New Horror Out on DVD this Week

Okay, finally... let's get to the new horror that came out on DVD this week. It may not seem like a good week because there's only 9 releases, but there is some good shit coming out. I'll quickly mention the rereleases, as there's only 3 of them... there's the Criterion edition of the classic "The Night of the Hunter", "The Twilight Zone: Season 2" comes out on Blu-ray, as does "Children of the Corn". All are classics... just not sure I'd pay $70 to see season 2 of "The Twilight Zone" on Blu-ray. Anyhow, let's get to the new releases. As usual, you can click on their titles to be taken to their Amazon page, where you can read more and/or buy them, plus you can go to our Youtube Page and watch all the trailers.

Let's start with "Don't Look Back", which is your typical non-new wave French horror. Meaning, it's overly dramatic and brooding. Don't expect "Martyrs" or "Inside" with this one. It's from Marina de Van and it's about an author that seems to descend into madness, questioning everything. Think Lynch or Cronenberg with more moody music, slow moving scenes and French people.

I couldn't find the trailer for "A Lure: Teen Fight Club", but I really wish I could have. This is the craziest mash-up of pop horror films that I've ever heard of. An undercover female detective enters high school, where she tries to blend in, because she's looking in to why a group of high school co-eds have gone missing. It turns out that they've all be lured and imprisoned in a horrifying hideout... where, obviously, they're being forced to fight each other to the death. There's a bit of "Fight Club" in there, some "21 Jumpstreet", a bit of "Hostel", a touch of "My Sweet Psycho 16"... I love it.

Horror legends Sig Haig and Michael Berryman star, or, should I say, are featured, in "Haunted Casino", which also has something to do with Charles Band. Amazon says it's from Wizard Entertainment, but I think the trailer said it was from Full Moon... which would explain the Charles Band connection. Anyhow, the film has Charles Band all over it, with creepy muppets and goofy, gore-filled characters.

I wish I could find out more about "The Box of the Dead", too... which looks to be good-old micro-cinema at its best. Writer/director William E Cheney is quite bold, as he calls it "the most disturbing film of 2010"... and he may be right, I haven't seen it. I do like the tag line, though - "The story of two losers and their horrific deaths". Alright, I'll bite. I want to know more...

"Texas Frightmare Massacre" is another low-budget film that looks awesome. Writer, director and producer Joe Francis actually shot it live during the Texas Frightmare weekend. It's about Max, who goes to a horror convention with his step sister and her jerk boyfriend, who end up colliding with a couple of security guards... dirty jokes, sex and violence ensue. The trailer has piles of sex, so I can only imagine what the feature is like.

Last up is "Exhibit A", which uses everyones favorite shooting style - first person found footage. The film is out of the UK and it was actually quite successful, from what I understand. It's always good to check these out, as first person shooting is so much easier and cost effective that setting up cameras traditionally. You know what they say, watch how people use the style successfully... and then copy it.

New Horror Out On DVD This Week, sort of including "Silent Night, Deadly Night"

Well folks, here we are... the last day of November, mere hours before we enter the last month of 2009 and less than 3 weeks until "Avatar" comes out. At the box office, "New Moon" continued to dominate, pulling in another $42Million, boosting it's grand total take to over $230Million. "Old Dogs" came in 4th, with a take of over $16Million and "Ninja Assassin" came in 6th, with a take of just over $13Million. "The Road", which I did NOT get to go see, but really wanted to, came in at 11th... but it was in extremely limited release, only coming out on 111 screens. The good news? It DID have the highest average, per theater, take... at $13,721, which is really cool. Reviews have been great and I do hope to check it out soon. As for what's coming out on DVD tomorrow, well... you can check out all the trailers on our Youtube Page, which you can find by clicking here, and you can click on the titles to go to their page on Amazon, where you can read more and/or buy them... otherwise, read on.

I put up "Silent Night, Deadly Night" because Amazon was promoting a box set of all of them, but I just saw that it's been "discontinued by the manufacturer". So, the title links to the latest rerelease of the original... and I put it up because, well... it's December tomorrow and "Silent Night, Deadly Night" is probably the best Christmas horror of all time. Check out the trailer on our Youtube Page and tell me that it doesn't make you want to check it out again... I dare you. "You made it through Halloween... Now try to survive Christmas".

