Horror Guy

The Horror Guy Stirs....

It's been a while, but things are settling down nicely with the new career and I actually have enough time in the day to once again start posting my irregular thoughts about all things fun and terrifying. 

As is my usual yearly custom, I've started my October Horror Movie nights with bang! Every October I attempt to watch a different horror flick every night of the month. So far I've entertained myself with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, The Blob (1988), Trick 'r Treat, Dog Soldiers, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), the Feast trilogy, Land of the Dead, and Paranormal Activity. As always, I'm open to both of my readers for suggestions on flicks to watch this month, so feel free to drop me a line.

Pieces, 09/30/2009

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 Dead to 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!

Horror Guy's Thoughts on the Rebooted FRIDAY THE 13TH

It's no news that the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise of films is this Horror Guy's very favorite horror flick series and that I was very excited by the prospect of it being 'rebooted' for today's fear-starved audience. I had my doubts and my fears, but more than this I had my hopes. I was made even more hopeful by the fact that director Marcus Nispel had impressed me with his remake of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE in 2003. After much anxious anticipation, I got the chance to see the re-envisioned FRIDAY THE 13TH this weekend and I gotta say it surpassed my expectations in every way! This is not to say it's a perfect film as there are a couple of things that just don't make sense, (I'll refrain from going into spoiler-ish detail) but overall as a modern horror flick, Mr. Nispel made this one work. It's been several years since I've felt moved to see a movie more than once during it's initial theater run, but I'm gonna try and squeeze it in again one day this week. Treat yerself to a fun scary time and check this one out!

Giving SAW A Second Chance

It all started with that blasted VH-1 reality show SCREAM QUEENS    . If ya missed it, it was basically a handful of attractive young gals participating in various horror flick-related challenges in order to land a role in the upcoming SAW VI. I dug around on YouTube and found The Soup's take on a couple of clips from the show: [UPDATE: Sorry folks; looks like the vid had been removed.]

Anyway...I was really impressed with out-of-nowhere winner Tanedra Howard and was curious as to how she might do in the coveted role. I had only ever watched the original SAW and really didn't like it...but couldn't really remember much about it. So I loaded the first two in the series into the NetFlix queue (on Blu-Ray disc, of course) and then sat down with the flicks shortly after they showed up in the mailbox. I watched SAW and SAW II back to back...and was really impressed. I can't for the life of me figure out why I disliked the original so much on the first viewing. Anyway, I've now ordered the entire series on Blu-Ray and am looking forward to seeing Miss Tanedra in SAW VI later this year. I'm actually hoping she does really well and is successful in the industry as she seems really sincere and actually exhibits a bit of raw talent. Go Tanedra!

Aw HELL Yeah!!!

Ok, so I wasn't too impressed upon the initial viewing of Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN when it hit screens last year, but subsequent viewings at home on Blu-Ray disc have led me to appreciate the film a bit more. And now I'm thrilled as all hell to learn the Mr. Zombie will be tackling the sequel! I'm all for any flick featuring my favorite slasher, but here's hoping Rob does a smidge better this time around.

Horror Guy's HorrorFest 2008

Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't been writing much for my 12 faithful readers lately. What can I say? October is always a busy month. But enough of that twaddle.

The 8th Annual HorrorFest that Cridafer and I put on each year is almost upon us! This Saturday, October 25th, we will once more throw open the doors of The Treehouse here in Portland to our friends and loved ones from across the country to join us for our yearly 'film festival' of flicks hand-picked by yours truly. With all the RSVPs we've received, this looks to be the biggest 'Fest so far! How do you wrangle an invite? Ya gotta personally know me, Cridafer, or someone else that is already attending. So if yer in the Portland area, get out there and GET TO KNOW ME!
This year's line-up of fun and frightul flicks promises to entertain, shock, and maybe even horrify. Check it out...

10:00am-10:25am: The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror! (1996)
Once again, the Simpsons kick off HorrorFest with a ghoulish anthology of  screamingly funny tales. See the evil thing living in the Simpsons' attic! Gasp as Lisa inadvertently creates a miniature civilization! Scream in terror as Kang and Kodos run for President of the United States!

10:30am-12:15pm: Young Frankenstein (1974) PG
EVERYTHING comes wonderfully to life in this dead-on Mel Brooks spoof/sort of sequel to the original horror classic Frankenstein!– non-stop laughs from beginning to end!

12:20pm-2:25pm: Ghost Rider (2007) PG-13
Years ago a teen-aged stunt-cyclist Johnny Blaze sold his soul to the Devil. Now Johnny is a world-renowned daredevil by day, but at night transforms into the Devil's own bounty hunter, the Ghost Rider!

2:30pm-3:55pm: Hatchet (2007) R
When a group of New Orleans tourists take a haunted swamp tour, they slam face-first into the local legend of deformed madman Victor Crowley. What follows is a psycho spree of seat-jumping scares in the tradition of  "old school American horror"!

