I so cannot freakin' wait for AMC network's Walking Dead series, based onRobert Kirkman's comic book of the same name. The book centers around the ongoing story of a handful of survivors trying to scratch out some semblance of a life after the zombie apocalypse. It's a real-time pull-no-punches tale where no one is safe, so it's best not to get too attached to any of the characters. I'm curious as to how closely the TV show will follow the original story. I'd actually prefer that it deviate a bit in order to maintain suspense for us faithful follows of the comic. Check the uber-cool extended trailer for the series below and then enjoy the debut on Halloween night on AMC.
I went away for a while to focus on my studies and now there are pieces lying all over the place! Let's sift thru 'em and see what we can find...
...I caught Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 a few weeks back. I wish I could say I really enjoyed it, but Sheri Moon's presence in the film really got in the way. It would have been way creepier and much more entertaining if every scene with her in it were excised from the film. Other than this one big flaw, it was actually an interesting take on the franchise. I'll be interested to see if there is any sort of director's cut when this one comes out on Blu-ray.
...on a related note, Patrick Lussier (director of the delightful My Bloody Valentine 3D) was set to helm the next flick in the Halloween franchise, Halloween 3-D, but it looks like the Weinstein company has shuttered production on this one. They seem to think that production was moving way faster than they were comfortable with. I really enjoyed Lussier's take on Valentine, so hopefully we'll get to see this one completed at some point.
...Brian Keene's newest novel, Urban Gothic, is fantastic! It's similar in theme to Castaways, his previous paperback offering, but takes place in an urban setting rather than an allegedly uninhabited island. If yer into gory, intense horror fiction, you'll probably really enjoy this one.
...Frank Darabont is bringing Robert Kirkman's apocalyptic zombie comic book series Walking Deadto the small screen! If the themes and storylines from the comic are maintained, this is going to be a hit. If you haven't checked out the book yet, what're you waitin' for?!!?! Kirkman is crafting an epic tale of a small band of survivors that learn over the course of the story that there are worse things in their lives to deal with than undead flesh-eaters. Walking Dead is set to air on the AMC network, but no news of an actual date yet.
...HorrorFest 2009 is set for October 18th. If you are in the Portland area and would like to attend, drop me a line and I'll see if I can wrangle you an invite.
...my favorite fright flick of 2009 so far -- Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell, hands down. This is some old school occult horror with lots of fun 'jump-scares' and just the right amount of gore. If you missed it during it's theatrical run you can grab it on disc on October 13th. Don't let this one pass you by!
...there has been quite a bit of criticism regarding the number of horror flick reboots coming out of Hollyweird in recent years, but I gotta say that a good flick is a good flick; just because it's a remake doesn't mean I'm going to immediately dismiss it out of hand. Here's hoping that Marcus Nispel's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the better ones. The recently-released trailer certainly looks promising. Check it out!
Or at least enough of a hit to be renewed for a second season! If you have not been following the exploits of Sookie Stackhouse, her brother Jason, her vampire lover Bill and all the other interesting characters in the fictional backwater town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, the episodes are re-aired all week long on HBO; get yer ass in front of the boob tube and check it out! In the short time it has been on the air, True Bloodhas rocketed to the top of this Horror Guy's 'fave TV shows' list.
The Day Job is now a thing of the past and the Horror Guy is taking some much needed time off from the rat race. Let's clean up pieces so I can get back to some rantin' on a regular basis...
...all this time off means I have time to set up my li'l personal space I like to call The Grimoire. It's coming along nicely and I'll soon have some shots up on my recently set-up flickr page.
...don't forget that HBO's new vampire drama True Blood debuts this evening. Set those DVRs!
...maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment in light of all the disastrous horror flick remakes going on these days, but I actually have high hopes for the upcoming remake/reimagining of the original Friday the 13th heading to theaters on February 13th, 2009.
...speakin' of film festivals, the Horror Guy's very own 8th Annual HorrorFest will be held on October 25th. Line-up and more info to come.
...Brian Keene's excellent zombie-themed short story The Ties That Bind is being adapted into a short film by the folks at Bamfer Productions. Check out the creepy lookin' trailer below.
I take a little time off from bloggin' to settle into a new job and you just let the pieces pile up everywhere! Help me sort thru these things would ya....?
...holy fuckin' ass-crackers, I love Powell's Books here in beautiful Portland! Their selection of new & used horror stuff is outta this world. While strolling thru their aisles yesterday I scored a copy of a UK import that collects all of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos stories in one huge volume. Appropriately titled Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of HP Lovecraft, this beauty is is gonna be perfect reading for this Horror Guy's upcoming week long vacation!
...gave George Romero's Diary of the Dead an initial viewing and it was pretty decent. Watching it again now durin' the morning treadmill run so I can write up a more detailed opinion of the flick a little later.
...NBC's Fear Itself has been solidly entertaining almost each and every week so far. There have been a couple of flops (I'm lookin' at you John Landis's In Sickness and In Health) but for the most part this is a definite 'must watch' TV show.
...just had to get up and shuffle my carcass into the living room to turn off Scary Movie 4 that Cridafer had left playing in there. Talk about an unbearable waste of everything it took to make that turd. Just can't top the original in this series, folks.
...there's a flood of really fantastic horror comics being published lately. Look for a Horror Guy spotlight on titles every horror fan should check out later this week.
...the new Brian Keene book is here! The new Brian Keene book is here! My copy of Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes from the End of the World showed up yesterday and I'm already well into it. The man still ain't lost his touch. This shit is creepy, exciting, touching and terrifying. Already eagerly anticipated Ghost Walk next month.
Man oh man oh man I hope this is as good as it looks in the trailer!!!! NBC's Fear Itself premieres next week and it's startin' to look pretty freakin' impressive. For those of youse not in the know, Fear Itself is a retooled Showtime series formerly titled Masters of Horror. The basic concept is that each week a different name director from the fields of horror and dark fantasy showcases a new one hour short movie. I'm hopin' that the fact that it's bein' moved over to regular network TV means that the creators have to work twice as hard to deliver some decent scares. The original MoH was always hit or miss with its selections and after two seasons the series never really seemed to find any sort of footing. I've saved ya the trouble of having to click all the way over to the official Fear Itself site...check out the creep-a-riffic preview below.
A little bit of construction mess still scattered around and HorrorGuy.com is still a little buggy, but let's see what we can dig outta the pieces...
...if psychological horror is your bag, do yourself a big fat favor and check out Them (a.k.a. Ils). This little gem ratchets up the tension and then ratchets it some more! I kinda saw the ending coming but it still left me with my jaws hangin' open to actually learn...nah, nevermind; don't wanna spoil it. Just see it.
...my man-crush on Brian Keene continues. It's not enough that the man writes completely kick-ass horror and crime novels, but he also grew up in the same era as yours truly; the childhood pop culture references found peppered throughout much of his work all point to the things I grew up with, particularly when Keene showcases his knowledge of 1980's horror and comic book culture. It never fails to take this Horror Guy on skewed trips down memory lane. I'm currently chewing my way thru Terminal, one of his forays into 'more crime than horror' territory but the horror is definitely there. It's more visceral and 'gut-level' realistic, but oh is it ever there!
...I heard that sucky looking Prom Nightremake was indeed pretty bad. I also hear it took number one at the box office. Fantastic. We can look forward to another raft of crap-tastic horror remakes to clog up the works.
...speaking of remakes, a Horror Guy favorite is currently undergoing a face-lift; Friday the 13th. Scheduled for release on Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 this one's got Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester of the CW Network's Supernatural) and Derek Mears lined up in the cast. I don't know...I've been burned one too many times with this remake stuff. I'll take a 'wait and see' attitude but I don't have high hopes that this will be worth a damn.
...astute readers probably noticed the sponsored ads and links starting to show up around HorrorGuy.com. Fear not, dedicated fear fiend...the first purpose of my feeble rantings here and elsewhere is still and always will be to spread the gospel of horror, be it good or ill. That being said, we gots to pay the bills somehow! With any luck, someone out of my handful of readers will find something new and cool as there should always only be horror-related shit being shilled by the sponsors.
Ya know what I really enjoy? Supernatural, that rockin', shockin' show on the CW network featuring evil-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester in weekly tales of terror. Oh...I've mentioned that a few times? Ok then....ya know what else floats my cadaver? Friday the 13thflicks! So the news that the Winchester brothers will be going mano a machete against Jason Voorhees this season makes me apoplectic with joy! Says series creator Eric Kripke:
"We have Jason from Friday the 13th, the character with the hockey mask. He shows up in episode 10. We have cleared the rights to actually use Jason. We have a twist on it so it is not really Jason out there but we have found an interesting way to bring him in so Sam and Dean fight Jason from Friday the 13th. In our world, that is a pretty cool guest star."
So I'm curious.....'not really Jason', yet they fight him in episode 10? Ooo-kaaay...not really sure what that means but you can bet yer last appendage that I'll be tuned in to find out!
Everyday life seems to finally be winding back down to normal. I may even be able to scribble something here more than once or twice a month now! Let's sift thru the pieces...
...picked up current issues of Rue Morgue, FangoriaandCemetery Danceand enjoyed them all so much that I ordered subscriptions to all three of them.
...got my signed limited run hardcover copy of Norman Partridge's Dark Harvest from the fangtastic Cemetery Dance Publications; can hardly wait to jump into that story, but I'm committed to finishing The Dark Tower before I start in on another book. Geez, I've been on quite a reading binge lately.
...had some friends visiting over the weekend and we wound up staying awake until 2:00am Sunday morning to finish watching the 1988 remake of The Blob. I forgot how much fun that li'l flick is.
...it didn't get the best reviews in the mass press, but I actually enjoyed An American Haunting. It's was no Academy Award winner by any means, but it was a fun piece of scary fluff for an evening. I actually enjoyed it enough that I bought the DVD and watched it again with Cridafer.
...one last piece: if you haven't caught Fox's On the Lot on Monday and Tuesday nights, give it a try. Ok, so this isn't strictly horror related but it is featuring a competition among some great (and a couple not so great) up and coming film directors; and with theme nights being all the rage on these types of shows, they're bound to have a horror night, right?
. This little gem ratchets up the tension and then ratchets it some more! I kinda saw the ending coming but it still left me with my jaws hangin' open to actually learn...nah, nevermind; don't wanna spoil it. Just see it.
, one of his forays into 'more crime than horror' territory but the horror is definitely there. It's more visceral and 'gut-level' realistic, but oh is it ever there!
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