For all you Ash fans, it looks like there's yet another rerelease of "The Evil Dead". I'm not sure what the reason for this particular rerelease is, but it was a great excuse to watch the original trailer again. Do yourself a favor and go check it out on our Youtube Page. That trailer makes me want to go shoot something... "Evil Dead" was really the birth of indie horror. Bless this film.

I couldn't find the trailer for "Little Red Devil", but it's a shot on HD, indie horror from Tommy Brunswick, the guy who brought you "Biker Zombies", "They Must Eat" and various other indie horror films. This stars James Russo and Daniel Baldwin and it looks like the story revolves around a guy that's in a dead-end life, where he's searching for his long lost girlfriend... when he makes a deal with the devil and becomes an unholy servant in a deadly game of evil revenge.

"Deadline" stars Brittany Murphy and she plays a screenwriter that's recovering from a psychological breakdown at a remote Victorian house. Her deadline for the script is approaching, but... the place is haunted and she finds some disturbing videotapes in the attic. Really? Yawn...

"Deader Country" is the sequel to "Dead Country", from Andrew Merkelbach. We discussed the first film with Andrew and you can check out the interview here, if you'd like. In any case, he's back... and he promises more zombies, naked nymphs, aliens, animated cats, warlocks, cyborgs, strange hybrid creatures, nude vixens and ghostly apparitions. Once again, he's got it all covered.

I've gotta say, "Poker Run" actually looks pretty good... It's from Julian Higgins and it looks like "Saw" meets biker exploitation. Basically, a couple of weekend bikers are thrown into a warped world of violence, where they're forced to follow a series of bizarre clues that include doing some crazy, psychopathic tasks, after their wives are kidnapped by a pair of psycho bikers.

"Hair Extensions" is one of those films that could only come from Asia... and I mean that in a "I wish I could see more films like this" way. So, this guy makes wigs and hair extensions from the hair of dead girls and, of course, the extensions carry the grudges of the original owners and can attack people at random. It won the Horror Jury Prize for Best Film at the Austin Fantastic Fest.

I couldn't find the trailer for "Sins of The Father", but it's from Brain Damage and it's about a guy that returns home to uncover the truth about his family's murder.

New Horror out on DVD this week, including the long awaited return of Robert Hiltzik to the "Sleepaway Camp" franchise

Ahh... the week AFTER Halloween. Just a little slower, however there's some great titles out this week, including the long awaited return of Robert Hiltzik to the "Sleepaway Camp" franchise. As usual, if you're looking to buy the films and want to help us out a bit, click on the titles and buy them from Amazon, through us. Also, you can go to our Youtube page and check out all the trailers. However, I can't get to that right away, but should get to it in a few hours....

Most of you should remember the 1983 cult hit, "Sleepaway Camp", which was written and directed by Robert Hiltzik. The fourth installment in the series comes out this week, called "Return to Sleepaway Camp". The cool thing about this installment is that it's, once again, written and directed by Hiltzik, even though it was done a few years back. Hiltzik let other people write and direct the second and third installments, while he went to law school and then became a partner in a NYC law firm. The funny thing is that he only found out that "Sleepaway Camp" had a big cult following in 2000, when someone contacted him to do a commentary on the Anchor Bay release. So, I guess he said, "F it", and came back to do this one. He also has another one in the works called "Sleepaway Camp Reunion", which is currently in production.

I feel like I should know about "Moscow Zero", but I don't. I believe it's a Spanish film, as it's done by Spanish director, Maria Lidon, and it's written by a Spanish writer, Adela Ibanez, AND it was filmed in Spain. However, it stars Vincent Gallo, Val Kilmer and Sly Stallone's kid, Sage Stallone, which is why I can't beleive I don't know much more about it. Anyhow, reviews are mixed and it's about an eerie multilevel system of caves and catacombs that exist under Moscow and are filled with zombies and evil demons.

"The Craving", which was originally called "Death Valley", is an indie-horror monster flick from Sean Dillon, released by Brain Damage. It's about five young people on their way to a summer festival who run into a mysterious man in a remote part of the desert... and after they unleash the man's deadly secret, they must decide who they can trust as they struggle to escape or just survive. The film is done by a collective of artists known as Biscuits & Gravy and it's their first feature length film. Judging from the trailer, it looks like it's really well put together. I'm going to have to check this one out...

"Chill" is written and directed by Serge Rodnunsky, who's directed a whole bunch of stuff. It won a few awards, including the commendation award at Festival of Fantastic Film in the UK and the Gold Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fantasy/Horror at WorldFest Houston. After that, it was picked up and released by Lions Gate. It's being called a 'classic retro horror thriller' and has a pretty wicked plot - Sam, an aspiring writer, takes a job as a clerk in an L.A. inner city grocery market owned by the sinister Dr. Munoz, a former scientist who claims to have a rare skin condition that forces him to live in sub-freezing temperatures. However, Dr. Munoz actually died some time ago, but has kept himself alive through occult measures and the flesh that he harvests from kidnapped victims.

There's a bunch of Spanish horror films coming out this week, too. My knowledge of Spanish is limited, so here's what I can find out about them... "13 Miedos: Primera Temporada", appears to be a compilation of some sort. I can only guess that because it's 287 minutes long. I know nothing more than that. "El Nominado" is about 'the most extreme reality show to date' where you and 9 strangers are dropped off by a helicopter in a mountain range and have to survive in a bunker 40 meters below ground. "La Brecha" is about a broken clock that can predict the time in which people will die.

Lastly, I have to mention "Autopsy: A Love Story", which is actually a few years old now, but I wanted to mention it because I love the title. It's and low-budget indie horror, written and directed by Guy Crawford and it's about a morgue worker who falls in love with one of his female stiffs. It's low budget, but if there's one reason to check it out, check it out because Joe Estevez is in it... Bless that guy.

Potential Yahoo - Lions Gate Deal? Crazy Times Ahead!

I came across this article and I was just going to include it in a post with a bunch of other links, but I have WAY to much to say here. Here's a link to the article in question, it has to do with the shitty stock market and how that effects media companies, it talks about Lions Gate - which just happens to be one of my favorite studios and, lastly, I think it also shows some insight into what the future may look like for media... Sorry for this long post, but I've got a lot of shit to say on the topic.

First off, let's take a look at this shit storm called the stock market. Chances are, you've heard that there's some pretty scary stuff going on out there. This isn't a financial site and I'm not going to bother talking economics, but let's just state a couple facts. One, panic is setting in and two, there's some crazy shit going on. Most media companies are publicly traded, whether on their own, like Lions Gate, or as a subsidiary of their media conglomerate - think Viacom owning Paramount. Media stocks, much like every other stock out there, have been hammered. Take Lions Gate, for example, which is currently trading at $6.16 as I type this... In August, it was as high as $10.50. So, if you do the math, the company lost almost half its value in 3 months. However, that's stock value. There are people out there who are way smarter than me that can take a look at the books, plus their library of films and the deals they have in place and come up with a proper valuation... which, in this case, should be higher than $6.16 per share. (According the article, it could be as high as $15 or $16 a share) So, what happens? Guys like Carl Icahn, the billionaire financier, corporate raider and private equity investor, step in and start buying shares... which is exactly what happened. Why? 'Cause he smells an opportunity.

Let's look at Lions Gate for a second... they're considered to be one of the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution companies in North America. And I think they did that on the shoulders of indie horror, which as you know... is one of the most profitable sub genre's out there. Lions Gate's first box office success was one of my personal favorite films, "American Psycho", and they went on to do stuff like "Saw", "Hostel", "House of 1,000 Corpses", not to mention distributing edgy stuff that no one else would touch, like "Fahrenheit 9/11". That's just to mention their theatrical releases, they also have an indie horror library that numbers in the thousands, which they distribute direct to DVD. Long and short, this is a company that's only been around for about a decade, but has become one of the worlds quintessential indie horror distributors. They saw this market before anyone else did and now they own it. They produce, they distribute, they acquire edgy foreign horror, they have a television production arm and they make money.

