Horror News - IT, Zodiac, and Scream

We've got a new IT trailer, Alien Covenant comes out next week, and a new Zodiac movie that has me so excited so let's delve right in to my horror movie news wrap-up aka these are completely hand picked to my tastes and I'm the worst.

First up we just got a new IT trailer dropped on us today and it's a goodie. I really have incredibly high hopes for this movie. I actually jumped in this trailer and then watched it three more times. In the trailer we get a better look at Pennywise, we get more time with the kids, a better view of the abandoned house, and we get a full scene of banter between Richie and Eddie. I can't believe how amazing this movie looks - my little king filled heart won't be able to handle it.

We also got The Dark Tower trailer dropped on us last week, but I don't want to talk about that as I seem to be the only one on the internet who hated that trailer...

Watch IT in theaters September 8th. I'll be there first showing on the Thursday screaming my goddamn head off. 

Anyway, watch the new trailer for IT here if you darrreeee....come on bucko, don't you want a balloon?

Next up...Alien Covenant hits theaters NEXT THURSDAY! I just bought my ticket for Friday at 7:45, because I'm an old lady and don't want to stay up late on Thursday night and get up early for work the next day.

I stopped watching the trailers after the second one because they were releasing too much, but I did watch the prequel trailer which was really cool. Check that one out and all the other million trailers they've released.

But this week they released the final posters and boy are they are creepy as hell. The posters for this movie have been fucking fantastic.

Check the three new ones out below and check in with me soon when I post my review:

Lights Out was one of my favorite films from last year and I've really come to love the director David Sandberg because he's such an incredibly open guy. He did a podcast with Shock Waves and was so honest and open about the whole process and his current process on Annabelle 2, which the trailer recently dropped for. While that trailer didn't blow my mind or anything, I am looking forward to it simply because of Sandberg. Sandberg spends a lot of time talking about his craft, his ideas and even spends time on social media reaching out to aspiring filmmakers sharing what he knows.

He just uploaded a video to his youtube that's a mini making-of documentary for Lights Out and it's absolutely fascinating. It goes through his process of setting up the scares and the many different ways he planned them. He even shows some of the storyboarding which is always cool to see.

It runs about 20 minutes and check it out below:



When MTV first announced ages ago that they were making a Scream TV show I was angered, disgusted and then ignored everything about it. Then last year I saw the first season was on Netflix and quietly and privately watched it. And to my suprise I fucking loved the show, it was actually really well done and super fun. I then couldn't wait for season two. But then that came out and I'd already forgotten about it. But a few months ago I finally sat down and watched season two and it was just as good! So now I have to consider myself a Scream TV show fan.

But season three couldn't happen, I thought. They've wrapped everything up and anything they do will be dumb. But then MTV was like...oh, Charlotte, when will you ever learn? And have released that season three will be a complete reset with brand new characters and story.

It also comes with a new showrunner, Brett Matthews and new group of executive producers including Queen Latifah. TVline released the casting breakdown and here's the very basic frame of characters we should look to expect:

Dion - football player with dark secrets
Liv - Dion's cheerleader girlfriend with good intentions and a big heart.
Kym - rebellious one
Beth - GOTH!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!!!! SO MUCH ANGST.
Jamal - Dion's step-brother hanging out with a rough crowd.

So new story, new location, new cast, new killer. Right now I am judgmental and hesitant but secretly SUPER excited.

This is the Zodiac speaking....

There's a new movie coming in June that has me SO FUCKING EXCITED!!!!!!!! Just listen to this premise:

A down-on-their-luck couple buy an old storage unit only to find the Zodiac killer's film reels inside. There's a $100K reward for any tips and the couple decide to take the law into their own hands and find the killer themselves.

The Zodiac killer is my favorite serial killer....so much so that I know how to write in the part of his code that was figured out, and at work the Zodiac killer is a valid member of our staff who signs everyone's birthday cards and steals people's stuff for ransom. Zodiac is one of my favorite films ever. So I'm really really REALLY stoked to see this movie. And the trailer has me believing this could be amazing. And even if it isn't, honestly, I'll still be there opening night.

