Comic Review: Action Lab’s TRANCERS

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Comic Review: Action Lab’s TRANCERS

SHOCK reviews Acton Lab Comics’ revamped TRANCERS comic.

TRANCERS is the type of movie that dives straight into its world with little warning. With a tagline of “His name is Deth, he hunts Trancers, even in the 20th Century”, the audience is warned that they are in for a trip, a promise that it fulfills in every sense of the word. It’s definitely a trip alright. This low-budget sci-fi wonderland about a detective who travels through time to stop a dastardly villain has spawned five sequels and a thirty minute short, creating a fan-base that is as committed to its infinite continuation as it is to the B-movie fun that every subsequent film seems to release in spades. So, is it any wonder that in our age of nostalgia that TRANCERS has once again seen the spotlight? Thanks to Action Lab Comics, TRANCERS the comic is back, this time shining a bit of backstory on our hero’s obsession with villain Martin Whistler.

Much like the movie, the comic is heavily shadowed with Jack Deth’s internal monologue. It begins as he races his way down the streets of New Vegas on the resort planet of Mekon Seven. Per movie mythos, will not end well for Whistler, but we finally get a glimpse of what led up to their eventual confrontation. Deth narrates who he is, the tragic story of him and his wife, and why exactly he’s there to kill the man that took everything away from him. As he reaches his destination, there are more than just bad feelings standing between the two and as the blood begins to flow, a battle of the mind is soon to follow.

Though it’s obvious to fans of the movie that there was a bit of budget issue (which perhaps helped solidify into its cult status), comics have no such limit but the imagination, and this comic feels like the movie that the creators wanted to make. Fast paced action in a uniquely sci-fi setting, the reader gets a front row view of Deth’s one minded pursuit to destroy the man who destroyed him. As a prequel to the first TRANCERS movie, it’s fun to see the places only mentioned in the film and get a little more into the protagonists head. Unfortunately, there is no indication if the follow up issues are going to be different from the initial movie as the first issue literally leads into where the movie started off on. Perhaps we’ll see some between-the-scene’s scenes or a further exploration of the TRANCERS world?

Also, this is very much a TRANCERS comic, the story is very particular to this work, including using phrases and technologies only seen in the series, and might be a turn off to new readers. While this may not be an issue for bigger 80’s nostalgia works such as BOOM! Studios BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA or IDW’s BACK TO THE FUTURE, because TRANCERS is so low flying, it’s hard to really embrace the entirety of the work without having to hunt down the movie.

As stated, this is not the first TRANCERS comic to have been released, the first one having come out in 1991 via Eternity Comics. Both series are the product of Full Moon Entertainment and explore different aspects of Deth’s life, though the current incantation is planning on beating the previous run by one more issue (the original series got cut off at two issues). The writers, Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn, All-Star Western) and Justin Gray (All-Star Western) weave a story that is solid homage to the movie series, from the heavy sci-fi opera to the technological goofiness such as giving Whistler wings on his suit. Deth’s personality mirrors actors Tim Thomerson’s original portrayal, albeit, perhaps a tad bit less wise-cracking. The art does get a bit scrunchy in places, especially when the action bits are in play, but it’s not so distracting as to take away from the work as a whole.

TRANCERS the comic continues on the cheesiness and attempted seriousness of its originator, but might turn off readers who are not already initiated into the overall series…

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Interview: Writer Todd Casey Talks TRICK ‘R TREAT: DAYS OF THE DEAD Comic

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Interview: Writer Todd Casey Talks TRICK ‘R TREAT: DAYS OF THE DEAD Comic

Writer Todd Casey gives SHOCK the scoop on TRICK ‘R TREAT: DAYS OF THE DEAD and his work on KRAMPUS.

TRICK ‘R TREAT is the classic rags-to-riches movie. A limited release after a two year delay almost sucked this movie into obscurity, but thanks to a few determined horror fans and an overall solid critic rating, it now sits comfortably on the cult collectors market. With its hard times behind it, the TRICK ‘R TREAT franchise has nothing but good times to look forward to, beginning with the new TRICK ‘R TREAT: DAYS OF THE DEAD comic.Helmed by TRICK ‘R TREAT writer/director Michael Dougherty, with writing by Todd Casey and Zach Shields, the word brings together a collection of unique talent from all across the comic world, each adding a strand to the TRICK ‘R TREAT mythos.

