horror

Back in October, we brought you word of another twist in the tangled and lengthy vampire legend, American Vampire. Written Scott Snyder, with art by Rafael Albuquerque, American Vampire is a new monthly comic. Oh, and they're getting some help from Stephen King. Since it's tough to find any water in that well, Snyder and King are going in a different direction and introducing new strain of vampire-a more brutish and violent type, without the trappings of Eastern European vampire lore, hence the title.

The first story arc will play out over 5 issues with 2 different tales. Snyder helms one, while King himself does his first bit of written (not adapted) work for a comic. After King eventually departs, they'll work their way through the first American vampire's various blood drinking shenanigans throughout various decades. I can only hope this means we'll get a nod to Hammer's Dracula AD 1972.

While Snyder's storyline is one set against the backdrop of the roaring 20's, it's King's that I'm looking forward to - a murderous cowboy by the name of Skinner Sweet. How can you not be intrigued by that?

But here's the best part - Jim Lee just released a preview of a variant cover he's worked up. King and Lee? And vampire cowboys? Yes, please. A thousand times, yes. Get a taste of it here. American Vampire is right around the corner. Grab one at your local comic shop on March 17th.

Do you know the Hamburger Bed Girl? Sure you do. She's an internet sensation. I prefer to refer to her by her new monniker, though, the Millenium Falcon Bed Girl. That's infinitely cooler. Over the last few months, Kayla and I have been locking horns in our crudely executed videos, debating the merits of various horror flicks both classic and . . . less classic. Sure, posting this is a bit self-serving. Why? 'Cause that's me. I'm the one on the left in the video, the less cute one. Yes, I may be a bit intoxicated. Yes, I'm certainly obnoxious, but mock away, internet mongrels. That's what it's there for.

DISCLAIMER!

Before you show up at my door with your torches and your pitchforks, ready to skewer and burn me for my heresy, let me be clear. I love Night of the Creeps. I love it. Fred Dekker's flick is one of the best horror films of the 80's. But, had Kayla and I sat around mutually singing it's praises for 5 minutes, it wouldn't have been much of a debate. Besides, what's more entertaining than horror nerds arguing, right? Right??

After the jump is the video. Check it out.

This article kicks off what I hope will be a weekly column highlighting a variety of subjects that I feel are suitable for horror films. My intent is to focus on those very real ideas or events that have been relatively glossed over or overlooked entirely in horror films, all while providing a little dose of education.

"For what seemed ages piled on ages, I lay there, frozen with the most awful fears, not daring to drag away my hand; yet ever thinking that if I could but stir it one single inch, the horrid spell would be broken. I knew not how this consciousness at last glided away from me; but waking in the morning, I shudderingly remembered it all, and for days and weeks and months afterwards I lost myself in confounding attempts to explain the mystery." -Moby Dick

Ever since I began writing about the horror genre I have remained steadfast in my belief that the real world and the many maladies that plague our daily lives have the potential to serve as a greater inspiration for horror films than vampires, zombies, and vampire zombies combined. These types of films, although frightening in their own unique ways, allow the viewer to suspend disbelief for a short while and get lost in a world that has little to no basis in reality. As such, the fear they elicit is short-lived, often ending as the screen fades to black and the credits roll. The terrifying realities of life, however, do not afford us such a luxury.

Films such as The Exorcist, Eden Lake and Session 9, all of which deal with seemingly real fears, are for more apt to leave a lasting impression on the human mind that the latest zombie or vampire film. The Exorcist dealt with religion in a manner that was apropos of the time period; Eden Lake revealed just how dangerous seemingly innocuous children can be; and Session 9, which was inspired by true events, dealt with the fragility of the human mind. These terrifying realities of life that welcome us every morning do little to diminish the paralyzing fears that greet us as we drift off to sleep, blissfully unaware that there is a very real chance that you can wake up completely unable to move.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Every bit of horror news that percolates up from the sediment of the internet has '3D' tacked onto the end of it. .We're just going to have to deal with it until it dies down. I imagine that it's a prerequisite for a film to get greenlit. Scripts are probably littering the floors of storage rooms for years, only to be resurrected if they can make an extra buck from its third dimensionification (No, that's not a word. Shut-up.).

