Welcome to the new home of Creepercast.com. Where we let the fear creep in with all things horror genre. News, Reviews, and more! STAFF:
J.P.: Editor (EIC - Editor in Cheif), Writer (CC - Content Contributor);
Joel Kenyon: Editor (AE - Assistant Editor), Writer (CC - Content Contributor); William S Mayfield: Writer (CC - Content Contributor)
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
In the hope to entice Disney to approve his proposal to make a feature-length live-action take on their property Gargoyles, award-winning filmmaker Carlos Ferrer has shot a - very impressive - short fan film featuring the characters from the Greg Weisman created series (1994 to 1997).
Ferrer directed, edited, animated and scored the fan film, which features characters from the Walt Disney Television Animation and Buena Vista Television series. Like the original animated series - hailed as one Disney's most ambitious animated series, targeting an older demographic - it tells of a clan of heroic night creatures who pledge to protect modern New York City as they did in Scotland long ago.
Director's statement : "I need as many views as possible to convince producers and execs that my vision of a live action Gargoyles film will work for audiences and fans. It’s a rich story with a great message - a fantasy set in the real world and with today’s technology it could be fantastic. I grew up with this so I feel like I really know what has to be done. So it’s really about getting as much exposure as possible with the fans and others who may not know about the show."
Ferrer is an award-winning American filmmaker with over fifteen years experience in production and storytelling.
At the age of sixteen, he directed over one hundred cast and crew members on a feature-length film that later won “Best Student Feature” at the Long Island Film Festival. Ferrer studied Film at SUNY Purchase College, graduating in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts & Film. His credits include the 2016 film Retina and short film The Popcorn Man.
Make-up artist Jack Pierce had studied photos of Seti I's mummy to design Imhotep; however, Karloff looked nothing like the mummy of Seti I in the film, instead bears a resemblance to the mummy of Ramesses III (Wikipedia).
Tonight's full moon is brought to you by the Creepercast with the recommended Full Moon Feature of the evening...
Mad monk Torquemada (Lance Henriksen) wants a baker's (Jonathan Fuller) wife (Rona De Ricci) in his torture chamber for the Spanish Inquisition.
Directed by Stuart Gordon, based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The film is an amalgamation of several of Poe’s tales, including “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. The film also appropriates the anecdote of “The Sword of Damocles”, re-assigning it to the character of Torquemada. It was released on DVD in the United States as The Inquisitor. The film stars horror greats like Lance Henriksen, Stephen Lee, William J. Norris, Mark Margolis, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Barbara Bocci, Benito Stefanelli, Jeffrey Combs, Tom Towles, Oliver Reed.
As with all of my reviews of films for The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of them out. I am one man and this is my opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciated for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....
I had no idea what this film was about, before I started watching it. Sometimes that's a good thing, because you come into it as the film maker intended, as the way people used to watch films. It's so hard to do that anymore, with Facebook and all the other social media platforms and movie review sites. That's one of the many reasons I love writing for The Creepercast. I receive an assignment and a film to watch. Usually one that hasn't been released yet, so I'm getting in before anyone else has had the chance to formulate an opinion on it. Case in point, 'Gehenna: Where Death Lives'. The first full length film by director and co-writer, Hiroshi Katagiri. While the film boasts the star power of Lance Hendrickson and Doug Jones, to be quite honest, they barely make an appearance. Which was a little disappointing, but what you soon find out is that the real star of this film is Eva Swan. She carried the film on her shoulders and made it look pretty effortless. Quite a feat for a fairly new star on the rise. The supporting cast are all decent in their rolls, but I found myself less interested in their fates than hers. Although, Sean Sprawling does an excellent job as Pepe. He has a full character arc and goes from being a bit in the background to downright frightening. I should also mention that the first time we meet the thin man in the bunker, I genuinely was creeped out. Not only by the special effects being utilized for the character, but the way he moved and his actions. It ends up being a major plot point, but at this point in the film, it set the tone for what to expect. Having no preconceived notions from jump street, I was curious if the somewhat rehashed plot line was going to just end up making this a throwaway piece of film. What ended up happening was that at the end of the day, it left me with something to think about. I actually continued to dwell on the final act of the film and had several questions that it kept raising. It also made me feel unsettled about the thought of how our characters ended up. That tells me that there is something here to enjoy for other horror film fans, but I only wish the overall story had grabbed me a bit more. An ending punching you in the face is important, but the build up to that final swing, needs to be just as strong. Otherwise, your opponent just ends up dazed, instead of knocked out on the floor wondering what in the hell just happened.
The story line focuses on five people who are investigating some land for a sale. It's a beautiful and scenic location and while they're scouting it out, they come across what they thought was a machine gun nest from the war. What they come across, when they arrive, is a strange man praying. After chasing him off, we learn more about a kind of curse in the area and (as the viewer) begin to question if it's such a good idea to go through the door to the unknown.... but, of course, they do or we wouldn't have much of a movie. It would be called 'Gehenna: Where Death Almost Lived'. As they enter, they quickly realize that this isn't a machine gun nest, but more of an underground bunker used by the Japanese. They slowly make their way through the run down relic from another time and soon come across the creepy man I mentioned earlier. After a slight altercation with him, an earthquake or bombing, knocks them all out. They wake up to everything having been changed or is it the same place still? The five of them start to search their new surroundings, only to find that they've been sealed in and the bunker now looks like it did years ago. Have then been transported back in time or is this some kind of game that is being played by an unknown force? One by one they begin to be haunted by sins from their past, while the world around them seems to be unraveling. How will they survive and what's truly going on in the bunker? That's as much as this reviewer will give you, as you'll need to venture down into the bunker yourself, to find out.
I'm a little torn on this one, Creeps. While on one hand, Eva Swan was quite good and sold the story line and the ending was one that left me questioning everything that came before. On the other, the majority of the other actors seemed to be reciting their lines rather than reacting to what was being said and I felt like the film was a bit by the numbers. I know what Hiroshi was going for, in this film, I'm just not sure that it came off the way it was intended. It was a bit jumbled up and felt like there was too much trying to be jammed into the limited run time. There is also the fact that the majority of the time I was watching the film, I was dissecting each moment and realizing that it seemed to be a few different story elements that were being woven together. It was kind of distracting. I would have preferred that they opted to go with one or two aspects of the story and made those stronger, than to throw in the third or fourth, which made the foundation a bit shaky. I should also mention the sound was off. Because I was watching this on my laptop, I was forced to use my headphones to listen to the film. Usually this immerses me in the story and sound cues, but this seemed to have a mix that was uneven. I'm not sure if I'm being hypercritical or not, but it was all over the place quite often. Two of the things I really enjoyed about this film was the special effects. From the old man in the beginning, to the punishing of Pepe, I was impressed by the quality that was achieved. Not too mention, that if CGI was used, it was hidden quite well. The other thing that was refreshing, is something I'll have to remain vague about. While Paulina (Eva Swan) was not the only female in the film, she took the trope of the “final girl” and put it on its head. That's all I'm going to say about that.
'Gehenna: Where Death Lives' is going to be a movie that divides its audience. There will be some who love it, some who hate it and some who ended up where I did and just kind of felt like it was decent. Not something to run home and tell all your friends about, but something that certainly wasn't a waste of anyone's time to watch. All in all, this was a mixed bag. I can't deny that the ending left me feeling like I wished the rest of the film was stronger, but that happens quite a bit in this line of work. When you see as many films as I do in a year, it's hard to impress me. I'm hoping that Hiroshi takes what he learned from the making of this film and applies it to his next project. As a first time feature length film, he is way ahead of the curve. He understands how to tell a story and just needs to learn how to streamline things to have a more cohesive final product. In this reviewers humble opinion, I'll give this 3 out of 5 stars. It's probably leaning more towards the 2 end of the spectrum, rather than the 4, but that's okay. Not every movie can be a major masterpiece. To be quite honest, I'm sure I could never accomplish what everyone involved in this film was able to do. Create something out of nothing and be able to entertain an audience. It's a lot safer to sit on your couch and critique the works of others, than it is to do the work yourself and I respect them all for that. Besides, you made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, when the old man charged the main characters, early on in the film. That's something that not everyone can say. P.S. I know the dead guy in the tub wasn't supposed to come off this way, but I swear he was from the cast of 'The Farting Dead'.
If you like this, check out: 'The Descent', 'As Above, So Below' and 'Silent Hill'
"Look - the scared spells which protect the soul in its journey to the underworld have been chipped off the coffin. So Imhotep was sentenced to death not only in this world but in the next."
Atomic researchers (Tod Andrews, Tina Carver) flee from a tribal prince, back from the dead as a walking tree stump.
Initial release: August 25, 1957
Director: Dan Milner
Producer: Dan Milner
Screenplay: Bruce Jay Friedman, Richard Bernstein
Stars: Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, Linda Watkins
Director James Klass conjures up a holiday of horrors in a new Wild Eye Releasing release, premiering 4/10 on VOD.
In the tradition of The Conjuring comes a critically acclaimed and genuinely frightening feature “chock-full of superbly scary imagery” and “oozing with atmosphere” (The Schlock Pit).
A young couple moves into a lake house that was the site of a ritual murder, and soon realize an ancient, dormant evil has awakened to prey upon them.
Directed by James Klass (Mother Krampus), and starring Becca Hirani (Unhinged, Mother Krampus), Oliver Ebsworth (Curse of the Witching Tree, Mother Krampus), and Tony Manders (Darker Shade of Elise, Fox Trap), House on Elm Lake opens for inspection on April 10.
On this day in horror history.... 'House of Wax' is released. A remake of 1933's 'Mystery of the Wax Museum', this time around it starred one Vincent Price. Co-starring a personal favorite of mine, Charles Bronson, this film was in 3-D and Technicolor! It had ALL the things going for it, in 1953. While this is not the pinnacle of Mr. Price's career, it help to cement him as part of the Mount Rushmore of early horror icons.
Paranormal investigator Zak Bagans buys a supposedly haunted house in Indiana and documents what happens when he moves in. For fans of the Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures, this has been an ongoing drama. Bagans and crew have teased elements of the night spent in this house and the resulting destruction, as well as the ongoing physical and mental health issues he and his crew have experienced. The movie plays out like any documentary or episode of the show, beginning with stories from those who once lived in the home and ending with an overnight investigation. It is all very compelling and creepy as we learn about possessions and pain caused by the likelihood that this house is a doorway to hell. Zak Bagans has become one of the foremost authorities and haunts and demons and doesn't lose any credibility here. The Demon House is a worthwhile watch for believers and skeptics alike that will still leave you with lots to think about.
Available now on VOD.
Jeff's really short reviews are designed to briefly highlight those movies that Jeff either loves or in some cases, hates, without any fluff in between.
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
On this day in horror history.... the Chinese zombie comedy, 'Bio Zombie' is released. I went through an Asian zombie cinema phase and this one was one of many, that I enjoyed absorbing. While it's not going to make my top 13 of all time, it's still a fun outing and makes us of limited space to tell a good story. Recommended for those zombie fanatics who want to say they've seen it all.
Horror can pop up in the strangest places in non-horror films and somehow affect us more than an entire horror film depending on the context. Join us as we showcase one of these moments with this months' offering...
Round the world and home again
That's the sailor's way
Faster faster, faster faster
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing
Granted there is much about Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory that is creepy as hell from the brilliance that is Gene Wilder to the twisted concept created by Roald Dahl. But if you needed concrete proof of its origins in horror this brilliant scene of a trip to hell complete with soundtrack is thrillingly evil, and you can't help but be singing for the rest of the day.
Six college students are carpooling cross-country when one of their tires blows out on a desolate stretch of country road. Getting out to fix the flat, they quickly discover that this was no accident. The tire was shot out. With their vehicle incapacitated, the group is pinned down and mercilessly attacked by an unseen assailant as they desperately attempt to find a way to escape.
