Review - The House of the Devil (2009)

So I finally got around to finally seeing House of the Devil, which I had been waiting so long to see and considering the hype and all the buzz about it on Facebook, Twitter and the horror blogosphere… I was extremely happy to see it finally come to the Music Box Theater. Well, this movie is about a college sophomore living in the 1980s who takes up a babysitting opportunity in an isolated Victorian house, but things start to go extremely wrong when she finds out that she’s not really there to babysit and when she hears strange noises coming from the upstairs. This is homage to 80’s horror although I would also say that it is homage to 70’s exploitation films in some cases.

Now, what makes this movie so similar to 80’s horror? Well, I’ve heard some people rave about the picture quality and the props, well; I didn’t really notice anything about the picture quality and the props you get that with every period movie. What really made this film a tribute was the cinematography and the progression of the storyline. In the beginning, the scenes would freeze-frame while the credits appeared. There are quick cuts, long zooms and loud sound effects… all attributing the 80’s horror.

The progression of the film was also very retro. If you are expecting for the horror to kick in right away… then you are wrong, it takes a long time and it’s very slow pace and it holds out till the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie. With that said, I think that I would compare the plot to Rosemary’s Baby as well as Amityville Horror. The movie builds up so much anticipation that when you get to the end… it just slaps with everything at once.

As for the horror itself; it delivers. I actually jumped up a couple of times and much like the 80s brand of horror, there are a few cliché scares. House of the Devil also goes for shock horror. Everything up until the end is creepy and ominous and when the end scenes play out… it’s like watching an acid trip and there are flashes of demonic images and bright colors. There is very little gore but there are disturbing scenes involving sacrifices and blood consumption. Even the score is very high strung and shrilling.

Overall, this is a movie that is strictly for people who love retro films as well as 80’s horror… if you don’t like either, I would not recommend seeing this at all. If you are not okay with slow paced movies, don’t see it either. I loved it and I thought it was great but that’s only because I love 80’s and 70’s horror films. A group of people came into the theater during the showing of it and all they did was laugh and make fun of it… if you are going into a movie knowing that you won’t like it and only see it just to mock it, DON’T SEE THE MOVIE!!!!

What about Near Dark?

With the long awaited premiere of Twilight: New Moon here, I have decided to avoid the AMC’s and the Showplaces and stay home and watch another vampire love story. Twilight may be pleasing to fans, but as a vampire movie it does not hold up and it is ass, either way you look at it… But if you want a good vampire story about teen love and violence then avoid Twilight and see Near Dark. Why should you see this rather than Twilight? I can’t even begin to tell you why!

First off, this movie shows the passion that Caleb and Mae have for each other more intensely then Twilight could eve have. Mae loves Caleb so much that she was willing to die for him and risks turning him into a vampire.

Second off, this movie is way more brutal then Twilight. Now, I understand that Twilight is trying be teen friendly and they want to appeal to a larger audience but in honesty, it’s very rare for a vampire movie to pull off a PG rating and vampires themselves are NOT PG material.

Third, Near Dark is essentially the same damn thing as Twilight only difference is the genders are switched. Girl falls for boy, boy falls for girl, girl turns boy into vampire, vampire group gets pissed, boy turns back to normal, and girl turns back to human. The same damn thing.

Fourth, there are no memorable performances in Twilight but Near Dark had Severen as one of the best vampires in history.

Fifth, the action in this movie is way more appealing then Twilight. Why is this so? Because this movie is half western; there is an awesome bar fight, a truck exploding and amazing footage of the vampires burning as they hit sunlight.

Sixth, not one time is the word “vampire” ever mentioned in Near Dark whereas in Twilight I am sure it is mentioned at least once. Why does Near Dark not mention that word, because it doesn’t need to and because they want the audience to determine whether or not they are vampires or just mutants.

I will end this by stating a quote from the producer of the remake of Near Dark… which, is a blessing that they put it off but it raises a good point about Twilight and Near Dark.

