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"I always do an all-night horror marathon on Saturdays where we start at seven and go until five in the morning." --- Quentin Tarantino ::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Human Centipede II: Full Sequence
Dutch director Tom Six has achieved suitable notoriety with his promised sequel to The Human Centipede (2010); the British Board of Film Classification has banned The Human Centipede II (2011) outright. Unlike A Serbian Film (2010) which received an “18” certificate, but was cut, Six’s equally transgressive nightmare, but entirely phantasy-based movie has been refused a certificate on the grounds that it can be viewed as “obscene”.

Tom Six has been quick to make a statement in response to this controversial decision (the first ban by the BBFC in two years); “Films fans should be given the choice as to whether they wish to watch it … Thank you BBFC for putting spoilers of my movie on your website and thank you for banning my film in this exceptional way. Apparently I made an horrific horror film, but shouldn’t a good horror film be horrific? It is all fictional. Not real. It is all make-belief. It is art. If people can’t handle or like my movies they just don’t watch them. If people like my movies they have to be able to see it any time, anywhere also in the UK.”

Hear, hear, Mr. Six! I champion your opinion and attitude! Being amongst an apparent minority of people who actually enjoyed The Human Centipede (2010), I am looking forward most perversely and will be waiting with baited breath to see the anticipated sequel. I’m all for transgressive cinema that pushes boundaries, as long as the movie is intelligently made with strong production values, and decent performances. There are the odd exceptions in this sub-genre, of course.

Tom Six
Director Tom Six muses over the banning of his new movie
The first Human Centipede movie had the sub-title of First Sequence, and the tagline “100% medically accurate.” The sequel is sub-titled Full Sequence (and involving not three, but twelve victims!) and sports the tagline “100% Medically INaccurate.” Six has already announced that a third movie, The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence), will be released in 2013. 100% medically wrong, perhaps?

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) deals with a man who becomes "sexually-obsessed" with a DVD recording of the original film and wants to put the idea into practice. It was shot in London with an all-English cast. Whereas the first movie focused on the plight of the three victims and their attempts to escape the mad surgeon’s home, the sequel apparently looks at the sexual fantasies of the torturer and the humiliation and mutilation he inflicts.

According to the article I read today, The BBFC concluded that the thrust of the film was the "sexual arousal of the central character at both the idea and the spectacle of the total degradation, humiliation, mutilation, torture and murder of his naked victims" ... "There is little attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be brutalised, degraded and mutilated for the amusement and arousal of the central character, as well as for the pleasure of the audience."

Here’s the rather leading teaser (I very much doubt it’s Tom Six’s voice though):

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Stake Land
Here we go again! Into its 58th year and the Sydney Film Festival is stronger than ever. Alright, so the demographic widens each year, but that just means a wider range of movies being presented in the program, more chance your cine taste buds will be rewarded, and the SFF programme this year is very diverse and very exciting. Viva SFF!

Sydney Film Festival 2011
In fact, 161 films from 42 countries. The program claims, amongst other things, “765 deadly bullets, 200 litres of blood, 99 scary moments, 16 silent standoffs, 15 dastardly betrayals, 8 bloody revolutions, and countless tears.” I’m prepared, let there be blood!

As in previous years a series of mini-programs within the festival help punters decide on styles and content. They call them “pathways” and the one that excites me the most is called “Freak Me Out”. This year Richard Kuipers (who put together the delicious vampire retrospective last year) has been given the glorious job of curator, and he’s selected nine nightmare movies, “putting the cult back in culture” as the liner notes state. From Norway to Japan, Sweden to South Korea, with the UK, USA and Canada in between, all nine movies have tickled my dark fancy.

Stake Land
Sun 12 June 9.15pm & Sun 19 June 8pm (EV8)
What’s the program without a vampire movie?! A sharp as fangs screenplay with biting social commentary and it’s a gorehound’s delight, this is a new American addition designed to kick the Twilight kids into the middle of next week.

End of Animal South Korean movie poster
End of Animal
Sun 12 Jun 6.45pm & Thu 16 June 8.30pm (Event Cinemas 8, George Street)
From South Korea this disturbing odyssey into the darker recesses of human nature promises to be an unconventional, yet thoroughly riveting experience like only the Asians can do.

