December 21, 2010

Dylan Dog Night @ La Kana Bar


It's gonna be epic!

>>> Danse Macabre vs. Marso with music culled from the Dylan Dog comics!
>>> Showing of Dellamorte Dellamore and Duck Soup
>>> Suggested dress code: red shirt and jeans
>>> Surprises!

Thursday, 23.12.2010 @ La Kana Bar, Skopje
Start: 21.30

December 20, 2010

Iron Sky (2011)


One of the explanations given for all of those mysterious UFO sightings over the last 50 or so years is that near the end of World War II the Nazis constructed fully-functioning flying saucers with which they hid somewhere in the Antarctica and planned to use to conquer the world when the time is right. It sounds like a premise for Thomas Pynchon novel doesn't it? Well, imagine that maybe, just maybe, all of that is true, add a Nazi base hiding on the dark side of the Moon and a revenge scheduled for the year 2018 and you have the plot for Iron Sky, one of the most eagerly anticipated indie flicks to be released in 2011. Directed by Timo Vuorensola, this Finnish SF comedy has garnered a lot of buzz on the strength of the released teaser clips and quirky cast including none other than Udo Kier, as well as the extensive social media campaign that allows everyone to join the production team in one way or another. The timing is not bad, either. After a couple of truly entertaining Nazi zombie flicks (see Dead Snow), the concept of Nazis in space feels like a natural progression, and we stand up straight to salute it with all of our hearts!

December 16, 2010

Zombie Info Chart


Probably you've seen this one already. After all, it's a Yahoo! Movies promo pic. If you haven't, then great, we've just made your day! :) In either case, this one's a classic that shouldn't be missed, and if you're a zombie novice, it also serves as a great introduction, containing all of the really must-see movies in this gruesome subgenre. Well, click on the chart for bigger version and enjoy!

December 15, 2010

HEALTH - We Are Water (2010)



I'll be quick here: not only is HEALTH's video for "We Are Water" an awesomely executed slasher video - among the best horror music vids of all time - it also sums up the entire subgenre in less than three and a half minutes! The machete, the survivor girl, the castration, the beheading, it's all there, and it never misses a beat. Enjoy!

December 5, 2010

Smells Like Old-School Posters Part 2



Continuing on from last week's body snatcher theme, what we have here is yet another flood of posters for old-school horror films that most people have completely forgotten. The criteria used for this selection are simple: the posters should be at least interesting enough to make you consider watching the films they're made for, regardless of how good or bad the film itself could be. This means that here we have both classics (The Body Snatcher, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness) and total crap (Killer Party, Ghost Lake), ancient flicks (The Brain Eaters) and new-ish affairs (The Gravedancers), as well as a problem: when it comes to watching horror, we rarely discriminate but we suffer often. Enjoy!




















December 2, 2010

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)



The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a creepy film, not least because huge chunks of it are part of everyday life. While the original from 1956 is about the Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s, this one strikes hard at conformism - which is the real issue at the heart of any witch hunt, past of present - and boasts Donald Sutherland, the quintessential actor of the edgy 1970s. Now, Invasion might not be gory or scary in the traditional sense, but it's one of the best paranoid thrillers out there, and as such it does its job much better than, say, Manchurian Candidate. We'll be watching Abel Ferrara's 1993 version called The Body Snatchers later this week, and tell you which one we prefer (The Invasion from 2007 is, of course, out of any serious consideration). Until then, enjoy the trailer!

December 1, 2010

Family Is Forever...


The blog went to sleep for a while but the show ran ahead like that killer truck in Steven Spielberg's Duel, crashing everything and everyone in its way. Well, it's time to re-ignite the blogging engine, which is to say - watch out for this space (and the madman behind your back!) in the months (years?) to come. But first...

...This November was marked by the longest horror marathon we've done since Saw 3. Day after day, we'd watch a few cult flicks (Night of the Demons), some new heavily publicized fares (The Loved Ones), and whatever else came our way really (Splinter). It is this brutal schedule we'd set for ourselves that really brought out our love for the genre and eventually shoved us back towards this blog. Interestingly, the film that got us the most, the knife that struck us hardest in the gut, was none other than Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 - that infamous franchise killer of a summer blockbuster that people love to hate. Well, we think it's a masterpiece. Here's why.


One thing that cannot be taken away from Halloween 2 is that it has balls the size of a trailer park. People blabber on and on about how The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th were solid remakes that should serve as a model for future re-imaginings of horror classics, but you know what - they are merely pale re-treads compared to the vision that Rob Zombie brought to the Halloween franchise. Come on, Halloween 2 is clearly a personal film with all the small Zombie touches - the cameos, the Rocky Horror masks, the music choices, the plethora of meta-moments that reek of pure love for the genre - and not some hack & slash no-effort crap. Yes, it is true that the film deviates seriously from John Carpenter's original but at the end of the day, if you want to watch that film, go ahead - this is something else entirely and it never apologizes for it.


For years to come, many will criticize Zombie's decision to turn Michael Myers into a redneck with mommy issues, but if you look into it, it makes perfect sense in the overall Halloween context. How could have this lunatic survived between movies in the original series? He must have been a hobo for he surely wasn't Bruce Wayne. And I love the pilgrimage feel of Myers' return to Haddonfield: there is anger and abandonment within that gives it purpose, that makes it epic on several levels. Yeah, it also makes Myers sympathetic, so what? Just because deer old Loomis sees Myers as evil incarnate it doesn't mean that we shouldn't identify with him. After all, who is Loomis to say anything about what's right and wrong? He was an arrogant bore in Carpenter's original, he is an arrogant bore now. I pick Myers over Loomis any day - he might be a sadistic serial killer (boy, is he angry here) but at least he's honest about it... Oh, and he grunts... He's not a faceless perfect killing machine with Terminator-like capabilities, anymore. He's putting actual effort into it. So, go Michael!


On the other end, there is Laurie who is less the Laurie we know and more a stand-in for Zombie's thesis on what happens with the "final girl" after suffering through so much. Well, of course, she doesn't make any sense half the time, and why the fuck should she? Her life isn't a life anymore but one long nightmare (in which "Nights in White Satin" plays endlessly, a nice touch). That she goes overboard when she finally encounters Michael again is understandable in my book (I cannot account for her stupid Norman Bates smile, though, which is one of the few real missteps in the film) and gives her an actual character arch, which the original Laurie didn't have. So, go Laurie!

Finally, what really makes Halloween 2 special is that Zombie understands the essential tragedy and horror of Michael Myers as a character in a way that not even Carpenter did (for him, Myers was simply "the boogieman"). Most of the elements for Zombie's story were there already in the first half of the original remake but here we have the complete picture, and for once, it actually feels like a scary Halloween story instead of a big screen cash cow.