Note that I speak for myself here and my opinions/comments in no way reflect the other Splattercast co-hosts. This is going to be a really long commentary on all sorts of things podcasting related. It meanders, but I don’t care. You’ve been warned

There’s an amusing documentary called Dig! which is about two bands that loved each other: The Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Once the Warhols got a sweet major label record deal and got popular, BJM turned against them and now they are mortal enemies. You’d think it would be easy to root for people you like, but it seems many people are hardwired for jealousy and envy.

About a year ago there was this thing called the Horror Podcasting Network. You might remember it. There were big plans for it. We even put on a Left 4 Dead Night. The idea was to get all of the horror podcasts together in one big spot for self promotion and to grow the community. It was a good idea and concept. Unfortunately, the guy who started it was a dickhead whiner that went behind my back and started saying false shit about the Splattercast to other podcasts causing me to go Super Saiyan. I’m the kind of person that once I’ve been crossed, there’s no going back. Any further interaction with me will not have a happy ending. I had actually written up a long statement that fully explained everything that happened with HPN (and which I just went back and reread for nostalgia) and planned on posting it to DL only to have multiple other podcasts request that I not do that for fear that it would make all of HPN look bad. Fine. A 2nd attempt was then made to bring HPN back from the ashes. A few podcasts attempted to pick up the pieces (us included) and spent a lot of work drafting up a charter and whatnot to hopefully avoid that situation in the future. Unfortunately, more drama occurred when some of the podcasts who weren’t directly involved in creating the charter felt slighted and started more nonsense (good news, I wasn’t responsible for that one! lol). In the end, the whole thing crashed and burned in a fiery inferno of hurt feelings, dismissive attitudes, and high school bickering.

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Let the games begin!

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Splattercast #167 is up.

We announce the nominees for the 3rd Annual Splatcademy awards and then take a bite out of the Jaws franchise.

Filed under: Splatcademy Awards, Splattercast | 8 Comments »

One of my favorite film sites is Senses of Cinema. It’s one of the only places on the internet where you can find real, interesting critical theory of films from really intelligent and knowledgeable people (there’s an article on Antichrist up right now). The writers and contributors to the site recently released their “World Poll” of the top films of 2009. Two of my film professors submitted their list and it’s always fun to find out the preferences of the people instructing you on film (unfortunately, the professor I’m most interested in just didn’t submit this year). So here you go:

Gwendolyn Foster’s picks

Wheeler Winston Dixon’s picks

Husband and wife unite in their dismissive attitudes towards Inglourious Basterds

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Here you go folks, the official list of nominees for the 3rd Annual Splatcademy Awards. We’ve also included links to all the podcasts presenting. It’s going to be fun!

Check out the nominees and let the debate begin!

Full coverage and discussion of the nominees on the upcoming Splattercast. And remember, voting goes live on February 1st, so you have a week to think about who you’ll vote for.

Filed under: Dead Lantern News, Splatcademy Awards | 2 Comments »

I’ve been battling a nasty stomach virus today, but rather than waste it, I’ve been doing something productive: finalizing the DVD extras for Outpost Doom.

Here is a list of finalized extras. The only thing that will change is a possible extra Easter egg, or two:

• Barn Harder: The Making of Outpost Doom
• To Peoria and Beyond: Outpost Doom at the Drunken Zombie Film Festival
• 5 Deleted Scenes w/ Director Commentary
• Director’s Commentary
• Director, Producer, Actor (MaT, Deejay, Steve) Commentary
• Photo Gallery
• Original Treatment for Outpost Doom
• Trailer
• One ridiculously funny Easter egg where an adorable Steve yells at me

That’s a pretty stacked DVD, right? The documentary, deleted scenes, and featurette add up to over an hour of additional footage and if you still can’t get enough, the commentary tracks should keep you busy. I actually despise Easter eggs, but this particular one is so funny and embarrassing that I want you to have to work to find it

We’re shooting for an April DVD release. Odds are it’ll be $9.95, or something. All proceeds go towards our next film which we are currently writing. It’s going to be an anthology.

Filed under: Dead Lantern News, Outpost Doom | 2 Comments »

I recently watched and reviewed Jamie Blanks’ Long Weekend. If you haven’t seen it (or the original), you can check out my spoiler-free review here. But I also felt a need to delve a little into how it compares to its predecessor, directed by Colin Eggleston in 1978. This will contain spoilers for both movies. Here are just a few thoughts I had on them.

The remake is not completely shot for shot, but it might as well be. To be honest, as I mentioned in my review, had I watched these in the opposite order, I’d feel differently about each of them. But as it is, I saw the remake first, decided I liked it already, and really I think it’s quite hard to unlike something. But it did make my heart sink a little when something that impressed me in the remake turned out to have already been done in the original (in particular, the white foam of breaking waves silently turning red with blood). As you’d expect, the special effects look better in the remake, especially the very last scene, a glorious explosion of gore, which the rest of the movie held back on.

One difference between the two is that our central male character, Peter, is Australian in the original and American in the remake (played by Jim “Jesus Christ” Caviezel). Initially I thought the choice to have an American as the central character bore some significance to his attitude, and wondered what the filmmakers were trying to say about the United States’ position on the health of our planet. But it is not once mentioned, and I can find little mention of it online, so one can only assume it was a casting issue.

Another omission from the remake was a scene from the 1978 version in which Peter gets stoned. I didn’t find it all that queer that this was left out of the remake, but found a lot to speculate on as to why it was in the original in the first place. Was it a tool to enhance Peter’s paranoia towards the creatures around him? A sign of his secret appreciation for what nature has to offer? The manifestation of his inclination to use Mother Earth solely for his own gratification? Or merely a sign of the times?

Outside of the nature message, a main theme of the film is abortion. But you can see how these two issues become one and the same. The couple have gone through an abortion, either as a result of, or maybe resulting in, the breakdown of their marriage, and the wife (Marcia in 1978, Carla in 2008) is constantly reminded of this. There is a moment that we become momentarily sympathetic to Peter, where he witnesses his wife smashing an eagle’s egg against a tree, and declaring, “You didn’t have to kill it.” It’s not all that subtle, especially in the original, but I thought it added a nice extra layer. Another symbol displayed here is the dugong (Aussie seacow) crying out for its lost cub, a sound that haunts our characters throughout, right up to the last seconds of the movie. We take this to mean that Marcia/Carla is doing the same for her own lost child, or maybe she is disgusted with herself for not doing so.

Overall, you could argue that this was a movie that did not need to be remade, especially when you consider the fact that there were no “updates” to the story, aside from maps being replaced with GPS. But Jamie Blanks dedicated his movie to the late Colin Eggleston, so it’s easy to see why he wanted to make it but didn’t want to change anything. I feel that there were a few things done better in the remake (the last 5-10 minutes), but this of course can be just a few tweaks of the original material (couple with the fact that I watched it first). At least it was nice to see a remake that did not lose the message or impact of the original. I recommend both movies highly.

Long Weekend is released on 8 Feb 2010 by Showbox Home Entertainment

Filed under: DVD, Reviews | 1 Comment »

The shark imagery fits with the theme of the next Splattercast.

Filed under: Monday Morning Music, Music, Splattercast, Videos | 2 Comments »