Entertainment

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The Small Woman in Grey

Published August 12, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

The Small Woman in Grey.jpg

Quietly calculating, viciously over-the-top or timidly heroic, I love my women of horror. Therefore, the upcoming British production The Small Woman in Grey sounds truly appealing to me.

Written and directed by Andrew Eltham-Beyers, this soon to be released picture also utilized the talents of Sleepaway Camp’s Felissa Rose, behind the scenes, and legendary scream queen Brinke Stevens, in front of the camera.

Sounds like it can’t lose, right?

So, be sure to check out the official trailer:

Then sign up to get the latest scoops on the project, which prominently places two queer characters in the action, at https://www.facebook.com/Thesmallwomaningrey/, as well.

Brinke small woman

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Hard to Die Screening

Published August 2, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

Hard to Die debbie

Freddy, Jason and Michael may get the lion’s share of horror loving, but the thing that I have always loved about the terror genre is how it has given women such a fertile ground to explore multiple characters. Even when the odds are against them and extremely exploitative elements present themselves as hindrances, strong portrayals can emerge.

Such is the case of Hard to Die which, if the world is fair, will one day be acknowledged as the Queen Mother of All B-Movies. Featuring a bevy of beauties who lit up the screens in a plethora of grindhouse projects, this Roger Corman produced quickie allows the (admittedly) scantily clad heroines to exert themselves in Amazonian manners. Here Deborah Dutch (Graduation Day, Sorority Babes and the Creature from Hell), Melissa Moore (Sorority House Massacre 2, Repossessed, The Invisible Maniac), Toni Naples (Death Stalker 2, Dinosaur Island), Karen Mayo Chandler (Stripped to Kill 2, Out of the Dark), Gail Harris (Curse of the Komodo, Forbidden Games), Monique Gabrielle (The Return of the Swamp Thing, Transylvania Twist) and Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet, Chopping Mall) are featured in tale about a group of hard working retail princesses whose late night inventory shift turns into a deadly game of survival. After opening up an ancient text, the beauties soon find themselves either being possessed by an evil spirit or finding Rambo-like sensibilities within themselves as they take down their out of control colleagues. This gives the actresses plenty of emotions to play with – fear, rage and, finally, exhausted triumph. Tying into Slumber Party Massacre, another Corman property, through flashback sequences and the reuse of the Sorority House Massacre 2 character of Orville Ketchum, a scary looking yet sympathetic foil played with beleaguered dignity by Peter Spellos, adds many levels of genre joy to the film, as well.

Nicely, Midwest residents will get to catch a free screening of this micro epic on Saturday, August 5th at AlleyCat Comics, 5304 N. Clark, in Chicago. Dutch, who will be in town filming scenes for the sequel to her beloved The Hollywood Warrioress project, will be in attendance, talking about the film and taking photos and signing memorabilia for fans. Therefore, if you haven’t seen the film before, this will be a truly unique way to experience it for the first time.

The links to the official page for this event, presented by AlleyCat Comics and myself, are https://www.facebook.com/events/1428358453925943 and https://www.facebook.com/events/827187454117069. Be sure to check those out for more information.

Hope to see you there!

…and until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: The Jones Girls

Published July 23, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

JONESGIRLS-Nice1

For several years, I lived with a guy with the last name of Jones. His mom was a petite blonde woman named Shirley. I could probably, truthfully, claim that I’ve never really been in love. But if I miss anyone, it has to be this guy. Therefore, (R and B sensations) The Jones Girls, no relation to my long distant paramour by the way, have always sparked a subtle interest in me.

Nicely, I have recently discovered that they performed a mysterious and sensuous version of Children of the Night, probably best known as a semi-standard of The Stylistics. (It’s even rumored that their version found its way onto an episode of The Walking Dead.) But, I have always preferred my luscious divas to my dapper gents and the spooky vibe provided by these siblings, including (perhaps necessarily) a sister named Shirley, makes me imagine that any creature, be it seductive vampire or trembling love struck ghoul, could find some romance in the witching hour.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Help The Ball!

Published July 21, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

The Ball

Courtney Love meets Vincent Price? Count me in!

Indeed, The Ball, the upcoming project from the truly colorful and always inventive Count the Clock Productions, promises an aesthetic meeting of these two very creative, yet seeming dissimilar minds (among others). Renowned for such shorts as Pep, I Love Lucy and The Cheerleader Trials, this also promises to be CTCP’s most ambitious project to date.

Thus, if you have a pretty penny or two jangling around in those ragged cut-offs, be sure to throw them some help at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-ball-horror#/. There, you can also explore the majestic originality of some of their previous work, as well.

Now, with my Good Samaritan cap firmly askew… I wish you SWEET love and pink GRUE, and a wonderful weekend!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Laura Branigan

Published July 16, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

laura monsters 2

Power ballad diva Laura Branigan almost got sold into slavery on an episode of CHiPS, but her greatest acting role had to be the mysterious Amanda Smith-Jones on the A Face for Radio episode of the syndicated ghoul fest Monsters. There she confronted an obnoxious radio host played by Morton Downey, Jr. – no surprise there, huh? – and turned him into a hideous monster-puppet.

Of course, Branigan was much better known for her smoky and truly unique renditions of popular pop songs. Among her best loved numbers, which include Gloria, Shattered Glass and The Lucky One, Hot Night from the Ghostbusters soundtrack is probably the one that will get most terror lovers bopping.

