Horror Squad, Horror Movies, News, Trailers, and More

I was introduced to Shinya Tsukamoto's cyberpunk classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man by way of its ridiculously awesome soundtrack masterminded by Chu Ishikawa, who hails from the band Zeitlich Vergelter -- often known as Japan's Einstürzende Neubauten. Ishikawa used hand-made metal instruments, samples and other grotesquely gorgeous sounds to create one hell of a soundtrack. The film was shot on 16mm black-and-white and tells the story of a clash between two men who transform into a man/machine hybrid and whose lives become overrun by increasingly nightmarish visions and bizarre, metal-filled sexual fantasies. Think Giger and Cronenberg times twenty. As someone who was raised on industrial/noise music and horror, watching Tetsuo for the first time reigns as one of my most memorable movie going experiences ever.

Tsukamoto followed Iron Man up with Tetsuo II: Body Hammer which was done in color and was released what feels like eons ago in 1992. Finally Tetsuo: The Bullet Man has arrived and is going make its North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Early reviews were lukewarm and honestly this is one of those times where I really don't care -- I'm that obsesso about these films. This will be Tsukamoto's English language movie debut and has an American man at its center point. Antony is living and working in Tokyo and married to a Japanese woman. When their son is killed in a car accident rage takes over and Antony starts to transform. Cue orgasm.

There are several genre goodies at Tribeca this year, so check out their official website for details and scheduling. Watch the Japanese trailer and International teaser after the jump.

People don't usually equate Sasha Grey with the Jonas brothers but her latest film Hallows, directed by Richard O'Sullivan, has her playing a bible thumper type who takes a purity pledge refusing to have sex before marriage.

According to O'Sullivan, Grey was offered a part closer to home but she opted for virgin over whore. And opposite day continues for Hallows as producers have also signed Christina Cupo, an actress who has strong ties to the growing Christian film community but will be starring in the horror flick as a heavily pierced and tattooed goth girl with a penchant for rough sex.

In the film, "little Johnny Warlow was a nice, normal boy ... until he saw his father cut off his mother's face with a butcher knife one Halloween night. Now, after two decades in a mental institution, he's out to prove that he's all better now, even if he has to kill every man, woman, and child within a ten-mile radius to do so."

O'Sullivan gave us a sneak peek at his vision for the film:

"Hallows basically takes the standard kids-in-the-woods-running-from-a-killer genre and flips it on its ear. The deaths aren't random. They're not cookie cutter. Each character dies in a fashion relating to the way they live their life. I'm less interested in gore-for-the-sake-of-gore (although there is gore in this film and plenty of it) than the psychology behind the characters and how they react to what happens. That's why we're happy to be working with Sasha. She's more interested in the psychology behind the action than just the action itself. That's what she conveys in her work in the adult genre and that's what we're going for in this film."

Grey's other horror venture, Smash Cut, inspired by splatter fiend Herschell Gordon Lewis, will be released on March 30. Purchase it here.

Tony is as forgotten as the world he inhabits: the vertical slums of London, the neon thrall of the red light district and the murky channels he wanders when disposing of the bodies he methodically packages like meat. Thanks to Johnson's script and the stellar performance of Peter Ferdinando (someone please give this guy more work), there are plenty of dark, comedic moments in Tony's life. Things like his obsession with violent action films on VHS (he quotes First Blood to a victim moments before ... ), cleverly timed (and often awkward) conversations with people and corpses alike inject levity into an overwhelmingly grim reality. Complementary to this is Matt Johnson's haunting score, which punctuates every moment perfectly while remaining organic and unobtrusive. Similar is the photography which uses the natural light of the city landscape as its focal point. Johnson occasionally contrasts this with a more theatrical tone using the same naturalistic elements (a street sign, an elevator, etc.) and the effect is striking.

I don't care much for Feast and I'm not a fan of the Saw series but writer Patrick Melton and co-writer/director Marcus Dunstan's The Collector is definitely my cup of team and Melton recently spoke with Dread Central about the possibility of a sequel to the home invasion horror flick. He also chatted with Dread about Saw II, 3D technology, the Oscar's awkward nod to horror films and more.

