kindertrauma

It's a Horror to Know You:: Kyle Kuchta of Fantasm: Season of the Con!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Kyle Kuchta of Fantasm: Season of the Con!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

The first film that ever scared me was Child's Play when I was about 8. Well, I guess I never saw the movie, but Chucky scared the hell out of me. I remember having a dream where Chucky was going to kill me, but then Beavis and Butthead saved me. And then I remember going to a Haunted Hayride where they were showing the Boogeymen: Vol. 1 documentary before the ride, and I was convinced that Chucky was going to be in there, and I started crying. Years later, I've only seen the first Child's Play and Seed of Chucky. I don't know what's wrong with me.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

It would probably be Session 9. Honestly, that movie freaked me out beyond anything I thought could. I still regard it as the scariest film I've seen. I also am a wuss sometimes, so people get disappointed when I show them. But I think it's great. Ti West's The Innkeepers spooked me quite a bit, too. For whatever reason, I thought it was a good idea to watch at night by myself. I'm also one who gets VERY scared of sounds more so than images, so when the disclaimer comes up about watching it with loud volume, I was already tense. So I spent that film with the volume remote in hand, and it was probably the only film in a while that I had paused because I was scared.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

1) Tourist Trap: One of my all time favorite horror films. That score, those mannequins, it had everything I wanted in a late 70s horror movie. It's SO damn creepy. Why did I want THOSE things? I don't know, but it was AWESOME.

2) The Signal: I was absolutely blown away by this film, and I wish that other people knew more about it and/or would give it a chance. I'm a fan of anthologies and, while it wasn't necessarily an anthology, the "transmissions" were a nice touch, and a great way to not just make it another crazy-zombie-possessed human movie. I dug it.

3) Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon: While it may not be so underrated in the horror community, I can't help but add this gem to my list. Any time anyone asks me to recommend a horror movie that's "not too scary," whatever THAT means, I suggest BTM. I actually recommend BTM for almost everything. I saw this film at a used video store for $4, and I wasn't sure whether to be sad that this DVD was regarded as a lower price used DVD, or happy that someone was going to buy it for cheap and love it as much as I do.

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

1) Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth: This chapter in the Hellraiser series gets a lot of shit, but I absolutely love it. I think it's so fun, and the cenobites are some of the BEST. They're so ridiculous I can't help but to enjoy myself every time I watch it. All I ever wanted was that cenobite sculpture. Actually, nah, that's probably a horrible thing to have.

2) Shakma: My biggest regret was not having Amanda Wyss sign my Shakma VHS. I love watching this because I'll start the movie, and it'll be awful. And then it'll keep going and keep being awful. And then when I have 30 minutes left I'll be yelling at my TV for the movie to be done, like that's going to change anything. It's sort of an amusingly vicious circle I submit myself to, but I can't help it. Shakma is outrageous.

3) Ticks: Growing up in East Lyme, Connecticut, we had to be very aware of ticks because Lyme disease could cripple you, or whatever Lyme disease does. So ticks always BUGGED me. Lololololol. But seriously, the fact that this movie has Seth Green, Alonso Ribeiro, Clint Howard is reason enough to watch it.

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

1) Fright-Rags: Some of the best shirts a boy like me could ask for.

2) Outside the Cinema: One of my favorite podcasts.

3) VHShitfest.

4) Death Waltz Recording Company.

5) Fantasm: Season of the Con: My upcoming documentary on horror conventions.

Halloween (1978):: Death and the Maiden

Posted on By unkle lancifer

The first time I saw Michael Myers's face (mask, really), I turned (sprinted, really) away. It was during a review for HALLOWEEN on SISKEL & EBERT and it was just a clip but I had to leave the room and shake his visage from my mind by jumping up and down. His image is now so familiar (especially this time of year) that it takes some effort for me to recall just how alien and menacing it was upon first view. I had no knowledge of whom or what he was within the story, no idea of how iconic his likeness would become and certainly no inkling of his countenance's debt to Captain Kirk. I saw a white face with hollow black eyes and it almost appeared as if it were floating in the darkest of space. He was a levitating skull and skulls don't have to speak to say loud and clear, "Poison, death, run." Some primal million years old memory stored in my DNA awoke and manipulated my legs as if they were connected to marionette strings. (My cat feels the same way about the vacuum cleaner). Some movies are bigger than movies; some movies unknowingly chant ancient spells. I never wanted to see that face again so I began to seek it out.

To best understand HALLOWEEN (both the film and the holiday) it helps to be a certain age, somewhere between bright summery childhood and cold mature winter, somewhere on the cusp of adulthood lazily observing the world transform with a crisp mix of excitement and apprehension. It helps to be a teenager in autumn. It helps to be knee-deep in change. Here comes Laurie Strode! She's carrying a wall of books in front of herself like a shield. She's different than her friends, more cautious, structured and on guard and those who reductively sum up her identity by her level of sexual experience, are evaluating a universe based on one dying star. Here we have one of horror's most beloved and identified with protagonists. She is a hero and earns the right to be called one. This status does not fall into her lap because she abstains from sex throughout the course of the film. HALLOWEEN is often cited for forging the spurious template that demands only virgins survive a slasher film and that all those who dabble in sex and drugs must die, a condescension that ignores not only Laurie's internal journey but also the fact that she gets stoned before showing up at her babysitting gig.

Of more pertinence than Laurie's presumed "purity" is the way in which she interacts with others and the things that she says about herself. We get the gist that she is considered a "good girl" but it appears she achieves that recognition by fulfilling the wants of others while her own desires are shelved. When she bumps into young Tommy Doyle her reply to his every request is a quick, "Sure, sure, sure" but she has no real answers when he bombards her with, "Why, why, why?" She runs errands for her father; she picks up the slack for her friends, and when she jokes about being a "girl scout" it may have less to do with her moral standing than it does the accommodating, nearly subservient position she holds. More pressing than her love life is Laurie's subtle struggle with her own acquiescence. HALLOWEEN is a classic that is highly regarded by people of various ages but it's notable how the film tends to strike a firmer, more formative and enthusiastic impact with audiences members roughly Laurie's age, young adults naturally beginning to wonder if they are mapping out their futures for themselves or based on the expectations of those (parents, friends) around them.

What is the cost of subverting yourself in order to facilitate everybody else's goals and agendas? Laurie sees, intuits death. While giving a prompted answer regarding fate in class, death appears; while being goaded and chided by her pals on the sidewalk, death appears; while staring out the window at the drooping result of domestic chores, a full clothesline, there stands death again. The paychecks for not rocking the boat become fewer as the taxes for bottling her true self pile up. Laurie admits she's interested in a guy named Ben Tramer but as soon as proactive pal Annie clears the path towards him, she recoils and coyly cowards. C'mon Laurie! Really? You know what? If you keep neutralizing and diluting yourself, the invisibility you are conjuring is going to manifest. Do you know what that will be like? It will be like running down the street as shades are drawn and porch lights extinguish screaming "Can't you hear me?!!!"

HALLOWEEN is frequently made to fess up its debt to BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) but the blank-faced yet somehow accusatory dark figure, the central challenge haunting its heroine to fully take form and the overall poetic, uncanny atmosphere favor even more so CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962). Feel free to toast the late BOB CLARK for the P.O.V. shots and the holiday setting but when it comes to the death-and-the-maiden motif, we're dealing with a theme so firmly rooted that you wouldn't be off base high-fiving EDVARD MUNCH and EMILY DICKINSON either.

Laurie is locked in place but her tango with mortality will bestow traction, this dance with death is not new. It's Halloween night and we're celebrating the end of summer (Halloween is linked to the Celtic "Samhain" which is derived from "Sumuin" which literally means "Summer's end"). It's a night when it's said that the supernatural world and our world overlap and ghosts from the past return (home). It's a night that honors the dead but more importantly here, in turn, celebrates the bounty that is change and renewal.