Todd Casey was kind enough to sit with us at SHOCK and talk about his contribution to the soon-to-be-classic comic.

SHOCK: What attracted you to the project?

CASEY: Sam is actually the reason I met Mike a little over ten years ago. I was working in development at Cartoon Network and we brought him in for a general meeting after seeing his short “Season’s Greetings.” We became friends from there and didn’t collaborate on anything until KRAMPUS. When the comic book came up, Mike invited me to write on it and, as a fan of the film, I jumped at the chance.

SHOCK: Why set each story in different time period instead of the one town/one night that was popular for the movie?

CASEY: There’s an economy in shrinking the story to a single location that’s hugely helpful in film, but wasn’t a necessary constraint here. We got a little wide-eyed at the realization we could go anywhere and do anything and really wanted to take full advantage of the comic book medium. The stories are connected thematically and by a framing device, but don’t criss-cross the way the stories in the film did. That’s one of my favorite parts of the film and we had to work a little harder to create a sense of cohesion between these disparate tales so as not to lose that. There’s also a bit of us simply not being able to pick a flavor of ice cream and deciding to have one scoop of each.

SHOCK: Did you do a lot of Halloween research, (i.e traditions, folklore) or just kind of jump into it blind?

CASEY: If you live by the beach, you can’t help but get a tan. And if you spend enough time with Mike Dougherty, you can’t help but absorb arcane Halloween secrets. In terms of the historical periods, we started with what we all knew and didn’t delve into anything that was too unfamiliar. We then did some rough fact checking to make sure we weren’t going to embarrass ourselves. The stories grew out of legends we already knew or things that interested us — like the Red Scare in Hollywood, Native American folklore, Celtic traditions, and our own childhoods in 1980s suburban America.

SHOCK: Why did you choose the graphic novel route instead of doing single issues?

CASEY: To be honest, I’m not sure how that came about, but I’m happy about it. From trying to force comics into the hands of people that don’t read them, I’ve found it’s easier to do so if it’s all in one book. Covers are really what I love most about single issues (and the suspense, I suppose), so I’m pleased that we have a cover for each new story at the start of the chapter. Plus some bonus covers in the back.

SHOCK: Sam seemed to be more ingrained in the backgrounds of the story than really a part of them, was that intentional?

CASEY: Sam doesn’t take a lot of direct action — like lollipoping someone’s throat open – but his magic is at work in every story. We wanted to deepen the overall Sam mythology and give some further insight into what his “code of ethics” (for lack of a better term) is. One of the most surprising things about Sam is that he (stop reading if you haven’t seen TRICK ‘R TREAT and go watch it) doesn’t kill Kreeg in the end. So we know he has some kind of operating system more complex than just binary killing. He has an agenda and a purpose and these stories explore that. The less academic reason is that Mike has a really good Sam story and it’s TRICK ‘R TREAT 2.

SHOCK: Both Fiona Staples and Marc Andreyko have both come back to work on this second installment of the TRICK ‘R TREAT comic line. How did it come about that those two came back?

CASEY: I love Fiona’s work and am friends with Marc, but that decision was all Mike. I tracked Fiona down at Comic Con and shoved a copy of Saga in front of her.

SHOCK: Will this tie into the second movie?

CASEY: At this point I can’t say, partly from lack of information and partly from fear that dispensing the information I do have will result in some painful and ironic death.

SHOCK: You two are also tied to the KRAMPUS project (both comic and movie) out later this year. What can you tell us about it? What’s the story?

CASEY: It’s about a dysfunctional family trying to get through the holidays… while an ancient Christmas demon picks them off one by one. Max (Emjay Anthony) is just a bit too old to believe in Santa, but he won’t let go. He’s been watching his family deteriorating around him and, in Christmas, he sees a chance to call upon supernatural aid to fix the problems he’s powerless to solve. But he gives up a moment too soon and essentially dials the wrong number, summoning KRAMPUS instead. It’s not quite a “horror comedy,” but more of a dark Christmas fairy tale with a sense of humor, which sounds like an overly specific Netflix category. If it was in Netflix category, it’s safe to say “Gremlins” would be right alongside it.

SHOCK: The idea of KRAMPUS has been very popular this year, especially with comics. Are you worried about competition?

CASEY: No, I think we can only help each other. From comics and horror, we know that fans are more than happy to read vampire or Batman or Batman-vampire stories from different creators across different mediums. If nothing else, it’ll really fill out those “You might also like” suggestions on Amazon. From what little I know of the other projects, they are all very, very different, which I think is testament to how broad the Krampus legend is.

SHOCK: Any more comic (or film) works in the future we can look forward to?

CASEY: It’s a ways off, but I’m writing a long-form graphic novel with Noelle Stevenson that’s due in 2017 from HarperCollins. It’s called 4 WIZARDS and, while it’s not without its demons and magic, it’s decidedly more “whimsical” than TRICK ‘R TREAT!

You can order TRICK ‘R TREAT: DAYS OF THE DEAD HERE.

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HALLOWEEN: The Mythology of Michael Myers

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HALLOWEEN: The Mythology of Michael Myers

SHOCK’s Alexandra West slices into the deep, cinematic mythology of mass-murderer Michael Myers.

Michael Myers – the man, the myth, the enigma. Since he slowly lumbered on to the screen and into horror fan’s hearts in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic HALLOWEEN, Michael has become synonymous with horror movies and the stuff of nightmares. While Michael was on the pop culture scene before his counterparts Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, both of whom arguably exist due to Michael’s influence, Michael has had a harder time fitting into a larger pop culture context. Easily recognizable to horror fans, many mainstream audience members didn’t click with Michael the way they had with the wise-cracking Freddy (despite his history as a child murderer/pedophile) or Jason’s oddly sympathetic rage. Michael never fit into a mold which would grant him mainstream recognition. It didn’t help that while the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13th franchises grew into wacky parodies of themselves, the HALLOWEEN franchise maintained its stoic and dark roots. Michael Myers is the blank canvas of evil; producers, directors and writers added to his mythology as though they were playing a never-ending game of Jenga hoping they weren’t the one to pull the piece that would make the entire franchise come tumbling down. So, how do you solve the problem of an unstoppable force that is seemingly stopped at the end of each film he appears him? Revise, rewrite and hope the audience isn’t paying too much attention. But for the horror fans who have a soft spot for the figure originally known as The Shape, his convoluted back story is part of his charm. Each Halloween sequel has its supporters so the purposes of this piece we’re going to treat each one as canon in an experiment to see what we truly know about the man behind the mask.

 Myers began his reign of terror as a boy, killing his older sister, Judith on Halloween when he was six. He was then committed to Warren County Smith’s Grove Sanitarium where he escapes from on Halloween 1978 kicking off the events of the first film. He returns to his home of Haddonfield, Illinois wreaking havoc on the small town. Focusing his attention on Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends Michael is an unmovable force. Laurie is able to defend herself long enough for Michael’s attending physician and boogeyman expert Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) to arrive and shoot his patient. Unfortunately for Loomis and Laurie, the madness is far from over as Michael’s body disappears at the end of the first film.

Primed for return, Michael Myers tracks Laurie down in a hospital in HALLOWEEN II (1981) which picks up immediately after the events of the first film. HALLOWEEN II takes on many of the same thematic and filmic styles of the first film but the main thrust of the action (outside of the randy nurses and doctors) stems from Michael consistent pursuit of Laurie who the audience learns is Michael’s younger sister who was adopted by the Strode family. Dr. Loomis is still at work trying to track Michael down eventually connecting him to the occult and Samhain, a Gaelic end-of-harvest festival which ushers in the beginning of the “darker” half of the year. These two connections, which are briefly mentioned in the film are meant to explain some of Michael seeming indestructibility, come across as throwaways but these elements will return soon enough. After some more stabbings and shootings in the hospitals Laurie and Dr. Loomis manage set Michael on fire. The final images in the film are of fire pouring out of Michael’s white mask implying an almost certain death.