Hobo with a Shotgun
Wed 8 June 8:15pm & Mon 13 June 9pm (EV8)
The director of the outrageous award-winning short Treevenge, Jason Eisener, kicks serious grindhouse butt with this no-holds-barred vigilante flick starring Rutger Hauer as the titular anti-hero.
Hobo with a Shotgun Rutger Hauer


Corridor
Wed 15 June 8:15pm & Sat 18 June 7.30pm (EV8)
A psychothriller from Sweden and another auspicious debut (there’s a few first features this year), this one capitalises on paranoia and delusion (like all good nightmares).

Mutant Girls Squad
Mutant Girls Squad
Sat 11 June 8.15pm & Tue 14 June 8.45pm (EV8)
Extreme comic-book Asian cinema. If you’ve not seen this kind of movie, prepare yourself for hardcore hilarity; foxy femmes with deadly attachments, this is the coming-of-age movie for freakazoids.

Septien
Thu 9 June 8.15pm & Sat 11 June 6.30pm (EV8)
A strange farmhouse, biblical overtones, and a Southern Gothic atmosphere; is this Ingmar Bergman on acid perhaps? Promises to be a darkly humourous tale of twisted family ties is what.

Kill List
Sat 11 June 9.30pm (EV9) & Tue 14 June 6.30pm (EV8)
Brit flick that has been getting serious buzz from Cannes. One man’s problems escalate into an unrelenting and unpredictable nightmare of high calibre proportions. My buddy, Dean, the co-director of A Night Of Horror Film Festival, gave this one the big thumbs up!
Kill List

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
Fri 10 June 8.15pm & Sat 18 June 9.30pm (EV8)
Indie flick from Canada, this rib-tickler (and no doubt rib-tearer) takes the buddy comedy and turns it inside out. It’s the hillbillies from hell in a movie designed to entertain movie buffs and horrorphiles alike. I’m salivating already!

The Troll Hunter
Wed 8 June 6pm & Fri 17 June 8.30pm (EV8)
The Scandanavian mythology of trolls is given a fresh and scary infusion of humour and horror. According to Kuipers this is the best yet entry into the “found footage” sub-genre.
The Troll Hunter


And elsewhere in the festival we find several other nightmarish delights worth mentioning to my True Believin’ horrorphile readers:

13 Assassins
Sun 12 June 8.30pm (Dendy Opera Quays 2) & Sun 19 June 8.30pm (EV9)
Takashi Miike, maverick Japanese auteur, turns his hand to the elegance and formalism of 70s-esque samurai movies, but still with his trademark nihilism. I will post a full review early next week.

Take Shelter
Wed 15 June 6.30pm (State Theatre) & Thu 16 June 2.05pm (EV4)
From the brilliant director of Shotgun Stories comes a psychological thriller about one man’s descent into paranoia and obsession. Michael Shannon plays the family man convinced a deadly storm is approaching.

Armadillo
Wed 15 June 11.30am & Sun 19 June 5.05pm (DOQ2)
A war documentary, callous and brutal, a tour-de-force from Denmark following Danish soldiers in southern Afghanistan that echoes Come and See and The Hurt Locker.

Tyrannosaur
Sat 11 June 4.10pm (EV4) & Thu 16 June 6pm (DOQ2)
From actor Paddy Constantine comes this study of violence (Constantine brilliantly played men with anger issues in Shane Meadows’ A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man’s Shoes, so he knows a few things). It has been compared to the devastating debuts of Gary Oldman’s Nil by Mouth and Tim Roth’s The War Zone.

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
Mon 13 June 6.45pm & Sun 19 June 5.45pm (EV8)
Finally a decent documentary on Roger Corman, the King of American B-movies! This is one for the true genre DIY movie buffs. Yup, that’s me!

Of course there’s bound to be a few other gems I’ve yet to discover. I’ll start providing previews and reviews of festival movies from Wednesday June 8th.

For more information on the festival and the individual films, including shorts and industry talks, please visit sff.org.au
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Insidious poster art
Attention supernatural freaks, the lovely folk at Icon in association with Horrorphile have five double-pass in-season giveaways to see the new fright-fest movie Insidious (2011), which opens in Australian cinemas this Thursday.

THIS COMPETITION IS CLOSED.
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I Spit on Your Grave (2010) Sarah Butler
The lovely folk at Anchor Bay have provided Horrorphile with ten copies of one of the best remakes ever (not hard considering how lame the original is!); the notorious rape-revenge tale I Spit on Your Grave (1978) got a makeover, but maintains the nasty edge.

