// Category Archive for: Horror

Blu-Ray Review: Deranged

By Brad Henderson

Most people know names like Dahmer, Manson, Gacy, and Bundy, but one name always seems to slip under the radar when serial killers are mentioned: Ed Gein. Some might think that name sounds familiar; most people know of the films The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and Silence of the Lambs. All were inspired by the slayings of Ed Gein and his weird, emotionally f-freaking-uped mind.

Arrow Films recently released a film called Deranged. It is also based on Gein’s life and comes pretty close to the actual storyline. Even for 1974, Deranged pushes all sorts of limits; it has a dark and unexpectedly twisted side. About midway through the film it takes a turn into the unknown, into the psyche of Ed Gein. We get to see his disturbed mind from the inside out.

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FanExpo Canada 2013: 100,000 Fans Can’t Be Wrong

By Less Lee Moore

Another year of FanExpo Canada has come and gone. As usual, the four-day event was jam-packed with people and panels, photo ops and paraphernalia. With so many things happening and so many attendees, there are bound to be a multiplicity of experiences. Here are mine.

Day One: Thursday, August 22

The doors opened at 2:00 p.m. and as usual, there was already a line-up. I don’t like to brag, but I enjoy being able to go through the Media entrance and not wait in the lines outside. Although, never fear, non-media folks: I still have to wait in a line to get onto the exhibition floor like the rest of you. (I do think it would be nice if media got to go in about an hour before the show opens, just to prepare for photos and video shoots.)

This year, due to the addition of the Sports segment and the expected increase in attendance, FanExpo took up multiple floors in both the South and North buildings. This meant a bit more walking across the bridge between buildings, but it also made for less cramped conditions (at least on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; I didn’t attend Saturday).

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DVD Review: Fire In The Sky

By Brad Henderson

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
—Arthur C. Clarke

In 1975, Travis Walton was abducted by aliens, and his abduction is one of the most well-known close encounters in history. Not only was a film made out of it, but those who conducted tests and the officers that were involved have also said it was not a hoax. This was due to the results of polygraph tests taken by those who witnessed the abduction.

In 1993, a film was made that scared the freaking crap out of me: Fire in the Sky. I was nine at the time of its release, and it has stayed with me to this day. If my memory serves me correctly, I saw it at the theater and again on a late night showing on HBO. I think being alone and watching it on HBO was what really did me in.

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DVD Review: No One Lives

By Less Lee Moore

It’s surprising that horror movies and wrestling haven’t combined forces until recently, seeing as there is such a crossover between fanbases. No One Lives, a WWE Studios production, premiered at TIFF’s infamous Midnight Madness program last year and is now available on home video.

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Assemblog: August 16, 2013

How I Live Now

New this week on Popshifter: Lisa calls The Conjuring one of the best movies of the year; Brad takes a look at Antiviral, My Amityville Horror, Swamp Thing, and The Incredible Melting Man, all out now on home video; Ricky wants to go to a strip club in Hell if they’re going to play Demon Queen’s Exorcise Tape; Jemiah is impressed with Into The White with Rupert Grint; Chelsea hopes The Hot Flashes does better on home video than it did in theaters and suggests Los Nuggetz for garage rock fans who are looking for something they haven’t yet heard; Melissa calls Intoxicated Man 1958 – 1962 a tantalizing glimpse into the early work of Serge Gainsbourg; and I am touched by the music documentary A Band Called Death and amused by the new video from Big Black Delta, “Money Rain Down.”

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Blu-Ray Review: The Incredible Melting Man

By Brad Henderson

The Incredible Melting Man is one of the most recent releases from Scream Factory and this viewing was actually a first for me. If I had watched it as a child, I’m guessing I would have had a different feeling about this . . . movie? The story is basic: An astronaut is exposed with radiation, and then he begins to melt and kill. He shows some emotion but then it ends. Boom.

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Blu-Ray Review: Swamp Thing

By Brad Henderson

Horror buffs, film fans, and even non-die hard moviegoers know about Swamp Thing. What started as a comic book, oozed into a movie, a sequel, and both animated and live-action television series.

The story of Swamp Thing is actually pretty cool; an incredibly intelligent man (Alec, played by Ray Wise) is working on a top-secret project involving a hybrid plant that can survive and even thrive in extreme situations and environments. A group of soldiers led by a crazy doctor obsessed with immortality tries to steal the formula that Alec is working on. Guess what happens? Yep, Alec manages to get covered in the formula, and Swamp Thing is born.

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DVD Review: My Amityville Horror

By Brad Henderson

Some look at The Amityville Horror as just a movie. It has been dismissed many times by many people, but no one can deny that something happened in that house; whatever it may be, something happened. Recently, IFC Films released a documentary that focuses on Daniel Lutz, the oldest of the children in the Lutz family, and his story and confessions on what happened during those 28 terrifying days spent at 112 Ocean Avenue.

I’m one of those that believe that some of the events that were “recorded” actually happened in that house. I do believe that George Lutz was full of shit and that they fabricated a lot to sell their story. However, I also believe that certain events occurred, and then the family just went with it.

In My Amityville Horror, Daniel Lutz tells his side of the story, and he sells it. Yeah, he could be bullshitting, but the way he speaks is very convincing. If he is lying, he is the best liar in the world.

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Blu-Ray Review: Antiviral

By Brad Henderson

How far would people go to be closer to their favorite celebrity? We already know society is obsessed with celebrities, with mimicking their features and hair. Come on, you have seen this: Aniston’s hair, Jolie’s lips, Lopez’s buttocks, and the list keeps going. This is the basis of the story that Brandon Cronenberg follows with Antiviral, but he takes it to the next level.

Brandon Cronenberg (yes, David Cronenberg’s son) delivers a haunting look into the obsession with celebrities and the public and how far people will go to be like their idols.

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Movie Review: The Conjuring

By Lisa Anderson

Sometimes, even a well-made horror movie can be left in the theater. You can see it and then go home and head straight for bed, without averting your glance from your mirrors or imagining the film’s antagonist sliding through the dark of your room. Horror movie fans, especially, do not lose sleep over most horror movies, or find themselves haunted by them days later.

The Conjuring was not such a movie for me, and it may not be for you either.

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