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982) attempted to deviate from the slasher set-up favoring witchy Halloween masks and the sex appeal of Tom Atkins. When HALLOWEEN III proved to be box office poison producers decided to resurrect Michael Myers with HALLOWEEN IV: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988) a title decision playing on the name recognition which had already been established with Jason and Freddy and a promise to the audience that while HALLOWEEN IV would deny them a shirtless Tom Atkins, Michael would indeed be back. HALLOWEEN IV would begin what became known as the Thorn Trilogy which would see a mysterious cult try to control Michael adding some of the most outrageous yet interesting elements of the Michael Myers mythos.

The opening of HALLOWEEN IV explains that Michael survived fire shooting out of his mask in Halloween II though sustained burns and has been in a coma since. While transferring Michael to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium by ambulance, the two paramedics discuss the events of the first two films and in doing so; they mention that Michael has a niece, Laurie’s daughter Jamie (Danielle Harris). Michael attacks the paramedics, crashing the ambulance and beelines to Haddonfield to find his niece. The young Jamie is tormented at school and still struggling to find her place in the world after the death of her parents. Though her adopted teenage sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) does the best she can to make Jamie feel at home, Jamie can’t shake the strange presence of her uncle Michael that she feels is growing closer to her. The character of Jamie functions in a similar capacity as Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) in the Friday the 13th series suggesting a child would take up the mantle of a malevolent killer. Halloween IV keeps to the chasing and slashing but ends with a final coda mirroring the opening prologue of the first film with Jamie attacking her stepmother while the camera adopts her gaze from behind the mask that she wears as part of her clown costume.

HALLOWEEN V: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1989) begins with Jamie institutionalized and almost mute after the experiences of the previous film. While her remaining friends and family are picked by her un-killable uncle, Jamie’s psychic bond to Michael grows stronger and Dr. Loomis becomes determined to use this power against Michael. Luring Michael to his old home where Michael killed his older sister all those years before, Loomis uses Jamie as bait. At the moment when Michael shows some semblance of humanity and reaches out to Jamie his urge to kill overtakes him and he attack her and Loomis subdues him by beating him with a piece of plywood. Michael is taken to jail but is broken out by the mysterious Man in Black.

HALLOWEEN VI: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995) not only complicates the story of Michael Myers but also caused it to fracture with the release of the Producer’s Cut which would add in various subplots which were filmed but ultimately cut from the film’s original release creating two divergent plots for the film. HALLOWEEN VI follows Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd) who’s all grown up after Laurie Strode’s Adventures in Babysitting (aka Halloween 1978). Tommy is still obsessed with Michael as is the entire town of Haddonfield. Jamie is also all grown up and is being held by the mysterious Thorn cult. Michael kills Jamie after she gives birth (in the Producer’s Cut it is revealed that Michael is the baby’s father). Tommy finds Jamie’s baby and takes it for safe-keeping. The film runs at a cutthroat pace in an attempt to resolve many of the questions asked in the previous films but only serves to leave more loose ends in its wake. Ultimately, the final take away from HALLOWEEN VI is that Michael Myers is sort of controlled by a cult who has been a part of Michael’s life since he was institutionalized. Yes, there could be other take-aways, such as Michael is anatomically correct and can be filled with corrosive goo for a Fun-Time version of Michael but these elements are more like wacky add-ons that you get with a special edition action figure. There are multiple uses of a sinister tattoo and star configurations that appear around Halloween causing the Curse of the Thorn which Tommy speculates causes Michael’s murderous rages to wipe out his entire family. Tommy theorizes that the Curse of the Thorn is what makes Michael invincible and that his son/great-nephew is his Michael’s last sacrifice which makes about as much sense as anything else in this movie.

A mere three years later, Michael Myers would reemerge in a filmic landscape reinvigorated by the reception of SCREAM (1996). Ignoring the events after HALLOWEEN II, HALLOWEEN H20 (1998) focuses on Laurie Strode now a dean at a private school. Still traumatized after the events of that fateful night she watches over her son John (Josh Hartnett) like a mother bear on steroids waiting for Michael to show his face again which he inevitably does. In the larger mythology of Michael Myers, HALLOWEEN H20 only serves to illustrate that Michael is very good at taking off his clothes and putting them on someone else. At the climax of the film, Laurie unleashes her rage and kills who she thinks is Michael. A lot of the press materials and interviews given in 1998 noted that this would be the final movie and that Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the role not only for the fans but also to give Laurie some sort of closure….

But when HALLOWEEN H20 performed better than expected, Dimension Films greenlit what would be the final sequel HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION (2002) which saw Michael finally kill Laurie and terrorize a reality show that was being filmed in his old home. So we know that Michael hates reality television and is probably more of a PBS guy.

As remakes became the go-to studio model for horror after the success of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003), it was only a matter of time before HALLOWEEN got a makeover. Rob Zombie’s two HALLOWEEN films divided audiences but ultimately served as an exercise for Zombie himself rather than an exploration of the notions of good and evil. Zombie adds extensively to the Michael Myers backstory depicting his family as low-income with his well-intentioned mother (Sherri Moon Zombie) serving as the only one able to tap into his humanity though she ultimately loses her son to the darkness that would consume him. Through the two films, Zombie cannibalizes elements from all the other HALLOWEEN films re-framing them as 1970s grindhouse, exploitation films making Zombie’s HALLOWEENs an experiment in aesthetics rather than plot. While Carpenter’s film (as well as its subsequent sequels) depicts Michael as the emblem of the banality of evil, a small child from an average suburban family driven to commit unspeakable acts for no reason, Zombie’s imbues Michael’s story with a level of sympathy. Could Michael have been saved if the rest of his family weren’t suck dicks? Probably not. Zombie’s HALLOWEENs provided enough fodder for other properties (FRIDAY THE 13th and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET etc.) to be remade with an emphasis on the backstory of the killer.

Michael Myers has been viewed as many things. He lacks the kicky backstory of a Freddy or a Jason but can instill as much, if not more, fear in an audience. For all the films in which Michael has appeared, we now know for sure that the easiest way to subdue Michael is to beat him with an inanimate object (see HALLOWEEN V & VI for a detailed how-to), his eye color is black and that he can be filled with goo (HALLOWEEN VI). What we do not know, and will never know, is what drives Michael which is the scariest unknown of all…

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Shock Video: David Koechner & Michael Dougherty Talk KRAMPUS

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Shock Video: David Koechner & Michael Dougherty Talk KRAMPUS

A visit to the Krampus haunted house with Michael Dougherty & David Koechner!

After director Michael Dougherty’s Halloween horror anthology Trick ‘r Treat was barely released in 2007, it somehow, miraculously, found the audience that appreciated its blend of humor, imaginative production design and scares on DVD. Now Dougherty is back and ready to take on Christmas with Universal and Legendary’s slice of holiday horror titled Krampus, and we had the chance to do an exclusive video interview with him and actor David Koechner (Anchorman, Final Destination 5) at the Scarehouse in Pittsburgh. Currently housing both Krampus and Trick ‘r Treat-themed haunted house attractions, we had the chance to do a special video walk-through of this maze of terrors, as did Koechner and Dougherty!

Check out the videos of the interview and our tour of the haunted house below, along with a gallery of pictures from our visit to the Scarehouse!

Based on the figure from German folklore, which has had a pop culture resurgence in recent years, Krampus follows a young boy named Max (Emjay Anthony) whose dysfunctional family disillusions him about Christmas. Little does he know, this lack of festive spirit has unleashed the wrath of Krampus: a demonic force of ancient evil intent on punishing non-believers. All hell breaks loose as beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own, laying siege to the fractured family’s home and forcing them to fight for each other if they hope to survive.

Written by Dougherty, Todd Casey and Zach Shields, the film stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania Owen and Krista Stadler. It will be released by Universal Pictures on December 4.