4:00pm-8:45pm: The Main Attraction!
Slasher Show-Down!

In this corner...
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master (1988) R
Years ago, the children of Elm Street laid the unquiet spirit of child-murderer Freddy Krueger to rest. But some evils refuse to stay buried. Freddy is coming back and this time Elm Street is not enough...he wants the souls of all the children in Springwood!

...And in this corner...
Friday the 13th: Jason Goes to Hell (1993) R
Jason Voorhees is back! In this shocking, blood-soaked installment of the Friday the 13th film series, the secrets of Jason's unstoppable killing instinct are finally revealed. And once you know the chilling facts, you'll see him in your nightmares...and Jason will see you in hell!

...Now FIGHT!!!!
Freddy vs. Jason (2003) R
Freddy Krueger enlists the help of undead slasher Jason Voorhees to escape his prison in hell. Once he is unleashed and the bodies start to pile up, it becomes clear that Jason isn't willing to step aside. Now, with a terrified town caught in the middle, these two titans of terror will enter into a horrifying and gruesome showdown....winner kills all!

9:00pm-11:00pm: Halloween (2007) Unrated Director's Cut
Rob Zombie reinvents the ultimate slasher classic, unleashing Michael Myers for a bloody rollercoaster of a rampage like fans have never seen!

11:05pm-12:45am: The Descent (2005) Original Unrated Cut
Six women on an extreme outdoor adventure are trapped while exploring a cave in a remote part of the Appalachians. As they push on, praying for another exit, they learn that they are not alone under the earth.

Happy October from Horror Guy

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We're only three days in and I've already managed to decorate the living room (mostly), watched Friday the 13th parts 1 thru Jason X, and tore a musle in the back of my leg. Guess I'll have to lay on the sofa for a few hours each day, watching flick after flick as the leg heals. I think I can live with that.

Happy October, all you fiends and freaks! 

Pieces, 09/07/2008

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.

...the HP Lovecraft Film Festival & Cthulhucon is comin' around again. If yer in the Portland area next month, the dates are October 3rd-5th.




...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.

High Definition Horror

Unless you've been living (or dead) under a rock, you know by now that Blu-Ray won the much over-hyped high definition format war. This worked out well for the Horror Guy as Cridafer and I were already proud owners of a Playstation 3 system. And yeah, I'm goin' somewhere with this.....anyway....
So being the hi-def whore that I am, having the PlayStation 3 to play Blu-Ray discs meant that I could starting pickin' up my fright flicks and watchin' 'em in all their 1080p glory. I've found a bit of time lately to watch a handful of these bloody beauties and let me tell ya...

...28 Weeks Later was pretty much kick-ass all the way around. I'm not sure why I didn't seem to really care for it when Crid and I saw it in the theater, but watchin' it at home on a hi-def video and audio system that sounds better than most theaters I get out to these days was a screamin' little treat! The video quality is amazing and with the DTS HD, I could hear every entertainingly agonizing screech of the victims of the rage virus loud and crystal clear. Forget what I said before about this one; 28 Weeks Later is definitely worth yer time.

...I'm kinda on the other side of the fence with 30 Days Of Night. In a prior entry I wrote about how much I enjoyed the film, even calling it one of my top 5 for 2007. Now I'm sorta wonderin' why. I mean, it was pretty to look at I guess, but as the entire thing takes place at night, it was a bit difficult to enjoy much of its hi-def-ish-ness. And slow. My godz, it felt like we were witnessing all 30 days of the vampire siege of Barrow, Alaska. I guess I have to reverse my opinion on this one as well. Not nearly as entertained by it at home as when I caught this one at the local cinema.

...John Carpenter's Halloween looks amazing in HD. It's PCM 5.1 surround track brings that classic movie theme to life and reminds me once again why this is and likely always will be the Horror Guy's all time favorite horror flick. However...

...Ghost Rider beats the hell outta EVERYTHING I've seen on Blu-Ray to date! Yeah, I know it's cheeseball of a flick and barely even qualifies as a horror movie, but it does have demons and flaming skulls and Peter Fonda as the devil so I feel it's not too out of place to be listed here. This things rips, roars and snorts across my audio-visual senses with an unbelievably dazzling spectrum of color and sound that keeps me glued to the sofa and grinning like a crazed Jack-O-Lantern! I've driven Cridafer a bit nuts with the repeat viewings but that's the price one pays for shackin' up with the Horror Guy.

...speakin' of Crid and apropos of nothing else in this rant, check out this beastie that was terrorizin' him and the house cats earlier today. This is right on the deck of our li'l hovel we call home. Good thing these creatures aren't usually known for snatching small-ish pets.

Pieces, 04/14/2008

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 Night remake 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.