Zombos' Closet

Newsy Nosey: Horror Blog Lists, FlipFace, The Trap, And More

You know what happens to nosey people in horror don't you? They find out all about it. Just before they DIE! But at least they're better informed before they go. So here's some news for you to bone up on; just keep looking over your shoulder as you read...and read fast...

--More horror blogs than you can shake a dismembered arm at can be found at Total Film's 600 Movie Blogs You Might Have Missed. They may not know how to name awards, but they sure know how to make big lists. And the list keeps growing with additional movie blog links in the comments section, so make sure to read those, too. Horror Blogs begin on http://www.totalfilm.com/features/600-movie-blogs-you-might-have-missed/page:5. I applaud their efforts to make amends for ruffling horror blogger feathers (mine included). Now if we could just get the democrats and republicans to compromise like this, we'd be aces.

--If 600 horror blogs aren't enough to keep you busy, Bloody-Disgusting is running their Horror Blogger Awards and the clickable list of over 60 nominee blogs is a great way to find new blogs you may not be reading. While you're there you should register and vote for your favorite, too.

--Director and writer Jason Horton (Edges of Darkness), wants you to fall into his trap: "The first featurette from Trap, my follow-up to Edges of Darkness is online. It's a hilarious behind the scenes look at low budget movie-making. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEnzsZWEIA4.

Meet the Horror Bloggers: Chuck Norris Ate My Baby

Many fans of horror, amateur and professional alike, have devoted themselves to blogging about the thrills, chills, and no-frills side of the genre as seen in cinema and print. In this ongoing series that highlights the writers behind the blogs, we meet the unique personalities and talents that make the online horror scene so engaging. Up close and personal.

In this installment, Matt from Chuck Norris Ate My Baby blames his mom for all the horror.

I think I can blame my mother for indirectly pointing me in the direction of horror films and cult cinema. She wasn't a huge horror fan by any stretch, but she loved movies like Halloween, Jaws, and War of the Worlds etc...and some of my fondest memories are of us watching all of these films and others together on TV. She would wax nostalgic and tell me tales of when she went to see Jaws in the theaters and how there was a line around the block, or how people would freak out around her while viewing The Exorcist when she saw it in theaters. All of that stuff was intriguing to me as was the mystery of scary movies.

Criminal Macabre: Cell Block 666

ZC Rating 3 of 7: Good (but art needs to lighten up)

I wonder if Steve Niles is as sweet and sour as his supernatural detective Cal McDonald. Probably not, but he writes the feisty McDonald with layers of world-weary spunk so easily it is hard for me to imagine there isn't just a little bit of Niles shining through all that cigarette-smoking, pill-popping, bruised and bandaged, punch-drunk attitude McDonald pushes into his antagonists' faces every chance he gets. Almost like another supernatural detective (so many of them these days, aren't there?), John Constantine, what sets McDonald apart from his brethren--and usually off--is the constant kick to his spiritual and physical groin, even when he's looking.

In Cell Block 666, McDonald is up against a traitorous ghoul, corrupt cops, and Nick Stakal's dire pencil scratches that leave much of the scenery in the dark and everyone looking like they've been carved out of clay with a sharp razor. Stakal's stylistic overuse of shadow and heavy lines renders very creepy ghouls, but it obliterates the more subtle features of mere mortals including McDonald, giving characters gruff, acerbic faces more sour than sweet. With all this darkness, the colorist doesn't stand a chance, either; so much of McDonald's prison time and trying-to-stay-out-of-prison time is muted in an overly noir world. Stakal's two-page spread showing the prison building is lacklustre because there's just not enough to see. When it comes to zombies, however, I'll keep mum. Stakal's murk and gloom and paper-cut edges, muted in color, fit them to a tee.  

Tired of laying low because the cops have been hot on his ass for a crime he didn't do (at least this one, anyway), McDonald hits the bar to hoist a few. Ghoul-help or not, he winds up being seen, captured, then taken for a long ride to a short cell. Moloch pops in and out, lending a cold helping hand where he can, but McDonald is forced to conjure up a reprieve or wind up deader than his ghoulish friend. Niles is best when relationships matter, and his odd camaraderie between McDonald and Moloch gives this adventure its more pleasing moments. Moloch has his own hands full when a traitor reveals a power struggle within the ghoul's rank and file.