Okay, so... now we know that Lions Gate is a pretty good company AND that the stock market has hammered its price down AND Ichan smells something. So, what's he smell? According to this article, he smells it as a take over target. By who? Yahoo. Now, whether or not that would actually happen is one thing, but what's interesting to me is the fact that Lions Gate would even BE a take over target for Yahoo. Let's think about it for a second... doesn't that actually fit with what we've been saying for a while now? The future of film is not theatrical, it's through new distribution methods, such as online. A Yahoo take over of Lions Gate would give an internet company every relationship it needs, plus a huge library of films, to get into a whole new era of content distribution. Personally, I think that companies like Yahoo, Microsoft and even Sony will be the studios and media players of the future. Microsoft is prepping the Xbox to be the media portal that connects everything in your living room and Sony's trying to do the same thing with its PS3. It's no mistake that they all connect to the internet, have web browsers, plus play DVD's and Blu-Ray. Yahoo wants into that market, so this could be a good move. Anyhow, I would expect that coming soon, you'll see a LOT of companies selling off parts, plus other companies buying up those parts. There's going to be some interesting consolidation coming...

So, what's this mean for lowly indie filmmakers? Who really knows? I do have a few ideas, though. For one, all the studios, from the big guys all the way down to the more indie guys, are axing budgets. That's precisely why shitty shows like "Knight Rider" are getting a full season. No one wants to pay for making a whole new show. Risky films aren't going to get made and you're going to see a LOT of PG-13, made for the whole family, films and TV garbage. They're hedging their bets and won't take a risk. This will widen the divide between indie film and the studios, which could create opportunities for you. If anyone can take a risk, indie filmmakers can. So, my suggestion? More blood, more guts, more nudity and more f'ed up plot lines. Go f'ing crazy. People will get sick of seeing generic visual vomit and crave edgy films. So, the edgier, the better. Why do you think Asian films are so f'ed up right now? Because, years ago, the government tried to tell people what they could watch. So, what happened? The underground horror movement went ballistic over there. The other thing I sense coming will be an explosion of new distribution methods. Everyone's profit margin is so slim now, that they'll be looking for any new way to make money... and there's only one way to do that, get it out there any way possible. When the internet companies get involved, they'll get all the nerds working on ways to get content out there through your PSP's, Xbox's, smart phones and whatever new device is going to be launched in the next few years.

So, maybe it's the optimist in me, but... the next few years are going to be interesting. It could get bad, real bad. But I do think there's good times ahead, especially for those indie filmmakers that keep at it and push forward.

Film Fest Updates: The Toofy Film Fest, Rotten Jack's Creep Show and The Echo Park Film Center

For once in my life, the fact that you can search your browser history turned out to be a good thing. As I scrolled past all the porn, sports and social networking sites I was on last night, I came across the links you see below... which were all in a post that I wrote last night, but it didn't save for some reason. So, yeah... this is the second time I've written this. And it better work this time...

Let's take a look at three distinctly different events going on, one's a festival, one's a convention and the last is a film center.

The Toofy Film Fest, founded by Jeff and Mark Siebert in 2004, takes place in Boulder, Colorado in the Boulder Theater every September. As it's mid to late September right now, they're obviously closed for submissions, but keep an eye out for when they re-open for 2009. It's a more laid-back festival than most and it plays out more like a big party... for example, one of their tag lines was "Relax... they're just movies." Be careful when submitting, though, as they're not genre specific. They probably wouldn't be into anything that's too hardcore. Having said that, you never know. One of the cool things about them is that they're partnered with Current TV, whose chairman is former Vice President Al Gore, and their producers meet with filmmakers and will entertain pitches. I can just see how the meeting would go between a Dead Harvey reader and Al Gore... "Yeah, so... the main characters are a family of super-rich, psychotic midgets who live like royalty during the day, but dress up as chimps and kill the 'regular folk' at night... what do you mean, 'No'?, that's bullshit."

Rotten Jack's Creep Show takes place this weekend, September 20, in Buffalo, NY. Now, Rotten Jack's is actually a store, they're "America's premiere horror & halloween boo-tique", in fact. However, this weekend is their second annual "Creep Show" and it's a big convention, where you can buy movie apparel, props, horror collectibles, etc. There's also tattoo artists, paranormal groups, musical acts and celebrity guests. If you're a regular reader, you know my stance on conventions. I think they're equally as important as the film festivals. If you've made a few films or if you could band together with other filmmakers, you should become a vendor and sell DVD's, talk with the people and, hell, get everyone's name, number and email address, so you can keep in touch with them. Great places to sell merchandise and network, as it's all like-minded people there... who've come to a convention to spend money.

