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“The actual world is so shitty that horror is the perfect genre to express the most honest and concrete things … More than ever, horror should embody the absolute escape from the lies of official society. The genre has a great opportunity to be really countercultural again after years of having been softened by the cynical postmodernism of our times.” --- Pascal Laugier

set-pieces - Horrorphile

GROTESQUE UNIDENTIFIED LIFE FORM FOUND IN SEWER!

July 2nd 2009 01:45
Okay, this has to be seen to be believed! Oh my God! I’m so grossed out, and yet, utterly fascinated. It looks very convincing, meaning I don’t think it’s a special effects makeup job. But then again, in this day and age, who knows?! I'd like to think it's fake ...

The video clip was brought to my attention by an old friend of mine who’s always had a penchant for digging up the weird and … um … weirder. Cheers mate! You’ve outdone yourself this time, and thanks to youtube for providing the platform to expose this kind of freakydeaky shit. "Shit" being the operative word, since this is a snake-cam in a North Carolina sewer, and what the hell is it?! These unknown organisms seem to be from another world entirely.

Ugh! It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it. I can handle my Rob Bottin special effects, but this stuff just makes me wanna take a damn shower! Just what are those North-Eastern Americans eating??!! Watch at your own nightmare peril.


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Q&A with A NIGHT OF HORROR film festival directors Dean Bertram and Lisa Mitchell

June 29th 2009 01:19
A Night Of Horror banner
This has been a wee while cooking, but finally I got my answers! Back in late March the 4th annual international film festival, A Night Of Horror, screened in Sydney. It was a mix of short films and features, mostly independent productions, many of which were enjoying their premiere screenings. Some directors came all the way from America to present their movies, and in the end an American monster movie took the award for best movie: Splinter (for complete list of award winners click here)

In its first year A Night Of Horror ran for just three nights, now it runs for ten glorious days. It’s a modestly-mounted showcase that is steadily building a reputable name for itself, as well as providing a forum for filmmakers to meet and discuss the genre and the industry. Thank God for the festival team; Dean Dertram, Lisa Mitchell, Grant Bertram, Shane K, Dalibor Backovic, Bryant Johnston, Jack Sargeant, and others, for their dedicated work.

There were some truly astonishing movies, especially within the multitude of shorts (AM1200, Snip, The Red Room were a few memorable examples). Unfortunately I only got to see a clutch of the features (The Broken, Left Bank, I Will Never Die Alone, and Splinter were the stand-outs), but I plan to catch up with others further down the track. I did however become acquainted with the festival’s two lovely founders and directors, and I was keen to pry some juicy tidbits from them to share with my readers.

Lisa Mitchell and Dean Bertram
Dr. Dean Bertram (yes, he has a PhD in Cultural History from Sydney University) is a freelance writer and filmmaker who recently completed production on his first feature, Sick Day. A deep love of the horror genre and a frustration that there was no such avenue to exhibit and wallow in such movies led to the founding of the film festival, A Night Of Horror.

Lisa Mitchell is a graduate of Sydney’s Actors College of Theatre & Television and is also a filmmaker having written, produced and starred in several short films, most recently co-producing and starring in Dean Bertram’s Sick Day. With Dean she shared his frustration and co-founded A Night Of Horror.

Has the ambitious job of putting on A Night of Horror - without any major corporate backing - got any easier? What are the most difficult aspects?
As with most endeavours, a lot of the work associated with the festival gets easier with experience. However, as the festival continues to expand there are always new challenges to deal with. But these types of challenges are usually exciting. The most difficult aspects are probably the mundane administrational duties attached to the fest: paperwork, invoicing, taxes, etc. Just because of the tedium. We particularly despise having to fill in classification reports for the OFLC each year.

The festival does get some corporate sponsorship of course, although, significantly, no government support. We believe - but would welcome someone to correct us if we are wrong - that A Night of Horror is the largest film festival in NSW, which relies entirely on private funding. This is something that we are proud of. To paraphrase Doug Turner, writer/co-director of I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer, which had its Australian premiere at ANOH 2009: “No tax-payer was harmed in the making of this film festival”.

