The Horror Hangover

Now, THIS is a serious Horror Hangover I have going for you all this Sunday. And boy do you need it, especially after what you were up to last night…singing along to songs from Grease thinking that the girls you were singing along with would ever think about boning you afterwards – taking body shots off of that girl with the bumpy neck – eating bar peanuts…that were on the ground. In the bathroom! So, lucky for you, this hangover is Epic like Faith No More. 

We'll start off with the random stuff to get you rolling nice and smooth. AMC gets us going with Virus at 11:00, a movie that I saw in theaters and hated so much that I never would dare to return. Now, sometimes I wonder if I would possibly find something to enjoy about a film I hated back when I was younger, but I do know I was incredibly disappointed back when it came out. I am curious as to what others think about the film, though.

Next up, the Horror Hangover gets mad funky, with the Martial Arts film, Iron Monkey. At 2:15 on IFC (I didn't want to mess up that flow). I can't recommend Iron Monkey enough, and unless you do not have IFC, you have no reason not to give this high-flying action film a view. For the last random movie of the day, FX does us all right with Doomsday at 4:30. I haven't watched Doomsday since I saw it at the movies, but I did enjoy it and would like to revisit it again at some point, even though that one chick couldn't keep her gonorrhea covered tongue in her mouth for more than ten seconds. Seriously, we get it, you're down with the sickness.

Alrighty, getting into the group rate portion of the hangover, TNT shows its power load with a double dose of revenge action when The Bride tries her damndest to Kill Bill at 2:00, followed by a second attempt at 4:15. I love the Kill Bill films quite a bit and Vol. 1 was on my top 25 of the decade, so no more shall be said.

To finish things off for today, I have a slew of SyFy cinema that is sure to keep you slightly distracted from the stench of your own vodka ridden breath (maybe if you flick your tongue the smell won't be so bad?). Things start off at 10:00 with Boogeyman, followed by Skinwalkers - a film I believe no one has actually seen - at 12:00. Things pick up at 2:00 with The Prestige, only to drop back down at 4:30 with the mediocre and totally disappointing Ultraviolet to finish off the day.

And that does it for this long ass and tiring edition of The Horror Hangover…see you next week ghoulies. 

Faces Of Vengeance

While award memes are going around like warts, there is yet another fun little meme making the rounds, one that involves a little creativity. The point of this little art project is to take any certain theme of your choice and use screen shots from films to project that specific theme. For example, BJ-C from Day of the Women - the woman who kindly tagged me for this, went with images of smiling in horror films. I have decided to focus on film characters that are seeking and/or taking revenge on another character or characters, which I have dubbed, Faces Of Vengeance.

 

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell

*

 

Ms. 45

*

Carrie

*

Sex &Fury

*

The Professional

*

 

The Last House On the Left

*

Cape Fear '91

*

Inglourious Basterds

*

 

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance

*

 

I Spit On Your Grave

*

Death Wish

*

So now I am supposed to pass this thing along, and the blogs I picked I did so because I think that if they do decide to participate, they would do something rad. Yeah, I said rad.

 

Behind the Couch

The Death Rattle

From Beyond Depraved

Planet of Terror

The Cheap Bin

iZombie-Lover

Freddy's Friday Night Dance Party!: A Fistful of Glow Sticks Edition!

Taking a vastly different route from the usual dance party antics that can be found here every Friday night, this week I am showing some love for one of cinema's greatest contributors, Ennio Morricone. The man's work is vast and he has done many memorable scores, but I have a personal favorite that I will be focusing on this evening, which comes to us from 1971's Duck, You Sucker aka A Fistful of Dynamite.

What sets this party apart from most is the fact that I will be providing an entire sequence from the film, but it is a sequence that encapsulates why Morricone and Duck's director, Sergio Leone, worked so brilliantly together. It's also my favorite part of the film, so it's a no-brainer. The scene in question is the siege on the Mesa Verde bank, where Juan Miranda (Rod Steiger) believes he is robbing a bank, but instead, he is actually releasing political prisoners of the Mexican revolution, making him a great hero.    

