Gisele MacKenzie and Poe’s One Minute Before Death!

Published January 28, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I admit it. I can be dense. But the full blown glory of singer-actress Gisele MacKenzie (1927-2003) is, as her 1955 hit described, not Hard to Get. An acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and queen of various musical theatre productions, this crystalline beauty was best known for her stint on the middle-of-the-road songfest Your Hit Parade. But, like so many other graceful lady entertainers, MacKenzie’s filmic closet contains a moldy tale of terror. Based on Poe’s The Premature Burial, 1972’s One Minute Before Death, features MacKenzie as the vengeful sister of a sweetly deceived heiress.

After a tumble down her mansion stairs, Genevieve Howard (Wanda Hendrix) finds herself trapped in physical limbo. Showing all the signs of being deceased, she is actually fully conscious and completely aware of all the treachery that is occurring around her. Case in point, Howard discovers that her younger husband, Paul, had plotted her death with his young mistress. Furthermore, it is revealed that her haughty sister, Adelaide (MacKenzie) hated her with a passion. Frustrated over her unrequited love for Paul and jealous of Genevieve’s riches, Adelaide now makes haste with a plot to steal her supposedly dead sister’s precious possessions.

Gisele/Adelaide taking charge!

With diva-like gusto, MacKenzie invests Adelaide with a superior air and is obviously relishing the chance to be treacherous. Unfortunately, her efforts are undone a bit by Rogelio Gonzalez’s competent yet fairly pedestrian direction. This is further complicated by the film’s audio problems. The actors’ voices are placed so high in the mix that the film, as a whole, comes off sounding like a midrate high school production.

Wanda taking Gisele to task!

Despite these faults, One Minute Before Death does retain a pleasant vibe, reminding one of a B- version of the Roger Corman produced Poe films. There are a few enjoyable twists, a bit of bludgeoning bloodshed and for those who love their battling dames – some nicely played vengeful cattery between MacKenzie and Hendrix.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Film Jerks!: Zombie Ass!!!

Published January 27, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I like to think that I have gotten some action in my day –but I have never (in all my trollop strewn wonder) gotten any zombie ass! That is, until now!!!

Recently, I joined several fellow Film Jerks! cohorts (including founder/host Derrick Carey, Mark the Movie Man, Scott Davis and Glenn Buettner) for a lowbrow discussion on 2011 Asian atrocity Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead – and my sleazy balance has finally been restored.

You, too, can head down into the depths at the link, below. (Just a reminder: Pull-ups may be required!)

http://filmjerks.podomatic.com/entry/2014-01-22T22_00_00-08_00

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Sky Ferreira, “You’re Not the One”

Published January 26, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Sometimes, you just can’t fight the hunger. I know I can’t fight it every time (I’ve skipped breakfast and) pass a Dunkin Donuts!

Others, like girl-of-the-moment Sky Ferreira, have a better way to deal with The Hunger: they take inspiration from it!

Yes, Ferreira’s moody 80’s inspired video for the catchy You’re Not the One pays definitive homage to Ridley Scott’s Sapphic vampire drama – and audio connoisseurs are all the better for it!

Until the next time, ALWAYS remember to shower in the nude – and SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Final Girl in Innsmouth!

Published January 23, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Brittany Burch (Regina) investigates!

Despite my tremendous crush on Shaun Cassidy (???!!!??? – Parker was so much hotter, no?), I was always more of a Nancy Drew kid. Therefore, as I got older, it was quite easy to shift my love for Pamela Sue Martin onto various courageous and vibrant horror queens and final girls.

Currently, Chicago’s Wildclaw Theatre is doing guys like me a big favor by presenting a industrious, young female as the lead in their thrilling adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Playwright Scott Barsotti transforms the story’s male narrator into an inquisitive lass named Regina Olmstead with smashingly fun results.

As creatively and passionately enacted by Brittany Burch, Olmstead finds herself drawn to the strange town of Innsmouth. Researching urban decay in Arkham, a town near Innsmouth, this crafty femme soon discovers that titular city holds personal history for her. As her curiosity grows, she soon finds her body transforming physically – resulting in a certain knowledge that something fishy is truly going on.

Barsotti and skilled director Shade Murray bring out many mysterious shades here, reminding intense cinema-philes of such works as City of the Dead and (even) Psycho.

The cast works together well to create a sense of unusual intrigue and gill-like dread. Particular shout-outs belong to Jude Roche’s slowly gulping bus driver, Brian Amidei’s informative town drunk and Mark Pracht as a harbinger of doom.

Yet, this is truly Burch’s show and she draws you, fully, into the proceedings with her character’s questioning determination.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth runs through Sunday, January 2016 (2014) at Athenaem Theatre, 2936 N Southport in Chicago.

Further information can be culled at http://www.wildclawtheatre.com.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Antisocial

Published January 22, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I hate it when Medusa visits my local gym. With just one glance, everyone gets stoned.

Similarly, with Cody Calahan’s fun and bloody Antisocial, being released on DVD on January 28th, 2014 by Breaking Glass Pictures, a group of friends find themselves facing down a zombie-like virus that infects them via excessive online viewing.

