Just in time for The Final Girl Film Club, a monster kid reimagining of The Exorcist called The Demonic Possession. This one is really effective, and has a few additions to the plot that seem straight out of The Evil Dead, despite being made years earlier than that film. If your idea of a good time is watching kids with feathered hair and Adidas shirts slap each other around to the theme from The Exorcist, then you’re probably me.

Name your favourite Eurohorror movie.

Paul Corupe - Canuxploitation

I’ll probably lose a chunk of B-film cred by declaring that I’m really not a fan of Eurohorror films, which tend to be a little too decadent and loosely scripted for my tastes. I do make an exception for the Blind Dead series, however, especially Return of the Blind Dead, as well as Franju’s excellent Eyes Without a Face, both of which manage to be wonderfully macabre without sacrificing plot logic.

Jeff O’Brien

Suspiria.

Don May, Jr. - Synapse

Ohh that’s a tough one…

It’s probably, for me, a toss up between TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD and DARIO ARGENTO’S OPERA.

JA - My New Plaid Pants

Tough, tough question, but I guess I’d have to go with something by Argento, and my fave of his will always and forever be Suspiria. Not exactly the most mindblowing answer, but there it is.

Just one warning to those of you plan on watching this movie for the first or 20th time: if you have roommates, warn them first that you’re watching this, or they will - I speak from experience - think you’re murdering someone. So much screaming!

Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat

Della’morte Dell’amore, without question. It’s like a splatstick Lost Highway.

Curt - Groovy Age of Horror

Good grief!!! I had trouble enough narrowing it down to ten!

David Z. - Tomb It May Concern

I’m currently compiling a list of ten myself, but I will say House By The Cemetery for straight up horror. It usually gets overlooked in favor of The Beyond or even Gates of Hell-but for my pure eurohorror satisfaction this gorefest satisfies. The final tour of the Freudstein slaughterhouse is one of the great monster reveals of eurohorror-if not THE best.

Louis Fowler

Alex de la Iglesia’s hilariously dark EL DIA DE LA BESTIA. I’d make a pact with Satan for that to get a proper DVD release, uncut and in Spanish. Maybe with ACCION MUTANTE as a bonus film on a second disc. That would be super.

But then again, if I could really make a pact with Satan, should it be for a special edition DVD?

Casey Criswell - Cinema Fromage

Vampyres!

Hyper sexed lesbian vampires who are cute to boot. Need I say more?

Tim - Mondo Schlocko

This may seem like a throw-away answer, but truly, it has to be SUSPIRIA. For me that flick was the gateway drug of choice into Eurohorror and the realiziation that outside of the the states there were some brilliant flicks to be seen.

Thanks to all the contributors, especially David Z., whose Eurotrash Film Pinnacle Project was the inspiration for this week’s Roundtable. Make sure you check it out for gobs of trashy delight!

Back in August I wrote a post entitled The Stack of Shame, which was comprised of a list of movies I own but have not actually watched yet. Since that time I have watched exactly one movie from the list and added dozens more for a grand total of 135 unloved films.

Reeker, Komodo vs. Cobra, The Dark, Evil Aliens, Peeping Tom, Funny Games, The Devils, Street Trash, Martyr, I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, Maniac, Nudist Colony of the Dead, The Nun, White of the Eye, Venom, Call of Cthulhu, Snake People, Snake Woman, Black Cobra Woman, Horror Express, Frogs, Curse of the Devil, Fear No Evil, Miner’s Massacre.

The Bunker, Deathwatch, Slash, Fiend, Amityville 3-D, Sleepaway Camp 3 - Teenage Wasteland, Flesheater, Schoolgirl Killer, Bloody Brood, The Haunting, Lady Frankenstein, Rituals, The Prowler, Tom Savini’s Scream Greats, Intruder, Silent Night, Deadly Night, To All A Goodnight, Bad Taste, Blood Diner, The Kiss, Tourist Trap, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Deathdream, Soul Survivor, Begotten, The Curse of the Living Corpse.

Werewolves on Wheels, Legend of Hell House, Don’t Go In The Woods Alone, When The Screaming Stops, The Sorcerors, Bikini Party Massacre, It Came From Beneath The Sea, Tarantulas, Frankenfish, The Tenant, The Brain, The Chilling, My Bloody Valentine, Frankenhooker, Squirm, The Car.

13 Tzameti, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Onibaba, Hatchet For The Honeymoon, Hell of the Living Dead, Return of the Evil Dead, The Ghost Galleon, Night of the Seagulls, Satanico Pandemonium, Fury of the Wolfman, Ils, Baise Moi, Tale of Two Sisters, Curse of the Crying Woman, House on Sorority Row, Santo versus the Zombies, Herzog’s Nosferatu, Burst City, The Beast Must Die, Marebito, Images in a Convent, Small Gauge Trauma, Vampyres, The Werewolf and The Yeti, Twins of Evil, The Whip and the Body, Les Demons.

Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Death Carries A Cane, Torso, Blood and Black Lace, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, The Iguana With A Tongue of Fire, Blood and Black Lace, Amuck!, Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have The Key, Who Saw Her Die?

Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, Invisible Man returns, Invisible Woman, Invisible Agent, Invisible Man’s Revenge, Dracula’s Daughter, Son of Dracula, House of Dracula, Werewolf of London, Frankenstein meets the Wolfman, She-Wolf of London.

Gojira, Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S., Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah - All-Out Giant Monster Attack, Godzilla vs. Destroyer, War of the Gargantuas, Monster From a Prehistoric Planet, Gamera 2 - Advent of Legion, Gamera 3 - Revenge of Iris, Rodan, Gamera The Invincible, War of the Monsters, Destroy All Planets. Godzilla: Final Wars.

To help whittle the list down a bit, I’d like your suggestions for which one of these films you believe I should put at the top of the pile. Leave your suggestions in the comments below, and I will adjust my viewing habits according to your whims. Help me choose! Thanks!

Small world. I received notice about this clip at both my horror email address and my civilian one.

Just in time for the day after Valentine’s, Sam Costello has posted a bittersweet little tale of love and regret over at Split Lip entitled The Tree of Remembrance. The artist this time around is none other than penultimate Jenny Everywhere artist Nelson Evergreen. Nelson isn’t just one of my favourite webcomic artists, he’s one of my favourite comic artists in general, and he does an absolutely amazing job on this story. Highly recommended!

I have had what appears to be my first strong reaction to a post by the people involved in the topic, namely the film The Killer Inside You. In the comments section of a post from a few weeks back, director Brooks Cantrell questioned why I didn’t set up an interview to get his side of the story. The main reason I didn’t contact Mr. Cantrell is because I didn’t see any need for it. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to track down people for every post I make. To illustrate, Mr. Cantrell didn’t send me a message requesting more information before he wrote a post on his blog about The Horror Blog, and why would he?

I felt the post itself was fairly innocuous and stuck mainly to the facts, with a few smart-ass comments thrown in. From what I gather, because the two parties involved parted ways without a legal tussle, it is unlikely we will ever find out the full truth about the incident, particularly what kind of permission, if any, the Cantrells had to shoot in the school. Any opinion I might have on the matter would be uninformed and useless. Furthermore, I would have been happy to interview Mr. Cantrell or post a statement by him if he had only asked. In the end, I wish the best for the Cantrells and their film, as I would anyone taking such a risk to follow their dream.

Also leaving a comment, actress Tiffany Apan (pictured above) has taken the time to set me straight as to the nature of the photo shoot conducted for Morbid Curiosity Shop and the lack of nudity in The Killer Inside You. I certainly appreciate that Ms. Apan took advantage of the comments section to give her side of the story rather than sit on her hands waiting for me to contact her. However, I think she may have misunderstood my comments in the post. In no way was I offended by the underwear photo shoot, nor did I believe that it was some kind of irresponsible act. In fact, I would like to issue a statement to the press.

Let it be known from this day forward that The Horror Blog is fully in favour of displays of naked flesh, be it full or partial, in good taste or bad. Preferably bad. Nudity is the engine that drives The Horror Blog, and the very suggestion that the proprieter of The Horror Blog may feel otherwise is both insulting and painful. Male or female, young or old, large or small, please continue to show off your goodies.

Unfortuntately, a school board or the mainstream media may feel differently, and their pull is far greater than mine.

The emphasis in my comment about the underwear wasn’t that women involved in the film were displaying it, but that up to the point in which I wrote my post the mainstream media hadn’t cottoned to the fact that the underwear in question had a real-life serial killer’s logo emblazoned on it and in that case it may not be a good idea to provide them with a link to the underwear in question. It seems to me that, with the mainstream media’s propensity for latching onto lurid subject matter and scapegoating it into the asphalt, this would be adding fuel to the fire. Again, emphasis on serial killer, not on underwear.

In conclusion, I could have left all this in the comments but I really wanted to post what may be The Horror Blog Manifesto, as seen in bold above.

New comic day! Get your loved one the gift that keeps on giving!

If you’re aware of an event I can place here, or are planning one yourself, please send me an email at steven@thehorrorblog.com.

Notable DVD Releases

Feb. 13th - Masters of Horror: Pelts
Feb. 13th - 13 Tzameti
Feb. 13th - Evil Animals Triple Feature (Day of the Animals, Grizzly and Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell)
Feb. 13th - Driftwood
Feb. 13th - Gate II
Feb. 20th - Wilderness
Feb. 20th - Open Water 2 - Adrift
Feb. 20th - Night of the Living Dorks
Feb. 20th - The Dark Castle Horror Collection (House of Wax, Gothika, Ghost Ship, Thirteen Ghosts and House on Haunted Hill)

Notable Theatrical Releases

Feb. 16th - Ghost Rider
Feb. 23rd - The Number 23
March 2nd - Zodiac

Notable Comic Book Releases

Feb. 14th, 2007

Friday The 13th #3
Tales Of The Unexpected #5
Darkman Vs Army Of Darkness #3
Girls #22
Blade #6

Events

Feb. 15th (Toronto, Ontario) - Rue Morgue’s Cinemacabre presents Phantasm.
Feb. 16th - 18th (Cherry Hill, NJ) - Monster Mania Con 7 with Tobin Bell, Brad Dourif, Crispin Glover, The Monster Squad 20th anniversary reunion and tons more.
Feb. 17th (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - Exhumed Films gives a belated valentine in the form of a My Bloody Valentine/Candyman double bill. Dibs on the back row.
Feb. 23rd -25th (Durham, North Carolina) - Nevermore Film Fest.
Feb. 23rd - 25th (Chicago, Illinois) - Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors including guests Doug Bradley, Jeffrey Combs, Ken Foree, Uwe Boll and many more.
Feb. 23rd (Montreal, Quebec) - Freaky Fridays lecture series. Ophidophobia: What is it with snakes? followed by a screening of Snakes on a Plane.
Feb. 23rd - March 3rd (Porto, Portugal) - Oporto International Film Festival.
Feb. 24th (Kelowna, British Columbia) - Sneak preview of Fido at the Landmark Cinema.
Feb. 24th (Vancouver, British Columbia) - Cinema Sewer 10th Anniversary bash! (NSFW)

Mar. 2nd (Montreal, Quebec) - Freaky Fridays lecture series. Shrunkenhead Fever, followed by a screening of The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake.
Mar. 3rd (everywhere)- International Read A Comic Book Naked Day.
Mar. 3rd (Burbank, CA) - Dark Delicacies hosts an afternoon with 30 Days of Night scribe Steve Niles and master illustrator Bernie Wrightson.
March 5th (New York, NY) - The Host and Falling To Pieces screenings at Pioneer Theater. Presented by Fangoria.
March 24th (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - Exhumed hosts a very special night with Roy Frumkes and his classic grindhouse film Street Trash. In addition, Frumkes will be screening his documentary on George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, entitled Dream of the Dead, as well as other surprises.
Mar. 29th - April 1st (Toronto, Ontario) - The World Horror Convention descends upon the unsuspecting populace of Toronto, the first time the event has been held outside of the United States.
Mar. 30th - April 1st (Strongsville, Ohio) - Cinema Wasteland movie and memorbilia expo has some truly bizarre and wonderful guests lined up, including the ladies of Faster Pussycat Kill… Kill!

April 2nd (New York, NY) - Severence screening at the Pionner Theater. Presented by Fangoria.

Nick Frost, co-star of the hit zom-rom-com Shaun of the Dead, also had a sideline as the host of the survival television program Danger! 50,000 Volts! The show took various worst-case scenarios and showed the viewer how best to avoid death and/or dismemberment. Not aired in its initial broadcast was perhaps the most important segment of them all; how to survive a zombie attack. Joined by professional zombie hunter Dr. Russell Fell, Nick walks us through all the steps necessary in avoiding becoming one of the shambling hordes.

It’s 1984 and best friends Timmy, Doug and Barry spend their summer reading comics, fighting bullies, and making the best damn fort in town. Their vacation gets cut short as an ancient evil awakens, prompting all three boys to face not only the nightmare under the cemetary but also the monsters already living in their own homes.

I’ll admit to a bit of bias. I’m well within the age range necessary to share many of the same experiences of a young boy in 1984. References to such pop culture detritus as Dio, Thundarr, Doctor Who and The Defenders are scattered thoughout, and while I certainly got a kick out of having a mirror held up to my own childhood, I wonder if the same could be said for readers outside of that age range. Regardless, this is obviously a love letter to Brian Keene’s own childhood and probably couldn’t be written any other way. While I’m sure the specific nostagia will be lost on many, those near universal aspects of summer vacation will no doubt resonate with anyone with lots of time on their hands and a forest or park nearby to waste the days exploring.

One of the most intriguing things about Ghoul is it’s scale. Everything takes place within one corner of a small community, essentially everything that can be found on the way to and from the houses of the three protagonists. In its way this is in keeping with the point of view of someone just entering their teens, before the world opens up and where their little corner still contains everything they need. Also of a smaller scale, and even more daring, is the threat itself. The ghoul of the title is presented as being a pathetic creature, damned to eat the flesh of the dead exclusively. Even the creature admits its deficiencies, comparing itself unfavourably to vampires and other more powerful monsters.

This isn’t to say the book doesn’t have its faults. The pacing is erratic at times, particularly since there doesn’t seem to be much driving the characters on in the beginning. Ghoul is a real slow burn, with the protagonists taking nearly two-thirds of the book’s length before they even realize that there’s something unnatural going on. And the description of the locale is a little overdone, in one case repeated almost verbatim from an earlier passage.

It’s to Keene’s credit that the characters and their everyday nightmares are engrossing enough to make up for a general lack of overt horror. In so many ways he’s able to find just the right tone to portray the teenage boy, such as placing the emotional worth of a comic book collection on the same level as a friend’s personal safety. In at least one regard Keene excels, and that’s in pulling no punches. Cruelty both great and small creeps through Ghoul, and no one is safe either physically or emotionally. And just when you think you’ve had enough heartbreak and pain, along comes a coda to knock you back on your ass, grateful that you made it through the entire thing. Time has a way of making a monster out of us all.

New DVD day? Fuck, yeah. I want that Evil Animals Triple Feature. Grizzly rules.

If you’re aware of an event I can place here, or are planning one yourself, please send me an email at steven@thehorrorblog.com.

Notable DVD Releases

Feb. 13th - Masters of Horror: Pelts
Feb. 13th - 13 Tzameti
Feb. 13th - Evil Animals Triple Feature (Day of the Animals, Grizzly and Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell)
Feb. 13th - Driftwood
Feb. 13th - Gate II

Notable Theatrical Releases

Feb. 16th - Ghost Rider
Feb. 23rd - The Number 23
March 2nd - Zodiac

Notable Comic Book Releases

Feb. 14th, 2007

Friday The 13th #3
Tales Of The Unexpected #5
Darkman Vs Army Of Darkness #3
Girls #22
Blade #6

