Pestilence ridden floods, 7-11’s with exploding dairy products…I would, gladly, follow Jesse Metcalfe just about anywhere.
So, obviously I am thrilled that Metcalfe, whose other terror credits include Insanitarium and The Tortured, is taking on the zombie hordes in the upcoming Dead Rising: Watchtower, based upon the popular video game series.
The trailer for the upcoming flick, which begins streaming on Sony’s video service, Crackle, in March, actually looks like a lot of fun.
In the meantime, be sure to get exclusive updates (and other cool stuff) at:
Multiple voices are not so good when your various personalities start fighting over what to have for dessert. But, in the case of Glitterwolf’s Halloween Special Edition, edited by Matt Cresswell, multiple voices are, indeed, all welcome as they give us a truly splendid variety of chills and thrills.
Packaged between the hauntingly unique photography of Jason Grim, this collection contains a number of intriguing poems, highlighted by Kat Soini’s simple yet immensely potent offerings, Overture and Corpus Delicti. The meat of the volume, though, is contained within its very individualized short stories.
While Carlton D. Fisher’s chewy Another Night at the Reiko gives us a fervently sexual take on zombies and bar culture, Lou Dellaguzzo’s intriguing Night of the Bogie Men explores the real life horrors of gay night life in the Stonewall era. Steve Berman’s fine Passion, Like A Voice – That Buds, also, details the more personally horrific with a look at viruses and the human body through a beguiling sexual lens.
Meanwhile, if Lovecraft is more your ideal, then Evan J. Peterson’s emotionally and physically graphic A Different Seed should fill you up with gooey strands of pleasure. Young Inside, by Patrick Pink, also, ups the psychological quotient with a well inked possession style tale with a distinctly unsettling vibe.
Nicely, even some of the weaker tales contain some finely layered characterization and sophisticated ideas. Amy Sheperd’s nicely calibrated Haunted may the best of the bunch, though. A tender story of ghosts and letting go of the past, Sheperd creates characters and situations that almost anyone can relate to.
H. G. Wells probably never planned on this! But, that old pervert probably would have liked it! Trying to reinvent herself after years of Motown servitude, Diana Ross’ musical career on RCA records included an eclectic mix of operatic pop ballads (All of You), covers (Why Do Fools Fall in Love?) and sassy odes to sexuality (Muscles).
Astute horror freaks, though, know she got maximum mileage out of terror classic The Island of Dr. Moreau with Eaten Alive, the title track of her 1985 release.
…and while Joseph Gian, Ross’ co-star in the video, is probably best known for his work as Det. Tom Ryan on Knots Landing, he, also, has a couple horror credits on his resume with roles in The Night Stalker (1987) and Godzilla: The Series. He is, also, rumored to have joined the cast of the upcoming But Deliver Us From Evil, a film that details what happens when a demon succubus begins wiping out the male population of New York. Hmm…I bet he’s now glad that the divine Miss Ross gave him a little practice, all those years ago!
Vinyl layout coolness!
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Are you having an Up All Night with Rhonda Shear flashback? Well, you should be! One of the famed and original queens of scream, the eternally divine Deborah Dutch (Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, Hard to Die, Vice Academy series), has been working on her dream project The Hollywood Warrioress (with a variety of behind-the-scenes contributors) for over the past year.
While the film, a combination of super heroine vengeance, horror and action, has shot most of its footage in (and around) LA, the East Coast and Midwest have, also, been used as locations. In fact, one very chilly March day in 2014, I gathered with Chicago director and terror entrepreneur Chad Hawks to shoot a newsroom sequence for the film.
Was I excited? Sure! But, in a special case of behind-the-scenes madness, I almost didn’t make it to the studio where we shot. Like most creative types, I have a primary job that serves as my (ahem!) financial oasis. So, while I was finishing up my shift for the day, Chad set up the space. Needless to say, after I left work, I was totally unable to find a cab to get me to the location. As I set about to call one, my phone, naturally, died due to the (suddenly excessive) Midwest wind chill. Frantic, I ran back to my place of employment, plugged the phone in and tried to summon a cab from there. I couldn’t get through to a single cab company! I got in contact with Chad and we, quickly, decided that I’d take a nearby bus to a certain street where he would pick me up. He urged me to keep my phone on, as well, just in case he decided to come fetch me in route. It turns out we only had the filming space for a certain amount of time.
I schlepped onto the bus with my backpack and (by now drooping) garment bag…where my phone promptly died again. Defeated, I turned it off, completely. Then, after, excitedly, getting off at the wrong stop and promptly hopping back onto the bus again, I flicked on my phone and discovered it had powered up again. At that very second, it rang. It was Chad. He was in his car, directly behind us. Flustered and unkempt, I hopped off that dusty yellow chariot at the next stop and got into Chad’s black sedan. After offering profuse apologies, we rushed onward.
At the spot, I discovered, once again, what a consummate professional and total trouper Chad is. Not only was the green screen we were going to film against ready to go, but he also had to help me make costume choices and style my recently cut hair into something I was (at least vaguely) happy with. He then allowed me to pound through the very florid, very fun dialogue a couple of times as a warm-up and then we set to filming. We worked through the material in a variety of tempos and Chad added a few, interesting visual flourishes. After checking to make sure the different takes all had sound, we then broke the set down and headed out for a much needed dinner celebration.
Now, would I have liked it much better, on the day itself, if everything had gone a bit more smoothly? Sure. But, as a writer type, I sure do love having a good story to tell and, with a year’s distance, I now can say I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
You can get a sneak peek at some of our efforts at:
Be sure to follow The Hollywood Warrioress, which recently had a highly successful preview showing in LA, at https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodwarrioress. More screening dates should be announced soon.
2015 is already shaping into a bloody fantastic year. I’ve totally found a way to cover up my balding spots…and Final Girls, director-writer Matt Storc’s femme based horror opus, is finally going to see the late of day! After a series of post-production set-backs, an official trailer has finally been released.
Final Girls will, also, receive its first screening at Panic Fest in Kansas City, Missouri over the weekend of January 30 – February 1st, 2015. There will be a Q and A with Storc and cast members after the screening, as well. Congrats, all!
Thankfully, the crown of regality sometimes carries a few kinks in its surface. Take Elizabeth Taylor, for example. While best known for sophisticated performances in such projects as A Place in the Sun and Giant, Taylor, a confirmed member of Hollywood royalty, spent the majority of her latter day career doing bizarre and experimental projects.
The early ’70s, for instance, found Taylor revealing herself in a variety of ways in two unusual projects. In 1974’s The Driver’s Seat, based upon a Muriel Spark novella, Taylor’s Lise utilizes her vacation in Rome to find a truly unusual companion – one willing to murder her! It’s a courageous performance with Taylor exposing her flesh (via a see through bra) and Lise’s very damaged psyche.
The previous year, Taylor gave full life to another off balance creature, Night Watch’s breathlessly anxious Ellen Wheeler. Based, like The Driver’s Seat, upon a piece of writing by a successful woman, this take on Lucille Fletcher’s mystery play definitely highlights the piece’s more Gothic and horrific elements. The result is a fairly predictable, yet highly enjoyable Grand Guignol offering.
Still recovering from the unexpected death of her first husband, which happened in flagrante, Taylor’s Wheeler has moved on with a distinguished businessman named John, played with taut urbaneness by Laurence Harvey. Harvey, film buffs will recall, additionally co-starred opposite Taylor in Butterfield 8, the film which won her a controversial Academy Award.
After Wheeler believes she sees a dead body in the building across the way from her home, things unfold quickly. When the police discover nothing, Taylor perfectly captures Ellen’s slowly unraveling essence. The script soon sprints between shades of Repulsion, Rear Window and Gaslight with responsibility for the strange activity seemingly laid at the feet Ellen’s best friend Sarah, who may or may not be having an affair with John. Nicely, Ellen is played with clipped compassion by renowned British stage actress Billie Whitelaw, best known to terror freaks for her swinging performance in the original The Omen.
Filled with nightmare dreamscapes and shadowed corners, Taylor also adds much to the twisted nature of the piece by investing fully in Ellen’s almost convulsive breakdowns and increasingly bubbling ramblings. This commitment to the role rears with a vengeance during the surprisingly violent nature of the film’s twist ending, as well.
While horror fans should delight to the presence of Whitelaw and Harvey (Welcome to Arrow Beach), English horror princess Linda Hayden (Taste the Blood of Dracula, Blood on Satan’s Claw, Madhouse, Trauma) also makes a much appreciated appearance as a ghostly presence who figures prominently in Taylor’s delusions. But this is truly Taylor’s show here, with even her monumental beauty sneaking through, on occasion, despite the tense circumstances and the frequent neuroticism that she must display here.
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Capitalizing on Alice Cooper’s 1978 From the Inside, a madhouse based concept LP and 1979 Marvel comic book; boundary leaping pop star Pat Benatar unleashed Get Nervous, her fourth offering, upon the world in 1982. While not containing the cinematic through line of Cooper’s work, the cover imagery does contain an undeniably straitjacketed vibe and the tone of many of the rock offerings contained within is decidedly dark. Indeed, songs such as Looking for a Stranger, Fight it Out, The Victim and I Want Out are almost jittery with angst.
The title offering, Anxiety (Get Nervous) , propelled by agitated guitars, provides skittery aural delights, as well. The video, meanwhile, captures a delightful, horror filled take on one of life’s unpleasant realities, a trip to the dentist, and allows Benatar to show off some of the best Bride of Frankenstein hair this side of Elsa Lanchester!
Could there be anything cooler than Billy Blair (Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, Machete, Machete Kills) in the new trailer for out-of-control indie action piece Blood Sombrero?
Clap those (tiny) Michael Myers’ hands together. Dynamic filmmaking duo Marcy Boyle and Rachel Holzman (aka DPYX) are putting together a documentary about beloved, influential producer Debra Hill (Halloween, The Fog, Escape from LA, Clue, Big Top Peewee)!
A passionate voice for equality in film during her lifetime, Hill (1950 – 2005) has long deserved such an impressive showcase.
Big Gay Horror Fan 