“I think that Twilight was the same type of thing we were going for although Near Dark was a much darker, sexier, rated R version of that. But I’m concerned that, conceptually, that Near Dark and Twilight are too similar in terms of a vampire movie. For now, that movie is on hold.”
- Brad Fuller

My First Grindhouse Trailer

This video was the first trailer that I ever edited and shot. I used unused footage from a documentary that I shot called Fourth of July BBQ and I decided to put this trailer together. You'll notice a Rubik's Cube in the poster as well as in the beginning and in the lower right corner; before I came up with the studio name John's Paradise Productions there was Smoking Rubik's Productions. Well, copyright interfered with that.

You'll also notice that the video footage that I used from Creepshow, An American Werewolf in London and The Blob are all really crappy quality. This is because I made this before I got any proper editing and DVD burning equipment so I had to video tap all the footage directly off of the computer. So I placed a camera on a tripod in front of the computer screen and recorded everything that way.

I hope you enjoy.

Review - Zombie Girl: The Movie (2009)

While at the Zombie Outbreak Film Festival I had the extreme pleasure of watching a movie made my a 12-year-old girl named Emily Hagins named Pathogen and then, right after, I had the pleasure of watching Zombie Girl the Movie… a documentary about the filming of Pathogen. By the end of the documentary, I could not contain myself, I leaned over to my friend and I told him that we have to make a movie. Something about that film made gave me inspiration and it had to have been one of the best documentaries that I had ever seen in a long time. There was nothing wrong about it and it was truly heart filled.

I want to get first talk about why this documentary had so much heart to it. It showed the relationship that Emily had with her mom and her dad through out the whole filming of Pathogen and it gave me a very happy feeling. Her parents helped he out so much and supported her the whole way and I could not believe it. Most parents would only say “sure, do whatever,” but they supported her the whole way. It wasn’t just bias towards the good times she had with her mom but also the times when they go on each others nerves and it really humanized the family. The documentary even gave a little history of Emily and her mom and how she had miscarriages and how Emily would always grab the camera… this made me happy to see somebody so enthusiastic about film.

The movie perfectly captures the hardships and the passion that Emily had while filming and throughout the whole movie there were complications such as reshoots, the cast being late or even getting a cast. I really felt for her and I could empathize with her because of all the problems she had to encounter. I also really like that the story also focused on how Emily was 12 and how she tried to direct a movie… such as, when she was filming the office scene she kept rolling after the scene was over and she didn’t say cut… I loved it!! Also, the beginning of the movie she stated that she never sues shot sheets or anything. It really captures the fact she was an amateur and yet she dished out an amazing zombie movie.

Something that I also really liked about this was the passion that drove Emily and this movie really showed it. It showed how she wanted precise clothing, precise props and how she wanted everything to go as planned… but also was really opened to other collaborative suggestions. Her passion fueled her and I think that was something that I could sense off the bat and it was intense. She was a born filmmaker!!

Overall, this documentary captured everything perfectly and it was such a simply documentary but so inspiring. Honestly, right I could not wait for the movie to end so that I could talk to my friend about making our movie… it just kicked me in the ass and pushed me to go that extra mile. The little titles with the decapitated dolls, hanging stuffed animals… right down to the passion, Zombie Girl the Movie was beautifully made. Congrats Justin and congrats Emily!!!!

For my Pathogen movie review, check out BuyZombie.com

Official Zombie Girl: The Movie website
Official Twitter of Zombie Girl: The Movie Website
Official Twitter of Emily Hagins and Cheesy Nuggets Productions
Official Cheesy Nuggets Productions website

Zombie Outbreak Film Festival

Now as many of you know, I went to the Chicago Zombie Outbreak Film Festival hosted by Horror Society and it wasn’t bad. There were bad movies and there were very good movies and While I was there I met a lot of cool people that I had met online through Twitter. I finally met Brittney-Jade from Day of Woman, I met Ron Pringle and Jay Hawkinson and I met the real man behind Kitty Zombie. So, it was a great time and I loved it!!!!

We watched several zombie movies and I want to run down the list of them and a brief little review for each of them.

The Basement
This movie was about two guys, who walk into a hold house where an old lady died and they decide to investigate the basement. What I liked about this movie was that it was so simple but yet it really terrified me at one point. I loved the humor and I loved the characters and it was a great indie zombie movie to open the night up.

Fleshbeast
This movie, from what I can gather, it about two scientists that are working on a zombie that fell from a helicopter and they have to save them selves and… then one of them gets turned into a zombie… so… I don’t know. The whole movie was a jumbled pile of images; bad voice dubbing and glossy image effects. It made no sense and it was hard to understand.

Chemical 12-D
This short was about a man who is trying to find the cure for the zombie outbreak but he takes a collard zombie boy to test on. The test fails and the mother of the boy finds the man… and she is pissed! This short was amazing! It was sad, it was dark and the ending is like a slap in the jaw.

Tales from the Script
This was like a more comedic version of Tales from the Crypt and it had a vampire, known as Mr. Wormwood, who told the stories. It looks like an okay show and not that bad for a small budget. I think it had potential.

Stub Hub Trailer
This was 30 seconds of pure comedy; it’s about a product known as Stub Hub that turns your tired, demanding, non sexual husband into a working, sex-induced zombie… for the wives of course. I loved it and it was funny!

Colin
This long, never-ending movie was simply put… the day in the life of a zombie named Colin. It follows the zombie Colin around during the outbreak. This movie could have been good, but I don’t think the camera man or the director know what the definition of steady-cam. Too many close ups and it would start focusing on parts of the movie that didn’t need to be focused on. The acting was good and there were some good points but… it could have been A LOT better.

Pathogen
Directed by a 12-year-old girl… this movie is about a group of kids trying to stay alive when a deadly virus infects the town water supply and turns everybody into ravenous zombies. What I liked about this movie is that it stayed to the basics and it was really good for such a young girl to make. It had great characters and it was so compelling. It reminded me of a Goosebumps book… only a tad darker.

Zombie Girl the Movie
This was a documentary about the making of Pathogen and it had to have been the simplest, yet inspiring documentary that I had seen. It really captured the hardships and the fun times making that movie. At the end of it, I really wanted to get up and make a movie myself.

Return of the Living Dead
Well, if you want to know what I think… check out Buy Zombie for my review.

Why Satan's Little Helper Sucked

I was actually inspired to do a post on this by David McGuigan from Twitter. Apparently, to my knowing… there are a lot of people that loved the movie Satan’s Little Helper, which I had the pleasure of watching about a year an a half ago. I want to state this right now: I HATE THIS MOVIE! Yes, I loathe this movie because it was one of the worst ideas for a horror film ever!!!! You want to know why I hate it… well, below is a list of reason why I hate it

1. (And this really made me cringe) the video game “Satan’s Little Helper” looks crappier then a flash animation on the Internet.

2. The kid in the movie is an idiot. He is old enough to differentiate between reality and a video game and he looks intelligent enough not to be one of those schizophrenic kids.

3. How does this kid not know what’s going on? Does he not know right off the bad that something is wrong?

4. The killer looks like shit. It’s a stupid guy in a mask who walks around like Frankenstein and he’s so idiotic when he kills.

5. The killer killed a cat… so unexpected, so stupid and so unnecessary.

6. I think there is a bit of incest in this movie.

7. They are running people over in a shopping cart and the people getting run over act as though a truck hit them! C’mon!!!!

8. The acting was atrocious!

9. The story sounded like a good idea but the entire script is flawed.

10. (This is a bit personal) I really wished this movie was a lot more brutal. It was good enough to be a TV movie.

So there is the list… and I am prepared to get a lot of lashes for this because of so many people who actually liked it and thought it was a good movie. I was very disappointed by it and I think this is a classic case of a DVD cover looking a lot better than the actual movie.

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH

Since it is Friday the 13th, I decided to share a couple of videos that I found yesterday that I really enjoyed. One of them is a great tribute video to Jason Voohees and the Friday the 13th films. The other is actually a Friday the 13th video game review from one of my greatest inspirations... The Angry Video Game Nerd. So, I hope you enjoy them!!



And here is that awesome video game review that I love so much!!

REview - The Blob (1988)

So, here is another long waited review that I was meaning to do but had been delayed because of a bunch of school stuff. I decided that after making my Thing review, I should not do a review on The Blob since it was my #2 favorite horror movie of all time. As stated in the review, this movie is very close to me because is saw it in the same day as I did in The Thing and it terrified me. I hope you enjoy this review.

