NEWS: THE MISKATONIC INSTITUTE OF HORROR STUDIES OPENS NEW YORK BRANCH AT MORBID ANATOMY MUSEUM

www.miskatonic-nyc.com

With successful branches in London and Montreal, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies makes its first stateside stop at Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum with a pilot semester of horror film, literature and pop culture classes, running from September through December 2016 and featuring classes by some of the most renowned voices in horror film, fiction and criticism.

Named for the fictional university in H.P. Lovecraft’s literary mythos, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is a community-based organization that offers university-level horror history and theory classes for people of all ages. The Miskatonic is a non-profit endeavour through which established horror writers, directors, scholars and programmers/curators celebrate horror history and culture with a unique blend of enthusiasm and critical perspective.

The semester kicks off with a “Live From Miskatonic” presentation of horror author Jack Ketchum (OFF SEASON, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) in conversation with Miskatonic founder Kier-La Janisse, followed in October with a masterclass from Dennis Paoli (co-writer, RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND) on adapting the “unfilmable” work of our namesake, HP Lovecraft, for the screen. In November, Maitland McDonagh (BROKEN MIRRORS, BROKEN MINDS: THE DARK DREAMS OF DARIO ARGENTO) talks about the interesting cross-pollination of genre tropes and vintage gay pulp fiction, and we close out the season with longtime horror journalist Michael Gingold taking students on a trip through the New York City of horror film and television, complete with an interactive component. See below for the full class descriptions.

The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies was founded by film writer and programmer Kier-La Janisse in March of 2010. After existing in embryonic form at Aqua Books in Winnipeg, Canada, Miskatonic moved to Montreal’s Blue Sunshine Psychotronic Film Centre in June 2010. Since 2013 Miskatonic Montreal has been co-directed by Kristopher Woofter and Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, while Janisse teamed up with UK-based film scholar andElectric Sheep founder/editor-in-chief Virginie Sélavy to launch Miskatonic London in January 2015 – which has gone on to enjoy lectures from the likes of genre luminaries Kim Newman, Stephen Thrower, Jasper Sharp, Mark Gatiss, John Hough, Daniel Bird and more. Miskatonic NYC is a pilot program for the fall of 2016, under the co-direction of Kier-La Janisse, Marc Walkow and Samuel Zimmerman.

For further information contact Miskatonic.london@gmail.com
www.miskatonic-nyc.com
www.morbidanatomymuseum.org

​

Info:

The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies – NYC
Fall 2016 Pilot Semester: monthly classes from September to December 2016
Dates: 21 September, 20 October, 17 November, 8 December
Time: 7-10pm
Venue: Morbid Anatomy Museum
Address: 424-A 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Prices: Individual classes $12 / $40 full fall semester ticket

NEWS: TALES FROM THE DEAD ZONE featuring Brett Hart and Corey Feldman

World renowned wrestler Bret” The Hitman” Hart has just signed to 

star in TALES FROM THE DEAD ZONE. Hart will star as Private 

Investigator Tom Jenkings, a one man wrecking crew, who doesn't 

always play by all of the rules. 

“We are happy to have Mr. Hart's involvement in our Project” says 

Executive Producer Len J. Phillips. 

“I wrote the role of Jenkings with Bret Hart in mind, and I am happy 

he accepted the offer to act in our feature film. Bret Hart is such a 

fantastic actor” states Director Barry J. Gillis. 

TALES FROM THE DEAD ZONE, is about a Medical Examiner who 

imagines how victims of a horrible car crash, may have lived their 

lives. Prolific Danish Actor Kim Sonderholm looks forward to playing 

the Medical Examiner. 

“I look forward to flying to Canada. I hear good things. I also like 

playing this type of tailor made role, so to speak. The Medical 

Examiner's mind is twisted, from seeing so much death on the job. So 

he's got quite a vivid imagination that tends to run wild,” chuckles 

Sonderholm. 

Also starring in TALES FROM THE DEAD ZONE is actor Dakota 

House, star of the long running Canadian Television Series, (still in 

World Wide Syndication) NORTH OF 60. House is also known for 

ONE DEAD INDIAN, DREAMKEEPER and other Movies. Rounding 

out the cast is Len J. Phillips, Madison Nyenhuis, Ken Campbell, 

Maria Parker, Terrence Van Camp and Holly Reiter. 

The incredibly talented Corey Feldman, featuring his band mates 

Corey's Angels, make a special appearance in the movie as well. 

Feldman has just released his new Double C.D. Set "ANGELIC 2 THE 

CORE" which is currently skyrocketing up the Billboard Charts... 

Tales in the Anthology include, LEGEND OF THE PEOPLES 

DEMON, END GAME, ROCK STAR LEGACY, ROPE A DOPE and 

BURT THE SAILOR. The first story in the Anthology, LEGEND OF 

THE PEOPLES DEMON has been shot, and is currently in Post 

Production. 

Director Barry J. Gillis, has just completed Post Production on 

HOUSE OF MANY SORROWS, starring Ginger Lynn Allen, Tom 

Malloy, and Kim Sonderholm. HOUSE OF MANY SORROWS will 

be making the rounds soon at various Film Festivals World Wide, and 

will be available to the public in 2017. 

TALES FROM THE DEAD ZONE continues Shooting in Edmonton, 

Canada in December. The Movie is expected to be ready for World 

Wide Distribution in late 2017. 

my top 13 "Final Girls".... #11

What's a 'Final Girl' you might ask? She's the last woman standing at the end of a horror film. Usually the one who defeats the killer. In this list, I'll give you my top 13 'Final Girls' in horror of all time. Without furtur ado....

#11: Angela Vidal from '[REC]' played by Manuela Velasco
One of the best examples of the viral/plague subgenre, '[REC]' introduced us to Angela Vidal. She came in as a reporter and ended up being a sole survivor. She may not have kicked as much butt until the later films, but she still earned her place on my list.

All Girls Weekend (2016) Review

“All Girls Weekend is classic survival horror with subtle effects and beautiful imagery. It [All Girls Weekend] doesn’t fail at weaving together a fairly compelling story of Man versus Nature and the inevitable outcome.” ~ Creepercast

Synopsis: High school friends reunite after many years to spend a weekend in the mountains, but when everything goes wrong, there is no time for girl bonding. (IMDB) Written/Directed by Lou Simon (Agoraphobia, HazMat) and starring Jamie Bernadette, Gema Calero, Katie Carpenter et al.

All Girls Weekend is an unashamed low budget ode to ‘The Descent’. Here we have another collection of girls that have lost touch of their friendship for various reasons that are drawn to a trip into the woods by one who claims to know everything about hiking only to get them lost and in trouble. We have the classic bad girl, everyone else claims to have grown up but she still has the same old bad attitude and for some reason the rest are obsessed by her need to have a smoke. Then the new girl, accident prone but up for anything until it's wimpy time. Of course, there’s the rational everything is going to fine girl that knows all about the hike but still manages to lead them into danger. To round out the group there’s the peacekeeper and the somewhat lame comic relief. As the story unfolds the usual girly secrets come out, they get cut off from society and only have each other blame.

All Girls Weekend’s actors are stunted, the girls aren’t quite comfortable enough to pull off the best friends for years characters they are playing. The doesn’t mean the acting is over the top bad, they just don’t flow naturally thereby seeming detached from each other and waiting for director ques or trying to remember their lines. Some of the lines are very good though, Simon has provided some realist dialogue up to a point. That is to say, Simon is a thinker. One rule of survival horror is to eliminate technology. In today's world of a constant network of communication, cell phones get in the way of isolation. So like a good writer Simon takes them out of the equation, by rationalizing out loud that their cell batteries died looking for signal. All of them. The exposition sucks, but at least we don’t have to question the coincidence. Simon uses interesting edit techniques to show passage of time and avoid over exposing the effects to simple grotesquerie. The death scenes are subtle and body horror limited. Every element to a good survival horror film are here including a curse and the expected twists.

All Girls Weekend is classic survival horror with subtle effects and beautiful imagery. The protagonist and final girl are predictable. As is the ending. Yet, it doesn’t fail at weaving together a fairly compelling story of Man versus Nature and the inevitable outcome. A good homage to the films it pays tribute. If you can suspend disbelief long enough it will give you everything you expect.

Til next we bleed… Farewell from the beasts and I,

Jeff

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for J.P.? Leave a comment below, send him an E-mail, shoot him a message on Facebook and/or Twitter, or visit the Creepercast for more!

my thoughts on.... 'ClownTown'

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....

The dictionary definition of a fear of clowns:

Coulrophobia [kool-ruh-foh-bee-uh] noun 1. an abnormal fear of clowns.

Many people suffer from this specific phobia, but it comes in many forms. In the past 30 years or so, it's become a focal point of the horror genre and a subject that has been used many times over. I don't have this specific fear, but can understand why clowns would be seen as frightening. The greasepaint smile and the unknown person beneath it all. What are their motives? Who are they? Why do they have that creepy sounding horn? I fully get why people don't like them, but the horror genre has yet to create a clown that truly scares me. The 2014 Eli Roth produced film, directed by Jon Watts, came the closest with it's fable like story about a man turning into a clown type monster. Simply titled 'Clown', Mr. Watts created a very effective monster that however fantastical he was, he was still something to be feared. Pennywise the clown, from Stephen King's 'It', comes to mind as another one that struck a horrific chord with audiences. Outside of that, it's been difficult to transition a realistic fear onto the screen, to make it readable by all theater goers. Rob Zombie is about to release his take on the clown genre with '31'. He's going more for the throat with it, but then we have 'ClownTown'. Directed by Tom Nagel and written by Jeff Miller. Possibly bought and distributed to compete with Rob's upcoming epic? I'm not sure, but the comparisons are going to be made regardless. Maybe it's just unfortunate timing or maybe just a weird coincidence, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they will both exist at the same time.

'ClownTown' begins with a shot of a mailbox that reads 'Strode' on the side. Immediately, I could tell that the film maker was wanting to pay tribute to John Carpenter's 'Halloween'. But it takes it even one step further, as a babysitter is telling the kids she's watching, that it's time for bed. As she is headed to the kitchen, the boy appears our of nowhere in a clown costume. From there, he runs upstairs, as the babysitter gets a call from their father. A terrible train accident has happened and he won't be home anytime soon. As soon as she hangs up, an ax comes from off screen and lands firmly in her midsection. Fast forward 15 years, as 4 friends are on their way to a concert. Along the way, they stop at a diner for directions and one of them ends up losing their phone. Once they realize it's gone, they end up calling it to see where it might be, so maybe they can pick it up before finishing their trip to the show. The voice on the other end of the call tells them to meet him at a gazebo in a town just up the road called 'Clinton'. Meanwhile, two guys are heading in that same direction, one drinking and the other getting high. As we come back to the friends, day has turned into night and no one has shown up. Needless to say, no one has shown up anywhere in the town. It's deserted. They begin to head back to their truck to get back on the road, just then they spot a strange looking man dressed as a clown. One of them wants to ask directions, but is pushed on by the others. Soon they realize their truck is dead and they go looking for help. Nobody is around, until one of the girls is nearly hit by the two guys in their truck. As they try to sort out if everyone is okay, three men dressed in clowns appear. A burly one that looks like Tom Hardy's portrayal of 'Bronson' in greasepaint, carrying an ax. Another one that looks like a cracked out carny carrying a can of gasoline. Finally, a fancy looking one with a crowbar. They soon attack and kill on the two men in a truck, as the others stand there doing nothing. Everyone freaks out and begins to run and the cracked out carny hisses at them, while lighting the dead tuck guy on fire. From there, it's a cat and mouse game, through the dimly lit town, as the clowns are looking to kill the remaining trespassers and kidnap the girls.

As usual, I'm not going to give you the whole plot, as that is a disservice to the film makers who crafted the story to be experienced and not to be re-told by me. Even without knowing all the finer points of the plot, you may already be able to tell that 'ClownTown' fell short on the scare factor and really short on the logic factor. I mean, we get that these killers aren't clowning around, but they just come off so incredibly silly that it takes you out of any real sense of danger and eventually makes you stop caring about who lives or dies. The only thing that matters is if you can survive watching the rest of the film. For example, someone they meet along the way, while hiding from the killer clowns, is a man who tells them about what's going on. How the town slowly died after the train crash (remember from earlier?) and soon the clowns appeared as the locals began disappearing. In a flashback we see various locals meeting their fate, as the town shuts down in fear and a lack of financial stability. Yet, somehow, a woman decides to go sunbathing a midst all of the chaos and.... yup, gets killed by a clown. Really? Is this what passes for good storytelling? This film is basically a hodge podge of 'Wrong Turn' meets 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2003) with a hint of Michael Moore's 'Roger and Me'. It just doesn't ever gel into anything that I feel I need to see again. Even the poster for it doesn't match up to anything in the film. None of the clowns wear actual clown attire and there is no woman that looks like the one crawling for help.

At the end of the day, they leave this open for a sequel and I hope that the circus doesn't ever come back to town. This film could have been something more than it was, but so many elements were sewn together in a tapestry of confusion. It was as if they were trying to create something using a bunch of different elements from other horror films, that work on their own, but not when they're jammed together into one screenplay. Not too mention, almost every scene in this film was so dark that it made things hard to make out and created a very amateurish feel to the end product. Granted, I've seen a lot of amateur horror films that may be low on budget, but big on production values and pulled a lot out of a very little. This movie had some financing behind it, but it wasn't put to good use. I can see what Jeff Miller and Tom Nagel were going for, but it just didn't work out the way they planned or maybe it did? I had low expectations going into this one and usually I'm rewarded by something that exceeds what I had thought I was going to be shown. This proved to be everything I feared and more. If you're looking for something scary, maybe something with clowns in it, I don't recommend investing your time into 'ClownTown'. I applaud everyone involved for doing the best with what they had, but before they set out to make their next film, they should consider the 'less is more' theory of movie making and just tell a good story. The rest will come. 1 out of 5 stars and I'm not entirely sure what I actually liked about this one. This was a slow burn, that never caught fire. Unless maybe it was a dumpster fire?

If you want something with clowns, that may be more satisfying, check out: 'Killer Klowns From Outer Space', 'Clown' (2014) or 'All Hallows' Eve' (now THAT has a clown that will keep you up at night!)

A Terror Time Out featuring 'Dead Heads'

If you think you'e seen every zombie movie out there, you haven't seen anything quite like this!
4 out of 5 stars

Random Reviews A LovesDragons Momentary Review: Haunt (2013)

A family moves into a home that has a history. New boy meets girl who lives in the neighborhood. They play with something they’re not supposed to and it lets bad things in. Pretty normal day I guess.  It had some good moments, but it was predictable. Was it scary? It was intended to be I believe, but I wouldn’t rule it out! Overall, it wasn’t horrible and a movie to watch it if you need a sick day movie.