DOWNRANGE is the terrifying, dark new thriller from acclaimed genre director Ryuhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train, Versus, Godzilla: Final Wars). Produced by Kitamura and ELEVEN ARTS' Ko Mori (Lords of Chaos, Man From Reno), the film is executive produced by Taro Maki (In This Corner of the World). The screenplay is by Joey O'Bryan (Motorway, Fulltime Killer), with story by O'Bryan and Kitamura.
DOWNRANGE stars newcomer Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson (Insidious: Chapter 2), Rod Hernandez-Farella, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames (The CW's The Originals), and Jason Tobias (ABC Television's Notorious).
April 26th
DOWNRANGE lands exclusively on Shudder
To see a full list of what’s arriving on Shudder in April, click here!
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
Kenneth Strickfaden designed the electrical effects used in the "creation scene". So successful were they that such effects came to be considered an essential part of every subsequent Universal film involving the Frankenstein Monster. Accordingly, the equipment used to produce them has come to be referred to in fan circles as "Strickfadens". It appears that Strickfaden managed to secure the use of at least one Tesla Coil built by the inventor Nikola Tesla himself. According to this same source, Strickfaden also doubled for Karloff during the creation scene, as Karloff was afraid of being burned by sparks being thrown off the arcing electrical equipment simulating lightning. Although he was partially covered by a surgical drape, Karloff's abdomen was otherwise exposed during the scene and the high-voltage arc "scissors" threw white-hot bits of metal when they were used to create flashes (Wikipedia).
As with all of my reviews of films for The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of them out. I am one man and this is my opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciated for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....
When Herschell Gordon Lewis passed away in 2016, I was saddened by the loss. Not because I was a huge fan of his body of work, but because of who he was and how uncompromising he could be. He was in the business to make money and do it by cashing in on untapped markets, primarily gore. He basically brought about a new genre that was unheard of in the 60's. No one had ever seen anything like it, but he knew it would draw a crowd and that meant asses in seats and money in his pocket. He was a fascinating man who was charismatic, well spoken and quite humorous. Needless to say, I was a fan of him. I even have his box set in a place of honor, resting above my film library, for all the world to see. While he stepped away from the world of horror cinema, to go make his fortune elsewhere, the genre kept moving forward without him. He inspired generation after generation of hungry film makers out to prove their worth in the field. Before his untimely passing, he threw his hat back into the ring one final time, as a love letter to all of his fans. The film that he left behind, is the film I'm talking about now: 'Herschell Gordon Lewis' Bloodmania'. An anthology film that was made on a shoestring budget that features all the earmarks of the master. While this may not be a jumping off point to start a retrospective on his career, it was a solid way to end the adventure. A worthwhile send off for a man who forged his own path and left a permanent mark on the landscape. Granted, this film is not going to win any awards for its high quality film making or stellar acting performances, but that wasn't the point. That's the biggest thing you have to understand, before viewing this film. If you go into it for any other reason, other than your love of the man behind the camera, then you may be left wanting. What lies ahead is my journey, one last time, down the blood soaked path of Mr. Lewis. Remembering him fondly and smiling from ear to ear. RIP Herschell, you were a true trailblazer and proof once again that horror is just as much about the creator as it is about the concept.
As this is an anthology, there is no single narrative. The only constant is the introductions to each segment by Herschell himself. He almost serves as the proverbial Crypt Keeper of the film. Providing us with some horror style “dad jokes” before the mayhem begins. The film begins with the traditional theme song, performed by Herschell, as we get almost an infomercial style intro. The first story is probably the best. It tells the tale of a man who just can't win, no matter what he tries. Think Wil E. Coyote, but with a bloody hook and a lot of gore. It plays out almost like a commentary on society itself, as we have basically a found footage style story telling method. It's a little rough, but it almost feels like the good ole days. The second story, is intended to be all about love. As a woman continuously keeps dying at the hands of her lover. Over and over she is put into horrifying situations that always end in her ultimate demise, only to find out that she's been in a coma for years. Now, an old woman, she is almost forced to keep living out these terrible fantasies as she is unable to wake up. The next story is about a home that is inhabited by something in the walls. Every new family that moves into the house, is ultimately killed. Over time, we learn that there's a creature in the wall that loves hair. She's almost a feral type woman, who finally meets her match when a couple move in with their two little girls. Finally, the last story is about a band manager who has a fetish for killing women. This one is where things get a little off the rails, as it almost becomes a demented cartoon at the end. Despite all of this, the film ends. Sadly, with no outro from Herschell himself, which left me feeling a little unsatisfied.
What really works in this film, is that you can tell it was made by the fans. Everyone involved seems to want to be there, because they love what Herschell Gordon Lewis had done in the past and loved him. Almost as if they wanted to be a part of something greater than themselves. To that, I give them all kudos. It may never reach the heights of his original films, but it was a nice way to close out a career. What's kind of fascinating is that despite Herschell's reasons for becoming a film maker in the first place, he continually seems to place nuggets of wisdom and comments on society at large. For example, there are several, rather, pointed digs at the media and it's philosophy of “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality. There is also a few moments of young girls opting to take videos on their phones, rather than helping those in need. It's these kinds of little nods that make me think he knew there was some power within his storytelling, even outside of the money. He was a true enigma and a bit of a conundrum. One of the more fun things about this film, outside of the obvious, was his little nods to other film makers. During the segment about the creature living in the walls of the home, two of the realty companies that are selling the house are named 'E. Roth Realty' and 'JS Waters Realty'. For those who may not have caught it, Eli Roth and John Waters are two film makers who moved independent films and horror films forward with their rather extreme method of storytelling. Not too mention, they were both Lewis fans. While I wish he would have stuck to the use of practical effects only, there were some instances of CGI being utilized.... and not very well, I might add. Finally, there is some pretty over the top absurdity going on here. Namely the treadmill chase during the final segment or the steamroller scene in the first one. But despite all of the shortcomings and minor issues I had with the film, it was still a lot of fun and there was some genuinely good things going on.
While Herschell Gordon Lewis may not be everyone's cup of tea or maybe not anyone's cup of tea, you can't deny his body of work. The man was a machine in the 60's and 70's and pumped out film after film for a market that was hungry for content. Not only that, he was giving the people what they wanted: nudity, violence and gore. Things that mainstream Hollywood wouldn't or couldn't provide. Does that make him some kind of smut peddler? Perhaps. But when you hear him speak and look at what he accomplished outside of film making, the man was a legend. Never ceasing in his drive to work and create, he is a personal watermark for me and I strive to be the man he was. 'Bloodmania' is by all standards, a low budget, shot on video trashterpiece. A grimy plaque left on the headstone of a man that redefined what horror was. If you venture to view this visceral visage, go into it knowing that it wasn't made to be an epic tale or the great American movie. This was made to satisfy millions of fans who were hungry for one more course in the meal that only the master could prepare. While as a film, it's genuinely only a 2 out of 5 star rating, but as a final chapter in Herschell Gordon Lewis' life, it's 4 stars all the way. We will never see another one like him in my lifetime, if ever. They say that there's nothing new under the sun anymore, but I don't believe this to be true. I think there's still more to discover and create, it's just harder to find a niche that hasn't already been satisfied. Let's just hope that there's still young, up and coming film makers who are going to keep reaching for the stars. Because I, for one, want to be there when they reach their goal.
If you like this, check out some of Herschell's other films: 'Blood Feast' (1963), 'The Wizard of Gore' (1970) and 'Two Thousand Maniacs!' (1964)
On this day in horror history.... one of the greatest sequels ever, 'The Bride of Frankentstein' is released. I love this film and was gifted an original oil painting of The Bride over a year ago, that adorns my home now. Such a striking visage. If you've never seen it, do yourself and favor and go watch it tonight. Thank me later.
On this day in horror history.... another video game makes its way into the cinema as 'Silent Hill' is released. Featuring a personal favorite of mine, Radha Mitchell, this one was way better than it should have been. Sadly, the sequel was awful, but we'll always have this one and the creepy nurses to make us happy.
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
Experience three spine-tingling tales of terror to haunt your dreams. A debunker of all things paranormal, Professor Phillip Goodman (Andy Nyman) has devoted his life to exposing phony psychics and fraudulent supernatural shenanigans on his own television show. His skepticism is put to the test, however, when he receives a file of three chilling, inexplicable cases: a night watchman (Paul Whitehouse) haunted by disturbing visions as he patrols an abandoned asylum; an edgy young man (Black Mirror’s Alex Lawther) involved in a hellish car accident deep in the woods; and a wealthy former banker (Black Panther’s Martin Freeman) visited by the poltergeist spirit of his unborn child. Even scarier: each of the these macabre stories seems to have a sinister connection to Professor Goodman’s own life. Will they make a believer of him yet?
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
The most haunted house in the world sits on an isolated stretch of land that's 50 miles outside of San Francisco. Built by Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester fortune, it stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. Historically, despite there being no real reason for this many-roomed maze, we are lead to believe it is because Sarah is crazy and believes the ghosts of those murdered by the rifle that bears her name are attempting to exact revenge. The reason for the maze is to keep the angry spirits from finding her, or at least that's what we were always told. WINCHESTER actually twists the historical record and poses the idea that maybe Sarah wasn't so crazy after all, but she was actually a warden for errant ghosts and one just happens to actually want revenge. Add in a hired doctor with a substance abuse issue to question her sanity and you have a very interesting historical fiction something like 13 Ghosts.
Available now in theaters.
Jeff's really short reviews are designed to briefly highlight those movies that Jeff either loves or in some cases, hates, without any fluff in between.
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
Bill Oberst Jr and Rachel Alig are At Granny's House in writer-director Les Mahoney's award-winning indie horror, now available worldwide on VOD.
A Hitchcockian thriller with twists and turns, made for the YouTube generation with it's depictions of the ubiquity and downside of cellphone usage and connectivity thru social media, At Granny's House is the story of a young caregiver with a dark agenda moves into an elderly woman's house. Soon, Granny's house becomes a macabre place of death - and love.
Bill Oberst Jr ("Criminal Minds", Death House), Rachel Alig (Bikini Spring Break, 12/12/12), Les Mahoney (Mike Case in : The Big Kiss Off) and Laura Lee (Casting JonBenet) star in a Les Mahoney film, At Granny's House.
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
Shaenon K. Garrity, the self-professed Mayor of Horror Movies, is mostly a cartoonist who just happens to watch a lot of scary movies while drawing cartoons. Check out her thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year at Horror Every Day. Continue to visit the Creepercast every day for that days featured Horror offering.
Texas Frightmare Weekend presented by Arrow Video is proud to reveal the 2018 t-shirt art! Designed by legendary artist, author and filmmaker Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Night Breed) this all new art was commissioned exclusively in celebration of the 13th annual event this May 4-6, 2018.
Stories about the make-up and transformation scenes have become legendary, and are mostly apocryphal. The transformation of Chaney from man into monster was certainly laborious. The series of makeups took five to six hours to apply, and an hour to remove. Jack Pierce had originally designed it for Henry Hull in Werewolf of London (1935) but Hull argued that the disguise made no sense within the plot, since two characters had to recognize "Dr. Glendon" even in his werewolf form. Pierce was ordered to design a second version which left more of Hull's face recognizable. Pierce then recycled his design for the 1941 film (Wikipedia).
As with all of my reviews of films for The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of them out. I am one man and this is my opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciated for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....
I remember a time, back in 2005, where I stumbled across a little horror film by Neil Marshall called 'The Descent'. It was an all female led, claustrophobic film about underground monsters that prey upon these unknowing amateur spelunkers. It caught me be surprise and set a new standard for horror films. It also introduced me to a wonderful actress by the name of Shauna MacDonald. She stole the show as the lead in the film and seemed to be a force to reckon with. Because of this, when I heard of a recent horror film called 'Nails', also starring Shauna, I was intrigued to say the least. It finally hit Netflix a couple of weeks ago and I finally had to chance to see what she had been up to recently. It seemed like a simple premise and I liked the idea of a straightforward kind of story that keep things all in one place. Sometimes those are the most promising ways to tell a scary story. Put our protagonist in a situation where the antagonist is always around the next corner, but there are only so many corners you can run too. In an effort to keep this one kind of short, let's delve into the plot.
