Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | My Orble | Login
 
"I RECOGNISE TERROR AS THE FINEST EMOTION AND SO I WILL TRY TO TERRORISE THE READER. BUT IF I CANNOT TERRIFY, I WILL TRY TO HORRIFY, AND IF I CANNOT HORRIFY, I'LL GO FOR THE GROSS-OUT. I'M NOT PROUD." --- STEPHEN KING ::::::::::::: Spoilers for plot points and resolutions can occur within my movie reviews with or without warning. Read at your own risk.

set-pieces - Horrorphile

HORRORPHILE IN THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD

March 5th 2010 09:20
Kane Gledhill, Midway Beach, Gisborne, New Zealand
My fellow True Believers, the horrorphiles, and those of you fresh to the Darkness, I’m slipping into the abyss for the rest of the month; visiting family and old friends across the ditch, and will not be posting during the time I’m away, which, unfortunately, results in you, my loyal subscribers, not receiving your regular fix. I trust you’ll survive, and when I return I will make it up to you with some filthy, wicked nightmare carnage! Heh heh!!

But hey, why not use the downtime to explore some of my blog you may not have yet seen ...

Try one of my quizzes perhaps; test your movie title knowledge.

Delve into the expressionistic art of horror from around the world in The Art Lair.

Admire the graphic art of the movie poster design in my Poster Galleries.

Or dip into the archive of movie reviews from my first two years of blogging.

And don't forget to vote in my zombie movie poll!
43
Vote
Comments (6)Comments (6) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE ZOMBIE MOVIE - Poll closes March 31st

February 28th 2010 23:39
Dawn of the Dead movie poster art
Now that your favourite vampire movies have been selected it’s time to really peel back the undead flesh. Who are your favourite gut-munchers? Which putrid flesh excites you the most? What cinema evisceration exhilarates you the most? How revved up do you get when you hear the call of “Zomieeeeeeeeee!” ...?

Below is a list of many of the most influential and admired zombie movies ever made, including some considered so bad, they’re good. It’s funny how zombie movies command that kind of dodgy respect. I’ve included some zombie movies that don’t even use the word “zombie” in the entire movie, and some which feature an infection that doesn't create the undead, but turns the victim into a zombie-like flesh-eater; the lines of ghoulish distinction are pallid at best. Of late, both creatures of the undead – zombies and vampires - have made a return in fine form to the big screen and in your living rooms.

So let’s get the ball rolling, the bones a-cracking! Cast three votes for your top favourite zombie movie, two votes for your second favourite, and one vote for your third favourite. And in-keeping with the pattern of the previous poll, let me know which zombie movie you consider the worst, and I don’t mean so bad it’s good, I mean so bad it damn well reeks.

The Beyond
Braindead
Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror
Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things
Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Day of the Dead
Dead and Buried
Dead Snow
Deadgirl
Dead Set
Dellamorte Dellamore
Diary of the Dead
Fido
Gates of Hell (AKA The City of the Living Dead)
I Walked with a Zombie
Land of the Dead
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Night of the Creeps
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Planet Terror
Pontypool
Quarantine
Re-animator
[REC]
[REC] 2
Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Resident Evil: Extinction
Return of the Evil Dead
The Return of the Living Dead
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Shaun of the Dead
Slither
Tokyo Zombie
Tombs of the Blind Dead
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Versus
White Zombie
Zombieland
Zombie Flesh-Eaters (AKA Zombi 2)
Zombie Holocaust (AKA Dr. Butcher M.D.)
Zombie Strippers
other [please name]
58
Vote
Comments (24)Comments (24) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


YOUR FAVOURITE VAMPIRE MOVIES

February 28th 2010 22:16
The results are in! My True Believin’ fellow horrorphiles have spoken! Your favourite vampire movies have been decided upon! And there are no big surprises either.

Two movies - eighty-five years apart – share the top spot.
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror
Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror (1922) and Let the Right One In (2007).
Let the Right One In Lina Leandersson

These two movies masterpieces received the same number of votes and were way out in front. A silent classic of the German Expressionist movement directed by F.W. Murnau and loosely adapted from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, and a Swedish modern twist on the eternal plight of the undead directed by Tomas Alfredson based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

The runner-up was Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), with From Dusk Till Dawn (1995) and Interview with the Vampire (1994) equaling third spot, and Near Dark (1987) and 30 Days of Night (2007) equaling a close fourth.

Although I’m not a fan of Interview with the Vampire, the adaptation loosely represents one of my favourite vampire novels, Ann Rice’s The Vampire Lestat (along with Dracula, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot). It’s a shame that Ann Rice’s original choices for the roles of Louis and Lestat never came to fruition; when Hollywood was pushing to make Interview with the Vampire back in the early 80s Rutger Hauer was top of the list to play Lestat, with Eric Roberts as Louis. They would’ve been perfectly cast.

It’s good to see that cinema vampirism’s lush romanticism and savage bloodlust is portrayed in equal measures by the above six movies. There’s iconography and irony, tragedy and comedy. And blood, lots of blood.

And the most loathed vampire movie, you ask? Another two drew equal: the cartoon mess called Van Helsing and that current sparkly series of anemic adolescent angst known as Twilight.
Nosferatu 1922 DVD cover art

Let the Right One In movie poster

81
Vote
Comments (11)Comments (11) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


A SEVERED-TONGUE-IN-CHEEK GUIDE TO SURVIVING (or not) A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

February 15th 2010 22:59
I got a severed-heads up on a couple of amusing piss-takes on zombie culture from the brilliant Canadian rag Rue Morgue. The first is a “public safety” 50s-styled news-reel (like the famous Duck and Cover from the Atomic Age) that gives a guide on dealing with zombie integration. The second is a "Dummies Guide"-styled flow-chart detailing how everything goes to hell when a zombie apocalypse erupts on society.

Have a mischievous chuckle … but remember to take note


[ Click here to read more ]
27
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (8)Comments (8) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


MERRY BLOODY XMAS!

December 23rd 2009 22:47
Treevenge poster art
It’s hotter than hell right now, and it’s not even 9.30am! I’ve got a fan blowing directly on me and I’m wearing next to nothing. The wicked will forever sweat it out.

Here’s my Christmas post: a short B-movie about sweet flora revenge against the wrath of non-conservationists and the greed of the wealthy middle classes. It’s a Yuletide vengeance is mine tale told from the point of view of the pine Christmas trees, infused with a coal black sense of humour, and sporting some inventive special effects


[ Click here to read more ]
35
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (3)Comments (3) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


THE DELICATE AND EXQUISITE ART OF TORTURE - revisited

December 23rd 2009 01:03
The medieval rack torture device
I did a post nearly three years ago about the art of torture and execution devices, but my blog colleague Natalina over at Extraordinary Intelligence has posted a more comprehensive, and most delectably heinous array of medieval torture contraptions and devices that will have even the most hardened sadists salivating and champing at the bit!

These wood and metal inventions are enough to fuel a thousand nightmares of cruelty and agony. Click here to view Natalina’s witty and informative post, and exquisite (read: appallingly inhumane) collection of medieval torture/execution devices


[ Click here to read more ]
35
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


Q&A with FAMILY DEMONS writer/director URSULA DABROWSKY

December 14th 2009 04:07
Family Demons Cassandra Kane
The low-budget horror feature is alive and well in independent Australian cinema, if Ursula Dabrowsky’s Family Demons is anything to go by. Made of the coppery smell of a bloodied rag Family Demons is the tale of a long-suffering teenage girl and her bitch of a mother. There’s no burying the hatchet here, it’s one long battle that cuts deep into the psyche of domestic violence, abuse, and the spectre of familial demons that haunt through generations.

Family Demons Cassandra Kane
Cassandra Kane as Billie
With a minimal cast and locations (basically one house, a hospital room, and a couple of backyards) Family Demons centres on the relationship (or lack of) between shy, retiring Billie (Cassandra Kane) and her drunken, abusive mother (Kerry Reid). The only other notable speaking parts belong to Billie’s boyfriend (Alex Rafalowicz) and the mother’s lover (Tommy Darwin


[ Click here to read more ]
44
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH, TWENTY-OH-NINE

November 12th 2009 23:50
Suspiria movie poster detail
What is the state of the modern horror movie? What is there to be thankful for? What is there to look forward to? Are we in a time of progression or recession? Will the Darkness always be there?

The genre of horror in the history of cinema began in Germany, during the Expressionist Movement, and arguably was heralded – and still championed - with the release of Robert Weine’s oneiric tale of a crazed doctor and his somnambulist killer, the feature The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919


[ Click here to read more ]
45
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (8)Comments (8) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


Three DIABOLICAL SHORTS for HALLOWEEN

October 29th 2009 22:57
Spooky halloween
“If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.” So goes the tagline to the endless series of increasingly mindless and gutless (both figuratively and literally) installments in the ongoing “puzzle” of serial killer John Kramer aka Jigsaw. Well, with Saw VI just released, I guess it must be Halloween then. Woo hoo!

I’ve already reviewed Saw VI, ‘nuff said. However I recently watched the original short, Saw, that director James Wan and writer and actor Leigh Whannell made in an effort to woo Hollywood financiers so that they could make a feature version. The rest is lamentable history. Okay, so the first Saw (2004) is alright, although I’ve never actually reviewed it, but the sequels are truly punishing (pun intended


[ Click here to read more ]
22
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


Horrorphile on STATESIDE SOJOURN

August 31st 2009 00:17
New York City
This is a quick Statement to my subscribers and casual readers.

I am on a holiday in America for three weeks from tomorrow, visiting San Francisco and New York City, and thus will not be posting during this sojourn. I trust you can hang out in the Darkness until I return, it’s not that long. It’s a little scary on your own, I know, but never fear for I’ll be back with a rip-roaring vengeance


[ Click here to read more ]
84
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (5)Comments (5) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


EXCLUSIVE Q&A with LET THE RIGHT ONE IN director TOMAS ALFREDSON

August 19th 2009 00:24
Let the Right One In alternate movie poster art
Swedish flick Let the Right One In (2009) is now considered by critics and horror fans (and even non-horror fans) the world over as one of the very best vampire movies ever made. Pretty much an instant cult classic. To coincide with its Australian DVD release I was lucky enough to get a short Q&A with director Tomas Alfredson.

WARNING! CONTAINS MOVIE AND NOVEL SPOILERS!

[ Click here to read more ]
126
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (16)Comments (16) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


Girls and Corpses

July 17th 2009 00:30
Gilrs and Corpses issue 4 cover
The same dodgy mate of mine that unearthed the disgusting snake-cam worm business in that North Carolina sewer just sent me a link to this relatively new publication, Girls & Corpses. Oh dear me! We both agreed: This is so wrong on so many levels. I found myself clicking on link after link after link on the online site like it was some kind of horrendous train wreck and I couldn’t get enough of surveying the carnage.

Girls and Corpses featuring Dawna of the Dead
But seriously, let’s get down to brass tacks; this kind of combo does nothing for me. Really. Truly. Deeply. I was never a fan of that English claptrap magazine Loaded, nor any of the others that followed in its sullied wake; Maxim, Ralph, FHM. Sure, I’ve been known to enjoy the scantily-clad, buxom, wannabe porn stars, er women, that spread-eagle themselves across their pages, but as for the combo of sex and gross-out humour, of boys toys and drinking games, it just bores me. I find most of it puerile and adolescent (I know, kinda hypocritical of me as I’m an adolescent-at-heart in other areas


[ Click here to read more ]
70
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (3)Comments (3) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
206
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (55)Comments (55) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
78
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (12)Comments (12) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
81
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
99
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (19)Comments (19) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
103
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (8)Comments (8) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
78
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (9)Comments (9) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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


[ Click here to read more ]
91
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (13)Comments (13) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


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!

[ Click here to read more ]
60
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (4)Comments (4) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: set-pieces
   


Next Page (21-40)



[ Horrorphile Home ] [ Create A New Post ]
Moderated by Bryn
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]