Drawings For Donations

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My old pal Steven Wintle from The Horror Blog (I miss them round-tables, man) has a brother Gary that's an illustrator that lives in Japan (who is fine, thankfully) and the two of them are offering free sketches of anything you desire to anyone that donates ten bucks or more to the Red Cross for Japan Earthquake Relief. You can get the details over here or at that previous link.

They're both extremely fine artists (that awesome dog to the left gives you an idea of what Gary can do) and it's obviously something you should be opening you wallet for already, ahem, and this way you get awesome stuff in return! Awesome tangible stuff, that is - stuff other than the intangible goodness that lights you up from within when you help out your fellow man. Go do it, is my point.
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Saying Goodbye, Going Away

It is with a heavy heart I must direct y'all over to the 100th and final week of The Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog.

They say all good things must come to an end... and those people who say such things totally deserve to be kicked in the shins.

Thanks for the memories, Steven!
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"You are my lucky star. You... lucky, lucky..."

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I missed this week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog not because of procrastination (as has happened in the past) but rather I simply couldn't conjure up an answer that satisfied me. The query:

"Name a piece of horror art or entertainment that you believe changed the genre, and explain how."

Thankfully the Roundtable's full of smarties who came up with some of the finest answers I've seen for the Roundtable so far.

Go check 'em out over at The Horror Blog.
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"It's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."

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This week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog asked us about our favorite special effects sequences from horror movies, and my choice, reflected in the gruesome pictures above - Happy Monday morning, y'all! - was a popular one. Check it.
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My Undying Devotion To The Non-Word "Blurgh" Will Probably Get The Best Of Me, And Soon

Hi everybody. So I just totally blew out my blogging capabilities for the day on a rather extensive ramble over at The Film Experience, where I'm kinda sorta here-and-there guesting for Nathaniel as he's outta town. So go check that out if you care to - it's about the things I've enjoyed so far in Movies '08. N' stuff.

This week's Horror Roundtable is up as well, so make sure to click over to The Horror Blog. Now. Do it. I don't want to have to come back there.

But basically, what I'm saying is - I am done. Blown out. Must crawl on floor now. I might pop up over the weekend, though. Who knows? Not I, said Seth Brundle.

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My Hobby Is Stuffing Things

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This week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog asks us:

"Name the one horror prop you would most want to own."

Narrowing this one down to only one answer was a feat, but I came up with one that I think would make a nifty addition to any peeping gallery. Check it.
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I Am Link

--- Nobody brings the entertaining-crazy like Isabella Rossellini, so this brief Q&A with the star at NYT is amusing in that special way she always is. She's talking about that series of shorts she's doing for The Sundance Channel about the sex lives of insects which involves her wearing bug costumes. Indeed.

--- Mama Cast - No offense to the actress named Nana Visitor (Except, really? That's your name?), whom I know nothing of, but her having been cast as mother to Jason Voorhees (via AICN) in Marcus Nispel's remake doesn't exactly fill me with the enthusiasm that dreaming of Patricia Clarkson in the role did. Nana says Mrs. Voorhees isn't around for very long in Nispel's script though, so I suppose it's for the best.

--- Children In Harm's Way, Part III - Guillermo Del Toro speaks up about an idea for a third in his thematically-related trilogy of little kid's horror movies that began with the modern classics The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. Not sure where this sits if he jumps into Hobbit-ville any time soon. Anyway, his idea involves grocery shopping and the apocalypse and a little boy named Saturn.

--- "Nobody Wants To Fuck A Penny" - The Film Experience looks at the info Pedro Almodóvar's leaking on his next film, called Broken Embraces and set to star Penny Cruz, which excites me since Volver was the only time I've ever enjoyed Miss Cruz as an actress. I do have to say that his apparent desire, judging by the early wardrobe tests photos, to change her look from the sex-bomb Raimunda was in Volver into a drag queen that was swallowed by a plague of carnivorous rainbows... well, it scares me.

--- The Eyes Of Amity - Last week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog asked us to name something that made us crap our Underoos when we were little.

And finally, two links that do my job for me:

--- SuperCallyFrakkedALiciousExTyrol's AToaster - Okay, that title right there is awesome, if I must toot my own horn. Anyway, there's a terrific review of last Friday's episode of BSG up over here; well worth reading, especially for those of us (i.e. everybody) conflicted about the character of Cally. (via Sean)

--- Title Too Literal - Joe R. posts a brief review at Low Resolution of Forgetting Sarah Marshall that I agree with wholeheartedly, especially the bit about Kristen Bell's character's arc just sort of disappearing at the end. A funny movie, though.
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The Smell of Roadhouse Whiskey

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This week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog asked us:

"Share a favourite horror quote."

My answer.. well, I've posted my answer to this question here before, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. I will say that if I were to ever try and be an actor (something which will never happen, but let's pretend for a moment) I would use this speech as my audition material. And yes, subsequently be laughed at and humiliated. But it'd never stop entertaining me.

I really do want to memorize it in its entirety. Genius. She thinks so too:

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I Am The Missing Link(s)

So... got a bunch to catch up on, taking two days off and all... catch up time!

--- Officially Official - So Greg McLean's crocodile- thriller Rogue is really for real for real this time really going to come out on April 25th in a very limited release (via BD). It's official like. And as we all know, the Weinsteins would never lie to us!

Also at that link is word that All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is once again without a solid release date. It had been sitting at May 9th for awhile. STYD says it might come out in August. Mmhmm.

--- Hold The Meat - The adaptation of Clive Barker adaptation The Midnight Meat Train starring Bradley Cooper has lost the "Meat" part of its title and will probably come out on DVD this Fall now (via JoBlo).

--- Ten Little Weirdos - Possibly my favorite Top Ten at The Film Experience ever - the Top 10 Weirdo Actors. My list would probably be pretty different (Nat doesn't watch horror movies, and is therefore missing out on a lot of weirdos out there in film-land), but anyplace that brings together Crispin Glover, Tilda Swinton and Isabelle Huppert is a place I want to stay.

--- Requiem for a Ghost - Darren Aronofsky is developing a TV series for AMC called Riverview Towers, about a family that moves into a haunted apartment building (via AICN).

--- Like Read n' Stuff - Last week's Horror Roundtable asked us to praise a piece of writing about the horror genre. I hadn't read bunches of what came up, and promptly threw half of them onto my Amazon Wish List. If anybody wants to start reading up on the genre, you should check it out.

--- And finally, we all know Veronica Mars' creator Rob Thomas is a busy boy with remaking Beverly Hills 90210 and that Kiwi show that might star Kristen Bell and his own old show Cupid... but speaking of the latter, who got cast in Jeremy Piven's old role?

Oh sweet Bobby Cannavale...
definite upgrade! (via AICN)
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I Am Link

--- Just Four Days! My Battlestar countdown doesn't speak for that show alone - this Friday, besides BSG's premiere, marks the release of The Ruins, something I'm also wicked excited over. I've got my fingers crossed so tightly they might snap off that the movie's as terrifying as I want it to be. If you head over to STYD, you can read interviews with two of the film's stars, Jena Malone and Shawn Ashmore. More to come on this movie over the next few days, obviously.

--- Speaking of What's Coming Soon, at Low Resolution Joe has got the next round of his Winter Movie Preview up, telling all of us what's coming out over the next few weeks.

--- I missed another round of The Horror Blog's Horror Roundtable, but head over there and check out what all the other fine folks have got to say on their guilty pleasures.

--- The Cannibal Barbecue Continues - Another person has fallen under the spell of Neil Marshall's rock-out-with-your-cock-out flick Doomsday (via Sean).

--- And finally, it appears Frank Darabont is still trying to get a new adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 off the ground, but his presumed star, Tom Hanks, has backed out due to scheduling conflicts. Hanks is honestly a little old now for the role in my opinion, and I was just saying this weekend I'm over him pretty much altogether, so I meet this news with happiness. Who would y'all cast as Guy Montag, book-burner-turned-literary-savior?
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I Am Link

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--- Moreno Reigns - I watched and reviewed West Side Story over at The Film Experience this weekend for my Make Me Watch A Musical feature whilst Nat's away. I was much kinder than I expected to be (and I was kinder than I could have been). I didn't loathe it, though. Well, not all of it.

--- Sunnydale Revisited - AICN has all the goods from last week's Buffy Reunion that you could ever need. Except a time machine and a ticket, of course.

--- I think, what with the Rosemary's Baby remake hanging over my head Damocles-like, I'm a little fixated on the Polanski film, since this is like the 20th Horror Roundtable in a row that my answer has had to do with it. I need to get some fresh air, man.

--- Next up on David "Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman" Eick's plate for reimagining? A series based on Children of Men? The same Children of Men that Alfonso Cuaron made into my favorite movie of 2006? Yes, that one. (via Sean)

--- Train Delay - Looks like Clive Barker adaptation The Midnight Meat Train is being delayed until... nobody knows. I hate everyone.
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"Awful things happen in every apartment house."

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It's that time again!
Time for The Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog!
This week we answer:

"Name your favorite horror locale."

Check out our answers here.
I get to use the phrase "demon seed!"
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I Am Monday Morning's Horror Link

Here's some of the boo-news on the internets this morning...

--- After sucking pretty badly on SNL this past weekend, Ellen Page has now dropped out of Sam Raimi's return-to-horror, Drag Me To Hell. Does she want me to not like her? Cuz I've been a fan for awhile now, but I can turn on you like a rabid Pomeranian!

