Doug McKeown’s ZADD!

Published November 8, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

ZADD

Sticky rivers of beer and pop; ghoulish make-up; excited horror fans getting to work with the genius mind behind one of the 80s most beloved creature flicks. You don’t come across those ingredients everyday – so when it comes along, you jump on that spongy beast with enthusiasm!

BGHF, Wendi and Chad

Indeed, after twenty some years away from the horror film making field, Douglas McKeown, director of the chewy, beloved Deadly Spawn, set upon Chicago this October, with a cinematic vengeance. In a matter of days, he and a bevy of local talent (including amazing DP and film editor Jayme Joyce) created a fun, short terror film (ZADD) with a pertinent social message attached to boot!

Jayme: capturing magic

Eager participants (including artist Mitch O’Connell and his infant son, Double Page Spread’s Wendi Freeman, Chateau Grrr’s Chad Hawks and myself) gathered at the historic Portage Theater, one Thursday, for an afternoon of intense mayhem. We were all playing ghouls who had been run over by an extremely dangerous drunk driver. Once some minimal grey face make-up was applied (often by McKeown himself), we lumbered into the theater. Soon we were all hovering behind the seats in the theaters, trying to ignore the calcified remains of beverages that had dried on the floors and were now sticking to our hands. After appropriately scaring our murderer, an action that McKeown directed with knowing insistence and humor, we washed our deadliness off in the theater’s tiny sink and soon adjourned to a local parking lot. There, we enacted our death scenarios. Let’s just say, anyone who ever had a fantasy involving James Brolin and 70s cult masterpiece The Car slept soundly that night.

After a day and a half of consistent editing and some voiceover magic, ZADD premiered at The Massacre 2014 on Saturday, October 18th, before a rare screening of Deadly Spawn. With a solid premise, a surprise cameo appearance from Ari Lehman from Friday the 13th and a ghoulish sense of 50s monster movie dread, this little flick proves that McKeown hasn’t lost any movie making magic.

McKeown & ZADD Cast

Be sure to keep up with McKeown at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Deadly-Spawns-director-Douglas-McKeown and, while you’re at it, urge him to procure an online release for ZADD as soon as possible.

McKeown & BGHF

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Paul Leeming’s Pieces of 8

Published November 7, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Controversy is never a bad thing. Right?

Accomplished director Paul Leeming is finding this out with his visually stunning, syrupy ode to female regret, Pieces of 8. A quick yet potent look at the specific damages that personal freedom can promote, this ripping horror piece has been gaining protests from those who believe it buys into a pro-life agenda.

But here, Leeming, a pro-choice atheist in real life, seems to be simply acknowledging the fact that, while a vital option, there is nothing easy about the decision to terminate a life. This is something that this richly acted, agonizingly gorgeous piece brings home hard.

You can keep up with Leeming and his production company Visceral Psyche at

https://www.facebook.com/visceralpsyche.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Kaye Ballard’s Fine Sense of Pandemonium!

Published November 6, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Move over, Nana! Best known for her comic cabaret acts, appearances on Broadway (The Golden Apple, Pirates of Penzance) and television comedies (The Mothers-In-Law, The Doris Day Show), the stellar Kaye Ballard, also, added some silly flair to the 1982 horror parody Pandemonium.

Featuring ridiculous references to everything from Carrie (enacted by Carol Kane and Eileen Brennan) to the traditional slasher epics like Friday the 13th and Halloween, Pandemonium was built around that era’s sudden horror craze. Preceded by 1981’s Student Bodies (featuring a bevy of unknowns), this production upped the ante by adding such name performers as Ballard, (her The Mothers-In-Law co-star) Eve Arden, Donald O’Conner, Pat Ast, Tommy Smothers, Tab Hunter , Sydney Lassick, Laverne & Shirley’s David L. Landers, Mary Hartman’s Debralee Scott and Superman’s Marc McClure. (It, also, had the good fortune to have the talents of soon-to-be-big names like Paul Reubens, Judge Reinhold, Edie McClurg and Phil Hartman involved, as well.)

