She Walks in Shadows

Published May 16, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

In 1985, Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin already knew sisters were doing it for themselves. Now, two new volumes of Lovecraftian inspired fiction will definitely make this truth a very squishy reality.

Innsmouth Free Press, run by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Dark Regions Press, in collaboration with editor Lynne Jamneck, both have announced anthologies of fiction, influenced by HP Lovecraft, composed entirely by female writers.

Innsmouth’s She Walks in Shadows (pictured above) is scheduled for a 2015 fall release while Dark Regions’ Dreams from the Witch House is promising a year end release.

Be sure to keep up with these exciting projects at:
https://www.facebook.com/InnsmouthFreePress and
https://www.facebook.com/DarkRegionsPress

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Hole in the Wall

Published May 15, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

During a panel at 2015’s C2E2 this past April, comic creators Tim Seeley, Mike Norton and Joshua Williamson, the forces behind such books as Revival and Nailbiter, asserted that horror stories that take place in the wide open spaces of rural communities are twice as scary as those that take place in urban settings.

Bearing this out, Rabid Child Films’ indie horror anthology Hole in the Wall perfectly captures the tree whistling creepiness of small town madness and mayhem over 7 different pieces, skillfully edited by producer Derrick Carey and all directed by Wisconsin based writers and directors.

While the focus here is on graphic horror, often revolving around serial killers types, such pieces as Carolyn Baker’s Siren and Greg Johnson’s Last Dance, also, add a little arty flair and John Waters’ style perversity to the mix.

Johnson, known for his passionate contributions to Cory Udler’s Incest Death Squad series, also, appears across multiple segments here, handling his many acting duties with humor and wild eyed finesse. He is, ably, supported by the enthusiastic Draven Wagner whose curious Eli provides the linchpin to the telling of many of the tales. Of course, terror purists will thrill to the inclusion of Night of the Living Dead’s Judith O’Dea in Udler’s Ed Gein D.D.S. O’Dea is riveting in her brief bit as Gein’s mother, applying all her velvety theatrical power to her short spot, here. Indie horror queen Heather Dorff, also, offers up some flair in the same segment, bringing passionate focus to the expected girl-in-jeopardy quotient.

The entire film, which visually revels in its attempts to disgust, particularly in Rob Michels’ churning Scumbag segment, is given a huge opening boost via the presence of Georgia based filmmaker Andrew Shearer, as well. Playing a William Castle style showman, Shearer welcomes you to the gruesome festivities with an ingratiating yet slightly demented smoothness. He provides a great start to a truly twisted DIY ride.

Be sure to keep at eye level with all of Hole In The Wall’s screenings at https://www.facebook.com/GORYHOLE and/or purchase it for download at http://rabidchildfilms.storenvy.com/.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Sharkbait Retro Village: Face of Evil (1996)

Published May 14, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Even horror’s most notorious femmes seem to have motivations that revolve around men. Friday the 13th’s Mrs. Voorhees killed for the love of her son while Hellraiser’s Julia succumbed to the depths for her lover Frank.

This phenomenon is precisely what makes the character of Darcy Palmer in 1996 television terror Face of Evil so engaging. Every betrayal she enacts and every murder that she viciously engages in is done in the sole pursuit of her own artistic agenda.

After stealing his money and skipping town on her shady, but totally devoted fiancée, Palmer accidentally kills and then takes over the identity of Brianne, a soon-to-be college freshman and musician. Planning to immediately disappear, Darcy is waylaid by the sweet, well off Jeanelle Polk, Brianne’s dorm mate. Determined to rob Jeanelle and escape at her first chance, Darcy/Brianne soon becomes enraptured with the university’s art program and decides to stay.

Of course, to do so, she must brutally injure her own hand (thus avoiding the real Brianne’s music classes) and permanently blind the counselor who, initially, interviewed Brianne and would recognize her ruse. Darcy/Brianne then sets about seducing Jeanelle’s lonely father Russell in hopes that his wealth will further her success as a painter. Indeed, just as she is granted her own show, Jeanelle’s suspicions warp into overdrive and Quinn, her very angry ex, shows up. Naturally, further murder and sexual manipulation are soon placed, fully, on Darcy/Brianne’s plate, once again!

Directed with skill by Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary, The In Crowd, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary) who surely must have understood the main character’s frustrations and ambitions, if not her mania, Face of Evil is perhaps best recommended for the zeal with which the two female leads attack their roles. Best known for being a television darling, Growing Pains’ Tracey Gold attacks the role of Darcy with a slow burning ferocity. The calculation in her eyes is truly chilling, at times, and watching her go for broke as a performer is truly entertaining. Shawnee Smith, who would go on to play Saw’s demented Amanda, also shines as she expertly conveys Jeanelle’s exuberant awkwardness and her eventual retaliation.

Screenwriter Gregory Goodell (Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive, Human Experiments), meanwhile, deliciously revels in Palmer’s lurid activities. His set-up is great, but things, ultimately, do rush too quickly (and simply) to their conclusion here, making the absurdity of the plotline all the more apparent. Still, the zeal with which Lambert and her performers attack these circumstances makes Face of Evil a true un-guilty pleasure!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Dan Sartain

Published May 10, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

While his single Walk Among the Cobras Pt. 1 can be heard playing on The Walking Dead: 400 Days video game, the amazingly cool Dan Sartain offers up some queer ambiguity with his cover of The Knife’s Pass This On.

Trading in his rockabilly and blues licks for a chill dance floor vibe, Sartain’s narratory longing for a friend’s brother here is super duper hot!

Be sure to keep up with all of his mysterious musical stylings at http://www.dansartain.com and http://www.facebook.com/dansartainoffical.

Sartain – Too cool to be fighting mad!

Special thanks to Joey Kissling AKA DJ BoxxxCutter for turning me on to this rad s**t!!!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

The Real Monsters

Published May 9, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Mayweather

It’s a natural that we outsiders and geeks have promoted the likes of Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, Freddy, Jason and Michael to hero status. They all reflect, in one way or another, the minor misanthrope beating, quietly, within us all.

But the public’s hero worship of real life monsters is something that truly baffles me.

Last week, 1,000,000’s cheered on Floyd Mayweather, a brutal practitoner of domestic violence, to victory during something referred to as The Fight of the Century. The cries of outrage for the public canonization of such a loathsome individual were there, but were far outweighed by those filled with rapturous support.

George

The week before that, Chicago’s Cardinal George, one of the world’s most notorious Catholic officials in regards to covering up the sex crimes of the priests, was honored with a funeral that was broadcast on all the major Midwest television stations. Once again, there were gasps of protest, but they also were drowned out by the waves of adulation for this terrible individual. If one keeps in mind that George actually allowed officials to hire coaches to train priests how to get around the identification of their genitals by their accusers, then one quickly realizes that the networks were, basically, having a glorious parade for a criminal.

But a walk through your local entertainment section at Target or Best Buy reveals that this blind eye behavior exists everywhere. Why are Lady Gaga and Jennifer Hudson, two seemingly evolved entertainments, doing duets with R Kelly, whose damaging sexual exploits are legendary, on their latest recordings? Why does Madonna feature a clip of Mike Tyson, accused of domestic violence and rape, on her current song Iconic? There had to have been someone more substantial yet still appropriate to her theme to use, no?

But when the majority of the public are still being stunned by fame, money and ancient protocol, what is the answer?

The only thing I can think of is to not be silent. That no matter how voiceless the voices of the concerned may seem, maybe as time goes by, more and more voices will join ours and, eventually, people will stop buying the tickets and MP3’s and finally we will all turn away when the flag is waved for one of society’s actual demons.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Bite Radius

Published May 8, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

I’ve forgotten the name of an undead trick or two after an adventurous night on the town. Unlucky Peyton, the title character in Spencer Parson’s incisively graphic short film Bite Radius, one up’s me, though. His evening debauchery results in a dead body in the bathtub.

Thankfully (or not), Peyton’s friend Nicole has a twisted idea of how to deal with Kelsey, the unfortunate lass who breathed her last behind the shower curtains of her career girl apartment. This involves a machete, a hand saw, fire and lots and lots of blood flying around. Naturally, this all ends a bit badly for everyone involved.

Here director Parsons, best known for 2013’s truly enjoyable (and highly recommended) Saturday Morning Mystery (AKA Saturday Morning Massacre) completely catches how this Age of Kardashian effects certain twenty-something’s with either Peyton’s numbed self indulgence or Nicole’s media thrill seeking. It is fine work that shows he is capable of many colors as a director not just the fun throwback vibe of SMM.

He is complemented, fully, by his go for broke cast. One of Chicago’s most inventive and enthusiastic stage performers, Trevor Dawkins brings a charming otherness that draws audiences to Peyton despite his misdeeds. Sophie Traub, meanwhile, supplies an infectious energy that tempers Nicole’s ingratiating madness with a childlike mystique.

Nicely, in a genre that exploits the female form above all else, almost the entire cast here, with Dawkins and Traub leading the charge, revels in the naked abandon of their aggressively careless characters, bringing this piece a gritty reality and honest equilibrium all at once.

Bite Radius is showing this weekend at the Maryland Film Fest

http://www.md-filmfest.com/festival/film-schedule/300

and will, also, be showing at CUFF on May 16th in Chicago

https://m.facebook.com/events/976318255714642.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Heiress Horror: Sudden Fear (1952)

Published May 5, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Heiress Horror explores that subgenre of terror wherein sweet moneyed lasses find their lives threatened by evil spouses and duplicitous family friends. For shame!

That bully Alexander Grumpface always stole my lunch money in the fifth grade. Did that mean that he secretly wanted to marry me?

Well, if the example of Joan Crawford in 1952’s classic noir-thriller Sudden Fear is any indication then maybe he did. Here, Crawford plays Myra Hudson, the benefactress of a large San Franciscan fortune, who, also, just happens to be a wildly successful playwright. Having fired the cleft chinned David Blaine, played with smooth charm by Jack Palance, from her latest production for not being matinee idol handsome, the regal Hudson soon finds herself charmed by this rebuffed gent, on a long train ride to her hilly mansion home. Soon, they are married and, naturally, both the other woman (a pouting, perfect Gloria Grahame) and his ulterior motives soon appear. Things turn decidedly deadly when Blaine and his cutie discover that Hudson is handing her inherited fortune over to charity and, mistakenly, conclude that he will be left in the lurch.

Naturally, since Madame Crawford is ever powerful, Hudson soon discovers, in a neat plot twist, everything that her supposedly loving spouse is up to. Once she gets over the shock of the duo’s murderous intent, this creative mogul soon rallies with a plan to turn the tables on them. But will her need for deadly retaliation ultimately melt beneath her expansive humanity? Of course, it will! But as always, Joan-Hudson has the last shot – as in close-up – as she regally faces life without her two timing gent, a silk scarf drifting gently from her hands and tears streaming down her face.

Accented by Elmer Bernstein’s moody score and Charles Lang, Jr.’s appropriately dusky black and white cinematography, Sudden Fear is, ultimately, the leading actors’ show. Both, Crawford and Palance, deservedly, received Academy Award nominations for their work. Most notably, as in her other 50s pictures such as Female on the Beach, Crawford telegraphs every emotion with a perfected movie goddess technique that is as grounded in artifice as it is in natural emotion. She is a wonder to behold.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Lesley Gore

Published May 3, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

While the divine Lesley Gore (1946 – 2015) lived the majority of her life as an out gay woman, her 1964 single Sometimes I Wish I Were A Boy really put a delightfully gay swing on things.

Here, Gore, the perky female narrator, relates how she wishes she was a boy so she can ask out other guys and/or cut in while they are dancing with their sweethearts – making this sweet slab o’ wax one of the most inadvertently and gloriously homosexual things ever!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Bad CGI Fridays: Cerberus (2005)

Published May 1, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

What if the hair of the dog that bit you actually has three heads? Well, then you might end up with a crazily CGI ridden opus like 2005’s Cerberus.

When Attila the Hun’s prized sword is stolen by a group of mercenaries, including a hard hearted soldier of fortune portrayed by television favorite Greg Evigan, the famed marauder’s deadly Cerberus, a three headed dog with a snake for a tail, is unleashed upon a tiny, confused Romanian village. (Perhaps, part of their confusion derives from the fact that the Cerberus is, primarily, considered an offspring of Greek mythology, but I digress…)

Thankfully, gorgeous museum director Dr. Samantha Gaines and the roguish Jake Addams are on hand to stop the computer generated madness from ending everyone’s life.

Directed with energy by John Terlesky, whose own acting credits include such action ventures as Deathstalker 2 and Damned River, this toothy timewaster is perhaps most notable (to queer kids who love their horror gals) for the involvement of eclectic genre goddess Emmanuelle Vaugier (Saw 2, Ripper, House of the Dead 2, Return to the Cabin by the Lake, The Fear: Resurrection).

Lovely, isn’t she?!?

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

The Backside of Horror: Dreamaniac (1986)

Published April 29, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Let’s face it, half the fun of horror and exploitation is seeing some hot bodies frolicking around in the buff. And while I worship the female form, I believe exploitation definitely veers into the exploitive when only gorgeous women are on display while their male counterparts remain chastely buttoned up. Therefore, The Backside of Horror salutes the filmmakers and actors whom even up the score a bit by showing us instances of hot and juicy male flesh in their bloody celluloid fantasies.

I must admit. The soiree that was thrown to get me into Sister Rosario’s Leather Tutorial when I was 18 was totally and regrettably forgettable.

Thankfully, Pat’s party to help get her sister Jodi into a sorority, in 1986’s totally bad yet achingly fun Dreamaniac, comes complete with bitchy backstabbing, death by electrocution, an alluring succubus and lots and lots of male nudity.

Yes, unlike his current 1313 offerings, which feature plenty of gym boys whose underwear remains firmly on, director David DeCoteau actually fills the frames here with plenty of bouncing male ass cheeks! This includes a deliciously long opening intro featuring male lead Thomas Bern, playing the most unlikely heavy metal rocker ever committed to the screen, walking naked, in light strewn languidness, down a never ending dream corridor. When Jodi’s antagonistic rival Frances beds Brad (Brad Laughlin), the object of the other’s affections, more fleshy global goodness is soon on display, as well. Of course, tough guy Ace (Michael Warren) does give a very homoerotic take on DeCoteau’s favorite celluloid subject – the trussed-up jock in tighty whities. So, there is something for everyone, here!

Filled with rancid performances, with future adult film star Ashlyn Gere, here billed as Kim McKamy, giving the only fairly decent portrayal as the determined Pat, and super silly dialogue (with “There’s no phone? What if I have to call my broker? Mondo bad planning, Jodi!” and “I’m a Lionel Ritchie girl” among the winners), Dreamaniac eventually succumbs to the delightful. Well, that is, if like me, you enjoy the cheese on your bread a bit on the burnt and moldy side.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan