Horror Boom Halloween Treat! Mountain Devil Prank Fails (Short Movie)

30 October 2012

Grave Encounters 2 is Available On Demand 10/2/12 – New ‘Leaked Clip’ and More!

30 September 2012

Well, a clip has been ~~released~~ leaked from Grave Encounters 2; our friends at Dread Central have the article and the clip that arrived mysteriously in their email inbox from someone with the username DeathAwaits. Hmmm, that sounds familiar, the kind of username that would be in a press kit… let’s see here.

Click here for the full story (and the same clip) on DreadCentral.Com!

That’s strange. He looks as though he may have a bloodshot eye… or is that actual blood in the inner corner?

I wish I had some reviews to link to, but none of the IMDB links work at the time of this writing; they all take me to an error page of some kind. I hope that’s some kind of creative marketing gimmick and not because they ordered all the less-than-positive advance reviews pulled. I think they’ll be positive, though (I trust Uncle Creepy here). Actually, I don’t even know if they could do that (have reviews pulled, that is), so I guess I might actually have to go into a movie clean for once! I don’t have the kind of willpower to avoid reviews of a movie I’ve been excited about for months, even if it’s going to be available to watch in 48 hours.

However, Back To The Movies has posted an exclusive interview (audio) with the director of Grave Encounters 2, John Poloquin:

Oooo, prosthetics! I’m sure certain shots couldn’t be done without CGI, but I’m really happy they are using practical effects whenever possible. That’s all the new info I’ve got for you for Grave Encounters 2 as of this writing. However, in anticipation of the On Demand premiere being around the corner, I do have a little ‘photo gallery’ from the original Grave Encounters (2011)! I snapped them the last time I rented it and watched on our flat screen*, and turned the closed captions on (otherwise they wouldn’t be very interesting). I do NOT own the copyrights to any of these images, I’m posting them here for entertainment purposes only (I’ve got a full disclaimer about copyright issues on this page to cover my ass). If you haven’t seen Grave Encounters yet, and plan to, you might want to skip the gallery, because several are spoilers as to the fate of certain characters …and BIG jump moments …especially towards the end.

You’d be surprised how many of the shots I took have this exact closed caption. I love how there’s about eight exclamation points, in case the viewer might not get the idea…

I seemed to get a lot of those. I could put up ten photos from different scenes in the movie, and the captions would all be: [screams] Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! We see plenty of scream-worthy things in Grave Encounters, but I ended up capturing an equal number of verbal reactions, some of which didn’t have any distinct image to go with them like the shot above. Example:

And here’s about as minimalist as those shots get for you:

Well, the below “Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!” is in color. Shout out to the top commenter on my Grave Encounters -themed pieces,”Lobotomy Jack” — I bet you can tell which scene this is from! (10/1 update: he could)

Well, at least that one’s in color. I seriously could put up a dozen of them (plus, the CCs use the caption “Raaaaaar!” for several scary creatures shrieking/roaring). There’s also a bunch that are captioned with very realistic reactions (I know I’d be yelling the same things at the top of my lungs in their situation at some points):

And I’d be saying/yelling THIS more or less non-stop if I was trapped in that fucking hell-hole:

OK, I’ll get to the gallery/slideshow (however you want to view it) now. I basically picked the shots that were most memorable, as well as lines that strongly evoke the spirit (so to speak) of the movie– the reason why it haunts many of us devoted Grave Encounters fans. Here we go…

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Is it Tuesday yet?

*As I often do with really cool horror movies, especially if I’m going to write about them. If I’m too tired, taking notes isn’t always fast enough for my horrible short-term memory and ADD, so I get out the camera. The bonus is, though, cool pics for postings and galleries!

New Theatrical Trailer for Grave Encounters 2 (Electric Boogaloo) (horrorboom.com)
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: John Poliquin of Grave Encounters 2 (themovieguideblog.wordpress.com)
Two New Red, Red, RED Band Trailers for Wrong Turn 5 (2012)! (horrorboom.com)
AcChat – Sean Rogerson (Lance Preston of Grave Encounters) (themovieguideblog.wordpress.com)

Nightmarish First Trailer for “The Bay” (2012) Shows Found-Footage Horror Can Be Fun Again

26 September 2012

1 Comment

Do you ever watch a trailer for an upcoming movie and sort of hope it won’t be that good, because you know if it is, you’re going to have to wait what seems like forever to see it?*

Well, with The Bay, I saw the poster (above) and thought OK, bland title, but it looks interesting. Body horror! Maybe even a creature feature! As soon as the trailer started I thought, oh shit! Not more found footage! My current opinion on found-footage horror movies, based on sitting through one too many of them, is that for every great, entertaining found-footage horror movie there’s about ten boring, forgettable, frustrating, or just downright shitty ones, now that everybody has cashed in (or at least tried to) on it.

…seems like a fresh breath for found footage horror. Actually, a pretty fresh breath for a medium-to- wide-release horror movie, whether it’s found footage or not. Contagion was very effective, but did the virus manifest itself in the form of parasites eating the infected ‘from the inside out,’ including their tongues? No, it did not!

The trailer for The Bay RAINED found-footage clichés.* Opening of trailer consists of transcript of a woman calling 911, the operator calm but the female caller crying and panicking? Check. Title card describing vague mysterious incident that happened in specific location on specific date? Check. Title card informing us that the US government/military/CDC has held back this footage (…Until Now )? Check. Someone earnestly talking to the camera about how important it is that this footage gets out? Check. Screams, crying, other incoherent sounds of people seriously losing their shit off-camera/out of frame? Check. Security-camera footage integrated? Check. Shaky-cam? Check. Night-vision? Check. Skype? Check. Sound of police radio, walkie-talkie or other static-y communication device indicating the situation is deteriorating/ escalating (“…repeat, we have a code blue, request back-up immediately…”)? Check. Picture suddenly going into static/pixels right after jump moment? Check.

From what I’ve read, the horrible thing is this is actually a very early stage of the virus…

I’m going to stop listing them now out of compassion for you, the reader, but it’s safe to say we hit the majority of them here. However, there’s not nearly enough clichés to make me roll my eyes and forget about it the second the trailer ends. Check out the trailer for The Bay below…

Did that look boring? Nope! Here’s what the trailer has going for it that I think most horror fans, even those that found-footage has just about worn out their welcome with as much as me, will make a mental note NOT to miss The Bay for:

What seems like a fresh plot for found footage horror. Actually, a pretty fresh plot for a medium-to- wide-release horror movie, whether it’s found footage or not. Contagion was very effective, (I’m not even a mild germaphobe, but it made my blood run cold more than once) but did the virus manifest itself in the form of parasites eating the infected ‘from the inside out,’ including their tongues ? No, it did not!
‘Body horror’. Someone involved in the creation of The Bay has to be a Cronenberg fan.
Also, gory medical horror is all but guaranteed from the trailer.
Since the novelty of found footage dissolved, I’ve found the smaller number of characters it focuses on, the less excited I get about seeing it. The Bay seems to have an ensemble cast and a larger scale.
The ‘Miss Crustacean’ Beauty Pageant is already fun as hell – imagine adding body-eating parasites into that scenario. Hopefully during a Fourth of July parade.
Certain moments in the trailer gave me a genuine feeling of dread.
A strong “Don’t Screw With Mother Nature” theme
The sense that we might get we may get an ‘all hell completely breaking loose resulting in total fucking gory chaos everywhere’ scene. When the film-makers get it just right, I practically levitate and forget everything and everyone around me, including the fact I’m sitting in a theater… and when really done right, repeat viewings give me the same high, and just as pure. I realize that it sounds like I’m talking about uncut Heisenberg-formula blue crystal meth cooked up by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman themselves when I try to describe my visceral reaction to these kind of scenes …but I’m pretty sure there’s no narcotic in the world that could make me feel as great as I did watching, say, the last act of The Cabin in the Woods.
OK, I admit it– The Bay had me at “eating them from the inside out”.

You can find the official website for the upcoming flick here, though as of this writing, all it has is a trailer and the words, “Coming Soon”.

Always, ALWAYS check the back seat!

*Now all the reviews from TIFF are coming in, and everyone has more or less raved about the movie. The word “skin-crawling” comes up a lot in the reviews. The only complaints are that it’s too gruesome, and OH GODDAMNIT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT TILL NOVEMBER 2nd? THAT’S OVER A FUCKING MONTH! OK… breathe…

**Let’s see, where’s that list for my Found Footage Horror Movie Drinking Game™ I was putting together? I’m not joking. I’ve been jotting things down and I still plan to post it once I add some more clichés, then figure out a way to lay out the rules so no-one ends up passing out halfway through the movie.

