March Horror Block!

 March Horror Block Has Arrived!

What's inside? Let's unbox!

The Canal on DVD. I loved this movie so much so I'm pretty happy to have it on DVD. You can check out my review here

Penny Dreadful Ceramic Travel Mug! I actually hate travel mugs because I don't drink coffee and yet I seem to have like 8 of them floating around. But this one is really pretty so I have it on display at my office.

Ash vs. Evil Dead socks...these are actually really good, thick quality and super grooo000ooovvvyyy.

Vampirella Comic Book....kay, I fucking hate when comic books do this, they release issue #0 and it's like three pages of comics and then 10 pages of ads.

Leprechaun enamel pin. This is AWESOME and is already proudly displayed on my jacket.

Monster Totem Pole t-shirt.

Rue Morgue special edition - Shark Movie Mania. This is my jam ya'll...you know I love Sharks.

Another solid box from Horror Block. Not as great as last month's, but still some great stuff in here! If you want to subscribe go check out horror block and sign up. As always, I am not affiliated with the company, just a massive fan. Been subscribed for over two years and have never been completely let down by a box.

Year of the King baby! IT trailer and stills and poster, oh my!

Oh boy you guys....this Stephen King fan is a goddamn happy camper this week!

We got stills from IT, we got a teaser trailer for the trailer, we got a poster, and today we got THE TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know what...I'm fucking sold. This movie is going to be the best Stephen King adaptation that ever was and will cure all my ailments.

And now you're probably thinking....okay, chill the fuck out, how much cold medicine have you ingested today...and the answer is a lot BUT...read below and then fight me if you think differently:

First let's take a look at the stills:

We get our first good look at the Loser's Club - Stan, Richie, Mike, Bill, Bev, Ben and Eddie. And we get some more sneak peaks at IT's clown form - Pennywise.

I'm already in love with all those adorable kids...AND I HATE KIDS! But these I love. The Loser's Club will always be #1 in my heart.

Now let's take a look at the poster:

AMAZING. We see little Georgie standing in front of Pennywise with the iconic line, you'll float too. Cause we all float down here...

Then today the trailer dropped and all my dreams came true:


I mean goddamn.

We open up on Georgie and Bill making the sailboat and Georgie taking it outside to float in the flooded gutters. It already feels like I'm watching the novel come to life. We see Georgie's boat slide right into the gutter and into the waiting hands of Pennywise.

We see flashes of the film with the voice over talking about how Derry has a higher than average missing persons. Next is Ben in the library, seeing a strange red balloon float by...and we all know what happens next. Cut to the loser's club exploring the sewers and coming to the realization that they're all being tormented by the same creature who comes to them in different forms. Then comes an already iconic sequence in which the projector takes on a life of its' own and shows a photograph turning into Pennywise. Of course, this wasn't in the book, but is a play on the scene with Bill's photo album. We see various frightening scenes including what I can only hope to be the night club that burns down and was left out of the original movie but plays a HUGE, horrific part in the novel. We see the sink scene that traumatized an entire generation of us (I still can't look directly into a drain).

AND THEN...we end on a scene where Bill is taunted by the "ghost" of Georgie. And this fucking scene....THIS SCENE RIGHT HERE...is why I am positive this movie will be amazing. It gave me goosebumps and it captured exactly what IT is about.

YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!

So yeah, I'm amped. Watching this trailer made me feel like the pages of the book I love so incredibly much has come to life. And I cannot FREAKIN' wait to watch this opening night.

IT comes to theaters September 8th.

Oh, and if that wasn't enough King news for you?

King himself sneakily dropped the cover of his next book on twitter today:

Co-written with his son Owen, Sleeping Beauties will tell the story of what happens to the world if all the women fell asleep and became shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If the gauze is tampered with the women wake violent and feral. So the men of the world are abandoned and obviously the world falls apart. But one woman is immune. Set in a small town where the primary employer is a women's prison, Sleeping Beauties is going to be a must read come September.

