Zombie is a song by British singer/songwriter Jamie T and is the second single to be taken from his 2014 Virgin Records album Carry on the Grudge.
The promotional music video for “Zombie” features the singer and his backing band The Pacemakers gradually turning into the living dead whilst performing at a soulless, lifeless English pub.
The video was directed by James Slater and the gory makeup and special effects were designed by Natasha Lawes.
Buy Zombie on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk
Monsters to Laugh With and Monsters Unlimited was a magazine that was published by Marvel Comics between 1964 and 1966. It was edited by Stan Lee.
The magazine’s content consisted entirely of full page black and white images of classic movie monsters, mostly from Universal films, plus supposedly amusing captions that were mainly supplied by Stan Lee. It ran for just seven issues and, perhaps as an example of its lack of direction and that perhaps horror fans didn’t like their icons mocked, changed its title from Monsters To Laugh With to Monsters Unlimited.
Despite its short run, the magazine was revived in 1972 as Monsters Madness (co-published with Curtis) but this version lasted just three issues!
We are indebted to Monster Magazines and Mania Beyond Entertainment for info and images for this posting.
‘Just when you thought it was safe to be dead.’
Return of the Living Dead Part II is a 1987 American zombie horror comedy film written and directed by Ken Wiederhorn (Shock Waves; Eyes of a Stranger). It stars James Karen, Thom Mathews and Dana Ashbrook.
The film was released by Lorimar Motion Pictures on January 8, 1988, and was a minor box office success, making over $9 million at the box office in the United States against its $6 million budget. It is the second of four sequels to The Return of the Living Dead.
The film has a lighter tone as it was partially aimed at a teenage audience; however the misleading trailer suggested it was darker. The main protagonists, Jesse and Lucy, share the last name ‘Wilson’, suggesting that they are related to Burt Wilson, the main protagonist of the first film.
Plot teaser:
A military truck is transporting barrels of Trioxin when a barrel breaks loose and falls into a river. The next morning, a young boy, Jesse Wilson, is at the cemetery with two local bullies. The trio investigate the Trioxin tank, and Jesse warns them that they should not tamper with it. The bullies trap Jesse in a derelict mausoleum and leave him. They then return to the Trioxin tank and manage to release the toxic gas.
A van pulls up to the graveyard, introducing the characters Ed, Joey, and Brenda. Ed explains to Joey that they are there to rob graves; Brenda expresses her fears for cemeteries, but Joey assures her that it will be worth their time and leaves Brenda in the van. He heads into the cemetery with Ed. They decide to loot the mausoleum and open the locked doors, releasing Jesse, who immediately runs home…
Reviews:
“Even though the tone is a bit different from the original, the effects and overall look of the film is still intact. The zombie makeup and designs are just as grotesque as before, with decaying bodies and rotten faces looking especially devilish, while the atmosphere is locked in that foggy haze from right out of a nightmare. It’s interesting to see that same kind of visual potency that the original was able to conjure up, is intact in the sequel, and it’s a nice touch that lends to the credibility of the series.” The Lucid Nightmare
“I’m not some stodgy genre purist who frowns on the idea of tossing in some humor into the mix, but if you’re going to include comedy, make it funny. That’s why it’s called “comedy” and not…whatever Return of the Living Dead Part II serves up. All the suspense of the original has been sapped away, and the pacing shuffles around aimlessly. It also puts an annoying kid in a lead role, which is never, ever a good idea unless your target demographic is in junior high (which might explain why I liked this movie so much when I was in 7th grade). The writing’s poor. The acting’s lousy. The direction is uninspired. The closest thing to praise I can muster is that the poster art is pretty neat, but I wouldn’t pay $15 to get it.” Adam Tyner, DVD Talk
“Scenes are lifted, story arches are repeated and the same jokes are retold; though this time it’s all done with less emphasis on risqué black humour and more on keeping the Saturday night family-TV crowd entertained. Never is this more obvious that in the Michael Jackson Thriller-esque dead rising from the graves opener and whether it’s zombies putting their glasses on, or comically stepping on each one-another’s heads, it’s slap-stick comedy central and I honestly don’t think I’d have much problem letting my eight year watching it all.” Watching the Dead
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a 2014 romantic horror comedy film written and directed by Spike Lee. With a budget of just $1,418,910, was the first of Lee’s films to be funded through Kickstarter. It stars Felicia Pearson, Elvis Nolasco, Zaraah Abrahams, Steven Hauck and Stephen Tyrone Williams.
The film was released on June 22, 2014 on American Black Film Festival as the closing film. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters and on VOD on February 13, 2015, by Gravitas Ventures.
Spike Lee said that film is about “Human beings who are addicted to blood. Funny, sexy and bloody. A new kind of love story (and not a remake of Blacula).”
Reviews:
” … Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is at once too much and yet somehow not enough. On the one hand, it’s exciting to see the always envelope-pushing Lee working without a studio- or distributor-imposed safety net (though he has typically enjoyed a high level of creative freedom even on his studio-backed projects). But while the film never lacks for ambition, it fails to satisfy emotionally or intellectually in the ways Lee intends. Both Williams and Abrahams give it their all, but never convince as an actual lovestruck couple in the way the great Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead) and Marlene Clark did in Gunn’s film.” Scott Foundass, Variety
“The performances are intriguing, but they are at such a remove that there’s zero emotional connection with what’s up on screen. The “rules” of this film’s specific vampirism are intentionally hazy (are the victims dead? undead? aware of their fate?) and Dr Greene’s snap transformation into a wily bloodsucker without the benefit of a learning curve is curiously frustrating. As a horror picture, quite frankly, it’s a bit of a disaster.” Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian
“Whenever Lee ventures away from the outrageous particulars of the plot, “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” transforms into a stylish means of exploring contemporary struggles in urban black America by depicting it as a ballet of navigating personal and practical conflicts alike: The marvellous credits sequence finds a dancer elegantly unfolding his body at the center of the Knicks’ courtroom, Battery Park City and elsewhere. A jazzy piano score by Bruce Hornsby routinely suggests a bigger picture than the specifics of the story.” Eric Kohn, Indiewire
“All over the place, inarticulate and gravely goofy at time, the fine line between laughing with Lee and laughing at Lee’s movie is certainly blurred. Ultimately, for all its semi-weighty spiritual and societal concerns, “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus” is an extremely difficult movie to take seriously and might be the closest we’ve seen to this director making a student film in public. Thematically, it’s also all too on the nose. Any allusions to addiction as part of society’s current ills are hamfisted (and delivered in overt, spelled-out monologue).” Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
Filming locations:
Martha’s Vineyard; New York City
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. The Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, Pubert Addams, Cousin Itt and Thing.
