Texas Frightmare Weekend Pt. 2

Texas Frightmare Weekend was a great time. In addition to the celebrities inside, outside was a hearse and shock rod show. I got to talk to some of the hearse owners, and they were all cool guys. One gave me a frisbee and a bunch of pens with his tattoo shop logo on them (gotta love swag..and check out Ink Pushers Tattoo Emporium if you're ever in the area).

Pictured here is the vehicle for a haunted house attraction in Arlington, Zombie Manor.

The back of the Manor wagon.

Care to go for a ride?

The hotel restaraunt had a special menu made up for the event...I, of course, had to have the Frankenstein Burger.

Besides the celebs, hearses, and food, there were dealers selling t-shirts, books, DVDs, jewelry, clothes, CDs, and there was even a tattoo artist present. Among the treasures I took home : a mini-poster of Dawn of the Dead, signed by George Romero, a DVD of Tromeo and Juliet signed by Debbie Rochon, and a t-shirt from the Rue Morgue magazine booth (the best magazine about horror in culture, in my not-so-humble opionion). There were also showings of various films, but since I was only there for the day, I passed on the viewings this time around. Maybe next year!

TFW was fun, and money and time willing, I may just go for the whole weekend next year. I'll definately be back in some way or another. If you're into horror, check oit out next year...so says the Beast.

Texas Frightmare Weekend Pt. 1

Texas Frightmare Weekend was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas this weekend. I went on Saturday. It was the first horror convention (or any kind of convention) I've attended, and it was a blast.

Here, the Zombie Walk participants close in on the hotel.

They're getting closer....

Kim and I got to meet Elvira (Cassandra Peterson). She was nice, and she still looks great.

George Romero, the man behind Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Creepshow, and many others. Meeting him was a highlight of the show for me.

Me with Debbie Rochon ( Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firmer, Colour From The Dark, The Good Sisters, etc.). Debbie is not only a fine actress and a beautiful woman, but she's also a very nice person. Meeting her in person was very cool.

More pictures and creepy stuff to come...

Yeti Dog Theater

This week: Yeti Dog vs Petshop Frog, starring Magni as Yeti Dog.

Hey

Just wanted to touch base with you all out there in Blogland. I know I haven't been posting much, but I'm going to make an effort to do so more often. Tomorrow I'll be attending the Texas Frightmare Weekend, so I'll most likely have lots of pics to post, if nothing else.

Hope you're all doing well out there. Take care!

The Beast's DVD Cave- Lo (2008)

A man sits in a darkened room, painting a pentagram which he sits inside of. He follows instructions from a decidedly evil-looking book (which would fit perfectly next to a copy of the Necronomicon). He also has with him a photo of a pretty woman. He follows the instructions in the book, and summons up a demon from the pits of Hell- the demon Lo ( Jeremiah W. Birkett).

This is the beginning of the movie Lo, directed by Travis Betz. It tells the story of Justin (played by Ward Roberts), the guy in the pentagram. He's summoned Lo because the love of his life, April ( Sarah Lassez), has been taken away by demons, and he wants her back. Things, however, are not as simple as they seem...trying to get a demon to do your bidding is dicey, especially so for a nerdy fellow like Justin, and if he strays from the protecticve circle, he'll be at Lo's mercy. Will Justin get Lo to do his bidding? Will he be able to outsmart the demon's trickery? Will he get his April back?

Lo is a great little film, and calling it 'little' is by no means derogatory in this case. It's a good example for filmmakers(and filmgoers) that shows you can make a fine , entertaining movie with a smaller budget. Lo is by turns creepy, funny, sad, and it illustrates the power of love, and what we'll do in its name.

One of the film's strong points is its actors. Roberts does a good job in the role of Justin, nerdy but determined to get back his love. Lassez also gets a gold star for her portrayal of April, a strange, naive , yet charming gal. The real show stealer in my opinion, however, is Birkett as the titular demon. Lo is scary, but he's also a smartass, and has most of the film's funniest lines. He, in true demon fashion, tries not to fullfill Justin's wishes, but it turns out that there's more to him than meets the eye...

In addition to directing Lo, Betz also wrote and edited the film. There's a lot of cool little touches, such as when Lo pulls memories out of Justin's head to get to know he and April's relationship. Instead of the usual flashback scenes, the memories are played out on a stage like a play, complete with people visible in the wings, and audible audience reactions (there's also a pair of living Comedy/Tragedy masks flanking the stage, which are both humorous and creepy at the same time). There's also a musical number , believe it or not, delivered 50s do-wop style. After seeing Lo, it makes me want to track down Betz's other work, and I'm eagerly awaiting his next film as well.

As I stated earlier, Lo is a great little film. It has more character, creepiness, and charm than just about any big-bugeted film out there...or any size budget, for that matter. If you want to see a film with horror, humor, love, and a dancing rat-demon, look no further. Go track down a copy and check it out (hint: Netflix has it). The Beast gives it his official seal of approval. Go watch it already!

The Beast's DVD Cave- Dead Snow

Dead Snow (2009) is just what the doctor ordered. Amidst all the CGI-infested flicks that have come out lately, Norwegian writer/director Tommy Wirkola has delivered a good, fun, splattery zombie movie. And not just any zombies, but Nazi zombies.

The film starts with some one being pursued through the dark, snowy, Norweigian night by...something. She doesn't get far. The next day we see a group of medical students including Vergard (Lasse Vendal), Hanna (Charlotte Frogner), Martin (Vegar Hoel), and Roy (Stig Frode Henriksen), who are on their way to a remote cabin to enjoy some Winter outdoor fun and some indoor partying. A stranger passing by tells them of the evil that remains since the days of WWII; of a group of Nazis and their treasure. The young students of course write the man off as a loony, but when one of their group who was skiing to the cabin doesn't show, a search is made, and discoveries show that the strange man wasn't full of shit, and the group is in danger by the hands of a group of undead Nazi soldiers.

Dead Snow is a film that's very aware of its genre. One of the characters is a film buff, and even wears a t-shirt of Peter Jackson's blood-soaked Braindead(aka Dead Alive), and like Jackson's film,there's a good dose of humor along with the horror. There's the usual young folks partying and trying (and even succeeding) to get laid. There's an Evil Dead-esque scene when two of the students go to a tool shed and arm themselves for the inevitable zombie battle. However, Dead Snow isn't just a rip-off, or a simple love-letter to the genre. It stands on it's own, and though it may owe much to those that have gone before it, it has its own feel and style.

One of the elements that sets Dead Snow apart from other zombie films is the setting. There's quite a few shots of the beautiful snow-covered surroundings, which make an interesting counterpoint to the horror lurking just over the sonw-capped hills. It also reminds me of another Norwegian export, that being the musical genre known as Black Metal. Norwegian bands such as Emperor sing songs about the Norwegian night sky and the majesty of it, but the message is delivered in a brutal fashion. Maybe being in such a cold, beautiful place inspires artists in differing media. At any rate , it does make a nice change from the usual urban, pastoral farmhouse. and island settings usually seen in the zombie genre.

Nazi zombies have lumbered across the screen before Dead Snow. The 1977 film Shock Waves gave us some creepy aquatic Nazi zombies, along with veteran actor Peter Cushing. There was also the 1966 feature The Frozen Dead, which had Nazi scientists keeping parts of soldiers alive for nefarious reasons. The undead soldiers of Dead Snow are appropriatley scary, especially their leader, whom has a great scene towards the end of the film when our heroes think that the laeder is the only remaining zombie(hint: they're very wrong).

Another nice difference is that the protagonists are characters I actually felt for...I cared about their survival, unlike the idiots populating most horror films. I usually find myself rooting for the 'villian'. There is one scene in particular (which I won't divulge) that is tragic, and it happens on the heels of a run of fun, zombie-killing antics, which makes it all the more horrifying, and brings home the fact that these poor folks aren't playing a game; they're fighting for survival, and death is a very real outcome for them all.

All in all, Dead Snow is a damn good film. It's referential without ripping off , it's funny , tragic, bloody, and ridiculous at times. Simply put, it's a great little horror film, and it's just what we horror fans need, not more damn remakes. I tell you, the U.S. horror film product is getting its collective ass kicked by our foriegn friends. Go see it, already.

Now's when a chainsaw would come in handy...

The Beast's DVD Cave- Inferno (1980)

Rose ( Irene Miracle) is living in New York and researching an old book titled 'The Three Mothers'. It tells of the Mothers, powerful and dark witches, and their houses, built for them by an alchemist, one in Rome, one in Germany, and one in New York. Rose wants to discover the secrets hinted at in the book, but someone wants them to remain secret. Rose's brother Mark ( Leigh McCloskey) gets pulled into the web of secrets and magic, and comes to see his sister, who is missing when he arrives. Will Mark find out his sister's fate? Will he escape death at the hands of the killer lurking about? Can he find the answer to the riddle in the old book in time to solve the mystery, or will he become another victim ?

Inferno is the second film in the Three Mothers Trilogy directed by Italian Horror maestro Dario Argento, coming out a few years after the first entry, Suspiria (1977). Like the first film, Inferno is an atmospheric film with strange and sometimes surreal touches throughout . The use of colors, partiuclarly red and blue, resembles Suspiria. However,this film is less a fairytale gone wrong than its predecessor...it seems more like an urban gothic horror tale, with its scenes taking place in brownstones and buildings, streets and alleyways. Even a trip to a mailbox at night seems frought with menace...nothing actually happens to Rose as she mails the letter to Mark, but it seems as though something bad easily could (and eventually does).

Inferno is fulled with bizarre setpieces and strange and possibly symbolic images,which is appropriate, since alchemy figures into the story(alchemists often avoided actually writing their works in words, instead using images to symbolize their works and discoveries). One such scene has Rose going down some stairs underneath the building she lives in, and finding a hole in the floor which is filled with water. She drops her keychain into the hole, and has to dive into the watery abyss to retrieve them. Once down the 'rabbit hole', as it were, she discovers an ornate room completely submerged in the water...unfortunately for her, there are also some decomposing bodies floating about down there as well. Rose's brother Mark also goes down into his own 'abyss' later in the film, as he goes beneath the floor of Rose's apartment. Another reoccuring motif is bleeding hands. Sara ( Eleonora Giorgio), Mark's classmate in Rome, cuts her hand as leaves a taxi that drops her off at an old library. Rose cuts her hand on a glass doorknob when trying to escape a shadowy figure pursuing her. These bleeding hands serve as a forshadowing of these characters' dark futures, or perhaps sort of a stigmata-like purpose.

Animals also serve as symbols of mystery and magic in Inferno. Cats abound in the film, which makes sense, as cats have always represented magic and witchcraft. Rats also turn up, when the antique dealer whose shop is next door to the mysterious building where Rose lives takes a sack full of cats to drown. The shopkeeper is attacked by rats ( and if you ask me, the fucker deserved it), and then finished of by a malevolent deli worker ( I know how weird that sounds, but this is a weird movie, after all). There are also shots of lizards eating moths which add to the overall creepiness factor. Another creepy touch, though non-animal related, is a scene of the killer's black-gloved hands making a chain of paper dolls, then cutting the heads off. One of my favorite scenes ( which would also appeal to all you book fans out there, I'm sure) isn't that scary initially, but it takes lace in the library Sara goes to. It's an old-school library, with shelves and shelves of books...my first thought was 'I'd love to check that place out.' The visit soon turns sinister, though, when Sara discovers an alchemist's lair in the library( I'd stil love to check out that place).

Another piece of the puzzle that is Inferno is the soundtrack, which was done by Keith Emerson, of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer fame. It's a combination of rock, jazz, and classical (with appearances by Verdi). It's an odd combo, but it works here.

What doesn't work for me, and really is my only gripe about Inferno , is the main 'actor', McClosky. He's dull and wooden, and seems like we'd be more at home in a men's wear catalog instead of attempting to act. I find it hard to care about his character's survival while watching the movie, honestly.

Actor choices aside, I really like Inferno. It's artful, violent, mysterious, strange, and magical. It's vintage Argento at his artistic prime. It's a classic, and one of my favorites. Go watch it, already.

"The only true mystery is that our very lives are governed by dead people."