"Why won't anybody help me?!" Poor Laurie, always happy to lend a hand but when she needs one herself she's own her own. She's found her voice but nobody is listening. There is a panicky "Boy Who Cried Wolf" element afoot as Laurie discovers how easily she is overlooked and forgotten. She reenters (thanks to a half asleep Tommy) the Doyle house and things markedly change. It's unfair to say Laurie transforms, rather, she finally allows herself access to what was available to her all along. She stands her ground. We're about to find out her commitment and responsibility towards others is a vulnerability easily flipped on its head to become a source of power. With two children counting on her, Laurie drops the wavering and amasses control. It's a struggle, as well it should be, but this "day of reckoning" has been brewing for some time. For the audience, the battle is as cathartic as it is suspenseful. We're watching someone not assessed too grandly by her peers carve some turf in the world and refuse to roll over. We're witnessing a rite of passage. Laurie is accepting the challenge to move ahead toward autonomous adulthood. Who would understand that something so benign and mundane seeming as a knitting needle could be a devastating game-changer? Laurie.

Sheriff Leigh Brackett: A man wouldn't do that.
Dr. Sam Loomis: This isn't a man.

Is there really such a mystery to the "The Shape"? The very first thing we learn in HALLOWEEN is who he is. He's that mouth-breathing scamp who severed his sister from her rightful adulthood in the very first scene of the film. He's frozen in time. He has no voice. You can paint him in as many dark shadows as you want but he's still the poster child for arrested development. (He even hangs out in the wreckage of his boyhood home.) I'm not saying he's not scary (nothing is scarier than a dullard with a sharp knife and nothing to lose), I'm just saying we tend to deny that we've all seen behind this mask. Haddonfield residents may have molded him into "The Boogey Man" but even as such, he's chained to the fears of childhood and that is where he belongs. He is something to be outgrown ("Well, kiddo, I thought you outgrew superstition"). Laurie is purposely moving away from Michael a.k.a. "The Shape" (a voiceless shadow linked to the past) and toward Loomis (an outspoken eccentric who follows his own compass forward). Although the Myers monster was consciously conceived to be a "blank slate" that audiences could project an infinite amount of fears upon, for Laurie, being a "blank slate" could be, in and of itself, the ultimate fear and the ultimate death. The creature she is battling is the void she might become.

So yeah, I see a coming-of-age film lurking in the shadows of HALLOWEEN. Instead of "The Shape" conservatively punishing the characters for premarital sex and alcohol consumption, I see him raging against the common rites of passage that lead toward adulthood that he has denied himself. Laurie does not live due to the magical power of prudence, on the contrary; she survives because she loosens the grip on her own reigns. I've heard it said that HALLOWEEN is a throwback because Laurie must wait for Loomis to save her, a comment that makes me want to partake in a killing spree of my own. It's an insult to Laurie's cavalry, the universality of the tale and the fact that this movie, by my estimation is the greatest cinematic collaboration between a man and a woman…ever. We're talking JOHN CARPENTER and DEBRA HILL (CARPENTER readily identifies the film as "a 50/50 collaboration".) If you understand HILL provided Laurie's essence and CARPENTER Loomis', it's only fitting that in the end, they team up not to destroy, (You can't kill the boogeyman!) but to push the destructive darkness back into the night. Loomis has been struggling to be taken seriously too why should Strode have all the (redemptive) fun?

HALLOWEEN hardly needs any endorsement by me. Its artistry is well observed and the long-standing devotion its characters have garnered in fans says everything you need to know. Still, as the years pass, I have become more in tune with just how succinctly the movie captures the spirit of the holiday itself (regardless of the conspiratorial green trees that wave from the horizon). Maybe phantoms don't actually cross over into our world on All Hallows' Eve, but I for one can always count on being visited by the ghost of my youth. Halloween and autumn stand responsible for many a child's earliest awareness of the fleeting stages of life and who didn't feel the wasp sting the first time they heard, "You're getting too big for trick ‘r treating!"? (Oh, if only I knew then that adulthood would also mean no one ever telling you again what costume to wear, how late to stay up watching horror movies, what candy to throw away or what demons to dread.) Getting older may include leaving certain things behind but I'll never let go of Laurie, Loomis and Tommy all trying to make their fears heard, Bob and Lynda both trying to get laid, sarcastic Annie trying to get that butter stain out of her shirt, and her poor good natured pop just trying to keep things in order. And I'll never lose sight of "The Shape." He's not as enigmatic as he once was but maybe that's because he's moving closer. That empty, vacant face still scares me, and everyone, no matter their age, is entitled to one good scare.

The Ring (2002) Anniversary Guest Post by Father of Tears

Posted on By unkle lancifer

October 18, 2012 is a milestone anniversary in horror. Ten years ago "The Ring" was released in theaters.

The movie was an American remake of the classic Japanese horror film "Ringu". In fact, this would be the first of many controversial "J-Horror" American remakes ("The Grudge", "Pulse", "Dark Water" etc). Of that whole group "The Ring" would get the most favorable reviews. The basic premise of the film is a mysterious videotape that, when viewed, shows disturbing grainy green tinted black and white images. After the tape ends the viewer's telephone rings and when it is answered a girl whispers "seven days"…which means you will DIE in seven days! After several teens die mysteriously one of the kid's mothers has her younger reporter sister named Rachel go out and investigate. The reporter (Naomi Watts, fresh from her breakthrough role in "Mulholland Drive") hears about the "killer videotape" after her niece's funeral from one of her friends. Early on Rachel goes to a cabin where her niece Katie and her friends stayed at seven days before they died. While chatting with the innkeeper she learns he keeps a bunch of videotapes for the guests as the TV reception is bad (no cable?). Rachel notices a black VHS tape with no label and she takes it to her cabin. She plays the tape and gets the phone call…and the fun begins!

"The Ring" had a gloomy atmosphere that was noted for not relying on gore and violence. There was a great slow building tension to this film as the main characters, Rachel and her ex Noah , were racing against the clock to solve the mystery of Samara and the "Killer Videotape". When the climax to the film happens you are scared….but you are not subjected to blood splatter. Certain horror directors may use a specific color to enhance the film's overall mood. Dario Argento used saturated reds in "Suspiria" to a great effect. "The Ring's"director Gore Verbinski used the color green in many of the scenes. In fact many of the outdoor scenes, especially those in rainy weather, had a murky green tint (the film does take place in the Pacific Northwest) to enhance this moody feeling. I am positive those green tinted scenes in "Twilight" were influenced by the outdoor scenes in "The Ring". By the way, Hans Zimmer's music was also great for the film's soundtrack. That haunting sad piano, those quiet bells and those deep sounding orchestral strings!

I have the soundtrack and when I want a break from my usual stash of 70's prog-rock, Nine Inch Nails & St. Vincent I'll play the CD. Hell, I used it to break in my Polk tower speakers!

"The Ring" did have the obligatory sequel in "The Ring 2" which, despite having big name stars Elizabeth Perkins and Sissy Spacek, was weak when compared with the original. Still, "The Ring" would be the movie that would make Naomi Watts a household name. Amber Tamblyn, Rachel's doomed niece Katie, would star in "The Grudge 2" and TV's "Joan of Arcadia". Also, the Samara character would become a horror film icon. It also should be noted that a younger Pauley Perrette would be in this movie playing Beth, the assistant to Noah in his video and photo workshop. Who's she? Well, a year after being in "The Ring" she would be part of the hit TV show "NCIS" playing the goth forensics specialist Abby Sciuto! Not a bad legacy!

Now for those who have Blu-ray players "The Ring" was released in that format back in the Spring. The sequel, however, is not out in Blu-ray as of this writing. Oh, and that song heard in the background of the "Cursed Videotape"? It's sampled from this Kindertrauma favorite:

Lady in White (1988)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

UNK SEZ: Sorry for the filler-post but I'm working on something unwieldy that is taking up all my limited brain space. It gives me tummy-rumblings to neglect you fine folks though so I thought I'd scrap this together. The other night I came across LADY IN WHITE (1988) playing on the MGM HD channel and it seriously made my eyes pop out of my head. Well, that's not exactly true but it made me want to pull my eyes out and squash them against the TV in approval. I'm already a fan of the movie but I could not believe how gorgeous it looked with all of its colors behaving all concentrated, bright and insane.

LADY IN WHITE does for Halloween what A CHRISTMAS STORY does for Christmas, so why is it not the equal perennial must-see? It's so good. It's spooky, nostalgic, moving, creepy, it reminds you that racists and child murders are scum and visually it's got some NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, dark fairy tale thing going on. What's not to love? Jo Polniaczek's Dad is in it for chrissake. If you haven't seen it you just have to, that's all I'm saying. Here are some images from my sorry DVD to back me up further but this movie needs a special edition HD upgrade pronto. Alright, I have to go back and tame the giant mess I'll dump on these pages in the near future. Hope everyone is starting to feel the Halloween!

It's a Horror to Know You:: Robert Wray of There's Something Following Me

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It's a Horror to Know You: Robert Wray of There's Something Following Me!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

This is unquestionably Night of the Living Dead (1969). It was around 1978 when my Dad and I watched a television broadcast of this film. We were probably about 30mins into it when my Mom entered the room and started freaking out because my Dad was letting me (age 6-7) watch Night of the Living Dead. She claimed that all of the people die in the end and I shouldn't be watching it. My dad reluctantly agreed to turn it off. So I had to wait until the advent of home video (about three years later) to finally see the full length film. Until then my mind tried to comprehend how and why would everyone die in this film.

Up to that point the horror films that I watched were almost all creature feature/after school/ late night movies on TV. The films were usually Hammer, Universal, or American International films in which the protagonists always defeated the monster or at least lived to fight another day. How did these people in Night of the Living Dead die? Did the zombies get inside? Did they try to leave and die horribly that way? What about the cellar? How could everyone die? Why would that happen in a movie? Why would the filmmakers do that? Heavy thoughts for a 7 year old.

Well a few years later I saw the very first video release of the film at the local video store (on Media Video with hand drawn artwork) and I wasted no time in getting the cassette into the family VCR. As the film progressed I was sure that I was witnessing hell on earth. I was much to proud to admit that I was scared to death as my palms were sweaty and my heart raced. I became inducted into the world of nihilism. Everyone dies, daughters murder mothers horribly, feed off of the corpse of the father, brothers pull sisters to an excruciating death, plans fail, help doesn't come, hope disappears as the lights go out, the last survivor dies due to a stupid mistake, and even death doesn't offer solace. This stark black and white film shook me and my sensibilities. Never again was I to be taken on such a hell ride and Mr. Romero I thank you. And I thank you again for making Dawn of the Dead (1978)!

2. What is the last film that scared you?

28 Days Later (2002). A zombie apocalypse scenario made frighteningly plausible. Probably tied into my initial Night of the Living Dead trauma.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

Let's Scare Jessica To Death (1971)- One of the best horrors of the 1970's. Subtle, strange, poetic, & creepy with a sense of pathos.

Zeder: Voices from Beyond (1980)- I'm sure that Mr King borrowed from this for his Pet Semetery or maybe the other way around? This Italian film has a intriguing premise and a cool morbid tone mixing science, alchemy, conspiracies, and the living dead. A little talky but it's one of the most original zombie films you can find that favors creepiness over gore.

Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)- Great little 70's gem. Not really a horror movie but a tight thriller. Great performances from Foster, Sheen, & Smith. All top notch. This could have only come from the 1970's. I remember seeing it on TV as an after school movie! Watching a kid handle murder and threatening situations as a kid made for some gripping entertainment.

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

Slithis (1977) – A 70's version of the swamp/ocean monster movies from the 50's and 60's.

Frogs (1972)- Menacing amphibians lead an army of lizards, snakes, spiders, alligators, leeches, and snapping turtles as they assault a group of humans living on a southern island. Throw in Ray Milland and Sam Elliot and you've got a gem!

The Child (1977)- A wicked little girl with psychic powers communicates with a group of ghouls residing in the local cemetery. She uses them to exact revenge. I remember reading a review that compared this to a movie version of the old spook-house albums that we used to listen to in the 1970's/1980's and that's what is fun about it.

5. Send us to a place on the Internet!

A group of friends and I used to build and run a haunted house for over twenty years. We also managed to make a few short films. These links are to the last film we made called, "There's Something Following Me". It's split into four parts. We tried to make it in the vein of a Night Gallery/Tales from the Darkside episode. It's a tribute to Halloween and being a 1970's monster kid as you will be able to see many items from that era. It was made with zero budget but our hearts were in the right place. It's a flick designed for this time of year. Hope you enjoy it. Happy Halloween!

There's Something Following Me

"Cody Richards decides to walk home from school on the afternoon of Halloween. She had no idea that something would soon be following her every step, something intent on making this Halloween her last."

It's a Horror to Know You:: Troy Z (Stickmann) of Nature Trail to Hell in 3-D!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Hello TraumaTots! Allow me to introduce myself by directing you to my limited-run blog in which I, as a designer of Themed Retail and Entertainment venues, develop concepts for a theoretical spookhouse based upon Weird Al Yankovic's song "Nature Trail to Hell." Start HERE to get the introduction and start the walkthrough via the "Newer Posts" link throughout October 2012.

I would like to start out by giving thanks to our hosts at Kindertrauma for solving one of my own nettlesome Name That Trauma questions and for being my very first Twitter Follower! Prepare for me to yammer on.

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

Geez, what DIDN'T scare me as a child? Kindertrauma is peppered with evidence of the detritus of my blown prepubescent mind. Not only simple commercials for horror movies (or even certain Disney adventure films — looking at you, RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN and WATCHER IN THE WOODS) would have me running up to the television to switch channels (this was before the preponderance of remotes, whippersnappers), but even the taglines for their print ads could generate fear. However, I can credit a specific movie as being a distinct turning point in my outlook towards the horror genre:

POLTERGEIST (1982)

Let's establish something from the get-go: The Clown's off the table. We are not to discuss it. Fuck That Clown, all that it is, all it represents, and the shadow it leaves behind in the human psyche.

What's more important about this movie and what really resonated with me, and even though I couldn't put a description to this sensation at the time, is how elegant the Spider Skeleton Ghost that guarded the door to the children's room was. The ethereal translucency, the emaciated proportions, its haunting lowing; it all had the hallmarks of a devotional pietà that I knew others would consider obscene had I voiced it as such. I would thereafter surreptitiously scour special effects books at the bookstore and monster magazines on the shelf to catch another glimpse of this creature, and, in doing so, I realized I was more amenable to finding allure in the repulsive. Stolen peeks at gory heavy metal album covers, protoGoth imagery and underground comix would soon usher me in to the tastes of my teenage years, tastes that are fondly remembered as when I first could selectively develop my inclinations on my own accord.

I also credit "Poltergeist" as the first film in which the sterile artificial suburban landscape of which I was so familiar actually seemed as if it had the potential for magic. Up to then, the haunted house archetype to me was the stuff of purple-hued Victorian mansions depicted in children's books and, ultimately, the property of Elsewhere. After June 1982, the prospect of corpses boiling beneath the foundation of the tract home in which I lived seemed plausible.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

INSIDIOUS (2010)

As much as everything terrified me as a kid, it takes a lot for a movie to actually scare me now. You can readily upset and disturb me sure enough, but to genuinely spook me takes a certain alchemy. I'm a fan of supernatural-themed premises, but being such a skeptic, I reflexively keep treating them as part of an unexplored manifestation of physics and even bureaucracies that mankind has not yet catalogued. As such, I keep relying on mentally seeking out the mechanisms that would be a solution to any supernatural problem in a narrative. This movie is the first in a long while where I just let that slide in order to be part of the ride.

I don't recall anything in INSIDIOUS literally jumping out at you; it's all either slow reveals or sudden revelations of specters standing still as though simply casually declaring their existence and vague intentions is enough to alarm you. And it worked: I've got a line-of-sight on everything in my dinky studio apartment, but my first bedtime after seeing this movie in the theater was the first time since I don't know when that I would consider the shadows hiding presences.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated

NIGHTFLYERS (1987)

I admit, this perhaps could be an entry under the "Against Your Better Judgment" category due to its suspiciously on-the-nose Nostalgia Bomb appeal to my age group for its 80s stylistic touchstones: Neon Katakana, Hair Mousse, and Shoulder M'Pads. But, c'mon, it's got a Killer AI, a Space Zombie, and TechNoir Deco Cathedral interiors, how could I not like this? It's the Gothic Haunted Castle in Space trope that predates EVENT HORIZON. Given that level of prescience, taking another look at the credits after all these years it makes me wonder if anyone involved went on to do bigger and bet HOLY BALLS GEORGE R. R. MARTIN WROTE THE STORY FOR THIS? Why is this film not being pushed out as a Blu-Ray based on his venerable name alone?

Part 1 can be viewed HERE.

MONSTERS (2010)

The final six minutes of this movie are what validated the entire film for me, in particular the first pre-credits minute. Up to then, I felt it was a serviceable, if dull, monster movie, or a serviceable, if dull, date movie, with some redeeming and distinctive sequences (the reveal of what the "fin" in the water was during the boat-traveling part of the journey is particularly inspired). However, when the monsters cut off the climactic attack on the gas station to mate, the protagonists, just as I as a member of the audience did, gaped and marveled believably despite their moments-previously adrenalized terror. It was such an unforeseeable nature-documentary moment that is a game-changer for monsters and their portrayal. At that point, these creatures are now seen as just another animal on our planet. Although they are genuinely and thoroughly dangerous animals, there is now a reassuring familiarity to the literally alien.

The director and editor have to be given credit for the notion to separate the out-of-sequence first minutes of the movie from the climax. By culminating the movie with the moment where Samantha has a revelatory decision brought out by this unique witnessing, the makers of this film benevolently give these characters, and you as the audience, the peak experience that one would want to be remembered about oneself, just as all the corpses that were encountered along the path of this journey would wish to be remembered.

TIDELAND (2005)

Wait, what? This isn't a horror movie, you'd say. Watch it again: It's a crypto-horror film. It isn't until about five-eighths of the way though the movie that it suddenly hits you that a checklist of horror movie benchmarks have been achieved: dutched camera angles, corpse desecration, the creepy backwoods family with a talent for taxidermy. The fact that the events are seen through the eyes of an innocent little girl oblivious to both danger and normalcy is what occults the horror, and compounds it all the more.

Runners-Up: IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, DARKNESS FALLS, HOUSE, THE FRIGHTENERS, FRAILTY, and NOCHNOY DOZOR & DNEVNOY DOZOR.

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

I've got some caveats to establish before we discuss these: when I declare that these are against one's better judgment, it's the judgment I perceive that would come from others toward the media itself. I can watch these repeatedly and guilt-free, but I would be hesitant to recommend these to you even if I did have an inkling of your sensibilities. These suggestions here can be a bit, shall we say, "challenging."

TRASH HUMPERS (2009)

Know that this is a compliment when I declare that this movie should never play in theaters, but rather that it should be copied onto blank videocassettes and left innocuously and anonymously at bus stops. I'm sure this distribution strategy may have been considered by the filmmakers, but this would most likely have gotten the police involved and in an arrest-y mood.

As this literally edited-on-VCR film starts, you don't know if the trio you see are anything more than just some bon vivant pranksters killing time. It isn't until some time with a doll found at a playground that the tone shifts abruptly to the potentially malevolent. Suddenly, the whole scene around you smells of danger, the Underground, and viewer complicity.

Detractors of the "Found Footage" style have legitimate complaints; one being that the net result is far too polished. This, I testify, is what the real deal should look like: meandering, repetitive, discordant, and absolutely devoid of the input of Focus Groups. For example, the repeated shrill cackling of the lady Trash Humper character is a chore to endure, but to subject it to "notes" and trim any of it down would be to undercut the rawness and believability of the content. It's the most disturbingly transfixing movie of that year.