Paradise Profiles: Obscure Horror

So, while invading Twitter I cam across an username known as ObscureHorror, and I began talking to him… little did I know he ran a website that profiled ‘obscure’ horror films and I was quickly enthralled in the site. His name is Rich Wolf and is a very awesome person and a great one to follow, both on Twitter as well as his website, if you are a horror fan. For this week’s Paradise Profile I chose to ask him a few question about his website.

Briefly, tell me a little about yourself.

“My name is Rich…I run a website called ObscureHorror.com which I’ve been doing for over 10 years. My daytime job which helps pay the bills has me playing an attorney.”

So, what got you into horror movies?

“Basically as the 80’s continued, I couldn’t keep up with the sequels and their chronologies. There was no internet nor an IMDB so frankly I knew I’d need to come up with something where I could list every movie and try to make sense of them all.”

About your website, ObscureHorror.com, what would you define as ‘obscure?’

“The original idea was movies few have seen. I doubt I can ever find a movie no one has seen but my goal was to review films not the average horror fan would see…it would then encourage them to find ‘em: video store, ebay, etc.”

Out of these movies that you reviewed… what is your favorite?

“Ravenous and Hellraiser 1 & 2 are my all-time favorites. Sorry I can’t narrow to 1. But those I can watch all the time and there’s always something special about them.”

And, what was the worst one you saw?

“There’s a lot but Ax’ Em and Troll 2 are my all-time worst films… probably Ax ‘Em wins. That’s not just bad in terms of acting and plot but the quality was atrocious too!!!”

I noticed that your ‘evil clown’ picture seems to be synonymous with your website… is there a reason behind that?

“I tried a lot of scary pictures but none ever got anyone’s attention. But clowns for some reason freak people out…just the average clown. The film “It” then really cemented that fear and that has taken off. So now, seeing my evil clown face really captures people’s attention and keeps it. It scares them even though they’re so fascinated to keep looking.”

On a normal, lazy day, what would you say is your relaxation methods? What do you do on a lazy day?

“Well I do watch sports and pay attention to politics and stuff. But a lazy day I’d like to just edit my website or catch up on horror movies that I have not seen yet. Makes me feel accomplished and productive!”

You can catch Rich here at his website: ObscureHorror.com
Or, you can follow him on Twitter here: ObscureHorror
You can also catch him here on Myspace: Obscure Horror
There is even a Facebook page for Obscure Horror.

And for those who know him, he is a man of few words… but wise words nonetheless.

The Biography of Bub the Zombie

So, since I am a rabid fan of the movie Day of the Dead… I was always puzzled by who Bub was and how he became a zombie. He is my favorite zombie of all time and he was possibly the most innocent and funniest zombie ever on a horror film. I know his history should never be told but I decided to piece together a biography of my own based on Howard Sherman’s bio and some of the movies that he has been in. So I give you Bub’s Fictional Biography.

NOTE: After reading this, you’ll see how bored I really am.

Bub the Zombie was born as Sherman Dietz on June 11, 1949 in Chicago, IL. I am under the impression that, considering his domestication in Day of the Dead he was a very average kid who got average grades in school and wasn’t really much of a fight. I am assuming that he was an A, B and sometime C grade child and that his favorite subject was science and history. I think that when he went to middle school, that’s when he decided to go into a military career as well as becoming a scientist.

When high school came around, he really got into his military passion… taking classes such as military history as well as exceeding in gym, but he probably still had a passion for science and it was hard to single out whether or not he wanted to be a scientist or a military man. He graduated high school with honors chemistry, physics, geometry and biology and as a Valedictorian. He got a scholarship to attend Princeton and he did, but first, he decided to spend some time in the army. He took basic training as well as training to become a military scientist and this caught the eye of one of the top-level generals… General Starkey.

After getting out of basic training he decided to take up the scholarship for Princeton. There, he studied in some of the highest level science classes there and he passed every test and term paper with flying colors. He was at the top of his game. Starkey watched over him at every turn and when Sherman finally graduated with a doctorate degree in chemistry, physics and biology… Starkey approached him and offered to give him a position of being one of the leading scientists for a top-secret biological warfare weapon.

Unfortunately, his slight rise in power got to his head and he began turning into a very unlikable and cold-hearted person. He began researching on helpless people that the military would capture from across seas or people that tried to leak secret information to other countries. His shyness and quietness went out the door and he became an asshole. Of course, riding on your high horse has its downfalls… because of him and his co-workers the virus was let out and plagued the whole world and slowly started killing people. Military men were dispatched to gather as many helpless citizens and possible and use them as research dummies. Sherman was then promoted to being the lead researcher on the project.

After the military kidnapped 4 friends, 3 of them died and one of them was still living. Sherman began to collapse under pressure as all of his co-workers were beginning to die as well as the population and he couldn’t take any of it. He wondered why this one person wasn’t dying. After almost everybody in the underground lab died he snapped and he shot and killed the remaining people and confronted the 1 patient and was still living. After he tried to shoot him the patient wrestled him to the ground, took the gun and shot Sherman 6 times in the stomach… killing him.

He died while wearing a corduroy jacket, pants, a red plaid colored shirt and a white lab coat. When resurrected as a zombie due to the virus, he lost the lab coat somewhere as he walked around the lab trying to get out… the virus rendered him a walking dead person and reverted him back to his innocent yet primal instincts. Years later, he would be found by Dr. Logan.

NOTE: Though the movies I used are not connected in any way, I had to make the necessary changes to connect them including wardrobe changes and name changes. The pictures are just references. Also, if you would like to follow Bub the Zombie, he is on Twitter: Click here.

The Witch of My Childhood

From closet monsters, to floating garden tools, to little deformed children in the chimney… House of 1986 is one hell of a ride but for me, it was much more nostalgic then that. See, back in 2000 and 2001, I used to watch this movie over and over because it scared me and because I got to hear “You’re No Good” by Linda Ronstadt. In fact, I even have a video of myself making a skeleton puppet dance to the end credits of this movie where the song was heard; that’s how obsessed I was with this.

Although, the one scene in this whole movie that freaked me out beyond anything else was the scene when William Katt’s character encounters that purple, Grey, wrinkly looking witch. How she just jumped out from under the table seriously frightened me. Just look at her:

The bitch freaked me out to no end and how she sounded like a girl on helium just added to her freakiness. Although I could not find the scenes that showed her on YouTube, I will show you the two separate parts where the witch is shown. Also note the use of “You’re No Good.”


The scene starts 4:00 minutes in.


The scene ends at 4:00 minutes in.

Contest: Win Saw & Saw II

This time around, I decided to create a contest. Because I won some prizes from Dread Central, I now have 2 copies of Saw and Saw II and I don’t need two copies… so I am going to give them to YOU for free!! I have already started a routine post about horror people that I run into and or meet on the web called Paradise Profiles so I decided to also create a contest. The contest is quite simple; if you are an avid reader of my blog, or if you saw the write post, then you’ll know what my 3 favorite horror movies of all time are. If you can name my top 3 favorite horror movies and their years… you win.

Contest closes at 12:00am on November 10th.

UPDATE: Because the emailer is corrupted... just send an email to jamhorner@yahoo.com with the subject 'Saw Contest' and put your answer in the message box.

Paradise Profiles: Bohabb of YouTube

So, while posting videos under my previous YouTube account (Crane38x) I met a pretty cool person known has Bohabb and he created some of the best tribute videos of some of the best horror movies out there. Well, after my account was suspended and I decided to get a new one… I found him and I wanted to do a profile on him. I love his editing and I love his song choice and he truly has a heart set in horror movies. I sent him some interview questions. So, here is… Bohabb (Davis Bradley) from YouTube.

So, tell me why you began making your videos?

“I build costumes and props for the band Gwar and do other art related work when I can get it. I broke my back in 2003, moved home for a few years to get better. To kill time, I decided to teach myself how to use editing software. Pretty much all my You-tube vids were made as a fun way to learn editing. The Skeletor video is the only vid I shot myself. That video was made to test out some special effect stuff I was messing with at the time. I am currently back working for the band and on various other art related projects.”

So tell me a little about The Blob movie that you made.

