Shark Bait Retro Village: Midnight’s Child (1992)

Published June 7, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

While, in reality, far too many women are still being sex shamed – I do believe if your nanny is a satan marrying, husband seducing bad-ass with a fake accent then maybe she deserves all the names that you can call her!

Sneaking on Marcy!

Such is the case when (former) soap opera diva Marcy Walker (playing Kate, a harried businesswoman) and the nubile Olivia D’Abo (as the pouty mouthed mistress of the devil) come face to face in 1992 television film Midnight’s Child. As D’Abo’s manipulative, murderous Anna lures Kate’s husband away from her while simultaneously making plans to turn her young daughter into the dark master’s newest conquest – Walker unleashes her verbal fury and is soon teaming with Anna’s distraught father in an attempt to bring the horn loving minx down.

Leaving the fire behind!

Of course, since this was made for the Lifetime Network, the more lurid aspects of the plot are played down here to concentrate on Kate’s guilt (as a woman having it all) and Anna’s sharp eyed plotting. Action sequences are, also, infrequent. Although, the opening moments efficiently portray a murder and an explosion at Anna’s Swedish convent school, helping to establish the sinister motives at play. Lovers of dark soap opera antics and devilishly infused plot lines should find that things move quite quickly and enjoyably despite the severe lack of bloodshed, though.

If anything, Midnight’s Child may even help raise social awareness- reminding employers to check the scalp lines of their potential in home employees to get the 666 on whether things are bound to have a distinctly fiery end.

The End?

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

(Bad) CGI Friday’s: Deadly Swarm (2003)

Published June 6, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I thought the buzzing of the gossips at Mary’s Delicatessen and Wine Shaft was bad…until I heard the overpowering hum of the (very fake) killer wasps of 2003 animals-gone-wild opus Deadly Swarm.

Unleashed by a demented scientist in a small Guatemalan village, these miniature beasts are soon attacking local conspiracy theorists, decorated officials and humbled drug couriers. But these unreal pests are good for something. They bring true meaning to the small town’s Day of the Dead celebration, and in a moment of (perhaps misguided bravery), they save a young lass from sexual assault. Yep! Leave the mace. Bring the wasps!

Of course, handsome Shane Brolly (the Underworld series) as a distinguished entomologist and beloved character actor Pepe Serna as a concerned lawman, just have to try to stop these destructive beauties in all their glory! But until they do, the Jaws plotline parallels (“We can’t stop this festival! Think of all the $ we’ll lose”) and multiple moments of frightened victims shooting into the massive swarm (Did they really think that would help??) make this one altogether stinging morsel!

Until the next time –

SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Daddy’s Little Girl

Published June 5, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

“One way or another I’m gonna find ya
I’m gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha” – One Way or Another, Blondie

One summer afternoon, my brother and I pushed (neighborhood bully) Robbie off his Big Wheel for picking on our sister. That, either fortunately or unfortunately, is the extent of my personal revenge motifs.

In writer-director Chris Sun’s chilling Daddy’s Little Girl (released on May 13th, 2014 by Breaking Glass Pictures), an anguished father named Derek (a leveled, award winning Michael Thomson) takes comeuppance to the extreme when his 6 year old daughter (a perfectly angelic Billi Baker) is murdered. After stumbling upon the perpetrator of the crime, and also discovering that the savage criminal had multiple victims, Derek enacts a torturous revenge.

Despite the hard-to-take, real life nature of the subject, Sun ably divides this picture into distinct arcs (the set-up, the anguished downfall, the shocking realization, the plotting of and carrying out of the torturous revenge) and adds enough pulpy, 70s era grit to make the experience an frequently enjoyable and cinematically palatable one. The savagery of Derek’s retaliation is indeed hard-to-take, but Sun intersperses these bloody exchanges with scenes of a duo of dedicated detectives finally closing in on the culprit and some bizarrely enjoyable exchanges between Derek and his family members and friends.

Granted, Derek’s discovery of the killer happens a bit too conveniently and the evidence he finds is too out-in-the-open to be quite believable. But these are small flaws in Sun’s relentless vision. Its starkness, though, gains distinct justification by the true-to-life headlines that chillingly decorate the closing credits of the film.

Assisted by a charming, ingeniously crafted performance by Christian Radford as Derek’s roguish brother Tommy, Daddy’s Little Girl is a powerful mixture of grindhouse cinema and real life crime, well worth seeking out by the truly strong at heart.

You can keep up-to-date with Breaking Glass Pictures at http://www.breakingglasspictures.com and http://www.facebook.com/breakingglasspictures. The forces behind Daddy’s Little Girl post frequently at https://www.facebook.com/DLG666, as well.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Andrew N. Shearer Invades Up All Night!

Published June 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

The Gorilla!

I once invented a happy dance and did it all up and down Halsted Street in Chicago. Once I got out of jail, I vowed never to do it again!

The Andrew!

But, the news that (vibrant, beloved) femme fatale Rhonda Shear is reintroducing (the classic) Up All Night on WTTA (Channel 38) in Tampa, FL this week (with plans up for upcoming syndication) and that she has chosen wildly inventive Athens, GA director-writer Andrew N. Shearer’s Bikini Gorilla as one of her initial films to present makes me want to do that happy dance all over again – handcuffs, be damned.

Of course, Shearer, known as one of the forces behind popular compilation Faces of Schlock , has plenty of amazingness to offer up at http://www.gonzoriffic.com/ and he is sure to be posting UAN airdates (and the like) at https://www.facebook.com/gonzorifficfilms, as well.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Films By: Les Baxter, “The Beast Within”

Published June 2, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Known for such florid Capitol Records titles as Ritual of the Savage, Tamboo! and Jewels of the Sea, brilliantly eclectic composter Les Baxter truly got a case of green exotica with his final film score for 1982’s quirkily violent exploration of growing pains, The Beast Within.

Baxter, who helped create strange moods for such genre flicks as Frogs, Black Sunday, Hell’s Belles and 1970’s The Dunwich Horror (with Sandra Dee), here used (anticipated) moments of orchestral majesty along with modern electronic flourishes to create a sharp and dissonant audio landscape. These textured sonic shifts perfectly matched the onscreen horror as a sensitive teen discovers the deadly reality of the monster that truly lives inside him.

The brilliance of Baxter’s evocative score was given a much deserved tribute in 2010 by the (beyond smart) INTRADA Records (www.intrada.com) who released the score in a special limited edition.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

(Bad) CGI Friday’s: Ghost Storm (2011)

Published May 30, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

In order to control my (surely) other worldly weight gains, I have travelled down many a diet supplement strewn path. Thankfully, I have never tried a Ghost Storm! That would have left me as a pile of (obviously fake) ashy mulch.

Thankfully, 24‘s Carlos Bernard, as a determined sheriff, is a little better prepared than am I. He and Crystal Allen (playing his scientist-style ex-wife) finally figure out how to vanquish a (cheesily unreal) swirl of electro-ized ghosts that are decimating their small coastal town in this silly 2011 epic.

And while some viewers may find a bit too much waste here to make this an efficient time stealer, this spirited ditty does bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “Officer Down”!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

FOG’s Kate Davis & Her Favorite Ladies of Horror!

Published May 29, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

BGHF LOVES journalist Kate Davis!

Sometimes when I suck on a jagged, heart shaped helium balloon I am filled with loads of love…especially for my favorite women in horror!

Of course, the ever-adorable, always crafty journalist Kate Davis holds a special place in my pantheon of ladies and I am particularly giddy over her latest piece for the Forces of Geek website. Here, Davis explores her most admired females characters in terror flicks and it is funny, revealing and amazingly on point.

Be sure to check it here. But be polite. A couple of these ferocious femmes just might snap your neck!

http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2014/05/my-favorite-female-characters-in-horror.html

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Piper Laurie in “Murder at the Oasis”

Published May 27, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

(Exploring the horror film actors who, happily, dominated episodes of Murder, She Wrote, the show that featured everyone’s favorite 80s/90s female detective, Jessica Fletcher.)

Even when covered in pink frosting and wearing a strawberry tutu on my head, I aim for a regal nature. Funny, somehow it never quite works out.

Maybe I should take some lessons from that magnificent theatrical dame known as Piper Laurie (Ruby, Possession, Dario Argento’s Trauma and Twin Peaks). Playing the distinguished Peggy Shannon on the first season Murder at the Oasis episode of Murder, She Wrote, Laurie practically drips with royalty. Unlike her more famous counterpart, Margaret White in 1976’s Carrie, Laurie/Shannon also beams with understanding compassion for her children, here, each thought to be responsible for their aggressive comedian father’s murder.

Said children are, also, played by actors with a number of terror credits to their names. Most fun is Linda Purl (Visiting Hours) who clearly is relishing playing the seductive and willful Terry, a lass who dates bad boys (such as Saturday Night Live’s Joseph Cali) just to anger (her soon to be dead) poppa. Supernaturally handsome Joseph Bottoms (The Intruder Within, Blind Date) counters Purl with more sensitive instincts as a musician who never quite got the needed paternal seal of approval.

With a cast of supporting Rat Pack like characters and obvious nods to Frank Sinatra’s nefarious dealings, the episode, as a whole, is a mildly enjoyable one. Although, a little bit more involvement from the distinguished Laurie (who virtually disappears in the second half of the proceedings), would have definitely helped this one along.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Sta-Prest, “Nelly Strut/Suspiria”

Published May 25, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

“In the daytime, on the dance bar, the only American came to learn. But then the nighttime, and the blood and the screams, into vampires they turned.” – Nelly Strut/Suspiria, Sta-Prest

So, that day I ran around town with the green junk from my health smoothie spread across my upper lip was truly memorable. Thankfully, it is not quite as significant (to most folks) as the first song released by fascinating 90s queercore band Sta-Prest. Debuting on 1994’s eclectic Outpunk Dance Party compilation, Nelly Strut/Suspiria is a perfect homage to outsider pride and a gloriously homo look at the classic Dario Argento film.

http://www.allmusic.com/song/nelly-strut-suspiria-mt0028790370

The band, featuring such iconic figures as Dudley Manlove (AKA Gary Fembot), Professor Swish (Mark Bishop) and Aloofah (Irayah Robles), also released an EP called Vespa Sex – which (if you really think about it) has some pretty scary connotations, as well.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Totally in-ZANE: The Mad (2007)!!!!

Published May 24, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

(Exploring the often bizarre filmography of velvet voiced man-about-town Billy Zane!)

Our family trips always ended up with us lost and spending the night in places that we were told to avoid. The methadone patients loved meeting us, though. Years later, I’m still not so sure…

As Dr. Jason Hunt in the 2007 zombie style mayhem of The Mad, the ever cool, always reliable Billy Zane, also, discovers that a mini-family vacation can be a bloody hell for more reasons than one. While the squabbling between his controlling fiancé and his rebellious daughter may be bad – it’s nothing compared to the insatiable carnage that occurs at the small town bed and breakfast that they end up at. Soon that quaint retreat is overrun by folks infected by a tainted batch of local beef.

An amusing variation on the undead theme and a mild social statement on the paranoia caused by the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease, director and co-writer John Kalangis provides rapid shot humor and plenty of head splattering, body smashing mushiness, here. A zany 80s punk style soundtrack by Toronto band Half Past Four, also, adds to the squishy rambunctiousness.

As an unsure widower who has lost his cool, Zane nicely plays against type, as well. Infusing everything with a sense of bewildered understatement, his Dr. Hunt is believably influenced by his seductive yet overbearing partner (a tart Shauna MacDonald) and his moody, vegetarian daughter Amy (the perfectly pouty Maggie Castle). All involved, thankfully, realize this is a goofy romp and infuse it with the appropriate energy, ultimately making this a fun, low budget time waster – and a perfect reason to go TOTALLY IN-ZANE!!!!

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

http://www.facebook.com.biggayhorrorfan.com