While the statement on the dangers of media and overreliance on the internet is a bit obvious here, Calahan works with a steady pace and detailed eye making the viewing experience, as a whole, a truly enjoyable one. A gruesome scene involving surgery on a squirming yet determined patient and the use of a brightly hued strand of Christmas lights as a weapon add visual fuel to this fire, as well.

Mylett

Vestiges of well known terror flicks such as Night of the Living Dead and Cabin Fever are present here due to the plot circumstances. The main characters, a group of college friends, are isolated in a house together when the outbreak hits. The nice twist, though, is that everyone, despite their faults, cares about each other. Watching them work, hard, to help each other survive adds a nice poignance to the material and points to Calahan’s skill in working with his cast.

Barret

As the determined heroine, Sam, Michelle Mylett radiates with a nice sense of grit and innocence. Cody Ray Thompson, Adam Christie and Ana Alic all deliver as her fellow victim/friends, as well. Ry Barret, well known for such independent Canadian horrors as Desperate Souls, Psycho Ward and When A Tree Falls, compels with a star making charisma as the headstrong Chad, as well. Its a smaller role than the others, but Barret makes every moment of his screen time count.

You can keep up to date with Antisocial at https://www.facebook.com/AntisocialTheMovie and Breaking Glass Pictures at http://www.breakingglasspictures.com.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Kelsey Zukowski: A Website Fit for a Queen of Horror!

Published January 22, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Some things are worth waiting for.

As an actress and writer (and devotee of all things horror) the talented Kelsey Zukowski (What They Say, Psycho Street, Words Like Knives) has been forging her way through the terror field. Now she has a website worthy of all her efforts.

The awesome http://kelseyzukowski.com/ is chock full of photo galleries, examples of Zukowski’s keen journalistic skills and so much more! So, be sure to check out! It’s guaranteed to make you howl with (delighted) fright….and have you come, screaming, back for more!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Kitsie Duncan: Oddity Files at Hamilton House!

Published January 21, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

“What do ya’ need? Tell Kitsie!”

And while you are working that rock ‘n’ roll vibe, be sure to check out the latest episode of the Oddity Files on GetScaredTV – wherein the distinguished James E. Lee (as seen above) tells the divine Kitsie Duncan all about the ghostly happenings at the glorious Hamilton House.

A valued unit on historic registries, Hamilton House is described as a “waiting room for the spiritual realm”.

If that doesn’t make you want to head over to https://www.facebook.com/GetScaredTV and/or
https://www.facebook.com/OddityFIles to check things out –

Then maybe this shot of the leggy Duncan will….

Kitsie Duncan = the true Lethal Obsession!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Bronski Beat, “Why?” – Avenging Angel

Published January 19, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I wonder about a lot of things. Like: How come I had to add that vintage Suzanne Somers doll to my collection? Eventual Answer: Because it makes enacting scenes from Ants a heck of a lot easier!

I, however, didn’t question the use of Bronski Beat’s classic 80’s track Why? as the background music for a chase/murder sequence in modern exploitation classic Avenging Angel.

Why?, of course, was one of the first rallying cries for queer acceptance. But Jimmy Sommerville’s determined chanting of “You and me together, fighting for our love” works surprisingly well as AA‘s guardian detective (played by handsome Robert F. Lyons) tries, frantically, to save a comely co-worker’s life.

Here is the original, much admired video of this seminal song:

Until the next time – keep working that perfect beat — and SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Film Jerks Podcast: House of Whipcord

Published January 17, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

If I ever did drag, I would want to look exactly like British Page 3 babe Penny Irving in the cult classic House of Whipcord.

But — that sounds like an awful lot of work for nothing.

Speaking of working for nothing…the latest episode of Derrick Carey’s podcast Film Jerks is up and banging, audibly, at the institution doors! Awesome host Carey, and mind blowing filmmaker/journalist types like Andrew Shearer, Glenn Buettner, Scott Davis, Mark the Movie Man and (yes…get ready for it) myself discuss Pete Walker’s gothic Whipcord, here.

So, grab your regulation nighties and start listening, now!

http://filmjerks.podomatic.com/entry/2014-01-16T12_46_11-08_00

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Hail Pink Satan! The Devil is Due!

Published January 16, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

It is years into my confirmed status as an agnostic – yet the thought of Satan still freaks me out! Being raised by a virulent gang of lesbian prostitute nuns will have some collateral damage!

Is he facing down Satan –
OR just waiting for me?

Therefore, I am strangely titillated by the arrival tomorrow (Friday, 1/17/14) of the newest baby hell-spawn flick Devil’s Due. I am hopeful, despite its found footage origins, to experience some real spills (because I’m klutzy) and chills!

http://www.youtube.com/user/DevilsDueMovie

And if worse comes to worse, the presence of Friday Night Light‘s Zach Gilford (who is, also, confirmed as a cast member for Purge 2) and handsome Robert Belushi (last year’s Heebie Jeebies and 2009’s Sorority Row) will, at the very least, supply some eye candy for viewers with inclinations much like myself!

Rockin’ Rob!

So, grab your black cradles and follow this film’s red tinged progress at

https://www.facebook.com/DevilsDueMovie and

http://www.devilsduemovie.com

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan