31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 21 Blade

 

TITLE-Blade

SOURCE-New Line Blu Ray

I was sure I had covered this years ago. Checked the master list,either I never covered it or somehow I did and it ain't on the master list.

Ok so for all the attention Rami's Spider-Man or Singer's X-men films get as starting the modern MCU,even  if not fully connected to the proper MCU,Blade came earlier and started it.

1998 I am at the comic shop and hear from the owner that Blade is coming out. And it is Wesley Snipes playing Blade. Ok hell yea let me know what night it starts we will all go.

Was there opening night and loved it. Nice blending of horror and superhero genres. A modernized Blade,at this time I hadn't read much of the Midnight Sons era of Blade. Fairly gory it was a fun film. One I meant to buy. Then just didn't. Until I stumbled upon this Blu ray at a pawn or thrift a few years back.

Wesley Snipes is Blade a rare vampire that can withstand sunlight. He hunts down the other vampires. And is helped out by Kris Kristofferson,as Whistler. Deacon Frost,who IIRC was a minor villain in the old Tomb  of Dracula comic,is the lead vampire villain. 

The movie moves extremely fast for a 2 hour film. Part of that is just the pacing of the film,with a few pots where it slows down for the audience to rest a bit. And thankfully this isn't as quickcut shaky camera for action scenes. That horrible crap would infect movies a year or so later.

The FX is decently done for what I am guessing was a fairly low budget film for New Line of that era. There was no really horrible CGI that stood out.

Blade gets a B+

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 01 Ninja Vampire Busters

 

TITLE-Ninja Vampire Busters aka Vampire Busters

SOURCE-Video Asia DVD

Yes that is stolen Eerie Publications artwork on that DVD cover. Those covers are why I grabbed a pile of those Video Asia double features. Most  which have sat on my shelf unwatched. Wanted something I had never seen today and the title Ninja Vampire Busters caught my eye.

Made in 1989 this is a Hong Kong horror/fantasy/comedy. We  see a bunch of rebels attacking a place. The fat owner only wants to make sure they do not disturb a urn. Seems an EVIL SPIRIT is in that urn. The urn ends up going off a cliff and into the ocean.

500 years later the son of a rich man bids on this urn as a joke. The urn is won and ends up in the rich man's lavish apartment. Now yea I get that in a crowded place like Hong  Kong lavish means a place bigger than normal,but this apartment appears to be half the size of my home and my home is not that big.

The son's asshole friends are around and one of them uses the urn as an ashtray. Which releases the spirit. Who possesses various members of the family.

Leading up to a long fight at the end between someone who is possessed and what looks like the fat guy from the prologue but now with a shit stache.

No vampires in the film,mostly demon looking  things after someone becomes possessed by the evil spirit. And really no ninjas. Thinking this was retitled in the states to tap into that Ninja and Vampire trend in the 80s.

Way way more comedy than horror. And very broad comedy. But I have come to expect that with Hong Kong movies. 

This being from Video Asia I am sure they just toook some old ex rental VHS they found and did a straight dupe from that to a dvd-r. It looks like that was the case. The picture has that blurry look old cheap vhs had. The sound for the last 10 minutes goes up and down. And the film cuts off before thhe credits finish.

Ninja Vampire Busters gets a D+

31 Days of Horror Day 23 Dracula Dead and Loving It

TITLE-Dracula Dead and Loving It
SOURCE-DVD

As of this writing this is the last film directed by Mel Brooks. And sadly this film was a bomb and seems to be fairly hated.

Like how Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein was a homage and parody of the Universal Frankenstein films this film is a homage and parody of Universal's Dracula with Bela Lugosi.

Sure the film is a bit silly. But then it fits in perfectly with all the other screwball parodies of that era. Stuff like Hot Shots or the Naked Gun films. Speaking of Naked Gun,Dracula Dead and Loving It has Leslie Nelson as the lead. And the rest of the cast is a good mixture of known actors/actresses. People like Steven Webber,Amy Yasbeck and Harvey Korman.

What surprised me the first time I saw this movie was how bloody it is. Sure the blood letting is played for laughes. But wow the amount of blood in this film is a bit surprising.

