2012 October 30 « HORROR BOOM

Hey! I highly recommend going into this one clean. Just give it a watch. Relax, though! It’s just one of those funny prank fails, happens to be Halloween-related. Would you wear this lame costume to scare your friends? Watch the short (it’ll fly right by), THEN read my piece underneath (trust me). Perfectly safe for you to shut off the lights and crank to volume up while you watch this viral video below! What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, you could say that prank failed horribly! I love the idea that someone on You Tube might just think it’s a regular “fail” viral video and have no idea it’s made by a team of talented horror filmmakers. Surprise! Hopefully including the idiotic tweener trolls that now seem to make up half of You Tube’s viewers base, or the elitist hipsters who go out of their way to find something to insult in every video/trailer/clip, no matter how good it is. Actually, I kind of feel sorry for that last group, they’re missing out on some cool stuff.

I found this one while I was looking into the directors of the various segments of V/H/S.; I was most impressed by the first and last stories. The most memorable and fun ones, the ones that actually frightened and even disturbed me. I was fairly sure of the direction “10/31/98” (the segment where three guys go to what they think at first is a really inventive haunted house on Halloween) was taking, though that was due to the fact that one reviewer spoiled the hell out of it by not understanding the fucking difference between writing a plot set-up and a plot synopsis.

That’s on the reviewer, though, because knowing where the plot was going was not due to the writing and acting in the segment itself, which was outstanding. Even with the spoiler for everything but the last five minutes lurking in my brain, things got so freaky and wonderfully chaotic in that final segment that I was 100% in for the ride, and the dénouement was a brilliant and fun payoff. They definitely made the right call saving their segment for last, because it was a show-stopper. Both David Bruckner’s “Amateur Night” and especially “10/31/98” brought something fresh and thrilling to the found-footage genre that’s been given a very bad name in the last ten years by ~~dogshit~~ movies like The Devil Inside, Apollo VII (I don’t respect that crappy movie enough to research the correct Roman numerals in the title), 8213 Gacy House, and many, many WAY too many more. You know, the all-too-familiar kind; the ones that don’t have an ending, and instead just …stop.

Yup, the short you just saw and the final segment of V/H/S are indeed both the work of Radio Silence, AKAthe team Chad, Matt & Rob. Like “10/31/98”, the above video sure didn’t end the way I thought (I knew something scary was going to happen, but not ...that ). This “Mountain Devil” short is one of their highest-rated on You Tube, but you can bet your ass I’m going to start watching the rest and posting the best. Let’s hope their work appears in more movies soon and gets the wider audience it deserves!

Horror Boom Halloween Treat – Giant Ju-On Gallery, Featuring Kayako Saeki! (horrorboom.com)
Horror Boom Halloween Treat – If You’re a Haunted Mansion Fan and Haven’t Seen This Special Dinner Party Event, Treat Yourself Now! (horrorboom.com)
Halloween Videos # 1: Halloween Pranks (newsfromthespiritworld.com)
The Zombie Drive-Thru Prank (987ampradio.cbslocal.com)

Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can’t.

How about the release date first? Magnet Releasing picked up the film several months ago (good news all around) and the Don Coscarelli-directed John Dies At The End is set to hit On Demand December 28th, with a theatrical release date to follow on January 25th. Here’s that second trailer in HD – and it’s even more trippy than the first one!

The hilarious plot synopsis:

Soy Sauce. It’s a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can’t.

I still haven’t finished the novel yet; not because it doesn’t hold my interest, but because if I read it before bedtime, I get really, REALLY weird dreams, and my dreams are already weird enough without assistance!