I know I keep yelling about this but it is truly the year of Stephen King....and in fact you can check out my top ten favorite Stephen King villains over at Morbidly Beautiful and follow me all year while I continuously get so excited I lose my goddamn mind.

He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.

Stay Spooky, constant readers ;)

Psycho II - Norman Bates remains my fav

Can you believe I've gone this long in my life without watching the Psycho sequels?! But no longer because today I watched the second one. And it was amazing.

Okay, it wasn't AMAZING, but I had a lot of fun watching it and I'm a huge Psycho fan so I wasn't overly critical while watching this, also I had a lot of cold medicine in my system soooooo....

Let's jump right in!

PSYCHO II (1983)

Oh Norman, you're mad, don't you know that? You're mad as a hatter.

We open upon flashbacks to the original watching Marion in the shower and Norman watching. And cut to 22 long years later, Norman is being released from the mental institution after being deemed "restored to sanity". Lila Loomis, the sister of Marion Crane, is there to protest stating that Norman should stay behind bars. But Norman is released and is returned to his motel and his house, being monitored by Dr. Bill Raymond.

While Norman was gone, the state took care of his motel and put Warren Toomey in charge - a druggie, slimey manager who's letting the motel run into disrepair. Norman is given a job as a dishwasher at a nearby diner run by an older woman named Emma Spool and meets a waitress named Mary. The two hit it off and after Mary runs into some trouble, Norman invites her to stay at his house.

While Norman seems to be doing well, things start happening and Mother starts leaving notes and calling the house. When people around Norman start turning up dead, he fears that's going insane again.

Overall:

This a fun sequel. It is really nothing like the original but it's still fun to revisit old characters and old sets and watch all the different characters connect. There's lots of little twists and turns and reveals that I certainly didn't see coming. Anthony Perkins slips back into Bates like a comfortable old suit and that helps a lot with this film. He remains charming and handsome and you still root for him even though you know about his past. His slow break back into insanity is fascinating to watch and he pulls it off perfectly.

Mary's character is really interesting - watching her go from trying to take down Norman to trying to help him as she realizes how awful her actions are. Their relationship is so sweet and tender but also so unnerving at first because you have no idea what Norman is capable of. There's also a really great scene when Mary first arrives at the motel and Norman goes to grab the room #1 key but forces himself to take another room so as not to allow any temptation. It's so subtle but powerful.

Lila and Mary's relationship is slightly confusing once the reveal happens because in reality what child would really go along with this nutso scheme? And it does get a little murky keeping track of who's murdering who and why. Which helps with the storyline but perhaps could be slightly clearer. 

The back and forth from Norman about his real mother is slightly confusing as well, and even with the final reveal, while satisfying, you still feel a little lost.

Universal decided to make this sequel due to Robert Bloch releasing his own sequel, Psycho 2. They chose director Richard Franklin who was a student of Hitchcock's and Tom Holland wrote the screenplay. The assistant director of the original Psycho, Hilton A. Green, was also contacted but he was nervous. It wasn't until he spoke to Patricia Hitchcock, the daughter of the famed director, who gave her blessing after reading the script, that Green signed on. Anthony Perkins was of course contacted but was hesitant at first so they had Christopher Walken as a backup. But after Perkins read the script he signed on because he felt like it was really Norman's story.

Psycho II is like a love letter to the first film and I am here for it!

Highlights

• The murders in this film were quite brutal and run that thin line between comical and shocking;
• Norman Bates always and forever;
• Mary's character was a fun journey to watch;
• Revisiting the motel, the swamp, the house, the basement etc;
• The twist ending.

I'm going to give Psycho II a solid 8/10...maybe even a 9/10???.....

8.5/10

Stay spooky!

For a more detailed look at Psycho II, check out my article over at Addicted to Horror Movies

Silent Retreat - when a movie gets destroyed by its ending

SILENT RETREAT 2013

"To respect the process we keep things as quiet as possible."