Lastly, let's look at The Echo Park Film Center. The only reason I found them is because if you look at the last post, Fewdio is screening their short "Laundromat" at the 62nd Film Festival in L.A. So, I just assumed that was it was the 62nd time that an event called "Film Festival" was occuring in L.A., but when my crack google skills couldn't come up with anything close to that, I dug deeper. Then I found The Echo Park Film Center, which is is doing an event called "62nd CINEMA", as in "Sixty-Second Cinema". Quite witty, but it does make it hard to search for. Anyhow, when I went to the Echo Park Film Center, I found that they do tons of screenings, events and shows. Just go to their site, it's crazy. Anyhow, if you're in the L.A. area, you should check it out and get involved.

linkapalooza - August 18, 2008: '5 or Die' revealed, "The Gates of Hell" unveiled and other indie horror news...

Tom Holland Debuts New Web Series '5 OR DIE' on Bloody-Disgusting.com: Last week, I told you guys about that mysterious clip that mysteriously didn't get sent to us at Dead Harvey, but did get sent to a bunch of other horror sites... well, it was quickly revealed that "5 or Die" is a new short film from writer/director Tom Holland, they guy who did "Child's Play". It's debuting exclusively on Stike TV, which is that new online channel that a bunch of writers created during the writer's strike. A lot of people seem to think that Strike TV may be a huge catalyst for pushing people to online entertainment and something that will be a major thorn in the side of network tv, as it's one of the only online channels that is made strictly by professionals. I'm not sure how you go about finding "5 or Die", specifically, buy you can find Strike TV here.

"The Gates of Hell" trailer on Youtube: Not really news, but I came across this... and I had to share. It's the trailer for first time director, Kelly Dolen's upcoming film, "The Gates of Hell". It's about five adventurous filmmakers who set out to make an online interactive movie, exploring the nature of evil, who soon find themselves the subject of their own intentions as they accidentally uncover the heinous truth that has been secretly hidden in the bowels of Von Diebitsch Manor for generations. I know, I know... it sounds like something you've seen a thousand times, but trust me... click on the link up there and you'll find out what I found out - that this is going to be awesome.

Lionsgate Expects More Revenue Gains on THR.com: Guess what? Lionsgate is making money... and guess where they make it? "The growing Blu-ray and digital markets". Lionsgate finances a lot of their own movies, but they make tons of money off of aquiring and distributing indie horror films. Lionsgate is fun to watch because I think they really do have it right... they're one of the only major players that gets how lucrative the indie horror business is. So, if they're doing well, you know that there is a market for all this stuff we're making and putting out there.

How Virtual Reality Is Coming to the Movies on adage.com: I just thought I'd pass this on because it's just plain crazy. Basically, they're talking about "cinema 2.0" and how the worlds of film and video games are going to collide. Essentially, graphics cards are so fast now, that it'll be possible to render actors virtually, then make movies interactive... like a video game. Such as, "playing a movie at home, users can change plots, interact with characters and even create new endings." Further, as they can render actors into simulated environments, directors can "envision his film" before they shoot it. I'm betting I could finance 5 indie horror films for the amount of money they would spend on "envisioning" ONE scene.

Lastly, check out the poster for Saw V's Blood Drive (click to enlarge... I think):

April 15, 2008 - New horror on DVD today... including the kick-ass film, "Inside"

I've already discussed "Inside" (À l'intérieur) in a post yesterday and I've been blowing this movie for a while now. So, just do yourself a favor and go get it. It's a French film, directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Bustillo wrote it, as well) and they're also the two guys that were supposed to remake "Hellraiser", but... after seeing "Inside" and reading the first draft of their interpretation of "Hellraiser", the producers got a bit scared and decided to 'go another route'. So, the guys who make one of the most talked about, f'ed up films of the year write you a truly horrific vision of "Hellraiser" and you back out??? Seriously... come on. I'm smelling a music video director being brought on to pump out a flashy PG-13 version. Garbage. Anyhow... again, support horror and go check out "Inside".

