Trailers/Clips

Don't look now, but the Koreans are ready to hop on the "first-person shot on a camcorder" horror film gravy train with the release of Deserted House. Twitch brought us a look at the trailer (sans English subs, unfortunately) a few days ago. I'm torn on this one.

On the one hand, it's hard to judge a film by a trailer, particularly one where you can't understand a word of the dialogue. On the other, film is a visual medium and I can tell by looking at these images that this is basically Paranormal Activity fused with Ju-On: The Grudge. I've gone on record numerous times in the past decade complaining about how sick I am of Asian girl ghost films -- so the sight of an Asian girl contorting herself into a strange pretzel-like shape on a grainy camcorder image is enough to make me want to check out right then and there.

The film, which was directed by Lee Cheol-ha, has the following plot description (sorry for the mangled English in advance...):

n 42 years, 6 people have disappeared! 8 people have died! There have been 11 murders! Everyone is afraid of the deserted house with the ghosts. It is prohibited to enter if you are alive. But three deserted home society members and three filming team members enter the deserted house. They break the taboo of deserted homes and enter the world of spirits. But they disappear one day... And there is only a video they left behind...

I love that it's prohibited to enter -- if you're alive. If you're a corpse, enter at your leisure. No word on when this might turn up in America, or if it will at all, but we'll keep you posted. Hit the break for the trailer.

Britain doesn't have very many contemporary horror regulars. In the days of Hammer Horror there were plenty to go around, but today? It's a rather limited pool and, oddly enough, funnyman Danny Dyer is probably the biggest name floating in it. I first took note of him in Severance, but since then he's gone on to do a number of genre pictures (my favorite being Jake West's Doghouse), with even more in the pipeline. The latest of his projects to get a trailer is Basement (which also stars Jimi Mistry of the quite cool thriller, Exam), a film about six friends who get trapped in a labyrinthine underground system as some part of an experiment.

The trailer reminds me a bit of The Hole, which is an effective little teen potboiler, but it looks like there's a more considerable threat lurking within Basement than just close-proximity teen angst. Check out the trailer below. And if you live in the UK, you can check out the film in theaters on August 20th and then on DVD/Blu-ray August 23rd.

I hate to speak poorly about any vampire film that portrays the bloodsuckers the way I prefer -- you know, sucking blood and generally being total badasses -- but 30 Days of Night was never my thing. I am a big fan of the film series' inspiration, Steve Niles comic of the same name, and the story's concept should have translated to something great but I was left feeling indifferent. Fans of the series will be happy to know that it will continue on in 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, this time on the DTV circuit, and judging from the new red band trailer it seems to be just as well made as its predecessor.

Melissa George has been replaced by Kiele Sanchez as Stella, one of Barrow's survivors of the vampire massacre that took place a year ago. She has been spending her time traveling the world trying to convince others of the existence of the deadly creatures that took her husband's life. A group of other survivors recruit her to help them fight back, and this time the battle centers around the Queen of the vampires, Lilith (Mia Kirshner). Ben Ketai directs Dark Days and Steve Niles lent his talents to the script, which should appease fans.

The film is slated for a US DVD and Blu-ray release on October 5, and will make its way across the pond for a UK DVD/Blu-ray release on October 11. Let us know what you think of the trailer, which you can check out after the jump.

I'm probably the only person in the world who finds Morgan Freeman incredibly annoying -- for reasons as boring as I find him, so I won't go into it here (plus, there's that whole affair with his step-granddaughter ... ) -- but a video portraying the actor as Count Dracula on the old kid's show The Electric Company is definitely amusing.

A quick Wikipedia search shows Freeman played Vincent the Vegetable Vampire (see, even as a vampire he's dullsville -- I don't care that it was a kid's show!), a spin-off of Bram Stoker's legendary Dracula. In the clip, the actor is taking a bath in a casket -- complete with bubbles and a scrub brush. The best part about it, is that he's singing the entire time. Really!

Hit the jump to watch the short clip, which is sure to creep into your mind next time you watch Se7en. How inconvenient.

Some time ago, I had the distinct privilege of interviewing the one and only Kevin Pollack about his web series Vamped Out. Vamped Out is the unfortunate tale of a actual vampire living in L.A. and struggling to make it as an actor. Even though his status as an honest-to-goodness vampire makes him ideal for the rash of vampire films and television shows saturating the entertainment industry of late, he finds himself constantly passed over for skinny, pale 20-something douchebags. The show is shot documentary style and provides the much-deserved pot shots at the horror pretenders currently bewitching tweens and stealing attention away from the authentic creatures of the night.

What followed was a serious failure on my part for which I can only beg your forgiveness. I posted the first few episodes with some semblance of regularity before getting wrapped up in other things and completely shafting the series. My apologies to Kevin and all the good people involved in this hilarious series. Picking up where we left off over two months ago, my face is bright red, here is episode five of Vamped Out.

Jump past the bump to watch.

It's widely held that much of the inspiration for HP Lovecraft's wackiness are the night terrors that plagued him while he slept. Well, that and unhinged racism, but I digress. . . The well from which many of his inexplicably bizarre ideas crawled forth is evident, as he doesn't hesitate to incorporate them into his stories. And besides, could something like Shub niggurath spawn from anything other than a nightmare? I've watched Videodrome while chewing Ambien and my dreams that night were downright boring when compared to something like At the Mountains of Madness.

Cthulu Films has taken the phantasmal genesis of these creations and illustrated them in a crudely drawn, but hypnotic short, 'A Lovecraft Dream'. It's got a very distinctive style and fans of the author's work will have fun picking out all of the monsters of the Mythos. As is often the case with extrapolations of Lovecraft's work, the creator has chosen to insert Lovecraft himself as a character in his own horrors.

Lots of other unearthly animated tales abound on their website. It's definitely worth checking out for both fans of the legendary author and folks just looking for a weird bit of ephemera to get them through the workday. Take a gander at it just past the break.

God bless Lucio Fulci. That Italian madman was marching to the beat of his own drum. I don't know anything about the guy aside from his films, but it seems to me that in terms of story, acting, and just making a lick of sense, Fulci didn't give a damn. I've seen most of his horror stuff and I've watched his gruesome Gates of Hell pseudo-trilogy enough times to get me put on some sort of watch list, I'm sure. In spite of repeated viewings of City of the Living Dead, I'm still not sure I know for certain just what is going on. That's not because the plot is dense or particularly high minded. It's mostly just a showcase for Fulci and his effects team to make you cover your eyes in horror. If you watch the following clip and don't at least grimace, there's something wrong with you. It's got it all! And by 'all' I mean gut-puking and brain-squeezing.

The story is about the gates of hell opening up in a small town. Super-zombies spew forth, wreaking havoc. While the protagonists try to close the gate, all manner of inexplicable gore-gasms erupt on the screen. Don't try to make sense of it. Just watch it on an empty stomach. If you're really malicious, show it to some friends who don't particularly like horror. Make 'em squirm a bit. Check out this legendary scene just past the break.

Last week we saw a gory, new poster for Matt Reeves' vampire flick remake, Let Me In. Today, yet another image comes forth -- this time reminiscent of the original film's snowy Stockholm setting.

A lonely, bloody snow angel is the highlight of Hammer Films' new poster (see it large in the gallery below). Let Me In follows the Swedish film's storyline -- a young boy develops a friendship with a vampire, Abby (Chloe Moretz), in a small suburb of New Mexico.

Comic-Con attendees had the opportunity to see more of the film last week. The new "American" trailer still showers us with images mirroring the original film, but gives a better sense of what Reeves has done to make this one his own. Fans of Let the Right One In can start to relax a little -- at least until the film hits theaters October 1. Hit the gallery and check out the trailer after the jump.

One movie we've got our eye on here at Horror Squad is Gareth Edwards' Monsters. We've been following it not only because it looks cool and we love monster movies, but because Edwards shot the thing with a tiny crew and did all the editing and special effects work on his laptop. Monsters could very well be this year's Paranormal Activity -- a micro-budgeted DIY project that takes the movie world by storm.

The film focuses on a reporter charged with escorting a woman through the "infected zone" -- an area in Mexico that extends north to the American border. The zone has been quarantined because it was the site of a NASA probe's crash landing -- and said probe brought back alien lifeforms with it that have now infested the area. US and Mexican military forces are working to keep the extra terrestrials contained in this area, but it's not a spot where you'd want to take your summer vacation.

Even if it doesn't rake in the truckloads of cash PA did, I think you'll agree that this new trailer for the film (courtesy of IGN) looks pretty damn awesome. You don't get to see any of the titular creatures (which is a good thing...), but you can certainly tell that this isn't some cheap looking home movie project, either. I'm genuinely impressed with what Edwards accomplished with little money and a skeleton crew.

Don't just take my word for it, though. Skip past the jump and view the new trailer for yourself.

Hands down, the coolest thing to come out of this year's Comic-con has to be the trailer for AMC's The Walking Dead. We're all excited about Frank Darabont's adaptation of Robert Kirkman's amazing comic book series about life after the zombie apocalypse, but this new clip takes that level of anticipation to a whole other level.

This isn't the best quality -- it was recorded from someone's phone cam -- but you can definitely see everything that con attendees got a chance to check out. The new footage looks like it all comes from the first episode, and definitely sets the tone for the series. I'll be honest, this thing looks better than a lot of big budget zombie movies we've seen over the past few years. It's over four minutes long and my only complaint is that it shows a little more than I'd like to see. On the other hand, it definitely has me jonesing to see the show like a junkie seeking a going through the second day of withdrawals.

Don't just take my word for it, though. Skip past the jump and check out the trailer for yourself. If you don't like this, it might be a sign you're ready to start spending time at RomanticComedySquad.com or something.