Michael Simon’s Gay Zombie!

Published April 3, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

gayzombie
Big Gay Horror Fan has NEVER dated a zombie. Don’t get me wrong. I’d hang with a zombie. It’s just that I’ve haven’t ever been asked on a date!

Miles and Todd, on the other hand, feel an immediate attraction in Michael Simon’s very fun 2007 short Gay Zombie. They might even be able to get past the fact that Miles is a zombie if it weren’t for the shocked patrons at Todd’s local watering hole and yoga classes. Of course, fate and a seemingly helpful psychiatrist (never trust authority, yo!) may have other plans for the two.

gayzombie2aThe talented Simon embraces the silliness of the situation at hand. But beneath the zombie makeovers and dick gags, he gets at something more serious. With a light touch, he ably addresses the extreme prejudices that the queer bar crowd have for all those outside of their Lady Gaga loving norm. He, also, nicely deals with the bittersweet fact that some relationships, no matter how desired, simply aren’t meant to be.

Fine performances from Brad Bilanin as Miles, Ryan Carlberg as Todd and Robin McDonald as the therapist make Gay Zombie a very pleasant, surprisingly thoughtful way to spend 20 minutes.

You can find more about Gay Zombie (including details on how to purchase it) at www.gayzombie.net.

Big Gay Horror Fan, meanwhile, is always trying to entice the undead at https://www.facebook.com/BigGayHorrorFan.

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

Horror, She Wrote: Kelli Maroney in Murder, She Wrote’s “Menace, Anyone?”

Published April 2, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

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Big Gay Horror Fan will never forget the humiliation of not hitting one tennis ball in-bounds when he played against that seven armed green monster in high school.

Maroney with Johnson, Hamilton and Russell.

Maroney with Johnson, Hamilton and Russell.

As Cissy Barnes in the giallo plot inspired episode of “Menace, Anyone?” (Season 2, Episode 20) on Murder, She Wrote (focusing on the adventures of mystery writing/accidental detective Jessica Fletcher), genre icon Kelli Maroney (Chopping Mall, Night of the Comet, Servants of Twilight, Gila!) definitely comes out winning, though. Putting her soap opera training (Ryan’s Hope, One Life to Live) to good use here, Maroney plays the manipulative, flirtatious Barnes for all she is worth. A star tennis player, Barnes is always threatening to walk out on her benefactors while dressing outrageous and engaging in sharp banter with her rivals – whom include beloved fellow horror notables like Linda Hamilton (Children of the Corn, King Kong Lives, Terminator) and Betsy Russell (the Saw series, Cheerleader Camp, Camp Fear, Avenging Angel).

A bit more intricately plotted than Jessica Fletcher’s adventures as the series wore on, this prime episode has a very Italian feel (a twisted subplot involving insanity, forced suicide, mixed identity and a missing sister whom may or may not exist) and some moments of Hitchcock inspired suspense (a trespassing detective’s murder features some almost Psycho-like camera work).014

This episode is also a cinema lovers delight with television stalwart Dennis Cole (Zombie Death House, Irwin Allen’s Cave-In), golden age idol Van Johnson (Sergio Martino’s Scorpion With Two Tails, Killer Crocodile), 80’s teen sensation Doug McKeon (On Golden Pond, Mischief) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) all making appearances, as well. Even Kerrie Sherman (who played the vicious Patti in Greydon Clark’s Satan’s Cheerleaders) shows up as a secretary whom believes she is from Mars! Delicious!

012Perhaps, most fun here, though, is watching Maroney enjoying devilishly interacting with Johnson in her opening scene. The two worked together previously on Ryan’s Hope and are obviously have a ball in their comical strategizing.

Maroney who will be appearing April 5- 7th, 2013 at the amazing Cinema Wasteland in Ohio (www.cinemawasteland.com) can always be reached at www.kellimaroney.com.

Meanwhile, Big Gay Horror Fan is always worshipping the treasured vixens of terror at https://www.facebook.com/BigGayHorrorFan!

Be sure to check back often as BGHF, frequently, explores the fright stars that populated Murder, She Wrote with “Horror, She Wrote”!

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

Music to Make Horror Films By: Deborah Holland, “Come to Me” – Fright Night Part II

Published April 1, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

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When your life is a continual Fright Night, it is best to have a soundtrack to soothe you a bit.

deb_600Thankfully, ultra talented singer/songwriter Deborah Holland’s haunting version of “Come to Me” gave moody depth to the end credits of 1988’s long loved Fright Night Part II.

Seductive and haunting, this song has inspired talented fans to create a bevy of tribute videos:

and…

AND…

All are a true testament to Holland’s evocative serenading and the powerful, erotic sensations emanating from cinematic vampire lore.

Be sure to check back often for more high blooded salutes to the majesty of “Music to Make Horror Films By”!

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

The Backside of Horror: Cameron Dye in 1988’s “Out of the Dark”

Published March 26, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

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“You’re just a kid, you know that? But, you’re a naughty little boy!” – Kristi to Kevin, “Out of the Dark“

The last time Big Gay Horror Fan played sports in the nude, he was 6 months old and playing kick ball in his momma’s tummy.

Thankfully, for appreciators of fine male flesh, handsome Cameron Dye (The Last Starfighter) shows just what he is made of while playing a game of one on one in 1988 slasher/police procedural Out of the Dark.

Dye with Mayo-Chandler

Dye with Mayo-Chandler

Centering around a group of phone sex worker/actresses who are being murdered by a psychotic clown, Out of the Dark can be recommended almost solely by its amazing cast. Filled with genre regulars like Karen Black(Trilogy of Terror, Burnt Offerings, House of 1000 Corpses), Karen Witter (Buried Alive, Popcorn, Midnight, The Vineyard), Starr Andreeff (Dance of the Damned, The Vampire Journals, The Terror Within, Amityville: Dollhouse) and Karen Mayo-Chandler (Stripped to Kill II, 976-Evil II, Hard to Die), OOTD, also, features cameo appearances from exploitation regulars/faded Hollywood greats as Divine, Lainie Kaizan, Tab Hunter (whose bit as a surprised motorist is some of his best on camera footage) and Paul Bartel. Add character actors like Geoffrey Lewis, Bud Cort (Harold and Maude), Silvana Gilardo and Tracy Walter into the mix and you have a low budget cinephile’s paradise!cameronshot

Here, Dye plays Kevin Silver, a photographer with access to all the victims, as his girlfriend, Kristi (perky Lynn Danielson), works with them. As police investigators examine the consistently half-naked Silver’s muddied past, he and Kristi decide to unwind with a game of basketball. Kristi has other ideas, though. As Kevin/Dye goes to take the first shot, she pulls down his shorts giving the audience a nice view of his svelte globes o’ loving! Later as things continue to escalate, the two seek further solace in a passionate romp in a sleazy hotel, offering us a nice side view of Dye’s healthy assets, as well.

Dye and Danielson.

Dye and Danielson.

Of course, this being a (slightly predictable)exploitation gem, even though Kevin/Dye often shows us, here, that he has nothing to hide – the film’s final scene just may reveal he has more circus mayhem in his blood than previously thought.

Proving that male beauty translates well in any language, here is a French trailer for Out of the Dark featuring many of this film’s highlights:

Be sure to check back, often, as Big Gay Horror Fan (https://www.facebook.com/BigGayHorrorFan) frequently exposes (the all too infrequent) male nudity in horror films!

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

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Leona Anderson, “Rats in my Room”

Published March 24, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

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There are plenty of things Big Gay Horror Fan can put up with in his apartment – that monster in the closet (worse than 1000 Catholic priests) and the corpses of long dead lovers? Those provide a mere piffle of annoyance. But, rats in my room?!? Never!!!!

Thankfully, the glorious Leona Anderson, best known to horror geeks as Mrs. Slydes – the truly creepy blind caretaker in the original House on Haunted Hill, agrees with me! Just pay aural witness to the impressive track “Rats in My Room” from her gloriously awful album Music to Suffer By, below, and you’ll know why.

It seems the eclectic Ms. Anderson actually did study opera courtesy of her famous older brother (filmdom’s original Bronco Billy), so her depth filled caterwauling on such premium MTSB tracks as “Limburger Lover” and “Hep Cat” is obviously just a put-on. Or — was it???

Ponder that until the next time!! – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

Thriller Review: Our Paradise

Published March 23, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Our Paradise2
As Big Gay Horror Fan and his pink posse (Apocalyptic Kitten, Deadly Johnson) troll the cobweb strewn, cobblestone streets of our remote Transylvanian village, there is only one thing that we’ve discovered – we’re getting older!

our-paradiseUnfortunately, Vassili, the aging hustler at the center of Gael Morel’s recent French language thriller Our Paradise, is experiencing the same thing. While still virile and handsome, Vassili is finding that his kinky Parisian clients are gradually looking for thrills among the younger set. After one such encounter, filled with unconscionable violence, Vassili happens upon a beaten youth, an assumed victim of cruising warfare. When the mysterious young man will not reveal his past or true age, Vassili christens him Angelo. Soon, the two find themselves drawn into a torrid affair and they become partners in crime. Vassili can’t control his rage, though, and soon the duo, now desperately in love, are on the run. While dreaming of a perfect haven, the two visit Anna, an old friend of Vassili’s. Drawn to Anna’s young son, the couple’s dream of a fairytale life is threatened, once again, by Vassili’s anger (toward his older upper crust clients) and Angelo’s ultimate compliance.

Morel works with distinct beauty, here, creating a nightmare landscape of often haunting sexuality. Much like Badlands (in which Sissy Spacek falls in with Martin Sheen’s charismatic murderer), Stephane Rideau brings much sensitivity to his brutish Vassili. The tenderness he shows toward Dimitri Durdaine’s Angelo, draws you into his world despite his repellant qualities. Durdaine, meanwhile, is a brilliantly smooth cipher, causing Rideau both joy and sorrow. Morel seems to reason that youthful energy is a golden factor, yet a severe case of the Peter Pan Syndrome can have tragic overtones, as well.our-paradise3

You can watch the trailer for Our Paradise, which also features an elusive appearance from frequent European horror vixen Beatrice Dalle (Inside, Trouble Every Day, Betty Blue), here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkTfoXW5vH0

Breaking Glass Pictures, which released Our Paradise on February 19th, 2013, can be found at www.breakingglasspictures.com or www.facebook.com/breakingglasspictures, as well.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan – who is always cruising around at <www.facebook.com/BigGayHorrorFan>, too!

Chasing Monsters

Published March 22, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Part II: Garage

Part II: Garage


Big Gay Horror Fan always seems to be chasing his tail. Yep, those same old self doubts and insecurities consistently seem to be getting him down.

Thankfully, St. Louis, Missouri’s most creative team, Randy Hall and Jason Klefisch, have a better idea. They are Chasing Monsters instead.

As Chasing Monsters Productions, this dynamic duo is currently in the midst of developing a five part series.

Part 1: Teddy

Part 1: Teddy

Already available are the apocalyptically awesome Part 1: Teddy and the tense, claustrophobic Part II: Garage.

Teddy features a moody, almost wordless discourse on how the end of the world can affect a child’s favorite toy. Garage, meanwhile, proves that summer camps are not the only place where the sex = death motif can rule.chasing monsters

Be sure to keep up with the inventive Hall and Klefisch and their further cinematic journeys at:

http://vimeo.com/chasingmonsters and

https://www.facebook.com/ChasingMonstersProductions

Meanwhile, Big Gay Horror Fan is always spinning wildly at https://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan as well.

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

Patricia Morison: B Movies’ Regal Queen

Published March 18, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

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As pink studded buildings collapse and the twisted spirals of despair clutch at his nightmare ridden feet, Big Gay Horror Fan reaches out, desperately, and always the ebony Rapunzel-like hair of stage goddess Patricia Morison comes floating past. Clutching at it, he is once again, pulled from his hideous dreams, waking up to a new morning.

calling%20dr%20deathRegal to the point of otherworldliness and always exquisitely beautiful, exotic Patricia Morison gained eternal fame as Cole Porter’s muse for his classic 1948 musical Kiss Me Kate. For many, this artistic opportunity saved her from appearances in a variety of low budget Hollywood programmers. But, for cinematic fetishists in the know, these cheap wonders always highlighted Morison’s eclectic grace.

In 1943’s Calling Dr. Death, Morison radiates with concern as Stella Madden, Dr. Mark Steel’s (Lon Chaney, Jr.) prized assistant. But Morison always allows a tone of mystery to pervade her actions – a grand move as Stella soon appears to know more about the death of Steel’s wife than she is letting on. Indeed, during a nightmarish sequence Morison finds herself running between shadowy, toppling set pieces in a brilliantly conceived dance of guilt. The presence of Chaney and J. Carrol Naish (The Monster Maker, House of Frankenstein) along with the moody direction of Reginald Le Borg (The Mummy’s Ghost, Weird Woman) makes this among Morison’s more fright based efforts. But, the dedicated Morison always gave up the exploitation gold in a number of other genre projects, as well.patriciabuilding

dressed-to-kill-1946-jj As Mrs. Hilda Courtney in the 1946 Sherlock Holmes adventure Dressed to Kill, Morison truly gives distinguished Basil Rathbone (Tales of Terror, Queen of Blood, The Black Cat, The Mad Doctor, Tower of London) a run for his money. She excels at sophisticated villainy here, but she is obviously having the most fun when duplicitously disguised as a homely working class matron. But whether grand or downtrodden, Morison shows all her fabulous colors here making one marvel at the fact that the studio system never figured out a grand scheme for her.

In 1947’s Queen of the Amazons, Morison shows much spunk and zeal as Jean Preston. Determined to find her missing fiancé in the wilds of the jungle, Morison sparks immediately with Robert Lowery as experienced guide, Gary Lambert. The two are destined for romance in the Hepburn-Tracy variety, but only after it is discovered that Preston’s fiancé has fallen in love with the vicious and vengeful Zita, the queen of the jungle. Morison’s gritty elegance here is in direct contrast to the extremely awkward (thus thoroughly enjoyable) performance of Amira Moustafa as Zita.
queen
Be sure to check back often as Big Gay Horror Fan (https://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan ) frequently exposes the wondrous exploitation foibles of the most glorious femmes of entertainment.

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

Music to Make Horror Films By: The Crystal Ark, “We Came To”

Published March 17, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

crystal ark
Every time that Big Gay Horror Fan and Apocalyptic Kitten get on board our velvet infused space ship disaster occurs! Thankfully, awesome synth-dance-mood-pop group The Crystal Ark have a better command of sexy space travel as witnessed by their cool science fiction inspired video for “We Came To”.

It comes as no surprise that The Crystal Ark’s founding members Gavin Russom (LCD Sound System)and Viva Ruiz are huge horror fans. Ruiz is even the proud creator of awesome horror short Monja Satanica. Ruiz’s lyrics also deal with the proud legacy of immigrants, a situation that “We Came To” seems to beautifully encapsulate.

Be sure to keep up with the alien like majesty of the Crystal Ark at:
http://www.facebook.com/TheCrystalArk

Big Gay Horror Fan is always floating around at https://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan, as well.

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

Shark Bait Retro Village: 1981’s The Intruder Within

Published March 16, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

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Every since he was expelled from Mother Superior’s Dungeon of Heathen Delights, Big Gay Horror Fan has been short on inspiration.

Thankfully, televison writer Ed Waters and skilled director Peter Carter (whom also helmed the 1977 backwoods horror and Hal Holbrook starrer Rituals) had plenty of guidance from 1979’s Alien when creating 1981 television film The Intruder Within. Interestingly, this tale of an oil rig crew facing down a toothy, skeletal creature, also, has many elements of John Carpenter’s The Thing remake (a stranded group of blue collar workers being possessed by an unknown creature) which wasn’t released until 1982.

Being a television flick there isn’t a ton of grue, here, and the explanation of the creature’s origins is never quite clear (something about man’s primitive ape form being trapped beneath the sea centuries ago) – but Carter truly has a way with the character actors who decorate this piece. Their grizzled charm along with the crude animatronics and monster suits employed give this enterprise a fun, retro charm of it’s own.

chad intruder withinAs the head of the rig, television maverick Chad Everett gives this damp and mouthy outing his all. Tears well up in his eyes when contemplating the fate of a female member of the crew, impregnated by the beast. His eulogy for the young man played by Matt Craven (who would face an even nastier demise as ‘shishkebob’ Steve in Happy Birthday to Me the next year) is, also, filled with heart and sorrow, yet Everett is always believable as a man capable of taking on a foreign beast.
james hayden
Meanwhile, television regular Jennifer Warren brings strength and sass as Everett’s capable partner in crime. Tragically, co-star James Hayden whom plays Harry, the infected crew member who causes the most damage, died not long after making this drilling gem from a heroin overdose. An acolyte of Al Pacino, Hayden was an accomplished stage actor with a bright future. He had just completed a role in Once Upon A Time in America and Pacino (with whom Hayden appeared, in ultimately cut scenes, in notorious gay thriller Cruising) was reportedly devastated by this loss.

IntruderWithin2Balancing out future tragedy, though, this piece is rife with silly moments. The funniest just may be when the creature emerges fully grown from the above mentioned victim (portrayed with quiet strength by Lynda Mason Green who would go on to headline the War of the Worlds television series)not with blood ripping wails and flesh torn mayhem, but as a gracefully rising spirit.

So, tip your hats to television censors and budget constraints and check out The Intruder Within trailer, below:

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