This segment starts with a little sampling of the Duck,You Sucker title theme, Invention for John, and sets up the entire segment in a nice way. After a little chit-chat, thing really gets going at the 3:05 mark when the song March of the Beggars begins to make its presence known and then plays throughout the rest of the sequence. What I love about this section of the film is how it shows what music can add to a film, as the music simply compliments everything that is happening on screen - which is essentially the point of a score - but this is a perfect example of it being done right.

Before I send you off, I should note that the 6 and 7 minute marks are SOOOO GOOD!! Sorry, I could resist.

Alright, this party's about to "blow up," shun (shun-shun-shun)!

Totally Tubular Trailers

I have had all of these trailers just sitting her collecting dust for some time, which is quite shameful, because they certainly need to be shared with you all. Old-ish or not, chances are you might have missed them, so hopefully they are new to you, which is all that matters.

I'll start us out with the trailer for Verbo, a Spanish horror/adventure film directed by Eduardo Chapero-Jackson. Verbo is about a young girl (Alba Garcia) that goes on a quest to find herself and to understand the meaning of the world that surrounds her, even if it means many dangers will be faced. I really dig the vibe of this trailer, and I'm always down for a dark fantasy/adventure film. Garcia appears to have a good look to play a character that is driven by inquisitiveness and innocence and that may be one of the big factors for this film's success. 

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Man, it doesn't get any more exciting than the most recent trailer for Kim Ji-Woon’s I Saw the Devil. The first trailer for this one showed up on a previous 3T (that's hip-hop slang for Totally Tubular Trailers…kind of like KFC) and this one only adds to my anticipation for what promises to be one of the year's best. I Saw the Devil pits a psychopathic serial killer (played by Choi Min-shik) up against as a special agent (Lee Byung-hun) whose fiancée becomes one of the killers unfortunate victims. With the tag team of these two great actors and one of the best directors working, this film is sure to be incredible. If you aren't sure for yourself, check out the trailer.

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Next up is the upcoming documentary titled, The Splat Pack, which should kind of be self explanatory. It focuses on the new wave of directors that made a huge splash on the horror genre in the early 2000's with movies that brought gruesome life back to a mostly stale genre. I love me a film focused documentary and even if it seems a little soon for a retrospective, It is nice to put some perspective on the most recent era of horror cinema (even if it's still somewhat going on). The interview line-up is tight, and I can only guess there will be some very interesting anecdotes to be shared with us horror fans. 

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Coming to us from Germany, our last trailer for the day is for the Post-Apocalyptic Martial Arts film Straight Blast. The movie is a production in the works and - in true grassroots fashion - is being shot as the money comes in to fund this incredibly ambitious project. Written and directed by Ulrik Bruchholz, with collaborator Mike Möller doing the fight choreography, Straight Blast looks straight dope with fight scenes that appear to be quite promising and a quirky style with heavy influence from Apocalyptic cinema of the 80's. I will definitely be keeping my eye on this one and you have got to check out the trailer as it is quite the doozy indeed. You will be impressed by time it's all over.

Baby Babble: Watching Bloody Movies On A New TV

About a week or two ago, I wrote a review for Blood Sucking Freaks for BThroughZ, but being all busy (or lazy) and shit, I was sending it in on the deadline. In what may be the craziest of coincidences, Jamie - the man behind BThroughZ - emailed me right back to inform me that another person had already submitted a review for the same damn film! So going into scramble mode, I watched and whipped up a review for the 80's Slasher film Bloody Movie (aka Terror Night), which can be found over in the July issue of BThroughZ. It turned out to be a good thing in hindsight as Bloody Movie made for a fun review, and now I have the epic Blood Sucking Freaks leftovers that I can post here at some point. So we all win, but make sure to head over and check out my review of Bloody Movie, as well as all the other gory goodies in the latest issue of BThroughZ.

 

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Nearly two months ago, the living room TV shit the bed big time, something that is sort of a nightmare for a cinephile. Luckily, when I picked up the TV I had also bought the extended warranty (which was due to end in two months!), so I went about trying to get it fixed. Dude came to the house - didn't have the part. Got the part - broken part wasn't the only problem and had to take the TV to the shop. Waited for a long ass time. Waited even more. Had an 18' TV sitting on an old end table in the middle of my living room with wires all stretched across the floor. Found out the TV would cost $900 dollars to repair. Waited some more. Got confirmation that we would get a new TV (!). Waited for their offer - got the offer - got the TV. Finally.

So, the TV I owned was five years old…it was a solid TV at the time I had bought it (Samsung 42' DLP things and things), was capable of 1080p (though it never seemed to get past 1080i) and had a nice picture in High Def, but it was five years old. The warranty contract stated that my replacement TV might not be the same brand, but had to be comparable quality wise to my previous brand and have the same specs. In what may be the coolest thing that could happen in this nearly two month long horrific situation, we got a brand new TV, an LG 42' 1080p black flat screen with 120 hz and all that shit. The TV looks AMAZING and so much better than the TV we already had, and to top it off, it was FREE! Well, not free, but when I look at it, I see what is a brand new TV I bought five years ago, so I win so hard. About time.  

90 Days Till Halloween-Halloween-Halloween

It's August 1st, which means that Halloween is slowly but surely creeping up on us. Soon enough, the grocery stores will start carrying black and orange decorated boxes filled with candy – shelves will empty to make room for the familiar seasonal Halloween gear we all have come to know and love -  and I will be salivating during every second of it. For me personally, August is like Halloween's pre-season, with September pretty much being Halloween for me. As the air becomes slightly colder and the sunny days are replaced by an ominous overcast sky, my smile will simply get bigger in anticipation for Halloween.

Getting in the proper spirit, as you may have noticed, I already have the countdown clock added to the blog, and I will be brain storming exactly what I will be doing here at CNAMB for the much anticipated return of CHUCKTOBER!!! More than likely everything will be focused on horror films and nothing else, but I would like to come up with something different outside of movie reviews and horror-centric Dance Parties and Hangovers. Either way, I am pumped for the first signs of Halloween, and I hope you feel the same way. To get you all in the Halloween mood, I have one of my favorite videos that I have ever posted for you all to enjoy.

The Horror Hangover

After that ridiculously off the chain birthday celebration this weekend, I know I am hurting worse than the box office performance of Knight And Day (seriously, how could THAT movie not have been a mega-success?). Now, while this week's Hangover is a bit on the light side, the quality is so absolute that I simply had to share the goodies that are on this Sunday afternoon.

SyFy, for the second week in a row, drops the non-mutated monster animals gone awry act and really brings the pain with a double dose of movies that are sure to stimulate your throbbing noggin. Even if your day is a bit gloomy, I foresee the clouds parting to make way for some Sunshine at 11:00. I have seen Sunshine but only once and really enjoyed how completely gorgeous it looked as well as the interesting story, but in the last 20 or so minutes, things go in an unflattering direction. I would love to see it again, however, and I have no issue with recommending it to you, Mr./Ms. sleepy head.

The good times continue to roll when SyFy puts on a pair of flip-flops and goes on an epic journey with Children of Men at 1:00. This film just recently came up in that meme I did a few days ago, as well as my best of the decade list, so you already know how I feel about Children of Men, but if YOU haven't seen it, or haven't seen it twice, now is the time. Actually, don't even watch it on SyFy, you can buy one of the greatest films ever made at Wal-Mart for a measly $5 bucks and view it without any of the interruptions trying to get you to buy shit. You have no excuse.

Away from SyFy we go for our last film of the day, so follow me as we head over to TNT for some over-the-top evil with The Devil's Advocate at 12:00. I love The Devils Advocate and have seen it numerous times and even own the movie poster. It's in my closet, but I do own it. I like it because it's very different from most horror films and as outrageous as he is in the movie, Al Pacino is super fun to watch. The smile he delivers to Neo when they're at dinner and some random hot chick just ducks under the table for a hot dog desert is simply priceless.

As I said, it is a short Hangover, but one that would perfectly fit the definition of short but sweet. Enjoy your Sunday, kiddies.