Time to clear out the ol’ junk drawer.

Sean T. Collins has the scoop on Miss Horrorfest. See, watching America’s Next Top Model is worthwhile.

They’re making a comic book spin-off of Se7en?

It was leaked at The Festival of Fear, but now it’s official; Lloyd Kaufman will be holding one of his Masterclasses at the Toronto After Dark film festival, and he’s bringing the zombie chickens.

Jason, Freddy, The Shape, Pennywise and Pinhead arrested under the Frightening Act.

Mondo Schlocko has invited everyone to participate in the first annual Polonia Day.

Continuing my love affair with Prey for the Beast, Ottawa F/X man Ralph Gethings has a Myspace account which includes various blog posts detailing his misadventures.

A theatrical version of Night of the Living Dead is set to premiere in Los Angeles. Where’s my Sleepaway Camp musical?

Put it on to get it off with Tomb It May Concern t-shirts. Found courtesy of The Groovy Age.

Depp is not, and apparently never has been, attached to the Will Smith production of I Am Legend. On the one hand I would love to see Depp in an adaptation of one of my favourite horror novels, on the other, it wouldn’t be in a role as the main character’s buddy.

The Fangoria Chainsaw awards presenters have been announced, and if I were them it’s a line-up I wouldn’t actually be promoting. Yeesh!

Pittsburgh gets a zombie walk, finally.

Bubblegumfink celebrates the phenomenon of pop culture characters riding tricycles, including an absolutely surreal Matango. And don’t miss his new addition to Bubblgumfink’s never seen cult movie bubblebum cards; Suspiria.

And join us tomorrow for lucky number thirteen, the longest fucking Horror Roundtable yet.

Pirate-hating he-man Louis Fowler has been steadily posting the various Dawn of the Dead cuts on his blog, including the U.S. version and Goblin’s contribution, with the promise of more to come. And while you’re at it, you may want to dig around for even more classic cult movie soundtracks.

One thing that definitely hurts my credibility as a horror blogger is my indifference to the original Dawn of the Dead (and the remake, for that matter). It’s not that I think it’s bad, or that it isn’t historically important, but I think Romero was just trying too hard, especially in comparison to the effortless beauty of Night of the Living Dead.

One thing that can be said about Mickey Hargitay with absolute certainty is that he lead a very interesting life. Having emigrated from his native Hungary to the United States soon after World War II, Hargitay became Mr. Universe, Mr. America and Mr. Olympia in 1955. His perfect physique gave him a way into show business, where he first met his future wife, Jayne Mansfield. And despite the wide variety of roles he chose in his short career as an actor, it is his unforgettable turn as The Crimson Executioner in The Bloody Pit of Horror for which he will be remembered most by many genre fans.

Hargitay inspired many, including his daughter Mariska who went on to dedicate an emmy to her father for her role in Law & Order: SVU, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played the actor in the 1982 made-for-TV movie “The Jayne Mansfield Story”. In fact, Hargitay was a sterling example to many displaced people seeking hope and propsperity in a new land.

Rest in peace, Mr. Hargitay.

As I’m sure everyone is sick of hearing, Hostel was my favourite horror movie of the past few years. Even though I’m looking forward to the sequel, it’s with some trepedition. Now it appears that producer Quentin Tarantino is stacking the deck, making it near-impossible for me to dislike this film. Ladies and gentlemen, DVD Trash has the scoop on the lovely Edwige Fenech’s return to the silver screen.

Quoted as saying that he “knows all about my films” she was only to happy to agree to the role. This will be a return to the big screen for her after many years as a producer.

Swoon!

It looks like yet another horror channel is on the horizon, this time courtesy of Lion’s Gate and Sony. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the two studios have teamed up with Comcast to create Fearnet, and apparently it’s due this Halloween via cable and the internet. The most interesting aspect of the announcement, aside from the rather shocking claim that the two studios combined own about 50% of the horror market, is that they are planning original content.

Plans for Fearnet call for it to offer mainly movies from studio libraries but also some original content such as short films.

In addition, there are plans to reach out to horror genre directors for a program called Masters of Fear.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I gave the Italian Masters of Horror a pass because there’s a long-standing tradition for such things, but if they’re honestly considering calling their director driven show Masters of Fear, Fearnet must be out of their minds. Despite that, I wonder who they might approach for their Masters show. It would be interesting to see if Fearnet is forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel, especially considering that’s where some of the tastiest trash can be found.