The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy clan who delight in the macabre and are unaware, or do not care, that other people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as an unrelated group of 150 single panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in The New Yorker between their debut in 1938 and Addams’s 1988 death.
Addams’s original cartoons were one-panel gags. The characters were undeveloped and unnamed until the television series production.
Gomez and Pugsley are enthusiastic. Morticia is even in disposition, muted, witty, sometimes deadly. Grandma Frump is foolishly good-natured. Wednesday is her mother’s daughter. A closely knit family, the real head being Morticia—although each of the others is a definite character—except for Grandma, who is easily led. Many of the troubles they have as a family are due to Grandma’s fumbling, weak character. The house is a wreck, of course, but this is a house-proud family just the same and every trap door is in good repair. Money is no problem. — Charles Addams
The family appears to be a single surviving branch of the Addams clan. Many other “Addams families” exist all over the world. Charles Addams was first inspired by his home town of Westfield, New Jersey, an area full of ornate Victorian mansions and archaic graveyards.
Although most of the humour derives from the fact that they share macabre interests, the Addamses are a close-knit extended family. Morticia is an exemplary mother, and she and Gomez remain passionate towards each other.
The parents are supportive of their children. The family is friendly and hospitable to visitors, in some cases willing to donate large sums of money to causes, despite the visitors’ horror at the Addams’s peculiar lifestyle.
Characters:
Gomez – master of the Addams household and the Addams patriarch, married to Morticia and the father of Wednesday and Pugsley. In the original cartoons in The New Yorker, he appeared tubby, snub-nosed and with a receding chin.
In the 1960s television series, Gomez was portrayed as a naive, handsome, and successful man, although with a childlike, eccentric enthusiasm for everything he did. Though a peaceful man, he was known to be well-versed in many types of combat; he and Morticia fenced sometimes.
Gomez professed endless love for his wife, Morticia. He had studied to be a lawyer, but rarely practiced, one of the running jokes being that he took great pride in losing his cases. Gomez was depicted as extremely wealthy, through inheritance and extensive investments, but he seemed to have little regard for money.
Morticia Addams – matriarch of the Addams Family, a slim woman with pale skin, clad in a skin-tight black hobble gown with octopus-like tendrils at the hem. Her visual aspect suggested that of some kind of vampire. She adores her husband, Gomez, as deeply as he does her.
Gomez and Morticia had two children, a son called Pugsley and a daughter called Wednesday. In the television show she was a sweet-natured, innocent, happy child, largely concerned with her fearsome pet spiders.
The movies gave Wednesday a much more serious and mature personality with a deadpan wit and a morbid fascination with trying to physically harm, or possibly murder, her brother (she was seen strapping him into an electric chair, for example, and preparing to pull the switch); she was apparently often successful, but Pugsley never died. Like most members of the family, he seemed to be inhumanly resilient.
For his part, Pugsley was largely oblivious to the harm his sister tried to inflict on him, or an enthusiastic supporter of it, viewing all attempts as fun and games. In his first incarnation in The New Yorker cartoons, Pugsley was depicted as a diabolical, malevolent boy-next-door. In the television series, he was a devoted older brother and an inventive and mechanical genius. In the movies he lost his intelligence and independence, and became Wednesday’s sidekick and younger brother, cheerfully helping her in her evil deeds.
Fester is a bald, barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and a devilish grin. He seemed to carry an electrical charge, as he could illuminate a light bulb by sticking it in his mouth. In the original television series, Fester was Morticia’s uncle. In all subsequent animated and film media, Fester was Gomez’s older brother, save for The New Addams Family where Fester is portrayed as Gomez’ younger brother.
Grandmama is a witch who deals in potions, spells, hexes, and even fortune-telling. Her trademarks were her shawl and grey, frizzy hair. Charles Addams originally named the character Grandma/Granny Frump in his notes for the adaptation of the cartoons to television in 1965, thereby making her Morticia’s mother.
“Thing” as created by Charles Addams, was a shy creature mostly seen in the background of Addams’s drawings; however, the television series suggested it was a disembodied hand named “Thing“, and was Gomez’s friend since childhood. He (it is implied in the original television series that the character is male) often performed common, everyday tasks such as retrieving the mail, writing a letter, or just giving a friendly pat on the shoulder, appearing out of ubiquitous boxes or other convenient containers throughout the house. He communicated with the Addamses with a Morse-like alphabet, sign language, writing, and knocking on wood.
Lurch served as a shambling gravelly-voiced butler, unscarred yet reminiscent of Frankenstein’s Monster, and a funereal but obedient “jack of all trades”. He tried to help around the house, although occasionally he botched tasks due to his great size and strength, but is otherwise considered quite a catch by the Addamses for his skill at more personal tasks, such as waxing Uncle Fester’s head and amusing the children (to whom he was deeply devoted).
Surprisingly, Lurch was often seen playing the harpsichord or organ with great skill and uncharacteristic passion.
Cousin Itt, as so named by the television series producer, who frequently visited the family, was short-statured and had long hair that covered his entire body from scalp to floor. Although in the series he was shown wearing opera gloves, it is unclear what, if anything, is beneath the hair.
Buy The Complete 1960s TV series from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
The Addams family’s mansion had many different incarnations over the years. In one of Charles Addams’s cartoons. The house was depicted as being a dilapidated mansion that had been condemned (and was seemingly haunted, due to the strange creatures at the top of the staircase). Since then, it had become almost a character itself, and served as the main setting for the rest of the cartoons featuring the Addams family.
In the 1960s television series, the house was given an address: 0001 Cemetery Lane. Instead of being a dilapidated house, it was now practically a museum, filled with odd statues, trophies, and other interesting knick-knacks. The house also sported a playroom with medieval racks, nailbeds, iron maidens, pillories and stocks, used for family relaxation.
The house once again became a condemned mansion in the New Scooby-Doo Movies television show, in which the Addamses made a guest appearance. In the subsequent Addams Family 1970s cartoon, the mansion was mounted on a trailer and dragged all over the world with the globetrotting Addams clan.
The two Addams Family movies in 1991 and 1993, along with the second animated television series in 1992, resurrected the mansion’s original exterior design from the Charles Addams cartoons. The movie Addams Family Values had the mansion appearing exactly as it did in Charles Addams’s drawing of the family, about to dump boiling oil on a group of carollers from the roof (a gag that was acted out in the opening sequence of the previous film). The first film reveals the mansion to have a cavernous, pillared, vaulted-ceilinged canal system deep underneath it, traversable by gondola boat to reach the family vault, itself a cluttered room filled with childhood mementos, home movies, and a bar which revolves around to reveal vast halls filled with countless gold doubloons and other treasure.
Unlike The Munsters, which explicitly stated its characters’ supernatural origins, the exact nature of the Addamses is never established. They all seemed to share a bond with the occult and supernatural. Uncle Fester was often portrayed as something of a mad scientist, and Grandmama as a potion maker, and Morticia states that her study is spells and hexes in the 1991 movie The Addams Family but, these activities don’t really explain the Addams’s seemingly immortal state. Much of the food they live on is inedible or outright deadly to normal humans, and they take an interest in painful activities like walking across minefields or having a sharp pendulum cut them in half.
In 1964, the ABC-TV network created The Addams Family television series based on Addams’s cartoon characters. The series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 half-hour episodes.
The very wealthy, endlessly enthusiastic Gomez Addams (John Astin) is madly in love with his refined wife, Morticia (née Frump) (Carolyn Jones). Along with their daughter Wednesday (Lisa Loring), their son Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax – whom it was reported died of a heart attack the day after we posted this overview), Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan), and Grandmama (Blossom Rock), they reside at 0001 Cemetery Lane in an ornate, gloomy, Second Empire-style mansion, attended by their servants: Lurch (Ted Cassidy), the towering butler, and Thing (billed as “itself”, but portrayed by Cassidy and occasionally by Jack Voglin), a disembodied hand that usually appears out of a small wooden box. Occasionally episodes would feature other relatives such as Cousin Itt (Felix Silla), Morticia’s older sister Ophelia (also portrayed by Carolyn Jones), or Grandma Frump, Morticia’s mother (Margaret Hamilton).
Much of the humour derives from their culture clash with the rest of the world. They invariably treat normal visitors with great warmth and courtesy, even though their guests often have evil intentions. They are puzzled by the horrified reactions to their own good-natured and normal behavior, since the family is under the impression that their tastes are shared by most of society. Accordingly, they view “conventional” tastes with generally tolerant suspicion. For example, Fester once cites a neighboring family’s meticulously maintained petunia patches as evidence that they are “nothing but riffraff”. A recurring theme in the epilogue of many episodes was the Addamses getting an update on the most-recent visitor to their home, either via mail, something in the newspaper, or a phone call. Invariably, as a result of their visit to the Addamses, the visitor would be institutionalized, change professions, move out of the country, or suffer some other negative life-changing event. The Addamses would always misinterpret the update and see it as good news for their most-recent visitor.
The tone was set by series producer Nat Perrin who was a close friend of Groucho Marx and writer of several Marx Brothers films. Perrin created story ideas, directed one episode, and rewrote every script. As a result, Gomez, with his sardonic remarks, backwards logic, and ever-present cigar (pulled from his breast pocket already lit), is sometimes compared to Groucho Marx.
The television series featured a memorable theme song, written and arranged by longtime Hollywood composer Vic Mizzy (who also wrote the score for William Castle’s The Night Walker). The song’s arrangement was dominated by a harpsichord, and featured finger-snaps as percussive accompaniment. Actor Ted Cassidy, in his “Lurch” voice, punctuated the lyrics with words like “neat”, “sweet”, and “petite”. Mizzy’s theme was popular enough to enjoy a release as a 45rpm single, though it failed to make the national charts.
Buy The Addams Family theme on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk
The Addams Family’s first animated appearance was on the third episode of Hanna-Barbera’s The New Scooby-Doo Movies, which first aired on CBS Saturday morning September 23, 1972. Four of the original cast (John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, and Ted Cassidy) returned for the special.
The Addams Family characters were drawn to the specifications of the original Charles Addams cartoons. After the episode aired, fans wanted more animated adventures featuring the Addamses, and Hanna-Barbera obliged.
Meanwhile, in late 1972, ABC produced a pilot for a live-action musical variety show titled The Addams Family Fun-House. The cast included Jack Riley and Liz Torres as Gomez and Morticia, Stubby Kaye as Uncle Fester, Pat McCormick as Lurch and Butch Patrick (who had played Eddie Munster in The Munsters) as Pugsley. The pilot aired in 1973, but was not picked up for a series. Judging by the image below, we can see why!
The first animated series ran on Saturday mornings from 1973–1975 on NBC. In a departure from the original series, this series took the Addamses on the road in a Victorian-style RV. This series also marked the point where the relations between characters were changed so that Fester was now Gomez’s brother, and Grandmama was now Morticia’s mother.
Although Coogan and Cassidy reprised their roles, Astin and Jones did not, their parts being recast with Hanna-Barbera voice talents Lennie Weinrib as Gomez and Janet Waldo as Morticia, while a ten-year-old Jodie Foster provided the voice of Pugsley. One season was produced, and the second season consisted of reruns. The show’s theme music was completely different and had no lyrics and no finger snaps.
Buy The Addams Family animated TV series from Amazon.com
A complementary comic book series was produced in connection with the show, but it lasted only three issues.
A television reunion movie, Halloween with the New Addams Family, aired on NBC Sunday, October 30, 1977.
The New Addams Family was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, and ran for 65 episodes (one more than the original TV series) during the 1998–1999 season on the then newly launched Fox Family Channel. Many storylines from the original series were reworked for this new series, incorporating more modern elements and jokes. John Astin returned to the franchise in some episodes of this series, albeit as “Grandpapa” Addams.
The cast included Glenn Taranto as Gomez Addams, Ellie Harvie as Morticia, Michael Roberds as Fester, Brody Smith as Pugsley, Nicole Fugere (the only cast member from Addams Family Reunion to return) as Wednesday, John DeSantis as Lurch, Betty Phillips as Grandmama and Steven Fox as Thing.
In the 1990s, Orion Pictures (which by then had inherited the rights to the series) developed a film version, The Addams Family (released on November 22, 1991). Due to the studio’s financial troubles at the time, Orion sold the US rights to the film to Paramount Pictures. It took $191,502,246 at the box office.
Buy The Addams Family (1991) on Blu-ray from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Upon the last film’s success, a sequel followed: Addams Family Values. Loosened content restrictions allowed the films to use far more grotesque humour that strove to keep the original spirit of the Addams cartoons (in fact, several gags were lifted straight from the single panel cartoons). The two movies used the same cast, except for Grandmama, played by Judith Malina in the first film and Carol Kane in the second. A script for a third film was prepared in 1994, but was abandoned after the sudden death of actor Raúl Juliá.
Buy Addams Family Values on DVD from Amazon.com
Addams Family Reunion (1998)
Released direct-to-video on September 22, 1998, this time by Warner Bros. through its video division. It has no relation to the Paramount movies, being in fact a full-length pilot for a second live-action television version, The New Addams Family. The third movie’s Gomez, played by Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show; It), follows the style of Raúl Juliá.
In 2010, it was announced that Illumination Entertainment, in partnership with Universal Pictures, had acquired the underlying rights to the Addams Family drawings. The film was planned to be a stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams’s original drawings. Tim Burton was set to co-write and co-produce the film, with a possibility to direct but it was eventually cancelled.
On October 31, 2013 it was announced in Variety that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will be rebooting The Addams Family as an animated film with Pamela Pettler writing the screenplay, however this has not come to fruition, so far…
Inevitably, as with The Munsters, there are adult-entertainment takes on the family’s exploits, namely The Maddams Family – with Ron Jeremy as Uncle Fester – and The Addams Family XXX. According to online reviews, the latter seems to be the better of the two…
Five video games released from 1989 to 1994 were based on The Addams Family.
This first novelization of the television series, written by Jack Sharkey, was released near the end of the show’s second season by Pyramid Books in 1965. The book details the family’s arrival in their new home, and explains how it got its bizarre décor. The arrival and origins of Thing are explained. Each chapter reads as a self-contained story, like episodes of the television show. The novel concludes with the Addams family discovering that their lives will be the basis for a new television series.
“The Addams Family Strikes Back” by W.F. Miksch tells how Gomez plans to rehabilitate the image of Benedict Arnold by running for the local school board. The tone and characterizations in this book resemble the TV characters much more closely than in the first novel. Cousin Itt appears as a minor character in this story, but as a tiny, three-legged creature rather than the hairy, derby-hatted character seen on television and in the movies. The novel was published in paperback form by Pyramid Books in 1965.
The success of the 1960s TV series spawned a vast array of merchandising including a board game and target game, both from Ideal.
The success of the 1990s feature films led to further merchandising of all kinds, plus arcade games.
In 1994, the actors cast as the Addamses in the first two films (sans the recently deceased Raúl Juliá) were in several Japanese television spots for the Honda Odyssey.The Addamses—most prominently Gomez (for whom a voice actor was used to impersonate Juliá while footage from Addams Family Values was seen) and Morticia—are seen speaking Japanese.
In 2007 and 2008, the Addams Family appeared as M&Ms in an advertising campaign for M&Ms Dark Chocolate.
Fancy dress costumes
Buy Addams Family Psychobilly t-shirt from Amazon.co.uk
Buy The Addams Family Barbie Doll Giftset from Amazon.com
Wikipedia | Related: The Munsters
The Creature Wasn’t Nice – also known as Spaceship and Naked Space - is a 1981 (released 1983) U.S. film written and directed by Bruce Kimmel. It purports to be a comedy that satirises extraterrestrial sci-fi horror monster movies such as Alien and includes clips from American and Japanese science fiction movies.
The film stars Leslie Nielsen (Forbidden Planet; Repossessed) in a role similar to his in the farcical comedy Airplane (1980). It co-stars Cindy Williams, Gerrit Graham, and Patrick Macnee (The Howling). It was released on VHS in 1983 under the title Spaceship to cash-in Nielsen’s connection to Airplane!, and released on DVD in 1999 to play up the connection to his Naked Gun comedies.
The movie is a low-budget comedy with simple sets and dialog wrapped around several musical numbers. In one of the scenes, the red slimy one-eyed alien monster performs a lounge-act style musical number called “I Want to Eat Your Face.”
Williams performs two musical numbers, one solo and one with Kimmel, who had previously appeared with and directed her in 1976 in The First Nudie Musical. Bizarrely, a soundtrack CD of the score by David Spear, plus Kimmel’s camp songs, was released on CD in 2007.
Plot teaser:
2012: The spaceship Vertigo and its crew encounter “an unknown and undiscovered” planet where they discover a small red jelly-like organism. Taking it on board their spaceship, they are are appalled to discover the alien life form is intent on eating the crew, whilst singing lounge numbers…
Reviews:
Half the film’s raison d’etre appears to have been to indulge director/star Bruce Kimmel’s apparent liking for song-and-dance numbers …The rest of the film is crass lowbrow humour. There is a plethora of bad taste gags, some of which are astonishingly awful in their loudness and its vulgarity.” Richard Scheib, Moria
“Whatever charm this might have had is obliterated by overacting (including Ron Kurowski as the monster), flat direction and utterly dumb writing. The major blame can be put on Bruce Kimmel, who wrote, directed and plays one of the crew. Eject it through the airlock, quick!” John Stanley, Creature Features
“Though some would be content with a spoof of Alien with obvious gags, and there was nothing here ever less than doggedly likeable, almost all of it fell flat with everyone else, that in spite of at least one moment of inspiration when the now-grown monster is hooked up to a translator and croons the memorable ballad ‘I Want to Eat Your Face’. Aside from that, which a surprising amount of people recall even if they don’t remember the film around it, it was all too mild to make an impression otherwise with an effects budget which would make an old episode of Star Trek look lavish and performances more appropriate to vaudeville.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image
“One of the worst movies ever made had three redeeming scenes which made the whole thing worth it. Because of these hilarious scenes as well as the overall ridiculous story with no attempt at making it believable, it has become a cult classic.” Someone Once Said…
Cast:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a 2015 American horror comedy romance film directed by Burr Steers and co-written with David O. Russell, based on the 2009 novel of same name by Seth Grahame-Smith. The film stars Lily James, Sam Riley and Matt Smith.
Plot teaser:
Jane Austen’s classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England is faced with a new challenge — an army of undead zombies.
Cast:
Filming locations:
The filming began on September 24, 2014, at West Wycombe House and Park, Buckinghamshire. During the Halloween weekend, actors were spotted shooting some scenes at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Later in early November, crews were filming at Basing House in Old Basing. On November 13, filming shifted to Frensham.
‘Save the last dance… for Hell!’
Slash Dance – aka Slashdance – is a 1989 U.S. horror thriller written and directed by James Shyman (Hollywood’s New Blood). It stars Cindy Ferda, James Carroll Jordan, J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner, Jay Richardson, William Kerr, John Bluto, Dee Booher [as Queen Kong], Kelle Favara.
