Babe of the day:Jillian Murray

One of the only good things about The Graves

After-Dark Horrofest 4:The Graves Review

Tony Todd,Bill Moseley,seeing that they were in this was the only reason I decided to purchase the Graves.I thought maybe with 2 superb actors and a decent story would make this worth it.I was wrong...dead wrong.The film is unimaginitve,dull,cliche,poorly executed and boring and not to mention has two really annoying lead characters.

The Plot: Two sisters,Abby and Megan Graves from Scottsdale Az,(snottsdale) are on a roadtrip to New York,where older sister Megan just landed a big-time job. Driving through Arizona they hope to stop and see the worlds largest thermometer.(Yes,I'm serious)Of course they get lost and stop and a local diner,see a weird Reverend(Tony Todd)and get directions to Skull City Mine which the waitress insists is a local landmark and will give the 2 girls some good thrills.Soon after arriving at Skull City Mine's the girls see it is more then they bargained for as they witness a muder at the hands of Jonah(a murderous Blacksmith) who seems to be under the control of the Reverend.The Reverend Abraham it seems convinced the town and whoever listens that their god demands sacrfices...so of course the 2 sisters are soon being hunted.

And man was it poorly executed. The said Blacksmith is killed easily by the one sister(I guess a big menacing man carrying a weapon is no match for a smart woman) and then swarmed by bees who it seems steal his soul(at least thats my guess what happened).Caleb(Bill Moseley) soons shows up as the sisters think he will help them but of course and like we all could have predicted,he's in on it and is the Blacksmith's brother.He is eventually killed,as once again it appears these 2 sisters are deadly assasins or something,I've never seen 2 killers killed so easily.At one point in time Abby is all of a sudden laying on the ground,we have no idea what happened to her ,at another point in time the other sister Megan survives a stab to the heart.So now not only are the two sisters assasins but they are also able to withstand stabs to the heart.

I won't give the ending away if any people actually want to see this but I'll say its just as bad as the rest of this movie even with Tony Todd.

Acting:Horrible acting by the 2 sisters(Clare Grant as Megan and Jillian Murray as Abby) though I thought Abby was quite the cutie.Maybe the writing had to do with the bad,unbelievable acting,who knows.Bill Moseley was decent,he's always able to make it at least somewhat interesting.Tony Todd does what he can though even he couldn't save this.

Gore:Not much and most happens off-screen.

The film reminded of a really bad version of Wrong Turn with religious overtures. It really has nothing going for it at all.Definitely don't waste your time on this.Watch Dread instead.

4/10

After-Dark Horrofest 4:Dread Review

This one of course was one of the one's that caught my eye mainly because it was written and produced by Clive Barker.Of course the Midnight Meat Train also caught by eye because of Barker and that one to me was forgettable.Is Dread any better than Midnight Meat Train?Quite Simply,Yes,much better and much more realisic,disturbing and intelligent.

The Plot: Stephen Grace is a quiet,boring an somewhat independent college student who is majoring in film.Stephen meets the charismatic,charming and much more outgoing Quaid who Stephen is somewhat drawn too in an almost homophobic way.Not long after meeting,Quaid comes up with an idea for Stephens thesis film:A documentary on the study of fear.With the help of his film editor Cheryl from class,the three set out to document people's deepest fears or dread if you will.

Not satisfied with what they are getting from their interviews,the three eventually turn the camera's on themselves and they finally get what they are looking for but at their own costs.Director Anthony Diblasi does a great job in creating mulitlayered and likable characters who actually aren't dumb and who almost act like real college students would.We feel for each of these characters as we learn about their horrific past.While Stephen and Cheryl are quick to tell about their past,Quaid isn't very interested in letting them in on his secret(his parents were slaughtered by an axe wielding madman right in front of him as a child).Quaid Finally does let Stephen in on this and we begin to see cracks in Quaid. It soon becomes obvious that Quaid is a bit off and lets say a bit unbalanced.He has terrible visions and horrible dreams of that fateful night his parents were murdered.By doing this study Quaid hopes to be able to overcome his weakness and face his beast by using other peoples fears.To Stephen and Cheryl this is just a school project,but for Quaid,it's much,much more.He eventually becomes lost in this quest for fear and soon forces others to relive their pasts in sick and disturbing ways.

Acting:Really good job by the whole cast.Stephen(played by Jasper in twlight..real name Jackson Rathbone) is an easy lead character to root for.He is smart and sensitive and not at all annoying despite being somewhat of an outcast. Strong pefromance by Laura Donnelly who I hadn't mentioned earlier,she plays Stephens good friend,who has a horrible birthmark on the side of her face.Donnelly nails is and comes across as a confident character instead of the pathetic,feel sorry for outcast.Kudos also to Quaid(Shaun Evans) who was brilliant as the charismatic but ultimately flawed antagonist.Whenever he is onscreen you are at edge because something deep down doesn't feel right with him and it feels like he can snap at any moment but still you are drawn to him,and want to know what is going on in his mind.