A woman is sent to a small camp to serve out her punishment instead of jail. The camp is run by three men and holds five women at a time. The rules are very clear - no talking, no phones, no reading, no writing, no eye contact, and no touching. She is simply to sit and meditate and to serve out her sentence.

But something is off about this camp, and there's an unusual amount of fear surrounding something that lives in the woods. And how long exactly have these other women been here?

Overall?

Ohhhhh boy. This movie was rough.

Directed by Tricia Lee, Silent Retreat started out fine, I was buying what it was selling, but it took a turn and I was left there mouth agape not sure whether to laugh or cry in anger.

Let's talk about the beginning - it's an interesting story where our lead Janey arrives at this strange camp and encounters the Doctor who gives off a major creepy culty vibe. The other four girls basically ignore her at first while Janey adjusts to her new situation. But soon Janey starts noticing things are wrong. One of the girls speaks out loud and starts throwing food around and then she disappears for awhile. She turns up again like she's been brainwashed. Then another girl, Alexis, reaches out to Janey and that's when things get interesting.

The two girls quickly bond, buying time to talk to each other without getting caught and we learn more about them. We learn the reasons they're in this situation is actually not their fault, both were events they shouldn't have been punished for. We also learn that Janey watched her whole family perish in a car accident.

Then things start to take a turn. Janey and Alexis try to escape a few times and we start seeing little bits and pieces of what's in the woods. It remains slightly spooky but you can already tell the effects are pretty bad so you're hoping they never actually reveal the monster.

But they do.

And soon the girls discover that this camp is made to turn women into stepford style wives. They're hypnotized to become complacent and to only want to be a good wife and mother. Then the three men who run the camp sell the girls off to the highest bidder. But Alexis is being groomed for one of the men at the camp. And while she thinks she's only been at this camp for three weeks, turns out she's been there like two whole years but has no memory of it. This is all fun stuff!

Then the monster properly shows up and the movie completely falls flat. There's all this weird stuff about how the monster is trying to protect its' baby and the camp is somehow infringing on this situation. We also find out the monster is blind and reacts to sound, much like the creatures in the descent. And quite frankly, this creature basically looks like a total rip off of the descent.

Janey only properly defeats the monster by screaming in its' face.

Like two full minutes of her just screaming.

I mean....look...I get what they're trying to say here. I get the message. But good lord was this awful.

Which is a shame because the first half was plausible, but once the creature gets involved things very quickly fall into shambles. I don't even see the point of the creature. The fact that these women are stuck at this creepy ass camp being brainwashed into perfect wives is good enough for me. I don't ALSO need a weird territorial creature in the woods.

What did I love?

• I loved Janey and Alexis. They were really great characters and had thick backstory and were appropriately emotional and realistic. They were a joy to watch. Janey was played by Chelsea Jenish and Alexis was played by Sofia Banzhaf.
• The Doctor, played by Robert Nolan was also incredibly well done. He was so incredibly creepy. And while he never actually touched the girls, he came off so perverted.
• As I said, I enjoyed the beginning and most of the middle but the end can suck my dick.
• I loved the camp, it was spooky and the little cabins they stayed in were super cute.

What didn't I love?

• Obviously the monster - descent rip off realness. And absolutely no point of it being there.
• The movie got suuuuuper cheesey at some points where it became almost unwatchable.
• The directing of this movie felt a little off. There were some scenes that were so drawn out you just wanted to yell CUT! and move the fuck on.

Recommendation?

I do not recommend this unless you're looking for a bit of campy, non scary fun to watch with your friends.

I'm going to give it a 4/10 because I did really love the beginning but that makes the ending that much worse.

Also....check out my article over at Addicted to Horror Movies where I rank the top 5 modern alien movies, click here

Stay spooky!

Digging up the Marrow (2014) - I LOVED THIS FILM

DIGGING UP THE MARROW (2014)

Just because something doesn't look like us or look like everybody else doesn't mean that it's scary. I mean, my whole life I've only wanted to see a real monster. You know, like when I was little I'd look under my bed, I'd look in the closet, not cause I was afraid but because I wanted it to be real.