It stars Shane West, Leslie Bibb and Matt Craven and is released June 9th. 

Check out the trailer below:


Alright I'll leave you to digest all that....

It's all getting so exciting this year for horror. I didn't even mention the confirmation of the Unbreakable sequel and all of Shamalamadingdong's tweets about it, all the new movies coming out, and all the new collectables. BUT...I don't have that much time on my hands...I need to go re-watch the IT trailer a few more times.

Stay spooky!

DAY TWENTY-SIX - Scream (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY TWENTY-SIX – SCREAM (1996)

‘There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance,

Number one: you can never have sex.

Big no no! Big no no! Sex equals death, okay?

Number two: you can never drink or do drugs.

The sin factor! It’s a sin. It’s an extension of number one.

And number three: never, ever, ever, under any circumstances say, “I’ll be right back.” Because you won’t be back.’

Ah, Scream. In my top five favorite horror films. An absolute classic for my generation. When horror was in a funk, Scream rose up from the depths and gave fresh air to the genre. Written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, it stars Neve Campbell as our leading lady – Sidney Prescott.

Sidney is by far my favorite Final Girl/Scream Queen. She’s the toughest and the smartest of the bunch. Scream follows Sidney, who after the brutal murder of her mother a year ago, is being stalked by a killer who claims to have committed the murder. And Sidney’s next. The killer shows up in a ghost face mask and a long dark robe, chasing her and her friends around their houses. But who is the ghostface murderer? And why is Sidney’s boyfriend so intense? And where exactly is Sidney’s Dad?

A perfect script, with a perfect twist reveal of who the killer really is. It has an amazing cast including David Arquette as the young cop, Courteney Cox as a tabloid writer turned investigator, Rose McGowan as Sidney’s sweet but dumb best friend, Skeet Ulrich as Sidney’s creepy boyfriend, Matthew Lillard as the hilarious but unpredictable best friend of Skeet, and Jamie Kennedy – the horror movie fanatic who knows all the rules of how to survive a horror movie. Which he now realizes they are all in.

Of course, Drew Barrymore is also in this movie, and put on the poster. She dies in the first ten minutes. A trick Wes thought would be fun, along with the encouragement of Drew, to fool audiences into thinking she was the lead. Paying homage to the movie Psycho in which the same thing happens.

The movie is so much fun to watch, able to poke fun at the genre while remaining scary and serious. Originally titled ‘Scary Movie’, but changed to ‘Scream’, it was released during the Christmas season. The studio had no faith in it. But something weird happened….people kept showing up. And as each weekend passed, Scream began to make more and more money, pulling in more and more people. A sequel was announced immediately and so began the Scream franchise. Scream is smart, and it was the first time in a long time that it also knew its audience was smart. It didn’t fuck around. That’s why it was so successful. It was also truly American – sweet, innocent Sidney and her beautiful friends, living in a pleasant and quaint small town, all of their homes typical big old American houses. Craven was adamant that this was the case.

 Everything about this film is original and fresh. Even watching it almost twenty years later it holds up easily. I first watched this film when I was 11 and it really cemented my love of the horror genre. Although back then I was terrified and jumped and screamed through the whole film, it was the first time I had fun watching a horror film. In between scares I was laughing at the jokes and the characters. Then I’d resume screaming again. Now, I practically know the movie off by heart.

This movie will always be a 10/10 for me, and if you haven’t seen it yet, what are you doing?!? Watch this movie! So one day when the phone rings, and a creepy voice on the other end asks you, ‘what’s your favorite scary movie?’ you can answer; Scream, you asshole.

Guys, my History of Horror Presentation is in two days and I've come down with a cold. Which means my throat is swollen, which in turn swells the gums around my wisdom teeth, which basically means I am in constant pain and sound like Marge Simpson. I'm devastated. I am formally appologizing in advance to everyone who watches my presentation, I will un-ironically sound like Ghostface. Maybe it'll make it more scary?
Probably not.
I'm screwed.

Stay spooky!

Horror Documentaries and Buttholes (full disclosure; there are no buttholes in this post)

For the horror fan, simply watching horror movies is never enough, you always need more more more. So when I'm in a horror movie lull or can't make up my mind - I like to pull up a chair and watch how my favorites were made, or watch the history of this amazing genre. Here's a few classics that I watch frequently:
(and "His name was Jason" isn't on here because... I HAVEN'T WATCH IT YET OMG I KNOWWWW - i'm terrible, but I found a copy on youtube soooo....[you can actually find all these docs on youtube])

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Silence of the Lambs - the inside story

I think this was made for the E! network before it played nothing but reality shows, i'm not sure, but it has that feel to it. But regardless it's a well made interesting look into the movie that almost didn't get made but ended up winning the top 5 Oscars of that year. The doc explains how Gene Hackman originally bought the rights but backed out, and how Anthony Hopkin's was convinced his role in Hollywood was over until this ground breaking role came along.

It's quite an intimate look at the goings on with the studio at the time and what seems to be everyone having zero faith this movie would ever be made.

Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

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Never Sleep Again: the elm street legacy

If you're a Freddy fan - you've already seen this a few times. A great, in depth look at the franchise itself, the creators, director, actors/actresses, and everything in between. It has some great behind the scene footage and photos.
And this guy is FOUR HOURS LONG and hosted by our main queen Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). I mean, horror documentaries always deliver, and this is almost too much, you're basically like WE'RE NOT WORTHY.
It starts with the original film and finishes with my all time fav Freddy vs. Jason, covering each film with enough time and respect.

When I was alive, I might have been a little naughty, but after they killed me, I became something much, much worse. The stuff nightmares are made of.

Scream Still Screaming: the ultimate scary movie retrospective

I'm a massive massive MASSIVE fan of the Scream series and this doc really does it justice. It talks about the history of the script, how it was originally called Scary Movie, and how it became a trilogy (obviously made before the fourth was released). It also touches on the backlash that came with it because of the teen violence and how Wes Craven realllly didn't want to do it.
I mean, this whole movie was doomed from the get go, especially being released during the Christmas season, but it kicked ass and continues to. YES, EVEN SCREAM 4 YOU JERKS.
Everyone is in this film from Neve Campbell to Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy and Parker Posey etc.
And try and get to the end without turning on Scream.
 
Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (three part series)

This is a documentary on horror movies in general, starting from the very first and ending with Halloween. It was a three part series made for the BBC by writer and actor Mark Gatiss (from Sherlock and an avid horror fan himself) where he takes a personal exploration through the history of horror movies. Each episode is an hour long. Episode one "Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood", Episode two "Home Counties Horror" and ending with Episode three "The American Scream".
This is a really wonderful doc to watch if you're a huge horror fan, and Mark does justice to the horror genre by treating it respectfully and fairly. I remember the first time watching this one I ended up with a two page list of movies I NEEDED to watch or re-watch. 
Mark also sits down with some of horror's legends and shares old footage that I'd never seen before.

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The American Nightmare 

This is a hella dark documentary that pairs horror movies with the horror going on in the world. It includes some of the biggest names in horror like Romero, Cronenberg, Carpenter, Hooper, Craven etc and they share the very honest inspirations that came for their films. While showing some of the more gruesome scenes from the movies, they cut it with gruesome scenes from every day life, specifically the Vietnam war which inspired many directors and the civil rights movement. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, and is quite graphic, but I'm not sure why I'm even telling you that considering you wouldn't be reading this blog or seeking out this doc unless you had that sick mind all of us horror fans cherish.
This one is honestly just fascinating to watch for someone who wasn't born when all of this happened, and it gives me a chance to start to understand the true darkness of these films.