Do you manage to screen all or most of the movies you pursue? What are your criteria for selection?
We screen a combination of features submitted to us directly by filmmakers, and features that we source. We strongly believe that talented independent filmmakers, who submit their films to the festival unsolicited, deserve the best possible chance of having their work screened. So unlike a lot of festivals, we actually reserve about two thirds of our feature slots for submitted films. It is worth mentioning that these films are often some of the audience’s favourites as well.

In regards to feature films that we pursue: we get most, but not all, of the titles that we want. There were only two films that we wanted for the 2009 fest that we were unable to screen. In one case, a sales agent wanted to charge us more for the Australian premiere of the film than we were prepared to pay (and it was quite frankly an unreasonable amount). So we had to let it go. The other film that we missed out on was almost locked in, but there was a last minute disagreement between that film's foreign sales agent and the soon to be Australian distributor over finances. The result was a gridlock - that had nothing to do with the festival and which we were powerless to solve - that meant we were unable to screen the film. Crazy really.

As far as the selection process goes, a film has to pass most of the following criteria: Is it a good story well told? Is the film original? Or at least, does it deal with genre conventions in an original way? Are the performances solid? Is it entertaining? Does it work as a horror film? Particularly, does it work as the type of horror film it is attempting to be? Is it: Scary? Disturbing? Funny? Thought-provoking? Would we be excited if we saw the film at a festival/cinema? Do we think it would appeal to the festival's audience?

The Lovecraftian shorts, the Ozploitation shorts, and the midnight movie screening have become staples of the festival, are you looking at introducing other regular showcases or spotlights?
Well, the filmmaking forums are probably also becoming expected of the festival now. They always tend to sell out, and are very rewarding for everyone involved as they provide a fabulous opportunity for interaction between the festival's filmmakers and local aspiring filmmakers and horror fans. So the festival will most likely keep hosting these. As far as specific showcases, we really do like to let the submissions themselves help guide the program. So say, for example, that the festival received several incredibly strong short films about ghosts and/or paranormal phenomena: This might beg for a special “supernatural” shorts block. Or maybe we are aware of two feature films that compliment each other: Perhaps a double feature would be in order. We really do try and remain flexible.

What directors make the hairs bristle on your back in excitement? If you could programme a retrospective of any director, who would that be?
We both still get excited whenever Romero, Carpenter, or Argento make a film.

Dean: A Fulci retrospective would be a lot of fun. Maybe one day ...

Lisa: Yeah, Fulci would be cool... but for me I think it would be a toss up between Bava and Argento!
Day of the Dead Joe Pilato
Name a favourite vampire movie, werewolf movie, zombie movie, and psycho movie.
Dean: The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Howling, Romero’s Dawn or Day (alternates depending on which of the two I've most recently seen), Carpenter's Halloween.

Lisa: Todd Browning's Dracula, An American Werewolf in London, Dawn or Day [laughs], Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

With the recent glut of “torture porn” has it become more difficult finding truly scary movies? [Not that I’m against gratuitous gore mind you!] What movie (taking into account the age you first saw it) frightened you the most and what recent movie genuinely unnerved you?
Of the hundreds of films we watched when programming the 2009 fest, a very small percentage were torture porn (well less than 10%). So there is still an awful lot of diversity in the genre, particularly at the indie level.

Dean: John Carpenter's Halloween was the first film that really scared me. I saw it when I was ten years old, while on vacation with my family in Fiji. The resort ran these video nights and there was no sense of a ratings system or that little kids shouldn't watch adult/horror content (actually I think it was mainly kids who went to those screenings as all of the adults were usually getting pissed at the bar). Man, I didn't sleep the night they screened Halloween!

Lisa: I first saw The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in my early teens. It freaked me out – truly it did! It actually took me a few attempts until I could watch the film all the way through. Now it's one of my all time favourites.

Dean: Ironically, given the above question, a film that I recently found unnerving was a “torture porn” piece: Martyrs. Some of the scenes, and imagery really bothered me. I think the concept of one person being entirely at the mercy of one or more people whose prime goal is to make their victim suffer is abjectly horrifying. And while the “torture porn” sub-genre has taken a lot of heat, when films of that type work, they really work.

Lisa: I actually had nightmares after watching William Friedkin's Bug. So that must have gotten under my skin.

What are the key elements/ingredients that make a great horror movie stand out from the rest?
As with all cinema, a great horror movie usually results from a good story well told, so most start with an exceptional screenplay, which is then realised through solid direction, performances, etc. An original concept, or a genre staple realised in a particularly original way, also helps. Of course, the horror genre also has its own specific demands: The importance of special effects for example. In addition, cinematography, editing, sound design, score etc should compliment each other in creating an unsettling, disturbing, or horrifying mood. So there are some cases where story takes a back seat to atmosphere, and the film is still spectacular. For example, some of the great Italian horror filmmakers - Bava, Argento, Fulci - excelled at this type of filmmaking. Their films remind us of nightmares, wherein narrative cohesion fractures beneath the oppressive weight of dread.

What have been some of the festival highlights of the past three years?
Anything involving an interaction between filmmakers and the festival audience is always a highpoint. Be it at parties, forums, Q&As, or just hanging around with audience members and filmmakers in a foyer or a bar after a screening. The horror community is unlike any other filmmaking community. No pretension.

As far as specifics: In 2009, Ian Hunter's visual effects lecture at International Film School Sydney was amazing (Ian was visual effects supervisor on a plethora of films including: The Dark Knight, The Chronicles Of Narnia, Spider-Man 3, and War of the Worlds). The horror feature fimmaking forum at Metro Screen with Mike Masters (Reel Zombies), Ursula Darbrowsky (Family Demons), Stacey Edmonds and Doug Turner (I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer) and chaired by Jason Di Rosso (ABC Radio National, Movietime) was another highpoint. Also, of course, having Antony I. Ginnane as one of the fest's judges was almost surreal – we had grown up on the fantastic Ozploitation classics that he produced in the 70s and 80s.

In 2008, the “How to Make a Short Horror Film” seminar at the Mu-Meson Archives was also great (with local, multiple award winning, short filmmakers: Dalibor Backovic, Daniel Giambruno, and Shane K.) It was particularly gratifying when filmmakers who had been inspired by that forum actually made short films and submitted to the following year's fest; nice to know that the festival also inspires people to get out there and shoot their own horror flicks.

Of course, opening night in 2007 was a buzz as well. Being the fest's first ever screening, both of us had no idea if anyone would even show. So to see the cinema's foyer fill up with a couple of hundred horror fans, and then, after this audience had been ushered inside the cinema, to stand up in front of them and introduce some of the best short horror films in the world was a memorable beginning.

If you could invite a legendary horror star (including the guise of a horror character) as a celebrity guest to the festival, who would that be?
If only we could resurrect Lugosi or Karloff ...

What’s your favourite Australian horror movie?
Dean: Howling 3: The Marsupials, isn't it everyone's? Seriously though, in the last two decades: Wolf Creek. Patrick was always a favourite back in the day.

Lisa: People still debate whether or not it is a horror film, but I've always found Picnic at Hanging Rock particularly haunting.

Can you tell me a little about where you find the movies that you screen, especially the shorts? Do you attend overseas film festivals or do you have contacts and/or agents who source stuff for you?
The festival is open for submissions for about 7 months each year (from early June to end of December) and we receive 100s of films from all around the world. In 2009, we screened 70 short films. Around 90% of these were submissions from filmmakers: in other words they were unsolicited entries that we hadn't seen before they arrived at the festival's office. The remaining 10% might be short films that already have a buzz on the international festival circuit, or something that a director or programmer from another festival recommends that we take a look at.

Does censorship present much of a problem when it comes to programming the festival?
It is a national embarrassment that this country has a censorship board. On a practical level, the major problem for ANOH is the incredible number of man hours that we have to waste each year in preparing the detailed classification reports for each and every film that we intend to screen. But in fairness, our actual dealings with the OFLC have always run smoothly. The staff are friendly and accommodating, and we have never had a film refused ... yet ...
The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow movie poster
You make an effort to screen as many short films during the festival as possible, often with two shorts before each feature, and there are four mini-programmes of short films. What are some of your favourites from the past three festivals?
That is a tough question! There are so many. And every film that we screen we're obviously committed to, or they wouldn't get programmed. But just some of the short highlights have been:

2007: Addiction is Murder (dir. Adam Brooks), The Ancient Rite of Corey McGillis (dir. Dalibor Backovic), By Appointment Only (dir. John Faust), Criticized (dir. Richard Gale), The New Life (dir. Daniel Giambruno), The Tell Tale Heart (dir. Raul Garcia – and narrated by Bela Lugosi!), From Beyond (dir. Michael Granberry).

2008: Kirksdale (dir. Ryan Spindell), The Call of Cthulhu (dir. Andrew Leman), The Eyes of Edward James (dir. Rodrigo Gudino), Peekers (dir: Mark Steensland), Eel Girl (dir. Paul Campion).

2009: AM1200 (dir. David Prior), A Wolves' Tale (dir. Christiano Donzelli), Excision (dir. Richard Bates), Snip (dir. Julien Zenier), Treevenge (dir. Jason Eisener), Allure (dir. Ian Hunter), The Facts in the Case of Mr. Hollow (dir. Rodrigo Gudino), and A Break in the Monotony (dir. Damien Slevin).

Dean can you tell us a little about your feature Sick Day and will it premiere at next year's festival or elsewhere at an earlier date?
Thanks for asking Bryn. I co-directed Sick Day with my brother Grant. Lisa co-produced and stars. The Hollywood-style logline for the film would be something like: When a talented young woman who works in the pharmaceutical industry is abused by her co-workers, her sweet persona crumbles and she enacts a sicking revenge.
Sick Day Lisa Mitchell
Lisa Mitchell in Dean Bertram's Sick Day
But as disturbing as some of the set pieces in the film might be, at heart, Sick Day is primarily about the failure of people to communicate. It deals with the ramifications of treating people carelessly, the nature of erotic obsession, and ultimately the abject destruction of three human beings. It’s a love story, really [laughs].

The film is still in post. It won’t premiere at A Night of Horror 2010, although it will possibly screen in a future year after it has played some other festivals. Folks who are interested can stay updated by becoming a fan of the film on Facebook or by befriending the film on MySpace. The official site for the film is here

And Bryn, we’d both like to thank you for all of your thoughtful questions. Keep up the great work at Horrorphile! [Yes, well, any horrorphiles who name Possession as one of their favourites are bloody good friends of mine!]

4th Annual A Night Of Horror International Film Festival screens in Sydney March 25th – April 3rd, 2010. For more information, archives and submission details visit the site.
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A CALL TO SEVERED ARMS! Hall of Infamy - please vote!

June 9th 2009 23:08
werewolf baying at the full moon
This post is a special bulletin for all my loyal blog subscribers, but also to all those readers who’ve yet to subscribe but no doubt will, and to those of you who found yourselves at my blog by accident and are curious but undecided.

Firstly a huge thank you to all my subscribers; the hundreds that receive an almost daily link in their email to let them know that I’ve posted a fresh movie review (reviews make up about 80% of my blog), rambled on in-depth about a particular sub-genre, added another selection of images to the poster gallery or art lair, created a new crazy quiz, perhaps spouted some vitriol, teased with a trailer for an upcoming movie, or maybe it’s just another damn list.

Whatever the post, it’s guaranteed to be full of colour (probably scarlet or crimson) and a biting - snarling - wit, sometimes a growling -howling - whine (usually about a sequel or remake), but always laced with passion and streaked with conviction.

It is the continuing growth of my list of subscribers that provides me with a sense of satisfaction; I must be filling a niche somewhere within the giant cyber realm of blogs. Keeping in mind also that the majority of blogs are movie-based. Traffic to my site is uneven, but my subscriber list edges bigger and bigger every week. Onward Nightmare Warrior charge I!

However the salient point of this post is this: I don’t fully understand why so few of my loyal readers have taken the time to vote on the 2nd Annual Hall of Infamy. I'm disappointed. I made it a spotlight post for extra exposure, but in the couple of weeks it’s been up very few people have voted. Why hast thou forsaken me?!
zombie
But seriously, this is a call to severed arms, so to speak. I'm alerting my subscribers, regular readers who haven't yet subscribed, and random readers to take the few minutes to make a few selections based on your own horror sensibilities. Make your cyber voice heard! Make that selection of your favourite horror movies! It’s fun! It’s cool! It’s wicked! It’s wild! It’s bloody imperative!

Check out the full Hall of Infamy concept and voting rules here.

I originally made the voting deadline for this coming Sunday, but I may extend it.

THE HORRORPHILE HALL OF INFAMY NEEDS YOU! PLEASE VOTE!!
vampire
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SAW V DVD GIVEAWAY - COMPETITION CLOSED

March 23rd 2009 23:56
Saw V Jigsaw puppet
The lovely folk at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are letting me give away three copies of Saw V on DVD. Featuring two separate commentaries and several in-depth featurettes on the design and execution of the various booby-traps and set-pieces, Saw V is a juicy addition to any horrorphile’s movie collection, even if you can’t make severed head nor tail of the twisted puzzle of Jigsaw’s legacy.

In twenty-five words or less describe the most horrific act of torture you can imagine. Points awarded if you can keep death at bay. The three best torture procedures deemed by my bad self will be sent a copy of Saw V to salivate over


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DEBATE BATTLE! CGI or NO CGI ... is that the question?

February 23rd 2009 00:12
Day of the Dead
I’m old school, but I do embrace the future. However when it comes to special effects in horror movies I’m a purist and a traditionalist; I’m more impressed by illusions when they are engineered and realized in front of the camera, not added in weeks, sometimes months, later by digital artists attempting to make something look convincingly real. For the most part there’s something intrinsically fake about CGI (computer generated imaging).

But I’d be narrow-minded, and hardly progressive, if I didn’t appreciate just how important, or at least just how spectacular, CGI can be in the right context. There are many, many movies where it would’ve been impossible to achieve the special effects without CGI. But I’m not here to discuss those movies


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FANGORIA: The Scarlet Years 1979 - 1988

January 21st 2009 00:04
Fangoria magazine issue #1
I recently had numerous boxes of books and magazines that had been in long term storage shipped over from New Zealand. I hadn’t seen any of these literary possessions in well over ten years, much of which I’d forgotten I owned … But not my Fangoria magazine collection.

I discovered Fangoria magazine very late in the piece, probably due to it not being easily or noticeably available in magazine stores in Wellington. The first copy I bought was the May 1986 issue I think, from a new specialist comic book store for about $NZ8. I was in horror heaven. However it wasn’t until I was at university the following year that I began purchasing regularly (ten issues published annually


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My FEROCIOUS appetite for the ARTifice of HORROR

January 16th 2009 01:27
vampire child
My wife asked me last night a pertinent question. It is something that is on her mind a fair bit, as I subject her to all manner of cinematic (and not-so-cinematic) horrors. She wanted to pick my twisted brain on just what it is that I love about horror. I replied with the utmost honesty: I love the corruption, degradation and destruction of the human body and mind.

Okay, so I’ve got my severed tongue probing in my cheek a little there. Let’s get down to brass rusted tacks, huh? Her question is something I’ve tackled in an early Horrorphile post which I spotlighted: Why DO I love the blood and thunder? But I thought it best to revisit the topic, as it is an intriguing one, and I thought I should bring it to fresh (kill) attention


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LIVE ACTION ROLE-PLAYING ZOMBIE FEST! GET INVOLVED!

October 16th 2008 23:25
Bizarre Zombie Fest chow down
Just when you think you’re really enjoying yourself, along comes Zombie Fest, and the fun shit really hits the fan!

Bizarre Zombie Fest make-up call
Make-up call 10:00am
According to Bizarre magazine Zombie Fest is a Live Action Role Play (or LARP) event. Attendees invent their own cannibalistic corpse character and play dead with each other for five blood-spattered, brain-splattered hours, spontaneously spinning plotlines around a general theme devised by organiser Ed Thurlow, know affectionately among locals as "King of the Zombies".
Bizarre Zombie Fest white collar zombie
Read to play!

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Debate Battle! RIDLEY SCOTT'S ALIEN: To remake or not to remake?

September 14th 2008 23:36
Alien movie poster
... That is the question. Actually I’m playing Devil’s advocate with this debate battle because as you probably know Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) is probably my favourite horror movie of all time. My all-time favourite top position actually alternates between Alien and John Carpenter’s seminal stalk’n’slasher Halloween (1978), ‘tis curious that my two faves were probably shooting almost at the same time.
Alien hypersleep
The brilliant opening sequence depicting the ship waking up and the crew emerging from hypersleep
But for now Alien is number one. As far as atmosphere, mood, tone, production design, cinematography, music, acting, and special effects; Alien is top of its game. However all of this doesn’t mean anything when Hollywood executives are sitting around discussing what new old movie can they plunder to re-envision, re-design, re-package and sell to the Y-Generation who are arguably the most ravenous, demanding and impatient bunch of kids that ever was. They want it here, they want it now, they want it fast, and they don’t care where it came from.
Alien hostile planet
The first look at H.R. Giger's marooned alien craft
If you really want to analyse Alien it's essentially a B-movie concept glammed to the condensation-dripping rafters. Critics will stipulate that it rips off It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958). From another angle it can be viewed as a kind of haunted house story set in space. The premise was penned by Dan O’Bannon, and was originally called Star Beast. After O’Bannon got the movie green-lit the story was tweaked by executive producer Ronald Shushett. O’Bannon, an actor-cum-designer who co-starred in John Carpenter’s legendary “existential” cosmic surf Dark Star (1974), delivered a tight, dynamic, no bullshit screenplay to Walter Hill, who was acting as one of the producers. Director Ridley Scott, fresh from the arthouse success of his period drama The Duellists, was signed on, and the movie began shooting on expensive and elaborate sets in Shepperton Studios, UK. The rest, as they say, is history


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A Bloody Night with a Chainsaw Maid as your Bloody Date!

August 20th 2008 23:48
Chainsaw Maid short movie poster
My buddy Ricardo gave me a (severed) heads up on an amazing claymation short film called Chainsaw Maid. Very little credits, appears to be the work of a Japanese dude who goes by the name of Takena, probably made sometime during the last couple of years.

I searched youtube and found two more of his little horror treats; Bloody Date and Bloody Night. All are around five and six minutes long with no dialogue, only the most rudimentary sound effects and Casiotone-styled musical notes, but the movies are brutally, hilariously effective nevertheless


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Horrorphile’s 2nd birthday presents MY NIGHTMARE MOVIE ARCHIVE

August 14th 2008 02:34
Yes, it’s time for festive blood to be spilled: my second Orble birthday! Horrorphile turns 2! The terror twos! ARGHHH!!! IT’S ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!

bats birthday cake
Last month I celebrated fifteen years of writing film criticism. My very first review was of Like Water for Chocolate published in a superb independent newspaper called City Voice (Wellington, New Zealand) back in July ’93. I was their resident film critic for four-and-a-half years before leaving for Sydney. Sadly the newspaper went under in 2001. I still look back fondly on those early years; the highlights included interviewing Guy Pearce and Roger Avary, and giving Independence Day such a scathing review that Hoyts Cinemas refused to run advertising with the newspaper. Thankfully my editor Simon Collins championed my cause


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GI Joe STOP-MOTION remake of THE THING

August 5th 2008 09:43
The Thing stop-motion remake
Big props to my cine-buddy John Doe for giving me a severed heads up on this choice little clip; it’s a 6-and-a-half minute music clip that doubles as a compressed re-imagining of John Carpenter’s The Thing (which in itself was a remake of the 1951 B-movie The Thing From Another World).

The brilliance of it is that it uses stop-motion animation and GI Joe action figures! The music is courtesy of a French outfit who go by the name of Zombie Zombie (touché!) and the track is called Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free. A very prog-rock-fusion title if ever I heard one


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Stop Press! REAL LIFE PSYCHO BUTCHER BUS HORROR!!!

August 1st 2008 04:32
You think the psycho’s on the big screen are extreme? Try this on for size …

Sourced from online news today


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What MOVIE MONSTER has FRIGHTENED you the most?

August 1st 2008 03:51
Poltergeist clown
There’s an easy way to answer this question. Think back to the age when you were most impressionable, and no doubt there will lay your answer. But if you dwell on the question a little more it’s curious to see which of the movie’s most celebrated and notorious monsters (and I use the word “monster” in its broadest sense) have truly scared you.

Poltergeist (1982) has the dubious honour of being the first movie that really scared me. It also features a “monster” which gave me nightmares; the clown doll with the big smile which scurries under young Robbie’s bed during a particularly nasty storm, and then comes up behind him and pulls him down under the bed, its facial expression twisted into a terrifying, maniacal grin. I was about twelve-years-old, and that nightmarish scene is etched like a scar in my mind


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BEHOLD, THE ZOMBIE TATTOO MAN!

July 16th 2008 23:42
Ladies and gentlemen, for your ghoulish viewing pleasure …
Bizarre mag zombie boy
If you think you’re a little too obsessive, let me put things in perspective. Meet Rick aka Zombie Boy. He’s slowly, and no doubt painfully, turning himself into a walking work of undead art. He lives in Canada and he’s spent thousands and thousands of dollars and 24-hours (in total) painstakingly etching his body with tattoos to look like … a rotting corpse.

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STAN WINSTON (1946-2008) - R.I.P.

June 18th 2008 04:26
Stan Winston 1946-2008
"People who are afraid to go to horror movies are generally afraid their whole lives. People say to me, 'Do you have nightmares?' I never have nightmares! And I go to movies and see the most bizarre things in the world, and go... Wow that is really sick, how fun is that! And I don't have to carry it around. I think that's very healthy."
Stan Winston and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Stan with Arnie on the set of The Terminator
Legendary Hollywood special effects whiz Stan Winston died last Sunday at the age of 62 (from multiple myeloma). I’m not sure how widely known his illness was, but apparently he’d been suffering for seven years. It certainly came as a shock to me. He died peacefully at home surrounded by family.

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LAST CHANCE TO VOTE! Horrorphile's Hall of Infamy!

June 11th 2008 13:29
Halloween
It’s your last chance to vote for what you think are the best horror movies from my select list of 69 horrific contenders. On Friday the 13th of June I tally up the votes and compile the 1st Annual Pleasure of Nightmares Hall of Infamy!

The majority of movies on my list of contenders are from the last 30 or so years, since the modern horror/nightmare movie is what primarily piques my interest


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PLEASE VOTE for Pleasure of Nightmares - 1st Annual HALL OF INFAMY!

May 28th 2008 04:48
Alien
The more votes from you my True Believin’ fellow readers; the gorehounds, terrorfreaks and horrorphiles of the World Wide Web, the more interesting my 1st Annual Hall of Infamy shall be!

Which horror/nightmare movies amongst my selection of 69 titles are your favourites? There are a few faves currently leading the field, but it could all change with your swing of the voting pendulum, a tighter turn of the screw, one more nail in the coffin


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DESCRIBE the WORST NIGHTMARE you've ever had

May 12th 2008 03:04
Apocalypse
Watching the news footage of the destruction and havoc Mother Nature wreaked upon Burma I was reminded of a terrible bad dream I had a year or so ago. It wasn’t quite a nightmare, in that I wasn’t jolted awake by the sheer terror of it, but it was so vivid and realistic that it haunted me for days, even weeks, after.

In the dream I was sightseeing with members of my family and some old friends. The city was a huge sprawling metropolis, like some kind of exotic Babylonian concrete jungle. It was both futuristic and ancient, with massive skyscrapers, bustling plazas and temple-like structures all conjoined in a strange urban architectural brew. There were thousands of people too. The city was over-crowded. Perhaps we were somewhere in the future …? It certainly felt like the surrounds of a progressive society


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1st Annual Hall of Infamy - 2008: THE CONTENDERS

May 7th 2008 00:52
Pleasure of Nightmares - 1st Annual Hall of Infamy - 2008

69 contenders … only 13 places. There will be blood!

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