Hellraiser: Inferno is a 2000 US horror film directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose; Sinister; Deliver Us from Evil) from a screenplay he wrote with Paul Boardman. It is the fifth instalment in the Hellraiser series and the first Hellraiser film to go straight-to-DVD. It was released on October 3, 2000.

The film stars Doug Bradley, Craig Sheffer (Nightbreed; Dracula II: Ascension), Nicholas Turturro (The Hillside Strangler; Nurse 3D) and James Remar (Blade: Trinity; Dexter).

Plot teaser:

Joseph Thorne is an intelligent yet corrupt Denver police detective who regularly indulges in drug use and infidelity during the course of duty. At the scene of what appears to be a ritual murder, Thorne discovers a strange puzzle box, which he takes home in order to indulge his fascination with puzzles. After solving the box, Thorne begins to experience bizarre hallucinations, such as being seduced by a pair of mutilated women and being chased by a creature with no eyes or legs.

Thorne also makes a connection between the murder and a killer known as “The Engineer,” who is suspected of having kidnapped a child. Thorne goes in search of the Engineer, who in turn begins murdering Thorne’s friends and associates, leaving behind one of the child’s fingers at every crime scene…

Reviews:

A sort of gritty urban noir trapped in its hero’s nightmare, Inferno feels less like a Hellraiser movie than a follow-up to Jacob’s Ladder (or maybe a predecessor to Silent Hill), floating dream-like through hallucinatory David Lynchian visions and downplaying plot in favor of the surreal. Pinhead, the face of the long-dead franchise, makes only what amounts to a cameo appearance, giving the whole experience the impression of being a standalone horror script re-written as Hellraiser-related at the last minute. And though it is sometimes plagued by the problems typical of low-budget horror, you can tell at all times that Inferno has a lot of ambition for a B-grade picture of its kind.” Calum Marsh, Esquire

“Often misunderstood by viewers and critics alike, Hellraiser: Inferno remains one of the most effective sequels to the Hellraiser franchise. Although the story has little to do with Clive Barker’s original vision, the movie remains an effective experiment into the terrors of the human psyche and the ability of a human being to create his or her own personal hell. The nature of terror — not horror — is rarely explored well, but Hellraiser: Inferno manages to do so with solid aplomb.” Examiner.com

“The closer we move to the end of the film the more Inferno starts to lose its charm, as it becomes more of a Jacob’s Ladder knock off than a Hellraiser film, full of kooky hallucinations and spazzy demons. I was forgiving a lot – such as the blah new Cenobites – but once we reached the twist that James Remar’s character, police psychiatrist Dr. Paul Gregory, has been Pinhead all along and that really nothing in the movie had ever happened, the ever more precarious story lost its balance for me.” Joshua Miller, CHUD.com

Cast:

• Doug Bradley as Pinhead
• Craig Sheffer as Detective Joseph Thorne
• Nicholas Turturro as Detective Tony Nenonen
• James Remar as Dr. Paul Gregory
• Nicholas Sadler as Bernie
• Noelle Evans as Melanie Thorne
• Lindsay Taylor as Chloe
• Matt George as Leon Gaultier
• Michael Shamus Wiles as Mr. Parmagi
• Sasha Barrese as Daphne Sharp
• Kathryn Joosten as Mother
• Jessica Elliot as Young Joseph’s Mother
• Carmen Argenziano as Captain
• J B Gaynor as Young Joseph

Choice dialogue:

“Go to Hell!”

Plot keywords:

body piercing | candles | chess | Cenobites | cocaine | corrupt | crime scene | delusion | Denver | detective | fetish gear | hallucinations | hospital | ice cream van | investigation | mansion | motel | murder | mutilation | Pinhead | professor | prostitute | suspect | voiceover

Wikipedia | IMDb

Duck Dodgers is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 2003 to 2005, based on the 1953 theatrical cartoon short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century. The series is a space opera, featuring the fictional Looney Tunes characters as actors in metafictional roles, with Daffy Duck as the titular hero and Porky Pig as his eager Young Space Cadet. The James Bond-inspired theme song was sung by Tom Jones.

The series originally aired on Cartoon Network, and it currently airs on sister network, Boomerang.

Episode Five of Season One features Duck Dodgers and his Young Space Cadet encountering Count Muerte, a Nosferatu-inspired vampire. The animated episode was scripted by no less than four writers: Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone, Paul Dini and Tom Minton. Brandt and Cervone directed.

Plot:

Duck Dodgers pines to be ambassador of the people of Earth but the spooky spaceship he and his Space Cadet land on “looks scary” and seemingly abandoned.

Nevertheless, a dinner table is set and a host is waiting. Dodgers forces his Cadet to introduce him to Count Muerte. However, the Count is seemingly uninterested in the arrogant duck and more interested in his fat pig Cadet.

Meanwhile, a piece of tossed tofu inadvertently burns the vampire’s hand as he is allergic to healthy food. Recovering, he hypnotises Dodgers, who becomes a bug-eating crazy Renfield-like character with the voice of actor Peter Lorre.

Three vampire ladies appear and find the Cadet to their liking, as he has a genuine personality, unlike skinny Dodgers whom they attempt to eat as a “light snack”.

Surviving the female vampires’ half-hearted onslaught, Dodgers creates a coffin full of spikes and pretends it is a bed for the “piggy”. He tries to make the Cadet go to sleep but the latter wants water, a toothbrush, toothpaste, the toilet and then a call his grandma before bedding down! Becoming angry, Dodgers jumps in the bed then gets stuck in a liposuction device…

Giving up on cunning plans, the Count turns into a bat and chases the porky Cadet around until he sees his shadow, which he then eats… and dies.

It turns out the canny Cadet made the voracious vampire eat a decoy full of healthy food, which he is allergic to. Fazed by the near-death encounter, Dodgers suggests that next time the Cadet should be the ambassador of the people of Earth…

Choice dialogue: 

“Never send an imbecile to do a vampire’s job.”

‘Surviving each floor is the name of the game.’

Steel Trap is a 2007 German slasher horror movie co-written and directed by Luis Cámara (Silencio). It stars Georgia Mackenzie, Mark Wilson, Pascal Langdale, Julia Ballard, Joanna Bobin, Annabelle Wallis, Adam Rayner, Frank Maier, Svantje Wascher.

Plot teaser:

Seven adventurous partygoers find themselves trapped in a sadistic game of death after accepting an invitation to a mysterious party. It’s New Year’s Eve, and a group of revellers are living it up on the roof of an abandoned skyscraper when five of the guests receive an intriguing text message. According to the sender, there’s an exclusive VIP party happening on the twenty seventh floor, and they’re all invited.

Once on the floor, however, the five guests and two party crashers quickly realize that they have fallen into a trap. The only way off of this floor is to follow a series of morbid clues left by a murderous psychopath. But who conceived these deadly games, and why have they targeted this specific group?

Reviews:

“The movie leans primarily on the Saw franchise in its layout with the occasional reference to things like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Carrie to spice things up and a twist in the tale that’s trying to be something along the lines of Scream. The problem comes in when it doesn’t deliver on the Saw premise like it was trying to, and the audience is left (more than a little bit) disappointed.” The B-Horror Blog

“Steel Trap is the kind of film that substitutes creepy locations for plotting, and the slightest smatterings of gore in place of anything suspenseful or scary. To call it derivative would avoid its obvious attempts at being different, and yet this is nothing more than the standard slice and dice from 20 years ago, dressed up in a decidedly uninteresting set of the emperor’s new clothes.” Bill Gibron, Pop Matters

“It’s also badly paced. There are only seven people, and you know it will come down to two of them, giving us a total of five kills. Well three of them occur in the film’s first 45 minutes, so the final 50 is primarily a series of boring arguments between the four survivors, one of which you’ve probably already figured out is the killer and one of which is the obvious last man standing. Occasionally they do things like look in computer monitors and see the “killer” … or run down a hallway or whatever, but it’s hardly exciting..” Horror Movie a Day

[Spoiler]: “What makes this go from a shitty movie to a SHITTY movie is the twist/”big reveal”. People I tell you this is one of the dumbest, most retarded reveals I’ve ever seen in a horror movie. Ok ok ok …. I’m gonna tell ya because this way I know for sure you won’t watch this.  The killer is one of the group members (as expected). Its the celebrity chef character and she assembled this group together and is killing them because they were all mean to her years ago when she was fat. That’s right; she was driven to murder and putting together more traps than Saw and The Collector combined because when she was younger she was a big ole fatty.” Anything Horror

Filming locations:

Cologne, Germany

IMDb

Dumplings (Chinese: 餃子; Pinyin: Jiǎozi; Jyutping: Gaau2zi2) is a 2004 Hong Kong horror film, directed by Fruit Chan (Tales from the Dark 1; The Midnight After). It was expanded from a short segment in the horror compilation, Three… Extremes. The film was rated as Category III in Hong Kong. It premiered in Germany during the Berlin International Film Festival, on 4 August 2005, as part of the Panorama section.

