FRIDAY FEARCAST 11/4/11

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4
Well, it was only a matter of time before PA4 was green lit after the huge success of PA3. Still waiting on a storyline ( I personally think another prequel is the correct route to go ) we were awarded with some other details. The film will be released ON Halloween next year and according to the ( official ) facebook page for the film, a reunion will be held. Michael R. Perry and Tom Pabst from PA2 along with Christopher Landon will handling the writing duties and Tod "Kip" Williams from PA2 will be directing. Oren Peli and Jason Blum are also set to once again produce the film. If all of this is correct it looks like lightening will strike again for the blockbuster horror series.



THE HAUNTED
It has been learned that the great Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) has been cast in the upcoming Victor Salva (Jeepers Creepers) film, Haunted. Tobin will play what we are just being told is a "dark Figure". The combination of him and Salva is enough to get the most seasoned horror vet excited. I can't wait to follow the progress of this gem. The plot is as follows..

"The film tells the chilling story of Nick Di Santo , who is tormented by his ability to touch someone and see exactly how they will die. On his 23rd birthday Nick is summoned by his mother (Leslie-Anne Down) to the asylum where she has been institutionalized since his childhood. Hoping that her request to see him is a sign of improvement, Nick is stunned by her revelation that the father he thought was dead is really alive. He is alive and may know the origin of Nick's terrible gift. Nick sets out to find his father with his best friend Ryan (Anthony Rey Perez) and girlfriend Eve (Alex McKenna). The trio are soon frightened and alarmed as every road they take on the journey leads them back to the same abandoned mansion - a house that only existed in Nick's childhood imagination or so he thought. A house in a town that no map connects. Finally succumbing to the will of the house, Nick becomes embroiled in a battle with a dark figure (Tobin Bell). What started as a simple road trip soon turns into a terror-filled journey, full of horrifying twists and brutal surprise."

TRUE BLOOD
News on the upcoming season 5 of the highly acclaimed television series "True Blood" are surfacing. It looks like Eric Northman will have a vampire sister. Lucy Griffiths will play Nora, Eric's century-old vampire sister. Nora is described as intelligent, intimidating, cool under pressure and is a very good liar. She will be working as a double agent within the Vampire Authority.



DARK SHADOWS
As if you needed anymore reason to be excited for the upcoming Tim Burton remake of Dark Shadows, we have one for ya! The rumor that the legendary horror rock icon Alice Cooper will be making a cameo in the film is..... TRUE! The man behind the mask will be playing himself in the film as Johnny Depp's character, Barnabas Collins hires the rock star to play at a private ball in sea side home in Main. Look for the film to drop in theatres in May 2012.

BAG OF BONES
3 brand new promo posters have arrived for the fast approaching two part mini-series movie, Bag Of Bones. The Mick Garris directed film is the screen adaptation of the Stephen King novel. Look for the film on A & E on Sunday December 11th and Monday December 12th.

TERROR TRIVIA TUESDAY

Another Halloween has come and gone. I hope everybody out there had a great holiday and let the countdown begin for next year's!
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S QUESTION- 2,000 YEARS


" What was the name of the report that NBC did on the Pennhurst state school in the year 1968?"

TOP 5 SURPRISE ENDINGS!

Happy Halloween!! I hope everyone is having a great holiday and are scaring as many people as possible! In this edition of Top 5, I'm going to take a look at films that left us amazed at by the ending. The twist at the end, the surprise that left us with our mouths open and eyes bulged. The endings, that, as soon as the credits started to roll we wanted to watch it all over again. Here are my top 5 surprise endings in horror film history!

5. SLEEPAWAY CAMP
4. THE 6TH SENSE
3. HALLOWEEN
2. SAW
1. THE OTHERS

FRIDAY FEARCAST 10/28/11

With just a couple more days till' our favorite holiday, I hope everyone is having a blast! I'm not doing much this year to celebrate, besides scaring little children senseless when they come trick or treating dressed Jason Voorhees. Happy Hauntings!

THE HUNGER GAMES
First up this week is some news on the highly anticipated film adaptation of "The Hunger Games". Not exactly horror in it's purest form here but enough blood to get on board with, plus Stephen King is fan of the novel, so that is more than good enough for me. I did read the novel a while ago and was pleasantly surprised by it's content and brutality of it's nature. The storyline is one that actually pretty fresh to the post-apocalyptic sub-genre. The setting is Panem, what use to be North America. every year the Capital chooses one boy and one girl each of the twelve districts to compete in "The Hunger Games", a competition that pits all the chosen people in a death match with the last one standing the winner. This week we treated to brand spanking new posters for the film, character posters that is. If you're a die hard fan of the book series then these posters will more than likely be a welcome addition for you, if though, you are not a fan of the series and just an average movie goes then you will most likely find these very bland and not at all make you interested in this film. With such a good story and plenty of action and themes they could use for advanced release posters these seem to fall short of the mark.... way short. Advanced release posters are you supposed to peak interest in the upcoming film, to get someone excited for the movie. These do neither. Everything is bland about them, you can't even get a good look at the character because of the back lighting they choice. Am I being too harsh? Decided for yourself below. I haven't included them all, but just imagine seven more with the exact same lighting just different figure.




11-11-11
The official trailer has found it's way to the surface for the upcoming Darren Lynn Bousman religious horror film "11-11-11" and count me excited. I'm a pretty big fan of religious horror whether that it be in the vein of demonic possession ( The exorcist, The exorcism of Emily Rose) or a more biblical sense ( Stigmata ). I just find something truly creepy and disturbing in all of it.The storyline for the film is as follows.. An American author travels to Spain after the horrid death of his wife and child. While there, he is haunted by very strange happenings all involving the same set of numbers, 11-11-11. He soon becomes obsessed with it's meaning and finds that it is a warning to not only him but to all of religion. Think of it as what "the Number 23" could have been had it been a religious horror film. You can peep the trailer below and be sure to catch the film when it opens everywhere on, 11-11-11.



PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
Just when you thought lightning COULD NOT possibly strike the same spot three times in a row, BAM it does! The little horror franchise that could can now truly take it's spot on the podium next to the "Halloween's and Friday the 13th's of the world. Paranormal Activity 3 set the all time record in the horror genre for it's opening weekend mark of 54 million! Take a second to really comprehend that... The biggest horror opening of all time. Tops of the genre. Best in show. 1st place. Of a ll the great and highly anticipated horror films to ever come out, of all the big budget remakes and sequels to come out, a film cost just more than 5 million to make brings home the record. Hate it or love it, you have to respect the franchise for it has been able to do with little more than an idea and people that wanted to make a scary movie. Congrats!

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 3-D
Lastly I'll leave you with the advanced poster of next years upcoming return the big screen for Leatherface, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3-D. This one already has me drooling over the poster!

TOP 5 SCREAM QUEENS!!

4 more days till' Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, 4 more days till' Halloween Silver Shamrock!
Welcome horror friends! I've been thinking the past couple days about "scream queens". I thought it would be fun to cook up a list of my top 5 scream queens of all time. Some names may surprise while I'm sure others won't, but the ranking of them may. I've also been thinking of what it takes to be considered a good scream queen. Obviously the most important one is to be a (mostly) all genre actress but what about other things such as, beauty? Acting ability? Quality of films? i think all those are ingredients to look for. I'm interested to hear who you guys would have in your top 5, so as always just leave me a comment with your list.

5. DEE WALLACE
4. LINDA BLAIR
3. JAMIE LEE CURTIS
2. DANIELLE HARRIS
1. JANET LEIGH

TERROR TRIVIA TUESDAY

Hello and happy Halloween week! To honer our favorite holiday this weeks question is based on the origion of it. Good luck to all!
ANSWER TO LAST WEEKS QUESTION- 1998

" Roughly speaking, how many years ago did the festival of Samhain begin"

TERROR TRIVIA TUESDAY

Hi everyone! Happy to be back after a few days of internet problems with a new round of trivia. Good luck to everyone!
Answer to the last question- SUPERNATURAL

" In what year did AMC start doing MONSTERFEST, a week long horror film marathon in late October? Monsterfest gave way to what we now know as FEARFEST in 2008"

Internet problems

Sorry guys I've been having Internet problems the past couple of days. Be expecting some updates and reviews in the following days though!

Terror Trivia Tuesday!

Welcome to the newest edition of terror trivia! Good luck to all!

" what thrilling television series was going to center around a reporter investigating urban myths before the show went in another direction? "

FRIDAY FEARCAST (9/24-9/30)

HATCHET 3
One of the best slasher series to come out in a long time is Adam Green's "Hatchet" series. Fans have been on the edge of their seat waiting to find out who will replace Mr. Green on this go around. Well, wait no longer! BJ McDonnell will take the helm making his directorial debut with Hatchet 3. BJ worked as a cameraman on both previous films as well as RZ's Halloween and the TV series Heroes. Adam Green has also said that he will be working closely with BJ McDonnell on all aspects of the film. This is fantastic news for the series and horror in general I believe. I love the fact that they are keeping this "in house" and that Adam Green is still going to be involved with this project. I want to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment about how you think BJ will do in his directorial debut.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
I for one can't wait for the next installment of this great franchise. I believe it's one those rare occasions that the second film actually was better than the first. Now with that being said I have been a bit skeptical of the new one. Not sure about some of the news I've read about where they are taking the story but this first clip  is a very good sign. Peep the clip below and make sure to catch the film when it hits theatres on October 21st.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1rGTYNjFOY

THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Yep, that's right horror fiends, once again talks of The Twilight Zone movie are surfacing. It looks like the guys over at Warner bros. are in talks to bring a new film adaptation of the beloved series to the silver screen.  Right now it looks like the great Christopher Nolan is on the top of the short list for directors. Other names on that list are Michael Bay and Alfonso Cuaron. David Yates has also been mentioned but doesn't seem to be a possibility at this point. I was not a fan of the 1983 film and I wasn't happy to hear about this either... that was until Christopher Nolan's name popped up! The guy is genius even if you don't count "The Dark Knight". As long as his name is still attached to this project then I will have hope for this film. The WB guys also said that unlike the 1983 version this film will follow just one story instead of bouncing all over the place. I'll keep you updated on the ongoing status of the film.

CASSADAGA
I always like to leave you, my readers with a great new poster or a new still from the week to end each edition of Fearcast. This week I'm going to leave you with a great still from Anthony DiBlasi's new film "Cassadaga". The film will be premiering on October 22nd as part of the Screamfest LA Film Festival. The film looks great and I can't wait to be able to see it! Enjoy the image!
Stay Sick!

TERROR TRIVIA TUESDAY!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you are all ready for another tough trivia question! Good luck to everyone!

" Who is the tallest actor to portray Michael Myers in any of the Halloween Films? "

FRIDAY FEARCAST ( 9/16/11-9/23/11)

Welcome to our newest segment! Every Friday I will be doing Friday Fearcast, a look back at a couple of the big stories and happenings in the world of horror for that week. So sit back and enjoy reading!

The first item I want to talk about is Halloween 3D. If you follow horror sites or read magazines at all you will know that this film has more rumors flying around it than NBA players at the Kardashian house. Is it going to be a found footage film? Is it going to be PG-13? Is it getting new directors? Is it going to be a remake? Is it going to follow RZ's story? I could go on and on and on but for the sake of not boring you I'll stop there. While we don't know the answer to some of those questions still, we did learn one this week. According to the great Malek Akkad, Halloween 3D will NOT be a found footage film. Malek also said when asked if Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier were still involved with this film, "If we did a film with them, I'd love it". So take that for what it is. I personally believe that they will still be involved with the film but I'm just a guy from Nebraska. Back to what we do learn, no found footage. Are you happy about this? I am very happy that they will not be doing the current trendy horror thing and doing this as a found footage. That being said however, I do think, if done correctly that a found footage Halloween film could work somewhere down the line. To see Michael Myers lurking in the shadows of the video camera could deliver some nice moments and some good chills. It would take him back John Carpenter's original. The shape.  Again though, glad it's not being done now. If you would like to listen to the interview with Malek Akkad on the "Rabbit in red" radio show just click on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ek0q1jPOA

The found footage subject is a great segway to my next topic. Blair Witch Project 3! Yes people it looks like this may actually be happening now. Right now the ball seems to be in the hands of Lionsgate. Eduardo Sanchez is ready to move forward with it. He also says that it isn't expected to be a found footage film. this is big news and also could work well for Lionsgate if they decide to give it the green light, with the success of Paranormal Activity and REC. It seems to be a great time for the next installment of the horror film that really defined a generation and the shaky camera,cinema verite style. Love it or hate it, the film did a lot of very positive things for our beloved genre. The two films I spoke of above would not have happened had it not been for Blair Witch paving the way. I personally have the Blair Witch Project to thank for allowing me to scare one of my friends over and over again because of his absolute terror of the film. Ahh, the good days! If you would like to read the interview done by our good friends over at Bloody Disgusting click on the link!
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/26355

Let us take a break from the big screen and downsize to the small screen for a moment. Some new horror based television shows have or are about to premiere along with some returning favorites. The CW TV network has jumped on the success of the largely popular "The Vampire Diaries" and added "The Secret Circle". The new series is once again based upon the L.J Smith young adult novels, just as TVD is. I'm not going to turn this into a review of either shows (those may come later) but after two pretty solid episodes, I'm quickly turning into a fan of the new show. It does tend to get rather tired and has quite a few teen moments in it, more so than TVD, but that being said I believe it's payoff will be worth sticking around for. It has solid acting from Thomas Dekker (A  Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, Chromeskull, All About Evil) and Britt Robertson who garnered the attention of quite a few (including myself) with her role as Lux Cassidy on the now cancelled CW series "Life Unexpected". As for "The Vampire Diaries" the first two episodes have been nothing less than a whole bagful of awesomeness. It seems to be headed down a darker place than the two previous seasons and we are treated to some very nice and bloody scenes. Premiering just a little before I wrote this is "Supernatural" returning for it's long running 7th season. I'm about as big a fan of that series as you may ever find and this premiere started the season off right. It actually goes down as one of the better season premieres of the series for myself. Premiering on October 5th on FX is the HIGHLY new anticipated series "An American Horror Story". This series is gaining a lot of attention due to a brilliant advertising campaign and I'm as excited as any to see what horrors lie in that house. Last but least we have the second season of the highly acclaimed series from AMC, "The Walking Dead". If the second season is as anywhere good as the first, we will all be in for a treat. So set your DVR's and make sure you support genre TV by checking these series out.

The last thing I want to talk about is the brand spanking new one-sheet for Tom Six's "The Human Centipede part 2 (Full Sequence). I was big fan of the first film and this one seems to be even more sick and depraved than the first entry. This means one thing.... COUNT ME IN! I'll leave you with a look at the new one-sheet poster that has been released for it. That will bring this edition of Friday Fearcast to a close. Thank you so much for reading and be sure to comment and follow!
Stay Sick!

Terror Trivia Tuesday! (On Thursday)

Welcome to another rendition of your favorite horror trivia game! This week my lovely wife and I celebrated our two year marriage anniversary, so that is why I'm posting this today instead of on Tuesday. To celebrate we went camping, which in turn got me thinking of all the good camping themed horror films we love. To honor these movies, this weeks question will have a "camping" theme! Good luck to everyone!


What 1983 film was tittled "Nightmare Vacation" in the United Kingdom?

Review: Stake Land (2010)

Hello my fellow horror fiends! How long has it been? Too long, that's for sure!! I'm very sorry to have pulled a "Sam" and vanished from you all for so long. Nobody likes excuses but I will say that I've been quite busy with my career and other priorities in my life. But I'm back and this time hopefully it's for good! meaning I'll try not to abandon you, my readers, again. By the way, kudos to you if you got the "supernatural" reference above :) Since this is basically like starting new ( again, sorry!) I'll introduce myself and give you all a rundown of how I'll use this blog. My name is Josh Malcolm and I'm a Horror/Gothic photographer. I'm possibly the biggest horror nerd you may never have the pleasure to meet and if you do meet me consider yourself unlucky cause like the elusive Michael Myers I'm very hard to track down and if you do get a hold of me it's kind of pointless cause I really don't talk. Anyway, I'll be using this as my little horror corner of the world. From film, book and television reviews to my weekly trivia contest and everything in between. I will try to keep my reviews short and sweet and to the knives sharp point. And in case you forgot I will give all my reviews a severed foot rating. One being the worst and five being the best. Soooo, I think that's enough "rundown" let's get to the point with my review of "Stake Land".

In a sub-genre that is dominated by zombies, Stake Land not only travels somewhat uncharted territories by being a vampire film but it greatly succeeds as well. We have seen the "basic" premise a thousand times, a virus breaks out and city by city, state by state and country by country the infected take over leaving just strands of civilization left in it's wake until eventually the zombies take over everything and no one is left, right? Well, this time it's vampires, and these aren't your little sister's sparkling vamps either, these bad boys mean business. The story lies with "Mister" the hard edged and rugged vamp killer that has seen too much to be affected by anything and "Martin" the young boy that has to handle the transition from normal boy to vamp killing outlaw.Traveling by day and locking themselves in their car at night by basically covering the car in an iron vest, we follow them as they head north to what used to be Canada and is now being called "New Eden", that's where the salvation is supposed to lie. They pick up a couple folks in the meantime, most noteworthy is the incredible and talented horror queen Danielle Harris as "Belle" and Kelly McGillis as "Sister". Belle succeeds in bringing a needed warmth to the group and by being pregnant delivers some pretty touching scenes when they have little hope left. The real center of the storyline is brought to attention when the guys pick up Sister. it is then that we are introduced to the main antagonist of the film. Now I know you must be thinking, hey, dummy with the blog, it's a VAMPIRE movie! But to me anyway the vampires are the lesser of two evils here. To me the "Brotherhood" is the main evil. A group of "Christians" that believe the vampires are all part of God's work and will stop at nothing to punish the non-believers. One good case for this is when our group makes it to a "city" and all are having fun, the brotherhood drops vampires from a helicopter above to cause death and destruction. A great scene! The brotherhood is led by a very convincing Michael Cerveris as "Jebadia" and we are treated to some great moments with him and Mister. The acting is all top notch and the special effects are quite realistic. We are treated to some very nice gore scenes for all you gore heads out there but it isn't over the top either, it's believable. The film also succeeded in atmosphere and not relying on "boo" moments to provide all the scares as there are some very eerie and creepy scenes in this film. Also before I wrap this up, if you are looking to buy this film go after the 2- disc special addition. On the bonus disc we are treated to character prequels which are all very good and provide us with some insight into all the main characters lives. one stands out to me though and that is the prequel of "Willie" that is written and directed by non other than Danielle Harris! All in all, Stake Land is a great and refreshing entry into the vampire sub-genre and horror genre itself! A must see!

Severed foots- 4