NYC Horror Film Festival in Tribeca Nov. 18th - 22nd kicking off with surf pop sirens Witches in Bikinis

Image from Icons of Fright.

The friends at the NYC Horror Film Festival are gearing up for what looks to be another year of great genre fun from Nov. 18th to the 22nd, so buy your tickets! Not only that, it will be held at the posh Tribeca Cinema, nearby where you'll be able to take in a few drinks at Nancy Whiskey Pub and shoot free shuffleboard until your luck runs out and some sort of verbal assault starts up. If you see the director of programming Joe Mauceri (you'll know, he's probably got that "man about town" look) you should totally buy him a beer and bug him to feature Jason X next year as the headliner.

Before you run through the press release below though, a couple things of note. There will be 5 bands at the kickoff party on the 18th at BLVD, most notable to me are Brooklyn's Witches in Bikinis, of whom I've been fans of now for a while ever since I went to see them at a Stray From The Heart fundraiser a couple years back. They play a real fun, "Monster Mash" type mix of surf and 50s girl pop and look exactly as advertised. I'm sure there will be enough fanboys gushing over them and blushing blood red to match some of the themes of the evening. I totally own a glo-in-the-dark shirt from them. What, you don't? Lamesauce.

While I'm not as big of a horror buff as, say, Andrew Jupin of the Jacob Burns Film Center and all around bearded fellow, I do enjoy horror films on a basic level. I can enjoy them as a flick to just pop in if I'm not feeling anything in particular. That might sound weird considering a lot of horror is not easy to watch (could be really scary, could just really suck) but it sucks you in to something more odd, more fantastic, or more unnerving. Taking that conspiracy and horror in American film class at NYU did me wonders in terms of understand horror on a higher level and it's a fun, timeless genre that can be wonderfully subversive. That and I own a ton of newer horror material but am taking my time going through them.

Anywho, if you have a few bucks and are willing to surround yourself with nerdy genrespeak, possible bad haircuts, and creepy, bespectacled people such as myself, please check out their official site with some cool artwork and find something that fits your bleeds.

Here's all the info:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (November 06th, 2009, New York City) – The 2009 NYC Horror Film Festival kicks off on November 18th, 2009, with the opening night party at a new venue, BLVD, located at 199 Bowery, in New York City. Doors open at 7:30 pm, with the festivities to kick off at 8:00 pm. The opening night party serves as one of the few fundraisers for the festival and a $10.00 donation is suggested.

Shorts screened at the party in between the performances include “Barbee Butcher,” “Aaragh, a Monster,” “Carved,” “The Stings of Clarity,” “Burn the Whole Place Down,” “Black Suit Youth,” “Elder Sign,” “Mascacator,” “You Better Behave,” “Close Call,” and “X-Mess Detritus.”

BLVD (http://www.blvdnyc.com/), located at 199 Bowery, adjacent to the termination of Spring Street, BLVD features a world-class restaurant, café, nightclub, event space, live music venue and recording studio, all within one bi-level complex. Noted for its stunning high-tech computer controlled creative lighting and state-of-the-art sound installations that bring both warmth and excitement to the spaces inside, each area of the complex is crafted to support the best in dining, events and entertainment. The main area of BLVD provides a comfortable and spacious lounge and ultra-premium bar where guests can meet and mingle for a pre-dinner drink, or to spend an entire evening.

At just 23 years old Hayley Griffiths (http://www.hayleygriffiths.com/) is achieving global recognition and critical acclaim for her classically trained vocal abilities. Her “stunningly pure soprano voice” (Chicago Medhill review) earned her roles as the lead singer in both “Riverdance” and Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance” world tours. Along with acting accomplishments in performances for both the RSC and the BBC, Hayley is ready to pursue her career as a recording artist for the Classical Crossover market. Currently recording her debut album in collaboration with Surefire Music Group, and working with producers who have written/produced for Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Ne-Yo, Brooke Hogan, Makio, Ryan Toby and many others, Hayley’s New Age sound infuses the purity and beauty of her classical background with the solid rhythm and striking arrangements of pop and R&B music. Expect high drama, powerful lyrics and a captivating sound from Hayley’s debut EP, due out Fall 2009.

Brewed in a cauldron deep in Brooklyn, Witches In Bikinis (http://www.witchesinbikinis.com/) combines beach party movie and low-budget horror flick themes into a unique rock ‘n roll experience. Composed of stunning female vocalists and a solid three piece band, the group’s sound is reminiscent of 60’s girl groups, Rocky Horror and B-52’s. Witches In Bikinis has been featured in the NYC Halloween Parade and Fangoria Sirius Radio.

