the high expectations I currently have for it. 

Release Date: Unknown

Director: Eric England

Notable Actors: None

Official Wesbite: Madison County Official Site

Official Trailer: 

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The Slasher Theater

This blog is a continuation of my Tumblr of the same name.

On the Tumblr page, I mostly focused on just posting any horror related item I saw on my dashboard, and once in a while posting a new poster that had just been released.

On this blog, I plan on focusing more on horror reviews and news. This will include any movies, books, games, etc. that I get my hands on.

I'm going to try to focus mostly on the newer releases, but if I happen to catch some goofy 80's movie like Sleepaway Camp III on TV at 2 in the morning one Saturday, I'll review it just for fun.

Any news I post will mostly be from either Bloody Disgusting, Fangoria, HorrorHound or Rue Morgue 

Also, please keep in mind that I am a student and therefore will be unable to constantly update every single day due to school. However, I will try my best to take time out to do this and please my followers.

Perhaps I'll even write any horror short fiction that I write for class once in a while.

This is a horror blog written by a horror fan for horror fans so I hope you all enjoy the blog and keep up with it! 

-B.

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