Director Adam Green is making a documentary about William Dekker, a retired detective who has contacted him claiming to have proof of real monsters. While at first Green is skeptical, Dekker is strange enough to be believable. Dekker tells him all about a place called the Marrow where the monsters hide. The monsters are really, according to him, deformed humans who have hidden from society. Dekker takes Green and his cameraman out to the Marrow where they wait to get a glimpse of these real life monsters. But is it all a figment of Dekker's imagination? Or is it possible that monsters truly are real?

Overall?
Guys...I LOVED this movie. This was right up my alley. Adam Green has a great resume including Frozen which I watched for the first time in October and fell in love with. Obviously in this movie he's playing a sort of parody of himself but it's so fun to watch. There's so many little nods and jokes and plays heavily on the idea that...we all love horror so much, but what if it was real? What if monsters were real? Logically wouldn't we be super excited about that? Green just wants monsters to be real and when he finally sees one he's thrilled. But of course, no one believes him, even when he shows the footage. Everyone just complains about the lighting or asks him who does his effects. BUT THEY'RE REAL. But of course no one believes him.

It's a really fun ride through the film. Dekker is played by Ray Wise who does such a phenomenal job. You really flip back and forth - at first you're skeptical of Dekker, then you want to believe him, then you think he's nuts, then you just so badly want it to be true.

The monsters were created by artist Alex Pardee and the illustrations shown are so amazing and when you finally get to see the monsters come to life it's really something special.

What did I like?

• It was actually super spooky! The scene where the first monster appears really took me off guard, and any time after that a monster appeared it was shocking. It is a pretty slow paced movie in the sense that it's documentary style then all of a sudden horror happens, so every time you're caught off guard.
• The monsters...I mean goddamn. Those monsters. So amazingly done and so scary and spooky and I just want t-shirts and art work of all of them pasted all over my house and body.
• Adam Green was delightful.
• Ray Wise was a powerhouse and Dekker's story is actually so emotional.
• I loved the ending!

What didn't I like?

• Nothing, I actually loved this film you guys! I don't know if you can tell?!

Recommendation?

Solid 10/10. Not for everyone, I respect that. But this was exactly all the things I love and when I saw the trailer for the first time a few years ago I just knew I would love it. And I was not let down. I'm just mad it took me so long to finally watch it. Big shout out to Shudder for always having the best collection.

Stay Spooky!

February Horror Block!

February Horror Block is here! And I'm here to unravel its' mysteries.

It's been two months since I received one of these because I had to put the subscription on hold over Christmas. But it's back and boy was it a good one!

Let's jump right in:

Alright, full disclosure. I had no idea what this tee was supposed to be. Turns out it's a Purge design. And once I realized that I was like yeah, okay, I see it...kind of.....

I'll still wear it though because I fucking love the Purge and it's a pretty design.

This is exciting! This movie was actually on my watch list. Silent Retreat came out in 2013 and tells the story of Janey who is sent to a silent meditation retreat in the woods. She realizes the men that run it are brainwashing women and when she breaks the rules, she discovers what really lurks beyond on the trees. Also that's a pretty awesome cover.

THIS IS AWESOME! Amityville pin!!!!!! I've already pinned it proudly on my denim jacket next to my Gypsy Danger pin. Now if only it would stop snowing here so I can wear that jacket again.....

Amityville tote bag to carry around all my junk!

A collection of poems by Darren Field complete with creepy ass illustrations. 

A lovely Penny Dreadful keychain 

And of course, as always, the latest issue of Rue Morgue is included. And boy have I missed reading that magazine the past two months.

All in all, another wonderful horror block that reminds me every month why this thing is worth every penny. And gives me so many goodies to flaunt my love of horror.

If you want to sign up yourself head to horror block and subscribe.
(I am in no way affiliated with this company, just a massive fan who loves promoting them)

ALSO - check out my new article over at Morbidly Beautiful where I rank the Top Ten most Villainous Stephen King characters!

Stay Spooky!

Stephen King, Split, George Romero and other news!

Guys,

I failed.

I made it what...two weeks? Not even? Of writing three times a week. IN MY DEFENSE...work took a turn (for the good!) and I've have been throwing myself into that. And as much as I love you and this website, I do not make a dime off of this. And someone's got to pay for all these horror movies I watch! And that is me. I pay. Most of the time. Although, I am working on something with Morbidly Beautiful which is pretty cool. You can check out my article over there right now showcasing the amazing women of the Scream franchise, Scream Article

ANYWAY

Here I am....let's talk about some good old fashioned horror news shall we?

Obviously this wouldn't be Horrorbound without a Stephen King update, and this master of horror has seen IT....and he liked it! And we can trust him. He's super vocal when he doesn't like something. Just the other day I saw him casting shade on twitter about The Shining. Producer of IT, Seth Grahame-Smith let everyone know on instagram what King thought by sharing an email:

Steve asked me to pass along that he saw a screening of IT today and wanted to let everybody know that they should stop worrying about it as the producers have done a wonderful job with the production.

Honestly, I cannot wait for this fucking movie. It hits theaters September 8th and I am counting down the FREAKIN' DAYS. Also, I am currently re-reading Under the Dome and I truly forgot how addicting and wonderful this book was. I feel like when I tried to watch the TV show it tainted my memory of this actually amazing story.

Speaking of IT, a newly updated listing has popped up on the internet saying that the filming for the second half of the IT movie begins on March 17th, 2017 which is kind of insane considering they're not even waiting for box office numbers to jump right in. BUT I AM HERE FOR IT!

In Split news, it remains amazing and I am smug as hell, but we also have a release date - coming to Digital HD on April 4th and on Blu-ray and DVD and On Demand April 18th. So if ya'll wanna get me a birthday gift.......it's on the 21st.
But the best part about this DVD release is the features - deleted scenes, a look at the making of the film, AND A NEVER BEFORE SEEN ALTERNATE ENDINGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!

In podcast news Mick Garris has a new one for us called Post Mortem where bi-weekly he delivers us great interviews with horror icons. Mick Garris is of course one of my favs because he's tackled Stephen King adaptations including The Stand. He also brought us Psycho 4 and directed Dead of Summer. Garris also brought us the amazing anthology series Masters of Horror which was on Showtime. He's a passionate, knowledgeable host.

The first one was Rob Zombie and it was amazing. He was so candid and funny as always. This weeks' features John Landis and Joe Dante and while I haven't listened just yet it sounds amazing - they discuss politics in horror. Go download on itunes now!

And lastly, I saw this trailer for an upcoming documentary series called "Untold Horror" and it's genius. I can't wait! This will cover all those projects that were never made and will feature interviews with filmmakers like John Landis and George Romero. They'll talk in detail about the projects they almost made. And just hearing about a few of them in the trailer made me so angry - SO MANY COOL THINGS COULD'VE BEEN MADE.

The series was conceived in 2015 by Dave Alexander and Mark Pollesel and asks the questions whatever happened to that movie? Together, along with Bob Barrett and Kevin Burke, they'll uncover exactly what those never-seen projects from those great horror directors were really all about.

Check out the trailer below. As of right now there's no premier date but I'm crossing my fingers it comes out soon.

Alright that's it for now!

Sorry for all the yelling - I'm in a weird mood.

Stay spooky!

(Hopefully I can get back to my three a week schedule when things die down. But for now we're back to sporadic posts. But did you really expect anything less?)

Wicked Wednesday - Get Out Review

GUYS....I saw Get Out this weekend. AKA I actually left my house and went to the movie theater (which is like a ten minute walk - I'm that lazy). It was amazing. I went at noon on Sunday by myself and there weren't too many people there so I had a whole row to myself to really absorb the movie.