I love how Mel Brooks was smart and targeted the over-rated Bram Stroker's Dracula film. I have never understood why Coppla's Dracula film is considered a good film. Honestly I rather watch Dracula Dead and Loving It than Bram Stroker's Dracula.

If you enjoyed movies like Airplane or Naked Gun and like horror movies this is a film that you gotta see. So far there is no Blu Ray release. But the DVD ,while out of print,isn't hard to find for cheap.

Dracula Dead and Loving It gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 23 Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter

Title-Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter
Source-Paramount DVD

Some of y'all might have noticed I rarely mention Hammer films. Mostly cause there is so few of the classic Hammer films I enjoy. As a kid I would read about the Hammer horror films in various books and magazines,but I never saw them on TV or for rent at the video store. It wasn't until early 90s that I started seeing most of the Hammer horror films. And it didn't take long for me to figure out I am just not a big fan of Hammer's horror movies.

I had been hearing for years how Captain Kronos was the best of the Non-Lee/Cushing vampire films. So in 2004 when I found this DVD for $5 I grabbed it. Figuring I would watch it at least twice.Two times cause it has a commentary. After the first viewing I enjoyed it enough to keep it. Then after listening to the commentary I knew I was going to keep the DVD.

A village has been hit by a rash of strange deaths. People keep aging faster than normal. So Dr Marcus calls in his Army friend Captain Kronos. Kronos and his assistant Grost show up. They are professional vampire hunters. After reviewing the evidence Captain Kronos figures out it is a vampire causing the deaths. But not your normal type of vampire,this one drains youth instead of blood.

After another attack,the Captain and his hunchback sidekick head off to investigate. On their way they run into Carla,a young Gypsy woman. Carla is played by Caroline Munro. And she joins our duo in their fight against this youth draining vampire.

Our heroes learn that since this isn't your normal type of vampire the normal methods of killing a vampire will not work. So they have to figure out a way to kill this powerful creature.

From my research this movie was suppose to be the start of a new vampire franchise from  Hammer. And it is  one I wish had happened. Sadly the film didn't do that well and not long after it Hammer was having money problems.

Thankfully in 2017 Titan comics published a 4 issue Captain Kronos comic. I read the first issue and it is pretty good. Now I just gotta find a trade collecting the series.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror Day 16 Scream Blacula Scream

TITLE-Scream Blacula Scream
FORMAT-Orion VHS

A sequel to Blacula starring Pam Grier sounds great. Too bad it is a boring mess of a film.

Pam is the chosen one of a voodoo cult. But another member thinks they should be the chosen one. So they bring Blacula back to life.

And voodoo vs vampires is a neat idea that hasn't been used much.  This film has a decent cast.  All the blame for how boring it is has to be laid on the script.

Scream Blacula Scream gets a D-.

31 Days of Horror Day 12 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

TITLE-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
FORMAT-20th Century Fox DVD

Somehow for years now I have never owned the Buffy movie. Not sure when it was but I found the above pictured set for cheap. I had tried reading the season 8 comic. But stopped after it just turned to total shit,and this was long before the reveal of the big bad was and what their motivation was.

Kristy Swanson is Buffy Summers. A cheerleader that finds out she is from a line of woman that fight off supernatural evil. I am sure most people reading this know the basic plot of Buffy. Honestly while I do love the TV show,I hate Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy and find Buffy the worst character and the most boring on the show. But Kristy Swanson as Buffy in this movie is so damn good. The film isn't amazing. It is really cheesy and of it's era. But Swanson shines thru.

Buffy the Vampire Slayers gets a B.

2016 Comic Challenge 269 Vampirella Blood Lust Book 02

TITLE-Vampirella Blood Lust Book Two
PUBLISHER-Harris Comics

By the time this Vampi mini series hit I was almost out of comics. I had read scattered issues of her old series from Warren. The b/w magazine sized comics that came out in the 60s and 70s.Then years back I found a place online that sold random lots of comics by the pound. 10lbs of comics,no duplicates and before shipping  it was like 20 bucks,I made an order and weeks later got 10lbs of comics. Which included a huge stack of random issues of Vampi from Harris.They kind  of got shuffled to the bottom of my ever growing read pile.

Then last month for Halloween I wanted to only review horror comics the entire month. Dug out 6 issues I could find  of the Harris era Vampirella series and read them. Took the pics and wrote out the reviews. Then before I could post them my main laptop shit the bed. I managed to save the pics of all of them and a few of the reviews. So yeah this review and the next 5 that involve Vampi were written,partially written back in October.

That Joe Jusko cover is what drew me to this issue. Then I open it and see he painted the entire issue.And that mid 90s Jame Robinson wrote it. Vampi has died and traveled to Drakulon,which is now Lilith's  section of hell.Teaming up with a very changed Adam Van Helsing,Vampi must restart the river of blood and try to take out her mother.

Now I haven't read that much of the Harris Vampi before now,but this feels more like it is the last chapter in the long running Warren version of Vampirella.When it is explained how Adam ended up in Hell I was pleasantly surprised and remembered something like that being mentioned years ago in an Warren issue.

Vampirella Blood Lust Book Two gets  Buy.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 30 Dracula Unleashed DVD game

Title-Dracula Unleashed
Source-Interactive DVD Game

Somehow this FMV game passed me by until about a week ago.I owned a Sega CD back in the day,but had never heard of this game until someone supplied me with a rip of the DVD release.

Using FMV and onscreen choices this game tells the story of Alexander Morris. As he comes to London to investigate the death,that happened 10 years ago,of his brother Quincy. By choosing the right things at the right time you can manage to defeat Dracula and win the game.

The acting is pretty decent compared to other FMV games of the era. The interface is well done. And overall the game isn't bad. I doubt I play it more than once a year. But it is a nice way to kill time.

Dracula Unleashed DVD game gets a B-.

2016 Comic Challenge 180 Cassidy:Blood & Whiskey #01

TITLE-Preacher Special Cassidy:Blood & Whiskey #01
PUBLISHER-Vertigo a imprint of DC Comics

Yep  another Preacher one shot. And again it has a beautiful Glenn Fabry cover. This time not only is Garth writing it,but they also got Steve Dillon to handle the pencils.

Set before issue 1 of the main series,Cassidy is hitchhiking when on I-10 near New Orleans he smells something he hasn't smelled before. Another vampire. So he gets dropped off,tracks the other vamp down. And they have adventures.

IIRC this came out right before the main series took a 5 or so issue trip to New Orleans. So this one shot was used to explain some upcoming stuff.

But really what makes this stand out to me is the main theme. The other vampire Cassidy meets is obviously a clone of Lestat from the Anne Rice series of novels. I get the feeling Ennis is like me and hates all the horrible clones of what was at one time a decent character. So he takes the piss out of all the tropes from the Anne Rician Vampires.

Cassidy:Blood & Whiskey #01 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 157 Tales from the Crypt #02 Gladstone run

TITLE-Tales from the Crypt #02
PUBLISHER-Gladstone/The Bruce Hamilton Company

Somehow this short lived run of EC horror reprints from Gladstone escaped my attention.It wasn't until 2 years later and Russ Cochran took over the reprints that I really got into collecting these affordable reprints of some of the best horror comics to ever come out.

Under the great Jack Davis cover,there is eight stories.The lead story has the Crypt Keeper as our host,makes sense to me since Tales from the Crypt was CK's title.And this story has some beautiful Jack Davis.Plus is were the cover image comes from.

Up next is a Vault Keeper hosted story.Joe Orlando provides the art,and I have always loved all the horror stuff he has done.And since the first story focused on a werewolf,the Vault Keeper is bringing us a story about vampires.

CK is up again with "Busted Marriage"Jack Kamen does the art. He was known for his gorgeous women. EC did lots of bad marriage stories in their horror titles,and this isn't one of the better ones.

A mummy story,hosted by the Old Witch,is next.Ghastly Graham Ingels handles the artwork.With Ingels the gorier the better. So I was a bit disappointed he got a mummy story.Since those usually do not have huge amounts of gore.

Ahhh OK seems the second half of the issue is a reprint of an issue of Crime SuspenStories.The Russ Cochran reprints would do this. The cover is by Johnny Craig.And shows a man freezing to death in a meat locker.While a sinister butcher looks on. What I don't like is they removed the issue number off the cover.

"Out of the frying pan..." has Johnny Craig art. For some reason he uses his Jay Taycee pen-name.It is your typical EC crime story. This time I didn't guess the twist before it happened.

Jack Kamen appears again with "A Trace of Murder".This one is better than the previous story.And again we get some more of Kamen's gorgeous women. Something about Kamen's art reminds me of Matt Baker's art in the Golden Age.

"The Escaped Maniac" is a very forgettable story. EC would put out a dud some times. And when they did they were really bad. The art is credited to George Bell,who is a name I do not remember seeing associated with EC.

To end the issue we get a final story. This one with Ghastly Graham on the art chores.And it is a Haunt of Fear tale hosted by the Old Witch. And ends up being the best story from this reprint of Crime SuspenStories.

I really have no clue what a copy of all these late 80s thru mid 90s EC reprint comics would cost ya on Ebay or one of the many online comic shops. I just know I find them fairly often in comic shop/convention cheap bins. This issue I dug out of the dollar bins at a local comic shop. And for a buck or two you really can't go wrong with reprints of pretty much anything from EC.

Tales from the Crypt #02 gets a Buy.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 27 Double Feature The Return of Dracula/The Vampire

The Return of Dracula
Source-MGM Midnite Movies Double Feature flipper DVD

Ok this was released in 58. And I can see why I had never heard of it before grabbing this set.Last year found like 15 of these MGM Midnite Movies double features. All brand new for $3. So grabbed them. Been throwing them on as background noise. But I see the title Return of Dracula and it is from MGM I gave it my full attention.

Which was a mistake. This fucking sucks. Dracula leaves Europe and comes to Califorina. Pretending to be a distant cousin of this one family.

Really the only thing that makes this stand out at all is at the end we get a bit of color. The film has been b/w all the way through. But in the final kill we see red blood. A neat touch in an otherwise boring as hell film.

The Return of Dracula gets a D.

The Vampire
Source-MGM Midnite Movies Double Feature flipper DVD

From 57 here is another vampire flick. But with a twist. Instead of getting bit by a vampire ,our lead vampire is created by a doctor that accidentally takes some special Bat pills. So  a bit of a science fiction twist on your typical vampire.

But like Return of Dracula this one neat feature is all the film has.Well that and that it is only 76 minutes long. I can handle a low budget kind of shitty movie much better when it is an hour or maybe a bit over that tops.

The Vampire gets a D+.

Even at the $3 I paid this set is a dud. Only reason I can see to own it is if maybe you got nostalgia for either film.Or you want two "scary" films you could show young kids around Halloween. Nothing in either that say a 5 or 6 year old now couldn't handle.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 23 Dracula 2000

Dracula 2000
Source-Various Echo Bridge multipacks,really I own 8 copies of this movie thanks to the cheap Echo Bridge movie packs.

I can remember going to see some film in a theater and seeing the Dracula 2000 trailer for the first time. The trailer looked great. And it appeared to have a fun cast. So I went to see it when it came out. Ended up being very disappointed with the movie.

One of Van Helsings decedents has Dracula's body sealed up in silver coffin. Jennifer Esposito allows her shitbag boyfriend and his crew of thieves brake into Van Helsings shop. They see all the security measures put in place cause of the silver coffin. So figuring something that well protected must be very valuable they steal the coffin. And head from the UK to New Orleans with it. During the flight to NOLA one of the thieves,Hyde from That 70's Show,opens up the coffin awakens Dracula. And in the chaos the plane crashes in the swamps outside NOLA.

Honestly this movie is pretty much total shit.Only 3 things make it stand out a bit against all the other modern vampire films. First is the so called "brides of Dracula". They are the three ladies pictured above. I have always thought Jennifer Esposito was a pretty young lady,and Colleen Fitzpatrick AKA Vitamin C is also really pretty. Then there is Jeri Ryan. And I am sure what I am about to say will piss off plenty of Trekkies. But I have never found Ms Ryan to be a good actress or to be that attractive. Sure she has pretty big breasts. But her face looks like someone shaved Gizmo from Gremlins.She has less acting talent than my dead departed dog Peaches. And always has a look on  her face like she thinks she has to fart,but isn't sure if it is a fart or she has to take a shit.The second thing is the male cast of this film. Gerald Butler tries his best as Dracula and does an OK job. Jonny Lee Miller tries really hard in his role,but to me he was only good in one film and that was Hackers. And the final thing from the film that stands out. Is the theory it throws out that Dracula is actually Judas. And the reason why vampires are harmed to silver is because of the 30 pieces of silver Judas was given to betray Jesus. The rest of the film is pretty much your normal late 90s/early 2000s Dimension Films movie.

The only reason I watched this film this year is because of a friend.He is known mostly online as thefuckerfromhell or just Fucker for short. And this is one of his favorite films. So since I own so many copies of it I thought I would give it another chance. And I doubt I ever watch this again. I also own 1 of the 2 sequels to this. But I haven't watched it yet.

Dracula 2000 gets a D-.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 089 Great Monsters of the Movies

TITLE-Great Monsters of the Movies
AUTHOR-Robert K Davidson
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-25 cents

Back when I was in elementary school I looked forward to the book fairs each year. And almost every year they would have a new book similar to this one. Small paperback book that covered various horror/monster films from the pre-70s era. This book is from 1978.And I found it at one of the local libraries booksales.

After a decent introduction Mr Davidson has 4 chapters. Each about a different type of monster. Up first is a 20 odd page chapter on the Frankenstein Monster.With half those pages being made up of pretty decent pictures. He covers all the Universal Frankenstein movies plus a few of the non-Universal ones.

Chapter 2 is titled Creatures of the Night. Which of course means vampires,but also includes mummies and zombies. Once again half the pages are for pictures.

The third chapter is men that change into monsters. So we get Dr Jekyll,Phantom of the Opera,Dr Phibes,Werewolves,The Fly and final the beastmen from Island of lost souls.And again half of the chapter is pictures.

Our final chapter is all about aliens and creatures from another world. Which on the first page of the chapter it contradicts cause it is talking about King Kong.From there we get the original The thing,lots of alien based films and even the Creature from the Black lagoon.

Back when I was a kid books like this were some of my favorites. I must have had at least 10 of them. But now thanks to the internet and other changes they are just a quaint antiquity of the past.

With the book only being 130 pages it was a very quick read. And I mostly grabbed it cause of the memories it brought back.

Great Monsters of the Movies gets a 2.97 outta 5.

3 Toys from the Junkbox Halloween edition

Thanks to store remodeling I have been getting the blind bag Imaginext figures cheap. With movie reviews and trying to at least finish 5 books this month I doubt I will do another of these this month. I got enough Halloween/Horror style toys to do a few. But on to the 4,yeah it's almost Halloween fuck the rules getting 1 extra toy this time.

From series three this is some kind of either alien or undersea creature. Good sculpting on the legs and arms and face. The spear looks really good also.

But if you take the helmet off and the spear away it looks a bit more like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I wouldn't mind getting another of these since it has two very different looks depending on if you put the accessories on or not.

 BIGFOOT!!! There is a huge Imaginext remote control Bigfoot I have been trying to get for over a year. This smaller one,that comes with a giant fish!!!!,will make a good substitute.

Yeah you take the Mask off and and he looks doofy. But you can now add a Bigfoot mask to your other Imaginext figures.

This one is like the first one in that it has two totally different looks.With the "tater sack" mask on and weedwacker he looks like either Jason Voorhies in Friday the 13th part 2 or the killer from The Town that dreaded sundown.

You take the "Tater Sack" off and you got a great zombie figure.This line is for 3 to 8 year olds ,so a toy this creepy and scary in a line aimed at that age group is strange but a neat find.

Finally this very very well done vampire. The sculpting ,paint job and accessories are the best I have seen from this line of toys.The bat seems to hold best on the right arm. And the cape is a nice touch,

He does lose a bit without the cape. And the bat. But still a great looking figure. One I am kind of glad I got 2 of now.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 027 Extinction Parade by Max Brooks

TITLE-The Extinction Parade
AUTHOR-Max Brooks
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-$16.99

I was given this as a gift right before X-mas. Someone had found it at Walmart. Some quick info. This trade was published by Avatar. Who is known for their extremely violent and gory comics. With some of the stuff they publish being NC-17 levels of gore. So we were both surprised to not only find something like this at Walmart.where the only comics I see are manga,Walking Dead trades and the rare trade based on a Marvel movie. But that it was also racked with the kids books. So there was a book full of extreme gore sitting right next to Captain Underpants and Diary of a WImpy kid.I assume Walmart was carrying this because of Max Brooks.

The trade reprints the first 5 issues of this series. Set in a world where vampires and zombie exist. Our main characters are vampires. And over the first 4 issues we get the history of vampires in this world. And lots of double page spread of blood and violence. Then near the end of issue 4 one of the vampires realizes that the zombies almost outnumber the humans. And what is going to happen when all the humans are dead. So a small group of vampires start doing all they can to protect the humans.

While the idea behind this trade is interesting. It isn't executed that well. These 5 issues with some decent editing could have been 2 issues. There is way too many double page spreads that do nothing to help the story along. The art is good. But I have noticed that most stuff from Avatar has a similar look. Kind of like how in the early days most Valiant comics had a similar look. I am betting if anyone else had approached Avatar with this idea they would have been turned down. But now thanks to World War Z being a hit as a book and film Max Brooks is a big enough name that anything written by him has a good chance of selling well. If you can find this trade for $5 or less it is worth it. But at basically 17 bucks I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. Hell it took me about 15 minutes to read this. Not good,not good at all.

The Extinction Parade gets a 1.95 outta 5.

31 Days of Horror Movie 30

Embrace of the Vampire
1995
Unrated DVD

I had heard about this film months before it hit the video stores. Rumors were flying that Alyssa Milano was going to be totally nude in it. Since I had had a crush on her since about the second season of Who's the Boss I had to see it. So the day it came out I hit every video store in Jackson County MS. Finally finding it at this tiny place. I got lucky and they had got in the unrated cut.

There really isn't much plot. Alyssa is the virginal college girl who keeps having dreams about sex. There is a vampire that needs her blood to live. But in the end she chooses her boyfriend over the vampire.

As you can see the plot is C R A P!. What this film is remembered for is two scenes. One is a dream Alyssa has which is basically an orgy. With her,the vampire,her boyfriend and another female student. The other scene is when this other female student talks Alyssa into posing for her. Alyssa gets topless and starts making out with the lady.

The film feels like a half ass combination of a DTV vampire film and something you you see on Skinamax after dark.

Embrace of the Vampire gets a C-. And that is only because we get to see Ms Milano topless a couple of times.

31 Days of Horror Movie 29

Dracula
1931
Universal DVD

I first saw this film years ago when I was 3 or 4. I really don't remember much about seeing it that time. Then years later when the SciFi Channel first hit the airwaves they were showing it. I stayed up late one Sunday night to watch it and to be honest wasn't impressed. I was about 16 and the slow pace of the film bored me.

Years later one Halloween night while I was passing out candy I saw that Turner Classic Movies was showing all the Universal classics.So I had them on. And this time I actually enjoyed Dracula.

I am sure most people reading this know the plot.Renfield goes to Transylvania. He goes to the Count's castle and ends up getting bit. So Dracula and Renfield come to England.

Now I totally understand why this film is considered a classic. And the performances from Bela Lugosi,as Dracula, and Dwight Frye,as Renfield, are outstanding. But the rest of the cast isn't good. The movie feels more like someone filmed a stage play.

The has some interesting extras. There is a commentary that is loaded with all kinds of info. A nice documentary. Plus it includes the semi infamous "Spanish" version of Dracula. At night on the same sets a Spanish language version of Dracula was filmed. And in my eyes besides the guy playing Dracula the rest of the cast is much better.

Dracula gets a C.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 24

The Cabin in the Woods
2012
Lionsgate DVD

This movie was filmed back in 2009 but held up from being released for a few years.Part of this had to do with MGM filing for bankruptcy. I heard about it in 2009 and all I knew was Joss "Buffy the Vampire slayer" Weldon was one of the writers. Now I enjoyed most of the seasons of the Buffy TV show. So I was wanting to see what he could do with a more serious version of horror. Well in early April 2012 it got a wide release. But the theater in town didn't get it and I didn't get a chance to see it. Thankfully I did real good about avoiding spoilers about the films plot. All I knew before I watched it today was what I had seen in the trailer.

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW SKIP IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YET!

A group of 5 college students head up to a cabin in the woods. At first I was like "Great we got the normal horror stereotypes." There is the jock,the slut,the stoner,the smart guy and the virginal young lady. But quickly we find out that there is something up and this film isn't gonna be your normal teens/young adults get stalked and killed way out in the woods. It seems there is some kind of underground scientific lab below the cabin. And two guys in it are in charge of making sure that at the very least the four of the group,minus the virgin,die. And it looks like that is what happened. A group of inbred zombie hillbillies attack and the only one left alive is the virginal girl. She is out on the pier and is about to die when we find out the stoner isn't dead. He saved her and leads her to a underground room he has found. And this is where the film takes a major turn. The people in the lab keep talking about how these young adults must die to appease the "Ancient Ones". Which I must assume are the elder Gods from HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. We find out there are more than one lab like this. There seems to be many around the world. Once a year at least 4 people must die to keep the "Ancient Ones" from rising and destroying the world. Well it seems all the other labs have failed this year so it is up to the on in the USA. But the stoner and the virgin find an elevator and go down into the lab. Where they learn all kinds of monsters are kept in cages and depending on what item is messed with in the cabin's basement that determines what creature/creatures come to kill the people. There is a werewolf,zombies,vampires and my favorite a being clearly based on Pinhead from Hellraiser. Well the stoner and virgin manage to find the sacrifice room and then meet up with the director of this operation. Who is  a person I had no idea was in this film. Now I don't want to spoil the ending so that is all I can say.

SPOILERS OVER!

The DVD looks great and has nice strong sound design. The acting is all well done. With all five of the college students doing a great job. Chris Hemsworth plays the jock and this is the best acting I have seen from him so far. But outta the 5 the real stand out is Francis Elliott "Fran" Kranz as Marty the stoner. Most films with stoners overplay it.. But Fran does a great job of not going over the top with his performance. All the FX work is really well done and it was hard to tell what was practical FX and what was CGI. It seems outside of a few people this film is really well liked and considered one of the best horror films of the past few years. Cabin in the Woods gets an almost perfect A.

31 days of Horror 2012 Extra 13

Buffy the vampire slayer season 1
2002
20th century Fox DVD

It has been close to 10 years since I have watched the first season of this fun show. I never got to see it when it was airing . Cause when it was airing on WB we got only UPN. Then when it moved to UPN over cable company took away UPN and gave us WB. So it wasn't until it hit syndication and FX that I got to see it. Loved the show and have been slowing getting the DVD season sets. Got this one last week for $3 total.

Starting as a mid season replacement in 1997 the first season was only 12 episodes. But in those 12 episodes all the mythos are set up. We get introduced to Giles,Xander,Willow and Cordelia.

The stand out episodes are ,The one where we find out Angel is a vampire,The demon in the computer one,and my favorite where there is an invisible girl. Which has a great ending with some secret government group taking the invisible girl and training her to be an assassin. Now my memory might be faulty but this is never brought up again in the rest of the TV series.

The DVD looks pretty good. I know this first season had a very low budget,but the picture and sound is great. There is a few commentaries that are informative. And there is some behind the scenes stuff. Buffy Season 1 DVD gets a B.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 19

Vampegeddon
2010
Echo Bridge Midnight Horror collection volume 4 DVD

Now I have been doing my whole watch at least one horror film a day in October thing for close to 10 years. And I have seen some really bad films. But this one has to be one of the worst.  Where to start? First off it seems the entire film was dubbed in post production. Not sure why since the cast all seem to speak English and the lips match the words all the time. Then there is the acting. The actors/actresses all look to be late 20s or early 30s. But are suppose to be high school students. And all of them over act constantly. Not sure if maybe the dubbing adds to this or not. Then there is ever present background music. All of it is bad. Generic hard rock and metal.

But it isn't all negative. One of the actors looks just like Bubba Ray Dudley so that made me chuckle a few times. And one of the lead actresses had a front tooth that looks like it might be made out of wood. Which almost made me laugh. Vampegeddon gets a F+.