Dracula’s Pub by Erin Nicole
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”
Dracula (Bram Stoker)
2 Days Til Halloween
Monthly Archives: October 2020
6 Trailers For The Thursday Before Halloween
It’s a holiday and you know what that means!
Or maybe you don’t. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone can read my mind. Anyway, I used to do a weekly post of my favorite grindhouse trailers. Eventually, it went from being a weekly thing to being an occasional thing, largely due to the fact that there’s only so many trailers available on YouTube. Now, Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers is something that I usually only bring out on a holiday.
Like today!
So, here are 6 trailers for the Thursday before Halloween!
- The Monster Squad (1987)
I swear, there are some people out there who really, really love this movie. And good for them! Love is what makes the world go round. Personally, I’ve never watched it but it seems like everyday, someone on twitter makes a comment about the wolfman having nards.
2. Trick ‘R’ Treat (2007)
This is another movie that people around me seem to love. Strangely, I haven’t seen it, though the trailer seems to suggest that it’s something that I would enjoy. So, consider this my promise to you — next year, I will review Trick ‘R’ Treat for horrorthon!
3. Trick or Treat (1986)
“Rock and roll will never die!” And neither will Halloween.
However, make no mistake about it …. horror is not just a Halloween thing. It can infect any holiday….
4. New Year’s Evil (1980)
From director Garry Marshall comes an all-star film about the moments that make us who we are and the one night when everyone is celebrating…. oh wait. Sorry, wrong movie. This is actually a Canadian film that featured a killer who commits a murder in every time zone at the stroke of midnight. I’m not sure why anyone would think that was a viable plan but it was the 80s and cocaine was everywhere.
So, to make clear …. Garry Marshall was in no way involved with this film.
5. Slaughterhouse Rock (1988)
New Year’s Evil was not the only slasher film to feature a soundtrack of rockin’ 80s music! There was also Slaughterhouse Rock, which had a Devo soundtrack and which featured Toni Basil in a small but key supporting role!
Finally, let’s finish things off with one more horror musical spectacular.
6. Black Roses (1988)
OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THOSE DELOREANS!
Still, despite their really cool cars, this band is not a band to listen to. There’s only way you can get your band to sound as bad as the one in this movie and that’s too make a deal with the the devil! Losing your soul to sound terrible …. it’s just not worth it.
Though, admittedly, those car are pretty freaking cool….
Anyway, happy Eve of the Eve of Halloween! Enjoy these trailer and be sure to enjoy some wonderful films as well!
Artwork of the Day: This Trick’s The Best (by Freeman Elliott)
by Freeman Elliott
Cleaning Out The DVR: Fury To Freedom (dir by Erik Jacobson)
It’s that time of year again! It’s the time when entertainment hoarders like me take a look at our DVR and discover, to our horror, that we’ve only got about 3 hours of space left. When that happens, it means that it’s time clean out the DVR and hopefully make some space before 2021 brings a whole new collection of shows and movies to be recorded.
Yesterday, I got a start on cleaning out my DVR by watching the 1985 film, Fury to Freedom. I originally recorded it back in August and I’m going to guess that I did so because I liked the title. Fury by itself is good. Freedom is even better. Put them together and you’ve got something I’m definitely going to record!
As for the movie itself, it was obviously a low-budget and independently made movie. I’m guessing that it was specifically made to be shown to church groups. It’s one of those films that tells the true story of a sinner who becomes an evangelist. It ends with preaching but, before you reach that point, you’ve got about an hour or so of sinning. It’s the old Cecil B. DeMille method.
The film tells the story of Raul Ries (Tom Silardi), a teenager who grew up in an abusive home and constantly finds himself in a conflict over whether or not to do the right thing. His girlfriend, Sharon (Joy Vogel), always pushes him to follow the right path. All of Raul’s friends are always pushing him to follow the wrong path. As for Raul, he just wants to earn a black belt in karate but the local sensei doesn’t think he’s ready to learn.
After Raul loses his tempter at a party and slashes someone’s face (agck!), he ends up joining the Marines and getting trained to fight in Vietnam. (I was pretty sure that, during the basic training scene, I spotted a young Jon Favreau as one of the Marines but, according to the imdb, it was someone else.) Anyway, Raul actually does pretty well in basic training but then he fakes a breakdown to get out of serving in Vietnam. He returns home, knocks up his girlfriend, gets stuck in a go-nowhere job at a grocery store, and eventually he somehow opens up his own dojo.
Anyway, after about an hour or so of Raul being a jerk and hitting Sharon, he reaches the point where he’s contemplating committing a murder/suicide but then he sees a preacher on TV and, the next thing you know, he’s going to his old high school and preaching. “Yo! Listen up!” he yells at the students.
It was kind of a predictable film but it was also sincere in its goals and nowhere near as preachy as you might expect given the subject matter. Tom Silardi and Joy Vogel both gave good performances as Raul and Joy and the film deserve some credit for resisting the urge to use Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth as an easy way to establish that it was taking place in the 60s. Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that it was obviously made in the wake of the success of The Karate Kid because it spends as much time on the karate as it does on the religion.
Fury to Freedom was an effective, low-budget, and very sincere film. And now, it’s off of my DVR.
Music Video Of The Day: Profondo Rosso by Goblin (2019, dir by ????)
This, of course, is from the soundtrack of Dario Argento’s classic 1975 film Deep Red.
It’s not Halloween without a little Goblin!
Enjoy!
What’s In A Name? Bryce Martin’s “Untitled” Mini-Comic
Normally, I tend to think that artists who don’t bother to put a title on their works are either being lazy, pretentious, or both — but after reading Bryce Martin’s recent self-published mini Untitled, I have to admit : If I were him (and he should be damn glad I’m not), I don’t know what the hell I would call this thing, either. In fact, even describing it is tough enough — and I say that as someone who at least likes to think that they’ve seen just about everything this medium has to offer.
All of which means, of course, that while this ‘zine doesn’t represent anything especially new per se, it does represent something quite different. And it kicks a lot of ass along the way to becoming and/or being — well, whatever it is. And in a very real sense, trying to define it, whether…
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Horror On TV: FreakyLinks 1.5 “Desert Squid! Myth or Legend?” (dir by Scott Lautanen)
On tonight’s episode of FreakyLinks, Derek and the team head down to New Mexico to investigate reports of a tentacle-bearing desert creature! If not for the tentacles, I would say it was probably a chupacabra. Seriously, if you ever see a chupacabra coming at you, run!
(A friend of mine in college was nicknamed Chupacabra, mostly because he was kind of …. odd.)
This episode originally aired on November 3rd, 2000!
Enjoy!
A Blast From The Past: What About Juvenile Delinquency? (dir by Herk Harvey)
Well, what about it!?
Today’s Blast From The Past comes to use from 1955. In this short film, a group of no-good 30 year-old high school students attack a middle-aged man who was just trying to drive home. That man just happens to be the father of a member of the gang! Now, due to the violence, the city council is considering a curfew! That’s not fair to the good kids but what can be done about juvenile delinquency?
Watch and discuss.
This film was shot in Lawrence, Kansas and it was directed by Herk Harvey. Harvey directed a ton of educational short films like this but horror fans will always know him before for directing Carnival of Souls. I’ll be sharing Carnival of Souls soon. For now, give some thought to delinquents!
Dead On: Relentless II (1992, directed by Michael Schroeder)
Still struggling to recover from having to act opposite Judd Nelson in the previous Relentless film, Los Angeles homicide detective Sam Deitz (Leo Rossi) finds himself investigating another string of seemingly random murders. This time, the killer is Gregor (Miles O’Keeffe), a master of disguise who hangs his victims, decorates the crime scene with Satanic graffiti, and takes a lot of ice baths. Deitz is forced to team up with a condescending FBI agent named Kyle Valsone (Ray Sharkey), who has his own reasons for wanting to capture Gregor and who might not have the best interests of the case in mind. As if having to deal with killer Russians and crooked FBI agents isn’t bad enough, Deitz is also having to deal with the collapse of his married to Meg Foster and the everyday irritations of being an intense New York cop in laid back Los Angeles.
Relentless II is a better than the first Relentless, mostly because Miles O’Keeffe is a better villain than Judd Nelson. Whereas Nelson was too twitchy to be taken seriously in the first Relentless, O’Keeffe is cold as ice and believably dangerous. He’s a worthy opponent for Rossi and Sharkey. How much Keeffe was in this movie? Just enough to make it work.
Whenever O’Keeffe isn’t doing his thing, the movie focuses on Deitz and Valsone. To a certain extent, their relationship mirrors the relationship that Deitz had with Malloy in the first Relentless except, this time, the mentor turns out to be just as bad the killer. Ray Sharkey was a good actor whose career nosedived because of his own addictions. He was always at his best playing streetwise bad guys, like Sonny Steelgrave in Wiseguy. He’s good as Valsone, giving a performance that indicates that, even if mainstream Hollywood wasn’t willing to take a chance of him, he could have carved out a direct-to-video career as a poor man’s Michael Madsen. Unfortunately, Sharkey contracted HIV as a result of his heroin addiction and he died of AIDS just a year after the release of Relentless II.
Leo Rossi gives another good performance as Sam Deitz. Rossi was usually cast as abusive boyfriends and low-level mobsters and it’s obvious that he enjoyed getting to play a hero for once. Meg Foster may not get to do much as Deitz’s wife but her otherworldly eyes are always a welcome sight.
Relentless II was the high point of the Relentless films. It made enough money to lead to a sequel. Sam Deitz’s days of hunting serial killers were not over.
Game Review: Congee (2020, Becci)
This story is an entrant in the 2020 Interactive Fiction Comp. All of the stories can be browsed and experienced here.
You have recently moved from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom, leaving behind both your mother and your culture. One night, you find yourself suffering from a fever, missing your mom (and the time difference makes it inconvenient to call her), and, worst of all, craving congee.
(From the game: Congee /ˈkɒndʒiː noun (in Chinese cooking) broth or porridge made from rice. Meat, fish, and flavourings are added while preparing the congee, and it is most often served as a meal on its own, especially for those who are feeling unwell.)
Like a lot of Twine Interactive Fiction, Congee is less of a game and more of a story with choices. You can click to get more details and to learn more about the world and the lives of the characters in the story but ultimately, the story is the thing. It’s a good story, though. Even though it’s written through the eyes of someone who is dealing with a very specific experience, the themes are universal. It made me homesick in a good way.
Through the Shattered Lens 