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

Krampus Scarehouse Experience

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Guillermo Del Toro, Tristan Risk, Debbie Rochon and More Pick Their Favorite Movie Murders

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Guillermo Del Toro, Tristan Risk, Debbie Rochon and More Pick Their Favorite Movie Murders

Guillermo del Toro, Tristan Risk, Debbie Rochon, Barbie Wilde and Tom Holland pick their favorite movie murders.

Watching people die in real life sucks. Watching them die in ‘reel’ life can be thrilling, delightfully disturbing, majestic and unforgettable. Horror films have, of course, made their bloody bones on scenes of stylized death (my is the operatic elevator scene in maestro Brian De Palma’s brilliant 1980 neo-giallo DRESSED TO KILL) but phantasmagorical, superbly orchestrated and, er, executed on-screen murder isn’t necessarily relegated to the genre…

We polled a pack of our famous ‘”friends in fright” to see what their favorite movie murders were and, almost universally, these heavy hitters chose bloody ends from pictures only vaguely associated with full-blown horror.

Have a look…

Guillermo Del Toro (CRIMSON PEAK, CRONOS, PACIFIC RIM)

MACBETH (Dir: Roman Polanski)

“The Decapitation of Macbeth”

GDT: The decapitation of Macbeth follows one of the greatest sword fights in film history and then, in 4 impeccable cuts, Polanski uses a dummy and a decapitated head to unparalleled effect. Plus, we later get a POV of the severed head!

Tristan Risk (AMERICAN MARY, THE EDITOR)

KILL BILL: PART ONE (Dir: Quentin Tarantino)

“Massacre at the House of the Blue Leaves”

TR: Ooh yeah… My favorite murder scene is a multiple murder, in Kill Bill Part One where The Bride (Uma Thurman) battles the Crazy 88s and Gogo. The sheer insanity of the whole thing is a joy to watch. I can only imagine how long that whole thing took to capture, so I doff my hat to Mr.Tarantino, and his crew for that…

Debbie Rochon (TERROR FIRMER, THE WRATH OF CROWS)

TAXI DRIVER (Dir: Martin Scorsese)

“Travis’ Rampage”

DR: The end sequence when Travis wipes out Iris’ pimp Sport and his Time Keeping cohorts. Scorsese drops the use of music as soon as Travis gets out of his cab and confronts Sport. This delivers a sense of hyper-realism and forces you into the moment. The realistic shooting of all Travis’ victims, as well as Travis being shot himself, is what makes this revenge scene work so well. One simple gunshot shot doesn’t bring down any of the characters. Scorsese also uses slow motion during this sequence for the character of Iris which gives just that one character a dream like moment stretching our her response to the mass murder. It’s topped off with more realism; when Travis tries to unromantically, no hero shot used, shoot himself in the head. But he fires his gun, which is planted firmly to his jaw and clicks the gun multiple times to no avail. Seeing the character is serious about blowing his own brains out, he then gets another gun which bares the same results. No bullets left. Travis then sits on the couch knowing the plan has now changed – just as it did when he had unsuccessfully planned to kill the presidential candidate. Scorsese only brings the Herrmann score back in when the police arrive…

Barbie Wilde (HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II, Author of THE VENUS COMPLEX)

LA CONFIDENTIAL (Dir: Curtis Hanson)

“Jack’s Murder”

BW: Kevin Spacey’s demise in LA CONFIDENTIAL was spectacular in its subtle realism. “Have you a valediction, boyo?” asks the dastardly Dudley Smith (James Cromwell), just after he shoots the unflappable and unsuspecting Jack Vincennes (Spacey). “Rollo Tomasi…”, Jack whispers and squeezes out a last little ironic chuckle of triumph before he fades out and then, astonishingly, THE LIGHT GOES OUT OF HIS EYES! How the hell did Spacey do that? I found out later that he simply de-focused his eyes, but damn, I’d never seen it in a movie before LA Confidential. Brilliant. (“Rollo Tomasi” was Jack’s coded message from beyond the grave to fellow cop Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) as a clue to snag Dudley.)

Also, this scene is notable for the fact that the villain doesn’t explain a damn thing about his devious goings-on before the brave detective wrestles the gun from him and makes the arrest. Nope, Dudley just puts the kettle down, turns around and shoots Jack. What a shocker. No verbal foreplay, no egotistical showing off how brilliant Dudley’s plans were, no toying with his victim, no chat to allow Jack to get the upper hand. Just one of the most surprising murders I’ve ever witnessed in a film.

Tom Holland (PSYCHO II, FRIGHT NIGHT, CHILD’S PLAY)

PSYCHO (Dir: Alfred Hitchcock)

“Marion’s Murder”

TH: My favorite murder is the most important murder, the shower scene in PSYCHO. The scene birthed the slasher movie and the very concept of “kills.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4

So, dear readers…what’s your favorite movie murder? Do tell in the comments below…

The post Guillermo Del Toro, Tristan Risk, Debbie Rochon and More Pick Their Favorite Movie Murders appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

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“Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT”: Jess Franco’s 1981 Slasher BLOODY MOON

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“Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT”: Jess Franco’s 1981 Slasher BLOODY MOON

In this ongoing SHOCK column, editor Chris Alexander muses on classic and contemporary films and music worthy of a deeper discussion.

Jess Franco’s BLOODY MOON (1981)

Beloved, hotly debated and now, sadly, deceased iconoclast Jess Franco first made his major movie mark in France with a series of crisp, sleazy and stylish black and white arthouse horror pictures like 1962’s landmark THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF (a quote on Georges Franju’s groundbreaking sex and surgery epic EYES WITHOUT A FACE), movies that valued high contrast photography, graphic violence and then mild, soon to be abundant female nudity. Over the span of the ensuing decades the tirelessly prolific Franco would make scores of personal, jazz influenced (Franco was also an accomplished composer and musician) sonnets to sex, violence and voyeurism, playing with color and working with budgets both high and low in any country that would fund his filmmaking fetish.

Which brings me to BLOODY MOON, a latter period early 80’s German financed (the original title was DIE SAGE DES TODES or THE SAW OF DEATH) bloodbath made in the wake of the slasher craze sparked by John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN and juiced up by the considerably later, much more explicit FRIDAY THE 13th. But the seriously bent BLOODY MOON (whose ample but klutzy murders landed it onto the Video Nasties list in the UK) is so much more than simply a stalk and stab shocker. Why? Because it was made by Franco, of course and, as any serious scholar of Jess’s work knows, no matter how dodgy and cheap a more downmarket Franco film could be there’s always something there that was uniquely his. A lazy lidded energy, a leering point of view…something.

This typically greasy looking film opens on a spectacularly sickening murder at a Spanish girls school by a completely un-spectacularly made-up lunatic (Alexander Waechter). Five years later, pretty young student Angela (sex film starlet Olivia Pascal) has taken up residence in the same room where the said slaughter went down and to make matters eerier, the Velveeta-faced killer has been released from the looney bin, apparently none-to-reformed.

Sooner than later, a spate of increasingly sadistic killings kick into high gear with all manner of lovely lass getting revoltingly ripped to ribbons. Is it old cheese-puss wearing the dollar store black gloves that pop into frame before each offing? Is it his comely sister with whom he shares a rather, um, close relationship? Before Franco’s 90 minute mess winds down, all questions will be answered and many tummies will be well-turned…

Now, as I mentioned, Franco made a staggering amount of films, including such acknowledged classics like VENUS IN FURS, SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY, FACELESS and VAMPYROS LESBOS, so you might be wondering why I’ve chosen to muse on BLOODY MOON. The answer is simple. Plenty of people dislike the work of Jess Franco, laughingly labeling him a hack. And while I’ll never argue that the man has made more than his share of duds, when someone gives him a bit of time, money and space, Franco had no peer, making stylish, eccentric and very personal films. BLOODY MOON has moments of free-form Franconian vision and, despite its budgetary and narrative failing, is a blood-bucket full of fun.

