November can kind of feel like December 26th for horror fans. So much anticipation. So much excitement. A whole month where loving all things spooky is celebrated not just by you and your friends, but embraced by everyone! There are haunted houses. There are horror movie festivals. Sitcoms make Halloween episodes. Skull home decor is encouraged. And once the calendar flips to November, we know 55 days of Christmas music await us.
But November isn’t quite as square as it seems. Here are 8 things about this month that can help you still feel like it’s Halloween everyday. Read more »
Here’s some news from AFM that we couldn’t be more pleased to share. Last year, we told you about Boston filmmakers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen (writers of John Carpenter’s The Ward), and their new film, Dark Feed.(See our issue with their interview.) It’s just been announced that Grindstone and Lionsgate Home Entertainment have acquired North American rights to Dark Feed, with Recreation Media picking up international rights. Dark Feed is the Rasmussens’ directorial debut and is screening at AFM this week. Read more »
Since 2009, every year horror fans on the lookout for industry news can count on a Halloween treat from Kailey Marsh. It’s called The Blood List, and is a tallied vote by approximately 100 industry-insiders on the screenplays they enjoyed reading the most in the horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and dark comedy genres. Kailey puts out the list each Halloween — and the 2012 list has just been issued.
For a script to be eligible it must have come out within the last calendar year. Scripts on previous Blood Lists include Black Swan, Buried, Chronicle,Maggie, and Martyrs. So who is on this year’s list and what movies might we hope to one day see? Check it out. Read more »
Despite having lived in the midwest over the last few years, I am by birth a New Englander. That means Halloween lives in my blood. Halloween (like the rest of the country) was born on the salty shores of New England and this is where it continues to reside for me. Yes, yes, we all celebrate Halloween and I’m sure everyone feels their quaint little town, once the leaves start turning and the pumpkins come out, embodies that spirit better than any other place. But Halloween is something altogether different, more palpable in New England.
So suffice it to say I will save you the suspense and deliver spoilers for my own list, which is set in the Puritanical belly of New England: Salem. My number one favorite Halloween movie (musical or otherwise) is Hocus Pocus. That in mind, I present you with my definitive list of the greatest Halloween Movie Musicals. Read more »
Some movies just stick. Pet Sematary, the film adaptation of the Stephen King bestseller, is one of those movies. Yet, while it’s a film almost every horror fan has seen, one that many hold in high esteem and in their classic canon, we don’t always hear about it as much. Yes Pet Sematary did get its Blu-ray release this month (and a beautiful transfer), but it still had the same features from the Special Edition DVD of earlier years. Where was that “something extra” fans had been waiting for?
Documentarians John Campopiano and Justin White are doing more than lifting the veil for fans hungry for all-things Pet Sematary. Their documentary, Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary, is a meticulous lovesong not just to the movie, but to the filmmaking process. So far, they’ve collected interviews from the expected (cast) to the unexpected — crew members and locals in the Maine community who share their stories from what their life was like when the movie filmed back in 1988. They’ve scoured the shooting locations, and got their hands on never before seen photos from the film’s production. And they’re still shooting. Read more »
Since October 19, Karen Heard has been on a literary mission. To provide horror genre lovers with free, scary stories on her website Hell House Hotel. For the Halloween season, each day you can check what’s behind the window of the Hell House Hotel, and find a new story available for download. (Like a Christmas advent calendar, but, you know, without the stale candy.) We’re nearly halfway through the 13 day countdown, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still read the days you may have missed. Read more »
Him Indoors is a short film which is currently showing at festivals around the world. It’s creating somewhat of a sensation, containing as much humor crammed into its short running time as most sitcoms manage in a season. The humor is as dark as a blood-stained carpet and there’s enough gruesome references scattered throughout to keep the genre fans playing a Horror version of “Where’s Waldo” with the figurines and statues on the shelves. It’s clear that writer/director Paul Davis (Beware the Moon) knows his stuff. There’s even a nod to Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, which you certainly don’t see every day.
Reece Shearsmith (Shaun of the Dead) and the delightful Pollyanna McIntosh (The Woman) star. The short had its second UK showing at Grimmfest in Manchester a few weeks ago and I was there to talk to Pollyanna about her role in this feature, her work on The Woman, and her plans for the future. Read more »
As we wrap up our week of looking back at Nightbreed and ahead to Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut, tonight we are sharing and comparing Clive Barker’s original drawings of Nightbreed characters and how they resulted on film. This is but a sample of the work that Clive shares himself on his website, and has published in books. (One of Barker’s rorschach drawings from Cabal is actually responsible for a jailhouse style tattoo on my boyfriend’s leg, but that’s an embarrassing story that he has to live with.) No matter what might have been lost in translation from the film that Clive shot and what came out in 1990, there’s one thing that Clive must have found solace in. That his Nightbreed looked very much like how he initially envisioned them. Read more »
November can kind of feel like December 26th for horror fans. So much anticipation. So much excitement. A whole month where loving all things spooky is celebrated not just by you and your friends, but embraced by everyone! There are haunted houses. There are horror movie festivals. Sitcoms make Halloween episodes. Skull home decor is encouraged. And once the calendar flips to November, we know 55 days of Christmas music await us.
