I cannot wait to watch the Academy Awards tonight. I know it isn’t considered cool or hip to say you like the Oscars, but I do. So suck it. I’ll be rooting for Inglourious Basterds in every category it’s nominated. Hopefully it’ll get a couple.

Excited!

Oh, and the Splatcademy Awards go live tomorrow. That’s an even bigger deal.

Filed under: News | 2 Comments »

Getting in the X-Files mood

Thousands of UFOs have been spotted in the last 20 years around the UK, according to newly released documents.

More than 6,000 pages of reports describe people’s experiences with unidentified flying objects between 1994 and 2000.

They include reported sightings over Chelsea Football Club

More news at the BBC web site

A similar news story

A link to the National Archives

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A rare event is taking place that most horror fans are overlooking, I think. Usually, the horror genre gets one, maybe two, big movies per year. They’re usually thrown into late summer slots to capitalize off whatever scraps the blockbusters have left for them to gobble up, or put into October timeslots to take advantage of Halloween. But something really cool is happening right now and it’s an event that many horror fans should be looking at with excitement: three anticipated horror films back-to-back-to-back.

Last weekend saw the release of The Wolfman, an iconic character given his own big-budget spectacle of a film. It’s good. Regardless of what you have been reading on all of the horror websites who seem to want to revel in its inevitable failure. I give a mini-review of the film on the latest Splattercast (ep. 170) and I encourage all of you to at least check out a matinee before it’s unceremoniously shuffled out the door. It’s the kind of movie that makes seeing monster movies on a big screen so much fun.

Then, this weekend sees the release of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island. Like The Wolfman, this was originally set to be released last year but was pushed back. The trailer makes this movie look insanely amazing. And it’s Scorsese, so you know there’s going to be care and love brought to genre material (Anybody looking for some Scorsese genre work should check out his remake of Cape Fear, yowza!). It’s another horror film that demands a theater viewing and I absolutely can’t wait to see it this Saturday afternoon.

Then, next weekend, we’ve got the remake of George Romero’s The Crazies. People forget that Romero did an “infected” movie way before geeks started having internet flame wars about whether infected were zombies or not. Honestly, Romero’s version wasn’t all that great. It’s got some cool ideas and imagery, but it is one of those films that is hampered more so by its low budget than not. In other words, it’s a case example of a film that could really use the refinishing and polishing that a remake allows. Even if it isn’t great, the trailer makes it look like a fun time and I’ll be lining up for that one as well.

So what you have here is three straight weekends of awesome or potentially awesome horror flicks. This doesn’t happen very often for our genre. Horror is disrespected a lot of the time and we usually have to take what we can get. But here’s an example of our genre getting the marquee three straight weekends. Fans are always talking about wanting Hollywood to spend a little more time on horror and get some more releases out there for us. Well, here’s your chance. Make an event of it. Check out The Wolfman, Shutter Island, and The Crazies back-to-back-to-back. And feel good about it.

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I love The Wolfman. Only the Mummy rates higher on my Universal monster list (followed by the Invisible Man and Gill-man). I’ve been really interested in the remake since it was announced and I’m actually super psyched and looking forward to seeing the film tomorrow afternoon.

Yeah, yeah. I know all about the last minute change in directors, the crazy reshoots, and even the 30% rating it currently has at RT (though the community is giving it borderline fresh at 59%). Every sign points to this being one giant suckfest. Possibly on the level of a Van Helsing type thermo-nuclear disaster.

But I’m going into this like Jeff went into G.I. Joe: knowing it’ll probably suck but not letting anything affect me until I’ve actually seen it. It’s rare that I’m so excited and interested in a film that I completely and totally disregard every bit of logic and gut feeling that I have towards it, but that’s my state of mind as I roll into tomorrow. I just can’t wait!

I know a few of you have seen it already and given it average to terrible reviews. Any listener or reader out there that thought it was really good?

Filed under: Movies, News | 3 Comments »

Timpone is out as Fangoria editor.

Somebody finally came to their senses in Fangoria land. Ironic that they’re getting an old Rue Morgue hand to take over the ship.

Filed under: News | 5 Comments »

While horror podcasters have been embroiled in their own high school drama the past couple of weeks, something far more interesting has been exploding with a genre icon: Fangoria.

I noticed a couple days ago that the Fangoria website was down. (You should check out their hilariously unprofessional new site) I was making the rounds and sending out press releases for the Splatcademy Awards and, naturally, wanted to hit them up with the info. I didn’t think much about it because, really, I don’t give a shit about Fango anymore. It has sucked for a long time and there’s no reason to pay the outrageous price tag for eighty pages of advertisements for shitty films.

Then today, Professor Bleak posted a link on our forum to a long behind-the-scenes, drama filled blog post about the implosion of Fangoria. No offense to that guy, because I totally believe him when he says he put in a lot of time and effort on Fango’s site…but Fango’s website sucked. I don’t know anything about web design but that thing was just brutal to look at. There was mindless shit everywhere and the interface was confusing. It was hard to find anything you wanted so I don’t have much sympathy when he gives his sob story of how the big mean “print” people looked down on him. Frankly, I’d be pretty embarrassed to put my name to it.

It just goes to show that no matter how petty and immature a lot of podcasters can get, drama exists on the highest planes of horror. We’re talking an actual business here, with employees and cash flow…and this kind of shit is going on? Wow. Ryan Rotten of Shock Till You Drop  did a sort of “pro-Fango” editorial that certainly sees the glass as half full. You can tell the guy is good friends with Timpone and Gingold and that he doesn’t want to burn any bridges, but when is it time for some respected genre personality to say “Dudes, you totally ran this great franchise into the ground”? Where are the big filmmakers and industry fans that will put aside their need for cheap promotion for their latest shitty films to stand up and decry what has happened to Fango?

Everyone seems to agree that Fangoria sucks nowadays. Even supporters say it’s “lost its way”. Why does Fango suck?  This is why. That cover alone is enough for me to totally accept that the Fango I knew and loved is dead. The day Twilight makes an appearance in Fango is the day the magazine should die.  I’ve moved on and most of its readers have as well. We’ll still have fond memories, of course, but Timpone and company have succeeded in completely destroying the brand name that was once so effective (and has now been replaced by Rue Morgue, get over it HorrorHound readers). Who’s running this shit, Charles Band? The nail in Fangoria’s coffin was their refusal to embrace the internet and switch to a daily news machine that capitalized on its industry heavy name and contacts, and its refusal to change the magazine to a more commentary driven vehicle with a focus on smart, genre intensive articles. I’m not saying Fango should have turned into the Cahiers du Cinema of horror mags, but any idgit could see that you need to adapt and change relative to what is going on around you. Rue Morgue did that (though I personally feel they fail more than they suceed), Timpone decided that the name was really all that mattered and decided to put his focus on allowing the worst filmmakers ever a venue for their shitty movies. Frankly, Timpone and Gingold should have been fired years ago. Maybe they’re great guys in person, but they obviously can’t handle running a company and that should have been identified before any of this got this far.

Fangoria is dead. D. E. A. D. The name may hold some nostalgia for horror fans that grew up in the eighties, but now, who cares? That rag’s just a waste of good trees. Fango will never have a major web presence because now there are so many other sites that do the “daily news” thing and are so plugged into the industry that not only will they be years behind if they relaunch, but I can’t possibly see them offering anything of value, thus “taking” other well established sites’ readers. The only way the magazine comes back from the dead is if they take a year long break, fire Timpone and everyone else involved, put some actual thought into revamping and revitalizing what has become stale and unimportant, and most importantly, hire smart and intelligent horror writers. Believe it or not, if Fango took a break and put some effort into reinventing themselves, there are still plenty of horror fans out their that would jump at the chance to make this rag respectable again. Even if it’s only bi-monthly or quarterly.

This won’t happen, though. I’m sure Timpone will hold on to whatever he can just so he can continue getting pity sex from goth horror whores. The day Fangoria died was when it became so ridiculous and irrelevant that the people who grew up loving it just stopped caring. And that happened years ago.

Filed under: Commentary, News, Real Life Horror, Screwed-up News | 6 Comments »

List of Oscar nominees

I catch some flak from the other guys for being an unabashed supporter of the Academy Awards. I’m a person that still believes they mean something and get totally wrapped up in the ceremony and whatnot. I make no apologies for liking the Academy Awards. Do they make mistakes? Sure, but other than the Splatcademy Awards, there isn’t any other award show that doesn’t get things wrong on occasion

Very cool to see District 9 be nominated for Best Picture. That’s the sort of film that never would have gotten attention from the Academy had they not expanded to 10 films in that category. Kudos to the filmmakers for that. It ain’t gonna win for Best Film or Director, but I’m totally rooting for Inglourious Basterds because it was by far the most original and freaking awesome film of last year. Even if I hated the Oscars I’d still watch this year just to support Tarantino. I really hope he gets best screenplay because I can’t wait to see his acceptance speech. Plus, Christoph Waltz has Supporting Actor in the bag. He deserves it. Glad to see Coraline nominated but it’s going to get murdered by Up. Avatar should win nothing but technical fx (possibly even sound) driven categories. It’s a technological achievement, not a cinematic achievement. Still, Inglourious Basterds has 8 nominations, only 1 less than Avatar and The Hurt Locker. I can get behind that and am really looking forward to the show!

I know my Splattercast compadres hate the Oscar’s, but we should totally set up a watching party

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Are you a listener that has always wanted to take part in the Splatcademy Awards but didn’t know how? Well put down the gun and listen up!

This year, we are proud to announce that none other than Mr. Joe Bob Briggs will be receiving the Spooky for Lifetime Achievement.  Briggs has been a vital and under-appreciated voice in his unapologetic support of b-cinema and through ventures such as his classic books, Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In and Joe Bob Goes Back to the Drive-In, and of course, Monstervision, Briggs introduced an entire generation of film fans to “bad movies”…and made them love them in the process.

So how can you get involved? Simple, leave a message on the Splattercast voicemail telling us your favorite memories, stories, anecdotes, or just why you appreciate the service that Mr. Briggs has done for horror films all these years. We’ll be using the fan comments to introduce the award to Mr. Briggs.

Hopefully this will be a fun way not only to honor a deserving genre personality, but also to include listeners and fans in the Splatcademy wackiness. Call in, yo!

Filed under: Dead Lantern News, News | 3 Comments »