I Spit on Your Grave (2010) Blu-ray cover art
I have five Blu-rays and five DVDs to giveaway to ten lucky hardcore horror fans


[ Click here to read more ]
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Let Me In Chloe Grace Moretz
I’m in a generous mood today. Actually, it’s the lovely folk at Icon who are the generous ones, and I’m just the facilitator, the go-between, the middle man. But the vibes is shared. And what have we got to giveaway? A DVD of Ryan Reynolds in his one-man underground hit show, Buried (2010), and a DVD of Matt Reeves’ re-vamp Let Me In (2010), described fearlessly by Stephen King as “the best American horror film in the last twenty years”.

But that’s not all! Also in the giveaway pack is a black promo t-shirt for Buried featuring the movie poster’s coffin/spiral design. Dead cool


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A Night of Horror 2011 banner
It’s getting to close to one of my favourite times of the year; Sydney’s A Night of Horror International Film Festival! Now in its 5th year and boasting what looks to be the strongest program yet, A Night of Horror is the demon child creation of Dean Bertram and Lisa Mitchell, who, armed with the loyal and talented support of a skeleton crew of horrorphiles, fight arm, tooth and leg, to bring to the big screen as many of the cutting edge, independent, and most interesting horror features and shorts from Australia and abroad, as well as inviting as many of the filmmakers to open up and bleed about their art. It’s one hell of a bloody good time, and a must do for any self-respecting horror movie buff, or horror newbie for that matter.

I have seen numerous movies at A Night of Horror that have become nestled amongst my favourites of the past ten years or so, such as The Broken (2007), The Children (2008), Left Bank (2008), and The Revenant (2008


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ANIMATED SPACE HORROR DVD GIVEAWAY!

March 10th 2011 02:08
Dead Space: Aftermath DVD cover art
The kind folks at Anchor Bay Entertainment have thrown five DVDs of a new space horror feature, Dead Space: Aftermath (2011), my way to give away. Actually, it's a sequel to Dead Space: Downfall (2008), which in turn was based on a video game.

Dead Space: Aftermath follows the plight if four crew members aboard the O'Bannon (get it?) spaceship. The year is 2509 and interstellar evil is rife


[ Click here to read more ]
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Horror Horror banner
I've seized control of one of Orble's inactive blogs, Horror Horror. I couldn't bear to see such a cool url go to waste.

But it won't be a normal blog, anymore than Horrorphile - Pleasure of Nightmares is. But still a site where one can read and add a comment


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I Spit on Your Grave 1978 Camilla Keaton
A Night of Horror International Film Festival and Popcorn Taxi are joining forces to present a rare cinema screening of controversial cult rape-revenge flick I Spit On Your Grave (1978), which will be followed by a live Q&A with director Meir Zarchi himself.

For Sydney-based fans of the audience and critic polarising original “video nasty” this big screen event will be a rare dark treat indeed. Especially with the 2010 remake about to hit the domestic video market down under


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The Reef movie poster

That’s right! The lovely folk at Pinnacle Films in conjunction with Horrorphile are giving away ten in-season double passes to see the frightening new horror-thriller The Reef from the director who made the equally scary crocodile flick Black Water (2007).

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AMER TEASERS!

February 6th 2011 22:13
Amer movie poster
This French/Beligan co-production plays homage to the movies of Dario Argento and Mario Bava. Amer (2009), which translates as “Bitter”, is written and directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. It’s a classic giallo-fashioned murder mystery that is saturated in style, dripping with the provocative audio-visual techniques made famous by those Italian masters of the genre.

It’s won six European awards, including the 2009 New Visions Award at the renowned Sitges film festival. Leaning heavily into the “high art” category, but inescapably teetering on the edge of “deep trash”, Amer looks to be a lascivious nightmare that pulls out all the cinematic tricks of the trade, but probably offers sweet little in the Clever Script Department. Hell, who cares


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GHOST STORIES UK STAGE SHOW

February 1st 2011 04:55
Ghost Stories stage show
Damn, I hope this show comes to Sydney!!! Sounds and looks awesome! Please someone bring it over!!!

Direct from a sell-out season at the Lyric Hammersmith, comes Ghost Stories a truly terrifying theatrical experience. Written and directed by The League of Gentlemen's master of the macabre, Jeremy Dyson, and Andy Nyman, co-creator and director of Derren Brown’s television and stage shows and star of Dead Set (2008) and Severance
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Autopsy Jessica Lowndes
No, it's not footage of a real autopsy ... I'm not that sick in the head. Well, not quite.

