The Weekend At The Box Office, A Dead Harvey Weekend and Not Much Going On On DVD

So, here I am, my last few hours in LA... waiting for a shuttle bus to come pick me up and take me to LAX. If you're wondering why I haven't posted anything in a few days, that's why - been too busy down here. I came down for a wedding, but stayed at the Dead Harvey Compound while I was here and we managed to meet up with a few like-minded folks over the last few days and have been shooting a lot of shit about the indie horror scene. I have two things to report. (1.) After one particular meeting, we have renewed vigor for what we're trying to do here at Dead Harvey and, hopefully, we'll have something new to report on that soon. I'm not sure what that something new is, honestly, but let's just say there's some cool things going on and I hope we're a part of it... even if it's just a small part. (2.) Don't fret, folks, indie horror is alive and well, it's just a difficult scene to be in. After a lot of talk, the same conclusion comes up over and over again... This industry is just tough, but I think we all know that. However, there are beacons of hope... Technology is changing a lot... and it's changing things for the better. Social networking is allowing us to find and get in touch with each other easier, the web is making marketing and promoting more accessible and new distributions models will give power back to the filmmakers... It's happening and you need to be up on all of it. So, stay tuned!

Let's turn to the Box Office. So, in a somewhat shocking turn of events, Ben Affleck's "The Town" won the weekend. I say 'shocking' because I don't think anyone expected it to do as well as it did. I thought the marketing made it look like an unofficial sequel to "The Departed", the Scorsese film from four years ago, and it ended up pulling in almost $25Million, which puts it on pace with what "The Departed" did when it came out. Also, Affleck's last foray into writing and directing, "Gone Baby Gone", wasn't that great. In any case, the word on the street is that it's good and the Box Office numbers prove it. As for horror related films at the Box Office, "Devil" proved to be a bit of a let down. It came in third, barely edging out "Resident Evil: Afterlife", which came in first last weekend and fell over 60% this weekend. "Devil" was written and produced by M Night Shyamalan and directed by Drew Dowdle, who was also Executive Producer on the film. Dowdle is probably best known for writing and producing the US version of "Quarantine". I believe that "Devil" is supposed to be the first film in an unofficial trilogy from Shayamalan, but... his track record just sucks. Who knows if they'll move forward with the next one.

As for the week in horror, according to Amazon, there's absolutely no new horror films coming out this week. I think that Fangoria may be releasing their Frightfest films, but they're not available for purchase yet, maybe only for rent - there's "Hunger", "The Haunting", "Dark House" and "Fragile". I'll talk about them when they pop up on Amazon...

Now, I need to get a bite to eat before this shuttle bus gets here.

Resident Evil Takes The Box Office and Some Good, New Horror on DVD

Quite frankly, I've never really liked Milla Jovovich. Well, she wasn't bad in "Dazed and Confused", but everything from, and including, "The Fifth Element" on, sucked ass. I should mention that the ending of "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" was okay, but only because she burned at the stake. Anyhow, as a horror loyalist, of course I've seen all the "Resident Evil" films and, despite Jovovich's best attempts to steer me otherwise, I find them mildly entertaining. I mean, what's not to like? Zombies get slaughtered. Good enough. The fourth installment, "Resident Evil: Afterlife", was the only new film to come out this last weekend and it won the box office with ease... it was the highest grossing yet for the franchise, but was the least attended. Why's that, you ask? Because it was in 3D and 84% of the theater-goers paid the premium to see it in that format. This Friday, we get "Devil", which was written by another person that I've grown to loathe, M. Night Shyamalan. It's directed by someone else, Drew and John Erick Dowdle, which is great... but it's PG-13, which isn't so great. Anyhow, let's check out the new horror that's out on DVD this week. As usual, you can see the trailers for these films on our Youtube Page and you can click on the titles to be taken to their Amazon Page, where you can read more about them and/or buy them.

"Mad Ron's Prevues From Hell" is a classic horror movie compilation and it's hosted by ventriloquist Nick Pawlow and his zombie pal, Happy Goldsplatt. They drape a loose idea around the compilation, as they're entertaining a theater that's filled with Happy's zombie buddies, with the trailers being presented by a drooling, half-wit, cannibal projectionist named Mad Ron. In any case, it's definitely one for the horror enthusiast, as it goes through 47 classic horror trailers.

Holy crap, the trailer for "Necromentia" makes it my pick of the week, for sure. Directed by Pearry Teo, the acclaimed director of "The Gene Generation", the film has been called "Saw" meets "Hellraiser", but better than both... it appears to be filled with gore and erotic tortures, as three desperate men attempt to open the gates of hell and transcend the boundaries of death. Check out the trailer - I'll be picking this one up today.

Very rarely can Bill Cosby be tied to a horror film, but it can be done with "Within". Hanelle M. Culpepper is an award winning writer/director whose career was started after her first screenplay earned her admission into Bill and Camille Cosby's prestigious screenwriting program for African-American writers. The film was meant for the Family Network or something like that, but the trailer looks okay... if you're into PG-13 ghost stories.

"Bloodwood Cannibals" is a feature film that's based on the "Hunting the Unknown" web series. "Hunting the Unknown" is, or was, a web series that's based around the exploits of Nigel Thorne, an adventurer that leads a crew to search for mythical creatures, such as the Yeti, Chupacabra or The Mothman. There's a group of characters, including a producer, an associate producer, a videographer, a sound operator and an editor. In "Bloodwood", they come to find a monster in the Bloodwood Forest, but end up fighting a group of feral cannibals. If you get the DVD, it includes the entire "Hunting the Unknown" web series.