By his own admission (revealed in an often hilarious interview that accompanies Severin’s Blu-rayrelease), Franco signed on to the project under the promise that his craven producers had art-rock super group Pink Floyd attached to compose the score. As this was the early 80’s and the already legendary band was achieving their commercial apex with the double disc, chart topping album The Wall (as well as dissolving internally), it would be obvious to anyone with any shade of cynicism, insight or common sense that they would never, ever have their name glued to a grubby European slasher movie directed by the guy who made THE BARE BREASTED COUNTESS. But again, Franco just wanted to work and so he proceeded in hopes that such boasts might be the icing on the gig.

Instead of a Floyd score, BLOODY MOON features music by someone named Gerhard Heinz, a German born tunesmith who tries his best to mimic a David Gilmour-esque guitar-jacked, psych-rock sound and for the most part, succeeds. Many fans and critics have cited this score as the picture’s most offensive element, but I rather like it – it’s bizarre, bombastic and dirty and it works. When an unlucky lady gets her head sawed off in the films’ most notorious (and delightfully fake) gore sequence, those wailing guitars and skunky basslines sound perfectly awesome.

Franco’s masterpiece? Far from it. But BLOODY MOON is pure, sleazy, upbeat Jess gore gold. A document of a creative innocence, of a guy who worked to live and lived to work, who just loved making movies and managed to weave his way into pop culture legend by never giving up, never stepping off that ladder. Good on him and God rest him…

 Note: portions of this essay originally appeared in “Chris Alexander’s Blood Spattered Book” from Midnight Marquee Press.

The post “Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT”: Jess Franco’s 1981 Slasher BLOODY MOON appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

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Freaks of Nature Drops Red Band Trailer & Stills … & They Are Fantastic!!

AnythingHorror Central

Freaks of Nature Drops Red Band Trailer & Stills … & They Are Fantastic!!

Nick Braun and Vanessa Hudgens in Columbia Pictures’ “Freaks of Nature.”

Here’s a film I really didn’t hear much about until I saw the trailer for the first time the other week. FREAK OF NATURE combines zombies, vampires, humans, and aliens into one big old pot of tasty looking horror gumbo!! FREAKS OF NATURE is directed by Robbie Pickering, is written by Oren Uziel, and stars Vanessa Hudgens, Cerina Vincent, Joan Cusack, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Denis Leary, Mackenzie Davis, Ed Westwick, and Chris Zylka. In case you couldn’t tell from the cast, this is indeed a horror-comedy, and I like that they didn’t just cast comedians in the film. The cast comedians with a dark side to their comedy. What’s the film about? Glad you asked:

L-r, Nick Braun, Mackenzie Davis and Josh Fadem in Columbia Pictures’ “Freaks of Nature.”

In Freaks of Nature, we welcome you to Dillford, where three days ago, everything was peaceful and business as usual: the vampires were at the top of the social order, the zombies were at the bottom, and the humans were getting along in the middle. But this delicate balance was ripped apart when the alien apocalypse arrived in Dillford and put an end to all the harmony. Now it’s humans vs. vampires vs. zombies in all-out, blood-sucking, brain-eating, vamp-staking mortal combat – and all of them are on the run from the aliens. It is up to three teenagers – one human, one vampire, and one zombie – to team up, figure out how to get rid of the interplanetary visitors, and try to restore order to this “normal” little town.

Sounds like it is going to be a ton of fun. And in case you’re doubting that, here’s the red-band trailer:

FREAKS OF NATURE looks like a lot of fun and is slated to hit theaters the day before Halloween, October 30, 2015. Well you be checking this one out?

Stay Bloody!!!

Keegan-Michael Key in Columbia Pictures’ “Freaks of Nature.”

Ed Westwick and Mackenzie Davis in Columbia Pictures’ “Freaks of Nature.”

Keegan-Michael Key in Columbia Pictures’ “Freaks of Nature.”

Mackenzie Davis, right, and Vanessa Hudgens in Columbia Pictures’ “Freaks of Nature.”

Filed under: Breaking News, New Posting, Upcoming Releases, Zombie Flicks

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