Plot teaser:
In Hollywood, a female cop goes undercover as a dancer at an old theatre to catch a serial killer who has been murdering women auditioning for a musical…
Reviews:
“There are a lot of red herrings tossed around, along with a lot of big hair, acid washed denim, horrible acting and downright retarded storytelling. This movie also tries to inject a lot of really unfunny, inappropriate humor throughout, which gives it a schizophrenic feel as it switches back and forth from wacky highjinks to musical montages to serious violence, all without batting an eyelash. The gore is at a minimum here, as well as the nudity, which is very brief at best.” Michael Monterastelli, CHUD.com
“Slashdance is an utterly avoidable effort that fails to deliver as a slasher, as a comedy or even as a dance movie. There’s really nothing to recommend here and its best avoided.” A Slash Above…
“Slash Dance is very bad, and I don’t really think it’s even much of a curiosity for slasher fans unless you really want to see shoot guns on a firing range, deliver dropkicks, and show off her high-heel throwing prowess. No matter how cool that sounds, it really isn’t. Trash it!” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!
“It’s an absolutely horrendously bad film: it fails as a slasher flick, it fails as a crime thriller, and it fails as a horror-comedy – yes, there’s plenty of attempted intentional humor in Slash Dance. The intentional humor is so not funny that it totally travels full-circle and becomes funny again, which is very rare … Look, if you want a decent slasher set in the world of theatre, try Stage Fright or Curtains. But if you just want some fabulously bad direct-to-VHS ’80s-cheesy-style fun, I highly recommend Slash Dance, some friends, and a six-pack. Leotards are optional.” Final Girl
“Lots of dancing. Few thrills.” John Stanley, Creature Features
Choice dialogue:
“Ok, but if I end up looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame from sleeping on your couch, it’s your fault.”
“It’d like to tap dance, on his head.”
Un vampiro para dos (“A Vampire for Two”) – also known as La mansión de los vampiros – is a 1965 Spanish comedy horror film directed by Pedro Lazaga from a screenplay by José María Palacio for Belmar Producciones Cinematográficas.
The film stars Gracita Morales, José Luis López Vázquez, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Trini Alonso, Goyo Lebrero, José Orjas, Adriano Domínguez.
Plot teaser:
Paul and Luisita, a young couple who work in the Madrid are frustrated their their schedules do not allow them to be together much. So they travel to Germany to seek other employment. The only jobs they can find is as servants at the Baron of Rossenthal, better known as the Vampire of Düsseldorf.
After a few days, the Baron’s sister, Nosferata, decides that the time has come to suck the Spaniards’ blood. However, the vampires did not realise their employees love of garlic will protect them…
Reviews:
Even without the benefit of English dubbing it is obvious that this is an unsophisticated attempt to elicit potential humour from the culture clash of Spaniards working in Germany. It doesn’t help that it takes over thirty minutes of screen time for the hapless married couple to arrive at the vampire Count’s castle or that Gracita Morales’s voice is pitched painfully high throughout. A drunken singalong accompanied by organ music has to be the film’s low point.
Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
” … could have yielded an interesting comedy but in this film script and direction opt for a broad farce rather than corrosive satire.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
Watch the whole film in Spanish on veoh.com
IMDb | Plot translated from filmaffinity.com
‘One Hell of a party!’
Saturday the 14th Strikes Back is a 1988 comedy horror film, written and directed by Howard R. Cohen and produced by Julie Corman for Concorde. It is a sequel to Saturday the 14th.
The film stars Ray Walston (Galaxy of Terror; Blood Salvage), Avery Schreiber, Patty McCormack (The Bad Seed; Crowhaven Farm; Silent Predators), Jason Presson, Julianne McNamara, Rhonda Aldrich, Daniel Will-Harris, Pamela Stonebrook, Joseph Ruskin. Horror icon Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes; The Devil’s Rejects; Self Storage) has a minor role as a mummy.
Plot teaser:
Eddie and his family have just inherited a spooky wreck of a house. What they do not know about the house is that it was built over an evil passage way, but they are soon to discover the wacky evil it releases…
Reviews:
A cynical Corman attempt to cash-in on the surprising video rental success of their already feeble 1981 comedy horror. Thematically, this is a throw-it-all-at-the-screen affair from Herman R. Cohen (who’d previously given the world Vampire Hookers, the original Saturday the 14th and Deathstalker). The self-reflective ending includes apocalyptic footage from previous Corman acquisitions and productions, including a bizarre one second shot of Johnny Ramone’s lower half and guitar from Rock ‘n’ Rock High School! Avoid, unless in a very charitable mood, or a die-hard Michael Berryman fan.
Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
“The film isn’t completely terrible though. There’s some cool looking puppets as well as entertaining stop motion throughout. There’s something moderately charming about the fact that the film never takes a second to stop. It’s one bad gag and bad joke after another. While the film doesn’t hold the same level of “so bad it’s good” praise that a Troll 2 or Plan 9 will receive it’s probably the only film where you get to see a werewolf spy on an olympic gold medalist in the shower.” Geekscape
” … few films are as entertaining as watching this movie try to be clever and fail. It’s simply that earnest and determined, and pity makes belly laughs deeper. Like a kid in socks trying to turn a corner on linoleum, like a drunken man hitting on a waitress, there is humor in watching repeated clumsy failure. For this, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back should be saluted.” Axel Kohagen, Slasher Studios
” … one of the most insane genre-related movies I think I’ve ever seen. If you’ve never experienced it for yourself, ST14SB basically makes Troll 2 look Oscar-worthy in comparison and yet, it’s really hard for me as a fan to hate on ST14SB because despite its numerous (and boy do I mean numerous flaws), you can tell it’s a movie with a horror-loving heart beating deep beneath its wacky surface and that’s something I can always appreciate as a fan.” The Misadventures of the Horror Chick
Cast:
Home Sweet Hell is a 2014 US dark comedy directed by Anthony Burns from a screenplay by Carlo Allen, Ted Elrick and Tom Lavagnino.
The film stars Katherine Heigl (Bride of Chucky; Valentine; Evil Never Dies), Patrick Wilson (The Phantom of the Opera; The Conjuring and sequel), Kevin McKidd (Hannibal Rising), Jordana Brewster (The Faculty; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), James Belushi, Bryce Johnson, A.J. Buckley, Alyshia Ochse, Madison Wolfe, Steffie Grote, Heath Freeman, Yohance Myles, Aiden Flowers, Ross P. Cook, Noëlle Renée Bercy.
Plot teaser:
Don Champagne seems to have it all: a successful business, a perfect house, perfect kids and a perfect wife. Unfortunately, when his wife, Mona (Katherine Heigl), learns of Don’s affair with a pretty new salesgirl (Jordana Brewster), this suburban slice of heaven spirals out of control.