Come on Stakal, give McDonald a break: go heavier on the detail and lighten up the murk. The poor bastard's got it tough enough. He must spend a fortune in bandages and aspirin as it is.

 

The Bloody Bloggers Awards Are Coming For You

Beware, the League of Tana Tea Drinkers is brewing a special blend just for horror bloggers to sip. It is time we stopped howling at the moon over misnamed and nominee-mismatched Best Horror Blog awards, done with little understanding of what we do and why we do it.

The Bloody Bloggers Awards are coming. Not all will win, but all can participate in 13 frightful categories guaranteed to make your blood run cold.

If you dare...

Newsy Nosey: Monster Scenes, NOTLD: R, Haunters Contest And More

You know what happens to nosey people in horror don't you? They find out all about it. Just before they DIE! But at least they're better informed before they go. So here's some news for you to bone up on; just keep looking over your shoulder as you read...and read fast...

...Dencomm presents the Monster Scenes 2010 wall calendar to haunt your home, office, or dungeon. This year's calendar features the artwork of Jim Craig (of Marvel Comics fame). Each month of this oversized calendar features detailed images of Craig's art, exposing more of Dr. Deadly's dungeon than ever before. Head over to www.MonsterScenes.net to find out more about this year's calendar...

...Read the first chapter of Peter Straub's soon to be released A Dark Matter...

...Night of the Living Dead Reanimated: On Jan 28th at 8pm, MIDNITE MOVIE MAMACITA will be hosting NOTLD:R at MadCap Theater in Tempe, AZ. Artist Eric Schock will be there showing both his NOTLD:R and comicbook artwork. Feb 5th - 12th Count Victor Von Scary will be Hosting NOTLD:R on FridayNight-FrightNight...NOTLD:R on Facebook...

...National Haunters Convention Got Talent Contest: National Haunters Convention Directors Robert Kocher and Michael Bruner announce the first-ever Haunters Got Talent Contest to be held at the National Haunters Convention (NHC) in the Valley Forge Convention Center April 30-May 2, 2010...

...Jason Dark, Ghost Hunter: from author Guido Henkel--"Jason Dark is a throwback to classic dime novels and is available as print editions and eBooks in a variety of formats, as well as for free online reading in your web browser. It revolves around Jason Dark, a fearless and resourceful ghost hunter, that follows in the mold of Sherlock Holmes combined with Randall Garrett's Lord D'Arcy and is filled with enough mystery, drama and suspenseful action to transport you to the sinister, fog-shrouded streets of Victorian England - not to mention that it makes heavy use of historical and literary references to spice up the stories..."

...Brew's These Monsters - Call Me Dragon music video. Because it's always good when you can end with a song! 

The Book of Eli (2010) Grindhouse Meets Dogma

ZC Rating 4 of 7: Very Good

Grindhouse determinism and dogma meld into a spiritual and violent road trip in The Book of Eli. Denzel Washington is Eli, and the book he carries on his journey westward--or thereabouts for thirty years--is desired by Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who has been searching for it for probably just as long. Their struggle over possession of the book provides the movie's grindhouse-styled bedlam, but the movie transcends blatant exploitative elements by substituting faith, destiny, and the passion of the Gibson's Mad Max sense of purpose when surrounded by despair for the more lurid and gratuitous action of pure exploitation.

Eli's arm-length knife, one that would make Crocodile Dundee wet his pants, is exploited for all its heft. Worth more than a flaming sword, Eli wields it with uncanny precision; even, it seems, as if the blade moves before he does. He carries the book, his knife, a dingy iPod connected to a large battery, and a prayer down a near-endless road stretching off into the distance under a cloudy sky. All around him is bleak terrain, desolation, and post-apocalyptic wreckage of people and artifacts. The human wreckage is the most dangerous. His only purpose is to keep moving westward and keep the book safe, but Carnegie and the occasional gang looking for their next meal interfere. He says "we don't have to do this" just before he does, and what he does with that blade is fast and lethal.

LOTT D: Movies Of Apocalyptic Proportions

Beware! The members of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers open their bomb shelters to reveal a never-ending parade of pre and post apocalyptic movies. You are warned! And pack a light lunch.

 

The Moon Is a Dead World: Doomsday

I wasn't sure what to expect from Doomsday, coming from director Neil Marshall who also worked on the very popular film The Descent from 2005. It looks like a zombie film but it's technically not about zombies; it feels like a comic book but it's not that either. But though Doomsday looks a lot like The Descent's gritty, dirty world, it's lacking in the scares and the intensity that drove it.

TheoFantastique Ponders the Apocalyptic In Three Movies

Legion: Apocalypse and the Postmodern Imagination

In the history of the Western world the Judeo-Christian apocalyptic has been the most influential. In that religio-cultural context one of the key apocalyptic texts has been St. John’s Book of Revelation.

Hitchcock's The Birds as Precursor to Nature Apocalypticism

A couple of weeks ago my wife found a copy of Hitchcock’s The Birds at the library and she checked it out for me. We watched it later that day, and later I then watched the bonus materials that went behind the scenes. I was struck by two things...

2012 and the Mayan Calendar of the End

2012 taps into the long undercurrent of millenarianism and apocalyptic thought in Western culture. This overlaps with environmental concerns, prophets and prophecy, ancient civilizations (with the Mayans being of special interest as 2012 and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull indicate), and especially the Mayan calendar.

Meet the Horror Bloggers: The Horror Effect

Many fans of horror, amateur and professional alike, have devoted themselves to blogging about the thrills, chills, and no-frills side of the genre as seen in cinema and print. In this ongoing series that highlights the writers behind the blogs, we meet the unique personalities and talents that make the online horror scene so engaging. Up close and personal.

In this installment, B-Movie Becky of The Horror Effect explains how horror crept into her life.

Upon the lap of my guffawing father, I was raised on the horror film. Armed with a clunky VHS camcorder, I fell in love with filmmaking at the age of thirteen in my rural hometown of Maple Valley, Washington. Countless short films and bottles of fake blood later, I went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production, with minors in Honors and Legal Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California. After graduation, I married the man I met over a friendly game of Counter-Strike nine years ago. We have since graduated from Counter-Terrorist vs. Terrorists to Infected vs. Survivors. When it comes to filmmaking, we are partners in crime and are constantly working on new projects. I am currently editing a documentary on ecology for a non-profit organization and continuing to build my resume with film experience.

LOTT D: Horror Comic Crypt 2

The bells strike the midnight horror. Dare you enter the comic crypt with The League of Tana Tea Drinkers to dig up the dirt on horrifying comics (and those others)? Who knows what you may discover buried deep between the covers. Make sure your flashlight's batteries are strong, pack a good midnight snack, and mind the rats. Now let's go.

Uranium Cafe: The Sleazy World of Eerie Publications

Myron Fass was to magazine publishing what Ron Ormond and Al Adamson were to film making, only consistently lacking their sometimes dubious scruples and ethics. His best remembered for his wild assortment of magazines published from the 60’s to 70’s by the company called Countrywide Publications that he partnered with Stanley R. Harris.

My Monster Memories: Tomb of Dracula Issue 1

This is probably my favorite comic book that I ever bought. I picked it up in late March of 1972, when I was 13 years old, at my regular haunt for comics and books; Chichester's drugstore on Vineville Ave. in Macon GA.

Robot 6: Sinister Six: Alt-Horror Update

Before Halloween I posted a list of "Six Deeply Creepy Alt-Horror Cartoonists" as part of Robot 666's week-long reign of terror. Well, these avatars of alternative comics' dark side have been up to some interesting things lately.

Vault of Horror: House of Mystery Halloween Annual

I recently got my grubby hands on House of Mystery's first-ever Halloween Annual, and can honestly say it made my Halloween just a little more festive. In some ways, the issue does a better job of recapturing the old Creepy Magazine feel than Dark Horse's actual Creepy revival book--albeit in a more mature, Vertigo style.

Moon is a Dead World: Victorian Undead Issue 1

Horror has recently found a fascination in remaking the Victorian age of literature. We've seen novels parodying Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, and now we have a creation from Ian Edginton and Davide Fabbri pitting Sherlock Holmes and Watson against mindless zombies. Do we have a fascination in debauching (in a good way) the classics?

Zombos' Closet: Vincent Price Presents Issues 1, 2, 3

Using the persona of famed horror actor Vincent Price to host a series of illustrated terror tales is a demanding challenge.

Some Rules To Review By

...after seeing it, I realized that I was faced with an interesting dilemma...the movie was not very good.

The acting, for the most part, was uninspired, with the exception of the female lead, who was awful. The editing and camerawork was sub-par, to the point of seriously detracting from the viewing experience. The script was amateur and forced. At just under an hour in length, it was still difficult to get through. Even the opening and closing theme music seemed entirely inappropriate to the material.

However, in researching the film, both before and after viewing, virtually all the reviews and feedback I found regarding it were resoundingly positive. And this has been a situation echoed many times since I began the Vault. This time, I was tired of saying nothing about it. (The Vault of Horror: The Emperor Has No Clothes; or Payola In the Age Of Blogging)

B-Sol at The Vault of Horror, in writing his review for the movie Serial: Amoral Uprising, has touched upon the dirty little black book too many horror movie reviewers carry around with them. Scan the pages of that book and you'll see notes on how to avoid offending would-be directors, actors, scriptwriters, and anyone connected with a bad movie; a movie showing little creative energy or talent in its production--a category in which many independent movies all too often fall into. Now I have not seen Serial: Amoral Uprising. I cannot say if it's good or bad or middling or whether it's worth watching or not. This is not the point, I think, B-Sol is trying to make (although he clearly did not like the movie). What surprised him--maybe not surprise, let's say irked him--is how a movie, which measured badly on many critical points, could receive only glowing reviews; not one, but many. How could that be? The answers are in that dirty little black book.

LOTT D: Looking Forward To 2010

In this installment, those party-hardy members of The League of Tana Tea Drinkers ponder the vagaries of the future with a simple question: "What are you most looking forward to in 2010?" After they finish the chip and dip of course.

Day of the Woman: What Excites Her In 2010

The film was everything I wanted it to be and the exploding head was just the cherry on top of a perfect theatre experience.

Dinner With Max Jenke: 10 To Watch In '10

In considering what the future holds, it's worth remembering that some of 2009's most exciting films - like District 9 and Paranormal Activity - were completely off the radar right up to prior  their releases. So who knows what (hopefully pleasant) surprises 2010 might deliver?

Freddy In Space: Looking Forward To Conventions

My first thought was what movie i'm most looking forward to this year but this is a pretty broad question and so i'm not gonna go that route. What i'm most looking forward to this year, in terms of the world of horror, is pretty much the same thing I look forward to the most every year - the conventions.

Cinema Fromage: What I'm Vaguely Excited About

Here’s a quick glimpse at a few upcoming horror flicks for 2010 that has this nerd a bit excited!

Monster Land: Looking Forward to 2010's Horror-esque Movies

Now that we’ve entered 2010. it’s time to put together the list of horror-esque films I’m looking forward to in the New Year.

Vault of Horror: Looking Forward To The Walking Dead On TV

Well, I thought long and hard about it, and lo and behold, it turns out that the one thing in horror I'm most looking forward to is not a movie, but a TV show.

Unspeakable Horror: Looking Forward To The Wolf Man

I am most looking forward to the remake of the Wolfman with Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.  For me, the original Wolfman is a touchstone of the horror genre--not to suggest that it achieved cinematic excellence, but it did achieve far-reaching influence.

Zombos' Closet: What I'd Like To See In 2010

I'd like to see more supernatural horror in the movie theater. Stories like Paranormal Activity and Drag Me to Hell were a welcome sight in 2009; especially after too many Torture Horror entries were given screen time.

 

Newsy Nosey: Robot 13, Creepy, Westmore Monsters, And Midnight Syndicate's Dead Matter

You know what happens to nosey people in horror don't you? They find out all about it. Just before they DIE! But at least they're better informed before they go. So here's some news for you to bone up on; just keep looking over your shoulder as you read...and read fast...

Robot Comics "whipped up this very special trailer for their upcoming ROBOT 13 adaptation for Android and iPhone. It's a sneak peek at what is perhaps our finest adaptation yet, incorporating frame-by-frame animation, vibration, transition effects, and more." Robot 13 Trailer

The Westmore Monsters of Hollywood, an engrossing article by Scott Essman, up at the Famous Monsters of  Filmland website, chronicles the monstrous creations of the Westmore family of makeup artists.

Midnight Syndicate's The Dead Matter DVD is being released July 30th. And..."Midnight Syndicate Halloween Music is hosting a 13th Anniversary Video Contest where filmmakers and animators can create a silent film or music video to an existing Midnight Syndicate track. The winner will be featured on "The Dead Matter" DVD as well as win prizes from sponsors: Screamline Studios, Conquest Graphics, Robert Kurtzman's Creature Corps, Van Helsing's Curse Halloween music, and Midnight Syndicate. Other finalists will also win prizes and special promotions." Head over to http://www.midnightsyndicate.com to read all about it.

Confused by Dark Horse's Creepy 2 story, The Curse Part Two? Join the Perplexed Fan club. Appears a funny thing happened on the way to the printer: Uncle Creepy dropped the dialog balloons and captions along the way. He even managed to screw up the writer's name. For the record, Joe Harris wrote the story. To read what Joe wrote the way it should have appeared in print, go to http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/15-863?page=1.

Until next time, then. Keep those noses to the grindstone. It keeps them nicely sharpened.

The Chill: Vertigo Crime Goes Supernatural

ZC Rating 4 of 7: Very Good

I worry a lot when reviewing a graphic novel. So many things to consider; you've got the artwork, you've got the writing, you've got everything between the art and the writing--and it all works up to either a good or a bad story. It's an encompassing beam bar balancing act and one little slip can send everything screwy. Then there's the personal bias; every critic has one, whether we admit it or not. Usually we leave it up to the reader to pick it out, like a fly in a bowl of chowder; it's there, but the devil to find it.

Jason Starr and Mick Bertilorenzi manage to balance The Chill without going screwy. Starr's got a nasty habit of using too many get-the-bar-of-soap-ready cuss words in his characters' dialog, but I admit I'm peevish with writers using fuck you this and fookin' that--with variations. It gets in the way of writing really good dialog when you're forced to dance around the expletives you'd naturally rope a dope with. But let me make this easy for you: there's my fly in the chowder.

Starr's story is gritty, sexy, and sopping with imaginative Druid magic references. Bertilorenzi's artwork makes it come alive. His panels barely contain it all and spill across the pages, keeping up the momentum of Starr's mystery that begins in County Clare, Ireland a ways back, and continues over the years, getting worse as she goes.

A lover escapes death and the lovee has something awaken inside her. It's called the chill. Not really good for her or her lovers, but her dad benefits most from it. As to why that is, you won't hear it from me; you need to read the story. But I can tell you Bertilorenzi's visual interpretation of Starr's terror--all the bad killings, the cuss-mouthed but obtuse detectives, the gritty city, and the nasty messing the sheets sex is rendered in black and white and shades of gray. He's got a good Mickey Spillane trashiness going with Starr's innocent and blemished people meeting their doom.

The only glamour in this story comes from Irish magic. Most everyone starts off looking good, but Starr must have some flies in his chowder, too, because even professors and priests wind up researching and preying more than they morally or legally should.

Review copy provided by DC Comics/Vertigo.

Were The Three Stooges First In Torture Horror?

Sure, they look dumb and innocent enough. But maybe there was something more sinister lurking being all those yucks and chuckles. Were the Three Stooges the first to use torture horror in movies? Here's the evidence. Judge for yourself.

Looks like an inspiration for a fiendish SAW death contraption to me. Just look at the sheer terror on Curly's face.

I think I saw this fiendish device used in The Collector.

And what about this one. Looks like a storyboard scene straight out of Cube!

Finally, I definitely remember seeing this in Hostel. Just look at the malicious glee on Larry's face. I rest my case.

Meet the Horror Bloggers: Draculand

Many fans of horror, amateur and professional alike, have devoted themselves to blogging about the thrills, chills, and no-frills side of the genre as seen in cinema and print. In this ongoing series that highlights the writers behind the blogs, we meet the unique personalities and talents that make the online horror scene so engaging. Up close and personal.

In this installment, Mandra of Draculand illustrates his passion for horror.

Hello everyone, my name is Tony Espinosa (Mandra) and I´m illustrator from Barcelona, Spain.

My addiction to horror and my obsession with the myth of Count Dracula is when being small I read Bram Stoker's Dracula and my love was automatic. Then fell into my hands some Relatos Salvajes of the 70s, published in Spain by Vértice and best known in America for "Monsters of the Movies", where I enjoy among other things, a fantastic adaptation of The Invisible Man (Val Mayerik and Dan Adkins), and the adaptation of The Day of The Triffids, better known in Spain for La Semilla del Espacio.