LET'S TALK ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (there will be spoilers but nothing major)

GET OUT 2017

 A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Jordan Peele is a friggin' godsend to the horror genre. Obviously, Peele comes from a comedy background including his hilarious sketch show "Key & Peele" but he's now dropped a goddamn genre hybrid into our laps. Get Out is hilarious but also terrifying, and sometimes this happens in the exact same moment. It's unsettling and leaves a bad taste in your mouth as you go to bed that night. I had some WACKY ass nightmares about falling endlessly through the blackness like Chris does in Get Out. I was also incredibly sick that night and was blacking out every few minutes. BUT EVEN THEN - it stuck with me.

Peele created this movie because he wanted to attempt something not done before or done properly, he refers to it a lot as a social thriller. And it worked - Get Out feels fresh and new and I hope this movie inspires more film makers to be as brave and smart. Obviously he takes a lot of inspiration from some of the greats including Stepford Wives. And to me this movie felt like Stepford Wives meets You're Next. Just go with it. That's what I felt OKAY.

But essentially this film is about that gross feeling you get when you walk into a room and realize you don't belong. This movie takes that classic horror trope of "something is wrong behind those closed doors" and mixes it with a modern, racial edge.

The opening of the movie sets the tone for the rest of the film - a man is walking down a suburban street chatting on the phone about being lost. He hangs up and begins to talk to himself about how freaked out and lost he is even though he's just in a regular suburb. A car passes him playing a terrifying song, and soon stops and begins to follow him. Suddenly this character is taken so quickly and perfectly staged that you feel breathless as we jump into the movie, knowing that the suburbs aren't as safe as they seem. 

Chris, played by Daniel Kaluuya and Rose, his girlfriend, played by Allison Williams are our main characters. Rose has invited Chris to meet her family for the first time. Chris' best friend, a TSA agent played by LilRey Howery named Rod warns him against going but of course, Chris goes anyway.

When Chris and Rose arrive at her parents house (played by Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) things immediately become unsettling. As Chris is taken on a tour of the house it's uncomfortable as Dean, the father, tries much too hard to make Chris feel comfortable and to think he's cool. When the groundskeeper and the housekeeper are introduced, things get even more unsettling and The Stepford Wives vibe comes into play. You know there's something wrong in this house, and so does Chris, but you don't know exactly what. When Rose's brother, Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) arrives things become even more odd and awkward.

The first half of the film lays out all the clues for you, and as you attempt to weave them together, the story begins to pick up. Peele is excellent at allowing the visuals to speak for themselves. He also walks an amazing line between showing exchanges and moments that could just be racial tension, but could also be something more menacing. As the finale of the movie comes into play, everything fits into place and things go very quickly. The insanity of the final scenes leave you tense and terrified of what's going to happen. And the ending itself I found incredibly satisfying.

The acting in this movie is phenomenal too. Caleb Landry Jones was terrifying in a slightly insane, any minute now this guy's gonna lose it, kind of way. And Kaluuya is everything a leading man should be in a horror movie. Catherine Keener was so unsettling and her "therapy" scenes are what really stuck with me when the movie was over.

Get Out is hilarious and terrifying and quite frankly, perfect from the get go. You are pulled along with the story, allowing yourself to be relaxed when the movie takes you that way and then losing it when the movie ramps up. The humor is amazing and refreshing (black sex slaves ya'll). But most importantly Peele does what all great horror creators do - he takes every day fears and amplifies them. Oh, and it's kicking ass in the box office JUST LIKE ALL THE HORROR MOVIES THIS YEAR WHAT WHATTTTTT. I feel incredibly smug that horror has been some of the top money makers so far.

Anyway, THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING. It's refreshing, it's terrifying, it's clever, it's funny, it's everything you want out of a horror film. I cannot wait to see what Peele does next in the horror genre and quite frankly, what the rest of the horror year is going to look like! (did ya'll see that new Covenant trailer?!?!)

Solid 10/10 - can't wait to see it again.