"AVPR", or "Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem", if you're not into the brevity thing, was directed by 'the Brothers Strause' (Colin and Greg) and was written by Shane Salerno. The Strause brothers are actually special effects guys, having founded their own company, Hydraulx, which produced effects for such films as "300", "T3" and "Titanic". As for directing, this is their first feature film. Shane Salerno wrote the script and he's done a few quality Hollywood films, such as: "Shaft" and "Armageddon". The Strause boys actually pitched an idea for the first "AVP", which was rejected. So this could've been a great chance for them to thumb their respective noses at the studios, as well as get the franchise back on the right foot, but... this sucked. It sucked bad and I'm very surprised that it's made over $128Million worldwide. Oh, further to sucking, it was nominated for two Golden Raspberry's in the fields of 'Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie' and 'Worst Prequel or Sequel'. Unfortunately, the awards went to "I Know Who Killed Me" and "Daddy Day Camp". Don't fret "AVP", maybe you'll get 'em next time. Actually, please don't. Just let the franchise die.

Once again, the Sci-Fi orignals keep coming. "Loch Ness Terror", which was originally called "Beyond Loch Ness", was produced by Insight Films for the Sci-Fi Channel and was directed by Paul Ziller. I swear that the Sci-Fi channel keeps directors and writers on salary, there seems to be a handful of them and they just keep making this stuff. Ziller started out doing some low-budget horror, like "Pledge Night" and "Bloodfist IV: Die Trying", but then he got in to the Sci-Fi gravy train, with films like: "Snakehead Terror", "Swarmed", "Android Apocalypse"... My take - if you want a regular paycheck and you like low-budget sci-fi and horror, just get your resume over to the Sci-Fi Channel. Once you're in over there, you've got the golden ticket.... to make lots of low-budget, horror/sci-fi crap.

I guess the orginal title, "Polycarp", didn't exactly portray what the distributors were hoping for. So, they went with the less subtle title, "Kinky Killers". Directed by George Lekovic and written by Ken Del Vecchio, "Kinky Killers" is probably everything that you think it is... there's a sexy psychiatrist and her patients are being murdered in bloody, satanic rituals that involve sex and mutilation. Then there's the detective who discovers that some beautiful women are the prey.... or, wait... are they doing the preying? Who cares, when sex, nudity, gore and murder are involved, everyone's a winner.

Okay, I really wanted to write up something about "Queen Cobra" because it's being independently distributed. However, as I haven't actually seen it and I can't find anything online about it, there's not much I can say. I can say that it's directed and edited by Lewis Schoenbrun, who's edited more horror movies than the Sci-Fi channel has made. I can also say it's written by Keith Schaffner, who wrote a couple other low-budget horrors. Well, actually, I can also tell you that it takes place on a college campus where students are being slaughtered by a monstrous half-woman, half-snake creature, but that's it... and man alive, that doesn't sound bad! Let this be a lesson, if you're going to independently distribute your film, there's a few basic things you can do: a trailer on Youtube, a simple website and maybe send a screener or two out to some people to review.

So, please do NOT mistake the DVD being released today, "The Curse of Lizzie Borden II - Prom Night" as anything to do with the "Prom Night" series. This is the sequel to the 2006, low budget horror, "The Curse of Lizzie Borden"... they just tacked on the 'Prom Night' in hopes of some sort of residual effect from the "Prom Night" remake that's in the theaters right now. This one is directed by Eric Swelstad and written by Jeremiah Campbell, who actually also wrote the next film that I'm going to talk about...

"Attitude for Destruction", which is brought to you by Cleopatra/Music Video Distribution and is a self-proclaimed rock horror film. It's about a Guns N' Roses - esque band called Hollywood Roses... who kill their lead singer in order to get signed, but then the lead singers girlfriend, who made a pact with the devil, brings him back from the dead, so he can go on a killing spree, slaughtering all who have crossed him. It's a really low-budget, shot on DV film and it's got a lot of things I like in it, including a body building midget, but... here's my problem. Remember how it's brought to you by Cleopatra? Well, they happen to also be the the company that releases albums from, you guessed it, Hollywood Roses. So, this film is really just a big, long, low-budget music video / promotional ad for Hollywood Roses, the LA based Guns N' Roses tribute band. Ahh... whatever, it's got a midget in it... I'll check it out.

Click on the links below to buy any of the DVD's discussed above: