I remember reading about Vacancy a few months back and being taken by the premise. A young couple stranded overnight in the middle of nowhere come to the realization that their motel is a front for the production of snuff films. Simple yet effective. The first trailer for the movie, starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, can be found over at Yahoo.

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.

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!

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.

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?

“Scoop” Carnacki throws down a recent Daily Show clip that uses a number of pop culture clips and stills to make its point. One of the most prominent is the appropriation of the original Dawn of the Dead. I was surprised to see how graphic it became. One scene in particular is the most wince-inducing in the entire movie for me. I wonder if anyone tuning into Comedy Central chucked their cookies at the sight.

A few weeks back I spent some time getting nostalgic over the gradual decline in stature for the practical special effects artist. One aspect of that equation that I didn’t take into account was the subsequent slide in demand for the people behind the prosthetics, or, professional monsters. The Toronto Star conducts an interview with Pan’s Labryinth star Doug Jones, the man behind the mask, and one part of their conversation concerns the fear one feels as technological advances threaten your livelihood.

“We all were worried. At some point you’re looking at the wave of digital coming in and thinking `We’re all going to be replaced one day.’”

The entire article gives a terrific behind-the-scenes look at an oft-neglected corner of the world of film, from Jones’ predecessors to how he fell into that particular line of work to the love for monsters.

Like a lot of people in the creative arts, Quentin Tarantino has a hard time nailing down a project without being distracted by something else. The amount of films he’s enthused about that never came to be far outweighs all the ones that did make it to the screen. Fangoria digs up some of the highlights from Tarantino’s previous horror associations.

“I didn’t write it down, but what I would’ve done is [have HALLOWEEN 6 begin with] 15 or 20 minutes of just the man and Michael having left the jail. What it takes to get him out of sight. He literally takes him to a diner, they sit down, shit happens at the diner, they have to escape, they go to someplace else, shit goes down at the motel, they have to go someplace else.”

I had heard about Tarantino’s involvement with the Halloween franchise, but the anecdote concerning the Evil Dead remake is new to me. What do you think? Could he have made either of them work. Better the Devil you know…?

The Messengers follows a dysfunctional family composed of a father, mother, sullen teenager and mute toddler as they escape the big city and a tragic past for life on a sunflower farm. Unfortunately for them, their new home is inhabited by spirits who communicate their sorrow in physically harrowing ways.

I’ve never understood the appeal of The Messengers directors the Pang Brothers. The Eye was only passably entertaining, and Re-Cycle was one of the few films I have ever considered walking out of. Maybe it’s because The Pangs were among the first successful South Korean creators to come out of the Asian horror boom, but taking into consideration all the talent coming out of that country I can only imagine their days are numbered. If so, The Messengers may be the nail in the coffin.

Plot-wise, the film plays out like three or four movies mixed together, but unlike most I found those disparate horror conventions worked fairly well. Where the cross-breeding failed was in its mixture of styles. The inclusion of the rather overplayed Asian ghosts with the other more Western menaces was a good idea gone horribly wrong and didn’t do either camp any favours. The Messengers other major failing is in its characterization, with the underlying tension between family members turning out to be both a let-down and downright unbelievable. The impression one gets time and time again is that this family has almost no concept of either personal safety or responsibility for others. They constantly let each other out of their sight when it would be inadvisable in real life, let alone during a crisis. I was half expecting a character to fall off the roof because another character holding the ladder saw something shiny and let go to investigate. These people are precisely why natural selection is a great idea.

Surprisingly, there are a few good ideas buried in The Messengers. It’s tricky to plausibly keep the victim of ghostly encounters from fleeing and never coming back, but in the case of a relatively powerless and voiceless teenager there really isn’t any choice. Having the protagonist chained to the location by social pressures, rather than imprisonment of a physical or mental variety, is a novel idea that would definitely resonate with the intended audience. What teenager doesn’t feel as if they know all the answers, yet no one is willing to listen to them? While Kristen Stewart is only passable in the role of the family’s daughter, she excels in screaming, sobbing and freaking out, and that puts her well above the rest of the cast who hack out their roles. Another interesting characterization is that of the youngest child, able to see the ghosts but unable to voice his observations. The intriguing part about his role is that at almost no point in the movie does he realize the extent of the danger circling around him. There is something refreshing about watching a character in a movie react to blatant horror with awe and wonder.

To its credit, The Mesengers is one of the best of the bunch for PG-13 horror films of the past few years, though that’s about the most damning praise I ever hope to heap on a movie. Recommended only if you’re a sucker for recycled J-Horror (via Korea), jump scares or butt cracks.

The weekend box office take is in, and it looks like horror comes out on top for Super Bowl Sunday once again. The Messengers took the number one position, based more on it’s counter-programming position then actual quality, unfortunately. This marks the third time in four years that a horror film was number one for Super Bowl Weekend, the previous occassions being Darkness Falls in 2003, Boogeyman in 2005, and When A Stranger Calls in 2006. The tradition will no doubt continue next year with the release of the Prom Night sequel, already scheduled for that slot. What a sweet little scam they have running there.

The only other horror movie to place in the top ten is the unshakeable Pan’s Labryinth, holding steady at #8 and showing greater endurance then the equally critically acclaimed, and superior, Children of Men.

I’ve included this in the Day Planner of the Dead section, but I think it merits an entry of it’s own. The Science department at McGill University has been hosting a movie night called Freaky Fridays with the majority of films being shown falling under horror or science fiction. The aspect that puts the series over the edge is that they also include lectures with each screening that pertains to the subject matter of the film. Notable examples from past screenings.

Sea monsters unmasked
by Dr. Anthony Ricciardi (McGill, Redpath Museum & McGill School of Environment)
followed by the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Werewolves
by Dr. Murray Humphries (McGill, Natural Resource Sciences)
followed by the film American Werewolf in London.

Count on it: when numbers mean the difference between you and roadkill
by Dr. Nilima Nigam (McGill, Mathematics and Statistics)
followed by the Canadian film The Cube.

Overpopulation of the earth
by Dr. Nigel Roulet (McGill, School of the Environment & Department of Geography)
followed by the film Soylent Green.

How birds really do it!
by Dr. David M. Bird (McGill, Avian Science and Conservation Centre)
followed by the classic Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.

Invasion of the bug eyed aliens: exploring myths in American post-war movies
by Dr. Michael Bisson, Anthropology, McGill.
Followed by the movie They live.

The next two screenings are Ophidophobia: What is it with snakes? and Shrunkenhead Fever. I wish someone would record these lectures. Makes me wish I had a car so I could do it myself. Thanks to the lovely J. for the head’s up.

One of the surprisingly enjoyable aspects of this hobby is in posting a news item that I know is of interest to only one or two people. It’s like I’m sending code. Case in point, the Faye Dunaway vehicle Flick, in which she plays a one-armed American detective tracking down an undead kid from the ’50s in modern day Wales. An interview with director David Howard sheds some light on this intriguing premise.

Set in the late 1950s and the present day, Flick tells the tale of Johnny, a music-loving outsider driven to murder by rejection from the girl he lusts after. On the run, he crashes his car into a river, where it remains until it is dredged up in the modern day. Reanimated by the sound of ’50s rock music, he continues his journey of revenge on those who mocked him, and their children.

The whole thing is a great read, whether or not you’re as sold on the plot as I am. Howard discusses his reasons for abandoning a career as a lawyer to pursue B-movies, why he considers horror to be such a challenge, and just what it took for him to rope Dunaway in.

I’m all for artistic integrity, but I can’t help but get a little nostalgic for the old studio system, where movies were cranked out with little regard for individual expression. At a recent press junket, Dino De Laurentiis brought back a little of that old flavour by relating how Hannibal Rising came to be.

“When I did the promotion all around the world for Hannibal and Red Dragon, everybody asked me ‘Dino, we need to know when and where Hannibal Lecter started.’ I don’t give it much attention. But then I receive so much mail in a few years, with the same question, and I come to the conclusion that the audience wants to see the beginning of life for Hannibal Lecter. Anthony Hopkins, seventeen years old? We need a boy, nineteen years old. Ha! Now, I start to say ‘maybe this is an idea, to create a new franchise, with a new story, and tell the audience how Hannibal Lecter started. It was not so easy a problem. My first call to Tom Harris, he said ‘Dino, really, I don’t know…’ To make the story short, little by little, I convinced Tom Harris to create a new story.”

Now that’s how they did things back in the day.

As you’re probably already aware, it was reported over the weekend that Rob Zombie has started shooting on his “reimagining” of Halloween. This news was greeted with the most overtly ridiculous form of protest yet; an actual protest, with picketing and everything. I wonder if the protesters are upset by the fact that a remake is being produced for Halloween, or are mostly disturbed that it’s Zombie at the helm. I can’t imagine they would be happier if it were some first-time music video director throwing together a bland, by-the-numbers rehash rather than someone who has shown at least a few interesting stylistic flourishes. Which brings us to my reason for bringing the topic up. I’m also strongly against this remake of Halloween, but for the opposite reason. I think Rob Zombie is too good for Halloween.

I could do without House of 1,000 Corpses, but I imagine The Devil’s Rejects would be half the movie it turned out to be if it didn’t have Corpses as a lead-up and point of comparison. Whereas with House of 1,000 Corpses Zombie gave us a fairly straight, if incoherent, retelling of the psychotic family sub-genre, The Devil’s Rejects dragged the clan out from their comfort zone and into the bright light of day. There they were revealed as pathetic, doomed little deviants that couldn’t adapt enough to achieve freedom for even a couple of days. And where Zombie blew his load in homages for the first film, in the second he integrated them more successfully, with genuine cinematic skill mixed generously with the deep-fried cinema he loves. Other than Eli Roth’s Hostel, I can’t think of a sophomore effort that showed so much growth.

And now we have Halloween, a franchise which has potentially the worst rate of success in horror movie history. Is it possible that this is a case where there was only one good story to be told, with any subsequent efforts doomed to failure? As for Zombie in particular, with The Devil’s Rejects he was able to take the unbridled freedom of House of 1,000 Corpses and temper it with a great deal of subtlety. With Halloween it appears that he’s accepting outside limitations for the very first time, as he obviously has to follow the basic structure of the original Halloween, and this just when he seems to be mastering a decent level of control himself.

No one was more surprised than I was that Rob Zombie had the potential to become one of the new guard of horror, but The Devil’s Rejects certainly made me consider it. As he moved further away from his inspirations and toward new worlds, I was looking forward to seeing what he came up with next. Now I’m not so sure.

The suburbs can be stifling, Mr. Zombie. Tread with care.