Plot teaser:

A rich woman and former actress named Mrs. Li is losing her good looks and longs for passion with her husband, who is revealed to be having an affair with his younger and more attractive masseuse. In order to boost her image, she seeks the help of Aunt Mei, a local chef. Mei cooks her some special dumplings which she claims to be effective for rejuvenation. From the very beginning, Mrs. Li was aware that Mei used unborn fetuses imported from the abortion clinic in Shenzhen, where Mei used to work.

She keeps seeking more potent remedies, until one day she is in luck: Mei had just performed a black market abortion on a girl five months pregnant (Kate) who has been impregnated by her father. After Mrs. Li sneaks a look in the kitchen and sees the fetus, she is initially disgusted and runs away, but later comes back. Mei makes the fetus into dumplings, which Mrs. Li devours. This has a wondrous effect on her libido as she goes into the hospital and has sex with her husband…

Buy Dumplings on Asia Extreme DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” … it’s still a strange and entertaining little movie. The baby-eating is treated so casually that you almost never really find it as sickening as it really is, which is impressive in a terrible sort of way. And like I said in the review for the short version, it’s nice to see Bai Ling playing someone with a little more depth and realism to her … Also, she keeps a poodle on her counter nearly at all times. You’d think that the weirdest part of a movie with baby eating would be baby eating, but no – I was continually weirded out by this little pooch sitting on a counter for no reason.” Horror Movie a Day

“Dumplings 2004 is brilliant and is the complete opposite of a Hollywood horror film in where order is unsurprisingly restored at the end and patriarchal order is put back into place. Here, an Asian horror film refuses to give the audience a fake, unrealistic and happy ending, instead it is gritty, pulsating and incredibly real. Not only is Dumplings 2004 an epic film simply because of the narrative and the acting, it is also filmed brilliantly and is overflowing with colour thanks to the work of the genius that is Christopher Doyle.” Daniel Vesey, Looking to the East

“The psychological horror that Fruit Chan creates with his work goes deep down and seems to be taken right out of the abyss of human soul – a nightmare. Yet, the movie lacks a surprising twist or some nice resolving. You always have the feeling that something will happen, but in fact it somehow doesn’t. Those who made it until the end of the movie, will already have such a twisted brain, that the end is actually in no way surprising.” Asian Movie Web

Buy Spooky Encounters: A Gwailo’s Guide to Hong Kong Horror from Amazon.co.uk

[Spoiler] “At the end of the film, both Auntie Mei (now displaced from Hong Kong) and Ching are the true survivors, with their trajectory a parodical mirror-image of Hong Kong’s own capitalistic drive. It’s the particular success of Dumplings that Fruit Chan, with a larger budget, higher production values, and a cast of movie stars, has still maintained the incisive social critical stance of his earlier, rougher independent films.” Ian Johnston, Bright Lights Film Journal

Cast:

• Bai Ling as Mei
• Miriam Yeung as Mrs. Li
• Tony Leung Ka-fai as Mr. Li
• Pauline Lau as Masseuse
• Miki Yeung as Kate
• Mi Mi Lee

Wikipedia | IMDb

Famous Monsters of Filmland is a horror genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.

Famous Monsters of Filmland inspired the creation of many other horror-themed publications, including Castle of Frankenstein, Fangoria and The Monster Times.

Famous Monsters of Filmland was originally conceived as a one-shot publication by Warren and Ackerman, published in the wake of the widespread success of the package of old horror movies syndicated to American television in 1957. But the first issue, published in February 1958, was so successful that it required a second printing to fulfil public demand. The success prompted spinoff Warren magazines such as Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella.

Famous Monsters offered brief articles, well-illustrated with publicity stills and graphic artwork, on horror movies from the silent era to the current date of publication, their stars and filmmakers. Warren and Ackerman decided to aim the text at late pre-adolescents and young teenagers. Unfortunately, in doing so, he also elected to add supposedly amusing juvenile captions to the images and thereby denigrated the horror genre for fans and its detractors.

Forrest J Ackerman promoted the memory of Lon Chaney, Sr., whose silent works were mostly beyond the accessibility of fans for most of the magazine’s life, but were a great influence on his own childhood. He also introduced film fans to science fiction fandom through direct references, first-person experiences, and adoption of fandom terms and customs. The magazine regularly published photos from King Kong (1933), including one from the film’s infamous “spider pit sequence”, featured in Issue #108 (1974) that, until Ackerman discovered a photo of a spider in the cavern setting, had never been proven definitively to have actually been filmed.

FM‘s peak years were from its first issues through the late 1960s, when the disappearance of the older films from television and the decline of talent in the imaginative film industry left it with a dearth of subject matter acceptable to both editor and fan.

Bizarrely, Warren and Ackerman created a jump in issue numbering from issue 69, which was printed in September 1970, to issue 80 in October 1970. They did this (according to their editorial in issue 80) because it brought them closer to issue 100, justifying the numerical jump because of the publishing of ten issues of the short-lived companion magazine Monster World as issues that “would have been” Famous Monsters issues. Lazily, during the 1970s, the magazine came to rely heavily on reprints of articles from the 1960s.

In November 1974 and November 1975, New York City was host to the “Famous Monsters Convention,” a fan convention centered on FM, which featured such guests as Forrest J Ackerman, Verne Langdon, James Warren, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Barbara Leigh, Catherine Lorre, Cal Floyd, and Sam Sherman.

In the early 1980s, the magazine folded after Warren became ill and unable to carry on as publisher, and Ackerman resigned as editor in the face of the increasing disorganisation within the Warren Publishing Company. The magazine stopped publication in 1983 after a run of 191 issues.

Famous Monsters of Filmland was resurrected in 1993 by New Jersey portrait photographer and monster movie fan Ray Ferry. After finding that the Famous Monsters of Filmland title had not been “maintained” under law, Ferry filed for “intent to use” for the magazine’s trademark, unbeknownst to Ackerman or the trademark’s owner and creator, Jim Warren. Ferry, poised to restart publication of FM on a quarterly basis, offered Ackerman the position of editor-in-chief for a fee of $2,500 per issue, which he accepted. Starting at issue #200, the new Famous Monsters acquired subscribers and over-the-counter buyers who believed they would be reunited with Ackerman in print. While Ferry tried to maintain Ackerman’s style in his own writings, he apparently heavily edited and rejected contributions from the man himself.

In an effort to help Ferry finance his full-time efforts, Ackerman agreed to a reduced editor’s fee of $1,500 per issue. With four consecutive unpaid issues and a continued rejection of his work, Ackerman resigned from his position. Aside from removing Ackerman’s name from the masthead, Ferry did not inform FM readers that they were no longer reading material by, or authorised by, Ackerman. Instead, Ferry infused his writing with Ackerman’s trademark puns, and mimicked his writing style, which led to legal action brought forth by Ackerman.

In 1997, Ackerman filed a civil lawsuit against Ferry for libel, breach of contract, and misrepresentation; Ferry had publicly claimed that Ackerman’s only connection with the new FM was as a hired hand and that Ferry “had to let Forry go” because he was no longer writing or editing for the magazine. Ferry also claimed rights to pen names and other personal properties of Ackerman. On May 11, 2000, the Los Angeles Superior Court jury decided in Ackerman’s favour and awarded him $382,500 in compensatory damages and $342,000 in punitive damages.

As of mid-2007, Ferry had been allowed to continue to publish issues of FM due to lack of efforts on the part of bankruptcy trustees and Ackerman’s lawyers to force the sale of the trademark or personal assets attached to his income. Ferry had also failed to pay any of the $720,000-plus cash judgment against him.

In late 2007, Philip Kim, an entrepreneur and a private equity investor, purchased the rights to the logo and title, entering into an agreement with Ackerman to use his trademarks to retain the magazine’s original look and feel. The new Famous Monsters of Filmland website was launched in May 2008 and on December 7, 2009, Kim announced the magazine’s return to print.

Ackerman died just before midnight on Thursday, December 4, 2008.

The revival of the classic horror magazine came in July 2010, with the publication of Famous Monsters of Filmland #251 at the Famous Monster Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. The success of the print magazine at the Famous Monster Convention and Comic-Con International in San Diego yielded the announcement of the magazine’s expansion in distribution and circulation into major bookstore chains and independent retailers throughout North America and select markets in the US, Canada, and UK. Publisher Movieland Classics, LLC announced concurrently that the magazine would be entering into a bi-monthly publication schedule to meet the significant increase in requests from captivated readers beginning with Issue 253.

Writer and filmmaker Jason V Brock created The Ackermonster Chronicles!, a 2012 documentary about Ackerman. The movie is billed as the definitive film about Ackerman’s life and cultural influence, and features in-depth interviews with Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, John Landis, Greg Bear, Richard Matheson, Dan O’Bannon, Ray Harryhausen, David J. Skal, and others…

Wikipedia | Image thanks: CoverBrowser.com

The Manson Family is a 2003 American true crime horror film written and directed by Jim Van Bebber. The film covers the lives of Charles Manson and his “family” of followers. The film had a long and troubled production history. Director Jim Van Bebber personally financed the production starting in 1988, and then continued to shoot it sporadically on weekends and off days. In 1998, Creation Books published Charlie’s Family: An Illustrated Screenplay, in the UK.

Despite support from various people, including members of the band Skinny Puppy, who provided a musical score (in the form of Download‘s Charlie’s Family album) that was released separately years before the film itself, the film remained incomplete. It screened on video as a work-in-progress at a number of film festivals during that time. Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Down, and Superjoint Ritual provided his voice as Satan.

The Manson Family is a cross between fictional story and documentary, overseeing the crimes of The Manson Family as led by Charlie Manson. The fictional story centers on a Crime Scene-esque TV series of the same name and its host, Jack Wilson (Carl Day). It is filmed in semi-experimental style and focuses on the early days of the Spahn Ranch including Manson’s attempts to record a music album, and the Manson family crimes, with little emphasis on courtroom drama regarding the trial, although some scenes depict Manson’s follower’s outside the courthouse.

Dark Sky Films stepped in with the funds to finish the film properly, and it has since been released theatrically and on home video. On June 11, 2013, Severin Films released a 10th Anniversary Blu-ray + DVD combo. This includes:

• Audio Commentary with Director Jim VanBebber
• Gator Green – Exclusive First Release of VanBebber’s latest short
• Exclusive New Interview With Phil Anselmo
• The VanBebber Family – Uncut Version of ‘Making Of’ Documentary Featuring Interviews with Cast and Crew
• In The Belly of The Beast – Documentary On the 1997 Fantasia Film Festival
• Interview With Charles Manson
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailers

Read article: Coming Down Fast – Charles Manson on Screen

Reviews:

“The Manson Family pulls no punches in its handling of these gruesome events. Van Bebber’s only concession to restraint occurs when he cuts away from the mutilation about to be inflicted upon Sharon Tate and her unborn baby. All this excessive bloodshed has a point though; it’s never intended as gratuitous shock tactics. In a manner analogous to John McNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, the unsparing violence is meant to demystify and de-glamorize acts of carnal savagery that otherwise might register as little more than the routine slaughter found in your average slasher film. Violence, Van Bebber wants to say, is always ugly.” Budd Wilkins, Slant

“What Van Bebber does accomplish is to make a film true to its subject. It doesn’t bring reason, understanding, analysis or empathy to Manson; it wants only to evoke him. It is not pro-Manson, simply convinced of the power he had over those people at that time. In a paradoxical way, it exhibits sympathy for his victims by showing their deaths in such horrifying detail. In its technical roughness, its raw blatant crudeness, it finds a style suitable to the material; to the degree that it was more smooth and technically accomplished, to that degree it would distance itself from its subject and purpose.” Roger Ebert

“The greatest success of the film is actually that of the generally almost forgotten deaths of the LaBianca’s later that night (which have become almost an afterthought due to the ‘fame’ of the ‘Tate Murders’) which are covered in truly horrific detail and in fact their deaths are the hardest to watch of all, the brutal, sadisti, c multiple stab wound demise of Mrs LaBianca (even to the grotesque desecration of her body by uncovering, and then stabbing, her naked buttocks) is in fact by far the most explicit and uncomfortable death in the whole film. And that’s of course exactly as it should be, and it makes us feel exactly like we are meant to feel… shocked and sickened.” Beardy Freak

” … schizophrenic, bad-acid-trip of a movie retells the Manson legend from inside the family. The film actually looks like all of those terrible 60s grindhouse movies, with deliberately mismatched 16mm film stock, and drug scenes straight out of Alice in Acidland. However, this is a film with a deadly serious intent, sucking the viewer into the free love and drugs ethos of the 60s. We watch how this dream turns into a nightmare of grotesque violence, all at the hands of a very convincing Charlie Manson.” Tony O’Neill, The Guardian

Cast:

• Marcello Games as Charlie Manson
• Marc Pitman as Tex Watson
• Leslie Orr as Patty Krenwinkel
• Maureen Allisse as Sadie Atkins
• Amy Yates as Leslie Van Houten
• Jim Van Bebber as Bobby
• Tom Burns as Clem Watkins
• Michelle Briggs as Linda Kasabian
• Sherri Rickman as Snake
• Nate Pennington as Shorty
• Carl Day as Jack Wilson
• Corral Day as Franklin Riley

Wikipedia | IMDb | Official website

In the Shadows is a 2003 song by Finnish alternative rock band The Rasmus. The single achieved chart success throughout Europe and worldwide, including the United Kingdom, where it reached No.3. It is featured on the group’s fifth studio album Dead Letters. The song currently holds the record for performance royalties received abroad on a Finnish composition (overtaking the works of Jean Sibelius).

Three different music videos were produced to promote the single. The US/UK (Mirror) version is the most gothic and appealing. In the video, directed by Philipp Stölzl in Bucharest, Romania, the band are performing a concert in what looks to be an old Victorian mansion. During the verses, a maid is seen constantly busy serving the masters of the house in what appears to be the past of the mansion. The maid sees (lead singer) Lauri and the concert in mirrors on the walls, which causes her to become distracted, making mistakes and dropping trays. Eventually, while despairing over her errors in her room, she sees Lauri and all the fans in her mirror, while the master of the house is approaching with somebody else, possibly the head maid, presumably to reprimand the new maid. Lauri tugs her through the mirror in her room to where they are performing. She then finishes watching the concert. It concludes with the master of the house and the others entering to find the maid’s room empty.

Lyrics:

Wikipedia

Dee Wallace – born Deanna Bowers; December 14, 1949 – and also known as Dee Wallace Stone, is an American actress and ‘Scream Queen’. She is perhaps best known for her roles in several popular films, mainly in the horror genre. Her most widely-seen role is a starring role as Elliott’s mother, Mary, in the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). She also played key roles in popular cult films The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Howling (1981) and Cujo (1983), as well as more recent efforts including The House of the Devil (2009) and The Lords of Salem (2012). In total, she has appeared in over 90 television shows and 100 films.

Wallace was born in Kansas City. She attended Wyandotte High School, before attending the University of Kansas and graduating with an degree in Education. She briefly taught high school drama at Washington High School in Kansas City, in the early 1970s. She married fellow actor Christopher Stone in 1980, with whom she had one daughter, Gabrielle Stone, who has since forged a career in acting and film-making herself. She acted alongside Christopher in both The Howling and Cujo, as well as TV series such as CHiPs (on the set of which they first met) and The New Lassie. He sadly died in 1995 from a heart attack. Wallace has since married television producer Skip Belyea.

Wallace’s first film acting role of note was in 1975’s The Stepford Wives, in which she played Nettie the maid, a minor, one-line part but one which clearly caught the attention of casting directors. It was two years later, in Wes Craven’s seminal The Hills Have Eyes that, after enduring the usual audition process, she was cast as Lynne Wood, the mother of the family attempting to traverse the desert, with unfortunate cannibalistic interruptions. It’s an incredibly assured performance and, rather like a slightly more mainstream film she was shortly to star in, was an early indication that she was a go-to for the role of the reliable mother-figure in a film.

Though it was indeed to be 1982’s E.T. which would bring her the most widely-known of her roles, it was her appearance in Joe Dante’s The Howling, from the previous year which would cement her in the hearts and minds of horror fans, her starring role as Karen White becoming something of a benchmark for female characters in horror films, thoughtful and engaging, without the almost essential industry-standard lapse into running-away-from-a-killer-in-the-woods-and-falling-over. Contrary to popular belief, she is not beneath layers of makeup at the film’s Yorkshire Terrier lyncanthrope finale; this is an animatronic. Her sympathetic approach to the genre led her to being one of the most in-demand actresses for 1980s horror films, alongside Adrienne Barbeau.

It’s somewhat poignant therefore that even after her role in the blockbuster, E.T. that she soon returned to horror, this time in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Cujo (1983). The car-confined conditions of much of the film’s shooting, as well as acting alongside five St. Bernard dogs have left Dee to since comment that making Cujo was one of her most challenging projects; it is however a role for which she has won particular praise, not least from King himself who suggested she should have been considered for an Academy Award.

After an appearance in the revitalised Twilight Zone TV series, she next appeared, genre-wise, in 1986’s Critters, her only appearance in the franchise. Whether by accident or design, her periodical appearances in horror ensured she remained in horror fans minds without becoming an unbearable omnipresence. When the 1990’s reached a crossroads, unable to decide fully what direction horror should take, Wallace was happy to star in cheaper, schlockier fare, self-reverential without pouring scorn on an art-form which had treated her so kindly. Though her turn in 1991’s Popcorn is fondly remembered by some fans, Alligator 2: The Mutation (1991) and 1995’s Temptress did little to change the world but ensured she was never out of work and never pigeon-holed herself.

More significant work came in Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners (1995), though it was at this time she lost her husband. In 1997, Skeletons saw her working alongside Christopher Plummer and James Coburn, though this promised slightly more than it delivered. Though far from fallow, the remainder of the decade saw an increase in TV fare, the start of the 2000’s seeing a more concerted return to more familiar ground; 2001’s Killer Instinct, 2004’s Dead End Road, Headspace in 2005, Boo from the same year and Abominable (2006) all preceded her introduction to a new horror audience in Rob Zombie’s interpretation of Halloween (2007).

Wallace’s relationship with Zombie has proved to be not only productive but enriching, with Wallace hailing the director as one of the best she has worked with. They reunited again in 2012 for The Lords of Salem. Wallace’s acting career shows no signs of stopping, despite her other life as a life coach, public speaker and author of self-help books; in 2015 she is scheduled to appear in Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard and Death House, alongside a slew of similarly determined campaigners including Robert Englund, Michael Berryman, Barbara Crampton and Gunnar Hansen.

Daz Lawrence

Selected Filmography

1975 – The Stepford Wives

1977 – The Hills Have Eyes

1979 – 10

1981 – The Howling

1982 – E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial

1983 – Cujo

1986 – Critters

1991 – Popcorn

1991 – Alligator 2: The Mutation

1995 – The Temptress

1996 – The Frighteners

1997 – Skeletons

1999 – Deadly Delusions

2001 – Killer Instinct

2004 – Dead End Road

2005 – Scar

2005 – Boo

2005 – Headspace

2006 – Abominable

2006 – Voodoo Moon

2006 – The Plague

2007 – Halloween

2008 – Little Red Devil

2009 – The House of the Devil

2009 – The Haunted World of Superbeasto

2010 – Raven

2011 – Exit Humanity

2012 – The Lords of Salem

2014 – Haunting of Cellblock 11

2015 – Zombie Killers: Elephant'[s Graveyard

2015 – Death House

‘Face the true horror of beauty’

Possessed is a 2006 Malaysian/Chinese horror film directed by Bjarne Wong from a screenplay he co-wrote with King Chi, Jeff Leong and Sam Wong. It stars Amber Chia, transsexual Harisu, Alan Yun, Steve Yap and Sharifah Amani.

Possessed was a joint venture between Malaysia’s Hock Star Entertainment and China’s Beijing 3 Bros Film & Media Company, and the second feature film by director Bjarne Wong after The Legend of the Red Curse. Speaking at a press conference prior to the start of filming, Wong expressed his desire to “make a movie that is aesthetically beautiful, using the cast and especially the backdrop to show audience the beauty and wonders of Malaysia.”

Plot teaser:

Amber (Malay name Nurlin) and Lisu are two sisters from China, who have come to Malaysia to further their modelling and singing careers. One day Lisu goes missing, while Amber falls into a coma and is taken back to China for treatment. She awakens five months later with no memory of her past, and returns to Malaysia with her boyfriend, Dino. Amber decides to resume her modelling career and search for Lisu, but finds herself being harassed by an obsessive male fan and haunted by visions of her sister…

Reviews:

“Bjarne Wong, the director, is new at this, Possessed being only his second film, and it shows. Much of the film is clumsy and in Neko’s opinion, badly edited, creating a feeling of awkward continuity. Sometimes this is the result of an overzealous censorship board, but that doesn’t feel like the case here.” Nekoneko’s Movie Litterbox

“Overall, I say the movie is very much worth watching, especially if you’re from Kuching and you’d like to see how your hometown was projected onto the big screen. For the rest, it’s best to watch this movie without too much expectations. It’s not to say that The Possessed is bad. It is just a lot better than most plotless B-grade Korean horror flicks.” Kennysia.com

Cast:

• Amber Chia as Amber
• Harisu as Lisu
• Alan Yun as Dino, Amber’s boyfriend and manager
• Steve Yap as William, Lisu’s boyfriend who also had an affair with Amber
• Sharifah Amani as Fara, Lisu’s assistant and close friend
• Liu Yan Yan as Belle, Dino’s personal assistant who is jealous of Amber
• Smyth Wong as Cisse
• Manolet as the obsessive fan

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Misfits are an American punk rock band often recognised as the progenitors of the horror punk sub-genre, blending punk rock and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery.

Founded in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey by singer and songwriter Glenn Danzig, the group had a fluctuating lineup during its first six years with Danzig and bassist Jerry Only as the only consistent members – a trend which continues to this day. During this time they released several EPs and singles, and with Only’s brother, Doyle, as guitarist, the albums Walk Among Us (1982) and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983), both considered touchstones of the early-1980s hardcore punk movement.

Buy Walk Among Us on CD from Amazon.co.uk

Named after the 1961 Marilyn Monroe film, the band stuck to the familiar template of riotous gigs and short, frenetic songs but embellished both themselves and the songs with classic horror imagery.

The revolving door of band members settled somewhat when Danzig was joined by Jerry Caiafa – his name-change was prompted by an early misspelling, to which he responded he should be referred to as “Jerry, only Jerry”. With Danzig on vocals, Only on his recently obtained bass guitar, they also featured Manny Martinez on drums – the lack of a lead guitarist necessitating Danzig to play electric piano to flesh out their sound. Martinez became one of many to occupy the drum stool, friction between new members and Danzig/Only and the rigors of touring forcing a succession of stick holders to flee.

By 1977 the band had recruited Franché Coma (born Frank Licata) on lead guitar, meaning Danzig could concentrate on both singing and developing his looming stage persona, whilst also ensuring the music became noticeably punkier and more aggressive. The position of guitarist also soon became vacant, with Coma replaced by Bobby Steele (later himself to form The Undead) and eventually settling on Only’s 16 year-old brother, Paul, who adopted the pseudonym Doyle.

Whilst their music later influenced many bands, their image had an even broader influence on fashion and style. By 1978, Danzig song-writing was taking many elements from horror movies, in particular many of the classic Universal films and 1950’s B-movies and science fiction. He began to appear onstage with skeleton designs on his clothing, whilst Only began to apply dark make-up and a hairstyle which became known as the Devil Lock, an extreme exaggeration of a widow’s peak – other band members also soon adopted this look.

Their place in rock lore was assured with the release of their single, “Horror Business” in June 1979, the cover of which featured the now almost omnipresent image of The Crimson Ghost, from the 1946 film serial. This simple but distinctive image became their logo and was soon featured on t-shirts, records sleeves, posters and a range of merchandise even Kiss would have been proud of. The skull also became the emblem for their fan club which was known as The Fiend Club.

Early support slots in New York for British punk rock pioneers The Damned promised much but breakthroughs were hampered by travel problems, poor organisation and the band’s habit of getting into fights at the drop of a hat.

Early releases appeared on Mercury Records sub-division Blank Records, though the band later released recordings through their own Plan 9 label, named, of course, after the notorious Ed Wood film, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Whilst their first album proper, Static Age would not find a home until 1997 in its unabridged glory, their first full-length release to hit the shelves was Walk Among Us, the 1981 album release on Los Angeles-based Slash Records.

As the band’s image and sound became more widely known, the found themselves elevated to headliners, with bands such as the Necros in support. They continued to bait both audiences and unbelievers, their shows becoming must-see events, the spectacle onstage often spilling out into the hungry throng.

In 1982 they were arrested in New Orleans on charges of grave robbing while attempting to locate the grave of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau, but bailed themselves out of jail and skipped their court date in order to drive to their next performance. The following year, before the release of their Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood opus, tensions between the band members reached new heights and by the time of their annual Halloween show, the situation became untenable, Danzig announcing to the audience that this would be their last show.

Danzig reappeared with a new project, Samhain, a far more heavy metal vehicle and featuring longer tracks and a more prominent role for the singer, who revelled in the new press adornment of ‘the black Elvis’. He would later release his best-selling work under his own name and regularly re-worked Misfits songs to fit in with his new style.

Buy Misfits “All-Ages” t-shirt from Amazon.co.uk

Meanwhile, Only and Doyle returned to New Jersey, an unlikely finding of faith leading to the formation of the Christian metal band, Kryst the Conqueror. When Metallica covered the Misfits songs “Green Hell” and “Last Caress” the band received more attention than ever, a new audience eager to find out who they were. The compilation, Legacy of Brutality was released, as was the long-lost Static Age, with Danzig re-dubbing much of the original recordings to avoid paying the parade of ex-members.

Only contacted Danzig about receiving a portion of the royalties from these albums’ sales, beginning a legal battle that lasted several years and involved other past members of the band. All of the Misfits material had been credited to Danzig, and though Only later conceded that Danzig had written nearly all of the lyrics and most of the music, he contended that he and Doyle “wrote 25% or maybe 30% of the music” and deserved compensation. Danzig, however, insisted that he had written all of the songs in their entirety and that the other members’ creative input had been minimal. Eventually Only ceased his pursuit of songwriting credits and sought the rights to use the Misfits name and imagery, including the now-famous “Crimson Ghost” skull face logo. In 1995 the parties reached an out-of-court settlement that allowed Only and Doyle to record and perform as the Misfits, sharing merchandising rights with Danzig. Collection II, a third compilation of Misfits songs, was released later that year.

The murk of the proceedings led to Only and Doyle (now Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein!) reforming the band – both Danzig and Damned singer Dave Vanian declined to take part, unknown Michael Emanuel (dubbed Michale Graves) stepping into Glenn’s tiny shoes – David Calabrese (“Dr Chud”) handled the drums.

This new collective released the album American Psycho in 1997, an album which firmly divided audiences, many original Misfits fans declaring it all but heresy. Regardless, 1999 saw the release of Famous Monsters, perhaps their most accessible work (or at least their most mainstream). Of note, is the track, “Scream!”, which was accompanied by a promo video directed by George A. Romero.

Further incarnations and releases appeared, up to the present day, band members as luminary as Dez Cadena of Black Flag and Marky Ramone appearing. On May 6th, 2014, it was announced that Glenn Danzig had filed a lawsuit against Jerry Only claiming Only registered trademarks for everything Misfits-related in 2000 behind Danzig’s back, misappropriating exclusive ownership over the trademarks for himself, including the band’s iconic “Crimson Ghost” logo. Danzig claimed that this violated a 1994 contract the two had. Danzig says that after registering the trademarks, Only secretly entered into deals with various merchandisers and cut him out of any potential profits in the process. He said that Only has purposefully led, and continues to lead, merchandisers, including Hot Topic, to believe that they are legally bound not to accept licenses to exploit the Marks from Danzig or his designees. He said that through this, Only has caused merchandisers not to do business with him and has deceived consumers as to the source of the merchandise which bore the trademarks. Danzig said a vast majority of Misfits fans associate the band’s trademarks with the “classic” Misfits era of 1977–1983 and not with Only’s more recent incarnation of the band. Danzig feels that through these misrepresentations to merchandisers and consumers, he has been caused to suffer damages in excess of $75,000. The case was ultimately dismissed, with Central District of California Judge Gary Klausner ruling that Danzig failed to allege which terms of the 1994 agreement Only actually breached.

Despite this, Only remains hopeful that Danzig will eventually return to the band. Their influence can been seen and heard in all subsequent horror-punk bands, horror-core outfits and many psychobilly acts. Their Crimson Ghost logo appears in many high street retailers and, as with the Ramones logo, are often worn by people who have little idea of the band themselves.

Buy Misfits skull t-shirt from Amazon.co.uk

Current members

• Jerry Only (Gerald Caiafa) – bass guitar (1977–1983, 1995–present), backing vocals (1977–1983, 1995–2000), lead vocals (2001–present)
• Dez Cadena – guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
• Eric “Chupacabra” Arce – drums (2010–present)
• Jerry Caiafa II – guitar, backing vocals (2014–present)

Former members

• Glenn Danzig (Glenn Anzalone) – vocals, electric piano (1977–1983)
• Manny Martínez – drums (1977)
• Franché Coma (Frank Licata) – guitar (1977–1978)
• Mr. Jim (Jim Catania) – drums (1978)
• Bobby Steele – guitar (1978–1980)
• Joey Image (Joey Poole) – drums (1978–1979)
• Arthur Googy (Joseph McGuckin) – drums (1980–1982)
• Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (Paul Caiafa) – guitar (1980–1983, 1995–2001)
• Robo (Roberto Valverde) – drums (1982–1983, 2005–2010)
• Brian Damage (Brian Keats) – drums (1983) (died in 2010)
• Dr. Chud (David Calabrese) – drums (1995–2000)
• Michale Graves (Michael Emanuel) – lead vocals (1995–2000)
• Myke Hideous – Vocals (1998)
• Zoltán Téglás – Vocals (2000)
• Marky Ramone (Marc Bell) – drums (2001–2005)

Discography

Studio albums:

• 12 Hits From Hell (1980)
• Walk Among Us (1982)
• Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983)
• Static Age (1996)
• American Psycho (1997)
• Famous Monsters (1999)
• Project 1950 (2003)
• The Devil’s Rain (2011)

Daz ‘I ain’t no goddamned son-of-a-bitch’ Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Monster Munch is a British baked corn snack although there have been variants with the same name in Ireland and France.

Monster Munch was launched in 1977 by Smiths (who also produced Horror Bags snacks). Originally called “The Prime Monster”, the decision was taken to rename the snack “Monster Munch” in 1978. Advertised as “The Biggest Snack Pennies Can Buy” – in reference to the large size of the crisps – each pack featured a different monster on the front of the packet.

The snack was supported by a “Monster Munch Club”, whose members received a “Monster Munch Munchers” membership pack which included a membership card, pen, several story books, and a story tape which included six “tall stories” and accompanying songs.

By the late ’80s there were four main monsters featured on the packaging, although originally a total of six featured in the advertising:

Monster Munch was available in a variety of flavours over the years including Roast Beef, Pickled Onion, Saucy Tomato, Bacon, Cheese & Onion, King Prawn and Salt & Vinegar. Pickled Onion has remained in the selection throughout the years, with Roast Beef appearing in almost every combination. By the 1990s the four main flavours available were Pickled Onion, Roast Beef, Smokey Bacon and Saucy.

The original Monster Munch used two different snack shapes, related to two of the Monsters. The shape known as a “monster paw” that is still used today has long been the subject of dispute over whether it represents a paw or, instead, the eye and lashes of a monster. The other represented the gangly, long-tongued pink monster: circular with two bumps on the top for eyes, protrusions on either side and a tongue dangling down. For a limited time in the early 1990s, there were also spider-shaped Monster Munch with a smokey bacon flavour.

A short-lived range of Monster Munch themed drinks – Monster Fizz – was available in the 1980s.

In 1995, the Monster Munch brand was taken over by Walkers who relaunched them with a range of four flavours and smaller crisps. The monster characters were also redesigned.

Since then, the range of flavours has changed several times, such as Cheesy replacing Spaghetti Sauce (and the Blue Monster being recoloured yellow). A wide range of Tazos, featuring images of the monsters, was produced, with one Tazo included in each bag.

In September 2008, Walkers re-launched Monster Munch, based on the original Monster Munch from the Smiths days. The crisps returned to their original larger size (now referred to as “Mega”), and the packs include retro designs based on the original packs, featuring three of the original four monsters.

Throughout the years there have been several limited edition flavours available. A Baked Bean flavour was made available in 2003 for Comic Relief. A Vanilla Ice Cream flavour was released in 2004, and was received with mostly negative reaction. There were also variants that could turn the consumer’s tongue a different colour. This usually meant the tongue was turned blue, though a variant that could turn the tongue either blue or green was available for a time.

A Product Called “Mega Monster Munch Webs” was sold for halloween 2013 and came in a bacon flavour.

Wikipedia | Image thanks: The Cobwebbed Room

British-based Hemlock Books was formed in 2007 by author and film historian Denis Meikle, whose own books include A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer (1996), Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies (2002), Vincent Price: The Art of Fear (2003) and Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out (2006). 

Buy Amicus Anthology from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy X-Cert from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The company was set up with a dual purpose: as a retail publisher of niche titles for horror and fantasy fans on one side, and as a retailer of (mostly) American fanzines on the other side. Hemlock has many exclusive US contacts and is now the online presence in the UK for genre magazines like Little Shoppe of Horrors and Rue Morgue. It is the official distributor of GoreZone and producer-director Charles Band’s new publishing offshoot, Delirium.

Buy Mind Warp! from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Hemlock’s publishing arm was established to produce ‘cult’ titles of specific interest to fans of classic British horror. Many of these would be too narrow in their appeal to be of value to mainstream publishers but with modern digital technology, a niche publisher like Hemlock can print in lower volume and produce books for a limited audience who would not otherwise be catered for in the conventional marketplace. The model for this fan-based approach was US publisher Midnight Marquee Press, with whom Hemlock has a co-publishing agreement.

Buy The Hammer Frankenstein from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Some titles have been specifically commissioned, such as those in Hemlock’s ‘British Cult Cinema’ series, but most are unsolicited submissions. Anyone can suggest a book to the company, the criteria being that a) the author can write, b) it should bring something new to the table in a field where many of the topics have effectively been ‘done to death’, and c) unique access or exclusive material is a definite plus. Proposals can be submitted to info@hemlockbooks.com

Buy X-Cert 2 from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

New and forthcoming titles include X-Cert 2, the sequel to John Hamilton’s X-Cert (2012), Frightmares: The Films of Pete Walker, a new series of ‘Hemlock Horror Companion’s featuring Witchcraft & Black Magic in British Cult Cinema, the films of Canadian cult director Bob Clark and actor Udo Keir, as well as four new Midnight Marquee UK editions.

Future titles will include the sequel to 2013’s Empire of the B’s, examining Charles Band’s days with Full Moon Features, and a new definitive film biography of Vincent Price.

Buy Empire of the B’s from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

In the space of a few years, Hemlock Books has established itself as the leading publisher of genre titles in the UK, with a reputation for original and quality writing. 

Buy Urban Terrors from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy Bob Clark: I’m Gonna Kill You from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy Retro Screams from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy The Hammer Vampire from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy Fright Films from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

www.hemlockbooks.co.uk

Kang and Kodos are a duo of recurring characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer and Kodos by Dan Castellaneta.

They are aliens from the fictional planet Rigel VII and appear almost exclusively in the Treehouse of Horror episodes. The duo has appeared in at least one segment of all twenty-five Treehouse of Horror episodes. Sometimes their appearance is the focus of a plot, other times a brief cameo. Kang and Kodos are often bent on the conquest of Earth and are usually seen working on sinister plans to invade and subjugate humanity.

In the episode “The Man Who Came to Be Dinner“, the Simpsons ended up on Rigel VII where Kang and Kodos give them a tour and a brief look at their lifecycle before placing them in a zoo with one of them, Homer, to be eaten in a yearly ritual. But after it is revealed that human consumption is fatal to their kind due to their unhealthy diet, their queen killed as a result, the Rigellans send the Simpsons back to Earth.

The first drawing of Kang and Kodos came from writers Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky. The finished design was based on an EC Comics issue cover. Kang and Kodos had brief cameo appearances in several non-“Treehouse of Horror” episodes and have appeared as villains in several of The Simpsons video games and as action figures.

The two also have a brief cameo in The Simpsons fun fair Ride. In 2013, a separate ride called Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl was added in Universal Studios Florida park.

In 2009, Kang and Kodos were also made into 6″ collectible vinyl art toys by Kidrobot x The Simpsons. Kang was sculpted salivating and included an accessory book “How to Cook for Forty Humans”.

Wikipedia

Horrorpedia

Blood Ninja is a 2009 British fantasy martial arts vampire novel by Nick Lake, published by Corvus in the UK and Simon and Schuster in the USA. It was followed by sequel novels Lord Oda’s Revenge: Blood Ninja II and Blood Ninja III: The Betrayal of the Living.

Plot teaser:

1565: Taro is a boy from a coastal village in rural Japan, fated to become a fisherman like his father. But in just one night, Taro’s world is turned upside down – and his destiny is changed forever. Skilled in the art of silent and deadly combat, ninjas are the agents of powerful nobles who rule sixteenth-century Japan.

So, why did a group of these highly trained assassins creep into a peasant’s hut and kill Taro’s father? And why did one ninja rescue Taro from their clutches, saving his life at enormous cost? Now on the run with this mysterious saviour and his best friend Hiro, Taro is determined to learn the way of the ninja to avenge his father’s death…

Reviews:

‘ …this is more martial arts adventure than horror. The vampire element takes something of a back seat for long passages in the story, emerging only when really necessary. I think the book is even better for this – Nick Lake could ‘easily’ have written an over-the-top vampire ninja horror story with blood dripping from every page but instead he shows restraint (until the final scenes that is, when it becomes something akin to a Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill bloodbath, not that there is anything wrong with this).’ The Book Zone (for Boys)

‘While the ending sets up an inevitable sequel, the riveting, often gruesome, action and rich, comprehensible mythology should have readers racing through the chapters … Lake uses the story’s familiar elements skilfully, combining them into an imaginative and original whole. And, really, with vampire ninjas, how can you lose?’ Publishers Weekly

‘ …all the minor parts in the book form an amazing, suspenseful plot… Teen Ink

Post suggested by Dylan.

Stalaggh, later to be re-named Gulaggh, are a musical collective with their foundations in the metal scene but which soon evolved to be a far more avant-garde unit incorporating disturbing naturalistic sounds in their music. The NME described them as ‘the most extreme (and un-listenable) band ever’.

With a name immediately designed to shock and unsettle (a combination of ‘Stalag’, the word for a Nazi concentration camp and the letters ‘g’ and ‘h’, standing for ‘global holocaust’), Stalaggh were formed by members of the extreme ends of the Dutch and Belgian metal and ambient music scenes.

The real intrigue around the band is on their numerous vocalists, many said to have been patients at an asylum that one of the band members worked at, one of whom had become a resident after killing his mother by stabbing her thirty times. A later event allegedly saw another murder committed by a patient, this time a fellow patient, the sounds recorded for use on their album. A band member explained:

“The reasoning for recording the mental patients is because the band really wanted the hatred and painful emotions to be REAL and truly felt. Also we wanted to recreate the situation of the Stalag concentration camps in sound. The next recording was the vocals session which took place in the chapel of an old monastery that was no longer in use. The acoustics and atmosphere of that chapel were perfect for recording the howls and screams of the mentally insane. It was very hard to get access to that chapel, but we told the owner that we were doing this as a kind of scream therapy for the mental patients and finally he gave us permission.”

Their first, self-titled release in 2001 hinted at the mayhem to come but it was their full-length works which really caused upset and alarm. The trivialities of melody are dispensed with, the unearthly screams and groans backed with throaty white-noise and atomic blasts. It’s difficult to come to a decision as to what kind of mood you’d need to be in to put it on to listen to. Between 2004 and 2008, four albums appeared each equally harrowing, none of them supported by live shows or any further indication as to those involved.

They are, however, not without their fans, one of whom carved their name into his chest so deeply that he only narrowly avoided death through blood-loss. In defence of their use of mental patients, the band asserts that all involved gave their written permission and that none of the participants were mentally deficient, ‘only’ suffering from conditions such as schizophrenia and psychosis, the ultimate aim being to give the listener an idea of what is going on in their heads and to transform pain and fear into sound.

Their following project, Gulaggh, again obsessing with concentration camps, this time the Russian Gulags, incorporated classical instrumentation, violins, cellos and saxophones, inevitably attacked rather than played in a conventional manner. If anything, it’s even more unsettling than the previous incarnation’s music, with the increased atmosphere evoking genuinely Hellish visions. Once the three album project is completed, the band has announced there will be no future releases and they will cease to exist.

Stalaggh Discography:

2001 Stalaggh 7”
2003 Projekt Nihil
2006 Nihilistik Terrror ‎
2007 Projekt Misanthropia
2008 Pure Misanthropia

Gulaggh Discography:

2008 Vortuka
Forthcoming – Kolyma & Norilsk

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Stalaggh Facebook page

Balzac (typeset as BALZAC) is a Japanese punk band formed in 1992 in Kyoto. The band was founded by singer and songwriter Hirosuke Nishiyama, who has remained the only constant member of the band since its creation. Balzac was highly influenced by the sound and image of the famous horror punk band the Misfits and, especially during the very early years, Glenn Danzig’s Samhain, adopting and combining the musical and visual style of both bands to create their own. Despite the horror themes and imagery, the band’s music tends to steer away from being the cartoony flotsam many newcomers to horror punk/horrorcore resort to, though they are happy to exploit their look visually through toys and merchandise.

The band has gained a certain amount of recognition and exposure outside of their native country, where they are very well known. Currently they have five official clothing brands (Shocker!!!, Dementia 13, Culture, XXXxxx and Balzac) with one store in Japan, plus three online stores (Shocker Webstore, Shocker World Wide and Shocker EU). They also have their own official record label called Evilegend 13 Records on which they have released EPs, singles and videos. Balzac is also well known for its toy releases, some created by the companies T.W.I.M. and Secret Base, and its extensive discography and side-projects.

The current line-up of the band consists of Hirosuke Nishiyama (vocals), Atsushi Nakagawa (guitar/chorus), Akio Imai (bass/chorus) and Takayuki Manabe (drums/digital effects/chorus). Musically the band has drawn from punk, pop, industrial and noise, across their various releases.

Singer Hirosuke Nishiyama was originally the lead singer for Astrozombies, a band heavily influenced by the legendary Japanese rock group Gastunk (themselves pitched somewhere midway between the Misfits and Iron Maiden). After releasing just one demo cassette, entitled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hirosuke decided to disband and started his next project, Balzac, in 1992, named after the French novelist and playwright, Honoré de Balzac, more through the way the name sounded than any artistic inference. The band’s first line-up consisted of Hirosuke Nishiyama on vocals, Yoritsugu “Anti” Azuchi on bass, Tetsuya on guitar and Naoki on drums. During that time the band released their first demo cassette, which was limited to 13 copies only, entitled Scapegoat666.

In 1993, having undergone a slight line-up change (to become a regular occurence), they released their second demo cassette, Descent of the Diabolos, going on to release the band’s first single, “The Lord of the Light and of the Darkness”, on their own record label, Evilegend13 Records. Over the next few years the band released four more singles, “Atom Age Vampire in 308″ (on MCR), “Isolation From No. 13″ (on HG Fact), “When the Fiendish Ghouls Night” (on Evilegend13 Records), and were part of some various artists compilations. Having toured Japan extensively even before the release of their first single, they had developed a dedicated fanbase in their home country.

By 1995 the band managed to release their first full-length album, The Last Men on Earth, after being signed to Alchemy Records. Comparisons to the Misfits are inevitable and entirely justified but their speed and energy are evident throughout, as is their knowledge of horror films – the instrumental opener ‘Night of the Blood Beast’, ’13 Ghosts’ and ‘Day the Earth Caught Fire’ and intriguing and great fun, though the Misfits-alike choruses are a little too familiar and cause the listener to err on the side of caution.

1997 saw the release of Deep – Teenagers from Outer Space and saw them much improved in a studio setting, powerful production, even greater speed and ferocity and catchy songs which were more obviously drawing on their own talents, ironically just as a resurrected, Danzig-free Misfits appeared. Now being headed by original member and long-time bassist Jerry Only, Balzac was asked to open for the Misfits when they came for their first Japanese tour. This would mark a milestone in the band’s career, which would lead to much success for Balzac outside of Japan in the coming years. Their third album, 13 Stairway – The Children of the Night appeared just a year later, prolific releases being quite common for Japanese bands, especially rock and punk groups. They launched a full-scale all-Japan tour to promote their album and played to sold-out crowds.

In 1999, Balzac released a split single, “Oldevils Legend of Blood”, with friends and fellow Japanese rock band Sobut. They released a special 12-inch version of “Isolation From No. 13″, a remixed tape as a special box set with toy industry friends, T.W.I.M (The World Is Mine) whose headquarters are in Nagoya, as well as playing on a Gastunk tribute album. On Halloween they released one of their most popular singles, “Into the Light From the 13 Dark Night”, on vinyl, CD, and cassette. It would be re-recorded in many different versions over the next few years. They also released the flexi 7-inch including “Neat Neat Neat,” a Damned cover. This year also marked the beginning of the band’s own fan club, the Fiendish Club a somewhat outrageous steal from The Misfits’ Fiend Club; it offered fans a great way to stay in touch with the band and to receive some very rare items at the same time; Japanese and international wings of the club were eventually opened to satiate demand.

2000 saw The Misfits back touring Japan, and Balzac was there opening for them once again. The band were now popular enough that, again, like The Misfits (and in fairness Kiss and many other bands), more unusual merchandise began to appear, notably, Medicom Toy Co. versions of band members. Soon after, they released another figure, this time a 12-inch RAH version of the band’s mascot, the Paperbag Man, luridly packed with various accessories. In December 2000 Balzac released their next full-length album, Zennou-Naru Musuu-No Me Ha Shi Wo Yubi Sasu, a concept album more industrial in style than previous releases, though it still sold extremely well. Balzac opened their first retail store in Osaka, Japan – “Shocker!!!”, enabling them to sell their own original Shocker!!!! brand merchandise, as well as musical releases. Hirosuke also has his own clothing brand called “Dementia Thirteen” which is also available through the store. More recently, they have also launched yet another clothing brand, “Culture”, and are in the process of fully releasing another one called “XXXxxx”.

In early 2001 the band released numerous singles, as well as a box set featuring the artwork of Japanese manga artist Suehiro Maruo, which had been used on the album Zennou-Naru Musuu no Me ha Shi wo Yubi Sasu. They also opened their second retail store, Coffin, in Kyoto. The following year, Balzac released a split single with The Misfits covering the songs “The Haunting” and “Don’t Open ‘Til Doomsday” as a medley, while The Misfits covered the Balzac’s “Day the Earth Caught Fire”. In April 2002 Balzac released their fifth full-length studio album a double disc set called Terrifying! Art of Dying – The Last Men On Earth II. The first disc was mostly new material while disc two was a complete re-recording of the band’s first full-length CD, The Last Man On Earth. On Halloween the band was invited to play in New York City, USA, with The Misfits, making this the first time the band played live outside of Japan. They were received very well and would be asked back to tour the following summer.

2003 would be another breakthrough year for the band, touring with The Misfits, The Damned, The Dickies, and Agnostic Front, as well as releasing a maxi-single entitled “Beware of Darkness as part of a special 4-figure toy set from Medicom Toys Co. The video for the song was recorded in the USA and was released in May 2003. There was a censored, as well as uncensored version, due to the graphic nature of the video. They also released their first USA CD, Beyond the Darkness, on the newly founded Misfits Records.

In 2004 they released their sixth full-length album, Came Out of the Grave, released in a special edition long-box with a Be@rbrick figure inside. During that summer they played a large festival with American punk rock band Rancid, and released a tour documentary about their first USA tour, The Fiend Fest, later playing their first tour in Europe.

By 2005 they had released the single “D.A.R.K”. Soon after they released a mini album entitled Dark-Ism. 2006-2008: Deep Blue & Hatred, following this only a year later with their seventh full-length album, Deep Blue: Chaos from Darkism II in March. It was coupled with a special Skull Bat figure, also in 2 limited colours. Not content with this rapid release rate, they also performed as Zodiac, releasing a full-length Zodiac album, Beware On Halloween.

In 2008, Balzac released their eighth full-length album entitled Hatred: Destruction = Construction. It marked a return to the heavier and darker side for the band, reminiscent of some of their earlier work. It was released in a regular edition, as well as a 666mm special edition featuring artwork by comic book artist Liam Sharp.

Around May 2009, the band gave the first hints on the process of making their next full-length album. They also released a couple of toys, shirts, pens, mugs and other items in collaboration with the Japanese company Sanrio, more specifically their character Hello Kitty, having the famous cat donning the characteristic skullsuit, another nod towards early Misfits. Further releases followed, their longevity and output allowing for multiple ‘best of’s’ and collections.

Discography:

1995: The Last Men on Earth
1997: Deep – Teenagers from Outer Space
1998: 13 Stairway – The Children of the Night
2000: Zennou-Naru Musuu-No Me Ha Shi Wo Yubi Sasu
2002: Terrifying! Art of Dying – The Last Men On Earth II
2004: Came Out of the Grave
2005: Dark-Ism
2006: Deep Blue: Chaos from Darkism II
2007: Paranoid Dream of the Zodiac
2008: Hatred: Destruction = Construction
2008: The Birth of Evil (Re-recordings of Demo material)
2009: Paradox (Mini album)
2010: Judgement Day
2012: Deranged

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Eden Lake is a 2008 British horror thriller film written and directed by James Watkins (The Woman in Black). It stars Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O’Connell.

Plot teaser:

Nursery school teacher, Jenny (Kelly Reilly), and her boyfriend, Steve (Michael Fassbender), escape their everyday life to an idyllic remote lake in the green English countryside. Attempting to relax by a lakeside, their trip is disrupted by the presence of delinquent teenagers and their dog, but Steve intends to stay and not be driven away from enjoying their vacation.

The following morning, as he is determined to report the unruly kids to their parents, Steve stops at a house hosting a group of bikes he thinks belongs to the kids. With zero response at the front door, he commits forcible entry, and he narrowly escapes out of a window before the homeowner, the father of one of the teenagers, returns.

The couple quickly head back to the lake. There, Steve goes scuba diving and Jenny sleeps on the beach shore. Unfortunately, Steve realises their beach bag containing his car keys, phone and wallet have gone missing. Instinctively, they check on the car, but it is gone. Returning to town on foot, they are nearly run over by their car that is being driven recklessly by the gang, only stopping for leader, Brett (Jack O’Connell), to smirk at them…

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Reviews [spoilers]:

‘ …while one doesn’t subscribe to the tenets of political correctness in such films, more care was surely required before playing so thoroughly to what looks like a massive dose of prejudice. Even so, it is impossible not to admire the way Watkins ratchets up the tension in his debut as director (he wrote My Little Eye) and keeps his tale strictly to 90 minutes. Beware that there are several scenes which will make you want to look away, and all the more scary because they seem uncomfortably real.’ Derek Malcolm, London Evening Standard

‘Watkins serves up an intense experience that will not be to everyone’s taste – Eden Lake is certainly not an entertaining watch, more a form of mental and emotion torture. Its climax does not even provide the expected catharsis, rather the threat of worse horrors to come. In this regard, it surely qualifies as one of the most frightening films ever made.’ David Tappenden, Fright Films

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‘It is as if Watkins has taken the famous news picture of the hoodie making the “gun” gesture behind David Cameron’s back – and photoshopped a real weapon into his hand. But it is believable in a way that does not depend on a neurotic attention to sensational newspaper stories: it has its own internal logic. And when Jenny finally gets some kind of violent revenge, and this goes horrendously wrong, it is, once again, all too believable. Watkins crushes the good guys’ last stand with a realist moment of despair and blundering horror to match Michael Haneke’s tape-rewind scene in his Funny Games.’ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

‘Alas, all the cliché boxes have been marked too, with people doing the sort of stupid things they only do in horrors. There’s also a ham-fisted message here about how violence dehumanises us all, which might have been pertinent if Wes Craven hadn’t already made it his own about 40 years ago.’ Daily Mirror

‘Eden Lake benefits from superb cinematography by The Cottage‘s Christopher Ross, which perfectly contrasts the lush greens of nature with the bloody, muddy nightmare that unfolds, aided by David Julyan’s sympathetic, perfectly pitched score. The cast are uniformly good, including the kids, with simply amazing performances from Reilly and Fassbender.’ MJ Simpson, Urban Terrors

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‘This is not, however, a Daily Mail rant about feral chavs. Instead, Watkins uses stomach-knotting tension and tongue-slicing horror to explore the complex dynamics of anti-social violence. We identify with the victims throughout, but Watkins also depicts the complex peer-group pressures within the gang  and the pain and confusion behind its leader’s eyes. The film’s one major fault is that Reilly’s character repeatedly acts in ways that serve the plot, but which run contrary to rational human behaviour. By contrast, the shattering downbeat ending is well earned and genuinely shocking.’ Nigel Floyd, Time Out

Wikipedia | IMDb

Vulture Lord are a Norwegian metal band from Hønefoss. They formed in 1990 as Interment before several name (and presumably line-up) changes as Energumen, Coffin of Lament and then Faun, before settling on Vulture Lord from 1995 to the present.

Encyclopedia Metallum states that the ‘band describes their music as “death metal” according to their ideological background, but the music is black/thrash metal.’ The band’s lyrics focus on Satanism, Anti-Judeo-Christianity and blasphemy within a Christian context.

Discography:

‘The missing link has been found.’

Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch – aka The Unknown – is a 2005 US horror film directed by Karl Kozak from a screenplay co-written with Don J. Rearden. It stars Dylan Purcell, Brandon Henschel, Miles O’Keeffe, Jack Conley, Chelsea Hobbs, Casey LaBow, Nathaniel Arcand, Michael Bailey Smith, Cooper Huckabee (The Funhouse), Christian Boeving, Bill Bragg, John Patrick Lowrie, David ‘Shark’ Fralick, Lee Purcell.

Plot teaser:

Pine Creek is a town where generations have felt themselves robbed of hope – and glancing nervously over one shoulder – since the infamous Echo Mountain Massacre, a black mark on the town’s history, wherein a group of local hunters were mercilessly butchered by a massive, hairy beast. Many come to doubt the story, and even attempt to dismiss it in their minds as a grizzly bear attack – until the creature resurfaces in the flesh and, refusing to be brushed aside, begins a new rampage that carries the town into a waking nightmare. Now, a pack of thrill-hungry, heat-packing high school students and vengeance-obsessed hunters set out in search of the creature…

Reviews:

‘The film isn’t especially gory but there is still far more bloody carnage than one would expect in a family film, which again adds to the film’s conflicting tones and ultimate identity crisis. Who exactly is the target audience outside of Bigfoot enthusiasts?’ John Condit, Dread Central

‘Considering the deep abiding awfulness of most bigfoot movies, Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch is pretty good, as the cast of unknowns aren’t agregiously bad, and the sasquatch FX aren’t laughable. It does try. But without the great bulk of truly abysmal films of this type in comparison, there’s not a lot to Clawed that would allow it to stand on its own merits.’ Weird Wild Realm

‘The music was overbearing, the acting wooden, the story non-existent and even worse, the whole shambling mess was as boring as watching plaster dry in a footprint casting.’ Reviews of Unusual Size

Choice dialogue:

“I’ve seen all those campy bigfoot movies and they ain’t scary.”

“We may be dumb but we ain’t stupid, chief.”

IMDb

‘The last thing his victims saw… was his camera.’

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 American documentary-style horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine; Devil; As Above, So Below) from a screenplay co-written with his brother Drew, who produced. It stars Bobbi Sue Luther, Samantha Robson and Ivar Brogger.

Despite being widely advertised in 2007 by MGM, the film’s theatrical release was pulled, and it was subsequently never released on DVD or Blu-Ray. No official explanation was given for the shelving of the film. In July, 2014, the film was given its first official release as a “video on demand” title available through DirecTV. It has since been pulled from VOD.

Plot teaser:

When police raid a house in a city north of New York, they discover a profoundly disturbing record of one man’s ugly crimes. Investigators find over 800 videotapes shot by the killer which present a visual record of his murders in all their horrifying details. Both state and federal law enforcement teams sift through the gruesome images, looking for clues of his identity, the identity of his victims, and where he could have gone. Repeated viewings of the materials reveal little beyond the terrible facts of the crimes, and as the authorities comb through the madman’s images, they find the tapes have had a disquieting effect on them.

The killer does not only capture the murders themselves, but the abductions, tortures and postmortem mutilations of his victims (along with bizarre fetishes involving balloons) all the while never allowing himself to be shown on film unless entirely disguised. Because the killer numbered the video tapes in order, investigators are able to determine that he started with the most vulnerable of victims: an 8 year-old named Jennifer Gorman is abducted while playing in her front yard.

After the success of his first abduction and murder, the killer becomes less impulsive in his crimes. Carefully selecting the area in which he will strike next, he convinces a couple, the Andersons, that his car has broken down and they agree to give him a ride to a local gas station for aid. On the way, he clubs the male in the head and subdues the female using a cloth doused in a chemical solution while filming her face in close up. Investigators understand this would have taken considerable practice to achieve. The tape shows that the killer performed a C-section on the female, placing the severed head of her husband inside her womb before sewing her up again to later rouse her from unconsciousness and film her reaction…

Reviews:

‘When Poughkeepsie hits it’s mark, it’s dead on; the movie is scary, creepy, unnerving, bizarre and very uncomfortable to watch. Get ready for an experience like none other and make sure you give Dowdle’s experiment the chance it deserves, many of you will be pleasantly surprised.’ Bloody Disgusting

‘It’s an occasionally powerful, excessively sadistic little movie that pushes the boundary of misogyny into places films haven’t dared to tread in years. At times uncompromising and oppressively brutal, this is one tape collection that the moviegoing public deserves to be made aware of.’ Cool Ass Cinema

‘ …it’s a horror film unlike any other, with an original villain to boot.  Master is patient, methodical, and all those nasty things in between. I can’t even conjure a basis of comparison – the best I can do is the sadism of Hannibal Lector meets Jigsaw’s planning and coordination. If you love a good horror film – one that makes double-check your doors and windows but still provides an intelligent story – The Poughkeepsie Tapes is an absolute must.’ Reel Girl Reviews

‘This movie isn’t for everyone, some may find it disconcerting to watch the torture and murder scenes, but for others, like me, it’s not over-the-top, but just the right blend of creepiness and the macabre to keep me watching.  This film has cult classic all over it.’ Uncoolghoul

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Cast:

• Stacy Chbosky as Cheryl Dempsey
• Ben Messmer as Ed
• Bobbi Sue Luther as Josephine
• Samantha Robson as Samantha
• Ivar Brogger as Leonard Schway
• Ron Harper as Mike Moakes
• Iris Bahr as Psychiatrist
• Todd Cahoon as Ted Bundy
• Henry Dittman as Frank Anderson
• Sean Huze as Hector Gomez

Wikipedia | IMDb