In anticipation of the release of The Grudge 2, Yahoo has put up three short films that deal with the curse outside of the main movies. Your mileage will vary dependent on whether you’re sick of J-Horror and whether you’re willing to believe that the curse could be transmitted from person to person with such ease. I have to admit, they’re far better than the remake itself, but I may be biased since the shorts have 100% less time travel. I especially enjoyed the depiction of horror in daylight, something rarely seen.

On a related note, does anyone else love these little bits of additional content? So many trailers and clips are just rehashes of the best bits of the movie, that it’s nice to see a little extra effort being put into promoting a film.

Are you in the market for a new home? Would you be willing to join the local block parent/vigilante group? And most importantly, do you have $1 million and change lying around? If yes, then you could be living on the most infamous street in slasher history. Nancy Thompson’s house from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street is up for grabs.

Nightmare on Elm Street house with basement for “Freddie” Kruger. Spaulding Square fixer opportunity screaming “Buy Me, Buy Me!”. With some work this could be your Family Dream Home, backyard with pool 4 entertaining, 4 bedrooms 3.5 bath & office. Terrific living room with fireplace, formal dining room and bar set up.

As much as the horror geek in me would love to have a live-in conversation piece like this, I know that I would be really creeped out, particularly when night fell and you could hear every creak in the place as it settled. Would anyone else be freaked, or am I just a wuss?

It’s been rumoured for awhile that Mel Brooks’ hilarious homage to Universal horror movies would be next in line for a musical adaptation. I think it might be an even better fit than The Producers. Apparently they’ve just finished the first draft of the script, and Brooks has made some interesting casting suggestions.

The Post also said that Brooks wants Cloris Leachman to re-create the role of horse-frightening Frau Blucher. A Brooks movie veteran, she played the part in the movie.

I’ve never attended musical theatre. Any shows which I found even remotely interesting always seemed to be watered down for the widest possible appeal. Hopefully this will be the one to take my musical virginity.

I received my copy of The Criterion Collection’s Jigoku today, and tucked away in the case was a postcard promoting their upcoming release of Divorce - Italian Style. I was so taken by Jaime Hernandez’ artwork on the postcard that it took me a second look to realize how macabre it actually is.

New Zealand seems to have been blessed with numerous natural resources, many of which, like splatter comedies and sheep, seldom go together. Jonathan King’s Black Sheep attempts to rectify that situation, as the sheep of New Zealand are infected with a carnivorous rage towards their badly outnumbered masters. As the clip above shows, shaved, blind lambs are incredibly creepy.

Found courtesy of Twitch films, who has extensive coverage of the movie.

Charles the Impaler? Prince Charles is buying a house in Transylvania.

The Flick Filospoher is having a contest for copies of The Lurker in the Lobby, a book devoted to adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s work to the silver screen.

Mojo magazine has printed their picks for the Top Ten Horror Soundtracks.

Rumour has it that audience members have been fainting during screenings of anthology horror film Trapped Ashes.

Peter Jackson considers a return to low-budget schlockfests.

Just when you thought that the rumours were finally dead, along comes more dirt on Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. I didn’t think it would be at all feasible unless they found a really great concept to work with. Looks like Ronny Yu has that covered.

CS: Any chance you might direct a sequel to “Freddy vs. Jason” if New Line decides to do one?

Yu: Yeah, they’ve been talking about it, and they even talk about bringing Ash [from Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” movies] into the equation, and I thought it’s terrific. It’s almost like an updated version of “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.” If they really want to do it and they want me to do it, I’d love to do it. It would be a lot of fun.

As much as I’d love to see this happen, the question remains; would the public’s general lack of knowledge as to who Ash is hurt the chances of this getting made, and if it did get the go-ahead, would Ash just confuse moviegoers?

Found courtesy of The Movie Blog.

Recent years have seen horror films which were scorned upon their initial release dragged out of the vaults, dusted off, and given a well-deserved polish. Unfortunately, the same resepct hasn’t been afforded their counterparts in comics. First there was the unnecessary retooling of the EC Comics, and now Marvel Comics is bortching their own material by censoring their Bronze Age horror reprints. The Groovy Age of Horror has posted just a few side-by-side examples showing the difference between the original Tomb of Dracula published over a quater-century ago and the reprints from the most recent Essential volume. Essentially abhorrent, maybe.