TETSUO: THE IRON MAN (1989)

Years ago (decades, now? Holy shit!), after a couple of my college-age friends and I watched this, we pulled the rental VHS tape out of the VCR and decreed, "This Never Happened." Indeed, this flick is just a hot mess of Body Horror imagery, but there's something gleefully adolescent in me that just giggles appreciatively at the industriousness of a guerrilla camera crew piloting a fifteen-foot-tall Cybernetic Dong Monster through a Japanese suburbia.

ENCARNAÇÃO DO DEMÔNIO (Embodiment of Evil) (2008)

I loves me some ZÉ DO CAIXÃO ("COFFIN JOE"), and I‘ve got the coffin-shaped DVD Box Set to prove it. There's just something so extra appealing to me that a villainous character in a movie can revel in murder, menace, misanthropy, and misogyny, and through the mores of his Catholic country locale, provide further heretical shock by eating meat on Friday! And force you to eat meat on Friday!

ENCARNAÇÃO DO DEMÔNIO continues the tone of the ZÉ DO CAIXÃO sequels with its requisite bong-hit philosophizing and camp bombast while constructing fresh new setpieces that recall classic Exploitation Cinema. A particular scene involving an abducted female cop, melted cheese, and a rat seems to be JOSÉ MOJICA MARINS air-poking at the censorship board and cackling "Does this bug you? I'm not touching you!" and all we as the audience can do is slow clap and say, "Well played, sir."

5. Send us to five places on the Internet!

FEZ-O-RAMA — Handmade fezzes featuring everything from Cthulhu to Samurai Monkeys. If you're not clicking that link after I tell you the combination of words "Samurai Monkey Fez," then there is just no help for you.

CINEMA SUICIDE — Discusses Movies, Literature, Television, Grand Guignol, and a spattering of Metal. That's right, Metal is measured in Spatterings.

MIRACLE FISH — I saw this as part of an Oscar-nominated Short Film Festival a few years ago and I was completely absorbed because it made me realize how crucial an announcement of a genre instills the comfort of familiarity, and how the lack of it brilliantly sets you up to have the rug pulled out from underneath you. As you watch, you don't know if this is a Family Drama, a Coming-Of-Age Story, Child's Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or Horror, because certain scenes present compelling arguments. You don't know just how wound up you are until the climax. So I ask you to go into this as cold as I did, to see if the absence of genre expectation impacts your viewing experience. Wait ‘til it's dark, load the video link and hit Fullscreen HERE.

HAPPY PENCIL — Atmospheric artwork displayed at an atmospheric website that feels like one of the Rabbit Holes of the Internet.

MARS RISING FILMS — YouTube videos from a charismatic team. I'd recommend them even if I wasn't "Dr. Disemboweler" in one of their short films. Subscribe!

Brutal (2012) by Kinderpal Mickster

Posted on By kinderpal mickster

Brutal (2012)

"My name is Brutal…" are the first words spoken by the enormous brute tormenting A. Michael Baldwin's character in the film Brutal (2012). At this point in the film, one may assume that Brutal is going to be a run-of-the-mill "torture porn" flick that has been done to death in recent years; however, Brutal is neither run-of-the-mill or "torture porn." I hesitate to give very many details, as I do not want to spoil this movie for anyone. I will say that Brutal has many twists and turns and it kept me guessing. In fact, I was floored by the final twist. Brutal stars A. Michael Baldwin (The PHANTASM series) and Michael Patrick Stevens who makes his writing, producing, directing, and acting debut. The majority of the film takes place in a cramped basement with Carl (Baldwin), a family man, being tortured by Brutal (Stevens) for no obvious reason. At an hour and twenty-five minutes, Brutal is tense and harrowing from beginning to end. Brutal left me contemplating what I would do if I found myself in a similar situation. Ultimately, Brutal shows what people are capable of when pushed to the edge. The filmmakers and actors have plenty to be proud of here. The finished product is impressive considering budget and time constraints. Hopefully, this is just the beginning for Michael Patrick Stevens and a new beginning for A. Michael Baldwin.

UNK SEZ: Thanks for the scoop Mickster! Folks, you can learn more about Brutal at its official website HEREand check out the trailer below!