Gore:There is some nice gore in this and it looks realistic as well. Axe's get buried into people's head and chests and don't look chessy or fake at all. We also see a body torn-apart and mangled from the waist down. There is also quite a disturbing and maybe the most memorable scene involving rotting meat.

Closing:Barker and Diblasi have crafted a well made horror movie with psychological overtures.It is written well and paced just right.The examinations of the characters fears seem real and leave the viewer empathetic towards each of them,and for once there really is no clear cut "hero" or villain.This is by far one of the better and if not best film I have seen from the AfterDark Horrorfest after 4 yrs.Any Barker fan will enjoy this one,it definitely has his touch on this.
8/10

Quick Review:The Gate(1987)

A somewhat kid-themed horror movie that actually works well and has some creepy scenes and cool little monsters.This was always one of my favorites growing up and it holds up well for the most part.
The Plot: A couple of kids accidentally open a gate to the depths beyond and end up having to deal with demons and other sinister forces at work.
Glen and his best friend Terry suspect that the hole from the tree trunk removed from Glen's back yard harbors a gateway to another world.Terry has convinced Glen that a heavy metal band his dad was into knows the way to close this gate if you listen to their record backwards.Of course all doesn't go as planned.As the weekend approaches Glen's parents go out of the town and leave his older sister Al(Alexandra) to take care of her younger brother .Soon after Al has a party that gets weird as one of Al's friends convinces her she could perform a levitation..which leads to Glen being levitated and eventually running upstairs crying..LOL.Weirder things begin to happen during the night,Terry has visions of his dead mother,the family dog angus dies and Glen thinks his parents are home only to realize that they are not his parents at all as he squashes his father's face to mush.More strange,nightmarish things begin to happen later as we see the first appearance of the pint-sized demon looking Minions as they try to make their way into the house.We also gets a creature beneath the bed that tries to drag Al underneath with it and a dead house repair men that comes through the way and takes Terry with him.Finally we get a giant sized minion that bursts through the floor of the house as it comes face to face with Glen.
The creatures in this movie are quite cool looking,and it's not cgi or even stop motion fx.The creatures are actually people dressed up in costumes and shot in force perspective.It holds up quite well today where too many films rely heavily on fake looking cgi.
The movie itself has some pacing issues now that I really didn't pick up on when younger.Not a lot happens at all the first 45 minutes or so,for some reason I thought I remembered much more creature action and scares but what do I know,I was only 10 or so.
The acting is fairly decent.Glen played by a very young Stephen Dorff does a good job as the sometimes annoying little brother,Terry(Louis Tripp) was annoying at times especially when he was trying to rock out to a heavy metal record.Al(Christa Denton) is somewhat convincing as the older sister torn between her friends and her little brother.

Not much gore but we see an eye in the hand that gets stabbed,and a face get squashed.
The Gate is still a fun movie to watch.It brings you back in time to the old days when horror films were fun, over the top but still had that certain something that made it work.
7.5/10

Nolan is on for another Batman

"On March 10, 2010, Nolan confirmed his involvement with a sequel and gave some information regarding the story. The next Batman film will be Nolan's last and a conclusion to the story. Nolan says, "Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story . . . I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters. My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it hearkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.” Nolan has also confirmed that Jonathan Nolan is writing the script and that the villain of the film “won't be Mr. Freeze.”

I am pumped to hear this,I think Nolan will bring everything to a perfect ending as he has masterfully fleshed out many of his characters.I can see Nolan having Gotham appear to be down and out only to overcome and get back to normal with the help of the dark knight of course.This will help Batman maybe hang up the cape for good as they have righted the ship.I am curious about a villain and my hunch is that it will be Riddler,I have no proof,just a gut feeling.I may be wrong.

So MTV is trying to be a horror channel now?

I have noticed they have started to play some horror movies at random times,they had on scream 3 a while ago and Halloween Resurrection..and of course they made that My super pyscho sweet 16 movie that I shamfully watched...But if they want to play horror movies they should maybe play a decent one and not shitty ones that no respected horror fan would ever like. Gives youth today bad ideas of horror movies.Tonight they have on Dawn of the dead(remake) which is a little better but why are they playing horror movies anyways,aren't they suppose to play shitty music and stupid reality shows all day!
Strange
MTV FTL!