Shauna's character is a woman who seems to have her life all together, until she gets hit by a car and ends up in a rehab hospital. Not the good kind, but the kind that's haunted by some evil forces and not just the ones who are running the place. While she's laid up recovering, she's got no ability to move and can't even talk. She relies on the staff to take care of her and a little computer to do the speaking for her. During the course of her stay, strange things begin to happen. She seems to be the target of some sort of stalker or potential murderer. No one believes her though. No one has seen this person and just chalk it up to her being a little loopy from the medications. Her husband doesn't believe her either. He initially tries to help with her paranoia, by having cameras placed on and around her room. This leads to people doubting her even more, as when the person shows up, there's nothing on the camera to prove it. Since she has a lot of time on her hands, she begins researching the hospital and comes to find out that a former employee used to steal little kids fingernails and also murdered 5 of them. He did it as an “angel of mercy”, but was a murderer none the less. He killed himself in the closet in her room and had earned the nickname, Nails, prior to his death. The woman then believes that this is the man who is trying to do the same to her. Everything begins to spiral out of control as we soon start to question everything. That is, until the final showdown between Nails and the woman and her daughter. Who will be victorious? The results may surprise you.
This is Dennis Bartok's directorial debut. I will say this, the film's pacing and overall tone was solid. There was a lot good to be said for the basic structure of the film. The main problem was with the villain. He was.... lame. In the shadows, he created a bit an imposing stature, but as soon as he was in full view then it all fell apart. There's also a scene at the very end that was quite possibly one of the dumbest deaths I've ever seen committed to celluloid. It was incredibly cringe worthy and made me lose what little faith was left in the film. Another thing that was a bit problematic about this movie, was that no one is really killed until the end. At that point, literally every one is fair game for Nails to kill. Despite the entire premise being set up around his desire to kill our main character. It's like all bets are off and he's going to go on a rampage and just forget the other 80 minutes that just happened. That's a horror movie no no. Shauna really does the best that she can with this role. She doesn't really have much speaking and her primary form of communication is the little lap top and her body language. Despite these limitations, she was excellent. That's not an easy undertaking and she took it like a champ. The rest of the cast seemed a bit unlikable and you don't really care too much about them. Even her male nurse, that kind of befriends her, isn't much in the good guy mode. I'm not sure why Tom Abrams and Dennis Bartok made this creative decision, but in order to make horror movie deaths have an impact, you have to care about the people getting killed.
Finally, when the credits rolled, I realized how little I felt about this film. It started off with some great potential. It had really solid atmosphere and good direction. The hospital itself was a creepy character all on its own, but there were so many other wasted opportunities that I left the whole experience feeling let down. I'm not sure if the plan was to try and franchise this idea, but I'm hoping this ends up just being a one off outing for 'Nails'. I'm hoping that Mr. Bartok continues playing around in our horror sandbox. I think he's got potential, he just needs a better story and maybe something without a primary villain that seems so designed to be an icon. Just make a scary movie and focus and making us pee our pants. The rest will fall in line, if the film is strong enough. Horror franchises aren't generally created, they're just born. I'd give 'Nail's a 2 out of 5 start rating. It's not the worst I've seen, but it doesn't ever need to be seen again. P.S. Shauna MacDonald, please keep making movies. Thank you.
If you would like to see some other, better horror, check out: 'The Descent', 'Fritt Vilt aka Cold Prey' or 'Halloween 2' (1981)
Who knew that actor John Krasinski was more than just half of the delightfully quirky and cute couple that entertained us on The Office? Well, of course, if you had your ear to the independent film ground you'd know about the equally quirky RomCom 'The Hollars,' but other than that, with the exception of is bombshell marriage, we haven't heard a lot from Krasinski until recently. This fall he is expected to thrill us as a young Jack Ryan on Amazon, but before that he managed to further hone his acting, directing, producing, and writing skills with a little survival horror film. A QUIET PLACE's original treatment is written by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, drawing on their mutual love for silent films. In a sweep of brilliance and passion, John Krasinski took over their concept and created an amazing piece of art and suspenseful horror. Not only does Krasinski direct, but he had the audacity to cast himself as the lead, and portrays the character with deft skill. To further accent the audacity his real-life wife, Emily Blunt (Into the Woods, The Girl on the Train) plays his wife, where she dominates her scenes with an Oscar-worthy performance, that is if a true horror film could ever receive an Oscar. Krasinski and Blunt seem to be naturally conditioned to play these protective parents in an apocalyptic time with Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) and Noah Jupe (Wonder) logically rounding out the cast as their children trying to grow, cope, and be human in a time when silence can save their lives.