Events

Feb. 15th (Toronto, Ontario) - Rue Morgue’s Cinemacabre presents Phantasm.
Feb. 16th - 18th (Cherry Hill, NJ) - Monster Mania Con 7 with Tobin Bell, Brad Dourif, Crispin Glover, The Monster Squad 20th anniversary reunion and tons more.
Feb. 17th (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - Exhumed Films gives a belated valentine in the form of a My Bloody Valentine/Candyman double bill. Dibs on the back row.
Feb. 23rd -25th (Durham, North Carolina) - Nevermore Film Fest.
Feb. 23rd - 25th (Chicago, Illinois) - Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors including guests Doug Bradley, Jeffrey Combs, Ken Foree, Uwe Boll and many more.
Feb. 23rd (Montreal, Quebec) - Freaky Fridays lecture series. Ophidophobia: What is it with snakes? followed by a screening of Snakes on a Plane.
Feb. 24th (Kelowna, British Columbia) - Sneak preview of Fido at the Landmark Cinema.
Feb. 24th (Vancouver, British Columbia) - Cinema Sewer 10th Anniversary bash! (NSFW)

Mar. 2nd (Montreal, Quebec) - Freaky Fridays lecture series. Shrunkenhead Fever, followed by a screening of The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake.
Mar. 3rd (everywhere)- International Read A Comic Book Naked Day.
Mar. 3rd (Burbank, CA) - Dark Delicacies hosts an afternoon with 30 Days of Night scribe Steve Niles and master illustrator Bernie Wrightson.
March 24th (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - Exhumed hosts a very special night with Roy Frumkes and his classic grindhouse film Street Trash. In addition, Frumkes will be screening his documentary on George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, entitled Dream of the Dead, as well as other surprises.
Mar. 29th - April 1st (Toronto, Ontario) - The World Horror Convention descends upon the unsuspecting populace of Toronto, the first time the event has been held outside of the United States.
Mar. 30th - April 1st (Strongsville, Ohio) - Cinema Wasteland movie and memorbilia expo has some truly bizarre and wonderful guests lined up, including the ladies of Faster Pussycat Kill… Kill!

The documentarians behind the film Kreating Karloff have placed the entire thing online, which is not a bad idea when you consider the purpose behind the production. Conor Timmis is a Boris Karloff fan so taken with his hero that he has put together a show reel in an attempt to convince major studios to produce a full biopic of the horror legend with him as the star. This film is a look behind-the-scenes at the various people who have helped him along the way, along with their observations on both Karloff and how they perceive Timmis’ obsession with the actor.

Young Hannibal Lecter has his world torn apart by the atrocities of the Second World War, and vows to track down the men who killed his baby sister, gathering the skills he’ll need along the way.

Unlike many, I don’t believe remakes, sequels, adaptations and other ancillary films somehow cheapen the original source. These cinematic hanger-ons are usually pretty easy to ignore and/or forget. In the case of the offshoots of Silence of the Lambs I find that task to be even easier than most, since they barely resemble their father. In fact, I think that’s why I enjoy them as much as I do.

With Hannibal Rising (and Hannibal before it), the adventures of Lecter take a turn for the baroque with a mixture of beauty and brutality that is very rarely presented on the big screen. And where Blood and Chocolate tried to add some Old World charm to an All-American story, Hannibal Rising dives right in, without a single North American character in sight, a risky manouver for a major studio release. In many ways the entire movie is about a world recovering from and trying to forget a war that has left scars still fresh and sore. Every character is haunted, either by what they witnessed or by the acts they themselves commited. Even the setting has two faces, alternating between lush mansions and grimy back-alley markets.

No one can match Anthony Hopkins’ turn in the role, so why bother? Gaspard Ulliel provides just the right amount of guile, camp and irrational ruthlessness to raise the proceedings to the level of Grand Guignol. The gore, while sparse, is on par with other recent “torture porn” films like Hostel and Pan’s Labryinth in being highly effective when it does appear. If I had any real complaint it would be that the film is a little slow in parts, with a great deal of exposition. But really, anyone who has seen any of the previous films, or any serial killer movie in general, will already know what to expect walking in.

The anti-hero gets a bad rap. Critics and modern audiences seem to demand that their protaganists be portrayed as somehow relateable to their own lives. Why should we always drag fictional characters down to our level? Why can’t we let them be slightly ridiculous and over-the-top? And with all the lumbering brutes that dominate the slasher genre, isn’t it about time that we had a villain who possessed a level of refinement?