Meanwhile, Branigan, who died at the age of 52 from a cerebral aneurism, is always being remembered, fondly, at www.laurabraniganonline.com.

laura-branigan

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Julie Wilson on Monsters

Published July 13, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

 

Julie Angry

Sultry cabaret legend (and Broadway performer) Julie Wilson joined the ranks of such acclaimed stage doyennes as Vivian Blaine, Gisele McKenzie and Patricia Morison when she appeared on the 1991 Monsters episode, A Face for Radio. All these grand dames of the dusky boards had horror credits to their names and Wilson was a welcome addition to the club.

Julie MortonHere as the clairvoyant Cassandra, Wilson tries to warn Morton Downey,  Jr.’s obnoxious Ray Bright about impending danger. Of course, Bright treats Cassandra with nothing but skeptism and scorn. Despite this hateful onslaught, Wilson allows her character to maintain the cool regality that made her a wonder of the song set and establishes Cassandra as someone with both compassion and a rigid will. Naturally, Bright’s cynicism eventually relegates him to the clutches of a Dick Smith inspired creature in the episode’s penultimate awakening. Still, the finest moments here, for terror freaks who like the horror mixed with a cup of class, belong to Wilson.

Julie Monster

Interestingly, the smoky Laura Branigan, a singer who possessed a much different style yet equally passionate fan base, also appears here as the woman who helps spell Downey’s doom.  All in all, it’s a twisted music lover’s wonderland.

julie singing

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Maria Vidal

Published June 25, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

Maria once

Sweet toned songstress Mara Vidal has a very public reminder of learning an ex-boyfriend was gay. Former beau (and master songwriter) Desmond Child’s lyrics for The Truth Comes Out on Runners in the Night, the last album of Desmond Child and Rouge (a band that Vidal was a member of), detail how Child revealed his orientation to her. 

The understanding Vidal, known in metal circles for her backing vocals on Kiss’ Paul Stanley’s solo album, went on, after that group’s disbandment, to be somewhat of a soundtrack queen. Body Rock, the title song to a Lorenzo Lamas vehicle, was the only song of hers to crack the Top 40 in the early ’80s. But horror comedy lovers know her best for contributing 2 tracks to 1985’s Once Bitten. 

Indeed, her seductive warbling on Hands Off! helped contribute to that film’s most memorable moment. Seemingly spoofing Chris Sarandon’s seduction of Amanda Bearse in Fright Night, here Lauren Hutton bedazzles a reluctantly flexible Jim Carrey on the dance floor.

Despite the magical mood created there, Vidal, who released a pretty self titled full length in 1987, never truly found the recognition that she deserves. 

But, for the lucky ones, her best performances will always live on in our neon stroked dreams.

maria vidal

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Josie Cotton

Published June 18, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

josiecotton-jimmylovesmaryann

Johnny Are You Queer? put her on her on the map, but the fabulous Josie Cotton actually released a couple of albums in the ’80s, chock full of gorgeous New Wave tunes, that were worthy of equal attention. Nicely, she also applied a distinctly creepy vibe as she and Adam Ant stalked Pierce Brosnan and Lesley-Anne Down throughout the LA underground in the dreamy horror flick Nomads.

Interestingly, in her own right, Cotton is a lover of B-Movies and odd cinema. Thus her 2007 recording Invasion of the B-Girls, containing the theme songs to various drive-in classics, was born.

Here, though, she supplies a spooky carnival vibe, years before Ryan Murphy went there with American Horror Story, with the video to Jimmy Loves Maryann. It’s a highlight from 1984’s From the Hip, her excellent second album.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

josie cotton nomads

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Review: Necroplasmosis

Published June 17, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

necroplasmosis

In the early ‘90s, long before the days of instant internet accessibility, those who loved their ladies of horror had two places to go: the glossy, more mainstream Femme Fatales magazine and the grittier, homegrown Draculina. Harkening back to that underground Draculina vibe, writer-director-performer Henry Frias Leon and co-writer-lead actress Courtney Perkins create something very visceral with Necroplasmosis, their latest short film.

Perkins plays Lucinda, a photographer with slightly macabre subject matter, and Leon is the obsessed filmmaker who is following her around. Strong and resourceful, Lucinda ultimately finds the most cutting way to deal with an errant beau here. Nicely, unlike the days when Hugh Gallagher seemed to control everything that came out of Draculina, Perkins and Leon seem to be equal partners in Necroplasmosis. Thus, the world they create seems free of exploitation and centered around mutual interest.

Here’s hoping, though, that future installments will show Lucinda taking out her skills of vengeance upon all those right wing bigots and power figures that are still threatening to keep women from their equal rights.

Until then, be sure to check out this initial DIY work at:

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Witchcraft Series: The Final Adventure?

Published June 16, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

witchcraft

Some folks dip their toes in the pool. Others dive in, body first.

Derrick Carey of the sick cinematic podcast Astro Radio Z belongs to the latter category. He and various other mutants, myself included, have been immersing themselves in the deep end by analyzing the low budget soft core horror series Witchcraft – for…gulp…years now!

Naturally, now that Witchcraft 14: Angel of Death, Witchcraft 15: Blood Rose and Witchcraft 16: Hollywood Coven have been unleashed upon the world, we had to take a look and give our (sometimes) zany, (occasionally) well modulated opinions on them. Nicely, we are joined here by Dustin Hubbard, an accomplished filmmaker and, perhaps, the greatest Witchcraft fan ever.

You can listen to the episode here:

https://archive.org/download/ARZ98/ARZ_98.mp3

…and if you survive…be sure to visit Dustin’s Witchcraft tribute site, as well:

https://www.facebook.com/Witchcraft-The-Longest-Running-Series-in-Horror-318730181661944/

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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