Horror Report

Tag: horror movie

  • A HORROR MOVIE FOR A SNOWY THOR

    A HORROR MOVIE FOR A SNOWY THOR

    Another snowy night.. potentially a housebound day tomorrow for lots of folks in the eye of THOR.. So why not turn off the lights, close the blinds, and entice your mind with a movie about the surreal, unreal, and paranormal. DARK SKIES is one of those films. Try it on for size—an abduction movie with dark shadow aliens, the Greys, evolves quickly into what I think was one of the most legitimately scary and good movies I’ve seen in quite some time.

    There are some memorable scenes.. memorable characters. Specifically the idea that the other worldly suddenly presents itself into the lives of mundane people is freaky.

    Besides one annoying scene I thought was plagiarism—a family sitting down to a dinner prior to an alien invasion like in SIGNS—the movie was strong and had a good alien premise. If you like alien movies. Or scary ones..

    Add to the agenda a dark room and healthy snacks..I think it’s worth it.

    Find it on NETFLIX if you can’t find it anywhere else..

    After the movie, lighten the mood with the Ballad of the Greys.

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu7bmvkgWEg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque]
  • UK CENSORS HORROR MOVIE

    UK CENSORS HORROR MOVIE

    A horror film featuring neo-Nazis terrorizing Jewish families has been banned in the UK..

    The name of the film is HATE CRIME. The premise, as though you could not tell from the headline, is this: Anti-Semitic thugs breaking into the family’s home and mutilating and sexually abusing family members..

    The British Board of Film Classification ruled that a substantial part of the 70-minute film was “unacceptable” .. even more: They have decided that the movie cannot be released in theaters OR on DVD.. And more, the Board made a decision that even if controversial scenes were cut, the movie was not able to be approved by for release in Britain..

    MORE from the description:  The Jewish family featured in the film, directed by James Cullen Bressack,  just arrived in a neighborhood.. While recording their son’s birthday, the home is invaded by the drug enthused anti-Semitic criminals.

    The Facebook page for the film has over 2,000 likes but does not mention the recent British ban to fans.

    A number of fan reviews online showcase the common thread that the film is disturbing and violent..

    Perusing the reviews that currently exist on IMDB, a mixed bag of emotions are presented.  One review called the movie pointless, another said to ‘avoid at all costs.’  The movie is called ultra-violent and called a cultural commentary on hate crime.

  • THE TRUE HORROR OF ‘LAZARUS EFFECT’

    THE TRUE HORROR OF ‘LAZARUS EFFECT’

    The LAZARUS EFFECT showcases the newfound popularity of reanimation horror.. WIRED’s Jordan Cruccihola examines this premise in an article posted today, saying

    “Reanimation horror is not the most populated of sub-genres. We’ve surely had more cabins in the woods, unbeatable super killers, and haunted houses. But reanimation has a special place in our hearts thanks to its scientific roots. Sure, it’s all ridiculous science with little to no connection to reality, but there are still a lot more lab coats than in your standard-issue slasher. And if there’s one thing we wish there were more of in horror flicks, it’s lab coats..”  

    An the author is dead on right! The LAZARUS EFFECT, being released this weekend for public consumption, has an interesting premise: A group of medical students find a way to bring the dead back to life. It’s a horror classification, but easily travails into the science fiction category as you read more about the idea.. And really, we are living in this world.

    This horror encapsulates perfectly our fears about future shock, the advancement of medical technology, and how we are on the verge of some amazing but possibly scary things.. The movie is getting intensely bad reviews, not only from the paid informants in entertainment rags, but also the masses who have already been privileged to see and write about it.

    The common thread is that this is a rip-off of FLATLINERS. Maybe that’s true, but it’s also bringing to theaters the concept of the future and how it can be dangerous if in the wrong hands.. there’s a cultural allegory here if you pay attention. A commentary on society..

    LAZARUS is not expected to rise to the top of the heap in the movie theaters over the next few days, but it is predicted to do fine for its genre for a winter weekend..

  • Dreading the poster of the TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN

    Dreading the poster of the TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN

    tumblr_nkal2nByv71qfjo2go1_540This is a movie poster blast from the past.. it was called THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN, and a was loosely based on the ‘Phanton Killer’ or the ‘Texarkana Moonlight Murders‘ that took place ni 1946..

    The other evening, I got the chance to watch the 2014 remake of this 1976 classic.. The redo was interesting. It was like DICK TRACY meets SCREAM, a movie with cartoonish appeal that also featured a ‘we know this is a horror movie’ attitude like Wes Craven’s late 20th century horror series..

    However, any time I watch a remake, I typically go back and watch the original. Either for posterity or just because I want to check off the similarities and differences between each incarnation..

    The original SUNDOWN film wasn’t exceptional by any stretch of imagination.. But it created a new genre–it may be one of the least known movies that started the slasher flicks of the late 70s and all of the 1980s. The TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN was brutal at times and most likely difficult to view during some moments in theaters during the Carter years..

    But there was one thing that THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN got right in 1976: One of the most memorable posters I have ever seen for a movie, especially a horror flick..  There’s something freakish about that sunset image and the town, that lonely town, tucked safely but dangerously between the trees and mountains.. And that foreboding image of the Phantom with his freakish mask that only displays two eye holes..

    This poster has stuck in my mind for years.. Since I was younger and first stayed up late without my parents knowing to watch this on Rhonda Shear’s UP ALL NIGHT, I remembered that poster. . and that quaint image of Americana destroyed by a masked villain to stole innocence..

    I was born in 1980, years after this original film.. But as a child of the 1980s, a certain spirit of the 70s was bred into my in my early life..

    This image presented on the poster haunted me for two distinct reasons: 1) It reminded me of the scene from ET where Halloweeners begin to the roam the streets at sundown, and 2) the image looks amazingly like the town I grew up in the 80s, Centralia PA–a town with an underground mine fire that met its demise because of that crisis..

    This post is not a movie review .. I quite frankly disliked the new remake and the original was lackluster. But it was important in the history of horror movies. It gave us the slasher flick.
    And it gave me chills each time I thought about that hauntingly beautiful movie poster..

  • Poltergeist then and now

    A few months ago, I introduced the classic film POLTERGEIST to someone younger in my family.. She was born in the late 1990s and did not have a notion of pop culture of the 1980s or the reason the Stephen Spielberg film changed everything. I really played the movie up to her, as well. I mentioned the spooky scenes, the scary clown, the bizarre tiny psychic, and the tree that came to life during a thunderstorm. By the time she had made it through the movie she was unimpressed.. It wasn’t scary compared to the compelling gory snuff films of today. And among the horror of our modern world, you can find a few gems, don’t get me wrong. But I still find the original POLTERGEIST compelling, deeply frightening, and yet amazingly beautiful and a story about how love perseveres.

    Enter into the fray the newest incarnation, or should I say reincarnation, from Hollywood: Poltergeist is back. With iPhones and flatscreens.. no fuzzy TVs in this version.

    I saw the trailer a bit ago for the film. Every fiber in my being wanted to hate the remake. I wanted to loathe the trailer.. But I ended up being a little more enthusiastic about it than I imagined myself to be..

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCmAaNk_iIQ?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

    There’s a few things to contemplate here.. The 1980s’ version was amazing because it took on the ‘feeling’ of pop culture of the 1980s and made it the very essence of the film.. take for example the television set going to fuzz after the nightly NATIONAL ANTHEM played.. That scene, more than anything, constantly stuck with my as I grew up. Because I recalled the time when TV did that–when channels signed off for the day and networks would give people their Star Spangled Banner, complete with the video featuring lots of creepy subliminal messages. Beyond that, there’s the nostalgic feeling I still get when I watch the original movie.. There’s something deeply troubling, now as a parent, thinking about the loss the main characters were feeling during the film. And then the amazing miracle of love bringing them back together at the end. This movie is as much a drama as it is a horror. Spielberg created an immense classic..

    So while I figure nothing will ever diminish his work with this movie, the newest trailer put me in a much different place than what I assumed I’d be in after watching it..

    Let me first say, I dislike remakes for the most part. The Rob Zombie HALLOWEEN films were simply trash worthy of a garbage heap.. the newest NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET had no meaning in my life.. Sometimes there’s a score but for the most part it’s Hollywood rehashing old ideas and attempting to get some street cred with the use of modern gadgets and phrases.

    While I think the new POLTERGEIST may still do that, I sort of changed my tune when it comes to this movie.

    I think this generation needs that ‘pop culture’ fit .. I think it needs a film that one day, when they go back and watch, they too will become nostalgic for the 2000 teens. Maybe this movie will do it. It could, and it should.. If it sticks to the Speilberg concept of keeping a family together with love, ensuring the triumph of good over evil, and reinforcing the notion that you don’t busy yourself conjuring up demons under your bed, then it may have an impact.

    There are a few notable things in the trailer. First off, the use of a flat screen TV is an obvious thing.. no more big giant boxed versions with antennas on. The is the new world.. There will be more cellphones and technology will be showcased–just as it was in the original .. What seems missing is the enigmatic 4-foot-tall psychic Tangina Barrons.. Maybe we will have a new memorable character in the latest..

    There is debate within circles of fanboys and horror sites as to whether this movie will be a kids’ story or an R-rated horror.. back in January, there were rumors that this movie was going to be a 3D family friendly child abduction film *(if that is possible)*.. But the new trailer looks a bit more intense than a family friendly film.. The inclusion of a clown makes it even more worthwhile of horror..Even BLOODY DISGUSTING thinks the trailer looks ‘bonkers’ ..

    Time will tell as the who will be happy seeing this movie and who will not be.
    But as far as remakes go, POLTERGEIST may finally be one I deem worthy of viewing.

    In the mean time, I went back in time and found the original trailer for POLTERGEIST in 1982.
    I dare stay no matter what Hooper and company do in 2015, nothing will ever defeat the classic or the theme song, one of the scariest and yet most beautiful scores ever written:

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ytjaMfoF2M?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

  • THE ABCs OF GETTING FIRED, PART 2

    Days ago we wrote about Sheila Kearns, the teacher on trial for showing a horror movie to her students..

    This story has developed in full.. a decision was made by  a Franklin County Ohio jury.. they have convicted her of FOUR FELONIES and she will now face substantial prison time..

    All for showing 14-18 year olds (who probably always saw it!) the cult horror film THE ABCS OF DEATH..

    John Futty of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports it for the official record in a story filed for the paper.. Futty writes,

    But the jurors were certain that she committed a crime by showing it to four more classes that same day.

    The jury convicted Sheila Kearns yesterday of four counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and acquitted her of one count.

    Common Pleas Judge Charles Schneider scheduled sentencing for March 4. The maximum penalty for each felony count is one year in prison and a $2,500 fine, but probation is the presumed penalty for the low-level felony.

    A crime..
    Think about this one more time..
    A CRIME for showing a horror movie to students. Again, students who most likely already streamed the film a number of times on NETFLIX without parental guides stopping them or knowing of it..

    Futty writes more,

    Kearns spoke just three words outside the courtroom when asked for a reaction to the verdict.

    “God is good,” she said.

    Her attorney, Geoffrey Oglesby, said she will appeal.

    Kearns, 58, of Miller Avenue on the South Side, had told investigators that she didn’t watch the movie in advance or while showing it during five Spanish classes at the high school on April 11, 2013.

    But one student testified during Kearns’ trial that the teacher did watch portions of the movie. The student, who was 17 at the time, called the movie “disturbing” and said students “were going crazy” while watching it.

    “Going crazy.” Most of us reading this have been in high school or still are. It’s not difficult to get a pack of hormone-laden teenagers to ‘go crazy’… it happens with merely anything during a long and boring day of supposed learning and education.

    While I would agree that by the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th time she saw the scenes she was showing to the classes, she would have realized by that point just what kind of a movie it was..

    But as I wrote previously on this matter, I am alarmed that this is considered a crime and not just a disciplinary issue. First off.. the movie has been released, and has it has been watched countless times by all age groups on Netflix.. There are websites, Tumblrs, and Facebook pages dedicated to talking about it–many times children perhaps too young are doing it. I would be surprised if most of the children that day in school weren’t watching the movie for their second time or more..

    Futty wrote this as well,

    Tim League, one of the producers of The ABCs of Death, talked about the movie last night from his home in Austin, Texas. He said that when he first heard about the trial, he thought it was a “joke story” because he couldn’t believe the movie would be shown to a high-school class.

    “I agree with the prevailing sentiment that this is absolutely inappropriate for a substitute teacher to show anyone under the age of 17,” League said. “It’s not a movie for children.”

    A joke it is not.
    A teacher has lost her freedom.. will face jail time and substantially high fines.
    But she will appeal.

    The ABCs of getting fired.
    And the ABCs of making something ‘off limits’ even more pervasive.. the kids who didn’t get the chance to ‘go crazy’ that day by watching the film have undoubtedly seen it be now..

  • Ouija weekend

    Ouija weekend

    HORROR AT THE BOX..

    $19 MIL OR $29???

    DEVELOPING

    The latest information from insiders has the paranormal game flick scaring $8mil on Friday night screenings.. There have been some awful reviews of the movie and even worse CinemaScore grades.. But it may not stop people during this time of year from seeing the film..

    Another strong showing from Saturday night..

    At this point, according to experts, the movie is on track to finish around $19 mil..

    The HORROR REPORT predicts: $21 mi, downgraded from an earlier $23 mil prediction..

    Either way the film’s success may not be due to a good storyline, but instead an exceptionally good release schedule for a film about the paranormal..

  • Making the horror lists: Why I deplore this annual trend

    Making the horror lists: Why I deplore this annual trend

    It is that annoying time of year again

    I love Halloween.. don’t get me wrong. But I disdain when we get yearly “lists” of the best horror girls, the best horror movies, the best victims in horror movies, the best kills, and now the newest from Entertainment WEEKLY: THE BEST SLASHER FLICKS..

    First off, let’s get real.. anyone who promotes these lists does it at times when the iron is hot: Halloween is when you’d most likely click on a link that will purport to tell you what the ‘best’ slashers are.. And typically, at least in this case, you’re going to get any new information. What you will read is going to be regurgitated sameness. The movies that make the list are predictable..

    The only reason lists like these are promoted is for web hits and, from the site’s perspective, schmucks who will accidentally click on banner ads populated throughout the website..

    So what are EW’s slasher flicks featured?

    FRIDAY the 13th.. No big shock.. SCREAM.. nothing new. PSYCHO.. yawn.. TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE…sigh.. And of course HALLOWEEN, because it’s HALLOWEEN and EW knows that posting a few shots of Michael Myers near the end of October will get hits.

    So often when it comes to lists like this—not just about horror but, say, lists of Jennifer Anniston’s hair style on the anniversary date of FRIENDS first airing—we realize that nothing online is new.. pop culture trends escape the big sites.. Instead they hope that lists of this nature will fill the void of reporting..

    I especially hate the sites that make you continuously click arrows to get more of the list. I give up after one click..

    Not EW didn’t do that. Instead a sub par attempt was made at new content.

    It just seems to be that we get the same old thing over and over and over and over and over again….

  • I think I’d watch this

    I think I’d watch this

    Looks like it would be fun.

     

    Though I think we are getting over saturated with fake parodies of movie trailers..

    But the part I cannot seem to understand: TOY STORY is such a great flick for kids.. and adults have perverted the name of Woody with toys like this.

    For God sakes, leave Woody alone! Is nothing sacred!?

  • FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS OUT: HIGH HOPES FOR HORROR FLICK ‘ANNABELLE’ AS MOVIE OPENS

    FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS OUT: HIGH HOPES FOR HORROR FLICK ‘ANNABELLE’ AS MOVIE OPENS

    $40 MIL?

    OR $30..

    There are high hopes for horror.. the winds of fear are bringing in October tonight as the movie ANNABELLE finally gets its long awaited premiere.. Those I have spoken to tonight say theaters are crowded and people are screaming. Some are laughing.. others are decrying how ‘bad’ the movie was. All of those opinions are being Facebooked and Tweeted, Tumbled and Instagrammed.

    But messages are mixed.
    ANNABELLE’s late night debut last night only brought in $2.1 mil–lower than the CONJURING’s $3.31 mil.. It’s also lower than the second installment of the PURGE film.. Good news for ANNABELLE, those other movies were released in the summer.

    Time will tell.. By Sunday we will know if horror is alive and well at the box office or if this slump is permanent.

    If I had to go out on a limb right now, I’d predict $36 mil based off of all of the information I have currently.

    We shall see..

    Good luck Annabelle.

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