“The Blob just seemed like a funny idea. The Blob "88" was made just before CGI took off and as far as a non CGI movie goes, the effects in it are top rate.(imo) It's just a matter of time till a newer version is done in CGI.(ten bucks says it'll probably blow)”



And, the Poltergeist movie, can you tell me a little about that?

“The Poltergeist video; when I was high in school, I mean when I was in High school, I was into the hardcore punk scene and the band AOD was a favorite, so I made the "Bugs" video (Starship Troopers vid) as a "homage" to that band. Through You-tube I wound up talking with the drummer and he requested I make a video for their song "Suburbia". Thus, the Poltergeist video was born......"



And, your Thing video, I’m a huge fan of that movie. Can you tell me a little about that too?

The Thing video; I used to hang out with "Krztoff" from the band "Bile" and one thing we both agreed upon was that The Thing is a kick ass movie. The part in the video where Kurt Russell says "nobody trusts anyone anymore" is actually in the song. So when I decided to make a video using The Thing, I figured that was the best song for me to use.”



So, there you have it… what inspired and what made Davis ‘Bohabb’ Bradley to make these videos. If you want to see more of his videos that are not horror related please visit his YouTube channel here.

Review - The Thing (1982)

So here is my long awaited video review of John Carpenter's The Thing, from 1982. This movie had such a great influence on me that it became a gateway for me to explore new kinds of horror beyond kid's shows and PG rated movies. This was the one movie that scared me so much that it left me with a fear of dogs for years and it kept me awake for how gory it was. So, I give to you the review of my number one favorite horror movie... The Thing.

Interview with Robert Englund

So, I had the opportunity of interviewing Robert Englund thanks to a contest by Dread Central. The contest was to propose one interview question to Robert and who ever had the best question would win. Well, thanks to Uncle Creepy and the DC crew I won and I have to say THANK YOU!!

Well, I could not record the phone call and I could not write down every word that Englund said so… DISCLAIMER: The answers are not his own words, but rather notes that I took down based off of his answers. So, enjoy.

Paradise of Horror: What were some of the influences that helped you create some of your most memorable horror characters?

Robert Englund: For Mayor buckman (2,000 Maniacs) he was heavily influenced by Strother Martin based off of his character from The Sundance Kid and Cool Hand Luke. The other major influence that he had was the notion of; what if Coronal Sanders, from KFC, was evil? What would he be like if he was a mean, grisly person? That’s what the character Buckman was based off of.
For Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) He based the character off of his physical abilities and his physical behavior. Other influences include Nosferatu and the characters of James Cagney. When it came to Cagney, he loved his attitude and how the man was really small, but he had a huge presence on screen and because Englund is only 5’ 9” he wanted Freddy to have a large presence. Also, he wanted to make it look like the Claw was much heavier then it looked so it made one arm lower than the other… like a cowboy.

PS: What made you want to go into film? Did you want to be an actor or did you want to be something else in film?

RE: He originally wanted to be a stage actor in general plays, classics, Broadway plays and regional theater. He really wanted to be in Old English theater for a while and one play, he worked on for 9 months and he ended up getting a small role because it was handed to the director’s ‘friend.’ When he saw Boxcar Bertha, that kind of made him rediscover the American cinema and caused him to move to L.A. and rekindle with his love for cinema.

PH: So, what does Robert Englund do on a normal day without work? Like, what are your relaxation methods?

RE: He normally sleeps late. He says he’s old and he’s “worried about shit,” so sleeping in is really a strong point. He also reads the papers, works out in the gym and takes regular walks down the beach. He loves going to his favorite California sushi bar with his wife for a drink. He then walks back down the beach to watch one of his favorite TV shows, ‘Dexter.’

PH: So, I have a lot of friends who heard about FearNet’s Fear Clinic… can you tell us about that?

RE: Well, it aired on October 26th and it was originally a movie script but was later turned into an Internet series. What they did was pick various phobias from patients and they dedicated each episode to each phobia and the plot would lead into each episode. He said that it raised the bar for Internet programming and it was really polished stuff. He also said that it elevated the way Internet movies were casted, the lighting, the camera and the FX.

So there is the interview and another note that I should add is that Robert is a huge fan of Internet movies, because of how many new ideas there are out there. I hope you enjoyed this and I hope to one day meet him again and interview other celebrities like him.