--- Last week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog had us weigh in on our dream horror-anthology films. I think I must've been high on Sudafed when I sent along my answer, it's all over the place.

--- Hey Jealousy - Scott Weinberg, who does most of the horror-blogging at Cinematical, got to lay his eyes upon the Spanish horror flick [Rec] and reviewed it over at FEARnet. I'm dying to see this one. Weinberg said it "melted his socks off."

--- And finally, this is the first I've heard of Stag Party, which STYD decribes thusly:

"In the film, four guys on a bachelor party get off the subway at a station that shut down in the '50s. After watching a transit cop get brutally murdered they find themselves running for their lives beneath the streets of New York City. Vinessa Shaw, Kip Pardue, Breckin Meyer and Scott Adkins star."

Why do I care? Because I miss Kip Pardue, that's why. He kinda disappeared. And he's kinda adorable. Here are a couple shots of Kip in Stag Party (more at STYD, including a trailer):

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I Am Missed Horror Links

Here are a few things of importance that I missed over my long weekend...

--- Sometimes It Moves - Final Girl had another Film Club yesterday, this time for the 1978 movie The Manitou, which involves a fetus-tumor and topless laser shows and Native American midget shamans... in other words, sheer genius spilling from its every frame.

--- Designer Demons - This past week's Horror Roundtable focused on the sartorial choices of the underworld set; I never got around to answering the question myself, but I was definitely leaning towards the Cenobites from the Hellraiser films as best-dressed, and thankfully they're covered...

--- The horror film The Signal was released this past weekend - I'm hoping to catch it this week - and apparently a man at a screening in California went nuts and stabbed two other patrons... The Signal is about, well, a signal being broadcast that drives people mad and to violence....

--- Clover Returns - BD has got a brief transcript of an interview with JJ Abrams where he touches upon what we might see with the Cloverfield sequel.
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"A thick, syrupy, voluminous discharge is not uncommon."

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This week at The Horror Blog, our weekly Roundtable brought us this query:

"Describe a scene in a horror film that brought you to close to tears."

Y'all know what a weepy little bitch I am - and with that I've now used the word "bitch" three times today! Do I get a cookie or a kick to the groin? You decide! - so it shouldn't be surprising that I could take an hour and a half answering this question and still not have unloaded all my varied anguishes. But here I chose one, the first one that popped into my head, and it wasn't all that expected since I haven't thought of the movie in quite awhile. I've gotten my share of grief for being an advocate for this movie - even from the boyfriend! - but I stand by my love.

What am I on about? Click over to The Horror Blog and read up, bitches!

Hmm, honestly, now that I'm thinking about it, "bitch" is an apt word to associate with my choice movie as well, so this whole other train of thought going on here does match up in an askew - how else - sorta way. Okay okay, even I am having trouble keeping the thread of what I'm on about. Stop staring at me! Ahh!!!
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"Did you ever see anything so delicate?"

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I kept my response to this week's Horror Roundtable
at The Horror Blog simple this time around.
Everybody else's answers kick ass.
Check it.
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It Was Beauty Killed The Beast

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We're talking giant monster movies
this week over at The Horror Blog. Check it.
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What'll Have You Peeing Yourselves In '08?

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This week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog asked us what we're most looking forward within the next 12 months, horror-wise, and my answer... well, I'd be letting us all down if I didn't foam at the mouth with randomness, right? Right. Check it out here.
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I Am Monday's Link

--- Return to Polar Bear Island - Lost officially begins its abbreviated season - only eight episodes in the can before the writer's strike stopped it - on January 31st. That's a Thursday - it's new night - at 9pm.

--- Horn-Doggy Horror - I got all hot-n-bothered (an easy feat, to be sure) by last week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog when asked to remember my favorite horror experience from the past 12 months.

--- So Very Serious - You can view the trailer for The Dark Knight in terrific quality if you click right here; something about it missed the mark for me when I saw it on the big screen yesterday, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Any ideas?

--- What He Said - My bud Sean eloquently wrote up his thoughts on I Am Legend and we're thinking rather closely on it except for two counts - I was more attached to the original story, and my reaction took much less of a positive spin towards the film's faults. I did think the first third or so - setting up all of Neville's eccentricities due to isolation - was terrific. Then around the middle I felt like it began to drag. And once the third act kicked in I just despised it. I'll perhaps write more later, if the mood strikes me.

--- The Other Man Behind The Curtain - DH has got links to a pair of interviews with Matt Reeves, the fella who directed Cloverfield... I have to keep reminding myself that JJ Abrams isn't actually the director, just the producer. Reeves was previously behind the camera for many episodes of televised entertainment and... The Pallbearer. Eep.
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Faces of Death

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This week's Horror Roundtable at The Horror Blog gave us the opportunity to toot our own horns, and if there's anything I love in this world, it's having my horn tooted. Check it out!
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