Saturday, October 31, 2009

Wired's Halloween Movies for Kids

As a child I wanted nothing to do with childish things: I wanted to read grown-up books, watch grown-up movies and do grown-up things. But Wired's list of Halloween-themed moies suitable for children is actually pretty good.

Read it here. A far as I'm concerned, any list that includes The Monster Club and The Corpse Bride is aces!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Horror Round Up!


Halloween is here, bringing a bumper crop of theatrical horror-movie releases for every taste!

If you need a little guidance, check out my reviews of:

The House of the Devil

Paranormal Activity

Saw VI

Zombieland

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

The Stepfather

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Top 10 Horror Video Games?

In the interest of public service, and for anyone planning a Halloween soiree centered around the ol' point-and-shoot, here are two videos with separate lists of the top-10 "scariest" — word used advisedly — video games. One is by something called G4ME5SPY, which may or may not be related to the TV network G4 or the company Gamespy, and the other by a pseudonymous fan. Consider it a conversation starter for your gathering, which hopefully won't feature The Gathering (2002)

The fan actually has the more catholic, small c, taste; G4ME5SPY's list is woefully trite and repetitive, filled with Silent Hill and Fatal Frame iterations for no less than seven of its ten spots. Take a look, if you'd like, and tell us how badly they got it and what the real top ten should be.

See "Saw" — Or, Rather, Don't

Forgive my tardiness — editing Halloween content for AMC's Horror Hacker site has kept me frightfully busy, if you'll excuse the obligatory "funny" seasonal wordplay. I promise to do better, starting with two, count 'em, two posts today.

First up: What I thought about Saw VI and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Check out my Stepfather review and my interview with Amber Heard


More than 20 years later, the original Stepfather, starring Terry O'Quinn (now of TV's Lost) as a would-be family man who just wants the perfect wife and kids, painted a chilling picture of a control freak with no tolerance for failure. How does Dylan Walsh, of TV's Nip/Tuck, fill O'Quinn's shoes in the current remake? Read my review...

And you might also want to check out my interview with Amber Heard, who co-stars in The Stepfather and has a small but memorable role as an undead babe in Zombieland.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Zombiemania post mortem



So, fortified with snacks and delicious beverages, some friends and I gathered to watch the premiere of Zombiemania, directed by Canadian documentary filmmaker Donna Davies... and it was pretty entertaining. Definitely a light, very mainstream look at the cultural history of zombies (that's Starz), but some great interview footage with George Romero (I love that he still wears those giant '70s glasses!), Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, Max Brooks (yes, son of Mel; allow me to put in on more plug for his novel World War Z, which is brilliant), Wade Davis, the ethnobotanist who wrote The Serpent and the Rainbow, and various zombie experts. As promised, I got plenty of screen time.

A warning if you decide to DVR a future showing: It may not be listed as Zombiemania. On our system (the one that comes with RCN), it's listed as "Starz Inside," which is the collective name for the channel's behind-the-scenes documentaries. After inviting friends over to watch, Frank and I had a couple of sticky moments when we couldn't find a Tuesday listing for Zombiemania.

In any event, we finally figured out that it was listed as "Starz Inside" (the generic name for all the channel's behind-the-scenes docs) and a good time was had by all. Except, of course, my cat, who was bored to death and annoyed that all of a sudden everyone was watching the television instead of paying him the attention he feels is
his due. (Confession: the photo was not taken during the showing of Zombiemania -- the sunlight streaming through the window is the tip off -- but is an accurate depiction of Chip's attitude towards anything that isn't all about him.)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Zombiemania Tomorrow at 10PM on Starz!

Okay, this is final reminder — no more annoying reminders. But Zombiemania will make its debut on Starz tomorrow night, and I'm interviewed in it... at some length, I've been told.

Here's a preview:

Zombiemania

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Me and Call of Cthulhu in Stamford, CT, October 7


I'm going to be introducing The Call of Cthulhu, the best H.P. Lovecraft movie no one's ever see, at the Avon Theater in Stamford, CT, tomorrow at 7PM.

It's a terrific movie, made in the style of a silent movie from the late 1920s and extremely faithful not only to Lovecraft's story, but also to his unique tone, which is the far harder thing to capture. And the Avon is a great theater (click here for their website, which includes directions). I'll be doing a Q&A after the movie, so come one, come all!