The lovely folk at Icon's Insomnia distribution label have dumped some DVDs of Adam Gierasch's severed-tongue-in-cheek, Euro-styled, insane surgeon movie Autopsy (2008), starring a very menacing Robert Patrick and very sexy Jessica Lowndes, on my doorstep to giveaway as a sickly-sweet Halloween treat to Horrorphile readers


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The Loved Ones poster art
In conjunction with the good folk at Madman I have ten free double passes to see the awesome new Australian movie The Loved Ones, which opens Thursday, November 4th, all around Australia.

The Loved Ones is a wicked tongue-in-severed-cheek, old skool, balls-to-the-wall, high school horror flick which stars newcomer Xavier Samuel, John Brumpton (soon to be seen in another top notch Aussie thriller Red Hill), and a fantastic performance from Robin McLeavy, who usually graces the stage. The movie is the debut feature for director Sean Byrne


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Fantastic Planet film festival banner
My fabulous friends who run A Night of Horror film festival are dark cosmic horses who also run the sister festival Fantastic Planet, which specialises in science fiction and fantasy features and shorts from Australia and around the world. The program runs from Friday October 29th to Saturday November 6th at Dendy Cinemas Newtown, with additional screenings at Metro Screen and Mu-Meson Archives, and includes a Halloween weekend indulgence in all things horror (as a sly nod to the sister festival).

The Return of the Living Dead Linnea Quigley
Saturday October 30th sees a special “zombiethon” triple screening! This is guaranteed to get all the putrid undead-lovers salivating and champing at the bit. First up is Dan O’Bannon’s cult classic comedy The Return of the Living Dead (“Send more cops! Send more paramedics!”), 7pm, This is a 25th anniversary screening of a 35mm print. If you’ve never seen punkie scream queen Linnea Quigley as Trash, writhing nude in the rain as she’s devoured by zombies … you can’t call yourself a True Believer


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Saw 3D movie poster
Apparently the demented and gruesome game-playing of Jigsaw comes to an end with Saw 3D (2010), the seventh installment in the Saw series which began in 2004. Every Halloween since has seen the release of a new Saw movie and a fresh new torture devices.

To go out with a bang the producers have chosen the 3D format. Kevin Gruetert returns to the director’s chair, replacing David Hackl, who helmed Saw V (2008) and was production designer on Saw II (2005), III (2006) and IV (2007). Gruetert was the editor of the first five movies and directed Saw VI (2009). The screenwriters are Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who have controlled the narrative arc of the series since Saw IV (replacing story originators Leigh Whannell and James Wan who penned the first three). The big news for original Saw fans is the return of Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) from the first movie. It’s been a real witch’s brew


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DARIO ARGENTO'S DRACULA IN 3D!

October 1st 2010 04:59
Argento's Dracula
As my True Believers know I’m a huge Dario Argento fan, despite his fall from artistic grace. He hasn’t made a truly decent movie in more than twenty years! However the first half of his career is so impressive he could rest on the laurels of that period for the remainder of his career. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971), Deep Red (1975), Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980), Tenebrae (1982), Phenomena (1984), and Opera (1987) are all very good-to-brilliant movies. Regardless of whether you adhere to his incoherent narratives and/or appreciate his indulgent audio-visual stylistics or not, you can’t help but be impressed by his purist approach to nightmare cinema.

The third part to his "Three Mothers" witchcraft trilogy, Mother of Tears (2007) was a huge disappointment to Argento fans. We’d been waiting nearly thirty years for the final instalment, only for the auteur to hand over the screenwriting reigns to a couple of mediocre Hollywood sychophants and then deliver a visually bland movie laced with dodgy CGI. Even the boldly sexual presence of Moran Atias couldn’t lift the movie’s diabolical allure


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The Disappearance of Alice Creed movie poster
The cool folk at Icon have let me giveaway a few double passes to see the awesome new psychological thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2010) which opens in Australia next week (Thursday, September 9th).

Not only is this one of the best thrillers in recent years, with three stunning central performances and a brilliant screenplay, but it’s also one of my favourite movies of the year


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SUFF
The Sydney Underground Film Festival returns for its fourth year, and it’s boasting the most transgressive, and no doubt controversial, program yet. Almost any and every fetish and perversion is catered for. Almost. There is a plethora of short films and around ten features, plus various festival talks and events in and around the screenings.

The festival kicks off early Thursday night September 9th (with a special screening of Luis Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou) to Saturday late, September 11th, at The Factory theatre in Marrickville. Visit the official website for complete listings, ticketing and other information


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Saw VII 3D movie poster
According to Reuters:

The Saw horror movie franchise is getting a place in the Guinness World Records as the Most Successful Horror Movie Series


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