‘The Bay’ trailer: Check out the clip for Barry Levinson’s found footage horror movie – VIDEO (insidemovies.ew.com)
The Conspiracy, Found Footage Done Right (awesome-robo.com)
New ‘Paranormal Activity 4’ Clip Sees Appearance of More Ghosts (aceshowbiz.com)
New Theatrical Trailer for Grave Encounters 2 (Electric Boogaloo) (horrorboom.com)
Creepy First Trailer and Poster for Barry Levinson’s Found Footage Horror Film THE BAY (collider.com)

Red Band Trailer of the Day- V/H/S (2012)

12 July 2012

3 Comments

I’d been previously informed that V/H/S was a found-footage torture porn film, at which point I mentally scratched it off my ‘must-see’ list. Then I found out that I’d been misinformed. Still, I was getting lazy about posting this, until I saw Wednesday’s “Attack of The Show” (we’ve been watching the show this week for the first time to see guest host Marc Maron) wherein one of the two grating, shrieky-voiced, bony chicks who pretend to be edgy pop-culture geeks* and appear to have been born in 1999 (the blonde one) proudly presented the “first look” at the V/H/S trailer.

I’ve been getting burned out on found footage movies. However, an anthology format of five, helmed by five different directors, plus what I’ve heard is a pretty decent framing story from a sixth director? You’re on!

So that gave me the kick in the butt to quit being lazy and post the first red band trailer for the found-footage anthology film V/H/S. I discovered it yesterday but was a little unsettled by this new version. Some new imagery was enough to make me decide that maybe it might be a good idea to go ahead and wait until it was light out to delve into it more…

Honestly, I’ve been getting burned out –just a little, but still–on found footage movies. However, an anthology format of five of them, helmed by five different directors (several whose work I’ve enjoyed, decent odds) plus what I’ve heard is a pretty decent framing story from a sixth director? You’re on! Suddenly, I can’t wait till it’s released this fall. Here’s the summary, directly from the official V/H/S website:

When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn’t going to be as easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger than the last.

Bringing together some of the top filmmakers in the game today, this wickedly conceived horror anthology sends the viewer through a gauntlet of suspense, terror, shock, and downright brutality—instantly distinguishing itself from a sea of lackluster found-footage horror flicks. The diverse and deviously creative minds behind V/H/S shatter any preconceived notions about the genre, making it feel inventive and captivating once again.

OK, V/H/S, sold!

Eeeeeek…

If you’re out there reading reviews, beware The Hollywood Reporter review from Sundance, as the reviewer blurts out nearly the entire content of the first two stories, including jump scares and twists. Not so much as a retroactive spoilers warning!

*Yeah, I have PMS. So what? When I have a headache and am not feeling too glamorous, I have less patience than usual with seeing two motor-mouthed valley-girl sounding model-hostesses apparently trying to out-shriek (and out-cute) each other. They’re good at reading teleprompters energetically, and good at… uh… drawing a blank here! The highlight so far for me was when Robert Kirkman finally told the brunette (politely) to stop interrupting him. Ahhh, that was as refreshing as a cold drink on a hot summer day; I seriously felt like someone had been blowing a kazoo in my ear for 45 minutes.

Red Band Trailer of the Week – [REC] 3: Genesis! (horrorboom.com)
‘V/H/S’ Red-Band Trailer: Horror Directors Unite for Chilling Found-Footage Anthology (screenrant.com)
Red Band Trailer and Image Gallery for V/H/S Come with NO Late Fees! (dreadcentral.com)

Ten Trailers To Keep You Awake #3 – Grave Encounters

16 April 2012

1 Comment

This feature is teetering on turning into ‘Ten trailers to keep ME awake”. I find the trailer on You Tube, then watch it to make sure it still works and is the best version available, then get creeped out. I’m going to try to start loading and writing about them when it’s still light out, and maybe elaborating a little more when I’m not trying to relax and power-down into sleep mode at 5:00 AM.

Turn off the lights, gather round, get snacks. Then have a vacuum/broom/mop ready for after the movie when everyone’s snacks and/or drinks went flying out of their hands…

When ‘supernatural found footage’ genre films work, they work. When they’re scary, they are fucking scary. This is one o the ones that absolutely, completely worked. So, I saw this trailer several months before the movie was released. You want to see something scary with a group of friends? Here’s a REAL good one. In fact I’d recommend seeing it with a group of friends who all want the hell scared out of them rather than, say, watching it alone after dark, not fully cognizant of the fact that somewhere by the end of the first act, you’ve been paddling your feet to back-pedal and get further away from the movie, ending up slouched WAY down on the couch.* Turn off the lights, gather round, get snacks, then have a vacuum/broom/mop ready for after the movie when everyone’s aforementioned snacks and/or drinks went flying out of their hands and sprayed all over the rec room during one of the (many) big jumps.

Not all the scariest scenes are in the trailer, either (another mistake some supernatural found-footage movies make). That doesn’t mean you should watch the above trailer with the sound cranked up and your face inches from the screen, though, because… well, you’ll see.

*Guess who?