The Tarantinos NYC (http://www.tarantinosnyc.com/) play music that is total twang and severe reverb – an instrumental smorgasborg flavored by the films of Quentin Tarantino.

M-16 (www.myspace.com/m16metal) is a Latin Hardcore band that has been redefining heavy music since its inception. In the late 90's three friends and musicians emigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York in search of a wider audience for their brand of metal. Scathing, pulsing, louder than hell, M-16's music is at times bombastic and scalding yet poetic in style and nature. Unapologetic lyrics sung entirely in Spanish, scream and whisper tales of mortal disillusion, political terror, and the chaos of modern times. A band that firmly believes in substance over style, M-16 is all the angst and frustration of real people channeled through guitars, drums and bass. Currently the band is composed of original member Daniel Estrella and guitarist Marcos Medina. Ex-member Ray Reed is dominating the live drums.

The New York City Horror Film Festival (http://www.nychorrorfilmfest.com/) was established in 2001 by Festival Director Michael J. Hein. The festival is dedicated to the international genre film community. There are no restrictions on the films that are screened at the festivals. The program includes films screened both in and out of competition. The Festival jury presents awards to films in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects, Best Actor/Actress, Best Screenplay for films showcased, and Audience Choice. The NYCHFF also presents an annual Lifetime Achievement award. Past recipients include director George A. Romero, Special Effects Artist and Director Tom Savini, Producer and Director Roger Corman, and Producer and Director Mick Garris.

Resident Film Critic on: Fire & Brimstone - Sam Raimi's return to horror in Drag Me to Hell

In the same decade that asked the question "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" and birthed a top 20 hit that begged "Don't Phunk with My Heart", something very strange happened to the horror movie: It got cruel. Blood got darker, the separate organs that made up "guts" became more discernable and everything got louder. It was no longer appropriate to creep someone out or induce unthinkable perversity; you had to make them jump out of their seats by any means necessary. A viewer could no longer watch in terror as a killer slowly came up behind his victim; one had a cynical, methodical template of when said killer was to pounce, accompanied by an entire string section.

In his new film, Drag Me to Hell, the versatile Sam Raimi uses a similar template but something is different. First of all, there's very little blood and there are no guts whatsoever. There's plenty of saliva, vomit, bugs, rodents, worms, puss and mud but that's hardly cause for concern. He likes color, uses color and stages many of his set-pieces in the daylight. Films by contemporaries the likes of Eli Roth or Marcus Nispel would ascertain, quite literally, that one shouldn't trust women, foreigners, southern folk and most breeds of canine; they also seem to unfold in perpetual night. Mr. Raimi's blind distrust is far more precise and has been blatant fact since well before the director was born: Don't fuck with gypsies.

Such is the mistake made by loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) when she kindly dismisses and "shames" Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver, part hoot, entirely creepy), an elderly gypsy witch who is denied an extension for her mortgage. Ms. Brown, gunning for an assistant manager position under Mr. Jacks (David Paymer, playing scuzz like a pro), denies the extension in hopes of getting the edge over brown-nosed co-worker Stu (Reggie Lee) but ends up getting in one ugly cat fight with Ganush before the old lady lays the Curse of the Lamia on her.

What's the Lamia you ask? Oh, just a seven-foot goat-beast from the stomach-acid depths of Hell who commands a legion of doomed souls who, after three days of torture, embarrassment and personal desecration, drag you screaming and burning into the underworld to live in darkness and agony until the end of time.

Under a less adept hand, such things would be handled with gothic tiling and Exorcist-brand clichés but Mr. Raimi has mastered a lightness of tone that punctuates Drag Me to Hell with a vital, often vile humor and a sense of (grab your crosses!) fun. At 22, Raimi directed The Evil Dead, the lively cult classic that single-handedly made Bruce Campbell an icon and made Raimi the harbinger for the new paradigm of midnight movies. Since then, the Michigan-born Coen bros. collaborator has directed two sequels to Dead and become a genre-meister, trying his hand at everything from neo-westerns (The Quick and the Dead) and classy thrillers (A Simple Plan) to nostalgic weepies (For Love of the Game) and blockbusters (the Spider-Man franchise). Only Plan and, at moments, the latter series have seemed to harness his plentiful talents into a similar redefining of genre conventions and tone.

Drag Me to Hell is less a return to form than a loving reconsideration of where he's come from, where his strike-zone is. Over 15 years after the last Evil Dead film, he now casts a similar gaze on economics and the people behind it but the tone here is not satirical but true-to-form oversaturated lunacy. Helped by a fortune-teller (Dileep Rao) and her skeptical but devoted philosophy professor boyfriend (Justin Long), Ms. Brown's attempts at satiating the beast include decapitating a possessed billygoat, sacrificing her kitten and two separate instances of defiling a corpse.

That Raimi enlists the same brutal sound design that most modern horror/thrillers use ad-nauseum feels like a choice made out of necessity. One of a handful of solid major-studio-backed horror films to be released in the last decade, Drag Me to Hell's design is one made for humor and shocks rather than legitimate fright but Raimi never indulges in the crypto-tragic archetypes that have become industry-standard in the 28 years since The Evil Dead. The graphics have improved but Raimi's fantastical scares are still all the better for being loony and unpredictable where his compatriots have sought to make horror into a matter of life and death.

- Chris Cabin

KCB note: Drag Me To Hell opened with 16.6 million to take 3rd place this past weekend. Also, The KCB enjoyed this film thoroughly as well. That is all.

Poster Critique: Pandorum

So I was on the wonderful horror site Bloody Disgusting, who revealed the one-sheet and teaser trailer (both below). The trailer starts out kinda nice but I'm not totally convinced, although I agree Ben Foster is the shit (think poor man's Ryan Gosling, from Freaks and Geeks to now, he's got an awesome vulnerability). Oh and Dennis Quaid? The poster is pretty sick though, it takes the minimalist approach of the Saw series (trendy, I know), and kinda vague. But the tubes through the mouth and eyes gives it a medical, experiment feel and that's pretty cool. The fact that he's upside down and all greasy and messed up with the softer outline of his head but the really harsh and dark purple tubing, it's just kind of a sick poster. You don't really know what's going on, and yet it's somewhat fascinating, like the tubes are running through this hollowed out man. Why is he hollowed out? Is something sapping his strength, is this movie about prey and predator? That's what it says to me.

PANDORUM - Teaser Trailer
by thatsfunny

Poster Critique: Saw V

Now I can only admit that I've seen the first Saw movie, and I did think it was a solid movie, and Cary Elwes showed he can still carry a picture even nowadays. I did not think it was particularly great, for all it's devious decisions it put the characters through, it was actually less menacing than I thought coming in. I think Tobin Bell has been an incredibly good heavy over the years from C movies to television shows, he's got a great face, the beady, sleepy eyes have a tiring, alluring, and dangerous effect. It's good to see he has a franchise, and in general, it's actually kind of cool that a franchise can be built around a villian, but part of me feels like a lot of critics pan the series for not having any emotional strength.

I'll probably see Saw V, and catch up to it beforehand with the II, III, and IV, against the judgements of my friends. It is certainly one of the most successful horror franchises and the gore is always noted, as the premise revolves around a visceral obstacle or problem, which can be used to great effect in a story dramatically and visually.



So now we come to Saw V, out for Halloween as per the last four. I chose this poster over the man struggling with the box over his head because besides the tagline for that one: "You won't believe how it ends" I don't think there's much there.

It's to the point where they are able to build buzz by being seemingly elegant and suggestive with the title, leaving out "Saw" and just having the V, which is a strong letter besides being the numeral. The placement at the bottom also leaves the rest of the poster room for no clutter, and leaving out the credits also is a good touch. The Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate logo are less visible under a slight shadow and are mixed up in the arm hair, further leaving the viewer to concentrate on the profile. I really like the Saw artwork over the years and I particularly like this one for it's mystery.

Bell's face can be determined immediately due to the rugged but precise detail, so the viewer is thrown right back into his world, his perspective. He has become this towering figure in the franchise and the main reason why people go to see it; what kind of horrific tests can he think of next? His character, what is the next chapter in his own life? The use of his face as a mask with the messy Jason-ish straps is quite unnerving and very mysterious. The face is so detailed, and the eyes in place and the mask is alive. It presents the question of who is this man, and is he really him? Or is he someone else? Is there a purpose for his blank face, seemingly tired from four previous Saw movies? Or is it the calm before the storm?

All these questions pop up and that's a good thing; I'll want to know if I can figure out any more mysteries to this Jigsaw man, what exactly is there left to explore?

The color is just right, following suit from previous artwork, a kind of blotched, slightly desaturated and grimy tone. The man's hair is tossed, and the ample body hair kind of denotes some sort of beast. But the sedated expression and the mask pulled just so indicates a sort of harmlessness, an elegance almost that clashes with the high contrast background.

I also like how the light illuminates, somewhat harshly, the man's "face", but in essence it doesn't because you know it's just a mask. Everything, although within plain sight and done with great detail, it's just out of the reach of explanation. It's not simple. The fact that it's a profile versus some cheesy head-on shot is also a great advantage. The man may look like he is in a stupor, but again, it's just a mask, so what do we know? We'll have to find out.