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

This is an awesome item that I am thrilled to bring you guys. We all know that no DVD cover will ever be able to match the beauty and genius of VHS cover art. If you haven't given Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box, Vol.1 a good thumb-through, you have to do it post-bloody-haste! Someone who needs no lecture on the superiority of VHS cover art is North Carolina horror blogger Phelpster from The Manchester Morgue.

What this warrior of lost formats has done is to retrofit DVD boxes with classic posters, logos, and one-sheets to make it look like vintage VHS. As the writer of Terror Tapes here at Horror Squad, this guy's stuff makes me want to cry. It's not only the DVDs for cult horror that get the retro treatment, but films that are so recent that they are still in theaters. I've included his cover for The Crazies remake because the thought that any theatrical horror film could be brought to us by my beloved Media Blasters is almost too exquisite. Please, please, please check out The Manchester Morgue and these multimedia masterpieces. And a big thanks to @zombiefreak for bringing this to my Twitter-tention.

There is a film currently generating a lot of buzz at SXSW that I just had to blurb about. The title of the movie seems a playful jest on the cinematic ambiguity of a certain region of the world but the subject of the film is apparently as playful as a round of mini-golf at Auschwitz. The film is definitively titled A Serbian Film. To be clear, I have not yet seen this film. But the reaction from the horror community here at the festival has been equal parts vocal disbelief and telling speechlessness. From what I've gleaned of the topic of the film, certain questions are forming.

What is a Serbian film? This country, as noted for its horror cinema as I am noted for my career as a professional street fighter. Go ahead, name three Serbian horror films that you've seen? Need concrete evidence? Check out this link to IMDB showing the search results of Serbia and horror. Why does this matter to anyone ever? Because from what I'm hearing about Serbian Film, the film itself may be an angry reaction to the assumption that hardcore horror is a game in which only America and/or France participate.

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas is something of a Mecca for movie geeks. In addition to first-run theatrical fare, the Drafthouse regularly showcases cult, foreign, and classic films. For the last four years, Alamo programmer Zack Carlson has hosted a late-night horror movie celebration called Terror Tuesday and if you are a lover of horror, both esoterically brilliantly and obscurely awful, this night was invented just for you.

So I decided, since I am already a fixture at the Drafthouse, despite their best efforts to get rid of me, why not provide coverage for this weekly treat? The Terror Tuesday Report will dissect the movie shown as well as provide a barometer for the audience's reaction; as many of these films demand to be seen with an audience, this proves a vital component to the evening.

This week's film: Burial Ground.

Last night, as I inexplicably suffered through yet another Academy Awards, there was one moment when a glimmering ray of light promised to shine through the dreary landscape of ego-stroking and award purchasing. The moment the words "tribute to horror" were uttered by the voice-over, my heart raced. Could it be that the Academy was actually going to tip its hat from way up on its high horse, to the genre it has so long overlooked? I was anxious to see the clip reel and rejoice with a pair of my horrorphile buddies in the room as our favorite titles garnered representation. But any and all dignity the Oscars had deigned to bestow upon our beloved genre was abruptly decimated when the presenters entered the stage.

As Bloody Disgusting reported earlier this weekend, a new horror film currently in production poses the bold question, "what if Moby Dick wasn't a whale at all, but rather a fire breathing dragon?!" Director Ryan Little (House of Fears) is currently hard at work to bring us Dragon Fire, a fantastical re-imagining of Herman Melville's immortal epic of man vs. nature vs. the darkness inside himself. The film is shooting in Utah, both the mecca of horror/fantasy film production and...nautical allegories? Dragon Fire will star Danny Glover as the infernally mad Capt. Ahab and Corey Sevier (Decoys, Decoys 2) as the unfortunate Ishmael. Just for good measure, the film was kind enough to also throw in Vinnie Jones. As it appears right now, the film is most likely destined for a direct-to-video release, but may also receive a limited run in select theaters as well.

I am really excited about this project. I remember reading Moby Dick in school and, while I think Melville strove for quantity of page over effectiveness of the words, I loved the epic conflict between a man and beast. The idea of taking that story, replacing whale with dragon, and adding a distinctive fantasy flavor is brilliant. I can only hope the dragon will be vicious as all hell and when Ahab makes that fateful stab, it will be the bloody finale to a gory battle. It would be easy to adopt an air of cynicism toward the film given that it will more-than-likely be DTV release, but we've all seen some really fantastic horror titles that were similarly released; more often than in any other genre in my opinion. I am very much looking forward to what a smaller production could potentially bring to a classic piece of literature with a unique face lift.

Oh, and check it out! There's a production video online, jump past the bump to view it! Thanks again to BD for the heads-up.