As expected, this tale of a killer stalking a cheerleading camp is full of (small moments of) smart satire and (plenty of) bone stupid stunts. Ballard, playing the mother of one of the potential victims (a very blonde Reinhold), gamely manages to survive both, here.

Her warning to Reinhold not to touch himself, while away for the summer, prompts the arrival of O’Connor as the family’s very blind patriarch. (Get it?!?) This fairly juvenile, yet strangely fun incident is followed by a much more obvious bit of humor (which the film contains a lot of). The family’s black sheep…turns out to be a black sheep.

Pretty obviously just a job done for a paycheck, Ballard’s energy and professionalism is still in full force here and her focus reminds one of every over-passionate Italian mama. Besides, it is truly a joy for fans of theater offerings and horror to see her here.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Oddity Files Gets Cultural!

Published November 5, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Have you ever wanted to Shaggy it up with the Scooby gang, but only with a cultural bent? Then the latest episode of the paranormal investigation series The Oddity Files should be right up your alley!

Here, the team, including favored indie scream queen Kitsie Duncan (Found, Proxy), investigates the very beautiful and highly artistic Guyer Opera House in Lewisville, Indiana.

Available exclusively on Get Scared TV, you can dive into the episode at:

http://getscared.tv/site/programming/episodic-programming/the-oddity-files/

And let’s hope that any high notes hit are from those Leontyne Price types and not from you, as you’re shrieking in terror!

Be sure to keep up with The Oddity Files at http://www.facebook.com/oddityfiles, as well.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Wolf Revealed!

Published November 4, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Out horror writer Adrian Lilly has been a busy little camper! He is just about to release the third book in his The Runes Trilogy, The Wolf at War.

In anticipation of this furry event, Lilly has revealed the cover art (above) for this battle-licious volume. Designed by the brilliant Andrea Davies, this nocturnal, city enhanced wonder is sure to get every late night subway rider’s pulses pounding.

Be sure to keep up with Lilly and The Wolf at War at https://www.facebook.com/adrianwlilly.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Anne Bobby

Published November 2, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Scream Factory’s recent release of the Director’s Cut of Nightbreed reinstates a musical number, featuring Anne Bobby’s devoted Lori, that has been practically invisible for over twenty years.

But Back to My Routes, Bobby’s latest cabaret show at the 54 Below Supper Club in New York City, showed that this well traveled performer hasn’t been hiding her eclectic musical gifts over the years. Indeed, as a cast member of the ahead-of-its-time Cop Rock and such acclaimed stage productions as The York Theatre Company’s revival of Merrily We Roll Along, Bobby has been indulging in the gift of song for decades.

But this current show, featuring selections by Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, The Ronettes and other unusually great artists, is perhaps Bobby’s finest achievement to date. Crisp, sharp and passionate, this is a cabaret theater at its best, as this video featuring her dramatic take on Peter Gabriel’s Here Comes The Flood certainly proves.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

In Praise of Linnea Quigley and Spider!

Published October 30, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Quigley (left) and crew in Sorority Babes

Some arachnids you can just shoo out the door! Others stay with you for a long, long time. For instance, Spider, genre goddess Linnea Quigley’s brilliant creation from the 1988 cult classic Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-rama – now, there’s a keeper for you!

Here, Quigley creates one of the most powerful female characters in exploitation history, one responsible for turning the minds of multiple (terror loathing) female scholars onto the powers of exploitation and horror. Of course, Sorority Babes, helmed by cult veteran David DeCoteau, does offer up a bevy of desperate, flesh exposing women who will do anything to join their chosen coven of popularity. But Linnea and Spider up the ante, here.

Projecting sass and natural power, Quigley’s Spider encounters these victim types and leads the charge. She’s truly a motorcycling thief in the night! One who, ultimately, saves the day – and this film’s true version of the damsel in distress, a young, bespectacled scholar (played with winning sincerity by Andras Jones of Nightmare on Elm Street 4 fame).

Quigley would go onto play other tough types including killers (in Murder Weapon, which she co-produced) and crime bosses (2001’s quirky British gem Kannibal), but her Spider is one of her paramount achievements and proof, that despite the traditional exploitative elements, grindhouse films often offer up the most powerful and imaginative roles for women of all types.

…and , if you happen to be near Oshkosh, WI today, I’ll be part of a panel (for UW’s amazing Women’s Center) discussing the awesome archetypes of strong women in horror (and their not so lucky countertypes). The information on that event can be found, here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/738842736176525/

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Derek Joseph Quint’s Danse Macabre

Published October 29, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

The Catholic Church is always screwing something up! Why, do you remember that time that the Vatican tried to steal Dracula away from his three precious brides – on Halloween, nonetheless? Well, if you don’t, talented, out filmmaker Derek Joesph Quint does and he recounts this incident with humor and screwball energy with his divine short, Danse Macabre.

As, always, Quint proves he is a visual master, here, with inventive costuming and a brilliant use of late night Chicago streets as a backdrop for this cinematic adventure. Its, also, incredibly amusing to watch the reactions of unsuspecting passersby as the action unfolds.

Featuring a bevy of industrious females, you may need to watch this beauteous wonder a few times – just to determine your favorite bride. Mine is the Blue Bride. Because, just like her, I can’t fly, but I keep on ticking, baby!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Wendi Freeman’s Double Page Spread

Published October 28, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

If there was a Wonder Woman among comic book enthusiasts, it would definitely be the amazing Wendi Freeman. She’s a dedicated, uber-friendly fan woman, a talented musician (with drumming gigs in a number of bands) and she’s the super skilled creator and host of the podcast Double Page Spread, which concentrates on comics and their creators and other pop culture goodies. Just what every cool mom would want her daughter to turn out to be, right?

Now, all thankful matriarchs can rejoice as Freeman has just unleashed the Halloween episode of Double Page Spread upon the world! Featuring interviews with the queen of screams, Linnea Quigley, and famed cult director Jim Wynorski, this offering is a spooky blast from start to finish!

Be sure to catch it and so much other coolness at http://doublepgspread.tumblr.com/ on the regular!

A Wendi, A Linnea and A Big Gay Horror Fan!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Anne Bobby’s Disposophobia

Published October 27, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

All of the world’s a stage. Or at least, you’ll hope it is after witnessing Anne Bobby’s multi-hyphenate take on Disposophobia: Fear of Being Disposed Of for the second season of the acclaimed web series In Fear Of. Best known to scare freaks for her compassionate portrayal of Lori in the Clive Barker’s seminal Nightbreed, Bobby is actually, at heart, a well traveled theater veteran. Having created, produced and performed in multiple Broadway and touring productions, Bobby brings her fine tuned, board treading sensibilities to her acting and writing here, resulting in a chilling entry in this relatively new horror exercise.

With compassionate, fine tuned directing by Jon Ecklund, Disposophobia centers around Pamela, a seemingly well-to-do woman, who is determined to exist on the fringes of society. A meeting in the park with her brash yet concerned mother (a leveled yet passionate Barbara Rosenblatt) reveals the duo’s alternative takes on their past history and offers glimpses into Pamela’s assumed psychosis. But, perhaps, nothing is as it seems as Bobby’s ever expanding script leads into a truly chilling, ultimately surprising denouement.

Throughout, Bobby’s performance is a natural marvel. Revealing, down to her unshaven legs, her Pamela is ultimately the perfect representation of society’s overwhelming uncertainties and the side effects of the unfortunate inability to reach a level of certain grace. Thus, with accomplished assets from Ecklund and Rosenbalt, Bobby’s first foray into scripted terror is a true example of emotional horror at its very finest.

More information on the In Fear of series is available at:
http://www.infearoftheseries.com/

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan