Monday, November 30, 2009

Holiday Horror - A Top Five List

I know it's been a while since I've posted, things have been a little hectic at the Warfreak househould. Anyway, who cares? There's a nip in the air, and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. December is just one day away, so what better way to ring in the season than to list off my five favorite Holiday Horror Flicks!

1. Gremlins (1984) - Joe Dante shows off his love for classic creature features with this family-friendly horror flick. I say family friendly, but I do rememeber getting many a nightmare from watching this and its sequel. Our young protagonist Billy doesn't obey the rules laid out for him for his new exotic pets, and he pays the price for it. The creature effects are fantastic, the story is fun, and it's a definite product of the 1980s. I imagine that most of you have seen Gremlins, so I don't think I need to expound much more. Oh, and don't forget Phoebe Cates. Nice.

2. Black Christmas (1974) - Often cited as the first modern slasher, Black Christmas is the story of a murderous little bastard that sneaks into a Canadaian sorority house just before Christmas break and wreaks havoc on unsuspecting co-eds! Bob Clark, who would later direct A Christmas Story, is behind the camera on this holiday classic. Interesting trivia: originally John Carpenter's Halloween was conceived as a sequel to Black Christmas. It was to be the start of a "holiday themed" horror series - each movie focusing on a different holiday.

3. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) - After his parents are slain, and he is abused in an orphanage, a teenage boy dons a Santa suit and ensues on a blood-drenched rampage. The first one in the Silent Night series is nowhere near as silly as the sequels, and it's actually pretty decent, but you'll still be able to get a few laughs it and some of the crazy antics (I mean, it is a killer in a Santa suit, after all). The one thing that would have really put it over the top, would have been some really excellent grue, but beggers can't be choosers. I heard there was a remake in the pipeline, so maybe they can work that in there.

4. Christmas Evil (1980) - Played straight, Christmas Evil is the story of a young kid who loves Christmas a bit too much. Upon finding out that there's no such thing as Santa (sorry, should've put a spoiler alert there, kiddies), the boy is scarred for the rest of his life. Obviously from there, things go from bad to worse and bad things start to happen. Not a bad little film - defintely worth a watch this holiday season, and Synapse has recently released a pretty stellar DVD edition of the film that would make for a wonderful Christmas gift.

5. Jack Frost (1996) - No, not the one with Michael Keaton, this is a Full Moon type picture - straight to video, B grade all around. The story is something about a serial killer dying and coming back as a snowman, obviously this isn't Oscar material. As bad and silly as the picture is, it has a certain charm that begs to be watched with a group of people. If you watch it and you hate it, don't blame me. It all depends upon your sensibility. You've got to like bumbling crap to enjoy this one.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Clip of the Week

Seikima II - Big Time Changes



This bands wikipedia page reads like this...

Seikima-II
(聖飢魔II Seikimatsu?) is a popular Japanese heavy metal band formed by Damian Hamada in 1982. They disbanded on December 31, 1999.

Seikima-II (seikimatsu) translates to "End of the Century". According to the mythology created by the band to promote their music, the band members are a group of demons preaching a religion in order to propagate Satan through the use of Heavy Metal. Each member is a demon of a different hierarchical class with His Excellency Demon Kogure being leader of demons and His Majesty Damian Hamada being crown prince of hell. In accordance to the prophecy and after completing the world conquest, the band would disband at the end of the century on December 31, 1999 at 23:59:59.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Night of the Creeps Directors Cut

In the immortal words of Han Solo, "Woo Hoo!!!"

Night of the Creeps: The Director's Cut is out on Blu-Ray and DVD!!!




Features Include: Separate audio commentaries from Dekker and the cast, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and a battery of behind-the-scenes featurettes.

I'm pretty stoked about the alternate ending that's included, if any of you have seen it I know you will know why! If you haven't seen it... watch it now...

Friday, November 6, 2009

Now that's art!!!

Connected (2009)



This is a movie poster for a short film written and directed by Jens Raunkjær Christensen & Jonas Drotner Mouritsen. Sorry I don't have much information about this movie but I do have a link to the official website here...

http://www.ov43.com/
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