Flames Rising » Jason Thorson

Zombies Unlimited The Devil’s Chamber Review

Jason Thorson — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:45:13 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

John Morrone, veteran writer for the horror webzine Bloody-Disgusting.com, is unleashing his musical talents on the world in the form of Zombies Unlimited. According to the official website, Zombies Unlimited is dedicated to creating low-cost, original music for independent horror and sci-fi movie soundtracks. This music comes to us in the form of techno, a genre I associate with cheerleading, raves, and clubs I wouldn’t patronize. But make no mistake, Zombies Unlimited is creating some of the most unique techno and electronica possible and as a longtime professional musician of the old school variety, I certainly appreciate ZU’s musical aesthetic despite my unfamiliarity with the tropes of these genres.

Zombies Unlimited recently released two albums – The Devils’ Chamber and Closer to Death. I’ve reviewed them both. You’ll find the review for Closer to Death at RavenousMonster.com. Meanwhile, please read on to get the graveyard dirt on The Devil’s Chamber, Morrone’s first non-soundtrack, stand alone ZU album and an official attempt to launch a new musical subgenre: Horror-Techno.

The Devil’s Chamber is full of giant, ominous techno beats featuring pulsing and pounding subsonic bass with sweeping synth-chords and samples weaving between snares, high hats and other percussion. The bulk of the album is mostly up-tempo and employs dark, uncomfortable, and foreboding sounds rather than trippy or futuristic ones. Many songs have a narrative quality to them such as 091101 which uses variations in tone and texture as well as news samples to musically tell the story of the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. and the aftermath.

Morrone’s use of samples from horror movies is multifaceted, composing elements of theme and tone and many of which are used as elements of percussion. While real life horrors are represented by the aforementioned 091101, it should go without saying that the vast majority of the songs are based on horror movies such as The Thing 1.2 or an amalgam of several movies representing an overall theme such as Human Flesh.

The album starts incredibly strong. The opening few tracks’ high energy and tight conceptual focus actually elicits a visceral fear response at times and sets the bar incredibly high. This success has an unfortunate consequence in that the album hits a lull. It happens during ZU’s ode to The Thing which relies too much on samples from the film rather than striking a balance between samples and musical passages. The abundance of samples just doesn’t convey the energy that a musical representation would have. Within a song or so, the energy picks up again and remains strong for most of the album’s remainder while its focus remains hit-and-miss.

The final analysis is clear, though: Horror-Techno is a concept that works, fantastically at times and it holds great potential. It’s also a genre with the potential for great variances (See my review of ZU’s other new album, Closer to Death). Over all, The Devil’s Chamber is a unique and no nonsense collection of sonic horror that will crush your soul provided you play it through a capable stereo.

Review by Jason Thorson

In the Footsteps Of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide Book Review

Jason Thorson — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:45:43 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

It’s lonely being someone who takes horror so seriously, it borders on being a clinically definable malady. It’s rare to come across another human being whose affliction rivals my own. But alas, I have found him and his name is Steven P. Unger, author of the book “In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide (Second Edition)”. In fact, he and I could rightfully start a club for people like us, only I fear we’d spend our days arguing over who gets to be vice president, because being the president of such a club would be more than a bit embarrassing.

But I digress.

Unger’s book is a thorough analysis of the people and places that comprise Bram Stoker’s Dracula, both within the text and without. Unger retraces the journeys described in Stoker’s masterpiece as well as the true exploits of Prince Vlad the Impaler and the region in which he reigned, Stoker’s stomping grounds, and finally how Stoker took these elements and spun Dracula into the global pop cultural fabric.

The book is entertaining enough by virtue of its subject matter alone. However, “In the Footsteps…” is as ambitious an analysis of a subject as anything I’ve ever read. It’s part travel guide, part history book, part biography, part critique, part kitchen sink – I mean everything is in it! Some of the highlights include the first ever published review of Bram Stoker’s Dracula which first appeared way back on June 15^th, 1897 in the Manchester Guardian, as well as a multitude of photos taken along Unger’s travels, depicting the real life locations, buildings, and population as described in Dracula as well as their counterparts composing the haunts of Vlad the Impaler. And as we all know, pictures are neat!

The first part of the book is conveyed through Unger’s memoires as he travels “In the Footsteps of Dracula” going from place to place following along with the travels Jonathon Harker and later locations depicted in the novel. What’s most fascinating here is the number of places that Stoker had never seen, yet describes fairly accurately. While other places, such as modern day Bistrita have turned into Dracula-themed tourist attractions. Unger also weaves an accurate portrayal of Stoker’s inspiration and his process for what became the Dracula novel, as well as the context in which all this happened.

The second part of the book focuses on Vlad the Impaler. Unger discusses Vlad’s true, historical story arc. This is followed by more travel memoires depicting the notable locations relevant to the good Prince as well as more on Stoker’s environment. The remainder of the book takes a practical tact, describing other notable locations that are related to Dracula to varying degrees and then offering almost purely travel guide type information. It’s like Triple A for vampire fans. This includes information on currency exchanges, modes of travel and their costs, food and lodging, internet access and just about everything else one may need to know to repeat Unger’s exhaustive travels.

“Following in the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journal and Travel Guide (Second Edition)” is exactly what the title implies it is. But what the title doesn’t imply is how rich this book is with information. It really is stunning. Steven P. Unger deserves high praise for the mere existence of his opus, but moreover, the book is well written and provides the ultimate tome of Dracula data for classic horror fans. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more entertaining nonfiction read.

Review by Jason Thorson

Year in Horror Movies 2010

Jason Thorson — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:45:00 +0000

Another year’s in the books, one spent on the permanent and exhausting search through the horror movie scrap heap looking for the elusive hidden treasures. Unfortunately, this past year was a weak one. There wasn’t a whole lot to get excited about. Despite all the bad flicks, a few managed to rise above the fray, giving me hope for 2011.

As is usually the case, there were several remakes to take with a grain of salt. Some of them furthered the atrophying of the horror genre as it relates to studio backed filmmaking, others were much more horrible than horrifying, and all of them were unnecessary.

The worst of these include “A nightmare on Elm St” and “The Wolfman” both of which are bad, but for different reasons. “The Wolfman” actually warranted remaking, but was a mess before the cameras even began to roll. Fraught with one production disaster after another the movie came out a disjointed mess. “A Nightmare on Elm St” didn’t need to be done again as the original is still incredible and isn’t particularly old. Moreover, its iconic boogieman, Freddy Krueger has become an indelible part of pop culture. Just ask Robert England, the actor who literally is Freddy, but wasn’t this year. More details are available in my “A Nightmare on Elm St” review from earlier in the year.

The remakes of both “Piranha” and “The Crazies” each have redeeming factors. Neither film is life-changing, but then again, neither were the originals on which they’re based. “Piranha” is actually quite a gory romp, while “The Crazies” has the budget and the technology this time around to represent the large scope that Romero originally intended, but couldn’t achieve due to a lack of resources.

Finally, we have “Let Me In”, an American remake of the Swedish vampire masterpiece, “Let the Right One In”. The remake is a decent movie. However, the original is absolutely brilliant and it’s only two years old. It’s unfortunate that non-English Language films don’t get the same support that their English counterparts do, because “Let the Right One In” is horror at its finest and deserves to be seen by the masses, while “Let me In” is merely a worthy attempt at representing that same story.

There were sequels galore in 2010. Some of these, such as “2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams” could have never existed and the universe would remain as is. It’s silly and low brow, but that’s the intent, so take it or leave it. There were the expected additions to already bloated franchises, including “Saw 3-D” and “Resident Evil: Afterlife”, both of which probably detracted from their respective canons, if anything.

Some sequels this year were hotly anticipated. These include “Paranormal Activity 2”, which amped up and repeated the original’s successes, and “Slime City Massacre”, a follow up to the underground cult favorite, “Slime City” from 1988. More details are available in my interview with “Slime City Massacre star”, Brooke Lewis.

The most talked about sequel this past year was Adam Green’s highly anticipated and ultimately controversial “Hatchet II”. This movie follows up one of the biggest favorites of 2006, “Hatchet”, and continues to follow the murderous exploits of swamp ghost Victor Crowley. “Hatchet II” split horror fans into two camps. People either loved this movie or they hated it. But what made “Hatchet II” unique is that it got a distribution deal with AMC theatres, despite being unrated. This is quite remarkable in the modern era and so the theatrical release of “Hatchet II” was viewed as a significant step in the right direction by the horror community at large. However, after one weekend, AMC inexplicably pulled the movie from its chains, creating a controversy that continues to remain unexplained.

Original horror movies were a bit of a mixed bag in 2010. Not surprisingly, the larger the film’s budget, the worse the film is. For example, “Devil” was backed by major marketing muscle as M. Night Shyamalan’s latest abomination, despite that it is merely based on a story he’d written. Despite its high concept, its execution leaves a lot to be desired. And of course you’d have to have been in a cave not to have seen an ad for “The Last Exorcism”, a derivative, PG-13 mash up of every film that’s ripped off “The Exorcist” over the last three plus decades, only this time there’s the added element of the “found footage” conceit.

Once again, foreign horror swung a mighty big axe in 2010 with “A Serbian Film” and “The Troll Hunter”. The former is a depraved and disturbing tale of an aging porn star tricked into making a pedophilia/necrophilia themed snuff film. This movie will challenge everyone. “The Troll Hunter” is a Norwegian tale about a group of students who film a documentary as they follow a man they think is a bear hunter, but it turns out, he’s not after bear, but rather trolls – big ones at that. This movie was a huge hit at festivals and will be distributed in 2011 to a global audience by Magnolia Pictures’ genre outfit, Magnet.

My pick for best horror movie of the year goes to “Monsters”. It’s not the scariest horror movie, mind you, but it’s a remarkable movie regardless of genre. Moreover, it was made for very little money by a first time filmmaker, Gareth Edwards, who had very little in the way of resources in general. The results are stunning as “Monsters” delivers an emotional and subtle relationship story against a backdrop of epic proportions involving giant monsters, mayhem, and destruction. An in depth analysis is available in my “Monsters” review.

Although 2010 was a relatively disappointing year in horror movies, there are some horror films on the horizon that look promising. Here’s to hoping 2011 brings the terror to the big screen in a big way. As always, I’ll be looking for the bloody best of the bunch.

Jason Thorson – 2010

Zombie Week: The Indie Filmmaker and Zombies

Jason Thorson — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:45:05 +0000

We have a new essay for Zombie Week here at Flames Rising. Reviewer Jason Thorson tells us a little bit about indie films and the zombie/survival horror genre.

Horror and low budget filmmaking have always had a symbiotic relationship. But when it comes to really low budget filmmaking, the type that employs guerrilla tactics, stars your friends and acquaintances, and is shot in your mom’s backyard, well that’s zombie territory. Micro budgeted indie horror and the walking dead go together like guitar lessons and Smoke on the Water – the ends require modest means.

The reasons for this cozy relationship of convenience are pretty obvious, mostly involving the “bang for your buck” ratio. With no resources, including money, equipment, and experience, what would the scope of your story be if you decided to shoot a western, for example? What would your costumes look like? Locations? Guns? Horses?

Right.

Conversely, let’s examine the scope of the zombie film and to do so we need not look any further than the zombie film archetype, Night of the Living Dead (1968). The scenario is as follows: the dead are rising up and devouring the living. Those who are attacked, even if they survive, soon become a member of the cannibalistic reanimated dead horde. This plague sweeps the United States and eventually the world. Pretty huge scale so far, right? And most importantly, this apocalyptic nightmare is represented from the sanctity of an abandoned farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania, as a handful of survivors plan their next move. That’s seven actors, all of whom are dressed “normally” and carrying out the story’s action in one mundane location, while some extras shamble about and moan. That, ladies and gents, is bang for the buck!

Another reason to use the zombie apocalypse backdrop is because it easily allows for quality storytelling. A zombie plague can be represented by a number of other scenarios – nuclear fallout, viral pandemic, natural disaster, etc. It’s really a generic overarching source of antagonism that foists your characters into a box, thereby providing a structure that inevitably eliminates the type of indecision that can paralyze the story teller. The true antagonists in the zombie story always end up being the living, not the dead. People from all walks of life are forced to live with each other and compete for limited resources all while trying to survive a seemingly insurmountable threat. How will each character react? The results will bear the fruit of a compelling story every time. This is how George A. Romero became a social commentator, quite by accident as it turns out.

The setting for the zombie apocalypse is literally anyplace on planet earth – a farmhouse, a mall, an abandoned military bunker, anywhere. The characters are you and me. The neighbor. Everyone. The monsters are also you and me. The other neighbor. Only they’re dead. These fundamental story traits – the who, what, when, and where of your movie are all around you. This fact removes costume designers, art directors, set builders, and A-list actors from the list of necessary requirements for filming your story. One could reasonably assume that the resulting movie would look and sound really bad. Well, that’s certainly possible. Does it mean that every indie Zombie flick is destined for You Tube?

The simple answer is no.

Exhibit: A in the case for the potential of low budget zombie movies would have to be the British DIY undead favorite, Colin (2008). Colin went on to become quite well known in horror circles for several reasons. For one thing, it’s a good movie with a unique perspective as it unfolds from the point of view of the title character who’s infected early in the film and succumbs to the zombie plague as we watch. Another reason this film is exemplary is because it actually managed to make waves at the Cannes Film festival.

What truly makes Colin remarkable, though, is that it cost about 45 euro, or the equivalent of about $70 to make. Marc Vincent Price produced, wrote, directed, shot, edited, mixed, and provided visual FX for Colin. FaceBook and MySpace were used to find zombie actors and a standard mini-DV camcorder was used to shoot the entire film, as well as to record sound effects in post. Price completed the film on his PC using Adobe Premiere software.

In 2009, Colin played at Cannes as well as at Zombie-Aid in Manchester, Frightfest in London, Malaga Fantastic Film Festival in Spain, and then it obtained theatrical distribution in the U.K. via Kaleidoscope Entertainment. In 2010, Colin made its way to North America where it’s been shown at several festivals and in major city theatres across the U.S. It’s currently available on DVD.

I’m not suggesting that everyone can shoot his or her own “Colin” and make it as far as Marc Vincent Price has. I mean, I own all the same equipment and software and have access to the same resources, but I stand a better chance of getting struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark…on land, no less. However, given Price’s talent and wherewithal, a meteoric rise from out of next-to-nothing actually did occur and I think it stands to reason that zombies – the topic of his film – provided him the best opportunity to pull it off.

Colin is far and away the best-case-scenario – i. e., the biggest bang for the buck. However, there are an abundance of indie zombie flicks that have had varying degrees of success as of late. Some these include Zombie Honeymoon (2004), Dead Meat (2004), Dance of the Dead (2004), Fido (2007), Flight of the Living Dead (2007), Ponty Pool (2008), Outpost (2008), Zombie Strippers (2008), Dead Girl (2009), and Dead Snow (2009). A few of these bend the zombie concept in unique ways, but they’re zombie flicks nonetheless, all of which are independent films made with relatively little money while achieving successful results.

The zombie tsunami of the last decade does not appear to be drying up anytime soon. More books, more games, more TV, and of course, more movies are on the way. Some of this undead media will be good, a lot of it will be bad, but one thing’s for sure: The examples that exist on the periphery of the mainstream, the really independent movies – the no-budget shorts and the cobbled-together, first-time features – it is among these where you’ll find the cutting edge, where people with nothing to lose push the envelope of storytelling to the far reaches of their imaginations as they weave new tales around the idea of a world overrun by rotten, ravenous cannibals. And to that I say, “Keep it coming!”

I “Heart” Haunted Houses: Confessions of a Self-Proclaimed Hauntophile

Jason Thorson — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:45:09 +0000

I’m a fan of most Halloween activities, but there’s one that I hold a little nearer and dearer than the rest. I love visiting haunted attractions! When done well they’re fully immersive, interactive, and live action horror stories – the ultimate sensory stimulation and overall inspiration for horror fans and horror artists alike. My enthusiasm for the haunt manifested at an early age. I grew up in Beloit, Wisconsin – the quintessential post-industrial Midwestern city. Not a lot to do, but when October shambled around every year my fellow citizens got outright giddy about celebrating the time of year when everything dies, and frankly, resembled more closely our lovely little city.

Back in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, a white barn stood on the east side of town, adorned with a faded orange sign featuring the words “The Scream” painted in bold black letters. It was nestled among the strip malls and fast food establishments that had usurped its formerly rural surroundings over the prior couple of decades. This anomalous barn was an establishment of legend. Kids had lost their minds in that place! Boogiemen came right out of the walls to snatch you from behind, and trolls hid under the stairs to snap their talon-like fingers at your ankles….The horror!

Unfortunately, though, “The Scream” gave way to a drug store before I’d reached the age to truly enjoy its terrifying inhabitants. Instead, I became haunted by the ghost of “The Scream”. The myths about that foreboding white barn sparked an interest in me that was insatiable. That’s when my pursuit of the experience known as the haunted attraction began and like many things I’ve pursued in my life, I’d approached haunted houses from the opposite direction – I was determined to build my own.

When I was nine, the spare bedroom in the attic of my parent’s home was transformed into my own house of horrors by virtue of the following materials: yarn cribbed from my mother’s stash, spare bed sheets, construction paper, markers, thumb tacks, and most importantly – my record player equipped with a 33-inch album of spooky sounds. My friend, Chris, and I spent hours creating false walls by thumb-tacking bed sheets to the ceiling. We rigged yarn trip wires to trigger special effects that included horrifying stuffed animals lurching towards unsuspecting victims from above, and we tied yarn to the drawer handles of a desk and pulled them open from our hiding places beneath the spare bed. We strategically placed scary signs along the way, pointing toward the next location of sheer terror and all the while ghosts moaned and chains clinked from the single monaural speaker in my record player. And though we tried and failed to charge several people a $0.25 admission to our Halloween masterpiece, we did take turns going through it over and over again which was truly an experience to behold!

As I got older I started to frequent haunted attractions as much as my funds and transportation would allow and the quality of them ran the gamut. The bad ones were those that can still be found in any small city in America. They’re usually put up by the local chapter of the Jaycees or the Boys and Girls Club of America and they’re typically found in malls. They last all of 5 minutes and are akin to walking through an anthropology museum on acid – rooms that resemble still life paintings, only with bad store-bought props and weird lighting. Worse yet are the haunts sponsored by the local church in which the featured set piece is likely the “Cavern of Aborted Fetuses” or something similar. And frankly, I’m hard pressed to be frightened by “the ghosts of those who chose to have premarital sex”, but I digress.

Despite that I’ve had the displeasure of experiencing quite a few duds during this time, the good ones blew me away and helped shaped me as a purveyor of horror. One such example was known as “The Haunted Barns”, located in Northwestern Illinois near the mighty Mississippi River. The waiting line began in a park located near the edge of town. A Black school bus driven by a corpse and smelling of rotten meat picked up loads of people and headed out of town on a tiny ribbon of rural road. After a matter of miles, the bus suddenly veered off the road and through a narrow path cleaving a vast cornfield in two. After emerging into a clearing, the bus dropped everyone off outside a series of barns, each barn connected to the one next to it via a steel tube which extended from one barn’s top story down to the next barn’s first floor.

The mere sight of these interconnected barns struck fear into our hearts from the outset. One girl in our party, on the precipice of a panic attack, asked the very convincing demon guarding the entrance to the barns whether or not she could get out if she needed to. It was amusing to listen to this monstrosity respond in a guttural bellow, dripping with malice, “Yes. There are more than 30 actors inside and several emergency exits!” The Haunted Barns utilized a variety of techniques: fear of the dark, fear of small spaces, fear of heights, fear of seven-foot tall guys wielding chainsaws. Once you were inside it took nearly an hour to get through and it was worth every penny! I spent the next several Halloweens of my early adulthood searching for more attractions on the level of those wicked barns.

Nowadays, I still enjoy the experience of a good haunt, but in a different way. Until recently, when I went through a haunted attraction I craved the scare. I loved the thrill and I pursued it aggressively. I leaned into it; head first, as if I were walking into a fierce wind, sniffing out the frights. I wanted to consume the tension and the atmosphere, blissfully, like a fat kid wading into a pink ocean of cotton candy. Now I can’t seem to get enough and I think I sometimes inadvertently turn the tables and scare the ghouls and ghosts before they get a chance to put the hex on me. It’s difficult to find the gratification I used to get because I’ve seen it all. So I’m resigned to getting my thrills vicariously through observing the reactions of the charmingly naïve among my friends and family.

If there’s one thing those who work at spook houses know, it’s how to sniff out an easy mark. It’s the same way a shark torpedoes toward blood in the water. So I could write about how fun it is to bring along someone who’s not familiar with the fun and perils of the haunted attraction, but I’m basically talking about bringing along a “mark”. Honestly, corrupting the innocent is great fun and there’s no better way to do that than by setting them up so the professionals can knock ‘em down.

Imagine what it’s like for one of your “uninitiated” friends to take their virgin steps into the inky void of a haunted house. It’s a combination of “fear of the unknown” and fear of the known – in the sense that whatever is about to occur is supposed to be frightening. So, understandably, their impulse is to avoid being at the front of the group. Given this, I make sure to repeatedly emphasize the following point on the way to the attraction: “Whatever you do – DO NOT find yourself last in our group!” Now granted, the rear position really is wrought with its own unique perils, but generally they’re not as bad as being in the front. The real fun begins once we proceed through the entrance of the haunt and I make sure to move at a ridiculously fast pace. The fear of being last usually propels the anxiety-ridden rookie to desperately assert themselves at the front of the group, thereby heeding my warning and acting against their own better instincts. Then I watch as my unwitting cohort stumbles into the brunt of the scares at a wickedly unforgiving pace. Afterward, the smell of old sweat and the tell tale signs of fried nerves and utter exhaustion on the mark’s face is enough to warm my black, decrepit heart.

These days my lack of time and the number of birthdays under my belt prevent me from traveling too far and wide to get my fix. I tend to hit up my local haunts every year, such as Schuster’s Haunted Forest located just outside of Madison, Wisconsin, which is good fun, if not super terrifying. But as I’ve wound down, the art of the haunt has wound up. Over the last 10 or 15 years the endeavor of running a haunted attraction has not only become big business, it’s become a year-round business. The big names in the industry put on shows that are literally not for the faint of heart. Some of the best include the infamous House of Shock in New Orleans, Pittsburgh’s highly regarded Scarehouse, and the sprawling Wisconsin Fear Grounds located near my neck of the woods in Waukesha, just to name just a few.

My advice to everyone this October is to find yourself an easy mark or two – friends and enemies may suffice, just ask my in laws – and grab a couple of your favorite haunted house enthusiasts, then head to your nearest attraction. If you don’t know where to look, there are several resources out there such as www.hauntedhouse.com. Hit as many haunts as you can because their quality and quantity are growing exponentially and the odds dictate that the great haunts you’re sure to find will erase the memories of any duds you may suffer. And for those of you who are cut from the same moldy blood-soaked cloth as me, I recommend perusing www.hauntedattraction.com which covers every angle of the industry, in depth and year round.

Happy haunting and remember to look behind you!

Eyes Beyond Movie Review

Jason Thorson — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:45:28 +0000

Eyes Beyond is an independent short film starring, written and directed by Canadian filmmaker, Daniel Reininghaus. Many movies that share its level of independence have glaring problems; however, Eyes Beyond emerges as a surprisingly superior romp through depravity.

The film’s premise, without giving too much away, is as follows: Brothers, Adam (Evan Eisnstadt) and Gabriel Morales (Daniel Reininghaus) invite their neighbors over for dinner. As members of the Rogers family, Henry (Robert Nolan), Abigaile (Danielle Barker), and Vivian (Kelly-Marie Murtha), make themselves comfortable and conversation ensues, things quickly spin out of control – way out of control. But things are rarely as they seem.

Eyes Beyond does a lot of things very well. First and foremost, it looks and sounds fantastic. The film’s technical attributes are very polished. Cinematographer, Michael Jari Davidson capably captures dynamic shots – warm and primary colors against white backgrounds, lush green-lined yards with depth, dim natural light, bright artificial light, etc – with the same consistency and quality one expects in projects boasting much higher budgets. The sound mix, recorded in relatively affordable Dolby SR, is similarly high in quality and consistency. The soundscape is clear and full, sporting an impressive dynamic range with very little noise pollution.

The caliber of acting in Eyes Beyond is superior as well. In 26 short minutes, Eyes Beyond places its characters in extreme situations, the worst of which take place almost immediately. Subsequently, the cast is asked to perform behaviors and emotions that reside at the most remote reaches of the human condition. And while subtlety in acting is extraordinarily difficult, the same can be said of sheer terror and lunacy. By and large the entire cast is up to the task, particularly this project’s ring leader, Daniel Reininghaus, whose representation of Gabriel requires the greatest range.

The one place Eyes Beyond stumbles is in the story department – a predictable sore spot for many indie projects of this nature. While most films with story issues fall apart in the third act, Eyes beyond has the opposite problem. The plot is disjointed and immediately disengaging. The film starts with an extremely violent setpiece, a la the culmination scenes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only here the macabre dinner party lacks motivation because Reininghaus never defines a protagonist or what’s at stake. The ending is a twist after which it becomes clear that everything leading up to it is merely there to serve said twist.

Admittedly, though, Eyes Beyond is much more coherent and interesting in retrospect than it is when being viewed in real time and this is a problem that could have been fixed with some basic structural revisions. In essence, the plot of Eyes Beyond isn’t served well by opting to emphasize form over function.

Overall Eyes Beyond is a success, especially regarding the technical aspects of its production, and it clearly showcases the potential of everyone involved.

3 out of 5 Flames

Review by Jason Thorson

Cthulhu Week: The Lovecraft Movie Dilemma

Jason Thorson — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:45:16 +0000

Next up for Cthulhu Week we asked reviewer Jason Thorson to tell us about his favorite Lovecraft-inspired movies. Not an easy task to say the least, but we were certainly willing to risk his sanity for this investigation.

Read on to learn of the challenges he faced…

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to give you some background on what you’re currently reading – what’s now become a ranting blog on H.P. Lovecraft film adaptations. My initial intention was to write a feature about the nature of Lovecraftian flicks and then list the five best examples. However, I immediately anticipated some difficulty. My original thesis was that most of these films don’t work, but surely there have been so many attempts to adapt Lovecraft’s work that I’d certainly be able to find five movies worthy of recommendation. Right?

Wrong.

I honestly detest all but one of these movies and we’ll get to that exception in a bit, but first let me cover some history:

The early film adaptations were made by Roger Corman starting with a movie called Edgar Allen Poe’s The Haunted Palace (1963) which was actually a relatively faithful adaptation of Lovecraft’s novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. As was typical of Corman, he didn’t feel Lovecraft was well-known so he slapped on Poe’s name and poem title, and with that the Lovecraft film adaptations were birthed.

Corman made two more adaptations before moving on and soon other filmmakers helped “The Old Ones” and their ilk make it to television, although sporadically and mostly in the early 1970’s. But in the 1980’s a filmmaker named Stuart Gordon reclaimed Lovecraft for his own. Gordon adapted the story, Herbert West: Re-Animator, which was a little known Lovecraft tale. Gordon released Re-Animator in 1985 to instant cult status and much fanfare, although not necessarily from Lovecraft fans.

Re-Animator is the one and only Lovecraft film that I enjoy. It’s extremely entertaining in an odd, freak show sort of way. It’s gory, nasty, silly, and completely over the top, and honestly, it barely resembles its source material in any way. And in a bit of strange irony, that’s why it works. Stuart Gordon went on to draw from his muse several more times over the last 25 years, but never as successfully as he did in his ostentatious debut. And in the meantime one filmmaker after another has tried and failed to succeed where Corman could not and where Gordon struggled mightily.

So, why do Lovecraft’s do stories fare poorly as films?

Well, the obvious reason is that many of them have been made by filmmakers with little to no talent and an equal measure of resources with which to make their films. But the real answer is bigger than that. The real answer has everything to do with the mechanics of “Story” and the differences between the mediums through which stories are told.

Lovecraft’s work is timeless, abstract, and entirely unique. He’s arguably the most influential horror writer ever. He’s been imitated so often you’d think his style would be old hat by now, but amazingly he’s never been replicated, not even in the slightest. And this failure is that of the wordsmiths working in Lovecraft’s own medium – prose, and includes some writers whose tales actually inhabit the universe Lovecraft invented.

The narrator in a prose story is entirely omnipotent and bound by literally nothing. Much of the conflict in the Lovecraft stories is internalized and brought to a head within the psyche of the protagonist. The external forces of antagonism are abstractions, universal impossibilities that can barely materialize in the reader’s imagination. The dual nature of Lovecraft’s horror is both anomalous and expertly crafted. In short, Lovecraft is one of a kind.

Now consider this: A filmmaker’s job is to externalize the internal. He is bound by the camera’s capacity to show us the story. You can’t film a thought. Only expert filmmakers succeed at conveying thoughts visually. They tend to win awards, make lots of money, and not make horror films. The level of complexity and abstraction and the abominable universal paradoxes and metaphysical entities that inhabit Lovecraft’s tales render them nearly impossible to adapt to the medium of film, and particularly by novice filmmakers.

So, if you need to satiate your Lovecraft fix, grab your reading glasses and plan a trip to the nearest book store or library. Read The Call of Cthulhu and The Dunwich Horror; read whatever you can find. And in the meantime, go rent Re-Animator, make some popcorn and have yourself a laugh riot.

Jason Thorson – 2010

Vampire Week: Movies to Die For

Jason Thorson — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:45:49 +0000

There have been several hundred vampire movies made over the last 90 years. The vast majority of these are uninspired clones of the archetypal blood sucker portrayed by Bela Lugosi in 1931. However, there’s a small minority of vampire flicks that are ambitious in their recipes of blood-fiend lore. Some of these movies are great, others are merely good, but all of them are unique, entertaining, and deserving recognition based on their own merits.

Here are some recommendations:

Nosferatu (1922) – F. W. Murnau’s silent German classic is the first vampire movie. What makes this film great is the fact that actor Max Schreck’s creature is a grotesque ghoul, sporting a truly frightening visage. There’s nothing debonair about this pioneer of the undead. It may be arguably the most important horror film ever made, the genesis of the form if you will.

Dracula (1931) – This is the movie that introduced the vampire, as it’s currently conceived, into the pop cultural lexicon. In playing Count Dracula, the great Bela Lugosi ironically achieved immortality as he will forever be the face of a concept – a symbol that manifests throughout all of pop culture, from costumes and decorations to Sesame Street and breakfast cereal. Despite all that, in 1931 this movie was trailblazing the genre, forever entrenching the horror film into the world’s cinematic landscape.

Fright Night (1985) – This is a vampire flick made especially for horror movie geeks. Charley is the typical teen horror fan boy. Nothing too exciting ever happens in Charley’s “real life” until he begins to suspect that his next door neighbor may be a vampire. His girlfriend, Amy, and his best buddy, Evil Ed, both think he’s nuts, as do the town’s authority figures. The only adult who will at least pretend to consider Charley’s theory is Peter Vincent, a former horror movie star who’s hit rock bottom as the host of a late night cable-access horror show. Charley is particularly fond of one of Peter’s roles as a fierce vampire hunter and Peter plays along to maintain Charlie’s fandom. This inevitably leads to Peter becoming a hilariously freaked out ally in saving Charley’s neighborhood from real undead evil. This movie works way better than any intelligent person should assume it would – a little scary, a little funny, and a lot of fun.

Near Dark (1987) – Written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, this vamp flick has maintained its effectiveness throughout the years, a testament to the stacked cast and the unique tone bestowed to it by Bigelow. Nineteen years before his turn as Heroes’ Nathan Petrelli, Adrian Pasdar plays Caleb Colton, a young cowboy who hooks up with a pretty-young-thing named Mae. Mae nips Caleb on the neck, and wouldn’t you know it? Turns out, Mae’s a vampire, so now Caleb has to relearn the definition of “sunburnt”. It’s not long before he’s persuaded to join her group, but he’s not too keen on the whole killing-and-drinking-blood-thing. When Caleb’s human family becomes potential food, the stakes are raised (no pun intended) and a showdown ensues. The cast comprising Mae’s vampire cohorts includes Lance Henricksen as their leader, and Bill Paxton as the vampire version of Chet in Weird Science – one could reasonably enjoy the movie for this alone.

The Lost Boys (1987) – Directed by Joel Schumacher, this movie has just enough humor and just enough horror to balance the overstuffed cornucopia of 1980’s teen movie conventions. For example, I could stop after typing the words: “Corey Haim and Corey Feldman” and you’d be fine. But there’s more – Jason Patric, Jami Gertz, Alex Winter, best known as Bill S. Preston, Esq. of the excellent-adventuring duo, Bill and Ted. Best of all, the film features Kiefer Sutherland in what was at the time his 317^th consecutive role (maybe an exaggeration) as the cigarette smoking, leather coat-wearing “tough” from the wrong side of the tracks; only here he’s also a vampire. Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander play Edgar and Alan Frog, a pair of comic book-obsessed vampire-hunting Rambo’s who take Corey Haim’s Sam character under their collective wing to teach him the deadly arts just in the nick of time. Great soundtrack, haunting tone, good times.

From Dusk till Dawn (1996) – Directed by Robert Rodriguez, written by Quentin Tarantino, and coming in the immediate wake of Tarantino’s brilliant Pulp Fiction, this movie can only be described as “Badass”. The Gecko Brothers, two sociopaths on the lam from the law, unknowingly take their family of hostages to the Titty Twister, a strip club for vampires deep in the Mexican desert. It has all the ingredients of the sleazy grind house extravaganza’s from the early 1970’s – sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll and whole lot of splattered plasma. The cast is a who’s who of odd and talented character actors: Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, George Clooney, Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, Fred Williamson, John Saxon, and my favorite – the master of splatter, Tom Savini as Sex Machine, the man with a dual-cylinder revolver for a cock. Need I say more?

The Night Flier (1998) – This blood speckled gem is a little known Stephen King adaptation produced by HBO Films. A Cessna-flying vampire flies from one rural airport to the next, feeding along the way. While two tabloid reporters are hot on the trail of what they suspect is a serial killer, one of them begins to see the whole horrifying picture. This movie is scary, gory, and fun as it manages a fresh take on the vampire mythos. Just try to remember the last time HBO produced anything that wasn’t of the highest caliber. Now, after unsuccessfully racking your brain for a few hours, you should be good and ready to get a hold of a copy and give it a look.

30 Days of Night (2007) – In Barrow, Alaska night can last for a month. Now add vampires to this scenario and hold tight, because David Slade’s adaptation of Steve Niles’ bleak and brutal graphic novel is really everything I want in a vampire movie. I’m not a fan of the erotic, pretty vampires that inhabit Anne Rice’s brain. I want animalistic, primal, and predatory monsters all armed with a voracious and single-minded quest for human blood and that’s what this movies brings to table in sloppy wet heaps. This well-written, well-acted, and well-executed movie is for those of you who like your horror movies scary rather than funny and your vampires savage rather than sexy. Can’t get enough of my unadulterated praise? You can check out my review here.

Let the Right One In (2008) – This Swedish film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, also written by John Ajvide Lindqvist. In my analysis it’s one of the top-two genre offerings of 2008 (Along with the French masterpiece, Martyrs). Moreover, this movie is one of best films of that year in general. Twelve-year-old Oskar is a bullied and lonesome boy, living with his parents in an apartment facility in Blackeberg, Sweden. When Eli, a girl of ostensibly the same age moves into the complex, she and Oskar kindle a profound and multifaceted relationship with each other that requires truths be revealed, one of which is that Eli is a vampire. Sometimes this process is beautiful, and sometimes it’s horrifying, but it’s always fascinating. Every element of the movie is outstanding, but specifically the small casts’ nuanced performances are exemplary. The acting prowess of this film’s young principal players is something to behold. Right now, the very best horror movies are coming from places where the opportunity to make such films is relatively new, so these movies aren’t disposable crap aimed at the lowest common denominator like their American counterparts are, but rather these movies are being made by serious filmmakers for passionate film aficionados.

Vampire Week: Interview with Brooke Lewis: Blood Fiend, Scream Queen

Jason Thorson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:45:07 +0000

To attain Scream Queen status, one must be beautiful. Of course, talent helps too. Now, combine those two attributes with brains and incredible tenacity and you have Brooke Lewis – one of horror film’s fastest rising starlets. I was fortunate enough to interview Brooke recently to discuss her recent successes including her dual Golden Cob nominations, her latest projects such as the sick new flick, Slime City Massacre, and some of the exciting new projects (some of which are actually old favorites – here’s lookin’ at you, Ms. Vampy!) that Brooke will tackle next. Please read on, fellow horror fans:

Congratulations on getting nominated for two Golden Cob Awards this year – Best Scream Queen and Rising B Movie Actress. You’re nominated alongside some genre heavyweights. Having had mainstream success early on with the Off-Broadway comedy, Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, what do these genre nominations mean to you? Win or lose, do they put you on the map?

Thank you soooo much for acknowledging the GOLDEN COB AWARDS and I am honored to have been nominated alongside such seasoned veterans of the horror and sci-fi genres. I feel like my career is an interesting example of how there really is no exact “formula” in this crazy biz! I started out in mainstream from Off-Broadway to indie dramas to appearances in TV sitcoms and pilots and, although I have never left mainstream, I was blessed to get a “break” in horror and sci-fi and I am loving every minute of it! I have been such a horror and vampire fanatic, since I was a little girl, so it suits me perfectly! I have been so fortunate to gain an incredible fan base and love and support from my genre peers that the nominations are just “icing on the cake” (Who am I kidding? I cried tears of joy for a month after the nominations were announced!). In some ways, yes, I feel like I have “arrived” or been “put on the map”, but whether I “win” or not, simply to have my hard work acknowledged, already feels like a huge win to me! [Brooke won Best Scream Queen, Congratulations! – Jason]

What was your experience like filming Slime City Massacre? According to your co-star, Debbie Rochon, things got pretty wild during the production – can you confirm or deny this….or maybe plead the 5th? Are you a fan of the first Slime City (1988)?

Babe, I rarely “plead the 5th”! SLIME CITY MASSACRE is a little gem of an indie horror/sci-fi/action flick! Greg Lamberson, the writer/director/producer, put his life into this project and everyone pulled together to create something wonderful and artistic with a very low budget. To be honest, I didn’t become a fan of SLIME CITY, until I received the script to SLIME CITY MASSACRE. For all the original SLIME CITY fans, Greg really stepped it up with the sequel!

I play Nicole, a prostitute in the 1959 flashback scenes. I really enjoyed preparing for this character and hope horror fans enjoy my work in this one. Debbie told ya things got “wild”, huh? LOL (I love that woman!)! So I was told, but, unfortunately, was already back on a plane to Los Angeles when things heated up! Speaking of heat, the “hottest” and wildest experience I had during production was when I had to be up early for rehearsal the day before shooting. I was so exhausted and needing sleep when a fire broke out in the kitchen of my hotel. The alarms went off and we were evacuated from the hotel and I had to sit outside from 4-7 a.m. until they cleared us to go back in! That was my wild experience!

You’ve created a unique web presence with Ms. Vampy. What’s the genesis of this persona and from where are drawing your influences?

I created a web series MS. VAMPY to introduce the world to one of my favorite characters and I still cannot believe how well she was received! It was such a lovely little project, in which I created, produced, co-directed and starred under the expertise of my Executive Producer, Todd Tucker of Illusion Industries (formerly DRAC Studios).

I would love to introduce your readers to Ms. Vampy, whom Elvira, naturally, inspired: “Ms. Vampy is America’s funniest, sexiest, sassiest and most high maintenance vampire. Her personality is as big as her hair and is often described as Betty Boop meets Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. She loves pleather and fur and wouldn’t be caught “dead” without high heels! But, there’s much more to this lovable Brooklyn vampiress. While she looks young and vibrant, Ms. Vampy is one of the oldest gals on earth. She has yet to marry or have children, she freely admits to being boy crazy and hopes to someday make-out with Robert Pattinson. Ms. Vampy is forever sexy, funny, young, and obnoxious, but her heart is as big as her mouth. If she ever bites you, it’ll be with love.” - Editor, Vampity Fair

You’re a member of Women in Film and you’re also becoming a Scream Queen to be reckoned with. There is one school of thought out there – one I don’t subscribe to – that would deem those two allegiances as being incompatible. What’s your take on women in horror, both historically and currently?

Thank you for calling me a “Scream Queen to be reckoned with” and not “subscribing”! I think I am/hope to be recreating that rare combination of powerful women in film in both mainstream and the horror/sci-fi genres! The title “Scream Queen” to me is an honor! It means a “powerful” female presence in the horror genre! In my opinion, any true horror fan will recognize that the greatest roles for women in horror history were not necessarily the roles in which women were victimized or objectified, but the roles in which women were the heroine (Jamie Lee Curtis in HALLOWEEN or PROM NIGHT), or the strength behind the man (Margot Kidder in AMITYVILLE HORROR) or the killer (Sissy Spacek in CARRIE). In my opinion, there are currently sub-genres inside the horror genre and I tend to gravitate toward the more mainstream themes and roles for women, as described above. I believe there are more women stepping up behind the camera in both horror and mainstream than ever before and I believe that we have strong voices and stories that need to be heard!

You write, direct, produce, and perform Ms. Vampy. There are other projects for which you wear multiple hats, so to speak. Which job do you prefer to do? What’s your least favorite?

Acting is my heart, soul and passion, so everything else I do is motivated by my love for acting and to create opportunities for me to do what I love! Somewhere along the way, I learned that I am a damn good producer! I actually love producing on a different level, because I am such a control freak about my career. Producing empowers me to have some input on the projects I choose. I enjoy writing, because I am very creative, expressive and have all kinds of crazy stories to tell, but I am WAY too impatient to be a full-time writer! I suck at typing and I’m terrible at structure, but I am great with a team when we collaborate together and I can vocalize my ideas! At present, I would say I am not really a director, nor do I aspire to be. I Co-directed MS. VAMPY under the expertise of Todd Tucker, because no one could possibly have had the vision we had for this particular character! As much as I like the creative aspects, including working with actors and creating shot lists, I do not like the technical aspects of directing. It bores me and my natural tendencies make me gravitate to the front of the camera. I’m such the “actress”.

You’re all over the place these days with several recent projects to promote and several more on the way. Do you have any down time and if so, how do you like to spend it?

I feel like I am “all over the place these days”…physically, mentally and emotionally, so down time? What the hell is that? Right now, I am dedicating 100% to my career, so that includes acting, producing, writing, developing, publicity, answering emails, fan mail, horror and sci-fi conventions and festivals and let’s not forget “tweeting”! I swear, who would want to date ME??? When I do find time for a break, I enjoy working out, brunching, wine tasting, deep one-on-one conversations, reading spiritual/metaphysical books and, of course, renting horror movies and having a marathon!

What’s next for both you and your production company, Philly Chick Pictures?

As for Philly Chick Pictures, I am proud to announce that we are in the development stage of creating a feature film for Ms. Vampy. I am blessed to have a co-production deal with Illusion Industries, in which I will star and produce, Todd Tucker will direct, Jim Pacitti will star and produce and Tamar Halpern and Jim and I have written based on my original story. The feature is a Halloween Family Comedy titled VAMP IT OUT and will be in the vein of THE NANNY meets ELVIRA meets HOUSE BUNNY. I am following my heart and soul with this piece and my goal is to inspire teenage girls and women to embrace their inner beauty, follow their dreams and when faced with fear, dig deep inside, find their inner vamp and VAMP IT OUT!!!

As for Brooke, along with the films mentioned above, I have a few others being released this year, including Ford Austin’s horror/scifi/comedy DAHMER VS. GACY, Marc Clebanoff’s dark comedy GERALD, Sal Polisi’s mobster drama directed by James Quattrochi called SINATRA CLUB, Fabian Carillo’s action flick DOUBLE TAP directed by Ryan Combs and a short film SPRINKLES, directed by Roger A. Scheck, in which I play the lead Maura. This was probably my most challenging and showcase performance to date! I am attached to play Laura in MONDO HOLOCAUSTO! directed by Anthony Sant’Anselmo and as both an actress and producer will be working on an intense drama/thriller UNTOLD IN WEST TEXAS with my dear friends and business associates Parrish Randall and Roger A. Scheck.

Thank you for your deep and detailed questions and thank you for sharing me with your readers!

Love & Horror,

Brooke Lewis

Interview by Jason Thorson

Brooke Lewis at IMBD.com

Also check out:

www.brookelewis.com – www.msvampy.net – www.phillychickpictures.com

Survival of the Dead Movie Review

Jason Thorson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:45:15 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

In horror circles, one of the things the last decade will be remembered for is a zombie renaissance. The walking dead have been everywhere, from the big screen to books and from comics to games. The dead literally have been taking over the world. Well, insofar as cheap entertainment is concerned. As is always the case when a niche becomes a commodity, the genre becomes oversaturated.

When oversaturation occurs there’s a progression. First you see interesting twists on the concept such as the book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which superimposes the Jane Austen classic onto a zombie apocalypse. Examples such as these often rise above a field crowded by run-of-the-mill rehashes of the original idea. Eventually, even the creative stabs at the genre become desperate and uninspired and finally the flaming hot phenomenon reverts back to being just a niche. This last phase is where all things zombie have recently come to reside.

At seventy years old and forty-two years removed from when his seminal film, Night of the Living Dead (1968), first terrified popcorn munchers, George A. Romero has seen the birth, the death, and the re-animation of the horror subgenre synonymous with his name. On Friday, May 29^th, Romero’s sixth chapter of the original walking dead opus, Survival of the Dead, opens in theatres and while it has its share of bright spots (bright red in many cases), it seems that even the master can’t escape the fate of the zombie story that’s been playing out over the last ten years.

Survival of the Dead takes place shortly after the events of Diary of the Dead (2007) and it’s linked by the character, Sarge “Nicotine” Crocket (Alan Van Sprang), whom we last saw pillaging supplies from Diary’s collection of college kids. Crocket and a handful of other mercenary soldiers decide their best tactic would be to head toward Plum Island off the coast of Delaware. When they arrive they soon find that the zombie plague spares no place. More perilously, they find themselves in the middle of a Hatfields-vs.-McCoys style battle, a small scale war over the fates of the zombies, no less.

Survival’s John Ford-inspired Western aesthetic is the foundation for the film’s premise. On one side of the Pussy Foot River resides the O’Flynn family lead by Patrick O’Flynn (Kenneth Welsh). They systematically eliminate the living dead, no questions asked. On the other side of the river resides the Muldoon family lead by Seamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick). The Muldoons want to tame the living dead until a cure is found or they can be trained to crave something other than human flesh. This is an interesting conflict and it gets more convoluted throughout the movie as the zombie plague continues to infect the island’s inhabitants. The people have much more to fear from each other than they do the zombies and in this movie it’s the zombies whose survival is threatened.

The locations in Canada where Survival was filmed are gorgeous. Toronto, Ontario’s “Plum Island” farmlands and surrounding woodlands are rich with autumn colors and provide a serene and isolated environment for Romero to play with. This setting harkens back to the original film’s desolate farm and farmhouse and it adds the element of exposure in which there’s no place to hide from the living dead. This back drop is one of the film’s few strengths and Romero uses it well.

Romero has remained fiercely independent throughout his filmmaking career. Of his zombie movies, only Land of the Dead (2005) had any Hollywood involvement. For the most part his independence has served these zombie films positively. However, the first three films were made over the course of seventeen years. The last three films were made over a four year period and the recent lack of time and money manifests in Survival of the Dead in undesirable ways.

The element that suffers most is the visual effects. Survival is loaded with poorly executed CGI. The effects for these films used to be done practically. Tom Savini’s work on both Dawn and Day of the Dead defines what zombies look like and how their gut-ripping cannibalism goes down. These days the small budget drastically truncates the available time to film. Romero has had to rely on the expedience of CGI to achieve everything from minor effects, such as the myriad of brain splattering zombie head shots, to major effects, such as a scene in Survival during which Crocket finds several staked zombie heads that he shoots one by one. The problem Romero faces is twofold. Time is money, but quality CGI costs money too. And despite the series’ purported sociopolitical commentary, these zombie movies just don’t work nearly as well without believable gore and guts.

Over the course of his Dead movies Romero has purposely evolved the ways in which the zombie apocalypse affects the lives of his characters. During the first three films the plague grew in scale and the danger grew with it. In every scene this correlation resulted in palpable terror. The tone of Day of the Dead (1985) – the hopelessness, the claustrophobia, the paranoia – was the inevitable result of a plague that cannot be stopped and the detrimental effects that has on people, both physically and psychologically. Those zombies were horrifying, deadly, and exponentially increasing in number.

All these years later, Survival’s characters are used to zombies. The living dead are a potentially deadly inconvenience more than they are a source of fear. The survivors cope with their dead counterparts. This relationship is a conscious creative decision and it’s one that makes sense when analyzing the movies collectively. However, Survival of the Dead on its own is a horror movie that lacks horror and a story that lacks urgency. When the zombies aren’t an immediate threat, neither are the opposing factions of survivors. The tension has been removed from a movie that needs copious amounts of it to be effective.

Romero’s last three movies are a microcosm of arc zombies have fulfilled over the last decade. Land of the Dead cashed in during the apex of the renaissance with a slick and large scale conventional zombie movie, complete with studio backing which included a larger than usual budget. A couple years later, the much smaller Diary of the Dead twisted the concept by utilizing the cinéma vérité shooting style, a la The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and Quarantine. It separated itself by exploring the role media plays in the modern world, particularly during a conflict. Finally, Survival of the Dead attempts to twist up the zombie film yet again, this time by splicing it with the Western Genre. Only now, it all feels too familiar – a plight suffered by the majority of current zombie offerings.

I’m a huge fan of the zombie subgenre and George Romero stands tall as its pioneer as well as an immensely important figure to the horror world at large. However, people tend to forget that his filmography includes a variety of unique and successful non-zombie movies, including The Crazies, Martin, and Bruiser. And speaking as the ultimate canary in the mine shaft, when even I’m tired of the living dead it may be time for Romero to flex his always-exciting and always-challenging storytelling muscle on some new material. For a little while at least, let the dead rest in peace.

2 out of 5 Flames

Review by Jason Thorson

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Movie Review

Jason Thorson — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:35:51 +0000

Director Samuel Bayer’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, the “re-imagining” of Wes Craven’s groundbreaking 1984 slasher opus, is an unfortunate inevitability. During the last several years horror fans have had little original material to enjoy within the sanctity of sticky floors, air thick with the scent of butter flavoring, and arm rests that feature cup-holders. Virtually all the major horror flicks of yesteryear and even some of the minor ones have been re-hashed over the last decade, helmed by inexperienced and thus inexpensive filmmakers, and resulting in little more than tarnished legacies. I’ve made no secret about the fact that I detest this current get-rich-quick scheme by the powers that be. Despite having well-reasoned low expectations, I was still taken aback by the level of ineptitude displayed in Platinum Dunes’ latest strip mining of pop culture’s rich dark history. If nothing else, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a worst case scenario.

Bayer’s film follows the broad blueprint of its predecessor. The teenagers of Springwood are all trying desperately to stay awake because when they dream, they’re stalked by Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley), a pedophile who had been tracked down and burned to death by angry parents years ago, and who now stalks his former victims and murders them in their dreams. After Nancy (Rooney Mara) discovers she may be able to lure Freddy into the real world where he’s beholden to the same physical laws of the universe that we are, she and her new boyfriend, Quentin (Kyle Gallner), go to Freddy’s old lair beneath the Badham Preschool where they rediscover their collectively suppressed victimhood.

Jackie Earle Haley notwithstanding, it’s apparent immediately that the cast is not up to the task of turd-polishing the script’s clumsy and subtext-free dialogue. Mara’s Nancy is emotionally flat and spends too much time as an unengaged and passive observer to the film’s events rather than proactively pursuing specific wants and needs. This combination of lightweight acting and bad writing undermines the plot’s structural integrity and removes tension from a scenario in which that void shouldn’t be possible. Gallner’s Quentin is perhaps the most engaging of our teen victims – that is to say he doesn’t act as if he’s been sedated, but even so, without competent direction he merely seems to fall back on what he’s done in other projects. He plays the sweat-soaked, frantic kid on the brink, using the exact same moves and mannerisms he did as the sweat-soaked, frantic kid on the brink in A Haunting in Connecticut.

This brings us to what most of you are probably wondering. How does Jackie Earle Haley stack up as Freddy Krueger? The Freddy character has the important distinction of not being a silent stalker hiding behind a mask. He has a well-defined face, voice, and personality and unlike Kane Hodder’s Jason, Freddy really is inseparable from Robert Englund. This puts Haley behind the eight ball. Despite his untenable position, Haley tries his best to interpret Krueger anew, adding his own quirks such as incessant finger-twiddling with his bladed hand. He also brings a constant rage boiling under the surface that unpredictably bubbles forth, an element that was absent in Englund’s decidedly supernatural Freddy. Even so, the script doesn’t offer Haley much to work with and Englund’s portrayal haunts every one of Haley’s scenes.

One of the film’s biggest missteps is its elaboration and alteration of the reason Freddy does what he does. In the original, we’re briefly told that Freddy was a child murderer. After he was arrested and tried, he was let off on a technicality which prompted the mob of angry parents to track him down and burn him to death. Years later, once the surviving kids are on the precipice of adulthood, Freddy returns to kill them in their dreams. This is simple and it makes sense, once a murderer, always a murderer. However, in the new film we’re told that Freddy was a pedophile rather than a murderer. Years later, all his former victims are alive prior to Freddy inhabiting their dreams. Yet, none of them remember Freddy, or the abuse, or even knowing each other as little kids. And inexplicably, the dream-inhabiting Freddy now wears the iconic bladed glove and kills his victims, foregoing his proclivity for sexual atrocities. Not only does the remake offer this disconnected and implausible mess as the explanation for the film’s events, but it focuses on it.

After all the blood has dried and the glove is put away, it’s clear that Samuel Bayer is responsible for A Nightmare on Elm Street’s failures. To be fair, he’s not the only one. I mean, he didn’t hire himself to direct the movie, but it’s ultimately his lack of a proper skill set that sinks this ship. Bayer has never directed a film before. He’s shot hundreds of music videos and commercials and the only thing that has in common with filmmaking is that both activities involve cameras. Movies tell complex stories via whatever the camera shows us. It’s the director’s responsibility to show us the right things at the right times, including performances that hit the right notes, and shot compositions that convey more than what’s literally onscreen. Samuel Bayer is fully capable of filming things that are technically polished and nice looking, but he’s woefully unequipped to tell stories with the nuance and complexity that most movie goers expect.

If the decision to keep remaking classic horror movies is based on whether or not those remakes are any good, then A Nightmare on Elm Street would assuredly be this trend’s coup de grâce and we’d all be rejoicing at the inevitable return of fresh ideas to the big screen. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. There’s still money to be made and while we’ll continue to be given one bad remake after another, the horror movie genre slowly atrophies.

1 out of 5 Flames

Review by Jason Thorson

A Nightmare on Elm Street Retrospective

Jason Thorson — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:09:40 +0000

Twenty-six years ago horror fans were introduced to arguably the most complex and unique addition to the pantheon of slasher-era icons – Freddy Krueger. He was no stiff mute in a mask, maliciously misusing garden tools as a violent catharsis to purge his mommy-issues. No, Freddy had panache.

First and foremost, Freddy could talk – a simple differentiation that opened up vast new areas to cover that were not navigable to his peers. And Freddy inhabited dreams, another seemingly small difference that yielded an incredibly creative set of rules with which to play for Freddy and his victims alike. Most importantly, there’s the bladed glove – his handcrafted implement of death designed to both terrify and eviscerate sleepy Springwood teenagers. Anybody can pick up a machete or a large kitchen knife and perhaps clear some brush or prepare dinner, but Freddy’s glove had a singular horrible purpose and it, along with his dusty fedora and dirty red and green sweater, is now iconic on a global level.

So, it should come as no surprise that I’ll begrudgingly make my way to the theatre on April 30th to witness yet another unnecessary regurgitation of horror royalty as the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street hits the big screen courtesy of Platinum Dunes. Good, bad, or ugly you can watch for my review in early May, but first let’s take a stroll down Memory Lane or more specifically, Elm Street.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

When teenaged Nancy Thompson discovers that she and her friend Tina are both having violent nightmares featuring a scarred lunatic with razorblade fingers, she invites Tina over for a sleepover. Shockingly, the sleepover is also attended by their boyfriends, Glen Lantz (played by an unknown kid named Johnny Depp) and Rod Lane. Needless to say, horniness rules the night. As Tina and Rod enjoy post-coitus slumber, Freddy murders Tina in a truly brutal scene while Rod watches helplessly. Rod is arrested for the murder, but Nancy knows the truth. Despite Nancy’s warnings to her police lieutenant father, Freddy soon gets to Rod as he sleeps in his jail cell.

Since everyone now thinks Nancy is nuts, save for Glen, Mom insists Nancy get help via dream therapy. During her first therapy session, Nancy wakes up from her nightmare while simultaneously grabbing Freddy’s hat from his head. Mom recognizes the hat and comes clean, telling her that Freddy was a child murderer known as the Springwood Slasher. After he was arrested and later released on a technicality, the angry parents of Springwood chased him down and burned him alive. Emboldened by commandeering Freddy’s hat into the real world, Nancy decides she can lure Freddy back to reality as well where she will try to kill him once and for all!

A Nightmare on Elm Street became an instant classic by providing horror fans with the most interesting and at the time, frightening bogeymen to come along in a generation. Its success resulted in New Line Cinema becoming a viable movie studio and later a real player among production companies in general. Until its absorption by Warner Brothers in 2008 New Line had been known as “the house that Freddy built.”

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

Hastily made against the wishes of creator Wes Craven, Freddy’s Revenge was the first misstep in a series containing a few. Five years after the events of the original movie a new family has moved into the house at 1428 Elm Street and in no time teenager Jesse Walsh begins dreaming about Freddy. Soon Freddy begins to take possession of Jesse’s soul, using him to kill Springwood kids in the real world. After a few helpings of blood, horniness, and teen angst the film culminates at a killer backyard pool party….literally. Freddy’s Revenge is an unnecessary edition to the series as it contributes virtually nothing to the Elm Street mythos. It plays fast and loose with the rules established in the original film and as a result it doesn’t end up on many fan favorite lists.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Dream Warriors saw the franchise successfully return to form with the help of a deep pool of talented filmmakers. Wes Craven was back onboard as a screenwriter alongside others including Frank Darabont. It also featured the debuting Patricia Arquette as well as Laurence Fishburne and series vets Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and the incomparable Robert England.

The majority of Dream Warriors takes place at Westin Hills Asylum where Nancy Thompson is now a therapist who makes a special connection to Kristen, a teenaged patient who’s being stalked in her dreams by Mr. Krueger. It’s revealed that the hospital’s teenaged patients are the last remaining Elm Street kids whose parents killed Freddy. When Kristen manifests a unique ability to pull people into and out of her dreams, Nancy hatches a plan to put Freddy down for good.

Dream Warriors fleshes out Freddy’s biography quite a bit. We find out that Freddy’s mother, Amanda Krueger, worked at Weston Hills back in the 1940’s and after being accidentally locked-in over the holidays she was raped by 100 criminally insane inmates. It was during this rape that Freddy was conceived. He was later born in an abandoned wing of Westin Hills. This back story plays a prominent role throughout the remainder of the series.

Dream Warriors takes full advantage of the incredible fertility inherent to the Elm Street concept, providing easily the most creative, complex, and fun addition to the franchise. Unfortunately, the series is unable to find this success again. So without further ado, please strap on your shark-jumping shoes as we proceed.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Directed by Renny Harlan, The Dream Master is an example of not leaving well enough alone. It marks the start of the series foregoing legitimate terror in favor of campy laughs. By the end of this movie you expect Freddy to grab a microphone and start riffing on airline food and the differences between men and women.

The movie begins with Kristen and the two other remaining Elm Street Kids having just been released from Westin Hills. Meanwhile, Kristen gets a boyfriend, Rick, and befriends his sister, Alice, as well as a few other new friends. Kristen’s Westin Hills cohorts are soon slain by an inexplicably resurrected Freddy. This leaves Kristen as the last remaining Elm Street Kid and Freddy dependent on her to bring him more potential victims. Coincidentally, Kristen’s new friend Alice is some sort of super-powered gatekeeper of good dreams, Freddy’s foil if you will. Kristen dies, thereby passing her dream power to Alice, who also inherits the powers and skills of all the other dead Elm Street Kids which all leads to an inevitable showdown between Alice and Freddy.

The Dream Master was another misstep in the series which would have been just fine as a trilogy. Its cheesiness, purposeful and not, removed its status as a franchise embraced by horror buffs and thrust it toward more mainstream audiences.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

I’ll make this simple: The Dream Child is the worst of the series. It’s a bloodless convoluted mess.

Alice and the previous film’s other survivor, Dan, are now dating. Alice is also pregnant and has made a few new friends. So much for Rick.

Note: If you happen to meet someone and at some point during the conversation they mention that they’ve recently defeated Freddy Krueger, do not, I repeat – DO NOT befriend them. Just politely stop talking, nod once, and walk away.

After a brief period of peace and quiet, Alice begins dreaming about Freddy’s mom, Amanda, as well as a young boy named Jacob who turns out to be Alice’s unborn son. It doesn’t take long for Freddy to kill Dan and go after the rest of Alice’s new friends. But despite wielding the best weapon in horror movie history, Freddy kills everyone in ridiculous cartoon-inspired ways such as cutting a character to pieces, but only after turning that character into paper, cracking bad puns all the while. Yes, really.

Alice surmises that Freddy is hiding inside of her with her unborn child Jacob, using him as a vessel to reach her friends. And obviously there’s only one way to handle this: Somehow turn Freddy into a baby and make Jacob and Baby-Freddy duke it out. That’s a lot of responsibility to a kid who’s not even born yet.

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Freddy’s Dead takes place several years after the events of the previous film. In the meantime Freddy has killed all but one of a new generation of Springwood teenagers. This lone survivor is referred to as John Doe because during a dreamy confrontation with Freddy he’s thrown beyond the Springwood city limits and hits his head leading to a bought of amnesia. However, this event also establishes the fact that Freddy is powerless outside of Springwood, as he is unable to leave.

John gets picked up by police and sent to a youth shelter where he befriends the resident teenagers. Dr. Maggie Burroughs notices that John has a newspaper clipping from the Springwood Paper and decides to take him there to jog his memory. Predictably, Elm Street-style chaos ensues after Maggie, John, and the others get to Springwood.

Conveniently, we find out that Maggie is Freddy’s daughter and that Freddy achieves immortality because of little dream demons that revive him. The only way to kill Freddy is to lure him into the real world, which of course Maggie eventually does.

Similar to the previous two films, Freddy’s Dead lacks the guts of the earlier movies, but tries to make up for it by delivering its climactic final sequence in 3-D. Good times…..well, ten minutes worth, anyway.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Wes Craven’s ambitious high concept idea for New Nightmare predates Dream Warriors, but unfortunately he was only able to write and direct it into fruition after seven years worth of bad sequels. It’s a meta-movie meaning the boundary is broken between reality where Wes Craven makes Freddy movies and fiction where Freddy is the prolific predator of Elm Street teenagers.

In the movie, several of the series’ filmmakers including Heather Langenkamp, Robert England, and Wes Craven as well as other industry folks portray themselves working on another Elm Street movie. Eventually, Freddy Krueger manifests in reality and commences slaying the cast and crew.

Despite the bold idea, its realization onscreen is a bit underwhelming and dull. It’s conceptually similar to Craven’s Scream series for which it clearly paved the way. However, New Nightmare is much darker in tone and a lot less annoying.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Following a brief cameo in 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell in which Freddy pulls Jason’s hockey mask down to hell after demons had just dragged Jason there, a clash between horror’s two biggest icons became an inevitability. The following is an excerpt from my Friday the 13^th retrospective:

“[Freddy vs. Jason] spent a long time in development hell possibly hanging out with its two title characters. When it was finally released it wasn’t half bad.”

“It’s been so long since Freddy sliced up the kids on Elm St. that he’s been rendered impotent. In order for Freddy Krueger to get his mojo back he needs Springwood to be populated with scared teenagers. He resurrects Jason to do his dirty work, but Jason predictably kills a few too many of teens Freddy needs to regain his power. This sets up an entertaining battle between arguably the two most iconic horror characters in film history. And not even Freddy, it seems, can keep a good killer down.”

This movie once again features the wise-ass version of Freddy and in the end it’s Jason who wins round 1. However, Freddy vs. Jason was entertaining as well as successful at the box office. It inspired other crossover products including the comic book series, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, released by Wildstorm and Dynamite Entertainment in 2007.

And with that our journey comes back to the house at 1428 Elm Street where on April 30^th I’ll be there alongside the new guard of horror fans to be reintroduced to that sick bastard wearing the Christmas sweater and slicing up kids with his gnarly glove. I dread it every bit as much as I look forward to it. Here we go again….

Check back in early May for my review of A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).

Jason Thorson

Killing Pickman #2 Comic Review

Jason Thorson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:30:43 +0000

Available at DriveThruComics.com

Writer Jason Becker and artist Jon Rea are back with the second twisted issue of their series Killing Pickman. Slower paced and more convoluted than issue 1, this issue dives deeper into the origins of Dick Pickman’s monstrous deeds.

As Detective Zhu makes his way to Herbert West Memorial Hospital to finish the job he started in issue one, the act of killing Pickman, Mr. Pickman waxes insane to a hospital psychologist about his transformation into a malicious child killer. When Zhu arrives outside the door to Pickman’s room, gun in hand, he’s confronted by Detective Raimi. Flash forward two months and we find out that this case hasn’t been very kind to those involved with investigating and cleaning out the Pickman house. Detective Zhu is the only one who understands the literally monstrous nature of the case and he has a plan, but can he pull it off while also looking out for the best interests of his wife and their child?

Becker’s story hit the ground running in issue one. I’m talking Olympic-level-sprinting. It gained momentum immediately which it sustained throughout by decidedly avoiding exposition. Because there was such a lack of back story in issue one it comes as no surprise that issue two is almost entirely comprised of exposition. Having now had the opportunity to explore both approaches, it’s clear that this series would be best served striking a balance between the two. Becker’s writing is just as interesting, but plotting comes to a screeching halt this issue.

Killing Pickman is chock full of references to the great horror flicks of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Becker’s reverence for those stories comes through in his writing. Like those films do so well, Becker establishes an ominous tone in which dread is thick enough to hack up with a machete and a collision course with that which is evil, twisted, and horrible is inevitable. This inevitability pushes us through his world with our nerves scraped raw so that the resulting tension is palpable, even when there isn’t much happening.

Rea’s artwork is multifaceted and unique. Once again, he composes pages that visually represent the noire tone of the story as well as the derangement of the story’s subject matter. He tends to blur the lines, both figuratively and literally, that separate the panels from the pages, the illustrations from the text, and in some cases the pages from reality. There are panels that are drawn to appear as if they are taped onto the page and there are pages that are drawn as if the panels are mounted on the game of Sudoku being played by the character represented in the panels.

The most interesting element of the artwork is the diagrams, notes, and quotes found throughout that provide a literal subtext to the already complex and multi-layered story. Some of these are funny, some of these are deranged, and all of them are enlightening. By blurring the lines between written elements and graphic elements, story and reality, writer and reader, and artwork and media Rea provides readers a creatively meta-fictional and fully immersive experience.

Killing Pickman issue 2 is another successful example of the quality indie storytellers and artists can attain. This issue has a little less going for it with regard to plot and pace than its predecessor does, but it’s well-written, well-drawn and well-executed nonetheless. I hear that the series will continue this summer, which is awesome because Jason Becker, Jon Rea, and the rest of their crew at Archaia Studio Press have a potential blockbuster on their hands.

Review by Jason Thorson

Dead Future #1 Review

Jason Thorson — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:16:46 +0000

Available at DriveThruComics.com

In an era when comic books have the same relationship with zombies as ESPN has with football, it’s difficult to find something fresh about the living dead, no pun intended. However, Grim Crew’s Dead Future Issue 1 is an anthology comprised of three zombie apocalypse stories all of which offer an element of originality in this otherwise predictable comic book niche.

The first story, Real Monsters, written by Martin Brandt II and Illustrated by Paul Petyo is a tale of day-to-day urban survival in a world overrun by zombies. This segment has all the trappings of the archetypal zombie paradigm as well as a few unique wrinkles. One of these is that the living can go about their business among the living dead provided they don’t upset the zombies’ routines and that these excursions take place during the day time. The most interesting and original aspect of Real Monsters is Paul Petyo’s approach to the illustrations. The panels are essentially photographs in which actors play the characters on various sets. These photographs have been digitally manipulated both to achieve a consistent aesthetic and to realize the details of the world in which Real Monsters takes place. The result is a creepy and realistic post apocalyptic cityscape come to life.

The second story, Major Tom, written by Martin Brandt II and illustrated by Martinho Abreu is a conventionally composed comic book narrative the strength of which is its concept. Major Tom and his crew are aboard a space station awaiting word from mission control regarding the launch of a resupply ship. With only 10 days of supplies remaining on the station, time is ticking when the launch mission gets canceled with no reasonable explanation. As the days count down, the dire situation reveals itself to Major Tom. A zombie plague has spread quickly across the globe and mankind is doomed to extinction. Tom and his crew are the only hope for the human race as they orbit the world awaiting the arrival of one last unmanned supply ship. This story drips out exposition and fills in the blanks at a nice pace, with a couple twists to boot. Abreu’s artwork is solid and utilitarian. The pages feature conventionally shaped panels of uniform size containing relatively basic grayscale pencil drawings that clearly convey Brandt’s story.

The last story, Non Mortuus, written and illustrated by Roberto Macedo Alves takes place in old world Europe during the 16th century. In an original take on the zombie plague mythos, Alves introduces us to Pope Innocent VIII who becomes power mad and a good deal crazy in general. When years of debauchery take its toll on the pope’s health he turns to witchcraft to stave off his impending death. His quest for immortality goes horribly wrong killing everyone involved with the spell, save for the witch. When the pope and his spell’s two sacrificial victims all return from the grave a zombie apocalypse burns across Europe. After the story’s peripheral narrator waxes optimistic regarding his own future it becomes clear that Pope Innocent’s inadvertent apocalypse will have huge implications on the way the history of the world unfolds, history books be damned!

Dead Future Issue 1 offers everything a comic book of the highest quality should offer. It features superior writing, impressive and various artwork, and most importantly it offers unique and compelling zombie stories proving there’s still some fight left in that old carcass. Aside from a few careless typos there are no glaring negatives to be found. How long the Dead Future series can deliver this level of storytelling is anybody’s guess, but issue 1 is a monster….no pun intended.

Review by Jason Thorson

Killing Pickman #1 Comic Review

Jason Thorson — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:45:48 +0000

Available at DriveThruComics.com

Author Jason Becker and artist Jon Rea have collaborated to create Killing Pickman, a modern noire tale wrapped around serial child murder and Satanism. And honestly, it warms my heart, but please keep that between you and me.

Issue 1 starts with Detective Bill Zsu canvassing the neighborhood in which multiple children have disappeared. When he knocks on Dick Pickman’s door the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. After calling for back up a showdown ensues the results of which are six new holes in Pickman, the discovery of satanic hobbies undertaken by the aforementioned Mr. Pickman, and a tunnel in which more child victims are discovered alive. Pickman goes to the hospital and Detective Zsu goes a little crazy working the psychopath beat. Little does he know that he’s only scratched the surface of the depravity he’s just uncovered.

Becker’s story is fast-paced and streamlined. Where other stories get stuck in the mud while we all drown in exposition Becker kicks us in the ass, shoving us through the door of the loony bin. Conceptually and tonally, Killing Pickman is similar to comics such as Sin City and Arkham Asylum, as well as films including The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en.

Jon Rea’s artwork is bleak and fragmented embodying the dark themes of the story and the psychopathic nature of our antagonist. He uses charcoals, blues, blacks, grays and browns to saturate the pages with a noire palette. Fans of primary colors should keep a safe distance. Rea’s style is reminiscent of Frank Miller’s seminal Dark Knight masterpiece as well as Dave Mckean’s innovative and disturbing work from the early 90’s. There are moments when the action is obscured by the artistic style, but never for too long and never to the detriment of the book’s appeal.

Killing Pickman is fantastic. If you like your Satanism hardboiled and your child murder mysterious then this book is for you. Looking forward to issue 2.

Review by Jason Thorson

Midnight Chronicles Movie Review

Jason Thorson — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:45:00 +0000

Avaialble at DriveThruHorror.com

Writer/director/producer Christian Petersen’s Midnight Chronicles is an indie film based on the fantasy role playing game Midnight from Fantasy Flight Games. Evil rules in Midnight’s world of Aryth after Izrador, the dark god defeated the free races in a war 100 years prior. Men are now enslaved while Elves and Dwarves have disappeared into the forests and mountains. Hope resides in only the few brave enough to pursue it. As Mag Kiln travels to Blackweir to investigate the disappearance of a fellow priest, others also descend on the small town where a complex web of good versus evil develops that has implications on the future of the dark forces that rule the land.

For as relatively small a production as it is, Midnight Chronicles is incredibly ambitious. And while it surprisingly rises to the level of visual prowess demanded by its subject matter, it falls woefully short in the story department. Like a lot of recent indie flicks, Midnight Chronicles is another impressive-but-flawed realization of a lot of hard work, money, and time and it’s also one hell of a mixed bag of movie pros and cons. Unfortunately the cons are so fundamentally important to the art of storytelling that they are impossible to overlook.

I’ll start with the things Midnight Chronicles does well.

The photography is beautiful and stark, utilizing various filters to washout primary colors and enhance the dark oppressive settings in which this story takes place. Filmed in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Midnight Chronicles’ locations and sets are on par with movies that boast much larger budgets. This is apparent immediately during the film’s large scale opening shot of slaves being marched through a vast valley overlooked by a kingdom nestled in the hills.

Midnight Chronicle’s sound production is also very well done. This movie takes place in multiple and various settings, including large scale outdoor and underground locations. It features crowds, fights, the occasional flock of birds, creatures, magic spells, you name it. Yet the sound mix remains polished and consistent throughout.

The cast is wholly comprised of theatre, television commercial, and indie film talent based in the Twin Cities. Midnight Chronicles has more characters than the average indie movie which usually predicts a huge drop off in performance between the leads and the supporting characters. However, by casting capable actors rather than friends and family, Petersen by and large avoids the aforementioned indie flick malady. While no one here threatens Brando’s spot on the all-time list, more importantly there are no sore thumbs in this group.

From a production perspective – the sets, the costumes, the effects, the acting, i.e. the tools used to help tell the story – this movie is top notch. However, a movie’s entire reason for being is born well before the actors are cast, the sets are lighted, and the cameras role. Storytelling matters most and it’s here that Midnight Chronicles falls short.

Midnight Chronicles’ script appears to have been a structural mess from square one. I consider myself a fairly astute movie watcher and I spent over half the time wondering what the hell was going on. This is because the very basic essentials of plot, specifically movie plot are never clearly defined and in some cases they’re missing all together. For example, the three act structure is a forgotten concept. This makes it difficult to discern who the protagonists and antagonists are as there is no clear main tension established early on. The main tension defines when the first act ends and thrusts us into the bulk of the film armed with knowing who to root for, who to root against, and what they all want. It’s a simple concept the by-product of which results in a compelling story.

Midnight Chronicles also suffers from a considerable lack of originality. Conceptually, it’s extremely similar to Tolkien’s Middle Earth mythos. There are Orcs, and Elves, and references to Dwarfs. Even the proper names spoken throughout the film sound like they were cribbed from a Lord of the Rings improv group. I understand that the source material for the movie is a strain of RPG that owes much of its existence to D&D and by extension the Tolkien books, but this is a level of similarity that’s off-putting and distracting.

It comes down to the fact that I’m on the outside looking in and that usually doesn’t bode well for one’s reaction to a film. It’s certainly possible that Petersen is a bit too familiar with the source material for the film’s own good. And maybe fans of the game will dive right into Midnight Chronicles and feel at home. However, I’m neither familiar with the game, nor am I a gamer in general so perhaps too many of those source elements are lost on folks like me. The bad news for Midnight Chronicles is that there are more of us on the outside than there are on the inside.

Christian Petersen’s film is an admirable effort. Compared to the vast majority of true independent films, this movie is made with a superior level of effort and skill and the aesthetic results bear that out. However, it must not be overlooked that in an age when digital cameras and high-end digital editing suites are commonplace, the production quality of a film is no longer enough to ignore its flaws. As a matter fact, with this technology being both cheap and readily available to the masses it has put an emphasis on the most basic and timeless components of movie making – a creative angle on a well-crafted story. If Midnight Chronicles had succeeded in these areas as well as it has in all other areas I’d be trying to sell you on the second coming of Peter Jackson. Instead, I’m writing about a movie that didn’t quite fulfill its potential.

2.5 flames out 5

Review by Jason Thorson

Have a Horror Movie Buff You Need to Buy For? Jason Recommends…

Jason Thorson — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:01:15 +0000

In this edition of FlamesRising.com’s Winter Holiday 2009 Gift Guide, we turn to horror movie buff and FlamesRising review Jason Thorson, who provides you with a few horror movie recommendations.

You can find many of these films at large department stores or online; we also recommend renting some of Jason’s picks and trying them out before you give them as a gift. You’d be surprised how good some of these horror movies are!

Well, the Holidays are encroaching on us again. Every now and then that obese old prowler who breaks into your home in the middle of the night every December 24th actually manages to leave you with something worth your while.

However, there’s nothing wrong with forcing his jolly hand, so here you go: five horror movies that are both relatively new and good, two qualities that when combined are like gold! Here’s hoping you have a pitch black Friday….

Let the Right One In – Outstanding Swedish tale about a 12 year old boy who befriends a vampire girl.

Martyrs – French-Canadian masterpiece about the depraved psychological journey taken by an abuse victim after she enacts revenge on her tormentors. This movie is as unique and disturbing as anything ever made.

Inside – French-made movie about a pregnant widow being stalked by a maniac on Christmas Eve. This well-conceived little gem is chock full of cringe-inducing moments.

Drag Me to Hell – Don’t miss Sam Raimi’s roller coaster return to the horror genre. It’s Evil Dead meets E.C. Comics and it’s full of moments that will force you to have no other reaction than uncomfortable, nervous laughter.

Murder Loves Killers Too – This indie home run turns the slasher flick on its head in truly unexpected and entertaining ways. Best feature winner at the Madison Horror Film Fest 2009.

Jason Thorson – 2009

Thankskilling Movie Review

Jason Thorson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:33:58 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

Thankskilling can’t be dubbed “critic proof” because its success is yet to be determined. A more accurate term to describe Kevin Stewart and Jordan Downey’s movie about a murderous turkey would be “anti-critic.” This opinion is not lost on these two upstart filmmakers. In fact, the following is an excerpt from the home page of Thankskillingmovie.com:

“ThanksKilling promises nothing but a cheesy good time. It’s the perfect cult film to watch with drinks around Halloween or especially during Thanksgiving! Laugh at it because it’s funny. Laugh at it because it’s bad. It’s meant to be taken with a grain of salt.”

So where does that leave me? Well, imagine the judges from American Idol are huddling in your bathroom listening to you shower. When you’re finished Randy Jackson taps you on the shoulder and says that your singing sounded a bit pitchy. Then Simon Cowell proclaims your performance to have been dreadful. I guess I’ll be playing the role of Paula Abdul for the next few paragraphs. In other words, I’ll be the superfluous know-it-all, unable to offer any substantive analysis whatsoever. Honestly, none is required. I know it and so do both Stewart and Downey, but I’ll try nonetheless.

The premise of this flick is pretty simple. Way back when, a Native American had cursed a turkey and unleashed it on the pilgrims. Reanimated by an unfortunately aimed stream of dog wee-wee, the homicidal turkey resumes his rampage after spending a few centuries in the ground. Enter the five college kids driving home together for Thanksgiving break who happened to have vehicle issues. Wouldn’t you know it? They end up being hunted down by the turkey. Can they stop the turkey before it kills them all? Will the turkey take over the entire world? Do vertical stripes make me appear slimmer? Does anyone care?

Thankskilling is not a horror movie, horror-comedy, or any other horror-related subgenre. It’s really set up as a full on comedy the results of which aren’t very funny, and mainly comprised of superficial and sometimes offensive silliness. The enjoyable aspect of this is that while watching the movie it’s obvious how much fun the performers and crew are having making Thankskilling despite the purposeful ridiculousness of the material. This alone is at least strangely, if not potently, entertaining.

The film’s cast is largely comprised of young folks who’d had either zero, very little, or exclusively pornographic acting experience prior to shooting Thankskilling. The results are predictably bad, but clearly there were no Oscar aspirations involved in the making of this film. The characters are all generic slasher archetypes. There’s the jock, the slut, the nerd, the regular guy (or large, but lovable redneck in this case) and the good girl. These archetypes are alluded to as such, but that’s where the self-aware movie conceit stops, leaving several potential jokes to die on the vine.

Thankskilling was shot in 2007. It took eleven days and merely $3,500.00, not including the marketing and distribution costs. This is serious DIY horror, made by fans rather than by honest-to-goodness moviemakers. And as such, it deserves some credit merely for existing, which is what I believe to have been the foremost objective of the crew. And they certainly didn’t let all that telling-a-story mumbo jumbo stand in the way of their goal.

Despite its innumerable flaws, Thankskilling is an admirable accomplishment from a technical standpoint. Shot on HDV using a Canon HX-A1 camera, the picture looks fantastic and comparable to many films shot with a much bigger budget and by people with much more experience. The movie was put together using Final Cut Pro and the soundscape was designed in Pro tools. The end result is a great looking and impressive sounding movie which clearly indicates that Kevin Stewart, Jordan Downey, and their crew are talented and resourceful enough to put together a quality production. And that’s why Thankskilling is almost as admirable as it is frustrating as hell.

Never before have I been asked to review a movie the makers of which insist is “meant to be taken with a grain of salt.” How does one analyze something that rests on the laurels of merely “being”? Honestly, I’d rather not be the Paula Abdul in Thankskilling’s bathroom. And after seeing how this crew created a legitimate movie out of next to nothing, I couldn’t help but wonder how big a splash they may have made had they devoted some effort toward the material they shot.

The best and most repeated advice I’ve ever heard is that a movie is only as good as its script, from multimillion dollar blockbusters to micro-budgeted guerrilla filmmaking abominations. If the script is good, your movie will be good. Period. Filmmakers are storytellers much more than they are photographers. It’s certainly possible to make what ends up becoming a cult movie using tasteless and ridiculous concepts and still tell a story. In fact, I’d argue that it takes true genius to do so. The Thankskilling crew won’t be invited to Mensa meetings any time soon, but they have shown the potential to contribute something worthwhile to the world of sick and depraved cinema in the future.

1 out of 5 Flames

Review by Jason Thorson

Screen Screams: Madison Horror Film Fest 2009

Jason Thorson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:36:33 +0000

This year’s Madison Horror Film Fest at Market Square Cinema in Madison, WI didn’t go off without a hitch, but it was so much fun it didn’t matter. In only its second year, the festival featured high profile genre greats, up and comers, a variety of horror flicks, and enough vendors to lighten your wallet. The future looks bright for this upstart horror gathering produced by festival director Rich Peterson and Icon Entertainment. Things kicked off on Friday night, October 2^nd with the world premiere of the feature film Incest Death Squad followed by two full days of films and guests that covered Saturday and Sunday.

I took part in Saturday’s depravity and my day went as follows:

Entering the fest was hassle free. I walked in and immediately spotted a sign directing me to a booth where I could check my name off the media list and get my tickets. Honestly, the sign was unnecessary as several vendors’ booths were set up in a cluster and surrounded by people who were unmistakably there to revel in terror.

The first person I spotted was Re-Animator writer/director Stuart Gordon as he was chatting with Rich Peterson. It was a tad surreal to walk into Market Square Cinema, a theatre that shows movies late in their theatrical rotations at a discounted price, and run into one of my all time genre faves in Gordon. Although not surprising given that the Re-Animator screening and Q&A with Gordon was essentially Saturday night’s main event, it was cool nonetheless and it put my enthusiasm on high.

Next I was off to the vendors. There were the expected participants such as Full Moon Direct slinging DVDs from their large catalog including Puppet Master, Evil Bong, and Gingerbread Man. There were artists and musicians selling their horror-centric creations, filmmakers selling copies of the movies they had submitted into the fest, and there were even local clothing vendors whose products appeal to those of us who are more sub-cultured than we are cultured.

The most attention-grabbing booth was set up by Barry Crawford, otherwise known as Clay Guy from Streamwood, IL. Barry sculpts from clay damn near every horror and science fiction character in the known universe. He then creates molds from the sculptures, casts the characters in resin, hand paints them, and viola’ – you buy them because you can’t help yourself! No sooner did I have my eyes set on a Dr. Herbert West figurine than did Stuart Gordon sneak over to the booth, snag Dr. West and leave the fest to drop it off safely in his hotel room. I was only slightly disappointed to lose the figurine to the man who immortalized Dr. West on film and thus contented myself watching Clay Guy ply his craft in the shabby Market Square Cinema lobby.

I decided the time was right to enter the theatre and check out some flicks. On the way in I met Cory Ulder, writer/director/producer/kitchen sink of Incest Death Squad. He proceeded to introduce me to writer/director/producer Bill Rebane, a truly monumental figure in indie filmmaking and exploitation horror (The Giant Spider Invasion, Monster A-Go Go) and the pioneer of non-coastal studio filmmaking having built a fully operational movie studio in Wisconsin, the first and only of its kind in the Midwest.

In the theatre the movies were various. Some were shorts and some were features. Some were horror-comedies while others were full on hardcore terror. Among the films I saw were Wade, a sleazy micro-budgeted short, Murder loves Killers too, an unexpectedly fantastic feature that I highly recommend, The Landlord, an ambitious and complex horror-comedy shot in nearby Chicago, IL, and You’re Next 3: Pajama Party Massacre, a filthy little grinder short starring Elske McCain, Scarlet Salem, and Elske McCain’s breasts.

These showings were broken up by a presentation in which Cory Ulder presented Bill Rebane with the Madison Horror Film Fest Lifetime Achievement Award. This was both sweet and funny as Mr. Rebane honestly thought it was a joke until he was standing in front of a live mic holding a nice commemorative plaque.

At last it was time for Saturday’s main attraction. Stuart Gordon made his way to the front of the theatre after being introduced by local horror hosts Freakshow and the Harlots of Horror. After the raucous applause died down, Gordon reminded us all that it was exactly twenty-five years ago this month when work began on Re-Animator. And with that the movie began to roll. Gordon walked back up the isle to more enthusiastic applause and took a seat across from me. This left me simultaneously waxing nostalgic about watching Re-Animator when I was eleven and marveling at the coolness of what I was currently experiencing. Admittedly, my inner fan boy was barely contained.

Re-Animator was a blast as it always is, but even more so given that I’d never seen it on the big screen before. The lights came up and Stuart Gordon returned to the front of the theatre where he spent about a half hour giving a wonderfully engaging Q&A. The following are Stuart Gordon fun-facts gleaned from the Q&A:

He was expelled from the University of Wisconsin in the late sixties for a psychedelic production of Peter Pan wherein the characters used LSD to fly rather than pixie dust. If one thing was made clear, it’s that Gordon has got to be considered one of the foremost experts on H.P. Lovecraft and his works. He is not a fan of remakes, particularly those of movies that were bad originally. He would be sorely disappointed if Re-Animator were to be rehashed. His three favorite horror movies, Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs were all inspired by Wisconsinite Ed Gein’s macabre exploits and this helps Gordon take pride in his dairy state ties. He recently co-wrote a one-man play starring Jeffery Combs (Dr. West) entitled Nevermore: An evening with Edgar Allen Poe which is playing in Los Angeles. He’s lobbying some Chicago theatres to bring the production to the Midwest. And perhaps his most instructive advice, a movie is only as good as its script, even no-budget horror cheapies.

And with that my night was over.

I have little negative to write about the Madison Horror Film Fest. There were typical mishaps such as last minute cancellations by Debbie Rochon, Elske McCain, and Scarlet Salem which left their “Women in Horror” presentation in the hands of last minute replacements. But these things are uncontrollable and as the fest gains more reputation they are less likely to occur.

Hopefully Rich Peterson will continue to expand the festival in upcoming years and if he does, he’ll need a location that can accommodate more people, more comfortably. The day’s highlights were not so much the movies, but rather talking about the movies after they had played via Q&A’s, presentations, and good old fashioned schmoozing with other fans and filmmakers. I’d like to see more panels and presentations next year. These are improvements that are well within reach.

Given the fest’s favorable bang to buck ratio and the sense I get that it’s going to pick up steam quickly with each successive year, my verdict is an easy one: Horror film fans in the Midwest are well-advised to show up when this festival haunts Madison, WI next year.

Jason Thorson – 2009

Zombieland Movie Review

Jason Thorson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:36:02 +0000

Director Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland is not a horror movie. It’s not even a horror-comedy. It’s really a fairly straight forward comedy-comedy, the back drop of which involves zombies. And as such it works pretty well, just not as well as its components suggest it should.

The world has been overrun by zombies and a most unlikely survivor nicknamed Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is heading east across the country toward home hoping to find others, his family in particular. As fate would have it, he crosses paths with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), another survivor heading east and Columbus’ polar opposite in just about every way. Soon the two of them run into a bad girl nicknamed Wichita (Emma Stone) and her twelve year old sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). These girls were conning men out of their money before zombies became an issue and have since parlayed their game into a post apocalyptic art of survival as they head west. After conning and strong arming our gentleman out of their vehicle and weapons twice, everyone agrees to head west together where they learn how to survive life with or without zombies.

Zombieland is a mash up of several familiar movie archetypes including the buddy movie, the road movie, the disaster movie, and of course the zombie movie. It’s unapologetically rowdy and outrageous, but still finds room for a sweet spot, which may be its biggest strength. It also benefits from being a very lean film. There are only four principal characters and most of time they’re all together. It’s a streamlined narrative represented clearly and concisely, clocking in at a fast-paced hour and twenty-seven minutes.

Zombieland is wonderfully cast. Tallahassee is role that Woody Harrelson was born to play. He’s as redneck as one can be, from his snakeskin coat to the Dale Earnhardt-inspired 3’s he spray paints on the doors of the salvageable vehicles he finds along the way. But he’s also a grieving father and a good guy at his core and Harrelson hits all the right notes whether they are loud and silly or nuanced and melancholy. Playing Columbus, Jesse Eisenberg seems to be doing Michael Cera’s (Super Bad, Juno) shtick, but even so, he does it very well. He embodies the anxiety-ridden everyman whose first time outside the nest happens to occur during a zombie apocalypse. Emma Stone plays pretty-but-approachable in everything I’ve seen her in and here she does as well, only this time she gets to play a dynamic bad girl thereby countering her sweetness with a bad outer shell. This outer shell is predictably a defense mechanism, but Stone’s portrayal makes it believable. Abigail Breslin’s Little Rock is a role in stark departure from her prior work in movies such as Little Miss Sunshine by way of Little Rock’s maturity and tone. Breslin plays dark and cynical as well as she does innocent and vulnerable, giving this character multiple layers.

Zombieland utilizes a well-stocked arsenal of fun movie conventions. There are ridiculous action sequences involving speeding vehicles, and automatic weapons. There are a few creative and gory kills, always requisite in stories in which there are zombies. Hell, there are sequences during which the movie literally becomes a rollercoaster ride. From the opening credits to the ending credits it’s clear that Ruben Fleischer is pulling out all the stops to send Zombieland over the top. It’s for this very reason why it’s so difficult to explain how this movie never quite gets there. All the parts are place: killer cast, high action, zombies – yet the sum of these parts doesn’t have the impact one would expect.

Fleischer’s film borrows the set up from Max Brooks’ book World War Z and then heads immediately into Shawn of the Dead territory – a remarkably similar film and a better one by almost every measure. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s zombie comedy, or zomedy if you will, from 2004 was one of the year’s best films, and it set an extremely high benchmark for all horror-comedies to follow. Zombieland’s biggest problem is its inability to live up to that standard established by its lone predecessor. Fleischer’s zomedy is funny and it has enough heart to elevate it above the superficial. However, it merely hovers on the periphery of “Great”. It’s only good which is a pretty innocuous criticism, but the film doesn’t feel like it’s going to leave a lasting impression.

Score: 2.5 out of 5

Review by Jason Thorson