Don soon realizes that Mona will stop at nothing, including murder, to maintain their storybook life where “perception is everything”…
‘Trip… into a nightmare of evil!’
Guess What Happened to Count Dracula? is a 1970 PG-rated US comedy horror movie written, produced and directed by Lawrence Merrick (The Demons; Manson). In 1969, more obscure X-rated edits of the film, with an emphasis on male gay sex, were released as Does Dracula Really Suck? and Dracula and the Boys. In Italy, it was released as L’orgia del vampiro with promotional artwork that erroneously listed Al Adamson as the director.
The film stars Des Roberts, Claudia Siefried, John Landon, Robert Branche, Frank Donato, Yvonne Gaudry, Gene Stowell, Denny Lester,John King III, Jeff Cady, Angela Carnon. It was mostly filmed at the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood.
Plot teaser:
In order to escape communists in Romania, Dracula transforms himself into a swinger named “Count Adrian” and runs a theme restaurant in Los Angeles with his sidekicks.
Meanwhile, the real villain is his new love’s ex-boyfriend, an egotistical TV actor…
Buy with Dracula (The Dirty Old Man) on DVD from Amazon.com
Reviews:
“This isn’t the absolute worst thing you’ll ever see, but I do have to wonder what kind of audience they had in mind when they made this. On the plus side, it’s surprisingly stylishly lit, very colorful and not horribly photographed. On the down side, the acting’s not very good, it doesn’t bring much new to the table storywise and there are lots of glaring continuity issues.” The Bloody Pit of Horror
“But, the funniest parts of the movie have to be Count Adrian’s facial expressions. His attempts to be vampire-y end up looking like a strange combination of surprised and concerned. His attempts to merge his eyebrows with his hairline almost succeed, however. Aside from the ridiculous story, stupid dialogue and questionable acting, also be ready to have your ears raped by grating organ music. Count Adrian’s club plays annoyingly half-hearted circus music, as well. The editing is jumpy and sometimes cuts off lines…” Bad Movie Nite
“It’s way too slow and lacking in wit, but it sure has enjoyable moments including a dream sequence and some hypnotism montages. The makeup is inspired so its no surprise that Ric Sagliani went onto better things…”David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
Ad in the Village Voice of December 4, 1969, for the New York opening (complete with bowdlerised title)
Thanks to Doctor Kiss on the 70s Horror and Sci-Fi forum for the Does Dracula Really…? ad mat
“The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula” was a double-episode of The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries American TV series which aired for three seasons on the ABC network from January 1977 to January 1979.
The series starred Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as amateur sleuth brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, respectively, plus Pamela Sue Martin (later Janet Louise Johnson) as detective Nancy Drew. Many of the episodes, such as “The Mystery of the Haunted House“,”The Mystery of Witches’ Hollow“,”A Haunting We Will Go“,”The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom“,”The House on Possessed Hill“, and “Voodoo Doll” featured mild horror themes.
The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were both successful book publishing franchises, owned by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a publishing group which owned many popular children’s book lines.
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries was unusual in that it often dealt with the characters individually, in an almost anthological style. That is, some episodes featured only the Hardy Boys and others only Nancy Drew. “The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula” marked the first time that the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew met and worked together…
Buy The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries Season Two on DVD from:
Plot teaser:
International investigator Fenton Hardy (Ed Gilbert) has gone missing whilst looking into art thefts and so his sons attempt to track him down, which leads them to Paris and then Munich. The Hardy boys hook up with a three piece rock band named The Circus, led by a chirpy English leader, who happen to be playing at a music festival in Castle Dracula hosted by a rock star named Allison Troy. Meanwhile, the boys encounter amateur sleuth Nancy Drew, who is also attempting to track down Hardy Senior.
All roads lead to Transylvania and soon local town dignitaries are being bitten by a vampire. Or so it seems…
Review:
It’s probably not worth waving up a big ‘spoiler’ once guest star Lorne Greene turns up playing a slightly-dour and mysterious Romanian Inspector. He’s clearly the villain-to-be and aforementioned “rock star” Allison Troy is obviously a red herring. Indeed, the playful plot positively encourages this development.
Somewhat arrogant Troy is amusingly played by diminutive composer/crooner Paul Williams (also in Brian De Palma’s 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise), and is seen to be hosting a world-televised music fest to about twenty-five fans dressed as monsters such as Frankenstein’s creation and a werewolf! Alas, Bernie Taupin, lyricist for many of Elton John’s songs and one-time Alice Cooper collaborator, joins Williams’ on stage for some cringe-inducing soft rock that is only slightly eclipsed when Shaun Cassidy takes his star turn for insipid saccharine songs such as ‘Teen Dream’.
Soon, the Hardy Boys are creeping around Castle Dracula, being mildly troubled by the requisite bats and rats in the caverns, whilst an angry mob (“I say we burn the castle!”) are demanding justice for the mysterious near-deaths in the neighbourhood. All along, Nancy Drew is given less to do, but there is one great female empowerment moment when she floors a bewildered Frank Hardy with a swift move. Elsewhere, there’s some mild humour to be had with two former comedy Nazis being mocked as downtrodden employees at a hotel in Munich.
It all ends with the inevitable revealing of Lorne Greene’s character as the baddie hankering for power, yet there’s at least a coy suggestion that something supernatural was indeed going on. This being a double-trouble TV-episode, the amateur sleuths’ antics are somewhat protracted but, like old episodes of Scooby-Doo, its all done with ’70s-style campy fun and amiable enough to pass nearly a couple of hours if you’re in a pretty charitable mood and willing to endure the soft rock interludes.
Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
Choice dialogue:
“Why don’t we just come back in the morning? You can almost feel death!”
Noted British screenwriter and producer Brian Clemens has died, aged 83.
Clemens is best known for his TV work, often in fantasy-based action series. His most famous creation is TV series The Avengers, which ran from 1961 to 1969, and was relaunched as The New Avengers in 1976.
He also produced action series The Professionals between 1977 and 1983 (with The New Professionals appearing in 1999) and Bugs between 1995 and 1999. As a writer, he contributed to the likes of popular TV productions Adam Adamant Lives, The Baron, The Champions, The Persuaders, Remington Steele and many more.
Yet, running throughout his career, was an involvement in the horror genre. In 1960, he wrote his first horror film, The Tell Tale Heart, based (very) loosely on the Poe story, and in 1965 he co-wrote Lindsay Shonteff’s Curse of the Voodoo.
![Curse.of.the.Voodoo.1965.XVID-cg.avi_snapshot_00.00.21_[2012.02.07_23.52.20]](http://horrorpediadotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/curse-of-the-voodoo-1965-xvid-cg-avi_snapshot_00-00-21_2012-02-07_23-52-20.jpg?w=399&h=304)
In the early Seventies, he took a break from TV to concentrate on screenplay writing. His impressively low-key psycho thriller And Soon the Darkness (remade in 2010) was directed by Avengers alumni Robert Fuest, and he followed it with another psycho movie, Blind Terror, a year later.
These two films would ultimately form the template for his hit TV series Thriller, which ran from 1973 to 1976 and tended to specialise in ‘woman in peril’ stories, often treading the fine line between psychological thriller and horror, and occasionally crossing the line into outright supernatural stories.
For Hammer, he wrote Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, a film that belied its gimmicky title and somewhat subverted the Hammer gothic style, mixing Stevenson’s story with Burke and Hare and Jack the Ripper in a genre mash-up that was decades ahead of its time.
He followed this with Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter in 1972, which would be his only directorial credit. The film attempted to breathe new life into Hammer’s vampire cycle – by now flogged to death – by combining it with swashbuckling action courtesy of superhero-like Kronos. The movie blended humour, horror and action, and aside from a rather stiff central performance by Horst Jansen, proved to be tremendous fun.
It could’ve been a fresh start for Hammer, but they had no idea what to do with it and considered the film too weird. It was eventually slipped out as the bottom half of a double bill with last-gasp Frankenstein film Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. Plans for further Kronos adventures were dropped, though the character did briefly live on, appropriately enough, as a comic strip in early issues of House of Hammer.
Between the Hammer films, Clemens wrote the Ray Harryhausen fantasy The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and in 1980 he was the screenwriter for Disney’s family-oriented horror / science fiction crossover The Watcher in the Woods, which mixed haunted house spookiness with alien invasion. John Hough’s film was badly edited (with a new ending) in initial release, but has since built a strong reputation.
In the 1980s, Clemens once again concentrated on TV, writing one episode of horror anthology The Dark Room (1981) and two instalments of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984).
He wrote science fiction TV movie Timestalkers in 1987 and three episodes of supernatural anthology Worlds Beyond and one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents around the same time. His final cinematic writing credit was for the story for Highlander II: The Quickening in 1991.
DF
‘Work. It sucks the life out of you.’
Bloodsucking Bastards is a 2015 US comedy horror film directed by Brian James O’Connell (Killer View) from a screenplay by Dr. God and Ryan Mitts. It stars Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Yvette Yates, Joel Murray, Emma Fitzpatrick, Joey Kern, Patricia Rae, Parvesh Cheena, Zabeth Russell, Neil W. Garguilo, Justin Ware, Kyran Danaher, Marshall Givens, James Warfield.
The film is being premiered on January 23, 2015 at the Slamdance Film Festival.
Plot teaser:
Evan is a dutiful and overworked employee stuck at a soul-killing corporation with his beautiful co-worker and girlfriend Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick) and his slacker best friend Tim (Joey Kern). Evan’s world begins to crumble when Amanda dumps him and his boss Ted (Joel Murray) hands his coveted promotion to his nemesis Max (Pedro Pascal). When his office mates start going through disturbing changes, Evan must find a way to stop the evil brewing amidst the office cubicles, and rescue his workplace pals before his life and career go from dead-end… to just dead.
‘Pink Plasma’ is a six minute 1975 animated episode of The Pink Panther and Friends directed by Art Leonardi from a story by John W. Dunn. It was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.
Plot teaser:
On vacation in Transylvania, The Pink Panther stops to spend a night at what he believes to be a traveller’s lodge. However, it is in reality a vampire’s spooky castle. He encounters a knife-throwing arm, an invisible monster, a cantankerous spider and ghostly bedsheets. Assuming a coffin to be that of a dead man, the Pink Panther buries it, watched by an audience of bemused rats and a lizard.
Come dusk, amidst ominous rumbling, the enraged vampire (The Little Man) emerges. The Pink Panther utilises bug spray to repel the vampire, who has adopted bat form, and when it splutters out of the castle window, a shark is waiting in the moat (this being 1975 when Jaws fever was at its height).
Buy Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide from Amazon.co.uk
This occurs a couple of times more before a big chase and sunrise which causes vampire, shark, monster, and the castle to vanish…
Buy The Pink Panther and Friends on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
‘Going to grannies was never like this.’
Rabid Grannies – originally Les Mémés Cannibales [translation: “The Cannibal Grannies”] – is a 1988 Belgian comedy horror film written and directed by Emmanuel Kervyn. It stars Danielle Daven, Anne Marie Fox, Catherine Aymerie and Robert Du Bois.
The film was dubbed and distributed in the US on VHS and DVD by Troma Entertainment. Due to its unusual subject and title and its graphic scenes of gore, Rabid Grannies is one of the most infamous titles in the Troma library. A Blu-ray + DVD combo release is scheduled for March 10, 2015.
Plot teaser:
Two elderly sisters invite their wonderful nieces and nephews to a dinner party in celebration of the sisters’ upcoming birthdays. The one nephew who is not invited is the ostracized black sheep of the family whose devil-worshipping activities have resulted in his being removed from the sisters’ inheritance.
The rest of the guests are merely putting in time; they’re really just waiting for their aunts to kick the bucket, leaving them amply endowed via their respective inheritances. But, the nephew sends a party gift that turns the scene into a frolic of the macabre: the aunts turn cannibal and attempt to eat their guests…
Buy Rabid Grannies on Blu-ray + DVD combo from Amazon.com
“The gore is ok. I guess they have a “rabid” hunger to eat their family, but allegedly the Troma version did cut down some of the gore (begging the question of what’s the point?) The grannies eat, dismember, and throw body parts around. It is bloody, but more goofy than gory.” JP Roscoe, Basement Rejects
“Though hardly a great stylist, Belgian director Emmanuel Kervyn does a decent job of keeping things moving at a nice and bloody clip. Too bad the headache inducing British accents haphazardly dubbed into the film ruin most of the admittedly eye-catching visual atmosphere; turn down the volume, however, and at least the avalanche of special effects makes for a decent party film.” Mondo Digital
” …it takes forever to get going, and then when it does you don’t really get a lot of splatter to make up for it. Plus, the rest of the movie is little more than a repetitive series of disjointed gags; someone runs into a room, and gets killed by one or both grannies, followed by a few minutes of the various protagonists arguing, moving about the castle, and then the cycle restarts.” Horror Movie a Day
‘The Mold knows Jack, The Mold knows.’
Motivational Growth is a 2013 independent comedy horror film written, edited and directed by Don Thacker. It stars Jeffrey Combs (as the voice of The Mold), Adrian DiGiovanni, Danielle Doetsch, Pete Giovagnoli, Ken Brown, Robert Kramer, Hannah Stevenson, Laura Carlson.
Plot teaser:
Ian Folivor, a depressed and reclusive 30-something, finds himself taking advice from a growth in his bathroom after a failed suicide attempt. The Mold, a smooth talking fungus who was born of the filth collecting in a corner of Ian’s neglected bathroom, works to win Ian’s trust by helping him clean himself up and remodel his lifestyle. With The Mold’s help, Ian attracts the attention of a neighbour he’s been ogling through his peephole, Leah, and he manages to find a slice of happiness despite his unnatural circumstances. But Ian starts to receive strange messages from his old and broken down TV set that make him realize that The Mold may not be as helpful as it seems to be, and strange characters combined with stranger events cast Ian’s life in the shadow of an epic battle between good and evil that Ian is only partially aware of…
Buy/Rent Blu-ray | Instant Video from Amazon.com
Reviews:
“Writer/director Don Thacker makes this film work on so many levels. First, he tries many different techniques to make the story interesting and succeeds. Ian breaks the fourth wall with the audience early on and teaches a lesson on how little things become significant when one is depressed and lives alone. Next, Thacker moves the story forward through the use of animation (splendidly created by Jérémie Périn) and by inserting Ian into the very television programs he has been hooked on watching. Finally, the camera is utilized to make the most of a cramped and cluttered apartment.” Namtar, Nuke the Fridge
“The fact that 90% of this film takes place with a guy talking to the camera on his couch, all the while maintaining a creative, interesting, and intelligent edge all the way through, is a testament as to how great Motivational Growth truly is. The alternating dark and light tones give this film a unique texture, never really letting on as to where it will go next. Sure to poke, prod, and play with your brain in ways normal cinema does not, Motivational Growth is unlike anything you’ve seen before.” Ambush Bug, Ain’t It Cool News
“It’s set in the 1990s, uses chiptunes by Alex Mauer for a soundtrack that sound straight out of a video game, and even has 8-bit video game style cutscenes for certain scenes that add even more character to the film. What’s even more interesting is the film’s budget, and what Thacker was able to do with it. Shot for just over $176K, the limited number of effects that Thacker was able to pull off were quite impressive. As far as the gore goes, there isn’t too much going on, but there are more gross-out moments than gore, such as Ian eating fungus, vomiting various types of goo, rotted dead bodies and more.” Pat Torfe, Bloody Disgusting
IMDb | Official site | Facebook
Kitchen Sink is a 2015 American horror comedy film directed by Robbie Pickering from a screenplay by Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat: Rebirth; Men in Black 4) The film stars Vanessa Hudgens (Sucker Punch; Machete Kills), Ed Westwick, Denis Leary and Bob Odenkirk. The film’s original title was The Kitchen Sink.
Originally slated to open on January 9, 2015, the Columbia Pictures production will now be released on September 4, 2015 by the company in conjunction with Sony Pictures Releasing.
Plot teaser:
In the town of Dillford, it used to be that vampires, humans and zombies used to get along, but then something unexpected arrived and now it’s humans vs. vampires vs. zombies in all-out mortal combat. Now three teenagers must try to get things back to “normal”…
Cast:
Filming locations:
The film started shooting in Los Angeles on August 15, 2013 and lasted 37 days at different locations in LA including Santa Clarita, Temple City and Van Nuys High School.
Elfie Hopkins - aka Elfie Hopkins: Cannibal Hunter – is a 2012 British horror film directed by Ryan Andrews from a script co-written with Riyad Barmania. It stars Jaime Winstone, Ray Winstone, Steven Mackintosh, Rupert Evans, Aneurin Barnard and Kimberley Nixon.
The film was released in the UK on 20 April 2012 by Black & Blue Films and Kaleidoscope Entertainment.
Plot teaser:
Twenty-two-year-old slacker Elphie Hopkins (Jaime Winstone) is a “wanna-be” detective who lives in a sleepy village. She is a stoner and an animal lover, and haunted by the death of her mother. Surrounded by her broken father and alcoholic step-mother, Elfie seeks solace and inspiration from the old school detectives in The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown. She entertains herself, along with her geeky best friend, Dylan (Aneurin Barnard), by investigating the villagers and upsetting everyone with their imaginative allegations. Elfie’s mundane existence is thrown for a spin with the arrival of a family of trendy city dwellers, the Gammons.
The Gammons weave tales of adventure and seduce the villagers with offers of exotic hunting holidays around the world. It is not long before the villagers are flying off to the four corners of the world. Elfie, despite her best efforts, is not free to the Gammons’ charms, but soon smells a rat. Elfie and Dylan begin investigating the Gammons’ life. Bloody violence and pandemonium soon starts to rage in the village and it is no longer just the blood of animals. Elfie discovers the villagers are not making those flights and when she finally uncovers the truth, it is darker than she could have ever imagined…
Buy on DVD | Instant Video from Amazon.co.uk
Reviews:
“It’s Ryan Andrews’ first feature film and he’s piled it high with cinematic references. He aims to evoke the provincial charm of Miss Marple, the deliciously ironic dialogue of Brick and the blood-splattered thrills of a gaudy B-horror. You so want him to pull it off, but most of the time you’d just rather watch the movies he’s been watching.” Jessica Lambert, Little White Lies
“The big problem is the character of Elfie who dresses kookily with blue streaks in her peroxide hair but is far less exciting than the filmmakers must assume, and a laidback Winstone plays her with little energy or charm. There’s a hint of camp pleasure to be gained from the film’s early soft-focus domestic scenes and late hysterics, but ‘Elfie Hopkins’ is sunk by a lame script and mannered performances.” Dave Calhoun, Time Out
” …an orgy of mistimed jokes, stumbling narration and dim performances. I felt like taking my felt pen to the film’s poster and turning the overindulged star’s name into “J’aime pas Winstone”. Phillip French, The Observer
“There’s a decent support cast including Ray Winstone and Gwyneth Keyworth, who’s suitably creepy as the childlike girl next door. But Jaime feels miscast and the dialogue, direction and tone waver wildly before getting completely lost. There’s kitsch value in the themes and costumes, but any cult appeal is not likely to be the kind the film was seeking.” Anna Smith, Empire
Cast:
Filming locations:
Wales
Useful links:
Wikipedia | IMDb | Facebook | Kaleidoscope Film Distribution
