Horror Guy

TRUE BLOOD is a Hit!

Or at least enough of a hit to be renewed for a second season! If you have not been following the exploits of Sookie Stackhouse, her brother Jason, her vampire lover Bill and all the other interesting characters in the fictional backwater town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, the episodes are re-aired all week long on HBO; get yer ass in front of the boob tube and check it out! In the short time it has been on the air, True Blood has rocketed to the top of this Horror Guy's 'fave TV shows' list.

Pieces, 09/07/2008

The Day Job is now a thing of the past and the Horror Guy is taking some much needed time off from the rat race. Let's clean up pieces so I can get back to some rantin' on a regular basis...

...all this time off means I have time to set up my li'l personal space I like to call The Grimoire. It's coming along nicely and I'll soon have some shots up on my recently set-up flickr page.

...don't forget that HBO's new vampire drama True Blood debuts this evening. Set those DVRs!

...maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment in light of all the disastrous horror flick remakes going on these days, but I actually have high hopes for the upcoming remake/reimagining of the original Friday the 13th heading to theaters on February 13th, 2009.

...the HP Lovecraft Film Festival & Cthulhucon is comin' around again. If yer in the Portland area next month, the dates are October 3rd-5th.




...speakin' of film festivals, the Horror Guy's very own 8th Annual HorrorFest will be held on October 25th. Line-up and more info to come.

...Brian Keene's excellent zombie-themed short story The Ties That Bind is being adapted into a short film by the folks at Bamfer Productions. Check out the creepy lookin' trailer below.

Southern-Fried Vampire Goodness!

The cool genre-related stuff just keeps a'comin'! I'm very interested in what Alan Ball is going to do with this new HBO series based on the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels. 

It's Zompire Time!!!

Looks like Portland area undead fans hit the jackpot this month. Not only is the 1st Annual Zombie Prom being held this Saturday but it's also the weekend that Zompire, the Undead Film Festival descends on Stumptown. If yer gonna be in the area, line up and grab a ticket! If you drop by on Saturday evening, you might even spot your truly lurking in the crowd. I'll be the one wearing the zombie t-shirt.

 

High Definition Horror

Unless you've been living (or dead) under a rock, you know by now that Blu-Ray won the much over-hyped high definition format war. This worked out well for the Horror Guy as Cridafer and I were already proud owners of a Playstation 3 system. And yeah, I'm goin' somewhere with this.....anyway....
So being the hi-def whore that I am, having the PlayStation 3 to play Blu-Ray discs meant that I could starting pickin' up my fright flicks and watchin' 'em in all their 1080p glory. I've found a bit of time lately to watch a handful of these bloody beauties and let me tell ya...

...28 Weeks Later was pretty much kick-ass all the way around. I'm not sure why I didn't seem to really care for it when Crid and I saw it in the theater, but watchin' it at home on a hi-def video and audio system that sounds better than most theaters I get out to these days was a screamin' little treat! The video quality is amazing and with the DTS HD, I could hear every entertainingly agonizing screech of the victims of the rage virus loud and crystal clear. Forget what I said before about this one; 28 Weeks Later is definitely worth yer time.

...I'm kinda on the other side of the fence with 30 Days Of Night. In a prior entry I wrote about how much I enjoyed the film, even calling it one of my top 5 for 2007. Now I'm sorta wonderin' why. I mean, it was pretty to look at I guess, but as the entire thing takes place at night, it was a bit difficult to enjoy much of its hi-def-ish-ness. And slow. My godz, it felt like we were witnessing all 30 days of the vampire siege of Barrow, Alaska. I guess I have to reverse my opinion on this one as well. Not nearly as entertained by it at home as when I caught this one at the local cinema.

...John Carpenter's Halloween looks amazing in HD. It's PCM 5.1 surround track brings that classic movie theme to life and reminds me once again why this is and likely always will be the Horror Guy's all time favorite horror flick. However...

...Ghost Rider beats the hell outta EVERYTHING I've seen on Blu-Ray to date! Yeah, I know it's cheeseball of a flick and barely even qualifies as a horror movie, but it does have demons and flaming skulls and Peter Fonda as the devil so I feel it's not too out of place to be listed here. This things rips, roars and snorts across my audio-visual senses with an unbelievably dazzling spectrum of color and sound that keeps me glued to the sofa and grinning like a crazed Jack-O-Lantern! I've driven Cridafer a bit nuts with the repeat viewings but that's the price one pays for shackin' up with the Horror Guy.

...speakin' of Crid and apropos of nothing else in this rant, check out this beastie that was terrorizin' him and the house cats earlier today. This is right on the deck of our li'l hovel we call home. Good thing these creatures aren't usually known for snatching small-ish pets.

Horror Guy's Top 5 Horror Flicks of 2007

It's here again....that special time where we look back and sit in judgment over what the past year has brought us; in this case my top 5 fright flicks of 2007. Counting down....

#5
Rob Zombie's Halloween

I originally anticipated that this would be numero uno on my list this year, what with my being such a rabid Halloween and Rob Zombie fan and all, but Mr. Zombie disappointed me a little with his overly strong focus on the monster and not enough character development for those the monster was stalking. However, the ending alone was creepy enough and the rest of the film 'jump scare' and gory enough for this one to crack my top five.

#4
30 Days of Night

Being a huge fan of the original graphic novel series, I eagerly anticipated the film version of this story of modern vampires descending on a small Alaskan town during their 30 day stretch of darkness. The flick was definitely above the average of what I expect from a movie, but fell just short of living up to the original story. Still, it was far and above most everything else released this past year in the horror genre.

#3
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Pure horrific fun from beginning to end. If you haven't seen this mockumentary focusing on the exploits of serial slasher wannabe Leslie Vernon, you are really missing a gem of a movie. If nothing else, Robert Englund as 'the Ahab' makes this flick well worth watching.

#2
The Host

I really can't explain why I enjoyed this movie so much. Maybe it was the goofy marine monster, maybe it was the beautiful Hi-Def Blu-Ray imagery, maybe it's just because there are not enough monster movies being produced for my taste but this flick is a joy to behold. If you haven't seen it yet, stop wasting time and buy/rent it now!

#1
Grindhouse

Hands down the best viewing experience all year for this Horror Guy. I'm completely pissed off that the powers that be chose to split up the two flicks making up this theatrical double bill of awesome-ness when it was released on DVD a couple months back; made it difficult to recreate the experience at home. Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror paired with Tarantino's Death Proof made for one kick-ass movie combo that pulled no punches. From the opening faux trailers to the closing credits of the second feature, I was riveted.

Either of my readers care to share their favorites of 2007?

Pieces, 09/28/2007

We've been back from Europe for a couple of weeks now, settled back into everyday life and now it's time to sort out the pieces...

...the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival is next week right here in beautiful Portland! I missed it last year, so I'm really looking forward to attending this one.

...during the trip to Europe, I managed to finish up World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and also read Nightwatch, the first volume of Sergei Lukyanenko's horror/fantasy trilogy. The movie adaptation was exceptionally entertaining, but I was surprised to find that it is almost nothing like the books. The only real similarity is the characters themselves. Still, I recommend both the movie and the books as they are fantastic in their own ways. Look for a full review of the book trilogy once I finish off the other two in the series.

...it's almost October, the greatest month of the year! That means it's almost time for Horror Guy's annual HorrorFest, the yearly all day horror movie marathon that we put on for our friends and loved ones. If you are going to be in the Portland, OR area on October 13th, drop me a line if you'd like to try and wrangle an invite, but space is limited.

...checked out Perfect Creature this past weekend 'cause I'd heard it was a good vampire flick. Don't know who is spreading those lies 'cause this one is dull as dishwater. Bad acting, slow pacing and ridiculous plot. Steer clear unless you are suffering from insomnia.

...I just finished off the second season of Supernatural on DVD so I'm ready for the premiere of season three next week. This thing is still rockin'! I enjoyed season two even more than the first season. It is consistently better than 95% of the schlock that is pushed on us horror fans in the theaters these days. Highly recommended!