The duo is penning the script for the latest installment in the Saw series (lucky number 7) and director Kevin Greutert is halfway through principal photography after a studio debacle where Lionsgate went head-to-head with Paramount and exercised an option in Greutert's contract to force him off Paranormal Activity 2 and back to the Saw series. Adding insult to injury, this happened literally a few weeks before filming. What kind of film can you expect when the helmer has been unwillingly plopped into a chair just days away from shooting? Melton is keeping the faith:

" ... If anyone can do it, it's Kevin. He's been involved in every single Saw movie, and he directed the last one so he knows the limitations of the crew and the limitations of the resources, and so he's been able to adapt pretty quickly, and it's looking good. Because we are playing with the idea that this may be the last Saw movie and we are trying to wrap things up, it's made it a ton more ambitious."

When six Howling movies just aren't enough there's always room for one more and we told you back in November about a new addition to the werewolf franchise that promised to be a "Twilight/Gossip Girl wannabe with some Lost Boys thrown in for good measure." Well, it looks like former studio marketing exec Joe Nimziki who is helming The Howling: Reborn is keeping good on that promise, according to the guys at BD. They have just released the first plot details for the seventh film in the series, which will begin shooting in Montreal, Canada this May.

In The Howling: Reborn "a teenager graduating from high school finally gets the girl he's been pining over for years, but unfortunately for him once he's landed the love of his life he discovers that he's cursed and will transform into a werewolf. Even worse, not only does he have his own internal conflict to contend with, he must also battle an entire pack of werewolves who are hellbent on killing both he and his new girlfriend."

Did I lose you at "teenager" and "pining"?

Joe Dante's original film has a special place in my heart and while I've peeked at a sequel or two, I never got into them the same as the first flick. Even though Dante's is a classic, does it really matter that we have another cruddy sounding sequel after having 5 bad flicks before it? Or do you totally disagree and think this sounds like the makeover the franchise needed?

Since most of our staff is attending the SXSW festival this weekend, the Horror Squad Movie Club is taking a break, but will be back in full force on Friday, March 19. It's Luke's turn at bat and he'll be talking about The Signal, a horror flick with an apocalyptic, sci-fi twist told in three parts. You can find it on Netflix Watch Instantly or DVD and Blu-ray, so you have no excuse not to join us!

You can watch the trailer for The Signal after the jump to get you in the mood for next week.

The extended trailer for Full Moon Direct's Puppet Master: Axis of Evil is available after the jump and features some wicked little puppets, a few Nazis and Geisha saboteur -- huzzah! The film is directed by Puppet Master veteran David DeCoteau, with a script by August White (my favorite title of his is Evil Bong, though I've never seen the movie) and stars newbie Levi Fiehler.

The setting for evil puppet shenanigans takes place in a Stateside hotel during World War II, where young Danny Coogan dreams of joining the war effort. After a hotel guest is murdered by a few pesky Nazi assassins, Danny discovers the victims crate of puppets and then stuff gets really real. Nazis Max and Klaus (of course those are their names) and a Japanese saboteur (I'm assuming she's the Geisha from the trailer) plan to attack an American manufacturing plant and now it's up to Danny and his gaggle of blood-thirsty puppets to stop the AXIS OF EVIL!

Check out the trailer after the jump. Looks like Blade, Tunneler and Leech Woman are back!

Last Call will allow you to interact with the protagonist via your cell phone by way of a language recognition software. The movie's main actress frantically calls you for help (numbers are chosen at random after participating audience members submit their number to a speed dial code) and instead of screaming obscenities at the screen, you can actually interact with the character and tell her what to do ("Go left," "Keep going," etc.). This means that every film's outcome will be different -- how neat.

The trailer after the jump explains things in further detail. So, what do you make of this whole gimmick -- annoying or fun? I'm curious how many possible outcomes there are for this thing and what yuk yuk's people will try to elicit from the interaction: "Get me a beer," and "Let's make out," seem like possibilities with the right kind of crowd.

"People are for loving not for eating," says Ben O'Mara's horror-comedy short, Primal Urges -- a smart play on the well worn zombie trope that flips conventional ideas about the masculine and feminine and toys with the insecurities of its lead characters. O'Mara is a writer and academic in addition to making award-winning films, which have been screened at festivals across Australia. You can check out some of O'Mara's other work on his website.


Jeremy Lanni's Tell-Tale Art boasts a dark soundtrack, which is reminiscent of all the Italo-horror flicks I'm lusty for. I guess it helps that guitarist Dick Wagner of Lou Reed and Alice Cooper fame wrote the score. Lanni describes the film as "a surreal black comedy inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's classic story The Tell-Tale Heart." You'll see why after you watch it, genius. Find out more about Lanni and his other films on his website.

Check out both short films after the jump and leave the filmmakers some love in the comments section. DO IT.