Now Simon Crane, an erstwhile second-unit director-cum-stuntman, gets his turn at the helm of a picture, the Peak. Carr has helped steer a number of high adrenaline flicks, as you'll see from his IMDB listings, and his pairing with this premise could make for some thrill-driven scares.

According to our fellow degenerates over at Bloody Disgusting, the facts are these:

"The Peak is a 3-D supernatural thriller set in the Himalayas on the world's most dangerous mountain. Its name is Nanga Parbat, but the locals call it "The Killer Mountain" because they believe it is haunted. Although it is only the sixth-highest peak in the world, more climbers have died on its slopes than even on Mount Everest.

This is the story of an American man who led a rescue up the peak a year ago, saw things that defy explanation, and has refused to climb again. Instead, he hides out, hermit-like, in a Himalayan village waiting for the annual visit of his 10-year-old daughter.

And then his worst nightmare happens: her plan crashes atop the peak. She's alive. But an air rescue is out of the question. He is her only chance of survival - he has no choice but to lead a small team on a climb where no-one dares to tread. "

You probably recognize Peter Straub as 'the guy who wrote 'the Talisman with Stephen King'. That's a fair assessment. You're not alone. That's his big claim to fame, although he does have a storied career in fiction of all sorts dating back to the early 70's. If the Talisman ever makes it to the big screen and is done any sort of justice, expect rapturous shouts from many of the folks here on Horror Squad, myself included. It's been in and out of the Hollywood grinder for a while, so don't hold your breath. Aside from that, film adaptations of Straub's work have been slim. His first dip into the horror pool, Julia, was adapted in the late 70's as Full Circle. One horror fans are likely more familiar with, however, is Ghost Story, starring a dance-free Fred Astaire.

Now, the Pangea Film Group has announced that they're bringing his 1980 novel, Shadowland, to theaters. Shadowland lies in the gray area between horror and fantasy. It's a story of two young teens, Tom and Del, who go to stay with an odd uncle. Oh, and the uncle is a sorceror. PFG describes it as a cross between Dead Poet's Society and the Shining, which is probably the elevator pitch that got some studio exec to fund it.

At the helm is a fellow by the name of Erik Canuel, whom you all know from his work on the eleven episodes of Big Wolf on Campus. And who can forget the fine work of screenwriter Larry Leahy, from those groundbreaking Transformers episodes in the mid 1980s. If that's not enough to sell you, it should be noted that the full title is 'Shadowland 3D'. Now that you've gagged on my snark, discuss. . .

The 3D fad is upon us like a plague. As I've mentioned before, this is what Avatar hath wrought. I'm certainly all for keeping cinema alive in the age of piracy, narrow DVD release windows, and rising ticket prices, but it seems like every other film announced these days is being forged in the third dimension. Why? Just for the hell of it, I suppose. Does it really sell more tickets? Does it enhance the movie in any way? Anyone who has seen their share of 3D horror films knows that more often than not, they're just hurling weapons and body parts at the screen, rather than creating some sort of immersive environment that actually serves the story. I'm sorry. Did I say I wasn't going to rant?

Now the Italians are crashing the party with Hidden. Directed by Mariano Baino, this low budget, English language flick purports to be the first Italian produced 3D film, which leads me to my next point of contention. You see, I have sources. I have contacts. There are people out there, sniffing around and digging up facts. But I also have the Google. It took me all of 90 seconds to find that Nozze Vagabonde is actually the first Italian 3D film. Oh, and that was about 75 years ago.

Screen Daily has some more of the info here, where they lay out a quick bullet about the plot:

The horror/thriller is about an abandoned experimental medical centre that harbours a deadly secret. It only becomes known when a restoration project begins.

Also, here's the synopsis for Brad Anderson's superlative Session 9:

The horror/thriller is about an abandoned experimental medical centre that harbours a deadly secret. It only becomes known when a restoration project begins.

Hidden starts filming this month.

Back around Halloween, Bloody-Disgusting posted a lengthy interview with screenwriter Peter Briggs. The focus of the piece was on his very cool sounding period monster flick Mortis Rex, but buried deep in the article was an interesting tidbit on another project: a World War II horror film entitled Panzer 88.

News emerged yesterday (again, from the guys over at B-D) that the project is moving along the production track and that Briggs will be handling the directorial duties with Gary Kurtz producing.

The basic story outline breaks down as follows: "Panzer is another supernatural thriller: basically a character piece set in a German King Tiger tank in Russia in World War 2. It's five guys in a tin can, and something's trying to stop them making it home. It's creepy, and smart."

I love me some World War II horror, so Panzer 88 definitely intrigues me. I am curious about how they're going to pull off making the German characters sympathetic protagonists. It can be done--Das Boot is a good example--but it always makes me feel weird to root for the Germans...

Don't expect to be sitting down to watch Panzer 88 in the immediate future. Briggs is working on Mortis Rex, which is currently in pre-production, and it seems very unlikely that this film will move forward before that one is completed.

Robert Kirkman is one of the best writers in comics today. Maybe ever. The Walking Dead is one of the most consistently good - no, consistently excellent - monthlies on the shelves. He has a way of putting human pathos first, no matter what the backdrop is. Aside from his zombie magnum opus, he's given us the carnage filled superhero saga of Invincible, Marvel Zombies, and the campy monster-as-hero stories of the Astounding Wolfman. Even non-comic fans can find something to engage them in his four-color escapades. Now that my accolades are out of the way, I can tear into him for whatever Demonic is trying to be.

You see, Kirkman loves the 90's. More specifically, he loves 90's comics. As anyone who was reading comics in the 90's can tell you, this was a dark, dark time. Over-production of gimmicky titles and a surge of speculation in the possible value of 'rarities' lead to what was nearly a complete collapse of the market. If that's not enough of an indictment for this era of excess, the decade also brought us Spawn and about 700 different X-Men titles. You see, the seeds that Frank Miller and Alan Moore planted with their genius works flourished into a weed-ridden patch of imitators. Rather than seeing the nuance and high-minded literacy that came with a lot of these masthead titles, creators saw one thing - "Hey, let's make the character all dark and angst-ridden and it will sell! Let's throw some mindless violence in there, too!" As a result, we were swamped with lots of Punishers and Venoms and guys who killed with a gleeful grimace. Now, more than a decade later, I see 'Demonic #1', part of Top Cow's 'Pilot Season', gracing my local comic shop.

Yes, I'm excited. Yes, I know it's a remake. No, I don't care. It looks creepy. I want to see the Crazies. Bad. I like Timothy Olyphant, particularly from his turn in Deadwood, and while I'm certainly a fan of Romero's original, it never quite clicked with me like so much of his other work has. We've shown you trailers and explored the early viral websites they put out there (viral! *snicker*), but as the promotion machine amps up, I get more and more antsy to see this flick. This one looks like it earns it's 'R' rating. While that's not a prerequisite for a fine horror film, it sure as hell doesn't hurt when it's flagging the story of a town gone mad.

The mutants over at Dread Central have a plethora of new shots that lead me to believe that this will be a nice adrenaline-and-blood cocktail. Here's hoping! Click the pic to your right to take you over to Dread and get a gander at the rest of them.
And leap past the break to check out the trailer and lengthy synopsis.

I'm not going to lie to you. Domestic horror is starting to piss me off. Sure, we get the occasional Paranormal Activity, but most of the stuff the die hard horror hounds like you and I are looking for are popping up first on foreign shores. Take The Descent 2, for instance. Why haven't I seen this movie yet? Why no US distribution? Yes, I'm being an entitled American, but if the best US distribution companies have to offer me is another damned Saw movie, I'm going on a murderous rampage (or at least drink and cry and scour the internet for imports).

Case in point - the new flick from Philip Ridley (a guy I've shamefully never heard of) called Heartless. Starring the boyish immigrant from Across the Universe, Jim Sturgess, it's billed as 'a dark psychological thriller'. Sure, some marketing monkey is being dodgy with the labels, but if your story is about a guy fighting literal demons in urban East London, then your movie is horror. Just embrace it already and stop dancing around the good stuff. Sturgess plays Jamie Morgan, an angsty guy with a large heart-shaped birthmark on his face. He gets pulled into the decidedly gritty world of battling hell's minions and if the trailer is any indication, there's some elements of Jacob's Ladder and a few gruesome thrills to propel things along.

The official website has some goodies for you to inspect. Click the banner below to check out the trailer that has my own heart all aflutter.



'Heartless' will be in UK cinemas on Friday 21 May and on DVD, Blu-ray and all other formats on Monday 24 May. So I guess we won't have to wait *too* long...