Quick Review:The Funhouse(1981)

Directed by Tobe Hooper,the Funhouse is a FUN little movie with a great setting , some good scares,and some believable acting. Much better than Eaten Alive.
The Plot:Amy has a date with Buzz and against her parents wishes goes to the local carnival with her friends Liz and Richie with Amy's annoying little brother Joey close behind.At the carnival they see deformed animals,deformed babies,a magic show and a weird looking dude with a Frankenstein mask on.They smoke joints,make out and then get the oh so brillant idea to spend the night inside the funhouse.After more making out they spy through the wood planked floor,the Frankenstein masked guy give money to the old/disgusting fortune-teller lady for sex.He can't control himself and gets pissed afterwards and chokes out the gypsy.Eventually his not to proud father finds out what happens and freaks out.In the meantime Richie gets his second brillant idea of the night..to steal the money left in the box.Of course things don't go as planned as the dad and franken-son soon find out they are missing money and that they have visitors in the funhouse,and Amy and company can't find a way out as they are stalked and chased through the confusing funhouse.
The funhouse itself was quite spooky with dummies and creatures jumping out at you left and right.Its dark in some spots and flashes neon lights in others,making you glad you aren't in there with them.The Frankenstein guy is eventually unmasked and lets just say he's quite a creepy looking creature.Loved the look of this...thing.Amy(Elizabeth Berridge) is a very likable character and also very cute(maybe I need to take a girl to a carnival to win her over),heck,even her boyfriend Buzz is somewhat likable.Not a very high body count or gore but it has just enough to keep one satisfied.
Side Note:The opening scene has hint of Halloween and Pyscho rolled into one.
The Funhouse is another one of those many 80s slashers that seemed to pop out and fade away into obscurity.But it's an entertaining little film with some great scenes,a nice atmosphere, a good score and a well done ending.It's Fun.
7.5/10

Happy Day-after St Patricks Day

Stephen King in Creepshow

As Hillbilly Jordy Verrill in the lonesome death of Jordy Verrill from the Creepshow movie.King put on quite the hilarious performance,he looked so goofy and awkward I was laughing almost the entire time. Hillbilly,redneck,hick,retard all rolled in to one as he slowly turns to a gaint plant after touching a meteor that crashed to the earth.
Kudos to Stpehen King

Finally picked up Creepshow on blu-ray

can't wait to see this and see if this was worth the upgrade

Babe of the day:Amanda Righetti

Awesome characters:Tarman

Tarman from Return of the living dead,ok so he really isn't in the movie that much but he is by far one of the coolest characters ever and definitely one of the most unique looking zombies in any zombie film. Hard to even imagine that Tarman must have been human at one time.Looking liked he's been dipped in Tar and almost as if he's melting Tarman is definitely one you will not forget and definitely steals all the scenes he's in.

Tarman was petrified stored inside a trioxin container which was cracked when Frank hit the barrel.The crack releases the trioxin gas and the tarman was awakened and his skin melted from the gas.He spends most of time down in the basement as Frank and Freddy have no idea he came to life.Tina eventually goes to hide in the basement and see's Tarman who is hungry for "Brains""Live Brains",Tina hides in the locker and Tarman tries to open it with a winch...HILARIOUS!Eventually Suicide(another punk)and the other punks make their way down there and Suicide is killed by Tarman as he bites through to his brain,the others escape as Tarman screams "MORE BRAINS".We think Tarman meets his demise later on when his head is knocked off by Burt,though they never really show if he is really dead or whatnot.

Tarman was portrayed by Alan Trautman who did an amazing job.The way Tarman walks is very herkey,jerky,such eery movements it almost would seem like its computerized or something but it's not,its the skill of Alan Trautman.

I believe Tarman and this movie was the first that introduced us to the idea's of zombie's feasting not entirely on humans but just on their brains.For that we should all say thank you to this movie and to the Tarman himself.

Quik Review:Scarecrows

Kind of another lost horror film from the 80s that needs to be seen.Made in 1988 and finally re-released on dvd in 2007,this is definitely one of the best looking scarecrow movies there is.
Five criminals who have just committed robbery try to escape to Mexcio on a hi-jacked plane only to double-crossed by one of their own and end up stranded on a spooky cornfield filled with scarecrows,crosses and one creepy house as they search for their former pal that betrayed them.
The movie works so well in part because of the haunting,dark and ominous cornfield.That and the amazingly simple(low-budget) but downright scary scarecrow designs really gives one the creeps and proves you don't need cgi to make things look real or even scary.The film relies heavily on that dark,foreboding atmosphere created by director William Wesley and is somewhat of slow-burn as the characters slowly begin to realize the scarecrows are alive.Since its so dark you never get too much of a long look at the scarecrows in action and this to me makes it even scarier.Trust me though,the scarecrows are downright spooky.



The movie really starts to pick up when we get to see what these scarecrows do to you -they can mimick voices,make you delusional and worst of all-they gut you and fill you with straw.Finally the characters start thinking maybe they should get the F out of there and forget the money.The movie never really explains in full detail why the scarecrows can come alive but we get numerous shots of a framed-picture of 3 men hanging inside the house and a reference to how they might be devil worshippers.
The acting isn't that great in the movie but it's decent enough to not take away from the movie itsef.Jack played by Richard Vidan and Corbin(Ted Vernon) to me were the only likable characters in the film.Kellie played by Victoria Christian was nice to look at but quite whiney and annoying.
Scarecrows is definitely a strong horror/ghost film which also tries to show us that greed can be a deadly....especially with scarecrows running rampant.See this underappreciated movie now
8/10
-supposedly this move had a lot of gore taken out of it by the MPAA and I wonder if there will be or if there is an unrated version floating around

Try Doublestuff Oreo cakesters!

AMAZING!

Forgotten 80's gem:Of Unknown Origin

From 1983 and I believe this debuted on the old-old sci-fi channel,all I remember is watching this on VHS as a kid with my best friend and for some reason this movie always scared the crap out of me. I always thought there was a rat in my basement or under my bed and to this day and this is true I always put the toilet seat down when I'm done.
This stars Peter Weller as Bart Hughes, a successful NYC business man with a chance for a big promotion only to be sidetracked and eventually obsessed with a rat that has made Bart's NYC brownstone which he personally renovated himself his own personal playground as he chews through wires,shreds up pillows,Bart's work and anything else it can.With his wife and kid away visiting her parents Bart completely unravels and wages a one on one war with this rat.The rat constantly outsmarts Bart,doesn't fall for the traps and doesn't take the poison.The rat almost takes his private part off as he comes up from the toilet one night,slips into his bed,attacks Bart numerous times,including one time in the boiler room,kills his poor cat and makes Bart start to lose his mind.These attacks are all quite vicious and the way they are done really make the film quite scary.All this time Bart is completey distracted from work and coworkers begin to think something is off with him.Some other funny part include him talking with a neighborhood rat expert and my personal favorite at the business dinner when Bart starts randomly spewing out rat facts one after another(how Rats can eat through lead and concrete,how a rat can wriggle through a hole the size of a quarter and so on) Some of the shots in this movie are done really well,they never show too much of the rat itself,they show his slimey feet,his big teeth and its beedy eyes and also upon further viewing I discovered a few scenes where Bart is walking around and you see the rats tail slowly slide out of the picture.They also use POV shots from the rat itself which is a nice little touch.Being back in the 80's,they use real footage of a rat at different angles and what not,no cgi or anything.The photography in the brownstone is done amazingly well and the music itself is very eery and unsettling.The rat also has a terrifying shriek which is diplayed numerous times throughout the film. The conclusion of this film features Bart decked out in a helmet,with a flashlight attached to it,wielding homemade bat with nails and traps stuck to it,and wearing shinpads and cleats as he completey destroys his home in a battle against the rat.
What made this fim work so well besides the scares and photography was Weller's performance.He really nails it as a successful business man who becomes almost a completely different person.Weller is very quirky but likable and has a great knack at subtle humor(ex:"You never said anything about rubber gloves, you boneheaded fart,"Watch and weep, you furry fucker" and "Keep it up.Just keep it up. I've got friends in Jersey".He also was very believable and I even started to feel for this poor guy. The film also introduced us to Shannon Tweed,and man she was even more the looker back then,my jaw dropped seeing her so young and hot in this as compared to her later softcore days where she still looked good.
A modern day Moby Dick with bite!Is it horror?in my book it is,though it had humorous parts and lines it is still quite creepy and graphic.Better than Gnaw or the remake of Williard or even food of the gods,better need to check out this 80's gem.
8.5/10
Random real rat facts
-Rats transmit Murine typhus fever
-Rats often chew electrical cables
26% of all electric cable breaks and 18% of all phone cable disruptions are caused by rats
-Rats can fall 20 feet without being injured
-25% of all fires of unknown origin are rat-caused
-Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants
-Male and female rats may have sex twenty times a day
-Rats destroy an estimated 1/3 of the world’s food supply each year

Just watched Black Sheep

Hilarious!what a fun time

Freddy Kreuger is........Jaws!

From A nightmare on elm street 4:the dream master
This part always has me rolling

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:The Dream Warriors had some of the best lines EVER!

In my Dream,I'm Beautiful,and Bad.
In my dream, I am the Wizard Master.
In the name of Lowrek, Prince of Elves... demon, begone.
This is it, Jennifer: your big break in TV.
Welcome to prime time, bitch.

A trip down memory lane:Nightmare on Elm Street 2 awesome dance scene

How hilarious was this,I crack up everytime I see this!Man,the 80s

Zombie Rabbit award

Big thanks to Geoff from Enter the Man Cave for bestowing this award on me,great appreciated.I think of suppose to keep the train going,so here are a couple blogs I enjoy

http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/

http://cheapbin.blogspot.com/

It's March

Already,wow,lets start out March with a babe,Brianna Evigan,the only good thing about Sorority Row.