I hate when companies hire hacks to go in and retool someone’s hard work, especially when they make no effort to warn the public that they’re receiving damaged goods. And does anyone else find it the least bit disturbing that we’re growing more close-minded and puritanical as the years progress? How is it that the Marvel of 30 years ago was more daring than the supposedly edgy Marvel of today? What does everyone else think?

Of all the shows premiering this Fall, my most anticipated is Jericho. I’m a sucker for apocalyptic fiction, and an entire season of it is right up my alley. Show writer Jon Steinberg nailed the appeal for me with this quote from an article on the show.

“[We wanted] to tell a very big story in a very small place. There’s a tradition of it in features and not that much in TV. Sort of the ‘28 Days Later’ and ‘Signs’ and those kind of movies, taking that and building on a world like that.”

The first episode has been making its way around the internet for weeks now, so CBS has decided to give in an post an official release. Enjoy.

Name a great late-night horror television experience you have had.

Bill Cunningham - DisContent

Friday nights - long, long ago - CBS ran episodes of KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER. It was the perfect hour for that material and scared me far more at 11:30 pm then it ever did at 10pm.

Maybe it was lack of sleep. Maybe it was the fact that the rest of the house was asleep and the lights were out. A particularly memorable epsiode was The Trevi Collection - where the witch was using mannequins to kill. Scared the crap out of me…especially when she screamed as Kolchak denounced her in front of the passers-by on the street.

Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat

One night during what I believe was my junior year in high school, I was staying up late and flipping through the channels (most likely looking for something good on Skinemax) when I came across the opening credits of a movie I’d heard of from my horror-loving friends : Nightbreed. Instantly my heart started pounding: This was a REAL horror movie! I’d loved the old Universal and Godzilla monster movies as a kid and had seen things like The Lost Boys during my adolescence, but for as long as I could remember the gruesome R-rated gorefests of your local video store’s horror section were something I avoided in genuine terror. No matter how good this Clive Barker guy was supposed to be, could I possibly watch one now? Pulse racing and stomach churning, I sat there and forced myself to watch. Suffice it to say I haven’t had to force myself to watch a horror movie since.

Billy - The House of Irony

When I young, my dad always worked midnights and afternoons so I never got to see him at all. I was pretty much raised by my mom. Every friday night was horror night on channel 19, which was a budding Fox affiliate at the time. So at 9 oclock every friday night (my mom would let me stay up late!) we would watch horror movies together. The one I remember most (I’ll get the amount of S’s wrong I know it) was SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Yes, the movie was called SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. It was about this mad scientist that was injecting a guy with this secret snake juice formula. At first the guy started feeling better, but then eventually he turned into a snake and killed the doctor. Still to this day it is a movie that both me and my mother remember.

Gary Wintle

That opening for the Twilight Zone in the 80’s….oh man….the fucking dolls…

Red Hawk - Happy Horror

This is an easy one for me. One year, on Halloween, after getting home from going out trick-or-treating, I watched a marathon of old Universal Studios horror movies (Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, Wolf Man, and the Invisible Man). It was the first time I ever stayed up as late as I did, past when my mom went to bed (she conked out sometime in the middle of Dracula while I lasted up to at least the middle of Wolf Man… I can remember opening my eyes at one point and seeing a pair of pants chasing a woman down the street from “The Invisible Man”). I believe this started my appreciation for the real classic horror movies.

Nick - DVD Trash

Has to be staying up on Friday nights watching Hammer classics on the BBC, which strengthened my love of horror movies when I was younger.

David Z. - Tomb It May Concern

My favorite late night viewing was sitting up for a 3 A.M. showing of Ninja Mission when a friend got the first VCR I encountered. It was the first thing I had on tape and we had to sit up to start recording. I love that movie and every time I see it I think of not only the movie, but I remember my best friend and the stuff we did before he passed away.

JA - My New Plaid Pants

Well I have a kind-of reverse of the normal “unable to fall asleep after watching something scary” story… I had a bad dream a few months ago, I don’t remember what it was but it was bad enough to wake me up. So I got up and went into the livingroom and turned on the TV, and the episode of The X-Files called “Home” was on, which I’ve probably seen 10 times before but never grown tired of. So I stayed up and watched it, freaking out in the dark at the wonderful tale of an inbred clan and their limbless under-the-bed-ridden mother/wife, and after it was over I climbed back into bed and fell into a deep sleep of one of the best night’s of rest I’ve had in a long time. Nothing quite soothes the restless psyche like incestual mutants with booby-trapped shacks burying their deformed sibling/children fetuses in an overgrown baseball field, ya know?