A QUIET PLACE doesn't waste any time getting to the story so neither do we here... With little to no fanfare, we find ourselves in a deserted, possibly apocalyptic city in which our family of five, the Abbots, are quietly gathering supplies in a ransacked department store. The fact the beginning of the film doesn't bother with exposition and just drops us into the middle of the desperation of it all sets the pace for the rest of the film. Lost and not sure what is going to happen next, Krasinski knows the rules of survival horror but doesn't feel limited by them. Instead, he builds the opening tension, sets us up for something bad to happen, then lets it happen before we've had a chance to register exactly whats going on. This introduction does nothing to give us the background to the conditions the family has found themselves in but focuses us on the family and their loss, suffering, angst, and struggle to find normalcy in a new world where to make noise will promise certain death. From this point on the attention to detail is incredible as we learn just what this family has done to adjust their lives, like sandy walkways that mute footsteps, homemade crochet game pieces, and even the elaborate set up created to distract the creatures when Blunt's character is ready to give birth. This scene alone is enough to garner awards for everything from acting to visual effects and has earned its place in iconography via the still that graces the official poster art above. Finally, we do get our exposition through the eyes of their deaf child, and from then on anything that can go wrong will.
A QUIET PLACE is truly a horror film in obvious ways, i.e. creatures that want to eat to us while we try to survive in a desolated world; but it is also about parents teaching his children survival when its ok to relax, and willing to sacrifice anything to ensure their safety. In fact, it is that which caused Krasinski, a self-professed scaredy cat and previously not a horror fan, to become obsessed with creating the film. You can tell he did his homework, with homages from Jaws to Alien, with camera skills and story manipulations, amazing character choices like Simmonds and Jupe, and the extremely important use of sound in a mostly silent film make him look like a veteran rather than a newbie horror director with a few experiments to try out. Pay special attention to the lack of sound during scenes revolving around the talented and deaf Simmonds, or the overwhelming use of sound when the creature is making its move. A QUIET PLACE is also extremely well self-contained from beginning to end, complete with teases and twists that lead us, like a parent through an extremely creepy haunted attraction, to an extremely cathartic end. Speaking of the end, and I definitely do not want to give away anything, my greatest fear as I came to understand the creatures, or aliens, is that the film would go too far in a Shyamalan direction. Thankfully, Krasinski isn't your average horror director and very few similarities carried through to the end. What we do have is a brilliant offbeat horror film designed to keep you on the edge of your seat and feeling for this family.
There is so much about A QUIET PLACE that deserves being pointed out but in the spirit of expecting you will see it, we'll keep our opinions limited to these few. We only ask that if you would like to contribute to the discussion further please do so in the comments below, we will love to hear your thoughts!
A QUIET PLACE premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival as the opening-night film on March 9, 2018. It was selected from 2,458 submissions and earned raves from critics. Following its premiere, the film experienced social media growth to under 52 million views across multiple platforms, outpacing 'Get Out' (2017), which had 46.9 million views. Paramount Pictures released A QUIET PLACE to theaters on April 6, 2018, alongside Blockers, Chappaquiddick, and The Miracle Season. Despite the competition, A QUIET PLACE was the second biggest domestic debut of 2018 behind Black Panther. Currently running at your local theater, A QUIET PLACE is a rejuvenating reinvention of suspenseful horror that everyone must see to believe.
I don't usually like to give star ratings, but if I did, A QUIET PLACE would be a solid 5 out of 5 (which normally I would never rate a film that high), absolutely an early contender for the horror film of the year.
