I may have thrown in the towel in utter disgust as far as The Walking Dead is concerned (in both its television and comic-book iterations), but what can I say? I’m still a sucker for low-budget direct-to-video zombie flicks and probably always will be. I’d first heard mention of Re-Kill, which was being touted as a kind of “action movie set after the zombie apocalypse,” a few years back when it was being filmed on the cheap in Bulgaria (which is also where Steve Miner’s atrocious Day Of The Dead re-make was lensed), but that was about the last I’d given any thought to it until I saw that it was finally released in 2015 as part of After Dark Horror Fest’s 8 Films To Die For package for that year (which I already talk about like it was the distant fucking past or something). “Okay, that’s cool,” I…
In the pseudo-field of cryptozoology, the chupacabra is a creature that’s been moving up the “popularity” ranks in recent years thanks to radio shows like Coast To Coast and, of course, the internet, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before it joined fellow probably- (or should that be possibly-?) mythical monsters like Bigfoot and Nessie on the movie screen. It’s just too bad for the bloodthirsty critter that its cinematic debut comes by way of a thoroughly lackluster un-credited remake.
Okay, that might be a little unfair since director Alastair Ott’s 2014 indie horror Indigenous isn’t exactly a remake, per se, but it borrows so many elements from Neil Marshall’s The Descent — right down to aping its famous “night-vision” scene — that it may as well be. As evidence for the prosecution I offer the fact that this film centers on five immediately unlikable “adventure…
No list of great guitar riffs would be taken seriously if it didn’t include one of the greatest rock and roll songs (for some, THE greatest) with one of the most recognizable opening guitar riffs. It is this song which makes the next on the latest “Song of the Day” series focusing on great guitar riffs.
Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” was released in 1958 by Chess Records and it quickly rose up the charts. This was the early days of rock and roll. As musicians and bands began to combine the rhythm of blues to the tempo of gospel music, more and more people began to discover what will become rock and roll. It helped that starts such as Elvis Presley would push this so-called “rebellious music” right up the mainstream public whether the moral authority accepted it or not.
One artist who would pave the way for this growing musical trend was Chuck Berry and he would never get a hit as influential and as popular as “Johnny B. Goode”. This song and it’s riff would become his signature song right up to his death and would influence countless others artists right up to this day.
The song itself would become part of another iconic pop culture event when it became a major plot device for Robert Zemeckis’ first Back to the Future. So many different musicians and bands from all corners of the musical landscape that one would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know the song “Johnny B. Goode” in one for or another.
Johnny B. Goode
Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans, Way back up in the woods among the evergreens There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood, Where lived a country boy named of Johnny B. Goode Who never ever learned to read or write so well, But he could play the guitar like ringing a bell.
[Chorus:] Go Go Go Johnny Go Go Go Johnny B. Goode
He use to carry his guitar in a gunny sack Or sit beneath the trees by the railroad track. Oh, the engineers used to see him sitting in the shade, Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made. The People passing by, they would stop and say Oh my that little country boy could play
[Chorus]
His mother told him someday you will be a man, And you would be the leader of a big old band. Many people coming from miles around To hear you play your music when the sun go down Maybe someday your name will be in lights Saying Johnny B. Goode tonight.
Through the Shattered Lens 