Horror Squad has received word that Dream Catcher games is releasing a historical horror video game for the XBOX 360 and PC next month entitled Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper. The basic premise, as you may well have guessed, is that you play as Holmes and are called upon by Scotland Yard to help solve a series of grizzly murders in London's East End. There are no leads and no suspects, just a trail of cadavers leading to a number of dead ends. Can England's most famous, if fictional, detective solve the most perplexing mystery of the 19th Century? Or will Sherlock become the next mutilated victim of history's most notorious madman?

I have to say I am excited about the release of this game. Usually I am not a big fan of mystery games, and that's a predisposition that stems from my loathing of the NES point and click stuff, but I am also an enormous true crime buff. I wrote my college thesis on serial killer mentality so I imagine this will be right up my alley. As far as features go, the game will offer you the chance to construct hypotheses based on clues you find and witnesses you interrogate and then test them. Granted, resolute adherence to the scientific method sounds like the antithesis of replay value, but I have faith in the adversarial element of pitting Saucy Jack against Sherlock Holmes. The game will also give you the opportunity to explore locations from both first-person and third-person perspective which should allow for the inclusion of some very creepy environments.

Dream Catcher already has quite a few Sherlock Holmes games under their belt so I am confident in their abilities. I for one will be pre-ordering this immediately. Release date is set for April 20.

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas is something of a Mecca for movie geeks. In addition to first-run theatrical fare, the Drafthouse regularly showcases cult, foreign, and classic films. For the last four years, Alamo programmer Zack Carlson has hosted a late-night horror movie celebration called Terror Tuesday and if you are a lover of horror, both esoterically brilliantly and obscurely awful, this night was invented just for you.

So I decided, since I am already a fixture at the Drafthouse, despite their best efforts to get rid of me, why not provide coverage for this weekly treat? The Terror Tuesday Report will dissect the movie shown as well as provide a barometer for the audience's reaction; as many of these films demand to be seen with an audience, this proves a vital component to the evening.

This week's film: The Beast Within.

I, like practically everyone on the planet, have my vices. Aside from my deeply unsettling addiction to Italian post-apocalyptic cinema, my biggest vice would have to be the purchasing of DVDs and VHS tapes en mass. "But Brian/' you say, "everybody buys movies!" Silence lemmings! The difference is that I tend to buy movies I haven't seen based on the smallest of positive word-of-mouth. So I have quite a few titles languishing on my shelf that not only have not yet been viewed, but in many cases are still confined to their shrink-wrapped gulags. In an effort to be proactive, and quell my wife's urge to kill me, I will not buy another DVD or VHS until I watch every unviewed film I currently own.

Today's fare: Demon Seed

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas is something of a Mecca for movie geeks. In addition to first-run theatrical fare, the Drafthouse regularly showcases cult, foreign, and classic films. Not only that, but they bring you food and beer during the film; satiating each one of your senses. Every Tuesday for the last four years, Alamo programmer Zack Carlson has hosted a late-night horror movie celebration called Terror Tuesday. If you are a lover of horror, both esoterically brilliantly and obscurely awful, Terror Tuesday was invented just for you. So I decided, since I am already a fixture at the Drafthouse, despite their best efforts to get rid of me, why not provide coverage for this weekly treat? The Terror Tuesday Report will dissect the movie shown as well as provide a barometer for the audience reaction to the film; as many of these films demand to be seen with an audience, this proves a vital component to the evening.

This week's film: The Hills Have Eyes.

I like giving myself movie-related assignments. Was I ever the kid in class that loved homework? Hell no! But when the assignments cater to, and ultimately legitimize, my marathon movie-watching habits, I can easily abide them. I've already charged myself with attending every Terror Tuesday this year at the Alamo Drafthouse and I'm also wrapping up a year-long project wherein I watch one new movie every day so clearly I have a cinemaddiction and it's hard to schedule meetings for those support groups when all the members are at the movies.

So Jaws was a pretty good movie right? Man-versus-nature film that not only spring-boarded Spielberg's career but made people afraid to go near any large body of water for decades to come (I actually heard stories of completely rational people who were consequently afraid to get into a bathtub). Amy movie that takes a relatively simple idea and turns an enormous profit from it is bound to have wannabes, imitators, and unscrupulous impersonators. I had never contemplated the multitude of Jaws rip-offs that must exist on one home video format or another but their existence is in no way shocking. So, in the interest of science...ish, I have decided to dedicate myself to viewing every single knockoff and rip-off I can get my greedy hands on. I'm not necessarily launching a new column per se but rather highlighting a theme you can expect from me over the next few months.

Today's rip-off: Orca.